WEBVTT - Paula Pell 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:03.600 This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the thing. 0:00:04.320 --> 0:00:07.800 Not long ago, there used to be two types of comedians, 0:00:08.000 --> 0:00:13.240 comedians and female comedians. Today there are so many women 0:00:13.400 --> 0:00:17.200 making us laugh that the qualifier has been rendered obsolete. 0:00:17.840 --> 0:00:20.800 Saturday Night Live deserves a lot of the credit for 0:00:20.800 --> 0:00:24.560 this development. The show has introduced us to Gilda Radner, 0:00:24.760 --> 0:00:29.360 Jan Hooks, Maya Rudolph, Teina Fay, and Kristen Wigg, to 0:00:29.480 --> 0:00:32.559 name just a few. But there's been another woman at 0:00:32.680 --> 0:00:35.199 s n L, a woman who has been quietly working 0:00:35.320 --> 0:00:39.920 day after day for seventeen years, often without sleeping, to 0:00:40.159 --> 0:00:44.000 usher in this reality years. I've been there yet. Paula 0:00:44.080 --> 0:00:46.880 Pell was working at a Florida theme park when she 0:00:46.960 --> 0:00:50.040 got her dream job as a writer at Saturday Night Live. 0:00:50.600 --> 0:00:53.680 Because the show has such a wide comedic range, it's 0:00:53.720 --> 0:00:56.880 the perfect challenge for Paula. You've got the hard hitting 0:00:56.960 --> 0:00:59.880 news parodies, and then on the other end, you know, 0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:01.760 it's got fart jokes. It's got everything in it of 0:01:01.840 --> 0:01:06.319 the low parts of comedy. Mostly me being responsible for Thailand. 0:01:06.319 --> 0:01:09.680 ALBM of Baldwin taking a taking a ship in a 0:01:09.720 --> 0:01:13.840 bed while he's sleeping, he Albim releases a gentle sleepaid 0:01:13.880 --> 0:01:16.360 into your system that allows deep, restless sleep for up 0:01:16.400 --> 0:01:19.399 to ten hours, so deep it turns off your brains 0:01:19.480 --> 0:01:22.000 need to control the bodily functions most likely to wake you. 0:01:22.240 --> 0:01:29.520 Rachel was like, did you yourself, I've slept like a baby. Done. 0:01:30.480 --> 0:01:33.759 You tell me? You tell you tell me, tell me, 0:01:33.959 --> 0:01:38.960 you tell me. In her memoir Bossy Pants, Tina Fey 0:01:39.040 --> 0:01:42.600 writes that her proudest moment as head writer at SNL 0:01:43.120 --> 0:01:47.199 was fighting for one of Pel's sketches introducing co text. 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:51.680 Classic Classic co text is a commercial for the feminine 0:01:51.720 --> 0:01:56.440 protection of Yester, here featuring the sexy women proudly encumbered 0:01:56.480 --> 0:02:00.560 with bulky pads connected to belts peeking out of their clothes. 0:02:01.120 --> 0:02:09.480 I always you can't take the original room girls. Paula 0:02:09.600 --> 0:02:13.840 pell In person is genuine, charming and easy, the kind 0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:16.120 of person you might actually talk to if you sat 0:02:16.160 --> 0:02:18.480 next to her on a plane, which, for those of 0:02:18.480 --> 0:02:21.560 you not in the industry, is not a description of 0:02:21.600 --> 0:02:24.120 the typical comedy writer. I was always a bit of 0:02:24.120 --> 0:02:26.480 a class clown. I was. I was a good Catholic girl, 0:02:26.520 --> 0:02:28.919 so I always wanted to be I never wanted to 0:02:28.960 --> 0:02:31.640 get in trouble. But I really pushed the envelope because 0:02:31.680 --> 0:02:34.320 I would be funny in class and I do things 0:02:34.360 --> 0:02:36.720 like one of my teachers. I would um do a 0:02:36.720 --> 0:02:39.000 bit where I would go by him and drag my 0:02:39.120 --> 0:02:42.120 hand along the chalk line, you know, the chuck shelf, 0:02:42.639 --> 0:02:43.960 And then I'd come over and I'd say, you know, 0:02:44.040 --> 0:02:46.280 Mr Grocer, just a really great teacher, and I pat 0:02:46.360 --> 0:02:48.080 him on the back and I'd leave like a hand pratt. 0:02:48.400 --> 0:02:51.680 He'd let me make him a little bit the fool 0:02:51.760 --> 0:02:53.560 for a moment, and then he'd do you know, he 0:02:53.600 --> 0:02:55.480 looked like Rob Briner and all in the family at 0:02:55.480 --> 0:02:58.400 the big bushy mustache and along there he just kind 0:02:58.400 --> 0:03:00.880 of looked at camera three, you know, on existence and 0:03:00.880 --> 0:03:04.280 the audience would you know, the audience the class would 0:03:04.320 --> 0:03:06.720 crack up. Or I'd pass notes and say when I sneeze, 0:03:06.760 --> 0:03:08.320 because I have a really good fake sneeze. And I 0:03:08.320 --> 0:03:11.040 would say when I sneeze, everybody fall up their chairs. 0:03:11.600 --> 0:03:13.600 And you know, I'd always be doing something. But I 0:03:13.639 --> 0:03:17.040 grew up with an extremely funny dad, and my mom 0:03:17.160 --> 0:03:21.760 is he worked for Ellinois Bell. We grew up in 0:03:21.800 --> 0:03:24.519 Illinois and then moved to Orlando. When I was a teenager. 0:03:24.560 --> 0:03:28.440 But my entire childhood, my grandpa was a watchmaker for 0:03:28.520 --> 0:03:32.560 West Claks, So my dad always learned that from my grandpa. 0:03:33.040 --> 0:03:36.320 And then when he came to Florida, he worked for 0:03:36.360 --> 0:03:39.280 a T and T for many years, and then when 0:03:39.320 --> 0:03:43.200 he retired, he became a teacher of watch repair, watch making, 0:03:43.240 --> 0:03:44.800 all all of it. So that is the guy who 0:03:44.800 --> 0:03:47.960 works for the phone company. And how does he and 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:52.920 he becomes watch tinkerer? How was the funny in his 0:03:52.960 --> 0:03:57.640 life at home? He's just ungodly witty. He's really never 0:03:57.640 --> 0:03:59.240 wanted to be in the business himself. Where did he 0:03:59.240 --> 0:04:01.440 express lead? Probably did, But you know, I look at 0:04:01.480 --> 0:04:03.800 all the people in my family and all the relatives 0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:06.560 of different generations, and they all had their thing. You know, 0:04:06.600 --> 0:04:08.760 my mom has a beautiful singing voice. They all had 0:04:08.840 --> 0:04:12.040 something that they wanted to do. But the way they 0:04:12.120 --> 0:04:15.240 grew up was you just you know, you have kids early, 0:04:15.320 --> 0:04:17.200 and you you kind of figure out what you need 0:04:17.240 --> 0:04:20.280 to do to pay for that. And and so they, 0:04:20.440 --> 0:04:22.560 you know, a lot of times didn't have the luxury 0:04:22.600 --> 0:04:24.560 that kids have now. Even though it's hard to get 0:04:24.560 --> 0:04:27.760 a job to say, you know, I'm doing this, getting 0:04:27.800 --> 0:04:30.479 into that you didn't sign onto that program. What was 0:04:30.520 --> 0:04:33.359 wrong with you? Well, I, they wouldn't just do what 0:04:33.440 --> 0:04:35.240 you were supposed to do. They knew that I was 0:04:35.320 --> 0:04:39.200 pretty hopeless. I mean at my confirmation where you get 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:41.440 the Holy Spirit. I came down the stairs at my 0:04:41.520 --> 0:04:44.040 party and had torn like eight holes in my pantios 0:04:44.080 --> 0:04:46.520 and said I had the Holy Spirit and just would 0:04:46.520 --> 0:04:48.240 do things like that all the time, you know. And 0:04:48.279 --> 0:04:51.599 this was before I drank or smoked anything. I was 0:04:51.600 --> 0:04:53.680 always a total hand. But my dad really taught me 0:04:53.720 --> 0:04:56.320 that he's the king of like. I will tell you that. 0:04:56.320 --> 0:04:58.080 One of the hardest times I laughed at him is 0:04:58.160 --> 0:05:01.160 my mom and I were watching Die Yard on television. 0:05:01.640 --> 0:05:04.120 My dad's cutting the yard, and he's outside cutting the yard. 0:05:04.120 --> 0:05:06.280 He's got his little jean shorts on and his tank top, 0:05:06.320 --> 0:05:08.800 and he keeps coming in and walking by and kind 0:05:08.800 --> 0:05:11.919 of half listening. He's a really good quiet half listener. 0:05:11.960 --> 0:05:14.200 But then he'll do something based on what he's been 0:05:14.240 --> 0:05:16.560 listening to. I. You know, I was listening to my 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:20.400 mom and the terrorists had the long blond hair, you know, 0:05:20.440 --> 0:05:24.440 the big like kind of Nordic guy at the beginning. Yeah, 0:05:24.560 --> 0:05:26.599 and my mom says, you know, I don't know, but 0:05:26.720 --> 0:05:29.680 I don't like long hair, but that is pretty foxy. 0:05:29.720 --> 0:05:32.480 And she's like commenting on him. So we're laughing about 0:05:32.480 --> 0:05:34.960 it and everything, and then I'm not getting Like an 0:05:34.960 --> 0:05:38.120 hour later, my dad just walked through. He had gone 0:05:38.120 --> 0:05:40.400 in my room and gotten a wig that I had 0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:42.960 of all my ship in my room, put a long 0:05:42.960 --> 0:05:46.960 wig on with just his grass cutting stuff, and just 0:05:47.040 --> 0:05:49.080 walked through. He didn't stop, he didn't do a bit. 0:05:49.120 --> 0:05:51.600 He just walked through. They also knew that rule like 0:05:51.600 --> 0:05:53.640 that you keep the ball in the air and play along. 0:05:53.720 --> 0:05:57.080 They were good, Yes, without the training, they were good 0:05:57.120 --> 0:06:01.320 improv people. King of like a prop he'll just And 0:06:01.360 --> 0:06:03.040 what I love about it is my parents are in 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:05.560 their seventies now, and you know, and my mom was 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:08.280 always like, you'd say, you know, you go, oh god, 0:06:08.400 --> 0:06:12.160 dad is so funny. You thank god, Thank god he's funny. 0:06:12.320 --> 0:06:14.520 We had so much laughter in our house, you know, 0:06:14.600 --> 0:06:18.520 despite any any dysfunction, as any family, we always laugh. 0:06:18.680 --> 0:06:20.360 You know, where did you go to college. I went 0:06:20.400 --> 0:06:23.279 to college at University of Tennessee. I first went to 0:06:23.320 --> 0:06:26.360 a local college in Orlando, a community college for two years. 0:06:26.480 --> 0:06:29.159 So you moved to Florida I moved to Florida. My 0:06:29.240 --> 0:06:31.000 dad went down for a T and T for that 0:06:31.040 --> 0:06:35.279 antitrust suit that they had. Um, yeah, it was like 0:06:35.320 --> 0:06:37.919 seven at late seventies. You know. We had gone a 0:06:37.920 --> 0:06:40.320 few times down to Disney World with our little pop 0:06:40.400 --> 0:06:43.200 up camper and like that was a vacation place that 0:06:43.279 --> 0:06:45.960 wasn't a place you move. And my parents sent us 0:06:45.960 --> 0:06:47.960 a little brought back a little polaroid of the house 0:06:48.000 --> 0:06:50.320 they bought, and it was, you know, about seventy tho dollars, 0:06:50.320 --> 0:06:53.080 but it had this gigantic pool because in our Lando 0:06:53.360 --> 0:06:56.760 so many people have pools, even with you know, inexpensive houses, 0:06:57.000 --> 0:06:58.680 and we just thought we won the lottery. You know. 0:06:58.680 --> 0:07:01.600 It was just insane. But we got there, and it 0:07:01.680 --> 0:07:05.080 was really hard the first year. I just never liked 0:07:05.080 --> 0:07:07.440 to be I mean, I think being new is a 0:07:07.560 --> 0:07:10.760 very important thing to do for growth. I think it 0:07:10.840 --> 0:07:13.920 really galvanizes a lot of stuff inside you, of who 0:07:13.960 --> 0:07:16.520 you are and everything. And I'm glad in hindsight, but 0:07:16.600 --> 0:07:18.720 I used to just wake up in the morning and 0:07:18.760 --> 0:07:21.640 just cry, and you know, just because I had so 0:07:21.720 --> 0:07:24.240 much familiarity and comfort with all the kids that I 0:07:24.280 --> 0:07:26.840 went to school with. It's just I was always quiet 0:07:26.880 --> 0:07:29.080 at first, you know, and then by my senior year, 0:07:29.680 --> 0:07:32.680 I got really involved in school and the girls, you know, 0:07:32.760 --> 0:07:35.600 would go because I remember when you'd come in, you know, 0:07:35.760 --> 0:07:37.680 you came in your junior year and I'd say, oh, 0:07:37.720 --> 0:07:40.360 really really, because I came in my sophomore year and 0:07:40.360 --> 0:07:42.600 sat next to you for an entire class and you were, 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:45.680 you know, a cold little as wipe to me. But 0:07:45.800 --> 0:07:48.120 you know that's right. Now we're friends. And and what 0:07:48.200 --> 0:07:50.400 was the difference for you in terms of the people, 0:07:50.440 --> 0:07:53.400 if you can, if you can character from Illinois to Florida, 0:07:53.400 --> 0:07:56.600 I mean Florida. I mean, one thing that really helped 0:07:56.600 --> 0:07:59.280 me was I was always I always sang. So I 0:07:59.320 --> 0:08:02.680 went in imediately into a concert choir, and so that 0:08:02.840 --> 0:08:06.040 was wonderful because then I had a social group pretty quickly. 0:08:06.680 --> 0:08:09.000 But the one thing about Florida that was so different 0:08:09.040 --> 0:08:12.280 that freaked me out was that, you know, I never 0:08:12.360 --> 0:08:15.480 thought I was growing up in Illinois and necessarily I 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:19.080 mean a cold sort of atmosphere. It was emotionally warm. 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:21.840 I had great friends, you know, my family warm. But 0:08:21.920 --> 0:08:26.880 when I got to Florida, everybody hugged constantly. Everyone was 0:08:27.040 --> 0:08:31.200 so affectionate in such a crazy way that I remember saying, 0:08:31.800 --> 0:08:36.000 it's I remember coming home and going stop cupping my 0:08:36.120 --> 0:08:39.480 nipples tenor I don't know you in the choir no, 0:08:39.600 --> 0:08:42.440 but people would um. I kept thinking it was our 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:44.560 director's birthday or something. I was like, what the hell 0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:47.120 is going on in here? Everyone is hugging our teacher, 0:08:47.400 --> 0:08:50.800 hugging each other. I realized it was just that was 0:08:50.880 --> 0:08:53.120 just the way everyone did, you know. And then my girl, 0:08:53.400 --> 0:08:56.800 my um, who eventually became my girlfriend of many years, 0:08:57.080 --> 0:08:58.760 was my best friend in high school and we were 0:08:58.840 --> 0:09:01.520 very huggy, and that all works because it was the 0:09:01.600 --> 0:09:05.280 right person, not the teacher, not until after we graduated exactly. 0:09:05.800 --> 0:09:08.160 Then then you went to the college down there. I 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:10.080 went to the college for two years down there, and 0:09:10.080 --> 0:09:14.079 I was, um, well, their theater department was amazing, their 0:09:14.200 --> 0:09:18.000 art department was incredible, and I was also an artist 0:09:17.440 --> 0:09:21.920 Seminole Community College. But I mean the heads of those 0:09:21.960 --> 0:09:25.840 departments and the music department were so incredible that today 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:28.360 they still are some of my favorite people that have 0:09:29.480 --> 0:09:33.000 gotten taught. Because my art professor, Grady Kimsey, who I'm 0:09:33.000 --> 0:09:36.120 a really good friend with still he had gone to 0:09:36.240 --> 0:09:38.920 ut years and years ago, just kept saying, you gotta 0:09:38.960 --> 0:09:41.840 go check out ut And then my girlfriend was going 0:09:41.960 --> 0:09:44.400 to North Carolina, so it kind of you know, i'd 0:09:44.400 --> 0:09:46.400 go up and visit, and I'd never been up in 0:09:46.440 --> 0:09:48.400 those mountains, and I just fell in love with the 0:09:48.720 --> 0:09:51.520 because I'm such a nature freaking Yeah, I went crazy 0:09:51.559 --> 0:09:54.680 for it. And when you left there, what happened? And 0:09:54.720 --> 0:09:57.840 then I finished college and I came home and I 0:09:57.880 --> 0:10:00.520 worked at the theme parks. What's that? How do you 0:10:00.559 --> 0:10:03.400 get the job at Disney? Like, who's is there somebody 0:10:03.400 --> 0:10:06.880 who's like a casting person? Yeah, there's talent people. And 0:10:06.960 --> 0:10:09.560 you know, I had worked with an improv group called 0:10:09.600 --> 0:10:14.400 sac Theater in Orlando. They at the time contracted out 0:10:14.400 --> 0:10:16.840 to Disney. So they did all the like in Epcot 0:10:16.840 --> 0:10:19.440 in Italy, the Comedian Dollar too. You know, they would 0:10:19.440 --> 0:10:23.440 do all the comedy that's kind of the roaming atmospheric comedy. 0:10:23.600 --> 0:10:28.440 And then they built Pleasure Island, which was the nighttime Disney. 0:10:28.520 --> 0:10:33.880 You know, all the nightclubs Pleasure Island, Pleasure Island, Welcome Come. 0:10:34.600 --> 0:10:38.520 Mickey has no panther. It was New Year's Eve every 0:10:38.600 --> 0:10:43.439 night he slipped roof Asure Island, an entire island they 0:10:43.480 --> 0:10:46.679 built that had all these clubs. They had like a 0:10:46.679 --> 0:10:50.040 big discotheque. They had a country Western sort of music club. 0:10:50.440 --> 0:10:53.880 It was just kind of like a strip of nighttime establishments, 0:10:53.880 --> 0:10:56.240 but all in Disney, but it was late night and 0:10:56.440 --> 0:10:59.439 kind of a downtown feel, like a cluster like and 0:10:59.440 --> 0:11:01.439 they would have of like New Year's Eve every night, 0:11:01.520 --> 0:11:04.559 so they'd have dancers come out and they dance. And 0:11:04.640 --> 0:11:07.240 it was really a fabulous place to work as a 0:11:07.280 --> 0:11:11.080 young actor because it felt cool and I could and 0:11:11.080 --> 0:11:13.080 I did a lot of improvisation, but then we also 0:11:13.120 --> 0:11:16.319 did like radio shows and singing. We could be kind 0:11:16.320 --> 0:11:19.280 of dirty. I mean, it wasn't filthy. I didn't I 0:11:19.320 --> 0:11:22.480 didn't go full till my typical filth that you know of. 0:11:23.840 --> 0:11:28.280 I didn't pell out. But you would interact with the guests, 0:11:28.280 --> 0:11:29.840 so there, you know, you'd be sitting there with some 0:11:29.880 --> 0:11:33.040 old British dude who's getting drunk and just get into 0:11:33.040 --> 0:11:36.320 a conversation. And I played Pamelia Perkins, the president of 0:11:36.360 --> 0:11:38.000 the Adventurous Club, and it was kind of a Teddy 0:11:38.080 --> 0:11:39.920 Roosevelt era sort of place. And I had this big 0:11:39.960 --> 0:11:44.120 buffont and I could just be as body as hell. 0:11:44.200 --> 0:11:46.040 I mean, I would get on guy's laps and you know, 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:47.600 have my legs up in the air because I was 0:11:47.640 --> 0:11:50.160 like a matron sort of character. And we used to 0:11:50.240 --> 0:11:53.240 have such a blast. But then also during that time, 0:11:53.640 --> 0:11:57.480 I went down Penis Avenue for about two years. I 0:11:57.520 --> 0:11:59.559 was dating men for a little while, and I would 0:11:59.559 --> 0:12:03.000 hook up people, I mean just meeting like different people 0:12:03.200 --> 0:12:06.200 I met, well, just guests, and you know, you'd meet 0:12:06.240 --> 0:12:09.560 some super super charismatic, handsome person. You'd be sitting there 0:12:09.640 --> 0:12:12.240 laughing and you being in costume, and then they'd be like, 0:12:12.400 --> 0:12:14.680 what are you guys doing after you know the characters? 0:12:14.840 --> 0:12:16.840 What do these characters do next? And there was a 0:12:16.920 --> 0:12:19.400 restaurant and there were bars down the street that they 0:12:19.440 --> 0:12:21.520 would let us after work go to. So you just 0:12:21.600 --> 0:12:23.719 take change all your clothes and you know, blow drive 0:12:23.760 --> 0:12:25.640 the ship out of your hair and go Now I'm 0:12:25.640 --> 0:12:29.000 twenty five again. And I'd walk down there and and 0:12:29.040 --> 0:12:31.000 it was New Year's Eve every day it was New 0:12:31.080 --> 0:12:35.520 Year's but you vomited every day and lost your virginity 0:12:35.679 --> 0:12:41.280 every day. Pamlion Pamelia Perkins. Pamelia Pamelia Perkins. Of course 0:12:41.320 --> 0:12:44.319 he's banging the guests two at a time. I mean, 0:12:44.360 --> 0:12:47.360 for an actor at that time, I was making really 0:12:47.400 --> 0:12:50.080 good money and had full insurance everything, had a car, 0:12:50.240 --> 0:12:51.839 rented a little house. You know. It was kind of 0:12:52.760 --> 0:12:56.640 it was. It was a beautiful It was a beautiful life. 0:12:56.720 --> 0:12:58.320 And then I got start crazy with it. And that 0:12:58.440 --> 0:13:01.200 was just about when a thing happened. But how does 0:13:01.360 --> 0:13:04.160 how does that happen? How did they find you? It was? 0:13:04.360 --> 0:13:08.600 It was a beautifully random, amazing thing. I had worked 0:13:08.640 --> 0:13:12.080 with Sick Theater. They had a theater downtown. They would 0:13:12.120 --> 0:13:13.839 call me every so often and I go do a 0:13:13.880 --> 0:13:16.160 set with them where I do a character that I 0:13:16.200 --> 0:13:18.680 had written. And so they said, you know, we're going 0:13:18.720 --> 0:13:22.120 to do this sketch comedy pilot called chuckle Head. And 0:13:22.160 --> 0:13:24.199 they said, will you be in it and do those characters? 0:13:24.240 --> 0:13:26.200 And I said sure. I mean I was doing like 0:13:26.240 --> 0:13:28.120 I got beat up in America's most wanted you know, 0:13:28.160 --> 0:13:30.920 all the local all the things that were shooting in Orlando. 0:13:30.960 --> 0:13:33.160 I would do, you know, And I did this lottery 0:13:33.240 --> 0:13:36.920 character for years in about three states that was played 0:13:36.960 --> 0:13:40.280 the Wurlitz organ. You know, sexy characters, ale, you know, 0:13:41.120 --> 0:13:45.079 but all from the Matron Handbook. I was born at 0:13:45.120 --> 0:13:48.920 fifty Alec. But they called me. My agent called me 0:13:48.960 --> 0:13:50.720 one day and she said, are you sitting down? I 0:13:50.760 --> 0:13:54.840 said yes. She said, Saturday Night Live saw that pilot 0:13:55.559 --> 0:14:00.200 Lauren wants to meet you. And I'm like, okay, for 0:14:00.280 --> 0:14:03.920 what And she goes, now, it is not an audition, 0:14:04.360 --> 0:14:06.200 but he wants to fly you up and talk to you. 0:14:06.200 --> 0:14:09.280 And I'm like, well, what is it? Any am I 0:14:09.360 --> 0:14:15.479 being summoned? What in the f And I said okay? 0:14:15.520 --> 0:14:18.880 And so I flew up there. You know, talk about defecating. 0:14:18.960 --> 0:14:22.200 I mean it was like emmodium city the entire two 0:14:22.280 --> 0:14:24.600 days of getting there. He was two hours, you know, 0:14:24.720 --> 0:14:28.200 or three hours late for the meeting, but he was 0:14:28.760 --> 0:14:32.600 super nice. And I sat with Marcy Klein and Ayala 0:14:32.720 --> 0:14:35.400 in the talent room and I was so nervous that 0:14:35.520 --> 0:14:39.440 they ordered food and they said, um, we're ordering zen Palette. 0:14:39.520 --> 0:14:42.320 You know, vegetarian, we're ordering zen Palette. Do you want anything? 0:14:42.320 --> 0:14:45.840 And I said, just just like a couple white rice 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:48.080 would be good, just like rice. And I just got 0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:50.680 a dry cup of white rice and set and ate it. 0:14:51.160 --> 0:14:54.320 I went in and he said we have just cleaned house. 0:14:54.360 --> 0:14:56.720 It was it was win Well Ferrell and everybody ken. 0:14:56.720 --> 0:15:00.080 He said, we've cleaned house. We're starting over. You know 0:15:00.680 --> 0:15:03.280 it's gonna rise again, We're hoping, and we're going to 0:15:03.440 --> 0:15:06.160 try to infuse it with new talent, and we would 0:15:06.240 --> 0:15:08.720 like to hire you to be a writer. When I 0:15:08.760 --> 0:15:10.800 was like, oh, well, I've never done that. I you know, 0:15:10.840 --> 0:15:12.640 I don't even I mean, I didn't even use a 0:15:12.680 --> 0:15:14.760 computer at that point. And I said, I can't, you know, 0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:17.240 And if you tell them you can't, then they will. 0:15:17.520 --> 0:15:20.160 You will keep saying well, and he said, well, we'll 0:15:20.200 --> 0:15:23.400 show you, you know. But it was so quick that 0:15:23.520 --> 0:15:25.920 it made me worry that there was something wrong, like 0:15:25.960 --> 0:15:28.360 there was a scam or something like this was all 0:15:28.480 --> 0:15:30.880 some kind of freaking joke, because I was like, this 0:15:30.920 --> 0:15:33.720 can't be And how soon after that were you moving 0:15:33.720 --> 0:15:36.040 to New York? Um? I had five days to move, 0:15:36.800 --> 0:15:39.000 packed up my whole life, gave my animals to my mom, 0:15:39.040 --> 0:15:43.840 temporarily went up to New York City, and you know, 0:15:44.000 --> 0:15:50.400 just was just ungodly miserable and I mean with fear. 0:15:50.920 --> 0:15:54.320 But Mike Shoemaker called me right before I left because 0:15:54.320 --> 0:15:56.880 I was starting to freak out to the point of going, 0:15:57.080 --> 0:15:59.760 I'm going to my dream place. I mean, I was 0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:01.680 sessed with us. Now. When I was little, I used 0:16:01.720 --> 0:16:04.880 to audiotape it I used to perform Rosanna, Rosanna Dana 0:16:04.960 --> 0:16:07.760 from my high school in the auditorium, and I thought, 0:16:07.840 --> 0:16:10.360 I'm just gonna be sitting around with like, you know, 0:16:10.440 --> 0:16:13.880 ten Harvard dudes looking at me, going who the funk is? Who? 0:16:14.160 --> 0:16:17.880 Who hired Kathy Bates light and you know, and why 0:16:18.000 --> 0:16:20.280 is she here? And I adore Kathy Baits by the way, 0:16:20.320 --> 0:16:22.000 but they were just you know, I thought that I 0:16:22.040 --> 0:16:24.840 would be so not of their world, of these writer 0:16:24.840 --> 0:16:27.840 early sort of people, and I didn't realize how many 0:16:27.880 --> 0:16:32.480 writers there are performers. And so Shoemaker called me, and 0:16:32.520 --> 0:16:34.880 I still thank him for this because he really is 0:16:34.920 --> 0:16:37.080 the reason that I ended up getting the balls to 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:39.880 get there. But he called and he said, some people 0:16:39.920 --> 0:16:41.680 want to say hi. And it was you know, Cindy 0:16:41.760 --> 0:16:44.360 Capanair and Lori nas So and all these people that 0:16:44.440 --> 0:16:46.840 were new that were terrified, and they all got on 0:16:46.880 --> 0:16:48.800 the phone going, we can't wait to meet you. And 0:16:49.280 --> 0:16:51.440 I hung up the phone and I just burst into tears. 0:16:51.480 --> 0:16:53.160 I said, it's all gonna be okay, no matter what, 0:16:53.240 --> 0:16:55.440 it's gonna be okay. It's just a group of people. 0:16:55.480 --> 0:16:57.640 It's almost like of all the years of doing plays. 0:16:57.680 --> 0:17:01.440 It's like it's a new cast getting Manicus seventeen years. 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:06.640 I've been there yet seventeen and well, I think in general, 0:17:06.720 --> 0:17:09.720 comedy has gotten a little, you know, it's gone through 0:17:09.720 --> 0:17:13.520 its ebbs and flows in terms of things being more 0:17:13.600 --> 0:17:16.720 character driven or or you know, more conceptual. I mean, 0:17:16.760 --> 0:17:19.720 I think that show always has a great amount of both, 0:17:20.280 --> 0:17:22.400 and I always loved the fact that that show had 0:17:22.440 --> 0:17:24.280 something for everybody. You know, I'd sit with a group 0:17:24.320 --> 0:17:28.080 of people that I'd love certain things and they'd love 0:17:28.119 --> 0:17:31.840 certain things, and so I, yeah, I love the band. 0:17:31.920 --> 0:17:33.920 I love the balance, you know, I love the balance 0:17:33.960 --> 0:17:36.800 of it. Um. But one of the biggest things that's 0:17:36.880 --> 0:17:40.960 changed in general to me is the Internet. Because when 0:17:40.960 --> 0:17:43.199 I was growing up and you were an actor, you 0:17:43.240 --> 0:17:46.080 had to create a body of work by really doing 0:17:46.080 --> 0:17:48.760 it and getting hired, and then they would give you 0:17:48.840 --> 0:17:52.440 access to tape of it. You know, you couldn't just 0:17:52.560 --> 0:17:57.959 go on machines and videotape yourself and make a beautifully edited, 0:17:58.119 --> 0:18:00.760 great comedy piece and put that on the internet. I mean, 0:18:01.480 --> 0:18:03.520 you just can't do it. I mean, my my real 0:18:03.680 --> 0:18:06.320 I just remember, you know, I do a tiny role 0:18:06.359 --> 0:18:09.080 in something and just love that. I was adding that 0:18:09.119 --> 0:18:10.879 to my real and you'd have to go to like 0:18:10.920 --> 0:18:13.400 a video place and pay the guy to sit there 0:18:13.440 --> 0:18:16.560 and do it on the gigantic machine. The Internet has 0:18:16.640 --> 0:18:19.240 changed things profound. Yeah, Its just and I think in 0:18:19.400 --> 0:18:22.480 a bad way. It gave people a sense of entitlement 0:18:22.600 --> 0:18:25.160 of there isn't as much awe of all of it 0:18:25.240 --> 0:18:27.920 because they do it themselves. So it's like, oh, yeah, 0:18:27.960 --> 0:18:30.640 I have you know this, I've done, I've done my show. 0:18:30.720 --> 0:18:33.760 You know, they created themselves, which is very empowering and wonderful, 0:18:33.840 --> 0:18:35.920 And it's also getting a lot more comedy out there 0:18:35.920 --> 0:18:38.919 of hilarious people that would never usually walk into a 0:18:39.000 --> 0:18:43.080 room nervous in an audition, right right right. That seems 0:18:43.119 --> 0:18:44.920 to me to have been the condition for me, which 0:18:44.960 --> 0:18:49.359 is I've come to us and now and um the 0:18:49.440 --> 0:18:52.840 signals that I picked up Hooks and all that crowd 0:18:52.880 --> 0:18:59.600 back then was you know, my career wasn't that iconic 0:19:00.160 --> 0:19:03.560 to send up me in my career And so it's 0:19:03.560 --> 0:19:05.800 not like I'm Stallone or Schwartz and Negress like that 0:19:05.840 --> 0:19:08.479 where we do that. So you come in and right 0:19:08.520 --> 0:19:10.520 away you pick up I've got to become like everybody 0:19:10.520 --> 0:19:12.879 else and become a member of the company. And as 0:19:12.920 --> 0:19:14.400 soon as I got that, as soon as I kind 0:19:14.400 --> 0:19:16.840 of picked up that vibe from them, I was, you know, 0:19:17.080 --> 0:19:18.760 asked to come back and come back and come back. 0:19:19.440 --> 0:19:21.560 And what it does is it for me as a performer, 0:19:21.720 --> 0:19:25.120 it's killed everything else that's supposed to be funny. Well, 0:19:25.160 --> 0:19:26.880 and I wonder what that's like for you where you're 0:19:26.880 --> 0:19:29.560 in the world, where you work with the funniest people. 0:19:29.560 --> 0:19:31.320 No matter what people say about S and l you know, 0:19:31.359 --> 0:19:33.160 it's not always gonna work, but when it works, it's 0:19:33.240 --> 0:19:36.040 I think it's the best which has been like for you, well, 0:19:36.080 --> 0:19:39.000 you get so you get so insolent, you know, isolated 0:19:39.040 --> 0:19:43.560 there in great ways, in weird ways, because it's there's 0:19:43.680 --> 0:19:46.640 nothing like it. You cannot compare that experience with anything. 0:19:46.800 --> 0:19:49.280 But it really is so intense. And you you know, 0:19:49.359 --> 0:19:53.360 I started writing movies two years ago and working into that, 0:19:53.520 --> 0:19:56.320 I realized how stretched out the time is, to the 0:19:56.359 --> 0:19:59.600 point where, you know, I mean we'll go between dress 0:19:59.600 --> 0:20:01.280 and air and Lauren will say, I don't like the 0:20:01.280 --> 0:20:03.800 whole top of that, like add you know, a couple 0:20:03.800 --> 0:20:06.040 of new jokes, so you're you're coming up with new 0:20:06.119 --> 0:20:09.080 jokes at eleven fifteen, And let me just put a 0:20:09.080 --> 0:20:12.479 finer point on that for our radio audience, our podcast audience, 0:20:12.520 --> 0:20:17.080 because um that SNL does a full dress rehearsal at 0:20:17.080 --> 0:20:19.800 eight o'clock on Saturday night with an audience with a 0:20:19.920 --> 0:20:23.320