Speaker 1: What do you do when life doesn't go according to
Speaker 1: plan that moment you lose a job, or a loved one,
Speaker 1: or even a piece of yourself. I'm Brookshields and this
Speaker 1: is now What, a podcast about pivotal moments as told
Speaker 1: by people who lived them. Each week, I sit down
Speaker 1: with a guest to talk about the times they were
Speaker 1: knocked off course and what they did to move forward.
Speaker 1: Some stories are funny, others are gut wrenching, but all
Speaker 1: are unapologetically human and remind us that every success and
Speaker 1: every setback is accompanied by a choice, and that choice
Speaker 1: answers one question. Now, what one of the guys that
Speaker 1: moved me into my dorm room freshman week, freshman day,
Speaker 1: he's now working there and he drives by in the
Speaker 1: car and he goes, Shields, get in the god Carney boy,
Speaker 1: you took me to Huahwah. I got me a subway.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: It was like you're.
Speaker 2: Eating this right now, a Wawa subway sandwich. Heals all wounds.
Speaker 2: It is that there's nothing. And I don't know how
Speaker 2: recently you've been back. They've now changed the wabble, or
Speaker 2: they've remodeled, they've reloaded that.
Speaker 1: Well, they moved the trend, didn't they moved the station
Speaker 1: or they.
Speaker 2: Moved a whole dinky station I think, and the wah
Speaker 2: wah with it. But there is nothing. I mean, you
Speaker 2: can't compare Princeton reunions. I don't know how that statement sounds,
Speaker 2: but it is what it is to anything. I mean,
Speaker 2: it's like the Kentucky Derby.
Speaker 1: Do you know it's the It's the second largest amount
Speaker 1: of alcohol consumed. Oh lord, next to yep, second only
Speaker 1: to the DY five hundred?
Speaker 2: Are you kidding?
Speaker 1: So there? I was close.
Speaker 2: I was close with that comparison.
Speaker 1: My guest today is Elliet Kemper, an actor and author,
Speaker 1: a podcast host, a wife, a mother, and, as you'll
Speaker 1: hear us discuss throughout this episode, a proud Princeton, a lion.
Speaker 1: Like many of you, I fell in love with the
Speaker 1: contagious optimism she portrayed through her roles and shows like
Speaker 1: The Office and Unbreakable Kimmie Schmidt, And though I personally
Speaker 1: didn't know Ellie before this interview, I was thrilled to
Speaker 1: discover that she exudes the best parts of her most
Speaker 1: iconic characters. She's hilarious, she's gracious, resilient, and downright impressive. So,
Speaker 1: without further ado, here is Ellie Kemper. Ellie Kemper, Hello,
Speaker 1: I am so happy you wanted to do the show. Obviously,
Speaker 1: I'm a huge fan. My gosh. I also love that
Speaker 1: I'm speaking with a fellow Princetonian.
Speaker 2: I am so happy to be a guest on your show.
Speaker 2: I am the enormous fan of you. So I'm not
Speaker 2: even looking you in the eye right now. I'm looking
Speaker 2: off to the side of my laptop. But the Princeton
Speaker 2: Vaughn dies hard.
Speaker 1: Have they ever asked you to speak at commencement? Yes?
Speaker 2: I y And actually I'm sort of embarrassed to not know.
Speaker 2: Did you You must have spoken several times.
Speaker 1: No, it just just once. And Andrew Dureki, who's also
Speaker 1: a past Princetonian, he talked me into doing it because
Speaker 1: I was just I was sort of obliterated by fear
Speaker 1: and it was just one of those things when I
Speaker 1: just I wanted to be funny and I wanted to
Speaker 1: and I just wanted to, you know, it was such
Speaker 1: an important time for me. Have you been back lately?
Speaker 2: So I just celebrated my twentieth reunion last year in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty two. I know and so I live in
Speaker 2: New York. So I went for the day.
Speaker 1: Did you alone or did you bring your husband or
Speaker 1: my husbands stayed at home. I brought my best friend
Speaker 1: who also went to Princeton. Her name is Joe, and
Speaker 1: we went together. And I can't imagine what it's like
Speaker 1: for you. Have you been back to reunions. I've gone
Speaker 1: back to the big ones. But I had my thirty fifth.
Speaker 1: So I'm I'm well. And you know, it's funny because
Speaker 1: my mom, my, my mom, listen to me. Oh, she
Speaker 1: she wants to be in every conversation even though she's dead.
Speaker 1: She's died.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm sorry, but yes, that's so.
Speaker 1: That's Wendy Williams. When she's talked about her mom, she
Speaker 1: goes she's died. So I went. So I said to
Speaker 1: my husband, Okay, I'm gonna go. And he's like, look,
Speaker 1: why don't you just go alone for the first day
Speaker 1: and then I'll come the next day and bring the
Speaker 1: kids or whatever. And I was like, okay, all right,
Speaker 1: I just I'm not gonna stay long. And then at
Speaker 1: every tent I kept saying, okay, I'm not, I'm not
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna stay a long I'm not gonna stay
Speaker 1: long four o'clock in the morning. I am like meandering,
Speaker 1: not in a straight line.
Speaker 2: And the guy, one of.
Speaker 1: The guys that moved me into my dorm room freshman week,
Speaker 1: freshman day, he's now working there, and he drives by
Speaker 1: in the car and he goes shields, get in the
Speaker 1: goddamn car. And I was like, but I nice man.
Speaker 2: And I was like, oh god, he.
Speaker 1: Goes, some thing's never changed. Getting the goddamn carney boy.
Speaker 1: He took me to it, got me in a subway.
Speaker 1: It was like, you're yeating this right now.
Speaker 2: Yep, a wah wah subway sandwich. Heals all wounds.
Speaker 1: If you say the wah wah wighs the way to go.
Speaker 1: People understand you wholeheartedly. What did did you always want
Speaker 1: to go there? I?
Speaker 2: And oh is the answered? No, it wasn't.
Speaker 1: I didn't.
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know what your thought process was.
Speaker 2: I mean, you and I had very different childhood experience.
Speaker 1: Tell me about your but I so what.
Speaker 2: I wasn't instantly recognizable to you every person on the globe.
Speaker 2: But I didn't really give too much thought about where
Speaker 2: I wanted to go to college. I knew I wanted
Speaker 2: to go to college in the Northeast, and I when
Speaker 2: I visited Princeton, I mean, it's iconic, it's gorgeous, it's stunning,
Speaker 2: it's beautiful, and there was a comb anas I played
Speaker 2: field hockey. I knew that. You know, Princeton had these
Speaker 2: great theater You were also in the Triangle Club, which
Speaker 2: is a theater musical theater group at Princeton for those
Speaker 2: of us who don't know what that is. And I
Speaker 2: and I just I had such a great experience visiting
Speaker 2: and then I got in and I and I accepted.
Speaker 2: But it wasn't a life long whatever dream. It just
Speaker 2: felt like I felt very lucky to be able to
Speaker 2: go there.
Speaker 1: Now you grew up, you grew up in Saint Louis.
Speaker 2: I grew up in Saint Louis, and uh yes, I
Speaker 2: went to I live there all my life and in fact,
Speaker 2: I mean until I graduated high school and in fact,
Speaker 2: my experience leaving for college. This is one thing that
Speaker 2: I don't want to like forget, which is that I
Speaker 2: was profoundly homesick. My first song too, oh it was
Speaker 2: my sobbed and I was like, you know, I'm just
Speaker 2: I remember going home for Christmas break, but I brought
Speaker 2: all of my laundry with me, but like not to
Speaker 2: do it at home in Saint Louis. But because I
Speaker 2: was like, well, I'm not I'm not going back, Like
Speaker 2: in my head it was a weird I wasn't consciously
Speaker 2: doing but but I sort of was because it. I
Speaker 2: remember thinking for the first time I realized that the
Speaker 2: Midwest is a different uh reagion from the rest of
Speaker 2: the country. Because when I went to for instance, I said,
Speaker 2: I remember checking my mom on the phone and I
Speaker 2: was like, Mom, it is you know. I say hello
Speaker 2: to people here, like passing them on campus, and they
Speaker 2: do not smile back. And I remember feeling like this
Speaker 2: is so different now, like why are people saying hi?
Speaker 1: But did you feel like Saint Louis. So I'm born
Speaker 1: and raised in Manhattan, right, and that has shaped me undoubtedly.
Speaker 1: How do you think Saint Louis has shaped you as
Speaker 1: a child.
Speaker 2: I feel very lucky that I grew up there. I
Speaker 2: grew up in a suburb of Saint Louis. I had
Speaker 2: a very lucky childhood I had. I have a wonderful,
Speaker 2: supportive family. I have three siblings, two parents. I went
Speaker 2: to an excellent school. I have a kind of I
Speaker 2: recognize how lucky I was, and I have maybe a
Speaker 2: childhood that would make other people angry because there weren't
Speaker 2: any major traumas. And I feel like living growing up
Speaker 2: in Saint Louis, I now see having lived in New
Speaker 2: York and Los Angeles, I do feel grateful for growing
Speaker 2: up in a relatively quiet place. And I do think
Speaker 2: about now. I have two boys, ages seven and almost four,
Speaker 2: and I do wonder about, you know, where I will
Speaker 2: be raising them because I have a different job than
Speaker 2: my parents had. It as you know, it requires you
Speaker 2: to be in possibly different cities than Saint Louis, And
Speaker 2: you know, I do think that like having experienced the
Speaker 2: Midwest and Saint Louis growing up, it had to have
Speaker 2: had an impact on my outlook and personality. Like I said,
Speaker 2: I do think there's just a I mean, this is
Speaker 2: no great insight, but there is a friendliness and openness
Speaker 2: I think to the Midwest that isn't everywhere, and I
Speaker 2: appreciate that it does actually feel genuine like fake.
Speaker 1: And it's got something you're trying to really impart to
Speaker 1: your boys, like do you want them to also really
Speaker 1: know that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yes, yes, and I think that there's you know,
Speaker 2: I had a friend say once, you know, it doesn't
Speaker 2: matter where you're raising your kids if you have to,
Speaker 2: you know, if you have family, parents, blood relatives or not,
Speaker 2: you know, chosen family, whatever it is, who have a
Speaker 2: good head on their shoulders, then your kids will be fine.
Speaker 2: So I do think it's it doesn't matter where you
Speaker 2: know they you will be raising them so long as
Speaker 2: you're setting a you know, kind of grounded example.
Speaker 1: You mentioned your career, which has been incredible. How did
Speaker 1: you discover that you were a comedian?
Speaker 2: I did? Quick Fire?
Speaker 1: Was quick Fire?
Speaker 2: I don't know when was founded, Okay.
Speaker 1: I think it like ninety like ninety two. I founded
Speaker 1: because it didn't exist. Yes, so quick Fire is the
Speaker 1: improv comedy at Princeton.
Speaker 2: And I loved it, so I auditioned my sophomore year.
Speaker 2: I played field hockey my freshman year, but I used
Speaker 2: the term play very loosely. I sat on the bench
Speaker 2: and observed it. I was just telling my friends the
Speaker 2: other day who also went to Princeton. I believe it
Speaker 2: was somewhere between thirteen and eighteen seconds of a playing
Speaker 2: time that I had my entire field hacking career. That's
Speaker 2: not a lot too. My friends goes, he goes. Isn't
Speaker 2: that more insulting than just not playing at all? I
Speaker 2: was like, you know, I've never thought of that way,
Speaker 2: but yeah, I guess it is. I think. Yeah, So
Speaker 2: I decided to leave that behind and I auditioned for
Speaker 2: quip Fire, and it was this clicking that I sort
Speaker 2: of had never really experienced before where I did feel
Speaker 2: like I am good at this and I had never
Speaker 2: I didn't suffer from low self confidence, but I don't
Speaker 2: think I had ever felt as confident as I did
Speaker 2: when I was in that improv group.
Speaker 1: Triangle was a bit that, but it was really it
Speaker 1: was doing comedy with like Bob Hope and and then
Speaker 1: doing friends and realizing that my instincts were actually funnier
Speaker 1: and better than what was on the page. Like it,
Speaker 1: you know, the combination that I really that was like
Speaker 1: a revelation to me. And it was just like, oh,
Speaker 1: I finally found home. It says where I belong.
Speaker 2: Well, well that's what I loved because in high school
Speaker 2: I was in my high school plays and musicals and
Speaker 2: you know, oh who was I? And anything goes? Bonnie?
Speaker 2: I think she's like the cut up, she's like crazy,
Speaker 2: but it's so it's comedy in like a very specific way.
Speaker 2: This stuff that I was doing at Quip Fire in
Speaker 2: Princeston or in quip Fire at Prinston felt for the
Speaker 2: first time what I call now improv, which was, you know,
Speaker 2: I both studied that our Citizen's Brigade and and you
Speaker 2: know started in Chicago, and it was the first time
Speaker 2: again where it instantly clicked and like you said, there's
Speaker 2: a shorthand. So it felt like, oh, these people that
Speaker 2: I'm with they get it too, like we all get it.
Speaker 2: And I hadn't been in that environment before. I had been,
Speaker 2: you know, kind of a jock, but I was in
Speaker 2: the school plays. But then this I felt, you know,
Speaker 2: at home. But I say that, I don't know why
Speaker 2: I say that tongue in cheek, because I really did
Speaker 2: feel at home. And I'm friends with those you know,
Speaker 2: well they are mostly guys. I'm friends with most of
Speaker 2: those guys to this day, which is says something you know.
Speaker 1: Which says it's yeah, I mean that those those friendships
Speaker 1: and comedy friendships. To me, John Ham, it comes to mind.
Speaker 1: He he was your teacher, your drama teacher. Is that crazy?
Speaker 2: Is that insane? Oh, it's so crazy, It's so crazy.
Speaker 2: He went to my high school in Saint Louis, and
Speaker 2: he went to college and then he came back to
Speaker 2: teach at our school was called John Burrows. He came
Speaker 2: back to teach at Burroughs for a year. He taught
Speaker 2: theater and so I was in ninth grade at the time.
Speaker 2: So he taught. I took a semester of I think
Speaker 2: it was called like theater nine ninth grade, whatever ninth
Speaker 2: grade theater was, and he taught the improv portion.
Speaker 1: We were just at his wedde Oh. Yeah, he's really
Speaker 1: good friends with my mi Okay, yes, who's a comedy writer.
Speaker 2: Yes, yep, yep, yep. So I have always thought of
Speaker 2: him as like an uncle, Like he's just kind of,
Speaker 2: you know, there's that he he feels. I have no
Speaker 2: idea if I'm just like projecting this and it's he
Speaker 2: doesn't actually feel protective, but the air he gives off
Speaker 2: is that of a protective uncle. I feel like because
Speaker 2: I contacted him when I went to Los Angeles to
Speaker 2: do my one person show, and I you know, emailed him,
Speaker 2: just cold emailed him from our Burrows like alumni website.
Speaker 2: I said, I'm doing this show. He was on mad Men.
Speaker 2: I think it was like a third season of mad Men.
Speaker 2: It's like, any chance you can call to see my show,
Speaker 2: and you know, he showed up and he was in
Speaker 2: the bah. Of course he did, and he's like that.
Speaker 2: He helps out anyone from Saint Louis who like reaches
Speaker 2: out to him. He's like, how can I help? He
Speaker 2: is so giving. I adore the man.
Speaker 1: And then you worked with him, Yeah, yeah, better.
Speaker 2: I couldn't believe this. It's so talk about nerves. Now
Speaker 2: you just think I'm always a nervous wreck. But when
Speaker 2: he came so he was the reverend on Unbreakable Kimy
Speaker 2: Schmidt where I was Kimmy and he uh showed up.
Speaker 2: I guess it was the end of the first season.
Speaker 2: And so I'm in a scene with him. Of course
Speaker 2: I fled my first line. Of course I did. And
Speaker 2: I was like, oh, because there was a combiny so
Speaker 2: many things at play. One I knew him as Don
Speaker 2: Draper from mad Men. Two he was my teacher, so
Speaker 2: I feel like he's great me. And then three he's
Speaker 2: a phenomenal actor.
Speaker 1: So I was.
Speaker 2: Like, I hope I don't. I hope, I like, bring
Speaker 2: my a game. But all of that was after I
Speaker 2: got the flubbed line out of the way. It was easy.
Speaker 2: I was like, Okay, this is actually fun.
Speaker 1: You know what though it's it's it's surprising to me
Speaker 1: all that you've done, but that you really sort of
Speaker 1: didn't kind of break into the entertainment industry until we
Speaker 1: were like twenty nine, like you were.
Speaker 2: Yes, I was actually thinking about that in anticipation of
Speaker 2: our conversation because we've had so like two totally different experiences,
Speaker 2: and I feel like, in talking about Saint Louis and
Speaker 2: my upbringing there, it does seem how you've navigated your
Speaker 2: way is so different from from me. But I do
Speaker 2: feel I feel grateful that I had this quote unquote
Speaker 2: normal childhood because then I think it has given me
Speaker 2: perspective as I continue to navigate the entertainment industry and
Speaker 2: especially getting older, there's been some life experience that has
Speaker 2: just been non show business, which is valuable.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: I'm not sure that I said that eloquently, but I'm
Speaker 2: grateful that I began work a little bit later.
Speaker 1: So what were your twenties really like you when you're
Speaker 1: living and you're working in New York. But prior to
Speaker 1: my office, what were those years like for you? Those
Speaker 1: years were? They were?
Speaker 2: I wouldn't call them. They were fine. I wasn't like happy.
Speaker 2: I wasn't unhappy, but I wasn't, you know, living it up.
Speaker 2: I'm much more content now, And I know that sounds trite,
Speaker 2: but it's true. I do feel like as I've gotten older,
Speaker 2: I feel more secure and confident, and in my twenties
Speaker 2: it's more like, Okay, well, what is the plan here?
Speaker 2: I'm doing improv at the People's Improv Theater at the
Speaker 2: Upper Citizens Brigade. I'm doing that at night. I was
Speaker 2: very lucky to have gotten a commercial agent and to
Speaker 2: have booked commercials. I was earning a paycheck, which is
Speaker 2: hugely satisfying, and not having to rely on my parents,
Speaker 2: which I did have to, and was grateful to be
Speaker 2: able to do that at first, but then began to
Speaker 2: make my own money, which is just so satisfying on
Speaker 2: many levels. But it also felt like, well, what is
Speaker 2: the end goal? Is it to be a commercial actor
Speaker 2: and do improv?
Speaker 1: Did you have a plan? B?
Speaker 2: No? And still don't, And so that's why I often
Speaker 2: I don't know how your mind works. But every time
Speaker 2: I'm like out of work for more than a month,
Speaker 2: I'm like, well, what, I guess I'm like a peloton
Speaker 2: shut I could become a peloton instructor, I really don't.
Speaker 2: I don't have any others. I don't have another skill set.
Speaker 2: So so, and not that I could become a peloton instructor,
Speaker 2: I would get too tired. But there was no plan B.
Speaker 2: And it was more like, you know, I got to
Speaker 2: audition for Saturday Night Live, I think in like two
Speaker 2: thousand and eight, so maybe when I was like twenty eight,
Speaker 2: and I didn't get apart, but that felt like progress.
Speaker 2: That felt like okay, I had and parks and rec too, right, yes,
Speaker 2: actually sort of right next to each other, like the
Speaker 2: same year, and didn't get either.
Speaker 1: And how do you deal with how did you deal
Speaker 1: with that? It's to me, it's like, you know, I
Speaker 1: never get used to rejection. I just don't.
Speaker 2: Oh, I'm I'm really deep, don't.
Speaker 1: It's because it fills personal and you know it's not.
Speaker 2: Personal, Yes it does. You know it's not, and yet
Speaker 2: it's so.
Speaker 1: How did you deal with that rejection? What did it
Speaker 1: spur you to do it?
Speaker 2: Oh? Do you know what it was? Actually, this is
Speaker 2: maybe a good I don't know if it's a good quality.
Speaker 2: It's something that I just have, which is I get
Speaker 2: angry when I'm rejected, so it makes me work harder.
Speaker 2: So it was a thing of like, and you know,
Speaker 2: for Saturday Night Life, they don't outright call you and
Speaker 2: say you didn't get it. They just don't call you.
Speaker 2: So after like a few months, I was like, I
Speaker 2: have a feel that the season has started.
Speaker 1: And I'm not there, and I'm not there.
Speaker 2: I have a Princeton education, so I was able to
Speaker 2: put two and two together and I realized I didn't
Speaker 2: get the job.
Speaker 1: Were you afraid when you auditioned? Were you nervous? Oh?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was. I was sick with nerves because yes,
Speaker 2: it's like it's Lauren Michaels and it's everything you've.
Speaker 1: Read Apperiales work.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, you present When I did it, there
Speaker 2: were I think it was three characters of your own
Speaker 2: invention and then three celebrity impressions, which, oh wow, I
Speaker 2: cannot do impressions. I my face sort of looks like Renezelwegger's.
Speaker 2: It's not that's not a compliment to myself. That's not
Speaker 2: it just is it happens to look like her, and
Speaker 2: so I can scrunch up my face and look like her.
Speaker 2: It requires no skill, it's just like what happens. So
Speaker 2: I did her, and then I did I cannot. I
Speaker 2: did a Miley Cyrus something with Miley Cyrus and I
Speaker 2: don't know the third. But it's like I've honestly felt
Speaker 2: the relief. I don't remember the nerves. I remember the
Speaker 2: relief afterwards, like I did it. It's done. I never
Speaker 2: have to do that again, Like I remember it like
Speaker 2: a dream, I think, because it did feel so surreal
Speaker 2: and there's no prep time. It was like a week
Speaker 2: before I met with Seth Meyers and Lorne Michaels, and
Speaker 2: then it's like you have a week before the actual audition,
Speaker 2: so there was no I felt like, that's not time
Speaker 2: to prepare anyway, and so you just have to It's exhilarating.
Speaker 2: That was an exhilarating experience. But I should say that
Speaker 2: it also inspired confidence because I felt like, oh wow,
Speaker 2: I've been invited to audition by Lorne Michaels, who is
Speaker 2: the king of comedy, and so it felt like, okay,
Speaker 2: well I made it. That far that's something and then
Speaker 2: you know, and then from there I think I do
Speaker 2: feel like you know, I was able to make contacts
Speaker 2: through the Saturday Night Live audition that introduced me to
Speaker 2: people in Los Angeles, and that's how I was able
Speaker 2: to audition for parts and rec and also not get it.
Speaker 1: So I call this show now What because it really
Speaker 1: is about those unexpected things that pop up into our lives,
Speaker 1: you know, personal, professional, spiritual, any any of that. But
Speaker 1: they force us to really ask ourselves, now what Now
Speaker 1: what do I do? So looking back, do you have
Speaker 1: is there any pivotal now what moment for you?
Speaker 2: There are two pivotal now what moments, and the first
Speaker 2: one is and I'm going to talk like profession wise
Speaker 2: because it's what you and I were talking about earlier
Speaker 2: about it happens to have taken place at Princeton, but
Speaker 2: just about college and being nineteen years old and feeling like, Okay,
Speaker 2: well I'm going to college to play field hockey, because
Speaker 2: like I said, I played field hockey and I sort
Speaker 2: of laughed it off, but I did find sitting on
Speaker 2: the bench to be somewhat demoralizing because I was the
Speaker 2: star in high school and I prided myself on that
Speaker 2: and I thought it gave me a lot of I
Speaker 2: felt a lot of self worth from that, and so
Speaker 2: being humiliated at whether on purpose or not, at a
Speaker 2: higher level was ultimately I have to think good for
Speaker 2: me because I think humility is always a good thing.
Speaker 2: But also walking away from one thing, the now what
Speaker 2: moment of like, oh, you know, this is not going
Speaker 2: as I planned. I thought that I would be good
Speaker 2: on this team. I thought that I would be a
Speaker 2: contributing member of this team and gain recognition from that,
Speaker 2: and I was not. And instead of sitting on the bench,
Speaker 2: which would not have been you know, I don't know
Speaker 2: that that would have been a bad move, but I
Speaker 2: do feel like your four years in college are precious.
Speaker 2: I didn't want to. I had to recognize that I
Speaker 2: am not going to succeed at the level I want to.
Speaker 2: So pivoting from that, I now feel was invaluable because
Speaker 2: if I hadn't quit the team, I would not have
Speaker 2: auditioned for the improv team, and that is what absolutely
Speaker 2: changed my outlook on what It's not that I wanted
Speaker 2: to become a professional field hockey player, but I don't
Speaker 2: think I would have taken improv and comedy as a
Speaker 2: serious career track. Had I not had that experience with
Speaker 2: Quippire where where I was introduced to the you know
Speaker 2: history of Chicago improv and all the legends that have
Speaker 2: come out of there, Like, I didn't see that as
Speaker 2: a viable career for me. And then but that pivot
Speaker 2: did I think open my eyes to that, which was
Speaker 2: I feel.
Speaker 1: Very grateful for it. And what was the second one?
Speaker 1: What was the other one?
Speaker 2: And the second one was I think that moment of
Speaker 2: not getting the Saturday Night Live job and the Parks
Speaker 2: and Rec job which you brought up, which is like
Speaker 2: I was doing this one person show and so it
Speaker 2: was like, well, you just got to keep working on
Speaker 2: that and doing creating your own content, you know, to
Speaker 2: bring something to it's it's it's weird with our jobs
Speaker 2: because you're rejected in a way that feels out that
Speaker 2: is usually out of your control. It doesn't mean you're
Speaker 2: bad at your job. It means that you weren't chosen
Speaker 2: for this job. So I feel like the you know,
Speaker 2: being rejected from those two jobs opened the doors to
Speaker 2: be on the office and that led to a lot
Speaker 2: of other you know opportunities. So it's weird. The now
Speaker 2: what thing is like endlessly interesting because that's all life is.
Speaker 2: It's like so many pieces of this are out of
Speaker 2: our control.
Speaker 1: I think, once you have a child, you live in
Speaker 1: perpetual Now what moments do you have any that staying
Speaker 1: out as a parent for you?
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, yeah, I.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: I think it's I mean, this is probably infinitely relatable.
Speaker 2: But just the pandemic, which was like, okay, so my
Speaker 2: kids were on the whole. I feel lucky that they
Speaker 2: were as little as they were because they were they
Speaker 2: didn't know what was going on. But it is that
Speaker 2: feeling of just like okay, there's do you remember the
Speaker 2: brainwash we all what the necessary like brainwash we all
Speaker 2: went into, which was like okay, now we're living in
Speaker 2: a world where nobody can see anyway. So that felt like,
Speaker 2: but I'm raising two babies, okay, and so are millions
Speaker 2: of other people.
Speaker 1: Now what.
Speaker 2: We went back to Saint Louis, we lived in we
Speaker 2: were able to live with family for almost a year
Speaker 2: and and hunker down in that way and that and
Speaker 2: then it was like, but now things are ebbing, where
Speaker 2: do we go now? And then I think, now, what
Speaker 2: going back to New York and trying to, you know,
Speaker 2: figure out how to how to resume some sort of
Speaker 2: normalcy there.
Speaker 1: Have they seen any of your stuff? Like you're do
Speaker 1: they know who Aaron Hannon in the office is.
Speaker 2: I think someone told him who Kimmy Schmidt was. Someone
Speaker 2: told my almost second grader who Kimmy Schmidt was, and
Speaker 2: so he he was like, he wasn't He didn't really
Speaker 2: have a strong take on it. He was like, he
Speaker 2: knows that I'm an actor and that my husband's a writer,
Speaker 2: but he doesn't know too much about it except that
Speaker 2: I also did a voice on Sophia the First so
Speaker 2: he knows, which is a cartoon, so he knows those things.
Speaker 2: How old were your daughters when they knew that you
Speaker 2: what you do?
Speaker 1: I mean, the irony is that I did. I did
Speaker 1: the voice of Miss Spider this cartoon, and yes, and
Speaker 1: yeah that was like they thought that that's they thought
Speaker 1: that that's all I did. And then and tried on clothes.
Speaker 1: My daughter was my younger one. When they asked her,
Speaker 1: she was like seven or something. They so, what does
Speaker 1: your mom do? She goes, yeah, you know, clothes. I
Speaker 1: was like what, Because I'm always I was always in
Speaker 1: fittings like, so I yes, and i'd have to be
Speaker 1: she thought that's what I did for a living.
Speaker 2: Oh I love that, but I yep, I could see
Speaker 2: that as a kid being like, yeah, that's what she does.
Speaker 2: She she haes on closed and then they being her
Speaker 2: after Oh okay.
Speaker 1: So you know, but they were like, I'm we're never
Speaker 1: seeing any of your movies unless it's like a flat
Speaker 1: out comedy like they've seen, Like they'll see if I
Speaker 1: do a rom com, they'll watch that. But they have
Speaker 1: no interest in seeing any of my earlier stuff because
Speaker 1: it's like then it's not their mom. You know, they
Speaker 1: don't want You're owned by the other by people, and
Speaker 1: that means that all of a sudden, they're not just
Speaker 1: You're You're not just their mom, and they don't like that,
Speaker 1: you know, even at twenty right, I don't like that.
Speaker 2: But I'm so glad that they recognize that that that
Speaker 2: limitation is there, or that boundary is in place, because
Speaker 2: I do think about that.
Speaker 1: Susan Loop though. Yeah, that their rooms at night.
Speaker 2: That's smart, that's smart.
Speaker 1: Their mom was funny, look at her, you might.
Speaker 2: That's the worst when I try to make them laugh
Speaker 2: and I fail, and I'm like, you know that I
Speaker 2: do this for a job, and I don't say that,
Speaker 2: but I do think it, and I'm like, oh, well,
Speaker 2: I hope someone thinks they're much. Are they always funnier?
Speaker 1: They always?
Speaker 2: They always their kids, of course they're funnier.
Speaker 1: I mean that's you know, would you ever consider like
Speaker 1: a darker role that wasn't comedic? Would you ever do that?
Speaker 1: Or is that? I think so?
Speaker 2: I don't, you know, I don't know where I stand
Speaker 2: on that. I used to think, yes, I want to.
Speaker 2: I want to, you know, expand my range and explore
Speaker 2: something like that. But I also wonder it's sort of
Speaker 2: the same thing as you know, admitting I guess that
Speaker 2: you went to Princeton. It's like here where it feels
Speaker 2: like should I not be you know? Is that something
Speaker 2: to be ashamed of? Is that something that sounds too
Speaker 2: you know, privileged and crazy in this world? And I
Speaker 2: do I know this is a strange comparison, but I
Speaker 2: I kind of feel like I enjoy doing comedy and
Speaker 2: I feel like I'm good at it, and I don't
Speaker 2: feel all a strong poll to try to do drama
Speaker 2: or at this point, so no, the answer is no,
Speaker 2: because I don't.
Speaker 1: You know, I used to think that I would only
Speaker 1: be credible if I, you know, went to those dark
Speaker 1: places and was really yes, all this yeah, And then
Speaker 1: I got older and I was just like, I don't
Speaker 1: enjoy it. I only enjoy comedy.
Speaker 2: You are your words of music to my ears. It
Speaker 2: doesn't I have done you know small I've had. I've
Speaker 2: had experiences doing that. I don't feel like I've plumbed
Speaker 2: the depths. I don't feel like I have. There's no
Speaker 2: I don't feel the same sense of satisfaction as as
Speaker 2: do when I do comedy, which isn't to say like, oh,
Speaker 2: I want to do the thing I know I can do.
Speaker 2: I feel challenged in comedy all the time. Anytime you're
Speaker 2: in like what a scene with johnnym okay forget, that's
Speaker 2: a huge challenge. So I would and I would prefer
Speaker 2: to continue to challenge myself in that way.
Speaker 1: You also started a You've launched a comedy podcast.
Speaker 2: On my Heart as I have on iHeart.
Speaker 1: Yes, and it's called Born to Love. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Correct, It's wonderful. I have been co hosting the show
Speaker 2: with my quick Fire. He's my friend from back at
Speaker 2: Princeton we were in our improv group together and I've
Speaker 2: known him for over twenty years. So we host this
Speaker 2: show called Born to Love and every week we have
Speaker 2: a guest on to talk about something that they love
Speaker 2: and talk about keeping it light. It is a light buoyant,
Speaker 2: I hope boyant show where our guest talks about something
Speaker 2: totally unrelated to what they do for a living usually
Speaker 2: and it's just supposed to be. I think when Scott
Speaker 2: and I were trying to think of, okay, we want
Speaker 2: to work on something together every you know, there are
Speaker 2: a lot of podcasts out there. What's something sort of
Speaker 2: different we could do. What I like about this is
Speaker 2: that you hear people talk about something you might be
Speaker 2: surprised to know, you know that they love, and people
Speaker 2: like talking about things that they like. It actually works
Speaker 2: out well.
Speaker 1: And what do you what do you think you were
Speaker 1: born to love?
Speaker 2: If I were a guest on my show, I would
Speaker 2: probably talk about running. And I know that maybe sounds boring,
Speaker 2: but I do love running. It's always been an outlet
Speaker 2: like ever since, I mean field hockey aside, it's just
Speaker 2: I need to do it. You have the thing I
Speaker 2: do I need, Endoyan. I'm a junkie for Endorfis and
Speaker 2: so it doesn't matter if I run for fifteen minutes
Speaker 2: or you know, two hours. I never run for two hours.
Speaker 2: I don't know why I just said that, but I
Speaker 2: do feel like the release, the meditation it is. It's
Speaker 2: just like I it's a both a chemical, you know, release,
Speaker 2: but it's also just gives you time to think. And
Speaker 2: so everybody, I know, I feel like this self care
Speaker 2: mantra is to me. At first, I kept telling myself, Oh,
Speaker 2: this is trendy, this is going to pass. No it's not.
Speaker 2: It's like so valuable, Like you have to take care
Speaker 2: of yourself. You just have to. Everybody does everybody.
Speaker 1: That was the hilarious Ellie Kemper. If you want to
Speaker 1: hear more from her, go listen to her new podcast
Speaker 1: Born to Love on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you
Speaker 1: get your podcasts. That's it for us today. Talk to
Speaker 1: you next week now. What with Burke Shields is a
Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio. Our lead producer and wonderful showrunner is
Speaker 1: Julia Weaver. Additional research and editing by Darby Masters and
Speaker 1: Abu Zafar. Our executive producer is Christina Everett. The show
Speaker 1: is mixed by Baheed Fraser.