Speaker 1: One thing about that episode that bumps me out to
Speaker 1: this day. Okay, for whatever reason, I don't know. Maybe
Speaker 1: it was the Devil, maybe evil demon angel, somebody would
Speaker 1: not let me get the words wall In Paul Pack
Speaker 1: out of my mouth. I couldn't say it. I couldn't
Speaker 1: say it. We're supposed to be on Lake wald In
Speaker 1: Paul Pack. I can say it now as if it's nothing.
Speaker 1: I can say it with ease. That night I maybe
Speaker 1: got it out once or twice correctly, and the rest
Speaker 1: I just couldn't do it. And I remember they were
Speaker 1: looking at me and they were baffled. They were absolutely baffled,
Speaker 1: like what is this guy has a major malfunction? How
Speaker 1: do you can you not say wald In Paul Pack?
Speaker 1: And I can't explain it. It's just one of those
Speaker 1: moments where you're like, I'm so sorry. I wanted to die.
Speaker 1: I wanted to go crawl. I wanted to dive off
Speaker 1: that boat and die. Hey everybody, I'm Rob Riggle. You
Speaker 1: may know me. The office is Captain Jack or the
Speaker 1: Hangover step brothers are. The other guys are dub Dubbert
Speaker 1: two or st I'm sorry. Also, I love Karate. Hello, everybody,
Speaker 1: and welcome to a brand new episode of Off the Beat.
Speaker 1: I am your host, Brian Baumgartner, and as you just heard,
Speaker 1: I am sitting down today with the comedic genius that
Speaker 1: is Rob Riggle. Now, Rob, I don't know if many
Speaker 1: of you know this, Robin's led a double life, and
Speaker 1: I mean that, of course, in a non traitorous way.
Speaker 1: In fact, quite the opposite. Rob served as a US
Speaker 1: Marine for over twenty years, and during that time he
Speaker 1: actually asked to be stationed in New York City. Why because,
Speaker 1: as he was a marine, he wanted to begin his
Speaker 1: career in comedy. You've seen him in tons of your
Speaker 1: favorite shows, from Modern Family to New Girl, Arrested Development,
Speaker 1: He's been on SNL, He's been on The Daily Show.
Speaker 1: But his most iconic role, well, it has to be
Speaker 1: right the skipper to Michael Scott's Gilligan, the captain of
Speaker 1: the Booze Cruise, Captain Jack. So if you'd like to
Speaker 1: feel a little bit like an underachiever, but in the
Speaker 1: best of ways, you are in luck, my friend. You
Speaker 1: can't help feeling that way after this here. He is
Speaker 1: the incredibly hard working and disciplined and hilarious I love him.
Speaker 1: He's a golfer. Rob Wriggle. Everyone, Bubble and Squeak. I
Speaker 1: love it. Bubble squig, Bubble and squeaker. Cookie every month
Speaker 1: left over from the nut people. Hello, Hello, Ryan, Ambassador Wriggle,
Speaker 1: p x G Ambassador Wriggle. That's shrat. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: not a state department title, but it's up there. It's close,
Speaker 1: this close. How's it going, good, Bud? How are you
Speaker 1: nice to see you? I know it's good to see you.
Speaker 1: It's been a few months here now, I know, I know,
Speaker 1: I do. I do run into mutual friends though quite
Speaker 1: a bit. Oh you in uh in Phoenix? Yeah? Out
Speaker 1: of Phoenix. I think I mentioned where's Brian? Why did't
Speaker 1: he had out here? Where's it? What's going on? So?
Speaker 1: I know I was a little busy last week, but
Speaker 1: I would have loved Did you hit the green on sixteen? Briefly?
Speaker 1: I did my my shot with a lot of penash
Speaker 1: and a lot of flair. We had two shots, right,
Speaker 1: you had the one when you're actually playing in the program,
Speaker 1: and then the other one was for charity. So on
Speaker 1: the program portion, I hit it and it starts leaking
Speaker 1: out to the right uh h it's getting worse. It's
Speaker 1: getting way worse. It hits the grandstand, hits it and
Speaker 1: shoots like a hundred miles an hour across the green,
Speaker 1: almost all the way over to the other side. Uh so, no,
Speaker 1: I mean it rolled across the green, So I did
Speaker 1: have there was time on the green. Did you get booed? No?
Speaker 1: I didn't because there was so much flare around because
Speaker 1: it was such a shocking shot. I actually got laughs,
Speaker 1: So I'll take the laughs over the booze. But then
Speaker 1: when I went back for charity, I put it like
Speaker 1: fifteen ft away, So well, there you go. There's nothing
Speaker 1: like that scene, yes, but but sixteen sixteen of Phoenix,
Speaker 1: the whole Phoenix thing is probably one of the most
Speaker 1: electric environments, not only in golf, it's just sports. Right.
Speaker 1: Are we becoming the like Bob Hope and I don't
Speaker 1: know who else of like the celebrity golf circuit now? Yes,
Speaker 1: I hope. I hope there's a generation of rat pack
Speaker 1: esque wandering nomad golfer cock tailors in this world. And
Speaker 1: I hope we're part of it. I hope we're part
Speaker 1: of it too. How good was Bob? Was Bob really
Speaker 1: good or did he just love the game? He loved
Speaker 1: the game. I think, you know, he was probably like
Speaker 1: tenor twelve handicapped, I'm guessing perfect, but but he loved
Speaker 1: the game and was dedicated to it for sure. I
Speaker 1: know he's always going between Palm Springs and l A
Speaker 1: and that's right. Yeah, he loved it. All right. Thank
Speaker 1: you for coming on and talking to me. I want
Speaker 1: to start by going way back. I understand what you
Speaker 1: were born in Kentucky, the birthplace of my father as well,
Speaker 1: but early on moved to Kansas, and Kansas was really
Speaker 1: important to you growing up. What was your experience growing
Speaker 1: up there in Kansas. I couldn't ask for about a childhood.
Speaker 1: I don't think. I was blessed with two loving parents
Speaker 1: and a wonderful sister, so I wouldn't trade a minute
Speaker 1: of it. I lived in suburbia, you know, Overland Park, Kansas,
Speaker 1: which is a nice suburb just outside of Kansas City,
Speaker 1: and uh, football in the fall and basketball in the winter,
Speaker 1: and baseball in spring and going to the pool and
Speaker 1: hanging out with your friends down to the creek in
Speaker 1: the summer. You know, I mean, it was a pretty
Speaker 1: idyllic childhood. So yeah, I loved it. I wouldn't I
Speaker 1: wouldn't trade it for anything. Were you more interested in
Speaker 1: in sports or the arts growing up? Where where was
Speaker 1: your focus as a kid? I was a terrible student. Okay,
Speaker 1: I was a great listener, but I just I got
Speaker 1: bored very easily. So it's self entertained, which probably why
Speaker 1: what we ended up in life in the arts. But athletics, though,
Speaker 1: kind of grounded me and gave me some discipline and
Speaker 1: kind of gave me a little something to hang my
Speaker 1: hat on, to have a little self esteem about. You know,
Speaker 1: when you're not great in the classroom, you want somebody
Speaker 1: to say something nice about you or have something that
Speaker 1: you shine at. And so athletics were a big part
Speaker 1: of my life because I got kudos that way. I
Speaker 1: got recognition, positive recognition, and you know, in the classroom,
Speaker 1: I didn't tell you know I was. I was a
Speaker 1: C and B student. And it wasn't until probably my
Speaker 1: junior senior year in high school that I started to
Speaker 1: kind of apply myself a little more. Takes some of
Speaker 1: the discipline I had in sports and apply it to
Speaker 1: the classroom, and I got a little bit better and
Speaker 1: I got a little more confidence you know. It's one
Speaker 1: of those things too, where somebody tells you when you're
Speaker 1: young that you're no good is something, and that's just it.
Speaker 1: You're labeled that you believe it kind of just say
Speaker 1: well that's the way that is. You don't know any better,
Speaker 1: You don't you don't have the tools to overcome it,
Speaker 1: or say well, actually I challenged that, or I don't
Speaker 1: believe that, or so you go, oh yeah, they say
Speaker 1: I'm a slow reader. That's me. I was a low reader,
Speaker 1: you know. And then I'll go out and try to
Speaker 1: be better at basketball or better at football or whatever
Speaker 1: it was. You know. So athletics was was definitely a
Speaker 1: part of my self esteem, self worth, um and discipline.
Speaker 1: But I also my junior and senior year, I started
Speaker 1: to come out of my shell Moore. I started to
Speaker 1: get more confidence, and so I was on the high
Speaker 1: school radio and television station. We had a thing called
Speaker 1: forensics in my high school, which was like acting and
Speaker 1: improvised acting, and I liked it because you didn't have
Speaker 1: to commit to doing you know, my fair Lady for
Speaker 1: the entire spring or whatever for the big spring production.
Speaker 1: And I couldn't sing to save my life. I still
Speaker 1: I only really nail it when I've had too much
Speaker 1: to drink in it scaraoke night, and then I'm pretty
Speaker 1: and I'm pretty awesome, at least I think so. I
Speaker 1: think I'm pretty awesome, but I could never sing. So
Speaker 1: but the forensics allowed me to try acting and try
Speaker 1: little scene work, and I loved it. I absolutely loved it.
Speaker 1: And then when I got to college, I started again
Speaker 1: to look into theater and film. I ended up becoming
Speaker 1: a theater and film major at the University Kansas, and
Speaker 1: I loved it. I mean, our stories are somewhat similar.
Speaker 1: I was very sports focused early on. I would say
Speaker 1: there was for me a seminal moment between junior and
Speaker 1: senior year of high school where I was, you know,
Speaker 1: sort of dabbling in theater or acting or you know,
Speaker 1: doing shows, where for me there was a real shift
Speaker 1: where I went, oh, no, this is what I want
Speaker 1: to do. I want to be an actor. Did you
Speaker 1: have that moment when you were in Kansas or making
Speaker 1: the decision to study. Was it still just fun or
Speaker 1: a way to to pass college, or or were you like, oh,
Speaker 1: this is what I want. That's so interesting. I thought
Speaker 1: about it, but I haven't really drilled down on it.
Speaker 1: I think it was always there. It was a passion
Speaker 1: that I just didn't believe in. I didn't trust it.
Speaker 1: I didn't think it was possible. So I thought it's
Speaker 1: a waste of time. White Honestly, this is late eighties,
Speaker 1: early nineties in Kansas. You know, there's a whole lifetime
Speaker 1: of conditioning, not from my parents necessarily, but from them
Speaker 1: as well, but from coaches and teachers and peer group
Speaker 1: and other people's parents, and you know, all these people
Speaker 1: that I respected that we're like, oh, you know, we
Speaker 1: love acting. Acting is great, but what are you really
Speaker 1: gonna do? You know, you're gonna obviously have something else,
Speaker 1: and you're not putting all your eggs in the acting basket.
Speaker 1: That's not a plan. It's it's cute, but it's not
Speaker 1: a plan. So what are you really gonna do? It's
Speaker 1: you know, And so I would be like, oh, well, yeah, no,
Speaker 1: of course, yeah, of course I'm not going to just
Speaker 1: do that. I've got other big plans. And but the
Speaker 1: truth was, you know, I was a fan of comedy
Speaker 1: and acting my whole life. I just didn't think it
Speaker 1: was in the cards. You know, I thought the odds,
Speaker 1: I'm I gamble, I know the odds on things right,
Speaker 1: and the odds were like, yeah, chances are the most
Speaker 1: acting I was gonna do is probably be right here
Speaker 1: in Lawrence's Lawrence, Kansas is not gonna go beyond this.
Speaker 1: Uh So, what do I really got to do? Because
Speaker 1: I am going to have to leave the house. Back then,
Speaker 1: you were expected to leave the house at twenty two.
Speaker 1: There was no grace period, you know, once you graduated.
Speaker 1: You know, my dad had the plate breaking ceremony, Break
Speaker 1: the plate and you're on your own, boy, good luck.
Speaker 1: You know. I was expected to start my life and
Speaker 1: so so act. I just never believed it was possible.
Speaker 1: Not because for a little boy from Kansas, none of
Speaker 1: that stuff. I'm just saying. I didn't like the odds.
Speaker 1: I didn't like the odds of it actually happening. So
Speaker 1: I didn't necessarily commit heart and soul to it, which
Speaker 1: I learned that's required, that's required for your dreams at
Speaker 1: a certain points. Yeah, at some point, you're gonna have
Speaker 1: to commit heart and soul. You're gonna have to take
Speaker 1: the leap of faith, You're gonna have to risk it.
Speaker 1: You're gonna have to be so uncomfortable you're gonna have
Speaker 1: to go through a lot of fear and a lot
Speaker 1: of pain and a lot of failure. And nobody wants
Speaker 1: those things. Nobody wants to fear the pain or the failure.
Speaker 1: But that's you know, all the cliches are true. That's
Speaker 1: where your dreams are on the other side of all
Speaker 1: of that stuff. And if you can get through all
Speaker 1: of that stuff, chances are you got a good shot
Speaker 1: at getting your dream. So I didn't believe it. So
Speaker 1: I actually got my pilot's license when I was in college,
Speaker 1: and I got a guaranteed flight contract with the Marine Corps,
Speaker 1: and I was like, all right, I've always wanted to serve,
Speaker 1: So I was like, yeah, this will be great. I'll
Speaker 1: go do some my my time. I'll serve, I'll fly planes.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm twenty two years old, with my hair
Speaker 1: on fire. I got my pilots licesnse, this will be great.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm living my top gun fantasy. This is
Speaker 1: whoo uh. Well, as I got into flight school and
Speaker 1: it was great, it was fun, but the passion wasn't there.
Speaker 1: I didn't have the passion like I go out to
Speaker 1: the bar with guys in my flight class, and they'd
Speaker 1: be talking with their hands. We're like, oh, man, I
Speaker 1: did a breakup with Rendezvousdadana is about thirty seconds off
Speaker 1: and I lost him in the cloud and I must
Speaker 1: to drop two thousand three delevation. And I'm saying, going, yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: that's awesome, but that you know, do we have to
Speaker 1: talk out it now? Because the girls over there, let's
Speaker 1: go talk to them, you know. And so I realized,
Speaker 1: you know, they were passionate, like that's what they're calling
Speaker 1: was they wanted? And I could tell I don't know
Speaker 1: if my passion is where it needs to be. So
Speaker 1: then I actually started doing some very interesting soul searching
Speaker 1: at a very young age. I still didn't asking questions.
Speaker 1: I was like, what do I want? What do I
Speaker 1: really want? What am I passionate about? What I what
Speaker 1: would get me out of bed every day and make
Speaker 1: me run to the door and put up with things
Speaker 1: I wouldn't already put up with? Just what would I do?
Speaker 1: What is it? About? That time I get a call
Speaker 1: from a friend I went to KU with and he
Speaker 1: was up in Chicago doing improv Olympic and Second City
Speaker 1: and all these improv things, and he said, um, hey,
Speaker 1: real well, I'm doing this long form improv up here.
Speaker 1: It's what we did in college, but it has a name.
Speaker 1: It's called improv because we used to do bits. We
Speaker 1: used to do characters, we said, you know, and and
Speaker 1: we would just sit there and riff in the car,
Speaker 1: in our room at a bar where we were. We'd
Speaker 1: actually fall into these root scenes and routines and we
Speaker 1: call them bits or whatever. But we didn't know. We
Speaker 1: just thought we were being funny. We just thought we
Speaker 1: were super funny. He goes, no, it's there's actually structure
Speaker 1: to it and it's a real thing. And he goes, personally,
Speaker 1: I think you would do very very well up here.
Speaker 1: I think you're better than some of the people that
Speaker 1: are up here and they're getting success. And that seed
Speaker 1: planted very firmly in my mind, and it was all
Speaker 1: coming at the right time. When he said that, something
Speaker 1: inside me lit and it made me believe and I
Speaker 1: was willing to bet on myself for the first time,
Speaker 1: I think maybe in my entire life. I mean, I
Speaker 1: bet on our team. And you know, I was always
Speaker 1: good as a team work, but for me to be
Speaker 1: the you know, that never happened. So that was the
Speaker 1: turning point for me where I said, Okay, well I
Speaker 1: looked at my contract and it's like, oh yeah, eight
Speaker 1: years after you pin on your wings and on this
Speaker 1: I was like, oh god, So I had to stop
Speaker 1: flight school become a ground officer because if I didn't
Speaker 1: do that, I would have been a twenty year active
Speaker 1: duty marine flying planes. And that was fine. I would
Speaker 1: had a great life, but it wouldn't I would have
Speaker 1: never tried acting in comedy. And I can live with
Speaker 1: the failure more than I can live without knowing. So
Speaker 1: I switched to the ground side. Shortened my commitment and uh.
Speaker 1: And then then I started finding my way to New
Speaker 1: York City. That was my whole, my path New York.
Speaker 1: So you you were on the path. I never realized
Speaker 1: that would have been twenty years in active military. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I ended up doing twenty three. Yeah. I did
Speaker 1: plan on that at all. Yeah. I mean, and you
Speaker 1: served overseas. This was the first nine years, right, Liberia, Kosovo, Albania, Afghanistan, yep. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and did several non military tours USO tours as well
Speaker 1: to Iraq and Afghanistan and places like that. That's so incredible.
Speaker 1: We truly owe you so much and I thank you
Speaker 1: as always for your service. I just respect the hell
Speaker 1: out of you for that. Well, you're very kind. While
Speaker 1: you're doing this, you you clearly have already gotten bit
Speaker 1: by the bug and have these plans. Are you doing
Speaker 1: anything while you're in active service in terms of improv
Speaker 1: or shows? Are you what are you doing during that
Speaker 1: time to potentially help prepare you? Yeah, it was very true.
Speaker 1: It was tricky. So when I when I quit flying,
Speaker 1: I was down in um Corpus Christie, Texas, and I
Speaker 1: was about to be shipped back to Pensacola. And that's
Speaker 1: when I made my switch to the ground side. So
Speaker 1: when I switched the ground side, they said, okay, fine.
Speaker 1: They looked at the fact that I had done all
Speaker 1: this radio and television and theater and film stuff and
Speaker 1: in college, so they said, all right, well now you're
Speaker 1: a public affairs officer. So they sent me to Defense
Speaker 1: Information School in Indiana for about four months, and then
Speaker 1: from there they sent me to North Carolina Marine Corps
Speaker 1: Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina, second Maarin Air Wing,
Speaker 1: So I joined. I lived on that base for the
Speaker 1: next three years. And while I was there, I was
Speaker 1: fulfilling my my you know, my contract. There's not much
Speaker 1: to do in eastern North Carolina when you're you know,
Speaker 1: seven years old. So I went to night school. I
Speaker 1: got a master's in public administration, because you know, just
Speaker 1: idle hands with the Devil's workshop. So I just I
Speaker 1: tried to stay busy, you know. I tried to stay
Speaker 1: kept my nights full, trying to prepare myself so that
Speaker 1: when when I was freed up from my service, I
Speaker 1: would be able to go do go do things. So
Speaker 1: the I remember the chief of staff for the second
Speaker 1: Ary in aarrowing I saw that I was, I was
Speaker 1: getting out and I just gotten promoted to captain, and
Speaker 1: he was like, why are you leaving? Why you leave
Speaker 1: with the court, Why are you leaving all this glory?
Speaker 1: You know, why I leave it, all this good stuff.
Speaker 1: I'm like, well, you know, and I didn't. I didn't
Speaker 1: talk much about, well, I'm gonna go be a comedian,
Speaker 1: you know, I want to go be an actor, you know,
Speaker 1: because it was generally frowned upon or laughed at or teased.
Speaker 1: It's all because they just nobody gets it, and I
Speaker 1: don't have time to explain it to everybody. So I
Speaker 1: just didn't talk about I just didn't talk about it
Speaker 1: very much, but I I my intent was to go
Speaker 1: from North Carolina to Chicago. Um, and I was going
Speaker 1: to wait tables and bartend and take classes at Second
Speaker 1: City and improv Olympic. That was that was my That
Speaker 1: was my plan. And uh the chief of staff came
Speaker 1: in and said, and he's like, what would it take
Speaker 1: for you to stay in the Marines? And I said, well,
Speaker 1: you know, so I think I want to try some
Speaker 1: things and I want to go Chicago to do what
Speaker 1: what are you doing? What do you? What are you?
Speaker 1: What are you doing such a secret? I think I
Speaker 1: want to be an actor comedian. He's like, oh god,
Speaker 1: you know, Okay, here we go. So um he said, uh, well,
Speaker 1: what if I can get your orders to New York
Speaker 1: City or Los Angeles. And I said, well, if you
Speaker 1: can give it a new orders to New York Los Angeles,
Speaker 1: I'll I'll extend on active duty. I'll give you three
Speaker 1: more years. And uh he called my bluff. The next day,
Speaker 1: I had orders to New York City, so I said okay,
Speaker 1: So I signed on for three more years. I moved
Speaker 1: to New York City and I was the deputy director
Speaker 1: up there for Public affairs in New York and I
Speaker 1: did Marine Corps stuff from seven to five every day. Uh,
Speaker 1: And then in the evenings, like every other body, I
Speaker 1: went home from work, but instead I went to try
Speaker 1: to do comedy. And when I first got there, I
Speaker 1: didn't know anything. I didn't know what I was doing.
Speaker 1: I didn't know where to start. I didn't have any connections.
Speaker 1: I didn't know anything. Wow. So you you really just
Speaker 1: arrived to New York City on a wing and a prayer.
Speaker 1: How did you get started then in the comedy scene?
Speaker 1: What was your in? So? I remember there was a
Speaker 1: stand up club up in my neighborhood. I lived on
Speaker 1: the Upper east Side, the Comic Strip Live. I think
Speaker 1: Comic Strip Live on eighty three and Second Avenue. I
Speaker 1: walked by it one day because, like I said, I
Speaker 1: didn't know anybody. So literally, when I got to my neighborhood,
Speaker 1: I just started walking in these ever expanding concentric circles. Right.
Speaker 1: I was like, Oh, there's my grocery store. There's a
Speaker 1: very dirty gristiis, I'll shop there, here's my here's a
Speaker 1: law dream Matt. That's where I'll take my clothes because
Speaker 1: I don't have washer and dryer and I found a
Speaker 1: sports bar. I was like, ah, this is a really
Speaker 1: cool sports bar. This is where I watched my sports
Speaker 1: you know, maybe me, maybe meet friends. I mean I knew,
Speaker 1: I knew no one. And I sat down started talking
Speaker 1: to the bartender. He was English. He's, uh, you look
Speaker 1: like you big man, big man. You haven't play any rugby.
Speaker 1: I was like, no, no, you know, I saw played.
Speaker 1: I played American football. This is not all right, Well
Speaker 1: show up here next week and uh, you know, And
Speaker 1: so I started playing rugby. It turns out that sports
Speaker 1: bar was the the rugby bar for the New York
Speaker 1: Rugby Football Club, which is the oldest one in New
Speaker 1: York whever. So is this all of a sudden. I
Speaker 1: found myself on the weekends bartending at this bar, and
Speaker 1: I didn't have a car, so I would show up
Speaker 1: and there's always a couple of guys and everybody just
Speaker 1: dog piling the cars. And we go underneath the tribe
Speaker 1: of Bridge and we practice rugby and I, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm getting smashed and the hell beat out of me,
Speaker 1: and I don't know what I'm doing. I'm tackling with
Speaker 1: my head instead of my shoulders, and so I'm getting
Speaker 1: my bell rung every day. And but I instantly, within
Speaker 1: you know, two weeks of living there, I had all
Speaker 1: these friends and people. They were really nice, and people
Speaker 1: are like, hey, hang out with us, or what are
Speaker 1: you doing tonight? Do you want to have a beer,
Speaker 1: and hey there's a Halloween party. And I was like
Speaker 1: this is amazing, you know, And I was having a blast,
Speaker 1: but I was getting the hell beat out of me
Speaker 1: and I you know, so after about six months of that,
Speaker 1: I realized, Okay, I quit flight school and I moved
Speaker 1: to New York for a reason, and that reason was comedy.
Speaker 1: So let's get to work. And I said that after
Speaker 1: I got my face stepped on one day and I
Speaker 1: was like, this is not good, you know, like I
Speaker 1: need to focus on comedy. So let's get to that.
Speaker 1: Let's get to the comedy. You're in New York, You've
Speaker 1: asked to be stationed there to do comedy. How how
Speaker 1: did you art? So I stopped kind of doing the
Speaker 1: rugby thing, and I found this comedy club which is
Speaker 1: right next door to the rugby bar. That's why I
Speaker 1: found it. And I went in and they said, yeah,
Speaker 1: we teach stand up classes, and the nice guy, you know,
Speaker 1: professional comedian for years, kind of salty, grizzled, you know,
Speaker 1: just over it, over life, over everything. But he's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: sign up, kid, you know, as he slid made a
Speaker 1: clipboard and I went in and I'm thinking my idol
Speaker 1: was Eddie Murphy. And when it comes to stand up,
Speaker 1: Eddie Murphy delirious. I just thought that was the best
Speaker 1: stand up I've ever seen. And his style was storytelling.
Speaker 1: He was a great storyteller. He would tell the story,
Speaker 1: he'd played the characters in the story. He would you know, great,
Speaker 1: he would use sound effects. He he was the most
Speaker 1: dynamic storyteller. I remember being enthralled with him. So I thought,
Speaker 1: that's the kind of stand up I want to do. Well.
Speaker 1: Not at the comic strip Live, my friend. That's not
Speaker 1: what they teach. They teach three jokes per minute. Set
Speaker 1: up punch, set up punch, set up punch, That's how
Speaker 1: we do it. And I was so scared. I'd never
Speaker 1: done any really any public speaking, and I wasn't that
Speaker 1: good at it. And I was I was so afraid.
Speaker 1: I wasn't afraid to fly planes, I wasn't afraid to
Speaker 1: fire machine guns and rocket lawsuits and whatever. But I
Speaker 1: was afraid to speak in front of people or tell
Speaker 1: a joke in front of people, terrified, trembling, pulse out
Speaker 1: my neck. And I remember, like I get up and
Speaker 1: I pitch an idea in class, or he goes, regally,
Speaker 1: you got a joke lest here, and I'd stand up
Speaker 1: and I'd say it, and I would bail on the
Speaker 1: joke because I was so embarrassed that, like, I wouldn't
Speaker 1: even get to the punch, I wouldn't commit to it.
Speaker 1: I would just kind of start talking about it. And
Speaker 1: it's it's almost like Will for All and Stepbrothers and
Speaker 1: he doesn't want to sing, you know, He's like, but
Speaker 1: you know, it's just not right. It's not right. You know.
Speaker 1: The South's the lights off come with that, because it
Speaker 1: was pathetic. It was pathetic. I was so afraid all
Speaker 1: the time. And then finally it was that it's that, okay,
Speaker 1: at the end of the class, you have to do
Speaker 1: your five minutes set oh and all the you also
Speaker 1: need to bring your friends right to buy drinks, which
Speaker 1: I was like, good god, you know, I didn't have
Speaker 1: any friends, and I definitely didn't really want me to
Speaker 1: see me, So I don't think I invited anybody, and
Speaker 1: I think I'm in trouble for it. But I went
Speaker 1: up on stage. I did five minutes. I came off
Speaker 1: the stage. I felt like I had been in some
Speaker 1: sort of trauma, no joke. I felt like it had
Speaker 1: been in a car crash or a fist fight because
Speaker 1: my adrenaline was I've never felt it like that. It
Speaker 1: affected me in such a way that I felt like
Speaker 1: things were delayed, like people were talking to me but
Speaker 1: I wasn't hearing them. It was almost like a state
Speaker 1: of shock. It was that dramatic, which is shocking too.
Speaker 1: But they gave me a videotape and said, oh yeah, hey, regol,
Speaker 1: here's a videotape they tossed to me, and it's like, huh.
Speaker 1: I remember. I took it home and I watched it
Speaker 1: and I started to calm down and I watched myself.
Speaker 1: It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, the crowd reaction, but what to me. I
Speaker 1: couldn't hear them, I couldn't see them. I didn't listen
Speaker 1: to if they were laughing or not. I just powered
Speaker 1: through my three jokes per minute that I hated to me.
Speaker 1: None of them were funny. I hated all my material.
Speaker 1: I hated it. So I got done with that whole experience,
Speaker 1: and I was depressed because I was like, I can't
Speaker 1: believe I gave up flying planes for this. This I
Speaker 1: made the biggest mistake of my life. I mean the
Speaker 1: biggest mistake of my life. And I was so depressed,
Speaker 1: and I remember thinking, why did I do this? What
Speaker 1: was I thinking? And I was really down on myself.
Speaker 1: And a friend of mine suggested, Hey, you know, I
Speaker 1: got a friend who does comedy. He was on Saturday
Speaker 1: Night Live. He's a really nice guy. So I call
Speaker 1: the guy and it's Dave Keckner, who is a wonderful,
Speaker 1: wonderful human being, very gracious. His enthusiasm for life is
Speaker 1: still it's still amazing even today. Yeah. So I called
Speaker 1: up and said, hey, Dave, you don't know me. I'm
Speaker 1: sorry you know this person? Oh yeah, yeah, they told
Speaker 1: me you might be calling. What's going on, big man?
Speaker 1: I was like, well, I think I made a big mistake.
Speaker 1: I tell him my whole story is like, oh, hell,
Speaker 1: you should be doing stand up man, you gotta do it.
Speaker 1: Prov I was like, they don't have it here in
Speaker 1: New York at that time. They didn't all there. It
Speaker 1: was Chicago City limits in New York, which is like
Speaker 1: short form improv, like improv sports games. Yeah, well here's
Speaker 1: an idea from the audience or whatever. Yeah, And so
Speaker 1: I was like, I don't want to do short form.
Speaker 1: I've gone to see their shows and it's just that
Speaker 1: that's even that seems even more stressful than do a
Speaker 1: stand up. And He's like, no, no, no, no, I've
Speaker 1: got some good friends who just moved out here from
Speaker 1: New York from Chicago and they're starting a long form
Speaker 1: improv scene here in New York City. They're the best.
Speaker 1: You're gonna love them. You gotta go see they do
Speaker 1: a Sunday night show. It was the Upright Citizens Brigade.
Speaker 1: It was Amy Poehler, Matt Walsh, Matt Besser, and Ian
Speaker 1: Roberts with their friends Andy Richter, Horatio Sans Rachel Draft,
Speaker 1: Tina Fey, uh My, Brian Stack, you know, Miriam Toland,
Speaker 1: all these, you know, amazing performers and amazing writers. So
Speaker 1: I went down to this rickety little black box theater
Speaker 1: on thirty six West eighteenth Street, I think or whatever.
Speaker 1: It was a nightmare. The stairs should have been condemned
Speaker 1: getting up there was a death trap anyway you go in.
Speaker 1: And I sat down. I had no idea what to expect,
Speaker 1: and I saw the asscat show that they do, and
Speaker 1: I was so shocked that I was like, they're making
Speaker 1: this up as they go along, like it's too funny,
Speaker 1: it's too good. The characters are so specific. My head
Speaker 1: was spinning. So immediately afterward, I went up to Matt
Speaker 1: Walsh and I said, hey, I'm friends with Dave. He was,
Speaker 1: what do you think I go? Where do I sign up?
Speaker 1: Where do I want? I want to do this? This
Speaker 1: is what I want to do. So he's like, okay,
Speaker 1: great man is basically sign right here and I'll take
Speaker 1: the check. I was like, you got it, and so
Speaker 1: that's that's where it started. I started taking classes with
Speaker 1: the u c B. At that time, Amy Walsh, Bester
Speaker 1: and Ian Roberts were the only teachers. There were four
Speaker 1: of them, and they only had three levels. And I
Speaker 1: took all three levels twice so I could have all
Speaker 1: four teachers because they were all so good and they
Speaker 1: all taught different things. And you know, a level was
Speaker 1: only eight weeks, you know, once a week, and so
Speaker 1: I took all those levels. Then I they started doing
Speaker 1: house teams. I got on a house team, and I
Speaker 1: started playing with so many great, wonderful people Owen Burke,
Speaker 1: Paul Sheer, Rob Hubill, Chad Carter, uh Seth Morris, Brian Husky,
Speaker 1: Rob Cordrey. I mean, you know, people that are just
Speaker 1: truly still in the business and still kicking so much.
Speaker 1: But and so I feel so blessed that we all
Speaker 1: kind of came up together. I mean, we we did
Speaker 1: it all, and we did that. I did that for
Speaker 1: seven years. You know, I was teaching classes down there
Speaker 1: on the weekends. I was whatever I had to do
Speaker 1: to be around the theater. I would do lights and
Speaker 1: tech for other people's shows just so I could watch
Speaker 1: their show, so I could get to meet them, because
Speaker 1: I thought they were so awesome or whatever. And I
Speaker 1: felt like I got a masters in sketch writing and
Speaker 1: improv and comedy in general. And you've got the most
Speaker 1: important things stage time. I got a lot of stage
Speaker 1: time down there, which allowed me to make all those
Speaker 1: mistakes that we all make when you're starting out. And
Speaker 1: then so many things happened. I had to go away
Speaker 1: to Kosovo. Then eleven happened, and then I had to
Speaker 1: go away for a year. Then so when two thousand
Speaker 1: four came here because I moved there in to New York,
Speaker 1: and I got on Saturday Live in two thousand four
Speaker 1: and my my Oprah moment, which I'll share with you
Speaker 1: because I'm not gonna ever probably be on Oprah. But
Speaker 1: I when I quit flight school, I was down in
Speaker 1: Corpus Christie, Texas. I wrote in a book, if I
Speaker 1: do this, because I hadn't quit anything in my life
Speaker 1: up to that point, if I do this, uh, it's
Speaker 1: got to count, it's got to matter. So what am
Speaker 1: I going to accomplish? And I wrote down, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: get on Saturday Night Live in Corpus Christie. In Corpus Christie. Now,
Speaker 1: ten years later, almost to the day, I get a
Speaker 1: call from Lawren Michaels asking me to join the cast.
Speaker 1: So it took ten years, but it happened. Well, you know,
Speaker 1: it's so crazy because I recently talked to Dave Keckner
Speaker 1: and he was there in Missouri and that was his
Speaker 1: very specific dream as well, to get on us. And yeah,
Speaker 1: I do you know, when you if you experience it,
Speaker 1: it's hard to deny it. And when I say that,
Speaker 1: I mean the law of attraction and what you focus
Speaker 1: on you tend to get. It's not given. Just because
Speaker 1: you think about it doesn't mean it's gonna happen. You
Speaker 1: gotta meet it halfway. You gotta work, you gotta drive,
Speaker 1: you gotta push, you gotta stay focused. If you experience it,
Speaker 1: you really believe in it. So I do believe that
Speaker 1: it's possible. I do believe it's real. It's so crazy
Speaker 1: to me hearing you talk, because I mean, it's obviously
Speaker 1: it's a part of your makeup, right, I mean, but
Speaker 1: hearing you your dedication, I mean, the part of that
Speaker 1: has to come from your childhood, from your time in
Speaker 1: the Marines. That it's about working hard and staying committed,
Speaker 1: and that is so rare, particularly in our business, or
Speaker 1: at least in the entertainment business, if you will. It's
Speaker 1: also flip and people expect things to be given to
Speaker 1: them because of this thing or that thing, and that
Speaker 1: you showed such amazing resolve and commitment and essentially said,
Speaker 1: I don't even I don't even know what this thing is.
Speaker 1: I hear there's a couple of places in Chicago that
Speaker 1: are good but that you persevered that is amazing. Thanks. Thanks,
Speaker 1: that's very nice. But I think you probably have a
Speaker 1: very similar journey, uh in some in some respect. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think anybody who searches for a life unique or different,
Speaker 1: or especially in the arts, they're going to meet resistance
Speaker 1: for a long time before they even get their opportunity.
Speaker 1: So from UCB, obviously you audition, right, you audition for Lauren,
Speaker 1: You went through that process at that point, did you
Speaker 1: feel confident, had the feeling of of of leaving your
Speaker 1: body had that kind of dissipated and were you more
Speaker 1: confident on stage? Yes, I I didn't have the adrilline rush.
Speaker 1: It wasn't like I just got out of a car accident.
Speaker 1: But the adrenaline was still very intense because after seven
Speaker 1: years of grinding every night every weekend, now this this
Speaker 1: dream that you had had kind of done everything in
Speaker 1: your power to put yourself in a position to happen. Well,
Speaker 1: now it's happening, and it's up to me. Like I
Speaker 1: I could look around the room, but there's only one
Speaker 1: person up here auditioning. So these are these great moments
Speaker 1: in life, These are these wonderful opportunities in life where
Speaker 1: you get to have a gut check, and you get
Speaker 1: to have a conversation with yourself, you know, saying are
Speaker 1: you gonna do it? 're not gonna do it? Why
Speaker 1: did you come here? I have had so many conversations
Speaker 1: with myself out loud that if anybody was filming them,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't look like a crazy person because I do
Speaker 1: it out loud. I actually do it out loud. Usually
Speaker 1: I do it in the privacy of my car, or
Speaker 1: you know, in in in the bathroom or something, or
Speaker 1: the golf course when I'm off in a sandtrap screaming
Speaker 1: at myself. But I remember, this is the summer of
Speaker 1: two thousand four. I had just taught a class at
Speaker 1: the u c B. It was a seven to ten
Speaker 1: pm class. I had worked all day and I got done,
Speaker 1: and all I wanted to do was go home and
Speaker 1: go to bed because I was tired. I was a
Speaker 1: little piste. So I came out of that class and
Speaker 1: I stood on thirty feet and seventh Avenue, and I
Speaker 1: knew SNL auditions were coming up, and I knew I
Speaker 1: was behind. I didn't have it done, but I was tired,
Speaker 1: and I was afraid of you know, all these and
Speaker 1: So I'm literally standing on the corner yelling at myself,
Speaker 1: saying things like what the fun are you doing? People
Speaker 1: walking by me, and I'm going, what the funk are
Speaker 1: you doing? Are you telling me you quit flight school?
Speaker 1: You moved up here, You've been grinding your fucking ass
Speaker 1: off for seven years, and you're just gonna go home
Speaker 1: and go take a nappy nap because you're tired. Be
Speaker 1: motherfucker fucking Marina. Get your ass down to the damp theater.
Speaker 1: Work on a motherfucking character. Literally screaming at myself to
Speaker 1: get the funk down to the theater and do it.
Speaker 1: And I had to have those kinds of conversations and
Speaker 1: it sounds hilarious, but I had to be my own
Speaker 1: drill sergeant. I had to be my own coach. I
Speaker 1: had to be my own kick me in the ask
Speaker 1: guy because nobody was doing that. So I'm literally barking
Speaker 1: at myself to get down there. And the reason I
Speaker 1: didn't want to go down because I was not prepared.
Speaker 1: I did not have any material. So I got down there,
Speaker 1: I signed up. I'm in the green room. So I
Speaker 1: started like throwing out a few thoughts on this character,
Speaker 1: and it was an old characters. It was a far
Speaker 1: too old Jim teacher that is still teaching sex heade
Speaker 1: classes U and has no business doing it right. And
Speaker 1: that's but that was the premise. But that's all I had.
Speaker 1: So then I said, okay, well maybe i'll try. So
Speaker 1: I get out there and I kind of walk out
Speaker 1: there with like a walker or whatever, and I started
Speaker 1: talking about penises and vaginas and it was working because
Speaker 1: I was getting last but I'm improvising the whole thing.
Speaker 1: But I'm trying to remember that work. That worked, and
Speaker 1: it went so well that I went back into the
Speaker 1: green room and there was still time and there weren't
Speaker 1: enough people signed up. So I said, I'm gonna go
Speaker 1: back and doing another character. So I went back out
Speaker 1: and I did a recruiter who wouldn't take no for
Speaker 1: an answer. So I tried to recruit a guy in
Speaker 1: the audience. You know. I was like, hey, young man,
Speaker 1: how are you paying for college? And he's like, I
Speaker 1: don't know, my parents are really you can put the
Speaker 1: burden on your parents. How about your man up? How
Speaker 1: about you don't? It didn't matter. I could come here
Speaker 1: and said, you know, he could say anything to me.
Speaker 1: He said, I'm a double anpt A. That's great. We
Speaker 1: got that all day. We can do that all day.
Speaker 1: I gotta wait with And I went home that night
Speaker 1: like a sucking one thirty or whatever. By the time
Speaker 1: I got home, I was so proud of myself that
Speaker 1: I had gone down there and made progress. So that
Speaker 1: was that was a good moment. But it required me
Speaker 1: being my own coach for sure. That's amazing. Was your
Speaker 1: dream of getting on SNL? Was it everything that you
Speaker 1: had hoped that it would be? Yes, unequivocally yes, it
Speaker 1: was a total dream come true. And I wouldn't trade
Speaker 1: a minute of it. Would I do things differently knowing now, Yes,
Speaker 1: absolutely I would. I I was so green. That was
Speaker 1: the first job I had to show business. I didn't
Speaker 1: know shipped from Shinola. I didn't know anything. I remember
Speaker 1: Amy Poehler was on the show at the time, and
Speaker 1: she's very wise and very very smart and very savvy.
Speaker 1: All I knew was the Marines and work ethic. That's
Speaker 1: really all I brought to the table. And I remember
Speaker 1: Amy pulled me aside, maybe my first or second day,
Speaker 1: and she goes congratulation. She was so happy for me
Speaker 1: because she was one of my teachers. You know, she's
Speaker 1: very happy, and I think I was the first UCB
Speaker 1: student to actually get on the show. So she was
Speaker 1: happy that had gone through all of the classes yea,
Speaker 1: and she was super happy for me, and I was,
Speaker 1: you know, it was my dream come true. And she
Speaker 1: kind of leaned over and said, hey, don't give this
Speaker 1: place too much power. And I remember going, yeah, good,
Speaker 1: got it. I didn't know what that meant, and instead
Speaker 1: of asking for clarity, like what do you mean, I
Speaker 1: just went yeah, yeah, good, good, good call it, good call,
Speaker 1: good call, and yeah, hindsight, now I realized I did.
Speaker 1: I did just that. I got there, and I gave
Speaker 1: that place so much power that I forgot how I
Speaker 1: even got there. I forgot. I looked around. I was like, well,
Speaker 1: I need to write with all the writers so they
Speaker 1: all get to know me. So that's what I did.
Speaker 1: I'd go knock on doors and hey, would you like
Speaker 1: to write a sketch? Would you like to write a sketch?
Speaker 1: Would you like to drisking? So I ended up trying
Speaker 1: to please twenty masters and I please none. And again,
Speaker 1: these are all lessons you learn as you go and
Speaker 1: as you grow. So I'm not beating myself up, and
Speaker 1: I'm not judging myself. I would just do I would
Speaker 1: have done it differently. And you gotta remember too, I
Speaker 1: was the only guy hired that year. You were the
Speaker 1: only new guy. Only new guy. So I talked to
Speaker 1: Will Ferrell about it and he said, uh, well you're
Speaker 1: kind of fucked. Go. I go, what I I don't
Speaker 1: want to hear that. What do you mean? He goes, Listen,
Speaker 1: he goes when I When I came on, the cast
Speaker 1: was only twelve, and I think they hired six of
Speaker 1: us that year. They had to use us. We were
Speaker 1: being we were gonna be in every scene no matter what.
Speaker 1: You're on a cast of fifteen and you're the only
Speaker 1: new guy. And he goes, so you know you're gonna
Speaker 1: have to do your best to try to find a
Speaker 1: way to be seen and heard. And I was like, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. And so it's a matter
Speaker 1: of how do I find a way? And the thing was,
Speaker 1: by anybody's standards, I had a great first year. I
Speaker 1: did you know, I made every show. I had characters
Speaker 1: get on the air. I had sketches that I co
Speaker 1: wrote get on the air. I had I did okay
Speaker 1: for a first year guy flying by himself. People thought
Speaker 1: I had a good year. I thought, I did, Okay,
Speaker 1: you're a great year. It's just making me think of
Speaker 1: It's making me think of squid Game though, right when
Speaker 1: squid Dame says like, okay, everybody find a partner, and
Speaker 1: you look around and you're like, wait, a second fifteen
Speaker 1: is an odd number. Guy, Where am I going? Now? Yeah? No,
Speaker 1: I get it. That's really it is challenging. It's super tricky.
Speaker 1: And so I remember we all left in high spirits
Speaker 1: that season, and I thought, okay, well when I come
Speaker 1: back next year, I'm gonna lose some weight because the
Speaker 1: costume department was very mean to me and they said,
Speaker 1: I would, you know, you gotta lose weight, stop eating?
Speaker 1: They would. I mean they were brutal, you know. So
Speaker 1: I'm trying to lose weight. I'm out there running every
Speaker 1: day and working out over the summer, and I'm doing
Speaker 1: character work and I was trying to grab stage time
Speaker 1: and I was just doing everything I could to come
Speaker 1: back stronger than ever. And I got a call say
Speaker 1: they didn't they didn't want to send me send my contracts.
Speaker 1: So I'm remember I being devastated by that, and I
Speaker 1: gave myself about a fifteen minute pity party. I remember
Speaker 1: just I was scared, I was hurt, I was embarrassed,
Speaker 1: I was all those negative emotions. I wanted to change it.
Speaker 1: Can I call somebody? Is there anything I can do?
Speaker 1: What can we do to undo this? You know, how
Speaker 1: can I fix this? And I think I went through
Speaker 1: all five stages of grief in about fifteen minutes, and
Speaker 1: I accepted the fact that this is, this is what
Speaker 1: it is, and there's it is. It's over. So I said, Okay, well,
Speaker 1: I gotta make a living. So I got back on
Speaker 1: the phone. I called my manager and I said, okay,
Speaker 1: what do we do next? And then Rob Huwill and
Speaker 1: I ended up selling a pilot script NBC. And so
Speaker 1: that's what I worked on that fall of two thousand five,
Speaker 1: and then shortly after that two thousand six, I got
Speaker 1: on The Daily Show. Yeah, but yeah, it was. It
Speaker 1: was a sad, sad, harsh feeling. Did did you ever
Speaker 1: get any closure with SNL or was it just like
Speaker 1: thanks but no thanks. I did talk to one of
Speaker 1: the producer is ken Among, who was really the only
Speaker 1: one who reached out. It's very cold, very cold business.
Speaker 1: I learned a little bit about show business. Again. I
Speaker 1: was so naive. I thought there would be some you know,
Speaker 1: heartfelt handshake and pad on the back from Lauren as
Speaker 1: I exited the building. You know, no, no, it's nothing
Speaker 1: like that. It's it's it's served up very cold. Um.
Speaker 1: But Ken said, listen, Rob, you know you did a
Speaker 1: great job. It wasn't anything you did. You didn't upset anybody.
Speaker 1: You didn't. It was two thousand four, it was carry
Speaker 1: Verse Bush election year, and an election years, SNL gets
Speaker 1: a huge spike in the ratings and for whatever reason,
Speaker 1: people hated that election. No spike in the ratings, and
Speaker 1: so NBC didn't like it, and they demanded that Lauren
Speaker 1: shake up the cast. And so I was last one in,
Speaker 1: first one out. And he said, that's what happened. You
Speaker 1: just got caught up in a bad timing situation. But
Speaker 1: that's okay because the people they did go get I
Speaker 1: love all of them, So congrats. Uh. And then I
Speaker 1: was I was blessed to have John Stewart picked me
Speaker 1: up and make me a correspondent on his show. I
Speaker 1: whish I did for three years and and we won
Speaker 1: the Emmy all three years sn L. Now I'm glad
Speaker 1: you brought up The Daily Show because I wanted to
Speaker 1: talk about that. As you may know, UH, my good
Speaker 1: friend and yours Steve Carrell was on The Daily Show,
Speaker 1: Stephen Colbert, so many incredible comedians, and around the time
Speaker 1: you were on it, it really took off and it
Speaker 1: really became musty TV or in some ways America's news source,
Speaker 1: because even with all the jokes and and stuff, it
Speaker 1: also gave at least an amount of real information and insights. Uh.
Speaker 1: I'm such a huge fan of that show. What was
Speaker 1: that a good experience for you? It was the best? Um.
Speaker 1: I learned so much. And John Stewart is such an
Speaker 1: amazing leader, uh and and very smart man. He really
Speaker 1: sees through a lot of stuff. And he was very
Speaker 1: very gracious with me. He knew I was still great.
Speaker 1: He knew I didn't have much experience in front of
Speaker 1: a camera. I never worked off a teleprompter. That was
Speaker 1: hilarious because I started reading off a telepropter and I'd
Speaker 1: be like I was, I can only get anything out
Speaker 1: because I would get so scared. It's a tense and
Speaker 1: then I would read faster and it would move faster.
Speaker 1: It was like, I can't keep up, and then would
Speaker 1: just explode right, and it's it's they'll read it your pace.
Speaker 1: I'm like, yeah, but they're not. Like I start reading
Speaker 1: and it starts moving and I can't keep up, and
Speaker 1: they're like, don't speed up. Like so quite literally, on
Speaker 1: my lunch breaks, I would get the teleprompter lady because
Speaker 1: she could eat her lunch at her desk and do it,
Speaker 1: and I would get the floor director. We would go
Speaker 1: into the studio and I would throw up old scripts
Speaker 1: and I would just practice and practice and practice on
Speaker 1: that teleprompter. So I got comfortable, you know, looking and
Speaker 1: seeing the font and and letting the words drift by
Speaker 1: and not panicking that I wasn't gonna catch them or whatever.
Speaker 1: And somehow I think John found out about it, and
Speaker 1: I think he liked He appreciated that. He appreciated that
Speaker 1: I cared enough to get better at it because he
Speaker 1: knew I wasn't good at it. And you know the
Speaker 1: way it works over there is you're hired for six months.
Speaker 1: It's not a job, it's it's an audition. Still, it's
Speaker 1: an extended audition. So then I got I passed the
Speaker 1: first six months, so I got myself another six months,
Speaker 1: but that was it, just another six months. So I'm like, ah,
Speaker 1: you know, so I still I can't commit to moving
Speaker 1: a family across the country. I can't commit to because
Speaker 1: it's also basic cable. It's not paying me anything. You know.
Speaker 1: I could barely afford to live in the Craigslist studio apartment,
Speaker 1: which is what I was living in. And then after
Speaker 1: that second six months, I got picked up for one year,
Speaker 1: so I was like whoo, and then I got one
Speaker 1: year extensions after that, you know, but it was never
Speaker 1: any hardcore commitment. However, that time on that show I'll
Speaker 1: be so grateful for because John allowed me to make mistakes,
Speaker 1: to get better, to get stronger, to contribute in the
Speaker 1: writing room. I just learned so much from him, and
Speaker 1: he was so gracious, so I'm all always be a
Speaker 1: fan of his. And then you know, John Oliver and
Speaker 1: I ended up was shared in office and and you
Speaker 1: know what a treat that was because he was a
Speaker 1: geographic he was a bachelor, and I was a geographical bachelor.
Speaker 1: So when I got done with work, I would either
Speaker 1: go back to my studio and grab it Chipotle on
Speaker 1: the way back and then play PlayStation. That's what That's
Speaker 1: how I spend my evenings because it keeps you out
Speaker 1: of trouble and saves money. Anytime you leave your apartment
Speaker 1: in New York City, you're spending money. So I just
Speaker 1: saved money by in that. And and John Oliver same
Speaker 1: boat pretty much. So when we get done with work,
Speaker 1: he'd say, Okay, we're gonna jump in a cab right
Speaker 1: after work and we're gonna hit five mikes tonight and go,
Speaker 1: I don't do stand up, man. I I suck at it.
Speaker 1: I tried it when I got up here. It sucks.
Speaker 1: He goes, no, no, no, we're gonna do it different.
Speaker 1: And so we built a set and in one night
Speaker 1: he helped me build like three solid minutes. I was like, okay,
Speaker 1: so I got three. He goes, all right, we're just
Speaker 1: gonna keep doing this until you have forty five minutes.
Speaker 1: And so we did wow, and then eventually I had
Speaker 1: a stand up set and was able to do stand
Speaker 1: up for about four years, touring around and all because John,
Speaker 1: I think, was bored and was like, you're coming with me.
Speaker 1: I needed someone to I need someone to split cab
Speaker 1: fare with because we're going all over Manhattan and doing
Speaker 1: stand ups. Well, you can thank John, but it's again
Speaker 1: perseverance and hard work. And you know the story of
Speaker 1: you during your lunch hour practicing to get better because
Speaker 1: you knew you had to get better. That's about perseverance
Speaker 1: and hard work. And that's that is something truly well
Speaker 1: to respect the hell out of you for. I mean,
Speaker 1: come on, and now during all of this time, you're
Speaker 1: also you know, starting to do straight acting work. And
Speaker 1: of course I can't not mention Captain jack Uh your
Speaker 1: role of the office coming out to film what was,
Speaker 1: without a doubt, the most difficult film we that we
Speaker 1: had in ten years. There's no question, there's no question
Speaker 1: working from seven pm to like seven am out on
Speaker 1: the water, it was. It was were you aware of
Speaker 1: the office when you got that job? What was your okay?
Speaker 1: So I was. I was very aware of the BBC
Speaker 1: version while I was on snl Uh. You know, we're
Speaker 1: on the writers are on seventeen and the studios down
Speaker 1: on eight and on sixteen. They have a casting directors
Speaker 1: and stuff. I actually auditioned for Michael Scott. I knew this,
Speaker 1: and I auditioned for Dwight and Keckner's role. I forget
Speaker 1: his name, packer. They made the right choice, obviously, but
Speaker 1: I was fresh in their minds because I think I
Speaker 1: did the episode that I did the Booze Cruise before
Speaker 1: I got the Daily Gap between S and L. And
Speaker 1: when I got the Daily Show, that's when I got
Speaker 1: the office role, which I was so happy to get
Speaker 1: and so honored. And for me it was super cool
Speaker 1: because one I love the show is Your Guys second season.
Speaker 1: I think the show's a hit. Everybody knows and everybody's
Speaker 1: loving it, and I was one of them. I was
Speaker 1: like more and more and I get to be part
Speaker 1: of it, which was great. But I'm still so green
Speaker 1: as an actor and as a performer. Being on cameras
Speaker 1: still made me nervous. I'm nervous as hell. And when
Speaker 1: we got out on the water, remember whenna we floated out. Okay,
Speaker 1: between between setups, normally everybody goes back to the trailer,
Speaker 1: they go back to crafty kind of everybody separates against
Speaker 1: their space. There was nowhere to go on that boat.
Speaker 1: When they say, okay, we're setting up for it, moving on,
Speaker 1: it's time for a new shot, they'd go to set up.
Speaker 1: We all just go sit on the dance floor or
Speaker 1: sit in those boots and hang out, yeah, those booths,
Speaker 1: And I remember thinking this is awesome. I just remember
Speaker 1: enjoying the hell out of it, and not even dawning
Speaker 1: on me that we were dust till dawn, um and
Speaker 1: it was draining, and I think, if I'm not mistaken,
Speaker 1: Correll was shooting Evan Almighty and he would literally leave.
Speaker 1: We'd pull back to the to the dock, he would
Speaker 1: get out, get into sedan and drive to film all day.
Speaker 1: And I remember thinking, when's this guy getting his sleep?
Speaker 1: This is insane. And and yet his performance on the boat,
Speaker 1: and I'm sure his performance in the movie fantastic, but
Speaker 1: it was totally fun. One thing about that episode that
Speaker 1: bumps me out to this day. Okay, for whatever reason,
Speaker 1: I don't know, Maybe it was the Devil, maybe evil
Speaker 1: demon angel. Somebody would not let me get the words
Speaker 1: wall in Paul Pack out of my mouth. I couldn't
Speaker 1: say it. I couldn't say it. We're supposed to be
Speaker 1: on Lake waldon Paul Pack. I can say it now
Speaker 1: as if it's nothing. I can say it with ease.
Speaker 1: That night I maybe got it out once or twice correctly,
Speaker 1: and the rest I just couldn't do it. And I
Speaker 1: remember they were looking at me and they were baffled.
Speaker 1: They were absolutely baffled, like what is this guy has
Speaker 1: a major malfunction? How do you can you not say
Speaker 1: wald In Paul Pack? And I can't explain it. It's
Speaker 1: just one of those moments where you're like, I'm so sorry.
Speaker 1: I wanted to die. I wanted to go crawl. I
Speaker 1: wanted to dive off that boat and die. Well, first
Speaker 1: of all, everyone has been there. I have not thought
Speaker 1: about that in years, and you and I see each other,
Speaker 1: I don't know ten times a year after are you
Speaker 1: think I have not ever once I thought of that
Speaker 1: moment until right now. And the second you said it
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, that's right. He couldn't say it.
Speaker 1: I couldn't say it. I couldn't say it right. And
Speaker 1: I know it was so simple, and they were literally
Speaker 1: they were looking at me, go Wall and Paul Pack.
Speaker 1: I go, well, it's just Wall and well while Papa Pack,
Speaker 1: I mean really, there was some synapsis in my brain
Speaker 1: that would not connected. And you know, you know Brian
Speaker 1: as an actor. To drive home, I said every line perfectly.
Speaker 1: I said every word perfectly. I mean, I couldn't have
Speaker 1: been more spot on to drive home. Yeah, Oh that's
Speaker 1: so funny. That is Oh that is amazing. Do you
Speaker 1: get recognized? Do people yelled Captain Jack at you every
Speaker 1: now and then? Yes, yes they do. I was probably
Speaker 1: no joke, probably pounds heavier, so I looked a little
Speaker 1: different then. Interesting that episode, by the way, it was,
Speaker 1: was shared with me or reminded by Kevin Riley actually,
Speaker 1: who was the head of NBC at the time, that
Speaker 1: he would call about the ratings after every night, and
Speaker 1: obviously the Office became a big show for him and
Speaker 1: he kind of staked his reputation on it. And after
Speaker 1: Booze Cruise, the Office didn't just retain the number from
Speaker 1: my Name is Earl, which came before, but actually beat
Speaker 1: it in the ratings. And he said, he said, I
Speaker 1: may have cried. It was like that kind of moment
Speaker 1: for him. Like that episode so significantly the only thing
Speaker 1: that brought other than not being able to say well
Speaker 1: in Paul Pack, which still haunts me. I mean, I
Speaker 1: still feel so bad about that. I was bummed out
Speaker 1: because I knew that once my episode was over, you
Speaker 1: wouldn't see Captain Jack again, and I was like, and
Speaker 1: they're not going to bring me back as some other
Speaker 1: character because I was wanting to be reoccurring on on
Speaker 1: the Office, just because it's such an iconic, legendary show.
Speaker 1: But I won't be greedy. I was very grateful for
Speaker 1: the opportunity that to be Captain Jack. Well, look, I
Speaker 1: mean during that time and just setting the Office aside,
Speaker 1: you were really on had the opportunity to appear on
Speaker 1: every great show during that time with you know, all
Speaker 1: due respect to the ones you weren't on, but I
Speaker 1: mean Arrested Development and thirty Rock and Modern Family and
Speaker 1: just amazing all of the shows that that that you
Speaker 1: were on during that time and obviously recurred on a
Speaker 1: lot of them. Yeah, I was very happy about that,
Speaker 1: very blessed. But the Office is definitely special. Well, yes
Speaker 1: it is for me to absolutely it should be. I
Speaker 1: don't want to take up too much more of your time,
Speaker 1: but you and I share obviously a love of football.
Speaker 1: I know you worked at Fox as one of their
Speaker 1: I don't know what do you call it contributors prognosticate Yes,
Speaker 1: some the end and a huge Kansas City Chiefs fan.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, did you did you watch the Super Bowl
Speaker 1: or did you say screw it? I watched it. I
Speaker 1: watched it. I'm I'm a fan of the game. I'm
Speaker 1: glad they give us a week off from the a
Speaker 1: f C and NFC championships to the Super Bowl. Allowed
Speaker 1: me to cool down a little bit. A loved me
Speaker 1: to walk it off, as they say, you know, this
Speaker 1: year's playoffs were the greatest playoffs I've seen, maybe in
Speaker 1: my lifetime. The game before that against Buffalo was probably
Speaker 1: the single greatest game I've ever seen. And so this
Speaker 1: playoffs seas were fullest high highs and low lows. And
Speaker 1: but that's why they play the games, you know, That's
Speaker 1: what makes it exciting, you know. And and uh, it
Speaker 1: was it was fun to see such great competition. But yeah,
Speaker 1: of course, I'm I'll never forgive Cincinnati Cincinnati. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: Did you root for Cincinnati because they beat you? Or
Speaker 1: did you root against them because they beat you? You know,
Speaker 1: it was That's a tough call because there's a couple
Speaker 1: of schools of thought, because if they go on to
Speaker 1: win the Super Bowl, they become a team of destiny
Speaker 1: and it was preordained. So we can live with the
Speaker 1: loss a little better. You know, they were a team
Speaker 1: of destiny or do I want vengeance? Um? Tough call
Speaker 1: because I wanted both, to be honest with you. UM.
Speaker 1: But I also like, since I'm a cancer, I'm die
Speaker 1: hard Kansa City, Kansas City top never in question. However,
Speaker 1: I live in l A. So I don't feel bad
Speaker 1: about rooting for the Rams because their NFC and it's
Speaker 1: where I live. So and the same thing with the
Speaker 1: Dodgers their n L National League and uh, it's where
Speaker 1: I live. So I can root for those guys as
Speaker 1: long as you're not playing the Royals or the Chiefs. Now,
Speaker 1: if you play the roles the Chiefs, obviously they get
Speaker 1: your trumped. So I don't know. Yeah, I you know,
Speaker 1: because I as a Packers fan, generally for me, it's
Speaker 1: vengeance like Seattle or the Niners, I can't root for them.
Speaker 1: I just I mean, it's just it's an impossibility. I
Speaker 1: think similarly to you the l A thing. I find
Speaker 1: the Rams fairly likable, Like I like all of those guys.
Speaker 1: I think the Stafford story is just a great story.
Speaker 1: And Cooper Cup and you know you talk about perseverance
Speaker 1: and determination, I mean that guy, I mean it's just unbelievable.
Speaker 1: But my dad was from Cincinnati, and no joke robbed.
Speaker 1: This morning, my sister sent me a photograph my grandmother,
Speaker 1: who by the way, lived and I always remember her
Speaker 1: as like dressed impeccably, didn't have a lot of means like,
Speaker 1: wasn't rich by anything, but just always looked her best.
Speaker 1: And my sister this morning sent me a photograph and
Speaker 1: she said this has to have been from because it
Speaker 1: was my grandmother and my grandfather standing on their porch
Speaker 1: in Cincinnati, Ohio, and my grandmother is wearing a Cincinnati
Speaker 1: Bengals sweatshirt. And it must have been that Super Bowl
Speaker 1: run back that I would have been the only thing
Speaker 1: that would have made her where a sweatshirt. So I did.
Speaker 1: I'd like the Rams. I was rooting for the Bengals,
Speaker 1: have to admit it. I was reading I Love the
Speaker 1: I love the good game. I liked a good game,
Speaker 1: and then I think we got a good game. So
Speaker 1: that's all you can ask for. Well, speaking of good games,
Speaker 1: first of all, thank you so much for talking to
Speaker 1: me and sharing so much about your career and your
Speaker 1: work ethic, which now it'll probably be a problem for
Speaker 1: me trying to take money from you on the golf course.
Speaker 1: But I look forward. I look forward to our competition.
Speaker 1: I will tell you Rob was Rob was a straight underdog.
Speaker 1: I mean, let's just be honest. Last year in Tahoe,
Speaker 1: the odds, I don't know what they would have been.
Speaker 1: He kicked my ass last year and it's so well,
Speaker 1: and his caddy is teaching me. I'm like where, I how?
Speaker 1: I mean, this is unbelievable. Put with energy? Put with energy.
Speaker 1: Next year, I'm gonna come. I'm gonna get you because
Speaker 1: I'm gonna think about putting with energy. We gotta line
Speaker 1: up some side action. We did we say we did.
Speaker 1: We were gonna do it last we didn't get it done.
Speaker 1: So let's let's figure it out and we'll get the
Speaker 1: usual cast of characters. Well, now you're the favorite. Now
Speaker 1: you're the favorite, and I get odds because you you
Speaker 1: did it to me last year. Oh my god, you
Speaker 1: played so great last year. Let's let's try to play
Speaker 1: before that. That's not until absolutely let's do Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we got time. Rob. Thank you so much. I really
Speaker 1: appreciate you coming on and talking to me. I'm so
Speaker 1: glad you invited me. Thank you. I appreciate. It's good
Speaker 1: talking to you always. You too, and I'm telling you
Speaker 1: that persever and stuff. I just I'm so happy for
Speaker 1: you and proud of you. Sounds weird, but like yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean you just fucking stuck with it. It's awesome. Well, thanks, buddy,
Speaker 1: I'm with you. Yeah, same with you. Yeah, Rob Wriggle,
Speaker 1: Ladies and gentlemen. What a pleasure. Oh, I enjoyed that.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for stopping by. Rob. I'll see
Speaker 1: you very very soon, and thank you to everyone out
Speaker 1: there listening. Head over to at Off the Beat on
Speaker 1: Instagram to stay in the know about this podcast and
Speaker 1: to keep us up to speed on who you would
Speaker 1: like to hear from. Who should I sit down with next? Well,
Speaker 1: next week we've already got another spectacular guest. Who could
Speaker 1: it be? Will he tell us no? Until then, everybody,
Speaker 1: have a fantastic week. Off the Beat is hosted an
Speaker 1: executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner, alongside our executive producer Langley.
Speaker 1: Our producers are Diego Tapia, Liz Hayes, Emily Carr, and
Speaker 1: Hannah Harris. Our talent producer is Ryan Papa Zachary. Our
Speaker 1: theme song Bubble and Squeak performed by my great friend
Speaker 1: Creed Bratton, and the episode was mixed by seth Olandski.