The Three Questions with Andy Richter - Tim Meadows

Episode Date: June 22, 2021

Actor and comedian Tim Meadows joins Andy to discuss their shared Chicago roots, the challenges of being a divorced dad, and how Talking Heads inspired his comedy career. Plus, Tim remembers and reflects on his friend Chris Farley.

Hi everybody, it's Andy Richter and I am here doing a podcast that you've come to know as The Three Questions and that's because that's what it's always been called. And today I'm talking to a very dear friend of mine. And this is always the best thing. Whenever anybody asks me, like, who's your favorite guest on the Conan show? I always say my friends, because why the hell do I want to sit next to a stranger? So I'm getting a chance to talk to one of my favorite people, Tim Meadows. Hi, Tim.

That's me. Hi. It says on your Zoom window, Timothy timothy meadows yeah i don't want anyone to be confused with tim tim meadows or well there's some other tim meadows out there there's someone on on twitter oh really yeah one of them is like a very promiscuous gay man who likes to put pornography on his Twitter feed. Nice. And yeah, and his name is Tim Meadows. Oh, that's good. So like when your elderly relatives go searching for you.

Yes. Yes. They get a rude awakening. Yeah, yeah. you yes yes they get a rude awakening yeah yeah but i was on twitter as myself and i was verified and then i sort of contacted twitter and i was like hey there's this other to meadows this like you know he's got some pretty wild stuff on there and uh you know is something we can do and they they were like no and so I got off of Twitter. And also, he had more followers than I did, too.

That's got to hurt. It hurt, yeah. You weren't putting out the gay porn like he was. You're in Chicago, right? Yes, I'm in Chicago. And you sort of split your time there. Are people surprised to know that you still live in Chicago? I don't know if they're surprised. I mean, people are surprised, I guess, when they see me here sometimes.

Yeah. You know, but I think people sort of associate me with New York. Most people will ask me, like, why are you in town or what are you doing in town? Yeah. Because they think I live in New York. And I'm like, no, I live town or what are you doing in town? Yeah. Because they think I live in New York. And I'm like, no, I live here. Yeah, yeah. And do you live there more than you live in L.A.?

According to my taxes, I'm 50-50. Yeah. But I, yeah, it depends. You don't need to say anything more. The IRS listens to this podcast closely. They've been after me for years. You won't get to say anything more. The IRS listens to this podcast closely. They have been after me for years. You won't get me, IRS. Yeah, yeah.

Ha-ha. And I have a summer house in Indiana. But no, but I do. I'm sort of, it varies from year to year. It depends on what work I'm doing. And also, I live, i have a place in detroit also and so i go there but i literally because of covet i i hadn't been there in like a year and a half oh wow yeah just recently does your place in detroit is that just to be close to family

because that's where you're from originally it is but it's also the nightlife in detroit that i i had and i'm kidding yes for my family yeah yeah the clubs all the clubs no detroit i do i love it um but and you know all jokes aside but there but there will be more jokes about detroit but yes i go for my family and it's a very chill place. Like nobody expects to see me there. Yeah. And so when I, you know, I can go out,

go do things. And then it's a, it's like a delayed reaction before, you know, people will come up or say something. Cause it's always like, wait, is that my cousin? No.

Wait a second. Is that, that that's that dude. It might be your cousin. And then sometimes it's my cousin. It's your cousin and that dude. Yeah. I just, while we were talking before this, I just was in Illinois visiting relatives and yeah, I didn't call you. Look, I know. I just, I go there and I and I feel like like a big sow and then just let them just drink deeply from my teats. And there's no time for anything else. It's all family when you're here.

Pretty much. I mean, at least in this one. And I didn't bring my kids because I feel like like when I go by myself, I feel like, yeah, I just I literally just let people drag me around. myself i feel like yeah i just i literally just let people drag me around you're like to softball games or to you know yeah you know to hang pictures at my mom's house or you know i took her out to dinner and after dinner she's like she's like just casually drops as i'm dropping her off oh i got a new television and it needs to be unboxed and hung like oh okay do you know anyone that can do that, honey? Yeah.

Like, can you? Yeah. And it's like, that's an hour. That's like an hour chore. And it's like the kind of chore that makes my head pour sweat. Like, I don't sweat anywhere else, but it's just that maddening kind of little household, like putting together Ikea furniture kind of shit. I quit doing that stuff.

Oh, and I just, and I'm like, oh, thanks mom. Thanks. And it's like, she knows not to mention it earlier because I'll, I mean, I'm going to end up doing it, but I might figure out a way to weasel out of it for at least a while, but she springs it on me. So, but yeah, so I went for a few days and I had to do it though. Did you put the TV? I sure did.

Wow. You're a good son. I am a good son hey i got a question for you when you have you taken your kids to chicago and shown them around like to where you used to work or like you know like oh here's you know the annoyance theater and here's no nothing like that i mean i would but i would have to do it if i said we're gonna make a special trip to go look and see at places that i used to work they wouldn't give a shit now if i said yeah there's a new uh cambodian porridge restaurant because they're you know they're fucking food

snobs then and on the way it happened to pass by the annoyance theater i could go oh by the way, it happened to pass by the Annoyance Theater. I could go, oh, by the way, over there, your dad used to do comedy there. Do your kids care? I mean, they live in Chicago. So do they care about all of your Chicago comedy past? It's weird, man, because like occasionally they will. My youngest son had a field trip to Second City when he was in probably ninth grade or something like that. And his teacher asked me to chaperone the trip. And I asked him, and he was like, yeah, sure, it's cool. And then we were walking in, and I was like, oh, yeah, yeah, here's my picture.

This is whatever. And then he was like, oh, yeah, yeah, you know, here's my picture. This is what I, you know, whatever. And then he was like, you know, whatever. It wasn't like, wow, to him. You know what I mean? It was just like, okay, you worked here. Like I could have been a bartender or an actor. It was just as unimpressive to him if I had been either one. And I got mad at him during that field trip, too.

Because they were, like, were trying to explain, you know how they do it. It's like, oh, welcome to Second City. Yeah, yeah. And it's kids. So they're really, you know, amped up. You know, awkward people. Yeah. And my son,

they, every, all of the kids had to do an improv. And so my son and his friend, uh, it was their turn to do a thing where they had to like imagine something and then tell the rest of the class what was inside of it. And so my son being,

you know, trying to be funny or not part of it, he goes, it's a box. It's just a brown cardboard box. And then the lady's like, well, what's inside? And then he opens it up and he goes, brown paper. And I was in the back of the room just going, I'm going to kill you. Silently, I'm like, you're supposed to yes and yeah yeah you're my son you're supposed to be uh that's so teenage boy though nothing well yeah he was just like very much just like he thought not taking part was like rebelling

yes or whatever right you know what i mean right but no they don't they don't ever um there's very few times when they're like oh yeah dad is whatever yeah i think they're more impressed whenever it's like they meet people you know that are that they know and then that person is like oh my god it's yeah you yeah you know and my kids are like whoa wait a second. This person is paying that much attention to you. I think that's the stuff that's sort of like, whatever. Does that bother you though? Because it doesn't. My kids are also very unimpressed by me and my career. And I actually prefer that. You know what I mean? I would hate it if they were like,

oh, dad, you're so great. You know, like, A, I wouldn't trust it. You know, I would, I'd be like, what do you want from me? Can you imagine if your kids were saying that to you? It would be like, are they like, you know, some, are they weird? Like, yeah. Oh, dad, I saw that. I saw that bit you did last night. That, you know.

You killed it that night. Oh, man, that's amazing. What are you doing tonight on the show? You know. Yeah, I don't think I would like that. I don't think I'd like it either, actually. But I do want them to respect me. Yeah.

I want them to quietly respect me and my place in common yes like i want you to know that i did this right but we don't have to talk about it right right that i am a relative winner you know like relative to other people i am a winner other people are losers because well and also like my daughter tells me like there's one kid in her class that's and i mean she goes to like a nice la episcopal school you know and it's yeah and there's one kid in her class who's like their token conservative and he just you know he just he sounds like a you know like a character like i think he dresses real formal and stuff but he's a huge fan of mine like oh boy like she's like yeah dad that guy's a real big fan of yours and always wants to

talk to me about like you know what norm mcdonald said to you and stuff i don't even i forced what norm mcdonald said to me out of my mind, I think. So, yeah. Now, when you moved back to Chicago, was it for the boys? Was it? Yeah, yeah, it was. Yeah, we, yeah, we split up and she moved back. She had family here.

My ex-wife. Yeah. When I say she. I think it was implied okay good it was either that i didn't want them to think it was just either that or elizabeth warren yeah what everyone knows that you've had children with elizabeth warren i'm trying to keep that on the dl oh i'm sorry we'll edit that out we won't edit that out. But no, yeah, I moved here to be with them, to be closer to them. They were like in elementary school, like, you know, second grade.

Like how long ago? Like 10 years-ish? Yeah, because they're both so, my oldest is 20, and so he was probably eight when he got here so was that worrisome to you did you think like uh-oh i'm not going to be in the swim of things in la because you were living in la at that point yeah i was living in a very depressing uh just divorced dad yeah single apartment oh they're great i was living in a studio apartment. They're great. Aren't they great?

I love them. They were some of my happiest times. Empty walls, a couch, and a TV. Yeah. My studio apartment was my California king-size bed that was all in like a computer with a desk and then a little kitchen off the side oh wow whenever whenever i when i started dating again if a girl came over she knew what was going to happen she knew what was happening oh yes we're gonna have sex because you all we have is your bed in here sit anywhere yeah just not the desk please not the desk i'm working there so yeah so i so they

i came here and it was um you know it was it was weird in the beginning i tell you what was hard like very in the very beginning was like um the idea that they would have surroundings in a whole life that I would not have any part of. You know, like I'll never see their bedrooms. Yeah. With their mom or, you know, their living room, you know, I'll never see the toys that they have. And that in the beginning, like that was hard to deal with. Yeah. Because I was like, wow, they're going to have a their memory of

their childhood with her will be completely void of like i won't have a memory the same as theirs right you know it'll be compartmentalized they'll have you and they'll have their mom yeah yeah yeah yeah that's that that is weird yeah because don't. Well, nobody had any continuity from the previous life. You know, it's like the divorce sort of changed everything. And because I know my the hardest thing for me was just I didn't live with my kids anymore. Like, it's just like. Waking up and having them there and having, you know, and it had been, let's see, they were like 18 and 13, I think, maybe 17 and 12. And just, you know, 17 years of having a kid in the house and then going and having everybody in the house. Like being, you know, like being alone, being such a rare commodity. Like when I went somewhere and was in a hotel room by myself i was like hooray you know for like one night and then and then after that one night i'm like oh jeez i'm lonely you know and then having to shift that that it's rough it's rough but yeah you get

used to it you know yeah it was it was rough and i don't you know, any person that I know that has been through it, it's sort of like you definitely understand what the other person is going through. Yeah. Like on all sides. Yeah. And I never about the kids. And I think like this is all new for all of them. And they all got their like perspective of and they are going to remember it differently. And yeah, it's tough, man.

Yeah. I think, though, if everybody's if everybody's committed to it being better i think it does get better i mean i know in my situation it's gotten better just because yeah you know it's you know it's probably more healthy than it was before we split you know in many ways and do you think that that's the case with you guys too yeah i mean i wish I could say. You also don't have to say anything you don't want to say too. Yes.

Thank you. But I wish it was easier. I wish it was better. Yeah. It is what it is. And I've made the best of the situation. I have a really great relationship with my kids. Both of my boys yeah

they i love them i don't have issues with them i don't have problems with them we get along great they respect me um i love them they love me it's expressed all the time yeah yeah um and then the issues that they have to deal with with being being divorced parents, I can give them advice, you know, because they have to deal with stuff, you know. And sometimes I have to deal with them like a friend. Sometimes I have to deal with it like a father. Yeah. And sometimes I have to agree with their mother about stuff. Yeah.

Which is, and when I do, they know I mean business. Right. They know I'm serious right and there's there's times when like even though we didn't talk my ex and myself about an issue with the kids we were both right on point with the way to solve it what the they should do yeah you know and it it's funny when that happens with her and I, because it's almost like, I want to say, not spiritual, but what is it? It's sort of just out there, and you just both sort of. What you mean when you agree on something with the kids?

Without talking. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, well, I mean, you know, you agree on something with the kids? Without talking. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, well, I mean, you know, you guys were married. There's obviously a, you know, there's a bond with a person that you marry and it's. Yeah, I guess because you do have some, a lot of similar ethics. Right. And you make a lot of similar choices.

Yeah. And you both know your kids and you both are, you have your kids best interest at heart ideally and and you know so you're going to make kind of the same decisions when it comes to the kids yeah only thing we disagreed was you know i chose i thought the kids should not do cocaine she thought that they should not do it. Well, you don't want big fat kids. You know, you don't want big fat fatties. Especially in Chicago. I want them to smoke. You mean smoke cocaine or smoke cigarettes?

Either. Oh, right. It doesn't matter. She was against it. She was totally against it. Can't you tell my loves are growing? But Andy, this is my trepidation about doing this podcast, because you and I know we've known each other for so long, and we've talked about everything.

You don't want to say too much. Yes, because I know when I'm talking to you, I will say things. I've told you things. I know. I know. And I was aware of that, too, going into this. And I didn't want to. And that's why I wanted to talk about you as a father, not so much you as a divorced ex-husband.

Oh, good. And so I'm not interested it i mean i am interested in that and once this once we stop recording let's go let's let her rip um but no but i do think i i'm i mean i'm always interested because i talk to so many people that are in show business on this thing and so many people that are comedians on this thing and we end up talking a lot about about you know show business and about work stuff and about you know i in improv class and then i you know got a bunch of commercials and i'm way more interested in like the fact that you're an established comedy person your family broke up you moved to chicago and you made it and that's a sacrifice you know that's a sacrifice to be with your kids and

there's a lot of showbiz assholes that live you know in their own minds that wouldn't have done that that would have been like you know i'll see my boys a couple of times a year, you know? And I think that's to your credit and that, you know. Thanks. You know, and it,

it gives you the perspective. It's sort of, it is, cause it is limiting. It's like, there's stuff that you miss out on career wise. And family wise. There's events with the kids that have to miss out on.

Cause of work. Yeah. Cause of work. Yeah. Even now, like this year, my youngest is graduating from high school. events with the kids i have to miss out on because it work yeah because it work yeah even now like this year my youngest is graduating from high school and they were going to have it on zoom they weren't gonna you know because everything was covet yeah so and then just and and then i got a job in canada and so now i can't and so we had talked about it, but I can't go to his graduation now

because I have to quarantine in Canada. Oh, right. First part of June, and I can't travel back and forth. Right. And so they moved the thing from a Zoom to a live graduation now, and so I'm just like hoping that he understands.

I told him, I'm so sorry. I can't be there. I can't turn this job down now because I've already made a commitment to him. And yet I want to be there for this moment. Yeah. But you know, and it's a difficult conversation because, you know,

he's going like, yeah, it's cool, dad. You know, I understand. But then the other part of him is like, yeah,

I want you to be there for this thing yeah and like i we talked about it a second time i told him there might be a chance that canada might relax some of the rules and he fucking got excited yeah that i was going to be might be able to come yeah and then that even made it even more heartbreaking yeah that i might not be able to yeah make it you know what i mean so yeah there's a lot of sacrifice man there's a lot you know and it's well it's also this fucking covid stuff i mean if it if it weren't covid you could practically fly in and out on the same day and it wouldn't you know they could give you a day off but it's just this you know yeah it's not it you know i understand that it the heartbreak but it's also like it's not anybody's fault i mean aside from china you know those bad eating chinese i'm kidding that's the only time i agreed with trump was when he yeah and i what's weird i've been eating pangolin for years i've been ordering it in

oh god yeah i can't eat any i hate that i don't like that i don't either kill me so kill me yeah it's it's too crunchy crunchy ity, it's gross. Little hairs. Because I'm curious, were your folks divorced? Yes. Did that inform how you were going to be a divorced dad? Like the way that your parents handled it? Yeah. Well, I definitely wanted to have a relationship with my kids, no matter what. It was different from my father.

My father, when they split up, he was gone for maybe a couple years. It seemed like forever when I was younger, because they split up when I was like six or seven. And I remember looking out the window of my house one time and thinking like, wow, my father's somewhere in this city, like 10 minutes from me. Right. And I don't see him. He won't see us. And that was fucking hard. And so when I got divorced, I swore that I would not let that happen with us. I was not going to be that way.

swore that I would not let that happen with us. I was not going to be that way. And also being African-American too is like another thing that I was like, I'm going to be in my kid's life. I'm going to be, you know, I'm going to be there. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, my folks divorced when I was four and my dad lived four hours away, but I only saw him twice a year, which I never questioned that much. I was sad about it and there was heartache about it, but there were reasons. There were like reasons like, well, this is why. And it's, you know, well involved kind of like, well, I have to work and I have, I don't make enough money at this job, so I have to have another job. And it all, I didn't question it until I was an adult and i had a kid and all of a sudden

like there was like this switch that flipped where i was like i can't even imagine living four hours away and not being there seeing you yeah at least every other weekend you know yeah and like i say there's reasons and, and those reasons won't be budged from, but I, I just think like for me, those reasons aren't good enough, you know? Yeah. And, and, and I think in many ways too, that like, and I've talked about this before on this podcast,

like I wasn't even quite sure how to be a dad. There wasn't like a good model for me of like, this is how you do stuff, you know? Yeah. Yeah. And I think in some ways, like I'm,

I work well in groups and I work well in a reactive way. So ergo improv, ergo talk show sidekick, you know? And I never, but I never had this drive to like, I gotta, you know, I gotta have my own talk show,kick you know and i never but i never had this drive to like i gotta you know i gotta have my own talk show you know like i'll wait for someone else to have their own talk show and then i'll sit next to them um and sometimes sometimes i wonder if that is like that's because

i hear other people talk about i wanted to impress my father and I, I didn't care about impressing my father. And I wonder if that, if, if that like took some sort of fire out of me, some sort of like, I don't, you know, like the way a man supposed to be,

uh, out of me in that I was just kind of like, no, I'll kind of sit around and wait and see what happens and, you know, see what everybody see what the kids want you know that's i mean and that's sort of i guess how i ended up being you know my fathering technique and were you were you a little like nervous when you when you became a

dad that you weren't sure like what you were how you're gonna do it yeah man i mean i exact same thing that you're talking about yeah like when it i was, I don't know how to do this. I didn't have a daily example of that. the Smith family, and they got like six kids. And they sort of just took me in. And his father and his mother were like my representatives for marriage. Because it was the only successful marriage that I saw like daily. But I didn't see the intimacy, though. You know what I mean? Like, because I was a neighbor kid. Right. So they didn't kiss or hug in front of me, you know. And also that should have been something that was like passed from my my parents to me. I should have been learned about, you know, seeing my mom and dad hug and kiss. Yeah. Yeah. I never I have no memory of that. Yeah.

I never I have no memory of that yeah and so yeah those kind of things I think probably you know affected me and my relationship and my ability to be a husband but I think to be a father

I just really and it sounds weird I don't say weird but I just said I'm gonna do this yeah I don't say weird, but I just said, I'm going to do this. Yeah. I'm going to do it. Yeah. I'm not going to slack off. I'm going to do this.

And if it's one thing that I'm really good at, it's being a dad. Yeah. I will make a sacrifice. I will, yeah. I can't, it's like I can't, only my kids can tell you what it's like to be my kids, but they know. Yeah, yeah. They know I fucking love them. Yeah. Well, I know. I mean, as long as I've known you, you work real hard at it.

And in the many conversations that we've had about it, It's it's like. It's important work to you. And I mean, and we probably talk about that more than work work because it's more important work that work work is silly compared to this work. Yeah. I mean, and the thing of the conversations that we've had to him is that I will talk to you about things because i'm sure i have and i have one i know one time especially where i because i want to hear what another father thinks like what would you do yeah what do i do you know and i told i don't know if you remember we were playing golf but i told i was telling you about my son had gotten his hair. I hated his hairdo. Yeah. I hated it. And I was going like, I want him to get rid of it.

I want him to get rid of it. And then you and I were talking. And I said, what would you do? What do you think I should do? And you go, there's nothing you can do. He's going to have crazy hair. Yeah. We all had crazy hair as teenagers.

You just got to let him go get through it. Yeah, yeah. And then I asked another friend that was a father and he was like yeah you got to just sit back and wait just he'll write it out yeah some girl will eventually tell him like your hair is stupid i don't like it change it right right and then he'll change it or or that's his hair and that's who he, and that's what he wants to be. I had a mohawk for a short period of time. I can't say shit about hair or bad hair twos, man. I've had dreadlocks.

I've had slick back hair. Yeah. I've had it all. My son's 20, and he just started, it just kind of sprung, not too long ago, like sprung, like, I'm getting a tattoo. And I'm, okay, it's your body and whatever. Because I don't, you know, I just have, I've learned from other dads too that have raised hell about, you know, getting your nose pierced or something like that. You know, I mean, I would probably stop short, like if he wanted to get those gauges in his ears. Because like that shit's hard to turn around. You know, like when you decide, all right, I do want to get a job teaching high school.

And you decide, all right, I do want to get a job teaching high school. You know, you can't have big sagging fucking, you know, gaping asshole earlobes. Well, if you're in Africa and it's fine. I guess, yes. If you're a doctor in Africa with big fucking quarters in your earlobe. Right, right. You can still do surgery. But he got that first tattoo and, you know, and like he didn know he was not like here's the test and his plan too is to get it where everything will be covered by

shorts and t-shirts um any any tattoo that he gets and the that's cool excellent congratulations but i i was like and and i mean and in my head it's like i it's like i'm my mother's voice going my baby's beautiful body yeah that's exactly what i was thinking man my baby's beautiful body yeah and how could you do that to my baby no and then he went and got like two or three more like in quick succession and i'm like the second or third one i said to him so i guess you've already thought about the fact that you know this is forever and you really are giving thought to these designs and what's and he goes yeah yeah yeah and i said okay i just i needed to say that but after but then his mom and his sister my conscience is clear yeah his mom and his sister put the brakes on it they they you know they're the ones that can say like all right enough stop with the tattoos that's yeah

take a break you know so and you know he's and he's got a bunch of piercings in his ears, which I'm like, okay, you know, I wouldn't do that. And again, it is like, my perfect baby. Why are you doing this? Why are you scarring yourself? Yeah. It's his body. It's his life, you know. yeah it's his body it's his life you know no my son was my youngest or my oldest son he was talking about doing that uh face tattoo like uh that singer post malone oh jesus christ

but he does this thing where he says things just to fuck with me right he's a troll yeah yeah yeah and it's sort of like what a serious reaction to this you know but uh yeah he was contemplating that and i was just like i if you do it i don't know what to tell you i don't know what to tell you like you won't you know i love you but like you got to cover it up when you come see me or something but i'm glad he was just fucking with me i would and i mean the thing too is about that is like you can you know like you put away the voice it's like you'll be terrifying and everyone will be uh scared of you you put that away but i would say like to him it's like you're limiting your options you know like like you this will have an effect on everything you do. This like tattoo.

I just, as an aside, my brother's a high school teacher in DuPage County, and he occasionally checks the DuPage County police website, like the sheriff's website, to see if any of his old students show up. Because he'd heard one of his old students had carjacked somebody so he's like oh let me see if i could you know see see if i can find kyle or whatever his name is and there was a guy that it was arrested in like it's dupage county he's like arrested in like wasco or somewhere and it's this guy and across his forehead in big block letters fuck you tattooed on his forehead oh man you are really committing to not getting a job at target you know geez um that is great i would yeah i i i don't know man i'm glad my kids are not going down that road i swear to god now uh when do you start thinking i'm gonna be funny

for a living i mean you know you're you're going through school in detroit you're going through high school um and you stayed in detroit for college right you went to wayne state yeah i went to wayne state i dropped out my second i was like in my third year in Wayne State, who recently offered to give me an honorary doctorate degree. Doctorate? Yes. Wow. And then because of COVID, they had to cancel the graduation. And so I'm still waiting for it.

But, you know, it's like, how do you ask for, hey, remember that doctorate degree you promised me? Don't forget. Yeah, yeah. I already got the business cards made up. I already applied for the doctor's license plate. I'm going to put it in my credit like Bill Cosby used to. Yeah, exactly. I'm a doctor.

But, yeah, I went there for a couple years years and then i started doing improv there that was where i learned from a guy who uh took classes with dell close in chicago and so he came back to detroit sort of like a kentucky fried chicken franchise and started doing heralds and teaching heralds yeah his name was jonathan around um and so I learned how to do heralds like, like way before I got to Chicago. So when I got to Chicago, I was already, I could do heralds like no problem.

Right. Right. And heralds for people who don't know, or it's a series of scene work and group games. And it's all supposed to sort of wrap up in a nice bow. Oh, is that what it is? Oh, shit. I wasn't doing those.

Oh, boy. I was doing... Sound effects, fart noises. I was doing sports games and freeze tags. Ah, freeze tags. Freeze tags. Ah, freeze tags. Did you have a place you wanted to be in comedy when you started, you know, having ambition towards it?

Like, did you want to be on SNL? Did you want to be a stand-up? Or were you just kind of, this is fun and I want to follow this? I was just like, this is fun and I want to follow this. Yeah. I love Saturday Night Live. But I also love Monty python and sctv and fridays yeah i love comedy in general yeah and um and i was a nerd about it i knew who like i knew what writers wrote for what tv shows you, or what writers wrote for National Lampoon, you know.

And so, yeah, I was just a nerd about that stuff. But improv was just the one way that I saw that I could get into comedy. I could learn how to do it. Yeah. Because you couldn't, they didn't teach you stand-up classes. Right. And I would have loved to have started out doing stand-up you know yeah because when i was alone when i was a kid i would pretend with a hairbrush to be a

stand-up comedian yeah you know yeah yeah but so yeah i mean that was that's what i would have done but doing improv was like it was a way to get into it a way to learn about it um and i was thinking too recently i admit um i was in detroit and hanging out with my family my brothers and sisters and stuff and i came from a family of people who we do bits you know what i mean yeah like my brothers and sisters we act out stuff together yeah and we've done it ever since we were kids and it dawned on me when i was in detroit because like i was dropping my brother-in-law and my sister off i had taken them for a ride in my car because they hadn't been in a you know it's a tesla whatever yeah yeah yeah yeah i was dropping them off and i said okay the uber ride is over and they started

and then my brother-in-law started going this is not where i wanted to go you dropped me off at the wrong place and i was like sir get out of my car and we just started acting it out and he was like i've been thrown out of better cars than this and we were laughing man and then my brother like the next day we were we were talking i was telling him this story and he and i started riffing as if i was a character that i was talking had been talking about and he started interviewing me yeah yeah and we were sitting at a tigers game like two grown men yeah doing a bit yeah together and so i was thinking like i was prepared for improv and stuff you know yeah by my family really really great like that i kind of envy that i mean my

family's funny but i mean mean, not they're, they're not going to really exchange bits, you know, as much, you know, but that's great. What, what made you feel like, what gave you the nerve to move from Detroit to Chicago to do it? Well, Mark Beltzman was also from Detroit. He moved to Chicago first and was almost immediately hired by this Second City touring company. Oh, wow. And so he just encouraged us to move to Chicago. He was like, this is where it is. The game is here.

And so what I did was I said, I was in college. I was in my third year my grades had actually gotten really good because I was studying like marketing and and broadcasting and things that I was actually interested in so my grades started getting better and so I said after I took these improv classes uh we did some shows in Detroit market Market moved to Chicago. I'll tell you what happened, actually. I went to see Stop Making Sense, the Talking Heads movie. Yeah. And I saw it.

It was in Detroit for like maybe a week, two weeks. Yeah. I saw it maybe 10 times. It's amazing. I just saw it recently. I saw it six months ago after not seeing it for a million years. And I'm like, I told my kids immediately, like, watch this now. Because it's so fucking good.

Yeah. Yeah. I saw it in Detroit. And when I was in my car one time after seeing the movie by myself, I said, I was thinking, like, the Talking Heads, they were, like, designed. They were in college for design. They were studying, you design. They were studying. They're artsy people. Yeah, not musicians or whatever.

And then at a certain point, they had to make a decision. Do we continue doing this or are we a band? And are we going to make music? Yeah. And that thought blew me away. There was a point where they had to go yes i'm doing this thing yeah and so i was sitting in my car and i said this is it i'm gonna go and do this other thing i'm gonna give myself five years if i'm not making a good living at the end of five years

i'll come back finish college get a job in marketing, write commercials or whatever. Yeah, yeah. And so that was it. It was that moment. David Byrne, man. And whenever I see that movie now, when he walks in and it's like, and he goes in the psycho killer. He goes, hi, I have a song I'd like to play for you. And it's just him on stage.

And then he goes into that. My heart, I love it. Because it was like, it goes from simplicity to this huge show with all of the band. Yeah. And a jam. Just a fucking monumental jam. Yeah. After jam, after jam, after jam after jam after jam yeah by a guy who you would never expect

that music came out of no you know and so yeah that was the moment for me i was just like i'm doing this i'm gonna try it and then the end of that story is five years later it was february i was on saturday night live wow to the date almost to the date wow it's like right after my birthday that's awesome yeah that's great good thing you didn't say four years oh well gonna go write commercials now can't you tell my loves are growing now you were you were you hired at the same time as chris farley were you guys like he went he went out before me yeah actually yeah he got hired at the beginning of that season and then i came out in february yeah the halfway point yeah and because you got you guys had been friends before that pretty close friends yeah yeah yeah because we

both got hired on main stage of second city at the same time yeah and we were we were both in touring companies you know yeah yeah and so to do that jump together was kind of scary because we were like holy shit people hated us um because we got jumped we got promoted over everybody right it wasn't like we deserved it even though i think he did but it was dale close who was you know he was like i'm picking who i wanted in my show for main stage. And so he picked us. That was it. Well, yeah, then you deserve it. I mean, you guys are very different performers, though.

I mean, you know. Yes. Yeah. You're an excellent actor. You're funny, but you play things real. He does the exact opposite. He's a goddamn traveling circus all in one person yeah yeah he was he was amazing i mean i got to see him a little bit live at different improv shows

uh but he but when i was getting there he had already been to snl but then he came back to chicago and was on Well Street, you know, near Second City and living quite unhealthfully, unfortunately. Yeah. Yeah. I have really great memories of him. And like, sometimes things will flash in my mind. I'll go, oh yeah, I gotta start writing things down so I don't forget.

Yeah. But I had these memories like when we were writing at second city he and i would we we were just nervous during the day you know and so this our schedule would be like we'd get up in the morning or an afternoon whatever we'd go eat breakfast we'd walk and go see a movie downtown somewhere. No matter what, we'd just go see a movie. Yeah. Go back home to my place. I would fall asleep on my couch.

He would fall asleep on the floor in the living room of me and Richard Label's apartment. And he would wake up at about 6 o'clock, shake me, wake me up, and say he was leaving. He'd go home, shower, and I'd meet him at the theater. So he didn't have time to drink or get high before the show. Yeah. And so we had that schedule going for, for a while.

And I just remember these moments of like napping on the couch and waking up and looking over and seeing him just all just passed out on the floor. Yeah, yeah. Sleeping soundly like a baby. Yeah. Not drunk or anything. Yeah. You know.

And I just, you know, it's those kind of memories of him that I'm just like, that were really special. Yeah. You know. Yeah, we had this moment Once At Saturday Night Live I'm sorry I'm sorry It's okay man

I'm sorry Now I get choked up talking about it sometimes Yeah And also I feel like I'm just on the phone with you Yeah yeah yeah Well that's good, I guess. I tricked you.

We were at the... It was the last show of that first season, and he and I were getting ready to go to the party, which was downstairs. Remember, like, at the rink? Yeah, yeah. And so we were at that elevator bank on 17, just, like, in the back, you know? And so we we're waiting.

And he looks over at me and he goes, Timmy, can you believe this? And I was like, no. Yeah. I can't believe it. And he goes, we're on Saturday Night Live. Yeah. I was like, yeah, I know.

I know. And then he goes, let's just do this one time. So he hugs me, like, really tight. It was just like, I don't want to forget this moment. You know, he's like our first year on Saturday Night Live. Yeah. And it was so, so great. He's such a great guy, man.

I miss him. I think about him every day. Yeah. Every day. Every day. And when I do comedy, I think of things that are going to make him laugh. I think that'll get him. Yeah, yeah.

Sorry. Fuck, I didn't. That's all right. I didn't. And I didn't. This is what I didn't want to do to you is make you cry. I didn't think is make you cry. I didn't think about making you cry, but I mean. You wanted it.

I'd be a terrible bar. You want to get your podcast awards? Yeah. I was under the table. I'm like doing a fist pump. Like my arm hurts from all the fist pumps I'm doing. Yeah, I don't know anybody that didn't like him. You know what I mean? And I think, him you know what i mean yeah and i think

and you know what honestly that's something i could say about you too i don't know anybody that doesn't like you you are one of the most loved comedy people that's sweet and i mean and everybody you know everybody's got wrinkles and warts and you know yeah foibles and stuff but you you know you're a very well-loved person. Thank you. Yeah. I got to tell you, I was listening to your podcast once. It was funny.

It was Jane Lynch. Yeah. And she was telling this story about Faith Soloway. Yeah. Where I was dating Faith at the time. And Faith was a piano player. I don't know. People listening can look it up or whatever. Faith Soloway is now Joey Soloway's sister and was with her, with Joey in the early days creating the Real Life Brady Bunch.

Right. And she also, Faith was possibly the best improv pianist in Chicago at the time. She the time she was amazing fire yeah yeah uh but so but yeah she and i was dating and then she had not come out and then so we were on the road and i guess as i remember it she just didn't come home like she was supposed to come back and like come to my apartment or whatever she just didn't come back and i was like what's up where is she where is she and then she when she did come back and we talked about it she came out to me and but she never told me who it was with yeah so when i was listening to your podcast i heard that it was jane lynch oh really she said it during the podcast and then what was funny about it was that you both she goes she was like you uh because he was dating tim meadows she

was dating tim meadows at the time and you go oh i love timmy and she goes i do too i love timmy he's such a sweet person you guys were both going like he's the nicest guy yeah yeah she just told the story about stealing my girlfriend yeah yeah oh well he's such a nice guy yeah i fucked his girlfriend i think you were dating faith when i first met you and i i mean i'd met i'd kind of met you at like some improv thing and then you were in a i don't like a circuit city commercial it was like yeah and and i was a pa on it and you were like you know a guy in a red vest selling tvs yeah but yeah that was like when we first started getting to know each other yeah yeah that's another thing like that. I like the, the, the moment you had that you had with Chris, you know, that like just the appreciation is so it's so important to keep that.

And it, it's, and it, it can take extra effort, you know, it's like a lot of what happens to you in show business takes extra effort to remain humble, to remain grateful, to remain humble to remain grateful to and to remain normal and to not be a fucking prick it takes work to stay that way and i like jane is a perfect example of someone who's definitely stayed that way and and you know the other side of that being feeling lucky is also being like so amazed at how many people that i knew back then are now household names there's not you know like everybody knows them and it's it's amazing to me to think about it because i didn't think that i didn't have any plan you know

it's like you said you just like this and follow this and i wasn't like oh i'm gonna be on tv a bunch i just was like yeah this is fun let's see you know it's like pasquazy david pasquazy says it's like when we were doing improv it was it led to a road to nowhere yeah basically yeah exactly you had no guarantee that anything was gonna come from it yeah doing it because we were trying to learn how to do this art form and you know how to entertain people for an hour with one off of one word yeah yeah yeah and i mean it and it is fun there's definitely like an adrenaline charge from being able to do it and when i was doing it on a regular basis i felt like my brain was a muscle, you know, like it just, it was, there was a high from just that feeling of like knowing, like, I can get on front, I can get in front of people for an hour and a half without any idea and, and really entertain them, you know?

And that's why I was also telling you, you should be doing standup, remember? Yes, I know. I know you do. You did. I, I i i still think about it and i mean and now you know i mean frankly like the conan show future is i mean it's certainly ending on tbs but it's up in the air and it's certainly something i consider as a way to make income and something that might be kind of fun but i'm not real i don't like being

on stage by myself very much. You know, I, and I, we talked about that too, but, but it's something, I mean, I definitely consider. I think people will be interested. I think people would love it. I think people would love to see in your comedic perspective on life, on fame, on marriage, on kids, on divorce. I think people would love to hear your opinion, what you think. Well, thank you.

I'd like to produce it. See, I knew it. I knew it. You want fucking 10% of this thing, don't you? 20. 20, motherfucker. Motherfucker. Well, all right.

I can't say no. How about 10? No, 20. Okay. No, 20. Motherfucker. Well, all right. I can't say no. How about 10? No, 20. Okay. No, 20. 20. Okay. I really know how to cut a deal.

Well, now, speaking of an hour, we've been talking for about an hour, and so it's time to move on to the second question. Second? Yeah. That was the first question. I mean, you know, I don't know. The question thing is where yeah that was the first question i mean you know i don't know the question thing is kind of bullshit um but but it is there is there is like the notion of like what's what's in store for you like what's how's your story gonna play out or how do you want it to play out well uh that's a good question that second. Because I'm in that part of my life now where I think about that a lot.

Yeah. And I've been talking with a friend of mine who's also in his late 50s, who's a comedian. And we've been talking about making statement pieces of like, this is a record of where I was at this moment in my life comedically right i'm saying right right not a political statement but a more of a personal one yes yes comedic my comedic view of whatever yeah so i've been thinking about that more instead of being like the second lead on a sitcom yeah yeah so i've been thinking a lot more about like because i i can do that through stand-up when i'm touring and stuff um but i want to do that on i want to do that on a bigger scale yeah um so and that is sort of playing out now i'm like i i did a lot of writing over the covet

break so a lot of people so people have been seeing the result of that and it's been the feedback has been very very positive oh that's great yeah so you know how this business is it's like you it takes forever for stuff to happen yeah you know but um it's very weird to give out to give your writing out to people and have it judged you know especially in the business uh from a business aspect because it's like do they like it enough to put money into it yeah yeah that's it's great to just like it yeah because anybody can just like it right right can you give me 10 million dollars yes exactly but yeah it's i it is hard and that was one of the things that i loved about going back to work for conan is no no the

people that read my comedy were all friends and you know people that i loved and who kind of let me do whatever the fuck i want and if i said hey i want to put this on tv they put it on tv that night you know and that and I was I stepped out of that into a here's this script I wrote okay we'll get back to you in three months you know oh fuck okay I guess I'll just sit here and and lose interest in my own ideas yes yes yeah I won't care about it anymore by the time you come around to reading it and telling me what you think of it yeah we sent this thing out to some people and they liked it enough to like talk to us and then the thing that they and it's still ongoing but they said basically was like we like this thing but we don't want to do it, but we want to do something with you.

Yeah. And I'm like, well, what about this thing that I just gave you? Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is what I am doing. Yes. Yeah. Let's do that. And then we all get what we want.

Right. You get to do the thing you want to do with me and i get the thing i want to do but yeah man it's uh and you still had a like when we were working together he goes we were working on ladies man and we had to do like deal with a lot of stuff making that movie yeah and at one point it was a decision that was made by the company and by the executive producers and we were just basically told this is the deal and then andrew walked me to his office and we sat in his office and he shut the door and he goes tim this is why showbiz sucks yeah it was like fatherly advice and it was that cut and dry yeah he was like this is why show business sucks yeah this is why movies suck yeah that was basically what he was saying was like

it starts out as one thing and it turns into this other thing all and we he this was a conversation we had was like we have to try to keep it our thing. Yeah, yeah. We know it's going to be somebody else's thing, but we got to try to make it our thing as much as possible. So the final question of these three nonsense questions is what have you learned? I mean, do you think, you know, do you have advice for your kids that you give them that you think kind of, you know, you know, if you could boil down what life has taught you, what would it be? Wow, that's a really good third question. It's almost as if I've never heard your podcast. You would think I should know these questions. Right, right, right.

Well, you don't retain information very well. That's one of your big problems. Problems. Yes. What have I learned? Well, I've learned that I'm not always right. I learned that there are people smarter than me. I learned that sometimes I am the smartest person or have the best idea in the room. I've learned that I can also be the dumbest person in the room. I've learned to let people, religions, sexual preferences, race, I've learned to let all of that stuff go. I think those are the things that I've learned.

I mean, sometimes I'm the smartest one. Sometimes I'm not the smartest one. Yeah. And when I know which one I am is when I'm smart. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what I'm saying? That's when I'm at my best. You got to remain open to both possibilities.

Yeah. It's like doing an improv scene with Chris Farley and trying to be funnier than him. Yeah, yeah. Like, I was smart enough to know, no, I just keep throwing pitches. yeah it's like doing an improv scene with chris farley and trying to be funnier than him yeah yeah like i was smart enough to know no i just keep throwing pitches he'll knock them out of the fucking park right right you know yeah well i have learned uh from this uh hour plus that i love you even more than i did before oh andy i think you are just a wonderful person. And I'm so happy that you did this. Me too. You know, because, you know, you don't like to spread it around your personal stuff very much.

I know. You don't. And that's why I'm very, very thankful to you for doing this. Andy, let me just tell you how much you mean to me okay you know how much you mean to me here's one of my closest friends and i want everybody to know that i me too with you yeah yes all right well let's end on this real emotion people it's real baby no i love you and I hope to see you soon you know yes

alright people thank you for listening and we will be back next week for more of these silly three questions I've got a big big love for you

The Three Questions with Andy Richter is a Team Coco and Your Wolf production it is produced by Elaine Gerbig engineered by Marina Pice

and talent produced by Kalitza Hayek. The associate producer is Jen Samples, supervising producer Aaron Blair, and executive producers Adam Sachs and Jeff Ross at Team Coco, and Colin Anderson and Cody Fisher at Earwolf. Make sure to rate and review the three questions with Andy Richter

on Apple Podcasts. Can't you tell my love's a-growing? This has been a Team Coco production podcasts. Can't you tell my loves are growing? Can't you tell my loves are growing? Can't you tell my loves are growing? Can't you tell my loves are growing? Can't you tell my loves are growing? Can't you tell my loves are growing? Can't you tell my loves are growing?

Can't you tell my loves are growing? Can't you tell my loves are growing? Can't you tell my loves are growing? This has been a Team Coco production in association with Earwolf.