RE-RELEASE - Jason Sudeikis

19:11It was the only place I looked at. I moved in. They had me at the Paramount. It's supposed to be two weeks. I ended up moving to Paramount. Is that for SNL? Yes. That's what I did too. I go, really? Something's wrong with my room. It's two feet by three feet. I went down to the front desk and they go, so you got a king suite? I go, no. This is my whole room? I had no fucking idea what's going on. I had to sleep in the fetal position. It was so small. But literally you couldn't stretch out. No, you could absolutely touch the wall either side. But this was at the Paramount. This was the hotel that they put you in.

19:41And they don't count on you bringing a suitcase. Because when you go in, they go, I want to do this. You can go in or the suitcase can go in. You both can't go in. It's honestly, there's a stand. It's on your bed. It's so funny. Go ahead. But I was there, yeah. I was supposed to be there two weeks. I ended up extending it like six somehow. And went to an internet cafe, looked up a place on Craigslist. My sister, Kristen, had already lived there for a few years. So I had her come to the, you know, look at the place. And I could see the 30 Rock out the back, out the blinds. So that was why I was here.

20:09I figured I was going to get let go within at least whatever the writers' guilt minimum. It's burned in all of us. I know. We all sound like fire me.

20:17Dana Carvey:Why would they hire you as a writer? Did they see you perform, but then also liked your writing and said, let's just try them this way first? That's the impression I get, yeah. I never asked, but that was the impression I got. I mean, it was a little bit like I would have said, I was kidding about Sandler wanting you around the game. You always hear that, Lorne, he just wants funny people around. So even though I auditioned for it and I auditioned the year after Tracy had left and it was the year Keenan got hired, a fellow named Finesse Mitchell. And yeah, I had a decent audition. I had one piece in there where I play a senator who offends black people.

20:57And then when he goes to apologize to them, he then offends Jewish people. And then he offends – It's 2003. It was based on Rick Santorum. Like he was like, he compared homosexuality to bestiality. And then in his apology, like just doubled down on it. It was like, what is going on? And so I did that, but it was nonpartisan. And so they liked, you know, the writing of that. Cause it was, it was, you know, taken. I like those thoughts behind it. Steve Higgins was, was more vocal about, about why I got hired. Maybe you could give it to someone else. Steve Higgins was the champion for you. Yeah. Him and Tina and Tina, who I knew her and her husband from my second city days.

21:32Um, and so, yeah, so then it was just a matter of going out there. I go into that building, uh, walk upstairs. I was like, Chris, how is this? She goes, it's, it's nice. Like this is, it's clean. Like I go, and I don't have a good sense of smell. If any sense of smell. So like, I was like, does it smell like burgers? She goes, you can kind of smell the fries, but it's gone by this floor. Cause it was like, I think like three or four floors walk up. And the, and the reason why I was on top of the Burger King is because a fellow named Lou, our landlord owned, was a, you know, franchise guy. and he built these things around on top of it.

22:02I still thought we were doing SNL, but so SNL sounds a little like tater tots. Burger King and SNL were really... I always go to Burger King. It's the key. Will you, if I pick you up, just come down. What was your... I always ask cast members,

22:16Dana Carvey:like Lorne Michaels is this enigmatic... Of course. We've been doing Lorne, if you haven't noticed. His mind's a little soft. And this is like, please, everybody does it. But your relation with him, how did it evolve? Was it, were you standoffish at first? No, he was always really like, like nice to me. I think he wanted me to get out of my own way while on his watch, you know, a little bit like, like I would say that, you know, the part of him that, that, that hires people because he sees something in them or someone that he sees something and says that, you know, you should go after the, this person's got something.

22:55And like, I think he's seen all of us or our archetypes like a dozen times over at this point. So he kind of is like, okay, I'm going to give you, I'm going to give you Billy Murray advice.

23:07Dana Carvey:You know, I mean, I don't know. I've never asked him, but that's what it felt like a little bit. Like, cause he was auditioning, you know, who to, you know, you know, like, but he was always supportive. Like he was always someone that I felt I could go up and speak to. I remember that after that first audition, you know, talking to Horatio and Maya Rudolph. Horatio, who I knew from Second City, Maya, who I just met, but it was lovely. I went down to go downstairs and go, they're not going to laugh. No one's going to do anything. Like, don't worry about it. And I went down and did it. And after I got done with my studio audition, the first one, Lorne came over and shook my hand.

23:42And I did not know what to make of it. Would not know. Wow. I still, like, where it doesn't, yeah, I still don't know what to make of it. He came over and shook your hand. He stood up, walked over. Now, I don't, now I walked forward and I was told that no one's going to laugh. People did laugh a little bit. It was only like five people. And then he's not going to say anything. And then he got up and did the opposite of that. I was like, I didn't go upstairs and try to make sense of it. I probably haven't really spoken much about it because it didn't, I was like, now I don't know if I didn't, I then walk out, go back to my dressing room, which was, you know, Daryl Hammond's dressing room, I believe at the time.

24:12And he may have just walked out behind me and gone to the John. You know what I mean? Like, so I don't know. Can you give me a piggyback ride?

24:18Dana Carvey:But it is interesting how he will cast it sort of almost like a sitcom in a way. You know, you'll be Bill Murray and Bill Hader will be sort of young Dick Phil. Were you like a Phil type or no? No, I don't know if I was. I feel like he wanted me to be. The thing that really helped, like sort of pushed me over the edge because I wrote for those first two seasons was like I wrote when you came back to host once. And I was on the cast when you came back to host once. but um that in those first two years there was a there was a sketch that we did when tom brady hosted and i basically like did like this like the same dancing that i do in that what up with that sketch we wanted to talk about that but i did that dancing because beck was performing that week and he had a guy that was doing the dancing uh like like kind of like you know off to the side and so i just made the choice to do this and then it made a bunch of people laugh and i remember Tina telling me that during dress rehearsal when that sketch was going on he kind of looked at the screen and goes Dan Aykroyd.

25:19Dan Aykroyd. That move? Yeah. Then we had the show Saturday the sketch made it on as did the other sketch that me and my buddy Joe Kelly wrote for our man Tom Brady and then two weeks went by and during that break they hired me into the cast. So it was kind of like

25:36Dana Carvey:Well it's such a specific dance and it always makes you laugh even if you I watch it again and I'm laughing every time because it's so specific and you're playing it so earnest and so clueless. So, and what's up with that? You can't take your eyes off you. And Kenan talked about how much you made that sketch, you know? I mean, that's very sweet of him. I would argue. Because you didn't have a line. You're just, what did he call it? It's like a bicycle thing and then you would do the side hip thing. The running man is pretty athletic. And you look so stupid. Yeah. And your wig and also, I think in the Ted Lasso clip where they say, it looks like you're in the middle of all the guys and then it's like a first show.

26:10Yeah. so it's a it's a hilarious dance it's very specific what's up with that it's just funny anyway it's just funny and it was such a joy I mean what were like when people ask me my favorite sketches from there that one is always top three and not necessarily because of the effort I put into it or the way people respond to it which is always lovely but just it was the one that we did my generation where when they'd start to build the set people would start to get hyped and then it found that spot after update so they'd tear away the update thing then they'd start putting up that and the people in the crowd and we were all in it and everyone was in it everyone was in some weird costume.

26:41It's the best. And you'd always have like Robert De Niro there or somebody like, you know, like some weird cameo, you know, Bill dressed as Lindsay Buckingham. We knew exactly where it was going to go. We're just slotting in all these things. And it was great to get a cameo. It's great when people, even cast want to be in it or a host comes in and says, I want to be in that. That's the best. And so for people who don't know what's,

27:03Dana Carvey:what's up with that was like a Keenan was a game show or a show, a talk show host. And then he never got to asking anyone any questions. these long musical interludes. Long intro. You have background singers, I think. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And then you dancing. And also athletically, did you get out? I mean, you did it for a long period of time. It was more of a magic trick. I would do it for a little bit of time, and then I'd jump in to frame. Like, that was the thing that, I mean, the thing I always look at is I have been doing that dancing since I was on basketball teams, like from the early 90s.

27:37That's just watching UMTV raps with Fab Five Freddy and Kid and Play. house party and all those movies and um and and yet it was the same thing i made my 15 year old friends laugh the things that i like delighted in were like me learning the edge of frame and how to make it look like i'm dropping in off of something or taking a long exit like roundabout thing doing like a sherman helmsley walk off you know and just trying to tickle like keen and trying to make him laugh and just milk up as much screen time as possible just to make like kenny among in

28:07Dana Carvey:the booth laugh you know you were doing it different on air you were surprised yeah you try to switch up little things yeah yeah we we had a good spry uh group of people uh my generation that at some point you realize that if we if we make the boss laugh by making each other laugh yeah in a sketch that's funny with the sound off like there's no real joke once the melee starts and the party and the dancing and all the stuff you can just the audience can really just laugh Oh, it's great. Because they're not listening for any, you know. Yeah, yeah. Which is another one I wanted to bring up that you did with Keenan was the Scared Straight.

28:41Dana Carvey:Yeah. And he gave you kudos, too, as his partner in crime. You know, going, hey, hey, come on. I mean, that thing is really classic. I mean, again, so fun because we'd always get, you know, the host would have something fun to do. But then, you know, Bill and Andy were in there and Bobby Moynihan is who I picture for the third. for the third and just and keenan when you get bill and andy cooking and laughing and then and then bobby too bobby's so funny uh and then yeah keenan would come in there just hollering who has whoever i'm trying to i mean like hollering and were you writing with on the show with four other people at that time did you come up with this with keenan or no that was that was probably him i'm guessing brian tucker maybe maybe somebody else um rob klein potentially but no i i a lot of times I was just, you know, like, uh, those two instances were, um, just, I was merely a muse.

29:33Dana Carvey:And who did you connect with as a writer? Did you have someone who you wrote with more regularly or would come to you with stuff? Yeah. Well, I mean, those first two years, um, I, I, I really was felt imposter syndrome of like as a writer only because I had only recently discovered like what I did, what I like writing for myself. But, but again, that virtue of having funny friends, It was like one of those things. And there are two sort of commandments, if you will, or like a piece of advice that Tina gave. One was like, you know, don't write anything that you feel like you can do yourself, you know, because it'll drive you crazy, especially if you did audition for the show.

30:17And I did it once and she was 100 % right. I wrote a Dr. Phil thing for Jeff Richards, um, like later in my first season because I just wasn't getting anything on. So I was like, well, write something that I know. And Jeff and I worked on it really well. And it, and it didn't, it didn't, it didn't go super great at the, at the read through. And I remember it's being unnaturally upset. Like where it's just like, well, you mean you knew how to play it? You're like, that's my thing. Yeah. But, but, but when you, when you give it, when you hand it over, it's like, I'm okay. I was, I was okay doing that, but, but, but I, but I, but people, it's like, It's like the, it's like people weren't hot on Jeff at that point in that room.

30:54And he was doing it well. It just, it just like didn't get over that hump. That Wednesday hump. He is good. It's a tough room. God, I think when they hire you as a writer, I think Dana, it's like a little scam. First of all, it's a little cheaper. It makes you work harder. Yeah, sure. I didn't want to be a writer. I didn't know how to be a writer. It's from Arizona. I just barely had 25 minutes of standup. And Rob Schneider and I, we got the call together and he goes, hey, it's great news. We're hired as a writer, performers. And I go, no. He goes, no, that's great. that's what Chevy Chase or someone was like oh I don't know how to fucking write and I don't know how to write for other people I barely know how to write for myself so you get in there and they would say you know write for Dana write for Mike Myers write for whoever and I'm like it's so hard and also I barely have ideas myself yeah and then you give them away and it kills you inside because I know and it's and for me what what eventually happened was I did start I started pairing up with like Fred Fred and I hit it off and you know Fred's just a lovely fun guy and and what I couldn't, what I couldn't do was make up something for these guys, like on a blank page at that point.

31:50But what I could do is listen to what they did, do bad impressions of it, let my brain click into that and help with rewrites. Like the rewrite table was, I loved, I still love it. I'd sit at any show's rewrite table. Like, you know, that's my ballback career. It's fun to help someone else's.

32:03Dana Carvey:Your ego's out of the way and you're just like, oh, how about this? To get one line in, to get anything in. It's the best. And you feel like you're in the game. You're like, if I can compete, just be even with these guys are in the mix absolutely like that like i like that i'm not taking up space here that i that i do belong here i have i've worth being here they haven't they haven't wasted the other time i told dana this when he was there i think when i uh there's a sketch where he's played receptionist i wanted to do it i hadn't been on much and and i was sort of teetering on every summer they'd go i don't know if we're going to keep them you know and i'm like god damn you know how can i work any harder maybe i'm just not good enough and then i that one i got on and then david bowie was a musical guest so i said ask him if he wants to be at the end and i won't know who he is and then he said yes and then he wanted to call me and then he asked if he could be my part and switch and i said no and it was so hard but i go i have nothing i mean i and it and i'm it made me think what you said about you just want to get on so even like one of your good sketches you might just give to someone that you brought in yeah just to get on to stay yeah and then worry about it later like Like, okay, I gave one away.

33:09But I don't even know if that one was any good. You just go, I want to do it. And he's like, oh, yeah, okay. And I was like, oh, my God. And I get to talk to David Bowie. And then I get to go sideways with him right away. He's like, yeah, okay, go fuck yourself. Good luck with your shit. I had that.

33:23Dana Carvey:I had a different angle on that with Robin Williams, who I adored and was a really good friend. But he really wanted to do church chat. And this is in the early days. This was my golden ticket. And I was very careful. And I thought if Robin got so excited, it would be like, oh, look, no tits. you know that kind of stuff. I was just afraid of it. And he even called me Saturday morning at like 10 a.m. To be in it? To play? To be in it, to be a guest. I would really like to play, you know. It was heartbreaking. But, you know, we got past that. It wasn't. But it was in those days, your thing was very precious.

33:58Dana Carvey:You know, I wanted to keep it quasi real in a sense. Yeah, yeah. But, you know, it happens. Not like quote unquote sell out, like by giving it to the, over to the show. I mean, again, I'm using this, you know, metaphorically. It's not selling. Well, that was a lucky thing because the cast, I had Phil and Jan and people in it. And it was a lucky thing. I didn't know. Home base and then have the cast come and go and the host. So Lorne loved it. Yeah. Because I didn't have to score. Did you come in with characters? Not really. No, I did. I did like, no, not really. Did you write them down? I mean, was that a thing?

34:29Yeah, I did like three characters and like seven impressions that first audition. and it was mostly that senator sketch that I had mentioned. And from what I heard, like when you get to that point, like how the heck did I get here? You know, like in three years, once you sort of know you're there. How did that make it, whatever you did, you mean? Yeah, yeah, exactly. And it was as much like the banter in between, like dealing with whether the piece played well or didn't. But I was, yeah, dubbed being funny, so they just wanted me at the table. because it did feel weird getting, you know, being an actor.

35:02I mean, I called my manager over at Brillstein, Jeff, and I was just like, maybe I fucked up. I think I should just stay the acting. No, you're in showbiz now. I'm in showbiz. And he would say, you know, you, Sandler, Chevy Chase, Tina, you know, obviously at that point, like, I'll start as writers. It's like, you know, and I'll do sketches, you know, questions. Anything. It was great, you know. And yet it really took that relationship with Lorne And to the one thing that I learned there that I feel like I would encourage folks to do is like go talk to a person that can that can as if you can, if you have the opportunity to find audience with the person that can actually change the situation, do that versus talking to everyone to the left and right.

35:44Yeah, that's, you know, and and and Lauren was always open to that with with me. And, you know, I think that when did two a holes come in?

35:54Dana Carvey:Because that that was one. Yeah. Fairly early on. That was Chris and I's first season. Yeah, so that really, you popped when I saw that. Yeah, I mean, that was this magic Christmas episode that Jack Black hosted. Neil Young was the musical guest. We had our new sort of generation was pretty intact there. Like I had come in at the end, last three episodes of the season prior. Bill and Andy got hired over the summer. And then Kristen got hired about like five, six weeks into the season. And then Fred a little later. Well, Fred had already been there. Fred and Forte had already been there. Yeah, so that was a, you know.

36:26Dana Carvey:A very fertile time on SNL. Yeah. The cast was. But that specific episode was that they did Lazy Sunday, the digital, the Lonely Island guys. We did two A-holes. Will Forte did the spelling bee sketch that he had submitted probably six times in the couple years. Oh, yeah. That's a great one. Which was a Groundlings trunk piece that he had. Just everybody loved. It just never got over the hump. But Jack Black, who was the host of my very first episode as a writer that I got a piece on. He was just like this lucky charm for me specifically. but I feel for a lot of folks because he was one of those hosts that would just support the piece.

37:00Like in A-Holes, he's straight up just a straight man. And that was Chris and I. We were writing together every single week and we were just tired and we were just chewing gum and just started talking like that. Hey babe, hey babe. And just how do we make this guy's life a nightmare?

37:15Dana Carvey:How would you describe that to people who are listening and may not have seen it? It's like two cocky young people, self-involved. Yeah, two self-involved people making a business transaction as difficult as possible for the person trying to help. And you had a rhythm of, oh, babe. Yeah. There was a thing that was - Yeah, it was like chewing gum. Yeah. Hey, babe, what are you doing? What do you want to do? Yeah. We want to go to Hogwarts. You know, and then Kristen was just like this kind of like rapid, like almost like a Paris Hilton type, but, you know, just vocal fry and just, I want to go in there.

37:48I'm tired. Sometimes at three in the morning you go, is this even funny? Oh, 100%. You're just like, are we delirious? this is fucking funny but also it's you two which is already you're halfway there because people want you we didn't know at that point you know at that point I mean maybe you weren't even that

38:02Dana Carvey:still emerging yeah I think I mean she was off to the races because Chris had so many so many good characters I mean the groundlings folks like blew always consistently blew doors off of us Second City folks did they really? yeah I think like in regards to characters you know what I mean like I mean I mean that's what I love about the I'd say that you know Farrell and McKay are like bird and magic, just like platonic soulmates that were like the Hatfields and McCoys who then came together with these two sensibilities of these two amazing sketch, you know, American comedy theaters, and then boom, we're off to the races once they decide to just harmonize with each other.

38:40We had more stand-ups back when we did. You did, yeah. A lot of us were stand-ups.

38:43Dana Carvey:Didn't have real theater up in San Francisco. There was no ground leans. I would have been in it in a second.

38:54Dana Carvey:I wonder what it's like to be in the groundlings today. Right. You know, because it's obviously such a feeder system. And now the Hall of Fame with Lovitz and Phil and going, you know, must be very nerve-wracking. Because if you get in that and you're in the main company, people, you have a chance. I would assume so. But I think it's like, especially being out here, because that was one thing about Second City in Chicago is that you weren't, it was just about trying to do that well. Like navigate like that. you wanted to be a good improviser, you wanted to be a good writer, you wanted to be a good actor, but you wanted people to do a good job for the piece, but you weren't thinking beyond the building you were in in a lot of places.

39:38Because I think it's in Chicago. Even though it has that same alumni plus 20 more years. You're kind of famous just doing it in Second City, right? That's a pretty big deal already. Yeah, and you're getting paid for it, which I don't think Groundlings gets paid. I don't know if things have changed over the past few years.

39:53Dana Carvey:Can we talk about a few more of your really cool sketches you were in? I mean, the commitment. I mean, I watched the, I don't know if David saw it, but the potato chip with Will Forte and the way you play, that you both played it with such full-on sincerity and drama. And then when you started to break, I just thought, no wonder he's so good at Ted Lasso. Like, you see the seeds of it. It's comedy, but I really felt bad for the way you played it that you first you were super defiant you didn't eat the potato chip it's a complete theater of the absurd oh absolutely with such commitment will forte is a freak that he's on and then the way you decided to give it up and then the way you saw i mean you must have known that was because that's such a weird sketch that it must people who like it must really mention it to you right 100 that's one of those sketches i'd be curious to know from both of you what's the one that people can come up to you and you know like oh we would have been friends as kids.

40:50If you like that, then we're like friends for life. People say, what up with that? That's great. People dress up like that character for Halloween. But I would say Potato Chip and Main Justice are two that if people come up to me, I love Potato Chip. I instantly have a soul connection with that person. Do you have one like that?

41:08Dana Carvey:Skinheads from Maine. Which I did. I love we both have a Maine sketch. I did it on the Variety Show with Colbert. It was just a flight of fancy of a Petritch Farm kind of voice being a skinhead. Yeah. You know, the weather is the only thing that the Jews don't control. You know, it was that, it was that level of, that's funny. I remember that. And then, he goes, I hate stick for beating Spaniards. And so it was skinheads from Maine. Yeah. So people at an airport come up, hey man, our friends and I always mention that. Yeah. Because we're skinheads. Exactly. Yeah. Thanks for, thanks for making us.

41:39Thanks for repping us. What about you, David? It would be bye-bye. Bye-bye. No, we did bye-bye twice. The second one, the second one, bomb miserably. It's a very catchy catch. It's a catchy one, yeah. I can't believe it was only twice. That's what we did, and then we went away for, I went to Los Angeles the next day, and this flight attendant said it. And then from then on, I probably honestly heard it maybe every day of my life for about 10 years.

42:04Dana Carvey:Because when you go off a plane, if they say anything like that, your head goes to your sketch. Absolutely. Oh, yeah. And that's the easiest thing to say. And then they were told not to say that anymore, and then they show the sketch, because my friend's wife worked for America, and they show them and say, this is what they think of us. So we have to change our, I'm like, geez, we've ruined everything. We say good morrow. Now we say good morrow. We say get fucked, get fucked, get fucked. I mean, they still hate you, whatever they're saying. Sorry about the legroom. Sorry about the legroom. Sorry, we're charging for bags.

42:31No, it is, it bought me some street cred with, sometimes they come by and like you're on the Southwest and they give you like a thimble of water. And then they come by and they go, hey, and they wink and they give me like a two gallon jug. And I go, oh my God. And then the person next to me, can I get another water? I'm like, I'm waterlogged. I've had too much. I'm holding it like a baby. And they're like, get fucked. Get fucked. I have too much water. That's mean. Get fucked. I know.

42:55Dana Carvey:They get mad at me. Now, what about this main justice guy? That's another really. I mean, it's the same character, you know. I know this. Yeah, which is, yeah. But it's such a fun, how do you describe that sort of character? I mean, he's like got a little goatee. He's like Colonel Sanders. Yeah, like what's funny, and this is one of those things that I love, like one of the lessons, like showbiz lessons that can almost extend into life lessons at SNL is the potato chip sketch was done when I was going through a divorce. I was like, you know, like not sleeping well, like being pulled every which way.

43:25John Solomon and Will Forte, who were writing buddies, went to UCLA together, et cetera, and, you know, created all this stuff since Last Man on Earth and Gruber and whatnot. They write potato chip. And the reason they write that thing is because I had done a sketch a few weeks earlier. The first time we did um uh went up with that actually when gerard butler hosted and i had just seen cool hand luke and i was kind of like it'd be funny to do a cool hand luke sketch but it but but cool hand luke tries to get out of eating the eggs by just being like you know are these are these free range eggs like it's like he says i bet i can eat 50 eggs and then i wrote myself as like the george candy part so i'm doing you know doing all that kind of oh boss here we come on now you know doing all that and it did well but it didn't get picked so so you you and that's the beauty of like Like Wednesdays is like that's when you write one for them, one for you, and you do something.

44:13And then your friends, you know, like hear things or your coworkers hear things. Oh, Jason can do this voice. And so then they write potato chip and write me in that voice. Yeah. And so it comes from that. And so they're just right from this really crazy student place, which is literally just me doing a bad George Kennedy from.

44:27Dana Carvey:But a loud, bombastic, cocky, high energy is fun to do in that studio. Yeah. And just picturing an outfit, you know, whatever. Well, you know, again, one of those great things that I think Kristen is such a perfect example that the ground these folks had, like they could see these characters that could just be transferred on the television. Oh, yeah. With like wigs and just like the slight, like just a couple of props and wardrobe and boom, they're, you know, off they went. So then with with Maine Justice, there was an idea that I had had first year for Horatio Sands and it was more like Texas Justice.

44:58And then just like then we just like added some layer of absurdity to it. We just make it Maine. And I mean, I've told this story before, but like Lauren and Seth hated it because there's no logic whatsoever. It's not really a main accent. It's not main. It makes them like, why are they talking like this? What is going on? Why are you talking about, you know, crawdads up in Maine and not lobster, all this stuff. Yeah. And myself and Mike O 'Brien, who was my office mate and a good friend, we wrote together a lot. And I'm trying to think who else was in there. Oh, I think Rob Klein as well, who was a Harvard kid, you know, like, so like, you know, super clever.

45:34and silly. We were just like, you, what are you talking about? What was the logic behind Toons as the driving cat? You made us this way. You ruined us. I blame you, Dad. That's why two-thirds of that sketch, we just go through the list like we're like Bobby Moyano's character. It's like, what the hell is going on? And then I just go through just exposition like, oh, maybe this happened at Hurricane Katrina. Maybe there's a time or a war. Like whatever.

45:59Dana Carvey:It's just this weird sub-story of where is this guy and then we just push on through but yeah that's one of those ones that you just you know I think it was probably from the one yeah the Kool-Aid and Luke but then also being a fan of Harry Connick Jr. like in when New Orleans folks would you know get real real comfy and just start talking real cool yeah did you when you were just Kool-Aid and Luke what were the things that blew your mind as a kid like with movies or TV and stuff that inspired you was Kool-Aid and Luke one of them? No I mean the first one that comes to mind is Beverly Hills Cop Beverly Hills Cop in the theater.

46:35Yeah, all of it. Do you guys have to pay for the rights for that? Well, then we just laid out on it. We could do six notes. You could do six notes and then we're like, fucked.

46:47Dana Carvey:You could do it for the repeat. Marcy, get Tina. Jason. Anyway. But that was a big one. I mean, SNL was huge. That was certainly - When were you in high school? When was SNL? Yeah, 1994. was like 90 to 94. Oh, that was a weird part of both. I know, yeah. But I would say up until sophomore year until my friend Matt Bale got his driver's license. So you got a car and then you're out. And then you're out every Saturday night? What were you doing? I had Jesus. We were on 1130. Like bowling? I mean, I probably didn't do too much. I don't know. What the fuck were you doing? 1030 in Kansas City. Oh, we were on 1030.

47:25Yeah, super. Yeah. Damn. In Arizona, it's like on 930.

47:28Dana Carvey:Do you want me to do any of my sketches you may have missed? I mean boy oh boy well there's Matt no I gotta ask him about Sesma where's it on Peacock now everything's on Peacock they have to name the network it's a swear Peacock you can't really put on an art piece Peacock We're the Millers Horrible Bosses stop me if you're in any of these Horrible Bosses we were told by who were you told by you can do whatever you like about the age group of you know when you're a certain age I know we'll just do this I love looking at the ones you get. Like Dick Fuel crime scene. Well, I thought that guy was fucking awesome.

48:06I thought that was so fun. That character. Dick Fuel. It's just me doing like a bad Stallone. Or Vin Diesel. I'm doing Vin Diesel.

48:14Dana Carvey:So you've got a really good bald cap on. Like a super short crew cut. Yeah. You're coming in. What was his name? Yeah, he's supposed to take a hit from Jeremy Renner. Yeah, and he flinches. Yeah, he's just a stunt guy. And he just flinches every time. Yeah. And he fights back. It's so silly. It's so like, but yeah, I did that for the MTV Movie Awards when I hosted. That's fine. You can look at this if you want. It's just. Okay. So crime scene, crime scene is one of my favorite. We did that with Charlie Day. Yes. Okay. So now. That was another great one. But that's written by Joe Kelly, who's one of the co-creators, one of my dear friends who co-created Ted Lasso.

48:48That was a scene that he wrote for a sketch show after he didn't get asked back. He had a killer year at SNL. Didn't come back. Went on to go do great work at How I Met Your Mother, a handful of other sitcoms. you know, he co-created Detroiters, et cetera. That was a scene that I saw him do in the sketch show was all about cops and magicians. Right. So he does this thing. And I'm like, this is a humdinger. Like I just love the writing of it. It's so clever. And so like, it reminded me of like in that space of like the audition sketch from like Mr. Show or, you know, the, the dead parrot sketch, you know, Monty Python, you know, like where, where it's just like the writing is just super clever.

49:24And then those are two of the all time great sketches.

49:26Dana Carvey:Just very quickly, it was like he's kind of doing a sort of a quasi-Colombo investigating a murder. Yeah. And then he doesn't relate to anything you mentioned. No, not baseball. He doesn't know what baseball is. He doesn't know what World War II is. Excuse me. I never watch television. Yeah. Yeah. And so, yeah, he's just like this cop who's just kind of a TV snob. Very Monty Python. Very. I mean, 100%. Yeah. And so then when Charlie hosted, I asked Joe if we could do it. He's like, absolutely. Charlie and I were doing it. I was going to play the part Charlie was playing. and then Charlie was like, what if we switched?

49:57I was like, yeah, let's do that. Because Charlie and I had done Horrible Bosses 1 and 2. I'd been on It's Always Sunny. I think he's as smart and lovely and funny as they come. He's funny. And so I was just like, and trust his instinct and his gut, like crazy. And I was just like, yeah, let's do that. And that sketch, I love the pieces. And it's just one of those things that, similar to like doing the George C. Scott, or I'm sorry, George Kennedy voice, is like just because you do it like there and it dies, like doesn't mean it's dead. just because it dies doesn't mean it's dead like it can come back around and find some other place or inspire some other thing that then finds the right host and the right timing.

50:34Right home.

50:34Dana Carvey:Same thing with Cowbell until Walken came in Yeah, because then they do it a few times. They did it and it just never landed Someone said they did it as the host. Who was we talking to? They said they did it and they said it didn't work. It didn't work and then they got a fever You just need crazy Walken I mean you can't, it's one of the greatest rhythms for a thing and then Will who can lower his IQ, which we said in like five seconds. So Cowbell, he does this thing with his eyes where he's really stupid. He's so committed. So the two together, it's a magic sketch. But this one I watched. God damn, that was funny.

51:07Dana Carvey:Yeah, that's Joe Kelly and Charlie Day and me just trying to get in where I fit in. Damn. Dan, I want to ask about Horrible Bosses because... Well, we should because people on our staff were mentioning... I saw it. I love Horrible Bosses. Well, no, I saw Horrible Bosses too. And also the Millers. That one was another smash. And you have Aniston in both of them? Yeah, she's in all three. What is she like? I've seen all these movies. Wait, she's in them? I don't remember one thing. You go to her parties and you don't even know what she's been in. He cares about her as a person. The work is second tier.

51:39You're going to get disinvited. I like thinking, did she need coaxing to be super dirty? And I think that was the Horrible Bosses one. Yeah. Or is she just ready to just break it out? Well, she played a stripper in the Millers. She's very funny in both. yeah she's I didn't get the impression she needed to be coaxed into it at all so she reads Horrible Bosses where she's filthy you know that one Dana she's trying to fuck Charlie Day all the time she's spraying crotches yeah she talks dirty and after not too far from Friends after that right it was pretty at least she was like America's sweetheart 2013 we did it or no that was like 2010 yeah so she same year as grownups you remember that throwing a wig putting a wig on too I mean that was definitely her being you know I would assume her having fun with The assumption that people make.

52:22I mean, it was kind of, you know, the second one, I really liked the second one. It was like our homage. I mean, I think the world, like I said, of Charlie and of Jason Bateman and of their partners, like it's such a fun group to roll with and do even press together. Yeah, they're quick. And we, golly, if I could, if I could like have one thing, one do over, I would have put out that horrible bosses to movie, maybe more in the summer. Cause they, they did it. Warner brothers new line released it from what I understand as like counter programming for, um, uh, uh, Thanksgiving. And it was like, you know, cause that's usually we put out Oscar movies and like family movies.

53:01and it's like and they just I think they miscalculated you know people wanting to go see a movie with their grandparents where Rachel from Friends is wearing a cock ring like around her around her neck like she's riding a Sibian for most of the movies somebody somewhere

53:16Dana Carvey:had that idea in her room everyone's yes let's do that there's plenty of those sappy dog movies we'll go with the cock ring around the neck I'd love to be on the side you know they're just like doing a scene they're like one more Jennifer maybe say yeah eat your pussy okay rolling and she's like wait what am I doing just to get to yell out bark out alternative jokes yeah that's how all those movies work though they just run in jokes that's the fun ones when you do comedies I love it it's funny people I want us to keep doing it like almost like the Marx Brothers like just you know the next movie we're gonna do is like a prison break movie like just keep doing genres but as the three yeah goofy like middle-aged dudes when it works like that I hear people say this a lot like they don't make comedies like that anymore or like Tropic Thunder or you know just it feels like we're in a different place with comedy films or hard like balls out funny R rated comedies I guess they're out there I don't know I'm gonna shut in I did watch all of Ted Lasso I think sometimes they from the top you get down like I don't know if I do that you can do it but you know it starts to you start to lose jokes even in specials it never was Netflix specials kind of stand up they start cutting stuff they start saying and you're like oh because it used to be just say whatever and live or die but if you're gonna get in trouble it's you and now they blame Netflix or Amazon and that's that makes them nervous so it's just hard to get out do whatever you want podcasts we're not really dirty Dana's filthy but we're not really dirty loves working blue so you can't so but this is one of the last places if you want you can sort of say whatever you want there's not really a boss yeah and we have editing capabilities so if you said Kill all Whatever No we're gonna take 90 % of this out We'll have to be more specific We're gonna start In one minute We're gonna start Dude I did one This is such a good This is our best warm up I told Dana I did one the other day And I was Doing my fucking Gross bits ahoy I was like Bah bah bah bits Bah bits I walked in Coming in high In about five minutes And they go It's great Alright let's roll tape And I go You're fucking joking And then they're like We're here with David I go You guys It was rolling Everyone was fun Always rolling productions You want to shoot the rehearsal.

55:31Dana Carvey:Hit the button and let her rip. We covered George Wendt. We did a little bit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We did a little bit of Wendt. Oh, you did Hall Pass. I did do Hall Pass. With Owen Wilson. Hey, how's it going? I think we should go there. I knew a guy who had a real Hall Pass with his wife. Like, literally. And? I don't know if he ever paid it off, but it was like they both married as virgins together. And she said, you got one. So when this movie came out, I go, damn, they made a movie about that. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's a good title. Good idea. Good title. I've been a hall pass for a couple people.

56:04Have you? Starting to get it, Danny? Starting to get it. That's my catchphrase. I was in Vegas at the meet and greet.

56:09Dana Carvey:I say that to Lovitz all the time. Starting to get it? No, yours is a coming in song. Coming in song. Oh, yeah. Should I do a couple of those for them? Yeah, go ahead. I try to come up with the worst hacky redneck comedian. Sure. It's called Red Rednecky the Redneck Comedian. I married my sister only because mama turned me down come and get some gotta have a catchphrase I asked my mama what's for dinner she said roadkill I said what kind she says I gotta take a drive come and get some it's all come and get some it's in the jokes and you're like oh is that after the joke come and get some I got mine it's your cigar pull like you know burns it's hard to come up with a catchphrase come and get some I had to look it up I couldn't have been the first one to say, come on, get some.

56:57I remember, who's the guy that would do Shucky Ducky, Quack Quack? It was on Def Comedy. Oh, Black Comic? Yeah. Shucky Ducky? It might have been called Shucky Ducky. Oh, it might have been his name. Yeah.

57:09Dana Carvey:Shucky Ducky, Quack Quack. I think Louisiana comics. Well, there's millionaire influencers that just have a catchphrase. I like hot sauce. They have a catch filter. That's a meme and a little coffee cup. I don't know. I'm not a grumpy old man. I swear to God, I'm not. I like with his movies, I just say what movies he's in. You were in Hall Pass? Correct. Yep. Okay, what else? I was in like most of it. I did like Hall Pass. Masterminds. Masterminds, yeah. John was that? It's a cartoon one. No, that was with Kristen Wiig and Galifianakis and Owen Wilson again. Yeah, I played a little Hitman and it showed up there for a couple weeks.

57:48Hired gun. You know, you come in, you screw together your sniper rifle. And then you went back and hosted. Was that kind of cool? it was yeah yeah i'd i'd been asked prior but the the time it was was was off and it was i went back and played you know um uh biden a couple times oh you didn't yeah that's right yeah but but at that point i'd never i hadn't had the chance to host and yeah there's perfect timing um yeah it was nice i mean it's it's a surreal experience the one thing that was different was it was post-covid so like you know the table read was which i loved you know like wednesday was like like a little theater show for everybody, you know, and, and 55 sketches.

58:28I just loved it. And, and just the marathon, it's insane. It's insane. Just the BO in that room alone. Everyone's so nervous. Yeah. And, and also, and also everyone there has seen the best of the best of the best. Like at least a third of that room has been there from the get go. So they're just kind of like, okay, yeah, we saw this. We've seen this a hundred times over. Yeah. But, but regardless of all that, the, the, the opportunity for the first time ever, like, yeah, because we during my time there's a between 45 and 55 sketches like when working there the 10 years i was there i'd probably on a good week be in 12 to 17 of those sketches.

59:03So the most time you're watching, reading. And read through. And read through. And read through. So then to show up and go back and to be in 95 % of the sketches.

59:11Dana Carvey:Yes, you're going to read, cold read over 50 sketches. Yeah. Over four hours. Sickening. Like, I loved it. I try to read them, you know, you make little notes, you try to do it and then just give it, give it your all. There's no way you can do it all. Are you a good reader? I'm like a cold reader and stuff. Some people are exceptional and then some people are good. I feel okay with it. I am okay with it. Yeah, I, and it did make, and it's something I say to anybody that is currently working in SNL or ever did, like, or will, like, if you get really good at doing SNL, you go, you then need to find, you need to then leave, like, during the off weeks or the summers, go play with other people that don't do SNL, and you'll be like, you'll feel like, you know, Daniel LaRusso, like the karate kid, where it's like, oh, I didn't know I learned how to do this.

59:52You're faster.

59:53Dana Carvey:Because you're in this all-star team. Yeah. And you lose perspective. And as long as you don't take that bunker mentality into your relationships. It seems like you have a – I'm dovetailing to Ted Nalasso. Yeah, yeah. You seem to have a lot of wisdom around SNL. Like what would you say to a cast member who just got hired and you had 30 seconds with them? Yeah. Like I would say enjoy the process of creation and destruction on a weekly basis. Just enjoy it. Like make shit, eat shit, et cetera. Repeat. and don't judge yourself for when it sticks or when it doesn't. I've never said just because it dies doesn't mean it's dead.

1:00:32I've never said that before, but that makes total sense to me.

1:00:35Dana Carvey:Oh, yeah. And there's timing. Where is the set in the studio? Who are you following? What sketch are you following? And what's the vibe of that audience? Sometimes I can just tell when I'm doing stand-up that there's a dead spot and I see an open mic coming up. I go, no chance. Five minutes ago, probably we were rode away. Right now, it's just dead. So there's a lot of whimsy. Yeah. um, you know, Jerry minor who is a friend and was, it was a guy that I looked up to, you know, uh, when he was at second city, when he was on one of the stages there, he came back to guest, And I asked him the same question.

1:01:08What would you, you know, if you had to do it all over again, his time there, I think he was there for like maybe two, three seasons. Uh, he was, I had more fun. If you could, the, the, the sooner you can make SNL, your recess versus your school, the better it's easier said than done. So hard. It's so hard,

1:01:25Dana Carvey:able to do that. Well, I feel like it builds like you're, unless you're a savant, like certain people just immediate, but you're trying to fight nerves. Try not to try, try not to be too funny, get the card. Here's the guest, look around, land the laugh, be there. And then the audience eventually land enough. The audience kind of see is you can feel the vibe. They're liking to see you and then you get more confident and they like you more. And then I can see this happen with Cecily Strong. We were watching her evolution on the show. Absolutely. And you can't rush it, but it's nerve-wracking. Warren tried to expedite in a kind way.

1:01:58He asked me to do the warm-up before the show, like probably after my first or second year in the cast. And I, again, never done stand-up. What would you do? I would just do like old-school jokes, you know, raise your hand if you've never been to a TV taping before. All right, but another show of hands, who's at a TV taping for the very first time? A lot of the same people, you know, stuff like that. My son mentioned you yesterday, because he was

1:02:19Dana Carvey:at that show and he goes oh we're going to interview him he goes oh man he's a really good stand up oh no no because that's all he saw you coming out yeah that that i mean that was lauren just wanting the audience to have a better sense of who i was before like you yeah before you get out there yeah and he would and he would be you know norm used to do it but like norm and belly would say so i'm gonna be in this sketch i'm gonna come out when i come out really really let them have it let me let them hear it you know yeah you know it'd be great if you could like Stand up and apply. Right? That'd be better than anything.

1:02:52Lauren's like, Norm, let them not like you ahead of time and then go do your update where they're going to hate you.

1:02:57Dana Carvey:Don't you love when Lauren always uses the one name? Chevy did it. Danny did it that way. Paul, Paul, Billy liked it. No, he's, there's only one Lauren. I love, towards the end there, like on Tuesdays was the host dinners. Did you guys have those? Like where you, yeah, yeah, yeah. I love them because it was like, it was a little bit like the part of me that wouldn't do homework and then would try to talk about current affairs or current events before we started talking about Beowulf. I didn't read Beowulf, but I can talk about TWA. You know how to a four-hour boozy dinner and then go back and write the show?

1:03:29I did it to avoid writing when they go, we're trying to gather people, you want to go to Spade? I'm like, yeah. I loved it just to see Lauren get loose, and I learned through repetition, so hearing stories that he may have told before, it didn't bother me at all. I'd just kind of play as Ed McMahon. or just like, or just, I was always like, I loved when you came back to host you, I feel, I felt, I always had fun making Lauren like my straight man. Like during pitch meeting on Mondays, I would, I would, I have for years since even Chicago, I still carry them like these little tiny notebooks. And I just sit there with this little notebook and it would be like, all right, Jason.

1:04:06And I'd go, Hey Lauren, you still need you. You ran out of karaoke last night without paying you owe me a hundred bucks he's like i'll get you okay you said that like you know like whatever and then and so then you know whomever you know ludicrous or ben affleck doesn't know what my relationship is with this guy who's an icon and it's just me like you know that's just giving him giving him guff but he always like we would always laugh about because it was always like respectful it was never me like you know being a dick to him but it's just just kind of like acting like he was just one of the one of the bros one of your boys yeah yeah and he hosting is scary one time i went back and i was i got sick after during dress and i had to lay down and marcy i don't know if you were there when marcy she was of course dramatic anyway and then freaking out pounding on my door i was in that little dressing room off of 8h the host and the music are right there so i was in there laying on the ground and uh i threw up and then it was mid dress toward the end of dress and i missed two sketches and i just went in and then they go so those got cut yeah the writers are like fucking awesome and then it's already got a stink on it if we try to bring it back next week for Michael Keaton a little bit of bar flex yeah and then I I got up I mean hero is a strong word but I got up and I did the show but um no hero it was people are whispering yeah I was I went out there and did a real C plus episode I hosted twice I don't know if anyone was better if you can consider that I remember Adam was in my monologue once and then he, Waterboy opened and he had to fly back to LA and I was, and Lauren goes, just do standup.

1:05:41I'm like, it's not that fucking, I never even go on anymore. So I had to go do cold standup of like, dogs are funny. Do you know he made me do, or he made me, he asked me to do the warmup for the fucking 40th anniversary. Oh, sick. He asked me to, because I had done it for eight years. That one that I was telling you. And again, just straight up, just being goofy. you know I mean Don Pardo would introduce me and here Jason Zadek and I can go give it up for Don Pardo the man the myth the legend the only person in this building that was quoted in the bible you know just doing old jokes God said let there be light he flipped the switch you know like the corniest hackiest whatever but just having fun right the audience is and then all cast that 40 that's what I said to him like he has Eric Kenwin who was a buddy he's on the show uh was you know writer guy that we were wrote together all the time I was like what are you doing like like Sarah Silliman's in the house.

1:06:30You know, Chappelle, Spade. I name check. I was like, these guys would all kill. Like, why me? Would you just do it? You know? And so I do it. And it is, I eat so much shit. Like, it's not good. No one's listening. It's like 10 minutes before it's live. And you're looking out there. And what I've said is like, it looked like the gatefold of like Sergeant Peppers, the cover. It was just everyone. Every person was famous. Every person was famous. And then famous on top. Famous was talking to famous. At some point I was like, you know, said to Keith Richards, who was talking to Jack Nicholson, you know, Keith, Jack, I think if you guys sit down, people will start to follow along.

1:07:05And it's just nothing. Nothing. And I'm like, so I'm not bummed. I'm just laughing about I look out in the crowd. Galifianakis is crying with laughter about how much shit I'm eating. Warren then comes up to me, says, says, you know, do you want me to like off mic? Do you want me to introduce you? Settle them down. I was like, yes, please. I go, yeah, man. Like that'll help. And he starts to go up to the mic. I go, hold on, let me introduce you. I go, ladies and gentlemen, really quick, let's give it up for the man. None of us would be here without him. The one and only, please put your hands together for Mr.

1:07:34Dick Ebersole. And I make that joke. And as I do that, Bill Murray walks right in front of me, looks up at me, and gives me a little thumbs up. I was like, that's why you say yes to this gig. I'll take that. Bill Murray says, you know, everybody quiets down a little bit. And then I got about 30 seconds to just say, hey, everybody have fun tonight. You know, before they got loud again, before the real show started. That was just mayhem.

1:07:55Dana Carvey:I didn't know the dressing room. I think I was just hanging out in the hallway or something. My mouth gets dry just thinking about it right now. Just stargazing. Here we turn into it. It's like somebody, somebody. I got to meet Eddie Murphy that night. It was like a to-do. Chappelle asked me, where can I smoke a cigarette? Yeah. I wasn't sure. Go to the stairwell. I don't think you can. What about a vape? He goes, I don't like them. Yeah. Well, all right. I know. But it was wild. Bradley Cooper, can I get a picture with you? Yeah. Sure. It's something else. For one night. I know. All right. let's talk about Ted Lasso yeah Ted Lasso

1:08:31Ted started as a video as a commercial yeah very well there was a guy with a beard in that and then who made that call I mean there you go is it the same guy it is the same guy same guy yeah because I was watching this morning going I don't know if they brought him over no no your guys chemistry and pattern yeah we're pals from way back when

1:08:52Dana Carvey:I'll just set the table David. Yeah. So I hear about Ted Lasso. Everyone's talking about Ted Lasso. I'm watching stuff. So eventually my wife and I get to Ted Lasso. Like everyone else are like, holy shit. It's sort of mandatory at this point. Yeah, and then it became like, this is lightning in a bottle. And you've heard everything. And you actually, you can talk to it, but you've heard from famous people, right? That just had to tell you what they thought. Can you, do you want to mention them or no? Just famous people. Well, I mean, the ones that stick out were like, you know, finding out that Brad Pitt liked the show, finding out that, you know, Frank like Oz writing a lovely letter, you know, at the Emmys last year, sitting next to, you know, Brian Cox and his wife.

1:09:30And, you know, we were at a table with some of the succession folks. And then him being like, love the show. Like just. Oh, man. If you get it, you love it. Never in a million years.

1:09:38Dana Carvey:You know, it works on so many different levels. It's very, the pop culture pattern, how fast you all do it around the room. Talking about Julie Andrews movies. It's all thrown away. Julie Andrews sent Brett Goldstein a very nice headshot. Oh, did she? Proclaiming her own appreciation for him. So, yeah, another example. And then you've got the Roy Kent guy who's, oh, these cocksuckers are going to kill him. So it's almost like Andy Griffith at times. It's so earnest and sincere. Yeah. And then the likability factor of Ted Lasso. You know, the country bumpkin doesn't know what he's doing. He's smarter than everyone.

1:10:13Dana Carvey:He has no ego. When the guy tried to take you down, that actor would be. Mohammed. Mohammed. and then you did your press conference and turned it. So you do the NBC thing, and I watched it again, and you're a fish out of water. So then you guys get in a room, they get the order. And so when did you know, like, hey, holy shit, we got a real hook for this now? Because you cast all these other characters. How does that come together? It starts and stops. Because we did the first commercial in 2013. The second one in 2014 we got to do because the one in 2013 was well-received. Sort of well-received just by your friends.

1:10:50They hear it. Yeah, but we also hear about it from the football. It was made to bridge the gap between American football fans and soccer fans. And Brendan, who plays Coach Beard, and Joe Kelly, who's one of the creators of the commercial. And we're all friends. And we're kind of like Goldilocks. I know nothing. Joe knows a little bit about both. And Brendan knows a lot about both. But mostly, and more importantly, soccer. And so we tried to do that with the first commercial. And it hits like this weird Venn diagram of football fans like it, soccer fans like it, comedy folks like it, and the advertising.

1:11:22You know, like the business people like it. And so we get to do a second one. They don't want to give us the same budget, meaning they don't want to fly us out to the UK. That's okay. All right. We'll make the commercial about how Ted got hired and fired in three days and loved, fell in love with soccer, fell in love with the UK. And so that's where like all the enthusiasm and like not the egolessness, you know, to a lot of degrees, you know, came out. So then in 2015, Joe and Brennan and I meet in Brooklyn. My partner at the time was like, you know, you guys all really enjoy doing that. You should do something.

1:11:53I was like, yeah, but what? So we sit out for a week and we're like, is it another commercial? Is it a movie? Is it this? And we sort of modeled it after the British office, you know, six episodes, one season, six episodes, second season, then like an hour and a half special for the third season. And we just, we just, just all these story ideas and characters just dumped out of us in, if that was a week, we worked on. three projects that week i'd say four out of those seven days like we're just dedicated and we just filled up these pages then it goes away for a couple years we have a olivia and i have kids uh joe a couple years a couple years yeah we didn't do anything with it because we because kids uh joe uh and three other buddies created a show called detroiters with tim robinson and sam richardson and our buddies at canon and that was on comedy central so that was taking all joe's focus um i was doing like little things with like forte and and movies here and there uh and then Then Bill Lawrence approaches me about doing a project.

1:12:47We talk about that. That doesn't quite, you know, we don't end up doing that. But he's like, if you have any ideas. And I have like this stack of like 50 pages, like a first draft, rough draft of a pilot. But then all these different breakdowns of episodes and ideas and whatnot. And we want to take a look at this. I sent it to him. She gave it to Bill. Yeah, I gave it to Bill. And so to answer your question, it's when someone that knows that much about television looks at it and goes, oh, there's something here. Oh, yeah. You guys could do this. You're probably 90 % there with that. To a certain degree, yeah.

1:13:17I mean, a lot of it, but not that Bill's influence wasn't immense and super-duper helpful. And really was the gas that got this old jalopy. Showrunners are big, big in this town. Huge. They almost are more important than the idea or the stars. Yeah, yeah. In a weird way. And he provided all that. So he really got us moving. And I look back through the text recently, kind of remind myself of our own origin story. and it really took, you know, a good calendar year for just, you know, the business. He had other things going on. We had other things going on, you know, and, you know, navigating the deals with – and, I mean, it was – you're talking about NBC owned the rights.

1:13:52Warner Brothers is where Bill's deal was, a show for Apple. And that was once Apple came on because we pitched it to everyone, but Apple was the only one to say, we'll take it. We'll take a shot at it. And then, you know, then all the deal-making after that. It takes a while. So other places, you went in with a pitch and they said no thank you. Yeah, Netflix passed, you know, Amazon passed. I mean, it makes, like, I get it.

1:14:13Dana Carvey:Well, until you see it. Yeah, no one believes until you see it. But you did have proof of concept. All you need is one. But the commercials are pretty broad, and I understood that. Right, all that can't sustain. And yet, we did do our darndest to pitch the tone of what it was, and yet, yeah, nobody was buying, and I don't begrudge anybody, really. No, no, it's just Tim Cook. Yeah. Timmy Cook. How did you write the British characters, though? like this the woman who plays Rebecca yeah is so good I mean all the British people are so good how did you put yourself in how they would react to the Americans because they're so well written too a little bit was good fortune of of Brendan Joe and I all getting to work in Europe you know even though it's we did theater you know for varying degrees like Brendan for like off and on for five years Joe off and on for like two three years me off and on for a year like we're just writing archetypes you know and and and just of like the American you know whatever spirit you know and the assumptions being made and we'd made jokes about all those stereotypes and assumptions while at boom chicago you know taking the piss out of ourselves so we kind of had that to a certain degree and and i mean brits are like you know in a fun way you know one other thing that i feel like i learned when doing stuff at boom chicago is how that we're more similar than than we like to think regardless of flag or, you know, age or race, gender, all those things, those complicated, amazing things that make the human jambalaya.

1:15:40Like at the end of the day, you know, we like salt. We like sweet. We like, you know, we like kissing. Yeah. But I mean, even across everywhere. So if there's an archetype of someone that is too positive, I think any of us will assume like, oh, they're not, they're a nightmare or something bad is going to happen. And he just sort of played against those things. You know, 75 years or however many years of sitcoms, you know, have us thinking that these things are supposed to go this way, these things are supposed to go that way. And we just try to like twist them or just turn them just a little tiny bit.

1:16:10Like nothing, again, nothing that we thought was. So you don't see everything coming. You know, some people are smart. They think they see everything coming. Sure. And then you go, oh, it's a little not what you think. Yeah. Exactly. And I remember feeling that way when watching the documentary about Mr. Rogers being like, oh, boy, here comes the dark turn at minute 50. And then it doesn't. And then you're like, okay, they're going to wait until an hour and 10 minutes in. Then it doesn't. You're just like, oh, he was just a decent man who was trying to make a difference in children's lives and also adults.

1:16:36Oh, wow. So there's people like that. How subversive.

1:16:38Dana Carvey:That's cool. Yeah, right. Yeah. What do I do about that? I mean, obviously, like Ted Lasso, the first season, there's a lot of failure. Yeah. And the way, and then just the fun of watching how he navigates it. Yeah. And how he encourages other people to do it. Like for me, it also, it always reminded me of like Highway to Heaven or, you know, Touched by an Angel. Like this idea. Michael Landon. Yeah. Like that this person would come in and, you know, sort of act this way and people would go, what the hell is going on here? Right. It was like, you're right. That's a good, yeah. Just subconsciously, I didn't realize at the time, but a big thing was about his egolessness.

1:17:14Like if you don't. No ego. No ego. If you don't put any, if you just play it without any of that. He's not, he's not trying to get over on people. He's not trying to trick anybody. And it's still 100 % consistent regardless of people thinking that it's different than that now than it was then or anything.

1:17:30Dana Carvey:I talked to someone the other day who went on some psychedelic trips with ayahuasca and or mushrooms or whatever. And it was really all about getting rid of the ego. Yeah. Because once the ego goes away, then something has changed this person. So it's interesting you mentioned Ted has no ego. Yeah, that book, How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan, was a big influence on me. And the times that I had done, you know, Mushrooms, you know, in my Amsterdam days. Oh, the Amsterdam episode, I saw that a couple weeks ago. That is hard. Oh, yeah. No, that's something you have to see. That episode, you got to watch more than once.

1:18:05Dana Carvey:Yeah, thank you. But the whole show has so many levels to it. It can be slapstick. It can be funny and silly. And then it can be very real. It's like when you're playing darts, you, Ted. Yeah, sure. and you go something about, I'm just curious. Yeah, be curious, not judgmental, yeah. Do people mention that to you? A handful, yeah. People have asked me to write that on their arms and they get a tattoo and it's not his and I don't even know if it's Walt Whitman's. I mean, we say it's Walt Whitman's because it's sort of apocryphally, it sounds like, it sounds like, yeah, your character's casually always quoting Robert Frost but it's always thrown away.

1:18:39Yeah, trying to be, yeah, like because he's not too, yeah, he's not too proud of himself and pat himself on the back. And so do you shepherd it

1:18:45Dana Carvey:like a sketch in a way? I know you have your three other partners. By the way, there is so many producer credits on the show. It's amazing. I know. It's so funny. I don't even know. I just watch the show. Wait till it. Am I a producer on it? I don't know. You're on it, David. You might be. You might be after this. You're co-executive. But do you treat it like, so you're probably someone else is technically directing, but you're going to be, you're just going to be an overriding creative force in it. Just like shepherding a sketch. Yeah. I mean, the way I can, it's a little bit like, it's a big old cookout.

1:19:13everybody brings a dish and I just sort of help put things on the plate.

1:19:16Dana Carvey:But the sensibility has to stay wherever you want it to be. Well, if you, I'm sure if something sounds false, you can stay and say, I don't, it doesn't feel like. Yeah, yeah. That's, that's been afforded to me from the get go. And do you, it's done now, right? So you miss, you're going to miss it. I'm sure. I will. Yeah. I mean, we're still, you know, like I still watch cuts for like, you know, music stuff or something like that. But for the most part, yeah. But all the editing is done. All the writing is done. And now, yeah, we have the final four episodes being rolled out and then a handful of press here and there, which is a joy to do because we all get along, actually.

1:19:49Dana Carvey:In the editing bay, is that what they call it? Yeah. So it's sort of – there's so many choices in there. And so I would assume coming from all those years of sketch comedy and other things that – and you may have people that are on the same sensibility, but sometimes you'll know or I assume you're going to know, oh, we have to go to that reaction shot a little sooner to get to laugh. Yes. So there's all that mathematics in there. And so this show is landing it so consistently. That stuff's hard to do. I would assume it's either a few people that are right on the same frequency or one person says, guys, I think we should do it this way.

1:20:18Dana Carvey:Yeah. But there's a reason why it's so brilliant. I mean, I think it's just the best idea winning. And yeah, there's a certain level of harmony in it. And it is something that I learned in that same Karate Kid way that I was talking about with SNL, where, you know, by the time you were there and by the time you were there, 20, you know, 15 years later, all those same people were still there building those sets, making those props, building those wigs, you know, and they're all great at it. They've done 10 ,000 hours times, you know, just our three generations, much less the two prior and then the four cents or whatever.

1:20:50and like I was like okay I'm gonna my sketch got picked I'm gonna go into that room with the heads of each department and just let them know what the sketch is about from my perspective without pontificating without without you know being condescending and just let these geniuses do whatever they want to do with it and then you just we have done that with this show like where you and if you leave a little space for the people to create behind the camera and in the office and in marketing, whatever, to lean into this show, the same, the same space and grace, we want to afford the audience as well.

1:21:21I think a lot of people get, you know, feel more ownership over it. Yeah. They're good in their job and you let them do their job. And if you hire good people, I like to not worry about something. I like to kick at someone and say, you know what you're doing way more than I do. And you come in there and try to boss me.

1:21:34Dana Carvey:It's nothing like someone handing you some great material. Something good and you get the credit basically. And I get the Robert Smigel was that for me and Bonnie and Terry Turner. You know, in terms of, it's such a difficult word, art or whatever. It seems like there was some, and you can talk to this or not, an autobiographical tinges in the third season based on you potentially, your private life. It was, you can speak to that or not, but I couldn't help but notice. And I thought it was so wonderfully done because I've been on the road at times with my sons and stuff like that. Yeah. Those are very poignant scenes.

1:22:08Thank you. Yeah, what's interesting is that my relationship to my life, it wasn't there from the very get-go. Even when the initial idea of doing a show, why would he go there? Because a guy like my age would most likely have at least one child and probably be in a relationship. If he's not, there must be a reason why. And so that's why the pilot ends the way of the pilot. I mean, like literally the second it was, it was thinking about it in the long form of a television show. I was like, I knew that that was the ending of the pilot was going to be okay. So, so none of that was autobiographical.

1:22:47And then his life sort of marched on. The only thing that, that, that in my life that helped inform the playing of things and maybe even the, the, the, the notion of a, of a, of a story point when breaking the episodes was being a father. and so what that's like to be away from from your child because you know otis and daisy were you know the season two and season three were in london so i wasn't away from them you know with with you know the way we we split our time uh with our children's week on week off so um but i was always you know they don't do overtime in the uk so i was home i was able to be home for real yeah yeah so like they literally afforded the opportunity to make a living i know right yeah and so so i I didn't have to – but luckily I've never had a parent take their own life.

1:23:34So you just kind of like have to do the acting thing of like empathize with someone that has gone through that or has been forced to go through that based on the decisions. And so, yeah, it's – I understand people conflating the two. Oh, no.

1:23:49Dana Carvey:It's a good answer that it's not maybe people are reading in a bit much. Well, it's a place to go anyway. Yeah. It's what would naturally happen in these things. because so much of it for me is like what happens when, you know, if you haven't broken up with someone you haven't been broken up with, then there's a whole bunch of music out there for you once you do. There's a whole bunch of movies and TV too. Whether you're on either side of that thing. And, boy, you think you like songs now. They're going to get you through things and make you want to jump off a roof and think you can fly or the opposite.

1:24:23Dana Carvey:It's a compliment to your acting too, you know. when you had that little soccer field the lego set yeah yeah you're missing your you know or just the little references to facetime or my son's here right now or there's where his flight is all that detail is so i mean that's just also having friends that that you know go through all these things and just yeah just keeping keeping those things in your head heart and soul and letting them bang around there then at some point when they come out they come out you know i think about, I've watched the, uh, it's not usually conscious. Like I watched the audio commentary for Godfather.

1:24:59Uh, I think it was either one or two just recently. And it was talking about how he made Godfather one and then everybody loved it. And he's like, do you got a father too? He's like, I don't have a Godfather too. He's like, I don't, he goes, but I forget the line that the studio had had for us. Like you found out the, the, the formula for Coca-Cola and you won't make any more bottles. And, and he had this separately, he had this idea about a father and son story where you show the father and son contemporaneously when they're at the same age. And then that like came down. He remembered that and that became Godfather too, you know.

1:25:32And so like these things going on in the world and life, you know, are one thing, but it doesn't necessarily mean it's their time to show up. You know, Christopher Walken hasn't, hasn't showed up to say the lines yet, you know. And so you're kind of like, all right, well, here, here it is all at this time.

1:25:45Dana Carvey:So is it because one of our Lordisms that we remember is he said to me once, never leave a hit. No. So with Ted Lasso, is it in your mind? I'm not following that advice. Is it done now? This story is done. It sounds like such a political answer, but it's the truth. It's like we only conceived these three. Then this thing became this big old thing. I mean, how much content is the three seasons? If you think of it as a movie. Oh, gosh. I mean, it's 10 episodes, 12 episodes, 12 episodes, but this season is probably twice as long as the first season. The episodes are just, you know, just as long as there's more.

1:26:23Yeah. More characters, more stories. It could go back to being an NBC promo. Yeah, exactly. You know what I think you could do? The bell curve. The natural. The Doppler effect.

1:26:30Dana Carvey:I know what, you know, this is some of flight effects. Sorry, I'm interrupting. I'm cross-talking. Cross-talking. Tarantino wrote a book after Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which I loved so much. it feels like Ted Lasso if there weren't going to be more television that that character people would want to hear have you thought of that? 100 % writing a novel about him whether it's that whether it's doing podcasts about the episodes to sort of offer those audio commentaries which I was so lucky to grow up in a day and age of DVDs just to sort of talk through things and themes and the people that have expressed interest in the show and also explain the show in a much more cerebral way than I ever would have been able to explain it to anybody.

1:27:20And even when they're off or wrong, it's still interesting. But yeah, I mean, there's opportunities, I think, for spinoffs. The way people have gravitated and cared for these characters and seen themselves or their friends or their family in these characters in these situations is, you know, we were hoping people would do that. We didn't expect it to be like this.

1:27:39Dana Carvey:When did you kind of go, holy shit, halfway through the first season or when you won all the 18 Emmy nominations? At some point you went. Even winning the Emmy or even the nomination for the Emmys didn't, I think, I don't know, man. It came out during quarantine, so we didn't know because I'm not too active online and less so then. I just, a guy would drive by the house when I'm taking out the garbage and honk, hey, I love the show. Oh, right. And it's a little bit the same way I felt SNL days. You know, you walk around on Sunday and people be like, great show last night. You're like, oh, right.

1:28:12People watch the show. Someone's watching. You know what I mean? It's terrifying. You can get a feel for what works and what doesn't sometimes just out in the real world. Yeah. Oh, 100%. Yeah. And it's usually very different. And then you're getting like slaughtered with it. You go, oh, shit. Something's, then an Emmy nomination. Yeah. Then Apple probably tells you it's doing well. They might not tell you exactly how, but it's doing well. That was a big difference. That probably is from a business side of things, understanding that they have access to metrics and information that they don't share was it premiered on a Friday.

1:28:41We had already started our writer's room for season two, like, you know, just kind of just in case, just in case. Then Monday calls the heads of Apple call and say, hey, so we'd love to pick you up for a second season. Then two weeks after that, we'd love to add, can you do two more episodes for a second? Then two weeks after that, we'd love to get you for a third season. And you're like, something has changed.

1:28:59Dana Carvey:They know something that I don't know in the intersect. Yeah. But that anecdotal thing of walking around, like, became more clear. because season two, we're in lockdown up there in London. So we started going to things later. Yes, we were winning these awards, but then you feel like, oh, is that just inside the bottle or the bowl, the showbiz box, which is lovely and flattering and also a little something you keep, I don't know about you guys, but you keep a little bit like, don't get high on it. You're going to kill, do season four, it'll crush. Exactly, yeah. You don't want to spook the muses.

1:29:34And so by the time we're going back there to do this past third season, all of 2022 and getting to take, you know, the kids to like football matches and stuff and have people calling us coaches and being excited to see us. And like that, I would say a little, you know.

1:29:48Dana Carvey:And hearing Brad Pitt loved it. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, that's always nice. You can tell. Miss Piggy and Yoda. Come on. No matter what you do, Dana, like you've done it, we've done it. You hear from the streets like I could tell you the top movies that they like, the top TV because it's just in order. You just hear this one the most, this one the most. and they probably only really like probably 40 of my movies. Like really, really love. I like them all.

1:30:15Dana Carvey:I want to ask you a question. So this is, so you come off. Why did I add that? I don't know. We have editing capability. Get rid of anything I say. This is what's curious to me is because I came off like a rocket. I've never had anything because of this 30 years later, I'm having a little bit of a moment in Hollywood. Nothing that anyone would know about, but I'm getting more things coming at me. So you come off SNL, you're doing all these movies, Pandemicus, whatever, you do this, and now here you are. You're the belle of the ball. Hollywood loves you. So now you're wiser, more mature. What's coming at you?

1:30:50Dana Carvey:Like movies, would you do a potato chip commercial if the problem's right? 100 % with Forte and Solomon, yeah. You gotta dance with the ones that brought you. I couldn't do it alone. You know right now that you have this heat and that the audience loves you, the world, you know, you're in this moment. And so I just wondered how, cause now you're, it's happening a second time. Here it is again. Yeah. It doesn't feel like it from the inside. And maybe that's my own, just sort of like. Are things coming at you though? To a degree, but like, there's a little bit of like, what are you going to do? Or you can get things off the ground.

1:31:20What do we do? What do we do with the TV show? It'd be probably scary to go do one right away. Like you want to sit for a second. A complete, you know, about face. I mean, there's a few ideas out there. Like I was really, really wanted to do this, this play on Broadway with this, but, but just with, with family, it's, it's tough. It's tough to, I'm still trying to navigate those real life things. And also just where, where, where my, you know, head, heart and soul are at. And, and, and there's also a great desire to like get a little bored because I.

1:31:53Dana Carvey:Take your time. Yeah. I would say if anybody was advising, I would say just don't be in a hurry. This thing is still landing. People are discovering it today. I tell anyone who hasn't seen it, start.

1:32:10I believe in that wholeheartedly. What I truly love is seeing the way all these great people behind the scenes, in front of the camera, the way that their lives have changed from it in a way that I was afforded an early glimpse of that with being hired by SNL. You know, that, that's, that, that changes the way folks that maybe weren't supportive of a child taking a path in the arts. Mine were luckily, but it changes the game there where it's like, you know, my, my son, you know. Just works on a lot. Just anything on a, on a, especially if one of their first things is a hit. Like it's also scary because some people like it, we used to talk about when you go on Friends and you're young actor and you're on Friends and you don't.

1:32:56as much as you tell yourself, you don't know how hard it is after that. Like, it can't be like this all the time. You know, everyone treats you like a certain way on anything that does well, you look back, it's always going to be ups and downs. So. Yeah. It's kind of like what you bring to it. Like, I, like, I know we worked just as hard on, you know, and any of those movies that you named as I did on this, I was charged with more responsibility and, and, and being like, you know, like from the writing side, producing side, being the final like tube for, you know, decision-making and, and, you know, tone cop and whatnot.

1:33:25not, that's all lovely. But at the end of the day, what I'm putting out there and what I want to put out into the world and how I go about trying to do that, been doing that as, you know, from any of these sketches, you know, from the sketches that weren't on SNL that I did with, you know, all my buddies back in Kansas City up to now.

1:33:41Dana Carvey:I think if it's coming from you, basically, or your very tight friends, as long as that's coming from that area, then it's probably going to be good. Unless it's, I don't know, if Quentin Tarantino or whoever your favorite director is, of course Hazy, but in lieu of anything else, if it's coming from you, it's probably going to be It feels authentic. And all I've done is added to the people that I want to make laugh and be proud of what I'm doing and then how I'm going about doing it. So it is those guys that I played basketball with, you know, those guys from my, you know, quote unquote cross country team.

1:34:09But then I acquired everything from my, you know, Days of Improv in Kansas City, Chicago, Boom. And so it's just like this, that same, that same gatefold, that same, you know, that I saw on the 40th. Like I have that many people, you know, behind me and they're not looking over me being like correcting my work or making me second guess. They're just encouraging me. And, and, and you just want to kind of be able to look back there metaphorically and be like, yeah, have them, you know, doing that nod of just like, yeah, do it. Yeah. That's good. Keep doing that. Keep being, you know, be, you just want to be proud of you.

1:34:39And you also want to feel getting to come through sketch and improv in a whole community like Chicago could have happened to 10 dozen of the people that I got to work with. I know some great stand-ups that never got a total break.

1:34:54Dana Carvey:Yeah. Brilliant. And you want to do right by them too because it's, I don't know. There's so much whimsy to this game and it's there by the grace of God go I. I mean you have to stay humble and go. So I love Paul Newman for that. He was my favorite celebrity. Because one they would go, oh, you've raised$500 million from your spaghetti sauce. He goes, I wish I'd kept the money. He didn't want to be put on a pedestal. And the other thing, how did you do it? I could give you a thousand answers. Just plain dumb luck. So just those two things. You asked about movies that were a huge influence. it's not a comedy by any means but a big one that shows up in Ted Lasso all the time was Color of Money in 1986, between my age of 9 and 11 I watched these movies that I'd go to theaters with my dad, things that are R-rated movies are everything everything the mental, excuse me the male mentoring in that movie of Color of Money and Tom Cruise after, ladies and gentlemen Top Gun, Tom Cruise well after Risky Business and All the Right Moves and all that But like now he's like a bona fide, like, and he's incredible.

1:36:07He's like. That's when you don't hear enough about Color of Money was a killer. It's because Scorsese has so many good ones. Yeah, I guess. Like, I love that movie. I was talking about that. Ed Norton and I were, I saw him recently. We were talking about that movie. And I thought I was going to get laid into when he started talking about Scorsese because that guy knows. The guy's done the thing and forgot more about movies than I'll ever know. Yeah. Like, and he brings up Color of Money. I go, I was so ready to geek out. That's my favorite Scorsese movie. And a lot of it has to do with the way I saw it.

1:36:32but then also those performances. I recommend people to see that movie. And then if you love it, then go back and watch The Hustler as like a prequel. Jackie Gleason. Is that Jackie Gleason and Paul Newman? Yeah, where he plays Fast Eddie Felsen, the same character. You know, same guy that wrote the novel, Walter Tevis, you know, who wrote both books.

1:36:49Dana Carvey:I like pool hall movies. I do too. I like, you know, Rackham. We were going to call this podcast Rackham. That's good. For real? You have to do a punchline to go, Rackham, Rackham. That's heavy transition with the sound of the balls. Rackham. Because there's a mystique. There's a mystique to people that can play the piano really well as adults that you've never seen play piano. They're really good at Jeopardy. Yeah. You know, and pool. Like if someone's good at pool, you're like, especially if they didn't grow up with money, they didn't grow up with a table in there. Like how do you get good at pool?

1:37:15Dana Carvey:The way they do the chalk and the way it goes perfectly on their hands. The math of it. They made it look cool. It's so complicated, pool. It is. But you know, the dramatic movies affected me in 2001. I wasn't everything watching John the Winners and stuff. Those things, I don't, I wouldn't say, could I do that? it was just like just blew my mind as art and the Beatles of course Pink Floyd Tom Hanks and Michael Keaton movies like where they're just where they're funny 15 % of the movie but it's like they're carrying this dramatic narrative like Mr. Mom Michael Keaton is incredible Mr. Mom is finally it gets his due I love it Keaton has just a magic as an actor yeah you know Gung Ho I loved that was a movie my uncle George I have a Gung Ho poster that my Aunt Nancy gave me in my basement and that was but again Michael Keaton like was so he's great I mean, him and Tom Hanks.

1:38:01Like, just, they were these modern versions.

1:38:05Dana Carvey:Tom Hanks and Big. Yeah. Tom Hanks, what'd you guys think of Punchline? Interesting. I mean, that was your world. We knew someone who trained himself. Barry Soboe was a stand-up. Of course, yeah, yeah, yeah. I thought Tom did a great idea. I mean, he did a great job. Yeah. It's such an interesting, like, having, I guess one that we could talk about all together is like, you know, Studio 60. Like when someone makes a film or television show about your world, like we're very blessed to have a bunch of the football soccer community having, you know, taken us under their wing and embraced us in a way that, again, we weren't, you know, jockeying for.

1:38:40But the fact that we got it authentically and organically like really, really floats our boat. Yeah, we're very, very pleased about that.

1:38:46Dana Carvey:It's hard to make a movie about stand-up, you know. And I think distance running, there's never been. Chariots of Fire, not really. Difficult to capture that. I think usually there is the meltdown and then the mic feeds back. Yeah. And the comedian has a meltdown. Which of course, Tom Hanks is a brilliant actor, played it perfectly. Yeah. But I've never seen that. Well, they also have locker rooms. Where the comedian turns and then there's a squeak. Wasn't there a locker room? Yes, there was. Yeah. I think he was. He had a lot of room dressed up as a nun or something. But he did it for the show.

1:39:15Dana Carvey:Yep. He did it as well as anyone's done it. But it's hard to do it. Like if someone, they talk about doing a dramatic show about a sketch show. Yeah. Like, like, like, like, like, like, when they did, I love the pilot, and then, it's just tough, tough to capture that. That was all I watched, yeah. Yeah. It is, it's very, it is. What are the movies you revisit now? Pulp Fiction's a big one, like, I think Die Hard is perfect. Early Quentin. What'd you say the second one? Die Hard? I think Die Hard. I think movies you can watch again, like, my wife and I, it's, you know, we watch a lot of Redford, you know, all the presidents men, we watch Three Days of Condor, which casting Sundance can I show to my sons six months ago yeah this is awesome it's really fun you have all that ahead of you how old are your kids Otis is nine Daisy is seven yeah so you're has he asked for Save it Private Ryan yet not yet no no but I do show them I mean I remember my dad taking me to see Beverly Hills Cop in the theater I saw that movie in the theaters with my dad not supposed to F words all over the place you know nudity never forget that and never forget it and it made me I wanted to be Eddie Murphy so bad.

1:40:25So bad. So bad. More so than Chevy Chase and Fletch. I loved Chevy Chase, but Axel Foley really knocked my socks off in a way that still does when I rewatch it.

1:40:38Dana Carvey:And they're coming out with a new one, right? I guess, but we'll see what happens. At least we got the first one. I loved Animal House. It was my R-rated one. They showed the girls D-I-T-S. I know. It's heavy duty. And it was pretty great. What does that mean? in the middle of the movie I go I have a boner it was so illicit so nasty and Monty Python Monty Python was that was I was pretty young Cocker Corrange yeah that scared me saw The Longest Day when I was 7 in the theater in the black and white World War 2 film yeah you know the ships come up a little broken German did you see the Fablemans the Spielberg one I haven't watched it yet I watched it on the plane what do you think I loved it really yeah I mean, it is Spielberg telling, you know, autobiographical like his story, but just his love of movies and and having children that are falling, you know, in love with storytelling and getting to see their mom and dad do it.

1:41:31And and and, you know, so much I feel of and I understand the laments of over nepotism, but so much of it is seeing someone do it and see them enjoying it or seeing the way people enjoy them. I, you know, nothing that I've purchased or have been given on a plane will move Otis towards wanting to be, do what I do for a living more than him probably seeing people give me as many high fives as they do when I go to, when we go to a soccer game. When you're happy or anything. When they're happy to see you, when people are happy to see you. You're bringing joy. When they're being polite. And again, because of the themes of the show, they're like, yeah.

1:42:08I mean, it's something that we, I mean, how often have we had the opportunity for people that work in comedy to have people tell them, take them aside and be like, I discovered this. I watched this when I was going through this and it helped me. That's the thing.

1:42:21Dana Carvey:It's like if you were famous, I don't want to pick on Porky's, but it's something like that. Like a hard R weirdo movie that everyone loved. But with Lasso, TL, Teddy, with Teddy, you know, the people are going to be emotional about it because it touches everything. Yeah, Hannah gets that a lot, the one who plays Rebecca, just the amount of women that come up to her and just say, you are playing me. Yeah, she is a force of nature, obviously. So the thing I was going to say earlier about the writers, you know, we let all the Brits anglicize things. Every now and then do we push back where it's just like car park versus parking lot or saying tie instead of draw.

1:42:56And some of those things drive people crazy, and I understand that. But that's just, you know, the phrase that I would always use just so folks in Kansas can get it. So you're trying to like to get too much in the weeds of like the politics. You don't want to lose. Yeah. Because I think if you're dominating emotion is confusion, then you're that much further away from either being happy or sad.

1:43:14Dana Carvey:You talk like Ted Lasso sometimes. Say that again. Or vice versa. If your dominant emotions are. I like your. Confusion. If your dominating emotion is confusion. If your dominant emotion is confusion. You're that much further away from making an audience. If the audience is confused. Then they don't know whether to laugh or cry at a given moment. So, yeah, you kind of try to give him breadcrumbs. That's me during Tenet. And that's nice. Exactly. Juno. My dominant emotion was anger. Juno Temple. Yes, ma 'am. Is great. Just got to go through the list. Well, no, I just, I like all these two actresses, especially.

1:43:46Dana Carvey:Yeah. They are great. Obviously, Brett Goldstein, just the way he stands all the time. Oh, yeah, yeah. Like a gunslinger. Yeah, he's just funny. He's like, funny, funny voice. I'm sure. Someone's going to do him on SNL. I know. I'm surprised they haven't yet. I'm really surprised. He's such a funny character. But that's all him. It's fun to hear him talk about it because it's him doing Bill Sykes in his mind from Oliver. He's just trying to be Bill Sykes. And so, yeah, when I'm doing rewrites or breaking stories, just like the same thing at the rewrite table at SNL. Just doing bad impressions of all these very specific, authentic people.

1:44:21I'm just talking like this with Rebecca and doing like that. And I'm doing bad. I can't do any of these accents. Right, but you're just hearing them. You're just hearing the rhythm and the cadence of it and, you know, trying to draw from what they're, you know, what you. And when did you decide? I just. Life experiences. One more question. One last one.

1:44:38Dana Carvey:When did you decide that you would use R-rated language? Was that pretty early on? Yeah. That was early on. Because you kind of use it. You don't lean on it. But all of a sudden it's like, these fucking coke shuckers. Mostly from him. Yeah. But that's an interesting dynamic. I 100 % didn't want to use it myself. I didn't want him to be, you know, all those movies that you. you know I sort of got and I mean I was making these choices you know for for the reasons I made them you know the movies that I was doing and the characters I was playing a lot of them were cats you know guys on the make you know like um trying to trying to get uh girls and whatnot like Dick Fuel yeah exactly exactly like he just wanted respect you know he just wants respect and a paycheck and a good lunch uh but like uh but then so I knew that lay on for me I didn't want to be bawdy and I didn't want to I didn't want him to swear if he did it was only you know I I think he's done it once every season.

1:45:26But everybody else, it's like, yeah, that's just the world as it is. So we just wanted to.

1:45:32Dana Carvey:It just works. Yeah, Apple never fought it. They didn't want us to use the C word. So there was a monologue. And it's thrown around in England more. I mean, it's like, and that was the whole premise. It was like, you know, we were even ready to beep it. But it was May. The woman who owns the bar uses it very casually. And in reference to Ted. The C word. Yeah. And, and, and just Ted and Beard's reaction to, whoa, Hey, you know, she's like, what, what's the big deal? You know, and just her going, no, you can use it in a bunch of different ways. And she goes through a bunch of different ways. You know, it reminds me a lot of like when we, it ended up not being able to use it.

1:46:07Cause Apple was like, nah, we can, you know, we can't use a C word. I was like, all right. Was remember Schneider's standup bit from days gone by of the word dude. Yeah. Yeah. Is that, that, that great, that idea. I like that you remember that. oh yeah yeah that was a you were on that special too I think right was that oh the young comedians oh yeah that thing got a lot of a lot of play you're in a closet with a knife dude yeah talented yeah Rob has some really good rhythms dude oh no war I mean come on I didn't know it was B-Y-O-T I didn't say it on the ticket hi Rob no that's my joke calm down this is fine he's doing me at the U2 concert oh what is it Bono's yelling no war no war I'm saying no war you're saying no more What are you saying?

1:46:51War? Sorry. I don't know. I didn't know who the fuck is singing. I'm supposed to read his list.

1:46:55Dana Carvey:Am I boogging you? Am I boogging you? I don't mean to boogging you. Am I boogging you? I didn't mean to boogging you. That's a bad bottle. What's your brain candy? When do you want to calm down? What do you do? Take a walk? Do you watch the best of David Spade? Yep, still. Do I have one? If you don't, you do now. I do. I mean, I'll play the last few years. Pinball was one for a while, but those are tougher to move around, right? So, so playing video games, like playing, you know, Fortnite with like friends and just, you know, turning my brain off and just focusing on that. And then a thing that I got into over the last, like, I mean, I'd always been into it, but over the last, you know, six years basically, uh, was like magic, like just shuffling cards.

1:47:35Like just, I just find it very meditative. And a lot of times when in situations where I have to do as much, you know, listening and thinking as I do talking, I'll, I'll usually have a deck of cards on me because it'll keep me from, you know, pulling out my beer. You just practice shuffling. Yeah, yeah, or just kind of like, you know, doing like little sleight of hand moves. And I don't really perform magic for anyone. I just, I'll do it for like friends after a couple beers or like my kids, if there's just like a deck laying around. But I've never been one to be, hey, you want to see a trick?

1:48:02What's your time to relax, David? Sorry. I don't know, actually. I haven't been relaxed in 30 years. See, I envy that. I wish I could. I know before I die, I know I will dedicate more time to like trying to play the piano. I've done it throughout my life and then something always. But it's just that desire to want to run before I can even crawl. Yeah. It's so hard.

1:48:26Dana Carvey:Piano's tough. I have an electric piano too. I'm just banging on it all the time, but I don't. But the guitar, if you get nylon strings, get a small guitar, just learn. Because it doesn't rip up your fingers. Yeah, before you get the calluses. So you get a clear note rather than it's all mushy. Learn five chords, G, C, D, E minor, and then you can play 100 songs. No, but it's really simple. Just smoke on the water. Is Smoke on the Water still the go-to one, or is that too old? That aged you so hard, Spade. I don't even know what it is. No, that's a deep purple, isn't it? I'm young. Don't act like you don't know what Smoke on the Water is.

1:49:00Don't make me the old guy. Smoke on the Water. You probably know what it's about, too.

1:49:06Dana Carvey:I would do Come, you know, Nirvana. Come and get some? Come, come, get some. Come as you are. I mean, I've always loved Nirvana. I was right in the sweet spot. Well, me too. and i was older but yeah still thought they were brand i listened to them a ton before doing this season uh for one reason or another and um i got and otis was learning you know playing guitar him and daisy take these these like lessons do this thing out here called kid row it's lovely it's like school of rock but they just call it when you're young you learn so much better and and i bought a i'm left-handed even though i don't play guitar but i would play i air guitar left hand Yeah, exactly.

1:49:45Or Kurt Cobain. So I bought like a guitar and Otis and I took a lesson together. He was already better than me and I was slowing him down. And I'm just like, even playing Smells Like Teen Spirit, so hard, so difficult. And then even if you play the simple version of it, like it hurt my fingers. I couldn't like drums are a much more natural fit for me. I have better limb separation.

1:50:06Dana Carvey:You could also get a maple neck strat and have them. That's a bird. David, this is inside baseball. it's a strat oh caster the nylon strings was a mind blower here because I was like oh yeah but you can hear also with very lightweight strings on an electric guitar um you could play bar chords of that really simple but it's still hard yes it's like it's like Teddy it's impossible even people that don't that just do it noodling around make it look so easy it it it's look well next time we hang out next time I'll show you a couple I'll show you just a D chord and then a bar just a bar three notes And then you'll be like, I'll take a nap.

1:50:46Dana Carvey:We have a little farm up north, and I want a room with pinball machines in it. It's worth at least having one. As a kid, they were huge. I've not played it in a while, but, and a pool table. Jason Sadekis was our guest today, and he, in summation. It's the left brain. Lived at Burger King. He's one of Kansas' favorites. He had a very small room at the Paramount Hotel. A small room. We don't normally sum up. His next thing is going to be something with low pressure. He might remake The Godfather or something. Our guest has been Jason Dinkins. You were great. I thought your car was murdered out, by the way.

1:51:22Not bad, you know? Yeah, not bad, guy. You called the jet car. I wanted to look like a Batmobile. It looks cool.

1:51:28Dana Carvey:SNLR, all-star, movie star, and now a global live streaming star. I don't know. That's a new one. I said star three times. It sounds like a nice resume. I just wish you all the best and take your time and have fun. And I'm one of those people that was really affected by this show and just love it. Just really affects me. I was affected by COVID. By COVID, you were. David, we're going to work on you. David's a work in progress. No, I'm not. Look it, I took notes. No one works harder than David. All right, thank you, Justin. What's your name? Justin Theroux has been our Jason guest. Oh, Justin was last.

1:52:02Dana Carvey:Billy Sedakis was here today. Neil Sedaka. I think Bill Sedakis was. Wasn't he like a baseball player? Is that Greek or what's it? It's Lithuanian. Litha who? Litha what? Litha who? I go away. I stand. But not Litha. Lith. Yeah, Lith. Lithuanian. Lithuanian. But yeah. I'm throwing this away. David, I want to hear your Hall Pass story. Yeah. You didn't finish that. I dated a girl in Hall Pass. No, that's not your Hall Pass. The girls that come up to you at the end of the show. Oh. You dated. He likes the other story better. Oh, in Vegas. Yeah, the type of the girl that... The girls that... They go, you're my hall pass.

1:52:41You get the meet and greet? And I go, first of all, they're all nervous, and they're hands drenched like a sham wow. I'm like this. And then I go, and they go, I'm your hall pass. You're my hall pass. I go, oh. And they go, that's where I get. I go, no, I know what it is. I'm a hard pass on my side. You're a hard pass. You're my hard pass. Yeah, you're my hard pass.

1:53:05Hey, guys, if you're loving this podcast, which you are, Be sure to click follow on your favorite podcast app. Give us a review, five-star rating, and maybe even share an episode that you've loved with a friend. If you're watching this episode on YouTube, please subscribe. We're on video now. Fly on the Wall is presented by Odyssey, an executive produced by Danny Carvey and David Spade, Heather Santoro and Greg Holtzman, Maddie Sprung-Kaiser, and Leah Reese Dennis of Odyssey.

1:53:32Dana Carvey:Our senior producer is Greg Holtzman, And the show is produced and edited by Phil Sweet Tech. Booking by Cultivated Entertainment. Special thanks to Patrick Fogarty, Evan Cox, Maura Curran, Melissa Wester, Hillary Schuff, Eric Donnelly, Colin Gaynor, Sean Cherry, Kurt Courtney, and Lauren Vieira. Reach out with us. Any questions to be asked and answered on the show, you can email us at flyonthewallatodyssey.com. That's A-U-D-A-C-Y dot com.