Speaker 1: You and Me Both is a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: I'm Hillary Clinton and this is You and Me Both.
Speaker 1: On this week's episode, I get to do one of
Speaker 1: my favorite things, answering questions sent in by our listeners.
Speaker 1: We've heard from so many of you. From Anita down
Speaker 1: in Florida, Hello, I watched the whole podcast. I now
Speaker 1: know what a podcast is. To Kyle out in California. Hey, Hilary,
Speaker 1: it's Kyle Bockfunk supporter. Maybe you'll run again one day,
Speaker 1: maybe not. Don't blame you if you want the rift.
Speaker 1: We got emails from people across the United States and beyond,
Speaker 1: from Australia to Germany Romania, with questions on everything from
Speaker 1: my time in the Senate to my favorite desserts to
Speaker 1: the quality of the sheets and pillows in the White House. Now,
Speaker 1: as promised, I'm answering your questions with the help of
Speaker 1: a very special guest. It took some doing because we
Speaker 1: both have really busy schedules, but I'm so excited today
Speaker 1: to have joining me Saturday Night Lives One and Only
Speaker 1: Kate McKinnon. Kate joined the SNL cast back in and
Speaker 1: since then she's become an Emmy award winning audience favorite
Speaker 1: with all of her quirky characters and of course, her
Speaker 1: incredible impersonations everybody from Ellen Degenerous to Jeff Sessions, from
Speaker 1: Lindsay Graham to Elizabeth Warren, Angela Merkle, Rudy Giuliani and
Speaker 1: yes me and You've also seen Kate on the big screen,
Speaker 1: including in the all women remake of Ghostbusters. She's currently
Speaker 1: starring in Joe Versus Carol, a drama series from Peacock
Speaker 1: based on the Netflix true crime commentary series Tiger King. I.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, Oh my goodness. I am thrilled to
Speaker 1: see you. I'm so happy you're doing this. I'm so happy.
Speaker 1: I'm scared of podcasts, but I like yours and this
Speaker 1: one it's nice. So we're just gonna be really easy. Okay,
Speaker 1: before we start, where's your cat? Um there? Say hello
Speaker 1: to the secretary Nini, Say hello, how old is that
Speaker 1: little creature? He is thirteen and a teenager? You know
Speaker 1: he's getting tattoos and he's drinking. You gotta watch those
Speaker 1: teenagers all the time. Yeah, I mean, look at the
Speaker 1: wonderful life you have. What is the what is wrong
Speaker 1: with you? Look at who your mother is. You should
Speaker 1: be so proud. I'm so fun. You don't even know
Speaker 1: how fun I am. It is so great to see
Speaker 1: you again, and I just want to dive right in
Speaker 1: to talk with truly one of my my favorite people. So, Kate,
Speaker 1: you and I have a lot in common. You've played me,
Speaker 1: so I know we do. But we also just got
Speaker 1: over COVID and you did. Yes, Oh gosh, you're dodging
Speaker 1: it for you know, two years. Thankfully. I came down
Speaker 1: with a really mild case, but I was so tired.
Speaker 1: I was so tired. That was like the only thing
Speaker 1: that I experienced. Wow, yeah, that's good. Good for you,
Speaker 1: But you're okay. I got a bad what felt like
Speaker 1: a flu, and now I feel like I am a
Speaker 1: crumpled piece of paper drifting on the wind um. I
Speaker 1: have no agency, I have no vitals. You know, I'm
Speaker 1: you need a vacation, my friend. I don't well, I
Speaker 1: don't know if that would do it. I feel, I feel,
Speaker 1: you know, I think it's more the crumbling of the
Speaker 1: host World War two order that's making my brain feel
Speaker 1: a little disorganized. But I think that's actually what happened
Speaker 1: to me. I think my immune system had been great
Speaker 1: until Ukraine and then it just crumpled um And so
Speaker 1: here we are. But we're fighting our way back and
Speaker 1: that's to be I guess appreciated. And you have a
Speaker 1: new show out, Joe. First is Carol. Now, honestly, you
Speaker 1: played Carol Baskin and I know you love your cat.
Speaker 1: But how was it like loving those big cats? I mean,
Speaker 1: what was that like? Well, she had made a public
Speaker 1: request to not utilize big cats during the production, which um,
Speaker 1: I found very important because her whole thing is we
Speaker 1: should be interacting with these animals at all, they should
Speaker 1: only be in the wild. So I was happy that
Speaker 1: we were able to c g I all the cats.
Speaker 1: So when there was a cat on screen, it was
Speaker 1: actually just a very emotive great Dane. Some of the
Speaker 1: best actors in the world I found are great Danes.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, the pathos on those big great Dane faces. Yes, well,
Speaker 1: you know you have been really just such an incredible
Speaker 1: inspiration and I don't know, just a great spirit Kate
Speaker 1: and me, I don't know about that. Well, I mean
Speaker 1: just I'm just talking as a fan, so you know
Speaker 1: you can dismiss it and discount it. But when did
Speaker 1: you first get interested in comedy and sketch comedy. Okay, So,
Speaker 1: as you may or cannot tell, I was an odd child,
Speaker 1: very very deeply shy and quiet. I don't know if
Speaker 1: you can relate, maybe not, but I was extraordinarily quiet,
Speaker 1: and people were always wondering what's in there? What is
Speaker 1: she thinking? And I felt always just too scared to
Speaker 1: speak in my own voice, and so I started to
Speaker 1: appropriate the voices of others and speak in British accents
Speaker 1: and speak as little weird characters and quote lines from
Speaker 1: movies and stuff. And I felt it so much easier
Speaker 1: to get any volume in my voice at all if
Speaker 1: I was doing a voice in quotes and that, you know,
Speaker 1: lad my kindergarten teacher to call my mother and then say,
Speaker 1: we don't know if she's understanding the difference between fiction
Speaker 1: and reality because I was so often speaking in film quotes. Anyway,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm saying too much here, But the point
Speaker 1: is it became a like, I mean, it's a coping
Speaker 1: mechanism clearly for social anxiety. And then and then I
Speaker 1: just like spun it into a career magically, so that's great. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I really admire that. And I read that
Speaker 1: your father first introduced you to Saturday Night Live when
Speaker 1: you were what My mother and my father both were
Speaker 1: big SNL fans, and they would walk around the house
Speaker 1: quoting Mr Bill and tunes as the Driving Cat and
Speaker 1: the land Shark, and I thought these were just American
Speaker 1: idioms to go, Oh, no, you know all these quotes.
Speaker 1: They were My parents both very, very funny, So it
Speaker 1: sort of was just like a household currency. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: your sister didn't, isn't your sister. My sister is a
Speaker 1: comedian and we've done a bunch of projects together and
Speaker 1: that's just the greatest thing in the world because we
Speaker 1: still share a sense of humor and not everyone. But
Speaker 1: but at what point did you think I could make
Speaker 1: a living at this, I could be a professional actor comedian.
Speaker 1: Only after booking my first job. I had never considered
Speaker 1: it as a way of life. I thought, I'm too
Speaker 1: much of a capricorn um. I don't that astrology is
Speaker 1: real except that it's always correct and I so I'm very,
Speaker 1: very deeply practical. And so I booked my first job,
Speaker 1: which was on a show called The Big a Sketch Show,
Speaker 1: and then I thought, well, okay, I'll give it a
Speaker 1: whirl because I've already booked this job, but it's not
Speaker 1: going to work out. And then for a long time
Speaker 1: it didn't. And then I thought, I'll go to farm
Speaker 1: school and I'll you know, that's fine, and then I
Speaker 1: was hired at Saturday Night Live and so I continued then,
Speaker 1: but it's always sort of touch and go. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: did you try out for SNL? I mean I hear
Speaker 1: about these really infamous tryouts that conducted sounds terrifying. It
Speaker 1: is it's a tribunal um in the dark. Well, you
Speaker 1: know you've testified it congressionally. Yeah, you're fine. I think
Speaker 1: you've passed some fine guys. But you got the gig.
Speaker 1: I didn't, so you know, that's only a big difference,
Speaker 1: Thank Gossie. Yeah, I mean I watched the hearings I've
Speaker 1: watched you was that sort of like an SNL audition?
Speaker 1: Is that is? That was at the comparable experience? Now?
Speaker 1: Years seemed he seemed a hourse. So what what year
Speaker 1: was it that you started on SNL. It was two
Speaker 1: thousand eleven and I had moved to Los Angeles to
Speaker 1: do a showcase and I thought, Okay, this is my
Speaker 1: last ditch effort as a comedian, I'll do this showcase
Speaker 1: and then I'll come home and I'll fake your something
Speaker 1: else out and I'll be fine. And but I always knew,
Speaker 1: you know, Saturday Night Live is is so important to
Speaker 1: me as a comedian because it's really the only place
Speaker 1: that people are doing character comedy, the kind of comedy
Speaker 1: I love. But also as an American, it's like it's
Speaker 1: like our collective way of processing so many things. And
Speaker 1: for so many years I got my news from Saturday
Speaker 1: Night Live, so it always meant everything to me. And
Speaker 1: in the back of my mind, I was like, well,
Speaker 1: I'll never get on the show, but I it is
Speaker 1: my dream and I should at least try my darkness
Speaker 1: to at least audition. And then I got that chance
Speaker 1: after many years of doing comedy and a basement, And yeah,
Speaker 1: it was scary, but I I had prepared as much
Speaker 1: as I possibly could prepare for something I usually wing stuff.
Speaker 1: But I was like, if I don't, I need to
Speaker 1: do everything I possibly can or I won't be able
Speaker 1: to live with myself afterwards. Did you do impersonations when
Speaker 1: you tried out or did the impersonating? You know, everybody
Speaker 1: literally from Justin Bieber to jet sessions to me, which
Speaker 1: we'll get to in a minute. Um, did you do
Speaker 1: impersonations before SNL or was that something that happened while
Speaker 1: you were there? I did, Um, I learned a lot
Speaker 1: more about what goes into an impression inside of the
Speaker 1: pressure cooker of SNL. But I had always been doing impressions.
Speaker 1: I just think that a person's voice is, for me
Speaker 1: somehow the key to their inner struggles. UM. I feel
Speaker 1: that like I can listen to someone's voice and understand
Speaker 1: what they want and what's getting in the way, which is,
Speaker 1: to me, the foundational blocks of any character, even a
Speaker 1: sketch character. Um. And other people understand it through physicality
Speaker 1: or through what they say or their hair or whatever.
Speaker 1: For me, it's just my way in is always someone's voice.
Speaker 1: And so I've always loved impressions because you can just
Speaker 1: listen to someone and I feel like I understand them,
Speaker 1: or I have a theory about them. And what is
Speaker 1: a character really but a theory about how best to live,
Speaker 1: or a theory about what happens if you live a
Speaker 1: certain way. No, I like that. I mean it is
Speaker 1: interesting how you get into a different character, or how
Speaker 1: you even try to understand somebody if you're not an
Speaker 1: actor like you are, and when you start thinking about
Speaker 1: how you're going to try to portray somebody, do you
Speaker 1: listen to their voice? Is that how you try to
Speaker 1: capture it? Yes? I listened to hours and hours of
Speaker 1: YouTube footage. I don't know how anyone produced a sketch
Speaker 1: show before YouTube. I mean I think they were in
Speaker 1: there with VCRs copying news reports. That must have been impossible,
Speaker 1: But I yes, I listened to hours and I try
Speaker 1: to come up with again just what what they want
Speaker 1: and what's blocking them, which are usually two disparate elements
Speaker 1: of their persona. That tension and that juxtaposition is what
Speaker 1: makes a character. For instance, I've played Angela Merkel and
Speaker 1: I thought, well, how am I gonna what am I
Speaker 1: going to latch onto about this? I don't speak German,
Speaker 1: I wish I did. Um what a gorgeous language with
Speaker 1: its many many noun cases, but I wanted to capture
Speaker 1: something about her, and to me, what was the juxtaposition
Speaker 1: there that was interesting was that she's this like staunch
Speaker 1: German politician and yet there's almost a I saw a
Speaker 1: glimmer of like a girlish longing and insecurity and sweetness
Speaker 1: underneath that, and that tension is what I just sort
Speaker 1: of like me and the writer who wrote it just
Speaker 1: sort of like spun up into a sketch. That's so
Speaker 1: interesting because I know her and you did. That's a
Speaker 1: very good capture. Oh yeah, and because when I have
Speaker 1: spent personal time, private time with her, she's funny, she's unguarded,
Speaker 1: she is a good storyteller, she is very effusive, and
Speaker 1: then you know she does have to put on the
Speaker 1: I'm the leader of my country, uh look and go forward.
Speaker 1: But yeah, you really captured that. That's great. But you
Speaker 1: have to be almost an acute psychologist to do what
Speaker 1: you do, because you've got to find something to hold
Speaker 1: on too. I mean you do somebody like Jeff Sessions.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I mean what do you hang on too?
Speaker 1: I mean, what is there that you're going to be
Speaker 1: able to find relatable, let alone you know, humorous. It
Speaker 1: really requires some some in depth thinking, right for I mean,
Speaker 1: for that one, I just I disagreed so vehemently with
Speaker 1: everything that he was doing and and thought. But to me,
Speaker 1: he seemed like a perfectly jovial person, like a filled
Speaker 1: with effervescent um puckish joy, and I thought, well, that's
Speaker 1: an interesting tension. I hate what this guy's doing, and
Speaker 1: yet I think I would like him if if I
Speaker 1: didn't know his politics. He's a sort of there's something
Speaker 1: impat and boy like about him that I that I
Speaker 1: responded to, and that to me was an interesting tension.
Speaker 1: Are there people on your list that you want to
Speaker 1: impersonate at any time in the future somebody that pops
Speaker 1: into mind. Politicians are definitely my favorite, because there's always
Speaker 1: and maybe you can attest to this, there's always layers
Speaker 1: built in because someone's the persona that any politician presents.
Speaker 1: I'm guessing, you know, correct, is not what is underneath.
Speaker 1: Um is something that's constructed, and there's always comedic tension
Speaker 1: to be mined there between someone's persona and their private life. Well,
Speaker 1: obviously I saw that when you portrayed me Um, you know,
Speaker 1: I thought it was pretty brilliant, and I loved doing
Speaker 1: that scene with you where I was val the bartender.
Speaker 1: That was the best known of my life. I had
Speaker 1: so much fun. I was just so taken by the
Speaker 1: whole experience because even though I on on s and
Speaker 1: now I think once before, but it was some years
Speaker 1: prior being there that time, and having you know, a
Speaker 1: whole scene where you and I were doing it together,
Speaker 1: and then going up to Lauren's office while you talked
Speaker 1: about how it was going and what the you know,
Speaker 1: changes were needed. I found that fascinating. I loved that
Speaker 1: so much because we had talked about you know, I
Speaker 1: remember watching with absolute joy when you came on with
Speaker 1: Amy Poehler, and we talked about doing something like that,
Speaker 1: and then our writers Chris Kelly and Sara Schneider, who
Speaker 1: are brilliant, We're like, no, it should be a more conversational,
Speaker 1: less presentational thing. What if you guys did a scene
Speaker 1: together And I thought, yeah, great, And then you were
Speaker 1: so funny and you so embodying the character of Val
Speaker 1: the Bartender. Yeah, you know, I mean, yeah, have me back.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, the Bartender has lots to talk
Speaker 1: about right now. I mean, there's so much going on.
Speaker 1: He man, you know, let's discuss the world. I have
Speaker 1: to say. I also, along with you know, millions of
Speaker 1: other people, was just really knocked out by your singing
Speaker 1: Hallelujah that first episode after the election, and you know,
Speaker 1: I didn't know whether I'd ever get a chance to
Speaker 1: thank you or to certainly do it in a you know,
Speaker 1: public way. But that was an incredible performance and it
Speaker 1: was so meaningful to me. How did that even come together?
Speaker 1: How how did you all decide to do that? Well?
Speaker 1: Thank you first of all? That means a lot. And
Speaker 1: we were we had bandied a few things about. We
Speaker 1: were all so broken. I know, for me, that was
Speaker 1: the biggest heartbreak of my life. I've than my father
Speaker 1: dying when I was a teenager. I was so you know,
Speaker 1: and Leonard Cohen had passed that week, and my uh
Speaker 1: same the same writer friends, Chris Kelly and Sara Schneider
Speaker 1: had sent along this verse of Hallelujah that I had
Speaker 1: never heard of, about even when things go wrong, standing
Speaker 1: before the Lord of Song with nothing on your tongue
Speaker 1: but Hallelujah. And I thought, oh, that's what this moment
Speaker 1: calls for, if we can muster it, and I wanted to.
Speaker 1: It just came from a very personal place of wanting
Speaker 1: to commiserate and provide some shred of something to people
Speaker 1: who were devastated, and I knew it was going to
Speaker 1: not sit well with people who weren't and I just
Speaker 1: had to, you know, I just I had to share
Speaker 1: how I felt. It was like a very primitive just
Speaker 1: wanting to connect with my countrymen in that moment, and
Speaker 1: and also on some level with you. I mean, I
Speaker 1: didn't figure you'd be watching, but I wanted to say
Speaker 1: something that I thought you might say, and I thought
Speaker 1: maybe you, in your infinite strength, might offer some ray
Speaker 1: of hope. At that moment, I wanted to just give
Speaker 1: people a hug. Basically, Yeah, yeah, it was. It felt
Speaker 1: like a big hug. And you know, people still come
Speaker 1: up and cry with me or around me, and so
Speaker 1: it just had such a huge impact on so many people.
Speaker 1: We're taking a quick break, stay with us. You know,
Speaker 1: you've said, and I've heard you and other interviews and
Speaker 1: read that you have a lot of eclectic interest, which
Speaker 1: I relate to. I mean, you do everything from I
Speaker 1: do because I'm so I'm interested in so many odds
Speaker 1: and ends, and you're interested in astrophysics, music theory, the
Speaker 1: history of the Silk Road, which I really relate to.
Speaker 1: So what are you interested in these days? What what
Speaker 1: you know? What's catching your attention? Well, other things that
Speaker 1: are in my fancy right now mostly have to do
Speaker 1: with survival, and I think you can understand why I've
Speaker 1: become very interested suddenly in plant science, farming, growing food, plumbing,
Speaker 1: heating and cooling systems, um, construction, things like that. Um,
Speaker 1: I'm good. I'm a prepper. Now I'm will be going
Speaker 1: to my bunker. And I got your barker picked out.
Speaker 1: I made you know where it is. I drive every
Speaker 1: weekend to look for it. Yeah. Yeah, don't worry, don't
Speaker 1: worry about Just let me know in case I need
Speaker 1: a bunker. You know, you always need a spare bunker.
Speaker 1: You never know what's going to happen. Well, as you know,
Speaker 1: we set aside some time in the last episode of
Speaker 1: the season to answer some listener questions, and you've graciously
Speaker 1: agreed to come along for the ride on this, and
Speaker 1: so let's get started. See what people have on their minds. Kate,
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness. Okay, So I have these printed out
Speaker 1: and I will read them to you and you would
Speaker 1: answer them as yourself. Okay, not not as Val the bartender,
Speaker 1: but as Or or take on your alter ego. But
Speaker 1: get the shirt please and the name to otherwise we
Speaker 1: won't understand what's going on. Okay, this is from Melinda.
Speaker 1: Dear Madam, Secretary or as you are now in my
Speaker 1: head Hilly Billy, which I think it's so great. I
Speaker 1: am a voracious reader, as I know you are. I
Speaker 1: have you to thank for introducing me to Louise Penny,
Speaker 1: who's entire of I've now devoured, including State of Terror,
Speaker 1: which was excellent. My question to you is this, what
Speaker 1: have you been reading lately and what would you recommend?
Speaker 1: Great question. Well, because I did have COVID and was
Speaker 1: down for a week, I caught up on some of
Speaker 1: my favorite historic fiction kind of series. So I read
Speaker 1: the latest Donna Leone Great Mysteries set in Venice if
Speaker 1: you have not discovered those. I read the latest Charles Todd,
Speaker 1: set in nineteen twenties after World War One England, very good.
Speaker 1: And then I've recently discovered the historical novels by Sharon K. Penman.
Speaker 1: I'm reading her series about King Henry and Eleanor of Aquitaine.
Speaker 1: Very interesting, not only well done, but really engrossing. So
Speaker 1: those are some of the things I'm reading. What happens
Speaker 1: don't tell me? Okay, here we have a question from
Speaker 1: Craig flicking Er. What are your thoughts on the State
Speaker 1: of Attack. We find on the lg ME too plus
Speaker 1: community with Florida's Don't Say Gay bill passing seventeen in
Speaker 1: Texas with its anti transagenda, I can't help but wonder
Speaker 1: how this plays into the midterm elections. Oh my gosh it.
Speaker 1: First of all, it's profoundly outraging and deeply sad that
Speaker 1: you have people in positions of power in our country
Speaker 1: who are more interested in undermining and opposing the rights
Speaker 1: of individuals than they are in bringing people together. And
Speaker 1: I think people have to stand up to it. And
Speaker 1: the idea don't say gay. I mean I think people
Speaker 1: should go around, you know, saying gay all the time.
Speaker 1: Anything we can do to puncture the hypocrisy and the
Speaker 1: cruelty that lies behind this, we need to be doing. Uh.
Speaker 1: So that's um, you know, my hope. And and do
Speaker 1: it with comedy, do it with political action. And you
Speaker 1: mentioned the mid terms, and let me just say, please
Speaker 1: please turn out and vote. You know, the hypocrites and
Speaker 1: the hate mongers win when people don't vote. So that
Speaker 1: would be my plea as we move forward in this year,
Speaker 1: let's say it now together on three one to three
Speaker 1: gay gay gay gay. Okay. This is from Pie or
Speaker 1: her email handle is a griffin door equestrian girl. That's
Speaker 1: a good one. Hello, Hillary and Mry guest. It's me Hello.
Speaker 1: I have two questions. I hope that's okay. One, what
Speaker 1: are some of your favorite songs and artists? My favorites
Speaker 1: are Joanne and Born to Die, Lady Gaga, Lana del Ray,
Speaker 1: Taylor Swift, and Nate Lewis. And do you have any
Speaker 1: pets and how are they doing? Well? Let's start with
Speaker 1: the easy question on pets. Yes, we have dogs. We
Speaker 1: have a labradoodle named Mazie and we have a toy
Speaker 1: poodle named Tally short for Tallula. Uh. They're both getting
Speaker 1: up in years, but they still are full of personality
Speaker 1: and incredibly fun to be around. Now asked to songs.
Speaker 1: I like your question, and I like what you said
Speaker 1: about some of your favorites. So here's what I'm currently doing.
Speaker 1: You know, I've always loved from the time I was,
Speaker 1: you know, literally a teenager up until now, I've always
Speaker 1: loved listening to women's voices, you know, women like Carol
Speaker 1: King and Judy Collins and Joan Bayaz and Joni Mitchell.
Speaker 1: I mean, they were really formative. So now fast forward,
Speaker 1: a very long time. I am listening to a lot
Speaker 1: of the really famous young women. So I love I
Speaker 1: love Lady Gaga. I love her both as a performed
Speaker 1: her and a singer. I just really also like her sensibility.
Speaker 1: I mean, just in the last week, the way that
Speaker 1: she was with Liliza Manelli at the ill fated infamous Oscars,
Speaker 1: she ended that with such a note of grace, which
Speaker 1: was well needed. Um at the Grammys, which I was watching,
Speaker 1: you know, she came and carried the train of a
Speaker 1: skirt for someone who was having trouble because of crutches.
Speaker 1: So I like Lady Gaga. I really like Adele. I
Speaker 1: listened to everything Adele does. Um, I'm listening to a
Speaker 1: lot of Taylor Swift, and I really like Taylor Swift.
Speaker 1: I like her storytelling. I'm getting really into Taylor Swift.
Speaker 1: I'm starting to listen to Billie Eilish. I think her
Speaker 1: talent is so multifaceted, everything from you know, James Bond
Speaker 1: to ballads and all in between. So I'm just I'm
Speaker 1: I'm kind of educating myself, if that makes sense to you,
Speaker 1: trying to hear and listen and learn about this new
Speaker 1: wonderful generation of wonderful women singers. Wow, bless you. How
Speaker 1: about you, Kate? Who do you listen to these days?
Speaker 1: I stick? I just I stick with songs that I
Speaker 1: learned in college. And that's it. Either that I don't
Speaker 1: like to try new foods. Okay, that's not true. I
Speaker 1: do like to try new foods, which leads us into
Speaker 1: our next question from Kathy Lee. I think you've said
Speaker 1: that your favorite job was being the U S Senator
Speaker 1: from New York for eight years. Can you talk about
Speaker 1: a couple of issues? Okay, so the food part comes later.
Speaker 1: Can you talk about a couple of issues that you
Speaker 1: worked on that we're most meaningful to you or events
Speaker 1: they're most memorable that are not related to the nine
Speaker 1: eleven tragedy. Yeah. Well, obviously not eleven was the overwhelming experience,
Speaker 1: but then the after effects of N eleven, trying to
Speaker 1: get healthcare for the first responders and the emergency workers
Speaker 1: and fighting that battle for years, um, trying to make
Speaker 1: sure that you know, victims and their families got compensation
Speaker 1: because of the horrific losses that they experienced, and then rebuilding, rebuilding,
Speaker 1: you know, Lower Manhattan. I spent a lot of time
Speaker 1: putting together legislation and deals to help get that started.
Speaker 1: I also spent a lot of time on healthcare, as
Speaker 1: you might guess, because worked really hard and been part
Speaker 1: of getting health care for kids. But then there were
Speaker 1: so many other issues, and one that I worked a
Speaker 1: lot on was trying to make sure that drug companies
Speaker 1: didn't just treat children like small adults when they came
Speaker 1: to doing drug trials, because they're not small adults and
Speaker 1: they need, you know, really special attention. As we're seeing
Speaker 1: now with the COVID vaccines, which have been literally miraculous
Speaker 1: for children under five, they're not quite getting it right.
Speaker 1: It seems to be safe, but not that effect. And
Speaker 1: so frankly, the work that I did back when I
Speaker 1: was a senator is absolutely instrumental and how they're trying
Speaker 1: to figure out, you know, what are the right doses
Speaker 1: and what's safe and what works for kids with vaccines.
Speaker 1: I spent you know, a lot of time on environmental issues, uh,
Speaker 1: something I care deeply about and I just don't want
Speaker 1: to see our rules and regulations turned back. We fought
Speaker 1: hard to get clean water and clean air, and by God,
Speaker 1: those should be everybody's birthright. Well, bless you for that
Speaker 1: because I drank a gallon of New York City tap
Speaker 1: water a day and it's good. It's the best water
Speaker 1: in the world. It's such good water. And you know,
Speaker 1: I just would add, Kate, because you've raised one of
Speaker 1: my favorite issues in New York City's tap water. Look
Speaker 1: at why it's so good in part because a hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty years ago or so, people who ran New
Speaker 1: York City and New York State made the decision to
Speaker 1: buy up land upstay eat which had waterways, and to
Speaker 1: create a reservoir system and then to protect it all
Speaker 1: these years, and it's been one of the most important
Speaker 1: piece of legislation I think passed in certainly New York
Speaker 1: and maybe even the country because New York City water
Speaker 1: is still very lightly, if at all, filtered, because it
Speaker 1: has been kept so pure from the sources. So if
Speaker 1: you plan ahead and you do the right things, it
Speaker 1: has a long term you know, positive effects. Amen and
Speaker 1: kathe Lee also asks and this I want to know,
Speaker 1: can you share a favorite dish or dessert from five
Speaker 1: different places that you've traveled, because you've traveled every part
Speaker 1: of this world. Oh my god, you know they have
Speaker 1: to do five, But you know, I'm curious. Yeah, I mean, okay, look,
Speaker 1: I I adore dessert. Let's start there, Okay, I mean,
Speaker 1: let's not be let's let's not pretend like I don't
Speaker 1: adore dessert, because I do. And I would have to say,
Speaker 1: anywhere you go in Italy, whether it is gelato of
Speaker 1: every flavor, or Tierra Masou or any other incredible Italian dessert,
Speaker 1: c'm in right. If you go to France, anything chocolate,
Speaker 1: I don't know why it is what my go to is.
Speaker 1: If you go to I will say Armenia, where I
Speaker 1: have been twice, I had the best fruit for dessert
Speaker 1: I think I've ever had in my life. Apricots, peaches, cherries.
Speaker 1: I don't know why. I don't know why they were
Speaker 1: so delicious, but I just absolutely adored them. So those
Speaker 1: are just some of my favorites from my travels. You
Speaker 1: heard it here first, folks, Stone fruits from the caucusus
Speaker 1: the best We'll be right back, all right. And from
Speaker 1: leslie E in Oregon. Pretty much everyone I know wrote
Speaker 1: to you after you quote unquote lost in It was
Speaker 1: somehow comforting for us, and we hoped in some small
Speaker 1: way to lift you up and also to thank you
Speaker 1: for your courage and leadership. But how did it feel?
Speaker 1: Could you bear to read any of that mail? And
Speaker 1: did it help? Well? Yes, it helped a lot. And
Speaker 1: I tried to answer every one of them, and I
Speaker 1: don't know, I hope I answered yours and your friends
Speaker 1: because it meant the world to me. You know. I
Speaker 1: got such heartfelt letters, and they came from people of
Speaker 1: all ages, all kinds of formats, some you know, pictures
Speaker 1: that little kids did for me, some heartrending long handwritten letters,
Speaker 1: some very smart, typed formal letters but with a impact
Speaker 1: to them. I got thousands and thousands and they will
Speaker 1: all end up in the library somewhere at some point.
Speaker 1: What was so moving to me were that the people
Speaker 1: who were writing me after that election were people who
Speaker 1: really paid attention. They didn't just dip in and out
Speaker 1: of the campaign. They paid attention to what the candidates
Speaker 1: were saying, and they paid attention to what I was saying,
Speaker 1: and so their feelings were really rooted in an understanding
Speaker 1: of what I was not only saying, but what I
Speaker 1: intended to try to do. And that was particularly meaningful
Speaker 1: to me. Okay, unless, but not least, we have two
Speaker 1: voicemails here's one of them. Hi, Hillary, my name is Leah.
Speaker 1: I'm from Brooklyn. My question for you is were the
Speaker 1: beds in the White House comfortable? Thanks? Leah. They were
Speaker 1: very comfortable. And I have to tell you that the
Speaker 1: mattress in the White House was so comfortable that, you know,
Speaker 1: when we moved, since the White House would provide a
Speaker 1: new mattress for our successor, we said can we take
Speaker 1: the mattress with us? And they said sure, we're just
Speaker 1: going to throw it away otherwise. So literally we had
Speaker 1: that mattress for twenty years. In fact, Leah, we have
Speaker 1: just bought a new mattress. It was that comfortable for
Speaker 1: that long. Okay, great, and here's one more. Hi, Secretary Clinton.
Speaker 1: My name is Sophie and I am in Virginia, and
Speaker 1: my question is more about your personal daily routines. I
Speaker 1: think for many of us, and certainly you, the past
Speaker 1: six years have felt like one trauma after another, and
Speaker 1: I think many of us are grappling with how we
Speaker 1: spend our time day to day in order to keep
Speaker 1: hope and to keep optimism going well for ourselves but
Speaker 1: also the people who are around us. I love to
Speaker 1: walk a lot, I love to read but I'm wondering
Speaker 1: if there are other things that you personally do and
Speaker 1: that you're committed to to keep yourself feeling hopeful. Thank you, Oh, Sophie. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I know that that's a really common feeling and I
Speaker 1: feel it myself, so I really relate to your question.
Speaker 1: Here's what I have done and it really helps me
Speaker 1: a lot. One is spend a lot of time outdoors.
Speaker 1: I try to go for a walk, and I try
Speaker 1: to go to a place like a park, um preserve
Speaker 1: some woods, just anything to kind of break my routine
Speaker 1: and try to walk for an hour. I highly recommend it.
Speaker 1: You know, there's a concept in Japanese called forest bathing,
Speaker 1: which I love the concept of where you are just
Speaker 1: immersed in nature. So hiking, walking, biking, anything that gets
Speaker 1: you outdoors. I'm a huge supporter of that. Secondly, I
Speaker 1: like to spend time with, you know, people that are
Speaker 1: positive and have positive energy, because there's so much that
Speaker 1: drags you down these days. So spending time with people
Speaker 1: that I like and admire, people who are old friends
Speaker 1: and new friends. I'm very grateful for that. As a grandmother,
Speaker 1: I've spent a lot of time with my grandchildren. I
Speaker 1: have a seven year old granddaughter and a five and
Speaker 1: two and a half year old grandson to three all
Speaker 1: together and they are constantly, you know, just little engines
Speaker 1: of positivity. I also try to read and watch things
Speaker 1: that make me laugh, make me smile, make me think,
Speaker 1: but don't depress me, because you know, I'm not tuning
Speaker 1: into all of the meanness and the anger. Um. I
Speaker 1: read about it, which I can handle better than watching it,
Speaker 1: and then I use my social media to speak out
Speaker 1: again instant. I'm angry beyond words about Ukraine and what
Speaker 1: Russia and Putin are doing, and so I'm trying to
Speaker 1: be helpful there, but I'm trying not to let it
Speaker 1: totally consume me. So I don't know if that's helpful, Sophie,
Speaker 1: but that's how I try to deal with a lot
Speaker 1: of the stuff that we're all living with. Gosh, you know,
Speaker 1: I love you. I'll say it, you know, as a
Speaker 1: public figure and as a person. You know, you watch
Speaker 1: that many hours of footage of someone and you feel
Speaker 1: like you. I feel like you're my best friend. I
Speaker 1: know that you don't feel me necessarily, but I you know,
Speaker 1: I feel like I really got to understand and adore
Speaker 1: you on a very personal level, and it has just
Speaker 1: been the absolute honor of my life to have any
Speaker 1: proximity to you at all, And so thank you for
Speaker 1: having me on this podcast and for being my vell.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for doing this Kate, and right
Speaker 1: back at you, and let's go out and have some
Speaker 1: dessert sometime. Okay, great. You won't find Kate on social media,
Speaker 1: but you can find her on this season of Saturday
Speaker 1: Night Live, which wraps up later this month, and on
Speaker 1: the Peacock drama series Joe Versus Carol and I want
Speaker 1: to give a big thank you to all of you
Speaker 1: who called or wrote in with your questions for this episode.
Speaker 1: I so appreciate hearing from each and every one of you.
Speaker 1: I wish we had the time to answer all of
Speaker 1: your questions. And that, my friends, is it for this
Speaker 1: season of You and Me Both. We'll be back in
Speaker 1: a few months, but in the meantime, we've got lots
Speaker 1: of great conversations you can go back and listen to,
Speaker 1: including another round of listener questions I answered with help
Speaker 1: from James Cordon. You and Me Both is brought to
Speaker 1: you by I Heart Radio. We're produced by Julie Subran
Speaker 1: Kathleen Russo and Rob Russo, with help from Huma Aberdeen,
Speaker 1: Oscar Flores, Lindsay Hoffman, Brianna Johnson, Nick Merrill, Laura Olan,
Speaker 1: Lona Vlmorrow, and Benita Zaman. Our engineer is Zack McNeice
Speaker 1: and original music is by Forest Gray. If you like
Speaker 1: you and me both, please tell someone else about it.
Speaker 1: And if you're not already a subscriber, what are you
Speaker 1: waiting for? You can subscribe to you and me both
Speaker 1: on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
Speaker 1: you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening. Let's keep taking
Speaker 1: care of ourselves, each other, and our democracy, and I'll
Speaker 1: see you when we come back.