1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:02,760 Speaker 1: I'm Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the Thing. 2 00:00:03,440 --> 00:00:06,600 Speaker 1: Lauren Michaels is one of the most influential figures in 3 00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:10,000 Speaker 1: American entertainment. I went to visit him at his corner 4 00:00:10,080 --> 00:00:14,400 Speaker 1: office and Rockefeller Center. It's seventeen floors above the skating rink. 5 00:00:14,600 --> 00:00:17,360 Speaker 1: Then there's a huge fish tank in the corner. It's 6 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:20,760 Speaker 1: the same office he's had since nineteen seventy five, when 7 00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:24,119 Speaker 1: he started Saturday Night Live and proceeded to launch the 8 00:00:24,200 --> 00:00:28,320 Speaker 1: careers of some of the biggest names in comedy Belushi, Ackroyd, 9 00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:32,640 Speaker 1: Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, Chris Farley, Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, 10 00:00:32,760 --> 00:00:36,480 Speaker 1: Will Farrell, Tina Fey. The list goes on and on 11 00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:40,240 Speaker 1: and on. He's a rare producer and that he's truly 12 00:00:40,280 --> 00:00:43,639 Speaker 1: involved in all aspects of production. Yet he says when 13 00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:47,680 Speaker 1: he does his job right, he leaves no fingerprints. Lord 14 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:51,160 Speaker 1: Michael's life in comedy began in the late nineteen sixties 15 00:00:51,520 --> 00:00:54,800 Speaker 1: when he worked at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in Toronto 16 00:00:54,920 --> 00:00:59,360 Speaker 1: alongside his writing and performing partner Hart Pomerantz. But it 17 00:00:59,440 --> 00:01:03,720 Speaker 1: wasn't television. Lord Michael started out in radio. It was 18 00:01:03,760 --> 00:01:06,360 Speaker 1: a show called five nights a week at this time, 19 00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:11,160 Speaker 1: and we did political satire every week. We thought we 20 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:15,320 Speaker 1: were potentially bringing down the government, and the fact that 21 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:18,280 Speaker 1: no one was listening didn't occur to us for at 22 00:01:18,319 --> 00:01:21,160 Speaker 1: least the first year. But we loved doing it. It 23 00:01:21,240 --> 00:01:23,399 Speaker 1: was just a chance to write and perform every week. 24 00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:27,280 Speaker 1: Radio had a larger budget at that point than television 25 00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:30,080 Speaker 1: because people had more radios than the television. It's just 26 00:01:30,160 --> 00:01:33,920 Speaker 1: it's a government system and they allocated based on fairness, 27 00:01:34,360 --> 00:01:38,360 Speaker 1: which is very Canadian thing to do, not necessarily on 28 00:01:38,440 --> 00:01:43,000 Speaker 1: the edge of technological change. But there was a radio 29 00:01:43,080 --> 00:01:49,040 Speaker 1: show produced like the Tonight Show, full orchestra, done every 30 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:52,720 Speaker 1: day in Toronto, which was called The Rust Thompson Show. 31 00:01:52,760 --> 00:01:55,640 Speaker 1: And we were hard as the writers on that and 32 00:01:55,680 --> 00:01:58,200 Speaker 1: we performed once or twice a week. Now where did 33 00:01:58,200 --> 00:02:00,000 Speaker 1: that begin though? For you? Did you go to school 34 00:02:00,160 --> 00:02:01,680 Speaker 1: for that or did you? No, no, no, no, I 35 00:02:01,720 --> 00:02:06,000 Speaker 1: went when I graduated from University of Toronto. I had 36 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:10,320 Speaker 1: taken nothing that was of any pro drama theater. I'd 37 00:02:10,360 --> 00:02:13,360 Speaker 1: worked in theater there, but it was more. There was 38 00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:19,160 Speaker 1: a review that University College UC Follies, which was a 39 00:02:19,240 --> 00:02:23,959 Speaker 1: satirical review music and comedy, and I co wrote that 40 00:02:24,040 --> 00:02:26,720 Speaker 1: and directed it. So so from the beginning, I mean, 41 00:02:26,800 --> 00:02:32,680 Speaker 1: even before you go into CBC radio and before Hard 42 00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:36,040 Speaker 1: Palmer ants there, even in college what you characterize a 43 00:02:36,160 --> 00:02:40,000 Speaker 1: satiric review, comedy review, that was your bailiy Wick from 44 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:41,640 Speaker 1: the beginning. I think it was what was in the 45 00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:45,560 Speaker 1: air at the time. It was just the beginning of 46 00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:48,519 Speaker 1: the questioning of authority. Which was the year I did 47 00:02:48,520 --> 00:02:52,360 Speaker 1: it was we were no longer talking about World War Two. 48 00:02:52,919 --> 00:02:55,880 Speaker 1: The first part of my childhood, that's all anyone talked about. 49 00:02:55,960 --> 00:02:58,760 Speaker 1: Every teacher I had at school had been in the war. 50 00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:01,839 Speaker 1: It was pretty much the gloom of that hung over 51 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:06,560 Speaker 1: most of the fifties s. Yeah, and then we television 52 00:03:06,600 --> 00:03:10,080 Speaker 1: came into our lives and and everything changed, and so 53 00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:13,440 Speaker 1: the CBC. How long are the radio years? The radio years? 54 00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:15,959 Speaker 1: Think three years. The funny part about the show, the 55 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:19,639 Speaker 1: Russ Thompson Show, was at a certain point, five or 56 00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:22,079 Speaker 1: six months into it, the producer of the show came 57 00:03:22,080 --> 00:03:24,400 Speaker 1: in and met with us and he said, the show's 58 00:03:24,440 --> 00:03:28,800 Speaker 1: not working. We don't know whether it's you guys or Russ. 59 00:03:28,840 --> 00:03:32,320 Speaker 1: So we thought we'd start with you guys. So we 60 00:03:32,320 --> 00:03:36,880 Speaker 1: were the first, Yeah, and then we began writing for 61 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:40,160 Speaker 1: comedians Woody Allen and John Rivers and a little bit 62 00:03:40,160 --> 00:03:42,680 Speaker 1: Dick Cabin. How do you get into that door? Heart? 63 00:03:42,880 --> 00:03:45,680 Speaker 1: Heart did that. He was very good at approaching people. 64 00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:48,800 Speaker 1: We would come down to New York to write for 65 00:03:48,880 --> 00:03:55,960 Speaker 1: people and what he was incredibly generous and encouraging, and 66 00:03:56,320 --> 00:03:58,800 Speaker 1: we had no impact at all on his career, but 67 00:03:58,880 --> 00:04:02,440 Speaker 1: he was very helpful. Then we got hired on a 68 00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:07,920 Speaker 1: television show in as writers called The Beautiful Phillis Dealers 69 00:04:07,920 --> 00:04:12,840 Speaker 1: Show and which was a variety show at NBC in Burbank. 70 00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:15,680 Speaker 1: And then from there, when that was canceled, we were 71 00:04:15,760 --> 00:04:18,200 Speaker 1: hired on Lapin, which was in its first season for 72 00:04:18,320 --> 00:04:21,520 Speaker 1: George for George laughter, Yeah, what was the dynamic when 73 00:04:21,520 --> 00:04:24,240 Speaker 1: you go to Los Angeles in the late sixties and 74 00:04:24,279 --> 00:04:26,560 Speaker 1: you're writing for network television? Did you feel like that 75 00:04:26,640 --> 00:04:29,120 Speaker 1: was It wasn't at all the romantic idea of what 76 00:04:29,200 --> 00:04:32,919 Speaker 1: I thought being in show business would be well. On 77 00:04:33,080 --> 00:04:36,840 Speaker 1: lap In, the writers would write and then it would 78 00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:40,719 Speaker 1: be edited by a head writer, and then we did 79 00:04:40,720 --> 00:04:43,440 Speaker 1: not go to the read through. We were at at 80 00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:46,159 Speaker 1: a motel in Burbank, uh and we would all have 81 00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:48,240 Speaker 1: lunch together and that was fun. I didn't even have 82 00:04:48,520 --> 00:04:50,960 Speaker 1: to have offices. No, we had offices, but they were 83 00:04:50,960 --> 00:04:55,039 Speaker 1: in a motel, which was you know, it was the 84 00:04:55,080 --> 00:04:59,880 Speaker 1: boom period of Burbank. So um, it's not let NBC. No, 85 00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:03,000 Speaker 1: we've used offices that our motels before exactly. Yeah. And 86 00:05:03,360 --> 00:05:06,960 Speaker 1: what was interesting about it was that it was the 87 00:05:07,120 --> 00:05:10,640 Speaker 1: number one show and on one level it was like 88 00:05:10,839 --> 00:05:13,440 Speaker 1: the greatest credit you could have, and it certainly did 89 00:05:13,480 --> 00:05:17,800 Speaker 1: wonders for you know, like self image and career, but 90 00:05:18,279 --> 00:05:22,400 Speaker 1: it wasn't fun. You'd write, you know, monologues for Dan 91 00:05:22,520 --> 00:05:24,960 Speaker 1: and Dick, who were really nice to us. Did you 92 00:05:24,960 --> 00:05:26,679 Speaker 1: get to go to the tapings of the show. We'd 93 00:05:26,720 --> 00:05:29,440 Speaker 1: go to the studio if they were doing the monologues, 94 00:05:29,520 --> 00:05:32,599 Speaker 1: and they would read it from the cards. They would 95 00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:34,159 Speaker 1: see it for the first they were some of the 96 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:37,640 Speaker 1: most famous card readers, but they also just they would 97 00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:39,440 Speaker 1: just see it for the first time on the car. 98 00:05:40,360 --> 00:05:43,520 Speaker 1: They did not want their work in any way interfere 99 00:05:43,560 --> 00:05:45,880 Speaker 1: with their life. And we worked there for a year 100 00:05:46,480 --> 00:05:49,839 Speaker 1: and then I got a call from the head of 101 00:05:49,880 --> 00:05:53,360 Speaker 1: the CBC asking what it would take to bring us 102 00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:56,479 Speaker 1: back to do shows. You were still hard on television yeah, 103 00:05:56,720 --> 00:05:58,800 Speaker 1: and that's where I learned how to do television. Why 104 00:05:58,839 --> 00:06:03,239 Speaker 1: do you say that, because I spent a huge chunk 105 00:06:03,240 --> 00:06:06,440 Speaker 1: of my twenties, you know, in an editing room. We 106 00:06:06,480 --> 00:06:08,760 Speaker 1: would shoot in the studio, we'd be in front of 107 00:06:08,760 --> 00:06:10,920 Speaker 1: an audience and then what were you doing? It was 108 00:06:10,960 --> 00:06:15,480 Speaker 1: called The Heart and Louren Terrific Hour, and we were 109 00:06:15,480 --> 00:06:19,880 Speaker 1: the stars. Yeah, and there was you know, one ensemble 110 00:06:20,040 --> 00:06:24,200 Speaker 1: and a musical guest James Taylor was on one. Cat 111 00:06:24,279 --> 00:06:27,200 Speaker 1: Stevens Birth. The idea for the other show that you 112 00:06:27,240 --> 00:06:29,120 Speaker 1: eventually wound up doing. I don't know whether you know. 113 00:06:29,320 --> 00:06:31,960 Speaker 1: There was a real form then called Variety, and it 114 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:35,520 Speaker 1: was comedy Variety and it had you know, music and comedy, 115 00:06:35,800 --> 00:06:39,320 Speaker 1: and we would perform in front of an audience, but 116 00:06:39,560 --> 00:06:41,480 Speaker 1: mostly it was built in the editing room. And the 117 00:06:41,520 --> 00:06:44,360 Speaker 1: way that laughed in was I remember that we came 118 00:06:44,400 --> 00:06:48,120 Speaker 1: out of the first show with like sixteen hours worth 119 00:06:48,160 --> 00:06:51,240 Speaker 1: of tape and I met with the editor. I had 120 00:06:51,279 --> 00:06:54,080 Speaker 1: no experience of it at all, and he said, well, 121 00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:56,039 Speaker 1: we just why don't we just watch it? So we 122 00:06:56,120 --> 00:07:00,440 Speaker 1: watched the first four hours. We were discussing a catch. 123 00:07:01,200 --> 00:07:04,880 Speaker 1: He said, I think in that piece we could pull 124 00:07:04,920 --> 00:07:07,520 Speaker 1: out that part and I was still thinking script. I 125 00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:11,360 Speaker 1: wasn't in any way thinking visually. And he said, no, 126 00:07:11,520 --> 00:07:14,600 Speaker 1: your arm there is is by your temple and then 127 00:07:15,200 --> 00:07:17,360 Speaker 1: you put it down. And he was looking for continuity. 128 00:07:17,720 --> 00:07:20,320 Speaker 1: He was an editor, he actually saw it. I said, 129 00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:22,880 Speaker 1: how did you do that? And he said, I can 130 00:07:22,960 --> 00:07:27,120 Speaker 1: teach your eye to see, and he did. I learned 131 00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:30,040 Speaker 1: how things are put together, and how what to look 132 00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:33,880 Speaker 1: for in composition, and how to make something work, and 133 00:07:33,920 --> 00:07:36,960 Speaker 1: the role that sound played because it's all radio with pictures. 134 00:07:37,440 --> 00:07:41,000 Speaker 1: Nobody cared about sound then. When we first did SNL 135 00:07:41,160 --> 00:07:44,120 Speaker 1: the first five years, it was a boom. When you 136 00:07:44,280 --> 00:07:47,640 Speaker 1: see Elvis Son ed Sullivan him in the Jordan eires, 137 00:07:47,720 --> 00:07:50,840 Speaker 1: it's just a boom. They got what they got. We 138 00:07:50,960 --> 00:07:53,400 Speaker 1: have better sound on this interview than I had in 139 00:07:53,400 --> 00:07:56,360 Speaker 1: the first twenty years of my career. And what I 140 00:07:56,480 --> 00:08:01,360 Speaker 1: realized then about myself is that I'm much more interested 141 00:08:01,400 --> 00:08:06,960 Speaker 1: in the production that I am in performing. What changed 142 00:08:06,960 --> 00:08:11,200 Speaker 1: for you? I saw it in the editing room one night. 143 00:08:11,480 --> 00:08:15,440 Speaker 1: I looked at myself before a take. I see my 144 00:08:15,520 --> 00:08:19,360 Speaker 1: eyes checking the lighting, seeing where the cameras are in 145 00:08:19,480 --> 00:08:22,360 Speaker 1: terms of their angles, and you're seeing a guy who 146 00:08:22,360 --> 00:08:25,600 Speaker 1: all his instincts are technical and director just kind of look, yeah, 147 00:08:26,040 --> 00:08:31,040 Speaker 1: I'm seeing a guy who's preoccupied, and then the slate happens, 148 00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:35,320 Speaker 1: and then there's this smiling artificial Yeah. Snap, too artificial. 149 00:08:35,400 --> 00:08:41,720 Speaker 1: I'm sure I was sincere Yeah, yeah, allow in my opinion, 150 00:08:41,960 --> 00:08:45,480 Speaker 1: speaking for myself, as a little artificial, yes, exactly, we reached. 151 00:08:45,559 --> 00:08:48,320 Speaker 1: I had the same experience when I was on stage 152 00:08:48,559 --> 00:08:50,679 Speaker 1: when I was at University of Toronto in the theater 153 00:08:50,720 --> 00:08:54,760 Speaker 1: there and we were doing a play written by Shelley 154 00:08:54,880 --> 00:08:57,560 Speaker 1: the Poet and it was called en Chi I think, 155 00:08:58,160 --> 00:09:00,560 Speaker 1: definitely dull. But that's not the point of the point 156 00:09:00,559 --> 00:09:02,360 Speaker 1: of it is I was in the middle of a 157 00:09:02,440 --> 00:09:05,640 Speaker 1: scene with an actor and it was exciting to be 158 00:09:05,679 --> 00:09:08,000 Speaker 1: on stage and all that. But I looked in his 159 00:09:08,160 --> 00:09:14,000 Speaker 1: eyes and I realized, Oh, he's actually that guy. You know. 160 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:16,800 Speaker 1: I knew he turned lines with some charm, but he 161 00:09:16,920 --> 00:09:20,160 Speaker 1: actually had turned more character. Yeah, which I thought, Oh, 162 00:09:20,440 --> 00:09:24,439 Speaker 1: I see that's what actors are. They actually can do that, 163 00:09:24,600 --> 00:09:28,720 Speaker 1: you know. Whereas yes, for me, it was like it 164 00:09:28,800 --> 00:09:30,800 Speaker 1: was fun to be in shows and I've done them 165 00:09:30,800 --> 00:09:33,200 Speaker 1: at summer camp and I've done them in high school 166 00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:37,000 Speaker 1: and and uh, but you had a pure instinct at 167 00:09:37,040 --> 00:09:39,000 Speaker 1: that time where you just said, there's this other thing 168 00:09:39,040 --> 00:09:41,080 Speaker 1: I'd rather be doing that I was more and you 169 00:09:41,160 --> 00:09:44,560 Speaker 1: walked away, So so you So you ended that situation there. Ye, Well, 170 00:09:44,880 --> 00:09:48,760 Speaker 1: in Canada there was still a kind of national self loading, 171 00:09:49,400 --> 00:09:53,040 Speaker 1: best expressed by the then head of the CBC. We 172 00:09:53,040 --> 00:09:57,200 Speaker 1: were slow in getting our start dates for production for 173 00:09:57,240 --> 00:10:02,320 Speaker 1: the next season, and I had been offered by Sandy 174 00:10:02,360 --> 00:10:04,960 Speaker 1: Warnick and Burdy Brulstein, who I had met when I 175 00:10:05,040 --> 00:10:09,440 Speaker 1: was working in California, agent and manager respectively. They said, 176 00:10:09,720 --> 00:10:11,480 Speaker 1: you want to come back and work on a Burnston 177 00:10:11,559 --> 00:10:16,200 Speaker 1: Shriver summer show for like Yeah they were and they 178 00:10:16,200 --> 00:10:19,680 Speaker 1: were funny and it was like smart shows. In ten weeks, 179 00:10:19,960 --> 00:10:22,800 Speaker 1: I went to the the head of the department at 180 00:10:22,800 --> 00:10:25,480 Speaker 1: the CBC and I said, I have this other offer, 181 00:10:25,840 --> 00:10:28,520 Speaker 1: but I will stay here. At the time, I was 182 00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:32,160 Speaker 1: caught up in the idea that I would be of 183 00:10:32,280 --> 00:10:35,120 Speaker 1: the first generation of Canadian artists who would be able 184 00:10:35,120 --> 00:10:37,679 Speaker 1: to stay in Canada. And why is that? Why did 185 00:10:37,720 --> 00:10:41,680 Speaker 1: you feel that because everyone had always left and the 186 00:10:41,760 --> 00:10:45,080 Speaker 1: moment that you left in Canada, people started to treat 187 00:10:45,120 --> 00:10:48,560 Speaker 1: you differently, and I thought, well, that's idiotic. We should 188 00:10:48,559 --> 00:10:51,520 Speaker 1: be were involved enough, we should be able to stay 189 00:10:51,559 --> 00:10:55,280 Speaker 1: here and work here. They had the CBC that I 190 00:10:55,320 --> 00:10:58,520 Speaker 1: was working for, said, I said, I had this offer 191 00:10:58,559 --> 00:11:02,640 Speaker 1: and it's just for you know, ten weeks. He said, well, 192 00:11:02,679 --> 00:11:05,920 Speaker 1: if you're that good, why are you here? And I thought, 193 00:11:06,360 --> 00:11:08,480 Speaker 1: I want to be here that you know. And then 194 00:11:08,520 --> 00:11:13,080 Speaker 1: I realized against Yeah, And also I realized is Van 195 00:11:13,160 --> 00:11:17,440 Speaker 1: Gogh a Dutch painter. He really painted in France. And 196 00:11:17,480 --> 00:11:20,400 Speaker 1: I thought, oh, I see, so nationalism isn't the best 197 00:11:20,400 --> 00:11:22,120 Speaker 1: way to you know, you go where the work is. 198 00:11:22,800 --> 00:11:25,439 Speaker 1: So I went out and I did that, and then 199 00:11:25,480 --> 00:11:29,120 Speaker 1: I came back. Even as we're talking about Canada, your 200 00:11:29,120 --> 00:11:33,480 Speaker 1: accent just came back, you just said, I went out. Yeah, 201 00:11:33,960 --> 00:11:37,720 Speaker 1: I realized I'd come to the end of that period, 202 00:11:37,840 --> 00:11:43,760 Speaker 1: and I moved back to California ninety two, and I 203 00:11:43,800 --> 00:11:46,800 Speaker 1: lived at the Chateau Marmont un till I moved here, 204 00:11:47,080 --> 00:11:51,240 Speaker 1: which is seventy five. I had my thirtieth birthday in 205 00:11:51,280 --> 00:11:53,400 Speaker 1: the lobby of the Chateau Marmont, which hadn't had a 206 00:11:53,400 --> 00:11:58,680 Speaker 1: party then, I believe since lived there. Yeah, so certainly 207 00:11:58,679 --> 00:12:00,680 Speaker 1: one of the happiest parents of myne. You we're gonna 208 00:12:00,720 --> 00:12:02,840 Speaker 1: get to that in a minute. But you have a 209 00:12:02,920 --> 00:12:05,320 Speaker 1: real fondness from Los Angeles. Yeah, I love you have 210 00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:07,319 Speaker 1: a Yeah, you have a very very warm spot for 211 00:12:07,400 --> 00:12:11,319 Speaker 1: Los Angeles and you who are New Yorker. Yes, the 212 00:12:11,400 --> 00:12:13,600 Speaker 1: nice part about being Canadian is you don't have to 213 00:12:13,679 --> 00:12:16,880 Speaker 1: make that decision. You know, you're in California and it's 214 00:12:16,920 --> 00:12:20,600 Speaker 1: there's grass in February and the sun is shining. You know, 215 00:12:20,679 --> 00:12:23,240 Speaker 1: this is fantastic. But if you're from New York, then 216 00:12:23,400 --> 00:12:25,920 Speaker 1: l A becomes like, well, no, you know, it becomes 217 00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:28,520 Speaker 1: that it's a lot of people get an entire career. 218 00:12:28,840 --> 00:12:31,360 Speaker 1: Well I think different. That's true, and I've been very 219 00:12:31,400 --> 00:12:34,120 Speaker 1: guilty of that myself. The thing about Los Angeles is 220 00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:37,800 Speaker 1: if you do it in your twenties, you can find 221 00:12:38,040 --> 00:12:42,240 Speaker 1: and understand sepulvida, which is if you grew up in 222 00:12:42,240 --> 00:12:45,080 Speaker 1: a city with a grid, you're going, well, so what 223 00:12:45,120 --> 00:12:47,480 Speaker 1: do you mean this crosses will Shire? And then then 224 00:12:47,960 --> 00:12:50,320 Speaker 1: if you're on that s you get off at Robertson 225 00:12:51,080 --> 00:12:56,240 Speaker 1: and you think you're up here. Yes, exactly. But when 226 00:12:56,280 --> 00:12:58,000 Speaker 1: you're in your twenties, you're going to a lot of 227 00:12:58,080 --> 00:13:00,840 Speaker 1: parties where you're just following some to or somebody gives 228 00:13:00,840 --> 00:13:03,800 Speaker 1: you directions and this is at a time it's hard 229 00:13:03,840 --> 00:13:06,959 Speaker 1: to recall, but it's pre gps. No, no one wants 230 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:09,800 Speaker 1: to learn where they're going. But anyway, I had a 231 00:13:09,880 --> 00:13:12,400 Speaker 1: very happy time there and I worked for Lily Tomlin 232 00:13:13,120 --> 00:13:17,200 Speaker 1: and I wrote on her show, which was like ten 233 00:13:17,320 --> 00:13:20,760 Speaker 1: or twelve weeks, and at the end of it it 234 00:13:20,840 --> 00:13:23,000 Speaker 1: was time to go back to Canada, and I realized 235 00:13:23,040 --> 00:13:26,760 Speaker 1: I wasn't visa wise, I wasn't going back. No, it 236 00:13:26,840 --> 00:13:29,600 Speaker 1: wasn't that. It was that the CBC wanted me to 237 00:13:29,679 --> 00:13:32,200 Speaker 1: do something, but they want to be back six months 238 00:13:32,320 --> 00:13:34,560 Speaker 1: in advance of that nagging I'm gonna be the normal 239 00:13:34,640 --> 00:13:37,360 Speaker 1: leader of Canada or no, not even normally. I think 240 00:13:37,400 --> 00:13:39,319 Speaker 1: it was just that you would be able to work there. 241 00:13:39,360 --> 00:13:43,000 Speaker 1: But here's what I realized, without Malcolm Gladibo, who's also 242 00:13:43,040 --> 00:13:45,800 Speaker 1: a Canadian, articulating it, because we didn't have the benefit 243 00:13:45,840 --> 00:13:49,880 Speaker 1: of that, then it's the ten thousand hours in doing 244 00:13:50,120 --> 00:13:53,720 Speaker 1: twelve shows in ten weeks. Working at that pace, you 245 00:13:53,800 --> 00:13:57,120 Speaker 1: get better. In Canada, working on a show every four 246 00:13:57,200 --> 00:14:01,079 Speaker 1: months or five months, you overthink every thing. There's so 247 00:14:01,200 --> 00:14:04,880 Speaker 1: much at stake, and there was something about working at 248 00:14:04,880 --> 00:14:08,360 Speaker 1: that pace and working in a system that was really 249 00:14:08,400 --> 00:14:11,480 Speaker 1: clear cut, like if the numbers were there and you 250 00:14:11,559 --> 00:14:15,000 Speaker 1: had ratings, then you were hit, and they weren't there, 251 00:14:15,040 --> 00:14:18,720 Speaker 1: then you were a flop, Whereas in Canada you could 252 00:14:18,720 --> 00:14:23,000 Speaker 1: be sustained by quote unquote critical approval or the fact 253 00:14:23,080 --> 00:14:26,720 Speaker 1: that what you were doing was quote unquote worthwhile. And 254 00:14:26,760 --> 00:14:28,480 Speaker 1: at that point in my life I kind of needed 255 00:14:28,520 --> 00:14:30,800 Speaker 1: clarity of which is one of the reasons I'm drawn 256 00:14:30,840 --> 00:14:34,600 Speaker 1: to comedy, because you're trying really hard to make people laugh. 257 00:14:34,720 --> 00:14:40,160 Speaker 1: If they don't laugh, it's really so I do. Lily 258 00:14:40,200 --> 00:14:42,960 Speaker 1: Thomas Show gets nominated for an Emmy. It was a 259 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:47,080 Speaker 1: pilot special four series and I am co producing with 260 00:14:47,160 --> 00:14:50,800 Speaker 1: Jane Wagner. We spent forever on it and then at 261 00:14:50,800 --> 00:14:54,400 Speaker 1: the end it didn't get picked up. But Dick Eversoul, 262 00:14:54,520 --> 00:14:57,880 Speaker 1: who was the new newly appointed head of late Night, 263 00:14:57,920 --> 00:15:01,680 Speaker 1: had come from ABC Sports and had meant Herbschlosser on 264 00:15:01,720 --> 00:15:03,840 Speaker 1: a plane and by the time they landed he was 265 00:15:04,720 --> 00:15:07,520 Speaker 1: the director of late night Television and he had this 266 00:15:07,680 --> 00:15:12,440 Speaker 1: idea of doing many pilots in late night, using late 267 00:15:12,520 --> 00:15:16,160 Speaker 1: night to be a testing ground for prime time. It 268 00:15:16,280 --> 00:15:18,720 Speaker 1: was actually kind of prophetic because now when you look 269 00:15:18,760 --> 00:15:21,840 Speaker 1: at prime time, all the networks, almost all the creative 270 00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:24,920 Speaker 1: talent came from late night. I agreed to do one 271 00:15:25,240 --> 00:15:27,440 Speaker 1: for Dick. And I was, as I said, living at 272 00:15:27,440 --> 00:15:30,440 Speaker 1: the Barmont, and I came home one night two o'clock 273 00:15:30,440 --> 00:15:34,320 Speaker 1: in the morning, which was not unusual for me, and uh, 274 00:15:34,440 --> 00:15:37,720 Speaker 1: there was a message from Dick. Could you be at 275 00:15:37,760 --> 00:15:41,480 Speaker 1: the poll Lounge at seven o'clock in the morning for breakfast? 276 00:15:42,120 --> 00:15:44,680 Speaker 1: No better for me then than it is now. And 277 00:15:44,760 --> 00:15:47,920 Speaker 1: I went, um, okay, what's it about it? And he 278 00:15:47,920 --> 00:15:52,880 Speaker 1: said they decided to do one show as opposed to 279 00:15:53,640 --> 00:15:58,040 Speaker 1: twenty pilots, and yours is one of the ones that there, 280 00:15:58,040 --> 00:15:59,800 Speaker 1: and they all want to meet you. So I came 281 00:16:00,400 --> 00:16:03,960 Speaker 1: and it was Dick and the head of programming, the 282 00:16:04,040 --> 00:16:07,600 Speaker 1: head of research, and the head of talent. I could 283 00:16:07,680 --> 00:16:10,400 Speaker 1: kind of tell that they were like tribal elders in 284 00:16:10,440 --> 00:16:12,160 Speaker 1: a way. They were just sort of looking at me 285 00:16:12,280 --> 00:16:14,800 Speaker 1: like is he all right? You know? It was just 286 00:16:14,840 --> 00:16:18,240 Speaker 1: basically an approval process. But I seem normal enough, and 287 00:16:18,440 --> 00:16:22,000 Speaker 1: was I, you know, trouble I had lost. That's interesting 288 00:16:22,040 --> 00:16:24,600 Speaker 1: because because that's was ever thus in the business where 289 00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:27,680 Speaker 1: I mean, talent is not the only coin of the realm. 290 00:16:27,720 --> 00:16:29,920 Speaker 1: I totally want to realize, can we hand you a 291 00:16:29,920 --> 00:16:33,080 Speaker 1: lot of money? And it does he seem like a 292 00:16:33,120 --> 00:16:36,680 Speaker 1: plaque or whatever? And I and I was just turned thirty, 293 00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:39,440 Speaker 1: but I did have credits and I hadn't been nominated 294 00:16:39,440 --> 00:16:41,880 Speaker 1: for stuff. And Dick called me and he said it 295 00:16:41,920 --> 00:16:44,280 Speaker 1: went well, and then they wanted me to fly to 296 00:16:44,320 --> 00:16:46,960 Speaker 1: New York and how do you feel about that? I 297 00:16:47,080 --> 00:16:51,200 Speaker 1: was excited by it. But Herb Schlausser, who had a 298 00:16:51,320 --> 00:16:55,840 Speaker 1: very romantic notion of production in New York, I thought 299 00:16:55,880 --> 00:17:01,400 Speaker 1: it should be live. Well, I'd never done live except 300 00:17:01,440 --> 00:17:03,600 Speaker 1: for radio. And I said, what was everybody else in 301 00:17:03,640 --> 00:17:05,600 Speaker 1: the processing? Was he the lone voice? He was the 302 00:17:05,640 --> 00:17:07,480 Speaker 1: lone voice. He decided that it should be an eight 303 00:17:07,520 --> 00:17:10,240 Speaker 1: age because eight h was the big NBC studio and 304 00:17:10,240 --> 00:17:13,400 Speaker 1: it was lying vacant, and all of the production moved 305 00:17:13,400 --> 00:17:16,359 Speaker 1: to l A. All variety was in l all of 306 00:17:16,400 --> 00:17:19,680 Speaker 1: that crap music hall, all of those variety series which 307 00:17:19,760 --> 00:17:22,600 Speaker 1: were done in New York. In this building was all 308 00:17:22,600 --> 00:17:27,359 Speaker 1: in everything with the Angeles. Yeah, exactly for me, live 309 00:17:27,520 --> 00:17:34,400 Speaker 1: meant this no pilot, having done three pilots that everybody 310 00:17:34,440 --> 00:17:38,679 Speaker 1: thought were great. But then somewhere in the process of 311 00:17:38,720 --> 00:17:43,240 Speaker 1: making a pilot, all your most conservative instincts come out 312 00:17:43,320 --> 00:17:45,600 Speaker 1: and you find yourself doing the thing that you think 313 00:17:45,760 --> 00:17:48,399 Speaker 1: is going to be It's like a college essay. Is 314 00:17:48,520 --> 00:17:51,360 Speaker 1: what you really think or feel, it's what you think 315 00:17:51,400 --> 00:17:53,200 Speaker 1: will get you in or get you on the air. 316 00:17:53,640 --> 00:17:56,879 Speaker 1: So the idea that I could do a show in 317 00:17:56,920 --> 00:17:59,720 Speaker 1: which the audience would see it at the same time 318 00:17:59,760 --> 00:18:03,920 Speaker 1: as the network was truly and also I was at 319 00:18:03,920 --> 00:18:05,800 Speaker 1: a point in my career where I really thought I 320 00:18:05,840 --> 00:18:08,440 Speaker 1: had nothing to lose, so I was gonna take one 321 00:18:08,480 --> 00:18:10,480 Speaker 1: more shot at television. I was gonna see if I 322 00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:12,480 Speaker 1: could do it the way I wanted to do it, 323 00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:18,159 Speaker 1: and I pretty much did. The very first broadcast of 324 00:18:18,200 --> 00:18:26,119 Speaker 1: the show live was when in September. October oct is 325 00:18:26,160 --> 00:18:28,720 Speaker 1: the first broadcast of the show, and was the structure 326 00:18:29,320 --> 00:18:34,040 Speaker 1: virtually the same it is now. Yeah, the yeah, that 327 00:18:34,080 --> 00:18:36,159 Speaker 1: part was all the same, although I think for the 328 00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:39,800 Speaker 1: first show we did address rehearsal with the audience on 329 00:18:39,880 --> 00:18:43,240 Speaker 1: Friday night just so that we'd have an extra one 330 00:18:43,240 --> 00:18:46,200 Speaker 1: because we've never actually done anything. And the crew was 331 00:18:46,320 --> 00:18:48,840 Speaker 1: very funny. The crew was like an original Old New 332 00:18:48,920 --> 00:18:53,680 Speaker 1: York crew. They were all mildly overweight, they had donuts. 333 00:18:53,760 --> 00:18:56,680 Speaker 1: We had crew to tay because we were from California, 334 00:18:57,840 --> 00:19:01,080 Speaker 1: Jets jackets on. Yeah, and until we saw the move 335 00:19:01,880 --> 00:19:05,399 Speaker 1: the cameras around in the way that they could because 336 00:19:05,440 --> 00:19:08,840 Speaker 1: they knew that that world. I once did a show 337 00:19:08,840 --> 00:19:13,080 Speaker 1: at CBS in their big studio and they have no 338 00:19:13,119 --> 00:19:16,480 Speaker 1: tradition of this over at CBS, and I realized when 339 00:19:16,520 --> 00:19:21,240 Speaker 1: I had taken the tour that all the cameras had 340 00:19:21,400 --> 00:19:25,639 Speaker 1: stools beside them. It was only later when I realized 341 00:19:26,560 --> 00:19:30,879 Speaker 1: the show was a complete mess. Right, They haven't moved 342 00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:34,120 Speaker 1: cameras there. They just sort of aimed it at Cronkite 343 00:19:34,200 --> 00:19:37,120 Speaker 1: for the last forty years. It was that they set 344 00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:38,960 Speaker 1: up their camera and then they sit on their stool. 345 00:19:39,440 --> 00:19:42,520 Speaker 1: The eight ah crew that crane flew around the studio. 346 00:19:43,160 --> 00:19:44,960 Speaker 1: They learned that we knew what we were doing in 347 00:19:45,080 --> 00:19:50,159 Speaker 1: terms of the content, and this is gonna be interesting 348 00:19:50,200 --> 00:19:53,199 Speaker 1: for them as well. Wasn't a desk and what was 349 00:19:53,240 --> 00:19:55,920 Speaker 1: coming back to New York. There's a wonderful story when 350 00:19:56,160 --> 00:19:59,280 Speaker 1: Eugene Lee, who's the designer I hired, who had just 351 00:19:59,359 --> 00:20:04,320 Speaker 1: done Candy It on Broadway. We did the very first set, 352 00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:07,359 Speaker 1: you know, and it was like a two dollar set. 353 00:20:07,760 --> 00:20:11,680 Speaker 1: I couldn't get approval, like they wouldn't authorize the budget 354 00:20:11,720 --> 00:20:15,439 Speaker 1: for it. I went up to Herb Schlauster's office. I 355 00:20:15,520 --> 00:20:18,080 Speaker 1: just assumed, being Canadian, that I was just supposed to 356 00:20:18,080 --> 00:20:20,760 Speaker 1: do the right thing and make a show that he 357 00:20:20,800 --> 00:20:24,000 Speaker 1: would be proud of since he had authorized it. So 358 00:20:24,119 --> 00:20:26,160 Speaker 1: we took it to his office, you know, very high 359 00:20:26,240 --> 00:20:28,120 Speaker 1: up in the building, and it was a little modeled, 360 00:20:28,119 --> 00:20:29,719 Speaker 1: and I don't think you've ever seen a model, And 361 00:20:29,720 --> 00:20:32,560 Speaker 1: suddenly we're moving little cameras around and all that, and 362 00:20:32,800 --> 00:20:34,320 Speaker 1: he said, well, what's the problem. I said, well, they 363 00:20:34,359 --> 00:20:37,240 Speaker 1: you know, it's it's expensive, and they, oh fine, And 364 00:20:37,320 --> 00:20:40,159 Speaker 1: we got the approval and it was very paternal in 365 00:20:40,200 --> 00:20:43,600 Speaker 1: the best sense of it. But Eugene had a very 366 00:20:43,640 --> 00:20:46,480 Speaker 1: clear sense of what he wanted. We were showing New 367 00:20:46,520 --> 00:20:48,560 Speaker 1: York City as it then was, which was kind of 368 00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:52,320 Speaker 1: in decay and crumblings. So forward to New York drop 369 00:20:52,359 --> 00:20:57,159 Speaker 1: dead exactly. Yes. So when Herb came down to the 370 00:20:57,200 --> 00:21:00,520 Speaker 1: studio the first time to see it and looked at 371 00:21:00,560 --> 00:21:03,200 Speaker 1: the cracked paint, you know, the thing which was where 372 00:21:03,200 --> 00:21:05,359 Speaker 1: all the money was. Of course, in terms of getting 373 00:21:05,400 --> 00:21:08,480 Speaker 1: that exactly right, he said, I can't I don't know why, 374 00:21:08,560 --> 00:21:09,800 Speaker 1: you know, I don't know what I was thinking that. 375 00:21:09,960 --> 00:21:13,439 Speaker 1: I just thought the shop did this, you know, because 376 00:21:13,440 --> 00:21:17,560 Speaker 1: he just said it was a really bad and yeah, no, 377 00:21:17,760 --> 00:21:20,880 Speaker 1: it was just that nobody knew whether production could gear 378 00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:23,280 Speaker 1: up again in New York, and of course it did 379 00:21:23,400 --> 00:21:28,560 Speaker 1: and still does. So when you do the show October eleven, 380 00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:33,840 Speaker 1: the first show is broadcast live at Years, and when 381 00:21:33,880 --> 00:21:37,280 Speaker 1: it's over, describe how you feel after the very first show. 382 00:21:37,359 --> 00:21:39,119 Speaker 1: I was the same way then that I am now. 383 00:21:39,200 --> 00:21:42,080 Speaker 1: I only see the mistakes, and I tend to wear 384 00:21:42,160 --> 00:21:46,159 Speaker 1: that up until about the second drink at the party. 385 00:21:46,480 --> 00:21:50,760 Speaker 1: Even last week's show. It takes me really through midway 386 00:21:50,800 --> 00:21:52,520 Speaker 1: through Sunday. You just take me a couple of days. 387 00:21:52,560 --> 00:21:54,760 Speaker 1: I can get over it now in a day. Because 388 00:21:54,800 --> 00:21:57,359 Speaker 1: you're always hoping that everything's gonna work the way you 389 00:21:57,359 --> 00:21:59,560 Speaker 1: were hoping it was gonna work. You know, what you 390 00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:03,119 Speaker 1: see of something? Yeah, and you see somebody you know 391 00:22:03,160 --> 00:22:05,080 Speaker 1: on the left foot instead of the right foot, or 392 00:22:05,200 --> 00:22:09,600 Speaker 1: the camera cut is late, or that Q gets screwed up, 393 00:22:09,840 --> 00:22:12,560 Speaker 1: or that or somebody stuck guy right before the slate 394 00:22:12,800 --> 00:22:15,800 Speaker 1: was looking at things. Yeah. Never, he's still here. He's 395 00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:29,680 Speaker 1: not going anywhere. Yeah, more from my conversation with Lauren 396 00:22:29,760 --> 00:22:32,239 Speaker 1: Michael's is coming up in a minute. You're listening to. 397 00:22:32,600 --> 00:22:58,080 Speaker 1: Here's the thing. We're in your office here at NBC, Yes, 398 00:22:58,160 --> 00:23:00,680 Speaker 1: which has been your office from day one, from day one, 399 00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:03,200 Speaker 1: from day one, and most of the furniture is exactly 400 00:23:03,280 --> 00:23:06,159 Speaker 1: most of the first exactly the same. The joke is 401 00:23:06,280 --> 00:23:08,640 Speaker 1: we hope that the people who run the network never 402 00:23:08,680 --> 00:23:10,920 Speaker 1: really find out that where your this office is, and 403 00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:12,800 Speaker 1: how could you have it here? You know this desk. 404 00:23:13,080 --> 00:23:15,119 Speaker 1: We didn't have budget for that, so we there was 405 00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:18,119 Speaker 1: a maintenance guy here who said, well, there's a lot 406 00:23:18,160 --> 00:23:21,120 Speaker 1: of furniture you know that's in storage. So we said, 407 00:23:21,160 --> 00:23:22,879 Speaker 1: can we see it? So it was all the stuff 408 00:23:22,880 --> 00:23:25,720 Speaker 1: in the thirties and forties, and this box at the 409 00:23:25,800 --> 00:23:30,720 Speaker 1: tons to the then head of programming, and in the 410 00:23:30,760 --> 00:23:34,120 Speaker 1: desk was a couple of copies of like the Racing 411 00:23:34,200 --> 00:23:37,280 Speaker 1: Form and Jelly Sill and Maylox, and I thought, what 412 00:23:37,359 --> 00:23:39,960 Speaker 1: am I getting myself into? It was so it was 413 00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:43,000 Speaker 1: the reverse of kind of holistic view of California which 414 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:46,520 Speaker 1: I'd come here with you. Now you look at the board. 415 00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:49,159 Speaker 1: For those people who don't know the arc of the 416 00:23:49,200 --> 00:23:52,440 Speaker 1: whole season is on this infamous but corkboard on the wall, 417 00:23:53,119 --> 00:23:55,600 Speaker 1: and they are the dates of each broadcast, the names 418 00:23:55,680 --> 00:23:59,960 Speaker 1: of the confirmed hosts, some prospective hosts and their music, 419 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:02,720 Speaker 1: old guests and so forth, and the names of the 420 00:24:02,760 --> 00:24:06,160 Speaker 1: people are still not all of them, but many of them. 421 00:24:06,200 --> 00:24:09,600 Speaker 1: The biggest names in the business, The biggest names in 422 00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:14,080 Speaker 1: the business are coming here thirty something years later to 423 00:24:14,400 --> 00:24:18,040 Speaker 1: host the show. I mean, you have Ben Stiller and 424 00:24:18,080 --> 00:24:22,200 Speaker 1: Melissa McCarthy won the uh the Emmy Award, and Katie 425 00:24:22,200 --> 00:24:25,639 Speaker 1: Perry's coming, and Jimmy Fallon who's obviously double dipping on 426 00:24:25,680 --> 00:24:28,639 Speaker 1: your pay room, Jonah Hill, and I don't want to 427 00:24:28,720 --> 00:24:31,280 Speaker 1: ruin any other names. Bieber is confirmed and he's the 428 00:24:31,359 --> 00:24:33,199 Speaker 1: music and that thing. I mean, the people that are 429 00:24:33,200 --> 00:24:36,120 Speaker 1: the biggest names in the business are still coming here 430 00:24:36,160 --> 00:24:38,119 Speaker 1: to host the show. Why do you think that that 431 00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:40,880 Speaker 1: stayed that way? What? Well? I think, first of all, 432 00:24:40,920 --> 00:24:43,399 Speaker 1: the best part is host. You get the best parts 433 00:24:43,400 --> 00:24:47,880 Speaker 1: in most scenes, and we work really really hard tonight 434 00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:53,160 Speaker 1: because it's Tuesday. I will leave here probably around three. 435 00:24:53,600 --> 00:24:55,880 Speaker 1: I used to do what the younger ones do, which 436 00:24:55,880 --> 00:24:58,480 Speaker 1: was pretty much go through the night, but I don't anymore. 437 00:24:58,880 --> 00:25:01,800 Speaker 1: You know, and and I see it with smiggle till 438 00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:03,840 Speaker 1: three in the morning exactly with those guys and you 439 00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:07,119 Speaker 1: and I go work okay, and I look at my 440 00:25:07,160 --> 00:25:08,680 Speaker 1: go are you good. They're like yeah, I'm like I'm good, 441 00:25:08,720 --> 00:25:12,520 Speaker 1: and I'll go home. And that's the commitment to it 442 00:25:12,560 --> 00:25:15,960 Speaker 1: being the best it possibly can be. But I think 443 00:25:16,040 --> 00:25:19,240 Speaker 1: also to inject my own perspective, having done it many times, 444 00:25:19,320 --> 00:25:22,720 Speaker 1: many many times, many many times too many times the 445 00:25:22,760 --> 00:25:25,840 Speaker 1: past year, there is that's out there people. People do 446 00:25:25,840 --> 00:25:30,520 Speaker 1: feel that well, but it was just tweeting. This replaces 447 00:25:30,560 --> 00:25:33,440 Speaker 1: a live component that is missing in most people's careers. 448 00:25:33,680 --> 00:25:35,399 Speaker 1: They don't do theater out of them. This is a 449 00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:37,680 Speaker 1: chance for them to have a kind of a it's 450 00:25:37,720 --> 00:25:40,280 Speaker 1: it's much more loose and kind of deconstructed, and it 451 00:25:40,320 --> 00:25:42,359 Speaker 1: can get a little sloppy if they're not like spot 452 00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:44,240 Speaker 1: On and it doesn't have the it doesn't have the 453 00:25:44,320 --> 00:25:47,680 Speaker 1: kind of the gleaming perfection of movie making. And also 454 00:25:48,520 --> 00:25:52,240 Speaker 1: Seth Meyers Norm McDonald was at the show on Saturday, 455 00:25:52,720 --> 00:25:54,680 Speaker 1: and so we were sitting at the party and and 456 00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:58,680 Speaker 1: Seth pointed out that Norman would given an interview somewhere recently. 457 00:25:58,680 --> 00:26:00,879 Speaker 1: We're he's talking about the show, and he said, in 458 00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:04,119 Speaker 1: what I thought was a nice way, it's now the 459 00:26:04,160 --> 00:26:07,440 Speaker 1: only place left where you can be bad. You know, 460 00:26:07,720 --> 00:26:10,600 Speaker 1: there's no lap track. When something doesn't work, it's such 461 00:26:10,640 --> 00:26:15,119 Speaker 1: a clear silence. And whereas you walk out of the 462 00:26:15,200 --> 00:26:18,240 Speaker 1: situation comedy in front of a live audience, they're already cheering. 463 00:26:18,800 --> 00:26:23,480 Speaker 1: You know, even the theater. The theater people stand the 464 00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:28,640 Speaker 1: audience thinks they're supposed to do with standing incovation, you know. Yeah, 465 00:26:28,960 --> 00:26:31,160 Speaker 1: for a stand up comic talent like Norm. I think 466 00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:33,720 Speaker 1: one thing he might be reacting to is it gives people, 467 00:26:34,119 --> 00:26:37,000 Speaker 1: the hosts, whether they are comic performance or not, it 468 00:26:37,040 --> 00:26:39,000 Speaker 1: gives them the recreation of like a club being at 469 00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:42,840 Speaker 1: a club, and it's stripped down so that it's only 470 00:26:42,880 --> 00:26:48,000 Speaker 1: at the end talent writing into the lens. There's no spectacle. 471 00:26:48,359 --> 00:26:50,520 Speaker 1: We don't have, you know, much of a wide shot. 472 00:26:51,119 --> 00:26:54,640 Speaker 1: You're watching pure performance and for people to be able 473 00:26:54,720 --> 00:26:58,040 Speaker 1: to soar like that, and when you see it happen, 474 00:26:58,240 --> 00:27:02,480 Speaker 1: it is always amazing, you know, amazing to be standing 475 00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:05,639 Speaker 1: there being me having seen it as many times I have, 476 00:27:06,119 --> 00:27:08,400 Speaker 1: and the fact that every week we don't know how 477 00:27:08,440 --> 00:27:10,080 Speaker 1: it's going to turn out, and the fact that I 478 00:27:10,080 --> 00:27:14,320 Speaker 1: am still as scared as I am every dress rehearsal, 479 00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:17,840 Speaker 1: And honestly, I don't mean like we'll be drummed out 480 00:27:17,880 --> 00:27:21,400 Speaker 1: of the business. I just mean that it is part 481 00:27:21,440 --> 00:27:23,800 Speaker 1: of the process that people have to be bad before 482 00:27:23,840 --> 00:27:27,040 Speaker 1: they can be good. When we have a great dress rehearsal, 483 00:27:27,080 --> 00:27:30,600 Speaker 1: when the audience is way too hot, invariably something gets 484 00:27:30,640 --> 00:27:35,440 Speaker 1: lost on air when you come and do the show. Um, 485 00:27:35,480 --> 00:27:40,359 Speaker 1: I've never felt more raped and more violated. Yeah, I 486 00:27:40,400 --> 00:27:43,680 Speaker 1: mean I've come on here, you know, seemingly weeks after 487 00:27:43,760 --> 00:27:47,639 Speaker 1: I got divorced, and Bill Clinton a k a. Darryl 488 00:27:47,720 --> 00:27:49,800 Speaker 1: Hammond is walking out telling me to put my oars 489 00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:51,480 Speaker 1: in the water and set sailf for the island of 490 00:27:51,480 --> 00:27:54,800 Speaker 1: Poonani with him. Yes, and yeah. So I'm just wondering, 491 00:27:54,840 --> 00:27:57,359 Speaker 1: I mean, do you do you find that that's a 492 00:27:57,400 --> 00:28:00,680 Speaker 1: big part of their creative successes there is You're complete? Yeah, 493 00:28:00,720 --> 00:28:03,359 Speaker 1: I think there's something they expect us to be honest, 494 00:28:03,760 --> 00:28:08,120 Speaker 1: they expected us to say what what's actually happening? There's 495 00:28:08,240 --> 00:28:10,840 Speaker 1: very little protection. Have you always been this year reverence 496 00:28:10,840 --> 00:28:13,840 Speaker 1: your whole life? Yeah? That this was really just meant 497 00:28:13,840 --> 00:28:20,560 Speaker 1: to be. What's the first movie you made post I 498 00:28:20,560 --> 00:28:24,280 Speaker 1: guess Wayne's World, you know, wasn't the first. Sorry, three 499 00:28:24,280 --> 00:28:29,200 Speaker 1: am goes. I wrote with Randy Newman and Steve Martin. 500 00:28:29,560 --> 00:28:31,119 Speaker 1: I have a copy of your IMDb if you'd like 501 00:28:31,160 --> 00:28:33,280 Speaker 1: to consult at the Yeah, yeah, no, no, but I 502 00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:37,400 Speaker 1: uh that you wrote. Yes. We'd go to Steve's house 503 00:28:37,440 --> 00:28:41,080 Speaker 1: every day, Randy and we'd meet for lunch, talk it down, 504 00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:43,160 Speaker 1: and then we'd spend the afternoon writing and it was 505 00:28:43,200 --> 00:28:45,520 Speaker 1: a very happy time for me. And what about after 506 00:28:45,560 --> 00:28:46,960 Speaker 1: that was the next time a man. Then I came 507 00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:50,720 Speaker 1: back to the show. I had left sl in and 508 00:28:50,760 --> 00:28:54,960 Speaker 1: then Brandon was threatening to cancel it and he called me, 509 00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:58,120 Speaker 1: how many years were you gone? Five years? You were 510 00:28:58,160 --> 00:29:01,600 Speaker 1: gone for five years, eight five. I left with the 511 00:29:01,600 --> 00:29:06,000 Speaker 1: original group, designers, the musicians, the cast, the writers listen. 512 00:29:06,240 --> 00:29:09,480 Speaker 1: In the first five years, I didn't fire one person. 513 00:29:10,120 --> 00:29:12,520 Speaker 1: So when I came back, I was sort of more 514 00:29:13,160 --> 00:29:17,320 Speaker 1: psychologically built for that, but that it wasn't family in 515 00:29:17,360 --> 00:29:21,080 Speaker 1: that sense, that the what William Shawn once called my 516 00:29:21,240 --> 00:29:25,880 Speaker 1: pseudo egalitarianism was not healthy. I had to accept that 517 00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:28,160 Speaker 1: some people were not going to make it and that 518 00:29:28,560 --> 00:29:31,000 Speaker 1: I had better deal with that. When it happened as 519 00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:35,400 Speaker 1: opposed to just pretending yes, And so I learned how 520 00:29:35,440 --> 00:29:38,240 Speaker 1: to be a boss, which I I think I'd learned 521 00:29:38,280 --> 00:29:40,800 Speaker 1: how to how to lead on some level, but I 522 00:29:40,920 --> 00:29:42,760 Speaker 1: never learned how to be a boss. And I think 523 00:29:42,800 --> 00:29:46,960 Speaker 1: when I came back, um where you know, less of 524 00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:49,360 Speaker 1: a peer and more of a boss. Yes, And at 525 00:29:49,400 --> 00:29:52,200 Speaker 1: some point are you tempted to stop again and just 526 00:29:52,240 --> 00:29:56,320 Speaker 1: go make films? It is what I do. It's the 527 00:29:56,360 --> 00:29:59,000 Speaker 1: thing that but it also became and I don't mean 528 00:29:59,040 --> 00:30:00,680 Speaker 1: to be, you know, glibber about it, but it also 529 00:30:00,720 --> 00:30:04,960 Speaker 1: became like the aircraft carrier that you launched many planes off. 530 00:30:05,520 --> 00:30:07,720 Speaker 1: This is a power base for you as an entertainment 531 00:30:07,720 --> 00:30:12,239 Speaker 1: produce question. Wayne's World was the first of those. With 532 00:30:12,280 --> 00:30:15,880 Speaker 1: Wayne's World, I think what I wanted to prove was 533 00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:19,600 Speaker 1: that I could do a movie in the same way 534 00:30:19,640 --> 00:30:22,440 Speaker 1: that sort of the Marks Brothers used to do their movies. 535 00:30:22,520 --> 00:30:25,400 Speaker 1: They tour them first so they knew where all the 536 00:30:25,480 --> 00:30:27,840 Speaker 1: laughs were, and then they could go film them quickly 537 00:30:27,880 --> 00:30:31,600 Speaker 1: to test. Yeah. No one believes that we do what 538 00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:34,760 Speaker 1: we do here in six days because there's not much 539 00:30:34,760 --> 00:30:39,280 Speaker 1: of an approval process. It just heads to eleven thirty, 540 00:30:39,320 --> 00:30:41,600 Speaker 1: whereas in l that was my experience when I first 541 00:30:41,640 --> 00:30:45,080 Speaker 1: did the show. Yeah, yeah, there's so much money and 542 00:30:45,560 --> 00:30:48,800 Speaker 1: habitat for humanity building a house exactly, but the movie 543 00:30:48,800 --> 00:30:52,920 Speaker 1: business because it's way better run as his prime time television. 544 00:30:53,160 --> 00:30:57,720 Speaker 1: Every paragraph is scrutinized and reviewed. And I said, every week, 545 00:30:57,760 --> 00:31:00,080 Speaker 1: we don't go on because we're ready, We go on 546 00:31:00,240 --> 00:31:05,080 Speaker 1: because it's even And that's just it's somehow focuses people, 547 00:31:05,320 --> 00:31:08,800 Speaker 1: and I trust that process. And so with Wayne's World, 548 00:31:08,840 --> 00:31:11,320 Speaker 1: I think we had I can't remember how many days 549 00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:13,480 Speaker 1: when it was like twenty seven or something like that. 550 00:31:13,800 --> 00:31:18,080 Speaker 1: But towards the end there was a plot with a 551 00:31:18,200 --> 00:31:20,920 Speaker 1: father son which Robl was to be the son, and 552 00:31:20,960 --> 00:31:23,560 Speaker 1: I was hoping for Dennis Hopper to be the father. 553 00:31:23,760 --> 00:31:27,240 Speaker 1: And as we got close to shooting, which we were 554 00:31:27,280 --> 00:31:31,040 Speaker 1: like three weeks away, we went, oh, so we just 555 00:31:31,080 --> 00:31:33,479 Speaker 1: made it one person. We just made it Rob. You 556 00:31:33,520 --> 00:31:36,520 Speaker 1: could make that kind of decision quickly. The pace of 557 00:31:36,680 --> 00:31:40,600 Speaker 1: SNL was like, think of it, do it, and then 558 00:31:40,720 --> 00:31:42,920 Speaker 1: think of something else. Tina's is the same thing about 559 00:31:42,920 --> 00:31:46,400 Speaker 1: thirty rock television conditions, those muscles where you have to 560 00:31:46,440 --> 00:31:50,080 Speaker 1: make fast decisions, and that puts the creative people in charge. 561 00:31:51,040 --> 00:31:52,960 Speaker 1: I did a movie with Mick Jagger, based on a 562 00:31:52,960 --> 00:31:56,240 Speaker 1: book we both liked called Enigma, which is about code 563 00:31:56,240 --> 00:31:59,560 Speaker 1: breaking in World War Two, and Michael Lapped had directed 564 00:31:59,600 --> 00:32:03,240 Speaker 1: it and it was an independent film. It took us 565 00:32:03,320 --> 00:32:06,520 Speaker 1: six years to get it made, which was longer than 566 00:32:06,600 --> 00:32:10,000 Speaker 1: World War Two, and I and I realized worked on 567 00:32:10,080 --> 00:32:12,720 Speaker 1: pretty hard. But when I finally saw it, because there 568 00:32:12,800 --> 00:32:16,240 Speaker 1: was German money in it and there was I think Japanese. 569 00:32:16,560 --> 00:32:19,120 Speaker 1: I'm looking at the start of the movie with the premiere, 570 00:32:19,160 --> 00:32:21,600 Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, there's like, all these names 571 00:32:21,640 --> 00:32:24,880 Speaker 1: are there as producers, you know, and I go, well, hey, 572 00:32:24,920 --> 00:32:28,720 Speaker 1: excuse me. I was like, And then I realized, in movies, 573 00:32:30,040 --> 00:32:32,880 Speaker 1: the person who does what I do isn't at the center. 574 00:32:33,640 --> 00:32:37,760 Speaker 1: Here I am, and that's fulfilling. In movies. What I 575 00:32:37,840 --> 00:32:42,400 Speaker 1: like doing is the script, which I get obsessive about, yeah, 576 00:32:42,560 --> 00:32:46,800 Speaker 1: and then casting, and then editing, and then how to 577 00:32:46,880 --> 00:32:49,360 Speaker 1: present it to the public in the sense of marketing. 578 00:32:49,600 --> 00:32:54,720 Speaker 1: Now you have this great success in you have the 579 00:32:55,120 --> 00:32:59,440 Speaker 1: great success in late night television, and then you have 580 00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:03,520 Speaker 1: excess in prime time television. You produce TV shows particularly 581 00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:06,080 Speaker 1: now that have done how and you have great success 582 00:33:06,080 --> 00:33:08,960 Speaker 1: in film, but you never worked in cable and with 583 00:33:09,120 --> 00:33:12,479 Speaker 1: your career, I mean you never worked well with I 584 00:33:12,520 --> 00:33:14,640 Speaker 1: did with Kids in the Hall and I did with 585 00:33:14,800 --> 00:33:17,320 Speaker 1: now with Fred in PORTLANDA which is on I f C. 586 00:33:17,680 --> 00:33:19,440 Speaker 1: Do you feel that you haven't been as aggressive and 587 00:33:19,520 --> 00:33:21,600 Speaker 1: cable as you might have been. I think that at 588 00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:24,280 Speaker 1: the end of the day, you know they're more comfortable 589 00:33:24,280 --> 00:33:27,440 Speaker 1: with network because I've grown to prefer I have network, 590 00:33:27,480 --> 00:33:29,080 Speaker 1: because you've got to walk that tight up and you 591 00:33:29,120 --> 00:33:33,360 Speaker 1: can't just go blue. To me, there's no creativity without boundaries. 592 00:33:33,640 --> 00:33:35,920 Speaker 1: If you're going to write a sonnet, it's fourteen lines, 593 00:33:36,360 --> 00:33:39,440 Speaker 1: so it's solving the problem within the container. And I 594 00:33:39,480 --> 00:33:44,840 Speaker 1: think for me, commercial television and those boundaries, I like it. 595 00:33:45,080 --> 00:33:47,280 Speaker 1: I like that you can't use a certain language. I 596 00:33:47,360 --> 00:33:49,320 Speaker 1: like that you have to be bright enough to figure 597 00:33:49,320 --> 00:33:53,560 Speaker 1: out how to get your ideas across in that amount 598 00:33:53,560 --> 00:33:57,160 Speaker 1: of time, with intelligence being the thing that you're you 599 00:33:57,280 --> 00:34:01,840 Speaker 1: hope is showing, not officially, but you wanted to be Oh, 600 00:34:02,200 --> 00:34:05,680 Speaker 1: that was kind of bright. We have really good writers here. 601 00:34:06,320 --> 00:34:08,239 Speaker 1: I think I can safely say that a lot of 602 00:34:08,280 --> 00:34:11,719 Speaker 1: people in comedy did their best work here, even though 603 00:34:11,800 --> 00:34:14,839 Speaker 1: there might be more successful in the things they did. 604 00:34:14,880 --> 00:34:19,759 Speaker 1: Apple more commercially successful. And also I really believe that 605 00:34:19,800 --> 00:34:22,800 Speaker 1: if you're going to stay chap, you have to take fights. 606 00:34:23,600 --> 00:34:27,640 Speaker 1: And that means there's always young people. There's always people 607 00:34:27,640 --> 00:34:31,919 Speaker 1: who are hungrier and more ambitious coming in. And you're 608 00:34:31,960 --> 00:34:35,440 Speaker 1: working with people at the point of their career when 609 00:34:35,600 --> 00:34:39,040 Speaker 1: nothing matters but the work, how they live, how they perceived. 610 00:34:39,120 --> 00:34:42,040 Speaker 1: Most of the people arrive here, their office is nicer 611 00:34:42,120 --> 00:34:45,880 Speaker 1: than their apartment, you know, and that's sort of what 612 00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:52,040 Speaker 1: it's always been. And people just completely devote themselves to 613 00:34:52,120 --> 00:34:54,040 Speaker 1: the show. And I think you can't do that past 614 00:34:54,080 --> 00:34:59,160 Speaker 1: a certain age. You know, you have become someone who 615 00:34:59,200 --> 00:35:02,319 Speaker 1: when you genuine when they talk to people about what 616 00:35:02,360 --> 00:35:06,040 Speaker 1: a producer does in a constructive sense and you're not 617 00:35:06,040 --> 00:35:09,360 Speaker 1: trying to be a pejorative about, you know, meddlesome and 618 00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:13,480 Speaker 1: kind of attention seeking and credit seeking producers. You have become, 619 00:35:13,680 --> 00:35:15,560 Speaker 1: you know, like one of the most important producers in 620 00:35:15,560 --> 00:35:19,280 Speaker 1: the history of television. And a lot of that comes 621 00:35:19,280 --> 00:35:25,080 Speaker 1: from history in all other universes and all other galaxies. Yeah, 622 00:35:25,080 --> 00:35:30,400 Speaker 1: wherever wherever product is consumed around the cameracy. But you 623 00:35:30,520 --> 00:35:33,640 Speaker 1: have become, uh, you just ruined my whole I was 624 00:35:33,640 --> 00:35:36,400 Speaker 1: trying to be so heartfelt here, but you know it's okay, 625 00:35:36,440 --> 00:35:41,000 Speaker 1: you're not um well, but you have become someone who 626 00:35:41,040 --> 00:35:44,080 Speaker 1: embodies to me what a great producer really really is, 627 00:35:44,120 --> 00:35:48,160 Speaker 1: and that is someone who you know everyone's job and 628 00:35:48,239 --> 00:35:51,400 Speaker 1: you know when what they're doing, even in the smallest detail, 629 00:35:51,520 --> 00:35:54,399 Speaker 1: when it's working and when it's not working. I think 630 00:35:54,440 --> 00:35:57,560 Speaker 1: that what I liked, and maybe it's growing up in Canada, 631 00:35:57,600 --> 00:36:01,440 Speaker 1: but the actor manager, you know, I know with Shakespeare 632 00:36:01,480 --> 00:36:03,520 Speaker 1: not to put myself in the same category, and that's 633 00:36:03,600 --> 00:36:06,839 Speaker 1: really for others to do. But the I know that 634 00:36:06,920 --> 00:36:10,000 Speaker 1: he had to have a guy like Farley and Blushi 635 00:36:10,360 --> 00:36:13,480 Speaker 1: that the audience loved, and Falstaff ends up in a 636 00:36:13,560 --> 00:36:16,680 Speaker 1: play that really did doesn't. But you know, he was 637 00:36:16,719 --> 00:36:19,879 Speaker 1: brought back by popular demand, and I think that when 638 00:36:19,880 --> 00:36:23,839 Speaker 1: you're dealing with actors and writing and costume people and 639 00:36:24,360 --> 00:36:26,680 Speaker 1: an audience and how you're going to get people into 640 00:36:26,680 --> 00:36:30,840 Speaker 1: the globe theater, it's not much different. And the fact 641 00:36:30,840 --> 00:36:34,120 Speaker 1: that there's the greatest poetry probably ever written in the 642 00:36:34,160 --> 00:36:37,400 Speaker 1: English language is also in there. That wasn't what he 643 00:36:37,440 --> 00:36:43,319 Speaker 1: was advertising. Producing for me anyway, is like an invisible art. 644 00:36:43,600 --> 00:36:46,399 Speaker 1: If you're any good at it, you leave no fingerprints. 645 00:36:46,800 --> 00:36:48,880 Speaker 1: The writer wrote it. You always say that was so 646 00:36:49,000 --> 00:36:52,879 Speaker 1: and so script, the director directed it. The star had 647 00:36:52,880 --> 00:36:55,200 Speaker 1: the idea in high school, and that's kind of what 648 00:36:55,320 --> 00:36:58,800 Speaker 1: it is. And the only way you prove your worth 649 00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:01,399 Speaker 1: is you leave a body of work and people go, oh, 650 00:37:01,440 --> 00:37:06,040 Speaker 1: that accident happened there again that oh, I see. So 651 00:37:06,520 --> 00:37:09,120 Speaker 1: you know, you try and get the best out of people. 652 00:37:09,440 --> 00:37:12,360 Speaker 1: If you look around the room and you're the smartest 653 00:37:12,360 --> 00:37:15,359 Speaker 1: person in the room, then you're in the wrong room. 654 00:37:15,480 --> 00:37:17,919 Speaker 1: You know, you want to get the most talented people 655 00:37:17,960 --> 00:37:21,080 Speaker 1: you can find and then m bring out the best 656 00:37:21,120 --> 00:37:23,400 Speaker 1: of them. But you also have, if I may say so, 657 00:37:24,200 --> 00:37:26,560 Speaker 1: a kind of Darwinnian approach to this. In the years 658 00:37:26,560 --> 00:37:28,840 Speaker 1: I've been here, where you're not someone who's sitting down. 659 00:37:29,239 --> 00:37:32,720 Speaker 1: I mean, you've had close personal relationships and you've developed 660 00:37:32,840 --> 00:37:35,960 Speaker 1: lifelong or career long friendships with some of the most 661 00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:39,279 Speaker 1: important people you've worked with. But as a rule, I 662 00:37:39,280 --> 00:37:41,600 Speaker 1: don't see you sitting down like a father figure to 663 00:37:41,680 --> 00:37:44,680 Speaker 1: the people here. You tend to let them slug it 664 00:37:44,680 --> 00:37:47,400 Speaker 1: out and let the cream rise to the top. Correct. 665 00:37:47,480 --> 00:37:51,800 Speaker 1: Competitive is in trouble there? Yeah, But I'm talking about 666 00:37:51,880 --> 00:37:57,359 Speaker 1: in the creative process. I think that you kind of 667 00:37:57,400 --> 00:38:00,839 Speaker 1: guide it, you don't make it. Yeah, the only way 668 00:38:00,880 --> 00:38:04,880 Speaker 1: you can manage creative people's a very loose reigns. I 669 00:38:04,920 --> 00:38:08,759 Speaker 1: think if you're all over everything between dress and air, 670 00:38:08,840 --> 00:38:10,920 Speaker 1: you know what that meeting is like, and it's just 671 00:38:11,040 --> 00:38:13,160 Speaker 1: there's no more appeal. Then this is what we're doing, 672 00:38:13,280 --> 00:38:16,440 Speaker 1: this is how we're doing it, and and everyone falls 673 00:38:16,480 --> 00:38:19,880 Speaker 1: into place. But up to that point, it's kind of fractious, 674 00:38:19,920 --> 00:38:22,840 Speaker 1: and everybody's got an opinion and nobody likes anybody else's work. 675 00:38:23,440 --> 00:38:26,600 Speaker 1: The idea that it's a variety show. By that, I 676 00:38:26,600 --> 00:38:29,719 Speaker 1: mean that there's a variety of styles and tastes, that 677 00:38:29,800 --> 00:38:33,040 Speaker 1: there's the lowest comedy and and the brightest comedy, and 678 00:38:33,080 --> 00:38:36,319 Speaker 1: that they all coexist. Or that this group doesn't like 679 00:38:36,400 --> 00:38:39,760 Speaker 1: that musical act and that group thinks that the joke's 680 00:38:39,760 --> 00:38:42,160 Speaker 1: on updated they don't agree with the politics of it. 681 00:38:42,719 --> 00:38:49,360 Speaker 1: That's kind of the community of it, and that's Lord Michaels. 682 00:38:49,840 --> 00:38:52,840 Speaker 1: He says he picked up his value system at Summer Camp. 683 00:38:53,280 --> 00:38:55,760 Speaker 1: I wanted to make fair. What is never a fair 684 00:38:55,800 --> 00:39:01,040 Speaker 1: thing show business? We were a community was just set up. 685 00:39:01,560 --> 00:39:04,680 Speaker 1: What was a value system? Do you know what I mean? 686 00:39:04,719 --> 00:39:07,760 Speaker 1: It was not driven by economics. It was driven by 687 00:39:07,960 --> 00:39:11,560 Speaker 1: if it's successful, they'll be more than enough money. Uh. 688 00:39:11,880 --> 00:39:14,200 Speaker 1: Are you saying you're disappointed in how you've done No, 689 00:39:14,360 --> 00:39:19,239 Speaker 1: I'm saying I would do it exactly the same way. Now, yeah, 690 00:39:19,280 --> 00:39:21,960 Speaker 1: I would do it exactly the same I'm Alec Baldwin 691 00:39:22,120 --> 00:39:25,080 Speaker 1: and you're listening to Here's the Thing. Oddly enough, the 692 00:39:25,080 --> 00:39:27,760 Speaker 1: title of my show comes from a phrase that Laurence 693 00:39:27,760 --> 00:39:31,080 Speaker 1: says about thirty times a day. Here's the Thing.