WEBVTT - Amber Ruffin 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:04.400 I'm so tired of learning new things. I hate learning. 0:00:05.440 --> 0:00:09.200 It's bad, it's stupid. Why have I done all this 0:00:09.400 --> 0:00:12.159 just to learn how to do a separate thing. I 0:00:12.400 --> 0:00:14.080 don't like it. I don't like it. 0:00:14.320 --> 0:00:19.239 Oh, somebody marked that. Someone marked that, right there, Amber Ruffin. 0:00:19.520 --> 0:00:20.760 I hate learning. 0:00:21.200 --> 0:00:22.239 I hate learning. 0:00:22.280 --> 0:00:23.000 I truly do. 0:00:23.200 --> 0:00:31.400 Any teacher I've had will tell you she hates it. Hi, 0:00:31.640 --> 0:00:34.879 my name is Amber Ruffin. I'm in your ears, but 0:00:35.040 --> 0:00:37.199 if I was in your house with you, I'd give 0:00:37.240 --> 0:00:38.159 you a little pinch. 0:00:45.760 --> 0:00:50.080 Hi, friends, and happy Tuesday or whatever day you're listening 0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:54.680 to this episode that was released on a Tuesday. Welcome back. 0:00:55.000 --> 0:00:58.600 This is Off the Beat and I am Brian Baumgartner 0:00:58.640 --> 0:01:05.040 and my guest today is the wonderful Amber Ruffin. Now, 0:01:05.080 --> 0:01:09.559 Amber is a late night legend. Okay, she has worked 0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:13.000 on Late Night with Seth Myers since his very first 0:01:13.040 --> 0:01:17.840 episode back in twenty fourteen. But that's not all that 0:01:17.959 --> 0:01:21.880 Amber has done. She does improv. She worked with Improv 0:01:21.920 --> 0:01:26.840 Olympic and Second City Sketches on her own The Amber 0:01:26.920 --> 0:01:31.560 Ruffin Show, to appearing in multiple hit series like Girls 0:01:32.160 --> 0:01:36.640 five EVA and If that's not enough. She is also 0:01:36.720 --> 0:01:40.360 a New York Times best selling author with her sister. 0:01:40.560 --> 0:01:44.480 You'll never believe what happened to Lacey. Crazy stories about racism, 0:01:44.840 --> 0:01:48.640 and now she's even stepping into the world of Broadway. 0:01:49.680 --> 0:01:53.880 Amber may hate learning like you just heard, but I 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:57.919 really loved learning about her and her story, her career 0:01:57.960 --> 0:02:02.520 in improv her career at late Night, her lifelong dedication 0:02:02.680 --> 0:02:06.400 to avoiding things like numbers and education. I mean, we 0:02:06.480 --> 0:02:10.799 all know I can relate to that. Listen closely, everybody. 0:02:10.880 --> 0:02:14.359 You might just learn something and that is a threat. 0:02:14.880 --> 0:02:18.440 Here is my new friend, Amber Ruffin. 0:02:22.160 --> 0:02:23.720 Bubble and Squeak. 0:02:24.480 --> 0:02:25.240 I love it. 0:02:25.760 --> 0:02:28.079 Bubble and Squeagana. 0:02:29.320 --> 0:02:33.680 Bubble and Squeaker could get every more over from the. 0:02:33.760 --> 0:02:46.919 Ninety before, Hiever, You're real. 0:02:47.720 --> 0:02:49.680 I'm a real person. 0:02:50.040 --> 0:02:50.400 Hi. 0:02:52.760 --> 0:02:53.480 How's it going? 0:02:54.000 --> 0:02:57.320 Pretty nice? I just had some cashes and raisins because 0:02:57.520 --> 0:02:59.160 I'm one hundred years old. 0:02:59.639 --> 0:03:01.080 Cash using raisins. 0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:03.680 Yeah, I'm either one hundred or five. That's fighting. 0:03:06.400 --> 0:03:10.280 Well, it's the canned variety, so it's very fresh. 0:03:10.800 --> 0:03:12.440 I insist. 0:03:13.440 --> 0:03:16.720 Insist on the can variety of cashews and raisins. 0:03:16.919 --> 0:03:17.359 That's right. 0:03:17.720 --> 0:03:20.320 Are they like raw cashews or do they have a 0:03:20.320 --> 0:03:21.239 little salt on them? 0:03:21.440 --> 0:03:23.720 They have to have salt on them, all right, good, 0:03:24.040 --> 0:03:28.440 although I guess some people just be eating flavorless nuts. 0:03:29.360 --> 0:03:32.160 That's fine, like a squirrel, like a square. 0:03:32.280 --> 0:03:37.080 Yeah, exactly where are you are? You? Are you in? Which? 0:03:37.160 --> 0:03:38.800 Which side of the country are you on? 0:03:39.200 --> 0:03:39.680 New York? 0:03:40.120 --> 0:03:40.280 Yeah? 0:03:40.360 --> 0:03:43.160 Yeah, that's what I thought. How's it going out there 0:03:43.160 --> 0:03:43.760 in New York? 0:03:44.240 --> 0:03:47.040 I mean it's pretty strikey, it's. 0:03:47.080 --> 0:03:48.560 Very striking in New York. 0:03:48.880 --> 0:03:52.480 Yes, probably also strike you over there, Yes it is. 0:03:53.480 --> 0:03:57.720 What are we at, day day fifteen of the Writer's 0:03:57.760 --> 0:04:01.560 Strike of twenty twenty three, Yes we are. That's right, 0:04:01.680 --> 0:04:04.120 day fifteen. Do you miss going to work? 0:04:04.680 --> 0:04:07.720 No? No one does. No, I shouldn't say that. I 0:04:07.800 --> 0:04:10.240 really do. Though. We have a lot of fun at work, 0:04:10.480 --> 0:04:13.360 but we haven't been back to work physically in twenty 0:04:13.440 --> 0:04:16.799 nine years. Yeah, we haven't been back full force since 0:04:16.960 --> 0:04:18.200 before COVID. 0:04:18.839 --> 0:04:21.039 So you've you've still been working at home? 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:25.200 Yes, I've been. I mean I've been doing various things, 0:04:25.400 --> 0:04:28.440 but at late night, at late night, we don't come 0:04:28.480 --> 0:04:31.120 in very much at all. If you have a bit 0:04:31.640 --> 0:04:35.479 that's going, then you come in. But I guess regular 0:04:35.480 --> 0:04:38.839 old writers they're like, stay your goofy behinds at home. 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:41.440 No one wants to be like a part of your 0:04:41.480 --> 0:04:46.840 silly bits or you know, TikTok videos. Keep that at home. 0:04:47.000 --> 0:04:47.840 I'm like, that's fair. 0:04:48.320 --> 0:04:52.560 Well, do you think that that is that the future? 0:04:53.640 --> 0:04:58.120 Yeah, it's our future. They're happier than they've ever been 0:04:59.160 --> 0:05:00.240 because we're you're. 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:02.440 Not bothering now because you're around. 0:05:02.560 --> 0:05:05.719 No one's making like a crock pot of k so 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:13.760 like having races down the hallway. I do think they 0:05:13.880 --> 0:05:16.680 love not having us, and I'm not doing a bit. 0:05:16.800 --> 0:05:19.680 I think they love not having to deal with our mess. 0:05:20.000 --> 0:05:26.120 Do you think that it hurts the collaborative creative process? 0:05:26.520 --> 0:05:30.239 No, No, I mean the way we well, I guess 0:05:30.279 --> 0:05:33.240 some of us do write more collaboratively, but the way 0:05:33.279 --> 0:05:36.200 I write, and Jenny and Lutz and stuff is we 0:05:36.240 --> 0:05:39.279 write a script and then I email you the script, 0:05:39.640 --> 0:05:41.520 and then you take a pass at it, you email 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:44.360 it back. That's how I've always written. So this doesn't 0:05:44.400 --> 0:05:48.000 really bother me. But I miss being bad. 0:05:48.920 --> 0:05:53.599 Yeah, well that makes sense. All right, let's go. Let's 0:05:53.600 --> 0:05:57.160 go backwards in time you grew up. I was very 0:05:57.200 --> 0:06:02.200 surprised to hear that you grew up in Nebraska, Omaha, Nebraska, 0:06:02.520 --> 0:06:04.799 the youngest of five by the way. I should also 0:06:04.880 --> 0:06:08.800 mention how was early life in Nebraska for you? 0:06:10.120 --> 0:06:12.200 Very very outdoors? 0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:13.320 Okay, okay. 0:06:14.080 --> 0:06:19.599 I see these children here in New York, and they 0:06:19.640 --> 0:06:25.960 are indoor children, and they are very like aware of 0:06:26.040 --> 0:06:29.720 their surroundings in a way that I never had. Like 0:06:29.880 --> 0:06:32.479 you can tell when you're walking down the street because 0:06:32.520 --> 0:06:35.160 we work, you know, at thirty Rock, so there's a 0:06:35.200 --> 0:06:38.240 ton of tourists, and you can tell who's from the Midwest, 0:06:39.040 --> 0:06:42.440 especially the children, because they're just everywhere, and they're under 0:06:42.480 --> 0:06:46.160 your feet and they're in your way and they can't 0:06:46.200 --> 0:06:51.159 think of like a consequence for that. And they also 0:06:51.320 --> 0:06:54.280 just don't have the spatial awareness that you need to 0:06:54.440 --> 0:06:57.920 live in a tiny city filled with a billion people. 0:06:58.640 --> 0:07:02.520 Right. I had a dream for a while. I have 0:07:02.560 --> 0:07:04.800 young kids, and I had a dream for a while 0:07:05.080 --> 0:07:08.400 of I don't think I could do New York permanently, 0:07:08.600 --> 0:07:13.880 but to bring them there for a year because that 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:16.160 gift that you're talking, which I do think it is 0:07:16.200 --> 0:07:23.160 a gift of understanding your environment and moving through people 0:07:23.400 --> 0:07:27.640 and being sort of aware of the environment and your 0:07:27.680 --> 0:07:31.000 circumstances and all of that would be like a great 0:07:31.640 --> 0:07:33.800 learning tool. Do you think so, or do you think 0:07:33.840 --> 0:07:36.480 the fact that they're stuck inside all the time kills 0:07:36.600 --> 0:07:38.080 whatever benefit that might give. 0:07:39.320 --> 0:07:42.000 You Know what kills whatever benefit that might give is 0:07:42.040 --> 0:07:46.320 when you see people who are in mental health crises 0:07:47.200 --> 0:07:50.640 all day and all night. Every day you have to 0:07:50.720 --> 0:07:53.120 walk past someone who's having the worst day of their 0:07:53.160 --> 0:07:57.040 lives without thinking of them or giving them any attention. 0:07:57.200 --> 0:08:01.040 And that when I do see children, New York children, 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:04.040 I think that can't be good for you. Right, It 0:08:04.120 --> 0:08:06.680 must kill whatever tiny bit of baby empathy you had. 0:08:07.640 --> 0:08:12.280 Right do you think growing up in Nebraska and being outdoors, 0:08:12.800 --> 0:08:15.360 did you play imagination games? 0:08:15.720 --> 0:08:19.000 I definitely was an imagination kid. But more than that, 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:28.560 I was like running, climbing and biting. Like I think 0:08:28.720 --> 0:08:33.040 we were catching snakes and looking them at one another, 0:08:33.960 --> 0:08:37.760 like catching bugs and mushing them. We're just the worst, 0:08:38.000 --> 0:08:42.520 the worst type of little boys is into it, sticking 0:08:42.559 --> 0:08:44.960 your hand in the mud, seeing what's in their bag. 0:08:45.080 --> 0:08:48.160 Yeah, being the youngest of five, do you think that? 0:08:48.200 --> 0:08:51.360 How do you think that that affected you? Now? 0:08:52.200 --> 0:08:55.480 Being the youngest of five is why I'm bad? Okay, 0:08:55.720 --> 0:08:59.000 because it was like leave the baby alone. The baby 0:08:59.000 --> 0:09:02.160 wants to sing you, so give that to the baby. 0:09:02.400 --> 0:09:05.640 Does somebody check on the baby. Oh look at the 0:09:05.920 --> 0:09:09.480 and they just let me. And then that behavior got 0:09:09.559 --> 0:09:13.400 passed down to all My sisters and my brother are 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:18.320 always like uh huh, yeah, that's great. Even today, I 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:21.400 think they still act like that, but I can see it. 0:09:22.520 --> 0:09:25.760 I knew that that was happening. But then once they 0:09:25.840 --> 0:09:29.480 started having children, then I really was like, this is 0:09:29.559 --> 0:09:33.760 how you used to do me. You don't care that 0:09:33.880 --> 0:09:38.960 this child drew this picture. But yeah, it was just 0:09:39.000 --> 0:09:44.000 like severe encouragement all of the time, which I think 0:09:44.160 --> 0:09:47.480 creates a monster, but a fun monster. 0:09:47.360 --> 0:09:48.600 But a confident monster. 0:09:48.960 --> 0:09:50.000 Yeah good. 0:09:50.200 --> 0:09:55.960 Yeah, you were interested in snakes and mud and squishing bugs. 0:09:56.800 --> 0:10:01.199 When did you start to have an interest in either 0:10:01.840 --> 0:10:05.880 the creative arts or writing or performing. Was that something 0:10:05.880 --> 0:10:07.680 that came to you early on? 0:10:09.240 --> 0:10:12.240 I guess I did the thing kids do where you're like, 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:14.920 you write a show, and then you make the neighbors 0:10:14.960 --> 0:10:16.120 come to the show. 0:10:16.320 --> 0:10:19.600 Right that we did that, By the way, Not everyone 0:10:19.679 --> 0:10:22.800 does that, but yes, I knew what you mean, know 0:10:22.800 --> 0:10:23.360 what you mean? 0:10:23.520 --> 0:10:28.320 Yes, those poor people. But oh so this is really 0:10:28.360 --> 0:10:31.679 how it happened. I was learning how to play the 0:10:31.679 --> 0:10:36.000 piano at twelve from the minister of music at church. 0:10:36.800 --> 0:10:41.840 Then she cheated on her husband, and then she was 0:10:42.000 --> 0:10:46.360 not allowed to play the piano anymore. I think that's what. 0:10:46.559 --> 0:10:49.200 Wait, that was the punishment. That was the punishment. It 0:10:49.240 --> 0:10:51.120 seems like she should be a different punishment. 0:10:51.760 --> 0:10:55.040 But she couldn't be an official, an efficient. 0:10:54.760 --> 0:10:57.600 At the church, she couldn't come to church, she couldn't. 0:10:57.280 --> 0:10:59.880 Be in the pulpit because she was doing dirt. 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:02.480 Okay, that was the rumor. 0:11:02.559 --> 0:11:05.760 Who knows what's true. Okay, But she had taught me 0:11:06.120 --> 0:11:09.840 exactly one song, and so I played it that Sunday 0:11:09.960 --> 0:11:12.800 by myself because I had to and this was not 0:11:12.920 --> 0:11:17.400 the plan. And then she didn't come back to a 0:11:17.480 --> 0:11:21.080 rehearsal for choir rehearsal, and so then I would just 0:11:21.120 --> 0:11:23.920 show up at every choir rehearsal and I would figure 0:11:23.960 --> 0:11:27.440 out how to play something for them for Sunday. And 0:11:27.480 --> 0:11:29.440 I just figured out how to play the piano. I 0:11:29.440 --> 0:11:32.240 can't today because it was math and not like a 0:11:32.320 --> 0:11:36.280 talent that I have, But I just figured it out, 0:11:36.520 --> 0:11:39.480 and every week I figured it out and it was fine. 0:11:40.120 --> 0:11:43.720 And it also gave me insane confidence because I was like, 0:11:43.840 --> 0:11:47.280 I have no there are a million people ahead of 0:11:47.280 --> 0:11:49.520 me in line for what I'm doing right now. It 0:11:49.559 --> 0:11:51.800 should be the last person who play. But I figured 0:11:51.840 --> 0:11:53.040 it out. You can figure it out. 0:11:54.040 --> 0:11:56.120 So this is really your first experience in front of 0:11:56.160 --> 0:11:59.520 an audience and in your brain and your confident, young 0:12:00.120 --> 0:12:05.040 fifth child brain. This made you a star. Yeah, yeah, 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:05.520 I'm starr. 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:08.440 I'm great. I can do it. But more than I'm like, 0:12:08.840 --> 0:12:12.480 they trusted me to do this thing that an adult 0:12:12.520 --> 0:12:15.720 should be doing, right, I was like, all right, if 0:12:15.720 --> 0:12:17.120 it's up to me, I'll figure it out. 0:12:17.600 --> 0:12:20.400 What about writing, I don't know. 0:12:21.800 --> 0:12:25.040 Writing was never a part of it, never, never, And 0:12:25.080 --> 0:12:28.280 that's the main thing now. I think when you start improvising, 0:12:29.160 --> 0:12:32.640 all improvisers are writers, really, because you're all writing down 0:12:32.679 --> 0:12:35.760 the sketches and stuff. But writing wasn't a part of 0:12:35.760 --> 0:12:40.480 it at all. I just thought I just didn't think 0:12:40.520 --> 0:12:44.040 of sketch writing as a job, and it certainly not 0:12:44.120 --> 0:12:48.000 a job that could lead to other jobs. Right, But 0:12:48.720 --> 0:12:49.320 I was wrong. 0:12:50.400 --> 0:12:55.000 You eventually you joined a theater group in Omaha, you 0:12:55.120 --> 0:13:00.640 wanted to perform, and this brought you to Chicago for 0:13:00.920 --> 0:13:04.040 a gig. Right, So tell me about that important trip 0:13:04.080 --> 0:13:05.679 and the aftermath of that. 0:13:06.640 --> 0:13:11.160 In Omaha, we started an improv group and it was very, 0:13:11.320 --> 0:13:15.120 very fun, and then we decided to go visit Chicago 0:13:15.840 --> 0:13:19.160 for Chicago Improv Festival. Was that you know, back then 0:13:19.240 --> 0:13:23.280 that was basically the only place there was any type 0:13:23.320 --> 0:13:27.840 of improv where you could make a living at it. Right, 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:30.959 So then I moved to Sor. We go to that 0:13:31.280 --> 0:13:35.040 improv festival and a lady named Shanna Halpern who used 0:13:35.080 --> 0:13:38.000 to run Io, which was a big famous improv theater. 0:13:38.559 --> 0:13:43.480 She yeah, she told me that if I moved there, 0:13:43.640 --> 0:13:46.480 I would have a full time job within a year. 0:13:47.200 --> 0:13:50.719 So I moved there. She let me intern at Io 0:13:51.240 --> 0:13:54.240 and uh, it took six months and I got hired 0:13:54.240 --> 0:13:57.520 at Boom Chicago, which is a theater in Amsterdam, and 0:13:57.559 --> 0:14:01.000 that was a full time so I was instantly. The 0:14:01.040 --> 0:14:04.480 second I was out of classes, I got called up 0:14:04.480 --> 0:14:09.160 to do Boom Chicago and was doing full time comedy 0:14:09.280 --> 0:14:10.839 was my full time job ever since. 0:14:11.360 --> 0:14:14.679 Boom Chicago is an improv group that is in Amsterdam, 0:14:15.160 --> 0:14:20.280 which is very confused, makes the name very confusing. Talk 0:14:20.320 --> 0:14:23.600 to me a little bit about this group and its importance. 0:14:24.160 --> 0:14:31.160 Well for you, Booms Chicago is a theater in Amsterdam 0:14:31.200 --> 0:14:35.240 where we write our shows, We write all our reviews, 0:14:35.280 --> 0:14:39.560 it's just like Second City, except it's way more improvised. Okay, 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:43.720 like we probably have a written opening, a couple of 0:14:43.800 --> 0:14:47.000 sketches throughout, but then the rest is just improv games. 0:14:47.880 --> 0:14:53.800 And it's really really nice because you have to just 0:14:54.160 --> 0:14:56.480 figure it out, just like being the Minister of music 0:14:56.520 --> 0:15:01.480 when you're a kid. You can't complete prepare for it, 0:15:01.800 --> 0:15:03.600 Like there is no way to prepare for doing a 0:15:03.600 --> 0:15:06.040 show for three hundred people for whom English is their 0:15:06.080 --> 0:15:10.680 second language, right And if you've never you know, done 0:15:10.720 --> 0:15:15.720 short form improv and I hadn't really, but I you know, 0:15:16.080 --> 0:15:19.320 could really improvise songs very well. So then that I 0:15:19.360 --> 0:15:23.840 think is what got me the job. But it was 0:15:24.000 --> 0:15:29.120 so formative because you're making money at comedy for the 0:15:29.160 --> 0:15:33.880 first time, and like there are all these famous alums 0:15:34.000 --> 0:15:37.560 and you really feel like, oh, I'm doing it. And 0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:43.960 at Boom Chicago you can do whatever you want. Like 0:15:44.320 --> 0:15:49.360 if halfway through the show you were like, let's stop 0:15:49.400 --> 0:15:51.880 doing the show and do a different thing, and you 0:15:52.040 --> 0:15:55.800 just put on a different thing that would be allowed 0:15:56.160 --> 0:15:58.920 if the audience had a great time, you could in 0:15:59.080 --> 0:16:01.320 order for or the audience to have a great time. 0:16:01.400 --> 0:16:05.120 You can do literally anything like one day when I 0:16:05.200 --> 0:16:08.600 knew that we were not going to be supervised very heavily, 0:16:09.280 --> 0:16:12.280 I was like, let's just pick a running order and 0:16:12.320 --> 0:16:15.000 do whatever we want. We did whatever we wanted. Thought, 0:16:14.960 --> 0:16:17.240 he's had a great time. We were just like calling 0:16:17.320 --> 0:16:21.960 audibles and like filling time until the show was over. 0:16:22.040 --> 0:16:25.280 It was the best. But that's how boom Chicago is. 0:16:25.320 --> 0:16:31.080 And then you in addition to that, you do corporate gigs, 0:16:31.240 --> 0:16:34.360 tons of corporate gigs. You're doing a gig in like 0:16:35.640 --> 0:16:39.040 in like a like a like an amusement park, or 0:16:39.080 --> 0:16:44.760 in the window of a shopping center, or like an 0:16:44.880 --> 0:16:50.200 afternoon at the United Nations. Yes, man, everywhere we went everywhere. 0:16:50.360 --> 0:16:53.400 We went to Malta, we went to Spain and stuff. 0:16:53.600 --> 0:16:55.560 We went to Chicago. I didn't go to Chicago, but 0:16:55.600 --> 0:16:59.600 they went to Chicago. But it was just every gig 0:16:59.680 --> 0:17:03.120 you could think of, That's what it was. And it 0:17:03.240 --> 0:17:08.600 was so what's your good headed? Your confidence is like, 0:17:08.680 --> 0:17:11.880 I'm probably a piece of shit, So I'm so confident. 0:17:12.080 --> 0:17:16.080 But after like three hundred Germans bow you you're fine, right, 0:17:16.280 --> 0:17:17.920 You're gonna be fine. 0:17:19.760 --> 0:17:24.080 What what do you think that style of improv with 0:17:24.240 --> 0:17:28.359 no rules? What did you take from that today or 0:17:28.400 --> 0:17:30.760 what did you learn from that or how did you 0:17:31.200 --> 0:17:35.080 how did you mold that into to who you are today? 0:17:35.480 --> 0:17:39.080 Because you have rules today. You work in network a lot, 0:17:39.200 --> 0:17:42.040 so I know for a fact that there are rules, 0:17:43.080 --> 0:17:45.320 But what did what did that experience give you? 0:17:46.600 --> 0:17:53.000 It? Really? I mean it taught me that there are rules, 0:17:53.160 --> 0:17:58.879 but are there? I mean, come on, it's really like 0:17:59.760 --> 0:18:02.640 it's taught me that people ask for a certain thing, 0:18:03.520 --> 0:18:05.760 but what they want is the best thing they could have, 0:18:06.600 --> 0:18:09.800 right And sometimes and this is the worst thing I 0:18:09.800 --> 0:18:13.960 could say, And sometimes you know best, like you know 0:18:14.080 --> 0:18:19.200 best what you can deliver crystal clear, you know that, 0:18:19.320 --> 0:18:21.119 and you know what they're asking for. There might be 0:18:21.160 --> 0:18:24.359 a difference there, right, So just do the thing you like, 0:18:24.760 --> 0:18:27.560 do the thing you like, stop doing the thing people 0:18:27.600 --> 0:18:29.320 think they want. They'll know what they want. 0:18:30.880 --> 0:18:34.960 Yeah, that's interesting, And I see that in your work 0:18:35.119 --> 0:18:41.400 because it is surprising, particularly late night. There's a structure, right, 0:18:41.560 --> 0:18:43.879 I mean, even if you erase everything else and you 0:18:43.880 --> 0:18:46.000 say there's a commercial break every seven and a half 0:18:46.040 --> 0:18:49.360 minutes or whatever, it is, right, like there is you're 0:18:49.480 --> 0:18:54.560 set within a structure. But I find that you, at 0:18:54.640 --> 0:18:58.840 least what I have seen as a performer that you're 0:18:59.119 --> 0:19:02.520 you're constantly surprising, and those seven and a half minutes 0:19:02.560 --> 0:19:09.080 can be wild and disparate in a way that is 0:19:09.440 --> 0:19:13.080 not necessarily breaking the rules but is different. But potentially 0:19:13.119 --> 0:19:16.960 that work at Boon Chicago, and then having the discipline 0:19:17.000 --> 0:19:20.040 now to put it within, if not rules, at least 0:19:20.080 --> 0:19:22.960 within a given structure. I think that's a great that's 0:19:23.000 --> 0:19:24.040 a great gift. 0:19:25.240 --> 0:19:30.040 Yay, so doo we do like like at the end 0:19:30.080 --> 0:19:32.720 reff and show, we would just be like, what do 0:19:32.840 --> 0:19:36.440 we feel like doing? And we would do exactly whatever 0:19:36.600 --> 0:19:40.000 we felt like doing. Inter saying that was the big 0:19:40.080 --> 0:19:43.800 surprise is people like it when you're having a fun time. 0:19:44.320 --> 0:19:47.000 I would not have guessed that. I mean, certainly not 0:19:47.119 --> 0:19:54.120 to that extent, but goodness, people watch you a smile 0:19:54.160 --> 0:19:56.600 about a picture of a pony for ten minutes. They 0:19:56.680 --> 0:19:59.800 just love that you're having fun. And it's so much 0:19:59.800 --> 0:20:03.359 more severe. People like people so much more. I'm taking 0:20:03.400 --> 0:20:11.119 off my earrings because I'm gonna fight you. But people 0:20:11.680 --> 0:20:16.960 like people so bad. People love people. They love looking 0:20:17.000 --> 0:20:19.160 at them, they love listening to them, they love whatever 0:20:19.200 --> 0:20:22.119 weird things they love. And that I'm always reminded of 0:20:22.119 --> 0:20:24.359 that whenever I end up in the middle of some 0:20:24.560 --> 0:20:28.120 documentary of like what was the one? The Pez Guy? 0:20:28.240 --> 0:20:31.320 The Pez documentary? I'm this guy loves this and then 0:20:31.359 --> 0:20:34.040 it makes you love it. I don't love pets. I 0:20:34.040 --> 0:20:36.760 don't care about Pez even I think Pez tastes bad. 0:20:37.320 --> 0:20:37.960 How about that? 0:20:38.280 --> 0:20:42.720 I know that's really true, and it's so true. I 0:20:43.240 --> 0:20:46.560 think about that one? What was it? The the Donkey 0:20:46.720 --> 0:20:48.560 Kong one? Did you see that? 0:20:49.520 --> 0:20:52.440 I wrote a musical about it? Oh? 0:20:52.520 --> 0:20:57.919 You did music? There's that's bad research by me. But anyway, 0:20:57.960 --> 0:20:59.840 go ahead, I wrote. 0:21:00.760 --> 0:21:03.359 You'd be the only person who knew about it. I 0:21:03.400 --> 0:21:06.480 wrote a two man musical with my very good friend 0:21:06.560 --> 0:21:10.040 Lauren van Kiren and our musical director David Bull, and 0:21:10.119 --> 0:21:12.720 it was directed by Brendan Hunt, who's coach Beard on 0:21:12.760 --> 0:21:17.879 ted Lasso. Now, yeah, and we had the dumbest It 0:21:17.920 --> 0:21:20.000 was just like the two of us and it was 0:21:20.040 --> 0:21:25.120 a quick change musical about the best, in my opinion, 0:21:25.160 --> 0:21:28.240 the best documentary of all time, which is King of Kong. 0:21:28.480 --> 0:21:31.399 King of Kong quarters the best. It's the best documentary. 0:21:32.320 --> 0:21:33.560 And if you haven't seen it. 0:21:33.880 --> 0:21:36.199 You should know. You should definitely see it, and to 0:21:36.280 --> 0:21:39.800 your point, you'll start being like God. I didn't appreciate 0:21:39.880 --> 0:21:43.600 Donkey Kong enough, like your yeah, that's your Yeah, You're like, 0:21:45.119 --> 0:21:47.919 I need to go buy a Donkey Kong machine so 0:21:47.960 --> 0:21:51.320 that I can start playing this game that I've never 0:21:51.359 --> 0:21:53.280 really had any desire to play before. 0:21:53.800 --> 0:21:56.040 Yeah, I've never given it a single thought. But then 0:21:56.160 --> 0:21:58.959 they love it so bad. Their love for it is catching. 0:21:59.600 --> 0:22:22.679 Since, Yeah, what brought you to leave Boom Chicago and 0:22:22.720 --> 0:22:24.080 come back to the United States. 0:22:25.000 --> 0:22:28.440 Well, I was at Boom Chicago for two years, then 0:22:28.560 --> 0:22:32.240 I left to do Second City, and back then I 0:22:32.320 --> 0:22:34.120 called them on the phone and said, will you give 0:22:34.119 --> 0:22:39.320 me a job? Now, they gave me a job because 0:22:40.119 --> 0:22:45.320 I just so happened to slum Dog Millionaire it. They 0:22:45.320 --> 0:22:49.160 didn't know me at Second City. I did I owe 0:22:49.240 --> 0:22:53.200 while I was living in Chicago, But one night I 0:22:53.359 --> 0:22:55.800 just so happened to show up there. Because if you're 0:22:55.800 --> 0:22:58.720 an improviser, they'll let you do the set with them. Well, 0:22:58.760 --> 0:23:01.800 the night I showed up was to same night Martin 0:23:01.840 --> 0:23:04.439 Short showed up, so I was like, oh, they're not 0:23:04.440 --> 0:23:06.040 gonna let me do the set, but he didn't want 0:23:06.040 --> 0:23:07.960 to do the set, so then they let me do 0:23:08.040 --> 0:23:11.560 the set. And then the three suggestions were like a 0:23:11.600 --> 0:23:14.840 spark plug, which I just so happened to know how 0:23:14.840 --> 0:23:19.159 to change sign language, which I just so happened to speak, 0:23:19.840 --> 0:23:23.080 and gymnastics and I used to be a gymnastics coach. 0:23:23.760 --> 0:23:26.359 And I was like, I must seem like a fucking 0:23:26.440 --> 0:23:32.520 genius in these people. It was the slum dog millionariest 0:23:32.800 --> 0:23:34.360 thing that has ever happened. 0:23:34.520 --> 0:23:36.320 I was like, oh, crazy, crazy. 0:23:36.480 --> 0:23:37.919 So then when I called him, I was like, I 0:23:37.920 --> 0:23:42.320 want to job. They were like, okay, because because Martin 0:23:42.320 --> 0:23:44.840 Short was there, all the people who make decisions were there, 0:23:45.000 --> 0:23:47.720 so then they all knew I was the lady who 0:23:47.800 --> 0:23:49.080 did the thing that one time. 0:23:49.560 --> 0:23:53.000 Yeah. To be able to do those three things is 0:23:53.119 --> 0:23:54.399 pretty crazy. 0:23:54.840 --> 0:23:57.200 What are they? Gods? I didn't know who. I didn't 0:23:57.200 --> 0:23:59.200 shout it out. It wasn't a plant. 0:24:00.160 --> 0:24:05.040 Plant. You had bought all the tickets in the theater 0:24:05.480 --> 0:24:07.280 and they were all your friends, and they were like, 0:24:07.280 --> 0:24:10.800 one of the weirdest skills that Amber has. Oh yeah, 0:24:10.800 --> 0:24:14.240 here we go. Hey, yeah, uh not weird. That's I 0:24:14.240 --> 0:24:19.200 don't even know why is it weird? But different different skills. Okay, 0:24:19.240 --> 0:24:22.080 So you came back to start working with Second. 0:24:21.760 --> 0:24:25.560 City yep, And then I did Second City Denver. We existed, 0:24:26.520 --> 0:24:30.920 and Maine Stage Chicago, and then from main Stage Chicago. 0:24:31.000 --> 0:24:35.360 A lot of people go to LA, but Boom Chicago 0:24:35.480 --> 0:24:38.000 was so fun. So I went back to Boom Chicago 0:24:38.040 --> 0:24:42.400 for three years, you did, and it was the most 0:24:42.400 --> 0:24:44.960 fun I've ever had. Like, Boom Chicago is very fun 0:24:44.960 --> 0:24:46.600