WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Episode 1051 - Edi Patterson

Episode Date: September 5, 2019

When Marc first saw Edi Patterson on Vice Principals, he knew she was the kind of performer who can’t possibly stifle who she is. It turns out her raw, comedic intensity was born in Texas oil-refining country, where she was an anxious, sensitive kid who was in a full-blown existential crisis in fourth grade. Edi tells Marc how she figured out how to fake confidence, how she owes a lot of her growth to an actor from Hogan’s Heroes, and how she wound up collaborating with Danny McBride on shows and movies, including their latest series together, The Righteous Gemstones. This episode is sponsored by Spotify, SimpliSafe and BetterHelp. 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.

Be honest. When was the last time you thought about your current business insurance policy? If your existing business insurance policy is renewing on autopilot each year without checking out Zensurance, you're probably spending more than you need. That's why you need to switch to low-cost coverage from Zensurance before your policy renews this year. Zensurance does all the heavy lifting to find a policy, covering only what you need, and policies start at only $19 per month. So if your policy is renewing soon, go to Zensurance and fill out a quote. Zensurance, mind your business. It's a night for the whole

family. Be a part of Kids Night when the Toronto Rock take on the Colorado Mammoth at a special 5 p.m. start time on Saturday, March 9th at First Ontario Centre in Hamilton. The first 5,000 fans in attendance will get a Dan Dawson bobblehead courtesy of Backley Construction. Punch your ticket to Kids Night on Saturday, March 9th at 5 p.m. in Rock City at torontorock.com. Lock the gates! All right, let's do this. How are you, what the fuckers what the fuck buddies what the fuck cats how's it going i'm mark maron this is my podcast wtf welcome well sit down welcome how are you everyone's welcome here okay i don't know how you're going to take it but but you're certainly welcome to sit down

and uh listen for a little while to what we do here why don't i tell you who the guest is before i start rambling it is the amazing edie patterson one of the most inspired comic actresses that i know of you've seen her in the righteous gemstones that's the new one that's on hbo but she was also in uh in vice principals she's done other stuff but her performance in vice principals and now in this uh righteous gemstones all the uh the danny mcbride's it's just she's the best she's so funny so raw so emotionally present and so great so funny in a very real way i met her at years ago a couple years ago down in highland park i was so excited and it took us this long to get her on the show so she's here and i'm excited about it we're going to talk about the

righteous gemstones but other stuff too so that's exciting right i'm excited oh my god i'm starting to be able to think again relatively clearly with some follow through since the nicotine incident, since the incident of me stopping it day 11 this morning. There's still that moment where, you know, I eat something or I get done exercising or I wake up or I, you know, I'm about to eat something or I get in my car or I make a almost. There's that moment after after and before I do anything where I kind of want a nicotine lozenge. There's that moment all the time, every second of every day where I kind of want a little bit of that thing that I like that's not great for me. I'll be at the Vogue Theater in Vancouver tomorrow night. I believe it might be sold out. Then I'll be at the Moore Theater in Seattle on Saturday. There might be some tickets for that. More importantly, ticket-wise, I'm at JFL 42 in Toronto on September 19th. I believe that's a Thursday.

Could use some folks there just so I don't feel embarrassed. Look, I don't give a fuck one way or the other. Some of these halls are big. I know who I am. I have who, there are those that like me, there are those that don't know me and there are those that don't get it. And then there are those that don't like me at all. So those that like me, you know, it's not most people in the world, but there's enough of them.

And I just like them all to come that all those that like me that live in Toronto, I'd like you to come out on September 19th. If you could, thank you. Nice to talk to you. The Vic in Chicago on September 20th. I'm sure that to come out on September 19th if you could thank you nice to talk to you the Vic in Chicago on September 20th I'm sure that is sold out now this is the other one the Masonic Temple in Detroit Motor City on September 21st that's a Saturday I believe that one needs a little I don't know what's going on Detroit could have something to do with the entire city was decimated and it was and it's now slowly

rebuilding into something amazing i don't know what it is i don't think the tickets are too expensive i would think that i would have some fans in detroit but i don't know what's happened there i don't know who's there i don't know who my people are there but again there are those that like me those that don't know me those that don't know me, those that don't get it, and those that fucking can't stand me. Just want the people that like me to come. And if they live in Detroit, a good night to do that or surrounding areas would be on September 21st. I'll be at the Pantages Theater in Minneapolis, one of my favorite theaters and favorite cities on September 22nd. Always love going there.

Okay. I think that's probably doing okay, but there might bend. Always love going there. Okay? I think that's probably doing okay, but there might be tickets. I don't know. I told you what I need. Go to WTFpod.com slash tour for ticket info and all of my tour dates for the rest of the year. I'm very happy.

I got a lot of emails about Buddy Guy. Buddy Guy, it was an honor for me to meet him as well. I'm so glad that so many Blues fans reached out, shared their stories about seeing Buddy, about how wonderful it was to hear him share the old tales of the guys that us Blues people love. I'm just glad that people got off on that. There was a couple questions.

It's sort of like people asking why didn't you jam with buddy you know i i don't i don't lean on that as much as i used to it's not as easy to record people up here but also like i started to realize like it's sort of a big ask you know he's uh sometimes the last thing these guys want to do is not only play in the middle of the day on a thing, but have some stranger that they don't know anything about or if he can play or not play with them. So the ask wasn't put forward, and that's just the way it goes. I would have liked to have played. I would have been intimidated to play, but I certainly would have tried to rise to the occasion. Didn't happen, though.

Nonetheless, great talk. Also, I'm very thrilled about the reactions to my Dale Buran conversation. That was an important conversation. It was a lot of important information. Some of you thought that I talked a lot. It was because I was excited about the book. And I do talk a lot when I'm excited. And I wanted to make sure to get a good of important information. Some of you thought that I talked a lot. It was because I was excited about the book. And I do talk a lot when I'm excited. And I wanted to make sure to get a good arc in there.

And basically, the impulse was to get engaged. And if you enjoyed some of that information and the nice narrative of it and the history of it, buy Dale's book. It came from something awful to get the full story. And that's, that's really what the plan was outside of talking to the man that, that did the research, did the journalism, but it's also, you know,

we, when we went so deep and, you know, it is illuminated in that book, the entire history of the army of unfuckable hate nerds, but also just the place that fantasy plays you know in the minds of younger people uh some ill-equipped to deal oh that was another email i wanted to read hold on and i think this is important and i had i don't know that i thought

about it or framed it like this but i i do think this is pertinent as as well and and i think it is worth reading subject line dale baran podcast hi i'm listening to your podcast fascinating and terrifying i have a son who fits the profile to a t of an otaku hickok mori something you both didn't really address is that there is not always a lot of anger with this group. In my son's case, he is painfully shy and lacks social skills. He's not angry. He is paralyzed with fear and anxiety. It's easier for him to live in a fantasy world. He is also on the spectrum.

Many of these kids are likely on the autism Asperger's spectrum. I think an important message that is not addressed here is mental illness. There needs to be some sensitivity around this and not just focus on the hate and nihilism and anger there is much more going on here but thank you i do look forward to reading the book thank you tanya so that i think that's i think that's right i i think that that was not something that was not where my brain was thinking obviously we were characterizing this generation of people in a certain way, you know, in terms of social being socially ostracized or nihilistically compelled by their own, you know, community orientation towards the futility of the modern world, if that sentence made any sense. But I do think, obviously, Tanya is correct in that there is clearly, in a lot of cases, mental illness, and there are some,

you know, benefits in terms of how fantasy works. Like my nephew is a good example. He's a pretty nerdy kid. He has some issues, and he spends time, a lot of time, you know, in the gaming world and also in some fantasy, you know, platforms or boards where he engages with people. And it seems to be a fairly fun, safe, sociable way. It's got him out in the world a bit, meeting with people who enjoy making up animals and dressing up as things in a seemingly innocent and communal way. And it's helped him a great deal in terms of meeting people. So yeah, I guess the framing of how we were talking about it was pretty awful and frightening. But I do think that this is right.

Subject line, clarity at last. Dear Mark, I've never had clarity about my seven-year friendship that recently evolved into a failed three-month relationship until I heard your podcast today with Dale Buran. Jay is the textbook example of the hate nerd army's transition over time. In his case, a mutation from a gregarious libertarian-leaning nerdy college student to right-wing spouting white guy mad at the establishment for keeping him down, fucking miserable at his job, the pseudo-intellectual alpha male nonsense, the

need to self-medicate with pot daily just to deal with reality, the inability to leave the fantasy world behind for even one day. All of that really hit home for me. It explains so much about his stunted emotional maturity, his inability to empathize, and his ultimate refusal to come to terms with his feelings for any of the women in his life. He is the product of parents who had no idea what their kid was doing, spending so much time in their room on the internet. I can't imagine I'm alone in this revelation. And to be honest, I'm kind of grateful for the company.

Thanks again, V. Thank you for sharing this. I think this is an important side of it that, of course, there's more people out there like you. Of course. You know, talking about the nerd thing, about my own nerd. I've had to question my own nerdism recently because I've been, you know, after being a little bit hard on the nerd community. I'm going to use that word because they use it. And I'll say this and not in a bad way in the nerd communities, the several different, the nerd tribes, there are several nerd tribes of all different kinds.

They may all fall under the broader umbrella of nerd, but, you know, they're, they're more powerful, you know, nerd tribes and then others. And some of them are very specific but i mean the question is the the nerd fan you know am i one of them and the last show i i argued that i'm not because of my lack of follow-through which i still believe is true because a couple of people pointed out my record obsession and then some people pointed out how i talk about guitars now i understand that but you got you people who are saying that are clearly not real record nerds because a real record nerd would know that i'm kind of a fucking

amateur record nerd and a real guitar nerd would definitely know that i'm way not a guitar nerd i know a few things about a few instruments. I don't know nothing about pedals. I don't know nothing about amps. I know the things that I have and like. Same with records. I buy things that I like and want to learn about, but it's really sort of a learning process. It's not a collector obsession. It's not a completist obsession. I am sort of a completist with things. Like if I like a band, I have been known in the past to buy all of their recorded stuff. But the reason I think I'm not fundamentally on the nerd spectrum is because it all kind of wears off, man. It wears

out for me. You know, I was pretty nerdy about cast iron pants for a while. It passed. The boots thing. I was pretty nerdy about boots. No more. I was pretty kind of weirdly obsessive about pants, jeans. That's gone. And the record thing is starting to sort of slow down and make me reflect and want to get rid of some of them. It just never sticks.

It's not a lifelong commitment. And I think to really be truly a nerd, and I'm saying this in a good way, not a bad way. I'm using the word in a proactive way. It has to be a lifelong engagement that does not relent until you're too old and tired to do it. It's a commitment. It's a grounding element, whatever your particular obsessive interest is. I just don't think I'm quite that. I don't have the focus and I'm too much of a searcher in some ways. You know, if it doesn't work after a couple years, I'm moving on.

If it's not still filling the widening gyre inside of me, the falcon has lost touch with the falconer. I just watched this Danny Houston movie called The Last Photograph. I'm going to talk to him next week about that. Danny Houston, the actor and director, son of John Houston. Also next week, I'm going to talk to him next week about that. Danny Houston, the actor and director, son of John Houston. Also next week, I'm going to talk to Bruce Dern.

Yeah. Yeah, I did do that. I did talk to Bruce Dern. Yes, I did. So listen, Edie Patterson is here. I love her. I also, for some reason, was not, I was talking about Danny McBride, but I was saying somebody else's name.

Yeah, that happened a couple of times. And it took a couple of times for her to correct me out of politeness. So this is me talking to Edie Patterson about The Righteous Gemstones, which she is a star of on HBO. New episode, Sunday nights. I love her. And I got to talk to her, and here it is. 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. Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly, host of Under the Influence. 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, how a cannabis company markets its products in such a highly regulated category, and what the term dignified consumption actually means. I think you'll find the answers interesting and surprising. Hear it now on Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly. This bonus episode is brought to you by the Ontario Cannabis Store

and ACAS Creative. How's that feel? Can you see me? That feels good. I think maybe these stay on because I have a giant head. I have a giant head. Has that been a liability for you? Have you been, you just know it? I just know it.

And then I've been to like Goran Brothers or whatever. Oh, the hat place? The hat place. Yeah. And I figure out like, oh, wow, I'm an extra large at Goran Brothers. Extra large men's head? I mean, just a head. Seven, three-eighths kind of deal?

Yeah, dude. Yeah. Wow, that is a big head. Yeah. I have that head. Yeah. And there's a weird amount of hair on my head, but I just have a giant head. But the thing is, when I lose lose weight I can see my big head like when I'm like I can when I see pictures of myself and shit or on tv I'm

like that's not I look like uh what is it a bobble head right but I get hung up on it but no one seems to notice I get hung up a lot don't you ever do that I mean I'm watching myself on glow and I'm like I got a little skinny and I don't know if like that expression's not right. Do you watch yourself act? Yeah, I do. How's that go for you? It's weird. I would say like the first time at least, I've got like full like horror movie fingers over my eyes.

And like, cause I, it's the same stuff. And like, it takes me watching it once. Yeah. Then watch it again and go, okay, let me watch actually what i was doing right the first time i watch it like an asshole going like oh my dark circles i look weird yeah exactly so shallow and lame and yeah but that's the surface yeah i hate it and then you watch it again you're like there i'm all right yeah then i dig it yeah and then the third time it's like

i'm a fucking genius look at me i'm a'm a genius. Holy shit. I had no idea. It took me three viewings. Yeah, I've got to watch myself two or three times. So I ran into you in Highland Park at Cafe de Leche. I was very excited to see you. It was like a couple years ago. That made my year, man. Come on.

Honestly, I was like, holy shit. Mark Maron knows who I am. I was excited. I was like, I know you. That was really nice. You're hilarious. It was? Yeah.

Really nice. It only took a couple years to get you over here somehow. How long have you been over there? At the end of 2013, we got our place. Oh, so you're pretty new. Pretty new, yeah. But not that new. You were there a long time.

Well, I mean, I was there in 2004, I guess. Yeah, okay. I started. Yeah, okay. I started. Yeah. And then, like, and I always liked it okay, but I just got to the point where I wasn't really fixing my house. You know, it wasn't getting any younger, my house. It was haunted with a lot of emotional, no, I haunted it.

It's not a previous owner haunting. It was just me and my life. There were different periods of my life haunting the place. So it just felt weird and heavy. All I know is I do not miss it. Yeah, yeah. I mean, the original garage was what it was, but after people came and they're like, this is cool,

and then they'd leave, I'm like, it's falling apart. I gotta get out of here. You came from Texas? Came from Texas. In 2013? 14. I came here like, early 2000s. So let's walk through it then.

Yeah, let's walk through it. Let's do the thing, because I think you're very funny. I don't, you're one of those people, and I don't get this a lot. I don't know what it means. It's not a bad thing, but I just connected with you immediately. I got it. There was a rawness to it, and I'm like, that person, I don't know.

You put it all out there, and it's not a crush, but you know what I mean. Well, dude, I'll take it, because honestly, that's why it made my year when you talked to me. Cause I was like, oh dude, I get where he's coming from. And there's like a rawness in what you do that. I was like, oh my God, he sees me. I think that was it. There's not many people I, you know, that happens with, but I'm always excited when it happens. I don't quite know what to do with it. I always, I mean, I just, I champion those people those people you know like bamford's another one oh man yeah i think i got a thing for people that can't help themselves but be that exude that you know there's like yeah there's nothing you're gonna do to stifle it no i you know what there's this uh somebody gave me a coaster yeah with this

helpful coaster a helpful coaster with this janis Joplin quote on it. And she sort of painted on it. She's another one. But yeah, the quote on it says, if something like, I'm going to bastardize a little bit, but it basically says like, if I hold back, I'm no good. And I was like, oh, fuck. That's the stuff right there.

Yeah. But it's weird because, I mean, that is the stuff. And she is one of those people. I have felt that same thing where you're sort of, you watch her and you're like, wow, this is amazing, but I'm a little uncomfortable. Yeah, totally. Well, I mean, that's my favorite stuff to watch too is like stuff that's kind of cringy that you feel like kind of scared for the person.

Yeah, yeah. But you know, they're still in control of it. That's my favorite stuff. Yeah, yeah. I don't know how in control she was, but yeah. But you know they're still in control of it. That's my favorite stuff. Yeah, yeah. I don't know how in control she was, but yeah. But she was channeling, for sure.

Yeah, and those people like her, whatever we see, they got a lot of road miles in, those people in the 60s that died young, like Hendrix. I mean, he was out there

a lot, and they toured the fuck out of this country and the world. But anyway, so where'd you grow up in Texas? I grew up in Texas City. What is that? where'd you grow up in Texas? I grew up in Texas City.

What is that? Where is that? Down by Galveston. Oh, down by the water? Yep. Wow. Yeah, like 40 minutes from Houston, but down by the water.

But it's the brown water. Yeah, no, not good water. That whole area down there, I've only driven through there once and it wasn't great to me. It's weird. Where I'm from is, I mean, I'm happy I grew up there. Maybe who I am.

But it's full of refineries. Right. Yeah, just a lot of machinery off the highway. Yeah, it's one of those places that as you're driving in at night, it straight up looks like Star Wars. Right. Yeah. It's just lit giant machines. Yeah.

Tanks. Yeah. Pipes. Yeah. Things. And I always look and go like, are there people there right now? And when you drive at night, is there someone working that stuff? Yeah. Is there somebody watching that flame that's burning chemicals into all of us? Is someone on top of the flame situation and they just let that go? Do you have brothers and sisters? We got one sister, yeah. Older?

She lives in Denver, younger. Yeah? Yeah. She lives in Denver with her dude and they're super into mountain climbing and- that go do you have brothers and sister we got one sister yeah older denver younger yeah yeah she lives in denver with her dude and they they're super into mountain climbing and healthy people they're colorado they're yeah they're just kind of badasses yeah the uh the there's a fitness kind of there's a kind of um you're very uh focused seemingly enlightened bunch of fitness driven white people in colorado that you're sort of like, is this a Christian thing or is this just a fitness thing? I would say theirs is neither, but I know that thing you're talking about. I can't tell if I should be scared here or that these people are good people that are just in

shape. And are they going to change me? Yeah. Yeah. And then there's a whole other contingent of just shit face weed smokers i've worked in denver man denver is like because of the altitude it's just a shit show at night you're just there's just people falling in the streets yeah dude i've i've been a visitor um twice and i don't feel good when i'm there i don't i feel like the altitude like messes me up mentally

oh yeah yeah your brain gets fucked. Yeah. Your brain farts and you can't think of words. And you have moments where you're like, I can't talk right. Totally. Or I would have these weird moments of like, am I sad? Why do I feel sad? Well, that's every day for me.

Yeah. Well, fair enough. What is this feeling I have? Is it a good one? I don't think it is a good one. Maybe it is a good one. I'm just not used to it. Mine are usually later.

If it's the sads, it's usually like later I go, oh, fuck. I was pretty depressed that month. But when I'm in it, I'm just like going. Well, yeah, because I'm one of those people where it's sort of, I think I've gotten so used to. I don't think I'm depressed. I think I'm anxious. But I don't know. Like when they told me I got this vaccine yesterday and she's like, it's going to hurt.

You might need to take some aspirin. I'm like, how much could it hurt? Do you know what I mean? I mean, cause I, and then I'm not going to take aspirin for this, but I think my pain threshold is different. Got it. Whether it's depression or what? Like I can live with it.

Totally. Because I just, I, I, I rationalize it sort of like, I think this is the appropriate feeling. Yes. I'm not suicidal, but things aren't great. And this will end at some point. Yeah, right? Yeah.

Are you a depressive person? I would say, weirdly, when I was in the fifth grade, I don't know what this was. Yeah. I went through an adult depression that I didn't tell anyone about. In the fifth grade? In the fifth grade. How old are we in fifth grade?

11? What, 11, 12? Something like that. Yeah. And I used to, I still read, but I used to read all the time. Yeah. And I think maybe I was reading things that were too adult. Yeah.

Oh, really? You don't remember exactly? Yeah. Just like, I remember reading a separate piece and reading. Yeah. Oh, really? You don't remember exactly? Yeah, just like, I remember reading a separate piece and reading Lord of the Flies and something about... Well, that right there, Lord of the Flies, I don't even know why they assigned that to kids. Seriously, it sent

me into like an existential like, what is anything? I used to watch kids playing and go, how do they do that? Oh, yeah. I don't understand what they're doing. Yeah. They seem to be forcing it. Yeah, or I was like, how do they feel like they do that? Oh, yeah. I don't understand what they're doing. Yeah. They seem to be forcing it. Yeah.

Or I was like, how do they feel like they're here? Like, what is, I mean, super existential weird. And thank God I've never had that again. Well, what did you tell your parents? I mean, did it just pass? No, I told them way later. Years and years later. You just wrote it out? Yeah, I just wrote it out.

I felt afraid to tell them. Yeah. Because I didn't understand. And sixth grade came and you're like, I'm okay. Yeah, I had this weird methodology. I mean, this is going to sound so insane. But I used to like do mantras in my head of things that I knew were real. Like my bike.

I had a Kuahara. Right. Like a BMX bike. Yeah. And I used to say like Kuahara in my head because I knew that was a real thing I mean this is so fucked up no it's not it makes perfect but I would go like yeah okay that's in the world I know what that is right because you got lost in your head yeah and I would like having the radio on with a radio on was helpful because I was like okay people are

alive in the world I miss happening I miss that time because I don't have the confidence that that exists anymore. It used to be like when there were three channels and you just like late at night, you put the TV on, you're like, well, someone's got to be in the control room. So it's me and him right now. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Or live radio. You're like, oh, that guy's all right. If I need to call somebody, I can call the radio guy. Yeah. Like, okay, they're up and they're living. Yeah.

But now I don't know. I don't know if anyone's operating anything. So it makes me a little untethered. So you're growing up in Texas City. Yeah. And is your dad in the oil business? No, my dad's a plumber. Did he work on oil pipes?

Like, every now and then they'd have a contract at one of the refineries. They still do. My dad's retired, but yeah, my uncle and my cousin still work at Patterson Plumbing and they'll sometimes have- Patterson Plumbing. That's right. In Texas City. Yeah, man. Shout out.

Best dudes in town. Plumbers are essential. Yeah, for sure. And I feel like I weirdly inherited some, I mean, he never taught me to be a plumber, but there's sometimes stuff will happen in the house that I'm like, just let me look at it for a while. And I feel like I can figure it out because my dad's a plumber. Do you?

Yeah, sometimes. Plumbing's dicey. It seems like it should be easy, but it's not. It's not. It's sort of like, well, there's where the water comes from. It just goes into all these pipes in the house. Yeah, it's very complicated. Yeah, there's noises that happen.

Yeah, they have to go for complicated certifications all the time. Yeah, but it's essential. Yeah. And what did your mom do? Teacher. Taught first and fourth grade her whole career. Really? Yeah.

And you had your existential meltdown in fifth grade. I did. And you couldn't go to your mom, the teacher. No, I just didn't. I could have. She's very sweet. Yeah. Well, that sounds like you.

I just didn't. It was weird. I used to also have this thing of, I don't know why, I would get afraid to say certain things. Like if something happened when I was in school, like if I got sick or something and needed to call my mom to come get me or tell her I was going home or something, I get that weird like crying my voice to talk to my mom on the phone from school I'm like I don't know it's just a fucking weird

sensitive kid that's it that's why we know each other but like we did the other kids think we you were weird um or we were able to move through the different things yeah I was able to sort of move through the different things? Yeah, I was able to move through it. There was a point where there was a little chunk of like maybe somewhere 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, where I felt for sure very different than everyone else. And had sort of pulled away from the friend group I was in. Were you doing like,

was there a music, was there a context to it? Did you model yourself a certain way? I just felt, I don't know, I just felt different and I felt like

I didn't want to be mean to anyone and I would see people be mean to people or blow people off. I just didn't people like be mean to any mean to people or blow people off or yeah I just didn't want to be that so sometimes that equals like you have one friend for three years yeah right shout out Michelle McClellan what's she up to she's doing great oh good yeah you still keep in touch with people from fifth grade no no no I have a couple friends oh one yeah one dude yeah Scott Elfstrom yeah he's still in in the life yeah I have a couple friends I grew up with yeah one dude yeah Scott Elfstrom yeah he's still in

in the life yeah I have a couple people that I've known since second grade yeah yeah yeah but I don't talk to him a lot but I know him yeah I grew up in Albuquerque yeah yeah second grade David Kleinfeld he's still he's still in the in the rotation I've heard from I haven't heard from recently yeah this dude I don't talk to a bunch yeah oddly he gets mad at me when I don't talk to him like I've known him my whole life. We've never talked that much over the last 20 years. But if I do fall out of touch with him, he's like, what the fuck? I'm like, what do you mean?

Come on, man. I'm busy. So are you doing any performing? Yeah. When did the awkwardness turn into, look, I'm entertaining. Yeah, that was a weird morphing of a couple of things like seventh grade I think there was this thing

called Class Day and it was just a big variety show and me and three other girls wrote like a dating game parody because there was a channel

I think channel 39 or channel 20 showed reruns yeah we didn't have cable but we had like the main channels and then three upper channels I think channel 39 or channel 20 showed reruns yeah we didn't have cable but we had like the main channels and then three upper channels

yeah yeah yeah there was only a few of them yeah so we did this dating game parody and we all wrote our own parts and we three of us played

the guys and there was one of us playing the girl who's picking from the guys and there was a jock a nerd I was the nerd and there was one of us playing the girl who's picking from the guys. And there was a jock, a nerd. I was the nerd. And there was a,

like a businessman or something. So these are like the, that kind of seventh grade perception of the archetypes. Totally. Pocket protector. Right. Glasses. Like lame.

Yeah. But, uh, I noticed that, that, that everything I said was like really landing. Yeah. Like that thing where it's happening for the first time and you're like.

The laughs? Almost your arms are going dead. Oh, yeah. Because you're like, what the fuck is this? Yeah. Oh, my God. The power. The power.

So that's when I really thought. That's the first time I ever thought like, oh, maybe this could be my job. Yeah. Really? Yeah. Making people laugh. Yeah. Because before that, I didn't know time I ever thought like, oh, maybe this could be my job. Yeah, really? Yeah. Making people laugh. Yeah, because before that I didn't know, I knew I liked that.

I had always liked making my parents laugh. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I was kind of a shy little kid. Yeah. And then when we did that, I thought like, oh, right, this is my thing. And I'll make this into what I do. Yeah.

And then, yeah, and then did plays all through high school and stuff. Yeah, and then did the same thing happen? Were you mostly comic or comedic? That was everything. Yeah. Because it's, yeah. Musicals?

Yeah, that too. I don't know why I get hung up. I ask everybody about musicals. Yeah, that's funny. And I do. Because to me it was the scariest thing in the world. It still is kind of scary, the singing thing. Oh, really?

I thought you could sing. I can sing, but I can't sing proudly. You know what I mean? I can't remove myself. Like, I'm not going to be like, hello, and like do a dance.

Like when I sing, I'm usually playing guitar. I got my eyes half closed just so I can do it because it's not, I don't have a lot of control over it. But I always, I think I always envied people

who could be like fabulous. Yeah, that is a weird next level thing. Yeah. Is that like. Be the showman singer. The showman singer. Like the musical people. Totally.

Where you're just sort of like unabashedly, you know, doing those numbers. Yeah. And so committed that you're like, this is real life. Yeah. I don't know how they do that. Whoa. I'm so terrified of it. I think I got to get over. Yeah, I don't know how they do that. Whoa! I'm so terrified of it. I think I got to get over it, but I don't know if it's going to happen.

Right now I'm working on just playing with a small combo. I think that's the next step for me. Oh, that's awesome. I don't think doing musicals is going to happen immediately. What if you cover your face in some way like Sia does? Do a musical? No, just for your band. No, I think I can handle the band thing.

I'm just like, I'm working towards it. Yeah. Yeah, I'm working on finger picking now, and I got a blood blister on my thumb. I'm pretty proud. Oh, man. Look at that. That's awesome. I did some practicing.

That's a real deal. Yeah, yeah, I'm working it. So now do you have to lay off so it doesn't pop on your strings? No, I'm going to keep doing it until it becomes a hard thing, a built-in pick. All right, so you're doing all the plays. Are you popular now, or are you hanging out with the drama nerdy people i'm kind of hanging out with everybody and they're you're not a fucked up kid you're not you know like a real good kid oh yeah real good grades no drugs no drinking oh good very good you avoided it yeah i avoided it i wanted to be

good yeah i don't know why. I mean, I guess my parents instilled something in me where I wanted to be good. Sounds like you have pretty nice parents. Yeah, I do have nice parents. Yeah. But I would say, like, I was doing okay. My friends in drama were, my main friends in drama were, like, weirdly, you wouldn't think of this as being like the dudes in drama. But my main friends were like these metal dudes.

No, that makes sense. That did plays and like were obsessed with Monty Python and all had long hair. Yeah, the metal nerds. Yeah. Python guys. Yeah, I loved those guys. They play at D&D too, maybe? Oh, for sure they did.

Yeah, so that's a specific. And they used to ask me and I never went. That's a certain type of metal dude. That's not the sort of like, you know, we're going to do crank metal dude. Right. That's the sort of heightened smart metal dude. Totally. Yeah.

I hung out with those smart metal dudes. And then like the summer before my 11th grade year, I went to visit my friend. I'm not my friend. My friend and my cousin, Jamie. Yeah. In Corsicana, Texas. And she's like, i don't know she just always like from the time she was little it's really cool like every word kind of blends

together she's like got full confidence like kind of like uh what i found out the rest of the interview in that voice yeah that's jamie but like even as a little kid before she even knew she was gay she had like almost like lesbian swagger. You know what I mean? Just like she was always fascinating to me because I was like, how are you that confident? Like, what is this? So I was at her house.

We were hanging out and we were making like- Is it in high school? Yeah, like the summer after 10th grade. Yeah. We were making tapes of like fake talk shows. Right. Where we would have a fake call-in show where people would call in with their problems and we would do all the voices. And then I noticed like in between she would just call people on the phone and just be like, what's up?

What are y'all doing tonight? And I was like, whoa. And just like something would happen. She'd go to some party or like she had all these friends yeah i was like oh fuck that's awesome i'm gonna you know i'm gonna be that yeah i'm gonna act like her my version of her yeah and just see what happens and i came back and i did it and it worked and then like 11th grade and 12th grade i I was class favorite. Like I was just pretending to be my cousin. But mainly I was just like faking it until it felt right.

You got a tool, a socialization tool. I was like, oh, that's how you do it? You just call people? You just call people? Like you just talk to them? Oh, wow. You just talk to you, you want to talk to you, and you just laugh with them?

It's so funny how fucking uncomfortable we are in high school. And and sometimes like the only difference between, you know, like the cool people and the not cool people is just that. It's just this weird fake confidence to be like, come on, let's go do the thing. It's all it is. My problem is I was sort of desperate. I'm like, you guys, are we going out? What are you guys doing? were you the guy who would plan it all no but like i live further away because i was lying about my address and i had these guys that i really wanted to be friends with this is the story of my life and like i've been thinking about it lately about certain behavior patterns yeah where because i guess i was sort

of uncomfortable and i would see people that like they seem to have it together like they seem fun or whatever and then i would just pester them until, you know, I could hang out. And was it people you had a connection with or you just thought? I eventually did. I just I feel like ultimately I was just sort of missing a chunk of some sort of personality thing. And I just wanted to be part of whatever that was. Got it. You know, and then it was always sort of an personality thing. And I just wanted to be part of whatever that was. Got it. You know?

Yeah. And then it was always sort of an annoying thing, but I didn't really know how to make friends otherwise. Yeah. Because I'm very intense, very thinky. You know, I guess I was high maintenance, but like it was one of those things where I live far away and I make plans sometimes they wouldn't show up.

That was the saddest thing. Waiting at the end of the driveway, all dressed up in my shoes and my calvins or whatever man there's nothing like that to just like oh i that happened once years and years ago yeah in la with a friend that i really love still and like she just forgot we had plans and you're all ready to go immediately shoots you back to like whatever age you were when you last felt like embarrassed or alone. And you're like, what am I doing? What the actual fuck is this? Oh, God.

And you fester about in your head. And then it turns out they just forgot. You build a whole story around it. You build a whole story around like, oh, well, cool. I guess I'm not cool enough to hang out with. Right, right. And then they're just sort of like, oh, I just forgot. And you're like, oh, okay, okay.

Yeah, yeah. Fucking idiot. Went back to high school. All right, so now you're cool. 11th, 12th grade, queen of the school. Well, the cool thing was is that I still was friends with everybody. Like I still had my metal nerd friends

and I still had like, I still had all the drama friends and football friends and cheerleader friends. So you figured out as a funny person, sensitive person, it's sort of what I evolved into, it's sort of like you can get along with everybody. Totally. Yeah, yeah, because you're not committed to an outfit or to a music ideology.

Yeah. You're just kind of like, you're a funny person. Yeah, I was like the add-on. Like if the drill team went out and we're going to wrap houses, I was like the one that went, even though I wasn't on the drill team. Yeah, because you were fun? Yeah, because we would laugh. What's wrap houses?

Toilet paper houses. Oh, you say that like that. The one time that... How many times did you do that? Probably two or three, but the one most fun, how many times did you do that? Probably, probably two or three, but like the one, the one most fun time was the worst. Cause like they called the cops and then like my dad was so mad. Really?

Yeah. It was awful. Well, you could have been worse. Oh, it could have been so worse. I mean, that's probably why I wanted to be good.

It's cause I did not want like, if you got that mad at me. Yeah. If you got that mad at me putting toilet paper on a house. So when do you decide like I'm going to dedicate, I'm going to commit my life to, was it acting?

Is that what you were thinking? Yeah, for a minute I thought I'm going to be an actress and I'm also going to be an artist. Which kind? What do you do? I thought I would also going to be an artist. Which kind? What do you do? I thought I would also like draw and paint. Oh, did you draw and paint?

Well, I started college going like, I'm going to double major in art and get a BFA in acting. And then you go to your first like art class and they go like, okay. And now the, I don't even know what it's called after the lab or whatever. But every art class has like a five hour thing attached to it where you actually go and do art. And I was like, whew, ain't nobody got time for that. So then I became a single major, like within the first two weeks. You dropped it right away. Right away.

You're just sitting there with an easel and a bunch of other sort of introverted people that know what they're doing already yeah seriously and you're kind of looking around going like hey you know yeah i like to draw too yeah no i didn't like it that much that's the worst feeling where you're like you know i'm just gonna try this and your parents encourage that shit you should try it and you get there and these people have been doing it their whole life you just feel like an asshole right away you know no way no way this is happening yeah it just showed me what i liked better for sure yeah so where'd you where'd you go i went to a place called texas state where is that it's in san marcos like half an hour from austin and uh yeah i just kind of went where i got the most scholarships and stuff because

we couldn't afford to go anywhere fancy. So it's a small school? It's a big state school. Okay. Yeah. But that's not, University of Texas is in Austin? Yeah. Right.

I like it there. Do you? Yeah, you know, I do. You know, I call it the hipster Alamo. There's a few of these Alamo situations where you're just surrounded by whatever the rest of it is. Yeah. No, but I do like it. It's gotten a little bit much as time goes on.

Yeah, I've noticed that too. It's become sort of a capital of whatever. I mean, it's still cool. Yeah. I mean, I like Texas. I mean, I grew up next door to Texas, and I've grown to like it. I mean, there's decent people all over. Yeah.

And there's even some decent people that are actually shitty people. Oh yeah, for sure. So a lot of decent shitty people around. And it's hard to reconcile, but Texas does. God, that is a weird thing. There are a lot of decent shitty people. Yeah, they're good people,

but they're mind fucked in one way. And you're like, I don't know what to do with that. You have to make decisions Totally and I guess all you can do is just keep digging and going like let me just dig again and find that decent part of You mm-hmm the politeness thing and then but yeah, but some people are good people They're just a little but who am I to judge I can judge I can't yeah go for it Yeah, I mean there are some people it's sort of like that's some wrong minded shit. I've seen. I can. Yeah, go for it. Yeah, I mean, there are some people that are sort of like, that's some wrong-minded shit. You seem like a very nice person. Yeah, that's some wrong-minded shit.

So, you just studied the acting. Do you do stand-up? Mm-mm. I've always done improv and sketch, but I've never done stand-up. And did you start doing that stuff in college? Mm-mm. I started doing improv. Well, I mean, outside of the cassette tape work you did with the lesbian.

And the dating game. Those were early sketch endeavors. Great distillation. The cassette tape work with the lesbian. Which we'd all love to hear. Do you have it digitized? I don't know. Maybe. I'll ask Jamie. She really might.

She really might. You still friends with Jamie? Yeah, yeah. Oh, that's good. We're homies for sure. Oh, that's good. Yeah. So what's the sort of curriculum over there at the university? What do you get to do? What's the training?

It's all, you know, all the regular acting stuff. But you also have to do, like, I don't know, lighting. Oh, right. So it's more theater? I don't know. I always thought that was so dumb. Or is it geared towards theater? Yeah, it was definitely geared towards theater.

In my opinion, the best teacher that we had there was this dude, Larry Hovis, who played Carter on Hogan's Heroes. I remember that guy. Yeah. The blonde guy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What was his, wasn't he the fix-it guy?

Hogan's Heroes, didn't he have a specific role? They all sort of represented something. Yeah, I feel like he was like a mechanic or something. Yeah, something like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He could, you know, come up with the device, the gadget. Yeah, yeah. Oh, he was the guy?

He was the one that I think was the best one, for sure. Larry Hovis. By laps. But isn't that interesting, though? Like, there are those people, you know, these Hollywood people that had lives, and then this is how I frame it now, and then had the courage to leave. Yeah. Yeah. You know, and then, you know, stay in it somehow.

My buddy Craig Anton, who was a great comic actor, like, he went, he just realized, like, you know, this isn't going to be a life, you know, and he's got to think about the future. Went to grad school, got his like doctorate, I think, in acting and teaching. And now he's teaching at a college in Georgia. It's like, I have such respect for that. It's awesome. Because, you know, you're helping people. You get the joy of turning young people on in this world that's important and seeing

them create. And you're not just this self-involved freak. Totally. Who's like, you know, hope waiting for someone else to make you something. Right. And you're not gripping anymore.

Like he just felt chill. And I don't know why he came to Texas. I have no idea why. Probably from there. No, maybe. Who knows? But like he was,

did you know him from Hogan C. Rose? I didn't know till he told us like yeah maybe you know me i mean how does that work yeah i mean i think it was more just like a whisper network of like did you know larry was on this yeah he was an old guy by the time he got to us yeah um good teacher though i mean so good the only the only like one who'd sort of actually you know what there was another dude who i never had, this actor, G.W. Bailey. He was also awesome.

But I never had him for more than a day. But they were the dudes who actually did it and knew what it was like. And his class was a TV film acting class. Hovis? Yeah. Oh, so you had one of those. Because a lot of the loftier institutions don't do any film acting class. Hovis? Yeah. Oh, so you had one of those because a lot of the loftier institutions don't do any film.

Totally. And I mean, that's all any of us wanted, really. Yeah. Not everybody. Right. But he would sort of famously say things to you that you were like, wait, what? That would sort of piss you off.

And then years later you go, oh my God. Like what? Like he, I remember once he told me, he was like, you know what, you've got like, what you have is a,

like a throwback thing. It's like a Rosalind Russell thing. And I was like, in my head, in my like 19 year old head. You have to go look up Rosalind Russell. Yeah. I was like,

who the fuck is that? I was mad. Yeah. And then I like found out she's from black and white movies. Yeah. And I was pissed off. And then years later, it took me years to like watch some of her movies because I think I was just like, I'm not that. I'm not that.

And then I watched it. She's the greatest thing ever. She's just and she's kind of off the rails and like she's kind of a wild card. And I'm like, it's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me. And I was so mad at him for it. But he would tell people things like he told one friend of mine like look no one's gonna understand you until you're like in your 30s and she was like what the fuck you know she's standing there she's 20 or whatever

and he was like exactly right really she's always has had like an old soul thing people started to really understand her later and like yeah he just knew stuff i talked to bruce dern and i haven't heard these kind of stories this seems to be a new thing bruce dern he's great he's singular but you know he was you know he got he was in the actors uh i think the actor studio new york early on and when in the 50s. And he had been a runner. He went to the Olympics. Oh, wow. Yeah. And Ilya Kazan took a liking to him.

And he's training at the actor's studio because they think he's raw and they wanted to really make him into something. But Kazan says, you're never going to be a leading man. And Dern's like, I'm 25. Why would you tell me that? And Kazan goes, because you're a runner. Dern's like, I'm 25. Why would you tell me that? Yeah, God.

And Kazan goes, because you're a runner. And he's like, I don't run anymore. He goes, but you have persistence, endurance. Wow. You have endurance. Wow. So how do you frame that as a 25-year-old? What does that mean?

It sounds horrible. It sounds horrible. But he realizes that if you look back at his career, that was it. He also told me, I don't know if it was the fifth or the seventh, he said, you're going to be the fifth cowboy on the right. That's brutal. Yeah, but it was sort of to encourage him to make sure you stand out. Yeah.

And he certainly does. Yeah. But it's weird. It's hard to hear that kind of shit when you're younger. It is because you don't know it's cooler to be the runner you don't know at that age you're like or what it means man is the best thing yeah why would you say i'm not the best thing right it is cooler to be the runner oh it's way cooler to be the runner yeah yeah because you can keep doing that yeah and you can keep being different leading men just eventually buckle and crumble you know everyone's

gonna get old yeah and it's so dependent on, like, better do that same thing again. Right, yeah. And then next thing you know, you're William Holden in the Wild Bunch and in Network. But that was a good story. Yeah. I mean, he was a huge leading man. Then he played these kind of, like, flawed old dudes. I don't know.

It's sort of nice to have access to a guy that, because those TV actors from that era, it was still sort of the studio system. All those people were still around. The lots still existed. It was still a small community. So he probably had met Rosalind Russell at some point. Right.

Yeah. Probably. Yeah. So he gave you, you just liked the guy? You just, he was matter of fact? He was matter of fact.

He was chill. He was funny. Yeah. He didn't seem to be trying. Yeah. In the moment, I knew I liked that, but I didn't know

how to articulate that. And then as my life goes on, I'm like, oh God, it's the key to everything is to allow instead of to try. Oh man. I just, yeah, I'm getting hit with that now. Yeah. Yeah.

It's, it's a biggie. I don't know if I ever really thought about it that way because like my instinct is to, you know, to like out of anxiety to kind of like, sure. Like I did it yesterday and it fucking pissed me off. With what? I was on Conan, you know, and I'd done Conan a million times and we have a dynamic that goes back like 25 years, you know, and, but I'm really not quite that guy anymore in my life and stuff. But when you're in that dynamic, I felt it happening again. I walked out of it going like, why did I drop back into that? Right. You know, like I started to realize that like I'm not desperate anymore.

Right. But the business is very desperate. All these shows that you do, you know, not, you know, I'm not saying like the shows you're on, but talk shows or that kind of stuff. They're all just sort of like, come on, stay here. Don't change it. You know, and I'm not like, like i'm not you're entering a desperate environment totally you know what i was thinking about this because i was listening to um i was listening to you with steven root yesterday and you were talking about that you were like i'm

gonna go do that yeah um i don't feel stressed out i don't even know what i'm wearing it's gonna be what it's gonna be and i literally was on a run listening to it and out loud going, yes. Ah, yes. That was for Corden probably? Yeah, that was for Corden. Not great. Because man, it's the ideal mindset.

But yeah, when you're around the thing where everyone else feels like it should be pressure-y and trying, it's hard to convince your brain like, oh wait, I know better than this right now. Yeah, there's no, but there's no breathing room and that's just the way it oh wait I know better than this right now there's

no but there's no breathing room and that's just the way it is and I know that and I can do those things but with cordon yeah I just kind of I was loose but then you get out there and there's just like you know before you go on they're doing you know human bar tricks so they got someone blowing yeah blowing milk out of their tear duct and then they got someone juggling and then let's bring our guests on I'm like oh god oh my god and there's two of you sitting there and you're trying to be casual but there's no way i'm so used to doing this right and they they don't there's no way in their minds they believe or can do even conan now with his new format where it's just kind of like you're just hanging out yeah you can't there's no way to execute a real conversation so so the trick of it is how do you

compress you know who you are and like it's very even in acting it's hard for me because like i'm waiting you know i've got a whole lifetime of like let's do it and like it takes a couple takes you know so when i get out there usually i'm like and then it's sort of like okay all right that was now that's out. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. Like, I'm done with it. I did all this press for this movie and for GLOW, and I'm like, I don't need to do it for a while. Yeah. Are you doing the shows?

Are you doing Conan? I'm doing my first one ever later in September. That'll be fun. I'm doing Seth Meyers, yeah. Oh, really? I've heard it's a good first one. No, it's great because, you great because he's a very interesting guy because at first I was sort of like, what's he going to do?

But he's very kind of grounded and he's pretty effortless with funny, but he's not all about funny. Yeah, I like that he seems to actually look in someone's eyes. Yeah, no, he's great. Yeah, yeah. Oh, good. That'll be fun. How come you're not doing the other ones?

Well, that's my first one I've ever done. And I think most of them have a thing of like, well, once she's done one, then we'll do it. We'll take a look at her. Yeah, totally. So I think that'll open up a lot of them. And then the ones that are in the same time slot, they're going to be mad.

Sure. Yeah, like if you do Fallon, you got to choose. You can do Fallon, Colbert, or Kimmel. Right. And if you do one, then you gotta wait a year, six months. That's what I've been being explained about. It's crazy. Oh, wow, interesting.

It's just crazy though. Like there's not enough people, you can't, like you can't, no, I mean like you can't really, you can't put someone on that, you just do a different thing. Anyway, doesn't matter. But yeah, I think. You just do a different thing. Anyway, it doesn't matter. But yeah, I think I'll probably do a couple more. The season of the show just started a couple days ago. I watched all of them.

Oh, you did? I did. Well, you watched the first six probably. The first six. Great. How many are there? Nine. There's nine.

And wowie, wowie, do they get intense in those last few months. Well, yeah, I want to get to that. Okay, so you hang around. What, you move to Austin? What do you do after college? When do you, like, go into Hollywood? Yeah, I wasn't in Austin very long, just a minute. And then I kind of always knew you have to move to one of the places

to do it as your job. New York or L.A.? Yeah. And so, yeah, I moved to L.A. in, like, 2001, I think. Wow. Yeah. You've been out here a while. Yeah. Yeah. And so, yeah, I moved to LA in like 2001, I think. Wow. Yeah. You've been out here a while. Yeah.

And yeah, just started immediately doing stuff, improvising with Impro Theater, which we now do like full length improvised plays. Oh yeah? Like the Broad Stage and places like that. With sets and costumes and stuff. Wow. So we'll do certain styles. We'll do run of like jane austen unscripted or right twilight zone unscripted yeah yeah um and then yeah we'll get a suggestion and do an hour and a half play that's great yeah yeah it's cool i think you would dig it because it's not uh it's very story and acting based. It's inherently funny because it's,

it's asinine to make up a play, but everyone's just meaning what they say and trying to make a good story happen. That's great. And sometimes it works and sometimes it's hit or miss or how's it? I mean, usually you nail it. Luckily it almost always works.

And I think it's because there's a weird ESP with that and you can always I don't know I think ultimately always the truth is the funniest thing so yeah if you just know what your character is and you stay in it you don't know what your character is until the play starts because nothing is set

yeah I mean I just improvised a movie and I love it yeah I haven't seen it yet but I sort of trust it Yeah. It's funny. Because there's something about improvising that is real in the moment. So the whole flow of it feels different. Totally. And if you know, like, I mean, I'm sure you felt this, if you know who that guy is that you're playing, you could kind of go forever. Sure. Yeah. And yeah. And, and also that, you know, you have the story structure, but you kind of can just move through it.

And you go deeper with the guy as it goes along because you don't you get to know him almost. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's the greatest when you say something and you go, oh, I guess that's who he is. Oh, I guess I guess I have that trait. Him being that. Yeah. So you came out here in 2001 and you were just, did you have an in or did you do, did you just sort of like, I'm here, now what? Yeah. I had two friends who lived here. Yeah.

My friend Kendra and my friend Christy. And I stayed on their couch for a month. Yeah. In Burbank. And then we got a place. Perfect. In Studio City. Did you hear McGuire's story about coming out here, on here?

Did you hear me talk to Danny? It's insane. Yeah, it's insane. It's insane. And then, yeah, there was a chunk of time where he was back and bartending. And like, yeah, it's awesome. But yeah, and then we got a place in Studio City. And then we had a weird house in Studio City that four of us lived in that we would have.

I don't even know how it happened. But each of us would invite everyone we knew. We would have a party and invite everyone we knew. So I would invite everyone I'd ever met in any improv class ever. My friend Kendra was like cocktail waitressing. So there would be like giant, giant amounts of people from like, I forget. I think she was working at either the Ice House or the Comedy Store. Oh, really? Yeah.

The other two would invite. And so we would have these giant like 90s movie style parties. Yeah. Where like it was wall to wall in this weird house. What happened to those? Yeah. Yeah. I don't even understand how it happened.

And there'd be like one celebrity there? Maybe. Yeah, but it would be. And you'd just see the one celebrity head like, who knows that guy? But it would be like something weird. Right, right. This guy was never at our party, but I remember we saw him somewhere once. The guy who played Mr. Belding from Saved by the Bell.

It would be like that. Yeah, yeah. I was once at a party where it was all packed out and i just saw john c riley's head i'm like oh what's that guy it's years ago i think it was like dave cross's house or somebody in westfield but yeah i lived with them and was improvising and doing stuff and i right when i moved here i also started at the groundlings and then was working my way up through there and did you do that yeah I'm in the main company now yeah you're a Groundling yeah yeah wow so you you started uh so you're doing the improv the other thing but you

got into the ground you knew that was a thing yeah I I think I knew that was a thing like maybe from high school just from online you know looking I didn't realize that was a thing like maybe from high school, just from online, you know, looking at stuff. I didn't realize that. So you went through the whole thing, the whole process? Yeah, you got to go through all the stuff and get voted on. I don't know what generation are you. Like who is in your troop? So my generation is like my sort of senior group when I was in sunday company before i became a groundling were uh

me and my pal drew drogy and my pal mikey day who's that oh mikey day yeah yeah yeah yeah he's good now yeah were you ever looked at for snl yeah i went and tested in like maybe like it was either maybe 2009 or something like that good experience bad oh like so weird yeah because i found out like a day and a half before and everyone else knew they were going like two weeks ahead of time yeah and so is that weird thing of like characters together and yeah which i had a ton of but i was like riding on the plane yeah and then like trying to memorize in a hotel room and like yeah it was just very very weird and then I went and guest wrote they came to like a showcase

yeah later and I went and guest wrote I don't know when that was maybe like 2015 whatever Seth's last year as a

head writer was I did like a two week thing and got something on both weeks which was cool because I felt like I got to have

the whole experience of like a live thing and a film thing but they didn't keep you or how'd that go well they called back a few times to like check my availability. Right.

But one of the times I was still under contract, I think, to this sitcom I had done with Kelsey Grammer, Martin Lawrence. Which one was that? It was called Partners.

Yeah. It was the last of those weird 1090 things. Yeah. Where they would do 10 episodes instead of a pilot. And then they would go like, well, if this goes, we'll make 90 of them. Yeah. It was that thing.

Oh, oh, oh, the syndicated weird. Yeah. Right, right, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we just did 10 of them, but I think we were still waiting to know what happened with that. And then the next time I was doing- That's the worst the worst feeling though to be stuck in something that you just took you know and then you have this one the other thing that you really want to do and it's like holding you well it was weird because i just felt i had such a strong feeling of like everything

happens for a reason yeah um you do yeah well sometimes i do sometimes I do. Sometimes I don't. Because then it's like, well, this is a bad reason. Yeah. Sometimes you feel that. The second time they called to check my avail, I was doing the second season of Vice Principals. And that, I was like, oh, fuck, does everything happen for a reason? Because I was so happy doing that. Vice Principals? Yeah.

Oh, that's great. Thanks, man. That's great. Yeah. So Yeah. Oh, that's great. Thanks, man. That's great. Yeah. So you're like, fuck SNL. I don't know if I was like, fuck SNL, but I felt like, oh, that's fine. I'm happy. I'm so happy doing what I'm doing.

You don't need to. That's great. Yeah. Because you know after a time and after you've had some experience and you seem to have done a lot of episodic work and everything else, like you were no stranger to it, know entering the snl world is its own thing yeah and it's not it's not it's not always a great experience for people and you're sort of at the whim of you know lorne and whatever the situation is it could be it could really work out or could be horrible it's a hyper competitive environment totally and you're already doing this show where you can you're taking comedy to a level they could never take it.

And like, yeah, you get to do things on a show like that that, yeah, you would never get to do anywhere. I mean, that show is like it's almost incomprehensible. You know, Eastbound and Down is another thing. It seems that that crew, Maguire and what's the other guy's name? Green and Jody Hill. Sorry, every time you say that, I'm pausing because I'm like, oh, is he talking about someone I don't know? Oh, who is it? No, but it's because when you say McGuire, I know you mean McBride.

McBride. But I keep going like. McBride. Danny McBride. I'm sorry. I'm an idiot. I'm sorry if my eyes are sort of like. You should correct me because I'm old. Now I feel bad. No, I'm sorry if my eyes are sort of like. You should correct me because I'm old.

Now I feel bad. No, don't. McBride. Now I'm going to have to put a correction in for the earlier mistake. Danny McBride. So it was McBride, Jody Hill, and what's the other guy's name? David Gordon Green. David Gordon Green.

Because they seem to do with what you know like Breaking Bad or what or what in the other show like these sort of like um groundbreaking shows that take the medium a different place with comedy where like you're seeing things that you've never seen before there's situations where it's like what the fuck is this where does this come from yeah so it has no it's its own context that yeah what they do oh man i totally agree so before we get to that though how so what do you do you kick around you get an agent you're doing the groundlings and it looks like you did a lot of episodic stuff yeah like you know just getting whatever i could yeah you know i had some really lame agents and then I did, I weirdly did this movie.

I had done this sketch and improv show on and off for a year in Vegas. Yeah. Oh, really? Kind of back and forth. This thing that Rita Rudner and her husband produced called Boo. And it was this late night. I like her. Yeah, she's so nice.

But it was this late night i like her yeah she's so nice but it was a live thing yeah it was this live thing that we would go on after her and do like this weird sort of like almost scary improv and sketch show like on and off for a year it was this thing where they were like come do this for six weeks yeah like great then every night uh i think we had Mondays and Sundays off. Yeah. For a while, it was just Mondays off. It was very like Broadway style. Yeah, in Vegas. And then it just kept, like it was selling well. So they were like, do six more.

So it was that kind of thing where you would sometimes have subs for a while. Yeah, it was decent. And it was the first thing that I was like, oh, cool. Now this is how I make my money. Even if i need to like make this stretch yeah yeah and it's uh and i'm you know i'm living so frugally like this is how i'm gonna make my money right so that was super cool in that way but anyway uh we made this movie with them after, this very indie movie. Yeah. About a family over like three or four Thanksgivings. And yeah, I went and met Rita's agent at the time through that.

And then from then on had like really nice, awesome agents. Yeah. But I had terrible ones before that. So you went with him? That agent? Yeah. Rita's agent? Oh, wow. Yeah. Well, that's great, cause she's agent? Yeah. Rita's agent? Oh, wow. Yeah.

Well, that's great, because she's great, actually. Yeah, she's great. I'm not with him anymore, but I love him forever. But it got you into the game. Yeah, man. Yeah, man. There's something on here that I've never seen before that you did a bunch of episodes.

What? Was it an animated thing? Oh, yeah, maybe. Yeah, I've done a bunch of episodes of this thing, We Bare Bears. Yeah, that one. Yeah. What is that?

It's this really cool Cartoon Network show. It's one of those that's for kids, but it's actually really funny. Yeah. Yeah, I do this other one at Cartoon Network now called The Fungies. And same thing, the guy who writes it is so funny. They're fun. Yeah. Yeah.

Anything that you can just do voices on. Oh, man. Because it's so weird. I'm doing a movie, and it's amazing how physical, anything that you can just do voices on because it's so weird. I'm doing a movie and it's amazing how physical you get when you're just doing voices. Yeah, totally. It's wild and it happens naturally.

What, like what, are you an animal or a person? Animal. Yeah. I've been quite a few animals. I was a person once on Metalocalypse. I was a squirrel on Adventure Time and then I was a, I think I was a hermit crab on the Tony Hales new show. What animal are you in this?

Can you say or no? Yeah, I'm a snake. Yes. Yeah. But, you know, it's not like Disney. You don't have to go, say, how's it going? So it's not full Jungle Book. No, no.

You know, they want you to be you. Yeah. So how does that happen? going you know so it's not full jungle book no no you know they want you to be you yeah so how does that happen because that's really i think the first time i really saw you was with vice principals and i'd watched most of eastbound and down but vice principals was just too fucking much like i had to watch all of those yeah yeah you know yeah and so how do you get because there's a very specific bunch that i don't know how he chooses people or what the process is or how he found you. But like in this season, your character, like I'm at a point where you just start singing.

I won't spoil it anymore because that's towards the end of the ones I have. Yeah, yeah. But, you know, and he's got Goggins in there and, you know, Goodman and Adam Devine and McBride himself. But then there's always these ones where you're like, where'd they find the ex-Satanist guy? Oh, right. Yes. What is it? How that guy owns the screen, it's sort of like, what's happening?

That's crazily, that's my friend Tony, who is a groundling with me who weirdly i went to a dinner with danny after he had done like you know all the casting stuff yeah and um we were at a dinner dinner with like eight people or whatever and he was like oh yeah i think we figured out who keith is gonna be um it's this dude t Tony Cavallaro. And I was like, what? I mean, how random is that when someone you know gets cast unbeknownst to you on the show you're on? So he's not like that at all?

No, he's a pretty high energy dude. That's crazy. That's kind of a crazy character. But I think he got that role in a similar way that I got Vice Principals. Which is? Just went and auditioned.

So that's how you met those guys? Yeah, I went. Sherry Thomas was casting it, and she had me in. And I didn't know Danny and Jody Hill were going to be there. Yeah. I just thought it was a regular, like, go in, get on tape. Right. Send it to them.

And they were there, and I had done this this weird commercial like the tiniest thing in a toyota commercial yeah years before that jody directed yeah and uh i walked in he was like oh hey edie and i was like what you remember that thing yeah um but i didn't know danny at all and i only kind of knew jody. Had you watched Eats Pound? Yeah, I loved all their stuff. Yeah, loved it. So yeah, I came in and I assumed I would be reading with Danny since he was there.

And I was like, okay, so cool, so we'll read it together and he goes, no, and you'll be reading with Sherry. So I just did the scene with Sherry in front of them and yeah, I improvised a little bit and yeah that's how that happened and then we got on set

and had such a weirdly instant comedy chemistry you and McBride? yeah where he's just annoyed and you know yeah like it just was so immediate um that he uh yeah he morphed the whole second season i was supposed to do i think three episodes in the first season uh-huh and then yeah he just kept morphing it which was the best thing ever it's the best thing ever in life he just built there was a big arc in this in the what was it the second season with you yeah for sure yeah yeah just because you guys are so fucking funny together yeah we just had such a

good time together now how much such a fucking funny smart dude i know it's crazy yeah and it's very unique and it's very you know he's one of the few guys that can be you know the most colossal asshole and still be endearing that's always been my favorite kind of comedic character oh man we're like you know yeah they're they're such assholes but you know at heart they're their own worst enemy and there's no way they're gonna get out of their own way yeah they're just so hurt like deep down they're so wounded so did how much improvising is involved with that with like vice principals really um like a fair amount in the doing. Like we oftentimes would get how it's scripted, but then, you know, if it was Danny and I in a scene or whatever, it would usually open up a little bit

into other things. But it's, you know, as you know, it's not the kind of improvising where it's like, let's think of funny jokes. No, no, no, yeah. It's just being that person and letting the truth happen yeah um which every now and then yeah it would but mostly scripted yeah yeah there was always room to find stuff well sorry i think what's very funny about the characters like in this one too in uh in the uh gem, with the righteous gemstone, is that there's some sort of bizarre sexuality going on.

Like your sexual drive shaft is somehow like way fucked up in a good way. But just like in Vice Principals, it was just the obsessive kind of like hungry thing. And in this one, it's like a little more angry somehow. Yeah, it's a little more angry somehow yeah it's a yeah it's a little more um angry and frustrated yeah yeah and you've got this weird kind of like impotent ish husband it doesn't quite and you're you're kind of ass obsessed somehow yeah yeah weirdly ass obsessed yeah i feel like they're um probably into some kink judy and bj yeah but i don't get yeah right right but it happens spontaneously like it just happens

fitting their characters yes but when you saw this group how what did you you just they just called you up and offered you this thing yeah Yeah. So after Vice Principals, Danny and I had written a movie and then kind of wrote another one. Yeah. We wrote this thing for me, actually, that he'll direct at some point. We just haven't figured out who's going to make it and when to do it. Right. And just discovered we were out really well together. Yeah.

And he, kind of in the process of us writing stuff, he had thought of the gemstones. Yeah. And, yeah, asked me to play Judy, his sister, and then later asked me to come write for the season. So you're writing, too? Yeah, yeah. Oh, that's great.

Yeah, because I watch, it's weird, because I'm watching the first one, you've got pretty high expectations comedically out of this crew, and I was like, this is pretty matter, this the first one. You've got pretty high expectations comedically out of this crew. And I was like, this is pretty matter. This is kind of like just setting up a story and like when's the weird shit happen? And then it happens, you know. Yeah, then it happens.

Yeah, then it happens and it keeps happening. I just like the idea that these stuntmen are just, these stunt people are just unkillable. I know. Like, you know, after the first time, I don't want to give away anything, but after the first encounter where they get, you know, killed. It's so violent. Yeah, it's just horrendous.

And then they're like, I mean, they're messed up. They're bloody. But it's like, they made it? Yeah, but there's just like this attitude they have, you know, like sort of like, I'm alright, you know. Yeah, yeah but there's just like this attitude they have you know like sort of like um all right you know like yeah yeah it's a very funny kind of like uh world to have characters from like hollywood stunt people yeah totally that used to make us laugh a lot like oh what is that like what's the mindset of that yeah like there's bound to some, bound to be a ton of great people in it,

but there's bound to be some douches as well. Oh, no. Let's highlight some douches. They're real, they're kind of crazy people. Sure. You know,

like I read the, I read a book about the Wild Bunch, Peckinpah's Wild Bunch, the making of it. And there's like a whole crew there. They're just like,

they're crazy. They're motorcycles or jumping off of things. The life they live is hard. Yeah. I mean, I don't want to generalize, but it seems like you got to be a certain ilk.

Totally. And that guy, who's the guy that plays that guy? The stunt guy. Scott MacArthur. Oof, he's funny. Yeah, he is. Where's he from? He did a bunch of seasons on The Mick

and was a writer for it too. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I'm sure he's done a ton of other stuff, but that was his main thing before this. Hey, I love it, I love it. It's really getting good. And I saw the coming attractions for it, and then I thought, like, did they re-edit

some of the press screeners or no? I just, I didn't realize that there were three more. Yeah. That I gotta wait for, like everyone else. Yeah. I think they get really, really good. Yeah? Yeah. And I'm excited about it.

So now you've got this movie written and waiting to do with McBride. Yeah, we'll do it at some point. And what else are you working on? I did Rian Johnson's new flick that comes out on Thanksgiving, that Knives Out, that murder mystery thing. Oh, okay. flick that comes out on uh thanksgiving that knives out that murder mystery thing oh okay um yeah which is a crazy like old school uh full-on murder mystery oh wow yeah and uh i did that i did a thing in um uh the new between two friends movie and i did And I did this movie, Troop Zero, that I think is coming out soon. What is that?

It's this thing, Allison Janney and Viola Davis are the leads of it. And it's sort of a bad news bears Girl Scout troop. And the movie revolves around a ton of kids. scout troop oh and it's yeah it's the movie revolves around a ton of kids but it's the the woman who wrote it lucy alabar also wrote like beasts of the southern wild and so it's got this uh like almost spielberg vibe oh wow um where it feels like oh this is a cool movie for adults oh good yeah that sounds cool yeah yeah and you're still doing the improv and everything yeah did a improvised one-person show last night how was it yeah it went great thank god i get so jacked out nervous before that show and that's not this is the theater one the where you make up plays no no this one is one i do uh at the groundlings sometimes that's just literally

a one-person show that's improvised with one person and it's i play all the characters and the audience come see this shit i don't have yeah man that was fun groundlings i don't know oh i'll tell you when to come yeah do do you have my number i think you do let's write it down well we can do it off mic great actually can you write it with that sharpie so we can hear the numbers on the page yeah absolutely maybe god forbid i have a regular pen now is your husband in show business yeah he's he's the ad of that group in pro theater oh okay and he uh is a writer he wrote a book uh that's out recently about how improv integrating into your life and how it can help your life.

Because you know, basically it's just like- People skills, get your people skills. Yeah, it's a cool life philosophy. Yeah. To like, just be in the moment and want what you have. And like- Speak up. Be open, yeah, be open to what's happening instead of like going way into your head.

Allow as opposed to, what would you say? What did you say? Yeah, allowing as opposed to trying. Oh, yeah. That man, oh man, I have to do so many mental gymnastics before that show I did last night, that improvised one person thing. To get into it? My brain goes fucking crazy.

What does it do? Just awful nerves of like, oh my God, god it's sold out there's so many people here i don't know what this is gonna be like i'm about to make this up what am i doing right why did i agree to this again like what what am i doing and then i literally have to go to a place in my head where i go um i i thought of this uh the like the the second or third time I did it I had been home in Texas for like a month and a half because my dad got sick he had a couple of strokes

and it was a fucking hard time and I came back because I was scheduled to do that show and I remember driving there and going like oh my god like almost out of my body so nervous and I remember the only thing that calmed me down was thinking, well, nobody knows when they're gonna die. I could die later tonight.

All I have is this, let it rip. And I've found that that's a very helpful philosophy in most of life. Because then you can just be where you are and whatever happens, happens. Let's see what happens. Nice. And usually it's's see what happens. Nice. And usually it's better than you thought.

Yeah. Whatever thing, whether it's going to get coffee. Right. Doing this. Yeah. Doing a show. Like, if you just go like, fuck it, I don't know. Let's see.

Well, I think you've probably always had this and it's probably what got you through that existential crisis in fourth grade. Maybe. Maybe. I don't know. Thank goodness. It's great talking to you yeah you too edie patterson what a sweetheart so funny i i just big fan uh the righteous gemstones on hbo

new episode sunday nights and now i will play my strata caster for you Thank you. Boomer Lives! Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly, host of Under the Influence. 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. special bonus podcast episode where I talked to an actual cannabis producer. I wanted to know how a producer becomes licensed, how a cannabis company competes with big corporations, how a cannabis company markets its products in such a highly regulated category, and what the term dignified consumption actually means. I think you'll find the answers interesting and surprising.

Hear it now on Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly. This bonus episode is brought to you by the Ontario Cannabis Store and ACAS Creative. It's a night for the whole family. Be a part of Kids Night when the Toronto Rock take on the Colorado Mammoth at a special 5pm start time on Saturday, March 9th at First Ontario Centre in Hamilton. The first 5,000 fans in attendance will get a Dan Dawson

bobblehead courtesy of Backley Construction. Punch your ticket to Kids Night on Saturday, March 9th at 5pm in Rock City at