WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Episode 601 - Kenan Thompson / Scharpling & Wurster

Episode Date: May 10, 2015

Kenan Thompson was on his way to a pitch meeting at Saturday Night Live when he stopped by Marc's hotel room to talk about The Mighty Ducks, Bill Cosby, Eddie Murphy, and Lorne Michaels' handlebar moustache. Plus, Marc has a chat with Tom Scharpling and Jon Wurster about the massive new box set that chronicles 14 years of their comedy. 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.

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. We'll be right back. We can demand more from the earth. Or we can demand more from ourselves. At York University, we work together to create positive change for a better tomorrow. Join us at yorku.ca slash write the future. Lock the gates! All right, let's do this. How are are you what the fuckers what the fuck buddies what the fucking ears what the fuckstables what the fuckereans a guy in vancouver just told me that what the fucking x how about that i'm in vancouver i should use it this is mark maron

this is wtf welcome to the show keenan Thompson from SNL on the show today talked to him when I was in New York City we had a nice time chatting in my hotel room I was showing him some videos you'll hear all about it also on the show today uh John Worcester and Tom Sharpling stopped by the garage to uh to chit chat about stuff that Tom's got going on that John's got going on stuff they got going on together always fun to talk to radio professionals in the garage. So I left Seattle this morning. I opted not to fly, decided to take the train up because it was pretty. So I get done with signing and meet and greet and hanging out in Seattle at 12.30, 1 o'clock.

Got to get up at 6 to get in a cab at 7 to get to the train station to get online to get my seat assignment with Ashley Barnhill, who's also traveling with me. She's opening for me, doing a great job. So we're up early. The Amtrak from Seattle all the way to Vancouver, which I heard was beautiful. And really, how much time are you saving? It's about the same, right? It's about the same as driving to the airport in Seattle, getting on a Canadian flight.

We've got to wait, get there a little earlier to go through customs to the airport in Seattle, getting on a Canadian flight. We got to wait, get there a little earlier to go through customs, to deal with that thing, then fly up, then get a cab from the Vancouver airport to the hotel. I mean, that's got to take four hours, right? So why not just take the train? Well, I'll tell you why. Because an hour into a train ride, you're just sitting on a train. So it's a different type of four hours was it relaxing maybe couldn't really sleep sat in the dining car watched the water saw some bald eagles that was pretty cool you know what now i'm talking myself into it being an amazing experience i saw the national bird sitting on a on a log the top of a log dug into the water making his nest or just sitting in his

nest there there's plenty around now apparently i don't think they're endangered anymore i don't know all i know is i think that's only the second time in my life i've seen a bald eagle for some reason when you grow up with the bald eagle as an american you think they're going to be the size of pterodactyls but they're not they're just birds they're just little birds they're not even that huge i thought it was gonna be huge maybe it was a baby bald eagle. Maybe it's just an indicator. Maybe just bald eagles are smaller now because our national identity has gotten somewhat insecure and they're just adapting in that way. Who knew evolution would make national symbols

that are animals adapt to the emotional climate of the country itself. That's right, the bald eagle, smaller in stature than it used to be, looking slightly aggravated and confused. Huh, that seems crazy, but is it possible? Maybe it's possible. I was heckled by a baby tonight. Yeah, maybe I'll tell you about that in a second. God, I wish I had some healthy snacks.

I just had a Jappa dog. I'm pretty sure that's how you pronounce it. It sounds slightly racially provocative, but I'm pretty sure that's what it's called, Jappa dog. And I ate that after I did my show at the Vogue Theater here in Vancouver. And something happened. Something happened. Okay, I'm doing my show.

I'm doing it. It's a nice big room. We got about 900 plus people in there at the Vogue, and somewhere during the first 20, 25 minutes of my set, a woman had made her way to the front row with an infant, an infant in her arms. An infant. Okay, it's all ages up here. I get it. I ran into a family on the street, nice looking couple with their two teenage kids. They said, we're all coming to see you. And I just felt so bad because they look like a nice, healthy, progressive family.

They seem like nice people. And i'm thinking to myself i get pretty filthy at the end not gratuitously filthy maybe it's gratuitous is any filth necessary i feel like it is these days and they've got these teenagers there because it's all ages so what am i supposed to do am i supposed to accommodate them because i spent like an hour going like what am i going to do they seem like nice people i know i'm going to blow that you know little kids mind that it's a teenage boy and a teenage girl they got to hear that ship from me first about uh orgasms and masturbating and having sex and yeah they got to hear that i'm sure like maybe i'm flattering myself maybe they know but do they got to hear about that in front of their

parents and have that weird awkward thing like i i experienced true empathy and i considered changing my set just to not put those parents through that but then again they brought them sometimes i'm filthy mark filthy mark is happening on the road at the end of the set filthy mark is speaking up he's in there he's always in there he's been in there forever he used to talk more when he was younger but you can watch my. I don't stray away from it. There's always a little honest filth in there. But that was on my mind. And I'm going through the set.

And I bring that up at the beginning of the set. And I'm nervous about that. And then out of nowhere, a fucking baby. There's a baby up front. So I'm like, look at this woman. I'm like, what is happening? And the audience is laughing they're teetering they're tittering tittering uncomfortably just to see me talk to a baby from the stage

a fucking baby and I busted the baby's balls a little bit but you know baby can take it mom seemed to take it I know what else to do then Then part of me was like, is that my baby? Is that why she's here? I would remember that. Kid's only 18 months old. That means that whatever would have went down would have went down like two years ago. I would not forget that. That was not the case.

I wasn't doing that then. Eventually, you know, the kids started gurgling and making noises. gurgling and making noises and whatever so she finally moves and i'm like all right that's done and then it's just in the back i just hear i don't think those are really baby noises kind of that yeah i just hear it in the back so now i'm like being heckled by a baby never happened before but you know strangely on a metaphoric level they're all hecklers are babies so that was the first for me heckled by a baby and you know babies are always going to win i tried to ride the line i have no idea what that family how they fared i don't know if it was a good idea to bring a baby to my show what do we

you know parents are like no he doesn't know anything of course we feel and know everything 18 months it's all coming in you're wiring the machine the the board is being loaded the kid's gonna end up in therapy at 20 going like i don't know what it is there was just a it's loud i just have a memory of a loud man a needy loud man amplified and i didn't know how to handle it it causes me anxiety i just helped create create an anxiety-ridden adult. That's how I'm going to flatter myself with this. That's the impact I had. Look, Tom Sharpling is a dear friend of mine

and a friend of the show, John Worcester as well. Of course, you can hear them at thebestshow.net live every Tuesday night at 9 p.m. Eastern or you can get the podcast of The Best Show. And now they're you can get the podcast of the best show

and now their box set the best of the best show is available at Numero group.com and in record stores everywhere tomorrow big box set beautiful great record label Numero group so happy for Tom and John I was happy to talk to him back in the garage

enjoy Happy to talk to him back in the garage. Enjoy. Worcester. Worcester, yes. Sharpling. Tom. Sharpling. You guys aren't out here for any reason usually? No.

Rarely together. What are you doing here together? We're pimping this nine pound behemoth. I was very excited that the guy from, I don't know who it was but it was somebody nearby I guess because they gave me an unwrapped one. This was somebody someone had this at home. Someone made a call and said can you get that over to Marin and Highland Park

the best of the best show. Someone said. Numero's a good label. Yeah. They said mark didn't get his go give him yours exactly and i got it yeah it's a it's monstrous yeah i mean that i mean that it's like it's big oh i don't mean and it's monstrous i would agree it's monstrous and you oh it's a like these are all the real people on yeah those are all the characters on the front they're all the different characters the guide and there... Oh, and there's a nice book. Look at that book we made.

Oh, my God. And there's a picture of you in your classic stances. There's me not being able to look at the camera. I'm holding your face. I'm holding my face like I'm... And John's just wide open in the bearded version. Yes. Chilled out and confused.

The bearded version of John. Yes. No glasses. And if you'll look on that backpack there, I have a spare shirt in case I sweat through the one I'm wearing. Is that something? You got to do that. You got backup shirts? I do.

For photo shoots or for life? For life. Yeah. I have a backup shirt in my car. I have that shirt that I'm wearing in that picture as a backup in my car right now. I just go ahead and let the sweat happen. I can't help it. I can't help it. I can't help it.

You were sweater too? Oh, my God. Arb, it's over 30 degrees. That's why I love, when I did the, when we did the live WTF at the Bell House, I was like, and everybody, they were like, everybody, air conditioner is broken. It's hot in here.

I was like, thank Christ, because I was going to sweat if it was 45 degrees in there and at least now everybody's sweating like and then i'm just like can you believe it's the air conditioner is broken look at me i'm covered in sweat the great equalizer i would have been soaking wet no matter what tom doesn't have to look like the only wet guy sometimes it looks like a bucket of water got dumped on my head. Oh, me too. Yeah. It's gotten better for reasons I don't understand.

Like, I used to be embarrassingly sweaty. Tom doesn't drink, but I noticed when I stopped drinking, I sweated way less. Is that true? And to this day, like, I wear this coat because I have pockets that I need, and it holds things. And I should be sweating. Yeah. But I'm not that's i stay cool somehow to me the worst would be going into some sort of like pitch meeting and i'd be

in the lobby and then they would bring like what kind of water do you want to be like and they'd bring like a cold water that would be enough to throw the the equal my equilibrium off just i'm i'm at room temperature and then the cold water suddenly sweat like no no anything is like i'm not nervous but my body is betraying me why are you doing this to me and i'd be in the room and one time i said one time i was covered in sweat it was so embarrassing and i said to them One time I said, one time I was covered in sweat. It was so embarrassing. And I said to them, this is not sweat.

This is excitement juice. That's great. Do you remember one time you were covered? What look did you get then? Then they went, oh, and then did not buy whatever it was. They're not going to buy anything from this sweaty animal. Do you remember on one of the rare occasions you and i pitched something together out here seconds before we went into the meeting you somehow someone bumped into you and scalding coffee went all over you i mean to the point where you couldn't walk for a little bit i do remember that yeah that was a play it was like down on melrose or something yeah and i guess

before you went in before Before we went in. Seconds before. Somebody jostled me and I got like scalded. I do remember that now. That was- But you're on adrenaline, so you don't feel the scald until later. Yeah, so you're just like, so anyway, the story is about a guy. I'm like, meanwhile, blisters are bubbling up all across my arm. Did you go in with the stained shirt?

Did you have a backup shirt? Oh, we were walking into the room. Yeah. Same route. So there was damage control on the way? You're like, you okay, man? Are you okay? Oh, no, I'm good.

I'm good. I'm not good. I'm just like, yeah. I'm bad. Yeah. Well, for people who don't know the best show, I was surprised I opened the box, and it's not records. It's actually CDs.

It's a nice, it's a beautiful, you get a book, and you get a, what's on the cassette tape? That is, I believe it's everything that's on the CDs, and four extra hours. Oh, this isn't a cassette tape. It's a USB. It's a USB drive. Isn't that fun? It's a flash drive. Isn't that fun?

Yes. And you plug that in. And it's all on there. You dump it all. And more. And more on your computer. So you that fun? It's a flash drive. Isn't that fun? Yes. And you plug that in. And it's all on there. You dump it all. And more. On your computer. So you get it all. And another four hours.

What's in this consolidated cardboard envelope? A poster. There's a poster in here? There's some temporary tattoos. This is more fun than getting a box game when you're a child. Yes. It's a box game for a grown-up. child yes when it's a box game for a grown-up it kind of we we kept piling on where where numeral group was so awesome where they were just like so what how many cds you guys want to do here and

we're just like i don't know 10 to 10 and then we're just like they're like well we could do more than 10 and then we're like okay 12 and then it got to like where 16 was just like all right anything past 16 feels like it's like 16 is already the most gaudy how many are in there 16 16 cds yeah yeah but anything more than that would feel like you're just like all right this is this feels like homework i don't want anything to do with this box but how many shows did you have you done total you know uh tom well i i think i think at some point what are you drawing from we did the 500th show with a year to go. Is that what it was?

Yeah, on WFMU it was pretty much, I think we ended up around, we left with about 600 shows. So that's a three-hour show. That's a three-hour show, yeah. So it's 1,800 hours. Pretty much, yeah. And with other things, somebody did the math on it, and you can say it was about 2,000 hours with other shows going longer and this and that. But on 16 CDs, you knew at least 12 CDs worth of bits. You're like, those are the bits that we're going to put on here. And then you had to search for, like, what, another four CDs?

No, it was... It was shocking. It was culling. We to we had to cut things yeah and to get to the 16 when we find when we when numeral group was like yeah will you do this you do this box and we're just like we're in let's do it and then john and i start talking we're just like well look this one call that put that one down like chisel that one that one is a grand slam and then we went back and listened to it's like oh that one was not so good hey uh did you think that was funny yeah it's like like those first calls were just like yeah remember that one that we was just we i would have bet my life savings would have made the box just like

it's just okay and is this did we just make things that are just so and suddenly there were a couple just okay ones in a row and that was that was bad footing to get off it was like oh my god did we did we just do this like subpar thing for 15 years and it's like and then thankfully one that was countered by one that we had forgotten about. It was like, oh, I couldn't even remember doing this one. And it was, oh, that was really funny. So it balanced out ultimately.

But at first there was like a full on panic of just like. So what we're talking about here, like for people who don't know the show, this is like a history in radio. This is one of the great comedy teams of radio. Thank you. And I think it should be seen as that. The best show on WFMU no longer exists there, but it lives. The best show, and that's where the new version of the show is. This is a live show.

I'm not going to preach to the converted fellas. Right. I'm going to convert some people. That's what we need. We need it. Like these guys, these two fellas, you know, Bob and Ray. Yeah. Burns and Allen.

Yeah. You know, those kind of people. Allen and Rossi. Allen and Rossi. Hello there. Yeah. Hello there. Remember, you had Marty Allen in.

Where did you do that? did right here he was here he was here how old is marty 94 or something that's he's good the hair is still on top is the hair is i don't know what it is think about i can't tell you what it is and this is no offense to any of any of you or me or whatever any of us do but you think about a guy from old showbiz who's just like he's used to he's used to just things being done. It's like, yes, we're going up to the Rockefeller Center is where this radio program is going to take. And suddenly he's 90 now, and he's like,

it's in this garage? What am I? Yeah, I don't think they know, though. I think they're very happy to be out and about. And I say, I don't mean to be generalizing about the elderly but the ones that still have their uh you know their uh their minds faculties yeah i mean like i had norman lear up here he's 92 he's like you know sharp as a bell he enjoyed coming over yeah he is he's on it that guy yeah i just feel like my home is tiny like i like sometimes i get embarrassed like you know this is the whole home

this is it and uh i don't know that they're used to that. That's like, in my mind, it's sort of like, I'm okay. I'm making a living. That's all I've ever wanted from stuff. Right, right. Yeah. Just cover my bills and let this be my employment. Right, right.

That's it. What would you say? How many characters total john gosh um have you ever counted someone must have it's it's probably in the hundreds at least 200 or so sure i would say it's got it's yeah it's well over 100 probably come up on 200 and i honestly don't know how many are represented in this box there There are several key recurring characters that we needed represented. I'm not sure if there are 200 on the box, but there's at least 200 that we've done over the years. A lot of them are one-offs.

Tell me how the, like Tom explained to me off mic a little bit how the live shows. Do you have more of those? We will do more. We don't have any on the. Isn't that phenomenal that you can do that? It's crazy. We had no idea what they were going to be like

we had written the show but we had never timed it really until we actually did the first show at the bell house when you say you written it

did you just do beats or did you actually script it we pretty it was pretty scripted oh yeah there was room

for improv and yeah how many characters in the show? Like five, maybe? Five characters that I did. Tom was himself, and he'd have to fill space when I was off changing,

like just doing a quick sweatpants throw-on. And you guys are sitting? No, we're standing and... Stalking the stage. Really? Yeah, and it was nuts. it was nuts i went down to down to north carolina and we're like all right let's let's figure this show out these shows have sold out we should write it yeah i guess we should write it now so we went down i went down we're

working on it yeah and we're just like all right this is funny it's funny and we kept like rewriting it and trying to get get things yeah to have more payoff and more and then we're like i then the day came when it's like we're just like well uh let's i hope this times out correctly because this could either be 20 minutes of show that'll go so fast or we maybe wrote three and a half hours of show no i'm gonna have to cut two-thirds of it yeah when we're inside like we just were like because we if we were doing this on the radio just the the gut for having done so many of these calls we would know how they would play out and that's kind of what got us through four twos like we were doing exactly what we've done for for 20 almost 20 years at this point just in front of people in a more condensed manner right but laughter makes a

lot of difference time wise oh yeah and which we've never had to contend with it's always just been the two of us doing it on the radio kind of in a vacuum. So how did it time out? I think the first show was maybe 90 minutes or so. But we had a second one right after. So I think we probably cut down a little bit on the first one the next night. We were able to ditch like 10 minutes from that one. How did it feel to repeat? Like have an act.

It was, it felt very traditional in a, in a show business way. Like when you hear about like Martin and Lewis doing 15 shows a day in time square, whenever they're doing, it's like they was just gone and we do the thing. Then the thing goes to the other thing.

Then the thing goes to the other thing. You do the song. I do the record routine. Right. Coming Then the thing goes to the other thing. You do the song. I do the record routine. Right. Come in a little quicker on that one. Yeah. Come in a little quicker. And then we do a thing together.

And then we're out. Like, that's, it didn't, to me, it felt a lot like that. It felt very old show business that we weren't, we were doing a thing together that had a beginning, a middle, and an end. And we were, it was very perform performative which is not my natural setting this is like you haven't done this before really everything i do is there's a if you add it up it's like oh i i do writing i go on the radio and i'm interested in and i direct things now it's like those three the common thing is that you don't see me doing any in front of anybody

yes it's just and you haven't done comedy like like not like that no no that's great and and i think what what made it work was that we just know each other so well we know we know you know how we work together and our vibe and the beats and everything everything. So it's so natural. Right. It was just like doing it on the radio, but in front of people. But I think if the two of us with anybody else, I think it would have been a different story. Yeah, I love this story. I love the idea of you guys doing this comedy team thing.

Especially something, because you don't see this anymore, man. Maybe not, yeah. No, you don't. Slovan and Alan would be the last duo I can think of. Kind of, but even when people do comedy teams, it's not as defined. You're the straight guy. You're going to do the crazy stuff. That's classic. That is, yes.

That's true. And that format, which has been the one, has not really existed. Most people are doing something closer to sketch, but you're literally like, it is like Alan and Rossi in a way. I think you're probably funnier than Rossi, obviously. Well, thank you. I appreciate it.

I'm funnier than Steve Rossi. He said probably. Can we put that on the box set? Maybe we'll get a sticker on there. But you know what I'm saying, that this idea of Sharpling and Worcester, like, being, like, this classic, almost, you even said it, the performance element of it, you felt like, you know, you were doing the thing.

Yeah. And you were doing your thing. Yeah. And all the characters are defined. Did you switch hats? Yeah. I had a lot of hats. Yeah.

Yep. My mustache. Oh, really? Oh, yeah. That's fucking great. Dad jeans. Dad jeans. Yeah. Yep. A mustache. Oh, really? Oh, yeah. That's fucking great. Dad jeans. Dad jeans. Classic.

We were doing it like it was old-timey showbiz. And here in the box set, you get 16 of the classic bits. You get 60. You get 70. 16 CDs. 16 CDs. 16 CDs. Just like 70-something bits in there across the 16 CDs.

Four hours extra on the USB. Four hours extra. Or USB four hours it's crazy yeah it is crazy fucking classic and some people are listening to this going like

I don't know these guys how can you not know them just buy this yeah buy the thing and Numero's great because they just

number things number 203 yeah because some of the numbers you're like what the hell is that record

and then you gotta get it yeah I got a box set two box sets from them and I'm'm like don't know what they are what is this this is crazy it's great well like they just decide it's an amazing label you sort of there's a theme but it's the theme is really how cool they put things together yes the packaging yeah when they were interested in it we were i i'm because i've i've got a lot of records by them and it was like i can't think of a label that will do right by this thing for us in terms of just going as crazy as they did

all right so this the box is out tomorrow yes yes and we will be exciting we will be on um seth myers i think tomorrowime It might be that day I think so I don't believe anything's gonna happen I believe just like Oh there's a Oh you guys are gonna be on TV Tom You guys are gonna be on TV

Can you imagine us on the couch As a comedy As a comedy duo All I can think about How are you gonna handle that? I don't know We don't know yet Are you going to perform on Seth Meyers

Or are you just gonna sit? Well I can tell you now i'm not performing so that that's down to me then you're welcome to perform wait tom will be on the count and i will i will come from the audience as as a guy from that's the perfect place to do it you got to do one of your classic bits you got to go stand out in front of the audience in the performance area and do, you got to wear whatever you wear, Tom. One of my 75 polo shirts. Your polo shirt. Yes.

And then you decide what's going to sweat the least. And you guys go out there like a fucking legit comedy team and do the shtick. What shtick are you going to do? We don't know yet. We got to do- Did I talk you into this? You kind of did. You talked me out of it.

That's what you just did. What if I did it? Let me know seth meyers goes but no no i'll be watching maybe you should do it where you know uh you know your tom you come out right you both come out but tom goes into this next to seth and you go in with a fake mustache you go stand on the spot the performance spot excuse me oh yeah yeah yeah it's Tom's like, no, we're not doing. Yeah. I'd be like. And you don't get it. You stay in character against Tom's reluctance.

Oh, come on, sir. Yeah. Let's go. I'm just trying to talk to the nice talk show host. Why are you doing this? I'm just sweating. Yeah. Oh, I'm sweating now.

I'm sweating now. He's sweating sweating now i'm talking about this yes i love the idea i'm pitched i pitched it well i think you should do one of your classic bits i'm not catching it i'm not catching that pitch why wouldn't you want to do that is it too weird i don't i i feel like what we do you just said some degree needs context what do you mean here's one of the great comedy teams, and then Seth holds this box up. He says, 16 CDs of work in here, and many of you may be seeing them for the first time here with their classic plumber sketch.

See, what are we supposed to go do? The Cesspahanna Hat Company? There it is. You're doing Niagara Falls. They're 40 minutes each mark that's the whole thing unless seth you can get it would hand us the entire show to do one bit you can get it down to four and a half good taste but that's the thing that one hat it's not stand up and that's the tricky part where it's just like when when you're when somebody says to you it's like well

you're gonna do five and a half minutes you know can you do three a half? Then you're just like, okay, I'll cut that. I'll cut that. Right. And then there's three and a half minutes. If we cut the thing, I just don't know. That part is so new. That is weird because it's not even like it used to be. In the old days when guys had stand-up spots, I think sometimes they were up to seven minutes

or eight minutes. And now it's literally four and a half minutes. So I understand why you might not want to do it that way. It's like you're punching. But there's no reason that John can't come out in character. John is welcome to do whatever he wants on the thing.

You have the green light. It's like you come out because you're the straight guy. So you come out and he comes out as like, which one would be greatest on the couch? Limited makeup. I think Philly boy Roy would be the one. He's the guy from Philly that has been pestering Tom for 13 years now. Yes, it's a straight up Philly middle class dude who is

visually striking. He's like the he's like the Ralph Cramden of the show in a way where he's the He has dreams.

So all right so let's try it. So like Wait we're gonna just gonna improvise. Okay. You're Seth.

I'm Seth. That's right. Right now John John John Worcester and Tom Sharpling are here but no we won't do it like that. It'll just be Tom Sharpling's here. It's just, right now, John Worcester and Tom Sharpling are here. But no, we won't do it like that. It'll just be Tom Sharpling's here.

It's just Tom Sharpling's here. Tom Sharpling, how are you? And how's it going? Congratulations on all your success. Oh, well, thank you, Seth. Look, this part is going to be troubling enough. If I just went out and talked to him, that would be... This part is going to be troubling enough.

If I just went out and talked to him, that would be... No, but like, so you've got this wonderful box set of all your work from the... Yeah. And then he would just look at me. Hey, how are you, everybody? Who's this? Oh, it's Roy. Oh, it's Philly boy Roy. Oh, my God.

Has anybody seen my hoagie? What are you doing here? Hey, Roy. I thought I left it backstage. Uh-huh. Reese Witherspoon, have you seen my hoagie? Well, Reese Witherspoon just left. Yeah.

Where yous going? What's this thing you got here? Is that a box set? This is Tom Sharpling and John Worcester's amazing box set. There's 16 CDs in here. A lot of comedy. Oh, my God. The second guy sounds cool.

Yeah. The first guy. Not so much? Not so much, no. What do you think? How'd that feel? I loved it. Oh, that first guy. Not so much? Not so much, no. What do you think? How'd that feel? I loved it. Oh, that's cool.

I'm going to email whoever in charge there. Maybe we just send this over and lip sync it. Yeah. Send it over to Seth Meyers. We'll just lip sync it. So I think, okay, so here's what we're going to do. You guys can order this. I guess you could go to Numero Group, right?

Dot com. What about on your website? You're going to have a link to the thing? I'll have a link to it, yeah. What is it now? Bestshow.net. Bestshow.net. And I wish you all the success in the world.

And I'm going to be listening to it. I'm going to rip it. I'm going to rip it onto my hard drive. Sure. And then I'm going to take them separately into the car with me. Ooh, it's good driving stuff. Yeah. I feel bad as close as I am with Tom in general.

And as, you know, I enjoy you, but we've hung out a couple of times. We're close now. Well, yeah. I probably don't know most of this, so it's going to be very exciting for me to get into, what is it, like 90 hours? Like, I mean, how? It's at least 20 hours, right? But on the flash drive, probably 24 hours.

Maybe I'll just marathon it. All day. Just get a pot of coffee. Sit down and go right through it. I'll call you occasionally going, this one's great. How old is this? And then you'll be like, I don't want to hear any more of this. I'm done. Yeah, I heard enough. 24 hours was more of this. I'm done. Yeah. I heard enough.

24 hours was, that lasted me forever. This went well. It was great. Thanks, Tom. Yeah. Thank you, Mark. Thanks, John. Thank you.

Good luck with this thing. Thank you. I appreciate it. And we appreciate you having us on. I know it's, you don't usually do the, I'm back in here again. We do. I've been in here. Well, you did did tim then you did

tim and eric right i heard that one right that was like i was yeah i didn't know what was going to happen because i like you know tim i was nervous about tim and that went pretty good because i didn't know if they're going to fuck with me this is the kind of people were you like you know you didn't fuck with i love how on edge you're like tim and eric have been nothing but i just we've known them for a long time and not even remotely nervous about them but you're just like what do you guys do what are you guys up to yeah what like you're like you guys are gonna get me somehow yeah yeah i just felt like that i don't know but it turned out well no but this was a special thing you know i was excited you guys could come yeah thank you for having us i appreciate you having us. I hope everyone buys that box set because I need

a new gold skidoo. Hear the siren? Yeah. If I was a lesser comic, I would say, your ride's here. Get it? Yeah.

I like it. Thanks, Mom. You ever do that? Have you ever said when somebody says something, you're like, oh, thanks, Mom. I haven't used that one.

But you know when somebody is like, sure, sure. You suck. Thanks, Mom. Yeah. i like the different variations i don't come down to where you work and like you know the first time i heard you know knock the dicks out of your mouth i thought that was terrific here's a funny story it's not so funny i met a guy i'm not gonna say his name a comic but i i can say that like he was uh he was no longer a comic.

I knew him back in the day at the Comedy Store. He was somewhere else, and he'd come to a show of mine. He'd offer to give me a ride. And he's like, yeah, I'm out of the business. And I'm like, what happened? He's like, people kept stealing my fucking jokes. I'm like, oh, really? Like what jokes?

He goes, well, you know when you're on stage and you hear the siren? And you say uh my ride's here that's mine this makes me so uncomfortable that's mine like never there's no way that guy he should have quit because if that's what he's carrying with even if it was his you're gonna have to let that fish go that's right yeah you take the hook out of its mouth and let it go that one it's free it's free free for everybody that's a public domain exactly retort it's like oh suzanna it is the old suzanna of retorts yes yeah those those things oh that makes my that makes me i get a knot in my stomach when i hear what because of sadness yeah because of just like of cluelessness of just like and that he'll be like staring at the ceiling at four in the morning being like, how do I get that back?

How do I get that one back? I got to show them that that was mine. Like I need to. How do I make money off of it? Yeah. How do I? I need provenance in that one. My rides here.

I'm going to trademark it. Yeah. I'm going to copyright my rides here. I think you could do that. I can patent it. it yeah with if i just give it context my rides he just shirts that say my rides here and then you know he's at the point where he's like all right i'm gonna be on stage in 20 minutes call an ambulance and send them to the across the street just fake that somebody got my hook in i gotta get my say someone's having a heart attack across the street, just fake that somebody got hurt. I gotta get my hook in. I gotta get my hook in.

Say someone's having a heart attack across the street. I need that siren. I'm closing with it tonight. It's mine. Big closing. All right, so NumeroGroup.com, is that it? Yes. For the best of the best show.

It's beautiful. Get ready. How great is it to hear a couple of guys that are comfortable on mics shooting the shit? Love it. Love it. Tom Sharpling, John Worcester. Pick up that box set, the best of the best show. Available at numerogroup.com.

And in record stores everywhere tomorrow. You know, Kenan Thompson was doing a sketch on SNL. It was a game show. I can't remember. But the answer was the Marc Maron 5. I did ask him if he wrote it. But he hung out. We hung out in the hotel room.

And the season finale of SNL with host Louis C.K. and musical guest Rihanna is this Saturday, May 16th. Keenan will be on that. But this is him and I talking in a hotel room at the Bowery Hotel last week. 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. Goaltenders, 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. Calgary is an opportunity-rich city, home to innovators, dreamers, disruptors, and problem solvers. The city's visionaries are turning heads around the globe across all sectors each and every day. They embody Calgary's DNA. A city that's innovative, inclusive, and creative. And they're helping put Calgary and our innovation ecosystem on the map as a place where people come to solve some of the world's greatest challenges.

Calgary's on the right path forward. Take a closer look at CalgaryEconomicDevelopment.com. Week. You never did stand-up though, right? Not really. I do these college gigs where I stand up for an hour. But I've never done the clubs. You're riding that...

I'm riding that wave. I go through the entire wave. Like fucking Mighty Ducks, Nickelodeon. We go down the whole road. Right, but when you go out to colleges, what do you do? I talk about my uh experiences thus far like oh so it's not and stuff like that oh you go through your life yeah i don't have like observances necessarily i just go through like oh funny stories okay and you do it on stage as a solo performance

yeah it's so is it is it billed as like a stand-up show or just sort of like uh it's billed as like an evening with Kenan. An evening with Kenan. Yeah. Watch him reflect. Yeah. Oh, the days. And then I do like a half an hour Q&A and that's when it gets fun because it always changes.

Those are the best. Q&As are the best. I love those Q&As. Yeah. So wait. So which Mighty Ducks were you in? Two and three. You know, because I know Steve Brill.

Do you? Yeah. I love Steve. I was in two. Where? When? What? Were you a duck?

Yeah. What do you mean you were in two? I got cut out of two, I think. You got cut out of two? Yeah. The scene was you guys are wandering around Rodeo Drive. Yeah. Right.

Yeah. And you walk up to a valet and you ask a question and i yell and then like fuck man like i basically say you gotta know someone to get get into anywhere in this town or some shit like that yeah right so you remember shooting that though yeah i shot it before we shot it no no i shot it with us yeah yeah yeah you were all there the guy with the cowboy hat yeah yeah totally remember that. And it got cut from the final cut, but there was a moment there where Steve pulled me aside and he goes, you have to take down the anger.

You're scaring the ducks. Holy shit. Marc Maron got cut out of ducks too. What the fuck is going on? What kind of world do we live in? I was not expecting that. That was like my first anything. The first big movie?

I was a 15-year-old kid, yeah. I'd never been to LA and all that. So how'd you get from there to there? Where'd you grow up? I'm from Atlanta. Oh, really? I just auditioned for mad shit in Atlanta. And then I was on this kid's news show.

In Atlanta? The first movie I would critique. I was a movie critic. On the kid's news show? Yeah. In Atlanta? On TBS, yeah. Yeah, okay. So that, right. Yeah. show and I get Atlanta we I would critique I was a movie critic on the kids news show yeah in Atlanta on TBS yeah okay so that right yeah and the first movie I critiqued was the first Mighty Ducks and I like interviewed a couple of the kids with the movie that I came to Atlanta and like we're promoting and shit and then like a year later I got to audition for the second one and I

just audition my fucking way in there so how old were you when you started doing the kids movie show 13 ish how did that how'd that start like what kind of what part of it I just was already auditioning for all kind of and your parents were just into it they had my brother and I into it like theater and theater class oh they got you guys into it yeah oh they were like this is our ticket. Well, it's going to be something. It's going to be that, football, baseball, everything else. But, you know, that too. Just lots of shit.

Oh, really? Yeah, piano. So they were, well, that's nice to have that kind of encouragement. We were definitely encouraged to do things other than fucking be in the street. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Where did you grow up in Atlanta? In College Park, like where the airport is oh yeah

yeah and what how many siblings you got i have an older brother and a younger sister what's he up to he is uh entrepreneur and like he's just kind of like had an oil change place for a while and then he had a liquor store for a while oh yeah yeah now he's trying to like get an uber fleet going in atlanta uber fleet yeah so he's trying to get an Uber fleet going in Atlanta and shit like that. Uber fleet? Yeah. So he's working the angles. Yeah, exactly. He does all right, though? He's working a few different angles.

Yeah, he does fucking computer inputting for medical files, like digitizing medical files and shit like that. He can do a lot of different things. Isn't it weird when people tell you that they do that shit, and you're like, what does that even mean? Right. It's just a bunch of jargon, in my opinion. I like the word jargon.

Yeah, yeah. Just weird names of things. Yeah, I mean, just input this into that, and that's a job. And you say this, what's she do? She is an aspiring music person. Oh, yeah? She used to sing and write songs and shit like that. She got the voice?

She does have the voice. And what, your folks still around? My folks are still around. My dad is a retired mechanic and real estate kind of guy. Really? He can take apart a car? He's a barehander. Really?

Him and my brother had that oil change place together. That's a good CD name, Air Hander. Yeah, and my mom's still nursing. She's a nurse, an anesthetist. So are they, like, thrilled at your trajectory, your success? Yeah, I mean, my mom, for sure, because she was the one, like, always taking me to the auditions and shit. You know what I mean? Hours and hours and hours.

She even, like, worked at the theater school so I could, like, take classes for a discount and shit, like answering phones and shit like that. So you were in the theater school when you were, like, how old did that start? That started, you know, like, eight-ish, seven-ish. So that was the thing. It's been my thing, yeah. But was it something you decided or they put it in your head? It's something I always enjoyed doing and it just became a thing once it started. I was like, oh, we can make money at this.

I was like, holy shit, I did this one commercial, and they paid me like $800, and I thought that was like a fucking big deal. Right. Because it was for a 13-year-old. What was that commercial for? Lee's Famous Country Recipe Chicken. Yeah. It was a fried chicken place that wasn't even in Atlanta, so I never saw the commercial.

They were in Tennessee and Alabama and Florida,'t even in Atlanta, so I never saw the commercial. They were in Tennessee and Alabama and Florida, but not in Atlanta. It was a regional chain. Yeah, but not so regional to where I could see what I had done. I still never have seen that commercial to this day. What did you do? I fucking was fishing with my grandpa.

And I took a... I say, Grandpa, the fish aren't biting't biting yeah and then he hands me a piece of chicken and i take a big old bite and i say i like this kind of biting so that's what i did and i'm proud of it are you yeah we gotta start somewhere that's what the best thing was like my first like real check and i was like really impressed by that but you got to get that footage i mean just right you're gonna reach out the internet will find it for you the internet It was like my first real check, and I was really impressed by that. You got to get that footage. I mean, just... Right?

You got to reach out. The internet will find it for you. The internet. I was so confused. Like, fake grandparent. It was just a weird thing. I'd never done anything like that before. Were you confused initially?

Yeah, because there's an older guy who was like an actor, too, and I didn't really understand that terminology, what it means to be an actor. Right. He had a fucking sailor hat on. He was a weird dude. Oh, really? But he was like a real actor. So did he act completely different?

I don't even think he was that much of an actor. I think he was just an older black dude. Who got the gig? Who knew Lee? Who got the gig? They got him for chicken, that guy. Yeah, because he didn't really even talk. He just looked at me.

He had no lines? No lines. Just a look. Where do you go from there, man? I mean, what happened next? They got Lee's Chicken and they followed that up with... I did mad auditions for all kinds of commercials. Publix, Sonic.

Did you get the commercials? I did a Publix commercial and a Sonic commercial. Sonic commercial. Just being a kid. I did a Publix commercial and a Sonic commercial. Sonic commercial. Just being a kid. In Publix, I was one of the workers who would help the people that shopped there with anything.

So we were changing attire, basically. And in the Sonic one, I think we were just eating burgers or something. Sure. Whatever came through Atlanta, basically, is what it was. And for the gig on the movie Critic Show. Now, what kind of movies? What was that? That was all kids-based. So it was like fucking Aladdin and everything animated,

everything PG and G. But did you say, like, I didn't like this one? Yeah, I had my choice. I judged them on my popcorn scale. Oh, yeah, good. And four popcorns was as good as you can do. And, yeah, it was my choice, choice whatever i thought i thought that was cool and so when you okay so you reviewed the first mighty ducks and then now how'd you get the

audition for the second one it just came around i had an agent right in atlanta and they did it in my tape oh you put it on tape yeah and what was what was the next thing that happened after the uh after the ducks i mean did you get like i went to do the nickelodeon oh right with amanda bines yeah around that time yeah and uh and that so but the weird thing is is you you made it through that and you know you got out and you kept having a career that doesn't always happen man no i i mean i was trying hard man i mean thank god for snl coming around when it did and getting that job because that kind of like bridged all that. Right. So you go to Nickelodeon and that's like just another children's mill.

Yeah, we worked hard there. Yeah. What were the shows? All that and the Kenan and Kel show. And then everything else year round, Nickelodeon was doing like the big help and and kids choice award was that like it was fun nickelodeon universe and you were what 14 i was like 15 16 yeah it was fun i had a great time and was it like a community did everyone hang out it wasn't like disney it was we were close we were all very like close because we

worked so much this is like similar snl how we spend so much time together you just become close like now i always feel like i'm like now i'm going to get investigative like but how hard did they work you over there yeah no it was like once it moved to california i guess that they had to like start like labor law and shit oh yeah but when we were in florida man we were putting in fucking hours like we would go to school and then we would shoot till we were done and then go to school again and you know the next morning like regardless of when we finished so it started in florida yeah in orlando why was it down there is that's where nickelodeon started i didn't even

know they had like nickelodeon had like a whole studio where they had like two sound stages and like one was doing like you know gulla gulla island and like really, you know, Gullah Gullah Island and like really like, you know, childrenish type program. Right. Childrenish. Right. Real young. Yeah. Yeah.

And then you were in the teenage area. Yeah. They were trying like, you know, real shit, you know, on the other side. As opposed to like, you know, a fucking dancing frog. And what happened to your partner in that show? He's still around. Yeah? Yeah.

Still auditioning. Yeah. Still doing the dance. It's tough, man. I know, man. It's tough. He's been popping up more and more lately. When you moved to Los Angeles,

did any of your family go with you? No. I was like 18 at that point. It was like college time. I was on my own. Yeah? Yeah.

My mom, bless her heart, would drive out there. She did it like four times from atlanta just to hang out yeah just to check in was she worried about you i think so yeah just being a mom you're getting out of control out here it got to be some late nights some real late nights and some early mornings oh yeah it's not good for the stomach but yeah whatever man we had fun you're partying i had yeah i mean i was hanging i was fucking new to la so doing the hollywood thing once i like i followed around like honestly black comedy night like once i figured out like where all the black people were

that's what i followed around for forever and it just happened to be through like monday night at the improv or two right at the comedy store when night at the laugh factory right that's just how I like met everybody pretty much in LA and like started like from there I learned how to like what a dance club was in LA you know what I'm saying because I was just because you hear the material yeah and then all those guys would just go out afterwards so who were the guys you were running with then I wasn't running with anybody I was just kind of like a puppy like following those guys around. But like Aries Spears

was like always up there killing it. Oh, yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. Just all those fools. Mike Epps would come in and he'd be like,

he's like, this guy's a genius. He's on the verge and shit. Like from the audience. Right, right. All that kind of shit. And yeah, like all those fools.

Like anybody who's kind of halfway doing it like right now but you never thought to go on that's interesting to me no i never did i never felt you know i never felt that welcome honestly they kind of were like what the fuck you doing here like you got a tv show like why the fuck are you around here really you're not a comic yeah right yeah so i was just, I was just trying to hang out. I'm 18. There's nowhere I can really go. And you were going out for movies?

Yeah, but it was like really Nickelodeon focused at that point because I think we had two shows. It was like, there was no time to really do much. And when did you start going out for movies? I mean, when did... It was always, but it was more like shit like kind of given to me for a while because it was people that i knew they were doing things or something or it was like under the nickelodeon umbrella like good burger or something right and then i was kind of like just on call basically yeah and then once i left nickelodeon i started auditioning for like everything and then i and you were living out there just full time and just

hanging out yeah it was a couple years of like weird shit yeah yeah like what does that mean i mean it's just like you know running out of money and like you know taking odd jobs you know i'm saying and like trying to choose between like breaks and food and like all kind of you took odd jobs after after the like odd like projects like felicity i don't you know know if that role necessarily is a bonafide dramatic performance. It was like a fat suit in dreadlocks. It was just whatever. That you don't feel bad about. I don't feel bad about it, but Love Don't Cost a Thing was another one that was cool.

It was Nick Cannon's movie and stuff. And first-time director type deal where the director kind of was married to the producer at one point. They're in a partnership for some reason. And this is the movie that we're doing. You know what I'm saying? And they're no longer together. They weren't even at that point. They were just in a business relationship.

And it was nasty. It was just weird because like they had a, should I even be talking about these people's lives? They just had like, they had a kid together and it was like they had like all this like weird relationship shit on the shadowing the project a little bit like just how it like he's the guy that funded it but they're not even together anymore it's like it was fucking weird so you did barbershop too exactly and you know that was like starting to look up because i was hanging around like rich black people i was like oh shit like look at this this is this is possible yeah this is possible and like r kelly was like next door shooting a video or something he came

hanging out it was like oh look at this like you know did they know you from popular people no i was always like on the outside kind of looking in, but if they would look my way and not pass Cedric and Ice Cube and Eve and all these people they got to tend to first, then they'd be like, oh yeah, my little sister watches you or some shit. Right, I know you. Yeah, exactly.

That's funny. But I was kind of just watching. And then you did Fat Albert? I did that after I got the SNL gig. I did my first season of SNL and then we did Fat Albert I did that after I got the SNL gig like yeah my first season SNL and then we did a fat Albert for one season in SNL and then the fat Albert thing and Cosby casted you yeah I sent him my tape and auditioned for the director a few times I didn't meet him until like the first day of shooting well he gave me the phone call. There's an outdoor to speak for the young man from the tape.

And yeah, he gave me the job and shit. And when, because you did the bit on the anniversary show, right? The Cosby bit. Yeah. And Eddie didn't want to do it. I guess. I don't know if he wanted to do anything. You know what I'm saying?

It didn't seem like it. He definitely, I i guess didn't want to do that one but was it weird because what did what were you expecting from eddie when i don't know what the rehearsal process was around those anniversary shows but it must have been pretty crazy i you know honestly i was surprised because we were kind of left in the dark a little bit until the last minute about who was going to be on or whether he was going to be about who was going to be doing what like we kind of knew who was coming yeah but we didn't know how the show was going to go i didn't know all those dudes were going to be doing that much lifting i didn't know akroyd was going

to be doing that much all those older dudes the old bit like steve martin doing like a ton you know i mean martin short did a ton yeah and i was like oh great so they're doing all the lifting that's fine i can just you just relax. This is great. But we had to be around, I guess, for hopeful plug-ins. And What's Up With That became a plug-in thanks to Maya and Martin's thing. That was awesome. And then, yeah, they had me on call for the Bill Cosby thing. They called me early one morning.

But in your mind, it wasn't even a question. Sure, it's a funny bit. I'll do it. Yeah, because we had been searching for something funny about their story for weeks. And I was like, there's nothing funny about this shit. Yeah. And a little taste of the Jeopardy thing as a video thing that they shot months before. I was like, that works.

Okay, yeah. So you're okay with it? Yeah, and I don't think Eddie was hearing all of that. I think he was just like, no, I don't want to kick a man when he's down. hearing all of that, I think he was just like, no, I don't want to kick a man when he's down. It's so weird to see him so consciously decide not to be funny. Yeah, I mean.

It's bizarre. It's bizarre. But my interaction with him was just enough that I needed. It was like, hey, how's it going? I'm good. Bye. That was it? Yeah, that's all I needed because I need to be able

to watch Trading Places every year. It's a Christmas thing. Oh, really? It's going to be on. I can't not go through life not being able to watch that movie. Like if he was a dick

or something, you know what I mean? I just wouldn't be able to handle losing all my childhood movies. Coming to America in 48 hours. Right, right.

So you were just sort of like, please thank you that's it he was like i fucking i had to was introduced to him by fucking brett ratner thank god like he had already walked past me brett ratner's like hey you know this dude right and i was like thanks brett he's hey yeah man all right cool and like walked away and that was it yeah that's fine thank god yeah but like anything to do with like you know hey man can i get a picture real quick and him like shitting on that or something yeah just you didn't want nothing it would crush too much of your child of an archive yeah and you he was a hero to you very funny yeah very funny yeah and it's so weird because you know he's naturally that funny. That's what I'm saying. Like at any moment, he can blow the fucking roof off of shit.

But he doesn't. There's whatever in the way of that. And it's annoying now at this point. And you just sit there waiting for it. Yeah. Anytime you see him because that's what he's known for doing. Half stupid face. How is it?

Yeah. No, for sure. That happened when I was with Will Ferrell, when I interviewed Will Ferrell. Uh-huh. You know, he's one of those guys, too, where you're like, is it going to happen? Yeah, this is happening? Yeah, the best, the most funny ever? Right now.

It's going to happen. Yeah. Were you on with Will, or did you just miss him? I just missed him. Him and Tracy, I think, left at the same time. Yeah, because Will, when I interviewed him, he was pretty earnest. But I was cool with that. Yeah. I mean, sometimes you want to just be a guy, I guess.

No, of course. But when he did do one thing funny, I overreacted. Oh! You're the best. He did. You're the best around in the biz. I'm sorry. We'll get back to being calm.

That's awesome. Can we talk about your time? Yeah. Me? Yeah. I would like to know more about it. About what? At SNL?

Yeah. Didn't happen. I know. So this is like 95. Were you already in New York? No, I was living here. And I'm sure my listeners will be happy to hear this story for the 90th time. And like I got, you know, I got something.

Marcy saw me do stand up at some showcase. Said, you know, I think you're good. I'd like to see Lauren see you. Maybe at Luna Lounge. Okay. Do anything. And then Lauren came to the comic strip. And I did a set.

And I didn't see him. Yeah, I don't know. He must be able to disappear or something. He's the ghost. Yeah. And then they had me do a thing in the studio, screen test. I did it a bit. And, like, were you doing characters?

No. No, I think the idea was that I would do update or be a commentator on update. I think Norm was not a sure thing coming back or something. Gotcha. So I did the studio test, and I had the meeting with Lorne. Shit, this is Norm MacDonald time. Okay. It was when he was in almost...

In his fuck-ups. Right. Yeah. When he was going to come back or not come back. Yeah. And then I waited, and I had the meeting. So I had the meeting with him and Higgins yeah the weird meeting were you all stoned a little just a little a little i think so like like i think i was like i'm gonna time it out so i did like three hours like you weren't

into it because you were stoned it was just i think i was just you know like at that time like i don't do anything anymore but i was sort of in the habit of being high. Yeah. It was part of my breakfast ritual. Yeah. Yeah. So I was sort of like, well, man, I don't want to be too high, but I got a few hours. Right. So I was that kind of high. Exactly.

It was maybe three hours down the... Yeah. Yeah. So I'm manageable. Just being a little... A little bit. Just chill. Yeah, exactly.

And thank God I didn't have to wait six hours. Right. Butacy was there and the only thing i remember about tracy was he was his hair was shiny like he had done it like it was cut just right it was just perfect stepping out yeah exactly he was ready to put on a showcase he was ready that's funny and i was a big Tracy. Yeah, yeah. And he just looked like, you know, everything was trimmed. You know, he was ready. Fresh from the shop.

Right. And I was sitting there going, I was thinking like, I ain't got a shot. This guy is like, he looks like a new car. And the meeting was just weird, you know, if you read about it. But I prod people about him. You seem to be pretty chill and not too tweaked out about the whole thing in general. I try not to think much about it. About him or just the gig?

Just the gig itself. It's like what you're a part of. And you've got to go over there today? Who you're attached to, yeah. And what happens today? What day is today? Today is Monday. We're pitching.

For this Saturday. Mm-hmm. And now how does that happen? So what do you got? You go in, you sit with the writers, or what do you do? What's a pitch mean? No, everybody pitches out two ideas, basically.

We all come into, like, Lauren's office, and the host is there in a chair, and we all sit around. Who's the host? Some people. It's Reese Witherspoon this week. So you can go into the office today with Reese and all the other cast members?

Cast members and writers. So they're all in Lauren's office? We all pile in there, sit on the floors. Really? Yeah. And he sits at his desk. He sits at his desk and we all individually toss out two hopefully funny ideas for her to

feel like you know a little more comfortable like I don't think so she's been on before but I don't think I was there yet all right so you're so you're gonna go in what are your ideas I don't know I have this one idea cuz I was watching the fucking love boat yesterday like New York has like this one channel where they just keep showing all these old like remington steel came on like right after it oh yeah like channels showing all these old sitcoms and the laugh track was so loud it was kind of stepping on their lives i have like some idea based on that where like the laugh track is super distracted oh yeah but yeah it

doesn't mean i'm gonna write that you know what i'm saying it's just like something to try to get a stir out of the room. And that's the angle, but not a love boat. Now, what kind of question was, who would ask the first question about that bit? So you put that out. It just goes around and it's like, hey, Reese, how you doing?

I have this one idea where you're kind of like on a sitcom and the laugh track of the sitcom is starting to step on your lines and it's becoming distracted. Hopefully people will get that and laugh. And I'll move on. I have this other idea where you're like the host of a game show or some shit like that uh-huh but would people go like what kind of sitcom like what sitcom if they do that hopefully you can continue like a funny enough banter but you hope with the writer or whoever's in the room or with uh once we leave if they really want to write it yeah but why what

would stop you from actually doing a riff on the love boat or actually doing a scene from uh an old sitcom that would be on i mean if i wanted to write that that'd be a separate thing because our writing night is on tuesday monday is just like you know everybody's sitting around kind of being funny and we go one by one tossing out like do you know all the cast members at this point yeah you can name them all yeah okay yeah aren't there new people every week now we get them like every year like somebody comes in and out every year and you're the longest running cast member at this point at the moment yeah it's me i have the tenure yeah or not tenure yeah it 10 years? It's 12 at the moment. Is this it?

No. Why do people keep saying that it's it? Well, they said that at the beginning for some reason. Like, they were just... What? People, I guess, thought they had some info and just threw that story out. And we denied it immediately, but the only thing, like, people remember is that... When you heard it, were you like, is there something I don't know?

Yeah, I got nervous. I was like, oh, like, for real? Because I heard they did Kean ivy wayne is like that like he showed up you know at work yeah and i said waning's on purpose yeah like he showed up at work and they told him like it was it was no go like the show was off that was it yeah when he had that late night talk show oh yeah yeah i don't that's the rumor but that's what i that. His box of stuff was in the hall? Or something like the guard at the gate was like, oh, no, Kenan, you ain't heard? Oh. Oh, Kenan, come on.

That does happen in show business. Yeah, like more than once. Oh, yeah. Where you don't, like, no one's willing to take the responsibility. Of telling you, yeah. Right. You just hear from somebody who's barely involved. Right.

So they come up to you and go, sorry, it didn't. And you're like, what? And they're like, oh, you didn't. Oh, maybe I involved. Right. So they come up to you and go, sorry, it didn't, and you're like, what? Yeah. And like, oh, you didn't, oh, maybe I'm, and then you call your agent or whatever. It's like, oh, where'd you hear that? Yeah. Oh, maybe it is. Well, what's it like for your show on IFC?

On IFC? We're doing okay. You know, I don't know what's going to happen. The new season premieres May 14th. But like, once you're in your third third season you're like golden right no who the hell knows what do i mean like i i hope we can do more i think we i don't know how many i need to do right that's how many do you want to do i think yeah but the weird thing is is work is work right yeah yeah so i mean did you ever have a moment where you're like how many how many times

do i gotta do this or you just love it i mean i just love it plus i mean snl i guess is a special case there's not really many shows like it you know that's right so it's not like i'm in a hurry to like go be a normal auditioning actor again so okay so today you do the pitch meeting now when you say you're going to write it so how much much writing do you do? So you're billed as a writer-performer. That's your job. Yes. And you write bits. Technically.

Yeah. I don't write much. Like, I've written on my own computer personally, like alone, maybe twice. But I write with the writers. Oh, so you stand in a room, and they're like, go good, good, good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Who are the cats over there now? Who's your writing guys?

I write a lot with Brian Tucker. Oh, yeah. Colin Jost was. Brian Tucker, he's been there a while now, right? Yeah, yeah. He's like a head writer now. I remember that, dude. Yeah, that's my homie.

He's like, you know, a black person's encyclopedia. Right. He helps explain the black experience to the world. He's good at that. He's a skinny white dude. Skinny skinny like premature looking white dude right yeah yeah i know that guy yeah wild and he's like and he's like he's the wizard huh he's one of mine yeah he's one of my go-to like i appreciate you you know i have this half-assed idea and he makes it into something legible, for sure. So you write today, you pitch today,

and then you write tomorrow, and then, you know, what, you're refrying on Wednesday, they go and make full scripts on Wednesday? When do you have to have scripts done? Yeah, we'll read it Wednesday. Oh, you read Wednesday. I mean, it's supposed to be done at like 10 in the morning Wednesday.

For a table read? Yeah. And then certain decisions are made? That's with Lauren sitting there? That's what, they all go into some room, him and the host and Higgins and a few of the Brian Tucker and Jost and those guys. They go in a room with the scripts? Yeah, I think it's just in Lauren's office probably.

Okay, this is before the read-through or after? After. Oh, after and then they go, I don't know if I like this one. Yeah. It didn't register. Yeah, all of that. It didn't register? 10 out of the 40 and start doing and then everybody goes to work like all the different departments

and okay so let's go back to your audition now so you how did it happen this is a big story it's the end of Barbershop 2 in Chicago. Summer Chicago. Beautiful summer. Yeah. I get the call like the last week of shooting or something. It was like audition time and Tracy got the show. Oh, Tracy's gone. Yeah. Crazy Tracy's gone. They're going to audition like all kinds of black people.

And I was like, hell yeah. Yeah. I came to New York straight from Chicago. And staying at the Paramount, like mattress on the floor style. Yeah. Fucking just really tripping. I've never really been in New York more than a day or two. Why mattress on the floor?

It's a small room and it's kind of like their hippie chic way of doing things. Yeah, it's a very tiny room. Hey, it's a tiny room, but what if the mattress was on the floor? Oh, it was literally- Would it make you feel artistic? And there's usually a painting or a fake print of some- All kind of bullshit. It was all white.

Everything was white. And then a little bathroom. Yeah. Yeah. All right. I remember not spending much time in there, I don't think. I don't think they were designed for that. Yeah.

But I was just panicking so much that I don't really remember what i was doing in that room honestly like beyond like just smoking you know blunt after blunt yeah and then so what happened so that they put you up over there and then first tryout was at the stand-up new york doing stand-up and i never done stand-up before so i had to come up with like seven minutes of fucking material and shit like in my manager's office before I came out. And I just came out here with that shit in my mind. That was part of the audition.

You got to do stand up. It was the beginning of it and then like the callbacks were on the stage. Even if you weren't in the stand up. Yeah. And what'd you do up there? I started out with a fucking phone call between Al Sharpton and Arnold Schwarzenegger. So you did characters? Yeah. And what'd you do up there? I started out with a fucking phone call between Al Sharpton and Arnold Schwarzenegger. So you did characters? Yeah.

Did it work? No. Not in the comedy club, like, at all. Those people want to hear, like, you talk to them. Like, I don't even think I acknowledged that there was an audience there. I was just running through sketches. And were you terrified? Beyond.

Ugh. I was beyond terrified. You gotta do, in your honesty. But there was so many people that had gone up and then I kinda saw, I was like,

well, I can. So nobody was doing that good. I'm just different, you know what I mean? Right. I could go up there and be like,

man, my daddy used to whoop my ass. I'm like, hey, whatever. Yeah. So people weren't doing well. You didn't feel like,

you were like. Nobody was really destroying like jb went up and fucking destroyed it but i think he went up after me and i watched jb smooth yeah were there other comics on it yeah it was a bunch yeah yeah it was a bunch of people kale auditioned for it yeah yeah and um yeah there's a lot of people like finesse and i got hired together uh-huh but the callbacks were on the stage like a day and a half later or something like that. At NBC. Yeah.

And you got called back. I felt like much more comfortable there. Right. Just like cameras and set and like no audience. Can't see anybody out there? Yeah, just a kid playing in the mirror, basically. Right. You know what I mean?

And that went all right? I feel better about that. Did you do Sharpton? Same deal. Like started out Sharpton? Same deal. I started out with the phone ringing. It was like, I want to speak to Governor Schwarzenegger. And he gets on the phone and he's like, I forgot what they were talking about. It was something to do with helping stop the fires or some shit.

I don't know. And went home, went back to L. la like for like a week and hadn't heard anything so i just like had a week of fucking panicking like i fucked it up i didn't get the job whatever then got the call that they wanted to do one more audition at the fucking laugh factory and i was like more stand-up but it was just down to four people this time. Who was that? It was just a showcase. It was me, JB, Finesse, and D-Ray. D-Ray Davis? Mm-hmm. I like that guy.

I don't. Okay. But that's who it was down to. Yeah. And then me and Finesse got hired, and JB got hired as a writer. I don't know D-Ray. I like his stand-up, some of it. Yeah, it's different, I guess, with the person.

Yeah. I just want to qualify that. I like his stand-up, some of it. Yeah, it's different, I guess, with the person. Yeah. I just want to qualify that. I've never met him in my life. Yeah, I'll qualify that I have, and he's a dick. Noted. It's not a surprise. I don't think many people will be surprised. Yeah, well, I don't know.

I think I've seen him once on one one of those shack shows with kevin you watch those late night shack all stars i've watched the shack all stars with kevin hart when that broke kevin hart just by i don't know why i was watching it because it's on it's on and d ray talked about i think his mom being on dope or something it's like that's pretty raw. That's raw. Yeah. That's as raw as it gets. Yeah. So that's where my sense of him comes from.

I don't know what he's become since then. I don't know what kind of monster he is. I mean, before and after that, I'm sure he's the same person. It's just his material. He's always been a good comic. Yeah. Yeah. All right.

So then it's you four. And then when do you find out you get hired? I just remember I couldn't drink enough water that night. Like, I was drinking water out of the sink in the lab factory bathroom. Freaking out? Totally. Yeah. My mouth was so dry.

Wow. That's the one thing I remember about that night. I just kept, like, refilling that, like, bottle of water I had. And that place is all packed with a papered room of youngsters of all different ethnicities. Yeah. Waiting for something. A weekend audience just wanting to hear

some good jokes. Nope. Some solid tourists waiting to be entertained by whatever. I don't know what those audiences are. I don't know if they're tourists.

They just pull kids in. Yeah. Waiting to see Dave Cook. And it was like a night thing so it was like I had all day to wait for it. Oh, just freaking out? Yeah. And I think I went like last. Oh it was like a night thing, so it was like I had all day to wait for it. Oh, just freaking out? Yeah, and I think

I went like last. Oh! So like Finesse went up, it blew it up. You know what I'm saying? D-Ray went up first, I think it blew it up. And then JB came

and fucking just destroyed it. Oh, you were the last. And then I went last with fucking Al Sharpton phone calls, man. Ugh! It was rough. Did you tank?

Yeah. Yeah, like pretty solidly. All my stand-up audiences were like, what the fuck is this? Oh, my God. It pertained much better to television, I guess. But I just like that feeling of just watching people kill. Just quiet.

Oh, watching people kill just quiet oh watching people destroy it like I want to laugh but like man this is like cry killing me it's not and JB is the funniest man in the world he's so funny non-stop he's unbelievable he's like watching television yeah and I just I wasn't ready man I wasn't ready to do no shit like that. So you tanked it up. Pretty strong. And what did you think after that? I mean, what were your... After that, I was just like, man, I did my best.

Fuck that and fuck whoever thinks that I can't be funny. And I was just like, whatever, man. In your head, you're like, fuck them. They're never going to see the real... They don't know know me you know what i'm saying only i know me and uh yeah luckily the call came like the next day and then i moved to new york like the next day so you got cast out of the laugh factor you didn't have to go meet with lauren or nothing they said you're on yeah no i got the job and then i met with him how was that how was that it was very it was like it was surreal was there a point where you were the only black guy on yeah I was on like by

myself for like six years something like that now time did that bother you no I thought I in my mind I thought I was like, oh, I'm good. I'm really good. Because they got flack for that, and then all of a sudden, now the show's almost all black, right? Well, they got flack about the women thing. Right. And that was after they had already hired Jay and all that,

so it was kind of like misdirected flack. Oh, Pharaoh? Right, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like people were just looking for something to write. Right, right. Just like misquoted me to death You know what I mean Like how

Because what I was saying was It's not like they don't audition black women You know what I mean Season after season It's just the ones that do come around Aren't necessarily ready to do the show Otherwise they would have gotten the job They took that as like

I'm saying that black women aren't ready to do SNL. And that's not what I was saying. Oh, they took you out of context. Yeah. Most black women that are ready to do that show are probably already working. You know what I mean? Sure. It's just like slimmer pickings, basically.

It's just math. Yeah. Had you ever met Leslie before she got the gig? I had seen her, though, in National Security. I was like, well, she's funny. She's a force of nature, too. I didn't know that she was a stand-up yeah her stand-up was completely different from that little character that she played but I knew she was funny I was a beast oh yeah she's my homie yeah you

know he's just like one of my best friends right now she's great real you know you know a genuine straight shooter right yeah funny and just raw as fuck yeah so when when so when there was all that bullshit going on, you're like, it was overstated. And it wasn't really. And they misquoted you. Insanely misquoted. And there's like no amount of like. Did shit come back at you?

No, no, no. What I said was that'll like echo the way that that first one does. Right. You know what I'm saying? Oh, no, never, never. The retraction is always on the page seven. Exactly. Oh, by the way, he first one does you know what i'm saying oh no never never the retraction is always on the page seven exactly oh by the way he didn't kill the people so whatever it just you know it became like a flood or whatever like auditioning black ladies and we got we hired

like three from it and two are still there and whatever the fuck man they got their jobs and they're moving on so so i'll be the bad guy i guess if i have to be but no but but it's calmed down there is no bad guy no it's just like yeah i guess i shouldn't be speaking on their hirings and firing did lauren advise you at that at that juncture he was like what it was what's gonna happen was gonna handle this you know what i mean like just don't talk about it and it you know, something that you don't really have anything to do with, you know, blah, blah, blah. I was really kind of just defending us, basically. Like, no, we give everybody a chance. It's just like, this ain't no bullshit.

I mean, not to say that, you know, people get hired for bullshit, but like, it's a hard show. You know what I'm saying? And you got to like really be on top of a lot of different games to be able to get the job, in my opinion. Right. And then there's people who are insanely ready that don't get the job for whatever reason so there's a lot of reasons of like why people do and don't get the job you know what i'm saying beyond just being like black sure right he's got to think that you fit into something yeah or it's just a weird thing that you end up getting it because somebody thought you were funny and can end up convincing him like yeah just give him a chance or whatever right right right how sharp is he on

a day-to-day basis he's with it he's like right there on it every day it's so scary he's like fuck man i gotta like really work always like watching yeah really yeah that's how he stays alive yeah that's how he keeps it interesting. Yeah, every day. Not necessarily all day, but like every day. So when you go in, like tonight, you go pitch, and then you go home? Or what? How long you got to stay there?

You just do the thing in his office? I mean, you could write. You could write tonight if you want. But I usually just take the night because we only get Sundays off. So it's nice to have another Monday night. Right. And what's the dynamic over there? Is it still very competitive?

Do you feel like there are people, like is there a person there who's sort of like, that guy's kissing ass? Does that stuff go on? I kiss a lot of ass. I kiss everybody's ass. You do? I'm a brown noser. Oh, yeah?

I high five everybody, make sure everybody's having it. You feeling good today, bud? How's it going, man? You do that? I mean, yeah. I just like people. Yeah. So I get along with everybody You do that? I mean, yeah. I just like people. Yeah. So I get along with everybody.

It's not really brown nose, and I'm just kidding. In 12 years, I'm a happy person. Right. So when you were the only black dude on, you never once thought, like, we need some more black people? I mean, yeah. I just didn't know who they were going to be. I would watch the Shaq All-Stars and shit like that. Yeah.

Whoever would come auditioning, but a lot of them, like, don't even watch the show, so they wouldn't really even want to audition, you know what I'm saying? Right. And what do you think

the dudes on there now? Jay and the... I think Jay's incredibly talented, and, you know, Leslie's insane, and Shashir's, like, insanely talented, too. Everybody's got

their own little flavor, their little style. And who's the update dude? Michael Jay, yeah. Michael Jay's their own little flavor, their little style. Who's the up-to-date dude? Michael Che. Michael Che's incredible. He's a wizard. He's insanely smart and progressive and still super

down at the same time. You know what I'm saying? He's 100% New York. He's a thoroughbred. And the work ethic, dude. You gotta have something to be there for 12 fucking years. I mean, because everything I hear, it's crazy. It is crazy. And you don't crack, huh?

I mean, I've had my moments. Oh, yeah? It sucks to get left out of the show because of whatever, you know what I'm saying? For a whole show? Yeah. And I've definitely been donated a few times. Yeah. And what do you do usually?

Fuck. One thing about this show is you always realize there's another show. Right. You know what I'm saying? And you better not make it. There'll be some more shows. Don't make a scene? You know, I don't want to burn bridges.

I've never been like a bridge burner. But I definitely had my moments where I was cursing out everybody in my dressing room. By yourself? Yeah. Or just telling my manager, like, yo, what the fuck you got me up here for? You know what I'm saying? What the fuck is this shit, man? Fuck this shit. Like, for real. On the phone with the manager? Just not

knowing how it goes. You know what I mean? Like, how you have to wait your turn, how it's just, you know, a million different scenarios why things get cut or whatever. Well, that was at the beginning. Not understanding, you know what I'm saying, the full, you know construction of it all did you feel at times that lauren was fucking with you not personally oh just that's

the way of the show when i first started i didn't really know how to write you know what i'm saying i didn't have like a go-to writing person that would just get my shit on every week and i just was kind of like i didn't know what to do like i was in a stand-up, so I wasn't used to writing for myself. Finesse was another case. He had characters that he came in auditioning with, which was something that I thought was cool. And he was a pretty good writer, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. And he was able to kind of self-sustain himself in the beginning.

And me, I kind of leaned on what I could do for other people's pieces. And if there wasn't anything like that that week, then I was fine. So you rely on someone pulling you in? Yeah. I was just relying on people trying to appreciate my tis-allant. Yeah. But that's sort of the way it goes from what I understand, is that you figure out that you align yourself with the writer.

Mm-hmm. And you kind of you find your guy i mean of course i tried to write like you know once or twice like a couple like sketches that would just go left and fucking right and like make no sense just because i'm a kid typing on my computer like whatever's coming to mind like what i don't even remember just like because some of those sketches don't make sense. No, just like a babysitter doing some extra shit, but I can't even remember what the fuck I was writing. Running around, but then leaving the house and not really understanding.

You can't just leave the sketch or whatever. You have to do a pre-tape if you do that or some shit like that. Right, right. Just logistics. And then when somebody finally wrote me a full sketch, I tanked the shit out of it because I stuttered over some word. And I just panicked and couldn't ad-lib out of it. I just let the moment go.

And I heard So Cold. You could hear this lady in the audience go, oh. One single lady. It was that quiet. You just choked? I choked it, man, because my second season, T-Sean wrote it for me. You know t-shirt t-shirt shannon yeah is he still over there no but he was there when i started uh-huh and he

wrote me this bellhop sketch where i was like a crazy bellhop doing all this like weird stuff like when you like walk in the room and show the people right right right right yeah and i flubbed this line so hard and i didn't really know that you could just ad-lib it and make a funny moment out of it and move on. I kind of just panicked and sweated and just was like, go ahead, Alibaba, say your line. Say the next line, Alibaba.

Did you say that? No, but in my mind I was like, oh, shit. I think that would have been funny if I was like, say the next line, Alibaba. That would have gotten a laugh. But I didn't say anything. so you had to learn on your feet those comedy tricks certain people like James Anderson would come to you

with like a deep house dish and then we made that something it was like me hosting basically people walking into a talk show that's your big one right that was my first big one that had like everybody every musical guest would be able to be I'm like, I can do that. That's your big, that's the big one, right? That was my first big one. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That had like everybody, like every musical guest would be able to be in that sketch.

So that made it like a big deal. And that was like my first big deal. Fucking Lady Gaga's and like all kinds of people. Uh-huh. Madonna and like, you know, like that was my first like real moment. What's up with that? That's the one I did with Tucker. That didn't like come up with that until like my seventh season.

Ah. And we haven't done it in a long time. No? But I would love to, yeah. How come? What determines whether or not you get to do that one? Like a lot of the factors left, like one of the main jokes was Lindsey Buckingham is always there

and that was played by Bill and he left like two years ago. Oh, okay. And then Sudeikis became like an intricate part of it because his dancing behind me became such an awesome thing because he was just awesome. Yeah. And he's gone

and Fred was in it too. So it was like a big exodus of the show and a big part of that sketch that was just kind of like nice little sprinkled pieces. But you're not, how old are you? 36.

So it's not like you're the old guy at the show no i'm one of the older ones like the cast is young they're youngish right yeah but the writers are like you know still like you know normal aged normal age grown-ups yeah normal grown-up age you're on almost every week now though i mean you don't get that you don't sit out now do you no if i do it's like you you you're really not even just trying dude like what the fuck you know i'm saying right you get cut all the way out of the show for me at this point not even have like one thing it's like i was just hiding basically yeah not even trying right and like when you're gonna i just it's hard for me to realize or to accept that you're just gonna go up town and sit in lauren's office today yeah we're gonna go up there and like wait to be called in and then we'll go in there for like 20 minutes and go like round robin around the room and then when it's over it's like yeah we clap like let's do a good

show and that's it it's just a more of a formality, I think. I need to talk to that guy. Yeah, you should call him. Who came up with Marc Maron 5? Marc Maron 5. Oh, yeah. Fuck. It was a game show thing.

Marc Maron 5. I think that might have been my joke. I'm not bullshitting. I think that might have been because you've been coming across my TV lately. Oh, yeah? I was excited. I was like, okay. Yeah, was that one of the Steve Harvey joints?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I made it. I'm on SNL. I made it, buddy. Dude. A little fist bump. I'm going to take credit for that right now just because I'm sitting here.

But if it's not my joke, I'll give it up to whoever. I think it was because I watch a lot of IFC. I was like, shit, Marc Maron is really blowing the fuck up right now. I've always watched you. You always had stand-up specials. Yeah, it just was funny because someone pointed it out to me. I'm like, holy shit, I made it Yeah, yeah, yeah. Shit. Yeah. It just was funny because someone's pointed it out to me. I'm like, holy shit. I made it on SNL.

Finally. That's awesome. And then in my mind, I'm like, I pictured Lorne going, oh, I did. Wait a minute. How did that get in there? You fucking know how, man. Stop denying. Why don't you call him?

I call him sometimes. Hey, it's Mark again for Lorne. Who? I'm not going to stop calling. Mark Maron for Lorne. Yeah, I'm not stopping. I talked to you yesterday. Is this Julie?

I talked to you yesterday, Julie. Isn't her name Lorne? There's a lot of Lornes up there. There's more than one Lorne? Lorne, Lorne. So who has blown you away when you just sort of fucking, when they walk in, you're like, oh, my God. Outside of Eddie.

Have you had moments where you're like, this isn't happening? Yeah, I mean, I have that moment a lot because I guess I watch a lot of TV. So it's mostly the host. Anytime we walk in and start pitching, it's like, oh, shit, they're really sitting right there. Like Tom Hanks? Like anytime. Or, or yeah or even like scarlett johansson it's like shit there she is you know what i'm saying i get real scarlett johansson yeah or in my first season third shows hallie berry it's like fuck there's the real hallie berry did you say that to her no i should have

yeah but she was nice and you know whatever i was. I was just like, yeah, how's it going? I think I, like, crawled underneath something. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I have that moment a lot. As a fan, you've got to have

that moment. I'm a fan of a lot of shit. Of TV, yeah. I think you should do a love boat sketch. I think that they... I'm pitching that shit, man. I think that, like,

not just the applause, but go with the, like, let's do the love boat. Full out love boat. Why not? With the, like, insane laugh track. Yeah. Yeah. You make the deck of the boat yeah maybe i'm isaac dude come on man i used him ted lang i used him in my show last season that's awesome how's he doing he's all right i

mean he's all right well we had him like there's a moment where like you know he's telling me i'm wearing around the campfires around like it was at this trailer park where this other guy lives. And he's like, you're Isaac from the left. I don't know if you would have recognized him right away. Oh, no, no. No, it's on the thing. And he goes, oh, okay, good. He does the thing.

Yeah, embrace it, man. I hate when people try to act like they're not part of what they're known for. TV history. Yeah. No, no, he's into it. He's into it. He's a real good guy. He was a good guy.

I like when those dudes are good dudes. What's his name? Ted Lang. Ted Lang. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. Now you know.

But in the pitch meeting today, I was talking to Mark Maron today, Lorne. Is that cool? Hey, Lorne, you remember Maron? Marky. Marky Maron? Yeah, he. Is that cool? Hey, Lorne, you remember Maron? Marky? Marky Maron? Yeah, he auditioned in this office. He had a bad day. He had a bad day.

Yeah, bad day for him. Kind of having a bad day afterwards. Just looking back. You know what? I went and watched some of his old comedy. Yeah. Have you ever watched it? Little clips in there.

It's hard to find. It's Hart and Lorne Terrific Hour. Hart and Lorne. Terrific Hour. But the other guy's name was Hart. His first name. I guess so. I don't like it. You don't like it? Hart and Lorne. Yeah, I watched an episode. It was like laughing, you know, it was like early 70s. 1971. So what was the material? I'll show you like talking about politicians a little bit but it was Canadian and like this is not a public YouTube channel

This is the opening sketch. Court scene. I get that. That's nice. Where's Lauren? It is quiet for a comedy show. Well, this is that time, you know. You could really play out full set up pieces. She got the biggest laugh in. And that lady's sleeping.

She got the biggest laugh in the sketch because she was sleeping. And she's into it. Yeah. Okay. That's the end of that sketch. That's what that was. There he is. Oh my God.

Look at that handlebar. Our next guest is a personal favorite of ours. Will you welcome, please, Tom Rush. What? Dude, he looks like He looks like Sonny Bono Here he is again With a handlebar He looks like Freddie Prinze Isn't that trippy?

That's insane. But he's doing sketch comedy. This looks like I guess I know. Pucking pucks. Fucking crazy. Puck farming. it's so like it's so like uh what's the book call it uh uh naked gun so like dry yeah yeah that's that's fucking lauren man isn't that wild can you believe it, dude?

Can you believe that he started out as a performer? I mean, I knew it. I guess I'd never seen it, and I definitely had never seen the mustache. It's bugging me out, because he's like a regular dude who you could see kind of being like, oh, no, this is my party, and thanks for coming already. Right, exactly. You're like, it's already fucking this. of being like oh no this is my party yeah like you know thanks for coming already right exactly you're like this like it's already thanks for coming like all of my awesome friends are here and welcome have you been to a party at his house or anything no i went we went to like a yankee

game or something they had me meet him at his house and it was like just his apartment oh but like it was crazy central park like Park elevator up to its own floor. The door, Paul Simon, we share it. It goes to Paul Simon's house. He lives right across the hall from Paul Simon? That's crazy. That's crazy. Just a couple old Jews up there with their own elevator.

A little kitchen door that they share. They're buds. Oh, that's... Really cute. That's sweet. So you just went to the game with him alone? Yeah. No, it was with a couple other people, but we've gone to several over the years.

Oh. Yeah. Well, hopefully I'll meet him again. Yeah, you'll have your day. And it was great talking to you. You too, man. So you're not leaving? No.

Do you have anything else going on that i need to know about between us uh no i mean i'm just a focused husband and dad outside of work how old's your kid 10 months and y'all live in the apartment but we live in florida like throughout the year like when we're not working how long how long do you have in Florida for? I moved there like two years ago. And how much time do you have down there? What's the season? Usually the summers.

It's like school years, October to May. Up here? Oh, wow. How long have you been married? I've been married three years. It'll be four in November. Where'd you meet her? Up here.

But she grew up in Tampa. What'd she do? She was on the radio when I met her, and she modeled for a while, and now she's an interior designer. Oh, yeah? She was an on-air personality? Yeah, she was on fucking Shade 45 with 50 Cent and all those guys. Oh, really? Yeah.

She loved that job. Why'd she stop? I think she got harassed or something. Oh. Big surprise. Yeah. So she had to go? Yeah. Big surprise.

Well, good for you, man. Sounds good. Sounds like you're living the life. Trying. Good talking to you. You too, dog. Thanks. That was wild watching that stuff with him. Wild. Whew, God. I gotta get some sweet, man. I gotta jab a dog in my belly and I just ate half a chocolate bar.

Boomer lives! We'll be right back. We can deliver that. Uber Eats. Get almost, almost anything. Order now. Product availability may vary by region. See app for details. 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 PM in rock city at Toronto rock.com.