Rosebud Baker Was Raised by War Criminals (and Writes for Weekend Update)

0:00And you just, you go from feeling like, uh, cool and sexy and working at SNL to being like the most unfuckable, just like, uncreative human. Yeah, no, I was like raised by war criminals. I think I'm, I got this. I'm fine. I'll be honest with you. If I had, um, if I had any real home runs, I don't know if I'd be at update right now.

0:30Dana, have you ever heard me say this? Having my baby back. Do you know that song from the 70s?

0:37Dana Carvey:Oh, I know. It's just so funny. You're having my baby. You couldn't say that now. Wouldn't it be considered sexist? Such a weird song. Isn't she having a baby too? Yeah. I mean, that song is so odd when he goes, you didn't have to keep it. I'm like, I'm sorry, what? What did you just say? We should maybe. We should play that song and talk about it. If we don't use this for this, we should use it for our next episode. No, we'll put it on. there's two there's two like that the other one is no one knows what goes on behind closed doors these are corny 80 anthems so let's save those for super for what we're doing well it made me think of rosebud because rosebud baker is a very funny uh comic and she just did a movie where i'm sorry she's just a special where she's pregnant and then she does part of the special Takes time off, has the baby, and mixes it all together.

1:28Dana Carvey:Yeah. Called The Motherload, which has gotten great reviews. Yeah, very interesting concept. Smart writer. She's a performer. Oh, she writes a lot for Update. We talked about that. Yeah, we talked all about, you're going to hear all about her SNL experience and what the specificity of being a writer for Update versus other things, and her career plans, and her child. And so you should enjoy this one. Yeah. Very interesting. And it's good because not everyone knows her right now, but they will. So it's kind of fun to have ones like this where. We got her first. We got her and just say, hey, here's why she's good.

2:09Dana Carvey:Hi. How's it going? Nice to see you. Nice to see you. Nice to see you too. The last I saw Rosebud Baker was, if you remember this, one of the shows, either the Hunter Biden one or the 50th, in the hallway. and I think you were prepping some update hallway stuff. Uh-huh. Is that possible? That's possible for sure. I mean, you know, being at the show, you know, it's like you're too tired to form new memories most of the time. Yeah, new memories. Did you meet Dana during his Biden run? We must have. I did. I did. Yes. Yes. It's a pleasure to see you. I can't. I'm still traumatized. I mean, I just was not, I'd been gone so long.

2:56Dana Carvey:I really feel for the writers coming in with a pencil, kind of some of them really just drenched in sweat and just really nervous. And then it's like, could we do this or that? We have to wait till Lauren's here. Oh, okay. Tell Lauren or one time Lauren came by. Could you change that Biden line? Not so much Fred Finstone, something else. I said, sure. and then Alison Streeter and Kent came in. You talk to Lauren? What did he say? What did he say? He hates it. He hates it. Anyway, the pressure is crazy. I saw it because I wasn't in as much. I saw the writers, what they do. So anyway, I'd like to know your stories about that time there on the 50s season.

3:42You were so great. You were so great. I have to tell you, we would be sitting, And, you know, most of the time in Update, we barely see the show. I mean, I was on the sketch side for three years and then moved over to Update. And the way that it is is so different. And I don't know any other writers. Yeah. I don't know any other writers that have done that, that have gone from the sketch to Update. But it's a completely different. It feels like I write at a different show, for sure. I mean, with the exception of like, it's still the sleep deprivation and the stress and all of that, but it's gross.

4:26Yeah, yeah, it's mostly because of the news, though, that you feel disgusting. Oh, yeah, that's right. You got to get soaked in that news. You got to get in. Yeah. It's like training yourself to be like a sociopath or a psychopath because you just read these horrible, horrific headlines and you're like, what's funny about that? Yeah. Yeah. And also when you do update, do you, I know this is, I know some of these answers, but not all of them. Do you help put together the update pieces that come on from like a Sarah Sherman or whoever else, or is that separately? Like they just do them at read through and then you guys kind of chirp in and like, which ones you like and do you help write?

5:10Yeah, it depends. It depends on, I mean, you know, they'll come in on Tuesdays sometimes and be like, Like we have this idea and then we'll pitch on it with them. But usually they're writing it with one of the sketch writers. And then, but most of the time it's actually, I wouldn't say most of the time. I'd say 50, 50. Like sometimes they'll just show up. We'll see one at table. We'll be like, that's hilarious. And then we work the tables and we, we kind of punch things up here and there if it needs it. But for the most part, yeah. Yeah. It's tables. Listen to this. lingo. Dana's table. I know.

5:48Dana Carvey:Well, we've got an insider here. We got it. I love it. I think that the high for the writer is the ultimate mic drop is when you get it in, you get it on update or whatever. It's your line. You thought of it or your little stanza, your bit. You love it. Maybe some people went, I don't know. And then it crushes. Because I see the writers afterwards were just so jazzed up all the tension was released when the sketch the cold opening was just what they had to deal with was like at midnight on friday it's nowhere it's horrible that's what we're running through for the audience listening and it's nowhere and it's like you go to bed and it's a disaster and you wake up going well we've got about 12 hours to fix this so do you have some memorable ones there where you fucking a landed it um and you just that release uh must be i'll be honest with you if i had um if i had any real home runs i don't know if i'd be at update right now

7:02because that's your your wheelhouse or what yeah i think i think i'm more it was like I knew by year three I was like if I don't feel useful by now there's I'm like there's gotta be a better place for me and I I just sort of was like I've came in as a stand-up I wanted to learn how to write sketch I genuinely don't it it's so different and so much harder for me to write sketch than it is to like punch up a sketch or be like second or third writer on something so ultimately I was like, I really think I belong over on the update side. And that's, you know, where they put me. And I was, I was happy to move.

7:46Um, because genuinely I was like, I don't know what I'm doing here. I didn't know at all. I remember my first week going around to like Tucker's office and being like, is there like a book I can read about like how to write a sketch? Like I didn't know. It's hard to get your hand held too. There's not, everyone's so busy. It's hard to do a class. It's like hey what's your sketch it bombed great you'll be gone soon that's all we don't need to worry yes yeah and but to get that that lateral move instead of just taking off the show which could be easier to let you come over because they must have seen something and to go over and write jokes is update even to me is even more fun or interesting because there's it's just a different muscle but it's great joke writing skills and all that stuff well i let me insert this before you

8:35Dana Carvey:answer. It makes total sense to me because of your specials. These are A++ jokes, one after the other, one after the other on both that I watched. So go ahead. It seems like a really good fit. And you've got Michael and you've got Colin and they're kind of dicks. We understand that. But that was a joke. Too sweet for school. I love it. Go ahead. No, thank you. Thanks for watching them by the way i appreciate it and um yeah i feel like it's uh i'm happy that they i do feel like i lucked out that they kept me on the show i thought i was like oh okay i didn't think this would work i i they had every reason to go i'll just be just beat it you know what i mean just and i i would i would have understood that because there were sketches that i i thought were very funny that got on the show but that weren't not they were not once they got on the show i was oh okay i see where i went wrong here you know it wasn't hard to get it all that way it's hard to have it work read through rehearsal in front of the crew in front of dress and then work again on air there's so many ways for it to go wrong there's so many ways for it to go wrong i mean really it's like raising a kid or something you're like i mean there's only so much i can great grades in school and then right before college they bomb out you're like oh we're doing so good yeah well even the audience is tough or do something it's nerve-wracking as hell you know anytime because i was in murderer's row we're the four horsemen and maya would crush it and you know gaffigan and at you know andy and then i'm waiting you know it was weird and one of those like game shows i'm just like you're just sitting in a silo you've got your come on folks you know i'm just waiting how how will i do you're grading yourself you're future tripping you're not in the moment you want to score don't try too hard but but be you know it's just like trying to catch the wind anyway nerve-wracking you got it you got it in a way that i i just i've seen biden impressions and you got it in a way that i'd never seen it i i remember just watching it even without the sound and you were going and i was just like god he's fucking good like you you like zeroed in on that Yeah.

10:52Dana Carvey:I'm not getting around here. That was my favorite. By the end, it was like, I'm not getting around here. I'm being serious. So it was a fun toy. And, you know, it's just like stand up. When the audience starts to ride it, just like in stand up, and they're in your rhythm with you, and you're both enjoying it at the same moment. Nobody has the other voice talking. It's pure joy. That's what we're chasing. That face, Dana, is like funny, offended and vacant. Hey, I'm not kidding around here. I'm being serious. Come on. You're like, he's not even thinking anything. I remember seeing that face on the monitor from the update office and being like, oh, my God.

11:35Like, that's perfect.

11:38Dana Carvey:You made my day. You made my day because, you know, I always have second thoughts months later. Was that any good or what the fuck? Oh my God. It was so good. Yeah. I mean, I get it. I get it. I think we're all just sort of mentally ill and that we're like plagued by self doubt and stuff like that, but it's, it really is. Sure, we're all mentally ill. That's confirmed. That's a pretty common denominator. You know, you never want right before you go on, you're going to crush. You're going to crush. You always want to go, well, we'll see. I don't know it could turn you know you just it's a kiss of death to kind of go we got this and then you just pull up right how about an update when you when you're on update are there i mean obviously it starts sunday or monday you know it starts right after the last show like what's in this week's news are there joke counters do you look at the monitor and go someone told me there was a talk show like ballon where someone is like one two okay i got i got three on today i got three on today i mean i'm sure people get in their heads but yeah is it is it actively out there that people are like that one person that's more on no thank god um i think they get tweaked right yeah they get tweaked and they get changed and like by the end of it it's almost like you could have come up with a joke that got in the show but then they're you know when you're sitting with the others and you're just like yeah they're pitching stuff on it there was like i think there was a joke this year that i had pitched about paddington bear um okay i like it it was like it was about how i felt like paddington bear should be executed and i was like common thought i was like well he ruins apartments and that you know i just think he's a menace and i think i don't think he belongs in someone's home so anyway i i i pitched it was like some sort of crazy reaction overreaction to Paddington Bear and everybody sort of latched onto it.

13:40And by the end, by showtime, it was this long bit that was like a built out like chunk that Colin did that everybody was throwing stuff in on. And it was just for no reason, just like six jokes. And it was about a little boo-boo at that point. Right. Yeah. I've seen those, but even single jokes, Michael might put a spin on it. Like when you do monologue jokes, something. If you get someone close enough, that's value also. I used to do jokes at Lights Out Show. They can write me a joke that's close enough to my voice. I can run with it. And that's a value, even though it's not the exact same joke.

14:15Dana Carvey:I just want to say that Patty Dembeer is funny. I mean, because it's not iconic. The way he dresses is funny. It's not like Barney or something, but everyone knows that when you hear it, and this is just a little insert for me, maybe in the early 90s there was this catch where i as tony montana scarface al pacino got to say padded in bear several times and so with that awesome padded them bear what are you doing with a padded them bear so i just sorry it triggered me i didn't want to overwrite it it sounds funny it looks what the fuck would a padded them bear is such a perfect for that But I wanted to ask this of you, and you can say whatever you want to say, but it seems like I'm watching your specials, watching you here, Photogenic, on and on.

15:05Dana Carvey:Oh, thank you. That you should be on Update, either in a segment or if anyone ever decides to retire. Have you ever thought of that? Because it seems like you've got all the skill set to do that. You don't have to say, yeah, I want Michael and Colin out. Or do you pitch yourself doing update? Are you allowed to? I don't know. I don't know if that's like, there was one moment, I think it was like two years ago where there was like an IVF story and I had worked on all this bit, you know, that was like about IVF. And I was like, I thought about pitching a feature because it made sense in that one week that I was like, oh, okay, I could do something with this.

15:53You know, I have material on this. But right, it was like, right as I was getting up the courage to like talk to somebody about it, it was like Colin had written something and I was like, oh, okay, nevermind. So, you know, I think there's like, I don't know. I'm like Colin and Che are so funny that I feel like they've almost ruined it for whoever's comes next. I'm like, they're so good. and um you know i don't know i'm like would it be cruel absolutely but i don't know if it's like i don't know just a bit yeah like at ivf for one week i would imagine would be good but i know being a writer there and it isn't always 1000 welcome at least by someone somewhere wouldn't love it that's what i'm saying yeah and you know some people would be like that's awesome we need it get out there and you're already a stand-up it's not crazy wait a minute I just think it's a little weird that she...

16:54David, are you suggesting... I just want to clarify this.

16:57Dana Carvey:Are you suggesting that there's a political environment to the SNL experience? The politics come and play. Everyone's pulling for everyone. I know. Yeah, it is overall a great experience. But to your point with Michael and Colin, I don't think we'll see this again for a while because their relationship and the boundaries they can cross because of what for you know for the reasons are obvious and stuff they can go at it you know when they were on this this podcast you know when i told him i said you guys are in the hall of fame i mean i was just talking about dennis miller and you know and you know uh obviously tina and jimmy whatever just you guys are up there now you're in you're in mount rushmore they were kind of like thank you i I don't think they're – and some people don't know anything else.

17:50I mean, they've had a long run where people that just sort of tune in here and there, and they go, those are the update guys. You've mentioned Bill Murray or Chevy Chase. They're like, huh? So we remember, but it's like everything. You go – some people said, I go back to your career all the way back to grownups. I'm like, that's how far back? That was like newer, but they're like 12-year-old, so I don't know. Like, 2008, I don't care. I go back to early.

18:18Dana Carvey:I started in 86. So I'm disappointed when people go, Oh, you, you, you're, you were here in 86. Yeah. Do the math. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Would you like to talk about your special a little bit or, or your tour or where would you like to go? Yeah. Listen, I, there's a lot we could talk about here. I, I guess my special, we could talk about that. it's up to you guys. It's your podcast. You know what I mean? I it's, it's really up to you. We want to make sure you get something covered here because we get all our interesting chatter, but you also have some business. I definitely, yeah, I definitely, I, I had my special come out.

19:01I was literally just talking to another comic about their special, their Netflix special. And they were like freaking out. It's like the week that it's, you know, it's, you know, when your special first comes out, you're like freaking out and you're just, I was telling this comic, I was like, oh yeah, I was, I just wanted everybody, I wanted to move to the woods. I was like, I just wanted to walk into the woods and live there for the rest of my life. You know, and then some months go by and it starts getting some play and you're like, okay, thank God. Like this wasn't, you know, for nothing. You're always scared it's going to be for nothing.

19:36But yeah, I'm like, I'm really happy with it so far. It feels like, you know, when you make something and you're like, well, that feels like me, you know? yeah it's like that that feels like that's a good representation and for people don't know

19:50Dana Carvey:it's not after let's explain what what's unique about it but go ahead david i was gonna say do you think a special in this day and age what about it sells tickets because that's sort of the idea is to sell tickets on the road and also gain awareness but is it the special itself or is it clips in the special or is it long does it take like a year for it to sink in and people start to see oh i saw this on this i saw a little piece here and then that's the value right that's you want to do a special it's it's yeah i don't even know anymore man i'm like i really feel like i don't i don't even know i i'm you pull one out and ultimately you want to make something that is seen within the context of an hour you want it to be seen as a whole and that's how comedy should be watched um that's how it's meant to be watched unfortunately it now people watch it in like 30 second one minute clips and if they like those 30 second one minute clips they might might go watch the whole thing three minutes of your show yeah you know they might go watch a full five minutes right inch their way up to an hour yeah i mean some people tell me when i just did mind, they go, it's still an honor.

21:11I mean, I'm not negating anything you're doing. Of course, obviously everybody wants a special. It's such a big deal. And Netflix is a big deal. And they get out there and you see a billboard. It's really, really fun and relevant, all the great stuff you want. But you also say, okay, what are they actually seeing? Are they seeing, like, don't put this in your act because when you go on the road, you're in your head, you're like, everyone in the audience has seen 100 % of every special. And they're like, no, I saw two clips on tiktok that's why i'm here yeah no i mean literally you could you could tour with the same hour you know like the in the 80s they would tour with the same hour for like three four or five years and you could do that again you could do that now and it wouldn't there's no problem no no one's open for guys and every time i saw them every year yeah not not a word different yeah yeah i mean ultimately you want to keep writing you want to keep doing and and i i'm the idiot who goes up there with brand new stuff and is like kind of struggling and then people get like pissed you know and i'm like well i gotta try new things i gotta i want to put out a new hour um but it is nice to know that the pressure's off a little bit to like you don't have to do 100 new you can do some stuff from the special no i agree you want some stuff to kill for sure you owe them that and you want some stuff that's a little different for those people that are like comedy files that are like i i must have i got something on instagram the other night that goes i saw you at the comedy store the other night funny but a little off wasn't your best night i'm like i'm trying so i have to where can i try it i have to i even know when i get off it wasn't great but there's something fun even dana will agree when you watch someone it's fun to watch them bomb too you go whoa where was that one going like you go yeah shit but it's a different thing to see i had i had a show in um there was a show in dallas like three years ago or something two years ago i don't remember i was there in dallas and the guy a guy took a picture of me and posted i just saw rosebud baker um i think she was tired i get that but i had fully bombed it was like i i was it was a bomb it was just a bomb night i remember there was like a heckler in the front they wouldn't get rid of and the whole time i was like well this is a it's this is on i can't do it you know what i mean i'm like we're the ship's going down and we're just all going to go down together but that guy kind of covered for you instead of saying you fully drowned completely he was like she was a little tired i think instead of going which was my guy my people go it was fucking horrible i know i'm like that's almost better than them feeling bad for you.

23:56She shouldn't do this. It's hard on her.

23:59Dana Carvey:There's a, there's a, I guess it's a trope. It's kind of funny, but they would maybe say about you, which I just want to talk about this special and the way you do stand up. She doesn't pull any punches. Like you, I feel like you are so connected to your material that I've seen and you can see where it's too burnt out or the comedian's not quite in their eyes, right? Really connected or whatever. I've done a couple like that, but But for this one, it was so personal, literally, for people who don't know. Explain the conceit of The Motherload. It's on Netflix right now. Yeah, it was essentially, I was, so the whole thing is shot over two years.

24:42One year where I was about nine months pregnant or eight months pregnant. And then exactly one year later after my kid had been born. and I had this crazy experience with trying to get pregnant. First, I didn't want kids. Then I got pregnant by accident. Then I had a miscarriage. Then I was like, well, do I want kids? And then I did like IVF and then I got pregnant without IVF. And so the whole journey to it was so crazy and all over the place that I was like, there's so much experience packed into that that that I was like it doesn't really make sense to shoot the special until the until the kids have been born and I can let them know what it's like as a mom because yeah I'm like ultimately I really wasn't sure about kids or not and I really wanted I wanted there to be something to watch where I was like what is it like really like what does it feel like and um because I was really curious about the postpartum shit and all of that.

25:43So yeah, I shot both. Um, and the material cuts back and forth between. So some of the jokes that I wrote while I was pregnant, um, I expanded on after I'd had a kid. Um, there were jokes that I, that I liked better that I had written before that I liked better from the perspective of having had a kid. And And then there were certain ones that I was like, no, you got to cut back for that. So the whole thing is like editing wise was obviously a challenge. But I really I really enjoyed kind of reporting from both from behind enemy lines. You know what I mean? And just telling jokes about what it really feels like, because I was somebody that was so confused about the the deciding to be a parent, especially as a woman in comedy you're just like is everyone going to think I disappeared is everyone going to think I died like you know are am I going to be written off luckily I I think in a way I wrote this special kind of out of a feeling of like self-consciousness or being afraid that that if I didn't I would just stop or something I didn't know what was going to happen afterwards.

27:04So, um, yeah, there's a lot, it's definitely personal. I was up there fighting for my life for sure. I was like, where you say like, was there parts where you say, this is how I feel about to have a baby. It's the most beautiful thing in the world. And then now you get to say some is beautiful. Some is tougher than I thought. Some is easier than I Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I wanted to talk about like what it felt like to go back to work, you know, what it feels like to go back to work and how. To go away from your kid and be separated. Yeah. Yeah. And well, no, just to be back at work and to be, to want to be treated the same way as like, as like a working member of society, you know, but like also having just had a kid and being like, I'm kind of an open wound right now, but I'm, but I'm capable.

27:59And I can be here, you know, and you just, you go from feeling like cool and sexy and working at SNL to being like the most unfuckable, just like on uncreative human. And you're like surrounded by cool, young, rich people. And you're like, shit, you know, and you just feel like you got to compete in that. So there was a lot of that. I feel that way at restaurants.

28:29Dana Carvey:I don't even know what that means I'm unfuckable And uncool and everyone's cool Around me You're in the corner nursing a cocktail Is SNL still Rosebud Baker Is it still 24 hours a day you have to be there Or can you come in late Or do they do jokes from home and you write them And send them in Or is it really I mean, for me, I gotta be there. I gotta be there. Like personally, I don't, I don't want to be writing jokes from my house. It's kind of fun to be there. I think that's a new world of people that don't are buying into this, but as hard as SNL was, you wish you weren't there, but you, you have to sort of be there all the time to be involved in jokes that like organically are coming up or sketches or interacting with everyone.

29:18And it's all important to me. It feels like it was all important. I want to be there because I want to remember like who I am. You know, it's also like, it's this feeling of like, you know, when you're a creative person, you got to be like, you got to be surrounded by creative people and to stay in touch with that and to kind of be in the mix. And, you know, I, I, I think COVID kind of did a number of all of our, on all of our brains making us think that, oh, it's possible to work from home, so we should. I don't know. I don't think that really works in a creative setting. I never thought it wouldn't come back.

29:57I thought people would want to come back. Not want to come back. Some jobs obviously are fucking horrible, but the creative, you're right. Everyone around us there, when I was there, I got Dana. I got everyone. I could say, Dana, can I grab you for one second and pick your brain? And the fact that you have that, the value of like, oh my God, I have all these like superstars. Remember that you're just, and writing geniuses to go, can I just talk to you for a second about this? And maybe they can crack a code for me or something I'm trying to figure out. It's great because everybody's good. I know.

30:27And the other thing is that I really love about it is it kind of feels like you went to college at the same place as some of your favorite people. you know like oh yeah like i get to talk to you guys you know what i mean or i get to talk to people that i i wouldn't necessarily like i don't know maybe my career would have we would have crossed paths i mean but it's i don't know it's just this special kind of uh bond that you have with people that have like worked at snl and you go okay so you get it you know what i mean

31:00Dana Carvey:it's like you you understand yeah so running down the hallway 8h uh you know the grease paint the smell the roar of the crowd it's identical lauren lauren michaels is still there you know so i i do think uh do you find it's kind of fun if someone you're in a writer's room it's someone else's idea and sketch and everyone's bouncing around it's it seems more relaxing to kind of punch up someone else's sketch in a way like oh how about this how about that and the other fun part i've found is like i'd be in the chair getting the biden thing on and we're just right right almost going live television and Allison and Kent and, and, um, Streeter would be there.

31:39Dana Carvey:And then we'd go round and round and we always completely agreed when we got it. Oh, it's that. Yeah. There was usually all the writers go, Oh, we got it now. So this is fantastic. So to your experience, you had all those kinds of, uh, experiences, I assume. Yeah. It's very much like that kind of feeling of, um, like when something just, uh, when something fits, it's like Tetris or something, you know, like you, you go, Oh yeah, that goes there. That's absolutely, there's nowhere else for that to go, but there. I think when I did one of those shows, go ahead, Rose, sorry. No, I go ahead. I was just saying when I popped out, I think it was maybe the Hunter Biden week when I popped out and I just looked down the hallway from that dressing room.