WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Episode 1161 - Cecily Strong

Episode Date: September 28, 2020

The adage “you can never go home again” didn't apply to Cecily Strong. She did, and it's what got her on Saturday Night Live. Cecily tells Marc why she didn't stick around in Los Angeles after studying acting at CalArts, a move that people told her was a mistake. They also talk about why she got kicked out of her high school, how she battles her depression, what it was like to perform for the Obamas, and why she was in a Chinese opera with Alison Brie.  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 sticks yeah i used that last one how's it going i'm mark maron this is my podcast wtf welcome to it i imagine that uh some of you jews are not with me today because you're praying you're praying to god to write you into the book of

life one more year to forgive you your transgressions your sins your fuck-ups to share your secret heart with the almighty that's what's up today jews yesterday last night was the night I was born, 1963, Kol Nidre, the holiest night of the Jewish year, the holiest night. And this was the first time in my recent memory that my birthday actually fell on Kol Nidre. But my buddy, Danny LaBelle, a scholar, a Jew, told me that in the Jewish calendar, it's always on Kol Nidre and i'm like all right i'll take it does that give me special powers does it give me a pass i've not been a religious man i think on on my better days i'm on the cusp of being spiritual certainly this last year has uh tested my uh my metal uh spiritually psychologically mentally physically is mental and psychological

the same what's what put together certainly i've been tested but today is the day i don't even know how many jews are going to be listening to this on the day it is released because they should be in temple but who's going to temple with the covid then you should be not eating you should be in temple, but who's going to temple with the COVID? Then you should be not eating. You should be fasting today, sitting in front, maybe davening in front of your laptop, asking God to forgive you for your sins and write you into the book of life one more year. Forgiveness is a tough one. It's a tough one. Cecily strong is on the show today um we talked to her a little while ago uh that was it was exciting uh the season premiere of saturday night live is this saturday

october 3rd we talked to her right before the emmy's a little before actually where she was nominated for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series and she's a funny person I like her like her energy I'll be talking to her soon so yeah I reflect I reflect on this day or yesterday my birthday I'm to do on my birthday the eve of kol nidre so i drove down to malibu and i sat on a rock and i looked at the at the sky i looked at the sea i listened to it i tried to meditate a bit spoke to lynn spoke to Lynn spoke to God and I'm a little iffy on the God part but I speak out into the sky and it's interesting because my buddy Danny said today is the day that God is closest to us today is the day where you can speak to God personally as if if he was right here, close, like one of us. He's among us today, wandering around.

I was born, I was escorted into this world by God, because this is the day he comes down and deals with shit, apparently. So on behalf of everybody, I just want to speak to god right now i don't know what you believe in and i i know this is not uh a unique prayer it's just very basic but god help us oh please deliver us from this fucking bullshit i'm sorry i'm sorry that i'm sorry about the cussing but i was told that we speak to you today like you're like one of our pals like one of us really seriously man god sorry god give us a little something to go on here, to give us a little hope, see us through this psychotic clusterfuck.

What do we have to do? I've been asking the God that I barely believe in, that I may not believe in, I've been asking the universe to please tell me what to do. Am I doing enough? You don't have to answer that, God. Just do me a favor now that you're here. Forgive me my sins and my transgressions. Ease my heart, please. But please, on a bigger level, help us out, will you? We're struggling here, okay? Can we do that? Yeah, i know you brought me here on this day all right just help me out just help us out

is this a test i know you're into that please god help us thank you and get could you just drop my name in the thing? Thanks. Thanks, man. God, sorry. So, did I tell you I went down to the beach and sat on a rock on my birthday? Took some breaths. Did what you do at the sea. It's nice to go to the sea. It really is. I sat there and I listened to the waves i took the deep breaths i thought about things i talked to the sky i watched the fishermen i talked to the sky

as i do in the morning and i said what should i do how can i help how can i be of service as the world burns to no one in particular and i told lynn that i missed her and i love her i told that to the sky i was 57 years old yesterday tough times so what have you guys been up to man i got another covid test i'm negative i was negative the other day i'm probably still negative today but i'll tell you what i did do the other night for the first time in five months i don't know if you can hear the clarity and peace in my voice but i went to a secret club i went to the secret society meeting a real one with other people a secret society meeting outdoors distanced and it was a meeting that i've been going to for about 20 years and i tell you man i was crying

i was doing a little bit of crying because i see people there that i've seen for literally almost 20 years walking the walk trudging the road, whatnot. I needed it. It was nice to get back into the groove of the language, of the context, of the community. It was something. It was like a return. It was like a spiritual return over this Yom Kippur. So I feel good about that.

And I did another thing that I have not done in a long time or never on purpose or with intent, but I went gun shopping with my friend. That's where we're at. So yeah, me and the nicest guy I know went gun shopping. And it's got me thinking, you know know it's got me thinking about the things we have now the things we do now a variety of masks plastic visors hand sanitizer alcohol in the house

fear gloves some gloves if you need them this is the world we live in. And just how it's fucking our brains, this horrendous psychopathic non-leadership at the helm. It's embarrassing, globally embarrassing. But I was looking at guns. My buddy, I'm telling you, this guy's an artist, musician, poetic sensibility, nice guy. he said to me a few weeks ago do you want to what do you think about guns i'm like i don't know i grew up with guns my dad had guns there were guns around i grew up in new mexico i i guess on some level i don't have a problem with responsible gun ownership i've thought at different points of my life of kind

of getting one but i generally believe that they're shit magnets they they kind of want to be used it's another relationship you have in the house that's in the drawer but you know it's there i did one of my favorite jokes about a gun about that years ago when my wife Mishnah, we got robbed because she left the doors open and she was sleeping. It was scary. It was horrible. I wasn't home, but she wanted to get a gun. I understood that.

But I realized that my wife wants a gun. At that point, at that time, there was no way i was getting my wife a gun because that would be kind of like me saying i want to kill myself but i want it to be a surprise one of my favorite jokes thank you thought i'd throw that out to you but i i had no idea what one needed to get a gun here in california and apparently you just need to go and get a gun you know there's a gun safety card but you can take the test at the place and we went in the afternoon we drove out to Burbank and went to a place and we walked in now I knew I wasn't going to get a gun and I'll tell you why in a minute but

we walked in it was there's a few people in there a few people working there and they're like what can we help you with and I'm like I guess we're looking for handguns. And they said, well, all we got is revolvers. And in a case, they had 38s,.357s, bigger ones. Big revolvers, old style, the kind that I grew up with. They had clip guns. But I guess everybody wants the Glocks, the 9mm. Plenty of revolvers, right?

That seems like that would be enough. Right? But I guess, you know, we had it in our head. We were looking for Glocks. And we said, well, what's the deal? They get in. They come in. Can you order them? And they were basically like, we don't know what we're going to get in day to day, but people come every day.

You got to get here early in the morning and line up and see what comes off the truck. That's how gun sales work. Got to get there early and see if you can get yourself what you need, what you want for whatever reason that you think, what's coming. We went to another place, but he didn't want to stand on line. But I knew I was going to get one because in my mind, okay, because I said to him, I said, well, what are you preparing for exactly? And for exactly and he was like well if they come i want to be able to defend them they who they you mean if the other side the right the militias the armies i mean if they that's the war you're fighting handgun's not going to help you in that picture i don't think but when it comes down to desperation, panic, anger, thousands of people, unemployed,

homeless with nowhere to go, no safety net, no options in the major cities, that's real. You would think that leadership could help that out or we could help that out somehow as opposed to prepare to kill them tragic that was my reasoning really for not you know i'm not gonna buy a gun to shoot angry desperate people who have fallen through the cracks and are roaming the streets of our city trying to survive creating chaos because that's what they're living in i'm not going to buy a gun to shoot those people my fellow americans who have fallen on hard times no i'm going to move the fuck out of this city is what i'm going to do if you're afraid that your city is going to fall into lawlessness and chaos and you're going to buy a gun why not not buy the gun and try to get the fuck out

it is a bit scary how easy easily people can buy guns and how many there are out there and how there really is no effective way to track it and there doesn't seem to be much background checking obviously gun safety is important if we're going to have it but i understand the second amendment i understand the fear what's more frightening to me is reasonable, progressive people with good hearts are now sort of drifting into this mode of panic and fear where they need to arm themselves. And, right, it's their right. I get that. But it's a severe indication of where we're at. indication of where we're at.

And I told him, man, I said, well, I mean, you could probably just get the 38, the old Saturday night special. And he's like, but then you'd have to reload. I'm like, what are you picturing? Do you want it to protect your house or to, you know? I mean, honestly, I would think that what you need is just a fucking shotgun. That seems to be the way to go. I'm not getting one. And it's sad of this panic that this divisive fuck has caused us.

Drove out to Malibu, sat on that rock all the way down. I listened to Tim Maia, M-a-i-a great brazilian artist i listened to uh nobody can live forever on repeat man on repeat it was uh he's an interesting character and uh i enjoy that song it's just a straight up it's almost a fragment of a song it's just a little three chord slightly psychedelic funk groove nobody can live forever one thing you have to agree with and that's for sure nobody can live forever and everybody is the same. Sooner or later, you're going to understand that. Nobody can live forever. Nobody will know how I feel.

Nobody can give the answers. Nobody can play but for real. There's no God. There's no heaven. There's no devil. There's no hell. Don't you worry. Don't you worry. Don't you worry.

Play your music. Play your music. Dig it. Happy birthday to me. Jews. Be honest with God. People. Hey, my dad's calling me.

Hold on. Hello? It's your brother. I mean, your father, man. How you doing? It's my father, not my brother. I'm okay. How are you, Dad?

Okay. Hey, you're 67? 57 years old, pal. Oh. I'd like to have you aboard. Thank you. How are you doing? Love you, man. I love you, too. Oh. I'd like to have you aboard. Thank you. How are you doing? Love you, man.

I love you, too. All right. Yeah? Yeah. Did you do anything more as far as... Oh, I... Well, not really. I'm just doing the podcast and stuff.

And today I went down to the beach for a minute by myself and sat on a rock. And Netflix sent me a nice uh gift basket so i ate some cheese and bread and uh you know i'm just trying to have a birthday over here bought some fish might eat some might eat some oysters oh yeah that's great okay Okay. You sound, you know, you sound good. You sound up to par. Good. I like to be up to par. Well, I love you, Dad. I love you, too.

Take care of everything. Okay, you, too. Bye. Bye. I'm up to par. Cecily Strong is here. Saturday Night Live is back this saturday october 3rd we talked uh prior to the emmys uh she was nominated for the outstanding actress in a

comedy series and um i'm a big fan of hers here we are are. Here we go. This is it. It's hockey season, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get an ice rink on Uber Eats. But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice?

Yes, we deliver those. Goal tenders, no. But chicken tenders, yes. Because those are groceries, and we deliver those too.enders no but chicken tenders yes because those are groceries and we deliver those too along with your favorite restaurant food alcohol and other everyday essentials order uber eats now for alcohol you must be legal drinking age please enjoy responsibly product availability varies 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 are you? Can you see me? I'm all right. I can. How are you? Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. Do we never met before, huh? I don't think so. I guess. I mean, if we did, it was, you know, really not a thing. Quick passing. I think I was up there. I was at SNL once. What was I doing up there? Oh, I remember. I was interviewing Lorne.

That's right. I saw some people, but not you. Oh, I remember. I was interviewing Lorne. That's right. I saw some people, but not you. No, I hide. Do you? Well, I'm not in the hallways. No? I'm usually on a couch. Is that a scene?

Is there a hallway scene? If there is, no one told me. I don't know about it. Where are you holed up? I'm in Rhinebeck. Oh, that's nice. It's really, really nice. Yeah, I'm trying to buy a house here now.

I've fallen in love with this part of New York. Yeah, there's a bunch of those little towns up there where people used to buy houses back in the day, and I guess they still do. I've had a friend who had a house in Rhinebeck. It's pretty. Yeah, I have friends nearby. Is that the Hudson Valley?

Yeah. And how's it been going up there in the quarantine? Have you had tests? Have you had COVID tests? No, I haven't. It's only been my friend Kevin and I. We left March 24th. I did a voluntary quarantine for two weeks from March 12th to March 24th.

Because I had been with someone who had COVID. Oh, really? Yeah. But I didn't, I mean, I took my temperature with this dinky little thermometer 18 times a day. Yeah. That's fun. So I don't think I had it then. Yeah. How's the person who had it? All right. Yes. He's better. Well, that's good. I mean, we're still, it's, you know, every day a new article comes out that's troubling. About everything. About everything, right. But I'm always like, uh-oh, well, you might have organ damage now or something. Oh, God.

As if I need anything else to make me think someone has organ damage. I'm already assuming it. That we all have organ damage? That we're all dying every day. Of course. There's some catastrophe. How are you handling that? Do you go like, what's your stress level?

I mean, can you handle it? Or do you freak out? You know, I've been better these days, maybe getting to sit more. And I have a psychiatrist and a therapist and Wellbutrin and Xanax if I need. Wellbutrin, that works for you? Yeah, I really like it. I haven't done that in a long time. There was a period where I did some Wellbutrin. It used to be prescribed to get up-

For quitting smoking. Yeah, right. It had a different name. Well, I think I knew it as Wellbutrin, but my mom was a nurse practitioner for a long time. And the first time I took it was just briefly to quit smoking. Did it work? In college. No, but I did quit smoking. Just not then. Oh, and now you just take it for your brain? Now it's just for my brain.

Oh, it used to jack me up like speed. I used to feel like it used to get me crazy. Really? Yeah, I think so. But maybe I might have been doing other things. No, right. I think I'm so tired. It's like nothing can jack me up and then nothing can put me to sleep. I have a whole like a routine to get to bed. Your mom was a nurse? She's I think like fully retired now. She was the nurse. She started in public relations for a long time. And then when she was 46, she went back to school to be a nurse. She got divorced. And then she went, then she became a nurse practitioner. Huh. She worked at the Walgreens clinic for a long time and almost got them to unionize, but.

Oh, really? I didn't, didn't do it. Yeah. She was a union leader type of person yeah i mean you you have to be if you're from chicago yeah it's in our blood got to unionize union yeah she divorced your dad at 46 well my dad divorced her but now i mean it's fine yeah my parents divorced when i was older, too. It's a weird thing where you have that moment where you're like, so what was going on the whole time? Yeah. Well, I was 10 or 11, and it was... Oh, wow. Okay.

So my dad's been married to my stepmom for longer now, I think. Oh, I was 35. It wasn't that traumatic for me. now I think oh I was 35 it wasn't that traumatic for me oh I think it was probably traumatic for me that's part of the well-being maybe yeah I mean it tends that's rough when your folks get divorced at 10 yeah I mean there's it's that's hard to say that's rough and especially with everything now I guess it depends how it goes after. Do you know what I mean? I mean, yeah. Right, right. You know, trauma's trauma.

Do you have other siblings and stuff? I do. I have an older brother and I have a younger stepsister and an older stepbrother. Oh, a lot of people. Yeah. And you grew up the whole time in Chicago?

Well, just right outside. I grew up in Oak Park. So I only say Chicago to people who are not from there oh i like chicago i've grown to like it over the years i mean like i i went there a lot over the last decade and it's got a real like thing of its own it's its own cool place yeah sometimes i love it and would have a lot of pride and then sometimes i'm like what what what are you thinking what what causes that shift you know I think the only thing I can say off the top of my head that I remember and this is so lame to use this as an example of why I think that but it was um when I went to New York like

immediately I got invited to a Knicks game and they really treat you really well at MSG. And I was like, and nobody on the show and we still got to sit on the court and go to the owner's suite and everything. And I thought, well, the bulls will do the same. It's my hometown,

you know? And, uh, they did not. And we were way in the back and like Jenny McCarthy and, um, uh, Belushi were on the court and i was like that's these are our like stars from chicago what a bummer jenny mccarthy's a chicago star yeah

oh you guys made her huh hey sure i mean i'd prefer to talk about michael jordan i mean i think we'll we were forever we'll be in the conversation because of Michael Jordan. Oh, for sure. And Barack Obama. Yeah. Barack Obama, of course. And a lot of the other, there's some early sketch performers that were Chicago,

but you know, Bill Murray. That's part of it too. Yeah. Bill Murray's important. Isn't he Chicago, Bill? I think so. I think everybody was at least in Chicago. I don't know. I get confused over who's Canadian and who's Chicago. I think he's important. Isn't he Chicago, Bill? I think so. I think everybody was at least in Chicago. I get confused over who's Canadian and who's Chicago.

I think he's Chicago. So when did you start getting interested in actually doing performing? Were you a little kid? I started, yeah, I was little. I was just always singing and dancing and being a weirdo around the house. I did an impression of, um, the shrunken head guy from Beetlejuice. Oh, you did? That's very specific. And so, yeah, it was, that was the funniest one.

He's only in that one scene or something. And he just turns to look at Beetlejuice and it was a great look. It's not in your repertoire anymore? I don't know. I don't know that anyone. I mean, I talk about it, obviously. But then my parents put me in. I grew up in Oak Park.

So this is a very Oak Park sounding preschool. But I went to Suburban Child Development Center. Wow, that sounds like, you know, you were in trouble. Well, maybe I mean, or it's very Oak Park and it's run by two two lesbians with an acoustic guitar. What is Oak Park? Characterize it for me. So, well, Oak Park is different when I grew up than it is now, I'm pretty sure. But Frank Lloyd Wright, Ernest Hemingway, that's all Oak Park. It's just right on the border of Chicago. So the trains go to Oak Park.

The taxes are getting higher. Good schools, but it's made the taxes go up a lot. But when I grew up, I was lucky enough that it was pretty economically religiously racially whatever diverse you know i got to grow up around a lot of people and and ideas yeah i like that you know you just like frank oyd reitner and ernest hemingway and that's sort of get it frank oyd reitner i'm an intellectual i can say those two names. And the lesbian preschool. Yes. Okay, so they sent you there, and that's when everything started.

I took a drama class, yeah. And then my first play I did was Grapes of Wrath at the Village Players when I was eight. Oh, and I assume you played a child? I played Ruthie Joad, who was 12. Wow, okay. Kind of a big deal. I'll say. Wow. Okay. Kind of a big deal. I'll say. Yeah.

And did you realize that you wanted to be on stage for your life? Was that it? Oh, absolutely. Yeah. No, I for sure did. And my uncle is a producer in New York and was always against it. Really? Until he couldn't be anymore.

He was against it because he knew the life you were heading into? Yes. He was concerned for you? Yes. And then I think my mom told me recently, we had some relatives, she had some relative that was worried I'd become a neurotic. She'll become a neurotic or something. Yeah, well, she was right.

There's the diagnosis. she'll become a neurotic what do you come from what are your people do you come from uh jews or what no my family is um my dad and his brother were military army brats super waspy but all their families Southern, but so I don't know them very well. And my mom was waspy too. She grew up in New York and her dad was like a Manhattan ad man. Ad man. Old timey ad man. Yes. But being a wasp means you get a fun surprise. I made them both take DNA tests and I made my mom take a DNA test. And there was like Spanish and Scandinavian in

there, but in such high numbers that I was like, mom, so your grandma, or great grandma had a different baby. She didn't tell the truth on paper. Right. So you have a lot of Spanish in you and Scandinavian? Not a lot, just whatever a grandparent, I think it's like, and who knows? I mean, the numbers are 10% to 15% on one of the DNA tests I've done. That's a lot. At some point. So your dad was like a military kind of guy? Yeah, he grew up. So I'm named after my grandfather, Colonel Cecil Strong, who's now in Arlington. But my dad had to answer the phone. Colonel Strong's residence, William speaking. Wow. He did that one in your house? Yeah. No, our house was like armpit farts and like fart jokes and punching butts and screaming.

I think those are the comedic words we're looking for. I think we found them. Yeah. We did not have any of that discipline. Armpit farts. Missed us. I haven't thought about armpit farts in a while. I've tried so hard for years to be able to do it.

And every now and then I could do it. But nothing consistent. No. No. It's not a consistent skill. it's not on my resume you know I try to be honest on my resume you have to put it on your resume just say just say occasionally armpit farts sometimes I mean that's sort of anytime people ask for a special skill it's like the most terrifying moment because I don't have any. And all my special skills are like, I can make this weird noise.

I can roll my tongue. But I can't go horseback riding or something. I'm not a sailor. Not a sailor? But I can do that whirl, whirl, whirl, whirl sound. That's good. I mean, I think it's probably more practical than uh horseback riding for sure so when you went to um high school and stuff did you do all the plays and things um

i did i had a colorful high school career though um were you in jail well sort of so i uh i was in theater and i loved doing the plays and i was in in, like, jazz choir, and I got straight A's. But then I also, like, the first bag of pot I ever bought, they found, and I got handcuffed and, like, marched through school and arrested. And then I got expelled for a semester. Oh my God. Then I went to Catholic school for the end of the year to get to the end of

the year. And then I went back to public school. I got super depressed. It felt like, you know, I wasn't going to graduate on time because I didn't have consumer at consumer's ed or, and enough gym credits,

which was so, uh, like just, I was understanding bureaucracy for the first time. I think. And it was like, well, you know what?

I'm not going to do that. And I dropped out. I went to the library in the park every day. And then I wound up, um, my senior year, I went to Chicago Academy for the Arts and I I found my people and I did some correspondence classes and I graduated on time I found all the weirdos

so you got busted for pot at public high school yeah and that was sophomore year that was my sophomore year and I remember like asking the security guard if he could check the cast list for shadow box to see if i'd gotten beverly while they were taking you out in cuffs i did get the role like didn't get to do it oh and so you got suspended from there for a year expelled so i had a full expulsion hearing and um then like you know how you do the PSATs for national merit, whatever. And so I was, I got a letter saying, you're a national merit commended scholar, but I wasn't allowed within a three block radius of my high school. And then they sent you to Catholic school for the rest of that year?

Well, no, they wanted to send me to like an ombudsman school in Chicago. And we decided to do Catholic school instead. And I went to, but you know what? I'm kind of glad because it was such an experience in itself, seeing like getting to go to school with all the, you know, the Catholics in Chicago. This was, I've met a lot of, I have a lot of great Italian names. Yeah. No, ones? Yeah, I learned about confirmation names. No, at this part of where

I was in Chicago, it was kind of like on the west side. It was in River Forest, so it wasn't in the city, but it was a very Italian, Irish, Puerto Rican. So you met some characters? I did, yeah. There was one girl, Jo Rizzo, who the first time I met her, she had a big bruise on her arm because her boyfriend, Kenny, she said, Kenny hit me with a league ball.

And then one day, she couldn't sit down and she went, because I went tanning twice because I went once and then Kenny's mom wanted to go and look and she lifted up her skirt and her whole ass was like bright red super burned so it's like I've never that wasn't part of my life yet yeah and then you got out of there you escaped and went to art I got out of there went back to public school and then was just I started getting super depressed. Why? Well, I mean, it's in my family anyway.

My brother had really bad depression growing up. He still does. We all do. Yeah. And so I guess this was like my time. my time and um i would you know late at night like i'm either gonna just keep driving and i'm gonna drive west or i'm gonna go in my garage and just fall asleep with the car running and it's warm and i'm listening to music i like and those were like i would just go home i didn't ever try anything but then my mom was kind of like no you this is not good and um i went to the family

psychiatrist the family one yeah she told me i had shit i was wearing shit colored glasses so i knew i liked her oh as opposed to the rose colored glasses or the regular glasses yeah no suicidal ideation is not uh it's not great though it's a hobby of mine um yeah it makes me makes me feel better sometimes but uh it makes you feel alive it does i used to do a joke about it that uh i used to you know i i think about suicide all the time not that i want to kill myself it just makes me feel better knowing that i can if i have to it's relieving relieving, you know, that moment where you're like, huh, I could always kill myself. All right. Now I can keep going. Yeah, exactly. So, so that's when, um, you started getting treated for the depression. Yes. So yeah, I started then I, um, and it was really good. I got

on, um, I forget, you know, it's like antidepressants have come such a long way i think i was on lexapro or something yeah you're on one of the classics one of the ogs yeah yeah so and i've been on and off that's why i really like well butrin because it's the like i feel the least amount of side effects and like i'm not i don't feel if i'm ever going through a feeling dread or whatever i'm like this will be this too shall pass so it gives you that foundation of uh not locking into the uh the spin right which and it's a big spin i still spin i guess but i'm, but the dread. Dread's the worst. I think Will Butcher is good for people who spin.

Yeah, it's good for dread? It's like the tornado, you know? Right, once it starts, everything just- I'm still going to have them every night. Yes, yeah. And it's always very negative and fatalistic. I haven't heard of a positive spiral. I think that's like when you're manic.

Oh, that's true. That's true. That's the positive spiral where everything's going your way. Yes, I have a lot of mental illness in my family. So I've been on the other end of the phone for a positive spiral. Oh, but you're not bipolar? What's your diagnosis? No, I'm not.

Yeah, depression, anxiety. Boring. Nothing special. Depression and anxiety? Yeah. I have the anxiety. I don't know if I'm depressed. I wouldn't know anymore.

My dad's a depressive, and we have it in the family. But I definitely have tracked most of it to different varying degrees of anxiety. Sure, yeah. Because if you get really anxious, you'll go into a paralysis that is kind of like depression. Yeah. But it's not. It's more of a dread thing. Like I can tell the difference between depression and paralyzing dread. Right.

Do you think? Oh, see now sometimes I'm like the paralyzing dread. And it's just like what it leads you to. It's exhausting. And it's the anxiety. I feel much more physically weirdly enough and then uh the depression i get my hormones get all messed up i take seasonal birth control and i have for years and years so i only get four periods a year because i get so depressed just from PM, just from my hormones changing. And I, that's when I have to go like, this isn't real. This isn't going to last. And

right. Yeah. I mean, that's the trick is if you can actually step out of it to be like, this is my brain dragging me along here. Like it's all, I'm responding to something my brain is manufacturing that has no bearing on reality. Right. Yeah. And in high school, I remember, you know,

going through like, which is what's my personality and what's my illness. Oh, it's the worst. Yeah. That sort of like, am I a whole self? Right.

Is the fun stuff me or because I have anxiety? But I think like coronavirus really brought it all back. I feel like, you know, I worked on it, worked on it for years. And then all of a sudden being alone in my apartment for two weeks and not knowing what's happening and having someone sick and wondering if I'm sick. It was like, I would go days where I'd go to, I'm going to choose anxiety today. And then like, now I'm going to choose depression and start, you know, drinking at 10 a.m. the minute I wake up to just to try to go to knock myself out. Right. Yeah. I think that a lot of people are having

that experience or they're definitely spending time with, you know, either fighting who they really are or with they who or with who they really are. Yeah. With this. You know, you know what I mean? It's it's all broken. Or they haven't, you know, dealt with it. Yeah. I really had a hard time with that, with that sort of struggle for like, who am I? Is this like, does this hat make me me? Am I like, should I dress like that guy? You know, like I can't fucking deal with that. Right. I think it went on until like maybe a year or two ago.

It's probably still going on. Did you have that? No, I think I'm now, I love not having to think i fit in or have to i the thing i'm like you know what i i 100 believe that i'm a person who likes to share joy and be joyful and i want comedy from there and you know and obviously i'm salty and I love to, I bark like a dog sometimes, but I don't enjoy arguing or fight. You know, the thing I enjoy when I feel best is coming from that place, like a happy laughing. Wow, that's great.

I mean, maybe I should get on Wellbutrin. Jesus Christ. Just take, don't do the generic because it makes your hands shake. See, that's what I was telling you when I took it. It got me crazy. Yeah. It makes your hands shake. Yeah.

I was doing like an ad for the, it was something with, not an ad. It was like a public service thing. And I had to drink a glass of water and I just started it. And I was taking the Bupropion. And I was like, it's like Donald Trump shaking all right so all right let's let's not like so tell me about the evolution yeah the evolution of joy here so when you finally got to the art high school and you found your people were you like relieved is that where you started to realize it's okay to be a weirdo

people were you like relieved is that where you started to realize it's okay to be a weirdo oh totally i i always say like i think i was the coolest i've ever been when i was 18 because i was around all these people who introduced me to their favorite music and art and i had a really good friend this girl megu lived with me she was Japanese, and she was an exchange student, and she lived with me, and she was so funny. She had her hair permed like Bob Dylan and like one tooth that kind of stuck out, and she was a Zen Buddhist and a painter. Wow.

She'd had cancer and gone to school in a hospital until she came to Chicago, And we wound up being- Jesus Christ, that's- She was just like a super important person in my life. She lived with me. And then after I went to college, she stayed in my house and lived with my mom until she was done with high school. Oh, so she lived with you at your family house? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, wow.

And she took the bed and she, I just remember she painted these, she got sticks from outside and painted them all black and bent them and made like a canopy for her bed. So she was an inspirational artist. She was very much so. And she hardly spoke any English, but I think I appreciated that. I had a lot of friends who didn't speak English growing up. Not a lot, but I think I appreciate someone who feels like, I mean, they have to, they feel like an outsider, but there was something like, well, we have to find

other ways to communicate. And that was kind of fun to me. Are you still in touch with her? No. So when she left, when she went back to Japan, I had a close friend pass away right around the same time and it was really like my first big loss and I lost like and just it was all at the same time and I kind of lost her info and like I've tried to look for her over the years but her name's Megu Nakagawa so there's just so many and it was sort of with her being as like Zen Buddhist as she is, it was kind of like, you know, this was the way it's supposed to go. And Megu was this part of my life. And if I meant to meet her again, I will. So when you were at the art high school, what were you primarily doing? She was, it sounds like she was a painter and a sculptor and stuff.

Yes, I was theater. Nothing cool. And so you just did straight up like, you know, were you taking the acting classes and all that stuff? Yeah. So I'd done theater for a long time anyway. And then I went to college for it, too. I got my BFA from Cal Arts. I know some people went to Cal Arts. I know.

It's a small school, but a lot of people went. Allison Brie. Yeah. She was a year above me but a lot of people went. Allison Brie. Yeah. She was a year above me. We were friends. You were? Yeah. She's great. I do a show with her. And also Don Cheadle. We're friends, too. Are you?

I was just saying that. I'm putting that on Don Cheadle, but he can't say no now, right? Yeah. That's right. Yeah. Allison and I did a Chinese opera together. Really? Would that be appropriate now? I think that's what, I mean, I don't know what another name would be. That's what they called it.

It was directed by Chen Shijing and Stephen Merritt did the music. It was called Peach Blossom Sand. Stephen Merritt? Yeah. From Magnetic Fields? It's like there's a Beijing opera style. And we had these two other two instructors who were like a really big deal in Chinese opera who came to try to teach us.

There was like stick moves and fan work and a lot of like. Yeah, I was not ever good at it. was a lot of work was this part of a class work or is this a class i offered chinese opera or is it something no we all auditioned oh so someone came in steven merritt came in we're gonna do this came in yeah right it works with i get it and it was the opening of red cat they did this show if you're familiar with the school. And it was the opening of Red Cat. They did this show. If you're familiar with the Red Cat Theater. I did. I taped my last special there.

Oh, okay. Well, so you've probably seen, there's probably a picture somewhere on the wall. I don't know. I'll go back and look. I'm sure there must be some of the Chinese opera that you guys did. Yes. Yeah. So were you doing comedy? Not yet. So I didn't really do comedy. I mean, we did some funny shows and I was like, I was a funny person,

I think, but I was a serious actress until after college. Well, what, now what kind of decision is that? Like, you're just sort of, you get of college at CalArts and then what do you do I stayed around LA for a minute I took a class at the Groundlings because my teacher said he thought I would do well and I was sort of like we'll see and I loved it and then um you know I I was like I can go back to Chicago, get a really, a much cheaper apartment. My parents can buy me groceries if I'm ever in need. And I took classes and I started at Second City. See, that was the big question. Like, you know, looking at, you know, my research was like, how do you go from CalArts and then just go back to Chicago to do sketch?

And it was the groundlings was the hinge. That's where you got turned on to it. Yeah. You were like, I used to do like, I used to go talk at Cal arts about, you know, cause people kept telling me you're giving up if you're moving back to

Chicago. And it was like, number one, I'm 24, 25 years old. And I don't want to be, none of this feels good yet. And it's like, I'm, I make $14 an hour wearing a blue apron and selling wine at Greenblatt's, um, which was

fun, but it was like, I, I wasn't gonna, none of like what I thought my life would be didn't feel like it existed there. In LA? Yeah. Next to the Laugh Factory at Greenblatt. Yeah, that's it. On Sunset Boulevard. I drank a lot of good wine there, though. That's nice.

So you took the Groundlings class, and then you went back to to Chicago and you're like, this is the life. Yeah. I moved in with my friend Caitlin. We had an apartment. I think we each paid like 375. I worked in restaurants and did Second City. Then I worked at Planned Parenthood for two years or so. Oh, really? Yeah. And taking classes and like doing shows for two people in the audience, wherever you could do them. What was the Planned Parenthood job? I was the receptionist at the corporate office in Chicago. And so I opened all the mail too. And it was sort of like when someone calls, if they look up the number online, that's, I'll be the first person they speak to.

Did you just do that? Did you feel like it was your social responsibility? Yeah. I mean, I've always been a bit of like a wonk. My dad was in public relations, but his firm did a lot with like the Democratic Party in Chicago. Yeah. And we've just always skewed sort of liberal and uh so i really wanted to work for planned parenthood and i got to be their receptionist

like was there maybe chicago's different were you afraid to work there like didn't they get letter bombs you know i well yeah and i would open all this crazy mail that was just full of so much hate oh really but um and i had to open the door and we had like the you buzz one door to open it and then to get back you'd have to buzz another door but it wasn't like we weren't the main clinic in chicago where they performed abortions we were, the clinic near us did all the other, just regular, all the 80, 90% of things Planned Parenthood does. Oh, birth control. Right, screenings, cancer screenings, all of that. So you didn't have to deal with the pain of the decision every day

with people coming in. No, but I do remember Dr dr tiller was killed while i was a receptionist and that was like a very scary day and i think i just sobbed in a parking lot talking to my dad on the phone yeah just and and it was like you know it was tough also just every single day seeing so much hate that was like this is mainly it's not really religious when they're writing those things they're saying close your legs you whores you sluts you're trapped i mean it was just like really awful off it was just hate and then if there was like a woman of color on our flyer that we'd send out it would be even worse and it was

just non-stop non-stop yeah yeah and now look at now we live in that every day i know yeah so wait did you get you got a bfa or mfa are you a master's bfa oh no i'm a bachelor's i call it a big fucking asshole degree it's a lot of money to pay for group therapy. I don't know. Why trivialize it like that? You know what? I don't as much anymore, but that's because I've paid off my loans. You've done it. You did a Chinese opera. I loved Keller. I got to go to France. I went, you know, I toured around France right after I graduated with them. So I loved it. That alone was worth the loans. So how did the, when did you start working professionally for, which company did you work for in the improv business?

So, well, I did some professional theater as a kid. And then when i started my first real job in chicago was i did a cruise ship a cruise ship i did a cruise ship with alex who's on my show um and there was a group of five of us so we did very watered down sketch and improv for a cruise ship for four months you were on the ship for four months yeah i. I mean, how long were the cruises? Most of them were a week. There was a couple that were two weeks when we went up to Canada in fall, but most were a week. Did you enjoy it? Was it weird to be traveling with the audience all the time? Well, my mom had me convinced. I was like, there's nothing more luxurious than a cruise. So for two months, I think I loved it.

And by the third month, it started feeling a bit more like I'm stuck here. I want to, I haven't spent a night on land. And sometimes, you know, when there's bad weather, we just get sick all the time. And the food gets a little weird, doesn't it? Uh-huh. Yeah. Yes. get sick all the time and they're in the in the food is gets a little weird doesn't it uh-huh yeah yes and and you had to do how many shows a week well we didn't have to work a lot that was the thing i just got like i got fat and drunk that we only did um we did two sketch shows a week and two improv shows oh okay and then improv shows. Oh, okay.

And then you're just wandering around. I'm going to work out and I'm going to write. And I did neither. So now how does it shift? How do you shift from cruise ship to SNL? What happens? What are the steps? Well, when I got back to Chicago, I started touring with Second City.

So I got to see all different parts of Wisconsin and Ohio. And then I started doing shows at I.O. I know. Yeah. I've been all around the Midwest and worked with insane people. But then I did a show at I.O. Or I did a couple things at I.O. And I worked in the box office there.

I really liked I.O. And it was the showcase there that I got hired from. Okay. Improv Olympics. And that's not really like, there's not really a logical jump from that to SNL anyway. That's not like a thing that makes sense. No, I get it. But so the two different companies are Second City and I.O., right? Yes. SNL anyway that's not like a thing that makes sense no I get it but like you know but so

there's the two different companies are Second City and IO right yes I mean there's a couple there's a there's a bunch in Chicago there's there's Annoyance too that's a big one oh yeah Annoyance yeah right right right Annoyance was started by who started the Annoyance right Mick Napier yeah yeah but so what was the audition process for you how did it happen sharna asked me to do it and i didn't think i was ready and there was like you know everybody who's sharna information she ran io okay uh and so she was running the showcase and it was like everyone said we can only audition once and then Lauren will get sick of you. So you better have a really good one. Um, and so I didn't think I was ready and I didn't do, I wasn't a standup and I didn't do a lot of solo work and I didn't do impressions.

So I just, I took a workshop on, on solo work and impressions. Um, I think what I did that worked was I just tried to keep everything short. Yeah. You know, a lot of people get really indulgent, like doing Sam Elliott or something. And it's like, your jokes aren't that good to fill a minute of this. Right. And there's like two other guys doing Sam Elliott tonight. But you, so you, you actually, for the audition, you knew it was coming up.

You took those classes so you could nail it. Yeah. So you were just being yourself usually? And making up characters? Yeah, exactly. Right, right, right, right. So you didn't do impressions? I did some impressions, but they were kind of, like, I think I did Sofia Vergara in the first one, but I did

her, like, selling a pair of glasses that make you look like you're awake, like your eyes are open. Zombie glasses so that you can take a nap. Do you want me to give you you want you want me to break some news for you? Please. Right now. Kamala Harris was just selected by Joe Biden.

That's it? Wow. This is big news. Yeah. I was waiting to hear. Wow. Yeah. There you go.

It just popped up amazing that's exciting i i'm a fan i know some of my friends and family aren't quite as fond of her but i think she's great i think that's a great duo sure well this is great news thanks for telling me you got it so when you get to snl like you know they wanted to see you, so you go meet with Lauren. Did you have to go do the screen test? Yeah. So I did everything with 80, which was really nice. We had the exact same.

Yeah, I do too. And having her, we went to the first screen test that was all women. And then I flew home the next day. And as I'm in the car from the airport, we got an email saying, we fly back. They just want to hang out with you in the offices. That's like the crazy test or whatever. Yeah. And then there was another screen test.

So I had to come up with new things that I didn't have ready. And then another, then we got flown out one last time to meet with Lauren. And when I was hired originally, he didn't quite know when he wanted to start me on the cast. He was going to start me as a writer. And then I found out that week I would join the cast. It went from writer to cast that quick in a week? Yeah. I went like, I guess I'm going to have to learn how to be a writer pretty soon.

And you didn't have to. No, I didn't have to. I got to stay a bozo. So what characters did you audition with, just out of curiosity? Do you remember? I did. Well, like the impressions, I think I did Justice Sotomayor confronting the other justices about someone taking her Tony Shalhoub poster.

I did Cleopatra unrolling out of the carpet, you know, like that old, and she got up and laughed and was like, do you want to be my boyfriend? Surprise. And then I did like a little chubby boy who I saw. So I grew up around a lot of like mom and pop, or like Greek diners,

restaurants. That's where I used to smoke as a teenager. And there was one nearby called Mother's Day. And I just remember this waitress had a three-peat bulls tattoo on her arm that I loved. But there was this family, this really chubby little boy. And at the end of their meal, he went, that was awesome. See you next Saturday.

Oh, that was one of my... You kept that kid's memory alive. Yeah. If anything, his memory's alive. I don't know where he is now. I love Greek diners, and they don't happen everywhere. They only happen in certain places. New Jersey,

New York. I can't find them. Chicago. Chicago. In Rhinebeck? Probably not, but you in certain places. New Jersey, New York. I can't find them. Chicago. No. In Rhinebeck? Probably not. But you could definitely find them in New York. There's a few.

But like, yeah, I don't know why they know how to do that. I mean, I think I loved these because it was like we would go just have coffee and smoke cigarettes. Yeah, yeah. And like get a bowl of pasta salad. Right. And sit all day pasta salad right and sit all day yeah it's great that's what life used to be when is it gonna come back um fuck so all right so you're at snl you're like it you like it were you freaking out uh yeah all of it freaking out

liked it my first year was great i hardly remember it and. And then, you know, then it's SNL. So you're stressed out all the time. You're like, it's my, you know, if you don't get something in, you're like, is this it for me? It's my career over my fart sketch. Didn't get in. Yeah. You know, it's just, and it's like you can't complain to anybody because it's a dream job and who would understand you crying about sketch comedy anyway but you you always get used a lot it seems i like seeing you yeah i mean a lot of times it's different you know it's i think i for a while i was like i just don't want to only I don't want to be shoehorned into this one thing.

I think like I'm a lot weirder than I get to be, you know, and I love playing straight roles and I love being able to support other people. And, um, but it's also fun. Like I just started, I wanted to do physical comedy in the past couple of years, which I. Yeah. Hadn't really gotten to do. And that was like a new thing for

me in my seventh year to consciously do physical comedy yeah and I think it was like part of it was because that keeps it like I don't know what's going to happen if I'm on if I'm flying and I'm on strings uh my friend Kent is a writer is always putting me with a live animal and then you don't know what's going to happen so I keep in it I of like that, that I'm doing this on live TV and I don't know what's going to happen. So is that something you worked out with him? That you're going to, you know, as many live animals as possible? No, but I know like he just always trusts me to be able to do it.

And then I'm always like such a dweeb who's like, well, I'll protect the animals. It should be me. I'm not, I'll make sure no one hurts that dog or cat. And I was like, can't, he's, the cat's not going to wear pants. He's not going to wear pants. So I'm really, I'm looking out for them. So that's exciting.

So like, I guess then you felt that you were more playing, you know, straight characters and you were kind of like out there characters. And then when and then like, so the so the update gig must have been like, well, this that's like way too set in its ways in a way, right? I feel really thankful I got to do it. And, you know, I was such a fan of Seth's. And he was our head writer. And I think he's so brilliant. And, like, so getting to do that with him was a really big deal my second year. But I did. I missed it.

I would get, like, kind of jealous of other people creating new characters on Update. Well, what sort of unfolded with that gig well it became it wasn't really there was no like set thing that happened it was just sort of it didn't feel like it was working out it didn't feel great i felt um like and i didn't then want to like be stuck to that and i didn't want to only do update and it felt like, and I didn't then want to like be stuck to that. And I didn't want to only do update. And it felt like updates going to need to be, have a major revision. It's not set anymore. And it was like, well, I don't want to, can I walk away sort of?

And then, and then at one, at the end of the summer, I felt like, oh, should I have done that? Was that a bad move? And I had a quick like fearful moment, but then I, I'm, I'm happy the way it worked out. And I love Michael Che. Yeah. He's great. So you talked to Lauren about it. You were like, I kind of want to do characters. Yeah. I mean, we had a lot of talks. Not a lot. Like at that point I wasn't, we weren't as close as we are but

I mean he I was pretty concerned with yeah being able to do other you know it was kind of like I don't want to be known as and it feels again like ungrateful or something but it was like I don't want to just I don't want to be known for update and a not great update. I like doing characters that's really fun. And that's what I want the bulk of what I do on the show to be. And now you've got like 100 of them. And counting, yeah. It's on Wikipedia somewhere.

Yeah, tons of characters. Did you like doing the White House correspondencing yeah actually i did and everyone kind of said it's a lose don't do it but i was such a big fan of obama yeah um and being from chicago and so like getting to have my whole family there that was basically like my wedding like i don't need to get married now. I got to have that with my family. I got to eat dinner next to Michelle Obama, you know? Yeah. So I didn't really quite care. I thought it went well. But it was more important to just like that I got to tell Obama like, thank you. It was just it was important to do that. And my family, my brother set off the confetti cannon at Obama's Senate win. And it was so sweet. My brother then talking to Michelle and Barack and Obama's very like, you know,

it was like a little bit robotic at that point because he has to shake however many hands a day. Sure. Right. For Corona. But then my brother came up and was like he has a bit of a stutter too he's a big guy he was telling him he ran the confetti can he was like and the other one was broken so i was the only one who could run it and obama went wow thank you and it was just so sweet and michelle was like i think i remember that and it was like these are the nicest people and to have that moment with them. So I'm super happy I did it. That's great.

That's so nice. So what do you think? You're up for an Emmy, right? Yeah, which was super. I mean, that's funny to say. But that feels like I wasn't ever expecting it. So the win, I already won in that way. You know, I I'm so like the kid who's never won any awards or was very popular. So I've never put too much stock in awards, but I getting to have a day of like friends and family, especially

when you haven't seen people in so long, texting you, if anything, sending you champagne. It's nice to get to talk to people. And it was just, that was a really, really nice day to have. It's nice to have the recognition from your peers. Yes. But I mean, I think I found, I found, I would say, I like found other ways to feel like I'm good enough or whatever you need in your eighth year doing the same show.

So this was kind of just a really nice feeling bonus. Oh, that's so interesting. So, you know, you don't have any insecurity about doing the job anymore. No, no, which is I know that's bizarre, but So, you know, you don't have any insecurity about doing the job anymore. No. No, which is, I know, that's bizarre. But I'm still like, you know, I think I like to do, I'm kind of like, let's let the other cast do those straight character, play the reporter, do all these things that I did. And then I'll just come in and I want to fly with chance. And that's all I want to do.

You know. What other kind of characters? You like doing like kind of big, ditzy characters sometimes? Or just, I think like my favorite thing, it's women who have no self-awareness or like they have so much confidence and no shame. They're not embarrassed, you you know having a freak out anywhere i like i like those women yeah the ones that like in public i'll just they're they start a scene and you have to watch them it's a lot of karens now there's a word for it i suppose yeah but there's also not just karens they're just sort of like you know narcissistic kind of like uh blowhards i mean like you do don't you

do you do piro right yes yeah yeah like you know it's just this drunken blowhard who doesn't give a right well i got to i mean like we turned her into just a silly clown anyway where i get to tell colin and colin my favorite is colin he loves it. You know, I'll come to him like, I have this idea. Do you mind if I throw up on you? And he's like, yeah, that sounds great. Well, that's fun. And because I guess because you're not that kind of person or are you? Or is it a fantasy of yours?

No, I hope I'm not. I don't think I am. No, it's like I'm Midwestern. It's my nightmare to like be in a three block radius of anyone complaining to a manager ever. Yeah. I'm like,

please don't send it back. Please don't send it back. I was joking. I was at a restaurant the other night or not the other night when, when 10 years ago ago who knows March or February yeah and my friend and I were like the restaurant said they were oh they should have been open and this guy kept being like well we're closing but you can come in you can eat you can order this or this or this and we were like by the end of it we were joking like we're both trying to

take this man home we were being so like oh thank you so that's so great you're so wonderful like we were so polite and we're tipping him yeah well look you gotta go i hear oh okay where are you going now uh doing fallon this is my big press week uh fallon that'll be Well, thanks for talking to me. And congratulations. Thank you. This is so cool. I'm a big fan. I think you're wonderful.

Thank you. So thank you for talking to me. Yeah, it was great. And congratulations on the nomination. And when we get through this, if we get through this, I'll meet you in person. Yes. Come back to the show. I will. I'll be there for another 15 years

yeah great good plan it's the paycheck i'll see you later all right bye-bye cecily strong i i she's she's good she's funny sat Saturday Night Live is back this Saturday, October 3rd. Sweat it out, Jews. Get it out. Everybody else, you know, do whatever you do. Let's play some music. Here we go. Thank you. Boomer lives Monkey lives

La Fonda Lives Ooh, a text. Todd Glass? What's that guy doing? I feel like it's been years. Oh, he texted me a sound file. Alright, let's listen to it. Mark, happy birthday. I get the whole band back together. So here we go.

Are you ready on the cowbell? All righty, there we go. Tambourine, you're good to go. Ratchet, ratchet. All right, there we go. Woodblock, are you ready on the woodblock? All right, there we go. Ratchet.

All right, I think we're good to go. We got tambourine. All right, here we go. Give me a little right, I think we're good to go. We got tambourine. All right, here we go. Give me a little rumble on that piano to help build some excitement. All right, here we go. Whenever you're ready, Jennifer. Hit it! Happy birthday to Mark.

Happy birthday to Mark. Happy birthday to Mark. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. Happy birthday to Mark. I love you forever, buddy. 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 5pm in Rock City at torontorock.com. Discover the timeless elegance of cozy where furniture meets innovation. Designed in Canada, the sofa collections are not just elegant, they're modular, designed to adapt and evolve with your life. Reconfigure them anytime for a fresh look or a new space. Experience the cozy difference with furniture that grows with you, delivered to your door quickly and for free. Assembly is a breeze, setting you up for years of comfort and style. Don't break the bank.

Cozy's Direct2 model ensures that quality and value go hand in hand. Transform your living space today with Cozy. Visit cozy.ca, that's C-O-Z-E-Y, and start custom hand in hand. Transform your living space today with Cozy. Visit cozy.ca that's C-O-Z-E-Y and start customizing your furniture.