WEBVTT - Fred Armisen and Paula Pell 0:00:02.279 --> 0:00:05.160 This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the thing, 0:00:06.320 --> 0:00:10.400 My chance to talk with artists, policymakers and performers, to 0:00:10.520 --> 0:00:14.400 hear their stories, What inspired their creations, what decisions change 0:00:14.440 --> 0:00:19.200 their careers, what relationships influence their work. We had so 0:00:19.280 --> 0:00:22.840 much laughter in our house, you know, despite any any dysfunction, 0:00:22.920 --> 0:00:26.639 as any family, we always laugh. I also feel like 0:00:26.680 --> 0:00:30.720 you want someone who you can be not great around, 0:00:30.840 --> 0:00:33.120 meaning I want to be able to be kind of 0:00:33.120 --> 0:00:37.960 boring sometimes or say something dumb and it's okay. My 0:00:38.080 --> 0:00:41.920 guests today are two brilliant comedians, one an actor, the 0:00:41.960 --> 0:00:45.240 other a writer. Both have made millions of people laugh, 0:00:45.280 --> 0:00:47.360 and both have done so from the show that has 0:00:47.400 --> 0:00:54.120 launched more comedians than any other. Saturday Night lad Writer 0:00:54.320 --> 0:00:58.240 Paula Pell and actor Fred Armison took unusual paths to 0:00:58.520 --> 0:01:01.920 S n L and Pell got the call that executive 0:01:01.920 --> 0:01:05.039 producer Lauren Michaels wanted to meet her. She'd been working 0:01:05.080 --> 0:01:09.360 at an amusement park in Florida, one with uniquely nighttime 0:01:09.440 --> 0:01:14.960 amusements Pleasure Island Welcome Come, Mickey has No Pants on. 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:19.080 Before Armison was added to S and l's cast in 0:01:19.120 --> 0:01:22.559 two thousand two, he had spent over a decade behind 0:01:22.680 --> 0:01:28.200 a drum set professionally. Eventually, SNL hired Armison my first 0:01:28.280 --> 0:01:31.080 guest at this hour to play something else. On my 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:33.760 first day in office, I said I'd closed Wanton and Mobbit. 0:01:34.120 --> 0:01:37.720 Armison has added to the show's distinctive line of oddly 0:01:37.840 --> 0:01:43.360 perfect presidential impressions. He's also nailed such disparate characters as 0:01:43.440 --> 0:01:49.280 Larry King, Steve Jobs, and Prince Attention Sexy Passengers. This 0:01:49.440 --> 0:01:52.440 grew jets about to take off, so please direct your 0:01:52.480 --> 0:01:59.640 attention to my co host, Ms. Beyonce. No. Fred Armison 0:01:59.800 --> 0:02:03.000 grow up in Valley Stream, Long Island with a Venezuelan 0:02:03.120 --> 0:02:07.280 mother and a German Japanese father. My mom really loved 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:11.239 Saturday Night Life. She loved it. She I remember her 0:02:11.400 --> 0:02:14.839 talking about Chevy Chase, and she would say like, oh, 0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:17.480 Chevy Chase, He's so funny. You just look at his 0:02:17.520 --> 0:02:21.400 face and you want to laugh. And then made a 0:02:21.440 --> 0:02:24.119 huge impression on me. And even as a kid, I thought, yeah, 0:02:24.360 --> 0:02:27.880 what is that like a guy who just from looking 0:02:27.880 --> 0:02:32.160 at him right away, you know he doesn't have Armison 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:36.680 is also co creator of Portlandia, a playfully subversive sketch 0:02:36.760 --> 0:02:39.320 comedy show on i f C, in which he co 0:02:39.440 --> 0:02:42.760 stars with musician Carrie Brown's team. That the thing of 0:02:42.800 --> 0:02:46.720 mc sweeney's was comparing CD tracks and album tracks and 0:02:46.919 --> 0:02:49.600 hearing that, Yeah, did you read that thing in Mother 0:02:49.680 --> 0:02:53.359 Jones about eco chairs and eco waste to sit? I did, Yeah, 0:02:53.680 --> 0:02:59.280 I did. About all the festivals. Armison's own musical roots 0:02:59.360 --> 0:03:02.600 run deep. He spent most of his twenties touring with 0:03:02.720 --> 0:03:09.720 his punk rock band Trench Mouth. I worked so hard 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:13.160 on that band. We were in the van, we toward 0:03:13.440 --> 0:03:18.000 toward towards bokwacewards, booking places, booking, booking, booking, booking, and 0:03:18.040 --> 0:03:20.720 just trying to get slots and clubs over what area 0:03:20.880 --> 0:03:24.160 the states in Canada, And you were all floating and 0:03:24.240 --> 0:03:27.280 reloading your own equipment and we're your own roadies. Absolutely 0:03:27.320 --> 0:03:32.000 didn't bring any extra people to save money, up and downstairs, drums, symbols, amps, 0:03:32.320 --> 0:03:35.520 if it was a local show, flyers, records, getting them 0:03:35.520 --> 0:03:38.800 out to people, getting out to radio stations. It was NonStop. 0:03:39.240 --> 0:03:41.560 Was it successful? It depends how you look at That's 0:03:41.600 --> 0:03:43.040 what I'm saying. I want to know. You were Definition, 0:03:43.200 --> 0:03:46.560 but your Definition played in Europe, played in the States, 0:03:46.600 --> 0:03:50.200 so absolutely that all that stuff was like, that's a success? 0:03:50.400 --> 0:03:52.760 Was it what I wanted? I wanted much more, did 0:03:53.400 --> 0:03:55.920 much more? Why? Why? Why this is going to sound 0:03:56.960 --> 0:03:58.600 I'll just be honest about what I wanted. But I 0:03:58.640 --> 0:03:59.720 was wanted to be as big as the Red Hot 0:03:59.760 --> 0:04:03.240 Cheep a person. I was like, God, they're huge, They're huge. 0:04:03.280 --> 0:04:06.280 What we can do it? So because we never attained that, 0:04:07.000 --> 0:04:09.520 and I would see bands from Chicago kind of swooped 0:04:09.600 --> 0:04:11.400 right by us, I saw it as not a success 0:04:11.440 --> 0:04:13.040 and that's what kind of got me into doing comedy. 0:04:14.560 --> 0:04:17.960 Armison went to Austin, Texas for the south By Southwest 0:04:18.080 --> 0:04:22.040 Music Festival. Along with his drums, he brought a video camera. 0:04:22.480 --> 0:04:25.560 Somehow I got it in my head to interview people 0:04:26.160 --> 0:04:29.599 do different characters. You're down there and the and the whole, 0:04:30.760 --> 0:04:32.760 the whole experience down there was a musical one, but 0:04:32.839 --> 0:04:35.200 you start doing funny stuff and I don't even know 0:04:35.240 --> 0:04:39.840 why I did it. That tape this is sort of 0:04:39.920 --> 0:04:42.360 made the rounds. They wrote about it in this local 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:44.800 Chicago paper and then I showed it at a club 0:04:44.839 --> 0:04:47.800 there that I used to play in trench Mouth. At 0:04:47.839 --> 0:04:50.560 this club, as many people turn out for that as 0:04:50.560 --> 0:04:54.240 with the band, the reaction was greater than when I 0:04:54.279 --> 0:04:56.279 was in a band. On that night, I thought, oh, 0:04:56.320 --> 0:04:58.720 this might be a way to go. I'm there with 0:04:58.800 --> 0:05:01.599 the Aluminum. I just wanted to know from you guys, 0:05:01.640 --> 0:05:02.960 who thought up in the name of the band? And 0:05:03.000 --> 0:05:06.000 I don't mean like originally, I mean like, who was 0:05:06.320 --> 0:05:07.880 the person who decided that that was going to be 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:09.640 the name? And what record label are you on? Is 0:05:09.680 --> 0:05:11.880 it the same record label that you're on a couple 0:05:11.880 --> 0:05:14.200 of years ago or is the one that's going to 0:05:14.240 --> 0:05:16.440 be different? And is it the one that's going to 0:05:16.520 --> 0:05:19.240 be on in Europe? Did everybody in Trench Mount feel 0:05:19.240 --> 0:05:22.320 really sad than did they know you were gonna go? Um? Maybe, 0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:25.080 but they're my friends, so I think based you know 0:05:25.120 --> 0:05:27.200 they had they kept on going with another band. I 0:05:27.279 --> 0:05:28.800 called all of them and they said, they hate you 0:05:28.839 --> 0:05:31.640 and they'll never damn it. But hatred equals love. Yeah, 0:05:31.680 --> 0:05:39.440 it's a it's still an emotional not ignoring me. And 0:05:39.440 --> 0:05:42.680 then what happens after that? That's when I started doing 0:05:42.680 --> 0:05:47.320 comedy and then doing comedy where um, I started traveling 0:05:47.360 --> 0:05:50.600 the country, showing it in l A, San Francisco, New York. 0:05:50.720 --> 0:05:52.880 You took made it into a stand upack kind of. 0:05:52.960 --> 0:05:54.720 I would just you know, they'd write something in the paper, 0:05:54.720 --> 0:05:56.800 and people came out in all these cities. And then 0:05:56.800 --> 0:06:00.000 I went to l A. Played clubs, comedy clubs, um 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:03.120 rock clubs, clubs. There was no music, no music, just 0:06:03.160 --> 0:06:05.599 showed this video and talked a little bit, and that's it. 0:06:06.240 --> 0:06:09.479 How long we're on stage. I mean total of like 0:06:09.480 --> 0:06:12.760 half an hour, forty minutes, something really short. Just people 0:06:12.839 --> 0:06:17.440 dug it. Absolutely, it's pretty Internet. So showing a video 0:06:17.600 --> 0:06:20.440 was more of an event or nouvelle. Yeah. There was 0:06:20.480 --> 0:06:21.880 no such thing as like sort of why don't you 0:06:21.920 --> 0:06:25.800 just watch it online? Um? And then someone from HBO 0:06:25.880 --> 0:06:27.240 was at one of the shows, and then I started 0:06:27.240 --> 0:06:31.560 doing these videos for HBO. And then I started making 0:06:31.680 --> 0:06:33.440 enough money that I didn't have to live in Chicago anymore. 0:06:33.440 --> 0:06:35.040 I was like, I can. I always wanted to live 0:06:35.080 --> 0:06:37.360 in l A. I moved to l A and then 0:06:37.400 --> 0:06:40.040 I started doing stand up like characters and stuff on 0:06:40.160 --> 0:06:43.440 stage where this is one club that I loved called Largo. 0:06:44.320 --> 0:06:45.719 I moved to l A and I just wanted to 0:06:45.760 --> 0:06:47.640 fit in. You know, I was on my own and 0:06:47.760 --> 0:06:49.240 I just wanted to perform there and I would just 0:06:49.279 --> 0:06:52.880 do different characters. Yeah. Did you make all new friends 0:06:53.040 --> 0:06:55.480 right away to fall into the comedy world, Yeah, I did. 0:06:55.880 --> 0:06:57.160 I just wanted to be part of it, you know 0:06:57.160 --> 0:06:58.600 what I mean. So I think it was and you 0:06:58.640 --> 0:07:01.560 were open to it. Yeah, and then I just and 0:07:01.600 --> 0:07:05.360 who became your pals there in l a Um Paul F. Tompkins, 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:08.520 Bob owen Kirk really helped me out a lot. He 0:07:08.640 --> 0:07:11.360 had a pilot for a show called Next which had 0:07:11.400 --> 0:07:13.600 different characters and it was a sort of variety show, 0:07:13.640 --> 0:07:17.120 and he got me onto the cast for that. And 0:07:18.160 --> 0:07:21.880 from that is where I had like all um tape 0:07:21.920 --> 0:07:25.320 to submit to SNL. Hello, welcome to focus on talent. 0:07:25.720 --> 0:07:28.240 I am go hard lip shots and today my very 0:07:28.280 --> 0:07:33.520 special guest is the wonderfully simple Way Romano. Thank you 0:07:33.560 --> 0:07:35.120 so much for coming. This is really great and you 0:07:35.200 --> 0:07:37.520 begin instead up comedy and so and I think that 0:07:37.560 --> 0:07:40.640 your act was not so good. Yes, I had enough 0:07:40.640 --> 0:07:43.840 tape to submit to SNL. My agents and manager sent 0:07:43.880 --> 0:07:45.320 it to them, and then I was on the cast 0:07:45.440 --> 0:07:48.000 and two thousand two, so you show up to New 0:07:48.080 --> 0:07:52.760 York to do the show. I flew into do the auditions. 0:07:53.800 --> 0:07:55.360 You know, I was flipping out that I even got 0:07:55.400 --> 0:07:58.320 to do the auditions at all. Yeah, I mean I 0:07:58.400 --> 0:08:00.760 met Tina Favor for the first time worn and Tina 0:08:00.840 --> 0:08:03.680 was the head writer of them, I believe, So I 0:08:03.720 --> 0:08:06.560 think it hurt in Dennis McNicholas. I couldn't even believe 0:08:06.560 --> 0:08:08.840 I was in that studio. And then when you started, 0:08:08.880 --> 0:08:12.280 you were a featured player. And then how many years 0:08:12.280 --> 0:08:15.200 do you did you do that before you join? Two years? 0:08:15.560 --> 0:08:18.840 It was Will Forte and I was it frustrating to 0:08:18.840 --> 0:08:21.160 be a future player because again, no, no, I wasn't. 0:08:21.360 --> 0:08:25.000 I'm fresh from carrying drums. I'm fresh from just doing 0:08:25.040 --> 0:08:29.000 stand up at large. I can't there's a part of 0:08:29.040 --> 0:08:31.560 me that still is like, I can't believe it. A 0:08:31.640 --> 0:08:33.520 lot of people on the show don't sense that they 0:08:33.600 --> 0:08:35.120 leave and they don't realize how good they've had it. 0:08:35.200 --> 0:08:39.439 But people who have left the show have told me 0:08:39.520 --> 0:08:41.480 and I listened to them, and they say, it's the 0:08:41.480 --> 0:08:43.640 best job I've ever had. Yeah, it's going to be 0:08:43.679 --> 0:08:45.040 one of them. You know, you're not gonna have that 0:08:45.120 --> 0:08:48.160 much freedom and that much variety. I always tell people, 0:08:48.200 --> 0:08:50.160 don't leave the show and become the thing you made 0:08:50.240 --> 0:08:52.360 fun of on the show. Right. That's a real trap 0:08:52.760 --> 0:08:54.640 because you're gonna go out there and do with the jobs. 0:08:54.640 --> 0:08:57.319 And one of the greatest risks in my mind is 0:08:57.360 --> 0:09:00.440 that people will characterize you. Oh yeah, and I can 0:09:00.480 --> 0:09:03.280 see you doing a movie where you're with a really 0:09:03.360 --> 0:09:06.080 smart cast and a smart director and you like, lock 0:09:06.160 --> 0:09:08.719 everybody in the gymnasium and burn the gymnasium down to 0:09:08.760 --> 0:09:11.840 the ground. You either way, don't you think. I hope 0:09:11.840 --> 0:09:18.760 so straight acting? M hm. That's tricky, um, But if 0:09:18.760 --> 0:09:21.720 there's a way to do it, it's tricky because I 0:09:21.840 --> 0:09:26.160 don't want to look like I'm unhappy with comedy. I 0:09:26.200 --> 0:09:30.400 don't want to go out there and say, for lack 0:09:30.440 --> 0:09:32.640 of a better word, an audience, like, hey, this is 0:09:32.679 --> 0:09:35.719 what I really do. However, I think these days there 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:39.880 are roles that are both comedic and dramatic. I like 0:09:40.000 --> 0:09:44.640 that that line is becoming blurry. So my answer is 0:09:44.720 --> 0:09:47.120 kind of like, I think there's a way that Peter 0:09:47.200 --> 0:09:50.600 Sellers did it was comedy? Was it not comedy? Somewhere? 0:09:50.600 --> 0:09:53.320 And then he occupies a very very distinct place. I mean, 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:58.600 you have comic actors who made their reputations in comedic roles, 0:09:59.280 --> 0:10:01.400 who have tried to go over into dramatic films and 0:10:01.480 --> 0:10:04.400 it's worked to some degree or hasn't worked Billy Crystallin 0:10:04.360 --> 0:10:08.080 and Robin Williams and so forth. And I think you 0:10:08.160 --> 0:10:11.679 have a real opportunity, and it's never more vivid than 0:10:11.720 --> 0:10:15.040 it is in Portlandia that you could go both ways 0:10:15.080 --> 0:10:17.160 and do the comic and the dramatic. Do you feel 0:10:17.200 --> 0:10:19.480 that way, yes, because when we do the show, when 0:10:19.520 --> 0:10:21.720 we write the show, we don't always think about like 0:10:21.760 --> 0:10:24.640 what's the funniest thing, right, Like what what seems interesting 0:10:24.679 --> 0:10:27.840 to us? What what's gonna look It comes great. If 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:31.320 it's not quite comedy, that's okay, that's that's something else 0:10:31.360 --> 0:10:34.199 in between tv um. If there's anything that you've done, 0:10:35.000 --> 0:10:36.800 then we won't do it. Okay, I get it. This 0:10:36.880 --> 0:10:39.360 is like a cool wedding, but also it doesn't come 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:44.000 across as cooled. We don't want anything that reads as wedding. Okay, 0:10:44.120 --> 0:10:47.120 we're not marionettes getting up at the same time and 0:10:47.320 --> 0:10:50.600 dancing to and fro. There's divorce rate and I think 0:10:50.600 --> 0:10:53.079 that that should be in the forefront of people's minds 0:10:53.120 --> 0:10:56.679 at this wedding. The other voice you're hearing, that's Carrie Brownstein. 0:10:57.280 --> 0:11:01.439 She co created Portlandia with Armison. Before Portlandia, they made 0:11:01.440 --> 0:11:05.160 a series of videos as the sketch comedy duo thunder Aunt. 0:11:05.800 --> 0:11:08.880 Carrie met Fred in two thousand three late one night 0:11:09.080 --> 0:11:12.160 after an SNL show. Her band was like my favorite 0:11:12.160 --> 0:11:16.160 bands bands leader Kenny. I became friendly with them. We 0:11:16.240 --> 0:11:18.720 just had a lot of mutual friends. They came to 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:21.040 New York to play. I just invited them to come 0:11:21.080 --> 0:11:22.760 to the show. They had a show that night, so 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:24.439 they came to the after party and I met Carrie 0:11:24.480 --> 0:11:28.040 there and it was the strangest thing. Carrie and I 0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:32.120 just became instant friends. That happens, and she knew who 0:11:32.120 --> 0:11:36.640 you were from the TV show. Fully, it just worked cooked. Yeah, 0:11:36.840 --> 0:11:40.079 ever since then, and uh, we just made these videos. 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:43.439 I'd go to Portland. It was like the equivalent of jamming, 0:11:43.640 --> 0:11:46.280 you know. So instead of doing that, which is just 0:11:46.320 --> 0:11:49.240 like so what you know, like, hey, we have this band, 0:11:49.640 --> 0:11:52.240 we just thought let's make these videos. There was no 0:11:52.320 --> 0:11:55.400 pressure on it. It's just like, let's just didn't like it, 0:11:55.559 --> 0:11:58.440 yeah for no reason. Let's just come up with characters, 0:11:58.520 --> 0:12:00.160 Let's make these tapes. And then we did it. And 0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:03.360 then we had just all these videos on this website 0:12:03.400 --> 0:12:05.240 and if I remember reading that you did about a 0:12:05.240 --> 0:12:07.200 dozen of them, correct, Yeah, that's about right. And then 0:12:07.880 --> 0:12:09.840 then we just had enough to pitch a TV show 0:12:10.080 --> 0:12:12.240 and then how does Portland become a show? Who buys 0:12:12.280 --> 0:12:14.240 the show? It was kind of a thing where I 0:12:14.280 --> 0:12:15.640 was just talking to my manager, what do you want 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:17.600 to do next? What's something you want? Oker? And I thought, 0:12:17.679 --> 0:12:19.040 let's just turn and see if we can turn it 0:12:19.040 --> 0:12:21.600 into something. And then Carrie and I just thought, yeah, 0:12:21.679 --> 0:12:23.360 let's let's pitch it. We already she ready for that? 0:12:23.440 --> 0:12:26.120 Does she want that? Yeah? She seems like somebody who 0:12:26.400 --> 0:12:28.440 lived in Portland and lived on the fringe and was 0:12:28.520 --> 0:12:31.840 very very talented deliberately that she didn't want to be 0:12:31.880 --> 0:12:34.520 mainstream successful. Um, I think she just likes doing it, 0:12:35.120 --> 0:12:37.439 so she does what she wants. She's a perfect mix 0:12:37.520 --> 0:12:41.360 of like she just enjoys, you know, performing and isn't 0:12:41.400 --> 0:12:43.719 like so crazy ambitious that she's like, Okay, what's the 0:12:43.760 --> 0:12:45.240 next thing? What's the next thing? She's very like, let's 0:12:45.280 --> 0:12:47.800 work on some projects and a lot of it's our friendship. 0:12:47.840 --> 0:12:50.400 We just like working together. And then we pitched it 0:12:50.440 --> 0:12:55.440 to Broadway Video. So you know, Lauren and as a group. 0:12:55.440 --> 0:12:58.800 We pitched it to I f C. They said, go 0:12:58.840 --> 0:13:00.839 ahead and do a pilot. We did, and then the 0:13:00.920 --> 0:13:03.120 next thing we knew, we're doing the show. And you 0:13:03.160 --> 0:13:06.480 shoot the show in Portland. Obviously when you go there, 0:13:06.520 --> 0:13:09.440 I'm assuming to start the show. You've never lived there before, No, 0:13:09.520 --> 0:13:11.480 but I've gone there soul you had because you've spent 0:13:11.520 --> 0:13:14.200 so much time, so you knew what this Portland's head was. 0:13:16.440 --> 0:13:18.719 That's what also got us to doing this show there. 0:13:18.720 --> 0:13:20.640 I mean like I would visit carry all the time 0:13:20.679 --> 0:13:23.080 and thunder it for years. I've been going there, and 0:13:23.120 --> 0:13:26.240 she'd lived there for how long? Forever? For what I 0:13:26.240 --> 0:13:28.840 think she's she's originally from Washington State and then she 0:13:28.880 --> 0:13:32.120 moved to Portland whatever, you know, ten years ago or something. 0:13:32.400 --> 0:13:35.199 So what is your experience being in Portland? Do people 0:13:35.200 --> 0:13:38.400 say stuff to you? All the love it, They're so 0:13:38.480 --> 0:13:41.080 nice about it. And I really like it there, you know, 0:13:41.120 --> 0:13:44.200 I'm I'm a city guy. I'm from New York and 0:13:44.200 --> 0:13:46.079 and I still love it there. It's smaller, but it's 0:13:46.120 --> 0:13:50.000 still it's still a city and clean and nice and 0:13:50.440 --> 0:13:54.160 good food and somewhere really civil, really just physically pretty 0:13:54.559 --> 0:13:56.680 and and kind of overcast which I really like. Do 0:13:56.679 --> 0:13:58.600 you develop films now? Do you write films at all 0:13:58.640 --> 0:14:03.360 for yourself? I've too. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I feel like 0:14:03.360 --> 0:14:05.079 when I when I try to write something for myself 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:08.120 and it ends up in TV form. But still I 0:14:08.160 --> 0:14:09.640 want to try to expand that you would never do 0:14:09.679 --> 0:14:12.840 a TV series? Um, I do. I would do anything 0:14:12.920 --> 0:14:15.760 anything it seems interesting. I would. I would do anything 0:14:15.760 --> 0:14:19.120 it seems like something you know, good to be part of. 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:23.280 So when you sign a contract like with Broadway Video 0:14:23.480 --> 0:14:25.520 for those people who don't know this, that's Lawrence Company, 0:14:25.600 --> 0:14:29.760 Rice Production arm and you have to deliver how many episodes? Ten? 0:14:30.240 --> 0:14:32.600 You just do ten? First one was six, second was ten. 0:14:32.680 --> 0:14:35.360 This one's gonna be tenned a. What do you do 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:38.600 for fun? I just work all that time? Well, you 0:14:38.640 --> 0:14:44.360 do his work? Yeah, that's what you wanted. Yeah. This 0:14:44.480 --> 0:14:49.040 past season was Fred Armison's eleventh and final year on SNL, 0:14:49.440 --> 0:14:53.160 where he's performed alongside the biggest stars in the business. 0:14:53.720 --> 0:14:56.120 But Fred can still get star struck, like when he 0:14:56.200 --> 0:14:58.920 met Steve Martin. It's it's even weird talking about it 0:14:58.920 --> 0:15:02.400 because I feel like I know him somewhat, But the 0:15:02.480 --> 0:15:05.000 experience is greater than I ever thought it would be. 0:15:05.800 --> 0:15:07.120 And then on top of it, the way he's just 0:15:07.160 --> 0:15:10.040 the way he is. You know, that's part of the thing, 0:15:10.080 --> 0:15:13.640 that seeing how people are as people. That's another nice surprise. 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:17.360 Coming up, we'll meet Paula Pell, a long time writer 0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:20.800 on SNL who Fred Armison has called a true genius, 0:15:21.120 --> 0:15:24.960 one of the funniest people he's ever met. I'm Alec 0:15:25.000 --> 0:15:27.640 Baldwin and here's the thing. Take a listen to our 0:15:27.800 --> 0:15:32.880 archive more in depth conversations with artists, policymakers and performers, 0:15:33.160 --> 0:15:36.920 people like Lena Dunham, who agrees with Armison, Paula Hell 0:15:37.040 --> 0:15:40.880 is funny. Paula Pell is someone who's funny and not mean. 0:15:41.760 --> 0:15:46.760 She's just a dreamy person. Take a listen to my 0:15:46.880 --> 0:15:50.440 conversations with Dunham, Lord Michaels and Kristen Wigg. I don't 0:15:50.480 --> 0:15:53.040 remember what I said. And here's the thing. Dot Org. 0:16:03.560 --> 0:16:06.480 This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the Thing. 0:16:07.240 --> 0:16:11.280 Departing SNL cast members are generally expected to springboard into 0:16:11.320 --> 0:16:14.880 a career in film. Maybe it's the punk rocker in him, 0:16:14.920 --> 0:16:18.760 but Fred Armison doesn't seem entirely at home with that tradition. 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:23.640 Someday I want to invent a type of entertainment that 0:16:23.760 --> 0:16:28.600 isn't is really blurry between comedy and something else that 0:16:29.200 --> 0:16:30.760 doesn't have a name yet. But I do want to 0:16:30.800 --> 0:16:34.600 see if there's another way to another level of um 0:16:34.760 --> 0:16:37.960 fooling people as opposed to just doing a character something 0:16:38.000 --> 0:16:40.240 a little bigger than that. And I don't know quite 0:16:40.280 --> 0:16:44.760 how to do it yet. But do you think being 0:16:44.800 --> 0:16:48.040 famous has killed that opportunity for you personally and sometimes 0:16:48.080 --> 0:16:49.680 so that someone you have to get someone else to 0:16:49.680 --> 0:16:52.920 do it right and produce that yeah, because you couldn't 0:16:52.960 --> 0:16:54.720 do that because you minute you show up, they know 0:16:54.800 --> 0:17:00.080 something's going on. But uh, do you find that you 0:17:00.120 --> 0:17:02.280 find that when you walk up to people automatically like 0:17:02.680 --> 0:17:04.720 someone said something to me, They said to me, you're 0:17:04.760 --> 0:17:07.960 you're at a wonderful place which is also a terrible place, 0:17:08.320 --> 0:17:10.399 that place where people are going to laugh at you, 0:17:10.440 --> 0:17:12.520 whether you're funny or not, and you meant it as 0:17:12.560 --> 0:17:14.920 a dig. Do you find that's true with you that 0:17:14.960 --> 0:17:19.160 wherever you go, people are predisposed to you saying something yeah, 0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:21.280 Or if I do like a stand up show somewhere, 0:17:21.920 --> 0:17:24.520 I find that I want to put more effort into it. 0:17:24.560 --> 0:17:27.200 But sometimes I don't really have to, so that might 0:17:27.200 --> 0:17:30.399 not be a good thing. So what about it in 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:33.239 your personal life? How is your personal life changed as 0:17:33.240 --> 0:17:38.760 a result of being famous? Um, it's everything I ever wanted. 0:17:39.640 --> 0:17:41.760 But there are some things about it that are just 0:17:42.000 --> 0:17:44.959 very new and just very interesting, you know, Like I 0:17:45.000 --> 0:17:47.199 love New York. I love writing on the subway. My 0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:49.119 subway rights an't as private as it used to be. 0:17:50.000 --> 0:17:51.840 That's when I start trying to think of ideas. I 0:17:51.880 --> 0:17:55.359 listen to music and that's just different now, and people 0:17:55.560 --> 0:17:59.080 say things to you, Yeah, perfectly nice, perfectly nice. I 0:17:59.119 --> 0:18:02.119 would have done the same how I met whoever, But 0:18:02.240 --> 0:18:04.720 that's that's changed, like a different kind of subway, right. 0:18:05.119 --> 0:18:07.919 What about your relationship with your family, your friends? I mean, 0:18:07.960 --> 0:18:10.920 do you still have the same friends? Yeah, kind of, 0:18:11.200 --> 0:18:13.680 but I've got, you know, got new friends, obviously, new 0:18:13.720 --> 0:18:18.960 circles of friends. But lad, yes, but I've maintained my 0:18:19.000 --> 0:18:22.400 friendships with the guys in the old band and Kirk 0:18:22.880 --> 0:18:26.280 yeah absolutely, he's in l alright, Yeah, let's text each 0:18:26.280 --> 0:18:29.679 other and yeah, so I do maintain relationship with this 0:18:29.760 --> 0:18:34.320 even if I'm if we're both busy, Paul F. Tompkins, whoever, 0:18:34.560 --> 0:18:37.520 I still try to keep those alive. This is the 0:18:37.600 --> 0:18:38.960 last thing I want to say to you, which you 0:18:38.960 --> 0:18:40.360 could say a million things to me. Well, but I'm 0:18:40.359 --> 0:18:47.040 saying that, uh, without getting too personal. You've been married twice. Yeah, 0:18:47.160 --> 0:18:49.679 and you find you were married twice, correct, That's correct. 0:18:49.720 --> 0:18:51.800 And and the first one was in Chicago before I 0:18:51.840 --> 0:18:55.119 was doing comedy, and that's someone who I'm still friends with, Sally. 0:18:55.200 --> 0:18:57.760 That was during the music days, yes, the Keith Moon days, 0:18:58.920 --> 0:19:00.760 and then you were married the secon in time. Yes. 0:19:00.840 --> 0:19:03.040 But would you say that like from things I've read, 0:19:03.560 --> 0:19:05.840 you find that because of what you crave and what 0:19:05.920 --> 0:19:09.119 you love, you speak very lovingly about Carrie and how 0:19:09.160 --> 0:19:11.600 you and to your just friends. But she's like you're 0:19:12.240 --> 0:19:15.879 you know, she's your last text of the day. Do 0:19:15.880 --> 0:19:17.840 you think that she's kind of your soul mate? Without 0:19:17.880 --> 0:19:21.040 a doubt. It's all the things that I've ever wanted, 0:19:21.320 --> 0:19:24.879 you know, aside from like the physical stuff. But the 0:19:25.560 --> 0:19:28.760 intimacy that I have with her is like no other, 0:19:29.119 --> 0:19:31.800 Like it's something that and it's only it's taking me 0:19:31.840 --> 0:19:33.280 a want to realize, Like wait a minute, I am 0:19:33.680 --> 0:19:36.359 super super close with her. I mean we work all 0:19:36.440 --> 0:19:39.040 day together on Portland and then we hang out afterwards. 0:19:39.640 --> 0:19:42.359 I mean, what is that? Because people don't understand in 0:19:42.400 --> 0:19:44.720 this business how important it is, Like do you have 0:19:45.119 --> 0:19:48.119 to be It depends on who the person is. I 0:19:48.160 --> 0:19:50.800 also feel like you want someone who you can be 0:19:51.840 --> 0:19:55.000 not great around, meaning you know, like I want I 0:19:55.040 --> 0:19:57.240 want to be able to be kind of boring sometimes 0:19:57.320 --> 0:20:00.840 or say something dumb. And it's okay that I like 0:20:01.000 --> 0:20:02.560 that pressure not to be there to have to be 0:20:02.920 --> 0:20:05.160 super funny and intelligent all the time. It's nice when 0:20:05.560 --> 0:20:08.240 I like I'm competitive, yeah, where I'm just like, the 0:20:08.320 --> 0:20:11.520 comedy world is very competitive, isn't it. I guess I 0:20:11.560 --> 0:20:14.919 haven't walked into that too much. I wasn't part of 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:17.880 a comedy troupe or anything. And so and the stand 0:20:17.920 --> 0:20:23.919 ups I've become friends with, I've all been very you know, supportive, definitely. 0:20:24.680 --> 0:20:29.040 Portlandia Season three is now available on DVD. It enters 0:20:29.119 --> 0:20:31.920 its fourth season on i f C early next year. 0:20:32.440 --> 0:20:41.760 Fred call me. Can I play a customer in Portlandia? 0:20:41.800 --> 0:20:44.200 Can I come to a restaurant any time I come 0:20:44.240 --> 0:20:48.600 and do something? Who would I play? What would I order? Um? 0:20:48.720 --> 0:20:53.119 I think you would uh come from southern California and 0:20:53.160 --> 0:20:56.520 you'd order all kinds of meats a meat a fiction. 0:20:57.280 --> 0:20:58.919 People think of it as a veggi place, but it's 0:20:58.920 --> 0:21:03.440 actually a very meaty play. Yeah, it's very like cured 0:21:03.640 --> 0:21:06.800 meats and sausages there. But we haven't explored that one. 0:21:06.880 --> 0:21:09.720 Maybe it could be a meat salesman. Even better, maybe 0:21:09.720 --> 0:21:11.440 it could be a meat salesman of all kinds of 0:21:11.600 --> 0:21:15.360 charts and graphs of the loins and actually the sections 0:21:15.359 --> 0:21:19.400 of the pig and the cow and the organs, and yeah, 0:21:19.560 --> 0:21:23.119 I love it and the answers yes right, anytime I'll 0:21:23.160 --> 0:21:27.960 come see your important. Yeah, if Fred invites me, I'll 0:21:28.000 --> 0:21:31.080 do it. And most likely I'll do SNL the next 0:21:31.080 --> 0:21:34.240 time Lord Michael's calls. And that's due in large part 0:21:34.320 --> 0:21:37.840 of the brilliant writing of my next guest. Not long ago, 0:21:38.359 --> 0:21:41.720 there used to be two types of comedians, comedians and 0:21:42.000 --> 0:21:45.600 female comedians. Today there are so many women making us 0:21:45.680 --> 0:21:49.960 laugh that the qualifier has been rendered obsolete. Saturday Night 0:21:50.040 --> 0:21:52.560 Live deserves a lot of the credit for this development. 0:21:53.080 --> 0:21:56.320 The show has introduced us to Gilda Radner, Jan Hooks, 0:21:56.480 --> 0:22:00.199 Maya Rudolph, Tina Fey, and Kristen Wigg to name just 0:22:00.320 --> 0:22:03.399 a few. But there's been another woman at SNL, A 0:22:03.440 --> 0:22:07.040 woman who's been quietly working for nearly two decades, often 0:22:07.119 --> 0:22:10.880 without sleeping to usher in this reality seventeen years, I've 0:22:10.880 --> 0:22:13.720 been there yet. Paula Pell was working at a Florida 0:22:13.800 --> 0:22:16.320 theme park when she got her dream job as a 0:22:16.359 --> 0:22:20.200 writer at Saturday Night Live. Over the years, her sketches 0:22:20.240 --> 0:22:23.199 have ranged from Bobby and Marty and Debbie Downer to 0:22:23.280 --> 0:22:27.560 a personal favorite of mine, the Tony Bennett showing great 0:22:29.040 --> 0:22:33.879 Things fantastic. I guess what we gotta make just to 0:22:33.920 --> 0:22:48.400 talk show about the dastic show things? Yea. Tina Fey 0:22:48.560 --> 0:22:51.040 wrote in her memoir that one of her prouder moments 0:22:51.040 --> 0:22:53.920 as head writer at s NL was fighting for one 0:22:53.920 --> 0:22:59.639 of Pell's sketches introducing co Text. Classic Classic Code Text 0:22:59.680 --> 0:23:03.880 is a mercial for the feminine protection of yesteryear, featuring 0:23:04.040 --> 0:23:08.000 sexy women proudly encumbered with bulky pads connected to belts 0:23:08.320 --> 0:23:14.840 peeking out over their clothes. I always you can't hate 0:23:14.880 --> 0:23:21.280 the original Room Girls. Paula Pelle in person is genuine, 0:23:21.480 --> 0:23:24.320 charming and easy going, the kind of person you might 0:23:24.359 --> 0:23:26.359 actually talk to if you sat next to her on 0:23:26.480 --> 0:23:29.639 a plane, which is not a description of your typical 0:23:29.760 --> 0:23:32.520 comedy writer. I was always a bit of a class clown. 0:23:32.560 --> 0:23:34.399 I was. I was a good Catholic girl, so I 0:23:34.440 --> 0:23:37.320 always wanted to be I never wanted to get in trouble, 0:23:37.400 --> 0:23:39.680 but I really pushed the envelope because I would be 0:23:39.800 --> 0:23:42.399 funny in class and I do things like one of 0:23:42.440 --> 0:23:45.320 my teachers. I would do a bit where I would 0:23:45.359 --> 0:23:48.440 go by him and drag my hand along the chalk line, 0:23:48.760 --> 0:23:51.000 you know, the chalk shelf, and then I'd come over 0:23:51.040 --> 0:23:52.880 and I'd say, you know, Mr Grocer's just a really 0:23:52.960 --> 0:23:54.560 great teacher, and I pat him on the back and 0:23:54.600 --> 0:23:57.280 I'd leave like a handprint. He'd let me make him 0:23:57.560 --> 0:24:00.320 a little bit the fool for a moment, and then 0:24:00.359 --> 0:24:02.280 he do you know, he looked like Rob Briner and 0:24:02.320 --> 0:24:04.200 all in the family had the big bushy mustache and 0:24:04.240 --> 0:24:07.120 along there, and he just kind of looked at camera three, 0:24:07.280 --> 0:24:09.760 you know, nonexistent, and the audience would you know, the 0:24:09.840 --> 0:24:13.280 audience the class would crack up. Or i'd pass notes 0:24:13.320 --> 0:24:15.000 and say when I sneeze, because I have a really 0:24:15.040 --> 0:24:17.320 good fake sneeze. And I would say when I sneeze, 0:24:17.320 --> 0:24:20.159 everybody fall up their chairs. And you know, I'd always 0:24:20.240 --> 0:24:22.520 be doing something. But I grew up with an extremely 0:24:22.600 --> 0:24:25.639 funny dad and my mom is what did he do 0:24:25.760 --> 0:24:29.119 for a living? He worked for Ellinois Bell. We grew 0:24:29.240 --> 0:24:31.480 up in Illinois and then moved to Orlando when I 0:24:31.560 --> 0:24:35.040 was a teenager. But my entire childhood, my grandpa was 0:24:35.280 --> 0:24:38.960 a watchmaker for West Claks. So my dad always learned 0:24:39.119 --> 0:24:43.280 that from my grandpa. And then when he came to Florida, 0:24:43.480 --> 0:24:45.480 he worked for a T and T for many years, 0:24:46.400 --> 0:24:48.800 and then when he retired, he became a teacher of 0:24:49.040 --> 0:24:51.840 watch repair, watch making, all all of it. So that 0:24:51.960 --> 0:24:53.960 is the guy who works for the phone company and 0:24:54.119 --> 0:24:59.840 how does he and he becomes watch tinkerer? How was 0:24:59.880 --> 0:25:03.240 the funny in his life with he's just ungodly witty. 0:25:03.359 --> 0:25:06.520 He's really never wanted to be in the business himself. 0:25:06.520 --> 0:25:08.680 Where did he express? Probably did, But you know, I 0:25:08.760 --> 0:25:10.760 look at all the people in my family and all 0:25:10.800 --> 0:25:13.959 the relatives of different generations, and they all had their thing. 0:25:14.040 --> 0:25:15.919 You know, my mom has a beautiful singing voice. They 0:25:15.960 --> 0:25:19.200 all had something that they wanted to do. But the 0:25:19.280 --> 0:25:21.920 way they grew up was you just you know, you 0:25:22.080 --> 0:25:24.320 have kids early and you you kind of figure out 0:25:24.400 --> 0:25:27.000 what you need to do to to pay for that, 0:25:27.320 --> 0:25:29.520 and so they, you know, a lot of times didn't 0:25:29.600 --> 0:25:32.040 have the luxury that kids have now. Even though it's 0:25:32.080 --> 0:25:34.600 hard to get a job, to say, you know, i'm 0:25:34.680 --> 0:25:37.520 doing this getting into that you didn't sign on to 0:25:37.640 --> 0:25:40.800 that program? What was wrong with you? Well, they wouldn't 0:25:40.840 --> 0:25:42.760 just do what you were supposed to do. They knew 0:25:42.800 --> 0:25:46.240 that I was pretty hopeless. I mean at my confirmation 0:25:46.640 --> 0:25:48.760 where you get the Holy Spirit, I came down the 0:25:48.840 --> 0:25:51.280 stairs at my party and had torn like eighty holes 0:25:51.320 --> 0:25:53.320 in my pantios and said I had the Holy Spirit 0:25:53.880 --> 0:25:55.800 and just would do things like that all the time, 0:25:55.880 --> 0:25:58.399 you know. And this was before I drank or smoked anything. 0:25:59.320 --> 0:26:01.760 But I was always a total hand. But my dad 0:26:01.840 --> 0:26:03.400 really taught me that he will just do a bit, 0:26:03.520 --> 0:26:06.920 that we'll just have us crank. And I will tell 0:26:06.960 --> 0:26:08.600 you that one of the hardest times I laughed at 0:26:08.680 --> 0:26:11.080 him is my mom and I were watching die Hard 0:26:11.320 --> 0:26:14.560 on television. My dad's cutting the yard, and he's outside 0:26:14.560 --> 0:26:16.240 cutting the yard. He's got his little jean shorts on 0:26:16.400 --> 0:26:18.720 and his tank top, and he keeps coming in and 0:26:18.840 --> 0:26:21.120 walking by and kind of half listening. He's a really 0:26:21.160 --> 0:26:24.440 good quiet half listener. But then he'll do something based 0:26:24.520 --> 0:26:26.879 on what he's been listening to. I. You know, I 0:26:26.960 --> 0:26:30.200 was listening to my mom and the terrorist had the 0:26:30.280 --> 0:26:32.280 long blond hair, you know, the big like kind of 0:26:32.400 --> 0:26:36.480 Nordic guy at the beginning. Yeah, And my mom says, 0:26:36.560 --> 0:26:38.880 you know, I don't know, but I don't like long hair, 0:26:39.080 --> 0:26:42.080 but that is pretty foxy. And she's like commenting on him. 0:26:42.480 --> 0:26:45.120 So we're laughing about it and everything, and then I'm 0:26:45.200 --> 0:26:47.880 not getting Like an hour later, my dad just walked through. 0:26:48.640 --> 0:26:50.640 He had gone in my room and gotten a wig, 0:26:51.400 --> 0:26:55.760 put a long wig on with just his grass cutting stuff, 0:26:55.800 --> 0:26:57.879 and just walk through. He didn't stop, he didn't do 0:26:57.920 --> 0:27:00.119 a bit. He just walked through. But they also that 0:27:00.280 --> 0:27:02.040 rule like that you keep the ball in the air 0:27:02.119 --> 0:27:05.639 and play along. They were good, Yes, without the training, 0:27:05.720 --> 0:27:09.520 they were good improv people, king of like a prop. 0:27:09.840 --> 0:27:11.600 And what I love about it is my parents are 0:27:11.600 --> 0:27:13.919 in their seventies now, and you know, and my mom 0:27:14.080 --> 0:27:16.760 was always like, you'd say, you know, you go, oh God, 0:27:17.000 --> 0:27:20.399 Dad is so funny. To thank god, thank god he's funny. 0:27:21.040 --> 0:27:23.159 We had so much laughter in our house, you know, 0:27:23.280 --> 0:27:27.200 despite any any dysfunction, as any family, we always laugh. 0:27:27.760 --> 0:27:29.480 Where did you go? To college. I went to college 0:27:29.520 --> 0:27:32.440 at University of Tennessee. I first went to a local 0:27:32.560 --> 0:27:35.240 college in Orlando, a community college for two years. So 0:27:35.320 --> 0:27:38.080 you moved to Florida. I moved to Florida. My dad 0:27:38.160 --> 0:27:40.400 went down for a T and T for that antitrust 0:27:40.440 --> 0:27:44.240 suit that they had. Um. Yeah, it was like seven 0:27:44.280 --> 0:27:46.760 at late seventies. You know. We had gone a few 0:27:46.840 --> 0:27:49.199 times down to Disney World with our little pop up 0:27:49.240 --> 0:27:52.160 camper and like that was a vacation place. That wasn't 0:27:52.160 --> 0:27:54.680 a place you move. And my parents sent us a 0:27:54.760 --> 0:27:57.040 little brought back a little polaroid of the house they bought, 0:27:57.040 --> 0:27:59.040 and it was, you know, about seventy tho dollars. But 0:27:59.160 --> 0:28:02.119 it had this gig anna pool because in Orlando so 0:28:02.200 --> 0:28:05.439 many people have pools, even with you know, inexpensive houses, 0:28:05.720 --> 0:28:07.320 and we just thought we won the lottery. You know. 0:28:07.400 --> 0:28:10.200 It was just insane. But we got there, and it 0:28:10.359 --> 0:28:13.720 was really hard the first year. I just never liked 0:28:13.800 --> 0:28:16.080 to be I mean, I think being new is a 0:28:16.240 --> 0:28:19.440 very important thing to do for growth. I think it 0:28:19.520 --> 0:28:22.560 really galvanizes a lot of stuff inside you, of who 0:28:22.640 --> 0:28:25.200 you are and everything. And I'm glad in hindsight, but 0:28:25.280 --> 0:28:27.359 I used to just wake up in the morning and 0:28:27.440 --> 0:28:30.240 just cry. And you know, just because I had so 0:28:30.400 --> 0:28:32.879 much familiarity and comfort with all the kids that I 0:28:32.960 --> 0:28:35.960 went to school. It's just I was always quiet at first, 0:28:36.080 --> 0:28:38.680 you know, and then by my senior year, I got 0:28:38.760 --> 0:28:41.680 really involved in school, and the girls, you know, would 0:28:41.720 --> 0:28:44.240 go because I remember when you'd come in, you know, 0:28:44.480 --> 0:28:47.200 you came in your junior year and I'd say, oh, really, really, 0:28:47.280 --> 0:28:49.520 because I came in my sophomore year and sat next 0:28:49.520 --> 0:28:51.520 to you for an entire class and you were, you know, 0:28:51.840 --> 0:28:54.640 a cold little ass wipe to me. But you know 0:28:54.760 --> 0:28:56.880 that's right. Now we're friends. And and what was the 0:28:56.920 --> 0:28:59.320 difference for you in terms of the people if you can, 0:28:59.520 --> 0:29:02.560 if you can drinks from Illinois to Florida, I mean Florida. 0:29:03.760 --> 0:29:05.600 I mean, one thing that really helped me was I 0:29:05.720 --> 0:29:08.760 was always I always sang. So I went in immediately 0:29:08.800 --> 0:29:12.120 into a concert choir, and so that was wonderful because 0:29:12.160 --> 0:29:15.400 then I had a social group pretty quickly. But the 0:29:15.480 --> 0:29:18.040 one thing about Florida that was so different that freaked 0:29:18.080 --> 0:29:21.280 me out was that, you know, I never thought I 0:29:21.520 --> 0:29:24.760 was growing up in Illinois and necessarily I mean a 0:29:25.000 --> 0:29:27.880 cold sort of atmosphere. It was emotionally warm. I had 0:29:27.960 --> 0:29:30.640 great friends, you know, my family warm. But when I 0:29:30.680 --> 0:29:35.080 got to Florida, everybody hugged constantly the other way. Everyone 0:29:35.280 --> 0:29:38.720 was so affectionate in such a crazy way that I 0:29:38.880 --> 0:29:44.000 remember saying, it's I remember coming home and going stop 0:29:44.120 --> 0:29:47.960 cupping my nipples tenor I don't know you in the choir, no, 0:29:48.120 --> 0:29:50.840 but people would um. I kept thinking it was our 0:29:51.000 --> 0:29:53.080 director's birthday or something. I was like, what the hell 0:29:53.160 --> 0:29:55.600 is going on in here? Everyone is hugging our teacher, 0:29:55.920 --> 0:29:59.240 hugging each other. I realized it was just that was 0:29:59.360 --> 0:30:01.640 just the way everyone did, you know. And then my girl, 0:30:01.920 --> 0:30:05.240 my um, who eventually became my girlfriend of many years, 0:30:05.600 --> 0:30:07.239 was my best friend in high school, and we were 0:30:07.360 --> 0:30:09.480 very huggy, and that all worked out because it was 0:30:10.600 --> 0:30:14.440 not the teacher, not until after we graduated exactly. Then 0:30:14.520 --> 0:30:16.880 then you went to the college down there. I went 0:30:16.920 --> 0:30:18.640 to the college for two years down there, and it 0:30:18.680 --> 0:30:22.800 was um, well, their theater department was amazing, their art 0:30:22.880 --> 0:30:27.120 department was incredible, and I was also an artist Seminole 0:30:27.160 --> 0:30:30.960 Community College. But I mean the heads of those departments 0:30:31.040 --> 0:30:34.560 and the music department were so incredible that today they 0:30:34.640 --> 0:30:38.280 still are some of my favorite people that have gotten 0:30:38.320 --> 0:30:41.600 taught because my art professor, Grady Kimsey, who I'm a 0:30:41.640 --> 0:30:44.920 really good friend with still, he had gone to UT 0:30:45.200 --> 0:30:47.800 years and years ago and he just kept saying, you 0:30:47.840 --> 0:30:50.480 gotta go check out UT. And then my girlfriend was 0:30:50.720 --> 0:30:53.320 going to North Carolina, so it kind of you know, 0:30:53.360 --> 0:30:55.440 I'd go up and visit, and I'd never been up 0:30:55.480 --> 0:30:57.400 in those mountains, and I just fell in love with 0:30:57.480 --> 0:31:00.239 them there because I'm such a nature freaking I went 0:31:00.360 --> 0:31:02.800 crazy for it. And when you left there, what happened? 0:31:03.760 --> 0:31:06.640 And then I finished college and I came home and 0:31:06.920 --> 0:31:09.440 I worked at the theme parks. What's that? Like? How 0:31:09.480 --> 0:31:11.960 do you get the job at Disney? Like, who's is 0:31:12.040 --> 0:31:15.720 there somebody who's like a casting person? Yeah, there's talent people. 0:31:15.880 --> 0:31:18.360 And you know, I had worked with an improv group 0:31:18.480 --> 0:31:23.320 called sac Theater in Orlando. They at the time contracted 0:31:23.360 --> 0:31:25.360 out to Disney. So they did all the like in 0:31:25.480 --> 0:31:28.320 Apcott in Italy, the Comedian Dollar too. You know, they 0:31:28.360 --> 0:31:30.480 would do all the comedy that's kind of the roaming 0:31:30.920 --> 0:31:35.000 atmospheric comedy. And then they built Pleasure Island, which was 0:31:35.080 --> 0:31:40.040 the nighttime Disney. You know, all the nightclubs Pleasure Island 0:31:40.400 --> 0:31:46.480 Pleasure Island. Welcome Come, Mickey has no panther on. It 0:31:46.640 --> 0:31:51.720 was New Year's Eve every night. Asure Island an entire 0:31:51.960 --> 0:31:55.479 island they built that had all these clubs. They had 0:31:55.560 --> 0:31:58.360 like a big discotheque. They had a country Western sort 0:31:58.400 --> 0:32:00.600 of music club. It was is kind of like a 0:32:00.760 --> 0:32:04.680 strip of nighttime establishments, but all in Disney. But it 0:32:04.760 --> 0:32:06.760 was late night and it kind of a downtown feel, 0:32:06.800 --> 0:32:09.880 like a Custer. And they would have like New Year's 0:32:09.920 --> 0:32:12.440 Eve every night, so they'd have dancers come out and 0:32:12.480 --> 0:32:15.880 they dance. And it was really a fabulous place to 0:32:15.920 --> 0:32:19.640 work as a young actor because it felt cool and 0:32:19.760 --> 0:32:21.600 I could and I did a lot of improvisation, but 0:32:21.680 --> 0:32:24.840 then we also did like radio shows and singing. We 0:32:24.920 --> 0:32:27.760 could be kind of dirty. I mean, it wasn't filthy. 0:32:27.880 --> 0:32:30.960 I didn't. I didn't go full till my typical filth 0:32:31.040 --> 0:32:36.040 that you know of. I didn't pell out. But you 0:32:36.080 --> 0:32:38.200 would interact with the guests, so there, you know, you'd 0:32:38.240 --> 0:32:40.800 be sitting there with some old British dude who's getting 0:32:40.880 --> 0:32:43.160 drunk and just get into a conversation. And I played 0:32:43.200 --> 0:32:46.480 Pamelia Perkins, the president of the Adventurous Club, and it 0:32:46.520 --> 0:32:48.480 was kind of a teddy Roosevelt era sort of place, 0:32:48.480 --> 0:32:51.640 and I had this big buffont and I could just 0:32:52.000 --> 0:32:54.000 be as body as hell. I mean I would get 0:32:54.000 --> 0:32:55.960 on guy's laps and you know, have my legs up 0:32:55.960 --> 0:32:57.680 in the are because I was like a matron sort 0:32:57.720 --> 0:33:00.320 of character. And we used to have such a asked. 0:33:00.720 --> 0:33:04.720 Also during that time, I went down Penis Avenue for 0:33:04.720 --> 0:33:07.680 about two years. I was dating men for a little while, 0:33:07.800 --> 0:33:09.800 and I would hook up with people, I mean just 0:33:10.080 --> 0:33:14.320 meeting like different people. I'd meet, well, just guests, and 0:33:14.480 --> 0:33:17.640 you know, you'd meet some super super charismatic, handsome person. 0:33:17.760 --> 0:33:19.800 You'd be sitting there laughing and you being in costume, 0:33:19.840 --> 0:33:22.480 and then they'd be like, what are you guys doing after? 0:33:22.600 --> 0:33:25.040 You know the characters? What do these characters do next? 0:33:25.240 --> 0:33:27.640 And there was a restaurant and there were bars down 0:33:27.680 --> 0:33:29.760 the street that they would let us after work go to. 0:33:29.920 --> 0:33:32.080 So you just take change all your clothes and you know, 0:33:32.160 --> 0:33:34.880 blow dry your hair and go. Now I'm twenty five again. 0:33:34.960 --> 0:33:37.840 And I'd walk down there and and it was New 0:33:37.920 --> 0:33:41.200 Year's Eve every day it was New Year's but you 0:33:41.440 --> 0:33:44.920 vomited every day and lost your virginity every day. What 0:33:45.080 --> 0:33:49.400 was the character Pamelion, Pamelia Perkins, Pamelia Pamelia Perkins. Of 0:33:49.480 --> 0:33:52.520 course he's banging the guests two at a time. I 0:33:52.600 --> 0:33:54.920 mean for an actor. At that time, I was making 0:33:55.520 --> 0:33:58.480 really good money and had full insurance everything, had a car, 0:33:58.680 --> 0:34:00.600 rented a little house. You know, was kind of plenty 0:34:00.640 --> 0:34:04.000 of fun. It was. It was a beautiful It was 0:34:04.080 --> 0:34:06.520 a beautiful life. And then I got start crazy with it. 0:34:06.600 --> 0:34:09.680 And that was just about when happened. But how does 0:34:09.800 --> 0:34:12.520 how does that happen? How did they find you? It was? 0:34:12.800 --> 0:34:17.000 It was a beautifully random, amazing thing. I had worked 0:34:17.080 --> 0:34:20.520 with Sick Theater. They had a theater downtown. They would 0:34:20.560 --> 0:34:22.200 call me every so often and I go do a 0:34:22.360 --> 0:34:24.600 set with them where I do a character that I 0:34:24.680 --> 0:34:27.120 had written. And so they said, you know, we're going 0:34:27.160 --> 0:34:30.520 to do this sketch comedy pilot called chuckle Head, And 0:34:30.600 --> 0:34:32.640 they said will you be in it and do those characters? 0:34:32.680 --> 0:34:34.600 And I said sure. I mean I was doing like 0:34:34.680 --> 0:34:36.520 I got beat up in America's most wanted, you know, 0:34:36.600 --> 0:34:39.360 all the local all the things that were shooting in Orlando. 0:34:39.400 --> 0:34:41.600 I would do, you know, And I did this lottery 0:34:41.719 --> 0:34:45.360 character for years in about three states that was played 0:34:45.440 --> 0:34:48.640 the Worlitz organ you know, sexy characters, ale, you know, 0:34:49.600 --> 0:34:53.480 but all from the Matron handbook. I was born at 0:34:53.560 --> 0:34:57.320 fifty Alec. But they called me. My agent called me 0:34:57.400 --> 0:34:59.120 one day and she said, are you sitting down? I 0:34:59.200 --> 0:35:03.280 said yes. She said, Saturday Night Live saw that pilot 0:35:03.880 --> 0:35:07.960 and Lauren wants to meet you. And I'm like, okay, 0:35:08.200 --> 0:35:12.000 for what? And she goes, now it is not an audition, 0:35:12.480 --> 0:35:14.279 but he wants to fly you up and talk to you. 0:35:14.360 --> 0:35:17.319 And I'm like, well, what is it? An orgy? Am 0:35:17.360 --> 0:35:23.440 I being summoned? What in the f And I said okay, 0:35:23.640 --> 0:35:26.439 And so I flew up there. He was two hours, 0:35:26.600 --> 0:35:29.520 you know, or three hours late for the meeting, but 0:35:29.880 --> 0:35:33.839 he was super nice. And I sat with Marcy Klein 0:35:34.000 --> 0:35:36.520 and Ayala in the talent room and I was so 0:35:36.719 --> 0:35:40.399 nervous that they ordered food and they said, um, we're 0:35:40.480 --> 0:35:43.760 ordering zen palette, you know, vegetarian, we're ordering zen palette. 0:35:43.800 --> 0:35:46.640 Do you want anything? And I said, just just like 0:35:46.760 --> 0:35:49.359 a couple white rice would be good, just like rice. 0:35:49.600 --> 0:35:51.879 And I just got a dry cup of white rice 0:35:51.960 --> 0:35:54.439 and set and ate it. I went in and he said, 0:35:55.120 --> 0:35:57.600 we have just cleaned house. It was it was when 0:35:57.640 --> 0:36:00.200 well Ferrell and everybody k He said, we've cleaned how house, 0:36:00.600 --> 0:36:04.880 we're starting over. You know, it's gonna rise again, We're hoping, 0:36:05.000 --> 0:36:06.960 and we're going to try to infuse it with new talent, 0:36:07.080 --> 0:36:10.080 and we would like to hire you to be a writer. 0:36:10.640 --> 0:36:12.400 And I was like, oh, well, I've never done that. 0:36:12.520 --> 0:36:14.040 I you know, I don't even I mean, I didn't 0:36:14.080 --> 0:36:16.239 even use a computer at that point. And I said, 0:36:16.280 --> 0:36:18.720 I can't, you know. And if you tell them you can't, 0:36:18.880 --> 0:36:21.879 then they will. You will keep saying well, and he said, well, 0:36:22.120 --> 0:36:25.000 we'll show you, you know. But it was so quick 0:36:25.480 --> 0:36:27.799 that it made me worry that there was something wrong, 0:36:28.000 --> 0:36:30.080 like there was a scam or something like this was 0:36:30.239 --> 0:36:32.800 all some kind of freaking joke, because I was like, 0:36:32.920 --> 0:36:35.839 this can't be. And soon after that, were you moving 0:36:35.880 --> 0:36:38.160 to New York? Um? I had five days to move, 0:36:38.960 --> 0:36:41.120 packed up my whole life, gave my animals to my mom, 0:36:41.200 --> 0:36:45.960 temporarily went up to New York City, and you know, 0:36:46.160 --> 0:36:52.520 just was just ungodly miserable, and I mean with fear. 0:36:53.080 --> 0:36:56.479 But Mike Shoemaker called me right before I left because 0:36:56.480 --> 0:36:59.000 I was starting to freak out to the point of going, 0:36:59.239 --> 0:37:01.920 I'm going to my dream place. I mean, I was 0:37:02.040 --> 0:37:03.839 obsessed with us now. When I was little, I used 0:37:03.840 --> 0:37:07.040 to audiotape it. I used to perform Rosanna, Rosanna Dana 0:37:07.120 --> 0:37:09.919 from my high school in the auditorium, and I thought, 0:37:09.960 --> 0:37:12.440 I'm just gonna be sitting around with like, you know, 0:37:12.600 --> 0:37:15.280 ten Harvard dudes looking at me, going who hired Kathy 0:37:15.320 --> 0:37:18.560 Bates light and you know, and why is she here? 0:37:18.840 --> 0:37:20.680 And I adore Kathy Baits by the way, but they 0:37:20.719 --> 0:37:22.440 were just you know, I thought that I would be 0:37:22.560 --> 0:37:25.600 so not of their world, of these writer early sort 0:37:25.640 --> 0:37:28.560 of people. And I didn't realize how many writers there 0:37:28.600 --> 0:37:33.000 are performers. And so Shoemaker called me, and I still 0:37:33.360 --> 0:37:35.400 thank him for this, because he really is the reason 0:37:35.440 --> 0:37:37.560 that I ended up getting the balls to get there. 0:37:37.640 --> 0:37:40.239 But he called and he said, some people want to 0:37:40.280 --> 0:37:42.400 say hi. And it was you know, Cindy Capanair and 0:37:42.480 --> 0:37:45.200 Lorina So and all these people that were new that 0:37:45.280 --> 0:37:47.520 were terrified, and they all got on the phone going, 0:37:47.680 --> 0:37:49.920 we can't wait to meet you. And I hung up 0:37:49.960 --> 0:37:51.839 the phone and I just burst into tears. I said, 0:37:51.880 --> 0:37:53.719 it's all gonna be okay, No matter what, it's gonna 0:37:53.760 --> 0:37:56.040 be okay. It's just a group of people it's almost 0:37:56.080 --> 0:37:58.040 like of all the years of doing plays, it's like 0:37:58.280 --> 0:38:01.799 it's a new cast getting manic. Seventeen years I've been 0:38:01.840 --> 0:38:07.799 there yet. And one of the biggest things that's changed 0:38:07.840 --> 0:38:11.719 in general to me is the Internet, Because when I 0:38:11.880 --> 0:38:14.120 was growing up and you were an actor, you had 0:38:14.160 --> 0:38:16.840 to create a body of work by really doing it 0:38:17.120 --> 0:38:20.000 and getting hired, and then they would give you access 0:38:20.040 --> 0:38:23.320 to tape of it. You know, you couldn't just go 0:38:23.600 --> 0:38:28.640 on machines and videotape yourself and make a beautifully edited, 0:38:28.840 --> 0:38:31.440 great comedy piece and put that on the internet. I mean, 0:38:32.200 --> 0:38:34.919 you just can't do it. The Internet has changed things profound. Yeah, 0:38:34.960 --> 0:38:37.600 its just and I think in a bad way. It 0:38:37.800 --> 0:38:40.799 gave people a sense of entitlement of there isn't as 0:38:40.880 --> 0:38:44.080 much awe of all of it because they do it themselves. 0:38:44.160 --> 0:38:46.040 So it's like, oh, yeah, I have you know this, 0:38:46.360 --> 0:38:48.560 I've done, I've done my show. You know, they create 0:38:48.640 --> 0:38:51.319 it themselves, which is very empowering and wonderful. And it's 0:38:51.320 --> 0:38:53.920 also getting a lot more comedy out there of hilarious 0:38:53.960 --> 0:38:56.720 people that would never usually walk into a room nervous 0:38:56.920 --> 0:39:00.400 in an audition, right right, right, that's the aims to me. 0:39:00.480 --> 0:39:03.160 To have been the condition for me, which is I've 0:39:03.200 --> 0:39:07.040 come to us and now and um the signals that 0:39:07.080 --> 0:39:10.120 I picked up in Hooks and all that crowd back 0:39:10.160 --> 0:39:17.200 then was, you know, my career wasn't that iconic to 0:39:17.520 --> 0:39:20.680 send up me and my career. And so it's not 0:39:20.760 --> 0:39:23.080 like I'm Stallone or Schwartz and Negress like that where 0:39:23.160 --> 0:39:25.799 we do that. So you come in and right away 0:39:25.840 --> 0:39:27.759 you pick up I've got to become like everybody else 0:39:27.800 --> 0:39:30.120 and become a member of the company. And as soon 0:39:30.160 --> 0:39:31.759 as I got that, as soon as I gotta picked 0:39:31.800 --> 0:39:34.399 up that vibe from them, I was, you know, asked 0:39:34.440 --> 0:39:36.560 to come back and come back and come back. And 0:39:36.880 --> 0:39:38.600 what it does is it for me as a performer, 0:39:38.800 --> 0:39:42.160 it's killed everything else that's supposed to be funny. Well, 0:39:42.239 --> 0:39:43.920 and I wonder what that's like for you where you're 0:39:43.960 --> 0:39:46.600 in the world where you work with the funniest people. 0:39:46.600 --> 0:39:48.600 No matter what people say about SNL, you know, it's 0:39:48.640 --> 0:39:50.360 not always gonna work, but when it works, it's I 0:39:50.600 --> 0:39:53.120 think it's the best. What's it been like for you? Well, 0:39:53.160 --> 0:39:56.080 you get so you get so into you know, isolated 0:39:56.120 --> 0:40:00.399 there in great ways, in weird ways, because it's there's 0:40:00.480 --> 0:40:03.400 nothing like it. You cannot compare that experience with anything, 0:40:03.600 --> 0:40:06.040 but it really is so intense. And you you know, 0:40:06.160 --> 0:40:10.040 I started writing movies two years ago and working into that, 0:40:10.320 --> 0:40:13.080 I realized how stretched out the time is to the 0:40:13.200 --> 0:40:16.399 point where, you know, I mean, we'll go between dress 0:40:16.440 --> 0:40:18.040 and air and Lauren will say, I don't like the 0:40:18.080 --> 0:40:20.600 whole top of that, like add you know, a couple 0:40:20.640 --> 0:40:22.839 of new jokes, So you're you're coming up with new 0:40:22.920 --> 0:40:25.520 jokes at eleven fifteen And let me let me just 0:40:25.600 --> 0:40:28.200 put a finer point on that for our radio audience, 0:40:28.280 --> 0:40:32.799 because um that SNL does a full dress rehearsal at 0:40:32.880 --> 0:40:35.560 eight o'clock on Saturday night with an audience with a 0:40:35.680 --> 0:40:38.759 lengthier show, and they're gonna pick what worked best and 0:40:38.800 --> 0:40:41.200 then they're going to be right. So when that finishes 0:40:41.239 --> 0:40:46.719 at ten, maybe ten fifteen, maybe ten thirty, who show show, 0:40:47.000 --> 0:40:48.759 and then you've got an hour where you're sitting in 0:40:48.840 --> 0:40:51.600 a room. And in that hour between shows, that's when 0:40:52.080 --> 0:40:54.359 Lauren and the producers and their riders edit that show 0:40:54.440 --> 0:40:56.120 and choose what they're going to do and ask for rewrites. 0:40:56.120 --> 0:40:58.120 And they're getting rid of that audience. They're bringing in 0:40:58.200 --> 0:41:01.320 a new one. The band is warming up the new audience, 0:41:01.480 --> 0:41:04.520 and you'll walk through and have a task to change something, 0:41:04.600 --> 0:41:06.480 and you're walking by these people that are walking in 0:41:07.200 --> 0:41:09.640 to their seats looking like I'm so excited I'm here, 0:41:09.680 --> 0:41:11.440 and you're like, I don't know what we're gonna have 0:41:11.640 --> 0:41:13.520 for you, but we're gonna do it right now. You know, 0:41:13.880 --> 0:41:16.680 I'm pretty sure that if like Dr Oz did my 0:41:16.800 --> 0:41:18.759 actual age, you know how they test you and you're 0:41:18.760 --> 0:41:21.040 actually I'm probably a hundred and eighty now because the 0:41:21.120 --> 0:41:24.600 stress of that. It's just such adrenaline. And you know, 0:41:24.920 --> 0:41:27.480 but I mean the beautiful thing about s and L 0:41:27.719 --> 0:41:30.480 is hosts will come in and and you know, never 0:41:30.600 --> 0:41:33.080 you because you were always very approachable, but like you know, 0:41:33.160 --> 0:41:35.279 host will come in with their people and and they're 0:41:35.400 --> 0:41:38.840 very nice and very scared, but they have a little 0:41:38.880 --> 0:41:41.520 bit of that sometimes because they're fearful and they have 0:41:41.640 --> 0:41:44.319 people protecting them. And by the end of the week, 0:41:44.600 --> 0:41:46.600 they just always at that after party, you know, they're 0:41:46.640 --> 0:41:49.680 sitting with everybody and laying across everybody because it feels 0:41:49.719 --> 0:41:52.799 like theater. It feels like I'm I'm in theater camp 0:41:52.960 --> 0:42:04.280 and this is what I miss doing. In a minute, 0:42:04.320 --> 0:42:08.080 Paula Pell shares her plans for retirement. I want to 0:42:08.160 --> 0:42:10.759 go live the leftbian life. I want to be on 0:42:10.840 --> 0:42:14.280 a lesbian far. I want to wear my dance go clacks. 0:42:26.400 --> 0:42:29.239 This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the thing. 0:42:30.080 --> 0:42:33.440 My guest, Paula Pell has been writing sketches at Saturday 0:42:33.520 --> 0:42:36.720 Night Live for almost two decades. She no longer works 0:42:36.800 --> 0:42:39.799 full time on the show. Lately, she's branched into both 0:42:39.880 --> 0:42:43.880 TV and film comedies as well. Even still, Hell admits 0:42:43.920 --> 0:42:46.080 that on Sundays she wants to curl up on the 0:42:46.160 --> 0:42:49.520 couch and watch something well not funny. Oh my god, 0:42:49.920 --> 0:42:52.759 you don't want to watch the sorrow in the pity now? 0:42:52.880 --> 0:42:57.200 My my gal of fourteen years. She watches a lot 0:42:57.280 --> 0:43:00.040 of TV, and she watches shows that I wouldn't and 0:43:00.160 --> 0:43:03.319 really watch, like Castle or you know, like Hawai Fi 0:43:03.400 --> 0:43:05.920 Bo or like Murder Shore and I mean, you know 0:43:06.080 --> 0:43:08.560 murder shows, C S I and C I S. She'll 0:43:08.600 --> 0:43:11.040 watch all She'll take She'll tape all these shows in 0:43:11.120 --> 0:43:14.440 like elementary, all these new shows, and I'll get totally 0:43:14.520 --> 0:43:18.000 hooked on things and realize that I just love I 0:43:18.120 --> 0:43:21.000 always loved having drama and comedy together. I mean, that's 0:43:21.040 --> 0:43:23.040 the fun thing about writing movies now is you can 0:43:23.120 --> 0:43:25.960 have a moment that's just a heart wrenching moment in 0:43:26.040 --> 0:43:29.080 a comedy that's that's real. You know, that feels more 0:43:29.239 --> 0:43:31.920 three dimensional, because after seventeen years of sketches, you do 0:43:32.200 --> 0:43:34.920 get a little stir crazy with feeling like you're just 0:43:35.040 --> 0:43:37.719 writing something on the surface. I mean, it's great to 0:43:37.760 --> 0:43:40.520 make people laugh, but when I go home, I love 0:43:40.640 --> 0:43:44.360 to watch dramas or some reality things. I love to 0:43:44.480 --> 0:43:47.759 just not think about comedy. I do the show and 0:43:47.840 --> 0:43:50.600 I go out there and it's really um and I'll say, 0:43:50.960 --> 0:43:53.759 I'm never doing this yet, this is ridiculous. I can't 0:43:53.800 --> 0:43:57.799 be bothered with this toastiness people to These people are 0:43:57.880 --> 0:44:01.359 all young, and they're all crazy and puerile and all 0:44:01.360 --> 0:44:04.399 they talk about his thoughts and brazils and so forth. 0:44:04.800 --> 0:44:08.120 And then I'm gonna go do as you like it 0:44:08.200 --> 0:44:11.080 in the park. Then of course, you know, Lauren calls me. 0:44:11.120 --> 0:44:13.359 I'm like, okay, yeah, he'll call me like I get 0:44:13.440 --> 0:44:16.040 thrown off the plane on American Airlines for for playing 0:44:16.080 --> 0:44:19.239 words with friends. The phone rings like three or four 0:44:19.280 --> 0:44:22.080 days there it's Lauren and he literally, he literally he 0:44:22.200 --> 0:44:29.840 literally goes, so perhaps we should do something, and I 0:44:29.960 --> 0:44:32.160 was like, oh my god, I can't believe you people 0:44:32.200 --> 0:44:36.880 are insane. This would be the week, This would be 0:44:37.120 --> 0:44:39.840 the week, you know which like that thing where we 0:44:39.960 --> 0:44:43.840 have to do it now? Now you are you left 0:44:43.960 --> 0:44:46.960 to do a television show I left about six years 0:44:47.000 --> 0:44:49.560 ago to do. I wrote a pilot called Thick and 0:44:49.680 --> 0:44:53.400 Thin that was about too fat sisters that grew up 0:44:53.440 --> 0:44:59.120 fat and one gets really hot and thin and beautiful. Yeah, 0:44:59.480 --> 0:45:02.200 we shot the pilot. It got picked up for like thirteen, 0:45:02.440 --> 0:45:06.759 but it was a bad year for multi camera sitcoms. 0:45:06.800 --> 0:45:08.520 It was kind of when they were getting phased out. 0:45:08.680 --> 0:45:11.279 And it was also about a subject that was a 0:45:11.360 --> 0:45:15.160 little weird. Still back in that era of you know, 0:45:15.280 --> 0:45:17.840 there wasn't a whole bunch of stuff with weight stuff, 0:45:17.880 --> 0:45:22.279 and I really wanted like real people that look fat, 0:45:22.360 --> 0:45:24.080 you know, that look fat because I had struggled with 0:45:24.160 --> 0:45:25.960 my weight all my life and lost huge amounts of 0:45:25.960 --> 0:45:28.400 weight a couple of times in my life. The process 0:45:28.440 --> 0:45:31.439 of developing a network show like that is so hard, 0:45:31.680 --> 0:45:34.839 and I really, in hindsight learned so you know, learned 0:45:34.920 --> 0:45:37.680 so many things after the fact, you know, which one 0:45:37.719 --> 0:45:41.720 thing you learned that, you can say, Well, the biggest 0:45:41.800 --> 0:45:45.560 thing I learned was I'm a people pleaser, and I 0:45:45.600 --> 0:45:48.200 always like to get to know people and see the 0:45:48.280 --> 0:45:49.920 good sides of them, and I wanted to have a 0:45:49.960 --> 0:45:52.320 lot of positive energy with the with them because I 0:45:52.360 --> 0:45:54.399 had known so many people that developed stuff that were 0:45:54.440 --> 0:45:59.600 like welcome to hell. But I befriended everyone so intensely, 0:45:59.800 --> 0:46:02.920 you know, especially like network people and everything. I befriended everyone, 0:46:03.280 --> 0:46:06.280 So then there was this sort of discomfort at telling 0:46:06.320 --> 0:46:08.240 them things they didn't want to hear, or me pushing 0:46:08.280 --> 0:46:12.200 back in bigger ways. And because I had already established 0:46:12.239 --> 0:46:14.040 that we're all just friends and we're all having fun 0:46:14.120 --> 0:46:17.080 and we're laughing, then they would suggest things that were 0:46:17.200 --> 0:46:20.879 just show ruining and I would just be like, okay, well, 0:46:21.000 --> 0:46:22.920 you know, and I just at the time didn't really 0:46:23.000 --> 0:46:26.320 have my voice as a as a creative person to 0:46:26.480 --> 0:46:29.279 lead something like that, you know, So I I regret that, 0:46:29.400 --> 0:46:32.480 and I regret not um pushing more. I mean, casting 0:46:32.640 --> 0:46:35.640 was you know, a little brutal, just because of the weight. 0:46:35.719 --> 0:46:38.040 Thing is they would they would bring people in that 0:46:38.160 --> 0:46:41.080 were I wanted real people that were you know, I 0:46:41.160 --> 0:46:43.480 wanted the other sister to want to be a real 0:46:43.640 --> 0:46:47.360 heavy person. And and when they'd audition heavy people sometimes 0:46:47.400 --> 0:46:49.960 I'd watch their faces when they're auditioning them, and they're 0:46:50.000 --> 0:46:51.719 kind of like looking at their bodies, and I'm going, 0:46:51.800 --> 0:46:53.719 this is not good that they don't get it that 0:46:53.880 --> 0:46:57.080 like that. You know, rose Anne was freaking huge hit show. 0:46:57.160 --> 0:46:59.399 It's like, come on. I don't even remember who said 0:46:59.440 --> 0:47:01.919 this to me, but one of the network people pulled 0:47:01.960 --> 0:47:03.719 me aside during one of the castings and she said, 0:47:03.760 --> 0:47:06.040 did you audition this other girl for that part for 0:47:06.120 --> 0:47:08.880 the heavy sister? And I said, no, I auditioned her 0:47:08.920 --> 0:47:11.160 for the thin sister. And she said you couldn't pad her, 0:47:11.280 --> 0:47:13.880 could you. And I just remember walking away going, this 0:47:14.040 --> 0:47:17.200 is so dead in the water. You know, now movies, 0:47:17.280 --> 0:47:19.840 you're doing a movie now, Yeah, I did. I worked 0:47:19.960 --> 0:47:22.680 a little bit on Bridesmaids. I just came a couple 0:47:22.719 --> 0:47:25.040 of different times and just you know, pitch jokes on 0:47:25.080 --> 0:47:26.799 the set, did that kind of thing. Had never done 0:47:26.880 --> 0:47:30.200 anything movie wise ever, And I really really had fun 0:47:30.280 --> 0:47:33.120 doing it. I really enjoyed it. And then I Judd 0:47:33.160 --> 0:47:35.960 started hiring me to do some rewrites on different movies 0:47:36.000 --> 0:47:39.480 and punch ups and stuff. And then last summer I 0:47:39.560 --> 0:47:42.200 worked on my first full movie experience with This Is forty. 0:47:42.280 --> 0:47:45.080 I was the executive producer on that. I've finally kind 0:47:45.120 --> 0:47:47.520 of gotten my foothold in the movie thing now and 0:47:47.840 --> 0:47:50.080 it's really fun. I really love it. I mean, it's 0:47:50.120 --> 0:47:52.400 a lot of it's a lot of waiting around for 0:47:52.760 --> 0:47:54.440 news on things. It's a lot of you know, I 0:47:54.560 --> 0:47:56.799 can't plan anything because you don't know what your next 0:47:56.880 --> 0:47:59.360 year is going to be you find out. But so 0:47:59.560 --> 0:48:01.920 beautiful to be able to work at home with my 0:48:02.040 --> 0:48:06.480 animals and D and just like to be buddy, aren't you. 0:48:06.800 --> 0:48:08.319 Well you always come back to the same thing when 0:48:08.320 --> 0:48:10.320 I've spoken to you. When you left, I was despondent 0:48:10.400 --> 0:48:12.360 when you left because you know, you were such a 0:48:12.440 --> 0:48:14.400 great You're such a great writer. You're one of my 0:48:14.440 --> 0:48:18.920 favorite writers. So funny, but everything mean and you. And 0:48:19.040 --> 0:48:20.680 then when you left and you said the same thing, 0:48:20.719 --> 0:48:22.080 You're like, I always want to go home to D 0:48:22.239 --> 0:48:26.520 and my animals, animal animals, to go live the lesbian life. 0:48:26.680 --> 0:48:29.239 I want to be on a lesbian fire. I want 0:48:29.280 --> 0:48:32.239 to wear my dants, go Clag's. I want to get 0:48:32.680 --> 0:48:35.000 a mag light and go under a dumpster and get 0:48:35.080 --> 0:48:39.799 some feral cats out of there. I have a horse 0:48:39.960 --> 0:48:42.840 up there, I have you know, just it's so beautiful 0:48:42.920 --> 0:48:45.120 and inexpensive up there in the Hudson Valley. It's like 0:48:45.200 --> 0:48:49.360 the amazing place. But also, um, just I'm realizing to 0:48:49.600 --> 0:48:52.399 just the finite amount of time. You know, I've spent 0:48:52.480 --> 0:48:54.520 more time since I've been doing the movie stuff the 0:48:54.640 --> 0:48:57.400 last two years, I've spent more time with my family. 0:48:57.560 --> 0:48:59.400 I've been down in Florida a lot to visit them. 0:49:00.040 --> 0:49:03.920 It's just feeling so much better for me. And also 0:49:04.080 --> 0:49:06.239 I love like Lauren whenever I'm there. I did the 0:49:06.320 --> 0:49:09.600 Louis c. K Show, and I'm doing this next to here, 0:49:09.680 --> 0:49:12.359 and you know, Lauren will say to me, it's still fun, right, 0:49:12.480 --> 0:49:14.759 it's fun. You had fun, And I go, oh my god, 0:49:14.800 --> 0:49:17.759 it's it's amazing. But if I did it all the 0:49:17.840 --> 0:49:19.400 time now, I would be like a you know, a 0:49:19.520 --> 0:49:23.200 bitter hag, because I just feel like I wasn't having 0:49:23.320 --> 0:49:26.240 time or energy to do other things. And also everyone 0:49:26.360 --> 0:49:28.640 is is very young. I mean my nieces and nephews 0:49:28.719 --> 0:49:32.880 I saw delivered out of my sister's uh the gene 0:49:33.239 --> 0:49:36.000 and they're in their mid twenties and ones a physician's 0:49:36.040 --> 0:49:38.920 assistant ones. I mean, I've named myself at S and 0:49:39.040 --> 0:49:40.879 L Nanny sn L because I'll sit at the real 0:49:40.920 --> 0:49:43.840 rate table, like what isn't the name of that here's 0:49:43.880 --> 0:49:48.480 that detective on television. I'm like my grandpa, Oh my god, Grandpa. 0:49:48.520 --> 0:49:49.960 They'll knock on the door and super ready and like 0:49:50.000 --> 0:49:53.720 Grandpa will be right there. It'll be right there. God 0:49:53.920 --> 0:49:56.000 damn it. But if you have a good night there, 0:49:56.040 --> 0:49:57.759 you feel like you're twenty again. I mean, you know, 0:49:58.040 --> 0:50:00.680 if you have a night where you feel like I mean, 0:50:00.920 --> 0:50:03.839 last week I had a really fun Scotch I wrote 0:50:03.840 --> 0:50:06.520 with Kate McKinnon. I just went home on that old 0:50:06.640 --> 0:50:09.680 school SNL high, just a whole high, you know, like 0:50:09.760 --> 0:50:12.400 the whole weekend, just bouncing off the walls. And then 0:50:12.440 --> 0:50:14.080 you start going, maybe I could do this all the time. 0:50:14.160 --> 0:50:16.680 I got I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna I would 0:50:16.719 --> 0:50:18.040 leave there on after a good show, I leave there. 0:50:18.200 --> 0:50:21.600 I'm gonna be a cast. Addition, now, Twitter, you kill 0:50:21.640 --> 0:50:23.360 me on Twitter, thank you, and talked about like I 0:50:23.400 --> 0:50:24.759 was laying on a bed and I was having a 0:50:24.800 --> 0:50:26.200 great time, and I was eating sacks and I was 0:50:26.200 --> 0:50:28.120 really cozy and everything was just I felt so great, 0:50:28.160 --> 0:50:31.239 and then security guard came up, you know, tging his 0:50:31.320 --> 0:50:35.120 close man like the Tony Ben routine. People always really 0:50:35.200 --> 0:50:37.799 respond to my target tweets. Twitter is just another form 0:50:37.880 --> 0:50:40.520 for you. Twitter is really I got very addicted to 0:50:40.640 --> 0:50:42.440 it just because it's so simple and it's like a 0:50:42.560 --> 0:50:45.160 video game for comedy writers to just do a one 0:50:45.200 --> 0:50:48.600 liner about something. And I started doing these hey young 0:50:48.680 --> 0:50:52.359 girl tweets and I might do a little book of them, 0:50:52.600 --> 0:50:56.080 maybe um an illustrated. You know, my nieces, I just 0:50:56.320 --> 0:50:58.839 used to drive them insane when they were growing up 0:50:58.880 --> 0:51:04.280 because I was tamember, hey young girls, keep your boobs 0:51:04.320 --> 0:51:06.759 in your shirt, you're button your pants, your eyes on 0:51:06.840 --> 0:51:08.960 your dreams, your head in the cloud. You know, like 0:51:09.239 --> 0:51:11.000 you also say the thing about you if the guy 0:51:11.160 --> 0:51:15.759 does this. Yeah, the hey young girls stuff just came 0:51:15.760 --> 0:51:17.799 out of my nieces because I would bring them tests 0:51:17.800 --> 0:51:20.400 and l and they were just these dropped gorgeous girls 0:51:20.480 --> 0:51:23.000 and they would have people, I'm not talking about people 0:51:23.040 --> 0:51:24.840 just checking them out, but like at the if I 0:51:24.920 --> 0:51:28.320 brought them backstage or whatever, there'd be some some dude 0:51:28.400 --> 0:51:30.960 that would just end up coming up and saying, you know, 0:51:31.160 --> 0:51:34.200 really aggressive checking them out. And so they still imitate me. 0:51:34.560 --> 0:51:37.399 How I would grab them with my meaty, polish firm 0:51:37.719 --> 0:51:40.799 wife arm and she's spart ching you want to talk 0:51:40.840 --> 0:51:42.840 about it? I mean I would just become this raving 0:51:43.320 --> 0:51:45.759 crazy woman looking at them like get you know, And 0:51:45.880 --> 0:51:48.840 so I always i'd always be like, are your sexually active? 0:51:48.840 --> 0:51:51.280 I would always want to know all their details and everything, 0:51:51.400 --> 0:51:53.399 like a character out of a rock huts and yeah, 0:51:53.640 --> 0:51:57.440 the chaperone, Yeah, I'm the chaperone. That's that's uh, storrying 0:51:57.560 --> 0:52:01.080 my son away from the hoochie hoochie dance. It's ironic 0:52:01.200 --> 0:52:04.840 that Paula Pell has thrived in the notoriously cutthroat culture 0:52:05.160 --> 0:52:07.880 of SNL. You get a sense that she is by 0:52:07.960 --> 0:52:12.440 nature a maternal figure, often encouraging up and coming comedy writers. 0:52:12.760 --> 0:52:14.360 Like I've always said about us and L, it's like 0:52:14.480 --> 0:52:17.480 the funny rises to the top with it. And if 0:52:17.560 --> 0:52:21.080 somebody's super funny and has abandoned and enjoy and they're 0:52:21.120 --> 0:52:23.160 not trying, you know, I don't like ever with a 0:52:23.440 --> 0:52:27.160 comedy person them acting like someone else or acting dirty 0:52:27.280 --> 0:52:29.239 just to be funny. I'm the filthiest person on earth. 0:52:29.280 --> 0:52:31.960 But if it's not funny dirty, if I'm not being 0:52:32.000 --> 0:52:34.880 funny dirty, you know, then forget it, because there's got 0:52:35.000 --> 0:52:39.080 to be some class to my to my volvol of 0:52:39.120 --> 0:52:42.040 a joke does not have a class to it, then 0:52:42.120 --> 0:52:44.759 forget it. But you know, for a while, there are 0:52:45.160 --> 0:52:48.080 some auditions I would watch where girls would come out 0:52:48.160 --> 0:52:50.040 and just try to just sex it up and be 0:52:50.120 --> 0:52:52.520 funny and dirty, you know, and it's like that's you 0:52:52.600 --> 0:52:54.440 feel like, not all of them, certainly, but enough of them. 0:52:54.480 --> 0:52:55.920 They go out in front of a camera, a lot 0:52:56.000 --> 0:52:57.839 of them in the comedy world, and they think feel like, well, 0:52:57.840 --> 0:52:59.160 I don't want to go too far over this song 0:52:59.160 --> 0:53:01.120 because I don't want to lose this othern thing. I 0:53:01.200 --> 0:53:03.279 really would like to kiss Leo in a movie, right, 0:53:03.440 --> 0:53:04.480 I want to be as much as I think. You 0:53:04.520 --> 0:53:07.319 don't want to see anyone thinking too hard while they're 0:53:07.520 --> 0:53:10.120 you know, the the greatest auditions at SNL were people 0:53:10.160 --> 0:53:13.040 that came in purely as themselves, came in, did a 0:53:13.280 --> 0:53:15.719 bunch of craziest characters, and you just went, this is 0:53:15.800 --> 0:53:18.759 a force of nature. What is this? What is this human? Like? 0:53:18.880 --> 0:53:20.600 They were making me laugh so hard and I don't 0:53:20.640 --> 0:53:23.000 even know what where they're getting it from. Women have 0:53:23.160 --> 0:53:25.000 that the condition though, where it's like it's like they 0:53:25.080 --> 0:53:26.640 sit there and they you know, I mean, I've seen 0:53:26.680 --> 0:53:29.440 women who they would make fun of actresses. I mean, 0:53:29.520 --> 0:53:32.680 I'm took a comedy. They would just tear apart, they 0:53:32.680 --> 0:53:36.960 would laceerate actresses who they thought were leaning too much 0:53:37.000 --> 0:53:40.680 on the sex button. And then those comedy actresses became 0:53:40.800 --> 0:53:43.640 stars and they popped another button and they put the 0:53:43.760 --> 0:53:45.719 makeup on their cleavage and they were like and they 0:53:45.760 --> 0:53:48.200 were just like they were camera ready. Mean, they became 0:53:48.239 --> 0:53:50.320 the thing they made fun of, and you and you 0:53:50.400 --> 0:53:54.160 realize for women, that's a tough angle. Comedy comedy girls 0:53:54.239 --> 0:53:56.759 tended to grow up being the goofy looking you know, 0:53:56.840 --> 0:53:59.279 the goofy looking ones that weren't getting the attention that way. 0:53:59.320 --> 0:54:01.560 So when they be um famous and have a lot 0:54:01.640 --> 0:54:04.960 of money and people putting beautiful dresses on them, I 0:54:05.040 --> 0:54:07.120 think they do go they do go that way, you know. 0:54:07.320 --> 0:54:09.480 I mean, I've got a lot of pretty sparkly pants 0:54:09.480 --> 0:54:11.440 suits I wear to the Emmy's now and I really 0:54:12.200 --> 0:54:21.480 get up my own ass on it. Paula pell is 0:54:21.560 --> 0:54:24.439 working on a few side projects, but as a fan, 0:54:24.719 --> 0:54:26.839 I hope that Paula doesn't give up her night job 0:54:27.320 --> 0:54:30.759 and has another seventeen years of sketch writing ahead of her. 0:54:31.239 --> 0:54:39.000 Thanks Sugar, this is Alec Baldwin. You can hear more 0:54:39.160 --> 0:54:43.320 conversations in our archive from Nobel Prize winning economists to 0:54:43.520 --> 0:54:49.080 NFL quarterbacks. They are the apex of physical freaks. You know, 0:54:49.320 --> 0:54:52.799 there are some guys that are three pounds that are 0:54:52.880 --> 0:54:55.960 running faster than running than your high school running back. 0:54:58.480 --> 0:55:01.040 Listen to more at here is the Thing dot org. 0:55:01.680 --> 0:55:04.520 Here's the Thing is produced by Emily Botine and Kathy 0:55:04.600 --> 0:55:09.200 Russo with Chris Bannon, Jim Briggs, Wendy Door, ed Herberstman, 0:55:09.440 --> 0:55:14.600 Melanie Hoops, Monica Hopkins, Trey Kay, Sharon Macheehee, and Lou Okowski. 0:55:15.120 --> 0:55:24.600 Thanks to Larry Josephson and the Radio Foundation m