WEBVTT - Rob Corddry 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:03.240 Improv still terrifies me to this day. I was doing 0:00:03.320 --> 0:00:07.280 it for the that the skill, to to learn this skill, 0:00:07.440 --> 0:00:11.840 to be comfortable, for confidence and for like you know, 0:00:11.880 --> 0:00:14.160 and also for the community. I made a lot of 0:00:14.200 --> 0:00:17.680 great friends there and we then branched out and did 0:00:17.680 --> 0:00:21.840 other things. As you know. Yeah, you you you said 0:00:22.000 --> 0:00:27.520 it terrifies you do you. There's no there's no lines, Brian. 0:00:28.720 --> 0:00:33.960 You gotta you gotta make them up. Yes, and that's terrifying. 0:00:34.159 --> 0:00:43.360 It's stupid. Shakespeare's got all planned out for you. Hi. 0:00:43.560 --> 0:00:47.280 My name is Rob Quadrey, and I am a gentleman. 0:00:52.920 --> 0:00:57.200 Hello everybody, and welcome back to a brand spanking new 0:00:57.280 --> 0:01:02.080 episode of Off the B. As always, this is your host, 0:01:02.720 --> 0:01:06.720 Brian Baumgartner. Now, as you just heard today, I'm bringing 0:01:06.760 --> 0:01:12.200 on a very exciting guest, the incredible, the hilarious, my 0:01:12.360 --> 0:01:17.800 friend and yours, Rob Cordrey. Maybe you know him as 0:01:18.040 --> 0:01:22.280 Lou from Hot Tub Time Machine, or from his time 0:01:22.319 --> 0:01:28.000 playing Dr Blake Clowns on Children's Hospital, or maybe even 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:32.160 from his latest conquest as the host of top Gear America. 0:01:32.319 --> 0:01:35.200 Whatever it is, you know him because he's been on 0:01:35.400 --> 0:01:41.000 just about every movie ever made. That's right, I mean, 0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:44.600 this is a man who came up during what some 0:01:45.120 --> 0:01:48.360 could argue is the most exciting times in the history 0:01:48.400 --> 0:01:51.920 of comedy, the birth of U c. B, The Upright 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:57.720 Citizens Brigade, and then on The Daily Show with John Stewart. 0:01:57.920 --> 0:02:01.160 He took everything that he learned the air to go off, 0:02:01.200 --> 0:02:05.200 to adapt and to create true greatness. And that's what 0:02:05.280 --> 0:02:08.079 he continues to do to this day. So, yeah, he's 0:02:08.080 --> 0:02:11.680 a he's a pretty cool guy. And also he's a 0:02:11.880 --> 0:02:15.200 good guy. I mean, he said it himself. The man 0:02:15.360 --> 0:02:19.720 is a gentleman. So now that that is out of 0:02:19.720 --> 0:02:22.280 the way, it's time to bring Rob on. I am 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:29.600 so excited to share this conversation with you, Rob Cordry. Everybody, 0:02:33.720 --> 0:02:38.359 Bubble and Squeak. I love it, Bubble and Squeak on, 0:02:40.840 --> 0:02:45.000 Bubble and Squeaker, cooking it every month, lift over from 0:02:45.040 --> 0:02:57.960 the nut before. What's up, Rob? What's going on right? 0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:01.160 How are you? Man? I'm so good. Thank you so 0:03:01.240 --> 0:03:03.519 much for coming to talk to me. Oh my god, 0:03:03.560 --> 0:03:06.600 thanks for having me. Where where are you right now? 0:03:07.040 --> 0:03:11.560 I'm I'm in my office, my home office. Yeah, my 0:03:11.560 --> 0:03:16.720 my illegal garage conversion. Perfect. Well, as long as you 0:03:16.760 --> 0:03:21.400 don't sell, there's nothing illegal about it. Yeah, I guess. Yeah, 0:03:21.440 --> 0:03:23.799 that's right. So I guess I'm stuck here. I am. 0:03:24.200 --> 0:03:26.960 I'm coming to you. This is the first first time 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:31.200 on the road from Atlanta, Georgia, in a hotel that 0:03:31.600 --> 0:03:38.480 very bizarre pome it's pomegranate. It looks weirdly both sexual 0:03:38.960 --> 0:03:43.480 and kind of grotesque. Yeah, that's an odd hotel art 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:47.560 behind you. Yeah, it's it's pomegrand It's like an intense 0:03:47.640 --> 0:03:50.640 close up on pomegranate seeds. Yeah, but do you think 0:03:50.680 --> 0:03:54.800 the artist was really like it's a metaphor somehow. I 0:03:54.840 --> 0:03:59.960 don't know if that artist was thinking pomegranate seeds. It's 0:04:00.280 --> 0:04:05.040 probably something to do with Genitalia. Okay, Yeah, you're probably right. 0:04:05.160 --> 0:04:07.560 It's that old Georgia o'key thing. I am in Georgia. 0:04:07.640 --> 0:04:11.840 So there you go. Thank you, thanks for talking to me. 0:04:11.960 --> 0:04:16.000 I am such a huge fan of you and yours. 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:20.360 I want to start going back to the beginning with you. 0:04:20.360 --> 0:04:26.760 You grew up in uh in Massachusetts, Waymouth. Actually, you 0:04:26.760 --> 0:04:29.200 know it's so funny is that I've never heard anybody 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:32.520 pronounce it like that. But it's the most obvious pronunciation, 0:04:32.640 --> 0:04:38.880 isn't it. I guess yeah, No, it's yeah, it's Weymouth. 0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:45.520 Nothing in Massachusetts is pronounced like it's spelled. For instance, 0:04:45.960 --> 0:04:50.279 the city right smack in the middle of Massachusetts w 0:04:50.560 --> 0:04:54.760 O R C E S T e R looks like 0:04:55.440 --> 0:05:07.480 Worcester or something. It's whist. What of course, it's describe 0:05:07.480 --> 0:05:15.520 your town three words or five? Uh, chip on shoulder, 0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:20.160 got it? Okay, that's clear, and I now know exactly 0:05:20.200 --> 0:05:23.679 what your town was like. Yeah, were you were always 0:05:23.720 --> 0:05:27.599 interested in the arts? Um? Yes, and no. I guess 0:05:27.640 --> 0:05:34.880 abstract lee, I wasn't necessarily interested in the I would. 0:05:34.920 --> 0:05:40.000 I love to draw, I love to write, but I 0:05:40.080 --> 0:05:44.159 never I would never, as a kid, say that meant 0:05:44.200 --> 0:05:46.600 I was interested in the arts. Does that make any sense? 0:05:46.640 --> 0:05:49.120 I guess maybe that. I think that's that sort of 0:05:49.120 --> 0:05:53.800 blue collar Boston upbringing, whereas like no one does the odds. Dude, 0:05:55.680 --> 0:06:00.200 you know they have for fairies and fruitcakes and so 0:06:00.200 --> 0:06:05.479 so I guess I was like, um yeah, very sensitive kid, 0:06:05.640 --> 0:06:09.520 but but uh. It took a while for me to 0:06:09.680 --> 0:06:12.440 realize that. I Like, I watched some home movies of 0:06:12.480 --> 0:06:15.640 myself and I was like, God, I was way more 0:06:15.880 --> 0:06:22.080 quiet and anxious looking than I remember being. Yeah it was, 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:26.280 you asked me about what was my upbringing, like right 0:06:26.400 --> 0:06:29.159 or town? Yeah? Well yeah, like like in terms of 0:06:29.160 --> 0:06:32.640 the arts and the arts, Yeah yeah, so that, I 0:06:32.680 --> 0:06:38.280 guess um lends itself, that sensitivity lends itself to broadly 0:06:39.040 --> 0:06:44.240 preferring the arts over something like sports or pipe fitting. 0:06:44.839 --> 0:06:48.279 Right right. I have read that you described yourself as 0:06:48.440 --> 0:06:52.479 as a class clown. Now was that about performing or 0:06:52.600 --> 0:06:59.680 was that about coping? Or coping? For sure? It was totally. 0:07:01.080 --> 0:07:05.520 Any talent I have now, especially in comedy, has to 0:07:05.680 --> 0:07:12.040 do with avoiding fights. It was kind of like I was, Um. 0:07:12.080 --> 0:07:14.000 I worked in this restaurant in New York and this 0:07:14.560 --> 0:07:18.040 bus boy had just gotten out a prison, and and 0:07:18.120 --> 0:07:20.880 we became friendly, and after a while he told me 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:24.280 I would do good in prison. It was like, you 0:07:24.360 --> 0:07:26.000 do good in prison? I was like, you know what, 0:07:26.200 --> 0:07:28.840 what not? Are you kidding me? I was really a 0:07:28.840 --> 0:07:33.960 lot prettier back then, and and and he said, no, 0:07:34.120 --> 0:07:37.040 you're funny, And I was like, oh my god, Well 0:07:37.080 --> 0:07:40.400 that's how I got through childhood. Everybody in my town 0:07:40.600 --> 0:07:45.240 was like their fathers were from Southey, and you know, 0:07:45.360 --> 0:07:48.040 their cousins beat the crap out of them because they 0:07:48.120 --> 0:07:52.560 weren't from Southie anymore. They were from Weymouth and and 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:56.880 and then they just transferred that onto everybody else and 0:07:56.960 --> 0:08:00.720 it was a tough it was a it was it 0:08:00.840 --> 0:08:05.240 was a scary town. It was I remember it being scary. 0:08:05.400 --> 0:08:09.080 I that said, you know, it was a good child 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:15.680 though it overall? Right, you you became an eagle scout. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:08:15.720 --> 0:08:21.600 that's it. That's impressive. Well, thank you. I um, it 0:08:21.640 --> 0:08:23.760 was yeah. I mean, I don't know what else to 0:08:23.800 --> 0:08:26.200 say about it. Yeah, you just did that. That was 0:08:26.200 --> 0:08:28.280 the thing you did. Thank you very much. I did it. 0:08:30.160 --> 0:08:34.280 When when uh you you you ended up going to 0:08:34.320 --> 0:08:37.960 you mask? When did you start to think that theater 0:08:38.160 --> 0:08:42.120 was something that you were interested in doing? Well? I 0:08:42.400 --> 0:08:45.120 never got along with the guys in high school that 0:08:45.280 --> 0:08:47.600 used to do theater. They were in a class above me. 0:08:48.600 --> 0:08:51.000 As a matter of fact, speaking of fights, I got 0:08:51.080 --> 0:08:52.960 into a fight with one of them at a party 0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:57.080 over a girl. And so it was I I just 0:08:57.080 --> 0:08:59.040 didn't want to be part of that whole thing. Although 0:08:59.080 --> 0:09:02.760 I thought I could do that, you know, just instinctively 0:09:02.760 --> 0:09:05.520 thought I could do it. And then when they graduated 0:09:05.640 --> 0:09:09.160 senior year, I ended up doing two plays, the only 0:09:09.240 --> 0:09:12.280 two plays that were offered basically in my high school 0:09:12.520 --> 0:09:16.360 and and then when I went to college, I didn't 0:09:16.400 --> 0:09:18.520 do anything my freshman year. I just I guess I 0:09:18.600 --> 0:09:22.720 had considered that sort of a lark. And uh then 0:09:22.800 --> 0:09:27.800 my I had a roommate first semester sophomore year named Cutter. 0:09:28.800 --> 0:09:34.720 He was we were very like minded, and uh, he 0:09:34.960 --> 0:09:38.079 signed me up for a play. He just signed me 0:09:38.160 --> 0:09:41.480 up for an audition, and and we both and you know, 0:09:42.000 --> 0:09:45.000 so I was like, oh man, so I went in 0:09:45.040 --> 0:09:49.200 and did the audition. We both ended up getting it, okay. 0:09:49.480 --> 0:09:53.640 So that that was so it's it's really like not 0:09:53.840 --> 0:09:58.720 of my doing that. I ended up here today. It's Cutter. 0:09:59.200 --> 0:10:04.520 It's Cutter. Yeah did he did? He pursue it later on? Yeah, 0:10:04.559 --> 0:10:07.240 he's still doing it now. He's say he's a pretty 0:10:07.280 --> 0:10:10.720 successful voice actor, and you know he shows up on 0:10:10.760 --> 0:10:13.719 TV and films sometimes too and does his does his 0:10:13.800 --> 0:10:17.000 stuff rights. I believe is this John Cutter? You know, 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:22.200 his name's uh Cutter, Garsia, Cutter, Garcia. We'll shout out 0:10:22.480 --> 0:10:26.760 to Cutter guarenas Cutter. Yeah, I read this. This is 0:10:26.800 --> 0:10:31.480 so interesting to me because no joke. I don't know 0:10:31.520 --> 0:10:33.880 how old you are, but I feel I had a 0:10:33.920 --> 0:10:38.440 weird attachment to this movie as well. I read that 0:10:38.480 --> 0:10:45.000 a big influence of yours was the movie Arthur. Yeah, 0:10:44.440 --> 0:10:48.000 why how and why Yeah? My wife bought that for 0:10:48.120 --> 0:10:50.839 me for my birthday when you're just because she liked 0:10:51.000 --> 0:10:56.640 she enjoyed watching me watch it. Um how indeed, right, Um, 0:10:56.920 --> 0:11:01.160 I guess it was because I grew up in that era, uh, 0:11:01.240 --> 0:11:06.440 when HBO was in its infancy, you know, and and 0:11:06.520 --> 0:11:09.640 there were in those days if you had HBO, and 0:11:09.640 --> 0:11:13.240 there was just that HBO at one point, and they 0:11:13.240 --> 0:11:18.840 would just play certain movies on a loop. And you know, 0:11:19.080 --> 0:11:22.280 Arthur was one of them. And Arthur two on the 0:11:22.360 --> 0:11:25.679 Rocks on the Rock doesn't hold up as well and 0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:30.680 it does not let Yeah, but so that you know, 0:11:30.760 --> 0:11:33.800 like Silver Streak, I remember being a big like having 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:37.520 a big moment on it. Yeah and yeah, and but 0:11:37.679 --> 0:11:41.840 Arthur was just the best one of of of all 0:11:41.920 --> 0:11:43.880 of them, at least that I can remember. And so 0:11:43.920 --> 0:11:46.880 I just I got in the college and and uh, 0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:50.200 I had another roommate who had it on VHS and 0:11:50.200 --> 0:11:53.320 we just watched it over and over and over again, 0:11:53.520 --> 0:11:57.079 and then that just it just stuck with me. It's 0:11:57.120 --> 0:12:00.199 it's something that it's that one movie I can probably 0:12:00.280 --> 0:12:05.520 quote verbatim. Wow, Yeah, did you ever meet Dudley Moore? No, 0:12:06.559 --> 0:12:08.160 I don't know if i'd want to. I don't know 0:12:08.200 --> 0:12:12.440 what i'd say to a guy like that. I usually 0:12:12.480 --> 0:12:15.480 blow it with guys like that. I really I make 0:12:15.520 --> 0:12:19.040 an ass out. Oh classically, Yeah, what what do you mean? Like, 0:12:19.120 --> 0:12:21.640 you get awkward if you if you really love them 0:12:21.679 --> 0:12:24.600 or respect them. Yeah, And I don't even know I'm 0:12:24.640 --> 0:12:27.640 doing yet. Like at the Daily Show, Stephen King was 0:12:28.040 --> 0:12:29.960 the guest, and I was like, you know, I never 0:12:30.000 --> 0:12:32.840 went and bothered the guests, but but he was such 0:12:33.000 --> 0:12:36.000 an inspiration influence on me. I'd read all his books. 0:12:36.040 --> 0:12:39.080 I still think he's one of the greatest American storytellers. 0:12:40.040 --> 0:12:42.680 And I said to him, I said, I just wanted 0:12:42.679 --> 0:12:44.480 to say what a big fan I am. And he went, oh, 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:47.000 thank you. Hey, yeah, you're from Boston, right, go Red 0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:49.680 Sox like and so I was like, oh my god, 0:12:49.760 --> 0:12:53.320 we were. It's it's terrible when they give you an inch. 0:12:53.720 --> 0:12:56.480 And I went, anyway, yeah, I know you've got to prepare. 0:12:56.520 --> 0:13:01.400 I'm I'm just your biggest fan. And I said, as 0:13:01.440 --> 0:13:04.000 I said it in a way that he must have thought, 0:13:04.040 --> 0:13:08.640 I was like quoting misery or something in that annoying 0:13:08.800 --> 0:13:12.079 way that in that annoying way fans do, and he 0:13:12.240 --> 0:13:15.520 just kind of like his smile just kind of went away, 0:13:15.679 --> 0:13:18.880 and he went, well, just don't cut off my feet, 0:13:19.040 --> 0:13:22.920 and then he turned around slowly he turned his back 0:13:23.040 --> 0:13:30.320 on me. Oh no, that is the mildest weird fails 0:13:30.440 --> 0:13:36.120 I've had with celebrities. I don't know. That is pretty bad, right, 0:13:36.240 --> 0:13:40.520 that's pretty that's pretty bad as you're saying it, realizing 0:13:40.559 --> 0:13:45.800 you're quoting one of the famous lines of him. Yes, yeah, 0:13:46.080 --> 0:13:48.120 I had no idea. I wasn't I wouldn't do that. 0:13:48.400 --> 0:13:55.280 I mean, I guess some sense. So Cutter gets you 0:13:55.320 --> 0:14:00.880 into the plays, you start doing the plays, then you 0:14:00.880 --> 0:14:05.000 you get cast in an off Broadway production of The 0:14:05.040 --> 0:14:08.680 Manchurian Candidate. So are you at this point you're interested 0:14:08.720 --> 0:14:12.840 in theater, right? Acting? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I I 0:14:12.920 --> 0:14:15.600 went you know when when I in in college. Once 0:14:15.640 --> 0:14:18.120 I got that one play, I was off and running 0:14:18.559 --> 0:14:22.320 and I joined the theater department. I had a second 0:14:22.360 --> 0:14:26.040 major in theater. And then at the I remember with 0:14:26.120 --> 0:14:28.880 my I had one of an acting teacher you probably 0:14:28.920 --> 0:14:31.880 had when everybody does one of those gurus that you 0:14:31.960 --> 0:14:36.120 never forget. And his name was Ed Golden, and he 0:14:36.240 --> 0:14:39.600 said to me, he called it. Right before we graduated, 0:14:39.640 --> 0:14:42.680 he had a little conference, personal conference with all his students, 0:14:43.240 --> 0:14:45.520 and he said to me, Um, and I'm by the way, 0:14:45.560 --> 0:14:53.400 doing a perfect imitations spot on Ed Golden. So do 0:14:53.480 --> 0:14:57.640 you think, um, you want to do this, uh for 0:14:57.680 --> 0:15:03.600 a living? And I went, uh, yeah, yeah, I think 0:15:03.640 --> 0:15:08.400 I think so. And he goes, mm hmmm, yeah you can. 0:15:10.360 --> 0:15:13.160 It's just like a matter of factly gave me permission 0:15:14.720 --> 0:15:18.760 to live. Yeah. And I went to New York the 0:15:18.840 --> 0:15:22.720 day after I graduated. Wow. Yeah. And you well, so 0:15:22.760 --> 0:15:26.720 you start working odd jobs. You were a security guard 0:15:26.720 --> 0:15:29.440 at the met Yeah, very odd jobs. What was the 0:15:29.600 --> 0:15:32.520 what was the oddest job you had? I was passing out, 0:15:33.400 --> 0:15:38.800 probably passing out menus for a Mexican restaurant in Hell's Kitchen. 0:15:39.560 --> 0:15:42.440 I hate those I hate that people. I mean, I 0:15:42.480 --> 0:15:45.000 don't hate the people who do that job. I don't 0:15:45.040 --> 0:15:47.520 hate the people that do that job. I find it 0:15:47.640 --> 0:15:50.480 so awkward. But it's so weird because the guy it 0:15:50.560 --> 0:15:53.120 was a daily every day for the first for a 0:15:53.160 --> 0:15:55.360 couple of hours in the morning, and he, the owner, 0:15:55.400 --> 0:15:58.840 would look at me and and he wasn't Mexican, so 0:15:58.920 --> 0:16:00.880 I don't know what his acts sent was that I'm 0:16:00.920 --> 0:16:05.160 just doing an appropriation. He said, just every time you 0:16:05.240 --> 0:16:13.000 give out the flyer, say good Mexican food. So he 0:16:13.040 --> 0:16:16.720 had to hit a fire go good Mexican food. And 0:16:16.760 --> 0:16:19.080 I would. I learned that thing where you if you 0:16:19.240 --> 0:16:21.600 take one flyer and you smack it on the rest 0:16:21.600 --> 0:16:28.640 of him, it's like and it gets people's attention. M Yeah. 0:16:28.680 --> 0:16:30.760 After about a week or two doing that, I just 0:16:30.800 --> 0:16:38.960 would throw them away and go sleep in Central Park. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 0:16:39.080 --> 0:16:41.240 Let me be clear, I don't hate the people who 0:16:41.320 --> 0:16:43.920 do that job. I hate that job being done. I 0:16:44.000 --> 0:16:46.600 hate that job. Yeah, I hate that job being done 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:49.880 to me though, as someone walking along the street. God 0:16:49.880 --> 0:16:54.960 blessed Los Angeles because we have a very specific version 0:16:55.000 --> 0:16:59.040 of that, which is wonderful. That the sign spinners, Yes, 0:16:59.080 --> 0:17:01.760 the sign spinners. I don't know if that exists anywhere else. 0:17:01.800 --> 0:17:05.080 Do you know, I never thought about it before. It does, 0:17:05.200 --> 0:17:09.320 I've never seen it anywhere else. It's because you're driving, 0:17:10.280 --> 0:17:12.440 so you yeah, and in New York if you if 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:16.880 you spun the sign, you would hit fourteen people. Here 0:17:17.480 --> 0:17:20.880 it's it's your virtual handing of the menu because it's 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:23.639 you're in a car, but nobody can read the side, 0:17:23.640 --> 0:17:26.480 which is the best part. You know, I know, it's ridiculous. 0:17:27.080 --> 0:17:49.280 It's ridiculous. So then, as I said, you could cast 0:17:49.280 --> 0:17:53.240 in an off Broadway production of The Manchurian Candidate. You 0:17:53.320 --> 0:17:58.439 then go on tour with the National Shakespeare Company. So 0:17:58.520 --> 0:18:03.280 at this moment you are as you are a serious actor. Yeah, 0:18:03.359 --> 0:18:07.680 I did. A Manchurian Candidate was probably the only play 0:18:07.760 --> 0:18:13.480 I did in New York that wasn't Shakespeare. Okay. I 0:18:13.640 --> 0:18:19.400 fancied myself quite a Shakespearean thespian. I mean too, by 0:18:19.400 --> 0:18:22.800 the way, I don't Yes, I was at the Gut 0:18:22.800 --> 0:18:27.800 three many times. Didn't many uh Shakespearean productions myself. I 0:18:27.880 --> 0:18:30.880 now get made fun of it because people think when 0:18:30.920 --> 0:18:33.400 I say it, they think that I'm trying to take 0:18:33.440 --> 0:18:38.480 myself seriously. No, it's just a I did place that 0:18:38.520 --> 0:18:41.680 were written by Shakespeare. Yeah, man, and by the day 0:18:42.119 --> 0:18:45.560 Shakespeare in his day. I used to teach a little 0:18:45.880 --> 0:18:50.000 course along with that National Shakespeare Shakespeare Company job about 0:18:50.760 --> 0:18:55.000 Shakespeare and uh and and two students. And the thing 0:18:55.000 --> 0:18:57.360 about Shakespeare is that he was like the Michael Bay 0:18:57.520 --> 0:19:01.520 of his day. This was schlocky, right, It was not 0:19:01.840 --> 0:19:05.720 upper crust stuff. This was for the ground blazes, the 0:19:05.880 --> 0:19:10.879 like rabble, and you know it was. That's why he 0:19:10.920 --> 0:19:13.399 repeats things over and over again, because no one's gonna 0:19:13.760 --> 0:19:16.440 hear it the first time. They were all beating each 0:19:16.480 --> 0:19:20.800 other up and drinking. But yeah, so I I it's 0:19:20.800 --> 0:19:23.440 funny when people think of it as as so highbrow, 0:19:23.560 --> 0:19:27.080 you know, yeah, I mean the stories are fairly just 0:19:27.920 --> 0:19:32.840 universal and simple, and the comedy is not highbrow at all. 0:19:33.160 --> 0:19:38.920 Oh my god, he like coined so many dirty phrases. 0:19:39.240 --> 0:19:44.240 And you know, Hamlet, I believe, I don't know if 0:19:44.240 --> 0:19:46.959 it's the first, you know, it couldn't be, but he 0:19:46.960 --> 0:19:50.359 he references like, I'm I'll refrain from saying the actual 0:19:50.400 --> 0:19:53.080 word because it offends so many people. But the C 0:19:53.320 --> 0:20:00.719 word he he says, yeah. Hamlet says um to Ophelia, Ma, lady, 0:20:01.119 --> 0:20:04.679 melee in your lap and she says, no, my lord, 0:20:05.440 --> 0:20:08.639 and he says, no, I meant my head in your lap. 0:20:09.640 --> 0:20:16.359 Did you think I meant country matters? It's Shakespeare popping 0:20:16.400 --> 0:20:19.359 off the sea word got popping it off. That's because 0:20:19.359 --> 0:20:22.560 that's what he meant. Did you think I meant country matters. Yes, 0:20:25.000 --> 0:20:29.000 what was it like being on the road touring? Man, 0:20:29.320 --> 0:20:32.119 it was awesome. I was twenty four and twenty five 0:20:32.200 --> 0:20:34.359 years old. I was there doing it for about a year. 0:20:35.240 --> 0:20:38.960 There was a fifteen past van and another van that 0:20:39.080 --> 0:20:43.480 two people were in with all the sets and we 0:20:43.480 --> 0:20:47.840 we did the crappiest Shakespeare ever. But you know it 0:20:47.960 --> 0:20:51.800 was not a great brutal proud of it. Oh well 0:20:52.400 --> 0:20:54.879 I was at the time. I thought we were changing theater, 0:20:55.080 --> 0:21:00.159 but it was. But you know that I've made I 0:21:00.240 --> 0:21:03.200 made friends that i've I still have to this day. 0:21:03.440 --> 0:21:06.080 And it was such and I got to see the 0:21:06.119 --> 0:21:12.000 country really for the first time. Um, it was pretty awesome. 0:21:12.040 --> 0:21:15.159 And also just doing something like that for that long, 0:21:15.600 --> 0:21:21.600 doing two plays for that long was an education as well, 0:21:21.960 --> 0:21:26.119 in an acting education, like how you keep it going, 0:21:26.280 --> 0:21:29.119 how you you know, get up and do it each 0:21:29.240 --> 0:21:32.880 night and make it fresh and blah blah blah. Yeah, 0:21:33.040 --> 0:21:35.200 I did. You know, it's interesting. I don't think I've 0:21:35.240 --> 0:21:38.679 talked to anybody about that before, but I did. I 0:21:38.720 --> 0:21:41.560 did a production for a year, toured it. A couple 0:21:41.640 --> 0:21:48.199 of places, had a residency, like and you know, you 0:21:48.200 --> 0:21:49.800 didn't exactly say this, so I don't want to put 0:21:49.840 --> 0:21:54.159 words in your mouth, but the the idea of making 0:21:54.200 --> 0:21:58.720 it like the first time, right, like having to after 0:21:58.840 --> 0:22:03.239 you've done it too hundred times that old you know. 0:22:03.359 --> 0:22:07.240 I mean, it's like an obvious old time stereotypical direct 0:22:07.280 --> 0:22:09.080 like say it like it's the first time or whatever, 0:22:09.119 --> 0:22:13.400 but like actually having to do that so much, I 0:22:13.440 --> 0:22:16.840 think in a weird way. Even when you start talking 0:22:16.880 --> 0:22:19.320 about film and television and you're you're not doing it 0:22:19.600 --> 0:22:21.879 two hundred times over the course of a year, but 0:22:22.040 --> 0:22:25.320 sometimes you're doing it twenty five times in the span 0:22:25.359 --> 0:22:28.479 of an hour. And that idea of having to do that, 0:22:28.560 --> 0:22:32.040 I I never really was thinking about that, But that 0:22:32.160 --> 0:22:34.919 is a really good lesson, right, Yeah, it really is. 0:22:35.119 --> 0:22:39.560 And uh and you know it's sometimes it starts off 0:22:39.600 --> 0:22:43.159 just being luck when I was, you know, like, oh tonight, 0:22:43.160 --> 0:22:46.240 I'm for some reason more into it than I was 0:22:46.359 --> 0:22:49.800 last night, you know, And that's when I started. That's 0:22:49.800 --> 0:22:53.640 when you start to think about it, the mechanics of it. Yeah, 0:22:53.840 --> 0:22:56.280 you get back to New York. Now at this point 0:22:56.760 --> 0:23:02.480 you're a serious Shakespearean actor, and then you get involved 0:23:02.600 --> 0:23:07.159 with what was at the time this little improv group 0:23:07.760 --> 0:23:12.479 you see b upright Citizens Brigade. How did you how 0:23:12.480 --> 0:23:16.000 did you discover this group? And why as a serious 0:23:16.080 --> 0:23:19.280 actor did you did you pursue wanting to do stuff 0:23:19.280 --> 0:23:24.600 with them? That's a good question. Uh, you know, I, 0:23:25.640 --> 0:23:28.520 first of all, I mean I realized the one thing 0:23:28.600 --> 0:23:30.960 I wasn't doing well, the one thing I wasn't taught 0:23:30.960 --> 0:23:34.280 in college it was just seemed to be a crapshoot, 0:23:34.600 --> 0:23:39.160 was auditioning. And so I learned how to audition by 0:23:39.320 --> 0:23:42.960 I taught myself by just going out over and over 0:23:43.040 --> 0:23:45.520 and over again, and I, you know, got my ten thousand. 0:23:45.640 --> 0:23:49.240 I was auditioning for everything in backstage, and one of 0:23:49.280 --> 0:23:52.719 them just happened to be a sketch group. You know, 0:23:52.840 --> 0:23:57.920 I I I'd be a performance artist in Berlin right 0:23:57.960 --> 0:24:00.840 now if if it worked out a different way. I 0:24:02.280 --> 0:24:04.679 just happened to be a sketch group. And then then 0:24:04.920 --> 0:24:08.200 that when I got into the sort of comedy scene 0:24:08.320 --> 0:24:10.359 and or at least got a view of it, because 0:24:10.400 --> 0:24:14.879 we were pretty outside this sketch group. The u c 0:24:15.119 --> 0:24:17.919 B were just starting to gain prominence. They were just 0:24:17.960 --> 0:24:22.199 starting to teach classes, they were starting their takeover. I 0:24:22.200 --> 0:24:24.879 believe they had taught one class of students and I 0:24:25.359 --> 0:24:27.639 and I thought I was under the impression that it 0:24:27.680 --> 0:24:31.760 was Andy Richter's sketch group. Okay, so I went and 0:24:31.800 --> 0:24:35.160 saw an ascat which is there was their weekly show, 0:24:36.119 --> 0:24:39.119 and uh Andy Richter happened to be performing. So I 0:24:39.119 --> 0:24:43.760 don't know when I stopped believing it was this, but um, 0:24:43.880 --> 0:24:46.160 you know, then I got in. I got into a 0:24:46.200 --> 0:24:49.240 class at the very It's the only thing I've gotten 0:24:49.280 --> 0:24:52.320 in on the ground floor of you know, when they 0:24:52.320 --> 0:24:56.440 were the four original UCB guys are still teaching classes 0:24:56.440 --> 0:25:01.600 in a five story walk up ballet studio and in Manhattan, 0:25:02.160 --> 0:25:04.560 and I just stuck away that I loved it. I 0:25:04.600 --> 0:25:08.600 was terrified of it, you know, improv. Improv still terrifies 0:25:08.640 --> 0:25:11.840 me to this day. I was doing it for the 0:25:12.640 --> 0:25:16.879 that the skill, to to learn this skill, to be comfortable, 0:25:17.040 --> 0:25:20.320 for confidence, and for like you know, and also for 0:25:20.359 --> 0:25:22.960 the community. I made a lot of great friends there 0:25:23.040 --> 0:25:26.480 and we then branched out and did other things. As 0:25:26.520 --> 0:25:31.280 you know, yeah, you you you said it. It terrifies you, 0:25:32.400 --> 0:25:37.000 do you. There's no there's no lines, Brian, you gotta 0:25:37.280 --> 0:25:42.760 you gotta make them up, yes, And that's terrifying. It's stupid. 0:25:43.080 --> 0:25:46.919 Shakespeare's got all planned out for you, right, you just 0:25:46.920 --> 0:25:49.160 follow the map and you're gonna get and you're gonna 0:25:49.200 --> 0:25:54.320 get there. That's right. Yeah, you know, it's it's interesting. 0:25:54.960 --> 0:26:00.080 So I have, by the way, zero improv training, and 0:26:00.400 --> 0:26:02.879 it sounds like much like you, I stayed on the 0:26:02.960 --> 0:26:07.320 serious theater tracked longer. But I you know, so I 0:26:07.359 --> 0:26:11.240 was doing comedy, I was doing dramatic role I was 0:26:11.280 --> 0:26:15.400 doing different stuff. I never did improv. I never Yeah, 0:26:15.440 --> 0:26:18.560 I never studied it. I didn't take the classes. And 0:26:19.040 --> 0:26:21.920 I don't know if that maybe for me is why 0:26:22.359 --> 0:26:28.320 I don't find it as challenging somehow. Oh, yes, that 0:26:28.440 --> 0:26:31.320 is exactly why, Because you don't you haven't been in 0:26:31.359 --> 0:26:35.680 a position where you've had to think about it too much. Right. 0:26:36.440 --> 0:26:39.639 But now I feel like because people are saying, like, Okay, 0:26:39.680 --> 0:26:42.480 we're gonna you know, we're gonna improv, I don't have 0:26:42.600 --> 0:26:46.040 I don't I'm like, okay, now, that's fine. I also 0:26:46.080 --> 0:26:49.360 want to set it's a little bit more different, right, 0:26:49.400 --> 0:26:52.120 because it's really just like you're just trying to find something. 0:26:52.240 --> 0:26:55.160 And and also you sometimes go in with a couple 0:26:55.200 --> 0:26:57.359 of things. You've got a couple of ideas which you 0:26:57.359 --> 0:26:59.760 would never do, and don't try to act like you 0:26:59.800 --> 0:27:04.200 know me, come on by everybody knows you're like, oh, 0:27:04.240 --> 0:27:08.080 I'm gonna improvise this, and I'm going to improvise that. 0:27:10.240 --> 0:27:13.959 But even like going in, you just that's kind of easy, 0:27:14.040 --> 0:27:18.919 like just because you're just playing the scene that that 0:27:19.119 --> 0:27:23.640 is written. Actually that's a different version. Yes, Actually that's 0:27:23.640 --> 0:27:28.439 a really good point because because it's it is for 0:27:28.640 --> 0:27:33.159 me and I do you know, I'm not going to 0:27:33.280 --> 0:27:36.280