WEBVTT - How being a benchwarmer pushed Ellie Kemper into comedy 0:00:04.120 --> 0:00:06.120 What do you do when life doesn't go according to 0:00:06.200 --> 0:00:09.760 plan that moment you lose a job, or a loved one, 0:00:10.280 --> 0:00:14.080 or even a piece of yourself. I'm Brookshields and this 0:00:14.560 --> 0:00:18.759 is now What, a podcast about pivotal moments as told 0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:21.600 by people who lived them. Each week, I sit down 0:00:21.600 --> 0:00:23.840 with a guest to talk about the times they were 0:00:23.920 --> 0:00:26.920 knocked off course and what they did to move forward. 0:00:27.880 --> 0:00:33.080 Some stories are funny, others are gut wrenching, but all 0:00:33.360 --> 0:00:38.320 are unapologetically human and remind us that every success and 0:00:38.479 --> 0:00:42.839 every setback is accompanied by a choice, and that choice 0:00:43.000 --> 0:00:50.280 answers one question. Now, what one of the guys that 0:00:50.360 --> 0:00:53.720 moved me into my dorm room freshman week, freshman day, 0:00:54.520 --> 0:00:57.760 he's now working there and he drives by in the 0:00:57.800 --> 0:01:00.840 car and he goes, Shields, get in the god Carney boy, 0:01:00.880 --> 0:01:03.720 you took me to Huahwah. I got me a subway. 0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:04.479 Now. 0:01:04.520 --> 0:01:06.360 It was like you're. 0:01:06.160 --> 0:01:10.160 Eating this right now, a Wawa subway sandwich. Heals all wounds. 0:01:10.280 --> 0:01:12.840 It is that there's nothing. And I don't know how 0:01:12.880 --> 0:01:15.200 recently you've been back. They've now changed the wabble, or 0:01:15.200 --> 0:01:16.800 they've remodeled, they've reloaded that. 0:01:16.880 --> 0:01:19.080 Well, they moved the trend, didn't they moved the station 0:01:19.240 --> 0:01:19.559 or they. 0:01:19.640 --> 0:01:22.400 Moved a whole dinky station I think, and the wah 0:01:22.440 --> 0:01:25.280 wah with it. But there is nothing. I mean, you 0:01:25.360 --> 0:01:29.760 can't compare Princeton reunions. I don't know how that statement sounds, 0:01:29.760 --> 0:01:31.959 but it is what it is to anything. I mean, 0:01:32.000 --> 0:01:33.400 it's like the Kentucky Derby. 0:01:33.520 --> 0:01:37.560 Do you know it's the It's the second largest amount 0:01:37.600 --> 0:01:41.520 of alcohol consumed. Oh lord, next to yep, second only 0:01:41.560 --> 0:01:42.600 to the DY five hundred? 0:01:43.480 --> 0:01:44.080 Are you kidding? 0:01:44.480 --> 0:01:45.479 So there? I was close. 0:01:45.560 --> 0:01:46.919 I was close with that comparison. 0:01:48.760 --> 0:01:52.120 My guest today is Elliet Kemper, an actor and author, 0:01:52.280 --> 0:01:55.960 a podcast host, a wife, a mother, and, as you'll 0:01:56.000 --> 0:01:59.960 hear us discuss throughout this episode, a proud Princeton, a lion. 0:02:00.600 --> 0:02:02.760 Like many of you, I fell in love with the 0:02:02.840 --> 0:02:06.960 contagious optimism she portrayed through her roles and shows like 0:02:07.320 --> 0:02:11.519 The Office and Unbreakable Kimmie Schmidt, And though I personally 0:02:11.600 --> 0:02:15.200 didn't know Ellie before this interview, I was thrilled to 0:02:15.240 --> 0:02:18.640 discover that she exudes the best parts of her most 0:02:18.840 --> 0:02:26.160 iconic characters. She's hilarious, she's gracious, resilient, and downright impressive. So, 0:02:26.280 --> 0:02:33.240 without further ado, here is Ellie Kemper. Ellie Kemper, Hello, 0:02:34.000 --> 0:02:37.200 I am so happy you wanted to do the show. Obviously, 0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:40.080 I'm a huge fan. My gosh. I also love that 0:02:40.120 --> 0:02:42.400 I'm speaking with a fellow Princetonian. 0:02:42.639 --> 0:02:45.440 I am so happy to be a guest on your show. 0:02:45.919 --> 0:02:48.920 I am the enormous fan of you. So I'm not 0:02:48.960 --> 0:02:50.840 even looking you in the eye right now. I'm looking 0:02:51.000 --> 0:02:55.200 off to the side of my laptop. But the Princeton 0:02:55.280 --> 0:02:56.520 Vaughn dies hard. 0:02:57.200 --> 0:03:00.360 Have they ever asked you to speak at commencement? Yes? 0:03:00.600 --> 0:03:06.120 I y And actually I'm sort of embarrassed to not know. 0:03:06.800 --> 0:03:09.120 Did you You must have spoken several times. 0:03:09.160 --> 0:03:13.480 No, it just just once. And Andrew Dureki, who's also 0:03:14.360 --> 0:03:18.480 a past Princetonian, he talked me into doing it because 0:03:18.600 --> 0:03:22.640 I was just I was sort of obliterated by fear 0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:26.200 and it was just one of those things when I 0:03:26.280 --> 0:03:28.600 just I wanted to be funny and I wanted to 0:03:28.760 --> 0:03:31.919 and I just wanted to, you know, it was such 0:03:31.960 --> 0:03:35.760 an important time for me. Have you been back lately? 0:03:36.040 --> 0:03:39.880 So I just celebrated my twentieth reunion last year in 0:03:39.920 --> 0:03:42.560 twenty twenty two. I know and so I live in 0:03:42.600 --> 0:03:44.600 New York. So I went for the day. 0:03:44.760 --> 0:03:46.920 Did you alone or did you bring your husband or 0:03:47.000 --> 0:03:49.040 my husbands stayed at home. I brought my best friend 0:03:49.080 --> 0:03:51.760 who also went to Princeton. Her name is Joe, and 0:03:51.800 --> 0:03:54.680 we went together. And I can't imagine what it's like 0:03:55.120 --> 0:03:57.880 for you. Have you been back to reunions. I've gone 0:03:57.920 --> 0:04:00.320 back to the big ones. But I had my thirty fifth. 0:04:00.480 --> 0:04:03.800 So I'm I'm well. And you know, it's funny because 0:04:03.840 --> 0:04:06.720 my mom, my, my mom, listen to me. Oh, she 0:04:06.720 --> 0:04:09.240 she wants to be in every conversation even though she's dead. 0:04:10.800 --> 0:04:11.600 She's died. 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:14.080 Well, I'm sorry, but yes, that's so. 0:04:14.600 --> 0:04:17.440 That's Wendy Williams. When she's talked about her mom, she 0:04:17.440 --> 0:04:22.800 goes she's died. So I went. So I said to 0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:24.800 my husband, Okay, I'm gonna go. And he's like, look, 0:04:24.800 --> 0:04:27.880 why don't you just go alone for the first day 0:04:27.960 --> 0:04:29.880 and then I'll come the next day and bring the 0:04:29.960 --> 0:04:32.720 kids or whatever. And I was like, okay, all right, 0:04:32.760 --> 0:04:34.880 I just I'm not gonna stay long. And then at 0:04:34.960 --> 0:04:38.560 every tent I kept saying, okay, I'm not, I'm not 0:04:38.600 --> 0:04:39.920 I'm not gonna stay a long I'm not gonna stay 0:04:39.920 --> 0:04:43.919 long four o'clock in the morning. I am like meandering, 0:04:44.440 --> 0:04:45.599 not in a straight line. 0:04:46.080 --> 0:04:48.279 And the guy, one of. 0:04:48.279 --> 0:04:51.440 The guys that moved me into my dorm room freshman week, 0:04:51.600 --> 0:04:56.080 freshman day, he's now working there, and he drives by 0:04:56.160 --> 0:04:58.640 in the car and he goes shields, get in the 0:04:58.640 --> 0:05:02.040 goddamn car. And I was like, but I nice man. 0:05:03.279 --> 0:05:06.040 And I was like, oh god, he. 0:05:06.000 --> 0:05:09.200 Goes, some thing's never changed. Getting the goddamn carney boy. 0:05:09.200 --> 0:05:12.080 He took me to it, got me in a subway. 0:05:12.839 --> 0:05:15.719 It was like, you're yeating this right now. 0:05:16.560 --> 0:05:19.680 Yep, a wah wah subway sandwich. Heals all wounds. 0:05:19.920 --> 0:05:21.640 If you say the wah wah wighs the way to go. 0:05:21.760 --> 0:05:26.960 People understand you wholeheartedly. What did did you always want 0:05:26.960 --> 0:05:29.200 to go there? I? 0:05:29.240 --> 0:05:31.200 And oh is the answered? No, it wasn't. 0:05:31.240 --> 0:05:31.640 I didn't. 0:05:32.160 --> 0:05:34.760 I mean, I don't know what your thought process was. 0:05:34.880 --> 0:05:38.160 I mean, you and I had very different childhood experience. 0:05:38.600 --> 0:05:41.000 Tell me about your but I so what. 0:05:43.240 --> 0:05:46.120 I wasn't instantly recognizable to you every person on the globe. 0:05:46.120 --> 0:05:49.040 But I didn't really give too much thought about where 0:05:49.040 --> 0:05:50.719 I wanted to go to college. I knew I wanted 0:05:50.720 --> 0:05:54.440 to go to college in the Northeast, and I when 0:05:54.440 --> 0:05:58.160 I visited Princeton, I mean, it's iconic, it's gorgeous, it's stunning, 0:05:58.200 --> 0:06:00.919 it's beautiful, and there was a comb anas I played 0:06:00.920 --> 0:06:03.720 field hockey. I knew that. You know, Princeton had these 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:07.120 great theater You were also in the Triangle Club, which 0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:09.880 is a theater musical theater group at Princeton for those 0:06:09.920 --> 0:06:11.680 of us who don't know what that is. And I 0:06:11.760 --> 0:06:14.520 and I just I had such a great experience visiting 0:06:14.600 --> 0:06:17.480 and then I got in and I and I accepted. 0:06:17.480 --> 0:06:20.960 But it wasn't a life long whatever dream. It just 0:06:21.040 --> 0:06:23.359 felt like I felt very lucky to be able to 0:06:23.400 --> 0:06:23.719 go there. 0:06:24.240 --> 0:06:26.280 Now you grew up, you grew up in Saint Louis. 0:06:26.480 --> 0:06:28.960 I grew up in Saint Louis, and uh yes, I 0:06:29.000 --> 0:06:31.200 went to I live there all my life and in fact, 0:06:31.320 --> 0:06:35.360 I mean until I graduated high school and in fact, 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:38.640 my experience leaving for college. This is one thing that 0:06:38.800 --> 0:06:41.160 I don't want to like forget, which is that I 0:06:41.320 --> 0:06:46.479 was profoundly homesick. My first song too, oh it was 0:06:47.160 --> 0:06:49.760 my sobbed and I was like, you know, I'm just 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:52.800 I remember going home for Christmas break, but I brought 0:06:52.839 --> 0:06:55.760 all of my laundry with me, but like not to 0:06:55.839 --> 0:06:58.240 do it at home in Saint Louis. But because I 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:00.599 was like, well, I'm not I'm not going back, Like 0:07:00.640 --> 0:07:03.120 in my head it was a weird I wasn't consciously 0:07:03.160 --> 0:07:06.000 doing but but I sort of was because it. I 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:08.520 remember thinking for the first time I realized that the 0:07:08.560 --> 0:07:12.720 Midwest is a different uh reagion from the rest of 0:07:12.760 --> 0:07:16.440 the country. Because when I went to for instance, I said, 0:07:16.480 --> 0:07:18.120 I remember checking my mom on the phone and I 0:07:18.160 --> 0:07:20.880 was like, Mom, it is you know. I say hello 0:07:21.000 --> 0:07:23.960 to people here, like passing them on campus, and they 0:07:24.040 --> 0:07:27.360 do not smile back. And I remember feeling like this 0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:30.480 is so different now, like why are people saying hi? 0:07:31.920 --> 0:07:34.920 But did you feel like Saint Louis. So I'm born 0:07:34.920 --> 0:07:39.600 and raised in Manhattan, right, and that has shaped me undoubtedly. 0:07:40.200 --> 0:07:42.920 How do you think Saint Louis has shaped you as 0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:43.800 a child. 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:46.760 I feel very lucky that I grew up there. I 0:07:46.800 --> 0:07:48.720 grew up in a suburb of Saint Louis. I had 0:07:48.720 --> 0:07:51.680 a very lucky childhood I had. I have a wonderful, 0:07:51.800 --> 0:07:56.680 supportive family. I have three siblings, two parents. I went 0:07:56.720 --> 0:08:00.280 to an excellent school. I have a kind of I 0:08:00.320 --> 0:08:04.040 recognize how lucky I was, and I have maybe a 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:07.840 childhood that would make other people angry because there weren't 0:08:07.920 --> 0:08:12.920 any major traumas. And I feel like living growing up 0:08:12.960 --> 0:08:15.240 in Saint Louis, I now see having lived in New 0:08:15.320 --> 0:08:17.679 York and Los Angeles, I do feel grateful for growing 0:08:17.760 --> 0:08:21.320 up in a relatively quiet place. And I do think 0:08:21.360 --> 0:08:25.280 about now. I have two boys, ages seven and almost four, 0:08:25.720 --> 0:08:29.320 and I do wonder about, you know, where I will 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:31.680 be raising them because I have a different job than 0:08:31.680 --> 0:08:34.080 my parents had. It as you know, it requires you 0:08:34.160 --> 0:08:36.760 to be in possibly different cities than Saint Louis, And 0:08:37.640 --> 0:08:40.800 you know, I do think that like having experienced the 0:08:40.840 --> 0:08:43.800 Midwest and Saint Louis growing up, it had to have 0:08:43.800 --> 0:08:48.360 had an impact on my outlook and personality. Like I said, 0:08:48.440 --> 0:08:50.920 I do think there's just a I mean, this is 0:08:50.960 --> 0:08:53.839 no great insight, but there is a friendliness and openness 0:08:53.840 --> 0:08:56.760 I think to the Midwest that isn't everywhere, and I 0:08:56.800 --> 0:09:00.840 appreciate that it does actually feel genuine like fake. 0:09:01.400 --> 0:09:05.960 And it's got something you're trying to really impart to 0:09:06.040 --> 0:09:08.720 your boys, like do you want them to also really 0:09:08.800 --> 0:09:09.080 know that. 0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:12.680 Yeah, yes, yes, and I think that there's you know, 0:09:13.559 --> 0:09:15.600 I had a friend say once, you know, it doesn't 0:09:15.600 --> 0:09:17.839 matter where you're raising your kids if you have to, 0:09:18.120 --> 0:09:22.040 you know, if you have family, parents, blood relatives or not, 0:09:22.200 --> 0:09:24.520 you know, chosen family, whatever it is, who have a 0:09:24.520 --> 0:09:26.640 good head on their shoulders, then your kids will be fine. 0:09:26.640 --> 0:09:29.480 So I do think it's it doesn't matter where you 0:09:29.520 --> 0:09:32.480 know they you will be raising them so long as 0:09:32.520 --> 0:09:35.280 you're setting a you know, kind of grounded example. 0:09:42.080 --> 0:09:46.120 You mentioned your career, which has been incredible. How did 0:09:46.200 --> 0:09:47.760 you discover that you were a comedian? 0:09:48.360 --> 0:09:49.480 I did? Quick Fire? 0:09:49.640 --> 0:09:50.320 Was quick Fire? 0:09:50.400 --> 0:09:52.520 I don't know when was founded, Okay. 0:09:52.320 --> 0:09:55.880 I think it like ninety like ninety two. I founded 0:09:55.880 --> 0:09:58.680 because it didn't exist. Yes, so quick Fire is the 0:09:58.720 --> 0:10:01.480 improv comedy at Princeton. 0:10:01.120 --> 0:10:06.040 And I loved it, so I auditioned my sophomore year. 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:09.720 I played field hockey my freshman year, but I used 0:10:09.720 --> 0:10:12.160 the term play very loosely. I sat on the bench 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:15.880 and observed it. I was just telling my friends the 0:10:15.880 --> 0:10:18.800 other day who also went to Princeton. I believe it 0:10:18.840 --> 0:10:22.120 was somewhere between thirteen and eighteen seconds of a playing 0:10:22.160 --> 0:10:24.880 time that I had my entire field hacking career. That's 0:10:24.920 --> 0:10:27.400 not a lot too. My friends goes, he goes. Isn't 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:29.560 that more insulting than just not playing at all? I 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:30.920 was like, you know, I've never thought of that way, 0:10:30.920 --> 0:10:34.839 but yeah, I guess it is. I think. Yeah, So 0:10:35.440 --> 0:10:39.480 I decided to leave that behind and I auditioned for 0:10:39.559 --> 0:10:43.360 quip Fire, and it was this clicking that I sort 0:10:43.360 --> 0:10:46.320 of had never really experienced before where I did feel 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:49.240 like I am good at this and I had never 0:10:49.960 --> 0:10:53.760 I didn't suffer from low self confidence, but I don't 0:10:53.760 --> 0:10:58.319 think I had ever felt as confident as I did 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:01.319 when I was in that improv group. 0:11:02.080 --> 0:11:05.120 Triangle was a bit that, but it was really it 0:11:05.160 --> 0:11:09.040 was doing comedy with like Bob Hope and and then 0:11:09.120 --> 0:11:14.280 doing friends and realizing that my instincts were actually funnier 0:11:14.320 --> 0:11:16.880 and better than what was on the page. Like it, 0:11:17.200 --> 0:11:19.280 you know, the combination that I really that was like 0:11:19.320 --> 0:11:21.640 a revelation to me. And it was just like, oh, 0:11:21.640 --> 0:11:23.840 I finally found home. It says where I belong. 0:11:24.520 --> 0:11:27.400 Well, well that's what I loved because in high school 0:11:27.480 --> 0:11:29.760 I was in my high school plays and musicals and 0:11:30.200 --> 0:11:32.680 you know, oh who was I? And anything goes? Bonnie? 0:11:32.679 --> 0:11:35.840 I think she's like the cut up, she's like crazy, 0:11:35.880 --> 0:11:38.560 but it's so it's comedy in like a very specific way. 0:11:38.880 --> 0:11:41.640 This stuff that I was doing at Quip Fire in 0:11:41.640 --> 0:11:44.840 Princeston or in quip Fire at Prinston felt for the 0:11:44.840 --> 0:11:49.600 first time what I call now improv, which was, you know, 0:11:50.040 --> 0:11:52.920 I both studied that our Citizen's Brigade and and you 0:11:52.960 --> 0:11:56.360 know started in Chicago, and it was the first time 0:11:56.720 --> 0:11:58.960 again where it instantly clicked and like you said, there's 0:11:58.960 --> 0:12:02.000 a shorthand. So it felt like, oh, these people that 0:12:02.040 --> 0:12:04.400 I'm with they get it too, like we all get it. 0:12:04.440 --> 0:12:08.040 And I hadn't been in that environment before. I had been, 0:12:08.360 --> 0:12:10.440 you know, kind of a jock, but I was in 0:12:10.480 --> 0:12:14.080 the school plays. But then this I felt, you know, 0:12:14.920 --> 0:12:17.120 at home. But I say that, I don't know why 0:12:17.120 --> 0:12:18.679 I say that tongue in cheek, because I really did 0:12:18.679 --> 0:12:21.600 feel at home. And I'm friends with those you know, 0:12:21.760 --> 0:12:23.760 well they are mostly guys. I'm friends with most of 0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:26.839 those guys to this day, which is says something you know. 0:12:26.760 --> 0:12:29.440 Which says it's yeah, I mean that those those friendships 0:12:29.480 --> 0:12:33.600 and comedy friendships. To me, John Ham, it comes to mind. 0:12:34.200 --> 0:12:38.960 He he was your teacher, your drama teacher. Is that crazy? 0:12:39.320 --> 0:12:42.600 Is that insane? Oh, it's so crazy, It's so crazy. 0:12:42.920 --> 0:12:45.080 He went to my high school in Saint Louis, and 0:12:45.200 --> 0:12:48.400 he went to college and then he came back to 0:12:48.440 --> 0:12:51.920 teach at our school was called John Burrows. He came 0:12:51.960 --> 0:12:54.400 back to teach at Burroughs for a year. He taught 0:12:54.440 --> 0:12:56.760 theater and so I was in ninth grade at the time. 0:12:57.360 --> 0:13:01.079 So he taught. I took a semester of I think 0:13:01.120 --> 0:13:03.679 it was called like theater nine ninth grade, whatever ninth 0:13:03.679 --> 0:13:06.079 grade theater was, and he taught the improv portion. 0:13:06.400 --> 0:13:08.960 We were just at his wedde Oh. Yeah, he's really 0:13:08.960 --> 0:13:12.560 good friends with my mi Okay, yes, who's a comedy writer. 0:13:12.960 --> 0:13:15.319 Yes, yep, yep, yep. So I have always thought of 0:13:15.400 --> 0:13:18.000 him as like an uncle, Like he's just kind of, 0:13:18.320 --> 0:13:21.760 you know, there's that he he feels. I have no 0:13:21.840 --> 0:13:24.680 idea if I'm just like projecting this and it's he 0:13:24.720 --> 0:13:28.120 doesn't actually feel protective, but the air he gives off 0:13:28.160 --> 0:13:30.560 is that of a protective uncle. I feel like because 0:13:30.559 --> 0:13:33.360 I contacted him when I went to Los Angeles to 0:13:33.440 --> 0:13:36.840 do my one person show, and I you know, emailed him, 0:13:37.040 --> 0:13:40.720 just cold emailed him from our Burrows like alumni website. 0:13:41.000 --> 0:13:42.920 I said, I'm doing this show. He was on mad Men. 0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:44.719 I think it was like a third season of mad Men. 0:13:44.880 --> 0:13:47.720 It's like, any chance you can call to see my show, 0:13:48.400 --> 0:13:50.080 and you know, he showed up and he was in 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:52.120 the bah. Of course he did, and he's like that. 0:13:52.200 --> 0:13:55.760 He helps out anyone from Saint Louis who like reaches 0:13:55.760 --> 0:13:57.280 out to him. He's like, how can I help? He 0:13:57.400 --> 0:13:59.880 is so giving. I adore the man. 0:14:00.280 --> 0:14:02.320 And then you worked with him, Yeah, yeah, better. 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:05.679 I couldn't believe this. It's so talk about nerves. Now 0:14:05.720 --> 0:14:07.360 you just think I'm always a nervous wreck. But when 0:14:07.360 --> 0:14:12.480 he came so he was the reverend on Unbreakable Kimy 0:14:12.520 --> 0:14:16.160 Schmidt where I was Kimmy and he uh showed up. 0:14:16.200 --> 0:14:18.120 I guess it was the end of the first season. 0:14:18.679 --> 0:14:20.520 And so I'm in a scene with him. Of course 0:14:20.560 --> 0:14:22.880 I fled my first line. Of course I did. And 0:14:22.920 --> 0:14:25.600 I was like, oh, because there was a combiny so 0:14:25.680 --> 0:14:28.280 many things at play. One I knew him as Don 0:14:28.320 --> 0:14:32.640 Draper from mad Men. Two he was my teacher, so 0:14:32.680 --> 0:14:35.840 I feel like he's great me. And then three he's 0:14:35.840 --> 0:14:36.920 a phenomenal actor. 0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:37.720 So I was. 0:14:37.720 --> 0:14:40.880 Like, I hope I don't. I hope, I like, bring 0:14:40.920 --> 0:14:43.360 my a game. But all of that was after I 0:14:43.400 --> 0:14:45.640 got the flubbed line out of the way. It was easy. 0:14:45.760 --> 0:14:47.320 I was like, Okay, this is actually fun. 0:14:48.160 --> 0:14:50.520 You know what though it's it's it's surprising to me 0:14:50.760 --> 0:14:53.000 all that you've done, but that you really sort of 0:14:53.760 --> 0:14:57.760 didn't kind of break into the entertainment industry until we 0:14:57.760 --> 0:14:59.200 were like twenty nine, like you were. 0:15:00.080 --> 0:15:03.040 Yes, I was actually thinking about that in anticipation of 0:15:03.400 --> 0:15:08.120 our conversation because we've had so like two totally different experiences, 0:15:08.160 --> 0:15:12.120 and I feel like, in talking about Saint Louis and 0:15:12.160 --> 0:15:16.200 my upbringing there, it does seem how you've navigated your 0:15:16.240 --> 0:15:19.040 way is so different from from me. But I do 0:15:19.080 --> 0:15:23.080 feel I feel grateful that I had this quote unquote 0:15:23.120 --> 0:15:28.040 normal childhood because then I think it has given me 0:15:28.120 --> 0:15:32.680 perspective as I continue to navigate the entertainment industry and 0:15:32.840 --> 0:15:35.960 especially getting older, there's been some life experience that has 0:15:36.040 --> 0:15:39.440 just been non show business, which is valuable. 0:15:39.560 --> 0:15:39.760 You know. 0:15:39.960 --> 0:15:43.160 I'm not sure that I said that eloquently, but I'm 0:15:43.160 --> 0:15:45.240 grateful that I began work a little bit later. 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:48.080 So what were your twenties really like you when you're 0:15:48.400 --> 0:15:51.040 living and you're working in New York. But prior to 0:15:51.120 --> 0:15:54.120 my office, what were those years like for you? Those 0:15:54.200 --> 0:15:55.600 years were? They were? 0:15:56.560 --> 0:16:00.640 I wouldn't call them. They were fine. I wasn't like happy. 0:16:01.120 --> 0:16:03.840 I wasn't unhappy, but I wasn't, you know, living it up. 0:16:03.840 --> 0:16:07.680 I'm much more content now, And I know that sounds trite, 0:16:07.760 --> 0:16:11.000 but it's true. I do feel like as I've gotten older, 0:16:11.080 --> 0:16:15.280 I feel more secure and confident, and in my twenties 0:16:15.320 --> 0:16:17.560 it's more like, Okay, well, what is the plan here? 0:16:18.040 --> 0:16:20.960 I'm doing improv at the People's Improv Theater at the 0:16:21.040 --> 0:16:24.680 Upper Citizens Brigade. I'm doing that at night. I was 0:16:24.920 --> 0:16:28.600 very lucky to have gotten a commercial agent and to 0:16:28.720 --> 0:16:32.240 have booked commercials. I was earning a paycheck, which is 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:36.400 hugely satisfying, and not having to rely on my parents, 0:16:36.440 --> 0:16:38.840 which I did have to, and was grateful to be 0:16:38.880 --> 0:16:41.520 able to do that at first, but then began to 0:16:41.560 --> 0:16:43.480 make my own money, which is just so satisfying on 0:16:43.520 --> 0:16:46.920 many levels. But it also felt like, well, what is 0:16:46.960 --> 0:16:50.280 the end goal? Is it to be a commercial actor 0:16:50.280 --> 0:16:51.040 and do improv? 0:16:51.360 --> 0:16:52.400 Did you have a plan? B? 0:16:53.000 --> 0:16:56.640 No? And still don't, And so that's why I often 0:16:56.720 --> 0:16:59.680 I don't know how your mind works. But every time 0:16:59.760 --> 0:17:02.800 I'm like out of work for more than a month, 0:17:02.880 --> 0:17:06.320 I'm like, well, what, I guess I'm like a peloton 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:08.640 shut I could become a peloton instructor, I really don't. 0:17:09.160 --> 0:17:13.440 I don't have any others. I don't have another skill set. 0:17:13.560 --> 0:17:16.840 So so, and not that I could become a peloton instructor, 0:17:16.840 --> 0:17:19.600 I would get too tired. But there was no plan B. 0:17:19.840 --> 0:17:22.199 And it was more like, you know, I got to 0:17:22.240 --> 0:17:25.680 audition for Saturday Night Live, I think in like two 0:17:25.720 --> 0:17:27.640 thousand and eight, so maybe when I was like twenty eight, 0:17:28.280 --> 0:17:31.280 and I didn't get apart, but that felt like progress. 0:17:31.320 --> 0:17:35.000 That felt like okay, I had and parks and rec too, right, yes, 0:17:35.119 --> 0:17:38.199 actually sort of right next to each other, like the 0:17:38.240 --> 0:17:40.119 same year, and didn't get either. 0:17:40.359 --> 0:17:41.840 And how do you deal with how did you deal 0:17:41.880 --> 0:17:43.840 with that? It's to me, it's like, you know, I 0:17:43.880 --> 0:17:45.840 never get used to rejection. I just don't. 0:17:46.000 --> 0:17:47.720 Oh, I'm I'm really deep, don't. 0:17:47.840 --> 0:17:50.040 It's because it fills personal and you know it's not. 0:17:50.080 --> 0:17:53.119 Personal, Yes it does. You know it's not, and yet 0:17:53.560 --> 0:17:53.960 it's so. 0:17:53.960 --> 0:17:56.119 How did you deal with that rejection? What did it 0:17:56.520 --> 0:17:57.919 spur you to do it? 0:17:58.119 --> 0:18:00.560 Oh? Do you know what it was? Actually, this is 0:18:01.200 --> 0:18:03.480 maybe a good I don't know if it's a good quality. 0:18:03.480 --> 0:18:05.600 It's something that I just have, which is I get 0:18:06.640 --> 0:18:10.480 angry when I'm rejected, so it makes me work harder. 0:18:11.040 --> 0:18:13.119 So it was a thing of like, and you know, 0:18:13.200 --> 0:18:15.280 for Saturday Night Life, they don't outright call you and 0:18:15.320 --> 0:18:17.000 say you didn't get it. They just don't call you. 0:18:17.080 --> 0:18:18.679 So after like a few months, I was like, I 0:18:18.680 --> 0:18:21.440 have a feel that the season has started. 0:18:21.040 --> 0:18:24.160 And I'm not there, and I'm not there. 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:27.600 I have a Princeton education, so I was able to 0:18:27.600 --> 0:18:30.359 put two and two together and I realized I didn't 0:18:30.359 --> 0:18:30.800 get the job. 0:18:30.920 --> 0:18:34.160 Were you afraid when you auditioned? Were you nervous? Oh? 0:18:34.280 --> 0:18:37.320 Yeah, I was. I was sick with nerves because yes, 0:18:37.440 --> 0:18:40.760 it's like it's Lauren Michaels and it's everything you've. 0:18:40.640 --> 0:18:41.880 Read Apperiales work. 0:18:42.000 --> 0:18:44.960 Yeah, yeah, yeah, you present When I did it, there 0:18:44.960 --> 0:18:47.359 were I think it was three characters of your own 0:18:47.800 --> 0:18:52.439 invention and then three celebrity impressions, which, oh wow, I 0:18:52.480 --> 0:18:58.160 cannot do impressions. I my face sort of looks like Renezelwegger's. 0:18:58.200 --> 0:19:00.520 It's not that's not a compliment to myself. That's not 0:19:00.920 --> 0:19:03.320 it just is it happens to look like her, and 0:19:03.400 --> 0:19:05.359 so I can scrunch up my face and look like her. 0:19:05.520 --> 0:19:08.840 It requires no skill, it's just like what happens. So 0:19:08.920 --> 0:19:10.960 I did her, and then I did I cannot. I 0:19:11.000 --> 0:19:13.800 did a Miley Cyrus something with Miley Cyrus and I 0:19:13.800 --> 0:19:17.480 don't know the third. But it's like I've honestly felt 0:19:17.920 --> 0:19:20.600 the relief. I don't remember the nerves. I remember the 0:19:20.680 --> 0:19:23.600 relief afterwards, like I did it. It's done. I never 0:19:23.680 --> 0:19:26.760 have to do that again, Like I remember it like 0:19:27.280 --> 0:19:29.960 a dream, I think, because it did feel so surreal 0:19:30.000 --> 0:19:33.040 and there's no prep time. It was like a week 0:19:33.520 --> 0:19:36.919 before I met with Seth Meyers and Lorne Michaels, and 0:19:36.960 --> 0:19:40.120 then it's like you have a week before the actual audition, 0:19:40.240 --> 0:19:42.160 so there was no I felt like, that's not time 0:19:42.200 --> 0:19:45.880 to prepare anyway, and so you just have to It's exhilarating. 0:19:45.920 --> 0:19:50.040 That was an exhilarating experience. But I should say that 0:19:50.160 --> 0:19:53.520 it also inspired confidence because I felt like, oh wow, 0:19:53.880 --> 0:19:56.439 I've been invited to audition by Lorne Michaels, who is 0:19:56.480 --> 0:19:59.560 the king of comedy, and so it felt like, okay, 0:19:59.600 --> 0:20:03.280 well I made it. That far that's something and then 0:20:03.640 --> 0:20:06.160 you know, and then from there I think I do 0:20:06.240 --> 0:20:09.360 feel like you know, I was able to make contacts 0:20:09.440 --> 0:20:14.159 through the Saturday Night Live audition that introduced me to 0:20:14.240 --> 0:20:16.960 people in Los Angeles, and that's how I was able 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:19.719 to audition for parts and rec and also not get it. 0:20:27.280 --> 0:20:30.440 So I call this show now What because it really 0:20:30.520 --> 0:20:36.719 is about those unexpected things that pop up into our lives, 0:20:36.800 --> 0:20:40.840 you know, personal, professional, spiritual, any any of that. But 0:20:40.880 --> 0:20:44.320 they force us to really ask ourselves, now what Now 0:20:44.359 --> 0:20:47.000 what do I do? So looking back, do you have 0:20:47.560 --> 0:20:49.720 is there any pivotal now what moment for you? 0:20:50.320 --> 0:20:53.879