WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Episode 1019 - Kyle Mooney

Episode Date: May 16, 2019

A fateful moment in Kyle Mooney’s life was when his high school hip hop group went up in flames. Quite literally. All his equipment was destroyed in a fire. Lacking an outlet for his creativity, Kyle gravitated toward improv and making digital videos, two skills that would eventually land him on Saturday Night Live. Kyle tells Marc his SNL story (of course) and talks about the fulfillment of making his first feature film, Brigsby Bear. He also explains why he likes going for human reactions in comedy as opposed to the inherently funny ones, which explains the tone and humor of a lot of his videos. This episode is sponsored by Mark Manson's new book Everything is F*@!ed: A Book About Hope, Turo, Allbirds, and Starbucks Tripleshot Energy. Sign up here for WTF+ to get the full show archives and weekly bonus material! https://plus.acast.com/s/wtf-with-marc-maron-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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To show your true heart is to risk your life. When I die here, you'll never leave Japan alive. FX's Shogun, a new original series streaming February 27th, exclusively on Disney+. 18-plus subscription required. T's and C's apply. Lock the gates! all right let's do this how are you what the fuckers what the fuck buddies what the fucking ears what the fuckadelics what's happening i'm mark maron this is my podcast wtf welcome to it how's going? How are you holding up? Touch and go over on this end.

Oh, by the way, Kyle Mooney is on the show today from SNL. Talked to him a while back. Tried to engage Mr. Mooney in some conversation. I think we did okay. He's a funny guy, and he does some interesting stuff on the show. So I was happy to talk to him. So that's going to happen in just a little while or right now if you fast forward

or in a little while if you hang out. What was I going to tell you? So I've been doing the therapy thing. I've been doing the EMDR therapy thing. And as I talked to you about it before, if you're just checking in, if you don't know what I'm talking about, I'm trying out EMDR, which is a sort of an interesting therapy that involves seemingly a toy, some buzzers you hold on to, alternating buzzers, or they can use iMovement. I should know what it stands for, shouldn't I? Oh, there it is. iMovement Desensitization and

Reprocessing, EMDR. I guess they've had a lot of success with it, treating people, veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. And they're just applying it to general trauma, i.e. being alive, childhood, what have you. Now, again, a lot of you know I'm not incapacitated. I'm not stuck in some tailspin all the time. But I just want to do some fine-tuning. Is that okay? I'd like to do some fine-tuning of the mental vessel, the brain carriage.

But the process of EMDR is interesting because in an hour, you sort of, you know, you reprocess an event. You pick a target event that you see as some kind of source of some of your um sort of trauma-based thinking or bad thinking or or something that holds you in a place of uh shame self-loathing anger whatever it is whatever is the the bit of business that could use some tweaking you find a target for it and you you find you sit in it. You say it, you sit in the feelings, you do the buzzers, and then you stop and you check in with the therapist and then tell her or him where your

brain is now. And then you go with that. And it's interesting to track stuff because if you're a human, you'll find that you'll talk about an event and you'll sort of circle around it and you'll end up right there standing in front of your parents saying something. Leave me alone. Go fuck yourselves. You don't really love me. Stop draining me. You guys are overwhelming. Some people say, I love you, mommy and daddy.

Thank you. I don't do a lot of that i i i i question their wiring abilities so all right but that's going well and you know as we drift closer to actual authoritarianism it's nice to have your own shit straight better know who you are when the shit goes down so at least you can hold on to your brain if your brain is wired correctly and you're not susceptible to uh to the mind fuck the big mind fuck it you know might help you out as we you know drift closer into a fairly clear uh authoritarian system which uh despite anyone's desire or or despite anyone you know that believes it's not happening it's happening there's a there's a an authoritarian system taking hold with a strong theocratic arm but then just a basic sort of, you know, kind of mind fuck, slippery slope, no truth anymore

kind of thing going on. You know, everybody's got their own perspective, their own opinion. They're the free thinkers. It's amazing how many of the free thinkers are just sort of, you know, untethered, confident idiots with, uh, with some new words and and other people's ideas but uh try to stay grounded try to make sure your wiring is tight will you can you i hiked today i saw a bunny tonight i will be at the grand opening event of the seattle international film festival with the film I made with Lynn Shelton called Sword of Trust. Should be exciting. That's tonight. Thank you for all the positive feedback on the work I did on Joe Swanberg's Easy.

I'm in episode six. This is season three, the final season. I did it with Melanie Linsky and Jane Addams. That's up as well. My tour dates coming up. Adams. That's up as well. My tour dates coming up. They are at WTFpod.com slash tour. I've got a lot of dates coming up, folks. Go check them out. The pressing date. Yeah. And it's going to happen. I know I kind of I put out a little dog whistle. Is that how you say it? That I might not do my St. Louis dates, but I'm doing it. I'm doing

them because people are buying tickets. St. Louis June 13th and 14th and 15th. I'll be at Helium Comedy Club. You can go get tickets to that at WTFpod.com slash tour. There are a lot of other dates

coming up. The nearest ones,ont and uh burlington vermont and madison wisconsin are sold out those are club runs the st louis date is also a club run which means i'll be doing several shows as opposed to uh one show at a theater working the shit out so bunny day so i do my hike hike and my buddy Michael got it in my head the other day and I've had it in my head before. It's just interesting how you think when you're afraid, which for me is much of the time. So I'm seeing bunnies and I talked to my buddy Mike that used to go up on the hill and he says afraid of mountain lions. I've had that fear. I've never

seen a mountain lion. The only thing I've ever seen up there are lizards, butterflies, stink bugs, crows, occasionally a hawk, one time a deer, a buck. No mountain lions. I've seen different varieties of shit where you're like, what did that? Where'd that shit come? Sometimes just dog, I imagine, because people are shitty people and they don't pick up their dog shitty shit. But sometimes it's sort of like, I don't't know i don't know what animal that came from so i got mountain lions in the brain when i go up there and so that right away i feel like well i'm doing something courageous just exercising i'm going up against the the great beasts of the wild but i got it in head that I'm going to be pounced,

and you start working the angles. Like, if I put my arm up, am I going to stop a mountain lion? You have to assume they're pretty well equipped to destroy you pretty quickly. Then I fantasize about how, like, I sense that it's going to jump on me, it's going to pounce, I duck, and then I flip it with my hands. With my arms, I flip it over as it's in midair pouncing, and I just push it and throw it over the edge and it tumbles down.

And I'm a hero. I'm a hero against the mountain lion. Yeah, that's one scenario. But the practical thing about it is I'm walking up this hill and I'm wondering if there are other people because I'm always assuming like that guy coming down didn't get eaten

or that guy's up ahead of me. He'll get eaten first. And I actually, for some reason, got into sort of a kind of a cluster of people going up the hill like they were they were hiking there was one guy who was ahead and then there were two other guys and I'm coming up behind him and then I passed the two guys and I'm behind the first guy and I actually thought in my brain this is a good position to be in maybe I'll just hang in this position I'll keep my distance I don't know these people but if the lion's going to come up from behind it's probably going to take this is a good position to be in maybe i'll just hang in this position i'll keep my distance i

don't know these people but if the lion's going to come up from behind it's probably going to take out those guys or at least one of them i'll keep those guys on on the back flank is that is that a flank uh they'll get they'll get taken out first and the guy up ahead he'll probably get uh pounced upon and mauled and eaten before me dragged off the trail by a mountain line i'll have my phone i could call the authorities i could try to help him out but i think i'll stay in the middle here so i don't take the hit these are people i didn't know and i was willing more than willing to throw them under the bus you know just to let them get just get mauled but i guess that's sometimes the way it goes. I mean, I could have warned everybody.

I said, maybe we should all stick together and hike up the mountain together and have a nice conversation, get to know each other. And if there's like four of us, I think the odds of getting, you know, attacked by one mountain lion are, you know, slight, small. And actually that's probably what we should have done. you know, slight, small. And actually, that's probably what we should have done. See, that would have been the exciting and human thing to do and the right thing to do.

Hey, you know, I'm scared of something. Maybe we could all talk about it and then just hang out together and get to know each other and come together, come together. It could be a mountain lion, could be global warming. It could be, you know, the next election. But, you know, come together against the thing that's going to come out of nowhere and fucking rip your neck apart. I've been cooking.

I've been taking care of myself, been EMDRing. I've been hiking. I've been working out. I've been eating well. I'm going to share with you a recipe right now because I think I invented something and I think it's pretty good. It's pretty specific, but it's pretty fucking good. Now I recommend homemade almond milk. Do you know how to make almond milk? You got to get a nut bag, but make your own almond milk. It's like you sprout some almonds, which means you just soak

them overnight. One cup, you put it in the Vitamix or powerful blender with five cups of water, a pinch of salt. I use two teaspoons of vanilla extract without alcohol in it because it just tastes better. I'm not worried about relapsing. And maybe two dates for sweetness. Then you blend that for a couple minutes, run it through the nut sack. I mean, the nut bag. Either way.

And you sort of kind of strain it out. And then you got fresh almond milk but here's this i guess i'll call it yam porridge can i call it that but they're not really yams maybe sweet potato porridge or you can use purple sweet potatoes then it's exciting that's that's a good menu item purple sweet potato quinoa porridge with or without a fried egg on top anything does it do anything for you? You want me to tell you how to make it? All right, so you can either use the red quinoa

or the regular quinoa, brown. Either one will work. It's prettier with the red quinoa. So I make my quinoa without, maybe just with a little salt. I don't use broth. I just use water. So you cook the quinoa.

You can keep it as long as you want. And then here's what I do. Here's what I do. I've got some roasted or steamed yams, maybe purple. You get about two ounces, three ounces of yam, slice it, and then cube it, okay? And then you get about a quarter cup of the quinoa, throw that in a little pot, and then get about a quarter cup of your almond milk, throw that in too. And then throw your yams in. And then get it simmering. And then smash the yams up with a wooden spoon and just stir it until it gets a nice sort of like thick porridge consistency. And that's done. All right, that's it.

You can throw a little stevia in if you like. It's sweeter. Maybe, you know, if you want. So now you have your purple yam quinoa porridge. And then see, like, I'm a guy, like, I like eggs with sweet things. Like, I'll eat a pancake with a fried egg on top. You know, I love it. So the yolk just goes over it.

So then you can just fry up an egg. Today I fried it in ghee. I just did an over-easy egg in ghee, put it on top of the purple yam quinoa porridge, and sliced it up so the yolk ran into it and that was breakfast that's the purple yam quinoa porridge with homemade almond milk with or without uh over easy egg on top all right you're welcome i know that like to some people that's just gonna be like but to other people but that's life isn't? Don't let the lion rip your throat out. Be careful of mountain lions, both literal and metaphorical.

Bond with other people. Discuss the possibility of having your thorax just destroyed in the gaping maw of a mountain lion, literal or metaphoricic talk to people about it how do we stop it how do we stop bunnies so look kyle mooney kyle mooney's been on snl for a while he's a quirky guy he's an odd guy he's always a very funny guy uh the season finale of Saturday Night Live is this Saturday, May 18th. Paul Rudd is hosting. And this is a conversation I had with Kyle Mooney a few months ago.

Enjoy. You can get anything you need with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So, no, you can't get snowballs on Uber Eats. But meatballs and mozzarella balls, yes, we can deliver that. Uber Eats, get almost, almost anything. Order now. Product availability may vary by region. See app for details. Are you self-employed? Don't think you need business insurance? Think again. Business insurance from Zensurance is a no-brainer for every business owner because it provides peace of mind. A lot can go wrong. A fire, cyber attack, stolen equipment,

or an unhappy customer suing you. That's why you need insurance. Don't let the, I'm too small for this mindset, hold you back from protecting yourself. Zensurance provides customized business insurance policies starting at just $19 per month. Visit Zensurance today to get a free quote. Zensurance. Mind your business. Yeah. business yeah do you think the new people know that it is an iconic garage and place i don't know some people don't i i i did a a meet kind of like these neighbors across the street had people

over yeah for the holidays like let's all meet each other new neighbors across the street had people over for the holidays. Like, let's all meet each other, new neighbors across the street. They moved in a little after I did. And some people knew who I was, and some people don't really give a shit. Right. They don't register it. So I go, it's a podcast. Like, oh, okay. My thought was, though, as I was approaching that,

like there are celebrities that are probably doing the same thing that I'm doing, which is parking right outside your house and walking in all the time yeah people notice more in my old neighborhood my neighbors did but it's weird with who they gravitate towards like you know uh like for years my across the street neighbor just couldn't believe adam carolla had you know walked into my house sure yeah but uh i don't know how many people are noticing here i i yeah it's it's definitely a different situation here. And I've had people, you know, Howie Mandel just left. Oh, nice.

About an hour ago. He said to say hi. He seems like a very sweet man. I don't know if I've ever met him in person, but he had some nice tweets towards me. Yeah, you did him. I guess. I was told to do him, and I did as, you know, the bald cap did the acting, I would say.

Is that sometimes how it goes? They kind of like, well, who can do this? You do it. Yeah. I mean, like, I certainly don't. I'm not a great impressionist, I would say, and I don't think anybody assumes that I will be great at it. So, yeah, when it's something like that, where like something will sell it, and in that case,

his baldness, I just, I guess they put that on me and then that's the impression. Do you feel the pressure though to do impressions? I mean, you have to do them. Are there any that you volunteer to do where you're like, I can do that? Are there any that you volunteer to do where you're like, I can do that? I'm trying to think. I feel like I have volunteered and then they've been cut before because they're not that good. I'm very okay with the fact that I'm not great at them. Yeah.

I don't know. That's a very specific talent. Yeah, yeah. But you're sort of, in to play be a team player. You got to do it right. Yeah. So that means that you just have to be as decent enough that you're not people don't call you awful. Well, how do you get over the weird kind of self-consciousness of it? I mean, I imagine if you don't like doing impressions, you don't think you're good at it that, you know, going into got to be like oh god sure yes absolutely it's like i mean in the dressing room talking with beck who'll be

we share a dressing room it'll just be like this isn't good right i know i'm not doing this is this fine more of the question is like will this do enough justice that people won't hate me oh is it is it personal or is it in the sense that like you're like well i know it's only you know it's got to look right it's only one sketch or one beat i have one line is this guy will it sell it but but also you have to deal with being a i imagine a relatively sensitive person you have to you don't want to be the guy that everybody says you sucked the day after right and now i feel like i've spent so much time talking about it now there's people are going to look into it more and think about it more and like right now specifically yes they're

is that are we recording right now sure but already you're like uh this is well now they know that i feel weak at them so now they can really like. Yeah. Zero in on them. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Do you get, is that a problem? Do you, are you finding you're getting a lot of, everybody gets trolls, but I mean, what's the, I mean, I imagine it's a pretty young audience and I don't necessarily, I don't want to be condescending to young people, but there's a lot of little monsters out there. Oh, sure.

I'm sure I do. I've become really good about not paying attention to the internet or anything. I try to avoid everything when I can. You do? Yeah. And you have success at that?

I think so. I feel like maybe at most once a month I'll come across something that affects me. But now over time i feel like i've developed the talent of letting it only affect me for two hours or something like that you know give yourself a time limit well it's just it's just naturally lessened i feel like it used to last maybe several days and now it's just a small i'm gonna let that anonymous douchebag yes only take up two hours of my life yeah what

are the ones that really kind of land with you where you're like i mean like i you know i i started i made internet videos before i got on the show and um oh so like you had to deal with comment boards and they're like for some reason i don't even know what it's it's some sort of weird universal law that there's got to be about like eight douchebags who just are relentless. Yes. And then you have that weird moment where you realize, oh, this is the same guys.

There's like four of these guys and there's 900 posts. Yes. The worst ones for me were always ones that just like cut very deeply into some seemingly honest place. Sometimes they were very existential. It would just be like,

Kyle's not the same as he used to be or something like that. I'm just like, oh no, are they right? Is that true? It's such a trick how they can like, I don't know that they know we're all fundamentally insecure or what kind of havoc's to wreak on our brains

but there's something about the vague ones that leave a lot for us to sort of ponder where yes am i is that showing right am i yes and it's not i'm pretty sure it's not no that's the i i think the breakthrough for me was realizing like there's an art to trolling. Oh, sure. You know, that's all they're trying to do is to get you to react to them publicly. Right. So like, and then if you do, no matter what it is, they're like, ah, got it. Like it's a game. It's like a video game. Yes.

But sometimes there are persons who I don't think are, I'm trying to figure out how I can articulate this. They're not trolling from a negative place. I'm trying to figure out how I can articulate this. They're not trolling from a negative place. Sometimes I feel like fans will tag me in something that's like a negative critique. You know, it's like, look at this. These people thought you were shitty in this or something like that.

It's like, well, why are you showing, if you like me, why are you showing me this? Yeah, and then once you engage, then they've connected. Sure, sure, sure. That's the grail, I think. The one time Kyle responded. Well, it's probably not going to happen.

But you're on Twitter, right? Yeah. I feel like I don't really engage with persons I don't know, though. No? Yeah. Yeah, I'm trying to. I haven't been posting anything other than promotional stuff, but I still read it compulsively. Yeah. Oh, yeah. i check it out i yes like i'm like if anyone asked me i'm like what's going on then i see i i

read it more just in terms of what's trending and right i or your feed with people you're following yeah yeah exactly yeah you grew up here i'm from san diego but i went to USC, and I lived in LA for a decade prior to getting hired by the show. So San Diego. Yeah, I grew up probably like 15, 20 minutes inland from La Jolla, a place called Scripps Ranch. Scripps Ranch. It was cool.

I mean, San Diego's kind of a lot of it is what you would maybe imagine. It's surfer dudes and kind of a low-key lifestyle. Yeah. How'd your parents find their way there? That's a good question. My father's from Massachusetts. He came to California to go to school. He went to school in Orange County and then down to San Diego State.

He just stayed? Yeah County and then down to San Diego State. You just stayed? Yeah, and then my mother, I don't know what, she's from the Bay Area. I don't know, I don't remember exactly what brought her to San Diego. And they just, but they. But they met, yeah, she was, my mom was the first female sports writer in San Diego, journalist. Yeah. So that was her thing for a while. Does she like sports?

I don't know. I don't know. I think she liked journalism, and maybe that was the best gig to get at the time. That's interesting. Yeah. Because I know another guy whose dad became a very renowned writer about sports, but was not necessarily a sports guy. Yeah, I don't consider her as such.

Well, what's her angle? Does she have a tone? Does she, like, is she... She retired when I was probably like seven. Oh, so you don't know. Yeah, but she's always, I mean, she's a talented writer. I guess her angle is her personality.

Yeah, but I mean, because sometimes sports writers have sort of like their, you know, people like reading them because they liven up the thing. Well, I'm sure all of her readers felt that way. You haven't gone back and pulled the micro-fish. I would love to. That would be fun.

Yeah, I should. Thank you for reminding me or putting that idea out there. Did she write books or anything? No, but she did write a few of my papers in middle school and high school. Yeah. And I feel like my college essay, the essay to get...

Oh, really? It wasn't like she helped you? She literally... She pretty much did it. Yeah. And it got you in? Yeah, I'm not complaining. It's kind of a...

I think that crosses the line as a mother. Yes, I bet a lot of people would feel that way. And it's not something that I'm proud of. And I feel like after the age of 18, I took on more responsibility in terms of doing my own work. Good for you. Thank you. And what's your dad do? He works in city and community planning yeah engineer no planner

city planner like he ran a company for a while while i was growing up um that did all sorts of things yeah everything that goes into planning a community so like archaeology biology everything before they put in a place. And he still does that. Yeah, I've dealt with them because I have to do some work here. They can be pretty tough. I'm sure, yeah. They have to draw the line where you're like,

I want to build this thing on my house. I'm like, I don't know. I don't think so. Can you give me some plans? He's that guy? Yeah, he's more, I think, before this house even exists, maybe. Or like, planning like a plaza, like a center for shops or whatever it may be,

or parks in an area that like, you know, wants to revamp it in some way or another. Isn't it weird how little we know about our parents? It is weird, and it's so sad, because I've lived with it my entire life and yet i can't fully explain what it is they have these whole lives that we you know we find bits and pieces out about as we get older and you're there's those moments you're like you did that yes you have brothers and sisters i've got two older brothers. Are they decent people?

Yeah, yeah, they are definitely, yeah. What's their racket? My oldest brother, he does stuff for, I think, the city of San Rafael. Another big city job. Just, Mark, come on. It's okay. I don't want to talk about my brother's jobs. What about the other job?

What about the other job? Ryan lives in Brooklyn, which is nice. He's the middle brother. I'm the youngest. Is he in the arts? He writes. He likes to write. Yeah.

But he works for a nonprofit for refugees. Oh, that's good. Yeah, it's cool. That was one of the nice things about when I moved to New York. To have a brother there? Yeah. And you can get along. That's good. Yeah, yeah. It's been... That was one of the nice things about when I moved to New York. To have a brother there? Yeah. And get along. That's good. Yeah, yeah. It's been...

Does he come to the show? Probably like twice a year. Yeah? But we hang out once a week. Obviously, I guess the schedule is maybe famously grueling, and so Sundays are the only day that I really get to do anything, and we usually meet up. Do you live in Brooklyn? No, I live in the west village you like new york i do i i do i really like it a lot i think one of the takeaways i'll have

after this experience it's in here in the garage the new garage yeah the new garage um in snl you mean yeah yeah it's it's it's just you's obviously a specific way of living in New York because the job takes up so much of our time and so much of my mental state that I don't experience New York in the way that somebody just moved to New York would. Right. And there are major positives that come with that and lows. I don't know a ton of neighborhoods outside of my own. Right.

I don't get to explore. But also I get to see Paul McCartney at an after party or something like that. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So the compromise is worth it. Absolutely. You don't get up to Morningside Heights much. That's true. Yes. I couldn't tell you where Morningside Heights is. Right. I think that's a place. But no,

I know what you mean, but that's the same with anywhere. I lived in New York for years, but eventually, you've got your four blocks, you've got the stores you go to, and then you've got the things you do. I never went above 14th Street, rarely. A lot of things are going on. I know the people, relatively. The neighbors, store. Yes lot of things are going on. I know the people, you know, relatively. Neighbors, store. Yes, yeah. The laundry guy, the bartenders. That's the great thing about New York.

It doesn't happen too often in other places, I don't think. I guess people go to regular places, but for some reason, New York, you can really, after you've lived there a while, walk down the street and everyone's sort of familiar. Absolutely. It's awesome. It's nice. Yes. All right, so San Diego, I don the street and everyone's sort of familiar. Absolutely. It's awesome. It's nice. Yes.

All right, so San Diego, I don't know that that's known to be a hotbed of comedy minds. I'm not sure what goes on down there. I know it's pretty and there's a beach and there are seals in some places. You can see seals.

Yeah, SeaWorld. So how do you, like what are you doing as a young man? What are you doing in the high school? What was your position socially? Yeah, I think people thought I was a funny person. I don't even like saying that out loud. For some reason, I always feel weird saying that.

But yeah, I think throughout. I think you've established yourself as a funny person. Oh, I appreciate it. I think it's valid and it's okay for you to say that I was a funny person. Okay, well, I was a funny, people thought I was a funny person. Oh, I appreciate it. I think it's valid and it's okay for you to say that I was a funny person. Okay, well, I was a funny... People thought I was a funny person. Good for you. We're making real progress today.

Yeah, throughout, I feel like growing up. And then, yeah, in high school I started doing... I took drama classes and they started an improv troupe my junior year. Did you do plays? A little bit, yeah. I did The Tempest, Shakespeare. In high school? Yeah. Wow. Jean-Paul Sartre's No Exit.

Those are heavy high school. Those are the two ones I did. Yeah? Yeah. You did No Exit in high school? I did, yeah. Directed by our English teacher, Brady Kelso. Was he the guy that was the cool English teacher? Yeah, people liked him a lot.

Yeah. He'd show movies. Oh, yeah? Like classics? Yeah. No, except that's the one where people can't get out of the room? Yeah, it's like a purgatory. Two guys and a girl, I think?

Or no? Is it three people? Two women and a guy, I think. Two women and a guy? That's the way we did it. Yeah, I don't quite remember it, but it's some bigger allegory about life. Absolutely, yeah. And as a 17-year-old, I understood all of the many layers that made up.

Yeah, of course. Very deep. It's glad that that guy had you guys going through the motions. It was fun. It's kind of amazing to think how difficult of a thing that is just to memorize those lines and perform those. It's quite an undertaking. And you did it. how difficult of a thing that is to just to memorize those lines and perform those. That's, that's quite an undertaking. And you did it.

I did it. I, and I, and I think people, I think it was good relatively. Yeah. I, you don't,

don't you wish you could see like some footage of that though. Cause I remember like we did plays, I did a couple of plays in high school or maybe junior high even, and you're putting on the fake mustache and you're wearing the suits and everything. And you know, you And because you don't, I don't know if it's we don't know what to judge ourselves against or we just feel like we're pulling it off.

But I gotta assume that if you looked at your 17-year-old self doing no exit, there'd be sort of like, oh my God, what was I thinking? But that exists with things I did probably like five years ago. Sure, of course.

It's just wild to me. You're wearing a fake mustache and you're like, we're really doing, we're honoring this connection. Feeling so confident. Absolutely. Yeah. But the Tempest, I don't even know what that's about. Do you know Shakespeare?

Are you a Shakespeare guy? I can't say that I am, but I can say that I know the Tempest pretty well. I still remember some of the lines. There's nice, like which ones? I played Prospero, who's the main dude. He,

some monologue where he's like, I pray thee, mock me, that a brother could be so perfidious. He whom next I owned, I can't accept that effect. Yeah, he got right in it. Well, yeah, i'm feeling it still do you have any desire to do that type of acting

sure yeah yeah and what else so you're in the drama club and did you like uh like where did you write for the paper or anything no the other big thing I did in high school was I was really into hip hop. So I was in a hip hop group with my two friends, Dave and Robert. But yeah, no, besides that. Did you guys perform? We did. We did shows. We had, we put out a CD of like probably like 15 tracks and sold it around the school.

Popular? I think so. Yeah. The thing is, our whole, we were really into conscious and underground hip hop, if that makes any sense.

Who were those people? I'm an old man, so I don't know hip hop. That would be like Tribe Called Quest or, I don't know, Hieroglyphics or The Far Side. These groups

who maybe were kind of more jazzy and forward thinking as opposed to like what was mainstream radio rap or hip hop. And that's kind of like the only thing we talked about in our songs was how we weren't mainstream. Yeah. So like, yes, well, people may have liked us.

It was probably also one of those things that if you were to to really experience it again, you'd find it incredibly obnoxious. You're just constantly... Like, we don't care about the money. We don't need it. Like, that sort of thing. It's sort of the hip-hop version of that character you do, Chris Fitzpatrick.

Oh, yes. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes. You have to know those... I mean, it's so funny. Some of the characters you do is different than a lot of the other stuff on SNL because they seem

like fairly genuine people yeah I think that that character in particular I think people say that about a lot too oh they do? yeah because yeah someone maybe that we all had in our lives at some point or like on the periphery

oh you might have been kind of that guy. Yes, exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But like, yeah, it's a very specific type. But there's something about, I think, coming up making your own videos where you start to realize that there's this tone of regular people doing videos

that is slightly, it's not even so much it's not professional. There's actually, because I noticed this with a lot of the stuff you do, the man on the street stuff too, that these people, you can't even put your finger on it, but they are so incapable of presenting. Yes. That there's just this weird nuance to them being just regular people

who just do not have the hang of, you know, they think they're doing a good job, but they're not. We were, I think, I feel very fortunate in the sense that when I started making videos and kind of towards the end of my time in college, like YouTube was just becoming a thing and I got really into it and I was obsessed with that sort of thing. Like kids just putting up videos, talking directly to camera. I really was especially into these vlogs where a person would just talk directly to camera but would only have like 50 views on it or something like that, but still act as if it's like,

hey guys, I want to apologize for not making a video last week. It's like, who are you talking? Nobody is really paying attention. And I love that idea that like. There's a bit of sadness to it because you know they know it too. Yes, exactly. At the core of that person having that confidence, there's the knowledge that they're like, you know, this is going to work. I'm going to get, they're going to come.

Yes. Yes. Yeah. So when did you start doing that? That would have been probably about spring of 2007. So yeah, so when I was at USC, I joined the improv troupe there and sketch group. And we would do a show, an improv show every week and a sketch show. What was the one called in high school? What was the improv show group?

I think that was called IA ia improv army yeah and then in college it was uh comedic interruptus right so by the time you're in like high school like because i'm what 55 what are you 35 yeah so 34 but yeah but like it was like within the world of high school drama culture and everything else, like SNL and sketch groups and UCB was already known. Like people were aspiring to that. Yes. I think like I probably wasn't aware of certainly SNL. Absolutely. That was kind of in high school.

It would have been like the Will Ferrell era. Right. UCB, like they had a show on Comedy comedy central that's how i was aware of them and not until i got into college did i become aware of their theater but but like i don't remember their well maybe i just didn't know but like the uh an improv group in a high school just seems like an interesting thing it was new to me when it started because it truly started my junior year uh i feel like yeah what i was aware of was like, whose line is it anyway, which is on TV. Right, on Comedy Central.

So like when you were a little kid, you watch that. Yeah. And what was it, who was in charge of that? How did you know what to do as an improv? That was one of the drama teachers, Blair Hambuchan, who came from the theater world and had done improv and so kind of brought it to our school. Yeah.

Yeah, it was fun. It kind of brought it to our school yeah um yeah it was fun it kind of i guess opened up that avenue and there was how many people a lot of people in it 10 or 15 were you writing sketches or just all improv that was pretty much all improv though we would make we did like we hosted like a talent show and maybe and wrote bits for that and what do you like what'd you learn from doing that like you you know i know you got to be in the moment and everything but were you were you doing characters early on yeah a little bit i don't know i mean i think just general performing things i kind of learning laughs yeah getting laughs and learning to you know what works for audiences you know yeah i would say like you learn how to listen,

but I can remember, I have one specific memory of this girl of, like, me doing a joke on a game, and then, like, right after the show, this one of the other troupe members coming up to me, she's like, I just made that joke right prior to you saying that. You've got to listen. I was like, oh, yeah, sorry.

But I got more laughs than her, and I don't mean that in a mean way. Yeah when you graduated you what'd you what'd you want to study in at usc film yeah and i was that was something that i became aware of via other the older dudes in the improv troupe they were like oh we want to go to film school and so then i thought that seems like a cool thing to be into so the hip-hop career you realized wasn't going to... I kind of like always say like it's my freshman year at USC, I auditioned for the improv troupe on campus, but that same week my father's house burned down,

which had all of my records and my like production equipment in it. Your parents separated? Yeah. Oh, man. So it's a weird, so it's like i kind of symbolically i feel like my hip-hop career ended when all of my gear burnt up burnt up and then like i got onto the improv and sketch group everything no one got hurt nobody got hurt my my father and his wife were on their honeymoon in hawaii which is kind of sad. Yeah, and they came home and they burnt to the ground? Yep.

What happened, how did it happen? It was, I think the Cedar fires of San Diego in 2003, it was like a big fire. Several places burned down? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, that's a fucking drag. Yeah. But he's back on his feet or?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. So that was it, that was a sign from the universe. That's the way I look at it now, maybe. I mean like I- Hip hop was not for you. Yeah, and I got into, I got definitely further into the improv sketch comedy thing.

When you decided to go to USC, it was just sort of like, yeah, film sounds good. You weren't like a film nerd or like completely. I think I tried to be, I think I wanted to be. Yeah. I wrote an essay on like, on Space Odyssey to get into the school. Did your mother write it?

That one I'm pretty sure I wrote, but I also think that I copied some major portions from some blog post I found on the internet. But it worked. I like how you're so matter-of-fact about this plagiarizing your mother. Well, now I can't get it. Well, I mean, when I was there, when I was studying film, my friend Dave McCary,

who has directed a lot of the shorts that I've made and was at SNL, he's no longer there. Yeah. And we made a movie together called Brigsby Bear. Oh, I watched it. Oh, cool.

Yeah. He was not going to USC, but was in essence living with me while I was there. You knew him from San Diego? Yeah, we grew up Diego yeah we grew up together exactly you've been working together a long time was he in the hip-hop band he was yes it's not called the band is it you can call whatever you like group you could also we were called instruments of intelligence if you want to refer to us by our real name he was in instruments

of intelligence he was he was peewee wizard he wouldn't like me saying that it's that part of his wife he's trying to get behind him? Absolutely, yes. Yeah. He's not- Pee-Wee Wizard's not on board. Not very proud of, I guess specifically

just the sound of his voice, the pitch of his voice. Uh-huh. But yeah, he was going to a film school. He was going to Brooks Institute of Photography, which is in Ventura.

Yeah. And then coming down to hang out with us. And he kind of, in essence, I feel like ghost film school he was going to brooks institute of photography which is in vitura yeah um and then coming down to hang out with us and he kind of in essence i feel like ghost directed a lot of the movies i was turning in to class at usc so i guess i kind of oh you guys did take advantage of a lot of was he older than you no oh he just went to a different school but then he was living with you over there yeah i feel like i found out over the course of being at school like while doing comedy and stuff and going to classes that i liked i preferred both being on camera and writing rather than like straight directing or you did stand up a camera

no not really a little bit bit. Yeah? Yeah. Wasn't for you? I liked it every time I did it. I just don't think I had the drive that my friends who were really into it did. And I never wanted to go to a spot. Yeah. Wait around. Multiple times in a week or anything like that.

Right. Yeah. You didn't have the compulsion. No. The obsession to do it. So you come up here from San Diego, you're at USC, and you're just studying film and you're making movies with your pal. Yeah.

And also doing sketch comedy with this group on campus. What was it called again? Comedus Interruptus. And that, incidentally, Beck Bennett, who's on SNL, I met him doing that. We were freshmen the same year. Yeah, he's a funny guy. Yeah, he's great. He's a Chicago guy, so he must have grew up with that shit.

Yes. Yeah, he did like Second City classes in high school. And you guys are friends now? We're very close. And then we had another friend, Nick Rutherford, who was also on the improv troupe. And then basically myself, Nick, Beck, and Dave formed a sketch group after college called Good Neighbor. And that kind of fed into what I do now. But you went the whole four years at USC?

Mm-hmm. And what was the degree in? Film studies, critical studies film. So not filmmaking? Correct. Film history? Theory, yeah. I did that. I did that as a minor

i liked it yeah not as much pressure you know and i got to like focus on other things you got to read all those old articles like andrew saris and you know the uh like uh did you study the semiotics and that kind of stuff probably it's really sticks You get to watch a lot of movies though, right? That, yes. What did you think was going to happen with that? Or were you just sort of like, did you just pull together a major knowing that like sketch comedy was really the thing?

I mean, that's what I, I went in there assuming I would maybe become like a film director or something like that. And then, yeah, I think over the course of my time at the school i found that like i was becoming a decent performer and yeah i could maybe pursue that acting or something like that but it wasn't uh you didn't have any big ideas i mean we always wanted to i think we always wanted to like have our own tv show or something like that and yeah

and when as like we progressed doing the sketch comedy thing and then when we started making our own videos for youtube that was the hope. What was the one that popped? Was there a point where you're like, this is catching on? Yeah, probably within a year, people started watching. And it was easier back then, I think, because there wasn't as much stuff on the internet. This is when you were in college? I graduated, let's say, summer of 2007.

I think we started spring of 2007. So it kind of fed into the end of school. It was you and Beck and Rutherford and the other guys. Yeah. And were you doing like, was it one of those things where you were getting hundreds of thousands of views? It started off slow. We made one video probably like six months into doing it. That was like the only topical thing we ever made, which was a video about Jamie Lynn Spears at the time was pregnant and she was 16 or something like that yeah and that like Perez Hilton blogged about that and that was a time in which that was a very important thing so that video got like five million hits and then I think our other videos started to get picked up after that because of that and were you doing characters yeah are they characters that stayed with you your entire career now I mean early on I'm trying to think do you have a name for that guy that interviewed people at sporting events?

I think we usually refer to it as like, yeah, the interview character or people will say like awkward Kyle or something like that. Yeah, that stuff all kind of came from that era. The weed guy? The weed guy, definitely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. That was, yeah. Did you base that on somebody?

Did you base that on somebody? That was just like around that time, the people I lived with smoked and I didn't. And so it was just me, a lot of me trying to talk about, like I knew stuff about weed and I didn't. Yeah. I like weed culture too. It's funny to me.

Yeah. But you don't drink or smoke? I drink. I don't really smoke. I did a little bit in high school, but no, I don't. I imagine it makes you paranoid? Yeah. Does it?

Yeah? Yeah. You're already halfway there? I can't tell. Maybe, yeah. Yeah? It was fun for two years, probably, when I was like 15. But you don't want to make a life out of it. I don't need to, but I support everybody who wants to.

You're pro weed, but you don't need it. I'm really pro weed. Yeah. I can't stop talking about it. So, all right. So now what, how does it work now? So you got these videos. So before you even start performing as a sketch group or were you performing, you already had somewhat of a following.

Yeah, a little bit we were doing definitely like trying to do the ucb like performing at ucb at the same time and we had performed so much done so many sketches in college that we like brought some of those live sketches to like ucb or other the old one franklin yeah but yeah i think the videos kind of you know it turned out that oh we should really focus on this because this is what people are noticing. How are you making a living at that point? I had a job for a little while working at USC. And then eventually we start I started getting like commercial acting work to the McDonald's tea commercial. did a McDonald's tea commercial. I did some phone company commercial that was like LinkedIn with Iron Man 2.

That year was really good. I feel like I made like 30 grand or something like that. You did a few of them? It was great. Yeah. And I love like, did you ever do that, commercial acting? No, never did any commercials.

One I did, one sprint commercial. It was a fluke. I was doing comedy in Austin, Texas, and I wasn't even in the main room because I didn't sell it out. So I was in a dumb little room, and for some reason, a director who was a big movie director was directing a Sprint commercial in Austin, came to my show, and booked me to do the thing the next day. That's great.

Did it work out for you? Was it good? It was fine. You know, it was like I didn't have to do much, and I was working with children, and I made a child cry, and not on purpose. It was a very, yeah, they wanted,

I was playing some sort of coach at some sort of school, and they needed reaction shots from the kids, so they wanted me to just improvise and so you said something very mean to this child i just said do you like harry potter and the kids like yeah and i go he dies in the next movie oh no i know but i like i don't have kids so i didn't really know that there was a line but is that a usable take the kid crying would that work okay because there's a there's a world where that's great that you got there. No, no.

Not only was it not great, but the crew ostracized me at lunch. Like, you know, what kind of monster are you? But, you know, I didn't really put myself out there for a lot of commercials. So you had a commercial agent? Yeah. And as the videos caught on, that was helpful because then eventually, like, people in the room started knowing who I was. The commercial booking. Yeah.

And then also for like TV gigs. Oh, okay. I did a Parks and Rec episode. And then I also did some, I did that interview character for. For Kimmel? First for Norm MacDonald. Yeah. Who had a show on Comedy Central.

Where did he see you? His son was a fan. Oh, really? Yeah, yeah oh really yeah yeah oh that's funny and then yeah kimmel produced norm's show and so then i started doing it for kimmel as well yeah when you when you create that character like you know when you like because they all seem to sort of organically come from who you are somehow what what did you just uh where'd you pull that guy from i i think you're right i think it is just a version of me but that was a scenario where we went down to the lakers had won a championship and they had a parade right downtown that was the first one yes and so it was kind of like dave

being like we should go and film something, not knowing what to shoot. And then having this character in the back of my mind and then just used it doing it, basically. Right. The character was just somebody who- Who just doesn't know stuff, I guess. Yeah. Can't articulate. And socially awkward.

Yes. Yes. Has no idea how to engage with people. Exactly. Yeah. How do you, because for me, like, you know, right away, and it's weird because this is something you share with Howie Mandel, the love of making people uncomfortable. But just sitting in that, I mean, don't you just want to run away or you just like it? I feel like people ask me that a lot.

Really? Yeah. I guess I like it. Or you don't think like it. I feel like people ask me that a lot. Really? Yeah. I guess I like it. Well, you don't think about it. You're more about the- Well, I guess what's on my mind mostly, like if I'm like holding the microphone and trying to create a moment is like,

let's keep this going. I want to make something usable. That's ultimately the goal is like, I want to make a video out of this. You want it to be funny. Yes. I hope we get stuff because like, that is the fear always

that we'll go to some event and i'll spend like two hours talking to people putting myself in awkward situations and then we'll look at the video and be like oh this is bad this there's nothing here to know yeah right so that's probably the main thing in my head is just like how can i keep this thing going but it's also weird because like you know there are times where you you you kind of like in the moment with that character in particular you you you kind of like morph into the people you're talking to for a second you just sort of like your your your personality is so fragile and needy in some weird way that all you can do is sort of glom onto their tone yes i think it's that but i think that's human i think it's like oh no definitely you want to be cool this

guy wants to be cool and like these people that he's talking to are cool. And so he's trying to, yeah, become them or like speak in their language. That's where you get a lot of the buttons of those bits. Yeah. Just sort of like, but that was before people knew you. Do you find it's harder for you to do shit like that now? I think so, yeah. We tried to shoot one last year at Yankee Stadium. And yeah, definitely people are no... The frustrating thing to me is that hypothetically, if you are a fan and are aware of that character or something like that,

you would know if you're seeing me interview somebody to not yell out, yell out kyle what's up man like in the middle of a tank no that happens it's the same i think that's sort of the same uh impulse is trolling like you know they they'll always do that right or they'll just try to fuck it up on purpose it's the same people that haunt their horns when you're shooting something on the street you know it's sort of like, why? So frustrating. But I don't know what we're expecting out of people.

I don't know. I don't really know what that impulse is. Here's my issue. And I don't want to put myself on a pedestal or something like that. But, like, I felt like as a child or as a fan, as a high school teenager, like any of the things i was into i wouldn't i wouldn't have the guts to like even approach somebody like that it's like for me i just put everything on it meant so much to me yeah right the respect yes yeah there's a fundamental awe yeah and respect of people who are professionals in doing a thing yeah well i think that a lot of

that's deteriorated over time i think a lot of people are like, you're nothing. You're not better than me. Nah. And that's it. We also get, I'll get a lot of like, make more videos. And I kind of felt like, well, we made all of these videos for you for free to watch. I know. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

When's the next one coming out? Right. Yeah, it's weird. There's a weird sort of hostile entitlement to the people that don't do things. Right. And yet I feel like I've done a lot. I feel so good. I feel great about stuff I've made for you.

And it's out there. It stays out there. But, you know, what are they doing? They're just living their lives and, like, they see one of your things and they're like, oh, shit. And then they just want that feeling as much as possible. I guess that's a sympathetic position. So, all right, so you're doing these things and you do it for Norm,

you're doing TV bits here and there. So how does the SNL thing unfold? Well, I auditioned, I think in the summer of 2012 and I also brought over Dave to interview him. What do you mean? I sent in a tape to interview him as a video director on the show. Oh, so your entry was the video angle. Well, I made, yeah, a videotape of characters and impressions that I sent to them.

Who was on that? I thought you didn't do too many. Your own characters, but how many impressions were on that? Two. I mean, it was like Dog dog the bounty hunter or something like that i don't even put it right away gone yes that was that was the whole thing was just i mean i don't even know if i know how dog talks just like so you're on the bounty hunter it was probably something like that yeah so you did a couple of those reluctantly you knew knowing that i had to do them who told you how to do it i think that well i'm sure my rep said that but also i feel like i put personal pressure on myself because you've got to show that you have something here

yeah um so you did a couple impressions and some video guys. Some characters, yeah. And we submitted that tape and then- Through your agent. Yeah. It wasn't just an unsolicited submission. It was not. No, and I think people over at the show were aware of us and aware of the videos. Yeah. Like Lonely Island was there at the time and-

With Sandberg? Sandberg and Yorma and Akiva and I had met, I think I'd met them at that point. Yeah. Yorm incidentally directed the episode of Parks and Rec I did. Okay. So I think there were people at SNL who knew what we did.

I was invited to audition in New York. In the studio? In the studio. With Lauren sitting there and two other people? It was Lauren. I feel like there was more than, it was Lauren and then I feel like a handful of

writers producers um that's a stressful moment isn't it oh yeah yeah i mean the build-up to that where you're just like hanging in the dressing room did you have the meeting with him one-on-one yet no it was for you did the thing in the studio yeah yeah And how did it go? I think pretty well. Did you get laughs? I feel like I got two laughs maybe. Yeah. I left New York feeling like I did what I had to do. I mean, for me, that was the accomplishment was like not being embarrassed and feeling like I did the best version of what I could have done given that situation.

I didn't get the job uh you didn't did not but did you meet with lauren no oh um how'd they tell you you all through your agent i think my agents just said who they hired yeah basically um that's how he told you let me give you the list of people that are on the show it was i mean there was no harshness to it or anything like that no and uh our sketch group was working on a thing with comedy central at the time um you and beck and uh nick and dave yeah um so i had that to go to and then also i ended up doing this pilot steven merchant show called um hello ladies oh yeah on HBO yeah so I had that stuff going and I felt

I really felt okay about the whole experience you were working it wasn't some weird like this is it I was working and I felt like you know I did what I had to do yeah

I'm glad I had that experience I got to go out there and be on that stage I'm okay yeah which was to me wonderful right

but then about a year later you know a few months later they wanted to revisit the idea of auditioning me i suppose was it primarily for videos or for cast you don't know i think there might have been some thought that we would like kind of become like a new lonely island or something like that your your crew yes so that everyone was involved so like when they revisited they were

talking to beck and rutherford and dave and uh beck and nick auditioned it ended up being just myself beck and dave who made it and then nick came on the next year as a writer so you and beck got cast at the same time yeah and it was it uh did you meet with Lauren? The second time I did. Yeah. Just you and Lauren? Yes. How was that for you? It was nice short. I mean, like go to the office. Yeah. Sat there. Yeah. Yeah. He, I mean, like he remembered me, which to me felt good. Yeah. Even though I guess like in theory, like, oh, that makes sense. I mean, you i mean you're gonna remember a personal audition like a year ago probably yeah if you were under consideration yeah exactly yeah yeah and i don't know i feel like we talked about prague because i i was incidentally like shooting a taco bell commercial in prague while they were doing showcases in la so you missed your showcase because you were in prague yeah. Doing a taco commercial. Taco Bell. Yeah. Did you enjoy Prague? Sure. The goulash and the Pilsner or Kel. That was your experience? And besides shooting the commercial. Yeah. You didn't get around? No, I did. I did. It was very pretty. Have you been there? No. Oh,

I really liked it a lot. Why was it shooting there? Just cheaper? I really think the people, the advertising people or the Taco Bell people just wanted a cool vacation. Really? Yeah. It's so weird when you hear those things. You just shot in Prague for a Taco Bell commercial? There was nothing about it that was specifically Prague that couldn't have been shot anywhere. Yeah. I don't know why.

It's a mystery. It was Yeah. I don't know why. It's a mystery. It was cool. They flew me business class. I liked it. That's the perks? Yeah, for sure. All right, so you get there, so you guys are hired, and then, like, what happens?

Because you've been there for what, like, five years now? This is my sixth season, so, like, five and a half years. And at the beginning, like, I don't personally feel like they ease you enough. That's very sweet of you. How does it work now? It's been a while since I talked to somebody on the show currently.

But you start out, you're not the main cast. You start out as like... Yeah, I guess a featured player. You're one of the 90 people they show at the beginning of the show. My year in particular, I guess a featured player. You're one of the 90 people they show at the beginning of the show. My year in particular, there were a lot. It was a transitional year. It got a little crazy.

It almost seemed like a... I hadn't watched in a while, and it almost seemed like a sketch. Yes. Yeah, there were like 10 of us or something like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know that there are hard and fast rules about how much they put you on

or how many sketches you're allowed to submit yeah or anything like that i think generally like over time you just kind of learn how things work and like how to try to best get your stuff on i don't know if that's totally answering your question who was the head writer when you got there um seth yeah seth and rob klein seth was that was seth's last year so he left like two-thirds into the season to do a show. How'd you hit the ground running over there? Doing videos or were you pitching sketches? Yeah, mostly videos.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you'd produce them over there? Yeah. And they had their crews and it must have been sort of a nice thing. And your guy was directing you? Yeah. Was it Dave? Dave.

Yeah, it was great but it's it was my understanding of like when the lonely island was there for instance they just basically were making their own videos and then presenting them on address yeah and then like if they audience responded to them they would go on the show we were like kind of going the more classic route of scripting them and submitting them and like hoping that they'd get chosen to be made we made a couple on our own volition of just like during a hiatus shooting something yeah it's a tough thing to do to just to be proactive enough to like when the show's off to just try to make your own stuff because you're so exhausted right and also like there's i guess there's a

risk factor too but you you had the option you could just take the crew out and do it on your own they were just it didn't you didn't have to submit a script. I mean, you could in theory. Yeah. I think technically, like, now it's mostly set up so that you need to use a crew just because of, like, union stuff. Right, of course. But, yeah, but if we were to, like, just fully, like, guerrilla shoot something, we could do that and then we could present it. So what was the experience like the first year you got a few videos on and you've showed up in a couple of places?

Yeah, exactly. But you get bumped from feature to, you know. After two years, you get, yeah, you become. And after every year. But there's no like, it's not a ceremonial thing or anything like that. You don't get a gift or a new room or here's your shoes. I guess you just take on your own personal responsibility of being like, I'm here, baby. Yeah.

And for you, is every year like, am I going to come back? It gets... I feel pretty good, but I also am kind of a I'm a rather like kind of a superstitious person. So I, I try not to take anything too much for granted. Yeah. Superstitious. Like you think it's all going to be bad.

Yeah. I guess I just like to like, not even try to overthink that sort of thing. You know what I mean? I just, I feel like I have a job to do and I enjoy the job and my, that job is to put out the best work that i can yeah and that's all i can do and you get along with everybody i do i love everybody yeah it's a

great cast right now yeah um that's i think one of the most remarkable things about being there is just working with those people kind of uh like i i i i must be amazing just to build up to that when it starts, the night of. Oh, yeah. It just makes me crazy. It's trippy. It's still trippy. Because you're just converging on this point, and then all of a sudden there's no going back, and it's happening now. Yeah, and I'm always fascinated by just the difference between how the dress show relates to the live show.

How is that? What's the difference between like how the dress show relates to the live show. Well, how is that? What's the difference? It could be that some sketches perform well at dress, bomb at live or vice versa. Yeah. It could be that there are lines cut in between dress and air or line changes and like that, you know, or like now you're entering from the right

rather than the left. Yeah. There's just all these little things that happen in such a short amount of time. And, you know, there's a lot of trust put into us that hopefully we can figure that out. Right. And you usually do? I think so. Yeah. And so is it literally impossible to memorize your lines? I don't know about that, but it certainly gets difficult when their line changes. Yeah. Because I notice, I always wonder about that, because most people are reading. And I don't know if that's just because it's easier or they just don't have time.

I think it's because that's kind of the idea is that like the way the cameras are situated and the cards like in theory i'm looking at the cards and then when it cuts to the person i'm talking to if they're looking at their cards it should hypothetically look like we're looking at each other right do you try to memorize yeah i try to be i try to know as much as i can so yeah like yeah when i can yeah but i don't but you've got to be ready for the idea like there it can happen that there's a new change that you've never seen right so like you're kind of locked into the cards a little you kind of to a degree you have to be you have to be yeah when did you do uh brigsby um we shot that i guess two summers ago because i i thought it was a sweet movie made me cry oh that's oh i'm i'm glad that's so nice to

hear yeah um yeah it was really that was one of my favorite experiences we're doing that how did the because i i didn, like I really knew nothing about it, you know, and I knew I was going to talk to you and I was, it was interesting

because I was watching Yorgos Lathimos' movies. Have you seen his movies? A few of them, yeah. I mean, yeah, Dogtooth was something.

Right. Yeah, yeah. Like, because like I had to watch Dogtooth and I, you know,

I saw it was, and Brendan said, you should really, while you're doing this since you got to talk to Kyle the same weekend, you should watch his movie because I think there are some thematic similarities. Absolutely. And I'm like, really? Because when I watch Dogtooth, I'm like, what the fuck is happening? of it a very similar idea yeah uh in that uh you know the the family that has um basically uh imprisoned their children yeah creating their own rules yeah so that was an inspiration absolutely

yeah you like that movie dog tooth i did yeah so yours is like i i didn't find myself you know crying at the end of dog tooth uh because you know like you and I talked to Yorgos about it and he knew about the movie. But, you know, you you had a story. I mean, there was a story. Yeah. But the idea of the effect that that would have on someone's head growing up like that, I think, was more the focus of yours. Yes. We kind of we obviously break out of that world.

So it's, yeah, more like, yeah, how somebody. How was that movie conceived? What compelled you? I don't, I mean, at some point, just this notion of like a TV show made for one person was kind of fascinating to me. And then. How do you make, yeah.

And then how do you do that? What's a device that will enable you to do that? Yeah, exactly. And I wrote wrote with my friend kevin that was really nice because he's another dude i grew up with i went to middle school with he was working as a screenwriter here in la before i got hired by the show i pitched it to him yeah and so while i was at the show we were kind of scripting it and it worked out nicely. Yeah, I thought it was really surprising in a weird way because I had no expectations and I had no idea what it was about. And, you know, when he told me it was similar, I'm like, wow, how weird could this be?

But but, you know, it's it's interesting how that you're how Brigsby starts because you're like, are we in the future? Well, you know. Oh, yeah. And that's what, yeah. I'm glad that it plays that way for you. Oh, definitely. I was sort of like, this is like, you know, whatever the old technology, something happened and this is what's left over and, you know, this is the planet now. And so for me, because I knew nothing about it, I think all of the turns worked. And that is hopefully the way people who see it, see it. That was the tough thing about, you know, marketing the movie or talking about the movie.

It was like not giving things away. Yeah. I mean, yeah. What could you say about it? Because you'd spoil it almost immediately. Yeah. It would be pretty much just like, oh, it's about a guy who's obsessed with this children's TV show. And then something happens.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then he embarks on a journey that he, the show, I think we always pitch it as like, James is obsessed with this children's show, Brigsley Bear. Yeah. One day it ends and his whole world turns upside down or something like that. There you go. There's your tagline. one day it ends and his whole world turns upside down or something.

There you go. There's your tagline. And I thought that your performance, like you seem to bring a certain amount of, uh, uh, humanity and vulnerability to all these things that you do. Even, you know,

all of them actually, I think that's, uh, the gift that you have. Thanks. Yeah, we try. I mean,

like, uh, Dave McCary who directed Brigsby and makes a lot of those videos is very helpful in that. And I think we, we definitely like attempt to make things as grounded as we can when that's what it calls for so to sort of keep you in that space as opposed to like going for the laugh yeah exactly I mean like and we did and I'm sure if you looked at all the takes that we did in that movie you

could make a sillier broader version because we would do levels sometimes like in terms of like yeah what is the right funny take here yeah yeah yeah and even the moments where you had to sort of like go with it were you like that that this would not be this easy a transition and like you know he's not you know what i mean like he's adapting too quickly you're able to sort of like yeah yeah, but this is the story. You know? Yes. At a certain point, you're like, no, he'd be much more fucked up.

It is ultimately fake. Yeah. Yes. That's true. You got to work with Mark Hamill. He was great. Everybody, the cast, it's a great cast. Everybody was cool.

Did you find it has a bit of a following now, though? I think so. Yes. I think a lot of people say nice things about it. I think the hope is that it'll still gain even more of like a cultish thing

but who knows. It's all out there. It's out there forever. So was that experience for you you know exciting enough to are you working on another movie?

Yeah I've got a couple things I'm trying to work on. Yes I definitely want to do more of that. Absolutely. What is your big plan? You're going to just stay at SNL until they tell you to leave? I don't know.

I feel nervous even talking about that in case my bosses are listening. All right. Yeah, I mean, ultimately... Do you want to develop TV or film? I think both. Yeah? Yeah. And you're kind of...

I mean, I i love i definitely love writing and acting and and briggs uber was like a fun version of that for me and like i like like people like it's like when i think of careers i like it's like albert brooks or something like that or steve martin yeah yeah have you met those guys uh steve Steve Martin's been at the show a couple times. Yeah, so I've briefly met him. I don't know that I've ever met Albert Brooks. Yeah, I've only met him once. Did you do the show?

He's elusive. No, he hasn't. I don't know why he hasn't. But I saw him at, you know, he knows who I am. I've pestered him on Twitter and through appropriate channels to come on the show. But I don't think he likes to talk about himself that much. I don't think it's like anything personal. Sure.

I just don't think he does this long-form business. Right. But he did come up to me at the memorial event for Gary Shandling's passing, which was quite an event. And all of a sudden I'm just walking and I felt these arms on my shoulders and I just hear someone go, let's do it now. Let's do the podcast now. That's very sweet.

It was him. Okay, let's do it. I'm ready. I'll use my phone. Yeah, have you seen Defending Your Life? Yeah. I love that movie. All his movies have some great,

some of them are better than others, but all of them have great things in them. Yeah. Defending Your Life is great. You know, modern, the early ones, what was the one, Modern Life, was it the one with the veterinarian? Romance? No, no, not Modern Romance. Oh, Real Life. Real Life. Yeah, yeah.

I love that one. Yeah. And prophetic. It's cool. And I liked his shorts, too. I think he must have been the first one to sort of establish the video short short on snl yes yeah i think so yeah i guess like it's like him and then i don't know what i'm not an expert on early snl by any means but besides him i guess they're also those like they're not shorts but those muppet sketches where they're they were kind of their own thing that was real real. That was like first season shit. Yeah.

It's wild to watch those first season ones because it's really the pace of it is like a variety show and it's odd. Totally. You know, and the musical, most of the stuff was taped, you know, it was a lot of commercial parodies,

like two live bits. It was, it's, I have the first season. Have you watched it? I have before. Yeah. Yeah. watched it? I have before, yes. Yeah. So how long are you in town for?

Another day. Well, it was good talking to you, man. Yeah, no, thank you, Mark. Yeah, and good luck with the rest of the season. Appreciate it. Kyle Mooney, again. The finale of SNL. This Saturday, May 18th.

I'm going to play some guitar. It might sound a little familiar, but I'm not adding the turnaround chord. But you know the implications. This is a song that defines everything, but it's not really the song. But you'll hear it in there. Thank you. Boomer lives! Recently, we created an episode on cannabis marketing. With cannabis legalization, it's a brand new challenging marketing category. And I want to let you know we've produced a special bonus podcast episode where I talk to an actual cannabis producer. I wanted to know how a producer becomes licensed, how a cannabis company competes with big corporations,

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