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Speaker 1: So he goes off to New York, and I'm really

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Speaker 1: proud of him, and I'm excited. I never knew anybody

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Speaker 1: that was on that show. Two weeks later, I got

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Speaker 1: a call from him from Laura Michael's house. He goes,

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Speaker 1: Kevin'm in the back bedroom Laura Michael's house out in

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Speaker 1: the Long Island. I guess who's in the kitchen, Bill Murray.

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Speaker 1: I'm like, no, no way. He goes, yeah, anyway, Lauren

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Speaker 1: is looking for one more cast member. I told him

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Speaker 1: about you, and I think he's gonna want to see

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Speaker 1: your audition tapes. And I'm like, Bill Murray's in the kitchen.

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Speaker 1: I wasn't even hearing that other shoff. You know, I

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Speaker 1: wouldn't even believe. I didn't even want to acknowledge it

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Speaker 1: because I knew i'd never get on that show because

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Speaker 1: I don't think characters are accents. I'm just to stand

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Speaker 1: up a really really good stand up. Hi. My name

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Speaker 1: is Kevin Neelan, and I have a real sugar addiction.

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Speaker 1: I'm not kidding. Hello, friends, and welcome back to another

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Speaker 1: episode of Off the Beat. I am your host, Brian Baumgartner.

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Speaker 1: As you just heard, Kevin Nilan the Kevin Nelon is

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Speaker 1: my guest on the podcast today. Kevin happens to be

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Speaker 1: a good friend and one of my favorite golfing partners

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Speaker 1: of all time. Now, not only does he have the

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Speaker 1: same name as the best character on the Office, Kevin Malone,

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Speaker 1: but he's also had the career of a lifetime starring

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Speaker 1: on s n L Late Night with David Letterman, Man

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Speaker 1: with a Plan, and of course Weeds. Plus he's recently

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Speaker 1: become quite the YouTube star with his hilarious web series

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Speaker 1: Hiking with Kevin. From his open mic days to now,

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Speaker 1: We're going to dive into Kevin's incredible career as well

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Speaker 1: as some of his hidden talents. Did you know that

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Speaker 1: he is an extremely talented caricaturist. I would say that

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Speaker 1: I'm surprised, but I'm honestly not. If you are Kevin Neilan,

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Speaker 1: you really can do everything. I won't keep you waiting

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Speaker 1: here he is Kevin Neil. Bubble and Squeak. I love it.

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Speaker 1: Bubble and Squeak, Bubble and Squeaker cookie every month left

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Speaker 1: over from the Natty People. Hello, Kevin, how are you? Yeah?

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Speaker 1: I love you. Got a big staff working for you.

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Speaker 1: I mean, listen, this is what happens when you're a Kevin.

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Speaker 1: I guess right, No, I know it. Don't you have

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Speaker 1: a big staff. I don't. I'm self contained. I just

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Speaker 1: don't know that I need it. I definitely do, there's

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Speaker 1: no question about that. I can't here if I've ever

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Speaker 1: told you before. The very first time that I met you,

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Speaker 1: we were playing golf together. I think we're playing in

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Speaker 1: the same tournament, in the same tournament. This is circa,

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Speaker 1: not circa was actually two thousand and eight. I looked

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Speaker 1: it up fifteen years ago. Fourteen years ago, you and

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Speaker 1: myself and Charles Barkley, we were playing in a threesome

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Speaker 1: together in Lake Tahoe. We teet off and we had

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Speaker 1: well because of you and Charles. Mostly we had a

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Speaker 1: large gallery following us. I was very nervous. We teed off.

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Speaker 1: All I know is we didn't hit our balls in

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Speaker 1: the same place. They were definitely in different areas, and

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Speaker 1: we were walking not together, down the fairway and a

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Speaker 1: bunch of people started yelling Kevin Kevin. Me being me,

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Speaker 1: of course, assumed that they were yelling Kevin at me,

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Speaker 1: because at the time especially everyone called me Kevin. And

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Speaker 1: I remember turning around big Aisle on my face and

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Speaker 1: waving graciously to the gallery and they were fully talking

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Speaker 1: to you. I remember being so humil so so humiliated,

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Speaker 1: and filled with like self loathing, like, of course they're

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Speaker 1: talking to Kevin Neil and not me, what are you thinking.

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Speaker 1: I probably didn't even share that with you at the

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Speaker 1: time because I was so embarrassed and nervous about it. Well,

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Speaker 1: I will tell you you don't have to be embarrassed

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Speaker 1: because that group of people were probably my family and

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Speaker 1: my friends, and they wear their team meal and T

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Speaker 1: shirts and they will do that on occasional holes. But

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Speaker 1: I will tell you I was. It took me like

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Speaker 1: five years of that tournament to get over being nervous.

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Speaker 1: I couldn't even hit the ball. I was like duffinite,

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Speaker 1: you know, taking big divots out and when the camera

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Speaker 1: was on me, I was just a mess. It truly

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Speaker 1: is my favorite week of the year. I try to

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Speaker 1: get better. It's always embarrassing, but you know, it's it's

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Speaker 1: incredibly humbling for sure to be out there. I love

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Speaker 1: it all right, Enough about golf. Uh, You grew up

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Speaker 1: in Connecticut and I read as a child. You lived

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Speaker 1: in Germany for a while. I did relocated there or

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Speaker 1: was that a life choice, sir. Yeah, my father worked

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Speaker 1: for a helicopter companies, the Course Keys, and they had

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Speaker 1: a deal with a German I guess my father calls

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Speaker 1: it a German outfit. For the longest time, I thought

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Speaker 1: he worked for later Housing, you know, but it was

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Speaker 1: another helicopter company. And unlike a lot of the military

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Speaker 1: who lived on the army base, we lived in a

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Speaker 1: German neighborhood, so my friends are mostly German. So I

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Speaker 1: picked it up pretty quickly. And you became fluent in German,

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Speaker 1: you know, in just four years. And I was six

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Speaker 1: until I was ten. I mean, those are the years

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Speaker 1: you absorb everything. Right. My sister and her husband and

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Speaker 1: their two kids actually right about your age. They just

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Speaker 1: did the same thing. He got moved over there through

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Speaker 1: his work, and their kids were about the same age.

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Speaker 1: And we're located in Stuttgart for three years. Do you

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Speaker 1: feel like that change you as a child, to that

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Speaker 1: give you something you feel like? Yeah, it was amazing.

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Speaker 1: I don't remember at the time if I left friends

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Speaker 1: in Connecticut and it was bummed out, but you know,

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Speaker 1: it was the first throw one on an airplane, and

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Speaker 1: you know, Europe is not that big, and there's so

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Speaker 1: many countries there. So during my father's vacations, we would drive,

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Speaker 1: like to Paris, or we drive. I learned how to

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Speaker 1: ski in the Alps. I learned how to swim in Greece,

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Speaker 1: and it was like probably the best time in my life.

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Speaker 1: You know. I could ski in my front yard. You

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Speaker 1: know they had apple orchards and I put on a

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Speaker 1: pair of skis and skied down and walk up the hill.

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Speaker 1: It's great. Yeah. My sister did the same thing, traveled

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Speaker 1: all around yeah, and skied and the Alps and exactly

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Speaker 1: what you said. And I mean to be exposed to

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Speaker 1: so many different cultures and countries and languages at such

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Speaker 1: an early age, that's an incredible life experience, right, it

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Speaker 1: really is, It really is. I got my Irish passport

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Speaker 1: a couple of years ago because I thought it'd be

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Speaker 1: great to live in Europe for a while. I wouldn't

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Speaker 1: meet a visa and I could work there and bring

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Speaker 1: my family. That's my bucket list. So I might do that.

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Speaker 1: Maybe after my son goes off to college, my wife

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Speaker 1: and I will go there and then he'll come in

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Speaker 1: the summer. You have dual citizenship, I do, yeah, because

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Speaker 1: my grandparents are from Ireland. They came over from Ireland,

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Speaker 1: so that made me eligible. But I had to jump

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Speaker 1: through a lot of hoops to get that passport, a

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Speaker 1: lot of paperwork, had to get a lot of certificates

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Speaker 1: to gret My to get my grandfather's death certificate, which

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Speaker 1: was not easy because first I had to kill him.

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Speaker 1: You know, come on, and those Irish guys, they don't

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Speaker 1: go down easy. No, no, they don't. I am going

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Speaker 1: out of order here, but I just went back and

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Speaker 1: watched several of your earliest appearances on The Tonight Show

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Speaker 1: with Johnny Carson. I did, and it kind of cut off.

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Speaker 1: The video was kind of cut off. It seemed like

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Speaker 1: he was almost mid sentence and said something and said

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Speaker 1: a man with a very interesting sense of humor or

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Speaker 1: something like that. Absurd, I think, absurd, Yeah, absurd sense

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Speaker 1: of humor. Yeah. Well, you know, I gotta tell you

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Speaker 1: I auditioned for the part of Michael in the office. Yes,

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Speaker 1: and apparently I got I'm told, like close to getting it.

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Speaker 1: You didn't get it. You weren't, Michael Skote. No, No,

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Speaker 1: maybe I was for half a second, but yeah, I

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Speaker 1: mean that would have. I used to go on auditions

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Speaker 1: against Steve Carrell a lot, and he would always get it. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: what what do you remember about that audition experience? I

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Speaker 1: remember going into the Bungalow Universal Greg Daniels, who I've

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Speaker 1: known from SNL. He was a writer on SNL. I

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Speaker 1: sat down to a chair and I did my part

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Speaker 1: and he goes, thank you, like we didn't even know

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Speaker 1: each other, thank you very much. And I left and uh,

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Speaker 1: and then here back. I didn't hear back at all.

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Speaker 1: But you know, I was up for a show when

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Speaker 1: I first moved to l A. If we could talk

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Speaker 1: about me for a minute, I was in l A

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Speaker 1: maybe two or three years. I was twenty seven by

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Speaker 1: that time. And I got an audition at Paramount and

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Speaker 1: I got five callbacks, and I thought, oh, this is it. Finally,

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Speaker 1: after toiling for three long years, I'm going to get

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Speaker 1: a show. And the producers after the fifth time, they

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Speaker 1: look at each other they go, well, we're not get

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Speaker 1: any closer than this. And I walked outside of at office,

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Speaker 1: I looked at Paramount. I thought, well, it's gonna be

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Speaker 1: my new home. Week goes by two weeks, I don't

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Speaker 1: hear anything, and then I hear they're looking for an

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Speaker 1: older actor for the role, and that part was for

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Speaker 1: it was for Sam and Cheers. Really, yeah, you auditioned

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Speaker 1: for Sam Malone on Cheers and for Michael Scott on

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Speaker 1: the Office and got neither of them. That's right, But

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Speaker 1: I did get other things, so I can't complain. No,

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Speaker 1: you can't know. It's funny, you know the Coursier life takes.

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Speaker 1: Had I gotten that show, I would be probably with

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Speaker 1: my same wife here. I wouldn't be on my second marriage.

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Speaker 1: But enough about me. Where are you from? I'm from Atlanta, Georgia,

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Speaker 1: and I didn't live in Germany. I didn't. I certainly

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Speaker 1: didn't audition for Sam Malone on Cheers. You wanted to

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Speaker 1: be a stand up? Is that what you wanted to be?

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Speaker 1: That's all I wanted to be. It was a stand up.

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Speaker 1: I went to school for marketing. I have a BS

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Speaker 1: and marketing, but stand up was really what I loved.

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Speaker 1: You know. I would watch every stand up comic on

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Speaker 1: every talk show from merv Griffin to the Tonight Show

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Speaker 1: with Johnny Carson, and I would highlight their name and

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Speaker 1: the TV guide and you know, be sure to watch them,

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Speaker 1: like you know, George Miller and David Letterman and and

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Speaker 1: I thought, that's the coolest job. But I remember, I've

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Speaker 1: never been to California, but I went to New York

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Speaker 1: or check out the comedy clubs. That terrified me because

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Speaker 1: the audience was so brash and tough in the comics

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Speaker 1: like Richard Belzer would come out and they were like

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Speaker 1: real New Yorkers. So I decided to go to l A.

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Speaker 1: And the day I remember I made that decision, I

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Speaker 1: was raking leaves in my front yard at my parents home,

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Speaker 1: and I had a radio out there so I could

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Speaker 1: listen to the music. And then the news came on

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Speaker 1: and said Freddie Prince, the comedian from back in the eighties,

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Speaker 1: had killed himself. And for some morbid reason, I thought, well,

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Speaker 1: there's an opening in l A. You know, first stand

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Speaker 1: up it is because it was really it wasn't because

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Speaker 1: of that though. It made me realize how big of

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Speaker 1: an impact comedy could have on the world. But anyway,

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Speaker 1: I thought, that's that's really um my impetus to go

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Speaker 1: out there. And also I get to see California, right,

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Speaker 1: it's interesting to me. Obviously, you became famous on s

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Speaker 1: n L, which is known for much more of the

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Speaker 1: improv people from Second City and whatever, and that that

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Speaker 1: stand up was really your focus and wanting to do that.

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Speaker 1: Did you want to be an actor even or was

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Speaker 1: it really about making people laugh or being on stage?

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Speaker 1: And be All I wanted to be was a stand

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Speaker 1: up I loved Steve Martin. I discovered Steve Barton. A

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Speaker 1: lot of people don't know that, but I knew him

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Speaker 1: from doing his you know little bits on SNL or

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Speaker 1: The Tonight Show, and nobody else had heard of him.

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Speaker 1: And then people started like hearing about him. I thought, no, no, no,

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Speaker 1: that's my comic, that's mine, you know. But stand up

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Speaker 1: was what I really wanted to do, and I'm still

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Speaker 1: doing it, like forty three years later. And as far

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Speaker 1: as being an actor, I really had no intention to

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Speaker 1: be an actor. I remember I was sitting at the

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Speaker 1: bar at the improv and Mark Lano, who was teaching

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Speaker 1: an acting class and he was but Freeman's partner. Eventually,

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Speaker 1: who wants the improv? He asked me? If I thought

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Speaker 1: about acting? You said, not not really, I just wanted

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Speaker 1: to stand up. He goes, well, even if you think

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Speaker 1: about it, you know, take a lesson. Maybe I teach

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Speaker 1: cold reading and sometimes these casting agents come into the

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Speaker 1: room and they'll see a comic and they want to

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Speaker 1: come in for an audition. I thought okay, and so

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Speaker 1: I took some acting classes around l A and went

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Speaker 1: through that whole I don't know if you went through this,

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Speaker 1: but that whole rigular role of auditioning. You know that

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Speaker 1: the nerves that come with that, and the humiliation, it's

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Speaker 1: so difficult, and it's so it's so antithetical to what

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Speaker 1: we actually do right, whether it's performing on stage or

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Speaker 1: being in front. You know that, like five people sitting

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Speaker 1: in a room staring at you not laughing, is so

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Speaker 1: it's unnatural and difficult, and you feel like, just give

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Speaker 1: me a camera or tind me a real audience. It's

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Speaker 1: so difficult. I remember I had an audition for McDonald's

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Speaker 1: commercial ones. The part called for somebody so upset about

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Speaker 1: the Big Mac. They had a cry and I had

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Speaker 1: just broken up with my girlfriend or she broke up

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Speaker 1: with me, and I was devastated. I was so depressed

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Speaker 1: I couldn't get out of bed. I pulled myself out

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Speaker 1: of bed into this commercial and I got in front

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Speaker 1: of them. Was like the judges on American Idol, sitting

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Speaker 1: behind the table. When it got to the part where

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Speaker 1: I had a cry, I let loose and they're looking

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Speaker 1: at me so sympathetically, and oh that's poor, you know.

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Speaker 1: And uh, after the audition was over, they just sat

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Speaker 1: there like an awe and just you know, like, oh

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Speaker 1: my god, this guy is amazing. Two or three weeks later,

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Speaker 1: I got a call back. But now I'm kind of

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Speaker 1: over the girl, so I can't bring the tears, you know.

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Speaker 1: So I brought my answering machine tape. At the time,

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Speaker 1: they have those little tapes and the answer machine. I

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Speaker 1: brought that and I sat in the car outside with

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Speaker 1: her eight by ten headshot and I played her breaking

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Speaker 1: up with me over and over, and then I went

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Speaker 1: inside and I still couldn't. I couldn't bring the emotion.

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Speaker 1: So she screwed me over twice. Uh, you didn't get

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Speaker 1: the job, I'm guessing No, I did not know. I

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Speaker 1: came really close. They said, we're not getting any closer

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Speaker 1: than this, and then I heard there going with it,

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Speaker 1: older guy. Do you consider your big break? Johnny Carson

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Speaker 1: probably the highlight of my more souther than Saturday Night

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Speaker 1: Live or Weeds, because it's what I aspired to do.

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Speaker 1: I used to go watch that show. When I first

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Speaker 1: moved to l A, I would they gave out free tickets.

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Speaker 1: I can around three in the afternoon and I would

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Speaker 1: go around five, you know, right before the show started,

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Speaker 1: and I knew if I went up and down the line,

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Speaker 1: and I sympathetically asked people, do you have an extraal ticket?

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Speaker 1: And I would always get one. And it was like

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Speaker 1: a Vegas show. I'd go in there and I see

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Speaker 1: Johnny would come out, and then Paul whoever the guest

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Speaker 1: was comics, Paul McCartney and the band, and I remember

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Speaker 1: everybody in the band and the instrument they played. So

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Speaker 1: when I finally did that show, I knew exactly what

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Speaker 1: was going on. I knew that the band was right

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Speaker 1: there to left. I knew that guy that played the

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Speaker 1: troumbone and the curtains open up and I walked out

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Speaker 1: to my On the way out to my spot, you know,

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Speaker 1: Johnny Carson gives you a wave and Ed McMahon, and

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Speaker 1: I had totally forgotten my act. I couldn't remember it.

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Speaker 1: And I got to the spot and by the time

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Speaker 1: the audience stopped clapping, it finally came to me. I

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Speaker 1: was so relieved and it was probably. Yeah, it was

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Speaker 1: such a natural high to do that show. I was

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Speaker 1: outside of my body. I was saying to myself as

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Speaker 1: I'm routinely doing my suset, I'm doing the tonight show.

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Speaker 1: I'm doing the tonight show. Finally, that's amazing. Was this

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Speaker 1: with the map? No? No, this is the thing called

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Speaker 1: the Choices? And it was like, you know, things you

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Speaker 1: kind of do as a kid. I said, you know,

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Speaker 1: it's hard to make decisions in life, that isn't it.

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Speaker 1: And uh, I go, you know, like, would you rather,

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Speaker 1: you know, have a super salad? And they go, Sue, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean too. That was easy, all right. Let me

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Speaker 1: think of a better choice. Okay, would you write about

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Speaker 1: headache or a stomach ache? They go headache? I said, yeah,

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Speaker 1: me too. I don't want to throw up. These are easy.

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Speaker 1: Let me think of a better one. Would you rather

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Speaker 1: be buried into your neck up to dirt and then

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Speaker 1: have your head painted like a soccer ball and have

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Speaker 1: some Brazilian kids started hanging around? Or would you rather

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Speaker 1: get your fingers slammed in a car door and have

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Speaker 1: the guy drive away through a car wash? Soccer ball?

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Speaker 1: Yeah me too. They might use hot wax in the car.

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Speaker 1: So I was doing that and Johnny Carson loved it.

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Speaker 1: That's what got me on that show. And that's why

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Speaker 1: he said the second time I was on and this

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Speaker 1: this guy has an absurd sense of humor. Okay, that's amazing.

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Speaker 1: I watched this morning the uh the Map, which is genius.

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Speaker 1: I mean it's still today, it's genius. Um. If people

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Speaker 1: have not seen it, I don't know, google it. Kevin Neilanson,

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Speaker 1: it's amazing. You went on to do Dave Show a lot. Now.

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Speaker 1: Did you know him David Letterman? Sorry, I don't know

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Speaker 1: why I call him Dave like we're great friends. Did

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Speaker 1: you know him from the stand up scene prior to that?

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Speaker 1: I did know him when I first moved to California.

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Speaker 1: I lived in San Diego for like three or four months,

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Speaker 1: and I would go to the comedy store in Lahorea

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Speaker 1: and there was two comics that I really liked, and

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Speaker 1: I didn't know which one was which one of them

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Speaker 1: had a gap between his teeth and the other one

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Speaker 1: had a big chin. Whatever their name was on the marquee,

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Speaker 1: I couldn't. I didn't know who I was going to

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Speaker 1: see and was Ledderman at Leno? Yeah, but I think

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Speaker 1: I did let him in before I did the Tonight show. Okay,

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Speaker 1: you probably no better than me, because I forget. I

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Speaker 1: can't remember the names of any of my characters and

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Speaker 1: the stuff I've done. You know, I watched reruns of

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Speaker 1: SNL and I'm in a sketch and I have no

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Speaker 1: idea what that sketch is about. I'm watching it. I'm

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Speaker 1: figuring what where are we going with this? You know,

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Speaker 1: who's your favorite stand up you ever saw yourself? Well,

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Speaker 1: I think it would have to have been Steve Martin

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Speaker 1: at the Universal l Ampitheater with the Blues Brothers opening

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Speaker 1: up for him, probably in nineteen eighty one or something.

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Speaker 1: It was just the energy and that stadium and everybody

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Speaker 1: with their noses and their glasses, you know, the fake

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Speaker 1: noses that he wore, and the arrows through the head.

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Speaker 1: I thought, this is incredible. And I've seen other comics

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Speaker 1: too that we're really impressive, like eddiez Are you know,

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Speaker 1: he would come out it's like a rock show. It's

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Speaker 1: like a rock and roll concert with a smoke and everything.

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Speaker 1: And Robin Williams, Oh my god, probably the most incredible

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Speaker 1: impressive comic. I used to be. You know, hang out

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Speaker 1: at the Improv all the time. Melrose in Hollywood. I

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Speaker 1: was a bartender there for a couple of years, and

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Speaker 1: this is as soon as I moved out here, and

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Speaker 1: I was there almost every night. You know, I started

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Speaker 1: getting on and doing open mic nights and and the

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Speaker 1: amount of people that would come into that bar area

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Speaker 1: and then perform, I mean everyone from you know. I

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Speaker 1: got a when I was bartending at a phone call.

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Speaker 1: It was Steve Martin who was wondering if Bud was around.

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Speaker 1: He wanted to come down and do a set. I said,

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Speaker 1: you come down to do a set right now. And

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Speaker 1: Albert Brooks would come in, and Andy Kaufman was always there,

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Speaker 1: and I'd see Robin coming after Mork and Mindy with

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Speaker 1: the same outfit on with the suspenders, and it was

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Speaker 1: pretty magical just being in that room. And I would

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Speaker 1: watch I go up to the office upstairs and look

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Speaker 1: through the people because it was so packed. And Richard Lewis,

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Speaker 1: you know, he was such He was a lot of

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Speaker 1: expatriots from New York, and Richard Lewis really connected with him.

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Speaker 1: Just everybody would kill it in that room and it's

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Speaker 1: such the energy. And then out in the bar area.

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Speaker 1: In the eighties, it became like this most popular place

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Speaker 1: to go to dance and to hang out with people.

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Speaker 1: And I mean I've seen everybody coming there, from Timothy

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Speaker 1: Leary to Bob Fosse, you know, every actor, and it

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Speaker 1: was such a famous place to be and people would

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Speaker 1: and they had a jukebox there, and it got to

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Speaker 1: a point where it became like a dance club. But yeah,

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Speaker 1: it was pretty magical. You're in l A. And I

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Speaker 1: understand Dana Carvey who was a roommate of yours right

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Speaker 1: in l A. Well, I lived in a rental house

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Speaker 1: in the Hollywood Hills that a friend of mine turned

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Speaker 1: me onto. He was he had found it and then

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Speaker 1: he was trying to get some guys to rent it out.

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Speaker 1: So I rented a bedroom there, and then a friend

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Speaker 1: of mine, a writer, rented another bedroom. And then Dana

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Speaker 1: was coming down from San Francisco a lot and we

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Speaker 1: told him that there is a studio apartment over the

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Speaker 1: garage if he wants to rent that one, he's in town.

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Speaker 1: So he did that. So yeah, we all kind of

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Speaker 1: lived together for a while, Okay, and he gets cast

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Speaker 1: on SNL. This is circa eight six. Yeah, so he

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Speaker 1: gets cast. I was so excited for him because he

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Speaker 1: does impressions and characters and accents and and so he

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Speaker 1: goes off to New York and I'm really proud of him,

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Speaker 1: and I'm excited. I never knew anybody that was on

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Speaker 1: that show. Two weeks later, I got a call from

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Speaker 1: him from Laura Michael's house. He goes, Kevin'm in the

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Speaker 1: back bedroom Laura Michael's house out in the Long Island.

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Speaker 1: I guess who's in the kitchen, Bill Murray. I'm like, no,

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Speaker 1: no way. He goes, yeah, anyway, Lauren is looking for

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Speaker 1: one more cast member. I told him about you, and

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Speaker 1: I think he's going to want to see your audition tapes.

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Speaker 1: And I'm like, Bill Murray's in the kitchen. I wasn't

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Speaker 1: even hearing that other stuff. You know, I wouldn't even believe.

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Speaker 1: I didn't even want to acknowledge it because I knew

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Speaker 1: i'd never get on that show because I don't think

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Speaker 1: characters are accents. I'm just to stand up, a really

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Speaker 1: really good stand up. And so I sent my tape

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Speaker 1: in and then two weeks later, I get another call

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Speaker 1: from data Kevin back at the Laura Michael's house. In

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Speaker 1: the back that guess was in the kitchen. Steve Marten,

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Speaker 1: no way, because yeah, hey, good news, Lauren like your tapes.

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Speaker 1: I think they're gonna fly you in for an audition,

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Speaker 1: I said, Steve Martin's in the kitchen, you know. And

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Speaker 1: I take the flights to New York. It's a free

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Speaker 1: trip to New York at least, and I got a

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Speaker 1: thirty rock and I go up to a studio eight

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Speaker 1: h which is really taped the show. And as soon

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Speaker 1: as I walked in there, I got really tired because

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Speaker 1: I used to fall asleep watching that show and it

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Speaker 1: was association thing. Come on, is that true? That's not true? Yeah, okay,

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Speaker 1: that is true. And then I do my little audition

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Speaker 1: and I fly back to l A. And two weeks later,

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Speaker 1: I find myself sitting in a high rise across some

424
00:21:24,520 --> 00:21:27,159
Speaker 1: Laura Michael's in Beverly Hills. He's offering a job on SNL.

425
00:21:27,840 --> 00:21:30,159
Speaker 1: I said, thank you very much. Mr Michael's. Let me

426
00:21:30,160 --> 00:21:32,080
Speaker 1: think about it over the weekend. See the way, that's

427
00:21:32,119 --> 00:21:36,520
Speaker 1: the way I roll. That's why massage the deal. But

428
00:21:36,600 --> 00:21:37,760
Speaker 1: he saw all right through me. He goes, you think

429
00:21:37,760 --> 00:21:39,679
Speaker 1: about it over the weekend. We'll see New York on Monday,

430
00:21:40,600 --> 00:21:42,800
Speaker 1: So yeah, he was right. Nextly, you know, I'm out

431
00:21:42,920 --> 00:21:45,280
Speaker 1: Laura Michael's house. I got a call from Dana Kevin

432
00:21:45,400 --> 00:21:46,959
Speaker 1: got of Laura Michael's house. I'm in the back fed room.

433
00:21:47,040 --> 00:21:48,600
Speaker 1: This is in the kitchen, I said, that's me, tough guy.

434
00:21:48,640 --> 00:21:54,040
Speaker 1: I'm in the kitchen. Now. Who is your favorite person

435
00:21:54,080 --> 00:21:57,200
Speaker 1: to work with on SNL? I mean work with everybody.

436
00:21:57,200 --> 00:21:59,479
Speaker 1: Everybody was great, but of course you mean as far

437
00:21:59,520 --> 00:22:03,080
Speaker 1: as the host no, I mean, I'll give me the cast,

438
00:22:03,720 --> 00:22:07,120
Speaker 1: the cat um. You know, I didn't really like any

439
00:22:07,160 --> 00:22:11,919
Speaker 1: of them, but same with me. I liked you know,

440
00:22:11,960 --> 00:22:14,200
Speaker 1: I liked a lot of Adam Sandler, Dana Carve. You

441
00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:15,960
Speaker 1: hung out with a lot. I mean, I liked everybody,

442
00:22:15,960 --> 00:22:18,240
Speaker 1: but I seem to hang out more with Dana and

443
00:22:18,480 --> 00:22:20,680
Speaker 1: you know Sandler, and you know a lot of times

444
00:22:20,760 --> 00:22:22,760
Speaker 1: you didn't really hang out too much because you're working

445
00:22:22,800 --> 00:22:25,600
Speaker 1: all the time. You know, you're always in the studio

446
00:22:25,720 --> 00:22:28,720
Speaker 1: or home, you know, writing or thinking about the sketches.

447
00:22:29,040 --> 00:22:30,680
Speaker 1: But you know, as far as the hosts were concerned,

448
00:22:30,680 --> 00:22:32,240
Speaker 1: I got to work with a lot of my idols

449
00:22:32,240 --> 00:22:34,680
Speaker 1: and the bands that came through their work. He's dinosaur bands,

450
00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:36,920
Speaker 1: and I grew up listening to like, you know, Paul

451
00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:42,399
Speaker 1: McCartney and Mick Jagger, Paul Simon, James Taylor, Arrow Smith,

452
00:22:42,800 --> 00:22:45,159
Speaker 1: Eric Clapton, and some of them would stay after the

453
00:22:45,200 --> 00:22:48,120
Speaker 1: show to do a little concert for the audience, which

454
00:22:48,160 --> 00:22:50,920
Speaker 1: was cool. That's really cool. I remember one time Eddie

455
00:22:50,960 --> 00:22:53,399
Speaker 1: Vetter was playing on the show and he comes up

456
00:22:53,440 --> 00:22:55,520
Speaker 1: to me. I knew him a little bit. He told

457
00:22:55,520 --> 00:22:57,159
Speaker 1: me he used to come and see me because he

458
00:22:57,200 --> 00:22:59,080
Speaker 1: lived in San Diego. He used that he was served

459
00:22:59,119 --> 00:23:00,919
Speaker 1: a lot and he would come and see me at

460
00:23:00,920 --> 00:23:03,679
Speaker 1: the improv down there whenever I was performing, because he

461
00:23:03,720 --> 00:23:06,520
Speaker 1: was a fan. This is before Pearl Jam even. I

462
00:23:06,520 --> 00:23:08,840
Speaker 1: thought that's really cool. I wish I, you know, was

463
00:23:08,880 --> 00:23:10,800
Speaker 1: introduced to him. But then I find out later his

464
00:23:10,880 --> 00:23:13,320
Speaker 1: girlfriend was a server there, so that's probably why he

465
00:23:13,359 --> 00:23:16,480
Speaker 1: was really going to see his girlfriend. Is his girlfriend

466
00:23:16,480 --> 00:23:19,639
Speaker 1: to get free drinks? Probably? Yeah? Exactly what do you

467
00:23:19,640 --> 00:23:23,000
Speaker 1: think this key to your longevity on the show. Obviously

468
00:23:23,080 --> 00:23:26,760
Speaker 1: one of the longest tenured cast members ever. And as

469
00:23:26,800 --> 00:23:29,520
Speaker 1: you said before, you were an improv guy. You were

470
00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:32,960
Speaker 1: you were you know, didn't do characters, you were a

471
00:23:33,040 --> 00:23:34,720
Speaker 1: stand up guy. What what do you think the key

472
00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:37,200
Speaker 1: to your success being on the show so long. Well,

473
00:23:38,080 --> 00:23:40,720
Speaker 1: I wasn't looking for an overnight success. I was just

474
00:23:40,760 --> 00:23:42,879
Speaker 1: happy to be on that show because I was like

475
00:23:42,920 --> 00:23:45,240
Speaker 1: surprised I ever be on that show. So I was

476
00:23:45,720 --> 00:23:48,000
Speaker 1: content on enjoying it as long as I could. And

477
00:23:48,040 --> 00:23:51,080
Speaker 1: other people they would get really um impatient if they

478
00:23:51,080 --> 00:23:53,280
Speaker 1: weren't a star in one year, and they throw things

479
00:23:53,359 --> 00:23:56,040
Speaker 1: around and you know they felt better. But I was

480
00:23:56,080 --> 00:23:58,399
Speaker 1: just sitting back and enjoying like the different bands that

481
00:23:58,480 --> 00:24:01,000
Speaker 1: came through in the hosts, and learning how to write

482
00:24:01,240 --> 00:24:04,120
Speaker 1: sketches and you know, learning how to do characters, and

483
00:24:04,280 --> 00:24:08,679
Speaker 1: it was such a just a really cool time for me.

484
00:24:08,760 --> 00:24:11,040
Speaker 1: You know, those nine years that was the longest at

485
00:24:11,040 --> 00:24:13,119
Speaker 1: the time, I think me and Tim Meadows, but you know,

486
00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:15,679
Speaker 1: since then, I think Keenan was on there for like

487
00:24:15,720 --> 00:24:18,600
Speaker 1: fourteen years or something, and also Darryl Hammond was on

488
00:24:18,640 --> 00:24:22,240
Speaker 1: there for I think forty six years. He's still on

489
00:24:22,520 --> 00:24:26,720
Speaker 1: right kind of you're still employing he was there longer

490
00:24:26,720 --> 00:24:31,240
Speaker 1: than Lauren Michaels. Yeah, well, I don't know about that. Yeah,

491
00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:34,280
Speaker 1: I remember that was a super cool experience for me.

492
00:24:34,760 --> 00:24:38,840
Speaker 1: Once the office started going, I remember there's you know,

493
00:24:38,880 --> 00:24:41,320
Speaker 1: you want to come to SNL and I said, yeah,

494
00:24:41,359 --> 00:24:44,760
Speaker 1: are you kidding. I've been a fan of that show forever. Well,

495
00:24:45,080 --> 00:24:48,120
Speaker 1: you you go to Lauren Michael's office you watched from

496
00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:49,959
Speaker 1: and I was like, what are you talking about? They

497
00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:53,160
Speaker 1: said that the balcony over on the second the second floor,

498
00:24:53,200 --> 00:24:55,879
Speaker 1: and you go in Lawrence's office and look over and

499
00:24:55,920 --> 00:24:59,840
Speaker 1: watch and experience that. It's such a thrill. It really is.

500
00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:02,960
Speaker 1: Now now he kind of positions himself under the bleachers

501
00:25:02,960 --> 00:25:05,200
Speaker 1: in front of a monitor and will always have these

502
00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:08,880
Speaker 1: like past hosts hanging around, like Paul Rudd or Tom Hanks,

503
00:25:09,359 --> 00:25:11,720
Speaker 1: and that's kind of his hangout area. But yeah, it

504
00:25:11,760 --> 00:25:14,040
Speaker 1: was a great experience. I just loved it. I loved it.

505
00:25:14,119 --> 00:25:17,080
Speaker 1: And you know the hardest part about that show. You

506
00:25:17,119 --> 00:25:20,800
Speaker 1: know what the hardest part was. It was getting my

507
00:25:20,880 --> 00:25:23,880
Speaker 1: friends in, making sure they had tickets, you know, if

508
00:25:23,880 --> 00:25:26,000
Speaker 1: they didn't, and then I had to going downstairs and

509
00:25:26,040 --> 00:25:27,560
Speaker 1: you know, and I hear I was about to go on,

510
00:25:27,720 --> 00:25:30,040
Speaker 1: and I'm like, you know, do you guys get in?

511
00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:32,359
Speaker 1: You got all right, y'all set? Okay, you didn't get

512
00:25:32,400 --> 00:25:34,560
Speaker 1: the tickets? Okay, I gotta make cool, you know, I'll

513
00:25:34,560 --> 00:25:37,760
Speaker 1: make some calls I'm sure. But one of the things

514
00:25:37,800 --> 00:25:40,040
Speaker 1: I remember the most is before my first sketch ever

515
00:25:40,119 --> 00:25:42,520
Speaker 1: on that show you psych yourself out, you say, nobody's

516
00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:44,520
Speaker 1: watching it anymore because you know, the year before it's

517
00:25:44,640 --> 00:25:46,600
Speaker 1: very low ratings and they almost pulled the plug on it.

518
00:25:47,080 --> 00:25:48,880
Speaker 1: So that's how I, you know, I kind of got

519
00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:51,520
Speaker 1: over there. I was still nervous. But we are five

520
00:25:51,560 --> 00:25:53,840
Speaker 1: seconds away from coming back from the commercial, and I

521
00:25:53,880 --> 00:25:56,320
Speaker 1: had written a sketch Mr. Subliminal, which was kind of

522
00:25:56,320 --> 00:25:58,320
Speaker 1: a complicated sketch to do because it was like two

523
00:25:58,320 --> 00:26:01,959
Speaker 1: conversations going on at once, and we're literally five seconds

524
00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:04,320
Speaker 1: away from action, and Laura Michaels comes up to me.

525
00:26:04,359 --> 00:26:06,920
Speaker 1: He puts his hand on my shoulder. He said, are

526
00:26:06,920 --> 00:26:10,439
Speaker 1: you sure this is what you want? You know, to

527
00:26:10,520 --> 00:26:12,760
Speaker 1: be funny? Like, is this how you want? You're gonna?

528
00:26:12,800 --> 00:26:15,679
Speaker 1: You want to be famous? You know? How did Weeds

529
00:26:15,680 --> 00:26:18,800
Speaker 1: come about? Did you audition for Weeds? I did Weeds

530
00:26:18,800 --> 00:26:21,280
Speaker 1: came about? You know? They sent me the script and

531
00:26:21,320 --> 00:26:23,320
Speaker 1: I said Weeds on the cover and I thought, oh man,

532
00:26:23,400 --> 00:26:25,639
Speaker 1: not another like Stone or thing. This stuff has been

533
00:26:25,680 --> 00:26:28,280
Speaker 1: done to death. And I wasn't that, you know, anxious

534
00:26:28,320 --> 00:26:30,119
Speaker 1: to read the script. But then I read it and

535
00:26:30,160 --> 00:26:32,399
Speaker 1: it was so good. The characters were great and the

536
00:26:32,440 --> 00:26:34,760
Speaker 1: story was great. And then I heard I had to

537
00:26:34,760 --> 00:26:37,400
Speaker 1: go audition for it. I'm like, I'm never gonna get this,

538
00:26:37,560 --> 00:26:39,680
Speaker 1: you know, it's just too good. So I go into

539
00:26:39,720 --> 00:26:42,240
Speaker 1: audition for it. And there's a lot of good actors

540
00:26:42,240 --> 00:26:44,600
Speaker 1: in the you know, waiting to go in and read,

541
00:26:44,680 --> 00:26:47,400
Speaker 1: you know, like, um, you know de Niro, Laurence Olivier,

542
00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:51,520
Speaker 1: Carl Street, you know, a lot of good actors. Anyway,

543
00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:53,040
Speaker 1: I beat them all out because I'm a pro. You know,

544
00:26:53,080 --> 00:26:56,960
Speaker 1: I'm a professional. You are anyway, I read. I read

545
00:26:57,000 --> 00:26:59,480
Speaker 1: for it too Jenji Cohen, who is the creator of

546
00:26:59,480 --> 00:27:02,200
Speaker 1: the show, and she, you know, couldn't have been more pleased.

547
00:27:02,240 --> 00:27:03,960
Speaker 1: I mean, it was like the perfect part for me.

548
00:27:04,280 --> 00:27:06,720
Speaker 1: You know, Doug Wilson, that's the one name I remember

549
00:27:06,800 --> 00:27:09,280
Speaker 1: from a character. But you know, after SNL, I had

550
00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:11,639
Speaker 1: done a couple of failed sitcoms, and I was starting

551
00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:13,360
Speaker 1: to wonder. I thought, will I ever do anything as

552
00:27:13,400 --> 00:27:16,520
Speaker 1: notable or maybe as notable as SNL? And then this

553
00:27:16,560 --> 00:27:19,280
Speaker 1: show Weeds came along, and a lot of people ask me,

554
00:27:19,320 --> 00:27:21,200
Speaker 1: do they smoke pot on that show? Is it really

555
00:27:21,200 --> 00:27:23,160
Speaker 1: Poteston knows they you know, there wouldn't be a show.

556
00:27:23,200 --> 00:27:25,520
Speaker 1: It's a honey rose herb that they smoke in most

557
00:27:25,520 --> 00:27:28,520
Speaker 1: movies and television shows. It's it's very kind of light,

558
00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:31,720
Speaker 1: you know, but I got a little lightheaded because I'm

559
00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:33,480
Speaker 1: not a smoker. And also we get it from the

560
00:27:33,520 --> 00:27:36,360
Speaker 1: honey rose herb cartel in Columbia, so you know, it's

561
00:27:36,359 --> 00:27:40,080
Speaker 1: got a little kick to it, you see what I'm saying. Yeah,

562
00:27:40,520 --> 00:27:43,400
Speaker 1: um weed is a totally different kind of show. Obviously

563
00:27:43,440 --> 00:27:47,240
Speaker 1: your focus is stand up. You've done SNL live television

564
00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:49,680
Speaker 1: for so many years. Was it difficult for you to

565
00:27:49,720 --> 00:27:53,000
Speaker 1: work on such a different type of show for such

566
00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:54,840
Speaker 1: a long period of time. I think it was the

567
00:27:54,840 --> 00:27:57,359
Speaker 1: first single camera show I did. You know, it was

568
00:27:57,480 --> 00:28:00,640
Speaker 1: the total opposite of SNL because SNL is so immediate.

569
00:28:01,119 --> 00:28:04,240
Speaker 1: It's live and there's no waiting around the trailer, you know,

570
00:28:04,320 --> 00:28:07,679
Speaker 1: for the lighting or whatever, and it's no like you know,

571
00:28:07,720 --> 00:28:11,240
Speaker 1: shooting out in Santa Clarita at two in the morning.

572
00:28:12,080 --> 00:28:13,919
Speaker 1: So SNL was kind of a media like that, and

573
00:28:13,960 --> 00:28:17,879
Speaker 1: so this this was like a process. It's really a

574
00:28:17,960 --> 00:28:20,200
Speaker 1: challenge to do a single camera show because like shooting

575
00:28:20,280 --> 00:28:24,080
Speaker 1: movie every week. But I learned that my trailer became

576
00:28:24,119 --> 00:28:25,680
Speaker 1: my office and I would have a lot of stuff

577
00:28:25,720 --> 00:28:28,040
Speaker 1: in there, and I have my musical instruments. I'd have

578
00:28:28,240 --> 00:28:31,120
Speaker 1: drawing pads, you know, I like to paint, So that

579
00:28:31,160 --> 00:28:33,480
Speaker 1: was that was good. I had a lot of free time. Yeah,

580
00:28:34,240 --> 00:28:36,119
Speaker 1: people that I talked to are so shocked by how

581
00:28:36,200 --> 00:28:39,920
Speaker 1: much time it takes to get that one hour, one

582
00:28:40,600 --> 00:28:43,600
Speaker 1: minutes or whatever of television. But yeah, it's a it's

583
00:28:43,640 --> 00:28:46,720
Speaker 1: a very different kind of muscle that you're you're working

584
00:28:46,720 --> 00:28:49,080
Speaker 1: when you work on that single camera type show. Yeah,

585
00:28:49,080 --> 00:28:50,880
Speaker 1: it really is. And you know, one of the other

586
00:28:50,920 --> 00:28:54,360
Speaker 1: things is on SNL, I'm playing like different characters every week.

587
00:28:54,560 --> 00:28:57,160
Speaker 1: This was the same character Doug Wilson on Leeds for

588
00:28:57,400 --> 00:29:00,640
Speaker 1: nine years, so that was interesting, you know, kind of

589
00:29:00,680 --> 00:29:04,200
Speaker 1: developing formulating this character. What was your process for for

590
00:29:04,320 --> 00:29:08,480
Speaker 1: helping to develop Doug. Well, you know, like I said,

591
00:29:08,560 --> 00:29:11,640
Speaker 1: Genji saw me at the audition and she thought this

592
00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:13,800
Speaker 1: is the perfect role for you. You know, I wasn't

593
00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:16,040
Speaker 1: like Doug Wilson, but I could play that type of

594
00:29:16,040 --> 00:29:19,040
Speaker 1: guy really easy. And I never wrote anything, but I

595
00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:21,560
Speaker 1: embellished a lot of scenes, you know, like when I'm

596
00:29:21,560 --> 00:29:24,840
Speaker 1: in the city council, and you know Elizabeth Perkins character,

597
00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:27,040
Speaker 1: I can't remember her name, but she'd be up talking

598
00:29:27,040 --> 00:29:29,920
Speaker 1: and we had real kind of, you know, a relationship

599
00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:32,800
Speaker 1: that was not great at all times. And she's talking

600
00:29:33,360 --> 00:29:35,920
Speaker 1: and I decided that I would clip my toe nails

601
00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:38,240
Speaker 1: as she was talking, and then I watched him go

602
00:29:38,280 --> 00:29:41,040
Speaker 1: flying across the room and that really agitated her. So

603
00:29:41,160 --> 00:29:43,760
Speaker 1: things like that, you know, probably bring a headboard in,

604
00:29:44,240 --> 00:29:46,120
Speaker 1: you know, for a bed. We're setting up a bed

605
00:29:46,200 --> 00:29:49,120
Speaker 1: and I have the headboard in my hand, and instead

606
00:29:49,120 --> 00:29:50,840
Speaker 1: of just leaning against the wall, I take it and

607
00:29:50,840 --> 00:29:53,479
Speaker 1: I start knocking it against the wall, you know, as

608
00:29:53,520 --> 00:29:57,160
Speaker 1: if there's some actually going on in the bed. So,

609
00:29:57,240 --> 00:30:01,200
Speaker 1: you know, little things like that and doable show and

610
00:30:01,200 --> 00:30:04,840
Speaker 1: and really political in a bizarre way. I mean, you know,

611
00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:09,240
Speaker 1: we've comes out marijuana is not legal in any state

612
00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:12,360
Speaker 1: at the time, and I feel like that show helped

613
00:30:12,400 --> 00:30:16,720
Speaker 1: sort of change the dialogue in a way, or you know,

614
00:30:16,880 --> 00:30:21,080
Speaker 1: changed the perception or sort of in terms of entertainment,

615
00:30:21,280 --> 00:30:24,960
Speaker 1: really examined a different sector of people who were using

616
00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:28,480
Speaker 1: and smoking marijuana. Right, Yeah, it wasn't different sector of

617
00:30:28,480 --> 00:30:31,000
Speaker 1: people because normally you see just a lot of stoner guys,

618
00:30:31,080 --> 00:30:34,360
Speaker 1: you know, like Sean Patt's character, Matthew McConaughey, you know,

619
00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:37,400
Speaker 1: just all stoners. But this was like normal regular people,

620
00:30:37,720 --> 00:30:40,719
Speaker 1: you know, in a regular world with kids. It was

621
00:30:41,160 --> 00:30:43,800
Speaker 1: interesting like that, you know, it was it was kind

622
00:30:43,840 --> 00:30:46,080
Speaker 1: of a new kind of a breakthrough. And the other

623
00:30:46,120 --> 00:30:48,960
Speaker 1: thing about that show was it was one step ahead

624
00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:52,040
Speaker 1: of everything else. Like the town of aggresstick burnt down,

625
00:30:52,920 --> 00:30:56,040
Speaker 1: and I think two weeks after our show aired there

626
00:30:56,080 --> 00:30:59,400
Speaker 1: was a big fire in Valencia. We did a season

627
00:30:59,400 --> 00:31:02,360
Speaker 1: about a ton that was being dug from Mexico into

628
00:31:02,400 --> 00:31:04,760
Speaker 1: the US, and then a month later they discovered a

629
00:31:04,760 --> 00:31:28,400
Speaker 1: tunnel that was being done into the US. Why are

630
00:31:28,440 --> 00:31:30,400
Speaker 1: you still on the road doing stand up? What is

631
00:31:30,440 --> 00:31:33,520
Speaker 1: it that stand up? It's always been my first love.

632
00:31:33,600 --> 00:31:37,560
Speaker 1: Like I said, I love the the art of crafting

633
00:31:37,560 --> 00:31:40,280
Speaker 1: a joke and deliver. And it's again it's immediate, it's

634
00:31:40,320 --> 00:31:43,200
Speaker 1: immediate reaction from the audience. For me, it's something I'll

635
00:31:43,200 --> 00:31:46,160
Speaker 1: probably do and I'll probably you know, my life will

636
00:31:46,200 --> 00:31:51,440
Speaker 1: probably end on the road somewhere. Do you now it's

637
00:31:51,480 --> 00:31:53,440
Speaker 1: got to be easier for you now when you start

638
00:31:53,520 --> 00:31:56,680
Speaker 1: so many people know you you're headlining. Do you ever

639
00:31:56,720 --> 00:32:00,720
Speaker 1: have shows that just don't work, not really, No, I

640
00:32:00,760 --> 00:32:03,840
Speaker 1: mean some work better than others, but nobody ever walks

641
00:32:03,880 --> 00:32:06,880
Speaker 1: out and there's no complaints, you know, like I remember,

642
00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:09,160
Speaker 1: you know, there's some comics like Norm McDonald used to

643
00:32:09,160 --> 00:32:11,440
Speaker 1: have a lot of walkouts, and I kind of never

644
00:32:11,880 --> 00:32:16,840
Speaker 1: ventured into those areas. Mine is pretty safe. It's pretty clean, right,

645
00:32:17,240 --> 00:32:19,120
Speaker 1: And I have a good cross section for an on

646
00:32:19,920 --> 00:32:24,160
Speaker 1: SNL fans or Weeds fans or Adam Sandler films, and

647
00:32:24,200 --> 00:32:26,240
Speaker 1: the the club owners always say you have it. You

648
00:32:26,240 --> 00:32:28,560
Speaker 1: bring in such a nice audience. You have a a

649
00:32:28,640 --> 00:32:32,040
Speaker 1: red wine sophisticated audience. And this is how they know

650
00:32:32,080 --> 00:32:35,040
Speaker 1: how to order, how to order, you know, their inventory,

651
00:32:35,120 --> 00:32:36,600
Speaker 1: like we have to order a lot of extra red

652
00:32:36,600 --> 00:32:41,880
Speaker 1: wine when you come in. Yeah. I respect and admire

653
00:32:41,960 --> 00:32:44,800
Speaker 1: you so much that you're still out there on the road,

654
00:32:44,840 --> 00:32:48,000
Speaker 1: that you love it so much that you face that

655
00:32:48,960 --> 00:32:50,760
Speaker 1: I don't know that demon is that? Is that the

656
00:32:50,800 --> 00:32:54,040
Speaker 1: wrong way to say? You face that that beast every night.

657
00:32:55,040 --> 00:32:57,400
Speaker 1: I admired that so much. It's not every night, well

658
00:32:57,640 --> 00:33:01,080
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Yeah, but you know, I

659
00:33:01,240 --> 00:33:03,680
Speaker 1: never like stopped doing comedy for more than two weeks

660
00:33:03,720 --> 00:33:05,160
Speaker 1: in a row. That was like a long time. So

661
00:33:05,240 --> 00:33:07,800
Speaker 1: when the pandemic hit, it was such a good thing

662
00:33:07,840 --> 00:33:09,840
Speaker 1: for me, like everybody else, you know, I just put

663
00:33:09,880 --> 00:33:12,440
Speaker 1: away my act. I didn't even think about it. And

664
00:33:12,480 --> 00:33:15,080
Speaker 1: then when things started picking up again, like a parking

665
00:33:15,080 --> 00:33:17,360
Speaker 1: lots or outdoor venues, I had to kind of like

666
00:33:17,480 --> 00:33:19,560
Speaker 1: revisit my act. I couldn't remember a lot of it.

667
00:33:19,600 --> 00:33:22,080
Speaker 1: And then I started like just creating new material, which

668
00:33:22,160 --> 00:33:25,560
Speaker 1: was great. So it's like a house cleaning. Yeah, but

669
00:33:25,600 --> 00:33:27,240
Speaker 1: I do love it. I love you know, And I've

670
00:33:27,240 --> 00:33:29,720
Speaker 1: moved on to other things too, like I love to

671
00:33:29,760 --> 00:33:32,440
Speaker 1: paint now, you know. I do these digital art drawings

672
00:33:32,720 --> 00:33:35,520
Speaker 1: if people go to Kevin Neal and artwork on Instagram.

673
00:33:35,560 --> 00:33:38,400
Speaker 1: I do caricatures of different celebrities and I have a

674
00:33:38,400 --> 00:33:43,800
Speaker 1: book coming out in November. Oh you do. I love them, Kevin.

675
00:33:43,880 --> 00:33:47,240
Speaker 1: I was gonna ask you about this, you know, you

676
00:33:47,320 --> 00:33:50,200
Speaker 1: say caricatures, and I know that's how you describe it,

677
00:33:50,480 --> 00:33:52,200
Speaker 1: and I guess it is in a way. But I

678
00:33:52,320 --> 00:33:55,360
Speaker 1: find with so many of the subjects that you find

679
00:33:55,360 --> 00:34:00,040
Speaker 1: a real humanity and reality. You capture the essence of

680
00:34:00,040 --> 00:34:04,320
Speaker 1: most people so well your subjects. I'm so impressed with it.

681
00:34:04,360 --> 00:34:06,360
Speaker 1: Is this something you've always done. Is this a new

682
00:34:06,440 --> 00:34:09,120
Speaker 1: skill for you, Well, thank you for that, and it's

683
00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:11,200
Speaker 1: kind of a new skill. But I've I've always you know,

684
00:34:11,320 --> 00:34:14,239
Speaker 1: drawn since grammar school. You know, we had to draw

685
00:34:14,360 --> 00:34:16,640
Speaker 1: maps without tracing them, and I mean I think that

686
00:34:16,719 --> 00:34:19,920
Speaker 1: was my first experiences during characters was a characture of

687
00:34:19,920 --> 00:34:22,080
Speaker 1: a map, like you know, Italy wouldn't be a boot

688
00:34:22,120 --> 00:34:23,960
Speaker 1: at the end, it would be a platform shoot, you know.

689
00:34:24,920 --> 00:34:27,520
Speaker 1: So I've always doodled on the side of my margins

690
00:34:27,520 --> 00:34:29,919
Speaker 1: of my papers, or even during SNL. If I wasn't

691
00:34:29,920 --> 00:34:32,120
Speaker 1: in a sketch, I'd be doodling, you know, somebody sitting

692
00:34:32,120 --> 00:34:35,600
Speaker 1: across from me, Phil Hartman, or you know, daying a carve, anybody.

693
00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:38,120
Speaker 1: Right before the pandemic, I was sitting at L a X.

694
00:34:38,760 --> 00:34:41,360
Speaker 1: I was looking at some some of these character artists

695
00:34:41,400 --> 00:34:44,319
Speaker 1: on Instagram and they're really good. They're much better than

696
00:34:44,360 --> 00:34:46,959
Speaker 1: me now, but they're really good. And I saw one guy.

697
00:34:47,239 --> 00:34:49,879
Speaker 1: He had an ad for lessons and he was really

698
00:34:49,920 --> 00:34:52,200
Speaker 1: I liked his work. So he was from England. So

699
00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:54,120
Speaker 1: I got a hold of him and I took ten

700
00:34:54,200 --> 00:34:57,520
Speaker 1: lessons from him, you know, be a skype, and he

701
00:34:57,640 --> 00:34:59,200
Speaker 1: kind of taught me how to you know, work with

702
00:35:00,040 --> 00:35:03,440
Speaker 1: dual artwork and tablets and doing caricatures, and then I

703
00:35:03,520 --> 00:35:05,920
Speaker 1: just started coloring them in and you know, using the

704
00:35:06,200 --> 00:35:09,480
Speaker 1: stylist as a paintbrush and the different paints. I just

705
00:35:09,520 --> 00:35:11,960
Speaker 1: really enjoyed it. I enjoyed it a lot, and it

706
00:35:12,000 --> 00:35:14,800
Speaker 1: finally all came together where I was. Everything I learned

707
00:35:14,880 --> 00:35:17,000
Speaker 1: just growing up, I just kind of incorporated. And I

708
00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:20,200
Speaker 1: also used to love watching the caricature artists, like you know,

709
00:35:20,239 --> 00:35:22,640
Speaker 1: at these street fairs or at the carnivals. I would

710
00:35:22,640 --> 00:35:24,960
Speaker 1: stand behind them forever and watch them, you know, how

711
00:35:24,960 --> 00:35:27,320
Speaker 1: they would make the eyes bager, you know, the ears

712
00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:31,560
Speaker 1: and and then showing it to the person. Yeah, I've

713
00:35:31,600 --> 00:35:34,560
Speaker 1: watched a bunch of your I don't know what if

714
00:35:34,600 --> 00:35:37,320
Speaker 1: you call it like time laps for those of you

715
00:35:37,360 --> 00:35:41,799
Speaker 1: who haven't seen Kevin's work, you include at times you

716
00:35:42,040 --> 00:35:48,000
Speaker 1: attempting to find your final picture, some different incarnations and

717
00:35:48,040 --> 00:35:50,319
Speaker 1: you see, I don't know, the one that's sticking out

718
00:35:50,320 --> 00:35:52,480
Speaker 1: of my mind that that I saw very recently was

719
00:35:52,880 --> 00:35:55,480
Speaker 1: John Travolta, and it's like I see you sort of

720
00:35:55,480 --> 00:35:58,399
Speaker 1: experimenting with the nose or with the lips, or with

721
00:35:58,680 --> 00:36:01,520
Speaker 1: how the cigarette dangles out of his mouth. I feel

722
00:36:01,520 --> 00:36:05,359
Speaker 1: like I'm watching you create the exact look that you're

723
00:36:05,400 --> 00:36:07,600
Speaker 1: going for to capture the essence of that person. I

724
00:36:07,640 --> 00:36:10,719
Speaker 1: find that really interesting. Oh thanks, Well, I'll tell you

725
00:36:11,040 --> 00:36:13,080
Speaker 1: it doesn't happen overnight. For me. It takes me a

726
00:36:13,120 --> 00:36:15,200
Speaker 1: long time to draw each one of those because I'm

727
00:36:15,239 --> 00:36:16,600
Speaker 1: I'm not like these guys who do it for a

728
00:36:16,680 --> 00:36:18,959
Speaker 1: job whose illustrators. I know a lot of these guys now,

729
00:36:19,400 --> 00:36:21,080
Speaker 1: they don't do it a lot like me. They'll draw

730
00:36:21,120 --> 00:36:23,880
Speaker 1: their face and then their evolution is just coloring it

731
00:36:23,880 --> 00:36:25,960
Speaker 1: in and painting it because they've already got the shape

732
00:36:25,960 --> 00:36:28,080
Speaker 1: of the face. I've got to take a long time.

733
00:36:28,160 --> 00:36:30,440
Speaker 1: Sometimes it takes a week or two. But you know,

734
00:36:30,480 --> 00:36:32,520
Speaker 1: I'm getting quicker at it now, and and I do

735
00:36:32,640 --> 00:36:35,279
Speaker 1: like showing the process. And by the way, the name

736
00:36:35,320 --> 00:36:38,799
Speaker 1: of my book is called I Exaggerate My Brushes with Fame,

737
00:36:39,400 --> 00:36:41,600
Speaker 1: and it will be out in November. And on each

738
00:36:41,960 --> 00:36:45,160
Speaker 1: opposite side of the picture, Brian, there's a little antidote

739
00:36:45,320 --> 00:36:47,640
Speaker 1: how I knew that person or experience we had together,

740
00:36:47,960 --> 00:36:49,920
Speaker 1: or if I don't know that person, like Freddie Mercury,

741
00:36:49,960 --> 00:36:53,160
Speaker 1: I'll just muse about my first concert or whatever. So

742
00:36:53,200 --> 00:36:57,520
Speaker 1: I'm excited. That's it's really awesome and you just mentioned it.

743
00:36:57,600 --> 00:37:01,560
Speaker 1: So I also enjoyed going down the rabbit Hole and

744
00:37:01,600 --> 00:37:04,800
Speaker 1: reading the descriptions of um so many of the subjects

745
00:37:04,800 --> 00:37:08,560
Speaker 1: that you've painted. Steve Martin and tripol to you tell.

746
00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:11,960
Speaker 1: I won't spoil that one, but really interesting story about

747
00:37:12,040 --> 00:37:14,880
Speaker 1: him on S and L. Yeah. Also, you have a

748
00:37:14,920 --> 00:37:18,440
Speaker 1: YouTube show right, Hiking with Kevin I do. That's been

749
00:37:18,440 --> 00:37:21,480
Speaker 1: a little web series. Yeah, how have you found doing that?

750
00:37:21,560 --> 00:37:24,000
Speaker 1: Are you enjoying that? I love it? I love it

751
00:37:24,080 --> 00:37:26,840
Speaker 1: so much because I used well I still do. But

752
00:37:26,880 --> 00:37:28,680
Speaker 1: I love to hike in the canyons around l A.

753
00:37:29,160 --> 00:37:31,200
Speaker 1: And it's something I really enjoy. I go out there

754
00:37:31,200 --> 00:37:34,080
Speaker 1: for meditation, just while I'm walking and meditate thinking. I

755
00:37:34,120 --> 00:37:36,799
Speaker 1: write a lot when I'm walking. In fact, I did

756
00:37:36,800 --> 00:37:40,160
Speaker 1: a hike with Linn Manuel Miranda in New York and

757
00:37:40,560 --> 00:37:42,520
Speaker 1: we went to a park where he said he grew

758
00:37:42,560 --> 00:37:44,439
Speaker 1: up as a kid, he'd walk up there and play

759
00:37:44,480 --> 00:37:46,880
Speaker 1: and and that's exactly where he wrote a lot of

760
00:37:46,880 --> 00:37:50,000
Speaker 1: Hamilton's walking on those trails up there, and so I,

761
00:37:50,320 --> 00:37:52,720
Speaker 1: you know, I agreed, it's a great place to write.

762
00:37:52,920 --> 00:37:55,560
Speaker 1: I was hiking with Matthew Modeen once and we were

763
00:37:55,600 --> 00:37:57,960
Speaker 1: both so out of breath. I thought this would be

764
00:37:57,960 --> 00:38:00,520
Speaker 1: funny if I was interviewing and we were both out

765
00:38:00,520 --> 00:38:02,680
Speaker 1: of breath, you know, we couldn't understand what we were saying.

766
00:38:03,400 --> 00:38:07,640
Speaker 1: So I videotaped that. I posted it on Twitter, and

767
00:38:07,680 --> 00:38:10,240
Speaker 1: then I just got get other friends and started hiking

768
00:38:10,239 --> 00:38:12,239
Speaker 1: with them. Then my equipment got better, and then I

769
00:38:12,239 --> 00:38:13,960
Speaker 1: got a YouTube channel, and then I got to go

770
00:38:14,040 --> 00:38:15,759
Speaker 1: pro in the end of selfie stick. And then I

771
00:38:15,760 --> 00:38:18,600
Speaker 1: got a drone and I'm editing it myself, you know,

772
00:38:18,600 --> 00:38:21,160
Speaker 1: a premiere pro. So it's become quite the and I

773
00:38:21,239 --> 00:38:24,399
Speaker 1: just started season four. I've only hiked twice, once with

774
00:38:24,719 --> 00:38:28,279
Speaker 1: Eugene Levy and once with Julian Lennon. Awesome, it just

775
00:38:28,320 --> 00:38:31,400
Speaker 1: started season four. I mean it's not airing yet, but

776
00:38:31,440 --> 00:38:34,880
Speaker 1: I started taping it. Okay, it's not so much hiking

777
00:38:35,040 --> 00:38:37,880
Speaker 1: with me, but there's a course that I play a

778
00:38:37,880 --> 00:38:42,440
Speaker 1: lot in l A where you walk golfing. And I

779
00:38:42,480 --> 00:38:44,279
Speaker 1: have said too many people who are asked me about

780
00:38:44,280 --> 00:38:47,520
Speaker 1: golf or what I love about golf, it is that

781
00:38:48,000 --> 00:38:52,839
Speaker 1: time for me where my mind goes away, where I'm

782
00:38:52,880 --> 00:38:58,000
Speaker 1: not self obsessing or thinking about small details. I'm simply

783
00:38:58,040 --> 00:39:01,120
Speaker 1: thinking about one objective, which just to get the ball

784
00:39:01,360 --> 00:39:05,759
Speaker 1: in the hole, whether playing alone or with others where

785
00:39:05,800 --> 00:39:08,560
Speaker 1: we're not communicating that much. That time away from me,

786
00:39:09,520 --> 00:39:14,000
Speaker 1: I've had some of my best ideas and able to

787
00:39:14,120 --> 00:39:17,319
Speaker 1: just sort of let the manality of everyday life sort

788
00:39:17,320 --> 00:39:20,239
Speaker 1: of go and focus on that one objective actually as

789
00:39:20,719 --> 00:39:23,320
Speaker 1: brings me greater enlightenment, and that's that's one of the

790
00:39:23,360 --> 00:39:26,000
Speaker 1: reasons that I love golf and playing golf. It sounds

791
00:39:26,040 --> 00:39:28,360
Speaker 1: like hiking for you is brings you there. You're not

792
00:39:28,400 --> 00:39:30,160
Speaker 1: a stand up, so we're what would you do with

793
00:39:30,200 --> 00:39:37,479
Speaker 1: these ideas? Well, talk to somebody like you or or yeah,

794
00:39:37,680 --> 00:39:42,920
Speaker 1: or right, or ideas for projects or other conversations that

795
00:39:42,960 --> 00:39:45,600
Speaker 1: I want to have. Yeah, So for you, it's jokes,

796
00:39:45,880 --> 00:39:49,080
Speaker 1: is that's that's what comes to you. No, it's also characters,

797
00:39:49,120 --> 00:39:52,680
Speaker 1: are short little films or anything actually anything that comes

798
00:39:52,680 --> 00:39:54,520
Speaker 1: to my mind. You know, Like I wrote a joke

799
00:39:54,560 --> 00:39:56,680
Speaker 1: the other day. I was hiking on a trail, and

800
00:39:56,760 --> 00:39:59,080
Speaker 1: the joke is this basically because I talked about not

801
00:39:59,160 --> 00:40:01,600
Speaker 1: being ripped off for looking for deals, and I said,

802
00:40:01,640 --> 00:40:03,400
Speaker 1: you know, when I was in college, I bought a

803
00:40:03,520 --> 00:40:06,840
Speaker 1: used mattress and it was like fifty bucks, and apparently

804
00:40:07,280 --> 00:40:09,799
Speaker 1: it was somebody's deathbed. And I mean, you wouldn't know

805
00:40:09,840 --> 00:40:13,160
Speaker 1: except for the bullet holes and the smell. It was

806
00:40:13,160 --> 00:40:17,640
Speaker 1: a great deal. I gotta tell you, you know, but

807
00:40:17,719 --> 00:40:20,239
Speaker 1: I have to write everything down otherwise I forget it.

808
00:40:20,600 --> 00:40:22,600
Speaker 1: And it's not the worse than coming up with something

809
00:40:22,640 --> 00:40:24,520
Speaker 1: that you really like and then you can't remember what

810
00:40:24,560 --> 00:40:29,920
Speaker 1: it was. Well, I I've said it to you personally

811
00:40:30,160 --> 00:40:33,200
Speaker 1: and a little bit today. I respect you and your

812
00:40:33,239 --> 00:40:37,840
Speaker 1: career and your dedication so much. Clearly one of the

813
00:40:37,840 --> 00:40:41,160
Speaker 1: funniest people that I've ever seen and had the opportunity

814
00:40:41,160 --> 00:40:44,640
Speaker 1: to be around, and I wish you all the best

815
00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:49,200
Speaker 1: luck with your future projects. But the painting, the caricatures,

816
00:40:49,640 --> 00:40:53,319
Speaker 1: I'm so impressed with. And I not only will I

817
00:40:53,360 --> 00:40:55,640
Speaker 1: buy it the day up, I know how important it is.

818
00:40:55,680 --> 00:40:58,759
Speaker 1: I'm going to preorder ith nice Nice. I love that.

819
00:40:58,880 --> 00:41:01,799
Speaker 1: There you go, it's cool. I like it. Well, thank

820
00:41:01,840 --> 00:41:03,919
Speaker 1: you and I enjoy you too. And I'm i'm I'm

821
00:41:04,200 --> 00:41:06,680
Speaker 1: I was excited to be on your show here. Yeah,

822
00:41:06,920 --> 00:41:09,320
Speaker 1: thanks so much, Kevin. All right, right, let's go golfing.

823
00:41:21,120 --> 00:41:24,920
Speaker 1: Oh man, Kevin, I have to tell you, I am

824
00:41:24,960 --> 00:41:29,360
Speaker 1: going to be very disappointed if a Brian bomb Gartner

825
00:41:29,480 --> 00:41:32,400
Speaker 1: caricature does not arrive at my door in three to

826
00:41:32,480 --> 00:41:37,120
Speaker 1: five business days. I'm just kidding kind of. Your presence

827
00:41:37,160 --> 00:41:41,920
Speaker 1: on the podcast was well the best gift of all.

828
00:41:42,000 --> 00:41:44,720
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining me, and as always

829
00:41:44,880 --> 00:41:49,480
Speaker 1: to you listeners, don't forget to like and subscribe wherever

830
00:41:49,800 --> 00:41:52,360
Speaker 1: you get your podcasts, and to keep up with the times,

831
00:41:52,840 --> 00:41:56,440
Speaker 1: make sure to follow us on Instagram at Off the

832
00:41:56,480 --> 00:42:10,040
Speaker 1: Beat and I will see Wall next week. Off the

833
00:42:10,080 --> 00:42:13,759
Speaker 1: Beat is hosted an executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner,

834
00:42:13,960 --> 00:42:18,840
Speaker 1: alongside our executive producer Langley. Our producers are Diego Tapia,

835
00:42:19,080 --> 00:42:23,560
Speaker 1: Liz Hayes, Emily Carr, and Kristen Vermilia. Our talent producer

836
00:42:23,800 --> 00:42:27,800
Speaker 1: is Ryan Papa Zachary. Our theme song Bubble and Squeak

837
00:42:28,080 --> 00:42:32,120
Speaker 1: performed by my great friend Creed Bratton, and the episode

838
00:42:32,160 --> 00:42:34,000
Speaker 1: was mixed by seth Olandski