Speaker 1: Hi, Brian, Hi Katie. Well, I know you're really jazzed
Speaker 1: about today's show because we get to talk about one
Speaker 1: of our favorite shows on television, Veep. I love it.
Speaker 1: I love Julia Louis Dreyfuss. I love sort of the reality,
Speaker 1: the faux reality of it all. And it's such a
Speaker 1: great ensemble cast. Every last one of the people on
Speaker 1: the show just knocks it out of the park week
Speaker 1: after week after week. Do you agree? I do, And
Speaker 1: especially Matt Walsh, who plays bumbling, innocent, sweet White House
Speaker 1: Press secretary Mike McClintock. I just find him hilarious. He's
Speaker 1: one of those people that you look at him, you
Speaker 1: just want to laugh because it's a very funny mustache
Speaker 1: that he's sporting in that show. Didn't he die said
Speaker 1: mustache once? I think he did in a very early
Speaker 1: episode sssfully yes to give him a little more youthful verse.
Speaker 1: But Matt's a really interesting character in and of himself.
Speaker 1: He's kind of a legend of the improv comedy world.
Speaker 1: He helped to co found Upright Citizen's Brigade. His other
Speaker 1: co founders included Amy Poehler, and he's had a fascinating career.
Speaker 1: He was an early correspondent on The Daily Show. He's
Speaker 1: appeared on a ton of sitcoms and in a lot
Speaker 1: of movies. He was in The Hangover, he was in
Speaker 1: that fine film called hung Was that? Was that a
Speaker 1: film or a TV series? I think it was in
Speaker 1: the four hundreds on my cable. I don't know ye
Speaker 1: that that may be a different movie. But we're very,
Speaker 1: very excited to have Matt Walsh on the show. So
Speaker 1: here's Matt and Brian. Unfortunately, for me long distance, I
Speaker 1: am very jealous because you have the very funny Matt
Speaker 1: Walsh sitting right next to you in Los Angeles. I'm
Speaker 1: all the way in New York City out here in
Speaker 1: l A. So we're very excited to have Matt on
Speaker 1: the show. And Matt also very flattered because, as I
Speaker 1: understand it, you actually expressed some interest in being on
Speaker 1: the show. This has got to be a first. Did
Speaker 1: you think you were doing the show and obscurity like
Speaker 1: no one listens to it? Well, we're you know, you
Speaker 1: never know out there in in uh podcast land. I'll
Speaker 1: be don't take that. I thought you were Katie Holmes.
Speaker 1: Last name is Kirk. I'm so sorry, so so sorry,
Speaker 1: this is awkward, but you're gonna go forward with it anywhile.
Speaker 1: I'm here, and I gotta get my parking validated, so
Speaker 1: I might as well earn it. Yeah, we don't validate
Speaker 1: unless you do the show. That's fair. Yeah that's like
Speaker 1: seven eight bucks. Thank you, thank you very much. But
Speaker 1: let's start. Can we start by talking about sort of
Speaker 1: your career Matt, How you got into this comedy business
Speaker 1: because you've you started the Upright Citizens Brigade. You're a
Speaker 1: founding member, which is of course the famous improv comedy
Speaker 1: theater that's become an institution the comedy world. At what
Speaker 1: age did you realize, Hey, I'm kind of funny, I'd
Speaker 1: like to go into comedy. I think my first performing
Speaker 1: was in the senior Variety show in high school, where
Speaker 1: we wrote sketches that made fun of teachers and we
Speaker 1: were a big smash hit. And that was like sort
Speaker 1: of when I got bit by the bug of like
Speaker 1: writing and performing comedy. And then I took like one
Speaker 1: acting class in college, and then my my last senior
Speaker 1: year I went to Northern Illinois. I discovered this uh
Speaker 1: improv class that was taught through Second City. So every
Speaker 1: once a week, I would drive into this city and
Speaker 1: that's when I really discovered, like, oh, improv comedy is
Speaker 1: what I really want to do. And at the time,
Speaker 1: I was like a psych major, so I was kind
Speaker 1: of like when I got out of college, I worked
Speaker 1: on a psych floor and then at night I was
Speaker 1: doing sketch comedy. And let's working on a psych floor
Speaker 1: is a good place to find sketch comedy, I guess, huh, yes, No,
Speaker 1: I don't mean that to be callous, but I'm just
Speaker 1: saying it must be interesting. It was absolutely, and it
Speaker 1: was a survival. You had to laugh, but it was
Speaker 1: also you were sort of a wash with dysfunction when
Speaker 1: you came home, and I think that trade is very difficult,
Speaker 1: so I I stepped away from it. But there was
Speaker 1: a lot of laughs there and there was a lot
Speaker 1: of crazy stories that happened. Absolutely, So u c B
Speaker 1: is kind of a murderers row of comedians. I mean
Speaker 1: Amy Poehler helped to found it with you and as
Speaker 1: He's and sorry and Ellie Kemper and Nick Roll or alums.
Speaker 1: What makes that particular group different and special? I mean
Speaker 1: I remember reading that you know in the u c B.
Speaker 1: Ethos and improvisers should always be thinking about group mind
Speaker 1: supporting the other performers. Is that different? I think one
Speaker 1: thing we take pride in is we do have a
Speaker 1: real curriculum, Like because we were all actors, we'd all
Speaker 1: been in acting classes where you spend eight weeks and
Speaker 1: the teacher says you're amazing, and then when you leave,
Speaker 1: there's no takeaway. It's like I thought I is good,
Speaker 1: but now I haven't learned anything. So we really made
Speaker 1: a point to like academify what we were teaching. We
Speaker 1: wrote a book, and so that's one thing I'm super
Speaker 1: proud of is we really tried to get students takeaway
Speaker 1: for their investment of time at the theater. And I
Speaker 1: think in general, we're fortunate that people discovered uc BE. Like,
Speaker 1: I don't necessarily take credit for Nick Kroll or any
Speaker 1: of these people being funny, but once they're plugged into
Speaker 1: this community and they make these wonderful friendships and they
Speaker 1: care about this art form, then they have the same
Speaker 1: passion we do. And I'm and I'm happy that they
Speaker 1: sort of got that bug the same way that I
Speaker 1: got that bug. We created a gymnasium where people can
Speaker 1: practice this art form and and get hooked on it.
Speaker 1: And that's what makes me super proud. I love this
Speaker 1: whole idea too, of caring about the group and really
Speaker 1: kind of helping people out so that everybody can shine,
Speaker 1: which seems to be quite different than the ethos obviously
Speaker 1: of stand up comedy. I mean, how does that work
Speaker 1: where you kind of want to be supportive of people
Speaker 1: around you, and how does that affect your interactions? And
Speaker 1: in prov, well, I think stand up is an art
Speaker 1: form of say, critique, cultural, political, etcetera. And I think
Speaker 1: improv is an art form of collaboration. And uh, I
Speaker 1: personally like the anonymity of collaboration because you don't have
Speaker 1: to you don't have to shoulder the burden. You're not
Speaker 1: out in front solo, so I guess you can hide
Speaker 1: inside a group art form. So that's particularly what I
Speaker 1: liked about it. And also when you bomb that you
Speaker 1: don't bomb. Yeah, you're not everybody bombs. You're not drinking
Speaker 1: at a holiday inn and Madison, Wisconsin by yourself, You're
Speaker 1: you're commiserating and making fun of the audience for not
Speaker 1: getting how good you were. We have a clip of
Speaker 1: you and some others on the anniversary of the U
Speaker 1: C b um. You guys were on the Today Show,
Speaker 1: so let's play that. WHOA Well, if you slipped on
Speaker 1: people's couches, Yes, I couch hopped and I slept in
Speaker 1: a before they cleaned up the guanas canal. It smelled
Speaker 1: so bad I thought I had peed myself. One night
Speaker 1: I woke up and it smelled so horrible, like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, what happened? And it was just Brooklyn. It
Speaker 1: was just Brooklyn coming in. And you walked a ton
Speaker 1: of weight because you walked everywhere because it was too
Speaker 1: expensive to them. We were legit poor, and so you
Speaker 1: were legit poor. And and how did you kind of
Speaker 1: get from there to actually making a living and doing
Speaker 1: well as a as a comedian? What is the You
Speaker 1: have friends? Like when we landed in New York, we
Speaker 1: had several friends who worked and wrote on Conan O'Brien
Speaker 1: and Saturday Night Live. So fortunately for us, our friends
Speaker 1: were like, hey, come by for a day and do
Speaker 1: a bit on Conan, or come by for a day
Speaker 1: and do a short film on SNL. So we were
Speaker 1: sort of plugged into opportunities when we landed, so that
Speaker 1: truthfully helped pay the rent and forever grateful to a
Speaker 1: lot of those people in those shows. Um and then
Speaker 1: just being seen like it was word of mouth. It
Speaker 1: was sort of still pre YouTube. Nine six is when
Speaker 1: we landed in New York and so we were doing
Speaker 1: shows seven nights a week, and people who cared about
Speaker 1: comedy gave us props. And then I'll go and behold
Speaker 1: we had shows with audiences. Meanwhile, you have been enjoying
Speaker 1: being on FIVA. I'm sure it must be. I don't know,
Speaker 1: is is that a dream come true for you, Matt
Speaker 1: because it is such a great show and you have
Speaker 1: such a hilarious character in Mike McClintock, the White House
Speaker 1: Press secretary slash director of Communications for president no longer president,
Speaker 1: but former president, former President Selina Myers. How much fun
Speaker 1: is How relevant is that that the press secretary is
Speaker 1: also the communications director because of course, in the real
Speaker 1: life White House they couldn't get anyone to be the
Speaker 1: communications director, so Spicer is doing it. Mike McClintock was
Speaker 1: terrible at his job years before Sean Spicer was on
Speaker 1: the scene, so he is not an impersonation of Sean Spicer.
Speaker 1: I'll say that much, but it's it is the it's
Speaker 1: the best gig to be on a show where everybody's
Speaker 1: funny and nice, and the writing is spectacular and Julia
Speaker 1: is amazing, and to have people care about it, like
Speaker 1: this year more than ever, I think people wanted to
Speaker 1: laugh at politics. So there's real attention to sort of
Speaker 1: the labor that you put into the show. And it's
Speaker 1: also collaborative. They really want input, and we improvised in
Speaker 1: rehearsals and we use they use our input to sort
Speaker 1: of change the drafts and and make it better. So
Speaker 1: it's it is a rare opportunity to be on a
Speaker 1: really funny show and also have people watch that show.
Speaker 1: It's so great. And here's a clip where Selena is
Speaker 1: impersonating your character Might. Let's let's listen to this. Why
Speaker 1: don't you just tell the truth? I don't sound like that.
Speaker 1: That's exactly how you sound spot. Yeah, it's pretty close.
Speaker 1: I don't know where you get that impersonation. Now, was
Speaker 1: that was that just a spontaneous thing or was that
Speaker 1: part of the script. That's sort of a bit that
Speaker 1: lived in the rehearsal room with Julia likes doing an
Speaker 1: impression of Mike uh. And it is always I always
Speaker 1: crack up when she does an impression of Mike, And
Speaker 1: it just ended up one of the episodes, and I
Speaker 1: think she's done it a couple of times, so I
Speaker 1: always laugh when she does her impression of Mike. And
Speaker 1: how much of this show is scripted versus stuff you
Speaker 1: come up basically on her percent script and when we
Speaker 1: get the set and we get our pages for that day.
Speaker 1: The pages change every day, but once it's on the page,
Speaker 1: there's room to rehearse it and tinker with it and
Speaker 1: add jokes or say it in your own words, but
Speaker 1: it's pretty much on the page when we film it.
Speaker 1: It's interesting on Veep, your character is kind of a
Speaker 1: perpetual screw up, but he's also he's an innocent in
Speaker 1: a way. And he's also a throwback to an earlier
Speaker 1: time when I think you said this in one interview
Speaker 1: you could just call more in doubt and fix something.
Speaker 1: And of course now we live in a different world.
Speaker 1: How much of Mike's struggle is that the media environment
Speaker 1: has changed, and how much of it is that he's
Speaker 1: just kind of a blunderbuss to use a word from Veep.
Speaker 1: Uh he. I think in the beginning it was a
Speaker 1: result of the fast pace change of how the media
Speaker 1: was moving. And then I think in reality he might
Speaker 1: be a good speechwriter, like he probably is good with
Speaker 1: you know, prose, but he is a little too childlike
Speaker 1: to be at the head of a communications department. He's
Speaker 1: easily distracted. I like him because he's so earnest, you know,
Speaker 1: and he's really trying to do a good job, and
Speaker 1: yet he's just so clueless at the same time. And
Speaker 1: I also love his relationship with Katheen to Jimmy, who's
Speaker 1: one of my favorite people in the world. She is
Speaker 1: so funny and they had I mean, you must, you must,
Speaker 1: you guys must laugh all the time doing that show?
Speaker 1: Or is that just how I imagine it to be? No,
Speaker 1: it is, I mean it's it is like a lot
Speaker 1: of work. I mean it's good work. It's the best
Speaker 1: job in the world, but we do put a lot
Speaker 1: of effort into making it seem sloppy and naturalistic and real. Um.
Speaker 1: But Cathy is awesome. She's really funny, and I think
Speaker 1: that's the first time I ever worked with her was
Speaker 1: on our show, but I always look forward to doing
Speaker 1: scenes with her. She's a great wife. Has it been hard, uh?
Speaker 1: Matt for you all this season to be out of
Speaker 1: the White House, because were you at all worried that
Speaker 1: the show might lose its mojo by taking you all
Speaker 1: not only out of Washington, but kind of splitting up
Speaker 1: the gang. One of the things I love about VEEP,
Speaker 1: and I think it comes from the sort of British
Speaker 1: DNA Armandoina Iannucci created the show, and like I think
Speaker 1: two years in or maybe the third season, she was
Speaker 1: president and the show was still called VEEP. Like they're
Speaker 1: willing to change and re contextualize the show. Every season.
Speaker 1: They'll throw a whole scripts out and just write it
Speaker 1: from scratch. Like they they keep it fresh and they
Speaker 1: don't feel like, oh we we can't violate this or
Speaker 1: can't violate that. And that's what I love about VEEP.
Speaker 1: So when they they knew Selena, David said many times
Speaker 1: and Julia I would agree, is that Selena has to lose.
Speaker 1: It's always funnier when she's beaten up, and so you
Speaker 1: knew they knew she was going to lose that electoral
Speaker 1: college tie. I think it's fortunate for the show that
Speaker 1: we're not in DC because it's such a nightmare right
Speaker 1: now and people would be it would be hard to
Speaker 1: heighten beyond what is coming out of d C in
Speaker 1: real life. So I think I think it benefits us
Speaker 1: and I do think like bringing the band back together,
Speaker 1: it is a writing challenge because it is we all
Speaker 1: started in our own orbits. But I think as the
Speaker 1: show has gone on, I always say, like in the beginning,
Speaker 1: we were sort of swimming and Selena's wake, following her
Speaker 1: around hallways in d C. And as each season has
Speaker 1: gone on, you know, Mike gets married, everyone builds a
Speaker 1: life outside of it. Dan's on the news now. I
Speaker 1: think they've made the show bigger and bigger, and but
Speaker 1: it is fun to see how they pull us back
Speaker 1: in and how the old faces come back in for
Speaker 1: one more, you know, putting the band back together. But well,
Speaker 1: let's can we catch up with some of the characters,
Speaker 1: because it is fun to see, you know, what everybody
Speaker 1: is up to. As you said, Dan has landed a
Speaker 1: gig anchoring the CBS morning show that I do. I
Speaker 1: wanted to say congratulations Mozl Dan to you, and I
Speaker 1: think he as an excellent job. Did you have to
Speaker 1: get permission from CBS to do that? I'm assuming you did.
Speaker 1: It's a great question. I don't know, but I had
Speaker 1: the same reaction watching it, like because I don't I'm
Speaker 1: not in the room when they filmed those, like I'm
Speaker 1: not in the morning show set, But I'm like, how
Speaker 1: did they get? I feel the same How did they get?
Speaker 1: CVS is blessing? They must have assented to that, but
Speaker 1: isn't it? Is it sat higher like the two comedians
Speaker 1: have more leeway, I guess, but it's it is a
Speaker 1: world with bigger egos and even sharper knives than Washington,
Speaker 1: I guess. So they successfully found one like that. Well,
Speaker 1: we have a clip of an exchange between Dan and
Speaker 1: his co anchor Jane, played by Margaret Colin. They cracked
Speaker 1: me up, and of course this was my world for
Speaker 1: many years, as you know, Matt. So we pulled a
Speaker 1: clip of her talking and I had to laugh at
Speaker 1: this because I think it's the anchor woman's sphere that
Speaker 1: a younger, more attractive woman is coming just around the
Speaker 1: corner to take her job. Let's listen, Yes, Danny, I
Speaker 1: know that we're not actually fucking because you're not a
Speaker 1: billionaire and I don't want to catch anything. Okay, well,
Speaker 1: then maybe you can call the post and tell them
Speaker 1: these rumors about us are complete bullshit, because this is
Speaker 1: like do we blows Truman here? Dah? If I stop
Speaker 1: being funkable, then I am grandma. And if I'm Grandma,
Speaker 1: I will be replaced by two tips with a degree
Speaker 1: from American University over there. I thought that was so funny.
Speaker 1: I love the American University jokes. It reminds me of
Speaker 1: the what was the Goldie ham line about their three
Speaker 1: ages for women in Hollywood Babe, District attorney and driving
Speaker 1: Miss Daisy. Maybe that's true if anchor people too, and
Speaker 1: the farewell when did you are you caught up? I'm
Speaker 1: not caught up yet? Spoil anything? No? No, I think
Speaker 1: the idea is we're spoiling people who haven't seen like
Speaker 1: the beginning of the sixth season. But if you haven't
Speaker 1: finished it, we're not going to spoil. You've got some
Speaker 1: good stuff ahead for you can definitely, I'm so excited.
Speaker 1: I'm so excited. Meanwhile, Jonah is using his cancer to
Speaker 1: help his political career. That's so cynical, isn't it. Mad Yes,
Speaker 1: and he's like the most hated man in Washington, sort
Speaker 1: of all a Ted Cruz. Yes, that would be a
Speaker 1: close Yeah, you would be a close comparison. One of
Speaker 1: the things I really love about the show is how
Speaker 1: much of it is drawn from real life and real
Speaker 1: history or sort of a twist or a parody on history.
Speaker 1: I mean, I remember in the season finale of last season,
Speaker 1: the new president gets credit for freeing Tibet when it
Speaker 1: was really Selena who had been sort of working furiously
Speaker 1: with the Chinese, very much like Jimmy Carter with the
Speaker 1: Iranian hostages. And of course Reagan got credit for freeing
Speaker 1: them the day that he was sworn into Yes, that
Speaker 1: is I'm sure it was inspired. They do the writers,
Speaker 1: you know, every year do field trips to d C
Speaker 1: and try to get the nitty gritty stories behind, you know,
Speaker 1: how things are made or what you know, what went down.
Speaker 1: And I think this year they interviewed Romney for a
Speaker 1: few hours, like he came to the writer's room and
Speaker 1: told her. Yeah that he told him what it was
Speaker 1: like to lose an election and how you build yourself up.
Speaker 1: And so they really do their research before they start
Speaker 1: like structuring the season. And I remember reading in one
Speaker 1: of these episodes that when you talk to Romney, you
Speaker 1: recognized how much he had this big support system of
Speaker 1: family and friends and business to sort of catch him
Speaker 1: when he fell after the loss, and you guys just decided, Okay,
Speaker 1: well what would it be like to lose without any
Speaker 1: of that? And that's what we're going to make Selena
Speaker 1: go through. Yeah. Selena is terrible to her daughter, She's
Speaker 1: terrible to everyone. So it's actually quite fun to see
Speaker 1: her way at the bottom. It is fun to have
Speaker 1: to to have a character that is so unlikable and
Speaker 1: yet so popular. Yeah, what is it about her? You know,
Speaker 1: I've been told a few times maybe I should be concerned.
Speaker 1: Matt and Brian, Please do not confirm this that I
Speaker 1: remind people of Selena. Oh, oh my god. You do
Speaker 1: not want that comparison. Oh my god. I think it's
Speaker 1: sometimes because there's a flurry of activity around me. Sometimes
Speaker 1: I don't know what that makes me. You're Gary. I
Speaker 1: sometimes I hand my first to Brian and say, Gary,
Speaker 1: come on, make it snappy. Yeah, do you want some
Speaker 1: rose hip? Ti Katie. But we're going to take a
Speaker 1: break because I want to talk to Matt Walsh Moore
Speaker 1: about political reality versus beat. And that's right after this.
Speaker 1: Sean Spicer versus Mike McClintock. How do you assess the
Speaker 1: two together? That's the question. Uh, Mike actually at the
Speaker 1: podium in the press room is competent at his job.
Speaker 1: Sean Spicer is not. So my advice to Sean Spicer
Speaker 1: has quit, like, you should quit your job. I understand
Speaker 1: that he seems like someone who's been knocking around d
Speaker 1: C forever and he's finally in the spotlight, and people
Speaker 1: like that I want to hang on to whatever little
Speaker 1: power they have, but it's a terrible administration, and have
Speaker 1: some respect for yourself and quit that job. And what
Speaker 1: about the argument that some people make them that they
Speaker 1: should stay in the administration because they're a force for good,
Speaker 1: or if they were to leave, they'd just be replaced
Speaker 1: by somebody worse in that position. No, you're not. You're
Speaker 1: a puppet. You're you're a mouthpiece for a liar and
Speaker 1: a corrupt administration. So I don't see you affecting anything.
Speaker 1: I guess if you're an advisor inside there and you
Speaker 1: stick to your values, if you're Maddest or somebody like that,
Speaker 1: I guess you could make that argument. Yeah, Like, thank god,
Speaker 1: I'm trust me, guys, thank god, I'm in the room.
Speaker 1: Believe me, Believe me. The alterna, I just wait till
Speaker 1: the President's attention goes away, and we still do what
Speaker 1: we want to do. Like sure, I'm glad that guy's
Speaker 1: or that woman is there. Sure, And why do you
Speaker 1: think Sean Spicer stays around? I honestly feel like the
Speaker 1: way our show is a workplace comedy, so you get
Speaker 1: to see beyond Selena. You get to see the lives
Speaker 1: of the advisors and the you know, every schedulers and
Speaker 1: press secretaries, et cetera. And I think those people hang
Speaker 1: on because to be in the White House is the
Speaker 1: big show. Like that's what you want. You want that
Speaker 1: a list power. And so I think once you get it,
Speaker 1: your whole behavior, you've been inching towards this thing, and
Speaker 1: all your decisions and all your cutthroat sort of moves
Speaker 1: have gotten you in this position. I think you're just
Speaker 1: out of instant cling to it. And I also think people,
Speaker 1: and I think you can even see it in veep
Speaker 1: in a way, how insulated the world becomes and how
Speaker 1: these people become your family and you have very little
Speaker 1: interaction outside this world because it basically sucks the oxygen
Speaker 1: out of your entire being. You can see how almost
Speaker 1: both intoxicating and suffocating that can be. Yeah, and yeah,
Speaker 1: I think there's like history, you know, for Mike, there's
Speaker 1: some loyalty there. He's been with her for twenty years
Speaker 1: and I'm sure in the early days it was friendly
Speaker 1: and fun and now it's just like routine or whatever.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I think that it is. Uh, what else
Speaker 1: would you do? Could you really just unplugged and start
Speaker 1: a nursery in Santa Barbara or something? I don't think so.
Speaker 1: These people are animals. We talked about Sean Spicer a
Speaker 1: moment ago, and we have a clip where Spicer's Spicies
Speaker 1: American flag pin is upside down and the press court
Speaker 1: tells him during a press conference, lets let's have not
Speaker 1: heard thank you for this and with that, I'd be
Speaker 1: glad to take your questions. John Mark, John Robert's always
Speaker 1: helping with the fashion tips upside one of them. There's
Speaker 1: a stress. I appreciate that. Thank you. There's no promless
Speaker 1: your questions, Jesus. That's my favorite line of the whole thing. See,
Speaker 1: that's like we would have conversations like that in the room,
Speaker 1: like is that too bad? Like is that not believed.
Speaker 1: Would Mike really get on the podium with that. It's remarkable.
Speaker 1: We also have another clip that I want to play
Speaker 1: of Mike and Jonah talking about one of my personal favorites,
Speaker 1: a song from the Civil War called Yeah, let's listen
Speaker 1: to that. Oh my gosh, sing me a song just
Speaker 1: spin the old dial on radio with Clintock. See what
Speaker 1: it lands on. Really, I don't know, goober peas, I
Speaker 1: have no fucking idea what that is. It's an old
Speaker 1: Civil War song for real? Yeah, perfect, It's like a
Speaker 1: history lesson. Hit me up County No. Five six seven.
Speaker 1: When a horseman passes, soldiers have a rule they cry
Speaker 1: at their loudest mr, where's your mule? A little twanging it.
Speaker 1: But another pleasure, more enchanting er than these is wearing
Speaker 1: at your grunders eating Google. Pease, please, please pease. We
Speaker 1: were trying to get a public domain song for that
Speaker 1: moment on the set, and I was remembering my childhood
Speaker 1: and I learned that song. I'm like, that's got to
Speaker 1: be public domain. So I pitched that song. And in
Speaker 1: spite of all this absurdity, every Washington pro I ever
Speaker 1: talked to says, this is the most authentic show about
Speaker 1: politics today. I mean, how scary is that it really is?
Speaker 1: Because it's important business and to realize that the buffoons
Speaker 1: we play, our reflection of what happens in d C
Speaker 1: is scary. Yeah. By the way, I have a total
Speaker 1: girl crush on Julia Louis Dreyfuss. I'm sure I'm not alone. Mike. Uh,
Speaker 1: we're friendly, um, believe it or not. My late husband,
Speaker 1: I think did some business with her dad and I
Speaker 1: actually was looking at some photographs last night when we
Speaker 1: were on the Seinfeld set when I was interviewing her
Speaker 1: and Jerry for their final episode, or at least I
Speaker 1: think at the height of the popularity of that show,
Speaker 1: which I don't think ever dwindled. But what does she
Speaker 1: like to work to dubs? She was a guest on
Speaker 1: this podcast. Oh that's true. Yes, I definitely I traded
Speaker 1: on our friendship and brought her here. She would be
Speaker 1: on our podcast as well. But what does she like
Speaker 1: to work with? Because she seems like she's such a
Speaker 1: a brilliant comedian, needless to say, but also a really
Speaker 1: generous coworker. She is, Uh, Julia is the best. She
Speaker 1: keeps it real, she's fun, she's friendly. When we lived
Speaker 1: in Baltimore, we used to shoot, you know, four seasons
Speaker 1: we were there, there was more downtime, and she would
Speaker 1: you know, she was she was a good like mom, organized,
Speaker 1: she would host card parties or she would She's great
Speaker 1: and she's so talented. What's the worst thing about Julia
Speaker 1: Louie d the worst thing, the single most horrible quality.
Speaker 1: I don't know, it doesn't make sense. That's a good
Speaker 1: that's a good press secretary. I can't think. Uh No,
Speaker 1: she's really great and she's very like nice and normal
Speaker 1: and kind and super talented, Like she really sets the
Speaker 1: tone for the show, and she is I definitely have
Speaker 1: learned a ton, you know, working with her. She really
Speaker 1: is one of the best I've ever worked. What have
Speaker 1: you learned? Oftentimes, when you have a joke on the page,
Speaker 1: you're as an actor, you're sort of racing to get
Speaker 1: to that punchline. You know, your instinct is like, I
Speaker 1: just gotta get through this so I can say the joke.
Speaker 1: And she is so good at like taking these little
Speaker 1: detours on the way to the joke, so like relishing
Speaker 1: the set up and finding little comic moments in the
Speaker 1: setup of the joke that was sort of a revelation
Speaker 1: that doesn't speak highly of me, perhaps, but things like
Speaker 1: that or just she has sort of an unbelievable quest
Speaker 1: for specific in any scene, whether it's I'm gonna write
Speaker 1: my I'm gonna sign these bills, like what's the pen?
Speaker 1: Do you know what I mean? Like, she really loves
Speaker 1: the specifics, and I think that is another thing I'm
Speaker 1: amazed by. Now less people think that she's the only
Speaker 1: superstar on this show. I noticed in the g Q
Speaker 1: profile of you, Matt that that this paragraph, that this
Speaker 1: paragraph was written and appeared. It's within the improv world
Speaker 1: that he's most recognized mobbed even outside of the theater.
Speaker 1: He's the Pope and Harry Styles combined. He is the
Speaker 1: Sun and everyone else has been granted life by his
Speaker 1: mirror existence, and this makes him feel awkward. So I
Speaker 1: didn't realize that you were zeus in a particular setting,
Speaker 1: well in the improv world, because I started a theater
Speaker 1: that people care about in a school that people care about.
Speaker 1: It would be like I when I lived in New York,
Speaker 1: I actually found an apartment above our theater. So it's
Speaker 1: imagine like the dean of the college living in front
Speaker 1: of the buildings. So every day when you walk in
Speaker 1: your door, students want to talk to you and ask
Speaker 1: you about this art form. So in that world, I
Speaker 1: do have status, Yes I do. Meanwhile, let's let's let's
Speaker 1: let's talk about sort of the chatter on the set
Speaker 1: about the current administration and really among your friends and
Speaker 1: family members. I mean, what do you make of Donald Trump?
Speaker 1: What would we have to talk about? By the way,
Speaker 1: pro Trump on't but but I mean, are you all
Speaker 1: just every day, almost on an hourly basis, scratching your
Speaker 1: heads or shaking your heads. Well, the context of it,
Speaker 1: we we're on set the night of this the previous
Speaker 1: year's election in November, we were on set and it
Speaker 1: got gloomier and gloomier. We, like everyone suspected Hillary is
Speaker 1: probably gonna win. And so that was like the beginning
Speaker 1: of the Trump era. Penetrate our show, and they didn't
Speaker 1: change any of the storylines. Her being out of d
Speaker 1: C was turned out to be a blessing. And then yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, everybody, the writers and the consultants on this
Speaker 1: show are super smart. And of course every day we're
Speaker 1: hearing about what came out of d C. The last moment,
Speaker 1: and uh, there is an obsession with the insanity. I
Speaker 1: have no insight into how terrible it is and how
Speaker 1: we can survive it other than you know, we just
Speaker 1: try to make the show funny and focus on small
Speaker 1: acts of kindness. I don't know, Like I can't dissect.
Speaker 1: It's a disaster. I mean, I'm completely fucking disappointed in
Speaker 1: so many ways. And in the nature of common decency
Speaker 1: has been erased, and the tradition of the office has
Speaker 1: been erased, and it's the acceptance of lies as standard procedure.
Speaker 1: It's not even so much of his policies. I couldn't
Speaker 1: even tell you how he lands on them. It's more
Speaker 1: the tradition of like reason has been ignored. It's interesting
Speaker 1: so much of what seemed farcical and ridiculous on the
Speaker 1: show has sort of come to pass in real life.
Speaker 1: I mean, I remember one episode in which Selena was
Speaker 1: live tweeting, and that was just absurd. I mean, a
Speaker 1: president couldn't be live time. We're trying to get into
Speaker 1: the situation room to knock the phone out of there exactly,
Speaker 1: and now that wouldn't even be People would watch that
Speaker 1: moment now and be like, why is why are they
Speaker 1: so scared of a tweet? Like what does that mean?
Speaker 1: It does? Like there are things that have changed and
Speaker 1: maybe next year, well I don't know what the stories
Speaker 1: are going to be, but maybe next year we'll have
Speaker 1: to consider uh. But again, we they the show the
Speaker 1: last president, we references Reagan. So they try and you
Speaker 1: never see people like Anderson Cooper Wolf Blitzer walk into
Speaker 1: our world. So they really try to cling to that
Speaker 1: bubble of fiction because it gives us more latitude and
Speaker 1: hopefully makes it show more timeless, I think. And they
Speaker 1: never they never mentioned it what political party Selena is?
Speaker 1: For example. Yeah, and that's why Publicans and Democrats like
Speaker 1: our show, like they oftentimes think, you know, they're making
Speaker 1: fun of the other party. You know, they don't see
Speaker 1: themselves in it, like way to skewer the Republicans and like,
Speaker 1: well we're kind of getting everybody actually, But okay, okay,
Speaker 1: but what party do you really think Selena is? I
Speaker 1: don't know. I mean, you could go through her issues
Speaker 1: and probably find her somewhere. Do I have a hunch?
Speaker 1: I mean, what do you think I'll say that? What
Speaker 1: do you think she is? What do I think she is?
Speaker 1: If she had to be one party. What party would
Speaker 1: she be? I tend to think she's a Democrat, but
Speaker 1: maybe I'm biased by the fact that in real life
Speaker 1: all the people playing these characters or Democrats, and so
Speaker 1: I tend to think of them like Democrats. I'm not
Speaker 1: sure that she's actually put forward a policy that would
Speaker 1: reveal one way or the other. Although she sort of
Speaker 1: did that Job's program. Yeah, that that seemed a little
Speaker 1: bit more big government had early on some green energy programing,
Speaker 1: so those would be more progressive. Yeah, she's more progressive. Sure,
Speaker 1: I just want to say it so HBO doesn't fire
Speaker 1: me or something like that. I'm such a company man.
Speaker 1: Do you think there's something about women in politics, and
Speaker 1: particularly a woman as president that drives a lot of
Speaker 1: the humor and criticism. I mean a lot of people
Speaker 1: are now looking at this in the wake of Hillary's loss.
Speaker 1: Rebecca trey Stir wrote an interesting piece in New York Magazine,
Speaker 1: also former guest on this show, about you know I
Speaker 1: sound like I'm just played. Yeah, I know, somebody's got to.
Speaker 1: Katie mentioned that today's show interview with Julia not even
Speaker 1: our podcast. But I'm sorry, but to what extent do
Speaker 1: you think we still hold female political leaders to a
Speaker 1: different standard. Oh my gosh. Uh, well it is still
Speaker 1: a novelty unfortunately, Like I don't think we've had a
Speaker 1: female vice president office, and we haven't had a female president,
Speaker 1: so it is fiction right now. So I think that
Speaker 1: was the impetus for the show when Armando and Julia
Speaker 1: got together, is like, you know, she's a woman in office,
Speaker 1: but also she's in the worst office, which is vice president.
Speaker 1: But that's a big question, like, well, do you think
Speaker 1: a lot of the humor comes from women being judged
Speaker 1: and treated differently. I mean I remember somebody saying that
Speaker 1: if you're a woman in politics and you're too strong,
Speaker 1: you're a bit and if you're two weak, well you're
Speaker 1: just too weak and you can't be elected to an
Speaker 1: executive job, and so finding that sweet spot in between
Speaker 1: is almost impossible. That's a good point. I mean, sure
Speaker 1: women are definitely held to hire standard of course in politics.
Speaker 1: And I think it's funnier too for Julia to be
Speaker 1: filthy and talk like a sailor because she's an attractive woman,
Speaker 1: Like I think there's something inherently funnier about that, Like
Speaker 1: if you saw a gruff heavy set man with booze
Speaker 1: on his breath saying those things. It's almost more expected,
Speaker 1: so us they do play with the convention of like
Speaker 1: the stuff you're speaking to. Yeah. On the other hand,
Speaker 1: she's so ridiculously self involved, in so vain, so narcissistic. Then,
Speaker 1: you know, do you ever worry that having those qualities
Speaker 1: kind of underscore what some people fear is more present
Speaker 1: in women than in men, even though we all know
Speaker 1: that's bullshit. So do you think people will see the
Speaker 1: show and because she's such a narcissist and so vain,
Speaker 1: they might associate all women with that portrayal, or you know,
Speaker 1: somehow it will be subversively it doesn't help. Yeah, exactly. Yeah,
Speaker 1: uh yeah, I mean I guess that is a possible interpretation.
Speaker 1: What uh boy, These are good questions. I wish I
Speaker 1: was smarter, and they ultimately feel like, I mean, Selena
Speaker 1: is terrible to women. Selena hates women. She does. She's
Speaker 1: so brutal, mean to women, And you can go through
Speaker 1: the episodes and like and obviously her daughter, she has
Speaker 1: a terrible relationship with her daughter. Ay, yeah, Amy, She's
Speaker 1: brutal to Amy, like she's brutal to everyone. Gary and
Speaker 1: she's scared of Sue. She's scared of Sue. She's scared
Speaker 1: of Sue. Yeah, but I think it's awesome that whatever.
Speaker 1: Julia is so funny and she's at the head of
Speaker 1: a funny show, Like I would think that does more
Speaker 1: good for the cause than uh works against it. How
Speaker 1: about that for an answer. I think that's a good answer.
Speaker 1: So what would you like to do, Matt, You've got
Speaker 1: this pretty good gig going. Um, are there things that
Speaker 1: you'd like to do? Um? In addition to continuing with Beep, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I always tend to do a movie or two in
Speaker 1: the summer's off. I've directed two small, like improv movies.
Speaker 1: I'll probably direct another one. I'm writing a couple of
Speaker 1: things that are like features. So yeah, I I enjoy
Speaker 1: doing movies. You have riggsby Bear coming out, We have
Speaker 1: bragsby Bear coming out. Thank you for the plug that
Speaker 1: comes out at the end of July. We will you
Speaker 1: did that with SNL cast member Kyle Mooney, Deaths Right.
Speaker 1: I did that one, and then Feudal and Stupid Gesture
Speaker 1: comes out sometime this year, which is about the Lampoon,
Speaker 1: the evolution of the Lampoon magazine into the thing it
Speaker 1: became and all the people who came through that world.
Speaker 1: That's really cool. And I was very interested to see
Speaker 1: that you have a starring role in a rom com
Speaker 1: called Under the Eiffel Tower. Tell me about that, Matt Well.
Speaker 1: Someone a couple of years ago said I have a
Speaker 1: movie you could be the lead, and we're going to
Speaker 1: film in France, and I was like, can I bring
Speaker 1: the family? And didn't even read it. So with that premise,
Speaker 1: it's taken two years of indie you know, indie films,
Speaker 1: scraping for money, writing out people quitting. But lo and behold,
Speaker 1: I'm going in July to Paris to film a movie
Speaker 1: and I'm bringing the kids and Morgan, my wife's comming.
Speaker 1: And what's a movie about. It's about out a bourbon
Speaker 1: salesman played by me, who makes the mistake of proposing
Speaker 1: to this family friend, this woman who's only like twenty
Speaker 1: six or twenty seven, just out of grad school, and
Speaker 1: that just goes south from there. He's on a drinking bender,
Speaker 1: hooks up with this rugby player and then meets a
Speaker 1: woman who wants a vineyard and they fall in love.
Speaker 1: Oh that sounds so fun. Yeah, it is fun. It's
Speaker 1: glamorization of French culture, which we Americans love to see
Speaker 1: on film. And there's some funny people David Wayne and mckello,
Speaker 1: Watkins and Gary Cole so well Gary Cole. So you
Speaker 1: have a little reunion with Gary Cole. Yes, Gary's a friend,
Speaker 1: a legit friend, so yes, he will be out there.
Speaker 1: So we're all sort of psychic, you know, go overseas
Speaker 1: and relax for a while. I love him on V
Speaker 1: two because he's such a great character. He's so funny,
Speaker 1: and you know, I grew up with him and weird like, well, no,
Speaker 1: I didn't grow up with him. I grew up. I
Speaker 1: grew up watching him. Sorry, I grew up watching him
Speaker 1: and he used to play very dark characters. And to
Speaker 1: see him, to see him really flex his comedy muscles
Speaker 1: is so much fun to me. The other guy I
Speaker 1: love and veep Matt is the kind of he looks
Speaker 1: very much like a political operative. Kevin Dunn. I love
Speaker 1: Kevin Dunn. He is so great. He comes up with
Speaker 1: the funniest one liners. He talks about his nuts a lot.
Speaker 1: I do notice that Katie's always partial to a good
Speaker 1: testicle joke. You're his demo Katie, you're hey, wait, wait, no,
Speaker 1: Kevin's amazing, So it's Gary. Those guys were like Chicago
Speaker 1: actors when I was in the city, so they're like
Speaker 1: real Thespians as well as being super hilarious, funny human beings,
Speaker 1: you know. And speaking of super hilarious, by the way,
Speaker 1: the episode when I told friends of mine that I
Speaker 1: was talking to you that came up the most was
Speaker 1: the Master Cleans. Oh really, yes, that's so funny, which
Speaker 1: was hysterical. Oh no, breakfast for this guy who's offering
Speaker 1: you are looking at a guy on the Master Cleans.
Speaker 1: I feel amazing. What the lunatics fuck is the Master Cleans?
Speaker 1: It sounds like Nazi domestic policy. Yeah, it was last season.
Speaker 1: You wanted to describe what's happening. Mike is on a
Speaker 1: Master Cleans and he's like sort of fasting and just
Speaker 1: drinking like lemon cayenne, maple syrup, one of those things.
Speaker 1: And uh, I give the writer's knew someone, but apparently
Speaker 1: you have to like drink it every fifteen minutes or
Speaker 1: you will literally crash on your glue faint. You'll just faint.
Speaker 1: So Mike forgot to bring his bottle to the podium
Speaker 1: and was like losing his mind. And just during the briefing.
Speaker 1: During the briefing, Julia has this great line where she
Speaker 1: where she walks in the room after the the juice
Speaker 1: had been spilled, and she said, it smells like Puerto
Speaker 1: Rico in here, which is probably vaguely racist, but I
Speaker 1: was funny. Yeah. Anyway, Well, it's so fun to talk
Speaker 1: to you, Matt and listen. Thank you for you and
Speaker 1: the whole VAT crew for entertaining us, uh season after
Speaker 1: season and it's a real highlight of of my Sunday
Speaker 1: night and uh. And it's so great because you can
Speaker 1: binge watch Beep, which is something that my husband and
Speaker 1: I often do. So yeah, it's only a half hour,
Speaker 1: Come on, you can you can watch a whole season
Speaker 1: in one sitting, practically. Thank you so much for coming
Speaker 1: by next time. I hope I get to see you
Speaker 1: in person. I thank you with the premiere. Yes, we
Speaker 1: did years years back and that premiere, but that's okay.
Speaker 1: We didn't have a premier this year. We didn't have
Speaker 1: a premiere this year. Maybe next year, you guys, if
Speaker 1: we have a premiere, I'll try to get one of
Speaker 1: you in. It'll probably go to Katie. You get it though, Yeah,
Speaker 1: she's old friends with Juliet's a Gary, always a Gary.
Speaker 1: Thanks Matt, thank you, Thanks a huge thank you to
Speaker 1: our great team that helps make this show happen every
Speaker 1: time we do it. Our producer Gianna Palmer, our sound
Speaker 1: engineers Jared O'Connell in New York and Ryan Conner in
Speaker 1: l A. And Alison Bresnik, who slays our social media.
Speaker 1: Also Emily Beena of Katie Kirk Media and Nora Ritchie
Speaker 1: who always provides great extra editorial support. And Mark Phillips
Speaker 1: whoever you are, wherever you are. Thank you as always
Speaker 1: for our terrific theme music. Katie Kurrik and I are
Speaker 1: the executive producers of this show and folks, please drop
Speaker 1: us a line. You can leave a voicemail at nine
Speaker 1: to nine to two four four six three seven or
Speaker 1: email us at comments at current podcast dot com. We
Speaker 1: really do read the comments and listen to the comments.
Speaker 1: As for social media, I'm at Goldsmith B on Twitter.
Speaker 1: Katie is all over the social sphere at Katie Kurrik
Speaker 1: on Twitter and Instagram, Katie dot Kurrik on Snapchat, which
Speaker 1: is on Facebook. She is everywhere. I'm everywhere, and I
Speaker 1: tried to do a social media detox, and what can
Speaker 1: I say, You're falling off the wagon. You're pretty addicted. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and hey, if you like our show, we'd love for
Speaker 1: you to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. Please
Speaker 1: subscribe as well. If you don't like our show, I
Speaker 1: don't know what you're doing listening to this part of
Speaker 1: the credits, but shut up on the ratings and reviews.
Speaker 1: Please