WEBVTT - Laughter Is Medicine with Darrell Hammond 0:00:11.000 --> 0:00:13.960 Hey there, folks, want you to know I just made 0:00:13.960 --> 0:00:17.080 an ass out of myself right before we started recording 0:00:17.079 --> 0:00:22.240 this podcast, because an absolute legend of TV and comedy. 0:00:22.560 --> 0:00:25.360 You believe what I asked him. I tried to explain 0:00:25.400 --> 0:00:27.080 to him how to give us a mic check, and 0:00:27.160 --> 0:00:30.120 I feel like an absolute moron. Welcome to this episode 0:00:30.200 --> 0:00:31.560 of Amy and TJ. Rose. 0:00:31.680 --> 0:00:33.239 That was I thought it was the other thing you 0:00:33.240 --> 0:00:37.600 did before when he caught us getting ready to get 0:00:37.640 --> 0:00:40.839 ready and you turned it on like Daryl Hammond. 0:00:41.520 --> 0:00:44.080 He thought I was faking it. I wasn't faking I'm excited. 0:00:44.080 --> 0:00:46.800 Who can't be excited to talk to Daryl Hammond? Now, 0:00:46.920 --> 0:00:48.800 you gotta be kidding. If you go through and ask 0:00:48.840 --> 0:00:52.199 anybody of a certain age, at least your favorite SNL 0:00:52.479 --> 0:00:56.440 characters of all time or cast members, you cannot go 0:00:56.560 --> 0:00:58.960 too far without his name coming up. Oh my god. 0:00:59.360 --> 0:01:03.760 No. And the likeness he could have of your favorite 0:01:03.800 --> 0:01:07.280 or least favorite politician. He nailed it in a way 0:01:07.319 --> 0:01:09.600 that most people could not even dream of. And so yes, 0:01:09.959 --> 0:01:12.280 if you closed your eyes, it was as if you 0:01:12.280 --> 0:01:15.000 were hearing Bill Clinton. It was as if you were 0:01:15.000 --> 0:01:17.240 hearing Ted Copple. That was one of my favorite ones 0:01:17.840 --> 0:01:21.600 was Sean Connery. Oh, Sean Connery and Jeffardy because you know, 0:01:21.640 --> 0:01:24.080 I'm a huge double O seven fan, and Sean Connery 0:01:24.200 --> 0:01:24.440 is not. 0:01:25.120 --> 0:01:27.120 There's nothing he does in those movies that make you 0:01:27.120 --> 0:01:29.640 feel like he's a dweep, that he's a moron, right, 0:01:29.680 --> 0:01:31.800 He's always in charge, he gets The ladies said, why 0:01:31.840 --> 0:01:33.320 why did I just go into an impression just then? 0:01:33.400 --> 0:01:35.280 But he give that was bold, okay. 0:01:35.760 --> 0:01:38.720 And maybe maybe not smart, but we're so excited and 0:01:38.760 --> 0:01:39.080 I did. 0:01:39.120 --> 0:01:41.560 I made an ass out of myself because I was 0:01:41.680 --> 0:01:44.319 that excited to have him here. So can you please 0:01:44.400 --> 0:01:45.640 pick it up from here so I can make a 0:01:45.680 --> 0:01:45.920 fool O. 0:01:46.680 --> 0:01:50.360 Darryl Hammond is on the podcast today, and yes, you 0:01:50.360 --> 0:01:53.520 can tell we are very excited. I actually was listening 0:01:53.960 --> 0:01:57.040 to Cray this morning and was blown away by the 0:01:57.080 --> 0:01:59.000 full story. I mean, we've you know, I know you 0:01:59.040 --> 0:02:01.600 have been very vocal about your We always love to 0:02:01.600 --> 0:02:03.360 make fun of people who call their lives. 0:02:03.120 --> 0:02:05.440 Journeys, but truly you have been on one and we 0:02:05.520 --> 0:02:06.080 all are on. 0:02:05.960 --> 0:02:08.480 One, and so you've been very vulnerable and very open 0:02:08.520 --> 0:02:12.040 over the last decade or so talking about getting to 0:02:12.080 --> 0:02:14.399 where you are today. So my first question is for you, 0:02:14.880 --> 0:02:17.440 how are you today, Darryl Hammond? How you doing? 0:02:18.360 --> 0:02:20.639 I mean, I'm pretty good. I have to work it, 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:26.560 be healthy. I have to do cognitive therapy exercises. I 0:02:26.600 --> 0:02:29.840 go to therapy, I go to twelve Step meetings, do 0:02:29.919 --> 0:02:32.040 volunteer work. I do lots, and I do a lot 0:02:32.080 --> 0:02:35.040 of yoga and a lot of meditation. So after all 0:02:35.080 --> 0:02:39.720 that stuff I'm doing, okay. 0:02:40.200 --> 0:02:42.480 Just okay, all that then, just okay. 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:46.959 I'm telling you, I don't know the days of joy 0:02:47.080 --> 0:02:50.160 jumps and you know, jumping up in the air and 0:02:50.320 --> 0:02:55.000 clicking your heels together and shouting eureka, maybe behind it. 0:02:55.080 --> 0:02:56.560 Wait, but you had those days? 0:02:58.639 --> 0:03:00.720 I did? I did? You know? Back when I was 0:03:00.720 --> 0:03:03.280 in SNL, it was a real up and down thing 0:03:03.400 --> 0:03:06.520 for me because most of the time I left that 0:03:06.560 --> 0:03:09.440 show thinking that that I'm going to say fifty percent 0:03:09.480 --> 0:03:11.640 of the time when I left that show, I thought 0:03:11.840 --> 0:03:15.000 I had disgraced to myself. You know, someone sent me 0:03:15.040 --> 0:03:20.000 a picture recently of me a read through with Tracy Morgan, 0:03:20.040 --> 0:03:25.520 and the memories sort of came flooding back. How dissatisfied 0:03:25.600 --> 0:03:27.720 it was with what it was I was doing in it. 0:03:29.400 --> 0:03:32.760 I think because of the degree of difficulty. I mean, 0:03:33.320 --> 0:03:36.440 you go to see a Vegas tribute app someone doing 0:03:36.480 --> 0:03:39.640 an impression. It's brilliant and we love them, but they've 0:03:39.680 --> 0:03:45.320 worked years on it. Now try doing it on Wednesday 0:03:45.520 --> 0:03:50.640 before Saturday. Never done this before, never done this one before. 0:03:51.280 --> 0:03:53.800 And you think you're gonna have forty eight hours before Saturday, 0:03:53.920 --> 0:03:56.120 you're not. You might have five or six because there's 0:03:56.120 --> 0:03:58.040 a whole bunch of other things you got to do. 0:03:58.880 --> 0:04:03.880 So taking that out there, there are times where my 0:04:03.920 --> 0:04:06.560 nerve would get so nerves would get so bad. Will 0:04:06.560 --> 0:04:10.280 I'd say, why am I doing this? Damn? And I 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:13.520 know why I'm doing it because I'm addicted to it. 0:04:15.200 --> 0:04:18.000 I'm a junkie for the high wire, right or I 0:04:18.160 --> 0:04:19.680 wasn't you were? 0:04:19.760 --> 0:04:21.799 Would you say? You talk about all the work you've 0:04:21.960 --> 0:04:26.080 you've done and the therapy and are you at the 0:04:26.120 --> 0:04:28.240 healthiest you've ever been in your life right now? 0:04:31.160 --> 0:04:37.440 Oddly enough, so it may be so. I mean, last 0:04:37.520 --> 0:04:42.040 week I was in a two weeks agousin Spokane. There 0:04:42.080 --> 0:04:45.000 was a club that I wanted to play and I 0:04:45.040 --> 0:04:47.719 did five one hour sets and I have to say 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:50.880 I was pleased. And you tried doing a one hour set. 0:04:51.839 --> 0:04:55.400 It's not just the physicality of walking around. It's you 0:04:55.480 --> 0:04:58.560 got to be on point for an out, do you 0:04:58.640 --> 0:05:01.040 know what I mean? And this as went well, So 0:05:01.480 --> 0:05:03.080 I worked really hard at it. But I don't know 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:05.120 if it's the healthiest I've ever been. There's probably a 0:05:05.160 --> 0:05:09.479 time when I was, you know, when I was when 0:05:09.480 --> 0:05:11.520 I was a teenager, I was a pretty strong kid, 0:05:11.880 --> 0:05:17.480 a good baseball player, but out of my mum. So 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:20.360 this is the whole I got the whole package here. 0:05:20.400 --> 0:05:23.599 Now I can't do as many chut ups as I 0:05:23.720 --> 0:05:25.040 used to, but you. 0:05:25.000 --> 0:05:30.200 Know, yeah, physicality is one thing, but mental health mentally mentally, 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:31.760 are you are you the strongest you've been? I mean, 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:34.440 you put in so much work, You've put so much 0:05:34.480 --> 0:05:39.400 out there. You've you've you've You've gone from being institutionalized 0:05:39.400 --> 0:05:41.640 to being on I think at one time thirteen different 0:05:41.680 --> 0:05:46.599 medications and all on a path to try and find 0:05:46.960 --> 0:05:50.600 the whys and then figure out the how tos. So 0:05:50.640 --> 0:05:52.720 where are you on your mental health right now? Would 0:05:52.720 --> 0:05:54.640 you say you're the healthiest mentally that you've been? 0:05:56.000 --> 0:05:58.520 I think so absolutely. I mean you were talking about 0:05:58.560 --> 0:06:01.159 for most of my life, certainly the times that I 0:06:01.240 --> 0:06:04.599 described in the play crame it just wasn't a way 0:06:04.680 --> 0:06:08.360 to self suit. You know. You would drink and that 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:11.880 didn't really do it, you know, and you could smoke 0:06:11.920 --> 0:06:15.440 weed and that didn't really quite do it. You know, 0:06:15.560 --> 0:06:19.000 I needed help. I needed a doctor with doctor K 0:06:19.680 --> 0:06:24.200 in this play, who could come in and break inside 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:27.000 my head without injuring me and find out what was 0:06:27.040 --> 0:06:32.280 going on in there. You know, trauma therapy is kind 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:34.200 of in a semptancy, and you know, he could just 0:06:34.240 --> 0:06:39.040 as easy have killed mhm. You know people that trauma 0:06:39.120 --> 0:06:41.080 doctors that don't know what to do when they get 0:06:41.080 --> 0:06:44.320 inside there can really guide that person off off the path. 0:06:44.400 --> 0:06:47.400 And you know, it said, I don't know what it's 0:06:47.440 --> 0:06:49.440 like today, but back then, you know it was said, 0:06:49.640 --> 0:06:51.880 you know, in order to save your life, sometimes have 0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:55.960 to risk it, you know. And I don't know. I 0:06:56.080 --> 0:06:59.640 ended up with this guy who's one hundred years ahead 0:06:59.640 --> 0:07:05.920 of his times. I'm I have stathesia, I color code 0:07:05.960 --> 0:07:09.320 all my characters, and he used that to break into 0:07:09.320 --> 0:07:11.200 my head and figure out what was going on in there. 0:07:11.240 --> 0:07:16.080 He used colors. I mean, talk about a freak shot, right, 0:07:16.960 --> 0:07:21.000 I mean, that's freaky, you know what I mean? So 0:07:21.080 --> 0:07:24.880 I people have said this is the King's speech meets 0:07:25.560 --> 0:07:29.520 one flow of the cucus nests at SNL. Oh, that's 0:07:29.560 --> 0:07:30.160 pretty close. 0:07:30.240 --> 0:07:33.840 That's close. How many times, Daryl, can you list or 0:07:33.880 --> 0:07:36.800 maybe have a number. How many times will you misdiagnosed? 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:39.280 How many things that they going to doctors and talking 0:07:39.280 --> 0:07:41.559 to folks that they list all these things they thought 0:07:41.840 --> 0:07:43.640 were wrong with you. How long of a list was that. 0:07:45.080 --> 0:07:47.920 Well, let's let me get boring here for a second, 0:07:47.960 --> 0:07:53.119 because in the play we say thirty nine, and that's 0:07:53.400 --> 0:07:56.760 pretty accurate because each time you go to a treatment 0:07:56.760 --> 0:08:00.480 center you have three Okay, so three. I had been 0:08:00.520 --> 0:08:02.640 to six treatment centers or something like that. That's at 0:08:02.720 --> 0:08:06.200 least eighteen. But the figure we use is thirty nine, 0:08:06.240 --> 0:08:09.040 and that's just about right. I mean, people who had 0:08:09.160 --> 0:08:12.560 the faintest idea what was wrong with me, you know, 0:08:14.040 --> 0:08:18.520 could not figure it out. And here we meet this guy, 0:08:18.560 --> 0:08:22.200 doctor K who said, you're this way because of something 0:08:22.240 --> 0:08:25.520 that happened to you. Well, that was the Hall Elijah 0:08:25.560 --> 0:08:27.640 chorus moment of my life because no one knew what 0:08:27.680 --> 0:08:30.240 the hell was wrong with me. And I was like young, 0:08:30.840 --> 0:08:33.800 you know, I had been in SNL for a while. 0:08:33.880 --> 0:08:36.959 It was in my forties. I've been waiting for that 0:08:37.040 --> 0:08:42.440 kind of my whole life. Something happened and then you know, 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:44.480 of course you got to be a genius like this 0:08:44.520 --> 0:08:48.520 guy and break into this person's brain and pull out 0:08:48.559 --> 0:08:51.079 what's in there, you know, And he did that. I 0:08:51.120 --> 0:08:53.880 don't know how much of the Cray you've listened to, 0:08:53.920 --> 0:08:56.679 but he did that with a series of dramatic exercise. 0:08:57.160 --> 0:09:00.320 Yeah. I mean, it's remarkable to hear the process and 0:09:00.320 --> 0:09:03.480 what you went through. I was also surprised to learn. 0:09:03.640 --> 0:09:07.040 I didn't realize this. You were thirty nine before you 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:09.560 first even auditioned for SNL. 0:09:10.440 --> 0:09:14.400 Well, I auditioned in my late twenties and early thirties 0:09:14.440 --> 0:09:16.920 and was turned down twice, and then I couldn't get 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:20.839 another audition until I was thirty nine. Way too old 0:09:20.880 --> 0:09:25.360 for the show by then. But I had started practicing 0:09:25.520 --> 0:09:27.800 for SNL when I was twenty seven years old, so 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:31.800 that's twelve year period. And I had this whole thing 0:09:31.880 --> 0:09:33.560 that I would do where I'd try to make one 0:09:33.600 --> 0:09:38.160 improvement per week, you know, and those sort of things 0:09:38.200 --> 0:09:43.840 snowball and add up and you become this exponentially better 0:09:44.000 --> 0:09:47.360 player than you were, you know. I mean I would 0:09:47.360 --> 0:09:50.040 work on vowel sounds. I would work on centery, you 0:09:50.040 --> 0:09:54.120 know it, where's the voices at the head, mouthed, chest, stomach. 0:09:54.920 --> 0:09:57.920 I would work on all of those sounds and practice them. 0:09:57.920 --> 0:09:59.839 And by the time I was thirty nine, I walked in. 0:10:01.120 --> 0:10:03.560 It was the perfect time because Phil Hartman had just 0:10:03.640 --> 0:10:09.840 retired and he was the older SNL cast, right, and 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:12.319 he played clip and they need someone to play clip. 0:10:14.440 --> 0:10:19.160 So based on that they saw me. Marcy Klein saw 0:10:19.240 --> 0:10:23.240 me at Caroline's and brought me into Laura Michaels based 0:10:23.760 --> 0:10:26.439 just because she saw me do Clinton at Carolines and 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:28.840 it was good enough to bring me in, And her 0:10:28.880 --> 0:10:32.000 hope was that I had additional impression. I ended up 0:10:32.080 --> 0:10:38.199 doing probably I don't know. I want to say twenty 0:10:39.080 --> 0:10:42.120 and three auditions. Well, you know how. 0:10:42.080 --> 0:10:43.680 Much of that for you to hear that you had 0:10:43.679 --> 0:10:47.240 a you practiced for twelve years for an audition at 0:10:47.320 --> 0:10:50.160 SNL sounds wild Like people that are familiar with you, 0:10:50.200 --> 0:10:52.679 we look at you and say, obviously he was he 0:10:52.800 --> 0:10:57.000 has this talent, but we don't understand the work that 0:10:57.080 --> 0:10:59.560 put in that you put into it. How much do 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:02.480 you think you were just born with something and had 0:11:02.480 --> 0:11:05.439 a natural ability or talent or how much of it 0:11:05.480 --> 0:11:09.160 was you worked your ass off and practiced for years 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:11.160 to get in certain places. 0:11:12.400 --> 0:11:15.880 I wouldn't dare compare myself to Steph Curry in any way, 0:11:16.160 --> 0:11:23.120 but here it comes no, no, no, no, I didn't 0:11:23.120 --> 0:11:27.320 mean that. But what I meant was his prep is stagnant. 0:11:28.040 --> 0:11:31.760 Other players ain't doing that. That'sure. I mean, you just 0:11:31.800 --> 0:11:36.400 gotta say. I mean, I don't know what the percentage is. 0:11:36.520 --> 0:11:41.400 I had some ability. My mother could talk like other people. 0:11:41.440 --> 0:11:44.920 She talked like the people in the neighborhood. She talked 0:11:44.960 --> 0:11:47.679 like the coaches and did the teachers at school. And 0:11:47.720 --> 0:11:51.840 I inherit some of that from her, you know, and 0:11:51.880 --> 0:11:55.079 then later on, I mean I knew from a pretty 0:11:55.120 --> 0:11:59.520 early age that's what I liked, do you know. I mean, 0:12:00.200 --> 0:12:03.080 it's a weird, nerdy thing to do in the Deep South, 0:12:03.280 --> 0:12:09.400 or the slightest wrinkle of individualism can get you branded. 0:12:10.440 --> 0:12:10.640 You know. 0:12:10.840 --> 0:12:15.160 That is so interesting because it's so changed now with 0:12:15.320 --> 0:12:17.520 kids today. I think it's almost flipped, you know, you 0:12:17.880 --> 0:12:20.240 almost strive to be an individual or to be something 0:12:20.280 --> 0:12:22.960 different or to not fit in, like that's the cool 0:12:22.960 --> 0:12:25.080 thing to do now. But yes, we all remember it 0:12:25.200 --> 0:12:28.520 was quite the opposite coming up. We both went to 0:12:28.520 --> 0:12:30.760 school down south as well, so we totally get what 0:12:30.800 --> 0:12:34.400 you're saying. How do you take a talent like that? 0:12:34.480 --> 0:12:36.800 You said you got addicted to it. It was the 0:12:36.840 --> 0:12:39.000 reaction that you got from being great at it. 0:12:40.480 --> 0:12:43.880 Well, listen, you know, if you're from the age of 0:12:43.960 --> 0:12:47.320 like seven until the age of thirty nine, if you're 0:12:47.360 --> 0:12:50.920 social ail at ease and you can pop out a 0:12:51.000 --> 0:12:54.280 puorky big impression and now you're non ill at ease, 0:12:55.000 --> 0:12:58.040 you've got to get hooked though. Yeah. You know, if 0:12:58.040 --> 0:13:00.880 you know you can use that nothing thing else works, 0:13:01.080 --> 0:13:02.800 you know you're gonna stick with it a little bit, 0:13:03.240 --> 0:13:09.200 you know, And you know down there, I just was 0:13:09.280 --> 0:13:15.600 a kid that just didn't fit in necessarily later on 0:13:15.640 --> 0:13:17.880 when I played baseball as a teenager, but in the beginning, 0:13:17.920 --> 0:13:21.319 when I was really young, for instance, when I tried 0:13:21.360 --> 0:13:23.760 to play football, I remember the coach took me aside 0:13:23.760 --> 0:13:28.880 one day and said, you know this, He said, there 0:13:28.960 --> 0:13:31.480 seemed to be some kind of suitable war going on 0:13:31.720 --> 0:13:36.959 and he and I said, what he said, They're seeing 0:13:37.000 --> 0:13:41.640 to be some kind of suitable war going on. And 0:13:41.679 --> 0:13:45.440 I was like, what was that mean, coach? And he 0:13:45.480 --> 0:13:49.600 looks at me and says something about you just getting right. 0:13:52.480 --> 0:13:53.880 That's what they used to say to us in the 0:13:53.920 --> 0:13:56.320 sound of the kid was a little different. You just 0:13:56.360 --> 0:13:58.520 ain't right. Oh he just a little crazy. So I'm 0:13:58.520 --> 0:14:00.560 wrong with him. And that was it. We're not going 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:03.400 to a doctor, We're not getting diagnosed. Somebody right with him? 0:14:04.000 --> 0:14:08.760 Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's he's touched. He's touched, he's touched. 0:14:09.400 --> 0:14:13.120 My father used to say, my name's Max Hammon, was 0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:17.319 myself Caroyland. He's extra. 0:14:20.200 --> 0:14:22.360 Just warning everyone you get came with the warning label 0:14:31.200 --> 0:14:35.080 was porky pig. Your first solid impression, would you say? 0:14:35.720 --> 0:14:40.440 I think the first one was Popeye scat singing. You 0:14:40.480 --> 0:14:46.520 can imagine being a child with nothing to do but 0:14:47.040 --> 0:14:49.680 pretend everything that's going on around you is not going 0:14:49.680 --> 0:14:51.720 on around you. And my one way of doing that 0:14:51.920 --> 0:14:54.920 was the way he would scats sing on the way 0:14:54.960 --> 0:14:57.200 to olive oil. You know. That was I was seven 0:14:57.280 --> 0:15:01.360 eight years old, doing a vowel consonant substitute. You know, 0:15:03.800 --> 0:15:07.000 I'm writing all that down. I wrote every single one 0:15:07.000 --> 0:15:11.520 of those silks, you know. Yeah, So that was the 0:15:11.520 --> 0:15:13.760 first one, and then porcupaid was the next one. Of 0:15:15.120 --> 0:15:21.040 the vowel consonant substitutions AB, you know, we'll be, we'll be, 0:15:21.760 --> 0:15:27.320 you know. And then it became doing the coach at school, 0:15:27.680 --> 0:15:32.520 doing some I never really did celebrities back then, but 0:15:32.560 --> 0:15:35.120 I would do the coach and the teachers and stuff 0:15:35.160 --> 0:15:37.600 like that. It's easy to get addicted. 0:15:38.000 --> 0:15:41.080 Do you remember your first celebrity one that you kind 0:15:41.120 --> 0:15:43.280 of nailed and that you got comfortable with and really 0:15:43.280 --> 0:15:44.760 good at. 0:15:45.800 --> 0:15:52.840 Oh boy, no, I I don't. I never really thought 0:15:52.920 --> 0:15:57.760 they were. I didn't really think they were. 0:15:57.800 --> 0:16:02.080 That good, you know. And maybe that's because I knew 0:16:02.120 --> 0:16:06.680 all the nuts and bolts behind it and everything that 0:16:06.760 --> 0:16:09.280 I had to go through to get it. You know. 0:16:11.160 --> 0:16:18.680 I did Jesse Jackson at the Apollo Theater, only white 0:16:18.680 --> 0:16:22.280 person in the theater, and they had said that was 0:16:22.280 --> 0:16:25.120 such a horrible crowd. If they don't like you, they'll 0:16:25.120 --> 0:16:26.840 turn on you, and they really will, let you know. 0:16:26.920 --> 0:16:29.480 And I went out there and I said to myself, 0:16:29.760 --> 0:16:35.480 I have studied him for five years. I know him. 0:16:35.760 --> 0:16:40.240 I don't insult him, and I know him and that's 0:16:40.320 --> 0:16:43.480 my and that's what I'm taking out. And they can see, 0:16:43.600 --> 0:16:50.000 oh wait, he's not around. This is a serious kid 0:16:50.960 --> 0:16:54.920 like And also because you know, the thing is really 0:16:55.000 --> 0:16:58.200 very complimentary. I talked about how powerful he was personally, 0:16:59.080 --> 0:17:01.800 does he ever have actual conversation? So I just did 0:17:01.840 --> 0:17:05.680 Jesse Jackson having casual conversation, and that resonates with everyone 0:17:06.600 --> 0:17:10.439 because it compliments the person before, before the fact, you know, 0:17:11.640 --> 0:17:16.359 which is one reason h there there. There came a 0:17:16.480 --> 0:17:22.600 time in history when that approach to giving politicians the 0:17:22.680 --> 0:17:26.679 benefit of the doubt like that, you know, just didn't 0:17:26.680 --> 0:17:30.480 work anymore. It just didn't play well anymore. You know. 0:17:31.160 --> 0:17:34.359 I got my style from Richard Pryor. Richard Pryor would 0:17:34.359 --> 0:17:39.480 compliment a person beforehand, insaulted it. It's I mean, look, 0:17:39.480 --> 0:17:42.040 he's a genius, and I knew I'd never be as 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:45.480 good as Richard Pryor, but boy, I want ahead in 0:17:45.480 --> 0:17:50.160 that direction, you see what I mean. That's where I'm 0:17:50.160 --> 0:17:53.720 trying to I'm trying to get there, you. 0:17:53.680 --> 0:17:56.840 Know, And yeah, it does because think about it, like 0:17:57.000 --> 0:18:01.400 you were friendly with Bill Clinton. You we're friendly, well, 0:18:01.440 --> 0:18:03.919 at least Dick Cheney wanted to hear you do, Dick Cheney. 0:18:03.960 --> 0:18:08.720 So regardless of where you fell politically, they appreciated what 0:18:08.760 --> 0:18:11.000 you did and how you portrayed them, even if it 0:18:11.119 --> 0:18:15.160 was for comedic relief, and that speaks volumes to exactly 0:18:15.200 --> 0:18:15.960 what you just pointed to. 0:18:16.240 --> 0:18:18.760 But is that right there? You're you can make you 0:18:18.800 --> 0:18:21.760 can make the audience laugh, but you're not making fun 0:18:21.800 --> 0:18:25.000 of the person you're impersonating. Is that you're doing an impersonation, 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:27.400 but you're not necessarily trying to take a dig at 0:18:27.560 --> 0:18:28.520 all of these folks. 0:18:29.040 --> 0:18:31.320 Well, I'm trying to do. I'm trying to get both 0:18:31.359 --> 0:18:34.119 sides of the aisle to laugh. So what's the angle? 0:18:34.920 --> 0:18:38.160 You know, you don't want to get too deeply personal, 0:18:38.840 --> 0:18:40.760 you know with Shaney, and we don't want to go 0:18:41.080 --> 0:18:44.400 in certain areas where people are going to take sides. 0:18:45.400 --> 0:18:47.880 So I just came up with a wise, cracking, tough guy, 0:18:48.680 --> 0:18:52.520 you know, and with Clinton charming row they were willing 0:18:52.520 --> 0:18:56.119 to admit to that. Everyone, Yeah, we can play. We 0:18:56.160 --> 0:18:58.280 can work with that. Both sides of the outcome work 0:18:58.320 --> 0:19:01.240 with that. And you know with Trump, you know, the 0:19:03.000 --> 0:19:13.520 the just bullhorned salesman touting his own his own narrative 0:19:15.080 --> 0:19:20.760 and selling it like it ain't never been sold. But 0:19:21.359 --> 0:19:23.720 you know, because you know people want to make fun 0:19:23.720 --> 0:19:25.560 of him all that, but you the guy can. 0:19:25.480 --> 0:19:28.080 Sell, oh god. 0:19:28.160 --> 0:19:32.240 No question. But he's thinking about thinking about I remember, 0:19:32.320 --> 0:19:34.320 you know, years ago, when I was still doing Trump 0:19:34.359 --> 0:19:37.360 on S and L, I went to Politicoon and Pasadena, 0:19:37.520 --> 0:19:39.680 and you know, I said to some people out there, 0:19:39.720 --> 0:19:42.200 I mean, there were the biggest journalists in the world 0:19:42.240 --> 0:19:44.240 out there, and I remember saying to that, you know, 0:19:44.320 --> 0:19:47.640 you should you shouldn't think that because you can get 0:19:47.640 --> 0:19:50.040 a laugh about Trump's hair every time you go to 0:19:50.080 --> 0:19:53.359 a cocktail park, that this is a guy to not 0:19:53.440 --> 0:19:57.679 take serious. I mean, I said, in his office, and 0:19:57.760 --> 0:20:02.679 trust me, that dude can look through I mean, he 0:20:02.760 --> 0:20:07.639 can look right in there and see what's going on. Otherwise, 0:20:07.800 --> 0:20:09.480 you know, how would he know how to take out 0:20:09.600 --> 0:20:13.400 nineteen seas Republican candidates by finding it, by branding each 0:20:13.480 --> 0:20:17.520 one of them in a way that just got them 0:20:17.560 --> 0:20:23.440 a little off balance. Little Marco Rubio, low energy cheb, 0:20:24.240 --> 0:20:27.359 those things, they were just a little off their game 0:20:28.200 --> 0:20:32.080 when he would just swoop in and sell that giant 0:20:32.160 --> 0:20:35.440 version of his narrative and sell it and then it's 0:20:35.480 --> 0:20:39.600 open injure them, cripple them. They're not getting out their 0:20:39.640 --> 0:20:43.560 best message. You put out your best message to the debates. 0:20:44.240 --> 0:20:46.920 That's the way I stuck. Does that make sense? 0:20:47.080 --> 0:20:49.439 Yes, it totally does. What did Trump ever tell you 0:20:49.480 --> 0:20:53.080 what he thought of your impersonation of him? 0:20:53.119 --> 0:20:57.040 He's tweeted about me twice while while president. All right, 0:20:57.119 --> 0:21:00.720 so he seems he likes it. Okay, but I mean 0:21:00.760 --> 0:21:06.120 with me, he seems to like it. But again I'm 0:21:06.119 --> 0:21:09.480 giving him the benefit of the doubt. You know, I'm 0:21:09.600 --> 0:21:12.400 saying up front. You know, he's figured out that it's 0:21:12.440 --> 0:21:15.120 more important to make people feel than to make them think. 0:21:15.200 --> 0:21:19.280 You don't want them thinking too much. Man, They can 0:21:19.440 --> 0:21:24.480 feel feel something, and what matter? What is this making sense? 0:21:25.080 --> 0:21:28.000 It makes We're laughing because it all makes perfect sense 0:21:28.080 --> 0:21:32.040 to us because we I think to your point early on, 0:21:32.560 --> 0:21:34.000 you talking about Trump and we're not trying to get 0:21:34.000 --> 0:21:36.600 into a political discussion, but you are. You make such 0:21:36.640 --> 0:21:43.359 a good point about how we view our politicians, meaning 0:21:43.920 --> 0:21:45.920 we didn't take a lot of people didn't take him 0:21:45.960 --> 0:21:48.960 seriously the first time around. It was joke, joke, joke, 0:21:49.000 --> 0:21:50.880 and this is not serious. And next thing you know, oh, 0:21:50.920 --> 0:21:55.000 he's president. So do you find over the past? I 0:21:55.000 --> 0:21:57.879 guess since twenty sixteen it would have been how have 0:21:58.040 --> 0:22:00.720 you seen us or have we changed changed how we 0:22:00.840 --> 0:22:04.639 view a Donald Trump? Or do you see us just 0:22:04.680 --> 0:22:06.720 doing the same thing as always, And he's doing the 0:22:06.720 --> 0:22:09.680 same thing as always, which is able to counter that, 0:22:10.200 --> 0:22:12.000 and it might propel him back to the White House. 0:22:12.760 --> 0:22:15.640 But he isn't doing the same thing as always. He 0:22:15.760 --> 0:22:19.359 has very I don't know, in a bizarre way. He 0:22:19.440 --> 0:22:24.719 has hopscotched his way through the corridors of power and 0:22:24.840 --> 0:22:28.479 up the wrongs of the ladder of political success to 0:22:28.560 --> 0:22:33.240 the point where there's dopey God. Has the Supreme Court 0:22:33.359 --> 0:22:34.159 doing his bidding? 0:22:35.920 --> 0:22:37.480 Yeah, I mean it's it's. 0:22:37.320 --> 0:22:41.320 Giving him immunity already, they're doing Supreme courts doing that 0:22:41.359 --> 0:22:47.960 stuff him again. Take him seriously, man, I mean, he's 0:22:48.080 --> 0:22:53.040 on he's he's telling you what he's gonna do, and we. 0:22:53.200 --> 0:22:54.960 For some reason, some people don't want to listen. 0:22:57.400 --> 0:22:58.959 I mean, I don't want to be boring about this, 0:22:59.080 --> 0:23:01.560 but I mean he's a fascinating dude. 0:23:01.800 --> 0:23:05.400 Yeah, I'm sure you like the rest of us. I mean, well, 0:23:05.480 --> 0:23:07.959 I should ask you, with as much as you've had 0:23:08.000 --> 0:23:12.600 to study these politicians when you are doing impersonations of them, 0:23:12.880 --> 0:23:15.119 did you watch the last debate? And I noticed that 0:23:15.160 --> 0:23:19.800 you've got a show right on the same date, September 0:23:19.800 --> 0:23:24.200 tenth in la As the next debate between Kamala Harris 0:23:24.200 --> 0:23:26.160 and Donald Trump. I believe you go on at seven 0:23:26.240 --> 0:23:28.480 thirty Pacific time, right when the debate ends. 0:23:28.600 --> 0:23:30.000 Do you still watch these debates? 0:23:30.000 --> 0:23:30.800 Do you still. 0:23:32.359 --> 0:23:32.879 Observe it? 0:23:33.119 --> 0:23:35.959 Study? I'm going to watch this one. And yeah, I watched. 0:23:37.320 --> 0:23:42.679 I watched the Trump Byen debate. But he did the 0:23:42.720 --> 0:23:47.159