RE-RELEASE - Taran Killam

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2:13That's quince.com slash fly. Hey, David. Taryn Killam. um taron killum is an snl alum alum all-star great great cast member entered into our show and we had a lot of laughs with the dude um i just saw him i think i saw him at the 50th for sure and you see him on a lot of stuff out there we had a great chat with him i mean you might have were you there he wasn't there when you were doing all the um you know i think i was just left i was

2:47Dana Carvey:visiting in and i think he might have done a trump like people were doing different trump impressions yeah at that time then daryl hammond came and did one on church chat all right but taron is a great impressionist great actor yeah and singer he's on broadway a lot does a lot of stuff and he tells us his story yeah uh and it's always an interesting thing to find out how someone got on SNL, what happened on SNL, and how's his life now. Yeah. And we'll let him tell you. Here he is. Taron Killam.

3:25You look great. You look wonderful. Thank you. They pulled me from hair and makeup. I love authentic spade is my favorite spade. Yeah. Look at me. Yeah. It's awesome. It's a little dark. Yeah. Sharp. Good. No, there's texture. There's contrast. Taryn looks the best. Dana looks like a best because it's bright. Do you have the blur background, Taryn? No, it's a good camera, but I do have the touch-up filter on. Yeah, you look 26, so I don't know.

3:59Dana Carvey:If we could videotape this, I mean, your new nickname is high school senior. Shave the beard and go out. Just go out. yeah the beard is fake so i can get booze he was a family man that went back to high school he had a beard when he was 13 invest an apple trust me yeah damn that's too close to home i was told to do that in 2003 and i told the guy to fuck off i said no take your apple stock ideas it will never work you're the dana you're the anti-forest gum yeah you go back and get bad advice what is that obvious now you know what's what's the we can't tell right now because everything's just like whoa it's gonna exactly it's gonna be attack that that i don't even understand i got all my money in female space missions okay you're doing very well it's a big week for you one i'm yeah oh that's right well we'll we can talk about that if you want but i just went straight into the divine feminine just all divine feminine that's the future no I'd go to space.

5:10I'd go to space. Wouldn't you go to space? It's seemingly like the uproar is how they talked about going to space. They weren't acknowledging of the jet fuel enough, but I'd go to space.

5:23Dana Carvey:Well, the tension is that any rocket could blow up any second in the takeoff phase. I guess that would make me nervous. And that's the, oh, sorry, it was a fuse. We didn't trade it out. If we lost Gale that way, I'd never forgive us. Never. Can you imagine if Oprah just went full Oprah? If that thing exploded and she started beating the shit out of Bezos. That's her like John Wick movie. She becomes a one Oprah army. You try to pull her off. Anybody who drives a Cybertruck suddenly ends up dead. You want some of this, Oprah? But anyway, I like that Jeff Bezos, everything in his whole ecosystem looks like a dick.

6:03Dana Carvey:Like the spaceship does. Sure. The swoop on Amazon does. His head. His actual head. His own head. Sorry. His wiener surprisingly doesn't. It is. No, it's more square. It's square. It's more chode-like. They're rich and famous. Sharp edges. It's fun to shit on them. They're fine. They're fine, man. But seriously, would you go on the rocket? Yes. Because we could do an SNL alumni rocket. Oh, yeah. That's what we should do. All right, troops. Get ready. Fred Armisen, you'll be in the blue chair. who's your dream cast like no who's your dream astronaut yeah who's your dream rocket cast yeah yeah actually i would cast you as an astronaut i'll take it because you could play i'll take it you can act and you could play it and you could play that kind of whatever you call that astronaut vibe i'll take it dana i didn't know this was going to be an hour of my heroes complimenting me but i would have signed up faster it is well we just yeah you can run but you cannot hide sorry 10 killiam we're about to put a book you could use your bland bachelor sort of character to go up in space to be the everyman exactly i just watched bland bachelor what was it called the selena gomez yeah yeah yeah yeah i remember that how often does it happen where people bring up sketches that you have no memory of um it's never not happened yeah it's funny because i said there's i will remember everything i did on snl and i i wasn't like super sketch guys so i was in like one or two a show and i still cannot remember half of them yeah i remember my first week very well and seth being at the table talking about seeing an episode on vh1 or whatever and he's like it turned it on and amy puller was in it i was like oh i must have been changing backstage i don't remember this sketch and he walked onto the screen.

7:59He was in the sketch. And I remember thinking to myself, that'll never happen to me. There's no way. I will remember every second of this.

8:06Dana Carvey:Well, 127 shows is the main metric that I read. So probably, because you were ubiquitous on the show, 400 sketches? Yeah. Probably, maybe 500. A lot. Half of those high school astronauts. The high school astronaut. Wait, I've got a quick addendum. I have some film ideas for this dude before we get done but let's go through his let's go through listen to my transition to do a pitch i was at the good nights i saw a clip the other day and it was it was when nirvana was on either i don't know which time but i guess kirk cobain had purple hair and he turned around and started making out with chris novicek or dave grohl and it was a big story and you pant you pull back and i'm standing right there you know in the back waiting to hug someone or get it over with not I'm not really watching them kiss.

8:56And I'm like, I do not remember being on the good nights. And I do not remember seeing them kiss. And that was scary because that was actually something that happened instead of just being in the background of a sketch or something. So I realize it does happen. It's very real what we're talking about.

9:12Dana Carvey:It is. We're getting deep, heavy, and real. But I, yeah. Deep, heavy, and real. Dana's new special. Deep, heavy, and real. No, I know someone says that. You know, when you hug people on the good nights, it's kind of interesting. There's a traditional amount of hugging and hugging pressure. And then there's more pressure and longer. And like, geez, I didn't know you felt this way about me. It's like Heidi Gardner. It's fascinating to like. She feels that way about everybody. She's a lover. She's a lover. She is. It's fascinating how people project onto the good nights. You know, like I, the only thing I would do is that when the, when the beat would drop in the drums, I would like jump into the air and people caught onto that.

9:52but that was like a fun tradition oh that's cool but otherwise it's yeah it was nice it was and and not always on camera so sometimes you just see a shoulder hopping into frame or whatever um but it's so funny how people read into like oh look they're they didn't hug they're angry yeah they skip this is the host walks right by you to hug someone next to you oof on camera burn

10:13Dana Carvey:shame so you would go to the back and then snake your way toward the lens or would you snake i i it depends i wish i would like a regret is i wish i'd stayed in costume more because those are my favorite good nights to see yeah oh yeah especially when the 10 to 1 got cut and you're just like oh yeah you're dry why why is there some like robot clown on holding a hot dog and it doesn't make what did that what was that you're dressed like a llama the best part is yeah when you're still in your costume you're like barely made it to good nights yeah this is show that's live folks yeah i i do i love it um yeah but in terms of like any who hugged me who didn't like so much of i'm just speaking for myself like i'm in my own head about my week like i literally don't care about anybody else who did you hug the most though was it the host or was that's a good question was kristen wick there oh yeah kristen and i overlapped kristen kristen and i knew each other before the show too so she was always very kind to me with the groundlings yeah big G you're the coolest the groundlings are the coolest because they just come in loaded they've already done sketch comedy we're stand ups we're playing greasy spoons and shit boxes it's literally cheating when you go to read through the first day and I go this guy will suck and then they got a fucking perfectly buffed out groundlings sketch you can take it from groundlings and put it on 8H and old Jed's a millionaire it is the best training in terms of like the structure, like there is no other comedy platform, you know, second city is, is pretty close and similar, but Brownlings, especially the Sunday company is like new show every Sunday pitching ideas.

11:57But I love, I love what Chris rock says about it. And that like standup people come in and they know how to write jokes. That is the difference. That's the difference is that like the joke, I, I, that was something I structured. I struggled with, um, Um, groundlings are character based. So it's behavioral comedy, right? Like, like to pare it down. But, and the standups, I was always so envious and covetous of the, of just knowing. How to get laughs, how to get laughs. That was, that's helpful.

12:27Dana Carvey:I don't know how to write jokes. Spade's a great joke writer, monologue writer, but he's telling a story and then he has all these laugh points, you call them. But, but you have little tiny tent poles. You are my sketches are tougher. Go ahead. Well, the way what Taron, what you lean in on is what I still find my favorite, where it's like, I did see one, I went through, because that's the cool thing, YouTube, best of Taron, you know. So I will go into a lot of them, but the one with Justin Bieber, where he says Gleis, and you're totally carrying this sketch with attitude of the asshole brother who's really fucking with the date of his sister.

13:06Dana Carvey:Aggressively insecure. And played all the beats and committed so hard that it was just so much fun to watch. Oh, thanks, man. Yeah, that was a groundling sketch for sure. Oh, it was? Yeah. And tell me about it because I didn't see it, but it was just a beat. Yeah, just explain it. Do a little bit of the attitude, but no. Yes. So the premise is that Nassim brings home a boyfriend from college, Justin Bieber, and And he has to meet her older, like way past his prime, still living at home brother who like tries to act intimidating, but it's pretty pathetic. And Justin's first line is like, it's nice to meet you.

13:46I meant to say, I'm glad to meet you. And it's nice. But I said Gleiss. And then my guy's like, Gleiss, what the hell is Gleiss? You sound so stupid. And then throughout the sketch, all these details about my life come out about how I was pathetic. with it and then he can't let go of it he can't let go of the one thing he has against this beautiful charming young man who's come home of a jerk and the rhythm in there it's like a joke

14:11Dana Carvey:in a way that you're going to glice all that and then you kind of break it down again oh no i'll get me wrong man you're a cool brother yeah there's like a big laugh in it that was just me saying remember yeah like i said glice and i say remember and it happened 30 seconds ago yeah he seems pretty cool though was he fun that week he was yeah he was young he was young and he was he's entering a phase but i had i had good experience with him whatever that means that's a good cloak he's yeah he's it was it was like uh i feel like it was pre-roast post um you know post believer documentary right um but yeah but but but you know it's so interesting like the currency in snl where i'm so desperate for last speaking of laughs but in many ways it's better to get like a whoop like a to get like the girls screaming you know that was like a big big part of like timberlake's currency and stuff is like they're not necessarily howling or side splitting but they're just like when they would scream for justin did you wave also like yeah exactly some of it's for me yeah some of it's for me it's kind of a split crowd I won't point to which ones because I'm humble, but part of this is for me.

15:26Dana Carvey:Yeah. All right. Well, did you and B? Bye guys. Oh, sorry. I got all these lists. We've been on a commercial for the last 12 minutes. We're going to record. We're going to start recording. This is called our warmup. Now you should have talked to Bieber about what it's like. You understand the quick fame. Yeah. Yeah. Let me, let me let me get you out for you. Man, I've been there, dude. I just want to give you some advice. yeah i mean i started on the show a little bit older like i was 28 when i started which is but i know that keaton he pete davidson and and beaver connected and were like we're friendly for a while but i was i was already a dad when i started on the show so weird i wasn't very good at like the hang the post hours hang here yeah weird man i just moved dana and i know let me tell us you realize how bad your bedding has gotten until you until you try to put it to the next spot and it's falling apart you gotta replace it i used to wrestle with the sheets they completely slipped off the corners pillows i thought i needed a new mattress but the fix was upgrading what actually touches my skin i switched to bowl and branch difference is immediate their signature organic cotton bedding is completely breathable and remarkably soft.

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17:31Dana Carvey:So who did you overlap? Like you went in in 2010. So Hader was still there. Yeah. Correct. And Sudeikis. Yep. So when did they lose? I was there for two seasons with Wig and Sandberg, and then they left after my second season. And then Bill, Jason, and Fred stayed one more season. And then I did another trip. That long ago, Kristen Wig, was it 2012, you're saying? 2012? Yeah. That was when she left? Yeah, yeah. Shit. Hey, time flies, man. I mean, my God. I left in 1888, so I guess it's all relative. Yeah. I can see the musket on your wall. right after the constitution came out we had one bit about that and then i split so and live from new york it's saturday night reload i like when people quit the show for like they got a commercial and they're like i'm out i hit the big time and you're like well that's it i'm done now they do commercials of sketches while you're watching the show and i'm only envious they have the californian sketch i go right we will we had to kevin neil and i were forced to turn down a nike campaign just do it in 1988 it was gonna be jaz do it so now they're like doing that i mean i'm so i'm jealous but i'm happy can you can you ask him again can you hit up phil knight and be like hey hey man we're still pissed we're still funny yeah let me tell you we still have the sweatshirts and pillows they still fit hey man those guys are evergreen i wanted to go on the 50th before i got the flu as hans and franz and and i'm just it would have been awesome oh you were so missed great yeah you were so so you guys were fully loaded but thank you taryn i thought you no dude i mean you are you are a legend and yeah so that it was felt it was felt it certainly was did i I host the show when you were there and you did a Harrison Ford at read through, which kind of impressed me.

19:32Dana Carvey:Yeah. The attempt is I go, who is this? Who is this kid? We got it on. We got it on. You did host and I got to be in a church lady, which was a highlight for me. And as Ted Cruz, less of a highlight for me. But then I got Harrison Ford on and I'm such I'm a really big Star Wars nerd. jj abrams reached out and he was editing the first new star wars like the the one that they brought back and he said hey will you do me a favor i need a line of dialogue off camera by from harrison oh my god and i can't get him for two months so we just want it for the real so that doesn't take you out of it it's like a special effects thing will you do it get it so i got my plate you take care of truly you get to the fountain and like you got it that's great and he used he said he used it up to literally the final mix.

20:25Wow. And Harrison went, who the fuck is this? Who the fuck is this? Get out of my house. Get out of my house. He's the coolest, man. He is the movie star.

20:37Dana Carvey:He goes, get off my plane. Then he goes, get out of my ship. Then he goes, leave my coffee shop. Give me back my whip. Stop sharing my parachute. Don't even share my password. Stop being a working girl. that was a good one oh i you were a whore and milk money yeah yeah why stop being such a witness can i get a witness and of course the the iconic trailer chewie get me out of here chewie chewie take care of chewie yeah chewie your fleas are getting on me um but you were great danny you were a great host and spade you've always been so so kind to me thank you The first time we met was like the day that the Sandman, and I haven't earned saying that, but I like to say it because that's what everybody calls it.

21:27I love that. On Grown Ups 2, we came out for a day. Oh, with the car wash? The car wash scene. Oh, it was one of the best scenes. That was such a fun day, and you were so nice to all of us. And Schneider was sitting that one out. You were sort of filling us in on why. Oh, he was sitting Grown Ups 2 out. He sat that one out. Oh, yeah. and then and then i don't know if you remember this david but at the 40th you were in the end of the californian sketch and cecily did the device and it was saturday rehearsal and you and i got to talking and you and i walked up to like the rainbow room to the party together and you were telling me like beat for beat the eddie murphy exchange oh yeah did i and you're telling me that and you're like yeah and i you know it was stressful and and we're sitting at top of the rock i don't know if you remember this but i i couldn't believe it it was like we live in a scenario uh we live in um a universe like we live in in a matrix like a matrix like made up yeah um you're telling me the story you're telling me basically the end of the story like eddie came and then and he walks in with brett ratner yeah he walks in over your shoulder and made a beeline for you and shook your hand and and you were so gracious to each other and it was such a cool moment that like clearly you've made peace and it was all good but i couldn't believe it i was like i'm watching yeah like the made for tv movie i love it simulation i saw him and he was nice again so uh yeah i'm sure he's annoyed by that story it's so dumb but it's it's kind of a good little juicy one even though it's too far back is it done now is it really done

23:07Dana Carvey:or is it still 100 it still came up like a few months ago don't be surprised if you see the two in a spaceship going somewhere yeah yeah flying in the rocket together it was so cool in that moment like at the 40th like he like you were the first person he walked up to and shook your hand he was so cool and it felt good and it was like oh brett ratner's here too you know you got excited about brett radio not quite as excited but you know tell me everything about rush hour oh yeah Yeah, Rush Hour. God, he had it made, Rush Hour. Rush Hour. He's got back end. Chris Tucker does stand up. I just saw Chris Tucker was going to be like Yamava or something in Palm Springs.

23:46I'm like, I would love to watch Chris Tucker do stand up. I don't even know what his stand up is like.

23:52Dana Carvey:Let's have him on this podcast because he's interested. I would love it. He did three Jackie Chan movies, 20 million each for the last two. And then he's been a little mysterious in his own lane. But then he came out recently and is doing something. Kind of an interesting move to turn down 20 million for something, for literally anything. And then my OnlyFans, when it hit 20, I thought I'd stop, but I'm addicted. Now you just do it for the passion. No, I just do it. Oh, you know who's on? Amanda Bynes. You know Amanda Bynes? I was on the Amanda show back in the day. I know, that was a trick question.

24:29I'm only telling you this because she announced it yesterday, but she said, which is smart up front, it's not going to be sleazy stuff. Sure. It'll be my day and stuff like that, which is still interesting because she's very interesting. But it's 50. So I did a little stutter step. Yeah. Is that a lot? I don't know OnlyFans as well. I would say that seems high. High. Now, you wonder why they're all making$20 million. I don't know how, but it must be a volume thing. But, uh, oh yeah, Amanda, uh, who, uh, you worked with way in, how old were you guys then? Yeah, I, it was my first job, literally the last week of high school.

25:11I got, I got cast on her show. Um, and so I, we worked together for like three weeks then. And then I went away to college and like, I didn't have an agent anymore. I was focused on school and they called me back to do more. And they helped me get an agent, like being on the Amanda show kind of like started my, my grown-up acting career um and we were friends and then we did a movie together big fat liar um and she was the best she was it was a very important relationship to me in my life and and yeah she's i was she like how old we when you started what's the mandat show is she like 11 or like really young she's she's 14 15 when she wouldn't choose and then she got movies and that was one of the movies she did where like she's the man was one of course i remember is that what's called she's the man the soccer one yes yeah exactly channing tatum hilarious and uh i always thought she's so great so she's one of the most talented people i think she's one of those people everyone pulls for like britney like yeah it's a very tough world out here in showbiz at whatever level and they are they were at a high level and uh yeah she seems like that age too like to be a full like lucille ball carol burnett dynamic and and and had the good you know she's truly one of the best right i should good at it good at it funny very cute uh yeah and it's just such a weird world out here that we're and when they're young you're right you just don't know

26:36Dana Carvey:ariana timberlake yeah oh yeah just talent well i was gonna ask you because you think okay high school senior and then you go do that like in the in the sort of neurosis fear paranoia whatever how are you mentally navigating show business like were you super scared getting on snl or Or you'd done so much that you maybe were more confident? I'm just curious. Yeah. Like I started auditioning very young. Like I think I was five years old when I did my first commercial audition. And fortunately was not successful at all. I'm Terrence SAG-AFTRA. I love milkshakes. Yeah. Your mom took you. Four, six SAG-AFTRA.

27:20Slate, please.

27:21Dana Carvey:Buckwald and Associates. That was Buckwald. Is that really what it was?

27:30but but so like was always adjacent and enough exposure but um but without any of the trappings of success thank goodness and then all the hassle don't worry yeah all that all that 20 million yeah yeah um and then in high school i went to the performing arts high school here in la locksa and so started doing theater and really loved musical theater uh in particular and was going to college for musical theater and then in that sort of like reconnection with the amanda show and getting representation i started auditioning again and on a fluke got mad tv when i was 19 oh that's right yeah like like just like doing lots of impressions of wb stars and stuff like that and then my characters were just impressions of my teachers you know that i didn't like who's on with you that we would know right around that i was there for sasso's last year and and and board alex borstein and then i was with mo collins and michael mcdonald and stephanie weir already landrew daly already had already had come and gone already i was like the seventh season so i was like kind of deeper deeper in um and was just in way over my head and like what is this and sketch gone i i'm a i'm a theater actor and then loved it so much and so many of the people particularly on the writing side that i love like michael hitchcock and jennifer joyce were groundlings people so i left mad tv and started taking classes at groundlings and and kind of then had my eye on the prize for snl and did that help you knowing a little bit about it was a similar yes snl and mad tv in that they're like yeah just in that they're sketch comedy shows but i think you know where mad tv probably had a lot more chefs at the top level snl has lorne you know and i think that that's probably the biggest chef he's got an aura i just have to back up for a

29:27Dana Carvey:second so you're going to high school you tell your parents well yeah i'm gonna go to high school and you were living in Big Bear right that's right okay great where you want to go I want to go to a performing arts high school and I want to pursue musical theater and you knew this at 17 18 and they went and they were in support of it if anything my mom was encouraging of it she kind of you know her great uncle was Robert Stack and her cousin David Bowe is an actor so she knew On February 27th If you can't do the Yamaha Studios Chris Tucker turns down 20 million No one knows why Yamaha Studios But I love anyone who does an impression Not well and just says the name I'm Robert Steck You kind of hypnotize people I guess it's good Why are we saying it like that I'm Robert Steck He did that in his audition One of his audition moments for SNL was hello i'm martin sheen and if i don't sound like myself it's because i have a cold but if you do think i sound like him great and that was the whole bit well that's will forte has his own lane and at snl he's got his own man he's the the potato chip sketch he was surprised how big a fan i was of of that sketch where him and sudeikis go shithouse over a bowl of potato chips and just full tilt commitment to drama and crying because he thought he took one of his potato chips it's anyway it's just bill ford the best perk of the job is going on the server and seeing like cut for time sketches and he had a sketch called finders keepers it was a season finale and alec baldwin was the host and baldwin is coming back from the beach and he's like where's my car i just parked my car here and and forte has a metal detector at the beach and he's sitting on the hood of his car that's covered in sand and he's like sorry buddy finders keepers and alec goes what are you talking about that's my car get off the hood and i think there's three lines of dialogue in the full exchange and then forte launches into a full song called find finders keepers losers weepers it's the law of the beach and the whole the whole sketch is just this song explaining the rules of finders keepers at the beach and is he and it brings me so much joy and And it was pretty quiet.

31:54I think thank goodness. The nice thing about a musical sketch is the music's playing. So at least seems loud, like things are happening. There's some decibels being achieved, but decibels happening. Yeah. How sickening when it doesn't work. Yeah. The worst is when you go in there like that's for a shortcut, but you still walk in the room like this. Huh? Yeah. 1 % awful. Like it's on the right. Did they think it was so funny that no one.