WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Episode 539 - Chris Parnell

Episode Date: October 5, 2014

Chris Parnell adds to WTF's ever-increasing list of SNL alumni with tales of triumph, heartbreak and, of course, Lorne. Chris also talks about his Southern roots, his time as a school teacher and his favorite impressions. Also, Marc pays tribute to a personal hero, S. Clay Wilson, who could use your help at sclaywilson.com. Sign up here for WTF+ to get the full show archives and weekly bonus material! https://plus.acast.com/s/wtf-with-marc-maron-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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What the fuck? And it's also, eh, what the fuck? What's wrong with me? It's time for WTF. What the fuck? With Mark Maron. All right, let's do this. How are you, what the fuckers?

What the fuck buddies? What the fucking ears? What the fuckers? What the fuck buddies? What the fucking ears? What the fuckables? What the fuck sticks? What the fuckadelics? What the fuckleberryfins? That's enough of that. I am Mark Maron. This is WTF.

Thank you for joining me. I seem to be in a chronic brain skid. I don't know if I have PTSD from everything that's led up to this moment or what. I just, I mean, I i'm here i'm in the present but things just i don't i don't seem to stop i just seem to keep doing and doing and putting things in and doing and putting things into my head there's this moment where and it doesn't help as i said before that there's no seasonal shift here in la and i everything's just becoming a smear on the calendar my brain is becoming just a a consciousness smear just a smear of a life that's what's happening my brain

is smearing life right now it's smearing i didn't even realize how much i enjoyed the word smear today today on the show chris parnell from uh you know from 30 rock from snl from uh television and movies you know who he is come on we had a nice chat what's going on where are we at i went running today i did not run in the 100 degree heat or the 90 degree heat or whatever the fuck it is today on october 2nd i gotta get back to New York, man. I got to get into that fall, man. Fall just breaks open my brain. Fall is my time.

Fall is when I can layer. I enjoy layering. I enjoy wearing a corduroy blazer occasionally. I enjoy putting on a sweater. Maybe an L.L. Bean flannel or chamois. That's what I enjoy. I want to put my boots on. i want to walk around all bundled up with a scarf and maybe even a little uh hat what do you call those hats again what do you call

those ones that i wear sometimes a toque who am i talking to yeah man maybe that's what it's called all right thanks thanks for checking in no problem dude i'll be right here if you need me all right buddy just uh keep an eye on me i'm always keeping an eye on you i can't control you but you know i'm doing what i can here i can only be as positive as you allow me to be all right it's just getting confusing i think it's a toque is it a toque i don't know but i i i would like to layer i can't wait to go back to new york for a couple days i'm going back for this new yorker festival uh next weekend i don't even know if there are tickets available for that or how the show is going to work or what. But, I mean, as some of you, well, those are sold out too.

I'll be back in New York November 7th for a couple of shows at the Skirball Center, and then I'm going to be back. I'm doing Comics Come Home up in Boston, and I believe that's on the 8th of November after I do the shows in New York. And I'm just going to, hopefully it won't be snowing by then, but I'll take in a little fall. I just miss it.

I miss the crisp feel of the air. I miss that weird, you know, slight chill. It's almost a romantic chill of the fall. And my brain just breaks open and all the weird things that moved me through my entire life just come right to the surface and fall. If they don't come right up to the surface, the feeling of it does. The feeling of it. I need some fall. I'm

sweating and I'm smearing and I'm getting... It's not delusional. It's just like everything is just kind of... It's hazy, man. It's hazy. So I went running today at the gym. I got to get back on that, you know, because I'm holding on to the dream here and I know it's healthy, but it did make me feel better. You have to get into that state of mind, that weird, you know, once you start going back to the gym, you just have to, it's just crossing that line. It's just like pushing through that invisible wall and be like, all right, I'm going to do it. And the first time it's sort of like, that wasn't too bad. But then you go back again and you realize, all right, I have a brain state that occurs at the gym. And you just drift into that state. You know why

you're there. There's no reason to freak out about it. And you just sort of kind of lay into it, stretch it out, get on the machine, sweat it out, wipe down the machine if you're one of those people. I'm not a wiper. I'll towel it off, but I don't go get the cleaning products. I can't fucking stand when people just start spraying fucking cleaning products when you're trying to breathe. You ever been at a restaurant where they wipe down a fucking table next to you with Windex or some shit and just fuck up your nose for the whole meal?

It's bullshit. Same with running, man. You're running running some guy comes and squirts a bunch of fucking industrial cleaner on the thing like like the ebola is right there on the machine i guess well maybe that's a possibility no i don't know i don't know they're saying it can't spread but these fucking bugs are pretty devious they're gunning for the big prize you know what i'm saying the bugs are gunning for the big prize. They are the meek, the viral entities, the renegade strands of RNA looking to complete themselves with your cells. Those are the ones, man.

Those are the ones that God left incomplete. They're gunning for the big time. So that's going to be the fight. You think ISIS is the fight? No, it's just these renegade viral strands of half the genetic material they need to survive oh man but what did i just uh did i just synopsize the stand by stephen king i didn't even read that book but it's got something to do with that right am i wrong is there a vaccine is there a vaccine for life god it's free form riffage today that's all that's happening it's fall

it's fall it is fall okay i want to wear a scarf i want to wear a hat i want to eat some pumpkin pie i want to feel the crispness i want to feel it something about it man something about the fall just shakes loose those old those all those old first feelings. Like right now, I'm sort of excited about this. I got this book in the mail. And this is not a sponsor. This is not a plug. But it's something I'm excited.

I'm excited. Fan of graphics books who just decided to start sending me books again, which I'm thrilled about. Has fucking... just decided to start sending me books again which i'm thrilled about um has has fucking hey they've just come out with this uh the mythology of s clay wilson volume one pirates in the heartland s clay wilson do you remember the first time you ever saw an s clay wilson panel it was almost as powerful as your first blow job. It was almost as mind blowing. I mean, I can look at these things now. You know, the strips are fine, but the panels, man, in the back of the book, they got the big color panels.

S. Clay Wilson was just fucking beautiful filth, just mind blowing. All these elaborate panels. They're just they're comics, but they're full of demons and boobs and drugs and pirates and bikers and knives and cocks and pussies and more boobs. It's just like sex, violence, debauchery. The checkered demon.

This, oh my God, I'm just looking at it now.'m just i mean i don't know what age i saw this and i can't remember if i saw it in i think i saw in a magazine first i think i saw it in either maybe it was heavy metal or maybe it was uh in national lampoon when i was a kid but do you remember the things that had that that impression on you i mean sql wilson's panels like i look at them now and they just jack my brain i don't know how old i was when i first saw it but it couldn't have helped or maybe it did help maybe it gave me way more information than i could ever use but i have it as a reference point in my brain right now he was a lot he was with the guys uh over at zap i think in san francisco i'm gonna read the book but i'm too

busy looking at the pictures i don't know a lot about him but it is filthy beauty oh my god just celebratory debauchery and he is um still around and he's had a little trouble uh i i think he took a spill and he and he's not well if you go to escoiwilson.com it'll take you to the escoiwilson trust.com and you can donate a little money this guy it was a great artist and he he made a profound contribution to to elevating you know gritty dark poetic beautiful art in the world and you know he needs help he's he's severely impaired he had some problems and uh and you know when you're an artist you don't always prepare for the future and he needs some help. So go to s clay Wilson.com or s clay Wilson trust.com and kick in a few shekels for this guy. This guy's a, he was a warrior. He was a hero of the imagination and he deserves your help. And I want you to help him because he blew my fucking mind.

All right. Okay. And also pick up this book man i mean uh the mythology of s clay wilson volume one pirates in the heartland if you're not familiar with the dude the guy was a fucking genius i mean he was there with crumb in spain and uh and that crew in san francisco and he was doing his his own thing man it was just it was it was all that momentum of the 60s just exploded in satiric debauchery. It's just fucking beautiful. I'm just looking at it and it's making my brain juiced. It's making me remember the first time I saw it.

Do you remember the first time you saw sex in a comic or in a book and you were like, oh my God. And then the first time you had sex, you're like, oh my, oh, I'm sorry. Do you remember? I mean, there's a learning curve to that first time you see sex usually it's before you have sex and you're like oh i'm gonna do that myself and you have some control over that and then you're like i think i'm gonna apply this knowledge to a real person when i get the opportunity and then you got a head full of what you're supposed to do and you go oh no oh no why what happens now time to clean up i was thinking about that though i was thinking about my life and about my dick is this getting too crass is this not uh am i not am i riding the cusp of highbrow and lowbrow right now am i just

rambling i'm a little beat up because i went running, haven't gotten running. I drank too much coffee and I didn't sleep enough. I got up early. I went to a meeting to get my brain in the right place to survive, to survive. And, you know, maybe I'm, maybe I'm, maybe I'm pushing the envelope, but how can you, did you ever just sit and think, pushing the envelope. But how can you, did you ever just sit and think now, you know, that now I'm a man and I'm sure women, I don't know what the experience is for women, but I can be empathetic, but I just don't know. Like, like if a guy, the first time a guy has sex, that guy being me, it might not go well, but it's, it's 99.9% chance that it's going to feel good and that is not something that i i think that i hear from a lot of women i i think that you know uh for women it's uh it can be painful it can be difficult it could be awful uh for a guy it can be awful but it's always going to be

you know you're always going to be like oh you know there's that there's never a lack of that and i was just thinking about it. I don't know why I'm thinking about it. Because I think I told you about this before, but my brain seems to want to regress. I think I'm on the verge of actually having some genuine self-acceptance and not spinning as much garbage as I usually do. But my brain is panicking because it doesn't know what happens in place of that. So I seem to be regressing and thinking back, not being nostalgic so much, but listening to music that makes me kind of buzz out.

And, you know, I thought about, did I tell you that already about, you know, almost buying a skull shirt, you know, for safety, which was something I used to do because, you know, I had to protect myself with skulls at one point in time. But then I started going further back. And do you fucking remember the first time you had sex? I mean, really remember the feeling and then just being like, oh, my God, I am the universe. I am part of moving forward. Everything is moving through me.

All of history is happening right now. And my head's about to explode. And it's going to be messy. Do you remember it? Like, just like the feeling explode. And it's going to be messy. Do you remember it? Like, just like the feeling of like, it's happening. Oh, God damn it. Maybe I am just getting old and nostalgic. Maybe this is a midlife meltdown.

Thinking about this kind of stuff. I'm not saying sex is bad now. It's great. Nothing wrong with it. Awesome. But that first time, it's like the first time for any of that first fucking boom yeah i mean sure there can be love involved i mean that's fine but i think in the in the long run for me it's not the love i remember it's it's the the feeling of

having it inside of something yeah oh boy remember the first uh blow job oh my goodness what a night that was in a car beside a park hoping the cops don't show up just making the rounds hoping that whatever is happening will continue to happen and i remember specifically thinking i i think i'm going to need more of this. This is a positive thing about being alive and in the world. Oh my God, man. I feel like I just, oh, I just, oh, it's apple time. It's pumpkin time. I want to be wearing a hat. All right. Look, Chris Parnell is here. Let's talk to him. Okay. We're going to talk to Chris. It's winter and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost,

almost anything. So no, you can't get snowballs on Uber Eats, but meatballs, mozzarella balls, and arancini balls. Yes, we deliver those. Moose? No, But moose head? Yes. Because that's alcohol, and we deliver that too. Along with your favorite restaurant food, groceries, 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. Calgary is a city built by innovators.

Innovation is in the city's DNA. And it's with this pedigree that bright minds and future thinking problem solvers are tackling some of the world's greatest challenges from right here in Calgary. From cleaner energy, safe and secure food, efficient movement of goods and people, and better health solutions, Calgary's visionaries are turning heads around the globe, across all sectors, each and every day. Calgary's on the right path forward. Take a closer look how at calgaryeconomicdevelopment.com. Chris Parnell. Chris Parnell. You're one of those that guys.

Is that a good thing? That's a great thing. That's the best thing to be. Hey, there's that guy. I don't know his name or where I've seen him. That's him. He's funny. He's always funny in these things. Oh, there's that guy again.

No, I think that might be the best possible thing to be. Because you can always evolve and change. It's true. Surprise everybody with a big thing. I don't know about that. Why not? Well, you know, if it comes along. So you live across the way almost.

How long long you lived out here well i originally moved out here in 92 and then i went to new york in 98 to do snl so you came back out here when uh 2007 and you like it oh i love it yeah yeah where'd you come from man uh memphis tennessee memphis yeah beale street yeah the peabody ducks that's right the things the two things, people. And Graceland. Graceland. Right, the three things everybody knows about.

And the horrible hotel where someone shot Martin Luther King. Oh, yeah. Which is now the Civil Rights Museum. Yeah. The Lorraine. The Lorraine Hotel. So what kind of life? Were there animals involved?

There were cats. Uh-huh. Yeah, we had cats growing up. Usually one at a time. Is it an outside area in Memphis, or are you right in the city? Well, I grew up in a neighborhood called Whitehaven, and then we moved to a suburb called Germantown when I was about 14. And how many brothers and sisters have you got?

I've got one sister who's two years younger than me. She and my mom and dad and her family are back there. So you go back there? I do, I do. But I haven't been back since two Christmases or since, yeah, it's been a while because I had a son. You did? Congratulations. Thank you.

And how old is that kid? He's a little over 11 weeks. Oh, God. So you're not sleeping. Not sleeping as much as I'd likehuh i'm sleeping more than my wife this is the first kid it is that's exciting this is very exciting oh my god so you're in it you're like you're at the front lines of doing a dad thing we are how old are you i'm 47 wow yeah i waited a while so did you have thoughts about that? Were you like, ugh?

You know, it was more about just finding somebody that I wanted to be married to. Right. How long did that happen? We've been together a little over six years. 41. Yeah, see, I just recently quit the entire relationship endeavor. I'm done. Yeah.

I've been married twice, engaged once, just got out of a relationship. I'm finished. Come on. No, it's over. I'm 50. Come on. No, it's over. I'm 50. There's no reason. What's the point? Companionship.

Love. Love. Romance. Those things. Yeah. Those only last a week or two with me. Then it just comes, you know, damage control and trouble management. I wish, there's no honeymoon phase with me, Chris.

No? No, it's all very fun for about a week and then time for couples counseling how long were you married i was married for three i was with both of those women eight years each married three and a half years each and i was engaged for about a you know a little over a little less than a year and that fell apart you know it's not always me man i you know we don't have to talk about me but i'm more than willing to sure absolutely yeah you're more interesting than i am i don You know, it's not always me, man. We don't have to talk about me, but I'm more than willing to. Sure, absolutely. Yeah.

You're more interesting than I am, for sure. I don't know if that's true. That's definitely true. I am fascinated with people that grow up in the South. Memphis is an important part of American history, and you come from it. I do, that's true. And you come from generations of Southerners.

Yeah, I guess. I mean, yeah, I suppose so. And did you talk like that at some point? Did you have to get that out of you? I did. Seriously? Yeah. You had to consciously?

I worked on it at drama school. So wait, what did your dad do when you were growing up? He's a voiceover guy. Your dad's a voiceover guy in Memphis? He was a disc jockey at a station called WHBQ. Get the fuck out of here. Yeah. What was his name?

Jack Parnell. Jack Parnell! Yeah. Did you do a Jack Parnell impression? you get the fuck out of here yeah what was his name jack parnell jack parnell yeah did you talk did you do a jack parnell impression uh not not consciously people say i sound like him sometimes but he's his voice is even more you know and what so he's a local radio personality yeah yeah and then now he and for a long time he's just he's been a commercial guy does voiceovers down there yeah you can just do it from there yeah yeah i mean you do nationals every now and then but it's you know it's mostly local and regional kind of stuff oh we know one other guy whose dad was a voiceover guy i know the guy

whose father was uh the voice of uh count chocular or frankenberry i can't remember one of the one of those yeah his dad was the voice of one of those oh wow i don't know why i'm sharing that no it's interesting important stuff trivia to know your dad was count chocula not everybody can claim that like did your dad uh host a music show um he may have co-hosted like a teen dance show at one time um teen dance show yeah i feel like that might have been in the works but i don't know if it was on television or if it was like at the fairgrounds or something like that fairgrounds yeah so your dad's voiceover artist and your mom what'd she do she's a housewife and did you drive the cars fast and drink and stuff like that i didn't drink i didn't high speed chases not really no i mean i

would drive fast sometimes when i was late for work yeah i bottomed out or this buick my dad had kind of bought for me to use and he somehow I guess he took it in to get it repaired or something, and they saw the scrape marks on the bottom of it. Boy, you're a rebel, man. I was out of control marks. Jesus Christ, bottoming out the old Buick. And your dad said, what have you been doing? In his low voice, what have you been doing with this car?

I was late to my job as a disc jockey at a radio station in Mississippi. Wait a minute. You were a disc jockey as well? I was. So when you go places, so you're Jack Parnell's kid? Well, it used to be that. Yeah. It used to be that.

You're going to be in radio too, huh? That kind of thing? There wasn't too much pressure for that. They were always really supportive of me doing whatever, but then when they realized I wanted to be an actor, they were. They were cool? Oh, yeah. When did you decide to do that? When I was 17.

And how did you pursue it? Did you walk in and go, mother, father, did you do a show? Well, it wasn't quite that grand, but I've been doing plays at my high school. Which ones? First one I did was The Wiz. You did The Wiz? I did The Wiz. What did you play in The Wiz?

Well, it was a mostly white production of The Wiz. That doesn't seem right. Well, you know. It's not the way it's supposed to be, Chris. We made it work. It's like it's horribly indicative of the region you're from. Essentially, it might be. You whitened The Wiz.

So you took the one i think that can't have that one it was the most famous sort of like black adaptation of of a great story you've got a lot of press for being you know kind of groundbreaking you just whitened it right up you horrible horrible southern person fair enough fair enough i'm a monster white the white whiz although i was i was a munchkin okay at least well you didn't so you weren't taking the brunt of the the horrible uh no racist undertaking no i wasn't you were just a side a bit player exactly you're a large munchkin you know we were on we were on these milk crates that had A racist undertaking. No, I wasn't. You were just a bit player. Exactly. You were a large munchkin.

You know, we were on these milk crates that had rollers on the bottom of them, and we just kind of rolled around. Oh, so you're on your knees. I was on my butt, but like seated, like scooting around, kind of crab-like. Yeah. This sounds like a slightly disturbing production. It was a very experimental production. It sounds a little rough.

It was terrifying. Was everybody on wheels? Just the munchkins. Just the munchkins. Weirdly rolling around. Yeah. That sounds pretty provocative. Well, we had these giant sort of costumes, like these umbrella-like things that went down to the floor so you couldn't see our legs. This was your first.

It was like we were floating. Uh-huh. Yeah. Floating munchkins. Yeah. In a white production of The Wiz. Maybe I framed it wrong. Maybe it was far ahead of its time.

Like I said, it was experimental. That was your first? It wasn't my first theater experience. That was my first musical. Okay. Yeah. I did a couple of plays at uh my other school my first school southern baptist educational center you grew up southern baptist i did what

does that mean that's not the snake one not people get mad at me yeah no no no no that's not the snakes that's more um that's mainstream southern baptist is like fall well right yeah right yeah right i'm afraid so there was uh those and then what's the other ones there's pentecostal southern baptist is sort of like what most people are down there. And then there's another one that competes with Southern Baptist. Is it Assembly of God? Yeah, I think it is. Were there battles?

Only against the devil, Mark. Always against the devil. I don't know who wins, ultimately. But were you religious? I was, yeah. I was like, I was pretty serious. How about now? Not now.

Really? No more. What made it go away? Well, I was kind of, when I got a little older, I would, like later on in high school, I was kind of questioning, like, you know, it just didn't make sense. The practicality of Jesus? Well, not Jesus. like you know this it just didn't make sense the practicality of jesus well not jesus jesus makes sense but you know the idea that this is this is the only way you can believe if you don't believe

in him then you're going to hell and everybody else is wrong and all that right how could everybody be wrong exactly it seems like some people don't even know exactly exactly boy why do they like why do they have to go down i know it's true that fella in the picture from another part of the world there's no no idea that he's going down. That's true. Is that sort of the reasoning? Well, that's why they're missionaries. It's right to scare them.

Send someone over there to scare them into believing in Jesus. Exactly. And sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Sadly, I'd say, with all due respect, it works a lot of the time, I'm afraid. Yeah. So were you frightened by ministers as a child was there fire and brimstone involved there was a genuine fear of hell really oh yeah yeah i mean i believed in hell and as a place of eternal torment and your parents did that to you well i mean they weren't you know they weren't like right taskmasters

sort of like oh by the way i grew up going to church you know, they weren't like taskmasters about it. They're just sort of like, oh, by the way. I grew up going to church, you know, and grew up going to these Baptist schools, and I was a believer, and I got saved when I was young. How does that happen? Well, you go, I mean, typically, I mean, it can happen different ways, but typically, you know, you go forward in a church service or a chapel service, if it's at school, and you say you want to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and ask for forgiveness of your sins, and you invite Jesus into your heart.

You did that? I did that. Did you do it in water? Don't they do it in water? Well, that's baptism. That comes after that. That's after you've gotten saved and you want to join a particular church, you get baptized. Did you do that? I did do that, yeah. In the water?

Yeah. With many people in robes? Just one man. It's just one. In the Southern Baptist churches, typically, I guess it's still this way. I haven't been in one in a long time. There's a baptismal back behind sort of the stage.

No river. No river. That's more cinematic. Well, that's if you're in the country. Yeah. Maybe you go for the afternoon with a few other people that need a dunking. Exactly.

So you just go out and back in the tub is what you're telling me. Kind of, kind of. But in front of everybody. Oh, yeah? Is it a big moment? Is it an embarrassing moment? Or is it like he's here? It wasn't embarrassing.

It was just, you know. What you did. It's just what you did. It's just what you did. I mean, I was a kid, you know. Right, right. How old? I don't know.

Maybe six, seven, something like that. Interesting. So do you remember the preacher? I do. Do you remember the old? I don't know. Maybe six, seven, something like that. Interesting. So do you remember the preacher? I do. Do you remember the guy? I do. Powerful man? Sweet man.

Oh, yeah? Sweet man, yeah. When he got up, did he put on a show? Was he like, hello, you guys? He wasn't too. That's exactly what he said. Hello, you guys. Clearly, he spent a lot of time in churches, Mark.

Yeah. So you decide to be an actor, and your faith in Jesus is waffling. Yes. You've rolled around as a munchkin once. Right. A lot of things have happened. That's kind of my life. Bottomed out of Buick.

Yep. It was a wild life. It's a crazy southern life you had. Lost reckless youth. So where do you end up going to study? I went to a North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem. It's now called University of North Carolina School of the Arts and studied drama. Yeah.

Yeah. The whole time, four years you did. Did the four years, I got my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Very important document to have. It is. Did you frame it? Because that'll get you work anyway. People are like, whoa, you can do whatever you want to do. Come on inside. Exactly.

I still bring it to auditions with me. I got my BFA. From North Carolina. You feel strong as an actor? What was your defining role in college? I did One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I was McMurphy. You feel strong as an actor? What was your defining role in college? I did One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I was McMurphy. You did McMurphy?

Yeah. Wow. That was kind of a big deal because everybody else in my class, all the other guys in my class, were vying for the role and thought they were going to get it. And we had to audition,

and I turned out to get it. And that was kind of like a little victory for me. Because I was by no means the biggest guy. I was one of the smaller guys in class, you know, and they were all just, you know, thinking it would be a bigger. Because I imagine that most people think that Nicholson defined that role, but I think the way Kesey wrote it and the way that the playwright hijacked his novel for the play,

he was a big redheaded guy, right? That sounds right, yeah. Yeah, like, I mean, because I remember in the book that it was this massive kind of Irish force of a man. And Nicholson was actually against type. Right. Kesey was very upset about it, too. Was he?

Yeah. I didn't know that. Furious. He wrote the novel. He did not approve of the movie. He approved of the play, kind of. Yeah. So they took the movie from the play so he didn't

sign off on it and there's sort of a famous story about um someone asked him if he if he had seen the film right and he said if someone came to your door and said there's a bunch of hell's angels raping your daughter you want to go out and watch would you go yes jesus christ yeah it's a little dramatic a little bit but he was you know It's a little dramatic. A little bit. But he was, you know, he's a big personality, that fella. I guess so. So when you did McMurphy, did you feel like you were really doing it? Really acting?

Eventually. I mean, yeah, I mean, it took, I mean, that's what rehearsal is for. But I think by the time we opened, I was in a pretty good place with it. It was a bit of a stretch. Yeah? Yeah. Why? Had you seen the movie?

I think I'd seen the movie. It must have been seen the movie? I think I'd seen the movie. It must have been out by then. I think I'd seen the movie. But, you know, obviously I wasn't going to try to do it like Jack Nicholson. And that was the thing. That was the reason a lot of the guys, most of the guys in class didn't get it, is they were kind of doing it like Jack Nicholson a little bit. Right. What do you learn in drama school?

What did you learn that you still carry with you? Are there things that you, like when you're on stage or in a film or on a television show where you're like, is there still stuff in there? You know, the simplest thing that I remind myself of or try to remind myself of is just to listen. Right. To really listen. Right. And to really talk to somebody. Right.

You know. And not be self-conscious. Yeah, not just to have these lines in your head in a pre-planned way. You're going to deliver these lines, which for comedy is hard because it's like, oh, I think the funny way to say this is this. Yeah. You know, but you want to be in the moment, you know. But you do have to make choices before, eventually, don't you? Yeah, absolutely.

I don't know. I talk to actors and all of them have sort of tricks and little things that they know, but it's innately something you either can do or you can't, I think. Yeah, it's true. Well, you're an actor. Kind of. You know, I mean, I'm a stand-up, but I've acted a bit. But I do have problems with sort of like, should I move my feet? You know, am I going to just stand here?

Am I standing here? I'm just standing here. That kind of stuff. I know. I struggle with that. You do? Sometimes, yeah. Where you're just sort of like, should I move something?

I don't know. What do with that. You do? Sometimes, yeah. Where you're just sort of like, should I move something? I don't know. What do I do with my hands? My tendency is to gesture too much sometimes. I do too, but I think I do that in real life. I don't know. Right. You know what would be helpful if somebody just filmed us for the day? Right.

Secretly. I know it would. Just so you're kind of like, well, I do that naturally. Yeah. Look, I don't know what to do with my hands in life either. I think it would be really upsetting to watch after the fact. Because if somebody has shot something of me that I kind of wasn't aware they were shooting with their iPhone or whatever

and I watched it, I'd be like, oh, God, that's what I look like? That's what I sound like? Why doesn't somebody give me some direction? Yeah, I don't know. I'm just like, oh, God. So you went back home after college? Eventually. I went down to the Alley Theater in Houston.

It's like a regional theater down there. They had this apprentice actor program. So I did that for a season. So that was like your graduate school in a way? Yeah, I mean, a little bit. I mean, it was just something to do. What was the plan in your mind? Well, originally the plan was to go to New York

with my buddy Adam and, you know, try to be theater actors in New York. Just like Duvall and Dustin Hoffman. You're going to live together. Maybe go to the Method place a little bit. Yeah. That was the plan. But after Houston, I was kind of disenchanted

with the whole acting theater thing. What happened there? How did they break your heart in Houston? How did they break you? I was pretty cocky. I mean, I thought I was kind of disenchanted with the whole acting theater thing. What happened there? How did they break your heart in Houston? How did they break you? I was pretty cocky. I mean, I thought I was pretty great. And I didn't get sort of invited to stick around and be a part of the larger company, of the main company, even though they technically didn't have one,

but they had a pool of actors they used a lot. In Houston. So you go out there to do this alley theater thing in Houston as an apprentice. Right. And they don't ask you back in houston right so that was that was that was rough for me i could imagine maybe they already had a chris parnell type they probably did they probably did i could see how that'd be a bummer like so you're thinking like if i can't cut it in texas well and there was another guy who was an apprentice with me who, perfectly lovely guy and talented,

but I was better than him. And he got it. He got it, but he was a better singer than me, so I think that had something to do with it. Was there ever that moment where you're like, how far can I go doing regional theater? I don't think I had that. You just wanted to act.

Yeah, I wanted to act, and I knew there was this regional theater circuit around the country, and that seemed less intimidating, I think, than New York did. Yeah, I wanted to act, and I knew there was this regional theater circuit around the country, and that seemed less intimidating, I think, than New York did. That seemed reasonable. It's like, I'm not shooting too high. And you could also practice and do your shit. Yeah.

Be a part of this community and travel a little bit. Right. So now you're sadly returning to Memphis from Texas. I returned to Memphis. And you sit down with your dad. And he says, son, what? Nothing. No, I mean, he was happy.

They were happy to have me back. I moved back home. Really? Into the house? Yeah. I taught high school for a year. That's what I did. Really?

Yeah. My old drama teacher. Yeah. Who was like a big influence in my life and still a good friend. He said, you know, you don't want to come back and try teaching for a year. And I was like, geez, you know, yeah, sure. I don't know what else I'm going to do. So, yeah, I'll try that. He sensed that you were wavering.

I think, yeah. I mean, you know, and he. You got beat up a little bit. A little bit. But, I mean, it's like it's pathetic to say that because I hadn't even done anything. I mean, it's like so. Rejection is rejection. You know, like he was helping me out in a

way yeah why how is he a big influence in your life oh well he you know he's we had this amazing theater program at my high school germantown high school and an amazing television program as well and so we did like we did really good stuff and um and you know he he basically taught me how to act i mean he he was the first he said to me at a certain point he's like hey you know he he basically taught me how to act i mean he he was the first he said to me at a certain point he's like hey you know you can really do this if you want to you know you're you're actually good enough to to do this for a living and he encouraged me to pursue it and i did you need that one guy right you do i mean i certainly did yeah especially with something like acting how the hell are you gonna know exactly but did he say things like you see that other

guy over there he's not going anywhere i don't i don't think he i don't know that he quite did that you on the other hand that guy i don't know what he's doing all these other guys they are shit you're going somewhere kid don't let them drag you down what was the experience in teaching like did you have that in you? It was hard. It was really hard. I was like 24, 25, so I wasn't ready to be... You weren't that far out of the woods. You weren't that far away from being a high school kid. Exactly. And I had to wear a

tie and a jacket and be Mr. Parnell. I just wasn't nearly ready to be that much of an adult. There was some strutting involved. I mean, you're dealing with high school kids. You've got to deal with that whole ego issue. There's going to be troublemakers in any class.

Was there? Oh, yeah. And they just made it hell. Because I wasn't mature enough or whatever enough to know how to sort of deal with that well. Did you ever snap and just go, look look you think i want to do this you think i want to be here this is not my choice things didn't go well for me in texas i was supposed to be on broadway god damn it no none of that no i do remember one time saying saying that i'm not the villain here that's something that had happened it's like i am not the bad that I'm not the villain here. That's something that had happened.

It's like, I am not the bad guy. I'm not the villain. This is drama class. You guys should be happy to be here. Yeah, I was not cut out for that. But after the bell rang and I was dealing with the theater kids and the TV studio kids who were really focused and dedicated, that was great. I loved all that.

Oh, right. The stuff that I had done. Right. Yeah. So that was fantastic. But the actual teaching, I was not so good at. When did you become interested in comedy? Well, we did a play called Greater Tuna, my senior year of high school, me and my buddy

Dan McCleary. And each person plays about 10 different parts. Oh, wow. Yeah. And all these quick changes and stuff. It's a great little play. Yeah. And so that was kind of my first time being,

where I was supposed to be funny on stage, really. And it worked, and I got good laughs. That's it. That was it. And after that, I was hooked. Well, honestly, it wasn't until I got to college, because I just wanted to be an actor, and I thought I'd be a dramatic actor.

And then at college, the kind of things that I seemed to be excelling at were more the comedic roles. But you didn't know you had a knack for it because you're very funny. You seem to, you know, you lock in, you've got very deliberate and natural timing. You know, you can go over the top and you'd be weird and you have all that stuff.

Thank you. But you're very not in real life. Not in real life at all. You're just like, you're just a guy. Because your audience is finding out. No, but I mean, Thank you. But you're very, not in real life. Not in real life at all. You're just like, he's a guy. Because your audience is fucking out. No, but I mean,

do you find that you're funny and like, you didn't know you were funny or did you know? You know, I think I always tried to be funny when I was a kid.

Right, right. I was like, a bit of a class clown. Yeah, yeah. But I don't know that I was ever successful at it. So you didn't have that weird desperate need

to disrupt and, you know, hijack situations with your, you with your hilarity? Only somewhat. Yeah. Only somewhat. Yeah.

So I imagine the first time you had to play comedy, the context and the fact that you could kind of repeatedly get laughs in doing a performance must have been like, holy fuck. Well, it was like, oh, this is what I've been wanting to do all along i just didn't know it right it's like this is this is where i'm supposed to be is that when you were sort of introduced to your timing that you knew that you could pull it off i mean it is an innate thing you can't manufacture it yeah but i also yeah i mean but i also think you can learn a lot yeah and i think i learned i've learned a lot as i've gone on and got older yeah like what well you just watch what other actors do yeah you know especially other comedic actors and you you pick up little things from them you know so what happens so you hit the wall now you you're you do

do you feel like you have failed as a high school teacher or you were just like I gotta get the hell out of here how do you get out of your house you're living with your parents teaching high school in memphis germantown and you're like what happens there must be was there a crisis of of kind of soul was there a dark night of the soul chris i guess there was somewhat i just knew i didn't want to keep teaching and i and i said well you know i haven't really given the acting thing a try so if i'm gonna I'm going to try to be an actor, I need to actually make some more effort. And that's when I decided to move out to L.A. Did you have friends here?

I did. I had some friends out here. L.A. was, I'd never considered L.A., and this is embarrassing. Well, this is crazy, because, like, why would you with show business? Well, I know, right? Why would you? Well, because I'd always thought

I was going to be a theater actor. That is so bizarre to me. Yeah. I mean, I've talked to a lot of people that have that feeling. I think it's a romantic idea. You know, like, it's sort of like, I don't know always. I'm not saying it's amazing. Yeah, yeah.

But that is, like, the hardest path. It is. It really is. You know, like, even in movies and stuff, you know, there's, like like 10 guys that are, you know, really kings of it in any given decade. Right. But theater, there's like three. Well, and the amount of work you have to do. And the amount of work that there really is to earn a living.

Right, exactly. Incredibly limited. Exactly. Yeah, well. That's crazy. So you kind of woke up with the L.A. thing. You were like, maybe there's opportunity to have more show businesses. Yeah. Well, it's crazy. Well, so you kind of woke up with the LA thing. You were like, maybe there's, there's opportunity that we're show businesses. Yeah. You know, and I had friends out here who were doing some, yeah. Who was, are they around? They are. I had

gone to school with Dietrich Bader. He had left after sophomore year cause he was getting work out here. And he was, he actually was one of the first people that said to me, he said, you need to go take classes at the Groundlings, which was was the some of the best advice i ever got because kind of everything sprang from that and so many people like uh have uh have sprung from the groundlings it's very interesting i was just talking to uh dac shepherd oh yeah that you know and that was like i knew a little bit about the groundlings years ago that it was like the the los angeles version of Second City. And that's where SNL.

But, you know, it's amazing. There are these very different schools of where funny people come from. You know, there's stand-up. There's the Groundlings. There's Second City. And, you know, that's now UCB. Right. But, like, kind of tracking the difference between the personalities of stand-ups and sketch people.

So what year was that? Did you audition for the Groundlings? It was 92, February of 92, because that's when I moved out to L.A. Where was your first apartment here? First apartment was on El Centro, just above Santa Monica. Huh. It's like a block east of Vine. It's weird when you first move out here,

because you're like, where am I? How does this city work? I know. Well, I knew I wanted to be in Hollywood, because that was exciting. But didn't you have that weird feeling of, like, you had friends here, which is fortunate, but it's very easy to feel like,

well, how does this town work? Oh, no, absolutely. Still, I'm not completely sure. I know. I'm still learning. Yeah, I mean, I'm happy absolutely. Still, I'm not completely sure. I'm still learning. Yeah, I mean, I'm happy to, like I'm close to things. Right. Yeah, I can drive to a store.

That's nice. But you realize very early on, it's like, well, there's no real center here, but you do try to pick one, don't you? You do. You have to pick what works for you. Yeah. You know, now it's Silver Lake.

All right, so okay, so you audition for the Groundlings just for the classes. Yeah. And you get in. That first class I was in, a guy named Scott Wainio who ended up,

he's still a good friend and was a writer on SNL. Uh-huh. A guy named Mike Laprete. Those are the two main guys that started out with me. But around, you know, by the time we got

into the Sunday show and all that, there was, like it was on a gas tire and there were more people, you know, and then just above me was like Will Ferrell, Sherry Oteri, Chris Kattan. They were around. Yeah. It's amazing. Yeah. So but you're all young and you don't know that that the guy who's just a little ahead of you is going to be the king of the comedy industry. I know. So how many years that's like a long haul so once you got in you have to go

through what two or three years of classes you go through four different levels of classes yeah you have to get you know like moved up through each one and then you get into the sunday show yeah and then you do that for anywhere from like a year to longer if you can and then some people don't make that no no yeah most people don't what was your what was your uh strong suit that no no yeah most people don't what was your what was your uh strong suit uh monologues uh-huh monologues yeah that's what i i fared the best at i mean i was i was good in scenes but i was best at writing monologues down lefts they were called because that's where we would how does that work so what i've never been to a groundling show so that is an actual part of the show down left what How does that fit in? Somebody comes

out in the down left portion of the stage. There's a little area there. And it's a character piece? Yeah, a character or multiple characters. Really? And you're alone? Yeah. How is that set up? It just comes out of nowhere? The scene goes dark before and the audience applauds, hopefully, the band plays and then

the lights come up down left. And you just do a thing that you've constructed. Yeah. Were any characters did they stay with you you know i tried to take some of the groundling stuff to snl and i mean i used it in my audition which was it was really helpful for that but i don't know that any of it made it on the air what were they well i had a i had a southern preacher yeah you know it was kind of. It became clear as he preached more that he was kind of perverse and obsessed with young girls and that kind of thing. And then I had a guy who was a big baseball fan, and he was sitting there with his family at this Atlanta Braves game, and sort of there were all these multiple points of focus, talking to his kid and then the person behind him and all this. So that's where you first started to get the experience of writing comedy?

It was, yeah. I mean, I fared best. If I was writing a scene, I always did best writing it with somebody else, but obviously I could write monologues by myself. Were you guys sitting around watching Will and those guys? Well, Will and them got on SNL. I think I was in the main company then, or maybe I was in the Sunday show, but I remember going back to the office in the backstage area between scenes and watching them on their first SNL because it was so exciting.

Nobody from the Groundlings had gotten on SNL in a while. It had been like Phil Hartman and then I don't know if there's anybody after Phil. When did you start to realize that that was something you were gunning for? I mean, once you entered the Groundlings, was that on your mind, SNL? It was only on my mind because they would occasionally come and look at us. And there was a time when I knew it's the time that Anna Gasteyer ended up getting hired. And they had looked at tape of me and I didn't get it. I didn't even get the audition or anything.

So I thought, oh, that was my SNL shot. Too bad. But were you doing other auditions? Were you acting at all? Yeah, yeah. Were you working? Yeah, I was doing like guest star spots and sitcoms and stuff.

Oh, you were, yeah. Yeah. There was enough going on for me to say, okay, I'm not an idiot for doing this. And I was getting commercials and things like that. So when did the audition happen? When did it click? It was the next go-round

when they were looking at people, and I happily didn't even know they were looking at us again. So 92, so what year is it now that you come out in 92? Now it's like 97, I guess. Wow. Yeah. So five years of guest stars and commercials and going through all four levels, and you've been in the Sunday show for, what, a year or so?

Yeah, and then I got moved into the main show. So who comes for the audition, and you didn't know they were there uh no i had no idea they were there who was it marcy maybe i yeah i don't know i still don't know no you just someone said you got a call your agent got a call after the fact i got a call from my agent saying they had again requested tape and i had a little more tape to show at that point and they wanted to fly me to New York. That's exciting. It was exciting and terrifying at the same time. Did you feel ready? At that moment? No, not at all. Because I had to get my audition together. And how many characters did you do? They wanted three characters and three impressions. I ended up doing four characters and two impressions just because I didn't really have any impressions. Who were your impressions?

four characters and two impressions just because I didn't really have any impressions. Who were your impressions? Tom Brokaw and this MTV VJ at the time named Jesse. Yeah. Which was, it was not a very good impression. You didn't feel strong in the impression zone? I didn't. No, not at all.

But the Brokaw, Brokaw was pretty, I somehow just sort of realized we. Yeah, you do a good Brokaw. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's, that's all right. Yeah. It's still not great. You don't feel great about your impression? It's all right. I feel, I feel, I mean, that's all right. Yeah. You're still not great about it? You don't feel great about your impressions?

It's all right. I feel a lot better about it. I mean, it was like, SNL was like impression school in a way. Because they just,

you know, every week it's like, here, you're going to be this senator. Here's some tape. You know, study this. That's how it works. Yeah, kind of.

And my first show, I had to be Kenneth Starr. Yeah. And it's like, how does Kenneth Starr sound? What does he look like? Because he wasn't, we knew his name, but he wasn't that much of a media presence. Kenneth Starr from the guy who lynched Clinton?

Yeah, exactly. So I had to be him. And like, how do you do that? I mean, Daryl Hammond, genius at it, and Jimmy, and so many guys who were- Jimmy Fallon? Yeah. Yeah. Who were genuinely brilliant at it.

But it was really i really had to work on it because it's tricky because you have to not only do an impression but you have to tweak the elements of the personality that define that that guy yeah and find what's funny and right and if there's not something there then you sort of have to make a take on it that that is funny and it's like Will Forte when he did George Bush. Yeah. It was so off. It was so different, but it was funny, you know? For me, the hard thing with impressions was I am kind of, I guess, a literal person in

some ways. So I want to do the impression just as much like that person sounds as I can. I think Daryl's a little like that. Yeah, but no, but Daryl knows how to find a hook. He finds a thing about it and twists it and tweaks it. I mean, he's got a great instinct for that. I have to really think about it. Okay, so you fly back for the audition, and what happens?

Walk me through the Lorne hoops. You know what? It was great. I mean, they put us up at a nice hotel and I was there with this actor, Mike McDonald. He was one of the, he was one of the ones actually in the, in the groundlings with me. And we were both auditioning and we did our scenes for each other and deliberately didn't laugh because we'd heard not to expect laughter. In the hotel room you did this.

Yeah, exactly. And we just did, we just drilled them over and over. That made all the difference. And so you go into the stage, into 8-H, and you go up on home base, what it's called, where the host does their monologue. And there's a camera in front of you. And then there's people sort of sitting around in the dark that you don't know who they are. You know, Lauren's probably among them.

And then you do your little presentation, you know. And hopefully it goes off well. And mine did. I, you know, I kind of nailed it. Did you get laughs? I did get some laughs, yeah. Not a lot, but I got some laughs. Yeah.

And then Fred Wolf, who was just leaving as the head writer, like followed me down the hall and was just like, man, that was just, that was fantastic. And it was so encouraging and nice. And I was like, oh, oh, great. Were you suspect of it though no not of him he was really genuine nice guy yeah yeah he was really genuine and uh yeah and then i stuck around for another day or two to to meet with some of the head writers and stuff and um and then went

home and just waited you know to find out you know it's like this huge thing that could happen in your life or might not happen so it's like do you get hopeful about it or do you just try not to think about it? And what was the call like? It was from my agent. I was living in Studio City at the time. I was standing on Ventura. I think she paged me. A pager, yeah.

I had my pager. And I called her on a pay phone in front of California Pizza Kitchen. And she said, you know, they want to hire you. They want you to come up in X number of weeks and all that kind of jazz. And so you moved to New York. I moved to New York, yeah. I kept a place here.

Yeah. I kept a place here and moved up there. And then you met Lorne. And then I met Lorne, yeah. In his office. It was cool. I remember he called me in and he was like, you've got more experience than Jimmy and Horatio

because I'd done more TV, I guess. And so we may be relying on you more for that stuff. And I was like, okay, cool, great. Obviously, Jimmy and Horatio were fine. They were very fine with less experience. But yeah, but no, he was cool. He was nice. You know, he was nice. You seem very practical.

You don't seem to have the standard kind of like weird kind of, you know, insecurity and insanity of a comedic person. Well, I've never done stand-up because it's, I mean, it's terrifying to me. Yeah. You know. Right. So I was, you know, I was just approached for wanting to be an actor. Right.

But I mean, yeah, I'm definitely insecure. I mean, I definitely have some self-loathing and all that stuff yeah yeah but um but like it sounds to me like you know he looked at you as sort of a grounded person yeah i think so yeah as opposed to like there's a lot of crazy people here and that's how i just decoded what he just said. I don't know what's going to happen with that. I think there might be something to that. Yeah, okay. So you just start. How quickly were you on camera? I was on camera my first show in the cold open doing Kenneth Starr.

It was a sketch called Oprah 2000. This was in 98. And it was imagining how all the players from the Clintoninton lewinsky scandal were getting along two years later okay tim meadows was oprah john goodman came on as linda trip and um molly was monica lewinsky and uh daryl was clinton of course and i was kind of star and you got laughs i might have gotten a little bit of a laugh i mean nobody knew who the hell i was you know and right so it's a tough one yeah yeah you just come on and try not to screw up and you know look like you belong there and all now who was on so though they were all in your cast so who else was in your cast well it was will farrell sherry o'terry chris katan on a gas big cast tim meadows uh. Jimmy. Jimmy Fallon

or Rachel Sands. Shortly, the next year it was Rachel Dratch. There was Tracy Morgan. Tracy, that's who I auditioned with. So that was 94.

Oh yeah? Yeah. What was your audition like? People were tired of hearing it. Oh really? Okay. I met with Lauren

and it was very odd. But you know, that's the past and now everything is turned around. It is. Yeah, I met with Lorne and it was very odd. But, you know, that's the past and now everything has turned around. It has. Yeah, I'm doing this in my garage

and, you know, I'm talking to you about your great success. You've got a TV show. I'm not playing you down. Tour of the Country. I think that everything worked out fine,

but it does sort of stand in my mind as sort of there's some part of me that wants to be like just have to sit across from Lorne. Like, I want to interview him for, know who he is right but at some point i'd like to go what happened that day seriously i know i think a lot of people probably feel that way i think

it'd be an amazing conversation yeah i'm sure it would he's a very interesting man he is he's like the the king of late night no he's the king of everything. Yeah. Like, I mean, if you really think about it, like his place in modern television, there's nobody more important. He's up there. So how long was it before, you know, he gave you the boot? Well, I got the boot after three years. What the fuck is that about?

Yeah, you know, I never knew the answer to that. But when did you really start to feel like all right things were clicking when did you do that thing with samberg was that the second time that was after you got fired the first time that was after i got fired and came back but you were you know you were in a lot of bits you did a lot of impressions yeah you know i did okay you know i wasn't like a breakout star or anything did you feel the environment was very competitive yes and no but you know i felt like the writers there liked writing for me and you know and i was i was working on my own writing

with you know other people and and would occasionally get some stuff on and um so i felt like i felt like you know i'm i'm not the i'm not the head banana here but you know i'm doing okay i'm a good ensemble player and you know well you knew that you knew that like well that guy's he's a big ham and he's gonna well i mean jimmy was clearly you know kind of breaking out and obviously will was yeah amazing and everything as he should have been right sherry was genius and katan had all his characters and i mean yeah you know but it's interesting out of them and and daryl was still around but you know daryl was like a lifer over there i know and then like people could be great but it didn't necessarily mean that the breakout was going to stick it's true it's true it's interesting yeah like there are people that worked great on stage but they didn't make the jump

you know and right as big as some other people had it's like you couldn't have assumed that jimmy would end up where he is no no i mean not at all it's wild i know it is wild because he tried a couple movies and you know and i know and katan did a couple of big movies right but you know show business is uh well katan's doing the stand-up thing now yeah that i don't know that that's a good story you know it's stand-up's not the thing you want to end up on yeah i just know that from experience you know i know he's uh he's a great talent um but it's just like show business is kind of you don't know what the fuck is gonna happen man you don't well you gotta diversify yeah you gotta figure it out yeah so all right so when got fired, were you surprised that first time?

I mean- I was very surprised. I was pretty devastated. I'd never been fired from any job. How was it handled? My manager, Jimmy Miller, at the time, called me. Jimmy. Big manager.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, Julie Darmody, then Wixson, is now kind of more my lady, but it was such a big call that Jimmy called and said, man, I don't know what to tell you. They're not bringing you back. And I just parked the car and just sat there. I don't think I cried.

I just was stunned. I was just like. What was the reason? No real reason. No real reason. The worst. Yeah. Lauren didn't talk to you no no but when he hired me back i went back i went back in the 13th episode of what was my fourth turned out to be my

fourth so you're out for how long i was out the first 12 episodes of season four so okay so you get cut and you got to take that hit. You don't know why. Right. And why do they ask you back? Well, you know, I heard from Will Ferrell almost immediately. He said, look, I talked to Lorne, because I think he and Catan actually went to bat for me. And I think a number of the writers and people did. There was this big outpouring of support, like, we don't know what's going on here. And it felt very genuine. It wasn't just like, you know, lip service. And he said, he said lauren you know it's kind of indicated the door's not completely

shut so i was like oh okay so there was this kind of this emotional roller coaster if i would hear from jimmy miller like well lauren's saying he still might bring you back and weird yeah it was weird it was hard and i i had already given up my place in new york and and i was living back in la but i had all my- Were you doing movies and stuff by then, or not yet? Or were you just, was SNL it for the most part? I mean, I was doing more TV stuff and the occasional movie thing, you know, and commercials, but all my stuff was in New York, and I was living just here, waiting to hear.

Right. But that's like a limbo. It's not even waiting to hear. It was terrible. Yeah limbo it's not even yeah no it was a terrible yeah it was bad just you're just waiting for lauren to go okay right well and i finally said to jimmy i was like look man i can't take this anymore so i don't want to hear about any maybes anymore if they want to hire me back great i'm happy to go back of course i want to go back but uh and then finally one day they brought me back and did laurenne talk to you? He did. He did. And he said, you know, look, I made a mistake, you know.

Really? He really did. What did you do? You know, I was just so happy to be back there. Did you get choked up? I just got choked up. I've invested a lot in the character of Lorne. So, like, for him to admit he's made a mistake.

I know. It was a big deal. It was a big deal for him. And I appreciated it a mistake. I know. It was a big deal. It was a big deal for him. And I appreciated it, you know, obviously. It meant a lot. And would you just say, well, I'm glad I'm back. Yeah, you know. And you did make a mistake.

Let's talk about that. Let's talk about why you fucked up. You didn't have that conversation. I didn't, no no go a little more into that mistake i want to know what the thinking was that would have been amazing so you're back yeah and there's new people there's seth came on and uh and andy and with him akiva and yorma is writers and filmmakers. Yeah. Yeah, quite a few people. I'm going to forget a lot of people. Now, was Lazy Sunday the first huge thing? It was, yeah.

That was the first big digital short. It wasn't the first one, but I think it was the second one. And Andy just was like, you know, they were doing their own thing in that closet they were working at, and then he sort of said, well, you want to be part of this thing? Yeah, I mean, they'd been making videos and little series doing their own thing in that closet they were working at. And then he sort of said, well, you want to be part of this thing? Yeah. I mean, they'd been making, you know, videos and little series, part of the Lonely Island. Yeah. You know, and so they already had this amazing skill set to make these things.

Yeah. And they had seen me do my, I had done some raps on Weekend Update. And so they said, hey, we, you know, we liked what you did. Would you want to do one of these with us? And I was like, of course, absolutely. And that was it. That was it. Yeah. But, you know, liked what you did would you want to do one of these with us and i was like of course absolutely and that was it that was it yeah but you know you just make this goofy thing you're not thinking that right right and it just gets viral and you did a few of them with him right yeah i did a few we did it was one with natalie portman that's that one's hilarious

yeah crazy yeah she's hardcore she well she's an actor, you know. She committed. Yeah. That's what you guys do, you actors. We try. So now, like, in that, upon returning, you know, your profile was higher. I don't know that it was higher. I mean, you mean like in the entertainment business or just on the show? On the show and both, in a way. Well, I don't know that it was high. I mean, I felt like it was kind of parallel.

It was like it was going down here kind of back to maybe where I was before. And then what ultimately happened? It took a while to get my confidence back in a way. But shortly thereafter, they gave me the President Bush impression. Yeah. And I did that for a year. And that led to an extension of my contract and a raise. You took it over from who? will have done it right and then it was crazily i mean it's one of the few things

daryl could not do he just couldn't get will's impression out of his head i guess he said and it was the only thing i mean it's just like he's the master but he didn't have a bush yeah and now tell me a little bit about this developing the ability to do impressions. In terms of what you brought up, that it was sort of like impression school. How long did it take and who helped you sort of figure out how to put those things together? I mean, you're kind of on your own. Really? Yeah.

There's a research department who gets this tape for you usually. I mean, now I'm sure it's just a file that you download, but yeah, they give this to you and you might get the script or whatever and you look at it and you just try to get the voice. You're just sitting in a room. Doing it over and over and trying to find something special or funny about it. Wow, yeah.

Who do you think you did best? Well, I think I did Brokaw best, and then I did Joe Lieberman pretty well. Crazily, he was just in my wheelhouse, his voice. Yeah, yeah. And what were your favorite characters that you did? The most fun. I did a character with Jimmy.

We were the Bloater Brothers. He's a very insecure guy who was always trying to pick up ladies and just failing at it. And then Catan and I did the DeMarco Brothers, who were always auditioning to be dancers for whoever the musical guest was. We'd be auditioning to be their backup dancers. Yeah. And that was a lot of fun. And I had this character, Merv the Perv, that I liked. And how did your stint there end the second time?

Well, the second time, it was after eight seasons. And I was, you know, I could kind of go either way. And they gave me the opportunity to say, you know, do you want to come back? And I was like, well, you know, it's a good paycheck. And I don't hate it. It's a cool gig. So, you know, I'm not going to walk away from this. If you want to let me go, you can.

And they did. But it was me and Horatio and Dratch at the same time. And there were budget cuts. And so I didn't, it wasn't as big of a hit, not nearly as big of a hit. And I was kind of ready to go. I felt like I'd done my time, you know. And then you came back out here. Then I came back out here, yeah.

I stayed in New York for about another year because I loved it and had a great place in soho and wanted to stay there but the work was here and i was missing out on work and that's like after that run at snl that's when you know because you've done a lot of fucking movies yeah i pop up every now and you know so that really your career you know outside of SNL was pretty healthy. Yeah. Yeah. And when you got 30 Rock, how did that casting happen? You know, they just called me and they said, you know, we got this character that... Who called you?

Tina? Did you work with Tina? Yeah, yeah. Tina was there. Tina and Amy Poehler. Yeah. Oh, Molly Shannon, Colin Quinn. Yeah.

I mean, there's all these people. I forget. Those were some golden days. I know. Well, I sort of spanned like... Three casts? Yeah, two at least, maybe three.

Yeah, it was a pretty great time to be there. But yeah, I think it was my agent saying, you know, Tina and Robert Carlock would love for you to play this part

in this episode of 30 Rock. And I was like, yeah, of course, absolutely. So I did it and then it became a recurring thing. And I think they wrote it with me in mind based on kind of knowing my stuff at snl it's funny character thanks it was i feel very fortunate to have gotten to play mr leo spicheman

yeah dr leo spicheman and what what what are you working on now well Well, I'm doing a few animated things. I do the show Archer. Yeah, with... Judy Greer. John Benjamin. Aisha Tyler. Aisha Tyler. Amber Nash.

Lucky Yates. That's been going on a while. Yeah, I think we're about to start recording season six. And so you're doing the animated stuff now. Well, you seem to show up in the snl uh movies uh in there well you know i got to i brought me back to do a little bit in anchorman too right it's great yeah um and then i do this show called rick and morty on the cartoon network another animated thing that's it's really also good i mean two really well-written shows i don't

know how you guys deal with the heartbreak of it. The rejection of being an actor is, you know, you just got to integrate it into your life and somehow frame this, you know, it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with you. Yeah. No, it's, yeah. I mean, I've been on enough sitcoms that haven't gotten picked up or been canceled or whatever. That it's, you know. Well, congratulations on the child thank

you you seem like a well-adjusted person so maybe medication helps oh yeah what are you on uh prozac well butrin uh uh boost perone oh yeah yeah were you depressive yeah mildly and then it's a little obsessive and anxiety, that stuff. I have anxiety. Yeah. But it helps? Oh, yeah. The stuff helps, yeah.

Well, before you were on it, what did your anxiety do to you? Well, you know, I wasn't on anything when I was on SNL, and I sometimes wonder if I would have fared even better, you know. Had you been leveled? Yeah. Yeah? But it also might have taken something away. I don't know.

You got ocd issues um only a mild tendency it's not like serious but the anxiety is the thing the anxiety is there yeah how did it manifest itself um well it all started it really happened when my now wife agreed to be my girlfriend i had a panic attack really yeah i couldn't breathe kind of thing well i could breathe but it was just like my heart was beating a million miles per hour i never had one and i was like what is going on and i so yeah it was like this this idea of like okay here's this woman that i think i actually can have a future with her and like oh this is a real adult relationship and holy shit you know right so uh yeah i just and i went to see a psychiatrist and got on some stuff. Right away?

Pretty soon, yeah. Like the first sign of this thing. Yeah, I mean, but the thing, it turns out, once I started on the Prozac, and I mean, I tried other things and came back to that, but it was like, oh, my God, this is how life can be, you know? So you noticed a fundamental change in your personality around that stuff absolutely wow yeah oh yeah it was a relief it was a relief so you had that weird anxiety always you just didn't know it yeah i think so yeah wow yeah well that's good man i know it's great well i'm glad you got that under wraps me Me too. Right. Good talking to you, man. Good talking to you.

That's it. That's our show. See, it got interesting there at the end. Now you kind of understand the tone of things. You know what I'm saying? Chris Parnell, another SNL guy. Good Lorne story. Am I circling?

Am I getting closer? I got to call Lorne's office. That's our show. What else? Did I do everything? Is everything done? Is there business that needs to be done? Go to WTFpod.com for all that.

Get a gift. Get some merch. Leave a comment through Facebook. Get some JustCoffee.coop. I don't know, man. I don't. Leave a comment through Facebook. Get some justcoffee.coop. I don't know, man. I don't know. I don't know. I wish I was the checkered demon.

Yeah. Anyways. Anyways, people. Quick cat check-in. Monkey seems fine. His UTI, I think, is better. He seems fine. Fonda seems to be drooling a lot.

I don't know what that is. She's eating. She's, like, hanging out. She's got energy, but sometimes there be drooling a lot. I don't know what that is. She's eating. She's like hanging out. She's got energy. But sometimes there's just bubbles coming out of her mouth. Is that? Please tell me that's not horrible.

There's just a little drool. I have not seen Deaf Black Cat. I think he's just eating somewhere else. I'll let you know. I'll keep you in the loop, okay? All right? I'm about to pass out. Oh, my God. I've got to get back to where the trees are changing

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