WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Episode 887 - Riki Lindhome / Laurie Kilmartin

Episode Date: February 4, 2018

Show business finally clicked for Riki Lindhome when she started the comedy music duo Garfunkel and Oates with her friend Kate Micucci. It makes sense because, as she tells Marc, she always wanted to perform when she was growing up in Buffalo, catching glimpses of musical theater from touring companies in Toronto. Riki and Marc talk about Shakespeare, Clint Eastwood, depression, and her show Another Period. Also, Laurie Kilmartin is back to talk about her new book and have a few laughs about death. Sign up here for WTF+ to get the full show archives and weekly bonus material! https://plus.acast.com/s/wtf-with-marc-maron-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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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. Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly, host of Under the Influence. Recently, we created an episode on cannabis marketing.

With cannabis legalization, it's a brand new challenging marketing category. And I want to let you know we've produced a special bonus podcast episode where I talk to an actual cannabis producer. I wanted to know how a producer becomes licensed, how a cannabis company competes with big corporations, how a cannabis company markets its products in such a highly regulated category, and what the term dignified consumption actually means. I think you'll find the answers interesting and surprising. Hear it now on Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly. This bonus episode is brought to you by the fuckers what the fuck buddies what the fucking

knots what's happening i'm mark mar. This is my podcast, WTF. Welcome to it. How's it going? I am recording this on Super Bowl Sunday, probably during the game. I don't know. I don't watch it. And I'm not saying that with any condescension. I just don't pay attention to it.

I understand that many think it's a national holiday. It's probably in the times we're living in now one of the more important ones uh this is the day uh that i i think in in the new cultural political environment is is probably really what determines someone's uh someone's americanism on some level this is it man man. So through that lens, I am horrendously un-American in my complete apathetic disposition towards sports in general, organized sports or watching sports. But again, and I've said it before, I think that if I'd been trained differently, like anybody, it would have been a different story. I'm an athletic enough person. I'm just not a big fan of—I guess I never was on a great team until GLOW, until I started working with fictitious female wrestlers. female wrestlers. No, I just was not. I, you know, I, I was basically on the equivalent of the bad news bears when I was in a Peewee baseball and in high school, I never played any sports.

I never thought to, I, maybe I should have, like I do. I've talked about that though. You know, it's, I do have a regret that I was not really taught how to engage in healthy competition, but it seems like given the political climate, there are many Americans that were not taught about healthy competition, just about winning at any cost, no matter what the rules and no matter who gets hurt or dies or loses their life or job or status in the country. You know, it's about winning, winning, man. It's about winning. That's not healthy competition. So today on the show,

I talked to two women. Actually, I'm going to talk to Lori Kilmartin, who's been on the show a couple of times. We'll talk with her about her new book, Dead People Suck, A Guide for Survivors of the Newly Departed. That comes out in February soon, next week.

And also, Ricky Lindholm from Garfunkel and Oates, but more recently from her show, Another Period on Comedy Central. I'm going to talk to her. I'm planning on becoming a more social person in my new house. I think I'm going to entertain entertain more but i'm so not the entertaining kind that uh i used to back in the day well not too long ago i would have dinner parties but there was never any consistency to it so at my age with my uh my position in the world in terms of uh what people think of me and all the people I know. I think that if I said, you want to come over for dinner, they'd be like, what's happening?

Why is he having us over for dinner? I know how to be sociable. I know how to have people over. And, you know, I'm a very good host, but I would just think people would find it startling. I would imagine they'd be like, what do we talk about with Mark? What are we going to do over there? What's he want?

What's he going to do? I don't understand. Maybe, maybe this is all a reflection of me. Maybe people would be like, that'd be great. Let's have dinner. Maybe I'm just a normal person to people looking from the outside in, or they, they get me. Whereas I am like some monster. monster i feel like i'm some like social uh pariah with uh with intensity problems emotionally uh unpredictable you know what i'm saying so look laurie kilmartin has been on this show before

i love her she's a writer over at conan i've known her as a comic forever she's a hilarious comic uh i had her on fairly recently about her comedy special about her dead dad. And this is a book, I guess, sort of built from that idea. Her new book is Dead People Suck, A Guide for Survivors of the Newly Departed. It's out February 13th. You can pre-order it now. So this is me talking to Lori Kilmartin. Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly, host of Under the Influence. Recently, we created an episode on cannabis marketing. With cannabis legalization, it's a brand new challenging marketing category.

And I want to let you know we've produced a special bonus podcast episode where I talked to an actual cannabis producer. I wanted to know how a producer becomes licensed, how a cannabis company competes with big corporations, how a cannabis company markets its products in such a highly regulated category, and what the term dignified consumption actually means. I think you'll find the answers interesting and surprising. Hear it now on Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly. This bonus episode is brought to you by the Ontario Cannabis Store and ACAS Creative. Be honest. When was the last time you thought about your current business insurance policy?

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I feel terrible that you were startled on a Sunday morning. You feel terrible? Why didn't I know? I've done worse things. There was one time I was just sitting in this house and not planning on doing anything, getting ready to go. And Lisa Lampanelli just walked up to my door. That's a tough wake-up call.

Yeah, I should have known that lampinelli sunday morning thank god i knew her well enough to where i didn't panic or tell her god forbid that uh i had forgotten that you were coming that's right i did not let on that's good so what's the book called uh it's called dead people suck wow is it out it's out february 13th because we the last time i saw you you did the special yeah which was what it was uh jokes about my dad now what made you what compelled you to because this is a real book about grieving really it's about moving through the grieving process you were not a psychologist but but you but you must have gotten so much feedback for your comedy show that you're like, why not help out?

What was the incentive? Well, I hadn't sold. I did a special and I just was sitting on it. No one was interested. So I was like, all right, well, maybe I can put this into a book. And I had written a parenting book a while ago called Shitty Mom. And it's just like really short kind of. How'd that do?

It was in New York Times bestseller for a week. That's good. That's great. And you only need it. Even if it's just a week, you can put it on the cover. Yeah. But so I pitched this like Shitty Mom of Grief to the editor who edited Shitty Mom. And she bought it.

So in that time, then CISO bought my special. But it's pretty much, it's very different. I stole a few jokes from myself just to plant, you know, early laughs. And then it's, yeah, just essays, like, you know, 500 words or less, basically, that you can read on the toilet about cancer and death and funerals and grief. That you wrote. They're your essays. But did you, like, but but it does it's supposed to like what was the feedback on the 45 jokes about you know your dead dad i mean i have to assume that that people you've got a very specific type of reaction uh yeah i think the people that talked to me yeah they loved it

like did you get emails though and that kind of stuff twitter stuff like oh my god thank you yeah i mean you know it was it was sort of hidden on cso you had to get cso to watch it it's gone now right yeah cso's gone and my special sort of hidden someplace hopefully we'll be able to get it out um i know i just talked to uh cameron esposito about her like take my wife yeah like yeah Like, yeah, I mean, does CISO own your special? They bought it for three years, and they lasted a year. Uh-huh. So I don't exactly know.

It's sort of tangled up right now. So that's disconcerting. It's distressing, yes. Because you can't access your special. I know, I know. I have it saved on a Vimeo, a secret Vimeo location, but I can't really do anything with it. What would happen if you did that?

Would CISO come after you? What's left of them? Who would come after me? I don't know. That's a great idea. I mean, why not just post a link, see what happens? Yeah, I could. What happened with CISO?

Did they alert you? Did you get a letter saying like, it's over? No, I read about it on Twitter. That's how I find out all the bad news about my life. Or if anything's canceled, I find out on Twitter. I'm like, oh, okay. That's so horrible. Yeah.

Because it's like, it's something, like I know what it's like to have like Marin. The fourth season of Marin is not on international Netflix. There's nothing I can do about it. Why? I don't know. They're all on the American Netflixflix all four seasons of marin but for some reason they didn't post the last season and it's not my show like it's not even ifc show

it's fox 21 or fox studios which doesn't exist anymore so i don't even know how to react when people are like when can we see it i'm like i don't don't know. Move. Yeah, call somebody. Take a vacation. I don't know who to get in touch with. And then I asked my manager, what are we doing about this? They're like, yeah, I don't know. Well, it doesn't make sense in a money situation because people want to see it worldwide. You have fans all over the world. Well, right.

But yeah, I don't know how many. And what am I going to do? Get Ted, the head of Netflix involved. Like, what can we do about this, man? I know you're busy giving other comics $50 million for an hour. Oh, my God. But not Monique. Who deserves it?

We all know that Monique. She's an Oscar winner. Yeah. She's funny. Yes, she is. It's so weird when you get into, you know, we can talk about politics with confidence, but when you get into these nuance sort of like, well, that one's loaded up with race and gender issues. So, hey, I wish her luck. Good luck to everybody. I'm going to tiptoe out of the room and hope you guys sort it out. Yeah. Maybe it'll be okay. Don't know. I don't

know. I don't know if there's anything I can do to help, but I'll just keep my mouth shut and move on. But when people were talking to you about this, did you find yourself in this position where they were like, can you help me? Did you get any of that kind of thing or just you helped me? I think it was more you helped. I didn't think people came to me for further assistance. No, they didn't. Which was wise. Yeah, it was just people who had lost a parent or lost a loved one to the same way kind of

felt like that helped them through the grieving process. So that was cool. For the book, did you do any research? Did you read Kubler-Ross? Did you go through the five stages? Did you do some homework or anything? No, I just researched my own feelings and I actually took a ton of notes when my

dad was dying. Really? Yeah. And so I kind of was like, Oh yeah, that thing, that thing, that thing.

So I, I just kept going back to those, you know, two weeks. Like real notes, like diary type of notes? Yeah. Like feelings journal?

Kind of. No, no, no. Just like things that were happening that I thought I would forget. When it's happening, you're like, I'll never forget this. It's imprinted on my DNA. And then three years later, you're reading it. You're like, oh, yeah, that night that he wanted something that was orange. Yeah.

And that was all he could tell me. And so I started just searching through the house and bringing him things that were orange, like books and pill bottles and stuff. And he would just shake his head. And I finally figured out it was this tumbler, this orange tumbler that was not of any significance to him as far as I knew.

Right. But he wanted to drink water out of that tumbler. And this is like his brain is going at that point? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, they go to weird places and he became really he became obsessed with this uh a wagon wheel chandelier that none of us had ever heard of that he wanted us to find and apparently it was in the attic and the previous owner of the house had left it and we never heard him talk about it for 40 years and then all of a

sudden it was like one of the things he was obsessed about in the last days of his life. And he's like, what is this thing? Why do you care about it? And he found it? No, never found it. But he said it was upstairs. Yeah, he did. Now, maybe he meant a different upstairs, but he was very specific about it being in the attic.

And there was a separate attic over the garage. And by the time the house was emptied out and my mom had moved out i just didn't feel like going into the garage attic and i thought i'll just leave it there for the next dying owner to obsess about to find the way the magic wagon wheel yes i hope it wasn't what was going to cure him oh my god the tumor breaker yeah the tumor breaker wagon wheel maybe he knew that's all it would take oh my god my God. No. He couldn't tell me. And just this, he had this little, my sister, you know when you go to Walgreens or something, they have like little flowers for sale. They look like cactuses that are going to die.

Those are just like tiny little baby flowers. Yeah, yeah. And she bought him one. And I guess, you know, smell is the last sense to go. So he just kept bringing it to his nose and inhaling it and, you know, putting it down. Oh my God, that's sweet. Just the last things he could do were sort of fun to chat.

What kind of cancer did he have again? He had lung cancer. And it just went all over and your brain goes from all the drugs and the cancer. Yes, yes, yes. And he had radiation and stuff. So to prevent it from going to the brain, which is, I think, kind of hurt his ability to think.

But it also kept it from going to the brain, which is great. Because I think when it goes to the brain, sometimes people get, you know, their emotions change a lot. And I think that's tougher than just a regular powering down. Oh, they become emotionally different people. Yeah. And he didn't become different. He just became,

well, he was also high on morphine, of course that could explain everything, but yeah, you know, yeah. The loopiness. Yeah.

Yeah. And the, just the obsessions with things we hadn't heard of. Yeah. Yeah. And, but, but they sort of returned to childlike behavior.

Yeah, totally. And you're taking care of your parents and you're diapering them and you're doing all the things they did for you. And, you know, it's a special time if you can get it. If you're lucky enough to be around them

when they're dying. Yeah, I gotta be honest with you. I don't want it. I don't, like, I just hope, God forbid it happens, which I imagine it will and I'll be alive for it, that it's quick and I just have to show up to say a few words. You mean you've got six hours to get there and you get there at 545?

Or just like he's gone. Oh, what happened? Oh, you don't want even a last conversation? Nah. I'm good. That's how I feel about my mom. I feel like I've learned nothing from my dad's death. Like, I would just like to do my dad's death over a little bit.

But my mom, I'm like, oh, hurry up. Like, you've been around plenty. I get you. You're not changing. Whatever you are, you're just becoming more of. You know? And I'm done. Oh, that's the worst.

It is the worst. Because I think I will feel guilty when she actually does die. But I can't seem to pretend. I can't seem to learn that lesson in worst. It is the worst because I think I will feel guilty when she actually does die. But I can't seem to pretend. I can't seem to learn that lesson in advance. Yeah. Be kinder to her or just forgive her for voting for Trump or, you know, all the things that drive me nuts. I can't seem to do right now. No, I'll do it.

I know I'll do it at her grave and I'll be crying. But I wonder like my parents, they're not they didn't get worse. They both got better. crying, but. I wonder, like my parents, they're not, they didn't get worse. They both got better. Oh. Somehow. What do you mean? Well, they both, they softened up. They became a little less selfish.

You know, my mother's a little more kind of complimentary and, you know, sort of supportive in a way that she wasn't. She goes out of her way to say things like, I'm proud of you. I love you. Like nothing, I didn't get a lot of that. Interesting. And my dad just sort of gone soft somehow.

You know, he was always sort of up and down, but now he's just, you know, they leveled off. And, you know, whatever was threatening and horrible and kind of annoying about them is a little tempered. Do you feel kind of angry at your is just a little tempered. Do you feel kind of angry at your mom for not giving you that when you really needed it? I guess, you know, but like, I don't know if I feel angry at her. I just, you know, I just, it's hard. How it really manifests itself is like, she wants to come out, like,

so I'm going to fly her out. She wants to come out. And I really don't understand why. You're like, she wants to see me, you know, i'm like why four days i mean can't we just in and out this thing like can't we that isn't in and out what are you talking about my mother lives with me four days oh my god i would i would dance for a month if that was my i don't want to hurt her feelings but it's like after a day or two i'm like we kind of kind of did everything. We caught up. I took you over to the Bloomingdale's, whatever. She probably wants

to go shopping for you. She's probably going to fill your cupboards with food and do some laundry. You got the wrong mom. She doesn't do that stuff? I didn't get that one. God forbid

she tries to cook anything. She's not going to fold your underpants and put them in the wrong drawer? No, no, no, no. No, I don't. She'll buy me, she might buy me a shirt that I never wear. It'll be fine.

I guess I should appreciate it more. Yeah. And I'll go out and see my dad. But I swear to God, like in New Mexico, but like really a day is, you know, I'm good. Yeah. Like, you know, a full day. You know, by the end of that day, I'm like, all right. Okay.

I guess we're all caught up. Yeah. Okay. It sucks because when they actually are gone, you're going to want that day back. Really? I hope so. But you don't want it when you have it. It really, it's awful.

Maybe I'm, maybe I'm a terrible person. I don't know. I can't, you know, and I know it's something's coming. Yeah. How old are your parents? It's something's coming. Yeah. How old are your parents?

Listener's note, he's counting on his fingers right now. I don't know. How do you do math again? I'll ask my son. He has common core word problems every day that I... How often do you have your son? All the time? Yeah. During the week.

Yeah. Like I don't have him today. And like, so your mom lives with you guys? Yeah. How long has that been going on? A year and a half. I've been in a bad mood for 18 months. My mom's 77.

Okay. Is that possible? Yeah. Is she in good health? Yeah. Okay. Well, she might have another decade with her. So there's no, I guess there's no rush to be loving. And my dad's going to be 80 this year? Yeah. Okay. Well, she might have another decade with her. So there's no, I guess there's no rush to be loving.

And my dad's going to be 80 this year? Yeah. Wow. 80 is when I remember my dad getting really elderly. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe that's what's happening. Like, I don't know why I assume, like, of course they're running out of steam a little bit.

It's hard to imagine these people that were so big and domineering in your life start to become brittle and frail. Yeah. And then they just disappear. But they actually do and now i'm getting sad now i'm thinking about it yeah i guess i guess you know it's impossible to appreciate them when they're here the way you will when they're gone and there's no way to change it i think no you know i don't know some people i guess do you know people that are like that i don't know that are like i just like i just love my parents. And I cherish every moment I'm with them.

And everything is great. I think I have a few Facebook friends like that. And they enrage me. Like, you aren't telling the truth. There's no way. There's something wrong with you. You're hiding something. You are.

Stop it. You're a repressive weirdo. You're posting who you wish you were, not who you were. I just know it. Do they respond to that? Do you tell them that? No, I just think that inside, and I wonder if I'm doing it all wrong. So, like, in the close of the book, I mean, do you, like, because, do you find, how many

essays are in the book? Maybe, like, 50. Again, they're really short. They're, like, quick. They're, like, almost stand-up bits, basically. Uh-huh. You know. Are they all funny or no?

They're not all funny. Some of, it's weird. I, when I, when I wrote a parenting book, it's pretty much all funny or no uh they're not all funny some of it's weird i i when i um i when i wrote a parenting book it's pretty much all funny and i guess i was it's because i have a kid i know he's going to read it one day and i and he's still here and then when i was writing about my dad it was like god he's he's a real guy and he's dead and i'm actually might be the final word on him and it's a lot more lot more daunting to write about a person's life when they're not there to counteract it or to say,

well, not exactly, or to just live a different way and prove you wrong. So is there questionable stuff in there where you're like, hmm, I don't know if he'd like that. The only thing I'm worried about is the family that I write about reading it, but they're very unsupportive. So I don't think they will read it.

Whose family? There's a certain side of the family that there's a, the people that I'm talking about probably won't read it. So it's okay. Okay. Yeah. I kind of thought that when I wrote about my dad and then caused a little bit of a wildfire.

Oh no. Over there in that side of the family. Oh yeah. His side of the family. You know, that when i wrote about my dad and then uh caused a little bit of a wildfire oh no over there and that side of the family oh yeah uh his side of the family you know that was what was funny it's like i don't i i was honest but you know i could see how he could feel a little hurt or betrayed by my honesty right right right but apparently there was like you know his uncles the old the old guard of the marin clan sure were sort of like disappointed me. And he was hanging that over me. Like, you know, I talked to my uncle Phil. They were not very happy.

And I'm like, I don't give a fuck. Well, Phil Marin's got to protect his name. Well, he's passed. I didn't. But it wasn't about Phil. It was about my dad. So he was sort of rallying his troops on me. Like, you know, you're not welcome.

And I'm like, oh, really? Thank you. do me a favor and then it all passes you know you apologize and whatever right everything's intense in the moment yeah i guess so so but yeah but that's not the case here i don't think so he's not going to uh you didn't you didn't there's a couple of cousins that might be upset but and it but it's already a rough thanksgiving giving given the political you know still fracture in the family. Oh, really?

Yeah, just between Trump voters. You've got that? Yeah. Oh, yeah, definitely. Yeah. And they're still happy about it? I would imagine so, especially since the tax cuts and stuff. That's what they were hoping for?

I think so. Tax cuts for corporations? Right. My cousins are corporations. Oh, that's wild. Interesting. Pfizer is a first cousin they're just thrilled that finally those corporations are going to get the break they deserve i don't even know that the tax thing benefits them but the idea that it will when

they become incredibly well about those ideas lottery ticket? Sure. Yeah. All about those ideas. Those angry ideas that make you feel good. Yeah. I think, I don't know, I don't know who my dad voted for. I know who my mom voted for.

But I've avoided, like I, there's a part of me that I think, I used to go down to my mother's for Thanksgiving, but generally I've been

shooting for the last few years. It's hard for me to get down there. Yeah. But there is a contingent in that crew that goes to that dinner. Sure. That are, you know, just like, you know, Trump me to get down there. But there is a contingent in that crew that goes to that dinner that are just like, Trump supporters, Jewish Trump supporters.

Oh my God, it never makes sense to me. And well, the Zionist element or the business element or just there's plenty of Republican Jews. I know, but like my son is Hispanic and my grandmother, my mother voted for Trump. I'm like, how could you, after what he said about Mexicans, how can you set my son up for that i'm like how could you after what he said about mexicans how can you how can you set my son up for that kind of taunting or bullying i don't know how they i

don't know what that disconnect is i don't think they they add it all up no they don't they just go with their feelings and uh you know and maybe policy will sync up with that but yeah you know like i i don't know where that drop-off is where you don't see that it's exacerbating intolerance. And you just still sort of like, yeah, but you know, it's good for the country. My son's crying. I'm grateful that my dad died before Donald Trump was even a candidate. Because I can kind of think, well, maybe he's one of the Mitt Romney. Maybe my dad would have been a never Trumper because Trump is so vulgar and that's just

not. But you don't know. I don't know. He did us all a favor. You can write a book. I'm glad I didn't find that chandelier. They would have cured him because he died at the right time. You have nice love for him.

It's very pure. It's not, you know. God, if he had lived into January, he might have just, no book, no movie. He did, you know, he has Dinesh D'Souza books, so I'm like,

oh, it's possible. Could have went. Oh, God. But I'll never know. You were spared. I was. Thanks for talking. Sure.

Okay. All right. so you got it dead people suck a guide for survivors of the newly departed sounds helpful and funny tough times grief grief is difficult and we're all feeling a bit of it are we not i think i'm going to read this email only because like it's sort of eating at me because i don't uh i think it's i've talked about it a bit, but I don't know if it's talked about enough. This is from Stephen. Subject line BDD. Mark, how do you deal with your body dysmorphia when those thoughts come? And I feel like I've eaten too much, regardless of how small my meals are. And my brain tells me my body instantly changed for the worse.

And then the guilt. And then I'm preoccupied with the idea that starvation is a valid option the rest of the day what the fuck how do you deal with it anyway maybe i'll go find a chat room or a forum or something have a great day steven hey steven buddy here's the deal with that and i don't know how many men really suffer from this shit or there is a sort of shame to it in this there's a shame on top of the shame because to be a dude with a sort of body dysmorphia or a milder extreme eating disorder it just you feel like you really got to keep that stuff in the closet but uh i do suffer from insane body dysmorphia and kind of a weird eating a very shitty relationship with food, as some of you know, and it ebbs and flows. And I just read something, a transcript of something I did on stage years ago that's going to be in the Risk book. There's just something about wanting to feel shitty,

wanting to be hard on yourself. If you have a brain that's always going to look for a reason to be hard on yourself, it's going to do it one way or the other and around eating my ex-wife used to say hey look in terms of that problem whether it's overeating or compulsive eating or denying yourself food is that the bottom line is unlike drugs or alcohol or gambling or deading you got to eat and you got to figure out a way to accept eating and you can't beat yourself up too much for eating there's a consistency to body shame that i think sometimes for me it happens when i'm anxious or i'm full of dread or i have too much time on my hands or things are going well that's a very easy way to get myself back into a pattern of self-judgment whereas like look if you if you

eat something shitty you know exercise don't eat shitty the next day you know try to you know keep a healthy diet i mean i eat pretty healthily but i know the feeling and i'm sort of in it right now and i appreciate your email i don't know if there are forums or you know you can go to meetings of some kind away maybe someone i knew a guy when i used to talk about this i knew knew this guy, Mitch, you know, I said, how do you not go crazy? Because when I was first getting sober, I would eat, you know, I've gone through periods of ice cream or sugar.

Fortunately for me, you know, I have slightly high cholesterol. So that's made, made it sort of the impending doom element of eating certain things has stifled my behavior a little bit, which has helped out, but you shouldn't take that. But this dude, Mitch, he said, I would never have an eating disorder because i eat the exact same thing every day i know that doesn't uh mix it up much but uh maybe you should get into some get get involved with some some sort of uh monitoring because that's like a whole other thing instead of just winging it and you know feeling randomly guilty about eating things when you know you just who knows how your day is going you know get on weight watchers or something do something to sort of like engage you mathematically where you're just you know working on the tables like you know sort of like counting those points or whatever the system is

you know and stretching them out that way you'll feel proactive in your food obsession maybe try that but i don't know i feel fucking chubby look i'll admit that even if i'm not heavy which i'm usually not there's too much of me that that is there's definitely too much of me so that i don't feel like i'm wrong there and i feel like there's many people that would validate that just too much a of Mark. One way or the other, on some level, there's too much. So, Rikki Lindholm, you might know her from Garfunkel and Oates, the lovely Kate Micucci and Rikki do a comedy music duo, and they seem to be working together again. I guess I never stopped, but I talked to her a little bit about that.

But now she's here talking about the third season of her show, Another Period, which is on Comedy Central Tuesday nights at 10, 30, 9, 30 Central. I also talked to

Natasha Leggero about this, who I love, but we talked about other stuff. It's a well-rounded chat. This is me and Ricky Lindholm.

Is that good? Can I turn this down to sit here? Oh, you've had enough of me already? I have like super hearing. Is that good? That's great, yeah. That's better? Yeah, that's much better.

You have super hearing? Yeah, kind of. But I mean, is it like sensitive? I mean, does it hurt your head? No, no, no, no. I just, yeah, just have good hearing. How's your vision? No, no, no, no. I just, yeah, just have good hearing. How's your vision? It's great.

Yeah. Is that because it's genetic? Are you like an Aryan person? I think so, yeah. I think I'm the dream Aryan. Yeah, what is it? I mean, like, what is it? What is it, Swedish?

Swedish, English, and Irish. I thought I was just Swedish. That's pretty tough. Yeah, that's pretty good. Yeah. Yeah. Do you have people in your family that are. Yeah, that's pretty good. Yeah. Yeah. Do you have people in your family that are from those countries? Or is it too far back?

I think from Sweden. But not currently. Everyone's dead who's from there. But I think my great-grandparents were from Sweden on both sides. You didn't know anybody. I didn't know anyone. No. Yeah.

So wait, tell me about this moving every two years. Hold on a minute. I think I need to get a water over there. Okay. Everything's a little disheveled. I want to applaud your courage in going to the bathroom with the window out and workmen around. Uh-huh. I thought that was pretty courageous.

I felt okay. Yeah. I've gone in worse places. Well, that's the thing I always realize when I have fancy people over. Is that I'm worried about how dirty my bathroom is. And I'm like, they're actors. They're comedians. They've had a life. They've been to clubs to clubs yeah everyone's been to a porta potty i've gone

to a porta potty wearing a jumpsuit which i would not recommend oh my god you have to take it all off oh where was this at a festival yeah yeah and it was just like oh oh i shouldn't have like bumper shoot or something um where was it it was um at the fyi fest or something i think it was that one yeah yeah fyi or the f i don't know what it is whatever was it? It was... At the FYI Fest or something? I think it was that one. Yeah. FYF? I don't know what it is. Was it the music festival

or the comedy festival? It was the music festival in LA. The one down there that you take the train to? Yes. Oh, yeah, yeah. In a field. Right.

And they had a comedy tent? Yes. That was terrible? Yes. Or was it? I don't remember. Did you perform? Yeah.

Who, you and Kate? Mm-hmm. Yeah, I don't like the festivals. I don't remember. Did you perform? Yeah. Who, you and Kate? Mm-hmm. Yeah, I don't like the festivals. I don't like doing, I don't think it's a good venue for comedy. I'm happy they have us there, but it's never, I don't like a bunch of standing people

who are shit-faced. I was gonna say, comedy's bad when you're standing. I just can't take it. Maybe I'm too old for that shit. No, because when people stand, they think they can talk. And when they're sitting,

they know to be quiet. It's like, we're just conditioned that way. But yeah, but standing always feels like you're just waiting. Yeah. You know, like you're not locked in. You're just sort of like, what's the next song? What's going to happen now?

Yeah. It bothers me. I don't like standing in shows. I just got a feeling of nervousness. Really? Well, yeah, because I just, whenever I do those kind of festivals or audiences, I'm like, this is going to suck going in. Like, I'm like, this is going to suck going in. Like I'm standing there,

I'm like, this will only be good despite the fact that it's going to be bad. Like the baseline is, this is difficult. I agree. I think you go to hang out with friends

and you know. I feel like the only real conversations I've had with you were at a music festival. I don't know that we've ever had a real conversation. I don't know why that is. I feel like I had a conversation with you at Bonnaroo. Oh, that was another horrible situation.

But that one, they claim that one's better because it's air conditioned and it's indoors. It's more like a circus tent. Yeah. Yeah. That one was, it was so, yeah, I was so hot. I just stayed in the comedy tent all day. The worst. We had a real conversation? Yeah, we one was, it was so, yeah, I was so hot. I just stayed in the comedy tent all day. It's the worst. We had a real conversation? Yeah, we did. We almost went and got chicken. Oh, I went. Oh, you did?

Well, yeah, sure. I went. Who did I take that time from? I think me and Kanane went. Oh, okay. Oh, yeah. I tried to get you to go get chicken. Yeah, I was down, but then no one would go with us.

And what, we bailed? Yeah, we bailed. Oh, I must've went the next night. Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. Were you there with Kate again? Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Oh my God. That was like, how long ago was that? Oh, so long ago. Oh, I must have went the next night. Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. Were you there with Kate again? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Oh, my God. That was like, how long ago was that? Oh, so long ago. Was it that long ago? Eight years ago or something? I don't know. I'm really bad with time.

I really am. I don't. But you do a show based on time. I know. I know. But that's a very specific period. Yeah, it's 1902. All right, wait.

Let's go back to this moving every two months. How long have you lived? Where'd you grow up? I grew up, well, I moved every year until I was in fourth grade. And then we stayed in this little town called Portville, which is like two hours south of Buffalo. In New York, upstate New York? Yeah, like a town of a thousand people, you know, very Republican. Yeah.

Yeah, it might as well be Midwest. How'd you end up there? My dad is an oil and gas lawyer, and we sort of moved. Oil and gas lawyer. Yeah. And an entrepreneur. He always is opening businesses that I don't totally understand. Yeah.

Like what? Like he'll be like, oh, I have a timber business. I'm like, oh, okay. That's it? You don't investigate any further than that? Not when I was little. He'd be like, I'm doing title work. And I'm like, that sounds good, dad.

Title work. Whatever. I know. For years when you're a kid, when you see a sign for title company, it's like, what does that mean? Yeah. They just name things? And you just don't investigate. My dad wore a suit and he went to work and we moved every year.

And it was his own title company. Yeah, apparently. Every year he moved. Are you sure he wasn't on the run? I don't know. I don't know. Is he still around? Yeah, he's still around.

Both my parents are still around. Oh, that's good. They're still together. And they're still together. How many siblings do you have? One brother and a half sister. Half sister? How'd that happen? Yeah, he's still around. Both my parents are still around. Oh, that's good. They're still together. And they're still together. How many siblings do you have? One brother and a half sister. Half sister?

How'd that happen? My dad got a woman pregnant in high school. Really? Yeah. And you have a relationship? He took the kid? How did it all work? No, she ended up staying with her mom. Yeah.

And her mom married this lovely guy and they raised her. And then me and my brother, you know, had my parents. Right. But you have a relationship with the half sister? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's odd. I guess it's not odd. It's fairly normal. But like, when did you realize that you had this half sister all the way through? No, I was eight, eight or nine. I got really excited that I had a sister and she was older. She was like, you know, 15. So she was cool. She was babysitter age. Really? So she was like cool, older babysitter. Yeah. I thought that was awesome. That's sort of wild, though.

Like, you know, you get that surprise. I guess when you're eight, it just seems like like an extra added good thing. Totally. But like when you're 15, it's like, how did I not know this? Yeah, I think it was much more emotional for her than it was for me and my brother. Yeah, I think we felt fine about it. Did she know, though, all along? No, she had just found out.

Oh, my God. Did she just find out that that he was her father? Yeah, I think so. Oh my God. It's weird. My family is not that open about stuff. So I'm not exactly sure what the story is. Really?

Yeah, yeah. We don't talk about a lot of things. Is that a Swedish thing? What is that? I don't know what that is. I don't know if it's a Swedish thing or just my family, but we sort of gloss over a lot of things and I'm just like, okay, I guess that's what happened. know if it's a swedish thing or just my family but really we sort of gloss over a lot of things and and i'm just like okay i guess that's what happened i think that's normal i think

like with all families you end up more gets uh more gets revealed as time goes on as secrets become uh sort of exhausted do you know what i mean like i find that when when my parents as they get older they tell you things you're like what and they're like oh you didn't know that i'm like how would i know that i didn't know that i didn't know any of that and i what but put it back in your mouth but i always felt like i was uh missing something like i knew that i didn't know stuff yeah and i would get mad at them and i didn't know why and yeah i'd say stuff like you don't understand me yeah or what i just felt like an emotional right like they were like they were hiding something yeah yeah yeah and you get along with them? Yeah. Yeah.

So where'd you go? Where'd you end up? What's the journey to show business? So you're in upstate New York. You're outside of Buffalo. Is that what you told me? In a town of a thousand people. Oh my God.

How far outside of Buffalo? An hour and a half, two hours, depending on the snow. That's not like right outside of Buffalo. Where the hell? You must've been closer to something else. No. That was the closest city to Buffalo? No, that was the closest mall, closest airport.

What about Albany? How far is Albany? Albany is five hours. Oh, man. I got to look at it. I forget how big New York is. It's enormous. Yeah, we're like seven hours from the city.

But are you close to Canada? Yeah, two hours. Well, that's pretty good. Yeah. Do you go to Canada? We would go once a year to Toronto to see musical theater. Oh, well, that's important. Yeah, it was the best day of my life.

Because I was closer than New York City. Yes. No shit. I didn't see a Broadway play until I's important or something yeah it was the best day of my life because i was closer than new york city yes no shit i didn't see a broadway play till i was you know 23 years so toronto was the uh the cultural outlet buffalo you know is limited yes it is so i uh went to college for three years i went to syracuse um and that was just i was just kind of depressed in college it kind of just is a blip and i don't really focus on it or remember it but wait did you go to niagara falls a lot um yeah a couple times isn't that by buffalo yeah but it was it was sort of like a two-hour journey in the snow and once you go there once you know we didn't leave the town too much a thousand people thousand people how many people in your high school there's probably a thousand people in

my high school but it was K through 12 in one building and it was for a bunch of towns. A thousand people in the whole high school? In the whole, yeah, in kindergarten through 12. In the whole kindergarten through 12? In one building. So you're with the same people your whole life? Yeah.

Yeah. That is wild. It's weird, yeah. Are you friends with any of them? A couple. Not too many. So you got there when you were like six, so those were the people. I was nine or ten when I got there.

So ten through seventeen, those are the people. That was it, yeah. But I was expecting to leave just because we'd moved every year until then. What kept him there? I guess the business went well. The title business? Yeah. Or the timber business?

I don't know. Oil and gas. Oh, right. Oil and gas law. Yeah. But he was a lawyer. Yes. Okay. At oil and gas law yeah but he was a lawyer yes okay at the bottom of it all he was a lawyer right and he's not in jail so you have to assume so i'm assuming it was is he retired uh semi and what about your your your mother my mom works for my dad she used to be a professor a college professor doing computers science stuff and now she works for my dad general computer

science stuff back when that was a class yeah computer science exactly learning how to uh do what was that language dos dos yeah floppy disks yeah loading stuff in that was the language that you had to learn i couldn't wrap my brain around it i couldn't either i was in college i took the computer class that as an because i had to take something as an elective or whatever had the book i'm like no way not happening no but my mom taught it and i don't know she was the kind of the only woman in the computer department of any of you know what was the other language it was dost and something else i can't you can't remember how i don't want to ask i don't remember it doesn't matter how old i am yeah oh i'm 38 yeah so you're okay with talking about how old you are yeah good for you

yeah you can google it i know i know but, but still, it's still in my brain. Now, is it still inappropriate to ask women how old they are, or is that okay now? I don't know. I'm okay with it. I'm pretty okay with anything. Cherry Coke, that's a Cherry Coke sweatshirt? Yeah, it is. Is that gone?

It's gone, isn't it? I don't know. I remember how exciting it was when Cherry Coke came out. Wasn't it so good? But it tastes a little bit like Robitussin.'s true that's the only problem with it all right so so you're growing up one through your kindergarten through 12 with the same people so you'd have like you'd date boys and then you'd see them grow old i suppose so have you gone back to a reunion no i don't go to reunions i just kind of I just kind of leave things in the past and just move forward.

All right. So are you acting in high school? Our drama department got canceled after my freshman year. I think we ran out of funding. So yeah. Yeah. So that, that got canceled.

So I didn't do that. And I wanted to, I loved musicals and stuff, but you know, it's a, it's a poor town. So it didn't, it didn't happen.

No, we, we got a scoreboard maybe the money went in there i don't know but they canceled the drama department yeah before you got to do anything yeah or no i did a play the my freshman year and then it got canceled so you know you're a man of la mancha oh sure yeah yeah it was antonia or no yeah it's pretty big production for a small school. Yeah, yeah. I mean, and it's not that hard to get.

It was kind of, in my school, you know, everyone kind of gets in. It just depends on how big the party is. Who sang Dream the Impossible Dream? Wasn't that from that show? My boyfriend at the time. Oh, he was a singer? Yeah, I was dating the lead in the play.

I'd love to see pictures of you and the boyfriend. Oh, gosh. In freshman year or whatever. Yeah, yeah. Doing Manoel Monge. Yeah, he was a senior and I was a freshman. It's so funny. You really think you're pulling it off, you know, like when you do the grown-up parts. When you're in it in high school or junior high, you're like, I'm getting by. I'm passing.

It's really good. Yeah. And then you see pictures. You're like, I'm like a kid. This was ridiculous. So ridiculous. Yeah. And the parents just look at you like, oh, that was so good.

They know. But you think it that was so good. They know. But you think it's like actually good. That's, I think that's really the one thing we should thank adults for. Generally, if they're good adults, they don't tell us how ridiculous we actually look. And they're just sort of like, find it sweet. I think that's a good parent. Yeah.

That just like, you don't look like a grownup. Right. You're dead. This is just still, it's silly that you're doing this play. They're like, that was good. Man, I wanted to do plays though. But you go to Toronto and you saw shows in high school. So you like that was that what planted the seed?

Yeah. We would see, you know, Phantom of the Opera or Miss Saigon or one of these kind of whatever was playing. Oh, yeah. Miss Saigon. Yeah. Did you like Toronto? Toronto's a good town. Yeah.

We would just go for the night. But I loved it. Just for one night? Yeah. Okay. So you go to college and it's Syrac town. Yeah. We would just go for the night. Just for one night? Yeah. Okay. So you go to college and it's Syracuse. Yes. How far is that from wherever the hell?

That's like three hours from where I'm from. How big is New York? It's enormous. Oh my God. Syracuse is on the way to Albany. Right. Because Troy and Albany are close. Yes.

Right. I believe so. Yes, they are. They're not that far. Yeah. They're not that far. Right. Beautiful theater in Troy I played at. It was built in the 1800s and people go to record classical music there

because it's the acoustics are so perfect and you go to i can't remember the name of the theater but it was like just the acoustics are spectacular really i did not know that oh like it was astounding so so yeah i was just kind of dying to get out of my town yeah so you go to syracuse so i went to syracuse like i i thought i was gonna go to harvard like i just really thought that that was gonna happen and then i didn't get straight a's and shit yeah i was like little miss class president oh really kind of person yeah oh yeah that makes sense i was just yeah i was like such an overachiever i made my first sort of to-do list, like life to-do list when I was 12. Yeah. And I decided that I was going to an Ivy League school. Oh yeah, sure. Yeah. Me too. But I didn't do any of the homework. Oh, I did all the homework. It just didn't work out. I didn't get in. And then

how did you not get in with straight A's? I don't know. I don't, I don't know. Where'd you apply? Everywhere that was an Ivy League. Oh really? Yeah. All of them, all 12 or 13 of them? Yeah, whatever. Not one? Nope. Nowhere. Yeah. What the fuck happened? I don't know. I don't know.

That doesn't seem fair. Who wrote your letters for you? What did you have to... Couldn't... Yeah. Just teachers. Oh, no. I'm over it. But so I went to Syracuse and...

Yeah. I don't know. College... I was just kind of depressed in college. I just kind of moved past it and then... So you were class president and then you went to college and you just went into a dark period? Yeah. You had no traction.

I had no traction. You were a big shot. Now you're just lost. And then I was, yeah, in a sea of- In a sea of people just like you. 30,000 sports fans. Oh, sports fans. Kind of, yeah.

And I was like, where am I? You didn't find the nerds? I did find the nerds. It just, yeah. Were they all sad too in dark? No. No. I don't think so. Did you go there for four years? I went for, I was. It just, yeah. Were they all sad too and dark? No. No. I don't think so.

Did you go there for four years? I went for, I was there for five semesters. And then I did my- Five semesters. That's two and a half years? Yeah. And then I did one semester in England. And so, and I just graduated early.

I just plowed through it. Oh, really? You took all the necessary classes to graduate early? Yeah. So you're sad and depressed in Syracuse and it snows there and you're under snow for a long time and did you have a did you have a sad depressed boyfriend no i didn't date anyone in college nobody nobody did you do any shows no you did nothing well i did okay let me you're getting straight days again i'm forgetting i did do a show i was i was in the chorus of a musical my freshman year yeah um but yeah i was

getting probably straight A's like around that i'm good at tests like yeah not necessarily it doesn't necessarily help you in life but i was good at school yeah it didn't you don't think it helped you in life not really like not i mean i don't think anyone cares not in the life you chose right right it might have helped you in some other life. I guess. Yeah. So you just did the chorus. You were just a girl in the background. Yeah. Being sad.

Yeah. Singing. Sad and singing in the background. Just being sad and waiting for my life to start. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. Well, yeah, because you don't know what you're going to do. And then you feel lost.

And you know. So what made you go to England? You just like that? Maybe that would help. Well, because you could see plays, there was courses where you could go to a bunch of, you went to plays like two or three times a week. Oh, so it was a drama exchange program kind of thing? Yeah.

But you just signed up for that? That was the focus was, it was a short exchange program with a drama focus? Yes, and it was amazing. And you go see Shakespeare and go see stuff in the West End and that kind of stuff? And I was like oh my god this is the best thing in the world that was it I loved it yeah and I was like well I have to do this did you like England yeah I loved it yeah I really did it was like it helped me sort of like start to get out of my darkness of the darkness were you on

medication were you not until 10 years ago yeah well because I I because I don't know if you've dealt with medication kind of stuff, but it's like trial and error. But you managed a certain amount of depression here and there for decades? Yeah. Basically? Yeah.

Yeah, and then I tried different SSRIs and things and nothing was really working or I had side effects. And then I was like, I'm going to try one last thing, and I tried this medication, and my whole life changed in two weeks. And that's the one you're on now? Mm-hmm. Really?

Yeah, it was just like— Which one? Welbutrin. Oh, Welbutrin was it? Out of all of them, it's a classic. Mm-hmm. And it was just like, oh, I'm back to myself. Really?

Yeah. Oh, my—so like, okay, well, we'm back to myself. Really? Yeah. Oh my, so like, okay, well we'll get to. I never want to go off it. I think I took it once for, I think it was the same, I think Wellbutrin and Zantex were the same. I took Wellbutrin briefly. It was kind of, it jacked me up a little too much. I think it was, I don't take anything and I haven't in a long time, but I remember trying Wellbutrin to stop smoking. Oh, yeah. It's supposed to be good for that. I don't know why.

Well, yeah. I think Zantax or whatever that name was, that non-smoking pill, I think is basically Welbutrin. It's the same pill. Right. All right. So you get all juiced up in England to do theater.

What did you see there? Did you go to Shakespeare? Did you go to, what do you call it? Stratford-upon-Avon. Yeah. Stratford-upon-Avon and you know to you know all the you know the old vic and just everything and i got really excited and i i just i didn't know exactly what i was going to do but i knew i wanted to be part of it so you saw you saw classics you saw shakespeare and then you saw modern theater they mixed it up for you yes And they took care of all the bookings and stuff.

That's a good program. Yeah, it was amazing. And I was just so excited. Do you remember where you were living in England? I lived, I think I lived on Baker Street, like near the Sherlock Holmes Museum or whatever. Yeah. I was there for a month on an exchange program and I was, it was a dark. Do you like it? I don't know.

You know, like you get me away from things that I'm comfortable with. And like just I sort of I lose sense of who I am. Even if I go on the road, if the hotel is not properly positioned near humans, I'm sort of like, ah. You get lonely? I don't know if it's lonely. I literally sort of like, do I exist? What is happening?

It's weird. It is weird. Because I remember i was in i was in high school when i went on the exchange program it was only for a month it was a summer thing and everyone else in the program had already been at college like i was going into my freshman year of college and they were all sort of sophomores so they were already sort of like no look at this kid they'd already been away from home. Right. And I was, you know, this outsider just because I was young. And I just remember like not really connecting with a lot of people and wandering around by myself. And then you just start to feel invisible

and weird. That's always the worst. You know that feeling? Yes, I do. Yeah. I moved to San Francisco right after college and I had a very hard time making friends. And I, well, I was also depressed. That's a rough city though. Yeah. And I, but I felt invisible and I wasn making friends. Well, I was also depressed. It's a rough city, though. Yeah. But I felt invisible. And I wasn't there very long. I had to just leave. It's a little brutal because so much of that city is about sort of like bullying your identity. Like, you know, like so much about San Francisco. Even like the weird kind of like homeless people are very well defined.

Everybody's very well defined in a certain way. Yeah. And I felt a little blank. Yeah. Everybody's very well-defined in a certain way. Yeah, and I felt a little blank. Yeah, it's a horrible place to feel blank. Yeah. As San Francisco is. It's horrible to feel blank anywhere, but that place, it can be kind of harsh because it's not a very sympathetic city

if you don't know who you are. Yeah. God, that's so well put. Yeah. It seems to make sense. It seems a lot of people are coming into themselves, but they're aggressive or something. I don't, I can never, I lived there for like a couple of years on and off. Oh, that's right.

And I could never really get a handle on it. I never, yeah, I couldn't get a foothold there. I don't usually have a hard time making friends and I just didn't make any. So you just went there blind? I went there to go to an acting program for the summer and then sort of stayed there for a few months after. Which acting program? ACT. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

That was downtown like on Mason or somewhere. Like it was right across from the improv. There was an improv there. ACT was around there, I remember. Was it? Yeah. Yeah, it was sort of by Union Square somewhere. Yes.

Right. Yeah. I took acting classes in San Francisco with Sherry Carlson, but I don't know. It's an odd place, man. So you come back from- But it's funny, though, because I was acting classes in San Francisco with Sherry Carlson, but I don't know. It's an odd place, man. So you come back from- But it's funny, though, because I was taking classes there, and I played guitar, and this other girl who's in my class, we wrote some funny song and played it at the final show.

Yeah, yeah. And of course, it did not occur to me to pursue that at all. I was like, now I'm going to pursue classical acting. And my scene was fine. Yeah. But the song was a total hit. And I was like, well, I'm going to ignore that. Ignore that, the fun part.

Yes. I'm going to ignore the part that went really well. Going to be real serious. Yes. That's so weird. Because when I was in England at that program, I did a song with some other guy. Really? Like we wrote a funny song for the thing at the end.

That's so funny. Yeah. And then, yeah, the last night, like everyone's like, hey, you're pretty cool. I'm like, That's so funny. Yeah, the last night, everyone's like, hey, you're pretty cool. I'm like, nah, fuck off. Thanks, yeah. You're like I was the whole time.

I don't know if my memory's right though. Can you trust your memory? I don't trust my memory at all. You were as shitty as you thought you were in terms of sadness and all that. Do you really think you were that disconnected? I don't know. I don't trust my memory. Okay, so you come back from England, you had a good time,

and then you tell your parents, who are clearly supportive, that you're going to go to San Francisco. Yes. To go to ACT, specifically for that. So you had somewhere to go. You weren't just going to be like, I'm just going to get an apartment. No, I wasn't brave enough yet, but I went to San Francisco and got my bravery up. What did you learn at ACT?

Did you stay for the whole time? It was just a summer program? It was a couple-month-long program. It was great. You learn sort of basics of everything. I went to San Francisco and got my bravery up. What'd you learn at ACT? Did you stay for the whole time? It was just a summer program? It was like a couple month long program. It was great. You learn sort of basics of everything. Yeah. Because I'd never done acting school.

So you learn, you know, Alexander technique. Yeah. What is that again? My friend does that. It's the thing where you're like, you relax your back. Like there's like a mantra where you're like, neck be free. So my back can like widen and my head can go forward and forward and down. Sort of this mantra that you say to yourself. Did you find that that helps you

in your current state? Yeah, I think so. You've integrated it? I think I have. So that was really your first go at that? Yes, I hadn't really taken acting classes before. You just went and watched theater in London? Yes, so it was a slow burn,

and then I was like, I'm gonna take classes and see what happens. But you're still, you're only like 19, 20, right? Yeah, and so then I moved to, I'm going to take classes and see what happens. But you're still, you're only like 19, 20, right? Yeah. Yeah. And so then I moved to Los Angeles. After San Francisco. Yeah.

Whew. So you play guitar once with some other person. Mm-hmm. You put that on the back burner. Yeah. You don't do any more training after ACT? I did some acting classes in LA, but I never found one that I loved. So you were going to be a classically trained actor that didn't take classes.

Yeah, totally. So you took yourself very seriously. Yes. And you're like, I'm going to be a classically trained actor that didn't take classes yeah totally so you took yourself very seriously and you're like i'm gonna be a serious actor yeah and you come down here from san francisco like the one thing about san francisco is you can be a whack job and sort of find your place and then be a big shot whack job you come down here it's just sort of like what do i do yeah i didn't know where to start i don don't, I don't know how, yeah. What did you, how did you start just coming down? Well, my first thing that I did, I still can't believe I did this, but you know, it was before the, it's not before the internet, but it was before everyone had everything online. So you could kind of lie on your resume and it was like,

oh, I'll just make one up. No Wikipedia. Right. And as I, as I get more jobs, I'll replace the, you know, false jobs with real jobs so I just made up this I made a postcard that had a headshot on it that was um had uh reviews of this play that I was in I was Juliet and Romeo and Juliet by the way in San Francisco summer stock which is not true there is no San Francisco summer sure I just made it up sure why not and I put like reviews on this postcard so you're a liar I'm a liar I'm I didn't know what to why not? And I put reviews on this postcard. So you're a liar. You're a liar. I didn't know what to do. I was like, I didn't know a single person.

You had to beef it up. You had to beef it up. I knew nobody. That's so crazy. I knew no people. What the fuck were you thinking? I don't know. So did you end up in Culver City?

Where did you end up? I ended up at Park La Brea. Oh, God. Well, that's not bad. It was fine. That made sense. Yeah, it totally made sense. More like a little studio at Park La Brea.

So you're like, I can just walk to the Grove. The Grove didn't exist yet. Or I mean, I can walk to Farmer's Market. Yeah, it totally made sense. More like a little studio at Park La Brea. So you're like, I can just walk to the Grove. The Grove didn't exist yet. Or I mean, I can walk to Farmer's Market and eat there. Yeah, it's just like, I'll just start existing. And I sent out this postcard and I got some auditions from the postcard. What do you mean? To who? I sent the postcard to casting directors.

Really? Yes. They probably looked at you and thought like, well, she seems chipper and like wide-eyed and blonde. Yeah, I can't believe it worked. Yeah, but I got some auditions and sort of start, I got enough sort of positive feedback that I was like, okay. Where'd you get the casting directors?

Did you have a book? Is there a book? There's like a book you could get at the Samuel French bookstore. So you went, you just did that. You're like, you went to Samuel French and the guy was like, should buy this book and reach out to these, like all these things just to sort of you know gently nurture

dreams without overdoing it because the disappointment is coming here here's your your starter kit right to disappointment yes and i was i but i didn't think i was going to be disappointed i was just like no it's good you bought you bought it you bought the bill of goods you thought like it's anything's possible and it turns out that it kind of was. So you send it to casting directors. And then what happens? And then I started doing those casting director seminars. Do you know those ones that like now people,

now they're kind of illegal or something for some reason. Oh, you'd pay for them to look at you. Yeah. And it, and I, and it worked and I started working and I got an. What was the casting director seminar? What happens there? You sort of, you pay, I don't know. it was like $35 and you get a class from them. They'll tell you their thoughts on auditioning. And then you get sides and you get to audition for them with the sides.

So you kind of get to show them. So the gamble is that they'll actually see something in you and call you back. Yeah. And the worst thing that will happen is you learn from the casting director. So it's fine. So you come down here and you send back. Yeah. And the worst thing that'll happen is you learn from the casting director. So it's fine. So you come down here and you send these things out, you get some auditions,

you do a casting director seminar. Did a bunch of them. Oh, they had a lot of them? Yeah. They all had them? So it was a real racket. People think that, but I thought it was great.

No, no, I'm just saying from their side. Yes, yes. They made a lot of money, I'm sure. You know, because they're, but I guess if you are a testament to it actually working for you then it's okay it's not quite a racket because they were they were honest in the fact that they were looking at people yeah and i would get sort of one line here and there on things i got my sag cart you know i would just get just did you get an agent uh eventually well i got so i did these a couple lines and things and i would i loved this one theater company called the actors gang

and i had sent them my tim robbins yeah and i got cast in a play there and that sort of led to other things oh okay so okay so let me just get this straight is this all happening in the first year you're here kind of thing or three years first three years it was a slow burn all right well that's not a slow burn i mean some people never make it so they'll never do anything so you do the casting you get like one line parts on tv shows yeah i had like you know one line on gilmore girls or you know just things like that uh-huh one line on titus that was my first job with chris titus yeah that was your first set how was that oh it was good i think i said like you ready i think i had a line like that yeah

you were the you're ready girl yep and then you and then like i'm looking at the credits now so you're on gilmore girls for five episodes and you do one line well no i did gilmore girls as one character and then maybe four years later they brought me back as a different character with action with like real scenes right okay all right okay, so you're chipping away at that and then you just auditioned for the Actors Gang in Culver City? Yeah.

It used to be on like Hollywood and Vine kind of. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Before they got that space down there. Or Santa Monica and Vine. Yeah, and I auditioned

for a play and it was a really cool play that Tim Robbins wrote and directed. Was it political and charged? Totally. I played Condoleezza Rice in a commedia mask.

Uh-huh. He loves that commedia stuff uh-huh and like he loves that commedia stuff yeah i mean like i just saw like i liked him and i like his plays i went and saw the the most recent commedia della arte thing which was basically a tutorial in the form oh i saw that yeah yeah that was interesting a lot of movement a lot of fun big square stage i like the way that stage is set up at the new place and when they use it like that the whole square you know yeah and i loved him i loved working with him and the play ended up going to the public theater in new york what was it called it was called embedded yeah i remember this yeah so it

ended up you know sort of going for a year probably it was supposed to be i think six performances and it just sort of kept going and you stayed in it a year yeah that's how that's how things kind of started for me. And one day I did the play and I came out into the lobby and Clint Eastwood was in the lobby. Because Tim was doing Mystic River at the time. Like all the Oscar kind of stuff like that. And Clint talked to me for a few minutes. And then.

Yeah. What did he say? He was just. He just was like, hey, how's it going? Clint Eastwood? Yeah. With that squint and the tongue. Yeah. I was mesmerized. I was just like he just was like, hey, how's it going? Clint Eastwood, like with that squint and the tongue. Yeah, I was mesmerized.

I was just like, ah. I imagine that would be, I've never seen him in the flesh. He's tall and striking and has a sort of small voice that you come to him. I'm surprised that he was at a Tim Robbins play. I would think he would see it as some sort of liberal. He's a bit conservative. But Tim was in his movie. So he was in Mystic River. Tim was great in that movie.

He was great. And so then maybe three months later, Clint's casting director, Phyllis Huffman, called me and had me auditioned for Million Dollar Baby. And that was my first movie. Who were you in that? Her sister? I was the sister. I was the one trash sister. Oh, yeah.

Who's that woman who played your mother? Margo Martindale. She's so good. Oh, she's amazing. She's so good. I know. She's so, so good. I saw her recently.

I feel like I saw her at the SAG Awards or something. What did I see her in? She always plays just like some kind of vulnerable but horrible person. Yeah, she can sort of lead with her grossest parts. You know, just like, ugh. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah i loved i loved it so that was my first that's crazy so you work with tim for a year now like in in a production like that like i imagine that is there an evolution to it or did it stay kind of what it was it kind of stayed what it was really yeah once he got it but was the process of putting it

together uh that was an evolution yeah and that was yeah because i went in i had auditioned for to play jessica lynch do you remember that soldier like the blonde soldier and i ended up doing a part so yeah i'm assuming you didn't do condoleezza in blackface no no we were i had a yeah we all had comedian masks on so no oh No. Oh, my gosh, no. That would have been not great. Bad, yeah. So, and Tim was good to work with as a director. It was exciting. He created a good environment.

Yeah, he was awesome. And sort of for me, and I don't even know if he knows this, but he just, for me, became like the model of what you do, which is like when you're not working, you write. Uh-huh. And when you have time off, you make your own thing. Did he tell you that or you just observed that? I just observed it. He may have said it to me at one point.

I don't know. But I just saw him just constantly working so hard. Like while he was at the top of his game, he won the Oscar that year. And he was just writing all the time and working. What did he win it for? Mystic River. Did he win the Oscar best Supporting for Mystic River? Yeah.

Oh, yeah. It's a brutal part. Yeah, it really is. Yeah. But you just were impressed by his work ethic. Yeah. I want to do that. Yeah.

And then you get, well, that's pretty insane that you get, Clint Eastwood hooked you up with. That was crazy. I couldn't believe that that was real. Did he tell you he was going to do it? No. You just met with her? How did you he was going to do it? No. You just met with her? How did that?

I auditioned for it. Yeah. She called me and said, come and audition for this thing. Oh, but it must have come from him, huh? I don't know. I'm not sure. Or maybe she was there. So now you're on your way?

Sort of. Yeah. I mean, it was just always sort of up and down. And I would get little things here and there. And I was just always hustling and hustling, hustling. But then when the writer's strike was about to happen, I knew that I was in sort of major trouble. 2008. Was it then?

Yeah. That was brutal. Yeah, that was brutal. I was in the middle of writing something. Were you? Yeah. What were you writing? We had to deal with HBO, me and Jerry Stahl.

Oh, man. And we were right in the middle. And then you're like, put your pencils down. down yeah oh no god that's the worst it was yeah it was well i mean i wasn't essentially a writer but i you know i had did finally get this deal to write this thing and then it's like what was it a starring vehicle for you yeah yeah it was a development deal and you know we were writing the script and then we eventually the strike ended we finished it and then the head of HBO changed. Yeah, just everything changed.

And I felt like it was... So how did it affect you? Well, I could... You were writing? No, I was just acting. Yeah. But I felt, I just, everything was about to change and I knew I was, my career was kind of just going to be over when the strike was over. Because I was testing for a lot of things.

I just knew there was going to be half as many parts. Oh, really? And I wasn't. Is that what happened? Yeah. And I wasn't really successful enough in my mind to ride that out. And so I was like, I got to figure out what else I'm good at. So you were just like kind of a bit player in your mind.

Yeah. And probably that's probably a reasonable assessment. Yeah. And so that's when I started Garfunkel Notes. Oh, it didn't seem like it come from insecurity. You were being practical. I was being practical. I was, yeah.

My friend told me later, he was like, your career was going just well enough for you to not realize how terrible it was. Well, yeah. You were waiting for break. Yeah. I mean, it wasn't so much that it was terrible. You were in the game when you needed a break yeah i mean it wasn't so much it was terrible you were you were in the game yeah you need a break yeah i was testing for shows and sort of in that game where you can tell yourself that

it's going well but that's what it is yeah but you don't like you don't have any control over that right well well that's just the nature of the thing but i mean you're testing that's huge to to get that far up the rung of auditions. Yeah. You know, to do it more than once. I mean, it's brutal. It's brutal. But that's it. But that's the roll of the dice. Like any one of those tests could have been the rest of your life. Yeah, it could have been Mad Men or something or The Office.

Or the other one, Big Bang Theory, whatever. You've been on that? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. More than once? Three times. Oh, yeah?

As a recurring thing? Yeah. It was fun. Yeah. It was fun. Three times. Oh, yeah? As a recurring thing? Yeah. It was fun. Yeah? It was fun. And we wrote, Kate and I wrote a song for it for one episode. Well, how'd you meet? Like, okay, so this, after the writer's strike where you're pulling yourself up by your bootstraps

so you don't fall down the hole of darkness and anonymity in Hollywood. Yeah. You enter the world of comedy. Yeah, it was, well, it was right before the writer's strike because I just, you know, we all saw it coming. And so I decided to try to see what else I was good at. And I wrote a short that I was going to direct for me and Kate where she was playing my imaginary friend.

How'd you know Kate? How'd you meet Kate? I met her doing commercials. We were both sort of getting called back to all the same commercials. So just from auditions i see her they were kind of casting girls with big eyes for a minute there for yeah they needed like looking for like keen paintings yeah pretty much or you know there'd be the audition for like an elf and it was both me and kate would get yeah or a fairy we were both there right and so we met um we met actually in the audience at ucb we were just there to see a

show and started did you go there what uh yeah a little bit a little bit and then we became friends and um i i don't know if you had this i don't know if you had this when you started doing comedy but i always had a hard time finding people that i could sort of tell my dreams to uh-huh do you know what i mean like tell my goals and dreams well i i don't know that uh yeah i i don't know if i i was ever you know looking for somebody no i i always wasn't and kate was sort of a safe space for that and we used to go to we used to go to california pizza kitchen in the beverly center and write down our things that we wanted and we would put them on little napkins and save them in our wallets. And then we would go back a month later

and read them to each other, like say them out loud. That's cute. And we were both writing comedy songs. And so when I made my short, I was like, let's make it a musical. And we did. And then our band was born from that.

Because she plays a couple instruments. She plays ukulele, guitar, piano, and trombone. Trombone. And you play guitar? I play guitar, aombone trombone and you play guitar i play guitar a little bit of piano and i play flute flute yeah you look like a flute play a flautist i really do yeah yeah like were you a high school flautist yeah oh of course kind of anything you think i was in high school i probably was did you ever try the piccolo yep yeah i was in the marching band i played piccolo you played piccolo in the marching band yeah oh that's what you are yeah i am not you're in a

marching band uh-huh yep oh my god how is this just coming out now this is the crux of all of it were you in the marching band no i did design here's my connection to the marching band? No. How? I did design. Here's my connection to a marching band. My elementary school had sort of a ragtag marching band. It was a little private school. And they had a contest for someone to design the banner that they would walk with in front. And I won that. I designed it.

So I was more of an artist guy. Okay. Not a marching band guy. Well, that is cooler. Yeah, it was cool to see my design in the Manzano Day School marching band. And I created this weird big kind of like trumpety horn thing that wasn't a real instrument. It was just sort of an abstract. That's cool. Do you still do that stuff?

Draw? Yeah, graphic design. I don't really. I don't do any of it. No, I don't. I was pretty serious about it i mean i used to do it a lot a lot of drawing a lot of i did photography in high school and when you're 80 you're gonna start a george bush style painting habit i bet yeah yeah george in the in the

paintings what a what a charmer everybody loves george w bush again in his paintings i know it's so strange it's a little weird but But I did a horrible joke about him, about the paintings. What was it? You know, because he did that whole book of, of, you know, veterans, of like injured veterans, weren't they? He did?

Yeah, he did a whole book of paintings of Gulf War or Afghanistan War veterans and stuff, Iraqi War veterans. Oh. And I thought it's a rare opportunity. He gets to disfigure them twice. Yeah. God, that's such a weird war for him to select since he essentially caused it.

Yeah. It's a little odd. I think he thought he was giving back somehow. Sure. I don't know. But yeah, no, I don't do any of that stuff anymore. Do you play piccolo anymore? No, but I play the flute sometimes.

Really? I'm not that good anymore. So you're a full-on kind of dork yeah yeah marching band marching band musical theater dork yeah well musical theater i get marching bands a little harder that's what that's what we had we didn't have i get it i get it but like that's like you know that crew you know they you know i with marching band i always feel like well I'm glad they have each other. Yes. And we did, and it was nice. That's sweet. Yeah.

Yeah. I don't think I was a bully to them, but it was just definitely a different world than mine. I was too busy being sort of like, what's going to happen to make me a person? And they seemed to be sort of stuck in their identities kind of early. Oh, marching band people? Yeah, just because this is who we are you know we're awkward yeah we we don't fit in but there's a lot of us kind of in the same frequency i don't feel like i was ever in that frequency no but you know i'm talking about am i making it up i my school was so small all right that it almost doesn't count what activities you're in because you can just kind of sign up right because

everybody gets sort of involved. Yeah. There's just people that filled the roles and then the people that didn't do anything. Yes. The troublemakers. Yeah. Right. And I was just in everything.

Yeah. I get it. I get it. So you and Kate, you kind of get kind of famous in comedy a little bit, huh? It was crazy. Yeah. It was. What really happened?

What was the arc of that? Because I think that's where I first saw you was with her yeah yeah and you guys did my show i think you did a live one yeah right yeah and i don't think i've talked i don't think i've done a one-on-one with kate no not yet huh but uh so you guys start and you're writing songs and then what happens for you too because that's so we put our songs on YouTube and it wasn't that big of a thing at the time so we didn't expect anything from it. We were just playing songs on my couch. And then the creator of Scrubs

or one of the writers called and they wanted to use one of our songs as a musical number on Scrubs. Oh, wow. Yeah, and they hired Kate to play it with one of the actors on the show. Yeah. And so people sort of started watching our videos after that.

Yeah. And then we're like, I guess we got to write more songs. Yeah. So we made more videos. You made some money off that song, huh? A little bit, I think. Yeah, it wasn't crazy. Did they use it on Scrubs?

Mm-hmm. It wasn't crazy? It wasn't crazy. Oh, because they only used it once. Yeah. Right. But yeah, so we started you know writing more songs and then we thought oh we should play these out we started playing

them out and um we but we didn't know anything about the comedy world we like our first real show we rented out uh this building called the fake gallery and just put on an hour-long show i know the fake out paul's place yeah is it still around i don't know we thought you could just do an hour like we didn't know anything like we had that ignorance is bliss we didn't know that comedians worked for years to do an hour so we're just like we'll just do an hour of yeah but you're but you're sort of a theater act it's not you know I mean I don't think what were their comics going like who the fuck are these two no we didn't really know any comics then right so I mean I don't think any comics were judging you it's like they should only have two songs right yeah no you did a show you did a musical variety show yeah so we started we did

that and then we did it again and then after that we started playing in the sort of crew that you're you're around the the people i know the ucb bunch yeah yeah i was i sort of yeah i was you know i look i was a late comer to that and it's not not, I'm not indigenous to that crew, but I know them all. Right. Well, you were to us because you were there when we got there. Sure. Yeah. I mean, like, because what year was that?

2008 or nine. Oh, was it that late? Something like that. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I was around trying to, you know, keep my presence up. But it's weird because I've sort of, I've kind of cycled out of alt rooms, you know,

and I'm back primarily working at the comedy store and I don't really yeah what am I going to do go over to Nerd Melt

or what is it still there yeah I think so yeah Kit and I haven't played a show in a while right well you guys

have gone your separate ways well no we actually haven't we've been writing songs for animated movies and now we started writing Garfunkel and Oates songs again in the last week.

Just now? Just now. God, I'm catching it. It's hot off the press. Yeah. Big news. Yeah. Garfunkel and Oates back at it.

Yeah. So we're going to be playing pretty soon, hopefully. Like what? Doing a night at Largo? Something like that. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Oh, well, I mean, we'll probably just go and try songs out at a Nerd Melt type place just

to see how they're received. But what happened with all that? I mean, you kept doing like bit parts here and there, right? Yeah. That kept happening. You were on Enlightened? Yeah. Who were you on Enlightened?

I was a co-worker. Oh, that's right. You were one of the, right, right, right. With Manzoukas. Yes. Yeah. Okay. I tested for that show, actually, for Sarah.

That's what I was like in the sort of testing level of things. I tested for that show against the girl who got the part, Sarah Burns. And then they were like, oh, we'll bring you back. So they wrote me a little part on there and I was excited. Oh, yeah. Yeah, because everyone says that and then nobody follows through. So it was nice that they did that. I liked that show.

I was sad when that went. Me too. When that went away. So what happened with um with the garfunkel and oat show um we your show was on ifc right yeah yes that's right you were there at the same time as me yeah yeah you do one season one season and it was a really intense experience and but it got you got you you got got you into knowing what that experience was like yeah i remember that because i was on it must have been like my first or second season yeah but then when i started on another period and it was so easy you know and also it's not your life you know it's like there's something about like and i found that too where you're

doing a show about your life where your attachment to the material is a lot different than just something you're making up. Yeah. You know, that you don't want to get too far away from what the authentic thing is. Right, and what actually happened. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That becomes problematic because it might not be good television.

Right. Yeah, it might not be. It was, yeah. And then there's a lot of people telling you like, your life's not that great. It's not that, this part of your life and you, yeah, we don't like it might not be. It was, yeah. And then there's a lot of people telling you like, your life's not that great. It's not that, this part of your life and you, yeah, we don't like it in the story. Yeah.

So that's a little harsh. It was, yeah. Kate and I, it was a really weird time in our lives and I cried a lot and Kate and I got very close. Did you find that whatever you went through, you made changes in yourself that you learned? Yeah, yeah. I think so. i think i got less emotional about things and uh stopped i like tried to take things less personally and it was just a lot i felt like there was it was kind of our story and

it was big stakes and yeah um but then i started another period and i was like oh this is fine like doing a tv show is not that bad well yeah because you do get to you know now you get to just be creative outside of the personal risk of it yeah it's different like when I took the gig on glow and I have nothing to do with the creativity the creation of that you know but I just I'm just acting I'm just gonna be this guy and we're really good on that show. Thank you. Whereas when it was my show, I had to do everything. I was part of the writing, in every scene.

And you get tired of yourself. You're like, yeah, it's a relief. Did you like having a show? Yeah, yeah. No, I think we did a good show. Ultimately, given the money we had, and they were not, they let us do it. You know, they were never really a problem. You know, that. And also I was, my showrunners were pretty aligned with what I wanted to do.

That's good. And the stories were good. And I was real happy with it. You know, I don't think a lot of people saw it, but that's all right. It's hard. It's hard being on a basic cable channel. Yeah. But yeah, there are those issues.

But I think ultimately looking back on it, you you know i chose to end it after four seasons and uh also i learned a lot about being on set about acting about you know i don't know how much i learned about producing or i did learn something about writing uh but you know specifically about being in front of the camera uh it was it was pretty um you feel like you learned how to be an actor. Sure, definitely. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Even though I was playing myself,

you're still playing yourself. Yeah. I mean, you're always doing something. Yeah, but it's like people were like, what were you just doing here? It's like, yeah, but you got to act. Yeah. You know, there are takes and there are cuts.

It's not a documentary. Yeah. Yeah. So that was good. So another period, how did that come about? Because now this is season three. Yeah. Season three.

Natasha Leggero and I, we decided we wanted to make a short. Yeah. And we thought of this idea over some wine and loved the idea and just decided to finance it ourselves. The short. The short. The short. Because we wrote this script. I love her, by the way.

Isn't she so funny? Yeah, I like her. Everything she says is funny. I like her as a person. Me too. Me too. But we wrote this sort of 15-page short and it wasn't that funny on paper. And so we're like, we need to make it to show people what the show would be.

So Natasha and I made a short, basically a pilot presentation people like what the show would be. So Natasha and I made a short, basically a pilot presentation ourselves of what the show would be. And then we took it out and pitched it and everyone passed. Everyone turned us down, but we were kind of like, but it's so funny. Like what's they're not getting it. Yeah. And so we had our agents get feedback and everyone had the same feedback, which is that they didn't see where it was. It could go. They felt like it was sort of a one note kind of sketch and so we're like great so we'll show them where it can go going forever yeah so we went we wrote the pilot

and we wrote sort of a bible for the whole show and every character showing where it would go and we recut the short and made it more just like poppy and faster it's so fucking weird to me because sort of like you know upstairsstairs went on for a while. Yeah. I don't even know if that's the right show, but like, what you're satirizing,

those things go on forever. Yeah. Yeah. And so that's what we thought. So we're like, we can show them. Yeah. But they all had

the same criticism. So we're like, okay, well, there's something to that. We're not showing them where it's going. Sure.

So we went back and pitched it again and sold it. To Comedy Central. Yeah. Well, I mean, there's something to that. We're not showing them where it's going. So we went back and pitched it again and sold it. To Comedy Central. Yeah. Well, I mean, what's even more impressive than that is the fact that you're on still. I know, isn't that crazy? Yeah.

It's crazy to get a show made. It's crazy that we're still on. Yeah, well, the fact is, and that wasn't a comment about it's not good. No, I know. It doesn't seem that anything survives more than two seasons, especially on that network, if I'm not mistaken. It's so hard to get anything to go. Yeah.

We feel very lucky. Well, I mean, you must have figured out some sort of budget line. Because, I mean, it is a pretty ambitious show in terms of doing a period piece. Yeah, but it's a low-budget show. No, I know. But you pull it off. I mean, it's a low-budget show, but you still got pull it off i mean it's a low budget show but you still got to do what 8 19 what is 18 what what year is it in the movie oh 1902 1902 in the series yeah so you got to be true to that as best you can

you're not breaking that wall too often or at all are you well no so we just we just get scrappy and we have really good crew people right around, really good costumer, really good designer, DP. They sort of, you know, make it so that it looks like a show and not a sketch. Right. So there's still the it's it's all around this one family and you're you're ongoing with. Do you have a way? Do you know where this ends? Do you have a seasonal? the whole series if we keep going oh okay which is you can fill in in between that yeah yeah which is uh lillian and beatrice me and natasha boarding the titanic and just like waving like going like we're like that feels like you just gave it away um i mean well yeah i mean we'll see who knows if that'll end up happening but we have this idea that's such a spoiler oh man i just ruined everything you ruined last, your very last episode whenever that happens. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Well, we'll see if it even gets there. Yeah. But you work with all these people that there's a whole crew. There's this crew of, like these are people that I know like Michael Liam Black and Brett Gelman

and who else is on there? Tom Lennon. Tom Lennon's great. But who's the big guy? Jason Ritter. Keckner. Oh, David Keckner. Oh, I love him. I love our cast so much. I love writing for them. Yeah, and there are people that come

in and out. They're not all there all the time. Yeah. We sort of go based on people's schedules because everyone's so busy. Yeah, yeah. I think that it's so funny that there is this comedy crew that they all kind of show up in everyone's stuff. Yeah, it's really nice to have that.

It is. Yeah. Because you've kind of known each other for years. Yeah, and you're in their stuff and they're in your stuff. And you can also get people last minute, which is nice. And you know that they'll be amazing. So now that this is done shooting, what do you do? Do you still go out and are you doing movies?

Or what's happening now? I've really just been writing yeah yeah i just finished writing a movie musical so we'll see really yeah yeah like a real real musical yeah so like a romance or what kind of yeah kind of just like but it's a comedy so i'm gonna try to get that made and natasha and i wrote a movie that we're trying to get made. Yeah? Yeah. I like making things more than auditioning for things. Do you like making them more than being in them? I mean, would you ever want to just sort of like just be the writer?

Maybe. I don't know. I do like being in them, though, too. Have you sold scripts? Yeah. We just sold one. Natasha and I sold this movie called Buffalo Tens, which is the one we're trying to get made. Oh, so you're staying involved.

So you sold it. Are you guys in it? Yeah. Oh, okay. Currently. You are? Yes. Yes.

So that's the idea. It's a project for you too, that you sold and it's not a period piece. No, it's about a matchmaking service in Buffalo. It's like Millionaire Matchmaker, but set in Buffalo. She comes from like. Rockford, Illinois. Right. So same kind of... Yeah. Huh. We have similar trajectories, I think, Natasha and I. Yeah. Well, she's got a severely kind of trashy background, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yours doesn't seem trashy. It seems just rural. Just small. Just rural. Yeah. Yeah. I

would say that's true. That's true. Well, congratulations on the new season. Thank you. And I'm glad you're keeping up with the flute. Thanks, yeah. Thank you. And it's nice talking to you. Yeah, thank you for having me. Yeah.

All right, that's the show. Go to WTFpod.com slash tour. For those of you in London, April 16th, Royal Festival Hall. In Stockholm, Sweden, April 19th at the China Theater. Tickets available. Oslo, Norway, April 22nd at the Folkertret. Folkertret. April 23rd, Amsterdam, Netherlands at the Royal Theater Car.

Or Car-A. I should know these. Dublin, Ireland. April 26th at Vicar Street. Those are selling very well, so I would get those tickets. I will get my material together. You get your tickets. I can't fucking talk.

Jesus Christ. Maybe I can play a little three chord guitar for a minute and we'll get out of here guitar solo Boomer lives! brand new challenging marketing category. And I want to let you know, we've produced a special bonus podcast episode where I talk to an actual cannabis producer. I wanted to know how a producer becomes licensed, how a cannabis company competes with big corporations, how a cannabis company markets its products in such a highly regulated category,

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