Wild Card with Rachel Martin - Ilana Glazer on responsibility and a belief John Lithgow let go of

Episode Date: December 12, 2024

Comedian Ilana Glazer talks about being prepared at a young age for grown-up responsibilities and John Lithgow discusses a belief he had to let go of.This normally would be a bonus episode just for Wild Card+ listeners. With this being the season of giving, we're sharing this one with everyone! To hear more bonus content like this, regular episodes sponsor-free, and support the work of NPR, sign up for Wild Card+ at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Hey, it's Rachel. So we're doing something special here. In the spirit of giving, we are giving you a preview of our bonus episodes where you get to hear more questions and hear me reflect on what sticks with me about a particular guest or an answer that they gave. You also get a little peek behind the curtain about what goes into making our show. So usually, these are just for our wild card plus supporters, just to give them something a little bit extra for their support. We love our plus supporters, by the way. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, as always. And if you're not a plus support, yet. Well, this is supposed to be a kick in the pants, but it's still in PR, so it's more like a gentle little nudge to sign up. When you do, you're supporting all our work here. You get access to all these bonus episodes and you get to listen to every episode without ads. So go to plus.npr.org slash wildcard to find out more. And hey, what about a little gift subscription for your nearest and dearest and dearest this holiday season? Go to plus.npr.npr.org slash wildcard. Okay, with that, onto the episode. It's a little bit random how two guests end up in the same bonus episode, and it always

makes me happy to think about the two of them in real life, sitting down and having a beer together. In this case, it would be maybe a glass of French chardonnay for John Lithgow and an expertly rolled joint for Alana Glazer. John would quote Shakespeare, Alana would give hilarious color commentary, punctuated with a lot of F-bombs, and they'd come out on the other side as new unexpected best friends. I can't magically make that happen yet anyway. But I can offer up a couple bonus questions and answers from their respective wildcard episodes.

I was so excited to talk with Alana Glazer. Mainly because they've had so much life changed since I met them in 2014. Their stand-up career took off. They started writing and starring in movies with big-name co-stars. They also fell in love, got married, birth to child. There was a lot of ground to cover. But honestly, the most interesting thing I learned about Alana is that they are a damn hard worker.

They put blood, sweat, and tears into making the show Broad City with their friend and collaborator, Abby Jacobson. They hustled to build their stand-up career and get bigger and bigger movie projects. And you wouldn't blame them if they just decided to coast a little bit right now, right? But that's not their vibe. Sure, they present as this super chill pot-smoking cool girl who doesn't care what anyone thinks. But they're actually a type A achiever with a clear sense of themselves, how they can make a difference in the world and a work ethic.

that's going to make it all possible. So, here's our bonus Q&A with actor and comedian, Alana Glazer. One, two or three. Number two. Number two. How well did you adjust to the world of adult responsibility? I adjusted very well. Did you?

So now I've seen that. So I was always like very good and very, very anxious. And to quell that anxiety, I would. do and be generative and productive. And that really, I was very scared during college. When I was in high school, I was like really had my sights set on comedy. And once I got to college, I felt the first year I was like losing my mind. But like getting into the comedy scene and focusing, creating work and focusing on that work

and doing that work was what kept me grounded and sane. And like you could pay your bills? Yes. Yeah. The quotidian stuff of adulthood, you were prepared. Well, this will give you a bigger picture. I started working when I was nine. And as you saw in my stand-up special, like I developed young.

I looked older. I started mothers helping at nine. And I was like babysitting, but the parents around. But yeah, you get married. But the parents are drunk. Actually, I was nine years old. And I don't know, drunk or she was just like extra chill. Like, it was something.

This person was not sober for sure. You know, I was nine, but I looked 13, but it's like, but I'm still nine. I was watching twins, and one of them bit my breast, bit my breast. And I went in the bathroom. I was like, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. And I went in the bathroom, and I saw, like, little red bite marks of this jerk, this little toddler jerk. So the mom's drunk. You're watching twins and the toddler bite your boob?

Yeah, and I was like, give me a second. And I went in the bathroom and I was like, ow, dude. I mean, and he's like biting me because his mom should want to be hanging out with him. I get it. But like, ouch. And I started working then. I was like a bus boy when I was 12. I like started at 9 truly and never stopped working.

I waitressed from 14 to 18. I was just waitressing and nannying and babysitting and catering from the age of 9 until I was 24. Honestly, 27. Because you were saving up for something? Like as a 9. This career. It really was. It was like you were set on this and you knew you were going to need to move out of your parents' house.

Fully. Like fully. Yeah. I just kind of was always like preparing for something, you know. Now to Mr. Chardonnay and Shakespeare. John Lithgow is just a gem of a human being. I've loved so many of his roles, but really had no sense of who he was as a person. And then I came away from my conversation with him, not only knowing him a little better,

but wishing that maybe he'd let me crash his family's Christmas dinner. He was just so darn nice and thoughtful and funny in a dorky dad kind of way. I also really like when people are honest about the questions that I ask. I don't mean honest in their answers, obviously. I'm into that. I mean when they are honest about how they understand a particular question and whether it resonates with them or not, the questions are a reflection of the way that I see the world,

and that's going to be different than how other people see it. So when a question doesn't make sense or it doesn't connect with a guest, I love when they just say that. And then we talk about why. I appreciated that about John Lithgow. He was really listening, really thinking, and then opening up in ways that helped me understand the man behind all the TV, film, and theater credits. Here's your bonus moment with actor John Lithgow. One, two, or three. One.

What's a belief you chose to let go of? Belief that I've let go of... Well, I grew up without any particular religion, ironically enough, because all my grandparents were very religious. Both my parents were kind of black sheep who simply dispensed with that. And all of us kids are, you know, we never defined ourselves one way or the other, but we certainly had no religious training or religious convictions. So there was not that to let go of. I'd simply never had it to let go of.

It doesn't have to be a religious belief that one has released. You know, I've had a few aspirations that I've let go of. That's a little different. It's different, but I'm going to. I am, I dabble a lot. I hurl myself into something and then abandon it. I learned the guitar and got to the point of being mediocre

and then started working with really good musicians and decided I'm going to let them do it. I'll just do the singing. Same with the banjo. I got to a certain point with bluegrass banjo. And just eventually I felt, I'm never going to get good enough at this. Let's let it ride.

Never made that decision. but it just died on the vine. And I've done that with a lot of things. I've initiated a lot of projects. No, you're a starter. You're a starter. I'm a starter. And not many of them get to completion.

It's quite amazing when they do. You know, when I set out to write these political satire books, I had deadlines and dates. I absolutely had to get them done. Other people were counting on me, so I got them done. But left to my own devices, I'm, I've been. I can't quite. It's what I'm, it's what I like about,

I've always said what I like about acting is it's blissful irresponsibility. You know, you just show up for rehearsals and everybody does your work for you. You're given your lines, you're given your blocking, you're often driven to work and back. Movies, they treat you like a movie star. Oh, my God.

How wild. So you never want to be a director. You never want to be a director. I actually started out as a director. I started out as a theater director, mainly because I couldn't get acting work and working for my dad. But I way prefer acting. It's just so much more fun. I mean, basically, all of us in the theater or in movies and TV, we're storytellers,

but the actors are the ones who are really doing the storytelling. It's just simply too much fun to choose anything else for me. Okay, that's it for this week's bonus episode that we are making available to all y'all this week. See, it was so fun. It doesn't have to end here, friends. If you want access to all our bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening, consider signing up for Wild Card Plus. When you do, you support all the good work that NPR does.

Tell a friend or tell five, maybe give them a gift subscription while you're at it. Find out more at plus.npr.org slash wildcard. Talk to you next time.