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RE-RELEASE - Julia Sweeney

April 22, 2026 / 55:26

This episode features Julia Sweeney, a former cast member of Saturday Night Live, discussing her experiences on the show, her character Pat, and her transition to atheism.

Julia Sweeney shares her memories of working on SNL in the early 90s, highlighting her character Pat, which sparked conversations about gender and identity. She reflects on the challenges of portraying an androgynous character and the reactions it received.

The discussion also touches on Sweeney's one-woman shows, particularly "Letting Go of God," where she describes her philosophical transformation from Catholicism to atheism. She explains how personal experiences influenced her views on religion.

Sweeney and the hosts discuss the competitive nature of SNL and the dynamics between cast members, including her admiration for Phil Hartman and the impact of gender representation on the show.

Throughout the conversation, Sweeney shares anecdotes about her time at SNL, her thoughts on cancel culture, and her desire for a potential revival of her character Pat.

TL;DR

Julia Sweeney discusses her SNL experiences, her character Pat, and her journey to atheism.

Episode

55:26
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Julia Sweeney, who I was shared several
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years on Saturday Night Live. So did
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David. And we had this really nice
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interview with her. So we're bringing
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her back. In case you missed it, she's
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uh she had a character named It's Pat
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that was kind of a big hit on SNL. There
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was a movie. It was controversial in its
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own way, but she's very talented and
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very open about uh
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>> androgynous character. Mhm.
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>> Everyone tried to figure out if it was a
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man or woman. That was a big joke. And
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it was funny.
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>> She also was a strong utility player
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because like Phil as a female, she would
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come in and she was in a lot of sketches
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because of this and she could play
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anything and
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>> throw a wig on and give her an accent.
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And uh it was fun to sit with her and
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look back because we were there a lot at
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the same time.
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>> Yeah. Early 90s.
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>> Just good.
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>> You know, you always focus on the fun.
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and we and uh some of the tough times,
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but we overall we all had a great time
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there.
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>> Mhm.
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>> She was a trip down memory lane.
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>> Yeah. One of the greats, Julia Sweeney.
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>> You've done two or three onewoman shows
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based on
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>> Well, really just one.
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>> Letting Go of God was the
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>> Yeah, that's the religion one. The other
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ones are other things.
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>> God said, "Ha." Yeah, I got it. But but
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the really So you're an atheist?
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>> Yes. Although I really
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>> It sounds so negative, but it's just
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atheist.
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>> Yes. Well, no, because to American ears,
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atheist sounds like um I hate puppies
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and flowers.
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>> Yes.
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Kind of a Nazi thing to it or something.
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>> Yeah. Even though the Nazis weren't
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atheists, but I which I'm always
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explaining to people. Okay. But anyway,
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>> well, it comes from Catholicism. Um but
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um yeah I yeah I mean I've had a yeah I
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don't believe I don't let me put it this
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way. I don't live my life under the
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assumption that there is a deity
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watching what I do.
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>> Right.
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>> I guess that makes me an atheist.
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>> Yeah. I guess uh I don't know what I I I
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keep coming back to this like I can't
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comprehend infinity that there was no
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beginning or end to this whatever. Why
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why do things exist and when did they
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get here? So, I keep going around with
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that. I I did know a Jehovah's Witness
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once who who told me he could understand
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infinity. I said, "So, you can think of
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a God who never was not here, was always
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here." He looked up and he goes, "Yeah,
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I got it." Yep. Yep.
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>> Not me. I want to say to the record, I
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like puppies and I like flowers. I think
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Julie what people is the it hits the ear
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like if you don't believe in that then
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you don't believe what we believe is
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that that created those things so you're
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against everything. Is that kind of what
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the vibe is?
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>> Yeah, that's and it's like a very I used
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to think I could
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I don't know what I thought. I guess I
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thought doing my show I would change
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people's mind. I wasn't doing it to
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change people's mind. Actually, the
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reason I did the show is because for me
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it was a huge huge the philosophical
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transformation. I wasn't particularly
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religious before. So, it was about age
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40 that this happened.
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>> Well, I was religious. I wanted to be a
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nun in high school. I was completely
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committed Catholic, but I let it kind of
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go away.
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>> And then I had a crisis in my life that
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made me believe more like I really felt,
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you know, like I had religious
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experiences. And then after that, I
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started trying to think, well, what was
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going on with those experiences? And
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then as I learned more and more about
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the brain and how we evolved, then I
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finally read the Bible. I, you know, and
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then over two years, I realized that I
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could explain it psychologically or
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naturally or, you know, like I didn't
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need a god to explain what happened to
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me. And then so then I wanted that was a
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big dramatic change in my life. And I
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had been doing these oneperson shows
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about things like that. So I thought, oh
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that's a good challenge to kind of do a
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oneperson show about a change of mind
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that all the dramas all takes place in
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your head
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>> and that was really hard and I didn't
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necessarily achievement achieve it. I
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had to make stories and you know like I
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had to conform to normal dramatic
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structure but I did it and it was
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probably my most popular show and but I
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wasn't thinking I'm going to convince
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people to be an atheist. It was more
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like
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>> it have comedic tones I'm sure.
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>> Oh yes. It was actually I felt defensive
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about it because I felt like I was
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getting as many laughs per five minutes
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as comedians were but because it was a
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difficult topic I wasn't considered a
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standup you know like
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>> right
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>> and
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>> well it's a brave topic and that's
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harder in standup it's more respected in
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a way to try to tackle things instead of
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7-Eleven which I tackle
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>> I w I watched about 12 minutes of it I
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thought it was really charming and the
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way you walked yourself into it was very
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disarming for the audience. But yeah,
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did I ever believe in a magic god and
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all that stuff? No, I'm I'm with you on
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that. I mean, I never never bought it
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and no one bought it in the Lutheran
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church. Even the pastors, you could tell
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>> I fully believe now that all everyone no
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one really believes it. I mean like I
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think about tribalism and history and a
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affection for the ritual and affection
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for the way of life
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>> and so it almost is like it was useless
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to try to argue rationally with someone
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about it. It isn't a rational choice.
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It's usually you're born into it or you
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have an emotional thing that makes you
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join something because it helps your
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life like and
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>> you know I don't care. That's fine with
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me WITH PEOPLE LIKE I'M NOT YOU KNOW so
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>> I went back to the Catholic church with
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my wife and I found it just interesting
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because they were talking about Pontious
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Pilot and stuff you know and it's like
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wow they're still doing it. It was like
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a going back in time but
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>> they're still doing these bits.
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>> Yeah but
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>> I know it's the old material.
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Um,
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>> David, have you ever
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>> Yeah. Now I kind of as a hobby follow
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these right-wing Catholics.
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>> It's interesting.
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>> Rightwing. Okay.
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>> Oh, yeah. There's a huge schism coming
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in the church, I think.
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>> Oh, that makes sense. I
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>> Because there's the Latin massers and
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there the people who are with Pope
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Benedict and not with Pope Francis and
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they think Francis is the anti-popee.
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>> Did you say Pope Benedict or Pope
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Wedict? Good night. Sorry. Okay. Anyway,
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I Jesus,
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>> I canceled. I'm sorry. I'm canceled
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every five minutes.
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>> I like that one.
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>> I just made
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>> I just made it up. Anyway, um should we
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talk about your other supernatural
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experience meeting David Spade in 19
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>> Julia
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>> when you got My question for Julia is
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and then we're going to get to me and
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Julia of course. Uh when she I think you
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came from Groundlings. So when there
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when when that happens and you can
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explain how it happens. Is there any
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jealousy when someone gets plucked out
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of groundlings?
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>> Well, it's so funny. I think I was so
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naive. I didn't think anyone was jealous
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of me and I wasn't jealous of other
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people, but now I understand that most
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people get really jealous of those
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things. I mean,
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so I was just kind of oblivious about it
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towards me and and the people who got on
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before me, um, like Phil Hartman and
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John Loveitz, who I only didn't know
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well, but I I knew Phil a lot better
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than John. But
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>> um, I didn't feel jealous. I just
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thought, "Wow, that's so exciting." You
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know, like I didn't But
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>> there's something weird wrong with me
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that I don't feel that way. I actually
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don't feel that way. No, it's an
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innocence. A nice It's a nice innocence
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that you might
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>> you learn later like, "Oh [ __ ] they're
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mad at me because of this." Or I started
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to feel those tingles
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>> of jealousy at SNL to be honest and and
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and
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of getting on.
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>> Yeah. Well, at Groundlings, everyone's
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good too, you know, but SNL is just a
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whole another level like going from
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college probably to uh
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>> Oh, yeah. I mean, my experience with the
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Growlings was all for one and one for
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all and if someone gets something, we're
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all happy. And then at SNL, it took me a
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long time to understand how to be
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competitive, you know, like
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>> I didn't It was really I was really kind
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of a lamb fed to the sharks in certain
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ways, but I did adapt.
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Melanie Melanie Hutzel we talked with
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recently and she talked about
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>> I love her
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>> and she's so sweet and so southern and
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she talked about that the difference the
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standups were kind of trained to kill
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and destroy and el elbow out and seemed
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like the groundies were sweeter and
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nicer overall.
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>> No way. I mean, I'm sure I was naive and
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I was and frankly I was succeeding so
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much I didn't know that sounds arrogant
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to say, but at that moment I was
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succeeding enough that I didn't have any
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awareness of the competitiveness of it.
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I was just thought we were all doing it.
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And but then when I got to SNL, well
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actually and I feel like I had mostly
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really good experience there, but now
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that I'm older, um, and I look back, I
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think I I really didn't understand what
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was going on. I didn't understand how
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hard you had to compete. I thought we
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were all just going to look out for each
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other.
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>> Yeah. Well, when when Nora and Jen left
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and you came in, it seemed like you had
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a lot of you were very active initially.
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You were doing stuff
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>> before I was beaten down.
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>> Well, you became the go-to wifeid.
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>> You were just in every sketch in a
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sense. You and Phil had that sort of a
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lot of sketches together, right? And you
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were very active your first
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>> Yeah.
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>> I mean, he was with Jan was mostly his
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wife, but I was like I was the B team
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wife.
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>> But then Jen left the show and there you
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were. And then you came. Yeah. You were
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the alternative wife. That's
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>> Did you and Jan overlap a year and maybe
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Nora?
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>> One year. Okay.
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>> A year. Yeah.
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>> And Nora? Not at all.
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>> No, cuz I think I replaced her if you
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think of it like that.
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>> Chased her out is what we call it.
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>> No, she elbows. There was several shows
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she was not at.
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>> Sharp elbows.
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>> You got some sharp elbows, Sweeny. Don't
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play it. But
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>> that's a good SNL book title.
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>> Yes. Sharp elbows.
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>> Well, yeah. Julia, so you come in, you
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get plucked from the groundlings. Was it
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anyone else with you or was Phil and
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John already there, but you got plucked
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solo?
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Yeah. And you know it was between me and
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Lisa Kudro.
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>> And when I got it, I thought, you know,
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I hope Lisa gets something.
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>> Oh,
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>> she deserves success like me.
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>> Yeah. Bless her heart. I hope she You
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go. I hope one day she makes
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>> someday she gets on a show, you know,
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cuz she You know what? She deserves it.
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>> You know what's funny? I'm not saying I
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if there was room for two women and I'm
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saying back then it was probably a lot
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tougher where they wouldn't even
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consider that. I know
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>> but you and Lisa would have been such a
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>> I mean Lisa was wonderful. I mean
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>> so I mean it was it did I kind of bought
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into that culture too like you have
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three women and seven to 10 guys and
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that's how it is.
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>> Way too many women. Yeah, it was a good
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ratio. 12 guys and three women. I really
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enjoyed that. In fairness, it was true
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that there was, you know, talk about not
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enough for the women and and it was
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true. And so, and it's very
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>> it it's I think nowadays they're more
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cognizant of it because there's a lot of
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great women have come through there.
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>> I think I think you paved the way
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changed everything. I think she
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revolutionized us now.
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>> Yeah. and doing update and and writing
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and
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>> and bringing women in and pointing out
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that there's no reason not to have the
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women that if all the sketches are so
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male focused that there's only women as
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weird archetypes in suit sketches here
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and there.
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>> It's like you're never going to get the
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women used. You have to really change
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your whole point of view. And I don't I
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wasn't there but and I don't even know
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Tina Fay but I I sense that there was a
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huge revolution took place that was a
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good one. You know, it's funny. When
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Tina was there, that was It sounds
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crazy, but that might have been the
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first time when there's like a sketch
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with all women.
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>> Yeah.
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>> Where people would be like, "What?"
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>> Well, she wrote about that in her book.
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I mean, I not about the sketch, but just
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about why you couldn't have a whole
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sketch group that was all women or
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>> like why can't why wouldn't you be able
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to think up a lot of sketches for a lot
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of women that didn't happen to have a
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man in it, you know? Like, and and I was
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I had that prejudice myself. Like, I
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really thought, "Oh, yeah. You think of
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something for a guy to do
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and then you think how you could come
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in, you know, like it
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>> it took a long time for me to see how
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much the sexism was even in myself.
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>> Yeah.
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>> And that that was sort of the way it
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was. We were all there around the same
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time. And I remember it was just the way
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it was thought, good or bad, it was just
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the way it was thought.
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>> It's amazing how you don't even question
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certain things. Like I thought of myself
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as a liberated progressive person and
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yet I didn't I thought oh yeah we'll
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always be three women and 10 guys.
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>> Well also they uh Sarah Palin came in as
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a vice presidential candidate. So that
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was and then Hillary later so that gave
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two political parts. There were you know
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um I don't know who you could do back
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then really. I mean Senator Feinstein
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she was there.
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>> Oh Chel you you did Chelsea. Did it say
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that you that she had that rubbed
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somebody wrong? Yeah, Hillary.
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>> Oh, you did.
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>> You did Chelsea. Okay.
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>> Chelsea Clinton wrote a letter to
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Lauren.
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>> And then people were saying how
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unattractively I was playing Chelsea and
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all I did was not wear makeup and put
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braces on.
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>> I was like, if you say that, you're
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saying I'm unattractive. Like, which
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maybe that's so, but it's like that's
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like I wasn't trying to make her
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unattractive
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>> with all that prosthetics. So, you made
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her look horrible. You're like, I just
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went I just washed my face and then I
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walked in and put a wig on.
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>> I just didn't wear makeup and put on
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braces. That was it. And a wig, a long
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wig, a curly wig. But anyway, but I
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understood what Hillary was saying,
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especially now that I'm a parent. Like,
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it's like,
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>> yeah, [ __ ] off, you know? I mean, don't
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play kids. I mean, that was wrong. She
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was right. That was wrong.
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>> What about when uh Farley played
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>> apology?
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>> Who was the mayor? Or was it whose kid
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did Farley play? They played him like
00:14:36
such a [ __ ] jumping all over his dad
00:14:39
and while he's giving a speech. Do you
00:14:41
remember that game?
00:14:41
>> Yeah. Was it Phil?
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>> Was it Giuliani?
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>> I can't remember.
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>> Yeah, it was Julian's 10-year-old boy,
00:14:49
Andrew.
00:14:49
>> Boy. Yeah. Yeah. And he would just wear
00:14:51
a suit and grab and eats hamburgers and
00:14:54
Yeah. If I was I would have been
00:14:56
furious, of course. Uh if you had to
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watch that as your own kid.
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>> Yeah. We did a lot of things that we
00:15:02
couldn't do now. You know, I was in
00:15:04
Lyall Bulock, the affeminate herosexual.
00:15:08
>> I know, but I can't People mention that
00:15:10
to me so often. I mean, people love
00:15:13
that. That describes the type of person
00:15:16
and behavior that is recognizable that
00:15:18
hadn't been labeled yet. I mean, like
00:15:20
that was I mean, at least in a pop
00:15:22
culture sense. So, I feel like that and
00:15:25
I think that's true. That is true. There
00:15:27
are people who are feminine and
00:15:29
heterosexual who are men. That's a true
00:15:32
thing. I mean, like,
00:15:32
>> right.
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>> I don't even Why I don't see how people
00:15:37
could be offended by it.
00:15:38
>> Well, what I found out later that that
00:15:41
uh pained me was that I think it was the
00:15:43
mixer in the booth. The gentleman at the
00:15:47
time was gay. And when that sketch came
00:15:48
on, he recused himself.
00:15:51
>> Oh, really?
00:15:51
>> Someone else worked the lever. So, and
00:15:54
>> why does he think that being um
00:15:56
affeminite mannerisms is um pjorative
00:16:00
towards a gay person? I mean,
00:16:02
>> right, you it goes both ways. You're
00:16:03
right.
00:16:04
>> You know, like I guess I don't Yeah, I
00:16:07
find it hard to understand some of the
00:16:09
stuff that people object to. But anyway,
00:16:11
>> uh I'm with you. We're we're comedians
00:16:14
and we're not very offendable and we
00:16:16
want to say the thing you're not
00:16:17
supposed to say. It's just instinctual
00:16:19
and do the thing you're not supposed to
00:16:20
do. And so we're not normal. And then
00:16:23
but that one I couldn't do today. And I
00:16:26
did an Asian character too. Um we're
00:16:29
making our making our way to a character
00:16:31
called Pat too which is has had a
00:16:35
resurgence in notoriety in the last few
00:16:38
years. I mean there's been a lot of talk
00:16:40
about
00:16:41
>> You're way ahead of the game on that.
00:16:42
>> Or behind.
00:16:44
>> Or behind. That's right.
00:16:45
>> I Yeah. I mean I the thing for me is
00:16:50
that I always thought the joke was
00:16:51
mostly about the people who were around
00:16:53
Pat who were so flumx who were so so
00:16:56
freaked out which I thought was
00:16:58
>> Christine and I at the beginning because
00:17:00
we wrote all those sketches together
00:17:02
>> Xander
00:17:03
>> Christine Xander is we said at the
00:17:05
beginning the jokes are not on Pat the
00:17:08
except that Pat looks weird and drools
00:17:10
and is annoying but it's not because of
00:17:14
people aren't gonna laugh at Pat for
00:17:17
Pat's
00:17:18
androgyny. What we're laughing at is the
00:17:20
people around Pat
00:17:23
that Pat's androgynous. So to me,
00:17:25
>> it makes them frustrated.
00:17:27
>> Yeah. And so, but that's a subtle comedy
00:17:30
thing, you know, that people Yeah.
00:17:32
There's people Yeah. There's a lot of
00:17:34
people upset by Pat. And
00:17:35
>> it's Yeah.
00:17:36
>> And the truth is I wasn't thinking of
00:17:39
androgynous people as an SNL audience.
00:17:41
You know what I mean? I was doing a
00:17:43
character like we're laughing at this
00:17:45
idea.
00:17:47
If I if I thought the audience was
00:17:49
filled with androgynous people, I
00:17:51
probably would have played it a little
00:17:53
differently. You know what I mean? Like
00:17:54
we didn't think of those people as our
00:17:56
audience. But now you would. Now you
00:17:59
would.
00:18:00
>> You would be aware of them. But then I
00:18:01
to me to me the character forget that
00:18:04
it's Pat and no one knows whether it's a
00:18:05
man or a woman is just a funny
00:18:08
character.
00:18:10
>> You know that's what I mean it the way
00:18:11
she moved, the way she talked, it was
00:18:13
just a funny character.
00:18:14
>> Goofy. I guess if I did it again, I
00:18:17
would make Pat more enigmatic and make
00:18:19
it clearer that it was about the other
00:18:21
people and not Pat. Almost more Charlie
00:18:23
Chaplaines, like just people not talking
00:18:26
much,
00:18:28
>> just just about everyone else's
00:18:30
reactions.
00:18:31
>> But anyway, no one's asking me to do
00:18:33
that. So,
00:18:34
>> no, it's never too late for a It's uh
00:18:37
Pat two, you know. I think it's time for
00:18:40
another one. We do it for 8 million at
00:18:42
Warers. Oh, wait. Let me tell you the
00:18:44
saddest story.
00:18:46
>> Okay. Oh, now I love it. I was going to
00:18:49
I was going to New York and I was going
00:18:50
to go to SNL and bring my daughter who
00:18:52
hadn't g I guess we've gone twice in her
00:18:55
life, but this was one of those times
00:18:57
and the Supreme Court had just had a
00:18:59
case where they had brought up Pat at
00:19:01
the Supreme Court during the case and
00:19:04
Alito didn't know who Pat was and then
00:19:06
there were these jokes about it and
00:19:10
Lauren and I had been emailing each
00:19:12
other for something else. I think I had
00:19:14
to get permission for something. Anyway,
00:19:16
we had had this email and I and either
00:19:20
he or I was like, "Oh, isn't that funny
00:19:21
that the Supreme Court joked about Pat
00:19:24
and who on the Supreme Court knew who
00:19:26
Pat was or whatever?" And then he said,
00:19:29
"When you come when you come to the show
00:19:33
next week, bring your Pat outfit with
00:19:36
you to New York because maybe, you know,
00:19:38
I don't know. Who knows? You know, maybe
00:19:40
we'll do something out of the Supreme
00:19:41
Court thing." But then the actual act of
00:19:44
the sad fact of me, you know, like at
00:19:47
58,
00:19:49
not at really like packing my pad outfit
00:19:52
in a suitcase and bringing it
00:19:54
>> hoping hoping that maybe we do a pad
00:19:58
sketch. Like it was really and of course
00:20:00
no one even mentioned it and the whole
00:20:02
like I had to bring the [ __ ] psuit
00:20:04
and it was so it was such an off-hand
00:20:06
comment and then I took it. I SHOULDN'T
00:20:09
HAVE OH GOD. EVERY TIME.
00:20:10
>> WAS IT ON A HANGER AND DID you show up
00:20:12
with it on a hanger or was it a little
00:20:14
>> Here's my outfit.
00:20:15
>> Yeah, it's a really
00:20:17
>> Was it a cold opening or is it an update
00:20:19
piece? And everyone's like, "Is what?"
00:20:21
>> No, no, NO ONE EVEN MENTIONED IT. AND
00:20:23
THEN IT WAS LIKE IN front of my husband
00:20:24
and daughter, which we all just took
00:20:26
carry on. It's like, "No, I have to
00:20:27
check my my Patrick."
00:20:30
>> And then and THEN IT'S LIKE, "OH, WELL,
00:20:32
I GUESS I I really didn't need to."
00:20:34
>> How come How come church lady never got
00:20:37
together with Pat? If I was Pat, not on
00:20:39
church chat. That seems like
00:20:41
>> I know. We should have done that.
00:20:42
>> God,
00:20:43
>> I always travel with my Tom Petty hat.
00:20:47
>> He did it in the mutton chops, right?
00:20:50
>> Pork chops. Yeah. Little chops in the
00:20:52
side. And just, you know, you never know
00:20:53
when someone's going to want it at a
00:20:54
birthday party or something.
00:20:56
>> Oh my god.
00:21:03
when you when you came on, you um well,
00:21:06
you started I started four four weeks of
00:21:10
the end of a season with Schneider and
00:21:12
then I think you started with Rock and
00:21:16
Farley that that
00:21:17
>> Farley was there. I came and visited the
00:21:19
show when he did his um
00:21:22
>> Patrick sees sketch.
00:21:25
>> I watched that show from the
00:21:27
>> audience, but I wasn't on the show yet.
00:21:29
So, you came in mid-season probably,
00:21:31
right?
00:21:31
>> Well, no, it was just I think it was the
00:21:32
next episode.
00:21:34
>> Oh, okay.
00:21:34
>> Maybe I knew I was going to start, but I
00:21:36
wasn't in that episode.
00:21:37
>> I came the week before to look at a
00:21:39
show. They said, "Why don't you come
00:21:40
early?" And I think that maybe what they
00:21:42
do to us, but and and you watch it and
00:21:44
going, "Oh my god, I'm going to be part
00:21:46
of this [ __ ] It's moving so fast. I
00:21:48
have no idea what's going on."
00:21:49
>> I think it's scary watching a practice
00:21:51
show knowing projecting yourself out
00:21:52
there a week later. How will I be out
00:21:54
there? of it just
00:21:55
>> but you guys are you're because you guys
00:21:57
go see to me it wasn't but it wasn't
00:21:59
scary to me but that's not saying that
00:22:01
it shouldn't have been scary but um I
00:22:04
think because of doing sketches at the
00:22:05
grounds like I it was just like I was in
00:22:08
so many sketches and you had to learn it
00:22:09
was very similar to being at the ground
00:22:11
>> yeah you're right that's right that's
00:22:13
different for me and Dana because we
00:22:14
>> so it didn't seem scary I just I
00:22:15
actually had the opposite like I thought
00:22:17
as I watched it I thought oh I can do
00:22:19
this I can do this
00:22:21
>> oh good yeah
00:22:22
>> so so you come in and you see all of So,
00:22:25
Phil, you knew and you have great uh
00:22:27
admiration for Phil and you guys were
00:22:29
>> He's been my teacher at
00:22:31
>> Oh, teacher.
00:22:33
>> Yeah.
00:22:34
>> God, who's better to teach? He's so
00:22:36
good.
00:22:36
>> Oh my god. No, he changed my life with
00:22:38
his teaching. He was such a good He
00:22:40
could really Not very many comedians um
00:22:42
can explain why they're funny and how
00:22:44
they do it. and he could, you know,
00:22:47
>> funny thing about Phil seeing around the
00:22:49
office is how Dana knows him way better,
00:22:51
but how unassuming and how egoless and
00:22:55
he's always thinking about other things
00:22:56
at work when I'm only thinking about SNL
00:22:58
cuz I'm so but he's so good. He would be
00:23:01
like, hey, I might go fishing this
00:23:02
weekend or hey, and then you think, how
00:23:03
are you thinking of one other thing?
00:23:05
This is driving me mental to try to but
00:23:08
he just
00:23:08
>> I just remember how organized he was. He
00:23:10
had his folder, all the sketches, all
00:23:12
the lines. He really made sure he knew
00:23:14
his lines.
00:23:15
>> Oh, he's so good. Yeah.
00:23:16
>> He took it so seriously.
00:23:17
>> Yeah. And then he was he was so
00:23:19
disciplined around it and then he would
00:23:21
have a Popular Mechanics or some kind of
00:23:23
>> Motorboat Today magazine. He'd be
00:23:26
looking at
00:23:27
>> schematics of an Evan Route and then
00:23:29
he'd put it down and then he'd go in a
00:23:30
rehearsal scene, nail it, perfect, go
00:23:33
back out.
00:23:34
>> I think he had that red hard cover that
00:23:36
says Saturday Night Live in the corner
00:23:38
in that circle and then it was like a
00:23:39
red hard notebook and you'd open it up.
00:23:42
three ring binder and you put your
00:23:43
That's right. I'd put my two pages of
00:23:46
script for that week in there and open
00:23:47
up a
00:23:48
>> my update.
00:23:49
>> It's a consistent theme with David. He
00:23:51
had a rough time.
00:23:52
>> I keep saying it. Uh and then so you got
00:23:56
along pretty much like you knew. What
00:23:58
were your first first thoughts of like
00:24:00
an Adam or something?
00:24:03
>> What's my first thoughts about what
00:24:05
>> about like Sandler or Farley?
00:24:08
>> Um Sandler came a little later I think.
00:24:10
>> Oh, right. a year later.
00:24:12
>> I think he wasn't there right away. Um
00:24:14
>> Ellen Clayghorn was with you. Um
00:24:18
>> Siobhan Fallon.
00:24:20
>> Yeah, I love Siobhan.
00:24:21
>> Melanie Hutzel and Beth, right?
00:24:24
>> Beth for your season.
00:24:25
>> Beth Cahill. Yeah,
00:24:26
>> those were kind of your primary.
00:24:28
>> Yeah, I didn't really know Beth very
00:24:29
well. Um
00:24:30
>> they were she was just there for one
00:24:32
year, but um
00:24:34
>> yeah, I mean it was exciting. I mean, of
00:24:36
course it was the most exciting thing.
00:24:38
you're at the center of the universe and
00:24:39
you're at the top of what you would want
00:24:41
to be for your, you know, your skill
00:24:44
set. I mean, like, IT'S THE BEST. I
00:24:46
MEAN, IT was the greatest, most
00:24:48
thrilling thing. I would say it was
00:24:49
completely great till the last year.
00:24:52
And, um, at first,
00:24:53
>> what happened the last year going?
00:24:56
>> Well, I for one thing, the sketches
00:24:58
changed. They were more bro sketches.
00:25:00
Um, and
00:25:01
>> who would be doing that?
00:25:04
>> I wasn't there was no place for me in
00:25:06
those sketches. I mean like there was no
00:25:08
and I wasn't getting my own stuff on and
00:25:11
no one was casting me and Christine had
00:25:14
left. That was the big thing. So we had
00:25:16
written together every week and she'd
00:25:17
gone to work on Third Rock from the Sun
00:25:19
with Bonnie and Terry Christine Xander.
00:25:22
>> Um
00:25:24
I just was lost without her frankly and
00:25:27
>> and I felt like the sketches were more
00:25:30
um I remember something I mean that's my
00:25:33
it was kind of terrible. There was some
00:25:35
sketch where they had to have a
00:25:36
beautiful woman and I was listening to
00:25:38
everyone talk about how none of the
00:25:40
women who were on the show could bring
00:25:42
>> a beautiful woman and they had to bring
00:25:45
in a model
00:25:47
>> because there was literally no one there
00:25:50
that even with makeup and everything who
00:25:52
could pass as
00:25:54
sexual like and so and THEN I WAS LIKE
00:25:57
WOW I'm
00:25:58
>> oh my god
00:25:59
>> really have I mean not that I would have
00:26:02
necessarily been that choice anyway but
00:26:03
it's like that point of view there just
00:26:07
was no room for me. Now looking back I
00:26:09
think I should have pushed harder of my
00:26:11
own comedy and I should have
00:26:14
you know should have would have could
00:26:15
have let everybody does but um
00:26:17
>> well Xander T and the Turners who if
00:26:20
people listening Bonnie and Terry Turner
00:26:21
were great writers together Christine
00:26:23
Xander was wonderful so
00:26:25
>> so having them in your corner or at
00:26:28
least a piece of it or something
00:26:30
>> really takes a chunk away and you need
00:26:32
every piece to keep going and if you
00:26:34
have a little bit
00:26:36
>> slipping and I knew it would be harder
00:26:37
but I didn't know it would be
00:26:39
devastating. You know, I didn't know
00:26:41
that it would be
00:26:43
>> I thought
00:26:43
>> the bottom would drop out.
00:26:44
>> Yeah, the bottom really seemed to drop
00:26:46
out. And so there were for the first
00:26:47
time there were sketches I shows I w
00:26:50
wasn't even in it, you know, like
00:26:52
>> and um
00:26:55
yeah, that was hard. It was really hard.
00:26:57
I could hardly wait to leave at the end
00:26:58
of that year. But up until then though,
00:27:01
it was fantastic. I mean,
00:27:02
>> sure,
00:27:03
>> it really was very exciting. Yeah, it
00:27:05
seemed like you I was there three three
00:27:07
years with you and it just seemed like
00:27:08
you were really really active in the
00:27:10
show.
00:27:10
>> Yeah. Those first three years that was a
00:27:12
big part was my youthful enthusiasm
00:27:15
>> and also Christine
00:27:17
>> and your
00:27:18
>> Yeah. And who wrote the reconciliation
00:27:20
sketch? It was such a
00:27:22
>> me that actually I had written that
00:27:24
sketch. Well, Christine and I wrote it
00:27:26
together. Um but I had had the idea and
00:27:30
done a kind of early form of that
00:27:33
sketch. Do you want to describe what it
00:27:35
what it was? I mean,
00:27:36
>> uh, well, it was Now I'm thinking, is
00:27:39
that really true?
00:27:40
>> Well, it's the one with Alec Baldwin
00:27:42
plays the handsome priest.
00:27:43
>> It was Alec Baldwin came on and he's so
00:27:45
hands and you know, he's just he's like
00:27:47
he's one of those guys who's handsome
00:27:49
and funny as you know, blah blah blah.
00:27:50
>> Yes.
00:27:51
>> And I was telling Christine that in my
00:27:54
Catholic high school, they had changed
00:27:56
confession and they now called it
00:27:57
reconciliation. And you looked at the
00:27:59
priest in a room instead of going to a
00:28:00
confessional. And that at our high
00:28:03
school, I went to an all girls Catholic
00:28:05
high school and the priest was Father
00:28:07
Bolley and he was so handsome that
00:28:09
people would get so distracted telling
00:28:11
them their sins.
00:28:13
>> That's fine.
00:28:13
>> They couldn't like he was so handsome.
00:28:15
Father Baldwin and then I would go in
00:28:17
and start flirting with the priest and
00:28:19
then it was creepy and
00:28:21
>> that I would start making up sins just
00:28:23
to stay in the confessional, you know,
00:28:25
like just so we could keep this
00:28:27
conversation going.
00:28:29
>> Yeah. And so we wrote that with and Alec
00:28:31
came in and wrote it with us. I mean, at
00:28:33
least parts of it with us. And God, that
00:28:36
was really fun. It was so much fun.
00:28:38
>> Very, very funny. He was perfect
00:28:39
casting. And then you were you played it
00:28:42
>> beautifully. I mean, it just
00:28:44
>> And then the best thing about that, we
00:28:45
had written a line at the end where
00:28:46
because I'm like, I I cheated on my
00:28:48
diet. And he's like, well, that's not
00:28:50
really a sin. And I'm like, and then he
00:28:52
goes, um, but I know I know what it's
00:28:55
like to, you know, try to go on a diet.
00:28:58
um what did you cheat with? And I go, I
00:29:00
ate a whole box of Oreos. And he says,
00:29:02
oh, do you like to unscrew it and
00:29:05
>> eat out the creamy center or something
00:29:07
like that? And then the standards and
00:29:09
practice is like, you can't say eat out
00:29:11
the creamy center. We suggest you say
00:29:14
>> lick out the creamy.
00:29:17
>> They always get it more pornographic. So
00:29:19
funny every time.
00:29:21
>> Classic.
00:29:21
>> Okay.
00:29:23
>> Really? Wow. Good.
00:29:25
>> Can you say go down on the Oreo? I think
00:29:27
that would be better.
00:29:28
>> Yeah, exactly.
00:29:29
>> I um this is just a a Catholic uh 202
00:29:33
story. My wife and I were married in a
00:29:35
Catholic church. The priest, we went to
00:29:37
dinner with him, this and that. They
00:29:39
usually have a few pops. You know what I
00:29:40
mean? And uh my wife,
00:29:43
>> very pretty, 23 at the time, gets up,
00:29:45
goes to the bathroom with her tight
00:29:46
jeans. He looks and says, "If you don't
00:29:49
marry her, I will." That was that was
00:29:52
the priest. Good night. That's all I
00:29:54
got. David
00:29:55
>> Julia, were you there when Alec it I'm
00:29:58
just looking at your thing where it says
00:29:59
you're a uh you brought up Alec and then
00:30:02
>> Yeah.
00:30:02
>> Uh it says she demonstrated an early
00:30:05
talent for mimicry.
00:30:08
>> What is that? Is that like on IMDb or
00:30:10
something?
00:30:11
>> Awesome. I love it. because I didn't I I
00:30:14
by THE WAY I WAS NOT GOOD AT mimickry
00:30:17
and people were often have you know
00:30:19
assigning me famous people to play and I
00:30:21
I feel like I really was like C C minus
00:30:24
at that like
00:30:26
>> it feels like more special skills at the
00:30:28
bottom mimicry. I heard you're good at
00:30:30
mimicry and you're like
00:30:31
>> you're a mimic in third grade.
00:30:33
>> Do you remember Dana? I don't think
00:30:34
Julie was there but Alex's first show
00:30:37
was my like third one and he did a
00:30:39
sketch called the mimic unless he did it
00:30:41
later. Oh, I think I think he had done
00:30:43
it when he came. He had already done
00:30:45
that.
00:30:46
>> It's the stupidest sketch. And he was so
00:30:48
funny. He goes the mimic and he pick up
00:30:49
the phone and go, "Hello." He goes, "He
00:30:52
can do anything." And then he was like
00:30:53
kind of bad at all of them. And uh cuz
00:30:56
he actually is good at all these accents
00:30:58
and stuff, but they just and he dressed
00:30:59
all black. The mimic.
00:31:01
>> Well, the classic was Frank Gorwin. He
00:31:03
was a brilliant impressionist on Ed
00:31:05
Sullivan in the 60s. And he would do the
00:31:06
classic turn turn away from the camera
00:31:09
and kind of pluck his hair up and then
00:31:10
come back, which is like, "Look at me
00:31:12
now." You know? Oh,
00:31:14
>> I like that. I like that kind of
00:31:16
impression.
00:31:18
>> Uh, yeah, we can do voices.
00:31:26
>> So, Dana, do you you live in LA now? Not
00:31:28
in Mil Valley anymore.
00:31:29
>> Um, I was just in Mil Valley. Uh, the
00:31:32
actual address is No. Um, yeah, I was
00:31:34
just there. We have the 1912 haunted
00:31:37
house up there and I've experienced I
00:31:41
don't know if I believe it but
00:31:43
poltergeist up there.
00:31:44
>> What?
00:31:45
>> And I told Dan Akroyd about it and he
00:31:47
says I got to get someone in there to
00:31:48
check it out. It's in one particular
00:31:50
bedroom and at night I would hear white
00:31:52
noise cuz my son had moved out of that
00:31:54
bedroom and moved in with his brother
00:31:56
cuz he felt and I would hear white noise
00:31:58
cuz there was a portable radio there. So
00:32:00
I would walk in and then the white noise
00:32:01
would stop all that
00:32:04
was your and it happened um you know a
00:32:06
couple times a year and I saw some
00:32:08
things. Anyway, I'm in LA.
00:32:10
>> I wanted to know the top
00:32:12
>> paranormal debunker in the United States
00:32:17
if you're interested.
00:32:18
>> I don't necessarily believe in it. I've
00:32:20
had the nightmare where you feel a
00:32:22
pressure on your chest even though
00:32:23
you're in a waking dream state.
00:32:25
>> And that made me leave the Sanro Hotel
00:32:28
one night with my wife at 3:00 in the
00:32:30
morning. I woke her up and said, "We
00:32:31
have to go now." Because I felt the
00:32:33
pressure on my chest
00:32:35
>> when I'm sleeping and bouncing up and
00:32:37
down on me. And then I went and used the
00:32:38
bathroom. Thought, okay, that's a I was
00:32:40
dreaming. Then I laid back down and I
00:32:43
felt like I was awake as I am right now.
00:32:46
And then massive pressure that felt
00:32:48
angry pushing down on me and I was just
00:32:50
couldn't move and then it released me.
00:32:52
>> Didn't you have heart issues? Like isn't
00:32:54
that my physical explanation for that?
00:32:57
>> Yes, I had seven stances and a botch
00:33:00
bypass 25 years ago. Look at me now.
00:33:03
>> Those are my issues.
00:33:05
>> Let me charge.
00:33:05
>> No, BUT I MEAN THERE'S I mean
00:33:08
>> there's always natural explanation. I
00:33:11
mean always. By the way, Julia, I know a
00:33:14
paranormal bunker. They should meet your
00:33:16
debunker.
00:33:18
>> Um, Dana, I get scared at my house cuz I
00:33:21
just moved and I don't want to hear that
00:33:22
story because I hear like clicking and
00:33:24
the house settling in quotes. It's like
00:33:27
and Julia will say it's a house
00:33:29
settling, which I say because I can't in
00:33:31
the middle of the night when it's dead
00:33:33
silent, you're so scared. You're like, I
00:33:35
have to think of a reason. What's going
00:33:36
on? Because it's always scary. But I
00:33:38
haven't felt pressure or anything like
00:33:39
that. I would [ __ ] freak out. Oh, I
00:33:42
read
00:33:42
>> You know what? Since I became a person
00:33:45
who doesn't believe in supernatural
00:33:47
things like that,
00:33:48
>> except us. Yeah.
00:33:50
>> Um
00:33:52
I never get scared. I mean, I get scared
00:33:54
when I think there's a reasonable chance
00:33:55
that something's truly wrong. But that
00:33:57
kind of stuff, I doesn't even I just
00:33:59
think there's something's making the
00:34:01
sound.
00:34:02
>> Yeah.
00:34:02
>> I'm not I'm not frightened of it at all.
00:34:05
I Because I never got hurt. It just
00:34:07
flipped me out the first time, but I I
00:34:08
don't know if I said this, but I Mike
00:34:10
Myers, who kind of read the encyclopedia
00:34:12
as a 5-year-old, you know, nightmare is
00:34:14
is a from the word, you know, it's some
00:34:17
medieval Latin prefix or for a mayor and
00:34:19
i.e. a horse feels like it's laying on
00:34:21
top you and it's just a waking dream
00:34:23
state. I read about it in the New York
00:34:25
Times. The brain disconnects. David,
00:34:27
you're fine.
00:34:28
>> I mean, you that scared me and I've
00:34:30
never heard about the horse part, but I
00:34:32
like it. Um,
00:34:34
Julia, you were in Cone Heads. No, we we
00:34:39
should You were in Cone Heads, weren't
00:34:40
you? That was sort of a sign, wasn't it?
00:34:42
Or No,
00:34:44
>> you weren't.
00:34:45
>> I remember thinking I'm playing the
00:34:46
principal and Chris Farley's playing a
00:34:48
high school student and we're only like
00:34:50
four years apart in it. That tells you a
00:34:52
lot about
00:34:55
um
00:34:56
>> Yeah, that was fun. I don't remember
00:34:58
that much about it.
00:34:59
>> Yeah, I mean, I was in it, too. Believe
00:35:01
me, we were all in it. I think as I
00:35:03
think Lauren, you said, "David, you'll
00:35:05
be reporting to Conheads." And I was
00:35:06
like, "Oh, yes, sir."
00:35:07
>> Yeah. I think it was something like it
00:35:08
was like you just were told that you
00:35:09
were going. But David, you know what I
00:35:11
remember is that sketch you wrote, not
00:35:13
necessarily for me, but I got to be the
00:35:15
main comedy driver of it. I always bring
00:35:17
that up in the sketch. Remember the
00:35:19
sketch where I go on the date and I just
00:35:20
keep ordering expensive food and then I
00:35:22
start talking about how I'm not going to
00:35:23
put out and he's trying to push me
00:35:26
towards the more cheap the cheaper food.
00:35:28
Do you remember that?
00:35:29
>> I don't. That's hilarious.
00:35:31
>> And you came to me and said, "I have
00:35:32
this idea for you. I'm going to write
00:35:33
the sketch." And it was,
00:35:35
>> "Wow,
00:35:36
>> I'm forgetting who the guy was." Um, but
00:35:38
it was some handsome guy and I'm just
00:35:40
And the whole thing was like me like,
00:35:41
"Oh, I'm so happy to be on the stage."
00:35:42
Oh, lobster and steak. That's what I'm
00:35:45
going to get. And then it's like, I just
00:35:46
want to tell you that I don't ever have
00:35:49
sex with anyone
00:35:51
here. And then it kind of goes, I mean,
00:35:53
it wasn't that obvious, but it was
00:35:55
really well written. And when people
00:35:57
say, um, those guys at SNL, they were
00:36:00
so, you know, together and not, you
00:36:02
know, really into the women that much. I
00:36:04
say, David Spade wrote a sketch for me.
00:36:06
That was one of the best things I ever
00:36:07
did.
00:36:07
>> That's so great. I love that. And you
00:36:09
don't He wasn't even in it. He just
00:36:11
wrote it. You know, like it was a very
00:36:14
loving thing to do. I don't know how
00:36:16
much it meant about me, but I took it as
00:36:19
a very wonderful.
00:36:20
>> You probably performed it great because
00:36:22
you know good
00:36:26
and uh it's fun to have a a sketch and
00:36:29
you got probably had the host in there,
00:36:31
but when you get the funny parts cuz
00:36:33
it's really hard to
00:36:34
>> Yeah. I mean cuz usually you're not
00:36:35
getting to be the driver of the comedy
00:36:37
and you really and that this character
00:36:39
was I mean it was really the host was
00:36:40
kind of just reacting to me and you had
00:36:43
just written it and it was just the most
00:36:44
wonderful gift. I mean it was just an
00:36:47
incredible thing. I and I BRING THAT UP
00:36:49
AT LEAST ONCE a month. I'm telling
00:36:50
people that and David and David doesn't
00:36:53
remember.
00:36:54
>> I said that's the most baffling part of
00:36:56
the sketches I wrote. I didn't write
00:36:58
that many. That's crazy. Well, thank you
00:37:00
and I'm glad you did it and I'm glad you
00:37:02
remember it and say it. That's great.
00:37:05
Um, I don't want to talk about me
00:37:06
forever, which I but I like that.
00:37:08
>> Do you want to talk about the Not many
00:37:10
people, this will go full circle, got a
00:37:12
movie out of a character like and you
00:37:16
did. There was no Church Lady movie.
00:37:18
There was a Steuart Smallley movie.
00:37:20
There was a Pat movie in the 90s.
00:37:22
Anybody else of a character? I think
00:37:25
those were the two. Those two should
00:37:27
have been in the movie together. They
00:37:28
would have been great.
00:37:29
>> I KNOW IT. THAT was
00:37:31
>> Is that a bittersweet memory or is it a
00:37:33
good
00:37:34
>> Definitely bittersweet. I had such a
00:37:35
good time making it. We didn't know what
00:37:37
we were doing. I didn't do it with
00:37:39
Lauren. I didn't understand the
00:37:40
politics. He wanted to do it. But then
00:37:43
>> Oh, didn't he own it? Didn't he own the
00:37:45
character because you
00:37:46
>> Oh, I was one of the people when I came
00:37:48
in, my lawyer got me to own Pat. I don't
00:37:50
know how it doesn't even matter. I mean,
00:37:52
>> Got it. So, you owned it and did it
00:37:54
outside the system. So I could have
00:37:56
because I had done that character at the
00:37:59
Groundlings. I I don't know why. Anyway,
00:38:03
so he did. So it was my choice and I
00:38:06
think I made a dumb choice not to have
00:38:08
Lauren be the producer of it because all
00:38:12
all kinds of awful things happened aside
00:38:14
from the fact that we didn't write a
00:38:15
good script. I mean like you know so I
00:38:18
don't know. It was it was really fun to
00:38:20
to um do it and it was really fun to
00:38:24
make it. Oh my god, it was so much fun
00:38:27
and um I learned so much and then it was
00:38:30
really a big bomb and but I always felt
00:38:34
grateful for it and um I wrote to Eisner
00:38:38
afterwards and said how I know I made
00:38:40
it. I know I just wasted $8 million of
00:38:42
your money
00:38:43
>> really.
00:38:44
>> But I learned so much and had a great
00:38:46
time and I know that shouldn't
00:38:47
compensate for it because that's a lot
00:38:49
of money, but I just want to say
00:38:51
everything about it was really great and
00:38:53
thank you. I'll never forget that
00:38:55
obviously. And then he sent that letter
00:38:57
around Disney. I was like, "Here's
00:38:59
somebody who's grateful for failing."
00:39:01
>> Yeah.
00:39:02
>> Wow.
00:39:03
>> You know, Julia, I did that with a movie
00:39:05
once and I and I I think that's so cool
00:39:06
you did that. I I felt so bad after a
00:39:09
movie. I called the guy and said, "Uh, I
00:39:12
appreciate you doing it. I'm just so
00:39:13
sorry I didn't do what you wanted." kind
00:39:15
of thing. And I don't think he wrote me
00:39:17
back. But, uh, I do think for myself, I
00:39:21
felt like
00:39:22
>> Yeah. I mean, you realize like now, of
00:39:24
course, everything's so different now,
00:39:25
but I
00:39:27
I
00:39:29
don't know how I would have done it
00:39:31
differently. And maybe I wasn't really
00:39:32
up to the task of turning that into
00:39:34
something successful, but
00:39:37
it wasn't. And um and you know, yeah,
00:39:42
but I got the chance. I mean, I I got
00:39:44
the chance.
00:39:45
>> But Julie, is it hard to take a sketch?
00:39:47
I'm sorry,
00:39:47
>> D.
00:39:49
Take a sketch difficult
00:39:50
>> and
00:39:51
>> and and you've done a sketch and you
00:39:53
feel like a lot of the good jokes is the
00:39:55
reason the sketch is doing well. And
00:39:56
then you you're not really starting from
00:39:58
scratch, but to fill the whole movie.
00:40:01
>> No, I think it is. I mean actually it
00:40:03
wasn't until late I didn't watch all the
00:40:04
Charlie Chaplan movies till um much
00:40:07
later in my life and when I watched them
00:40:10
I realized not that Pat is any the
00:40:13
character of Pat is anything like the
00:40:15
Charlie Chaplain character but that the
00:40:18
way he was en enigmatic and let everyone
00:40:22
else be reacting to him while he was
00:40:23
doing physical things would have been
00:40:25
the way to I think it could have
00:40:27
succeeded but I didn't know enough to
00:40:29
know that
00:40:30
>> I was in some very shitty movies, but I
00:40:33
never felt like I was driving the boat.
00:40:34
But I do think that funny with the sound
00:40:37
off, like if the sound broke on a Pat
00:40:39
movie, it would be nice to think it
00:40:42
could still work. But that to solve that
00:40:44
dilemma, especially, you know, Steuart
00:40:46
Smaller, these are quirky characters.
00:40:47
They're not I think Wayne and Gar just
00:40:49
follow Bill and Ted and they're like
00:40:51
dudes, you know, party on. They're very
00:40:53
accessible and to make Pat Yeah, it
00:40:57
could be a challenge because such an
00:40:58
eccentric character, but usually it's
00:41:01
audio. It's sort of like a more for
00:41:03
adults and Wayne and Gar could be for
00:41:06
adults or kids, you know,
00:41:08
>> they can get into it too
00:41:10
>> mostly because it's like very
00:41:11
>> but you know Steuart Smallley I watched
00:41:13
I did I when I lived in Chicago for 10
00:41:16
years and I was helping to teach at the
00:41:18
Herald Ramos film school they have this
00:41:21
film program that I was teaching a I was
00:41:23
really not teaching it was a friend of
00:41:25
mine teaching it but I kind of helped
00:41:27
for one semester and we were watching
00:41:30
some Harold Ramos movies and he directed
00:41:32
Stuart Smallley and so we watched it and
00:41:35
you know what it w I liked it. I thought
00:41:37
it was a successful film. I you know I
00:41:39
mean it it was it's it's a really quirky
00:41:44
movie but I was really unlike Pat when I
00:41:47
watched the Pat movie I was like yeah
00:41:48
this doesn't work. I mean this really
00:41:50
didn't work. But Stuart Smallley I
00:41:51
thought worked.
00:41:52
>> Yeah. I mean Harold Ramis is so
00:41:54
talented. I think uh I was talking to Al
00:41:56
Franken I think he's going on Fallon
00:41:58
soon and I told him he should he should
00:42:00
do Steuart Smallley even for the young
00:42:03
audience and and hold Jimmy's hand make
00:42:05
it all about Jimmy um you know good
00:42:08
enough strong enough you know that kind
00:42:10
of thing. So,
00:42:10
>> oh my god, you know, I almost canceled
00:42:13
myself except that no one cares if I'm
00:42:15
canceled. Um,
00:42:16
>> uh, because after Al Franken's debacle
00:42:20
and demise from the Senate, I was so
00:42:23
angry and upset. I was so angry I
00:42:26
couldn't sleep for a month. I was so
00:42:28
angry. And then I wrote a oneperson show
00:42:31
about it and did it for like five
00:42:33
Saturdays at the Groundling Small
00:42:35
Theater until people came up and said,
00:42:36
"Julia,
00:42:38
first of all, this isn't even funny in
00:42:40
any way. It was just me. I WAS ALL I DID
00:42:43
I WENT THROUGH ALL THE ALLEGATIONS.
00:42:44
ALLEGATION NUMBER FOUR, you know, like I
00:42:47
was I was crazed with anger at how the
00:42:53
Me Too movement had been twisted up in
00:42:55
the worst possible way to go after this
00:42:58
great guy in my opinion and complete. I
00:43:01
was so angry, you guys. And then I had
00:43:03
somebody come and say, you know, you'll
00:43:05
never work again if you open this show
00:43:06
cuz it's really just
00:43:09
even though I'm a meto supporter, but in
00:43:11
when it came to Al Franken, I just could
00:43:13
see how that all that [ __ ] went down and
00:43:15
it was [ __ ] And it was and then
00:43:19
people weren't talking to me. And then I
00:43:21
finally just dropped it because I
00:43:22
couldn't make it entertaining enough.
00:43:24
really was a show of me for 90 minutes
00:43:26
talking about each allegation against Al
00:43:28
Franken and why and my bulletin board
00:43:30
and this and why and why and why and um
00:43:33
and I had to stop it. But I think that's
00:43:35
when I really had got went over on the
00:43:37
other side of the culture because I felt
00:43:40
like okay
00:43:42
>> this I'm so angry about this. It's so
00:43:45
unfair and and yet the culture is, you
00:43:50
know, I'm not I can't influence the
00:43:52
culture and I'm just going to wreck my
00:43:54
own career and health over it. So, I
00:43:57
kind of just dropped it. And then I also
00:43:59
realized I didn't really have the
00:44:00
standing for anyone to care
00:44:04
um about it, you know, what I thought
00:44:06
about it. So, I couldn't really even
00:44:08
help him. And then later I finally saw
00:44:11
El Franken. And then I realized he
00:44:12
didn't really care if I was doing that
00:44:13
either.
00:44:15
Like
00:44:16
>> I was like, "Oh, I've just been doing a
00:44:18
oneperson show about you." And he's
00:44:20
like, "Oh, oh, thanks."
00:44:22
>> You don't have to. It's kind of scary
00:44:24
cuz anybody if someone from high school
00:44:26
said I looked at him wrong in 1973 or
00:44:29
something.
00:44:30
>> Exactly.
00:44:30
>> And so it's like, whoa. I mean, you
00:44:32
know, there's there's the other the the
00:44:33
big players, we don't have to name them
00:44:35
where it's pretty obvious.
00:44:36
>> Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. There was a lot
00:44:38
of people that maybe behaved a little
00:44:40
borishly or something, but to be
00:44:42
cancelled for life is just a bit much
00:44:44
for
00:44:44
>> No, it was really that was really
00:44:46
Anyway, I didn't mean to take us into
00:44:47
sad territory, but that was really
00:44:50
really really
00:44:52
just [ __ ] got my goat. I just
00:44:54
couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe
00:44:56
it. And I wanted I just couldn't I
00:44:59
couldn't think of anything else. And it
00:45:01
took a long time to just accept that's
00:45:04
how life goes in an unfair way sometimes
00:45:06
for the some people and that's how it's
00:45:08
always been. I mean like not for
00:45:10
everyone obviously not for everyone but
00:45:13
sometimes you're at the wrong place at
00:45:15
the wrong time. It's I kept thinking
00:45:17
it's almost like there was a huge pile
00:45:19
up on the road and Al Franken was
00:45:21
driving on the outside of the road and
00:45:22
his fender caught it and he just caught
00:45:24
up in it. You know, like
00:45:26
>> one one thing about Al, you can rest
00:45:27
assured he's he's uh very resilient,
00:45:30
obviously, and a tough character.
00:45:32
>> Yeah. Yeah. No, no. When I saw him, he's
00:45:34
already had a million ideas.
00:45:36
>> Yeah.
00:45:36
>> Yeah.
00:45:41
>> All right. I have a I have a gear change
00:45:43
question for Julia.
00:45:44
>> You have a what?
00:45:45
>> A gonna shift gears.
00:45:47
>> Okay. Yes. I'm sorry.
00:45:48
>> No, I don't care.
00:45:49
>> We love all We love all of it, our
00:45:51
listeners. I just before I got off I
00:45:53
wanted to ask you if you it I read that
00:45:56
you felt badly that you might have
00:45:59
cracked up during motivational speaker
00:46:00
and I never thought of that of you. I
00:46:03
never thought anything negative about
00:46:04
that. I thought
00:46:05
>> I did I did I do have a problem
00:46:06
controlling laughing during SketchUp.
00:46:09
>> I didn't never think that of you. I
00:46:10
thought I I [ __ ] that sketch up. Me
00:46:13
and Christina ruined it. But we were
00:46:15
just laughing which didn't really ruin
00:46:16
it. It was just it just it was so rare
00:46:18
to happen. Yeah. that
00:46:20
>> it was really just seeing the funniest
00:46:21
thing and you knew that it was going to
00:46:24
live forever and you're in the middle of
00:46:25
it and you have the best seat in the
00:46:26
house and I can't stop laughing like I
00:46:30
God that was good
00:46:30
>> Farley in that character I said it on
00:46:33
another podcast I think that's the most
00:46:35
>> I don't know most potent thing someone's
00:46:38
ever done maybe it just the way he
00:46:40
squatted
00:46:41
>> and got ready for his next line it's
00:46:43
very crisp moves they were just it was
00:46:45
like it was like chaplain s he's just
00:46:47
going to get squatted get set with his
00:46:49
body before he Yeah, I I that might have
00:46:51
broke me if I was in it. I think
00:46:53
>> I also Yeah,
00:46:54
>> Phil might be the only one that didn't
00:46:56
laugh.
00:46:56
>> I know. Phil was so good. He could
00:46:58
really I couldn't control it. I couldn't
00:47:00
control myself. I
00:47:01
>> We all started to break. And that's the
00:47:03
problem is that we and back then I think
00:47:05
they do it more now. They crack up a
00:47:06
lot, but
00:47:07
>> we It was definitely a no no. And
00:47:10
>> no, it was terrible to do that. You were
00:47:12
being like, "Yeah, Carol Bernett show
00:47:14
now."
00:47:16
>> Yeah. We didn't have as much fun as we
00:47:18
could have had, you know, cuz I was just
00:47:20
thought you get fired. I mean, when Phil
00:47:22
finally broke,
00:47:23
>> Phil finally broke doing Tonto, Tarzan,
00:47:26
and Frankenstein. And he's Frankenstein.
00:47:29
He crashes through the thing or
00:47:30
whatever. And then that first time, Phil
00:47:32
broke. Phil was done fire bad.
00:47:38
And then he was I was toast. And I
00:47:40
thought, "Wow, this is amazing. Is he
00:47:42
going to be in trouble?" There's always
00:47:44
fear on that show.
00:47:45
>> Yeah, there was. I wonder what it's like
00:47:46
now cuz I was thinking, you know, Lauren
00:47:48
is so much older now than the people who
00:47:50
are performing than he was from our age.
00:47:52
You know, like for us, he was kind of an
00:47:53
older guy, but now he's a
00:47:56
>> much much older guy.
00:47:58
>> Yeah. 76 and then a new cast member is
00:48:00
like 22 and they're chatting about
00:48:02
comedy.
00:48:03
>> That's a whole different feeling. I
00:48:05
mean,
00:48:06
>> I wonder what it's like. I don't know.
00:48:08
>> The the meetings are like, who's your
00:48:10
favorite rappers,
00:48:13
rap singers,
00:48:14
>> right? Is Dr. Dre really a doctor?
00:48:18
>> Does anyone know?
00:48:20
>> Please.
00:48:22
>> I think um they always seem to find a
00:48:24
way that show to find great people. You
00:48:27
know, Chris,
00:48:27
>> you know what? You know, it's an
00:48:29
incredible success that I didn't it's I
00:48:31
didn't think I thought, oh, it'll go for
00:48:32
a few more years, but you really have to
00:48:35
hand it to him. I mean, like,
00:48:37
>> it's really incredible. He is the show
00:48:39
and he never panicked because there were
00:48:41
so many years of like we got to do it
00:48:42
taped or we got to change the name and
00:48:44
change the band and he knew he had an
00:48:46
incredible brand
00:48:48
>> and he just stuck to it and like I Steve
00:48:50
Higgins said Lauren wrote the
00:48:52
constitution
00:48:53
>> of the house and then he let it's a it's
00:48:56
liquid form it can be whatever it
00:48:58
becomes because now going full circle
00:49:01
with women they play a lot of men on the
00:49:03
show
00:49:04
>> you probably would have done George Bush
00:49:06
or Ross Perau
00:49:07
>> yes well the The reason I played Pat at
00:49:09
first is I was trying to play a man, but
00:49:10
I didn't feel like it was very um
00:49:13
convincing. And so I thought, oh, I'll
00:49:16
just make a joke that you don't know if
00:49:17
it's a man or a woman to kind of cover
00:49:18
for my lack of acting ability. But now I
00:49:22
probably wouldn't think that. I'd think
00:49:24
I could just play a man if I wanted.
00:49:25
Julia, can we just get a because we need
00:49:27
something to trend, you know, we're
00:49:29
we're behind smart list. Uh but we're
00:49:31
getting close. Um, do you in inside your
00:49:35
mind, have you ever thought to yourself,
00:49:38
was Pat a man or a woman? Just
00:49:41
internally to yourself, do you know the
00:49:43
secret?
00:49:43
>> I'm sorry.
00:49:45
>> There is no secret.
00:49:46
>> There is no secret. You You
00:49:48
>> I wish I could. So, you had a little
00:49:50
sound bite you could use out there, but
00:49:52
I was lying.
00:49:53
>> Making fun of sound bites. Here's a
00:49:55
sound bite. Church lady wasn't
00:49:57
religious. No, I don't.
00:50:00
We could have done a church lady becomes
00:50:01
an atheist. That would have been funny.
00:50:03
>> Oh,
00:50:04
>> I do think church lady with Pat would
00:50:06
have been perfect. You know,
00:50:08
>> you know what I think is that they just
00:50:10
live together and you just don't ask
00:50:12
questions about that relationship.
00:50:14
>> They moved in together. You think
00:50:16
>> I just think it'd be funny IF THEY JUST
00:50:18
LIKE YOU FIND OUT THAT THEY lived
00:50:19
together for 35 years in separate rooms,
00:50:22
you know? But
00:50:23
>> it's just curious
00:50:25
just says we anyway. That would be a
00:50:27
thing. We like to get dressed, don't we?
00:50:29
In our clothes.
00:50:31
>> Well, we have our special clothes on
00:50:34
that fit us in a certain way, so we
00:50:36
can't tell quite what we are under that.
00:50:38
Anything
00:50:40
else for the lovely Julia Sweeney to ask
00:50:43
her.
00:50:44
>> Um, so you guys are both mainly living
00:50:46
in LA now.
00:50:47
>> I'm living in LA. Are you
00:50:50
>> Yes, I moved back from Chicago. And
00:50:52
okay, because I bought a house in 1992
00:50:54
that I thought was going to be a starter
00:50:55
house, but it's an ender house
00:50:59
>> and um
00:51:00
>> prices have gotten pricey.
00:51:02
>> No, cuz I couldn't afford to live in
00:51:04
this neighborhood. There's no way.
00:51:05
>> No chance.
00:51:06
>> Um so now we're my husband I I just
00:51:08
married about 15 years ago and my
00:51:10
husband and I
00:51:11
>> 15 years. Yeah.
00:51:13
>> Yeah.
00:51:13
>> Yeah. He's a good guy. Go ahead.
00:51:16
>> And he we're remodeling that house. It's
00:51:18
a small house, but it's perfect for two
00:51:20
retired people.
00:51:22
>> And um so we're remodeling it and we're
00:51:25
living next door while it's being
00:51:26
remodeled,
00:51:28
>> but it's supposed to be done in about a
00:51:29
year.
00:51:30
>> It's supposed to be done in 10 and a
00:51:32
half years. So are you
00:51:34
>> Yeah, it takes a while.
00:51:35
>> So when it's done, I WANT TO HAVE YOU
00:51:36
GUYS OVER.
00:51:37
>> That's more like it.
00:51:38
>> It'll be really pretty and we can sit in
00:51:40
the backyard and um I'm a good
00:51:43
>> I would love it.
00:51:45
Will you invite us? I'll go.
00:51:47
>> Do you have my email or Greg will give
00:51:49
it to you?
00:51:50
>> No. Greg, you'll give me both their
00:51:52
emails.
00:51:53
>> Yeah.
00:51:53
>> I think I saw you David at um somebody's
00:51:58
who was it some a party. Anyway,
00:52:01
>> David at a party.
00:52:02
>> Yeah, that's crazy.
00:52:03
>> Oh, Dana.
00:52:06
>> Those are the good old days. But I still
00:52:08
go out if it's someone's dinner or some
00:52:09
small thing like that. Yeah.
00:52:11
>> Yeah. That's what I used to have big
00:52:12
parties all the time. I used to have a
00:52:13
Sunday night party that was huge every
00:52:15
Sunday
00:52:16
>> when I was young.
00:52:17
>> Yeah.
00:52:17
>> But now I like
00:52:20
>> 4 to 8. Small, the right people, nice
00:52:23
food early.
00:52:25
>> Early early is the key. I like to eat.
00:52:28
>> I eat I like to eat at 4 or 5.
00:52:30
>> I eat at 5. And so I would have an
00:52:34
adult.
00:52:34
>> We're on the same page.
00:52:36
>> Yes.
00:52:36
>> Yes. Early fun. Maybe Sunday 4 to 8.
00:52:39
Boom. Get in, get out.
00:52:41
>> Yeah. Maybe four to seven.
00:52:42
>> And you're an atheist, so you won't
00:52:44
care. It's a holy day.
00:52:46
Sorry.
00:52:48
>> I am too. No, I'm an agnostic. I'm
00:52:50
pretty sure I'm not an atheist. I don't
00:52:52
know. Whatever. Joke to come.
00:52:55
>> Julia, send us a mass uh email and uh
00:52:58
yeah, get Dane and I on.
00:53:00
>> Julia Sweeney, one of the alltime great
00:53:03
cast members of Saturday Night Live.
00:53:04
>> Thanks for having me. It's really nice
00:53:06
to see you guys.
00:53:06
>> And when your house is done, we will we
00:53:08
will see you. And if we don't see you
00:53:09
then, we'll see you at the 50th. And my
00:53:11
hair is going to even be more weird.
00:53:13
>> You think they I guess it's pretty close
00:53:15
to that now, right?
00:53:16
>> Oh yeah.
00:53:17
>> 2025.
00:53:20
>> I'm going to get a few little things
00:53:22
done right as I right before I go.
00:53:24
>> You know, the last one I really cared
00:53:25
about being there and it was really
00:53:27
important for me, my identity that I was
00:53:29
on SNL.
00:53:30
>> I'm in such a different place now. I
00:53:32
don't even know if I'd go cuz I just
00:53:33
feel like gh Yeah. Okay.
00:53:35
>> I know. I want to fly. You just Yeah, I
00:53:38
know. You kind It's It's a It's really
00:53:40
It's really about Lauren, you know, kind
00:53:42
of.
00:53:42
>> Well, no. I mean, it is fun, but you
00:53:44
don't It's not like you can really talk
00:53:45
to people. I mean, like, you just kind
00:53:48
of be in the Okay. Anyway,
00:53:49
>> you're going, "Hey, hey, there's there's
00:53:51
there's Bill Hater or there's there's
00:53:53
Melanie Hutzel." Yeah, I know. It's
00:53:54
everywhere, but nowhere. I like a small
00:53:56
party, six to eight people.
00:53:58
>> I think instead I'll just I'll have it
00:54:00
after you guys go. I'll have my dinner
00:54:02
party and you'll
00:54:03
>> tell you all the juice. Yes.
00:54:04
>> Yes.
00:54:05
>> Juice it up.
00:54:06
>> All right, Juicy Sweenie. Okay, honey.
00:54:08
I'll get your emails.
00:54:10
>> Yes, get our emails. We love to keep in
00:54:11
touch and so great to see you. This is a
00:54:13
fun fun part of this podcast.
00:54:20
>> Hey guys, if you're loving this podcast,
00:54:22
which you are, be sure to click follow
00:54:24
on your favorite podcast app. Give us a
00:54:27
review, fivestar rating, and maybe even
00:54:29
share an episode that you've loved with
00:54:31
a friend. If you're watching this
00:54:32
episode on YouTube, please subscribe.
00:54:34
We're on video now. Fly on the Wall is
00:54:37
presented by Odyssey, an executive
00:54:39
produced by Danny Carvey and David
00:54:41
Spade, Heather Santoro and Greg
00:54:43
Holtzman, Mattie Sprung Kaiser, and Leah
00:54:46
Reese Dennis of Odyssey. Our senior
00:54:48
producer is Greg Holtzman, and the show
00:54:49
is produced and edited by Phil Sweet
00:54:53
Tech. Booking by Cultivated
00:54:54
Entertainment. Special thanks to Patrick
00:54:57
Fogerty, Evan Cox, Mora Curran, Melissa
00:55:02
Wester, Hillary Shuff, Eric Donnelly,
00:55:05
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00:55:08
Courtourtney, and Lauren Vieiraa. Reach
00:55:11
out with us any questions be asked and
00:55:13
answered on the show. You can email us
00:55:15
at fly onthewallsey.com.
00:55:18
That's audacy.com.

Episode Highlights

  • Julia Sweeney's Return
    Julia Sweeney reflects on her time at SNL and her iconic character, Pat.
    “You know, you always focus on the fun.”
    @ 00m 53s
    April 22, 2026
  • The Atheist Label
    Julia discusses the misconceptions surrounding atheism and her personal beliefs.
    “I don’t live my life under the assumption that there is a deity watching what I do.”
    @ 02m 01s
    April 22, 2026
  • The Competitive Nature of SNL
    Julia shares her naive perspective on competition at SNL and the camaraderie she expected.
    “I thought we were all just going to look out for each other.”
    @ 09m 24s
    April 22, 2026
  • Sketch Comedy Memories
    Julia recalls a sketch David Spade wrote for her that became a highlight of her career.
    “David Spade wrote a sketch for me. That was one of the best things I ever did.”
    @ 36m 06s
    April 22, 2026
  • Gratitude After Failure
    Julia reflects on her movie's failure but expresses gratitude for the experience.
    “I know I just wasted $8 million of your money.”
    @ 38m 42s
    April 22, 2026
  • Anger and the Me Too Movement
    Julia shares her intense feelings regarding the Me Too movement and its effects.
    “I was crazed with anger at how the Me Too movement had been twisted up.”
    @ 42m 55s
    April 22, 2026
  • David's Party Evolution
    David reminisces about his huge Sunday night parties and now prefers small gatherings.
    “I like to eat at 4 or 5.”
    @ 52m 28s
    April 22, 2026
  • Julia Sweeney's Legacy
    Julia Sweeney, an iconic SNL cast member, shares her appreciation for the reunion.
    “Thanks for having me. It’s really nice to see you guys.”
    @ 53m 04s
    April 22, 2026
  • Podcast Call to Action
    Listeners are encouraged to follow, review, and share the podcast.
    “If you’re loving this podcast, which you are, be sure to click follow.”
    @ 54m 20s
    April 22, 2026

Episode Quotes

Key Moments

  • Julia Sweeney01:03
  • Atheism Discussion01:26
  • SNL Competition09:24
  • Sexism in Comedy13:05
  • Sketch Writing36:06
  • Me Too Discussion42:55
  • Good Old Days52:06
  • Small Gatherings52:28

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown

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