00:00:00
Dana you take this one I got I gotta take this call yeah go ahead Melanie Hudson yeah oh okay this is what it's come to a
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million Deutsche marks 200 episodes now he's just yeah um and I'm gonna that thing we talked
00:00:14
about the other day I want in I'll give it five percent what anyway can I talk about our friend Melanie hustle yes
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Melanie Hutzel uh a great cast member of SNL 91 and 94. I overlapped with her for
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a couple years David for three years um she was a Powerhouse sketch performer
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on that show and she's Southern Anna and Charming like very likable very
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likable she was in the show she still is we talked about the oh my God sketch she used to do uh Delta Delta Delta remember
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that she did that she first of all two things one is her journey to how she got
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on the stuff show is very charming and interesting and her relationship with Lauren at that time we'll talk about
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that and then we broke down we broke down my favorite yeah uh one of my phrases her epic sketch that she
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Shepherd she wrote was uh The Partridge Family versus The Brady Bunch it was
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huge and how she got that mounted who did you play one of my favorite ones ever I was on the drums and I was not
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happy were you then which I was Chris Partridge who I didn't know
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if he's in the credits he was a [ __ ] basically a day player they didn't use him he'd be running around scenes with
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no lines and then they go Spade you play him get in the drums and we'll make sure Sandler and far and and Sandler was in
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yeah and you all blocked me Farley was Reuben we had Farley it was like 12 people in this sketch and we we go
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moment to moment I I played David Castro in case I didn't get that out it was great it was uh so let's join Melanie
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Hustle [Music]
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Melanie Hutzel is here we've got our technical issues out of the way Believe It or Not Melanie are you are you a
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morning DJ she's surrounded by that's what it looks like she's got four microphones and a
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ton of pianos yeah my husband and I we like to jam you know just for for
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as recreation no my husband is a composer
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um and so we have our he has his little Studio down here sexy I know isn't it
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crazy no we do this used to be our kids playroom and it's now his Studio this is where I
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do my fun self-type auditions Melanie sag-aftra
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a lot happens in this room Isn't it nice you have some V drums in
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the background I see virtual drums yeah would you like to buy them
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I already made a bid through Greg Holtzman I actually made a bid on them it's a whole Wi-Fi thing I I know your
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address I have a keyboard in my house but I play
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like a you know little kid and guitars and you know I I do that I do that stuff
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I know what you do Dad yeah oh my God you you said it before I said it she
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just she cha that was literally one of my most favorite
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sketches ever along with most of the rest of the world right
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that's just naive commitment it's either really stupid really clever it's like
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the whole idea you can't get it out of your head is it different every time like
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Oh by this point if I'm doing stand-up and they yell for it at the end I have the guitar it it's 10 minutes
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it just goes it's like 20 minutes of just I love that I love that so Melanie
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Hutzel and I and David actually shared the Saturday Night Live stage from 90 or 91 to 90 I left 93 but I was there three
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years with Melanie David maybe four and I watched I'll just cut to one of my
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favorite things you've done and I watched it this morning which was the BR I I looked at it today and I go that is
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a perfect sketch wow oh my sketches are like okay I can't imagine it being better for what it was
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trying to do and it is written by Melanie Hutzel and whoever else wow Brady Bunch versus The
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Partridge Family Susan day was the host wow yeah no that was
00:04:41
that was a lot of fun yeah and that was a lot of fun tell us how you conceived that David was on
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drums we were in The Partridge Family Man and I was David Cassidy with a guitar so tell us how that came about
00:04:53
that sketch and also real quick Chris Farley was Reuben Kincaid which was one
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of my favorite moments um and he grabbed and kissed Julia Sweeney aggressively right at one point
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you know Chris he would tend to commit yes yeah yeah just a little bit
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um well you know Jan Brady was one of the characters that I came to the show with and Marcy Klein was absolutely
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obsessed with the Brady Bunch so I had that going in my favor RC Marcy Marcy RC
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Marcy mercy and um so I remember that
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that week and you know Susan day was coming and so there was all kinds of talk around
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around the office and I knew I needed to produce and come up with something cool
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and and I remember Marcy Klein just kind of like showed up in the in the hallway
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just at some like weird moment she just appeared and she was like
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um Melanie as you know Susan day is our Host this week and uh
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we're expecting a lot and you need to get it done Jesus
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people don't know because we're supposed to do this you know it's like radio DJs
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uh Melanie was famous for doing Jan Brady and toured with the Brady Bunch uh
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you know you were that was you two or after or before yeah uh but kind of before during and
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after ish yeah but about Marcy Klein but the truth is
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she was a huge part of me getting on the show so thank you Marcy we lose our
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grandmother the psychiatrist the go-to person the hand holder of the guest house I mean she was like a a big big
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presence in those years oh absolutely so who cracked the code of like Brady Bunch versus Partridge Family it's kind of
00:06:54
sitting there it's just you need to put well you're you're the Brady Bunch and then Susan day came in Susan day comes
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along and then Marcy says her thing and and thankfully you know sometimes you
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know some people I think would probably I don't know I could have just froze up at that point but it felt good for me to
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have somebody kind of lay it out like this is what is expected and whatever and
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um so when I was growing up I used to watch The Partridge Family and The Brady
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Bunch back to back just like y'all just like you do just like we all did and in
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my young little however old mind watching those shows I would kind of get the character they were so the two shows
00:07:41
were so much alike that I would get the characters mixed up and I also had this fantasy that they lived on the same
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street and knew each other I had a fantasy about Susan day too I don't think it was exactly that my wife loved
00:07:53
David Cassidy I mean literally for sure it was Unreal but Danny bandush was doing those like wisecracker lines I
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thought it was so hilarious so hilarious and so I uh just decided at first it was
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going to be some kind of like dream sequence and then it just kind of like went from there and became the battle of
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the bands like it just made the most sense and also it was like I you know I
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was so excited to do uh a a sketch that included so many people like almost the
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whole cast I think that's always a a sort of a home run to be like they love
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it when the big cast thing they put it early in the show the half the fun of that is probably you know you walk over
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to desks you know you go to offices and go hey Farley do you want to play Reuben Kincaid he's like yeah yeah and then you
00:08:43
get to go put everyone in and it's like you got you feel like such a big deal for a week because you're and then if
00:08:49
people don't know if you're listening and you don't know the um you're sort of your own director whether you like it or
00:08:55
not so they have you watching a sketch and you're like I'm watching the sketch rehearse I don't know one [ __ ] thing
00:09:02
I'm supposed to do I they go you direct it yeah yeah you're the director you're in charge of the choreography pretty
00:09:09
much everything yeah you go meet music and then you go meet with set design and you go to say they tell you what today
00:09:14
can I just say one thing about it watching it today based on that is just I didn't realize until watching it today
00:09:22
how funny those songs were and so catchy but you had us all in the costumes I had
00:09:28
a funny wig on and then right there I'm saying I'm not a dude and we're all smiling and it really just made me laugh
00:09:35
and so that starts a sketch off with so much energy like a band lip syncing with music the drums yes and then you guys
00:09:43
come in it's almost like West Side Story throwing it down and kneeling had this funny wig it was his height and you had
00:09:49
all the Bradys there what was Sandler's character in that because he had a Adam Sandler was Peter Brady with the with
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the voice and it's time to change and he was he
00:10:02
was so great he was and you guys were everybody was great but I have to say
00:10:08
coming from the annoyance Theater in Chicago to Saturday Night Live Like the
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biggest difference I learned that week is that guess what not a lot of reverse
00:10:19
Soul you know like like from the background that I had come from we would
00:10:24
you know for a performance like that we would rehearse for yeah weeks and weeks and weeks and it was just like you know
00:10:31
we blocked it and then you know Saturday you do the thing walking doesn't even [ __ ] count like when you're blocking
00:10:38
it you're just going in this tape on the floor and there goes everyone's just like it's a dead zone everyone just Meandering around eating potato chips
00:10:45
you're like okay there'll be a couch there that's where tape is your drums will be over here and everyone just staring off into space you're like okay
00:10:51
we got it but that doesn't really count as getting it all the smoothness that is that dead zone between Wednesday you
00:10:58
have to read through you know I guess it you got it right tired it's it's gonna be on right yeah okay exactly yeah
00:11:05
that's on you're probably getting notes to whatever trims or little things and
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also you're going into producer mode you know that he needs a wig we need a guitar and you have people helping you but you're driving it yeah and then like
00:11:17
to David's point you run it Thursday with no just kind of on a floor and the
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first two times the crew kind of Chuckles and by like the seventh or eighth time of just running it it just
00:11:29
feels dead and then when and then Friday you do it again with a little more cameras maybe if you're lucky and no
00:11:37
one's laughing and it feels even more dead and then by Saturday afternoon it's
00:11:42
all getting the costumes on and trying to do this rushed thing and so by the time you get to the Dress show the
00:11:48
practice show Full Tilt yes you feel like this is a we don't have any chance and then finally you have a fresh
00:11:54
audience yes and yeah I always need one more day one more rehearse Because by
00:12:00
the I I've been on air going I can't I don't even know where I'm supposed to go what's happening you know I don't even
00:12:05
know my character I did see not to jump away but I I saw one with us just now
00:12:11
was a Delta Delta Delta and um with Woody Harrelson and and I walk into a
00:12:17
scene with Woody and I literally drill on the ground my eyes to look for my mark it was so unprofessional and
00:12:23
embarrassing that's all I saw I go what am I doing am I looking for my Mark and I hate when people do that movies they
00:12:28
walk into a scene look down then look back up I go all right you're on your mark but but I got scared because I said
00:12:34
oh my God I just did it it really it took me I watched that that one too this morning I did a deep Melanie hustle dive
00:12:41
and I thought that was part of your character kind of just looking down like being kind of trying to be sort of seductive I made it work for the sketch
00:12:48
remember when I go ah maybe we could get your books uh get those exam notes and I go let's meet up later on seriously me
00:12:54
and you can maybe I'm serious yeah yeah remember that that's so funny go ahead defend it I just want to finish
00:13:01
off your uh what happened with you with uh no listening you listening to you run
00:13:07
through like what happens in the process of all that and I'm like starting to have a panic attack oh yeah sorry I
00:13:14
don't know you know me along with Sarah Silverman and I think Jay Moore started having panic attacks during Saturday
00:13:19
Night Live he does have panic attacks that's right and you should have been having him too yeah everyone should have
00:13:24
a panic attack if you literally get a handle on what you're doing and you know and how under rehearse you are and then
00:13:31
you've got all that many people watching it it's like no it's it's yeah it's it's
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live theater on drugs it's more normal to have a panic attack if you don't have
00:13:42
one something's wrong yeah Jay Moore told me he goes Spade I know I go he came on I didn't know him well but I
00:13:47
said it is tricky and maybe you know the first couple read throughs you're just getting your legs and even if you have
00:13:53
good sketches sometimes uh you know they don't always get on and it feels unfair and he goes I know the
00:13:59
whole drill dude I've heard all the stories I got I go okay I go I just had a tough time with it you know yeah and
00:14:05
then he goes first thing is he had a sketch kind of high and read through I think and then it did pretty well you
00:14:11
know it was sort of like a toss-up and it didn't get on and he goes that that's okay that's how it works here and then
00:14:16
uh two shows later he it happened again and then the third Show Goes what the [ __ ] is going on I think [ __ ] killed
00:14:23
and I go here we go and then by the fourth one he had a panic attacks
00:14:29
well it's a little quicker than normal but yes that we all do you're you're not feeling any different than anyone well
00:14:35
what happens is you're on the show a lot on one Saturday the next Saturday you're not in it much and then you have
00:14:40
well-intended friends on the phone saying they [ __ ] you man yeah you're the funniest one I wanted to see more of
00:14:48
you I was not seeing enough of you and it's just like oh yeah nothing that you're saying is helping one time Lauren
00:14:55
brought me in he goes and I'm sure he's done this every cast member he's sitting there opening his you know Lifesavers he
00:15:00
goes you know David everyone's gonna tell you the funniest one in the show you're not
00:15:05
and I go the first half I go they are saying that and then I go oh he told me
00:15:10
that story as well but it was about you Dana everyone's gonna say set me up but
00:15:16
I want it Melanie I want it just because that sketch killed so hard uh and you
00:15:22
let it how did you feel like did you like when you're on the air show and it's happening like with free from your
00:15:28
point of view during the air was it like okay this is in its own way peaking right now because that is a great
00:15:34
feeling when you know it's gone well how did you feel personally it's funny that you bring that particular sketch up
00:15:39
because that was that was definitely like my favorite sketch that I did on
00:15:45
Saturday Night Live was my favorite moments on the show but at the same time I I couldn't feel
00:15:51
my body it was it was very surreal very like Out of Body Experience because you know it's
00:15:58
like I've been playing to a 99 seat Theater in Chicago called the
00:16:03
annoyance Theater which you know I was one of the co-founding members of that theater and uh you know and you've you
00:16:12
felt like a rock star because it was a hundred people in this tiny little room and then all of a sudden you're on
00:16:18
National Television you think it can't get any bigger and then it gets 100 times bigger and but the other crazy
00:16:24
thing is you go to the wrap party and you're flying on cloud 10 and then the next day they're like all right Tom
00:16:31
Hanks host what do you got you're like is it over already like no yeah what else to start over what do you got
00:16:37
and he goes good Melanie you didn't write anything why not you go [ __ ] I'm still riding my high from last week
00:16:43
absolutely did you like because you have an entrance in this sketch uh are you behind the slat are you in
00:16:50
character kind of like talking to yourself as Jim Brady oh my God you know are you like like doing it and then you
00:16:56
walk into the scene and try not to think too much I mean how do do you do that because I'll sometimes try to like talk
00:17:02
to myself under my during the commercial break like or something to think to get into SNL oh oh oh
00:17:09
yeah or you like Melanie and then I'll see you in a second go out are you kind of like just trying to just be Jan Brady or
00:17:16
you just oh no I was definitely in character leading up to that sketch to
00:17:22
be honest with you I can't remember if I had anything else to do in that show it
00:17:27
was possibly like the only thing but this is like so random and weird but uh
00:17:33
so I had the Jan Brady wig the the little ringlet curls in the front that
00:17:40
was my actual hair and so me doing those curls myself was always a huge sort of
00:17:47
crossover from Melanie Hutzel to to Jan Brady it's like the weirdest thing ever but also when you're ready to go in
00:17:55
we've done that with sketches or I have you're waiting to go and you're trying to think of it but it's almost better to be light on those weeks because you're
00:18:02
thinking of you're watching the sketch and you're probably going all right it's Spade he's got a line okay Dana's good
00:18:07
okay so far so good you almost can't even think like oh [ __ ] I have to go walk into this actual sketch on TV in
00:18:14
one second yeah absolutely and uh I will say this I have to hand it to Adam
00:18:19
Sandler that uh just just there on the floor like before sketches and sometimes
00:18:25
after sketches he he would often go you're gonna be awesome you're gonna be awesome you're gonna be
00:18:32
awesome you got this Hudson like don't worry about it it's so funny you're so
00:18:37
funny this is probably a terrible impersonation of that that's pretty good I don't do Adam I do Adam's character I
00:18:45
will whoa whoa
00:18:51
[Music] can I just tell a quick story about Adam just like for quickly
00:18:57
oh yeah just take your time my husband take your time well it's just it's such an insane
00:19:04
thing and I don't know if anybody has ever talked about this or if he's ever told this on himself oh but okay
00:19:13
um little little little tidbit little trivia about Adam Sandler was that he I
00:19:19
walked into the women's bathroom one time I like it already and
00:19:25
there was a dude in the bathroom I'm calling my attorney keep going was he taking a dump yeah yes that's where he
00:19:32
would hide that's where he would go and I was like because I could see his big old shoes like a sweatpants
00:19:39
and I was like I was like oh my God no I was like Adam and he was like hello
00:19:47
hello and I was like Adam gross oh my God what
00:19:54
are you doing it gets me one more minute and so he did that and then later I
00:20:00
called him on and he was like it's cleaner it's cleaner in the girl's bathroom yeah that's right funny I know
00:20:06
crazy I think Jeremy Irons did the same thing when he guest hosted no I'm making that Melanie I have a question for you I
00:20:13
know I'm just using the Little River yeah when you'd win now that you're saying it Susan day hosting it seems
00:20:21
like why I I love Susan day but why Susan day then I can't remember was he in La law
00:20:28
I think she was on La law at that time and she was the reason Johnny Carson got
00:20:34
mad at me because we did a Carson on that show oh and Johnny I didn't write
00:20:40
this part but apparently Johnny didn't know the Partridge Family was off the air so I understand you're on The
00:20:45
Partridge Family with uh David Cassidy how was that show you know and she's already 15 years ago so John you're so
00:20:52
that's cool don't blame him anyway that's all goes full circle
00:20:57
absolutely and I was gonna say it's like it's such an interesting thing about
00:21:03
impersonations it's such a it's such a fine line of like it can be the greatest
00:21:08
thing in the world or you can really hurt somebody's feelings I know and I I was not aware of it then I'm more aware
00:21:15
of it now like I might hurt that person doing it to be funny even if you really
00:21:20
like the person like Dana loves Paul McCartney Dana loves all these people and he does them and you don't know there's a part because you have to
00:21:26
exaggerate an impression and there's a part of the purse that probably gets their feelings hurt but
00:21:32
you think oh isn't it cool I do you because you're really getting all the benefit and the person just looks like
00:21:37
an [ __ ] so no totally I really liked it but but he liked the impression but
00:21:43
that particular one I it tweaked him a little bit and and that must have felt absolutely like crazy to have Johnny
00:21:51
Carson be upset with you you know like now that I really think about that I'm
00:21:56
like I cannot even imagine uh and I want to hear your stories too because that's that's SNL either running into a host or
00:22:03
whatever just these surreal moments upon moments upon moments and that would be
00:22:08
one of them like really no well I mean you know just surreal yeah absolutely
00:22:15
and uh you know because I because of my age at
00:22:20
the time I was playing like pretty much any and every young teenage girl that
00:22:26
was on television at the time one of the being toy spelling now and then after I had done SNL
00:22:34
I think for a year we were doing the real life Brady Bunch here in Los Angeles at the Westwood Playhouse and
00:22:40
she came to see the show and like backstage everybody was like three spelling is here
00:22:49
and she and she came up to me after the show and she was like I love you I think
00:22:55
you're really funny like don't even worry about it you know yeah so that was good
00:23:01
and then another particular scenario that I still have am haunted by was
00:23:11
impersonated impersonating my embiolic because okay it was just there were some
00:23:18
things about that that namely a prosthetic nose oh yeah uh
00:23:24
which was uh so um offensive [ __ ] we didn't think twice about that back then you just wanted to
00:23:30
get a big laugh and then you just are like oh that's so funny it works then you you rarely
00:23:36
think oh this person when I did that one with Owen Wilson's nose looking like a dick and uh and then they said you have
00:23:43
to change it between dress and air it looks too it's exactly a dick and Prosthetics like okay okay and then I
00:23:49
was in something else and we had to go deal with this other fire we had to put out and I was walking into the sketch going oh my God we never fixed this
00:23:55
before air so it's like 15 seconds I go uh uh uh what can I do so I just go out
00:24:01
there and do it and um and I don't know I think Owen wasn't in love with that impression anyway because it was like he did it was thrown to me
00:24:08
it wasn't one of the ones I do it's just like you play him you know you do this I was hosting I got to know him a little
00:24:14
bit through Kevin Nealon before the pandemic and a really nice guy and I asked him about people doing impressions and he has such an interesting Cadence
00:24:21
it's such a you know and I said well what do you think of people doing it you know he's like well you know uh I really
00:24:28
prefer that they wouldn't you know and I'm like okay so I don't really do him now Owen we'd like to have him on the
00:24:36
show but he's such a uh but that's it to your example I just know him now so I wouldn't want to hurt him the thing
00:24:42
right now is just how to do Joe Biden because if you do it a little too heavy-handed are you making fun of an
00:24:48
elder citizen or or you know that one's a little tricky that's a good point and and one more thing I'll say about mayam
00:24:55
is that um I did sort of hear Through the Grapevine that you know because she was a teenager at the time even worse
00:25:03
very different yeah and I heard that you know she really got her feelings hurt and um years and years and years went by
00:25:10
and I'm going to tell the short version version of this take your time I love these stories
00:25:16
no I I I I really was haunted by it and
00:25:21
um I felt I felt terrible and uh my my husband is Jewish and but we were just
00:25:28
dating at the time we went to a synagogue in Westwood and I saw her and
00:25:34
like my heart started pounding and I was like I gotta talk to her I gotta talk to her and then by the time I got to her
00:25:42
she was already gone and I was like oh dang and then like another couple years go by and I
00:25:49
actually see her at an audition and uh we were auditioning for the same
00:25:55
role and I can't even remember what that was but we were sitting on a couch together and like she she hadn't looked
00:26:01
up from her script like she's like studying her lines or whatever my heart's pounding
00:26:06
ah I know and then finally I just I I I was like mayam and she was like yeah and
00:26:14
she goes oh hi and I was like Hey I just wanna say something to you and I said I
00:26:20
did an impersonation of you on Saturday Night Live I I was not happy about certain things and
00:26:26
um I just wanna I wanna apologize to you and say that I'm sorry like I had tears in my eyes and she looked at me and she
00:26:34
was like I release you really oh that's cool that's funny I
00:26:39
know she was like I release you and then she was like I'm not gonna say that I didn't feel that back then she said but
00:26:45
you know we can let this go and it was just like so nice and that's such a that's almost like a Star Wars thing I
00:26:52
wish Johnny had said that to me I release you first of all I absolve you what who are you running with then were
00:26:59
you with Beth Cahill and Siobhan was that sort of your squad Von Fallon Beth Cahill
00:27:05
so she likes to become Betty now Daddy okay
00:27:11
BC yeah Betty K Hill uh Julia Sweeney was in there yeah Julia Sweeney Beth
00:27:18
Cahill uh Siobhan Fallon yeah those were those were my Ellen Cleghorn Ellen Cleghorn I loved Ellen I love Ellen now
00:27:28
[Music] when you met Lauren uh this is kind of a funny question maybe it's got no good
00:27:35
answer but how long did you wait to meet him so when
00:27:40
um so when I was working at the the annoyance theater we were doing the real life Brady Bunch
00:27:46
and we were also doing a show called The Miss vagina pageant which was
00:27:51
um obviously uh you know we were making fun of beauty pageants and the objective
00:27:56
the objectification of women is that what they do I'm sorry what is that what those do in
00:28:02
those beauty pageants I guess they do I don't know how they thought of it that way yeah a little bit David
00:28:09
um but anyway we had created this hilarious show it was all women and so much fun and that was my that's when I
00:28:16
sort of developed the sorority character and uh played MIss Tennessee and so
00:28:23
um you know SNL Scouts were coming through Chicago and you know they always go to
00:28:30
the typical places they go to um improv Olympic they go to Second City but there was an ad in the paper for the
00:28:37
show called The Miss vagina pageant and they're like oh uh a comedy with all women let's go see
00:28:43
see this oh that's cool they did a deep dive okay yeah that sounds like Kismet
00:28:48
or something's going on here man yes yeah and so Beth Cahill was in that show Kate flattery was in that show
00:28:56
um Susan messing just so many people and so over a period of time like every week
00:29:04
for a while there was a different SNL Scout coming to see the real I Brady Bunch and
00:29:10
the Miss vagina pageant and um so then the next thing we know and you know we're just this tiny theater
00:29:17
you know um our artistic director Nick Napier was
00:29:22
just all about the work and you know uh do you know someone's there we knew
00:29:28
that there were Scouts yeah we knew that there were Scouts and um
00:29:33
so anyway like this one I'm getting nervous yeah I'm nervous
00:29:39
um so this one week uh Mick gets a call and
00:29:45
we find out that uh Lauren Michaels wants to come see the Miss vagina
00:29:50
pageant him the man but he can only come see it on a Wednesday night at midnight
00:29:57
I was about to say Wednesday at 9 00 a.m you're like and he and he would be bringing his
00:30:04
friend Quincy Jones wow perfect he brought chair when I auditioned he
00:30:11
always brings the biggest celebrity see how she deals with the pressure exactly exactly and so wow you know there was
00:30:18
like all this weird talk of like you know people just felt weird about
00:30:25
putting on the show at midnight like I don't know no it's like it sucks it's too late it was just a strange feeling
00:30:32
and then finally like it's like oh no we're doing it we're we're gonna do the midnight show for Lauren yeah and so we
00:30:39
got that together we invited every friend and friend of a friend of a friend to come to this midnight show and
00:30:46
um and he was there he was there in the front row with Quincy Jones watching
00:30:51
this you know crazy show with all these women and then uh from there we found out that
00:31:00
four of us would be going to lunch with Lauren and Mike Shoemaker the next
00:31:06
day Mike Shoemaker Mike shroom taker now a producer on Seth Myers yes yeah and
00:31:12
then three out of the four were flown to New York oh after the lunch one fell jumped
00:31:19
on the lunch someone fell out over there too many crab cakes oh what a drive and
00:31:25
also dirt you didn't use a napkin sorry go ahead wrong four so I remember
00:31:31
after the lunch finding out that Lauren wanted to talk to me and have a
00:31:37
conversation and so we literally walked along uh Lake Michigan together
00:31:43
and I remember one of the first questions he asked me was uh what do
00:31:50
your parents do you asked me what my mom and dad did and I was like sorry Lauren I know and it
00:31:56
was it was there was something kind of sweet about it you know and I was like well my dad works at Alcoa Aluminum
00:32:01
Company and my mom is a hairdresser and and I was just like and then I was like
00:32:06
uh I just want to say right now I want this more than anything and if if I were to get this job I would work harder I
00:32:12
mean I was just like you literally said that oh wow wow I don't think anyone says that that's a good thing to say
00:32:18
I've never heard of anyone saying that thinking it but that's good really that's good it shows you probably it
00:32:23
came off so genuine it just kind of came out it just kind of that's like out of a
00:32:30
movie that that's like Norma Ray or something if I get this job I'll work hard I mean can you remember exactly
00:32:36
what you said like the phrasing I'll do Lauren um so what are your what do you what are you what do you think about this show I
00:32:42
mean do you think you might want to be part of it are you okay with being famous if Lauren if you were to give me
00:32:48
this job I I I want just please understand I want this more than
00:32:53
anything in the world and I know you've probably heard that a lot from a lot of other people but I I will um I'll work
00:32:59
harder than I've ever worked in my whole life and and you won't regret it okay then long long pause and then Lauren
00:33:05
says right we're gonna go get some mini tacos at
00:33:11
the Four Seasons it's always a walk Dana Lauren goes come by the BH hotel maybe take a walk I go okay and I walk and he
00:33:18
goes this way we're walking and now it starts getting dark I go are we [ __ ] lost he walks so far I'm like Lauren I
00:33:25
don't even know if we're in BH anymore and he's like this way take a right yeah he has the 10 000 step thing going I was
00:33:32
at the Beverly Hills Hotel with him like maybe a couple years ago and I'm driving off and he goes uh I go where are you
00:33:38
going he's just walking well I haven't gotten my 12 or 10 000 steps but Lauren
00:33:43
is a touchdown like that too for all of us as well the most eccentric brilliant like there's only there's only one Lorne
00:33:50
Michaels that's why everyone does an impression do you have any kind of little bit of impression at all Melanie
00:33:55
my impression my impression is of your impression like
00:34:02
that's just very you know like once you once you break the code it's just there's a lot of
00:34:07
little different ways to do it some people do it very very shy you know yeah
00:34:13
others are like it's really like [ __ ] good you know he has a lot of these different rhythms but yeah I did meet
00:34:19
with him every once in a while like uh you know his office in his office just
00:34:24
do two okay yeah just the two of us I you know I often uh
00:34:31
had it in my heart to uh talk to him about you know maybe maybe the women needed a little more air time type
00:34:38
situation which was when I really look back on that like it was you know I had a lot of guts you are
00:34:44
Norma Ray you're you're so honest but we're unionizing the women on the
00:34:51
show what yeah I talked to Lauren about that because I and and we talked to Ana
00:34:56
gasteyer about it and she said that it just sort of was reflecting societal changes in that from the knots forward
00:35:03
there was just more women with getting more air time and doing more stuff and now eventually the women are playing men
00:35:09
like Ted Cruz and stuff so you were definitely in that pre-era of when it
00:35:15
was a little it was harder Boys Club a subject that we that was brought up a lot I I remember that I remember even we
00:35:21
did Gap girls there was a I think Julia was a little sideways about now they're
00:35:27
playing girls when we don't have enough parts and it was like I get what she's saying I mean I get it all it was it was
00:35:35
you know it's such a tough place because it's every man for himself and everybody wants to be on every woman and if every
00:35:41
and if if it's not treated fairly there's almost so much you you can do there's only so much you can do and it's
00:35:47
all up to everybody above us and it's hard to have a heart to heart with Lauren and it's hard to go to Lauren and say a complaint in quotes or a a fix or
00:35:56
something you'd love to discuss that's a legitimate problem and it takes balls to
00:36:01
even but you know man or woman he does he definitely likes sketches where a lot of people were active and that's why I
00:36:08
just fell into church chat accidentally but then I had Jan Hooks doing Tammy
00:36:14
Faye Baker yes and you love to always have Jan in his catch because she's
00:36:19
she's that's the thing it's like chemistry between two people is is you know that's
00:36:27
that's golden on on a on a live TV show and but it can't be forced it has to it
00:36:35
has to come organically and you know um anyways I don't know where I was
00:36:42
going where who did you connect with the most on the show did you you and Beth Beth was there one year but did you have
00:36:49
people that you were kind of uh like sort of buddies with on the show that you would hang out with the most and
00:36:54
well I think that was the thing I mean you know I look back on you and Jan Hooks and David you and Chris Farley and
00:37:02
you and all the other guys you guys had like this chemistry and so
00:37:08
yes to answer your question the people that I had chemistry with were Siobhan
00:37:14
and uh Betty Cahill Ellen Cleghorn and I tried we tried for years
00:37:22
right to get a thing going and it just it's one of our biggest regrets or I
00:37:28
would I should speak for myself it's one of my biggest regrets is that that never happened but it wasn't that we didn't
00:37:34
try and uh um so you know that's what
00:37:40
was interesting about my time on the show was that uh after that first year I
00:37:45
didn't have Beth and Siobhan anymore and they had left and so then you're
00:37:51
kind of looking to other people Julia Sweeney and some of the guys where do I fit in yeah where do I fit in because
00:37:59
there was the older set Dana no you're right no we
00:38:05
were the veterans and then and then the I call them the junior varsity but the new people came in for the first time where you had a cast and then another
00:38:12
cast like you know another team ready to go because Lauren didn't want a cast to
00:38:18
leave and mass uh he did you know so he wanted trainees so to speak so that was
00:38:23
a a a very intense time to be on Saturday Night Live I think in the early 90s because of all that I was shadowing
00:38:30
Dana like someone at Arby's or something I was like I'm gonna I go behind Dana just watch what he does and go okay when
00:38:37
you do it you got to go like this you go out there and kill and I'm like God when Lauren wanted to mess with me when David's ready anytime yeah because David
00:38:44
David would sit behind me and read through yeah I mean it you're right it was an
00:38:52
interesting time and you know I always sort of looked to the to the older you
00:38:58
know all of you guys um you Dana and and of course Phil and Kevin Nealon
00:39:05
um you know sort of as like this anchor for the show you guys were settled and
00:39:10
had been around well we had 100 shows under our belt which is such a hard show to get relaxed to do you know Dana I was
00:39:19
watching you on Saturday Night Live when I was in high school and then you're there and and yeah and
00:39:25
in college like you know we did a we did a show at the University of Tennessee called all night theater and my friend
00:39:32
Mark Rowe um uh oh I played Tammy Faye Baker he played Jim Baker at like three o'clock
00:39:38
in the morning you know and so we were copying you and Jan and um which is so
00:39:46
what the way I would have thought is like Jan Tammy Faye baker has a sister that she never met and then you you have
00:39:52
dueling Tammy phase on a sketch
00:39:57
do you remember a dumb sketch where uh you I don't know why I remember this
00:40:02
because it was famous people who sing with their dead relatives and you were Tammy Wynette I think yeah
00:40:10
and they go ah I'm not dead and you go I'm actually not Denning that's how rumors get started this is how rumors
00:40:17
get started yeah exactly I remember it because someone I think Natalie Cole came out with Nat King Cole and oh yes
00:40:24
and so we did a whole thing of uh and Chris Farley who did Chris Farley play
00:40:30
oh my God it was so funny anybody anyway I know that one just stuck out my head because
00:40:37
I thought oh is there any impression you didn't ever get to do that you wish you got to do
00:40:43
or is there something that came up years later character
00:40:49
um that's a good question uh a French chef
00:40:55
waitress you could probably do every president since and that would have been fun yeah you know I always wanted to do
00:41:01
I had all these like Southern characters that I wanted to do that I would bring to the
00:41:06
um Paula Deen apologies yeah just yet but I remember there was
00:41:13
the sketch um I don't remember that much about it but Steve corn and I had written it
00:41:20
together writer and it was just called The Country Christmas show and I remember that Glenn Close was gonna be
00:41:27
in it with me possibly close yeah and I remember the song and this is how it went oh great ready this is how the
00:41:34
beginning song song Went welcome welcome welcome welcome welcome welcome welcome welcome welcome welcome welcome welcome
00:41:39
to my Country Christmas show um Jenny Jenny Jean
00:41:45
[Laughter]
00:41:55
so yes I remember the song that's all I remember we talked to Tom Hanks and he remembered the whole subway surfing song
00:42:01
of a sketch we did that I was in and I helped him write and I did not remember one line from it and it got cut right it
00:42:08
got cut and he sang the whole song he sang the whole song just had some photos remember that Dana I was like oh yeah
00:42:13
that was weird isn't it so crazy like what you remember and what you don't
00:42:19
remember and then what other people like will point out to you like it kind of
00:42:25
makes me worry about my brain a little bit every once in a while but um I do have a memory about time I
00:42:31
remember Hanks when Tom Hanks was on the show and all of this was so you know
00:42:37
obviously surreal and weird like talking to these famous people yes for all of us yeah
00:42:45
for all of us and I remember it was just like
00:42:51
you know that those weird hours on Tuesday night when everybody's writing their sketches and all stressed out and
00:42:57
he's just kind of like walking from office to office just having fun figuring out what everybody's going to be doing and he was just like
00:43:05
he looked at me and he was just like man he goes you're set you're all set he
00:43:11
goes you're going to do your Sorority Girl movie I love it it's gonna be awesome and you
00:43:21
know like you're you've got your career and and it just come from Adam Sandler's office so they just had this thing of
00:43:28
supporting Melanie helping I know um and I thought that was so nice of him to say
00:43:35
it never happened but well he all he wanted to be a cast member he's the least pretentious uh I don't know what
00:43:42
you would call him Superstar I don't know what you could call him today I don't know Mega star but he just has no
00:43:48
pretense about it no pretense and you know somebody else that was like that was John Goodman oh yeah I love he he
00:43:55
did the show a couple of times uh within the three years that I was there and I
00:44:01
remember the second time he came around like he asked me uh how's Claudia and Steve doing that's my mom and dad and I
00:44:08
was like he remembers my parents names like that's so nice that's next level
00:44:14
the talent to cold Read 50 scripts essentially on Wednesday as a host and
00:44:20
certain ones really stood out I mean John Goodman would make in the moment changes or you know you get just a bear
00:44:26
note but he was he was a brilliant cold reader so was Danny DeVito
00:44:32
Hanks that was Alec Baldwin Alex Baldwin which maybe you'll relate to this I
00:44:37
think I've said this before but Victoria Jackson would because he would host occasionally and she goes not gonna happen this week
00:44:44
I go what I'm not gonna fall in love with him I'm not gonna fall in love with
00:44:49
him okay and then by Friday she go fell in love with him oh yeah his eyes she
00:44:55
said she couldn't look at his eyes because they were so blue once I saw them I was in love no oh that is okay
00:45:03
I'll I'll speak to that he did Alec Baldwin came into my office and I I
00:45:08
couldn't talk like he is like I literally couldn't I felt like he was so
00:45:13
good looking and so famous and um yeah I was like when Sharon Stone was there and
00:45:18
all the guys were freaking out and Sharon's own comes in her Slinky dress comes into your office hi so sweet
00:45:24
everyone's like God damn no one this pretty and famous will ever be in my little room again and her offices if
00:45:30
people don't know are so tiny and gross they're just like a gross couch that's been there since Tim kazarinsky and
00:45:37
everyone is like sitting on the same couch year after year up here and they're like hey and they come in there and some people just beam like Superstar
00:45:44
you know and you're like holy [ __ ] I did a movie with Anthony Hopkins once and
00:45:49
just beating him in this little room in this haunted hotel with Alan Parker and he was so intense and that voice is like
00:45:56
put a camera on this [ __ ] Jesus but I remember Lauren Michaels
00:46:01
speaking of beauty Paulina poriscova came in on my first show just to hang out I guess and uh she was
00:46:10
sitting in the in the read through and she kind of looked like she had a mask on you know and it was fun to ask her what is it like to be used it's nice you
00:46:16
know but I remember Lauren saying you you can't marry a face no eventually there's like that thing
00:46:24
you get used to the face and then then you need another face but yeah those people that are so
00:46:30
charismatic put a [ __ ] camera on them I mean I I just feel like um I I there's
00:46:35
nothing to me I'm like paper I just need a I need a wig or an accent or something I'm like the Invisible Man David has a
00:46:42
great voice he doesn't think I think he does but I died you know I think he said it twice so now I believe you but you
00:46:49
have a voice a Fred Wolf and I talked about that you have a cool voice like an interesting voice you you do have a cool
00:46:56
and interesting voice and I think that um you know it can't I mean when you said that it
00:47:03
kind of makes me think about like the stand-ups you know the the the
00:47:09
cast was comprised of you know the stand-ups and then you have the people with the Improv background right and
00:47:15
David you did you know stand up I don't know how long leading up to Saturday Night Live and then you come on you'd
00:47:23
been out there for about several years yep several years and then you have to do characters right
00:47:30
um but and then Dana Dana you were so amazing at characters and also did stand up so so I think I don't know it's
00:47:38
something that I've thought about a lot of just like I feel like a lot of times people who
00:47:44
wear stand-ups that came to the show had a better ability to sort of like
00:47:50
protect themselves and and look after themselves you know to whereas people
00:47:57
from an improv background it's like we're all in this together and I'm not and I'm not saying that stand-ups aren't
00:48:04
like team players well look okay finish your thought but I have a thought about
00:48:10
that go ahead yeah I mean you know it's like I
00:48:16
if somebody were watching me on the show there's no way that they had any idea
00:48:22
who I was as a person because I was always doing a character yeah and David
00:48:27
when you would go on uh news update or whatever people we could see David yeah
00:48:35
we could see who you were I mean I learned that's why I never thought I'd be on the show because quickly Dana I
00:48:40
just was thinking I barely was doing stand-up and writing stand up and trying to get good at that I was in Middle I
00:48:47
wasn't even a headliner so to go on the show it's a whole new muscle to learn I wish I could have taken a year of
00:48:53
classes of improv to go here's how you do it with these people and here's how you write sketches and get immersed in
00:48:59
characters I think I just resigned myself I wasn't going to be as good as Dana and all these guys and Phil so I
00:49:06
said I like the Bill Murray type not in any way am I as good as Bill Murray but he was always a little bit of Bill
00:49:11
Murray in his sketches and I said I think that's the best I can hope for I'm I'm sort of a virgin myself and when I
00:49:18
had Hollywood minute Lauren was like do that more like I think he knew I wasn't going to be doing crazy characters he
00:49:24
finally said just be a version of yourself and that will be easier life for you
00:49:31
[Music] so my only thing to add to this is that when you're coming up through stand up
00:49:37
the dog eat dog world and the survival mechanism of stand up the Friday night late show where the middle Act is trying
00:49:43
to knock you off your pedestal and you got to do an hour to drunk people it was just it was it's it's a an emotionally
00:49:49
violent sport SNL is in a different way so you're coming from that thing that I must kill every time all the time and
00:49:57
there's good and bad that comes with that it took me by the time I was doing Carson I was I was relaxed I wasn't pushing but my standard in my head of
00:50:05
the amount of laughs I should get was like that of a stand-up but I didn't realize till later doing stand-up in
00:50:11
small clubs recently with my sons that I was a sketch player the whole time there was just no growlings in San Francisco
00:50:18
all my bits were character driven which was kind of hard to land but it's good
00:50:23
in a small room but I do feel like the stand-ups have a dog eat dog sort of survival Instinct of To Kill
00:50:31
um and then we learned to be sketch players and play well with others you know you don't ever when you're out
00:50:37
there with your friend you want to you want to play fair not not undercut or overlap and you know with Hans and
00:50:43
fronds you know I had my friend there with Mike and I in Wayne's World with Phil and I and Carson Sandler and I
00:50:49
doing the pepper boy when I host it so there was a such a high for me
00:50:54
of getting used to the idea of being in something where someone else is supporting me or when Jan Hooks would do
00:51:00
her thing and really loving that you know but when you're a lone Gunslinger you're like I gotta kill and I gotta be
00:51:07
funnier than the other guy so that's all I had to add yeah absolutely it's like you know when you're when you're by
00:51:13
yourself you don't have anybody else to blame for not getting the laughs or whatever
00:51:20
um and so yeah and and the other thing about the stand-ups is like once you're off the
00:51:26
show you have that to go back to right away and make money right yes and you go
00:51:33
right back into your craft and so for me
00:51:38
after I came off of SNL I went back to improv theater and that doesn't pay the
00:51:46
bills that's not yeah it's a different check yeah it's a different it's a different thing but I did do that uh
00:51:52
when I when I moved out so that's okay of course I mean that's what you're good at and that's what got your words like
00:51:57
you got to stay out there and that's a good way to be to constantly be in front of people absolutely absolutely and I
00:52:04
miss it like crazy right now and uh I'm hoping to get back into the cool Corona
00:52:09
stuff kill that you know no one thought there would be anything negative about covet but there is there is a couple of
00:52:16
things yeah yeah I know I know everyone thought it was going to be so great and
00:52:21
it wasn't no I know everybody thought it was going to be so great Melanie I don't
00:52:27
know if uh Danny have anything else to add this is very interesting conversation uh thank you for having it
00:52:33
with us yeah I mean uh this is uh Illuminating you know I I love hearing
00:52:38
how people navigated that and how honest you were with Lauren in two ways and I I would say that uh
00:52:45
you were powerful as a performer when you chose to be I mean you you had a really you had a lot of commitment and
00:52:52
strength and that that room is kind of a rock and roll room because all the ambient noise and stuff so you do have
00:52:57
to like you know project and you had a lot of power and uh you were so funny and uh it was so very
00:53:04
interesting just hearing your journey through that that land well thank you thank you for for saying
00:53:11
that and thank you both for having me on your your new podcast it's it means a
00:53:16
lot to me and it's so uh great to see both of you and and you both meant different things to me at the time when
00:53:23
we were kind of like all going through it together and um yeah I mean you're exactly the way I
00:53:30
remembered you that's so genuine it looks exactly the same maybe one year first of all I just wanted to say there's a Dorian Gray thing going on
00:53:36
here with with Melanie but that's okay the time machine worked perfect I don't know how you're staying very nice but
00:53:43
but um you you came up very genuine then I mean I was in my own kind of surreal world doing Ross bro and all these
00:53:50
things but I do remember how just genuine uh and real you were as a person and there you are so oh such a pleasure
00:53:58
that is so nice it's a it's a pleasure to see you guys and you know uh I I miss
00:54:03
it you know it's like once you do Saturday night Saturday Saturday Night Live how do you how do you follow that
00:54:11
you know it's it's just kind of like it's in your it's in your being and your spirit and it's like the one thing that
00:54:17
everybody in the world wants to talk to you about right yeah and uh you know when I think about live TV
00:54:24
you know yeah there's nothing in the world not even not even childbirth
00:54:30
honestly that will bring you to the present moment in such a way that is so
00:54:37
powerful and it's just you know the three of us are uh we are three of a
00:54:46
hundred and fifty six people in the world that were on that show I didn't I
00:54:51
didn't I didn't know that statistic on my own uh I was listening to uh Bobby moyahan was talking to Mayim Bialik on
00:54:58
her podcast and he said that that's interesting well he actually said um what it how many of us are there like
00:55:05
150 like I don't know and then my husband Fred Fred looks it up yeah and
00:55:10
and so it's like 156 people he was good ghost you know so it's uh it's just
00:55:16
crazy to really think about that and um it's something that I look back on
00:55:23
fondly there were hard things about it there were awesome things about it it
00:55:28
was a dream come true and uh I don't know that's all I really have to say about it
00:55:35
overall positive you get wisdom when you as you go on and you you substitute any
00:55:41
kind of bitterness or or regret with gratitude how lucky was I to get on that silly
00:55:48
show yeah yeah that's I I agree with your assessment
00:55:55
I do I enjoy when I go back there sometimes and do a guest spot it it's never the same because you kind of see
00:56:02
but it it is uh a one-off experience so that's hence our little podcast which is
00:56:08
fun to uh hear the human side of this to the effect on people's lives but anyway
00:56:14
you've been awesome we don't know how to wrap things up because we're not professional I don't know how to wrap things up I'm sorry we did a good job
00:56:21
yeah we did it's so great to see you both you too hon be well I hope we run
00:56:26
into each other in L.A I would love it blob or some little theater sure why not sounds good oh my God it's Melanie oh my
00:56:34
God oh my God this has been a podcast presentation of
00:56:40
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00:56:50
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00:56:56
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