WEBVTT - Kevin Kelton Meets World 0:00:20.079 --> 0:00:22.840 My My new favorite lunch that I make for myself 0:00:23.440 --> 0:00:26.040 is the Jennifer Aniston salad. 0:00:27.080 --> 0:00:27.760 Has heard about this? 0:00:28.000 --> 0:00:32.040 Yeah, you make a salad Jennifer and cucumber mint parsley. 0:00:32.240 --> 0:00:33.800 It's feta. It's delicious. 0:00:34.200 --> 0:00:37.000 Oh you've lost will forever at feta. 0:00:37.200 --> 0:00:40.800 So anyway, you know, I ran and we stumbled across this. 0:00:40.880 --> 0:00:42.559 I actually it was from when we went on our 0:00:42.640 --> 0:00:46.239 rafting trip. They they made this for lunch on one 0:00:46.240 --> 0:00:48.479 of our stops and or made a version of this, 0:00:48.520 --> 0:00:51.240 and so I was like looking up like quenwa chickpea 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:54.320 feta salad, and then it came up as the Jennifer 0:00:54.400 --> 0:00:57.840 Aniston salad. I was like what and so I you 0:00:57.880 --> 0:01:00.279 what they say is that she ate this every day 0:01:00.320 --> 0:01:02.560 when she was on the set of Friends or whatever. 0:01:02.840 --> 0:01:04.320 But I just thought it was so weird, like of 0:01:04.400 --> 0:01:06.840 all the things to have named after you, like as 0:01:06.880 --> 0:01:09.440 an actor, to have a salad named after you. So 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:11.760 I was wondering, if you guys could be could have 0:01:11.800 --> 0:01:13.600 anything named after you, what would it be? 0:01:14.920 --> 0:01:20.520 The Jennifer Aniston salad, the wild. 0:01:20.360 --> 0:01:24.400 Salad, the Wilfred no no chick beas just steak. 0:01:25.200 --> 0:01:29.720 It's it's just it's it's just actually of Iceberg Lattice. 0:01:29.760 --> 0:01:31.720 That's all. It is, just after that of Iceberg Lattice. 0:01:32.480 --> 0:01:35.600 I don't know what would you want named after you, Danielle, Oh, 0:01:35.640 --> 0:01:36.920 I think I got one? 0:01:37.080 --> 0:01:37.960 What go for you? 0:01:38.440 --> 0:01:40.800 Well, if you hit a certain number of miles on 0:01:40.920 --> 0:01:43.560 an airplane like on and they name a plane after you, 0:01:43.600 --> 0:01:45.800 like a new plane is named after you, something like 0:01:45.840 --> 0:01:46.840 that would be cool. 0:01:46.840 --> 0:01:51.200 So you want like a big like an actual odd yeah. 0:01:50.720 --> 0:01:53.360 Like a thing named after like like that would be cool. 0:01:53.480 --> 0:01:56.240 Ship and the ocean on the high side, Yes, exactly, Like, 0:01:57.640 --> 0:01:59.560 Oh that'd be of course everyone would get it wrong 0:01:59.600 --> 0:02:01.400 and be like, oh man, are you flying on the Friedle? 0:02:01.760 --> 0:02:04.120 Like no one would get it right ever, Yeah, it 0:02:04.120 --> 0:02:06.040 would just they didn't even spell it wrong. 0:02:07.480 --> 0:02:10.720 Exactly. It would invariably become the Freedle. But yeah, like it. 0:02:10.919 --> 0:02:12.480 I think I take a plane. I think that'd be 0:02:12.480 --> 0:02:12.960 really cool. 0:02:13.560 --> 0:02:15.720 Oh man, I don't know it mine would probably, I'd 0:02:15.720 --> 0:02:18.600 probably want it'd probably be a food relate if I 0:02:18.639 --> 0:02:21.600 think about all my favorite things. It would be a 0:02:21.639 --> 0:02:31.680 food related thing or it would be a nat related thing, right. 0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:35.920 I would live official are the official Oreo? 0:02:37.400 --> 0:02:38.680 I love that. 0:02:38.919 --> 0:02:41.280 I would really like that yeah, that that that would 0:02:41.320 --> 0:02:42.720 be mine. I would have to but it would yeah, 0:02:42.720 --> 0:02:43.400 because it wouldn't be. 0:02:43.360 --> 0:02:44.520 Something healthy like a solid. 0:02:44.600 --> 0:02:46.400 It would have to be something like a like an 0:02:46.400 --> 0:02:49.080 oreo to Pangorreo, or like. 0:02:49.000 --> 0:02:52.960 You said, a McDonald's meal. Would you say to Pangorreo, 0:02:54.680 --> 0:02:56.640 that's a pretty good one. We should we should pitch that. 0:02:57.080 --> 0:02:59.920 We should Uh yeah, no, I think a McDonald's. Oh 0:03:00.040 --> 0:03:01.560 if we could do a McDonald's meal too. 0:03:01.720 --> 0:03:03.440 Oh man, if we could do a Pod meets World 0:03:03.480 --> 0:03:04.480 McDonald's meal. 0:03:04.520 --> 0:03:08.600 And like I want my Pod meets Yes, Oh, that'd 0:03:08.639 --> 0:03:09.640 be awesome. 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:12.080 That sounds good. I could do McDonald's today. 0:03:12.960 --> 0:03:14.520 I can do McDonald's every day. 0:03:14.800 --> 0:03:17.440 I could do McDonald's right now, let's get it delivered 0:03:17.440 --> 0:03:19.160 while we're while recorded. 0:03:19.840 --> 0:03:24.280 Uber eats McDonald Welcome to Pod Meets World. I'm Daniel Fischel, 0:03:24.480 --> 0:03:26.560 I'm writer Strong, and I'm Wilfredell. 0:03:27.040 --> 0:03:29.880 When I innocently asked the guys, hey, either of you 0:03:29.880 --> 0:03:32.560 two remember the writer of this episode. On a recent recap, 0:03:32.800 --> 0:03:35.720 it was Will who jumped in and said, yeah, Kevin Kelton, 0:03:35.960 --> 0:03:39.280 I like that guy. And then in classic Pod meets World, 0:03:39.280 --> 0:03:43.440 Fashion Rider and I remembered absolutely nothing about him, but 0:03:44.040 --> 0:03:46.600 we were thrilled when Kevin did reach out to Will 0:03:46.640 --> 0:03:49.520 after the podcast episode aired to thank him for having 0:03:49.520 --> 0:03:52.920 a working memory and now here he is about to 0:03:52.920 --> 0:03:55.600 talk to us about what he remembers. As a writer 0:03:55.800 --> 0:03:59.320 and producer on Boy Meets World, Kevin technically had one 0:03:59.360 --> 0:04:01.520 of the more impressed of pre Boy Meets World resumes 0:04:01.520 --> 0:04:03.880 on staff. He had already worked on the Variety show 0:04:04.080 --> 0:04:09.080 Fridays with a young Green coworker named Larry David. He 0:04:09.240 --> 0:04:12.280 had a story by credit on The Jeffersons, and spent 0:04:12.520 --> 0:04:15.560 nineteen eighty three through nineteen eighty five as part of 0:04:15.560 --> 0:04:19.000 the Fraternity of writers working at New York's thirty Rockefeller 0:04:19.080 --> 0:04:24.120 Center on Saturday Night Live, where he was Emmy nominated 0:04:24.839 --> 0:04:27.640 throw in three episodes of a Different World and five 0:04:27.680 --> 0:04:29.960 episodes of Night Court, and by the time he had 0:04:30.000 --> 0:04:32.479 his first script with Boy Meets World in nineteen ninety five, 0:04:32.680 --> 0:04:36.520 this guy was killing it. He wrote season two's Pop Quiz, 0:04:36.640 --> 0:04:39.480 the episode where Sean and Corey Steele an upcoming assignment 0:04:39.480 --> 0:04:43.080 for mister Turner's apartment, and in season three he penned 0:04:43.200 --> 0:04:48.839 Are Beloved and Possible Rewatch Favorite City slackers. The heart 0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:51.400 is a lonely hunter, and I never sang for my 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:55.080 legal guardian, and for good reason. With all this experience, 0:04:55.160 --> 0:04:58.040 he'd go on to write the book The Sitcom Writer's Cookbook, 0:04:58.240 --> 0:05:02.160 and also three novels, and now, almost thirty years later, 0:05:02.240 --> 0:05:04.560 he will join three of the child stars he once 0:05:04.600 --> 0:05:07.560 worked with and not focus on his time with Steve Martin, 0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:13.200 Jay Leno or Lorne Michaels. Nope, Yeah, he's going to 0:05:13.240 --> 0:05:15.200 talk about the time he wrote the episode where Will 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:17.560 somehow nailed an impossibly. 0:05:17.000 --> 0:05:20.640 Cool pool trick on his first try. So welcome to 0:05:20.680 --> 0:05:21.479 Pod meets World. 0:05:21.680 --> 0:05:25.680 Someone writer, and I will never forget a second time writer. 0:05:26.240 --> 0:05:27.120 Kevin Kelton. 0:05:32.680 --> 0:05:33.560 Hi, I'm Kate. 0:05:33.440 --> 0:05:37.320 Hudson and I'm Oliver Hudson. And at last I checked for. 0:05:37.320 --> 0:05:40.440 Siblings and this is sibling revelry. 0:05:40.720 --> 0:05:43.279 We're full blood siblings, the only full blood. 0:05:43.240 --> 0:05:46.480 Sibling and our family well not in the world, I mean. 0:05:46.400 --> 0:05:47.200 No, in the whole world. 0:05:47.279 --> 0:05:50.440 This is it, like no one anyway, We're back with 0:05:50.600 --> 0:05:52.320 season four. I can't believe his. 0:05:52.520 --> 0:05:56.600 Guys, I'm so excited, bigger and better than ever. You 0:05:56.720 --> 0:06:01.200 might be asking yourself, what is bling revelry? 0:06:01.360 --> 0:06:03.640 Yeah, well we just made it up. There is no 0:06:03.680 --> 0:06:06.600 sibling revelry. It's reveling in your sibling and. 0:06:06.640 --> 0:06:09.560 It's fun because we've decided to open it up, you know, 0:06:09.800 --> 0:06:13.880 to really like all kinds of different siblings. And it's 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:16.839 going to be an awesome season. 0:06:17.040 --> 0:06:21.160 So listen to Sibling Revelry on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or. 0:06:21.120 --> 0:06:24.119 Wherever you listen to pop. 0:06:24.560 --> 0:06:40.560 God, Danielle, you're like intermittently skipping and freezing around for me. 0:06:41.120 --> 0:06:44.920 Yeah, that's you, because I'm on I'm on Ethernet. You 0:06:45.080 --> 0:06:46.239 it's you. I'm hardwire. 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:52.360 You interrupted a site about whose Internet is failing? 0:06:52.839 --> 0:06:56.160 I love it because I do a podcast too, and 0:06:56.200 --> 0:06:59.560 we have this argument every week. Oh yeah, and I 0:06:59.560 --> 0:07:01.200 thought it was only because we were such a low 0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:05.599 scale podcast. So the national podcast also have the same discussion. 0:07:05.800 --> 0:07:07.800 Oh yeah, whose internet is failing? 0:07:07.839 --> 0:07:09.200 Now I'm just messing up. 0:07:09.960 --> 0:07:12.400 So first of all, Kevin Wrighter and I would like 0:07:12.400 --> 0:07:14.400 to apologize for not remembering you. 0:07:14.680 --> 0:07:17.600 Yes, I'm so glad you said that picture though, because 0:07:17.600 --> 0:07:19.760 the second I saw the picture, I was like, oh yes. 0:07:20.040 --> 0:07:22.600 When you send the picture and I saw your face, 0:07:22.720 --> 0:07:28.400 I was like, of course there is so yeah, we 0:07:28.400 --> 0:07:33.400 were totally blown away by the City Slackers episode it is. 0:07:34.160 --> 0:07:37.000 I mean, not only are maybe our favorite episode of 0:07:37.040 --> 0:07:39.520 season three, but if I had to guess, like, of 0:07:39.560 --> 0:07:43.239 all the season one, two and three episodes, city Slackers 0:07:43.320 --> 0:07:44.960 might be my favorite. 0:07:44.760 --> 0:07:46.240 I don't disagree. 0:07:46.400 --> 0:07:49.360 It was a great as it was going around the 0:07:49.480 --> 0:07:52.160 B story, good a story, Feenie being Feoenie. 0:07:52.160 --> 0:07:54.520 I mean, that was a great episode. 0:07:54.600 --> 0:07:56.320 What do you remember about that week? 0:07:57.320 --> 0:08:01.160 Well, you know, I have memories of the episodes. I 0:08:01.240 --> 0:08:03.880 actually went back and rewatched them. I don't have a 0:08:03.920 --> 0:08:07.680 lot of specific memories from production, but I do remember 0:08:07.720 --> 0:08:11.360 one Bill Daniels story that I thought I would tell. 0:08:10.960 --> 0:08:12.400 When I first came on the show. 0:08:12.720 --> 0:08:16.200 And you guys are writers, so you know this. Actors 0:08:16.440 --> 0:08:20.680 generally don't like parentheticals, yep, because they think that you 0:08:20.680 --> 0:08:23.120 are telling them what to do, how to do their job. 0:08:24.000 --> 0:08:26.840 And I was warned early on in my tenure there 0:08:27.000 --> 0:08:29.240 not to do that for Bill Daniels because he'll call 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:32.680 you on it. Well, somehow I let a parenthetical slip 0:08:32.720 --> 0:08:35.079 into one of his speeches. I think it was in 0:08:35.200 --> 0:08:38.320 City Slackers, and sure enough we get to the reading 0:08:38.360 --> 0:08:41.160 on whether it was whatever our Monday morning was. I 0:08:41.200 --> 0:08:44.800 forget what day we did the readings Friday, and he 0:08:44.880 --> 0:08:47.240 calls me over. And I never really talked much to Bill, 0:08:47.559 --> 0:08:48.839 and he calls me over. He says, I have a 0:08:48.880 --> 0:08:51.160 question for you about the script. And he turns to 0:08:51.200 --> 0:08:54.560 a page and he reads like one of your lines, 0:08:54.720 --> 0:08:56.800 and then he reads his follow up or he gets 0:08:56.840 --> 0:09:00.120 to his follow up line with the parenthetical in it, 0:09:00.400 --> 0:09:04.000 and he goes, oh, parenthetical, And without looking up, he's 0:09:04.080 --> 0:09:06.200 looking right at the script just as he would do 0:09:06.240 --> 0:09:08.680 as if he was mister Feeni. He goes, I see 0:09:08.720 --> 0:09:13.120 you're doing my job now, and behold me and everyone 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:14.319 around like gasp. 0:09:18.120 --> 0:09:19.840 Oh, there was nothing quite like that. 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:22.160 Yeah, when you when Bill calls you on the carpet, 0:09:22.160 --> 0:09:23.520 you have been called on the carpet. 0:09:24.360 --> 0:09:27.240 Yeah, there was nothing quite like getting Uh. 0:09:27.320 --> 0:09:31.120 They were always they were rare, and they were always 0:09:31.840 --> 0:09:36.959 intelligent little cutdowns from Bill that would occasionally happen. It's 0:09:37.040 --> 0:09:39.200 just he would he would just kind of every once 0:09:39.240 --> 0:09:40.800 in a while, give you a little bit of a job. 0:09:40.960 --> 0:09:44.800 But they were jabs that were beautifully timed, wonderfully thought out. 0:09:44.800 --> 0:09:46.320 But it was like, oh, yes, I see you're doing 0:09:46.320 --> 0:09:46.800 my job now. 0:09:47.400 --> 0:09:49.600 What's so interesting about hearing that story? For me is like, 0:09:51.000 --> 0:09:52.760 is that when I think about it, And of course 0:09:52.800 --> 0:09:55.720 this is obvious, he had more experience than anybody else 0:09:55.720 --> 0:09:59.000 on the set. Well, you know, and that's that's as 0:09:59.040 --> 0:10:00.880 a kid, I obviously he felt like he had more 0:10:00.880 --> 0:10:01.480 experience than me. 0:10:01.559 --> 0:10:05.120 But for you writers too, he had years of experiencing. 0:10:05.280 --> 0:10:08.600 Oh yeah, but you know, so interesting the cast. First 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:10.240 of all, I can't say enough about the cast. You 0:10:10.280 --> 0:10:13.600 guys were all wonderful on and off the set. But 0:10:14.000 --> 0:10:17.720 we could give you guys anything, and you delivered on it. 0:10:17.720 --> 0:10:18.800 It was really a pleasure. 0:10:20.000 --> 0:10:23.960 That's so kind When you rewatched the episodes and what 0:10:24.120 --> 0:10:26.360 kind of emotions came up for you? How did you 0:10:26.360 --> 0:10:28.440 feel rewatching your work this many years later. 0:10:29.760 --> 0:10:32.840 Well, first of all, I'm a sucker for my SAP scenes. 0:10:33.520 --> 0:10:36.720 So in that last scene in City Slackers or in 0:10:37.320 --> 0:10:42.120 the Heart is a Lonely Hunter when writer's character when 0:10:42.200 --> 0:10:45.960 Sean is on the picnic with his girlfriend, you know, 0:10:46.040 --> 0:10:48.880 I choke up, even though I wrote your stuff. Yeah, 0:10:48.920 --> 0:10:51.880 but looking back on it, it's hard. Yeah. I mean you 0:10:51.920 --> 0:10:54.240 guys again, you know what it's like to watch your 0:10:54.240 --> 0:10:58.720 own work, your your own worst self critic, So a 0:10:58.760 --> 0:11:02.280 lot of it. Yeah, it's not the most fun to 0:11:02.320 --> 0:11:04.480 go back and watch it, but I do appreciate the 0:11:04.559 --> 0:11:07.480 quality of the episodes absolutely. 0:11:07.840 --> 0:11:10.319 We also I really loved I never sang for My 0:11:10.400 --> 0:11:13.640 Legal Guardian, which we just recently watched and recapped. 0:11:14.040 --> 0:11:20.080 So you saying that you are a sucker for your sappy. 0:11:19.800 --> 0:11:22.920 Scenes, you did write some of the more emotionally charged 0:11:23.240 --> 0:11:24.480 episodes of our show. 0:11:25.400 --> 0:11:27.880 Yeah, well, first of all, I think that that's the 0:11:28.000 --> 0:11:31.040 direction that Michael was taking us in that third season. 0:11:31.760 --> 0:11:35.520 But also I came in. I mean, you guys know 0:11:35.640 --> 0:11:40.640 my background. I have a very broad background, eclectic background 0:11:40.640 --> 0:11:43.880 in television writing. So when I came onto the show, 0:11:44.040 --> 0:11:50.040 I really didn't have a TGIF sensibility, and I was 0:11:50.120 --> 0:11:54.199 hired off of a Fraser spec to give you an example. Interesting, 0:11:54.520 --> 0:11:58.560 and so you know, my goal, like everybody in the nineties, 0:11:58.600 --> 0:12:00.960 my goal was to work on a must TV show. 0:12:02.200 --> 0:12:05.280 And yeah, the shows I liked were the obvious ones. 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:10.480 Larry Sanders, which wasn't must see TV, but f Frasier, Yeah, 0:12:10.679 --> 0:12:17.239 Mad About You. I just absolutely adored. So my particular 0:12:17.679 --> 0:12:20.760 kind of push in that third season because everybody was 0:12:20.760 --> 0:12:22.880 talking about aging up the show. How can we age 0:12:22.920 --> 0:12:26.439 up the characters age up the show, and we all 0:12:26.520 --> 0:12:28.600 had that goal, but we had different ideas of how 0:12:28.600 --> 0:12:32.959 to get there. And my idea was to play to 0:12:34.559 --> 0:12:38.200 the characters that weren't as well utilized or weren't as 0:12:38.320 --> 0:12:40.480 much of a focus, which is why I like to 0:12:40.520 --> 0:12:45.000 write stories about mister Feenie with the boys out of school. Yeah, 0:12:46.000 --> 0:12:49.840 you know, take Sean's relationships to a different level, putting 0:12:49.880 --> 0:12:53.480 Will at a job at an internship. I really liked 0:12:53.840 --> 0:12:57.360 writing for you characters and taking you to new places 0:12:57.760 --> 0:12:59.920 and trying to write a little bit more of that 0:13:00.120 --> 0:13:03.360 kind of like musty tvous sensibility. Now, I'm not so 0:13:04.440 --> 0:13:07.480 egocentric as to think that I totally succeeded, but I 0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:08.520 tried to push. 0:13:08.280 --> 0:13:10.800 Those those muscles you absolutely did. 0:13:11.000 --> 0:13:12.920 So I want to go back to some of your 0:13:12.960 --> 0:13:15.120 your jobs that you had before you joined us on 0:13:15.160 --> 0:13:17.320 Boymet's World, and one of your first jobs was on 0:13:17.360 --> 0:13:18.800 the variety show Fridays. 0:13:19.320 --> 0:13:21.600 That was my first comedy writing job. Yeah. I had 0:13:21.640 --> 0:13:23.720 a job in television before that on a game show 0:13:23.760 --> 0:13:26.560 called Face the Music, and then I got the Friday's job. 0:13:27.200 --> 0:13:30.000 And so wait, I have I have a Friday's question, Danielle. Yes, 0:13:30.120 --> 0:13:31.760 if you mind if I pop in. So this was 0:13:31.840 --> 0:13:34.679 this was the Michael Michael Richards was on Fridays? Was not? 0:13:34.960 --> 0:13:39.800 Yeah, were you there for the famous uh scene that. 0:13:39.720 --> 0:13:42.640 Happened with it was with Andy Kaufman? With Andy Kaufman? 0:13:42.679 --> 0:13:44.000 Were you there when that? 0:13:44.640 --> 0:13:46.720 I had left the show a couple of weeks before that, 0:13:46.800 --> 0:13:50.040 my contract had run out for that season. But I 0:13:50.120 --> 0:13:52.440 have some strong opinions on that. I don't think any 0:13:52.440 --> 0:13:53.200 of that was real. 0:13:53.880 --> 0:13:56.320 And really, yeah, do you guys know what I'm talking about? 0:13:56.360 --> 0:13:57.040 Danielle and Ryder? 0:13:57.400 --> 0:13:58.040 What's the story? 0:13:58.080 --> 0:14:00.360 Okay, well, okay, this is so this is one of 0:14:00.400 --> 0:14:04.640 the arguably one of the most famous stories in television history. 0:14:04.760 --> 0:14:07.240 At this point, can you tell us what it was, Kevin? 0:14:07.240 --> 0:14:09.280 Since you were there, I mean, on the show, can 0:14:09.320 --> 0:14:10.400 you tell us what went down? 0:14:10.440 --> 0:14:13.680 Sure? So Andy Kaufman was known for put ons, so 0:14:14.200 --> 0:14:18.200 he came on to Fridays and in his monologue he 0:14:18.280 --> 0:14:20.200 was talking about how he could do anything. You know, 0:14:20.240 --> 0:14:22.600 it's live, there's nothing they could do, and he would 0:14:22.600 --> 0:14:26.600 do act like Andy making crazy faces, and during the 0:14:26.600 --> 0:14:28.960 course of all of the sketches, he would kind of 0:14:29.000 --> 0:14:31.840 break the fourth wall here and there. So finally we 0:14:31.920 --> 0:14:36.160 get to the last sketch of the episode, and as 0:14:36.200 --> 0:14:41.080 it plays out, Andy started going totally off camera and saying, 0:14:41.120 --> 0:14:44.520 I can't do this anymore, started cracking up. This sketch 0:14:44.600 --> 0:14:47.520 is too silly, I can't do this. And it builds 0:14:47.560 --> 0:14:51.120 into an argument that builds into a fight with Michael Richards, 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:54.200 that builds into a fist fight with Jack Burns, who 0:14:54.320 --> 0:14:57.200 was one of the producers and the host of the show, 0:14:57.320 --> 0:15:01.440 or the MC of the show. It was all a 0:15:01.480 --> 0:15:04.360 put on. Now, I wasn't there, and I have heard 0:15:04.400 --> 0:15:06.680 a lot of people say a lot of things, but 0:15:06.800 --> 0:15:10.320 I know Andy. I saw Andy Kaufman in the early seventies. 0:15:10.640 --> 0:15:12.480 You know, my brother is a stand up comedian. That's 0:15:12.520 --> 0:15:14.680 how I got into comedy. And so when I was 0:15:14.720 --> 0:15:17.680 in college. When I was home from college, I would 0:15:17.680 --> 0:15:19.480 hang out with him at the New York comedy clubs 0:15:19.480 --> 0:15:21.560 because what would be more fun for a twenty year 0:15:21.560 --> 0:15:24.240 old kid than going to comedy clubs and hanging out 0:15:24.280 --> 0:15:27.440 with the comedians. And I saw Andy Kaufman pulling this 0:15:27.560 --> 0:15:32.760 stuff back in nineteen seventy five, so it's all you know, 0:15:33.480 --> 0:15:35.400 it's all a put on. He was great at it. 0:15:35.400 --> 0:15:37.680 It was a lot of fun I'm just surprised so 0:15:37.760 --> 0:15:39.520 many people really believed it was real. 0:15:40.400 --> 0:15:42.920 Oh well, there's probably a level of like, there's probably 0:15:42.920 --> 0:15:44.840 only like, like, even if it was a put on, 0:15:44.880 --> 0:15:46.120 there were probably still crew. 0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:48.480 Members who didn't know what was happening, right, A. 0:15:48.680 --> 0:15:50.680 Genius, Right, yeah, that's what it was. Genius. 0:15:50.680 --> 0:15:52.400 He would some people would be on on the joke, 0:15:52.480 --> 0:15:55.800 other people wouldn't, so then the rumors themselves would become 0:15:55.880 --> 0:15:58.480 part of the lore where it's like, wait, no, I 0:15:58.520 --> 0:15:59.680 heard it was a rumor. I heard it was a 0:15:59.680 --> 0:16:01.400 put out. No no, no, I was on that crew. 0:16:01.440 --> 0:16:04.200 It wasn't a putt like that was part of his genius. 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:07.320 I kind of respect that. I kind of respect that, 0:16:07.400 --> 0:16:09.840 but I also would hate to work with that. Oh yeah, 0:16:09.880 --> 0:16:12.960 you know what I mean, but tolerate that, Like I 0:16:13.920 --> 0:16:16.520 totally get it from like a distant like cultural perspective, 0:16:16.720 --> 0:16:20.360 but being a professional in the industry, like I want 0:16:20.400 --> 0:16:22.480 to rely on my fellow professionals, do you know what 0:16:22.480 --> 0:16:24.560 I mean? Like, yeah, the point is that you don't 0:16:24.600 --> 0:16:26.240 do those kinds of things to each other or. 0:16:27.880 --> 0:16:30.840 Story. And I didn't work on this show, but when 0:16:30.880 --> 0:16:33.240 he was on Taxi in the second or third season, 0:16:33.800 --> 0:16:36.640 he wanted to bring on Tony Clifton as a character, 0:16:36.920 --> 0:16:40.160 and he made them create a separate contract for Tony Clifton. 0:16:40.640 --> 0:16:43.960 So they write this episode. Tony Clifton shows up and 0:16:44.040 --> 0:16:45.920 during the course of the first two or three days, 0:16:46.440 --> 0:16:49.360 he shows up with a couple of hookers on his arms. 0:16:49.360 --> 0:16:51.040 I hope it's I can say that on the podcast. 0:16:51.080 --> 0:16:51.320 You can. 0:16:51.400 --> 0:16:52.600 Of course you can, of course you can. 0:16:52.840 --> 0:16:57.520 And he seems the biggest jerk and I'm using a 0:16:57.600 --> 0:17:00.480 kind word that one can be, to the point where 0:17:00.520 --> 0:17:03.320 he got so bad they actually had to fire him. 0:17:03.320 --> 0:17:09.360 Midweek, they fired Andy Kaufman as Tony Clifton, and that 0:17:09.880 --> 0:17:11.960 next week there's there or that weekend they're trying to 0:17:11.960 --> 0:17:13.320 figure out what are we going to do now we 0:17:13.520 --> 0:17:16.760 we you know, we're down one cast member and Ed 0:17:16.840 --> 0:17:21.199 Weinberger gets a call from Andy Kaufman saying, Hi, I 0:17:21.240 --> 0:17:23.640 hear there was a problem with Tony last week. What happened? 0:17:25.080 --> 0:17:28.359 And he was he was he would never break the character. 0:17:28.440 --> 0:17:30.600 It was him and Bob Zamuda, right, Bob's they were 0:17:30.960 --> 0:17:33.440 always in on the jokes, and he would he would 0:17:33.480 --> 0:17:36.280 sit there and say like he's apparently in his dressing 0:17:36.320 --> 0:17:39.280 room dressed like Tony Clifton at one point getting a 0:17:39.320 --> 0:17:42.879 call as Andy Kaufman saying Andy, we have to fire 0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:45.919 Tony and him going, oh geez, that's so he's not 0:17:46.000 --> 0:17:47.840 gonna take it well and tell and then he like 0:17:48.240 --> 0:17:50.280 bashed up the set. I mean, yeah, it was one 0:17:50.320 --> 0:17:53.200 of those things where he either thought it was brilliant 0:17:53.480 --> 0:17:55.760 or you couldn't stand him, and there was kind of 0:17:55.840 --> 0:17:58.840 no in between, right, But yeah, that was I mean, 0:17:58.880 --> 0:18:02.480 we were when Danielle was reading your credits. This is 0:18:02.520 --> 0:18:05.040 another one of those times where I wish I could 0:18:05.160 --> 0:18:07.119 when we build the time machine we've talked about, I 0:18:07.119 --> 0:18:09.000 could go back and talk. 0:18:08.880 --> 0:18:10.520 To you on the set about being I mean, what 0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:12.359 years were you on snl. 0:18:12.520 --> 0:18:15.600 Oh eighty eighty three to eighty five, two seasons, the 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:18.640 ninth to tenth season, so that was the last year. 0:18:19.000 --> 0:18:20.960 It was the last year that Eddie Murphy was in 0:18:21.000 --> 0:18:23.879 the cast. And then the season with the Marty Short 0:18:23.920 --> 0:18:25.680 Billy Crystal Christopher. 0:18:25.200 --> 0:18:27.880 Gets my god, So you did you you were there 0:18:27.920 --> 0:18:31.200 with with with Hey you I see you with it. 0:18:31.320 --> 0:18:33.840 With the swimming, I don't I'm not a snchronized swimmer. 0:18:34.000 --> 0:18:37.400 Swimmers one of the one of the best skits of all. 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:41.400 Time unbelievable sketch. Yeah, yeah, written I think by those 0:18:41.440 --> 0:18:43.480 three guys, Marty, Chris and Harry. Sure. 0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:48.320 What are some of your favorite memories from SNL Oh, gosh. 0:18:48.359 --> 0:18:52.760 So many of them? Right? You know? I wrote a 0:18:52.840 --> 0:18:55.679 sketch that was a film piece about a high school 0:18:55.800 --> 0:18:59.480 chess coach that acts like Bobby Knight on the sidelines, 0:18:59.560 --> 0:19:02.240 growing as antrum every time a kid moves a rook 0:19:02.359 --> 0:19:07.760 or something. And that piece got a lot of critical acclaim. 0:19:07.400 --> 0:19:11.119 And yes, my husband loves that sketch. 0:19:11.240 --> 0:19:13.440 When he throws the chair, He's like chucking the chair 0:19:13.480 --> 0:19:14.840 and all this. It was hysterical. 0:19:15.359 --> 0:19:17.280 So that, yeah, so I wrote that. That was one 0:19:17.280 --> 0:19:19.400 of the fun pieces. 0:19:19.960 --> 0:19:20.160 Uh. 0:19:20.960 --> 0:19:24.040 That second year for me was was just great. I 0:19:24.160 --> 0:19:26.240 was working with a couple of other writers. We kind 0:19:26.240 --> 0:19:29.480 of formed an informal three person writing team. Got a 0:19:29.480 --> 0:19:33.640 lot of material on and Yeah, the great thing about 0:19:33.760 --> 0:19:37.080 SNEL was it taught you how to produce, because when 0:19:37.080 --> 0:19:39.320 I was there, Dick Ebersol was the executive producer. I 0:19:39.440 --> 0:19:43.440 never worked for Lord Michaels, but Dick let you kind 0:19:43.480 --> 0:19:46.840 of produce your own sketches, so you learned how to 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:49.479 problem solve on the set as well as how to write. 0:19:49.840 --> 0:19:51.600 I'll tell another story. I hope you don't mind me 0:19:51.680 --> 0:19:56.480 telling these stories. I wrote a mister Robinson's neighborhood. I 0:19:56.520 --> 0:19:59.080 didn't create the character, but you were allowed to write 0:19:59.080 --> 0:20:02.240 for Eddie's character. So I wrote the sketch. And if 0:20:02.280 --> 0:20:04.800 you recall mister Robinson, there was a second there was 0:20:04.840 --> 0:20:09.000 a franchise where he always went to a board, a 0:20:09.040 --> 0:20:11.160 board that had the word of the day on it. Yes, 0:20:11.280 --> 0:20:13.520 he would introduce the word of the day. And the 0:20:13.560 --> 0:20:16.560 sketch that I wrote was that mister Robinson comes in 0:20:17.080 --> 0:20:20.439 carrying a picnic basket and he explains that he found 0:20:20.440 --> 0:20:25.520 a basket on his doorsteps and it was his bastard baby. 0:20:26.280 --> 0:20:28.120 So the word of the day was bastard. 0:20:28.160 --> 0:20:29.800 It was bastard, bastard. 0:20:30.240 --> 0:20:33.199 And remember here's what happened. I wrote a sketch. The 0:20:33.240 --> 0:20:36.480 word of the day was bastard, and mister Robinson always 0:20:36.520 --> 0:20:38.399