Maya Rudolph (Live)

25:09I don't know if you saw the back of Ron's shirt, but it said, I only want to work with friends. What a great shirt. Wow, Ron. Thank you so much. That was a pleasure. I could have talked to you all evening, but it's literally already 8.33.

25:29Horrifying. Okay, very excited to introduce our guest this evening. You know her from a backup singer for The Rentals. She was a Crossroads coolest student, California's own biggest comedy hit, MVP of SNL till the end of time. Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Maya Rudolph.

26:26I

26:31How's it going? Isn't this a nice crowd? This is very nice. So many nice people. Nice people. You can tell they're nice people. I can. I can feel it. I can smell it. Maya, we're going to do a little mic check. Okay. And will you sing the national anthem for us? Yeah. Okay, a little mic check. Go ahead. I'm not kidding. I want someone to ask me to do that again. Wouldn't that be fun? Someone did say for the 50th, hey, we want you to open the show with the national anthem. And I was like, okay. And then it just went away. Wouldn't that have been fun? Oh, you want me to do it? Just one line. Just a little bit?

27:18I haven't even, I don't really think I've ever done it since then. Oh.

27:45That's enough, right? Beautiful. Beautiful. Thank you. It's the faces. Yeah. It's the faces, and it's the amount of time it takes. You know what? Can we talk about that for a second? Yeah. Talk about how that came to be, you singing the national anthem. There was a character, my character, Pamela Bell. Let's be clear. You know what? I rarely all the time that we were at SNL, I rarely had good ideas. That's not true. You know, when you have an idea and you're like, this is going to be fun to do or maybe maybe I should be more clear. I always have ideas for characters, but I never really had clear ideas for sketches.

28:27and this one was like beginning, middle, and end. And it's because in the writer's room on 9, at some point someone was watching, I think it was like a rewrite night, and American Idol was on. And they do these wrap-ups, and I think it was like baseball, I don't know, World Series, I don't know, something with a baseball. And they had people singing Take Me Out to the Ballgame. And this one girl said, buy me some E-nuts and Applejacks. And that was it. I was like, here we go. E-nuts and Applejacks. Oh, god damn. But it was honestly like I know. E-nuts and Applejacks. E-nuts and Erpeljerks. I just It's just, it was such a moment to be, I've never been like, other than when we did Bronx Beat, that was the only other time where I've like done something that wasn't completely on the cards.

29:33Yeah. Because Bronx Beat's the only time I really feel like we were, I ever did anything loose. Yeah. Yeah. That's what she said. That's what she said. Maya, I don't know if you heard Ron and I talking about you. What? No. Did you know Ron was going to be here? What? I actually didn't until I walked in the room and he was sitting there. Literally all we needed to do was close the door. Couldn't get that done. But how dumb am I? I was like, hey, Ron, what are you doing here? I just thought he was hanging out. He lives here at the Fonda. Have you performed here or been here at the Fonda recently?

30:11I've been here. I was here recently for the Geese show. Oh. Yeah. Oh, Cameron. Winter. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What if he's here? He's still here. Oh my God, Cameron. Was that, did you feel cool when you were, was it cool? I felt so cool. I did bring earplugs. Yeah. Cause I'm 53, but, um, that was a huge laugh. Um, but I, uh, I love them a lot and it was really hard to make myself go out. I know. What time did you have to go out? I don't know. What time did they go on? I don't know. You don't, you really don't remember. Was it 10 p.m.? Who knows? It literally, like... What time is it? You had a sleeping cap on and a candle, and you were like, I had my nightgown on.

31:05It was a geese song.

31:09Jacob Marley, is that you? I hear your chain. I am at a geese show. It was very late, but it was totally worth it because they're so good and they're so exciting. And as you know, I get really grumpy when music is bad and they're so good and they're so talented at making music and writing music, performing music that I was happy to leave my house. Oh, that's great. I mean, it is hard to leave your house. It's hard to go out. And I appreciate that you're here. period yes and I really do and I want to talk to you about music because um and your relationship to it and I want to start with the fact that you are as I asked Ron he's a California boy you're a California girl and we had an we had a great interview with the great Jack Black who said that you were the coolest person he knew in high school he said that yes do you not listen to my podcast um i do but i didn't listen to his episode yet you didn't we glaze you so hard wait what i it's funny i almost said his name when we were talking about the national anthem because when i was singing it on um first of all there's so much to talk about when it comes to jack because I've known him since I was 14 and I met him in school and he changed my life for the better and you know when you find people and you both speak the same language and he was new he he was a couple years older and he had transferred to the school and I think my drama teacher was like you guys should should hang out he was um he coached me in an improv competition.

33:03Me and a couple girlfriends. And we just like spoke music the same way right away. We both like had a love for Bobby McFerrin. And I didn't know any 14 year olds that liked Bobby McFerrin. But when I was doing the national anthem, especially when I go, I always think about Jack. he brought me to my first groundlings show when I was a kid and showed me this whole world I didn't even imagine I'd end up being there and that would lead me to you really honestly I mean he changed my life but there's just so few people that you can you you feel so lucky when you have those moments where you had no idea you were going to meet someone that was going to going to be such a positive influence on your life and he's such a great goof.

33:59Did you guys ever kiss? No. I wanted to. There's still time. Act three, baby. I wonder if we did maybe in like a short film. Well, I played his girlfriend and like Brett Morgan who ended up becoming an incredible documentary filmmaker. He went to our school. I know everyone's like it was such a fucking great creative cool school it was so punk and weird and artistic and I took film classes and improv Jack got me into the improv class early when I was in 8th grade you're supposed to be in 9th and he got me in 8th grade? and you were like hey you guys I got something to improv about and you were like improvising and you were like honey I'm home from work with your little briefcase.

34:53Isn't Candy stupid? Tough day at the toy factory. Oh, boy. I don't remember. But you played his girlfriend. Okay. And you also went to school with Gwyneth. Yes, elementary school. Elementary school with Gwyneth Paltrow. Yeah. And did you guys kiss? We kissed. No, I'm just kidding. You guys did kiss. Yeah, we did. Okay, good. That's what I thought. Yep. We went to St. Augustine together, which was the elementary of Crossroads before Crossroads really had an elementary. It was in this church called St. Augustine by the Sea. And yeah, and we were very close. And weirdly, our dads went to college together.

35:32So we had kind of like a family bond. And then after sixth grade, she went to New York. And do you remember your first time in that time period with your wonderful, artistic, beautifully groovy parents. Do you remember when you first saw SNL? I really do remember sneaking into my parents' room and faking a stomach ache or just like I can't go to, I can't sleep or something. That's how I talked when I was a kid. I can't sleep. And my parents were young. I mean, they were probably in their 20s. And yeah, they were watching the show. And I think I saw the land shark is what I remember. For those of you under the age of 50, there was a man named Chevy Chase.

36:24And he was on updating. That's all you need to know. And the shark would come in and he'd grab him and get him. Groundlings, you mentioned Groundlings. When you were at the Groundlings, premiere improv, sketch, comedy, theater, who was in your freshman class? Who were you with at the time? I had the most unbelievable group of people. So our beloved dear friend Emily Spivey, who we wrote with for many, many years at SNL. I met Emily there. My friend Nat Faxon, who's on Lute. My friend Jim Rash. Cheryl Hines. Melissa McCarthy. Ben Falcone. Oh, my God. Who am I forgetting? Jordan Black. when you were there?

37:10Will Forte. Doing black, yeah. Will was in our group.

37:15Who else? Shit. This is going to sound really bad when I can't remember people's names. No, that's great. That's perfect. Is that good? Yeah, that's good. Rachel Harris. Yeah. Oh, my God, I'm still talking. We had an unbelievable group of people. And what did you, like now with a lot of perspective, right? What was the biggest takeaway, the best thing about being in that space, making that kind of art at that time? Absolutely knowing that I listened to myself and found my people and that I liked. And you've said this about me and I know it to be true, especially because you're so good at reading people.

37:53I like to be with my friends and have fun. And I know that sounds stupid, but it's such a great way to do improv and sketch. I like to come in the room when people are hanging, when there's a group of people that I really like. It makes me so happy. And then it makes me feel like I'm actually funny or funnier. And it fuels me. I like to be in the mix of it. Yeah. Maya, if I may speak for you, Maya. Please. And about you. Thank you. the word fun feels like like you know it's like a not a complex word but it is because it's really about this idea of like a shared communal sense of energy and you love that and I will say you know I said to Ron that I think you're one of the most naturally gifted performers I've ever met and I think you're the most naturally best person at SNL that's ever been on the show it's true babe you have to have a lot of skills to be on that show.

38:58You've got to have a lot of skills to pay the bills on that show. And one of the things that you do that is so important in live television especially is we are never nervous when Maya's performing. Like we're never worried about you. Our mirror neurons aren't firing that you're like because you're like when you perform you're having a lot of fun. It's almost like you're the most relaxed and the least nervous, or at least it seems that way. It seems that way. So is that not true? I definitely get nervous, but I think it's interesting how I get nervous. I realized it coming back to SNL during COVID the first time I came to play Kamala, which worked the first time.

39:51Oh, brother. Oh, brother. Oh, brother. um I uh I lost my train of thought what were we talking about nervous well how are you like when you're nervous I I my nerves are different when I'm there specifically because I want to be there and I like how present it is and I get I do get an adrenaline rush from being in that room and knowing that it's like happening in that very moment and the history of the room like all of it And over the years, knowing so many of the people, so many of the crew in that room, but my armpits sweat is like how I know my body's reacting. I don't tremble. I do get nervous about fucking up or stumbling words, and that has happened.

40:40And that's the thing that sticks with you. But my memory of you is when you fuck up, you like look at, you know, whoever you're with, and me being sometimes being like, oh, which is like even the joy of the electricity of that. But like even, you know how you, you know how there's moments where you really, you're like, I can't wait to say this line. Oh, no. And even, even back to the National Anthem, remember there was one line that I used to say and I, it would tickle Keenan. And I was singing it kind of like Whitney Houston. And instead of saying like, gave proof to the night, I was saying like, gave a little bit of proof.

41:13And every time I sang it, he would like. go and I love that he was tickled by it and I was so excited to do it that I didn't do it yeah yeah yeah and and those little slip-ups even most one of the most recent I can't remember which one it was but one of the most recent commas we did I stumble you know you just stumble sometimes your tongue your adrenaline like your adrenaline gets you all twisty yeah so I hate that and then And then Sunday morning, you're like, oh, God. You just hear it again and again, and you can't fix it. But no one ever knows. No, and also nobody cares. Nobody cares. I mean, no one's paying attention to anything except themselves.

41:57And I mean, it's almost quarter to nine. I know. We're almost in bed. It's ridiculous. I agree.

42:06So you came into SNL for like the final three shows. Oh, of the 25th season. Yeah. So you came in at the very end. Isn't that weird? Yeah. What was your audition like? And what do you remember of your audition? I did an audition. Bitch, that's right. Oh, shit. I knew it. I don't love... I don't love...

42:38Oh, my water. Oh, my God, I spilled my water on my laptop. Are we going to get electrocuted? Guys, we're going to get electrocuted. I don't love that I didn't audition, but I said to Lauren very recently, if I had auditioned, I probably wouldn't have been on the show. I didn't have a very good audition ready to go. Do you need a napkin? These are the Seth Meyers good hang tissues. The Seth Meyers memorial tissues when I made him cry. Really? You think you would have blown it if you auditioned? Yeah, I do. I had never... Might want to... You don't need those questions. No.

43:25You know, we know how to clean a table, though, don't we? I mean, this is... Do you like cleaning tables? I do. I love them. I like a nice-smelling spray. Do you use Windex? You know what? I don't. Do you love Windex? You fucking love Windex, don't you? And not the new stuff that doesn't have the chemicals in it. I like the stuff that doesn't have the chemicals in it. I know. You're so California. I'm fucking California. I know. Well, that was the thing. When Maya arrived to SNL, there was like East Coast, West Coast people. East Coast was like, hey. You from the Groundlings? Cool. A little bit.

44:06well I when I arrived you were you had already been there but I didn't know at the time for only three shows but isn't that crazy like it was so what was it like to come at the end of a season it was very strange and it was a trial period I had sent I um I had sent some uh VHS tape of some of my sketches to to uh to Lorne I um directly to his house directly to Lorne's house and I was like, did you watch? 555 Park Avenue. It was like a trial period, trial by fire. They did come to the groundlings. I believe it was Tina and perhaps Mike Shoemaker and, God, I don't remember, probably Steve Higgins, who had seen me there before, who I credit giving me my job.

44:54Amen. Hallelujah. Changed my life forever. Do you remember where you were when you got the call that you were going to be on the show? I was at my house. I used to live near Larchmont Village, around the corner from the yoga place in the Larchmont Wine and Spirits. Yeah. Great sandwiches, am I right? When I was pregnant with my oldest daughter, I used to go to that yoga place just so I could eat the sandwiches after. They're really good. Have you ever had them? I'm going to get you one. I haven't. I would love one. Although, sandwiches, I'm not really into them anymore. You don't like sandwiches?

45:33I'm not really into bread anymore. Have you grown out? Not as a restrictive thing. I just, like, in general. It's a lot of work. When I see sandwiches, I'm like, oh, God, this sandwich. Like, how are we going to get through this? How am I going to do this? Do you talk to it? I go, me and you. You, like, negotiate? But you know what I do love? I love a fake feldsuit. Yeah, you do. Sorry, we can cut this part out. Can we cut things out? Probably not. Look at this felt sandwich. I love it. This is fake tomato. I want you to do ASMR a little bit. Fake onion. Okay. You know you're in California because we got an avocado coming over here.

46:12Yep. Lettuce. Sorry. It's only six more things. Cheese and bread. Okay. I love you. I love that. Yeah. Me too. I like pretend. I like pretend food. I love pretend food. I love pretend things. Okay. God, what were we talking about? Okay, it doesn't matter. So we were talking about coming. You got the SNL call. And I came out and I had nowhere to live. I was in the Sunday company at the Groundlings and I think I had to come out there like in the next week or two or something. So I lived at the Palace Hotel down the street and I think I, you know, pitched. Oh, I came on a Tuesday because there was no pitch on Monday for some reason.

46:59And I didn't know anybody. I knew Chris Parnell a little. And I said, what do we do tonight? And he said, we write. And I said, till then? He said, till about 8 o 'clock in the morning. And then all the doors started closing. And I was like, and I was sharing an office with another temporary actor, whatever you would call us there, I guess. Were we featured? I don't even know. Featured players? Named Zach Galifianakis. Isn't that wild? Yeah. And then we'd walk back to the palace going like, what are we doing here? I was like, I don't know. Yeah, we've talked about it before, where there wasn't a lot of onboarding.

47:33There was no, like, no one told you anything, really. Shoemaker did. I will say, when you and Seth started the following year, I saw him making an extreme, I watched the process of him onboarding you and Seth in a way that made me so proud and so happy. that people were given a chance to understand the mechanics of how a show like that works. It was really, and it helped educate me. I still felt so new and I didn't know what I was doing. And it's one of those things where you don't want to tell people like, I've never been swimming, but I'm going to try. Like, I didn't want to say like, yeah, I've never been swimming before, but I just, I tried.

48:15But you didn't want to say how scared you were. No, fake it till you make it. Take it to your makeup, baby. We did a lot of faking it. And we did a lot of making it. We did. And so Maya and I were, my office was across the hall from you and Emily Spivey. And Maya and Emily had a great office. It had a window. And it looked out over the Empire State Building. And this is in the 2000s, so you could fully open the window. No bars, nothing. And lean out and smoke a cigarette. 17th floor. 17th floor. And when we were writing on Tuesday nights, we could tell it was time to go home because we could hear people lining up for the Today Show outside and look down below.

48:56And we used to get visitors from a friend who would hang out of the window. Yes. He was made of cardboard. Harper Steele used to, a writer on SNL, she used to draw a picture of a weird, creepy. Creepy dude. Creepy dude and stick it out the window into our window. That's right. And then we'd go, who did this? And then we'd run over and she would just be closing her window. Her office would be freezing cold, yeah. But also I have memories, lots of tears, like laughter and tears in that office. I have a lot of memories of your office. Our office was, I felt like you were one of the first people that really made me feel good about coming in and recognizing it as a safe space.

49:49You'd come in, you'd crack your back, your little backy crackies. And sometimes you'd lay on the floor. And it was just a place for us to say, this is really hard or I'm really sad or I'm stressed out or this fucking sucks or whatever it was. It was such a safe space. And I mean, I could spend so, as you know, I could spend so much time talking about how fortunate I feel about being there with the company that I was with. Same. And I don't know how the stars aligned in that way. But I think because we had so many of us that even though we didn't grow up in the same town and go to the same schools, we kind of had a similar, I don't know, life ethic.

50:34And I always say it's like, well, we were like, you know, good daughters, good students. I've heard you talking about this on Kylie Kelsey's podcast. Great podcast. I love her. And you made such a good point about that, Maya. You were like saying like why, you know, all the women at the time at SNL, Rachel and Tina and Anna and Kristen, like we all felt like we were different, certainly. But we had some kind of similar shared sensibility. A common thread. And I also feel like, you know, in those days, like even, you know, at the Groundlings now, I think you have to wait a long time to get to the next level.

51:09We were just kind of like walking right in. We had something in common that we just knew was our thing. And I can't even, I can't describe it, but it was that generation, that time. We had the same shows growing up. We had the same influences. And I don't know, for me, it was like my older brother was the funniest person I knew. And so I was trying to emulate people that I looked up to, like my heroes. That's why I wanted to be funny. I wanted to be funny because he and his friends were so funny. What were they listening to? My brother was really into like Parliament and Funkadelic, which has such a huge sense of humor.

51:51I mean, it's just like the funkiest funk, funkity, funk, funk, funk. like the mothership connection and motor booty affairs one of the albums and the album artwork is insane George Clinton is just like a freak and clearly has such an amazing sense of humor my brother and I used to watch the gong show oh yeah and make me laugh did you ever watch make me laugh yes and we used to play make me laugh in our house all the time make me laugh was basically it was just a guest was sitting in a chair and then I guess it was stand-ups or comedians were supposed to make them laugh. They had 60 seconds on the clock and the person had to like not break.

52:37That was it. And there were a lot of young comics that started there. Like could it have been Gallagher? Oh, I'm sure. Was Gallagher there maybe? And like... I don't know. I was doing so much acid then. I don't remember anything. But I have a feeling if we looked back we'd probably recognize a lot of people. Same with the Gong Show for sure. Yeah. Yeah. One thing I wanted to bring up in that office was there was a cleaning lady. Rosa. Rosa that worked on the 17th floor. Teeny, tiny lady. Very teeny. And she had been there for a very long time. She had seen some shit. Yeah. And there was a moment when, would you tell the moment when we were in that office and Rosa came in?

53:20I think it was probably, usually if we were in that office during the day, because we were there so much at night, you know, we weren't keeping regular office hours. So there weren't great times for people to come in and clean and change the trash cans out and stuff. And so it was probably a read-through day, maybe like a Wednesday. And we were in there waiting for a table read to start. And someone was definitely crying. I think Emily might have been crying because her desk in that office was close to the door. And so she had her back to the door. And she was talking to us about something that was really hard.

53:56And we were also sleep deprived. And I just remember Rosa coming in. And she didn't speak very much English. But she saw what she always saw, which was she came in and she saw a few of us just sitting around talking to each other deep in conversation. And Emily was crying. and she put her hand on Emily's shoulder and she goes, oh, don't cry sexy.

54:21Do you remember that? I love it so much. It was like it was yesterday. Don't cry sexy. Don't cry sexy. And I highly recommend you say that to your friend when they're sad. It's really. Just a little. Don't cry sexy. Don't cry sexy.

54:42Do you want to tell everyone the first time you met Barack Obama and who you were dressed as? Yes, I would love to. The first time I met Barack Obama when he was running for office, I was dressed as Shirley MacLaine.

54:57And then the second time you saw him, you were dressed as? Barack Obama.

55:05Yeah. Yeah, it was a sketch that you were, you and Daryl were Hillary and Bill Clinton at a Halloween party. And it was one. And I remember Barack was new on the scene, looking smooth. And and at that time, I think like Barack Obama masks were popular, you know, it was like the new candidate. it. And so the joke was going to be that I come in like, whop, whop, I'm Barack Obama. And then he taps me on the shoulder with his mask and takes my mask off and goes, oh my God, it's the real Barack Obama. So we did that at dress and that was it. Yeah, he didn't do it at air. We did not do it at air. Thank God.

55:50Why? Do we know why? I do. I mean, I did not have a take on Barack Obama at all. I didn't know. Also, you know, I just remember you were a teeny tiny. He's a very tall man. Very tall, handsome man. It's very fun and stressful to be dressed exactly like the person you're standing next to. It is so much fun. And I remember the first time we saw each other was when we were about to walk out on stage. So at dress rehearsal, there was like a little flag there and a door that's supposed to open. And I'm there waiting in my little Brooks Brothers suit. and I think we like bound my boobs and I had, I used to play Scott Joplin and so I had my Scott Joplin wig on and I was standing there and people don't know, Maya has the cutest little, tiniest little legs from knee down just the knee down it's like a little teeny tiny toothpick, look at those little legs from knee down, so cute I want to kick stretch Rich.

56:55And yeah. I'm 53. Teeny tiny. Teeny tiny. Just from the knee down. They're like breakable, I think. I know, they're so little. So you had your little suit on. My little suit on. And it was teeny tiny. And then he came over. And here's the thing. I didn't, it was written then. I didn't have a good impression. I was sort of like, I'm Barack Obama. And so I was standing there and then he came over and I said, well, what do you think? And all he said to me was, I don't wear a three button suit. Damn. I still don't know what that means. It's like, it's like God, that's like a guy knowledge thing. Sounds like flirting to me.

57:47Just kidding. No, I'm not. I will take that. I've gotten two tonight, and I'm taking them home with me. I'm taking them into the spank bank tonight.

58:01Speaking of spank bank, Ron Funches, so great. So spank bankable. So spank bankable. And he has three questions for you. Let me give you the first one, which is, speaking of standing next to someone that you play, you were so incredible when you were playing Kamala Harris, and it was such an exciting time to watch you play and for Dana Carvey to be playing. It was just very exciting. The world was watching. There was this feeling of like, here we go again. And that's SNL at its best, I think, when the world is on the same vibe as the show. And the political impersonations, I mean, it's one of the best things about our tenure there is that more and more women we got to play because more and more women were candidates at the time.

58:53And Kamala was such an incredible, you did a great take on her. You were so good and you got to do stuff with her. Ron's question is a good one, which is like, what do you do with all of that energy and feeling when it goes away, when she doesn't win? There was definitely, especially after the first election, I remember even talking about it with our friends saying like I'm you know what when we heard this was happening again like I'm scared to be hopeful you know we were nervous about opening that vulnerability and opening up our hearts to like could something good happen because it's been such a shit storm um and a rat fuck of a of a of a time um i uh i chose to especially because she came to the show and that that electricity alone just propelled this idea of I'm gonna allow myself to be hopeful I hadn't felt hope in a very long time when it came to this this um subject and she made me feel hopeful even if it was a dream even though I gotta be honest it didn't feel like it it felt real but she's really good at what she does and she makes you feel like it's gonna be okay truly she was saying things like this country really needs to heal which I mean now we really need like a fucking we need some sage um I mean it's so bad yeah we don't have to go but what I What do you do with the feeling?

1:00:50Okay, so, and I, by the way, I haven't let go of it either, is that knowing that I can still be hopeful even when I'm scared actually was really incredible. Ah, I see. And it was something that I shared with quite a few people the night before the election, after the election, is being hopeful is a good thing. Even if you lose, being hopeful is for you. That I was really surprised. I allowed myself to feel because I felt like, and in case anyone's wondering, yes, I wanted her to win. But what I'm... What?

1:01:30But I... God, you know, listen, just to rewind a little bit, all the time that we worked at the show, I never expected to play anyone that was running for president, ever. Right. You know, and this was such a natural path, which is the best kind. And especially when you're no longer working on the show and they say, and you hear people saying like, they should call you. And then Lauren calls you. It feels very like Avengers Assemble, right? It's such a cool, it's like, Maya, we need you. You're like pulling on your pants. Trying on all of your wigs.

1:02:14Yeah. And it's exciting to be. And I think it helped me filter all my rage, my anxiety about all of it. It was so great to have something to do. Yeah. And I be of service. Yeah. And it felt like being of service. And then sometimes I'd say, like, I mean, it doesn't really affect the election. And I was like, why doesn't it? I like being part of the conversation. Yeah. Especially some of the relief, because we needed some relief. And also, Maya, you bring up a beautiful, obvious, but yet not often discussed point, which is you looked like the candidate and candidates didn't look like you. Yeah.

1:02:50And that was for me, like the biggest part of it is that all the years that we worked on the show, it wasn't like, when are they going to call me? I was like, there's not going to be anyone that looks like me running for president in my time at this show ever. I couldn't imagine. And to play someone that looks like me running for president of the United States was wild. Wild. And I'm like you. I'm like, you know, we're those people that can do anything on the show. And we're like, put me in, coach. I want to do that. I want to do that. I want to do that. But I just didn't. There are some things naturally that you don't get the opportunity because you don't resemble the person.

1:03:34And that's just the way that it is. I mean, you have to understand, like, and you know this about me, I played so many different kinds of people on the show. Yeah. And I think it's because I just believe I can be anyone. And I don't even know, like, I don't know, that's more just me and how I've always just been in the world and something that probably came out of me from being a kid. And I don't even know. I don't even know that's allowed anymore, you know, in a lot of ways. But in the best way possible, like it was just more like I just do what feels natural or funny or right, which is why it was always fine.

1:04:19But I don't know. I don't know how I got so lucky. It was a really exciting thing to be a part of. And then the other part of it was the Dana Carvey part of it. Because I think for us anyway, our generation, Dana Carvey was, that was the era that I started watching SNL. And they say like a lot of people, one of the theories is like your favorite cast is when you were in high school. And that cast was the dream. I mean, I fell in love with so many of the casts, but him and Mike Myers and Jan Hooks and Phil Hartman, I really didn't realize how much of them that I took with me. And when we came off stage after that first time and Dana did something and he turned on a little sauce like on the air and was being a little goofy and having fun, he said, I just like to do that.

1:05:14I like to make the other person part of it. And I like to have fun. And it's infectious. and I realized while he was saying in that moment is that's what I like to do and I think I got it from him. I couldn't believe it. Very cool. It was really cool. That's very cool. Yeah. And you know, I feel like we shared a similar feeling when we did Bronx Beat with Mike Myers for the SNL 50th because we were huge fans of Linda Richman and Coffee Talk. Oh my God. And we did a little, what the kids would call a mashup. Yep. And we smushed everybody together I mean, that was also like the most exciting dream is like SNL 50th.

1:05:56I was like, I want to be with my heroes. And that was truly the mashup. That was really exciting. That was cool. It really was. And I'll finish. And there's so many. I mean, I could talk to you forever about all your characters. You know. You don't have to. Beyonce and Whitney Houston and Donna Tala Versace. I mean, you just did so many. And just also so many small, dumb people with weird names. Those are my favorites. And you and I both share a love for dumb, dumb-dumbs. God. Dumb-dumbs. So what was the favorite wig you ever wore? Oh, my God. There was a wig that really, like, it made the rounds.

1:06:36I think my Leilani wig became a pet psychic, became, who was the lady? She was a fake charro. She was a redheaded charro. Fiesta politico. Fiesta politico. Yeah, and she was like, she kind of had like, Amy, she had your color hair. She had like a beautiful red, a vibrant red. A vibrant red, perhaps a little bit of a strawberry blonde. Her name was Rebecca. Her name was Rebecca. Good job, Maya. Thank you. Yes, I remembered something. yes I remember that because I remember I'm not going to tell this story can you cut it? can we cut it? probably not whisper with it

1:07:35you cannot tell that story absolutely not I'm sweating just you and Johnny

1:07:46Oh, my God, I'm sweating. Oh, my God, I'm sweating. You talk about me. You talk about me. Woo. Sorry, guys. Can we talk about flirting more? I didn't get to, like, sleep with anybody at SNL. I know. I'm sorry.

1:08:04Poor me. Anybody got a time machine? I know. Why didn't I, like, flirt with people? I'm bad at flirting. I'm bad at it. I agree. Yeah. I can't read it. You don't read it. And I'm saying that because. Everyone was in love with you. Every, yes, my. I didn't have that experience. But that's why I'm bringing it up because the way you said it earlier, I knew that's what you were saying was like. You didn't know, dummy. Yeah. I didn't. You could have. He's like. You could. Do do do. Do do do. Whoa is me. Nobody likes me. and there was like 10 like howling dogs outside your window every night not one wiener are you going home you need a help that didn't happen i did go on one date when i was there with somebody that you know and he took me to see a show um called puppetry of the penis sure so you can't tell that story either

1:09:04I should try to ask a question and we're okay I'll just say that in the vein of you being a natural and you being musically gifted in every way like you know Maya was we would have musical guests come on and then Maya would sing in a sketch and we'd be like Maya's better than the than the multi-platinum singer. But do you think that there's some rhythm that's important to have for both comedy and music? And like, what do you think? Why do you think you need both? Like, why do you think there's such like loving cousins? They're cousins. I love this topic so much because I can't really truly define why.

1:09:53I think there is a language to both of them. I think that there's an incredible inherent ability to them. Some people are just musically gifted. Those people are musically gifted. I know that for a fact. And that's why you always hear about musicians quoting Spinal Tap on their tour bus. Like they want to be in some way musicians want to be comedians and comedians want to be musicians. and sometimes they're both.

1:10:30But they live together. And it's such a mutual appreciation, admiration society. But they're also an incredible skill. And when you're good at it, you can't fake it. Great musicians. I also had this funny, I don't know what, growing up because I was so surrounded by music because my parents were musicians that, and we'd saw a lot of music too, or we had friends that were musicians and music was just very, music was very normal in my house. Like that's just the best way to describe it. Like it was, it was normal. And, um, sometimes I'd watch people on stage and I'd think I'm, I'm, that's what I want to do.

1:11:17Like I could see, like, I could just imagine doing it. And then I'd see somebody funny and I was like that's what I want to do and I'd sort of like vacillate between the two but um here I go I can't remember what I was saying um I think I think it's a fascinating um love story comedy and music and I think that when I think about some of the best people I do think it's something that you really when people are naturally good at it there's nothing better and I think I like to we all know Amaya, you know, in another life is married to Prince in another life. And you're in the band Princess, you know, yes.

1:12:00And Prince, you know, you had the pleasure to meet him and you love him. And you like to talk about how funny Prince was. So funny. Oh, my God. So funny. Can you tell us a joke that Prince told you or something funny or a funny moment with Prince? He did tell me a joke once, but I didn't understand it. You're not supposed to.

1:12:31I'm thinking about when Fred Armisen and you would do Beyonce and Prince and Prince would hide the whole time. Oh my God. Prince was always hiding. That was, again, like the best thing about that sketch was the fact that we loved Prince so much that we understood it. And so it was just like getting to do it. It wasn't like, isn't this funny? Yeah. He's short. Yeah. I hate that so much. And you felt that way about Beyonce like the same with Beyonce. Same thing. Such reverence for her. Well yeah because the other thing is like I never I don't know how you feel about doing impressions of people but I'm not an impressionist and we've talked so many times about different personalities.

1:13:12There's so many different types of people that work at Saturday Night Live specifically. Some people are impressionists. Some people are stand-up. Some people are sketch performers. And some impressionists, they can be very specific personalities. I'm not an impressionist, but I feel like when I do an impression, it comes from watching someone. And I'm watching them because I'm fascinated. I'm interested. I'm excited by them. So I think I'm picking up in the same way that, like, you tell a story and you use the person's voice, like, whatever. But joking aside, when I tell a story, I usually imitate the person.

1:13:49But I think it's because I'm interested. I don't know. I can hear it. I also think I'm a little bit of a parrot, to go back to the comedy music thing. Well, that's what I would just say, is that I feel like you have a sense of time. When we started with you singing the national anthem, you take your time with that. You know when to go fast and be like Whitney talking to Bobby Brown really fast. And you know how to go really slow. And it's like you know the rhythm, the in-between of stuff. Like that's part of the magic of you, I think, Maya, is the way in which you can change the tempo of the stuff that you do really naturally.

1:14:33And everybody's just like you have the rhythm that everybody – like you are the song everybody wants to hear. it's like we love your song like you have that okay so we're going to the speed round okay here we go do you like scary movies nope favorite thing to cook oh pancakes silver dollar pancakes what happened to your finger I fucking cut it on Thanksgiving making stuffing. I sliced the shit out of it. It really hurts. Do you like going to Disneyland? Yep, I do. What's your favorite part? What kind of Disney adult are you? And by the way, I know you love me because you're asking me this question because you do not like Disneyland.

1:15:32Oopsie. And I was born in Gainesville, Florida, even though I've lived here since I was one, other than the time that I spent in New York. Gainesville got a whoop? Is somebody from Gainesville? You're from Gainesville? Wow. Wow. Hi. You, me, Tom Petty, and Joaquin Phoenix. What if we looked out in the audience and it was just a crocodile?

1:15:54I actually have not been back to Gainesville. Do you want to go with me after the show? My speed round. Okay, sorry. I probably have ADD, but I was never tested. That's okay. Are big pants still in? What do you mean by big pants? You tell me. I mean, yeah. Whatever. I feel like these are big pants. Yeah, big pants are still in. I go to Maya for all my fashion. I love fashion. You love fashion. I love it. You love fashion. I've always loved it. Best thing about Hanukkah? Latkes. Latkes. This episode is going to be coming out close to Hanukkah. I love sour cream and applesauce on my latkes. And how's your dog, Leroy?

1:16:37He's great. Thank you for asking. What kind of dog is he? He's probably a golden doodle. We were told he was a standard poodle when we rescued him. For those listening, Maya did that in quotes with a bandaged finger. I mean, I think he's a rescue. He and his siblings and his mom and dad were all living in a, you know, what do you call it, a crate or whatever. You think he's faking being a rescue? No, well, he was like, oh, my leg. He showed up at your door. Ding dong. Hey, me and my family are kind of homeless. Our car broke down on the side of the road. You got jumper cables? No, it's just that we got him from a rescue place.

1:17:29There's a lot of rescue places. Another air set of aircraft. Yeah, so I mean, whatever. But you got to pay to make sure they're healthy and whatever. Sure. It's the best fucking money I've spent. I fucking love that dog. I have another dog named Daisy. And tell us about Daisy. Daisy just got attacked by two coyotes, and now she's okay. I know. In your yard? In my yard. Did you see it? No, but my daughter did. It was really bad. Daisy. Daisy is a fucking warrior. Yeah, Daisy survived. Daisy survived. Fuck those coyotes. Fuck those coyotes. I know. And they're kind of dicks. Coyotes are dicks. Don't you agree?

1:18:13I feel like when I look at them, they're like, sup. But they do. They just stand there like, sup, old lady. I'm like, no, get the fuck out of here, man. I mean, I don't know. Right? Coyotes are so rude. Or rude. And they're really, they just, you're right. They're like the lost boys. They're like... They are. What's up? You got any bread? You guys have cereal? Get the fuck out of here, man. Nobody invited you into my yard. Get out of my yard, dicks. Oh my God, the lost boys. I don't know why that was my reference. And then the last thing I want to ask you about is... I love fast questions. I'm sorry.

1:19:07I didn't answer them. This is fun. Your astrological sign. Leo. Yeah. And I don't remember my... What's it called? Denneagram? Yeah. It's a seven. I've told you so many times. It's so many times I've told you mine. And you told me that I'm a seven because I don't remember that I'm a seven. Well, it's about fun. Sevens love to have fun. Uh-oh.

1:19:36I mean, let's be clear. I like to have fun with you. There's plenty of people I do not have fun with. Yeah, for sure. I mean, we have a lot of fun. We've had a lot of fun. We have fun. We have fun. And then Ron brought this question up, but I think it's a beautiful... Well, first of all, he'd like to know if Lute is coming back. And congratulations on another season of Lute. Thank you. Thank you. And it was a fun season and I love working with Ron so much. And I love that he wants to come back to his job. Isn't that a nice thing when people are like, I want to come back to my job and be employed?

1:20:14Yeah, what's great about working with Ron? Oh my God. I always say Ron is like human mochi. He's like, well, the sound of his voice, but like he's a genuinely good human being. and it's very, I was in love with Ron's work and I just wanted him to be on my show. I just, I didn't know him. I just wanted to work with him. And there's nobody like him and he's sensitive and kind and he cares. He cares about where he is and who he's with. And he is so singularly himself and so funny. I just, I love, I love who he is. I just love him. but Ron asks you how do you do it, Maya? How do you balance it? And what I think is lovely about that question and behind it is what we were talking about earlier, which is the idea of kind of like figuring out the art, you know, being an architect of your own life, trying to figure out like what's important to you, how to have a full life where, you know, all of us are lucky enough now to have been friends for 20, 30 years, and some of us are blessed with children and lives and figuring out how to work and be a good mom and good partner.

1:21:36And I have to say that being in your presence as you mother is pretty amazing. You're a fantastic mother, and you have wonderful kids. And, I mean, I know it's so important to you. I knew that was a really, really important thing for you to accomplish in this time around, is being a mother. How has it changed your life? I remember so, you know, I became a mother while we were still working on the show, when we were still at Saturday Night Live, and none of my friends there had kids. That was wild because you go from one lifestyle and you're watching all your friends go out and have fun and you're over here like, I got to get up with my baby.

1:22:28But thank God it taught me to let go of things that I really needed to let go of. And I called it, you know, my bullshit meter. And just it just everything that wasn't important just fell away. There was no time you have to keep a human being alive. and a human being that you're so in love with. And it just really helped me. I tend to be someone who can get caught up in the minutiae and I worry too much about pleasing people, making sure I'm polite, doing the right thing. I always felt like I was a very good student when it came to being at SNL. And if I had to do it all over again, And I'd want to be a slutty rebel.

1:23:17Yeah. But I wasn't, you know. And I wanted to do it right, which got in my way a lot, to be honest. And then after I had Pearl, and I didn't know whether I'd come back to the show or not, I wanted to be with you guys so much. And it's also so fascinating that such a hard job is actually a welcome thing after having a baby. I really just was like, because you say to yourself like, oh, I know how to do that. And even though you're juggling something else, I learned the lesson of if I'm doing something I love, then that's a good reason to say good night to her and go to work. Or give her a bath and say like, I can't be here for bedtime or whatever and go to work because I loved what I was doing.

1:24:01and sometimes as you know when you're traveling for work and your kids are little and you have to leave and knowing that you're going somewhere that you love or doing something you love makes it more worthwhile not to say I've never worked on things I don't love I have you know we all have to make a living and that can be really tough too but it made me make a mental note of what works for me. And so I try to seek those moments out when I can, as often as I can. And we don't always have the opportunities, but it definitely changed how I viewed work. And I think it's why I did the national anthem.

1:24:48I think I loosened up a little bit. And that was when I came back to work after Pearlsborn, yeah. Well, we're very lucky that we got to see you work in real time. And I think I can speak for all of us that we know there's so much stuff always ahead with you. Maya, everything you do is just fucking delight. Sorry I swore. I don't know why I swore. I liked it. Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Maya Rudolph. Thank you.

1:25:34You've been listening to Good Hang. The executive producers for this show are Bill Simmons, Jenna Weiss-Berman, and me, Amy Poehler. The show is produced by The Ringer and Paper Kite. For The Ringer, production by Jack Wilson, Kat Spillane, Kaya McMullen, and Alaya Zanaris. For Paper Kite, production by Sam Green, Joel Lovell, and Jenna Weiss-Berman. Original music by Amy Miles.

1:26:00This episode is brought to you by Athletic Brewing Company. No matter how you do game day, on the couch, in the crowd, or manning the snack table, Athletic Brewing fits right in. With a full lineup of non-alcoholic beer styles, you can enjoy bold flavors all game long. No hangovers, no buzz, no subbing out for water in the second half. Stock the fridge for tip-off with a variety of non-alcoholic craft styles available at your local grocery store or online at athleticbrewing.com. Near beer, fit for all times. Spring just slid into your DMs. Grab that boho look for that rooftop dinner, those sandals that can keep up with you, and hang some string lights to give your patio a glow up.

1:26:41Spring's calling. Ross, work your magic.