WEBVTT - From the archives: Paula Pell 0:00:03.400 --> 0:00:06.600 This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the 0:00:06.640 --> 0:00:11.639 Thing from iHeart Radio. Not long ago, there used to 0:00:11.720 --> 0:00:17.479 be two types of comedians, comedians and female comedians. Today 0:00:17.640 --> 0:00:20.360 there are so many women making us laugh that the 0:00:20.480 --> 0:00:25.439 qualifier has been rendered obsolete. Saturday Night Live deserves a 0:00:25.480 --> 0:00:28.280 lot of the credit for this development. The show has 0:00:28.360 --> 0:00:33.160 introduced us to Gilda Radner, Jan Hooks, Maya Rudolph, Tina Fey, 0:00:33.600 --> 0:00:37.080 and Kristin wigg to name just a few. But there's 0:00:37.120 --> 0:00:40.400 been another woman at SNL, a woman who's been quietly 0:00:40.479 --> 0:00:45.159 working day after day for seventeen years, often without sleeping, 0:00:45.520 --> 0:00:46.400 to usher in. 0:00:46.640 --> 0:00:49.160 This reality seventeen years, I've been there yet. 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:52.440 Paula Pell was working at a Florida theme park when 0:00:52.479 --> 0:00:55.160 she got her dream job as a writer at Saturday 0:00:55.200 --> 0:00:59.000 Night Live. Because the show has such a wide comedic range, 0:00:59.120 --> 0:01:02.160 it's the perfect challenge for Paula. You've got the hard 0:01:02.240 --> 0:01:05.520 hitting news parodies, and then on the other end, you. 0:01:05.440 --> 0:01:07.280 Know, it's got fart jokes. It's got everything in it 0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:11.000 of the low parts of comedy. Mostly me being responsible 0:01:11.040 --> 0:01:15.240 for Thailand ALBM of Alec Baldwin taking a shit in 0:01:15.319 --> 0:01:16.679 a bed while he's sleeping. 0:01:16.400 --> 0:01:19.280 Yeah, Helen albm At least it is a gentle sleep 0:01:19.319 --> 0:01:21.920 bait into your system that allows deep, restless sleep from 0:01:21.959 --> 0:01:24.720 up to ten hours, so deep it turns off your 0:01:24.720 --> 0:01:27.360 brains need to control the bodily functions most likely to 0:01:27.360 --> 0:01:27.679 wake you. 0:01:27.920 --> 0:01:29.680 Rachel was like, did you just shit yourself? 0:01:29.959 --> 0:01:31.160 I've slept like a baby. 0:01:31.600 --> 0:01:31.880 Done. 0:01:32.400 --> 0:01:39.399 You tell me, you tell you tell me, you tell me, 0:01:39.600 --> 0:01:40.120 you tell me. 0:01:42.000 --> 0:01:45.759 In her memoir Bossy Pants, Tina Fay writes that her 0:01:45.800 --> 0:01:49.400 proudest moment as head writer at SNL was fighting for 0:01:49.480 --> 0:01:55.160 one of Pell's sketches introducing co Text. Classic Classic co 0:01:55.400 --> 0:01:58.800 Text is a commercial for the feminine protection of Yesteryear, 0:01:59.360 --> 0:02:03.760 featuring the sexy women proudly encumbered with bulky pads connected 0:02:03.800 --> 0:02:07.840 to belts peeking out of their clothes. I always know 0:02:07.960 --> 0:02:08.600 it's sad. 0:02:10.280 --> 0:02:12.200 You can't beat the original. 0:02:12.200 --> 0:02:17.320 Room girls, old school Paula pel In person is genuine, 0:02:17.560 --> 0:02:20.760 charming and easy, the kind of person you might actually 0:02:20.840 --> 0:02:23.640 talk to if you sat next to her on a plane, which, 0:02:23.680 --> 0:02:26.040 for those of you not in the industry, is not 0:02:26.240 --> 0:02:28.520 a description of the typical comedy writer. 0:02:28.760 --> 0:02:30.639 I was always a bit of a class clown. I 0:02:30.680 --> 0:02:33.160 was a good Catholic girl. So I always wanted to 0:02:33.200 --> 0:02:35.600 be I never wanted to get in trouble, but I 0:02:35.639 --> 0:02:38.680 really pushed the envelope because I would be funny in 0:02:38.760 --> 0:02:40.960 class and i'd do things like one of my teachers. 0:02:41.000 --> 0:02:43.760 I would do a bit where I would go buy 0:02:43.840 --> 0:02:46.920 him and drag my hand along the chalk line, you know, 0:02:47.000 --> 0:02:49.440 the chalk shelf, and then I'd come over and i'd say, 0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:51.600 you know, mister Grocer, just a really great teacher, and 0:02:51.600 --> 0:02:53.160 I'd pat him on the back and i'd leave like 0:02:53.200 --> 0:02:56.600 a handprint. He'd let me make him a little bit 0:02:56.919 --> 0:02:59.040 the full for a moment, and then he'd do you know, 0:02:59.160 --> 0:03:01.080 he looked like Roberry and all in the family at 0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:03.200 the big bushy mustache in the lawn there he paid 0:03:03.200 --> 0:03:05.119 it along. He just kind of looked a camera three, 0:03:05.280 --> 0:03:07.600 you know, non existent, and the audience would you know, 0:03:07.720 --> 0:03:10.960 the audience the class would crack up. Or i'd pass 0:03:11.040 --> 0:03:12.840 notes and say when I sneeze, because I have a 0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:15.280 really good fake sneeze. And I would say when I sneeze, 0:03:15.320 --> 0:03:17.000 everybody fall off their chairs. 0:03:17.240 --> 0:03:18.000 And you know, I'd. 0:03:17.880 --> 0:03:19.880 Always be doing something. But I grew up with an 0:03:19.960 --> 0:03:23.560 extremely funny dad and my mom is what to do. 0:03:24.840 --> 0:03:28.040 He worked for ILLINOI Bell. We grew up in Illinois 0:03:28.120 --> 0:03:30.120 and then moved to Orlando when I was a teenager. 0:03:30.200 --> 0:03:34.080 But my entire childhood, my grandpa was a watchmaker for 0:03:34.160 --> 0:03:38.200 West Clock's, So my dad always learned that from my grandpa. 0:03:38.680 --> 0:03:42.000 And then when he came to Florida, he worked for 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:45.560 AT and T for many years, and then when he retired, 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:49.160 he became a teacher of watch repair, watch making, all 0:03:49.280 --> 0:03:49.640 all of it. 0:03:49.720 --> 0:03:51.240 So how does the guy who works for the phone 0:03:51.280 --> 0:03:56.800 company and how does he and he becomes a watch tinkerer? 0:03:57.560 --> 0:03:59.600 How was the funny in his life which get home? 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:03.040 He's just ungodly witty. He's he's really uh. 0:04:03.160 --> 0:04:04.800 Never wanted to be in the business andself or did 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:06.400 he express probably did. 0:04:06.240 --> 0:04:07.960 But you know, I look at all the people in 0:04:08.000 --> 0:04:10.720 my family and all the relatives of different generations, and 0:04:10.760 --> 0:04:12.720 they all had their thing. You know, my mom has 0:04:12.720 --> 0:04:15.760 a beautiful singing voice. They all had something that they 0:04:15.840 --> 0:04:18.599 wanted to do. But the way they grew up was 0:04:18.640 --> 0:04:21.480 you just you know, you have kids early, and you 0:04:21.480 --> 0:04:23.160 you kind of figure out what you need to do 0:04:23.240 --> 0:04:26.279 to pay for that, and and so they you know, 0:04:26.320 --> 0:04:28.719 a lot of times didn't have the luxury that kids 0:04:28.920 --> 0:04:30.600 have now. Even though it's hard to get a job, 0:04:30.880 --> 0:04:32.840 to say, you know, oh I'm doing this. 0:04:33.000 --> 0:04:35.200 We'll get wrong with you that you didn't sign on 0:04:35.200 --> 0:04:37.680 to that program. What was wrong with you? Well, I 0:04:37.960 --> 0:04:40.040 they wouldn't just do what you were supposed to do. 0:04:40.160 --> 0:04:42.520 They knew that I was pretty hopeless. I mean at 0:04:42.560 --> 0:04:46.200 my confirmation where you get the Holy Spirit. I came 0:04:46.240 --> 0:04:48.400 down the stairs at my party and had torn like 0:04:48.480 --> 0:04:50.400 eighty holes in my panteos and said I had the 0:04:50.400 --> 0:04:53.200 Holy Spirit and just would do things like that all 0:04:53.240 --> 0:04:53.560 the time. 0:04:53.600 --> 0:04:56.160 You know, And this was before I drank or smoked anything. 0:04:56.279 --> 0:04:58.760 Yeah, I was always a total hand. But my dad 0:04:58.800 --> 0:05:01.440 really taught me that he's the of like. I will 0:05:01.480 --> 0:05:03.240 tell you that. One of the hardest times I laughed 0:05:03.240 --> 0:05:05.520 at him is my mom and I were watching die 0:05:05.560 --> 0:05:08.880 Hard on television. My dad's cutting the yard, and he's 0:05:08.920 --> 0:05:10.920 outside cutting the yard. He's got his little jeen shorts 0:05:10.960 --> 0:05:13.360 on and his tank top, and he keeps coming in 0:05:13.400 --> 0:05:15.640 and walking by and kind of half listening. He's a 0:05:15.680 --> 0:05:18.880 really good, quiet half listener. But then he'll do something 0:05:18.920 --> 0:05:21.400 based on what he's been listening to. I, you know, 0:05:21.560 --> 0:05:24.839 was listening to my mom, and the terrorist had the 0:05:24.880 --> 0:05:26.960 long blonde hair, you know, the big like kind of 0:05:27.040 --> 0:05:28.400 Nordic guy at the. 0:05:28.320 --> 0:05:29.760 Beginning, Yeah, the ballet dancer. 0:05:29.880 --> 0:05:30.200 Yeah. 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:32.240 And my mom says, you know, I don't know, but 0:05:32.360 --> 0:05:35.320 I don't like long hair, but that is pretty foxy, 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:38.120 and she's like commenting on him. So we're laughing about 0:05:38.120 --> 0:05:40.560 it and everything. And then I'm not kidding. Like an 0:05:40.640 --> 0:05:43.760 hour later, my dad just walked through. He had gone 0:05:43.800 --> 0:05:46.080 in my room and gotten a wig that I had 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:48.600 of all my shit in my room, put a long 0:05:48.640 --> 0:05:52.640 wig on with just his grass cutting stuff, and just 0:05:52.720 --> 0:05:54.720 walk through. He didn't stop, he didn't do a bit, 0:05:54.800 --> 0:05:55.719 He just walked through. 0:05:55.920 --> 0:05:57.960 They also knew that rule like that you keep the 0:05:58.000 --> 0:06:00.760 ball in the air and play along. They were good, Yes, 0:06:01.000 --> 0:06:03.840 without the training, they were good improv people. Oh yeah, 0:06:03.920 --> 0:06:05.000 answers always yes. 0:06:05.000 --> 0:06:07.280 King of like a prop he'll just And what I 0:06:07.320 --> 0:06:09.560 love about it is my parents are in their seventies now, 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:12.840 and you know, and my mom was always like you'd say, 0:06:12.880 --> 0:06:14.880 you know, you go, oh god, Dad is so funny 0:06:14.880 --> 0:06:15.080 to you. 0:06:15.200 --> 0:06:17.480 Thank god, thank god he's funny. 0:06:18.000 --> 0:06:20.200 We had so much laughter in our house, you know, 0:06:20.279 --> 0:06:24.159 despite any any dysfunction. As any family, we always laugh. 0:06:24.720 --> 0:06:25.720 Where did you go to college? 0:06:25.800 --> 0:06:28.120 I went to college at the University of Tennessee. I 0:06:28.200 --> 0:06:31.120 first went to a local college in Orlando, a community 0:06:31.120 --> 0:06:31.920 college for two years. 0:06:32.160 --> 0:06:33.400 So you moved to Florida. 0:06:33.760 --> 0:06:36.039 I moved to Florida. My dad went down for at 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:38.440 and T for that antitrust suit that they had. 0:06:39.120 --> 0:06:40.560 When they broke up the thund. 0:06:40.480 --> 0:06:42.960 Yeah, it was like late seventies. You know. 0:06:43.000 --> 0:06:45.239 We had gone a few times down to Disney World 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:47.720 with their little pop up camper, and like that was 0:06:47.760 --> 0:06:48.719 a vacation place. 0:06:48.760 --> 0:06:49.920 That wasn't a place you moved. 0:06:50.520 --> 0:06:52.520 And my parents sent us a little brought back a 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:54.320 little polaroid of the house they bought, and it was, 0:06:54.400 --> 0:06:56.560 you know, about seventy thousand dollars. But it had this 0:06:56.680 --> 0:06:59.960 gigantic pool because in Orlando so many people have pool 0:07:00.320 --> 0:07:03.279 even with you know, inexpensive houses, and we just thought 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:04.159 we won the lottery. 0:07:04.160 --> 0:07:04.320 You know. 0:07:04.360 --> 0:07:07.280 It was just insane. But we got there, and it 0:07:07.320 --> 0:07:10.760 was really hard the first year. I just never liked 0:07:10.760 --> 0:07:13.120 to be I mean, I think being new is a 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:16.440 very important thing to do for growth. I think it 0:07:16.480 --> 0:07:19.560 really galvanizes a lot of stuff inside you of who 0:07:19.600 --> 0:07:22.200 you are and everything, and I'm glad in hindsight, but 0:07:22.240 --> 0:07:24.400 I used to just wake up in the morning and 0:07:24.480 --> 0:07:27.240 just cry, and you know, just because I had so 0:07:27.360 --> 0:07:29.880 much familiarity and comfort with all the kids that I 0:07:29.960 --> 0:07:32.480 went to school with. It's just I was always quiet 0:07:32.520 --> 0:07:34.720 at first, you know, and then by my senior year, 0:07:35.360 --> 0:07:38.360 I got really involved in school and the girls, you know, 0:07:38.400 --> 0:07:41.280 would go because I remember when you'd come in, you know, 0:07:41.440 --> 0:07:44.160 you came in your junior year and I'd say, oh, really, really, 0:07:44.280 --> 0:07:46.480 because I came in my sophomore year and sat next 0:07:46.480 --> 0:07:48.520 to you for an entire class and you were, you know, 0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:51.040 a cold little ass wipe to me. 0:07:51.160 --> 0:07:53.120 But you know that's right. Now we're friends. 0:07:53.160 --> 0:07:55.640 And what was the difference for you in terms of 0:07:55.640 --> 0:07:57.920 the people if you can, if you can character from 0:07:57.960 --> 0:07:59.679 Illinois to Florida, I mean Florida. 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:02.280 Well, the biggest, I mean, one thing that really helped 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:04.920 me was I was always I always sang. So I 0:08:05.000 --> 0:08:08.360 went in immediately into a concert choir, and so that 0:08:08.480 --> 0:08:11.680 was wonderful because then I had a social group pretty quickly. 0:08:12.320 --> 0:08:14.680 But the one thing about Florida that was so different 0:08:14.680 --> 0:08:17.920 that freaked me out was that, you know, I never 0:08:18.040 --> 0:08:21.160 thought I was growing up in Illinois in necessarily I 0:08:21.160 --> 0:08:24.760 mean a cold sort of atmosphere. It was emotionally warm. 0:08:24.800 --> 0:08:27.520 I had great friends, you know, my family warm. But 0:08:27.560 --> 0:08:30.400 when I got to Florida, everybody hugged constantly. 0:08:30.440 --> 0:08:31.720 Really, I was the other way. 0:08:31.840 --> 0:08:35.720 Everyone was so affectionate in such a crazy way that 0:08:35.840 --> 0:08:40.480 I remember saying, it's I remember coming home and going 0:08:40.920 --> 0:08:44.280 stop cupping my nipples tenor I don't know you in 0:08:44.320 --> 0:08:47.560 the choir, no, but people would. I kept thinking it 0:08:47.600 --> 0:08:49.960 was our director's birthday or something. I was like, what 0:08:50.000 --> 0:08:52.800 the hell's going on in here? Everyone is hugging our teacher, 0:08:53.080 --> 0:08:56.480 hugging each other. I realized it was just that was 0:08:56.559 --> 0:08:58.840 just the way everyone did, you know. And then my girl, 0:08:59.040 --> 0:09:02.840 my who eventually became my girlfriend of many years, was 0:09:02.840 --> 0:09:05.040 my best friend in high school and we were very huggy, 0:09:05.040 --> 0:09:06.000 and that all worked. 0:09:05.760 --> 0:09:07.959 Out because I was the right person. 0:09:07.760 --> 0:09:10.960 Not the teacher, not until after we graduated exactly. 0:09:11.480 --> 0:09:13.200 Then then you went to the college down there. 0:09:13.720 --> 0:09:15.600 I went to the college for two years down there, 0:09:15.640 --> 0:09:19.280 and I studied what well. Their theater department was amazing, 0:09:19.559 --> 0:09:23.640 their art department was incredible, and I was also an artist. 0:09:23.520 --> 0:09:27.560 Seminole Community College but I mean the heads of those 0:09:27.600 --> 0:09:31.520 departments and the music department were so incredible that today 0:09:31.559 --> 0:09:34.040 they still are some of my favorite people that have 0:09:34.720 --> 0:09:38.480 Tennessee got time because my art professor, Grady Kimsey, who 0:09:38.520 --> 0:09:41.680 I'm a really good friend with still he had gone 0:09:41.720 --> 0:09:44.360 to ut years and years ago, just kept saying, you 0:09:44.360 --> 0:09:46.200 got to go check out you tea. And then my 0:09:46.280 --> 0:09:49.400 girlfriend was going to North Carolina, so it kind of 0:09:49.679 --> 0:09:51.600 you know, I'd go up and visit, and I'd never 0:09:51.640 --> 0:09:53.640 been up in those mountains, and I just fell in 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:56.520 love with those there because I'm such a nature freaking Yeah, 0:09:56.520 --> 0:09:57.520 I went crazy for it. 0:09:58.040 --> 0:09:59.360 And when you left there, what happened? 0:10:00.240 --> 0:10:03.320 And then I finished college and I came home and 0:10:03.440 --> 0:10:04.839 I worked at the theme parks. 0:10:05.080 --> 0:10:06.760 What's that like with how do you get the job 0:10:06.800 --> 0:10:09.560 at Disney? Like, who's is there somebody who's like a 0:10:09.720 --> 0:10:10.400 casting person? 0:10:10.480 --> 0:10:12.280 Well, yeah, there's talent people. 0:10:12.400 --> 0:10:14.840 And you know, I had worked with an improv group 0:10:15.040 --> 0:10:19.880 called Ssach Theater in Orlando. They at the time contracted 0:10:19.880 --> 0:10:21.920 out to Disney. So they did all the like in 0:10:22.000 --> 0:10:24.880 Epcot in Italy, the Canadia, dell Art. You know, they 0:10:24.880 --> 0:10:27.040 would do all the comedy. That's kind of the roaming, 0:10:27.440 --> 0:10:31.560 atmospheric comedy. And then they built Pleasure Island, which was 0:10:31.600 --> 0:10:33.480 the nighttime Disney. 0:10:34.160 --> 0:10:37.920 You know, all the night clubs Pleasure Island, Pleasure Island, 0:10:38.160 --> 0:10:44.079 Welcome Come, Mickey has No PANSA. 0:10:42.920 --> 0:10:47.000 An entire island they built that had all these clubs. 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:49.520 They had like a big discotheque. They had a country 0:10:49.520 --> 0:10:52.240 Western sort of music club. It was just kind of 0:10:52.280 --> 0:10:56.040 like a strip of nighttime establishments, but all in Disney. 0:10:56.320 --> 0:10:57.320 But it was late night and the. 0:10:57.480 --> 0:11:00.000 Kind of a downtown feel, like a cluster like South Streets. 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:02.440 And they would have like New Year's Eve every night, 0:11:02.520 --> 0:11:05.559 so they'd have dancers come out and they'd dance. And 0:11:05.640 --> 0:11:08.240 it was really a fabulous place to work as a 0:11:08.240 --> 0:11:12.040 young actor because it felt cool and I could and 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:14.079 I did a lot of improvisation. But then we also 0:11:14.120 --> 0:11:17.319 did like radio shows and singing. We could be kind 0:11:17.320 --> 0:11:20.720 of dirty. I mean, it wasn't filthy. I didn't go 0:11:20.800 --> 0:11:24.959 full tilt my typical filth that you know of well, I. 0:11:24.920 --> 0:11:28.119 Didn't pell out. 0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:29.840 But you would interact with the guests, so there you know, 0:11:29.880 --> 0:11:32.319 you'd be sitting there with some old British dude who's 0:11:32.360 --> 0:11:34.719 getting drunk and just get into a conversation, and I 0:11:34.760 --> 0:11:38.240 played Pamelia Perkins, the president of the Adventures Club, and 0:11:38.280 --> 0:11:40.360 it was kind of a Teddy Roosevelt era sort of place. 0:11:40.360 --> 0:11:43.560 And I had this big bufont and I could just 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:45.839 be as body as hell. I mean I would get 0:11:45.840 --> 0:11:47.800 on guy's laps and you know, have my legs up 0:11:47.800 --> 0:11:49.520 in the air because I was like a matron sort 0:11:49.559 --> 0:11:52.120 of character. And we used to have such a blast. 0:11:52.200 --> 0:11:56.320 But then also during that time I went down Penis 0:11:56.320 --> 0:11:59.240 Avenue for about two years, I was dating men for 0:11:59.240 --> 0:12:01.520 a little while. I would hook up with people, I 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:06.120 mean just meeting like different people. I'd meet, well, just guests, 0:12:06.360 --> 0:12:09.760 and you know, you'd meet some super super charismatic, handsome person. 0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:11.880 You'd be sitting there laughing and you'd be in costume, 0:12:11.920 --> 0:12:14.800 and then they'd be like, what are you guys doing after. 0:12:14.640 --> 0:12:17.240 You do the characters? What do these characters do next? 0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:19.760 And there was a restaurant and there were bars down 0:12:19.760 --> 0:12:21.880 the street that they would let us after work go to. 0:12:22.000 --> 0:12:24.200 So you just take change all your clothes and you know, 0:12:24.240 --> 0:12:25.880 blow dry the shit out of your hair and go. 0:12:26.280 --> 0:12:28.640 Now I'm twenty five again. And I'd walk down there 0:12:28.679 --> 0:12:31.560 and and it was New Year's eve every day it 0:12:31.720 --> 0:12:35.680 was New Year's but you vomited every day and lost 0:12:35.720 --> 0:12:37.199 your virginity every day. 0:12:37.280 --> 0:12:40.840 That's what was the Pamelion Pamelia Perkins. 0:12:40.320 --> 0:12:43.520 Pamelia, Pamelia Perkins. Of course he is banging the guests too. 0:12:43.520 --> 0:12:46.559 At a time, I mean for an actor. At that time, 0:12:46.880 --> 0:12:50.560 I was making really good money and had full insurance everything, 0:12:50.600 --> 0:12:52.160 had a car, rented a little house. 0:12:52.200 --> 0:12:52.360 You know. 0:12:52.400 --> 0:12:53.600 It was kind of fun. 0:12:53.720 --> 0:12:54.080 It was. 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:57.640 It was a beautiful little It was a beautiful life. 0:12:57.720 --> 0:12:59.320 And then I got stir crazy with it. And that 0:12:59.440 --> 0:13:01.640 was just about when happened. 0:13:01.679 --> 0:13:04.400 But how does that happen? How do they find you? 0:13:04.800 --> 0:13:05.040 It was? 0:13:05.400 --> 0:13:08.520 It was a beautifully random, amazing thing. 0:13:11.320 --> 0:13:24.560 We'll be back in a minute. 0:13:26.120 --> 0:13:29.320 I had worked with Sex Theater. They had a theater downtown. 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:31.679 They would call me every so often and I'd go 0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:34.160 do a set with them where I do a character 0:13:34.200 --> 0:13:36.640 that I had written. And so they said, you know, 0:13:36.679 --> 0:13:39.880 we're going to do this sketch comedy pilot called Chucklehead. 0:13:40.240 --> 0:13:41.680 And they said will you be in it and do 0:13:41.760 --> 0:13:44.080 those characters? And they said sure. I mean I was 0:13:44.120 --> 0:13:46.120 doing like I got beat up in America's most wanted 0:13:46.160 --> 0:13:48.200 you know, all the local, all the things that were 0:13:48.200 --> 0:13:50.520 shooting in Orlando, I would do, you know, And I 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:53.640 did this lottery character for years in about three states 0:13:53.679 --> 0:13:57.440 that was played the Worlitz Org and you know sexy 0:13:57.480 --> 0:14:02.079 characters Alec, you know, but all from the Matron Handbook. 0:14:02.520 --> 0:14:06.200 I was born at fifty Alec. But they called me. 0:14:06.280 --> 0:14:08.040 My agent called me one day and she said, are 0:14:08.120 --> 0:14:08.800 you sitting down? 0:14:08.880 --> 0:14:09.440 I said yes. 0:14:10.120 --> 0:14:14.360 She said, Saturday Night Live saw that pilot Lauren wants 0:14:14.400 --> 0:14:18.960 to meet you. And I'm like, okay, for what? And 0:14:19.000 --> 0:14:22.840 she goes, now, it is not an audition, but he 0:14:22.880 --> 0:14:24.520 wants to fly you up and talk to you. And 0:14:24.520 --> 0:14:25.760 I'm like, well, what is it? 0:14:25.840 --> 0:14:28.560 An orgy? Am I being summoned for. 0:14:30.840 --> 0:14:30.920 What? 0:14:31.440 --> 0:14:34.240 In the f And I said okay? And so I 0:14:34.400 --> 0:14:37.440 flew up there, you know, talk about defecating. I mean, 0:14:37.440 --> 0:14:40.920 it was like Emodium City the entire two days of 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:43.280 getting there. He was two hours, you know, or three 0:14:43.280 --> 0:14:47.720 hours late for the meeting, but he was super nice. 0:14:47.880 --> 0:14:51.160 And I sat with Marci Klein and Ayala in the 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:54.320 talent room and I was so nervous that they ordered 0:14:54.360 --> 0:14:58.560 food and they said, we're ordering zen Palette, you know, vegetarian. 0:14:58.640 --> 0:15:00.560 We're ordering zen palette. Do you want anything? 0:15:00.560 --> 0:15:03.480 And I said, just a just like a coup of 0:15:03.480 --> 0:15:05.880 white rice would make good, just like rice. And I 0:15:06.000 --> 0:15:08.320 just got a dry cup of white rice and set 0:15:08.360 --> 0:15:11.360 and ate it. I went in and he said, we 0:15:11.560 --> 0:15:13.480 have just cleaned house. It was ninety five. It was 0:15:13.520 --> 0:15:16.280 when Will Ferrell and everybody came. He said, we've cleaned house. 0:15:16.680 --> 0:15:21.000 We're starting over. You know, it's gonna rise again. We're hoping, 0:15:21.080 --> 0:15:23.040 and we're gonna try to infuse it with new talent, 0:15:23.120 --> 0:15:26.160 and we would like to hire you to be a writer. 0:15:26.680 --> 0:15:28.520 When I was like, oh, well, I've never done that. 0:15:28.600 --> 0:15:30.120 I you know, I don't even I mean, I didn't 0:15:30.160 --> 0:15:32.320 even use a computer at that point. And I said 0:15:32.360 --> 0:15:34.800 I can't, you know. And if you tell them you can't, 0:15:34.920 --> 0:15:37.760 then they will. You will keep saying well, and he said, 0:15:37.800 --> 0:15:38.800 well we'll show you. 0:15:38.680 --> 0:15:39.600 You know, we have people. 0:15:40.000 --> 0:15:41.440 But it was so quick. 0:15:41.560 --> 0:15:43.920 That it made me worry that there was something wrong, 0:15:44.080 --> 0:15:46.240 like there was a scam or something like this was 0:15:46.360 --> 0:15:48.920 all some kind of frickin' joke, because I was like, 0:15:48.960 --> 0:15:49.520 this can't be. 0:15:50.160 --> 0:15:52.480 And so soon after that, were you moving to New York? 0:15:52.960 --> 0:15:55.760 I had five days to move, packed up, my whole 0:15:55.800 --> 0:15:57.880 life gave my animals to my mom temporarily. 0:15:58.240 --> 0:16:00.320 Farewell to Pleasure is up. 0:16:00.280 --> 0:16:03.200 To New York City, and you know, just was just 0:16:04.480 --> 0:16:10.480 ungodly miserable, and I mean with fear. But Mike Shoemaker 0:16:10.640 --> 0:16:13.120 called me right before I left because I was starting 0:16:13.120 --> 0:16:15.880 to freak out to the point of going, I'm going 0:16:15.920 --> 0:16:18.920 to my dream place. I mean, I was obsessed with us. 0:16:18.960 --> 0:16:19.120 Now. 0:16:19.120 --> 0:16:20.760 When I was little, I used to audio tape it. 0:16:21.000 --> 0:16:23.400 I used to perform Rosanna and Rosanna Dana for my 0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:26.360 high school in the auditorium, and I thought, I'm just 0:16:26.400 --> 0:16:28.920 going to be sitting around with like, you know, ten 0:16:29.040 --> 0:16:31.160 Harvard dudes looking at me, going, who the fuck is 0:16:32.360 --> 0:16:36.120 who hired Kathy Bates Light and you know, and why 0:16:36.240 --> 0:16:38.480 is she? And I adore Kathy Baits, by the way, 0:16:38.520 --> 0:16:40.240 but they were just you know, I thought they I 0:16:40.240 --> 0:16:43.880 would be so not of their world, of these writerly. 0:16:43.520 --> 0:16:44.680 Sort of people. 0:16:44.880 --> 0:16:48.080 And I didn't realize how many writers there are performers. 0:16:48.760 --> 0:16:51.920 And so Shoemaker called me, and I still thank him 0:16:51.960 --> 0:16:53.760 for this because he really is the reason that I 0:16:53.840 --> 0:16:54.920 ended up getting. 0:16:54.640 --> 0:16:55.720 The balls to get there. 0:16:55.720 --> 0:16:58.360 But he called and he said, some people want to 0:16:58.400 --> 0:17:00.200 say hi, And it was you know, Cindy can Up 0:17:00.200 --> 0:17:02.640 and Era and Lori Nesso and all these people that 0:17:02.680 --> 0:17:05.080 were new that were terrified, and they all got on 0:17:05.119 --> 0:17:07.000 the phone going, we can't wait to meet you. And 0:17:07.520 --> 0:17:09.640 I hung up the phone and I just burst into tears. 0:17:09.720 --> 0:17:11.440 I said, it's all going to be okay. No matter what, 0:17:11.480 --> 0:17:13.639 it's going to be okay. It's just a group of people. 0:17:13.680 --> 0:17:15.879 It's almost like of all the years of doing plays. 0:17:15.920 --> 0:17:18.480 It's like it's a new cast. You're seventeen, You're getting 0:17:18.480 --> 0:17:21.359 in a cast seventeen years. I've been there yet seventeen, 0:17:21.440 --> 0:17:22.359 and I was it changed? 0:17:22.680 --> 0:17:23.000 Well. 0:17:23.960 --> 0:17:27.160 I think in general, comedy has gotten a little, you know, 0:17:27.320 --> 0:17:29.920 it's gone through its ebbs and flows in terms of 0:17:31.000 --> 0:17:34.640 things being more character driven or or you know, more conceptual. 0:17:34.680 --> 0:17:36.960 I mean, I think that show always has a great 0:17:37.080 --> 0:17:40.080 amount of both. And I always loved the fact that 0:17:40.080 --> 0:17:42.080 that show had something for everybody. You know, I'd sit 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:45.680 with a group of people that I'd love certain things 0:17:45.680 --> 0:17:49.480 and they'd love certain things, and so I, yeah, I 0:17:49.560 --> 0:17:51.720 love I love the balance, you know, I love the 0:17:51.720 --> 0:17:55.000 balance of it. But one of the biggest things that's 0:17:55.080 --> 0:17:59.160 changed in general to me is the Internet. Because when 0:17:59.200 --> 0:18:01.439 I was growing up and you were an actor, you 0:18:01.520 --> 0:18:04.280 had to create a body of work by really doing 0:18:04.320 --> 0:18:07.000 it and getting hired, and then they would give you 0:18:07.080 --> 0:18:10.679 access to tape of it. You know, you couldn't just 0:18:10.800 --> 0:18:16.199 go on machines and videotape yourself and make a beautifully edited, 0:18:16.359 --> 0:18:19.000