00:00:01
Robert Smeiggel.
00:00:03
Robert Smeiggel
00:00:06
>> coming back at you.
00:00:09
>> You know, we will say this a lot, but
00:00:11
arguably the best sketch writer. There's
00:00:13
no such thing as the best. He's among
00:00:15
>> the greatest uh
00:00:18
>> comedy sketch writers
00:00:21
>> of his generation. And he's written a
00:00:23
lot of movies with Sandler and so and
00:00:26
he's our friend and uh it was just fun.
00:00:29
is Triumph the dog. That's very orry.
00:00:32
>> Yeah, I think he does a lot of Triumph.
00:00:34
And Triumph actually, well, you'll see
00:00:36
it gets a little get gets heated a
00:00:39
little bit between us and Triumph.
00:00:41
>> Oh, that's right. And Triumph Oh, also
00:00:43
Smiggle, didn't he? Wasn't he the
00:00:44
headwriter for Conan for a while for the
00:00:46
first show?
00:00:47
>> Uh for the the talk show he did. Yeah.
00:00:49
Yeah, he was the headwriter there. And
00:00:52
he's uh he was one of my bosses at SNL
00:00:55
because he was always in the room
00:00:56
picking sketches with Franken and Downey
00:00:58
and Lauren. So he always had a lot of
00:01:01
pole.
00:01:02
>> Mhm.
00:01:02
>> He does night of night of too many
00:01:05
stars. I think that's for autism. It's
00:01:07
his charity.
00:01:09
>> He did the Dana Carvey show that lasted
00:01:11
eight episodes with
00:01:13
>> Dino Stapanopoulos.
00:01:15
>> That disaster.
00:01:16
>> Steve Carell and Steven Colbear.
00:01:20
>> Whoops. Allstar
00:01:22
>> Louis CK.
00:01:23
>> Louis CK I hired as my headwriter.
00:01:26
>> I mean,
00:01:28
>> no,
00:01:28
>> she did pretty well.
00:01:31
>> Um, all right. So, here's Robert. We
00:01:34
have a lot of laughs cuz we know him
00:01:35
very well.
00:01:36
>> Enjoy
00:01:42
>> all the momentum we had with the Lauren
00:01:44
impression.
00:01:44
>> Oh, we were Oh, yeah. And you were
00:01:46
saying Lauren, you did impression before
00:01:50
that. before Mark McKini. Mark McKini
00:01:54
did um the only person who did it my
00:01:56
first year was Mark McKini and he did
00:01:58
like a
00:01:59
>> beautifully accurate Lauren like a
00:02:02
wellobserved Lauren
00:02:04
>> and actually said complete sentences
00:02:08
>> and it was very impressive. But then the
00:02:10
next year I just started doing cartoony
00:02:14
Lauren on my own. And then I went into I
00:02:16
remember going into Dana's office.
00:02:17
>> Mhm.
00:02:18
>> And uh you know I and I admitting that I
00:02:21
sort of do Lauren like you know I want
00:02:23
to show and look I think Dana and then
00:02:26
Dana's like oh yeah I do Lauren too. And
00:02:28
Dana starts going like oh what do you
00:02:30
think of act three?
00:02:34
Just had that move. Like something
00:02:36
Lauren's never done in his life. I did a
00:02:38
lot of things.
00:02:39
>> Incredibly per. It was just perfect. It
00:02:41
was like this self-satisfied.
00:02:43
>> We still have no [ __ ] first act.
00:02:46
>> I've got no [ __ ] first act. No
00:02:49
[ __ ] code.
00:02:50
>> Marcy, look at the book of horn, please.
00:02:52
Chapter two.
00:02:54
>> Frank and ride a bush. Frank and ride a
00:02:57
bush. Franken ride a bush. Immediately
00:02:59
>> Frank and a bush. There was a lot of
00:03:02
bush cold openings.
00:03:03
>> Franken.
00:03:04
>> Remember Robert when you made the
00:03:05
cartoon thing where you flip the pages?
00:03:08
Which what which cartoon?
00:03:10
>> Well, I was doing Bush Senior so much. I
00:03:12
didn't know that the writing staff was
00:03:13
kind of like again. So then I saw a
00:03:15
thing where it's like a flip page where
00:03:18
it was Bush.
00:03:20
Yeah. And he sp You spin it and see me
00:03:23
as Bush.
00:03:23
>> It was like It was like a series of It
00:03:25
was like one of those flip.
00:03:29
What was it? It was like Was it Franken
00:03:30
putting Bush cold open on the What?
00:03:33
>> I thought it was Bush taking a poo or
00:03:35
something. I thought it was
00:03:36
scatological.
00:03:37
>> It could have been.
00:03:38
>> I like Frank and putting the card on the
00:03:40
on the uh lineup.
00:03:42
>> I have to say Franken takes a beating on
00:03:44
your show.
00:03:47
>> He's coming. He's coming on very very
00:03:49
soon.
00:03:51
I mean, he's become like Well, Sarah got
00:03:53
him back by stabbing him in the head
00:03:54
with a pencil.
00:03:56
>> Yeah.
00:03:56
>> Did you hear that one?
00:03:57
>> Well, I went through
00:03:59
>> I was not there. That was after I had um
00:04:02
left for Conan. But but do you remember
00:04:05
this? Uh Spade, I bet you remember this.
00:04:09
So one of the impressions I I was the
00:04:11
one I think who started that
00:04:14
>> like me and Conan I used to do this
00:04:15
thing for Conan of Al. Um and I feel bad
00:04:19
because Al got me the job actually and I
00:04:21
love Al but but he was tough back then
00:04:24
and so everybody kind of yeah needed to
00:04:27
release some energy. Mine was like Al on
00:04:30
his back and it like a snapping turtle.
00:04:38
>> Flip me over.
00:04:40
>> Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.
00:04:41
>> Well, I I thought that's why he would
00:04:43
when he was running for senator, I
00:04:44
thought he'll be great in there because
00:04:46
Al is blunt and doesn't he just says
00:04:48
what he thinks. I thought that'd be good
00:04:50
for It was great. But on the but well
00:04:52
boy when he was in the Senate he was my
00:04:54
hero because he
00:04:56
>> he kind of like
00:04:58
>> contained himself from being as
00:05:00
confrontational like I mean at the show
00:05:03
>> his last few years at the show I think I
00:05:06
think he was kind of unhappy to be
00:05:08
honest with you. I mean, he was like in
00:05:10
his 40s and I don't think this is what
00:05:12
he was dreaming of doing in his 40s and
00:05:15
I I think it was I think that's in his
00:05:18
defense like he was confused as to what
00:05:20
he wanted to do with his life and then
00:05:22
he started writing those books and I
00:05:24
think he found direction and
00:05:26
>> yeah he's always hyper political and
00:05:29
that was fun writing with him and Downey
00:05:30
cuz you know dreams and then he's
00:05:32
sitting next to Spade at readthrough and
00:05:34
he's like what happened.
00:05:38
>> It's like George Seagull and just shoot
00:05:39
me. He goes in the middle of a scene.
00:05:41
He'd stop and he goes, he'd look at the
00:05:43
crowd. He goes, "I did a movie with
00:05:44
Elizabeth Taylor and I'm standing next
00:05:46
to this [ __ ] now."
00:05:50
>> Well, I remember Jan Hooks once saying
00:05:52
to me, "Shmag, don't become one of those
00:05:55
writers who's 50 years old and wearing
00:05:57
blue jeans and sitting on the floor,
00:05:59
flannel shirt, whatever you do." It's
00:06:01
always sitting on the floor with a
00:06:04
notebook.
00:06:05
>> It's true. I mean, it's just you never
00:06:06
grow up when you're at that
00:06:08
>> a little sache where you put your
00:06:09
bitterness in a bitterness pouch. We're
00:06:11
like just keep loading things
00:06:13
>> and Al's defense didn't get up the show.
00:06:15
I did 6 years. It gets mind-numbing and
00:06:18
it gets you're in a box of like no sun
00:06:22
and pizza and ordering in and stress and
00:06:25
everyone else's energy. And so,
00:06:27
>> you did a long run there, too. You seem
00:06:29
pretty normal, but that that was a long
00:06:30
run you had.
00:06:31
>> I did a long run that I got out when I
00:06:33
was like 33 and to do the Conan show and
00:06:36
then I came back but in a much more
00:06:39
sane capacity. I just did the cartoons.
00:06:42
Yeah. And all I had to do was show up on
00:06:45
>> Yeah. All I had to do was show up on
00:06:46
Saturday. So I wasn't really a part of
00:06:48
the the thing anymore. But Al was like,
00:06:51
you know, there every day and he's like
00:06:53
in his 40s.
00:06:59
Well, let's get back to Schmiggel's
00:07:01
unbelievable career. Do we want to be a
00:07:04
little bit uh do we want to go a little
00:07:06
bit to Young Smiggle first or would you
00:07:09
like to go later?
00:07:09
>> Young or what about Can my friend come
00:07:12
on cuz he thinks Young Smiggle's a
00:07:14
[ __ ] boore to be honest.
00:07:15
>> Yeah. Let me see who do you got over
00:07:17
there?
00:07:17
>> He's been he's been uh he's been riding
00:07:20
me ever since.
00:07:20
>> This is This is unique for Fly on the
00:07:22
Wall. We have a a guest with a special
00:07:23
guest. You have a guest with a guest
00:07:25
who's just I don't know. He just thinks
00:07:27
that he can jazz it up. You know,
00:07:29
>> he better behave.
00:07:31
>> Should I bring him out?
00:07:32
>> Bring him out. Why not?
00:07:35
>> This is Oh goodness.
00:07:36
>> WHAT? HERE I AM. Here I am. FINALLY. GOD
00:07:41
Jesus Christ. What a long wait. No, this
00:07:44
is terribly exciting. So exciting.
00:07:46
>> Hi, Triumph.
00:07:47
>> Blind.
00:07:48
>> Do not make fun of this show or us.
00:07:49
Triumph. I did. Please.
00:07:51
>> Oh, I know. I understand. Those are the
00:07:53
ground rules I have to work with.
00:07:55
>> No, no, no jokes about the show. No, no
00:07:57
making fun of anyone.
00:07:59
>> Okay, good.
00:08:00
>> No, honestly, this is a great show. Fly
00:08:02
on the wall.
00:08:03
>> Not for me to poop on. No, no, fantastic
00:08:07
show.
00:08:07
>> That's good. Fly on the wall. There's a
00:08:10
lot of buzz I hear around Fly.
00:08:13
>> Good job, Triumph. Thank you.
00:08:15
>> Yeah, the same kind of uh buzz flies
00:08:17
make around my ass.
00:08:20
You see it because it's not as attract
00:08:24
[ __ ] and the show is what makesense. You
00:08:27
see the joke you get.
00:08:28
>> Yeah, that took a turn. But you like it.
00:08:30
It's
00:08:30
>> it's what it's a switcheroo.
00:08:34
>> No spade. This is a great show. It fills
00:08:35
a need, you know, because let's face it,
00:08:38
Saturday Night Live, it hasn't gotten
00:08:40
enough attention or retrospectives or
00:08:42
anniversary shows.
00:08:44
Just I mean honestly I mean just the
00:08:47
other day I was thinking this uh after
00:08:50
watching my best of finesse Mitchell DVD
00:08:53
I was THINKING WHY WHY HAS SNL BEEN
00:08:57
written about only slightly more than
00:08:59
World War II? Why not?
00:09:03
And today's show my goodness. How did
00:09:05
you land this guest? The hand up my ass.
00:09:10
Seriously, I'm worried. I'm I'm a little
00:09:12
concerned. This is your first season.
00:09:14
You've already run out of people we care
00:09:16
about.
00:09:17
>> No, Smiggle's a big deal. He wrote a lot
00:09:19
of great stuff. Hey, sure he is.
00:09:22
Everybody stay tuned. We've got the
00:09:24
fourth funniest guy from the the Bear
00:09:26
sketch.
00:09:29
>> And you have to explain what this sketch
00:09:30
was to people under 60.
00:09:34
It's trouble.
00:09:35
>> This is what you're looking forward to.
00:09:37
You already did Sandler, Rock, Mike
00:09:39
Myers. This is your future. This is
00:09:41
pretending to be interested in questions
00:09:44
like tell me in coming up with goat boy
00:09:47
which came first to you the goat or the
00:09:50
boy is it a boy who becomes a goat or a
00:09:53
goat who becomes a boy? Our listeners
00:09:56
really our 10 remaining listeners are
00:09:58
dying
00:09:59
>> there's more we didn't get the news.
00:10:02
>> No I kid I kid again.
00:10:04
>> Oh he's kidding Dana.
00:10:05
>> No your show's great. It's a very very
00:10:08
successful money grab. I mean hit
00:10:11
you have like how many subscri you got
00:10:13
like 400,000 listeners right? Yeah,
00:10:16
>> I'm going to say yes.
00:10:18
>> And not to this episode, that's for
00:10:19
sure. But up to now,
00:10:22
>> now here the all we can hope today is to
00:10:24
beat Alan's Y Bell's numbers
00:10:27
>> numbers.
00:10:28
>> And who better?
00:10:30
>> Who better to co-host this show than
00:10:32
Dana Carvey, one of the alltime greatest
00:10:35
cast members on Saturday Night
00:10:39
>> and then why why would you say that?
00:10:43
It's almost as if you think I'm going to
00:10:44
hurt your feelings. Oh, I think this
00:10:46
will be a compliment.
00:10:48
>> Exactly.
00:10:49
Dana Carvey, one of the all-time
00:10:51
greatest cast members of Saturday Night
00:10:53
Live, and David Spade, who was also on
00:10:56
the show.
00:10:58
>> No, Spade's everywhere. Spade is doing
00:11:00
great. He's everywhere. This is Dana,
00:11:02
this is actually a boost for you. You
00:11:04
know, audiences are connecting with you
00:11:06
again. That's what's great. I only wish,
00:11:08
Dana, that you did this show like 15
00:11:10
years ago, you know, when podcasts were
00:11:13
starting and all the people you do
00:11:15
impressions of were still alive.
00:11:19
>> Now it's like
00:11:20
>> I've lost a lot of them.
00:11:21
>> Now it's like, hey folks, what would
00:11:24
happen? What if Ross Perau and Jimmy
00:11:27
Stewart weren't rotting corpses slowly
00:11:30
disintegrating into the soil? So might
00:11:34
go something like the
00:11:37
Well, you're you're trying to be
00:11:38
president. Yeah, I can't finish one
00:11:41
time. I'll just do it there. I did.
00:11:43
>> Listen to your act. It's like the audio
00:11:46
six sense. I hear dead people.
00:11:51
>> I'm sorry. Is this wrong? This is a
00:11:54
podcast. You're supposed to You're
00:11:55
supposed to be complimenting each other
00:11:58
on
00:11:58
>> That's what it is, right?
00:12:00
>> I mean, yeah,
00:12:01
>> that's what podcasts are. White people
00:12:03
complimenting each other.
00:12:04
>> Yeah. We need more old white people.
00:12:06
Very nice.
00:12:07
>> Old white people complimenting. Old
00:12:10
white people. Old white people
00:12:12
compliment. I've got a theme song for
00:12:13
you.
00:12:16
>> Harmonize with me, Dana. Old white
00:12:18
people complimenting. Old white people.
00:12:21
Old white people.
00:12:21
>> Old white people.
00:12:23
>> It's very hard to do over Zoom. I just
00:12:25
realized.
00:12:26
>> I Yes.
00:12:27
>> Listen, Spade Spade,
00:12:31
>> I don't I don't want to uh insult you.
00:12:33
You had an amazing career.
00:12:35
>> Thank you.
00:12:35
>> Yeah. Tommy boy then starring in a
00:12:38
string of hit sitcoms that no one
00:12:41
remembers
00:12:44
waiting for him to fake laugh.
00:12:46
>> I'm laughing.
00:12:47
>> Hey,
00:12:48
>> and God bless Bernie Brilstein, right?
00:12:51
He started the whole thing off, right?
00:12:53
>> Calling the creators of Just Shoot Me
00:12:55
and gently coaxing Steve Levitan to hire
00:12:58
his client.
00:12:59
>> You need a comic relief guy.
00:13:02
>> I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't
00:13:04
mean to. No, it's hysterical. Easy trim.
00:13:07
>> Um,
00:13:10
snippity dippity.
00:13:11
>> No, I think we got to put people We got
00:13:13
to let them
00:13:14
>> No, that's that's uh showed your thing.
00:13:17
You did your thing.
00:13:17
>> Did Triumph hurt your feelings? I need
00:13:19
to know.
00:13:20
>> No,
00:13:20
>> not at all.
00:13:21
>> Little bit spade.
00:13:22
>> No, because I thought Triumph is a
00:13:23
little older now and maybe he was not
00:13:26
like that anymore.
00:13:27
>> No, no, it's like it's I'm older. That's
00:13:30
the problem. Like I didn't give a [ __ ]
00:13:32
about this when I started trying.
00:13:34
>> I I liked old white people complimenting
00:13:37
other old white people or something like
00:13:38
that. That was
00:13:39
>> We looked it up. There's 2.8 million
00:13:41
podcasts.
00:13:42
>> Are you kidding me?
00:13:44
>> It's like it's like co It's just there's
00:13:46
more every day and no one knows what to
00:13:47
do and people are getting affected with
00:13:49
it.
00:13:50
>> Here's what I've observed about this one
00:13:52
because I've listened to a few.
00:13:53
>> Okay.
00:13:53
>> And what's very funny to me, Spade, is
00:13:55
like you're one of the funniest persons
00:13:57
in the world. This is an old white
00:13:59
person. compliment
00:14:02
compliment.
00:14:02
>> But on this show,
00:14:05
>> it's all about
00:14:06
>> a life you lived when you were like in
00:14:08
the 90s and you're kind of have to
00:14:11
revert.
00:14:12
>> It's you're always reverting to that guy
00:14:15
at the show
00:14:16
>> who hadn't made it big yet. You're like
00:14:18
always like,
00:14:19
>> "Yeah, no, you guys were incredible and
00:14:21
I didn't know what to do."
00:14:22
>> Right. It's just funny to me that Spade,
00:14:26
who's had this amazing run.
00:14:30
>> Well, it does when we throw back,
00:14:33
>> everybody gets back in that around the
00:14:35
writer table and how [ __ ] ordering
00:14:38
Huxley's and all the stupid [ __ ] It
00:14:40
sort of throws you back to the dim
00:14:41
lighting and feeling like [ __ ] all the
00:14:44
time.
00:14:44
>> It was a stressful. Would you consider
00:14:46
it? I would say like I love the show so
00:14:50
much and people I met and worked with
00:14:52
and yet I was always stressed.
00:14:54
>> Yeah. I also remember how skinny your
00:14:57
little office was. Like I think people
00:14:59
thought it was some palatial place. It's
00:15:01
these little dungeons and then I would
00:15:03
go along the line and poke my head in to
00:15:05
see if I can get my name on anybody's
00:15:07
sketch.
00:15:09
>> Do you remember Do you remember what I
00:15:11
my affectionate nickname for you was?
00:15:13
>> No. What was it? Spudley.
00:15:15
>> No. Well, everybody had Spudley into the
00:15:17
noodles. No, Chief Not show
00:15:20
>> Chief Not Show because I was never in
00:15:22
the show.
00:15:24
>> It's so he was but
00:15:26
>> I wasn't in much. I think I went
00:15:27
>> You got in it in 9345.
00:15:30
>> I did go
00:15:31
>> once Dana left.
00:15:33
>> That's what was weird. It's so weird
00:15:34
because you were kind of pigeonholed. I
00:15:37
remember your audition.
00:15:38
>> Yeah.
00:15:39
>> And you were very funny, but you were
00:15:40
kind of like spade light. You weren't
00:15:42
like
00:15:43
letting your whole kind of
00:15:46
>> persona
00:15:47
>> persona come out later. Yeah.
00:15:49
>> And people like saw you as like this
00:15:50
nicel looking kind of blonde guy who did
00:15:52
some impression. I think you did Tom
00:15:54
Petty.
00:15:55
>> Yeah.
00:15:55
>> It was like oh he's going to be like a
00:15:57
Dana Carvey type
00:15:58
>> and then and Dana Carvey was still on
00:16:01
the show. So I think people didn't know
00:16:03
what to do with
00:16:04
>> I think I didn't but I also wasn't in in
00:16:06
full disclosure
00:16:08
thinking I was the new Dana Carvey. I
00:16:10
was like, "Are you this guy?" I go,
00:16:12
"This guy's the best guy." And he does a
00:16:14
million things. I go, "I got to find
00:16:16
what I can do." And luckily, like even
00:16:18
that Hollywood minute where Lauren I was
00:16:20
sort of teetering and then he's like,
00:16:22
"Well, just do more stuff like that cuz
00:16:23
that makes me a little different from
00:16:24
Dana." And then I could find my own
00:16:27
little niche or something. I don't know.
00:16:28
It was tough. It was very that that part
00:16:30
was tough.
00:16:31
>> Even the receptionist, which was like
00:16:32
the best sketch of that season.
00:16:35
>> Oh yeah. I remember someone in a high
00:16:38
position saying, "Yeah, but could Dana
00:16:40
play that?" No [ __ ]
00:16:42
>> No, of course he could.
00:16:44
>> I came in and played an alien, right?
00:16:47
Did I play? I felt bad because I said,
00:16:50
you know, it's always hard, smile, if
00:16:51
you're a writer and if you're a new
00:16:52
writer to put Mike Myers or Dana in
00:16:55
something where they don't have a lot to
00:16:56
do.
00:16:57
>> But, you know, in your head you're like,
00:16:58
"Oh, it'd be fun. I have access to all
00:17:00
these great people and I don't know."
00:17:02
They're quietly going, "Ah, it's not
00:17:04
that great." But Dana goes, "Yeah, I'll
00:17:06
do whatever." So I go, "You come in at
00:17:07
the end as an alien." I don't realize
00:17:09
they're gonna put him in like three
00:17:10
hours of makeup and hair. Remember, you
00:17:12
had a big bulbous head on.
00:17:13
>> I had a giant like, "Oh no, I can't put
00:17:16
Dana through this shit."
00:17:19
>> And it also makes sometimes
00:17:20
>> I was part of being on the team.
00:17:22
>> Yeah. You know what I have to say? No
00:17:24
one complain.
00:17:24
>> McKinnon still gets into crazy outfits
00:17:26
and says two lines in a sketch. I liked
00:17:28
on the 40th anniversary Steve Martin
00:17:30
goes in full King Tutt outfit for three
00:17:32
lines in a song or whatever cuz he's
00:17:36
committed and it's fun. I love it and
00:17:37
everyone's there to have fun.
00:17:38
>> And it's also like 70 million people are
00:17:40
watching that one.
00:17:42
>> It's all different. Yeah, you're right.
00:17:44
>> Everybody's Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, the
00:17:46
receptionist I mean it's it was so
00:17:49
exciting to see a new person kill too.
00:17:51
Like that's one of the great things on
00:17:54
the show when that happens. like uh that
00:17:56
guy James when he did Trump for the
00:17:59
first time this year.
00:18:00
>> Yeah, he was great.
00:18:01
>> It was like thrilling, you know.
00:18:03
>> Oh, it was amazing. Yeah.
00:18:05
>> And when audience finds it cuz I had
00:18:06
been sort of kicking around the show for
00:18:08
a while and that was a hard one to to
00:18:10
get on. I think it took a few swings.
00:18:12
>> Oh, the receptionist.
00:18:13
>> Yeah. And then it got on with MC Hammer
00:18:15
at 5 to one
00:18:16
>> and then the next time it got on first
00:18:18
sketch. So that with Ros. Yeah. With
00:18:20
Rosanne. There's really there's only
00:18:22
like three. So that's the one you
00:18:24
remember. It's like bye-bye. There's
00:18:26
there's only two of them, but you know,
00:18:27
if they remember what they remember, you
00:18:29
know.
00:18:29
>> Yeah. Church lady was on more than 20
00:18:31
times the first season.
00:18:34
>> More than they had shows. Were you on
00:18:36
twice?
00:18:37
>> An early chat and then they I do a good
00:18:39
night chat after Jack
00:18:41
>> DY show. We tried to sneak the church
00:18:43
lady into commercial shows. Remember
00:18:45
that?
00:18:45
>> Oh yeah.
00:18:46
>> For real. We did that. We were like, can
00:18:48
we superimpose the church lady or George
00:18:50
Bush over a commercial? Were you allowed
00:18:53
to use that stuff on on Dana Carvey
00:18:55
show?
00:18:55
>> I technically because of my contract
00:18:58
when I came in. I owned the church
00:19:00
slave.
00:19:01
>> It was very different back then. you
00:19:02
could like write you could write a list
00:19:05
of the characters that you created
00:19:07
before going to Saturday Night Live and
00:19:09
Dana had a long list
00:19:11
>> and so yeah nowadays it's the complete
00:19:14
opposite like they own everything and
00:19:16
then you have like after seven years you
00:19:19
have to do movies with the I don't know
00:19:22
>> just do a mandatory
00:19:23
>> I know then you do movies you go back to
00:19:24
the show it is different you do
00:19:26
commercials and movies and you miss
00:19:28
shows and you go back to the show it's
00:19:29
pretty cool for the cast I think
00:19:30
>> yeah it's really Yeah. And now that's
00:19:32
true now. Yeah. Leading up to this 50th,
00:19:35
they're all they're all they all come
00:19:36
and go.
00:19:37
>> They they told me to told me, my manager
00:19:39
said, "Write on the flight out there,
00:19:41
write all your characters and give them
00:19:43
to Jim Henry." And I'm sitting there
00:19:44
with a blank piece of paper on them.
00:19:46
Delta going, "I don't what characters?
00:19:48
What are you [ __ ] talking about? I'm
00:19:49
a standup." So I'd go, "Skateboard crazy
00:19:52
guy talks with the lisp." You know, I'm
00:19:54
just like making up something in case I
00:19:56
write it one day or in case it sounds
00:19:58
like a sketch I do and it clicks.
00:20:01
anything like yeah you need a man or
00:20:03
thing but Robert do you want to talk
00:20:05
about some of our hits
00:20:08
>> your big hits
00:20:09
>> me and you well you know together yeah
00:20:12
>> yeah well I mean I Dana so I was there
00:20:15
for a year
00:20:17
>> before Dana
00:20:18
>> and then I got in in ' 86 with Phil and
00:20:20
J6
00:20:22
and he was like someone I had I
00:20:24
connected with what I loved about Dana
00:20:27
was that he spade you'll understand this
00:20:30
like generally like passive aggressive
00:20:34
behavior rules at that show. Like who?
00:20:37
I'm good. I could possib No, my sketch
00:20:39
is terrible. Don't put my sketch on.
00:20:42
>> It couldn't possibly me. I'm I I'm being
00:20:44
paid. Like that's what And then there's
00:20:48
people like Love it who are like,
00:20:49
"What's going on?"
00:20:52
>> They're anti-semitic. That's why this
00:20:54
sketch didn't make it.
00:20:56
>> You know why they cut it? Because it's
00:20:58
funny. That's it. It was too good that
00:21:00
it was too funny. That's why they didn't
00:21:02
put it on. Yeah, I was John was great.
00:21:04
>> I was sadly a little closer to John. I
00:21:06
was like, "Robert, you have no poker
00:21:08
face." Lauren, I remember him telling
00:21:10
me.
00:21:11
>> There were people like me. I didn't
00:21:13
really make big stinks, though. But I
00:21:15
was, you know, imitating Lauren behind
00:21:17
his back like everybody eventually. Now
00:21:19
everybody I'm told I'm told you go to
00:21:21
the show now, everybody does Lauren.
00:21:24
>> Literally literally everyone
00:21:27
>> they all You've seen this? Have you
00:21:30
witnessed this?
00:21:31
>> Well,
00:21:32
>> that's what I heard.
00:21:33
>> James Austin Johnson had a good one. You
00:21:35
know, Bill Hater, of course. Any reason.
00:21:37
>> No, but I think people they say that
00:21:39
people just do it around the office.
00:21:40
>> Oh, just around you to each other.
00:21:43
>> Uh read through is going to start
00:21:45
everyone get to their seat, you know,
00:21:46
and that's like a first, right? But what
00:21:49
I loved about Dana was that he had he
00:21:52
just came in. He had a list of
00:21:55
impressions that he like handed out to
00:21:57
the writers. Like he wasn't
00:21:59
>> he didn't pretend that he was above
00:22:01
doing that
00:22:02
>> which was like so refreshing to actually
00:22:06
admit that you care
00:22:08
>> without being like cutthroat or
00:22:10
anything. He was just being
00:22:11
straightforward.
00:22:12
>> I just thought it made sense. I I was
00:22:14
able to do a bunch of voices. I thought,
00:22:15
well, let the writers know cuz I realize
00:22:18
you guys are just writing sketches and
00:22:20
if someone sees Casey Kasem or
00:22:22
something, maybe they put him in. I
00:22:23
don't know.
00:22:24
>> Of course, that's the best way to do it.
00:22:25
Here you go. Here you go, Jack. Handy.
00:22:27
Here you go, Odenkirk.
00:22:29
>> Robert, you approached me with was Robin
00:22:31
Leech doing some kind of Japanese
00:22:34
pruning or
00:22:36
>> I don't know why.
00:22:37
>> I don't remember.
00:22:38
>> Yeah, cuz you'd seen his name on the
00:22:39
list, but I had a catchphrase for that
00:22:41
one. I'm Robert Leech. I'm yelling and I
00:22:44
don't know why. Right.
00:22:45
>> So I had
00:22:45
>> I loved Robin Lee, but then it was Robin
00:22:48
Lee for everyone under 70.
00:22:51
>> But Robin Lee was such a lifestyle of
00:22:53
rich and famous.
00:22:54
>> Another one of a celebrity that is no
00:22:56
longer with us. One of my impressions,
00:22:58
you know, Dino Stapanopoulos, who our
00:23:00
listeners might know. Every time someone
00:23:02
I do an impression of passes away, he
00:23:04
texts me. Another one, another one down.
00:23:06
Whether it's Regis or Bush, you know,
00:23:09
>> you're going to kill in heaven, Dana,
00:23:11
someday.
00:23:13
>> Yeah.
00:23:15
I didn't know Dino did that.
00:23:16
>> I thought Robin Leech was so hilarious
00:23:18
and he had a great hook for it. I don't
00:23:21
know why.
00:23:21
>> Oh, no. Everything Dana I thought Dana's
00:23:23
Travolta was hysterical because it was
00:23:25
so it was so not what Travolta sounded
00:23:28
like in the 80s anymore.
00:23:30
>> It's just like he's basically doing an
00:23:32
exaggerated
00:23:34
welcome back Cotter.
00:23:35
>> Welcome back Cotter for everyone
00:23:37
>> listen to that. If you want to do a John
00:23:39
Travolta, just say the word weird. Is
00:23:42
slack so weird.
00:23:43
>> Slack
00:23:45
weird entry to that. But
00:23:47
>> slack, but also slack. So
00:23:50
>> what's that? What's that?
00:23:52
>> Well, it's like Dana would say slack so
00:23:55
weird.
00:23:56
>> Slack slack so weird. You know,
00:23:58
everybody should do whatever.
00:24:00
>> We very much connected because we liked
00:24:04
and doing we liked doing impressions
00:24:06
that were kind of abstract. We like
00:24:09
creating abstract impressions. And so,
00:24:12
you know, Dana had some under his belt
00:24:14
obviously and then I tried to help him
00:24:15
with, you know, Johnny Carson and Regis.
00:24:19
The Regis thing was very strange cuz
00:24:21
like I wrote it for Phil Hartman.
00:24:24
I wrote it for Phil Hartman and it went
00:24:25
to dress
00:24:27
>> and it didn't do great. And then Dana in
00:24:29
his gentlest non-cutthroat way just
00:24:32
happened upon me like a week later and
00:24:34
was like,
00:24:36
>> you know, I'm Regis is kind of small and
00:24:38
Irish and like I had just had a total
00:24:40
blank. I had just picked Phil because he
00:24:42
was the oldest cast member.
00:24:44
>> Yeah.
00:24:44
>> And I thought of I thought of him as
00:24:46
just okay, he's the old guy
00:24:48
comparatively. But Dana was absolutely
00:24:51
right. He looked more like Regis and
00:24:53
then he started doing him and
00:24:54
>> well I I didn't realize when I started
00:24:57
watching him in New York he had
00:24:58
essentially just just got on nationally
00:25:00
but we would get up around 9 Paul and I
00:25:02
and we would watch it and we just fell
00:25:04
in love with him.
00:25:05
>> Oh yeah shining guy in the world
00:25:07
>> and then getting to know you. Yeah. Just
00:25:10
hanging out in your office and we
00:25:11
started you know bouncing off. Are you
00:25:12
ready for this? This guy's crazy. You
00:25:15
got all the I think one of your things
00:25:17
very Robert Smeiggel or something about
00:25:19
you know I'm down at the Shriders and
00:25:20
I'm behind Broka I can I can't get a
00:25:22
seat you know. So we we bonded all
00:25:24
>> there was that thing of like the
00:25:26
explosion. This was something that he
00:25:28
really did on the show and THEN BROKA'S
00:25:31
GOT THE FRONT ROW SEAT AND I'M SITTING
00:25:33
WITH YOU KNOW PATRICK SEES IN THE IN THE
00:25:35
BACK. ANYWAY, it was a great event
00:25:39
>> and he takes a sip of his coffee.
00:25:40
Anyway, it was terrific. It's like he's
00:25:42
got nothing else. So, he just goes to
00:25:45
>> Joy was there. Joy.
00:25:46
>> Anyway, we wish them well. Oh, yeah.
00:25:47
When Joy hosted that was always uh Regis
00:25:50
was uh
00:25:51
>> But you can't let Dana around an
00:25:53
impression. He comes circling. It's like
00:25:55
all right, just give it to him. He's
00:25:56
going to figure it out.
00:25:58
>> So, and then his when he wrote his book,
00:25:59
they said we want to call it I'm out of
00:26:01
control. And he had to go out, you know,
00:26:02
all said I'm out of control.
00:26:05
>> That was something that made up Dana
00:26:07
Gardi made up, but I don't understand
00:26:09
Garnney. But um the you know one so we
00:26:13
had you know and then Carson came around
00:26:15
um yeah and just I started playing
00:26:18
around with it.
00:26:19
>> I think the Turners actually had written
00:26:21
the Carson sketch.
00:26:23
>> Did they?
00:26:24
>> And I looked at it. You showed it to me
00:26:26
and I had just a couple of moves in my
00:26:28
head and then it sort of brought out
00:26:29
some moves that you had.
00:26:32
>> Like the thing that
00:26:35
I love Johnny Carson so much. He was
00:26:37
like he was incredible voice
00:26:38
>> in the 70s when I was a teenager growing
00:26:40
up um I used to watch him constantly and
00:26:44
>> um he was so charismatic and he's still
00:26:46
the greatest ever but there was then
00:26:49
Letterman came on
00:26:50
>> in like the early 80s and immediately
00:26:55
>> got some you know
00:26:56
>> the ant show or whatever you want to
00:26:58
call that. Well, he was like reinventing
00:27:00
everything and then Johnny for no good
00:27:03
reason started feeling insecure about
00:27:06
it. You could see it on the show because
00:27:07
he started trying to do things that
00:27:09
Letterman was doing, but he didn't know
00:27:11
how to do it
00:27:12
>> the way Letterman did. Letterman would
00:27:14
just let them happen.
00:27:16
>> Johnny would be like, "We're about to do
00:27:18
something that's a little weird.
00:27:21
>> This is a little different. This is not
00:27:23
not the norm."
00:27:24
>> That's right. You know, we're going to
00:27:27
walk over. We're gonna take a camera and
00:27:29
it's gonna follow me. I can't do them as
00:27:31
well as you, Dana, but it was like your
00:27:34
jaw.
00:27:35
>> I'm gonna Yeah. Clench your jaw. Thank
00:27:36
you.
00:27:38
>> Camera is going to follow me and it's
00:27:40
going to walk out of the studio and I'm
00:27:44
going to go to another set. It's like,
00:27:46
okay, we
00:27:47
>> ask unusual questions to people.
00:27:49
>> Unusual questions that people are not
00:27:51
going to know is even they don't know
00:27:53
what's going to happen. All right, so
00:27:55
let's start doing it. Now, I'm walking.
00:27:57
See, I'm walking across and it was
00:27:59
>> this is a bit you were witnessing a bit.
00:28:01
>> It's a little weird. And so I was giving
00:28:04
him this a little weird had this
00:28:06
expression. He had a couple of things
00:28:08
like when Johnny
00:28:09
>> like calls people over to the comedians
00:28:12
like funny stuff. Funny stuff.
00:28:14
>> That was funny stuff. And then you had
00:28:16
weird wild that
00:28:17
>> weird wild stuff. And for those of you
00:28:18
at home, you're watching a thing called
00:28:20
a television. You know how you would
00:28:21
bring?
00:28:22
>> So then it became that where we just did
00:28:24
the overly setup
00:28:26
>> Johnny Carson thing and then it was so
00:28:28
dry. It was maybe the driest thing you
00:28:31
ever did on the show, Dana. And then but
00:28:33
it always Ed McMahon's
00:28:36
Ed McMahon's rhythmically kind of uh
00:28:39
>> Yes.
00:28:40
>> acknowledging it and um you know giving
00:28:42
it like just like yes, you were correct
00:28:45
sir would always make it work. was like
00:28:48
the fact that you would say these
00:28:49
strange things and then Ed would kind of
00:28:52
affirm them.
00:28:54
>> Yeah. He was the release button cuz but
00:28:56
that was the first time and I've said
00:28:57
this before but when I was on SNL and
00:29:00
wasn't concerned with the laughs I just
00:29:02
was having so much fun being Johnny and
00:29:05
when I got the wig on I am Irish Carson
00:29:07
Carvey my eyes are a little close
00:29:08
together and I I god I kind of look like
00:29:11
him you know and then I could just look
00:29:13
in the mirror and just uh just get into
00:29:15
that attitude of being just this
00:29:17
whatever that
00:29:18
>> you going to hair and makeup too it's
00:29:19
just that
00:29:20
>> really sets you up and um then the the
00:29:23
third rail of the ones that really had a
00:29:25
lot of episodes. Carson did Carcinio. We
00:29:28
could talk about that, too. Regis had a
00:29:29
lot of
00:29:30
>> love to talk about Carinio anyway.
00:29:32
>> Well, Carcinho, let's let's do that now.
00:29:34
>> That was the extension of the Carson
00:29:36
impression. We did this
00:29:38
>> we did one before that that actually did
00:29:41
piss Johnny off and and then they
00:29:43
>> I don't know I don't know if they asked
00:29:44
you to do that late night history show
00:29:47
but they asked me so I did it and I
00:29:48
talked about it
00:29:49
>> and then they edit it to make it look
00:29:51
like
00:29:52
>> we didn't really give a [ __ ] how Johnny
00:29:54
>> felt
00:29:55
>> responded to it and we did we were
00:29:57
really upset about it like we did this
00:30:00
sketch where
00:30:03
our so Chris Rock gets hired in like
00:30:05
1990
00:30:07
and um
00:30:08
>> plays our senior hall.
00:30:10
>> Yeah. Which he didn't do like I remember
00:30:12
I that's another guy I got to see
00:30:14
audition and he was hysterical and like
00:30:16
obviously
00:30:18
you know incredible obvious hire but I
00:30:20
remember asking Lauren does it matter he
00:30:23
doesn't seem to be an impressionist.
00:30:25
He'll do areno.
00:30:28
It was that.
00:30:29
>> Don't worry about uh Chris.
00:30:31
>> He's got the hair and he he can do our
00:30:33
sineo.
00:30:35
Just remember it's like
00:30:38
black guys on the show always have the
00:30:39
burden of having to do like every black
00:30:41
person.
00:30:42
>> Yes, we talked about that with Chris.
00:30:44
Yeah.
00:30:44
>> Oh, you did a
00:30:45
>> little bit. I think David brought it up.
00:30:47
>> Yeah, it is tough because everything
00:30:49
just gets assigned and no matter, you
00:30:51
know, if it's even closed. Okay, Chris,
00:30:53
you're doing Al Roker this week.
00:30:54
>> Exactly.
00:30:56
>> Yeah. Joe is diverse now.
00:30:58
>> Bit played an Asian character. I played
00:31:01
Tony Montana as like a Cuban character.
00:31:04
You know, I had a bigger
00:31:06
>> I wonder if you could write that,
00:31:08
Robert. Um, today is like, can you write
00:31:10
anyone to play anything but they are
00:31:12
what they are? I don't know how they do
00:31:14
it there. I wonder if they have meetings
00:31:15
and go, could I play this or
00:31:17
>> Oh, at SNL.
00:31:19
>> Yeah, at SNL.
00:31:20
>> Well, they definitely let women play
00:31:22
>> men.
00:31:22
>> Men?
00:31:23
>> Yeah,
00:31:24
>> they still let that happen. No, I know.
00:31:26
It's it's it's it's interesting because
00:31:28
like even like something like I mean I
00:31:32
totally blackface thing is obviously a
00:31:36
red flag and it's oddly it's something
00:31:38
we didn't do in our era and never found
00:31:40
it happening in the '9s.
00:31:42
>> Yeah.
00:31:42
>> The '9s were a strange time where it
00:31:45
seemed like the floodgates opened and
00:31:46
people were doing
00:31:48
>> exceptionally rude stuff. I don't know
00:31:50
if it's because cable was starting and
00:31:52
the networks felt the need to compete,
00:31:54
>> but
00:31:56
>> you try too hard and you go in different
00:31:57
directions that are sometimes wrong
00:31:59
directions. You just don't know and then
00:32:01
>> Yeah.
00:32:01
>> it levels out. Yeah.
00:32:03
>> But like I just did this puppet show
00:32:06
that uh failed whatever. like and and we
00:32:09
had this guy who we was going to do
00:32:11
Obama
00:32:12
>> and he had done Obama on the Conan show
00:32:15
for like three or four years and he just
00:32:17
sounded exactly like Obama.
00:32:19
>> So I wanted to hire him and then I found
00:32:22
out that he was white. I didn't realize
00:32:24
I had no idea. I just knew he sounded
00:32:26
exactly like Obama
00:32:28
>> and they said you can't hire him.
00:32:30
>> Do they ever call you now smile to uh
00:32:32
write or help or come off the bench and
00:32:34
uh
00:32:34
>> No, I I was there when Adam No, they
00:32:37
never called me. They don't
00:32:40
>> they um
00:32:41
>> although I actually sent Colin Jo an
00:32:43
idea this week and didn't didn't hear
00:32:45
back.
00:32:46
>> Didn't hear back.
00:32:48
>> It was an on a winour idea.
00:32:50
>> I thought
00:32:51
>> Don't don't try to give him Iraqi Pete.
00:32:53
That's Adams.
00:32:54
>> Actually, you would be great for this on
00:32:56
a win idea.
00:32:58
>> Is that me playing him or Dana?
00:33:00
>> No, I'm talking about Spade. It's It's a
00:33:02
very
00:33:03
>> Hey, it's a very
00:33:04
>> You could own that. Spade playing Anna
00:33:06
Winter. The idea was um that she uh it
00:33:11
was like an update feature where Anna
00:33:13
Winour is uh sitting next to somebody
00:33:16
like uh who's the guy? Jared Leto. He's
00:33:19
always wearing something insane.
00:33:21
>> They just had the Met Gala.
00:33:23
>> Yeah. Yeah. Jared Leto. Yeah. He's got
00:33:25
great,
00:33:25
>> you know. And then it was just going to
00:33:26
be on a win tour very quietly and dryly
00:33:29
and very stiff. uh insulting, you know,
00:33:33
um Michael Chase outfit, Michael Chase
00:33:36
suit, you know, like uh is this a
00:33:39
fundraiser for victims of fashion? And
00:33:43
then like um you know,
00:33:46
and then she turns to Colin Joes like,
00:33:48
you know, is that a suit or are you
00:33:50
being humped by a couch? And then she
00:33:53
starts getting rim shots and just starts
00:33:56
walking into the crowd and starts doing
00:33:59
>> walking around.
00:34:00
>> Yeah. walking around the eight. She
00:34:01
stands up and starts just doing crowd
00:34:03
work, but she's she's completely stiff,
00:34:06
you know, and it's just if that tie was
00:34:08
any louder, Marley Matlin could hear it.
00:34:14
>> Looks like Joseph A. Bank made it
00:34:16
tonight.
00:34:18
>> What if Triumph was at the Met Galler?
00:34:20
>> Yeah. What would he do? Crazy.
00:34:23
>> Actually, I've tried to I've wanted to
00:34:24
do the red carpet.
00:34:26
>> That's perfect. That's one of the few
00:34:27
things I've
00:34:28
>> I still want to do as triumph.
00:34:30
>> Please don't let triumph own Kim K.
00:34:35
>> Well,
00:34:36
>> she lost the
00:34:36
>> Now I have like these personal
00:34:38
relationships that I care about. Like I
00:34:40
would never touch her because
00:34:43
Pete Davidson's a friend.
00:34:45
>> Oh, friend of the show.
00:34:46
>> No, I He's a great guy. I know him. And
00:34:49
but like Dana, this is something
00:34:51
>> Well, we never talked about the Carson
00:34:53
thing, but this is another one that All
00:34:54
right. I don't know if you want to talk
00:34:56
about this, but
00:34:57
>> I'll talk about anything.
00:34:58
>> We're 30 or I'm 30 or 32 or whatever you
00:35:01
were
00:35:01
>> and Dennis gets bounced from his
00:35:05
syndicated show
00:35:07
>> and I have this idea to do Dennis is now
00:35:09
doing a cooking show,
00:35:11
>> right? Which we we called Dennis and he
00:35:13
said [ __ ] go ahead. Right.
00:35:15
>> You did call him.
00:35:16
>> I thought that I did.
00:35:17
>> Maybe you called him. I didn't call him.
00:35:19
>> Yeah, I believe I called him. Yeah,
00:35:22
>> I don't think we But that was like then
00:35:25
>> and I and I thought in my head I was
00:35:27
like this is my duty as a Saturday Night
00:35:29
Live sketch writer. I can't play
00:35:30
favorites,
00:35:32
>> you know?
00:35:32
>> I I this is my privilege to work.
00:35:34
>> Duty comes first.
00:35:36
>> Yeah. That's how I seriously I took it.
00:35:37
And now to show I would say by like the
00:35:40
time I was 40 I was like no I would
00:35:42
never do that again.
00:35:44
>> Yeah. Well, I don't think at that point
00:35:46
there was any sort of uh idea that
00:35:49
Dennis wasn't on his way with a career.
00:35:52
Like he'd done the black and white
00:35:53
special. He had the talk show, you know,
00:35:55
Dennis I mean all he did after that was
00:35:58
host an HBO show that got like 20.
00:36:00
>> Exactly. So to me to me I thought it was
00:36:03
so funny and the way you wrote it
00:36:05
Dennis's vernacular
00:36:07
>> in a in a daytime cooking show. I don't
00:36:09
know if you could quote some of that. I
00:36:10
mean, maybe it maybe you're right, but I
00:36:12
feel like I still wouldn't do it now. I
00:36:15
wouldn't be able to I'd be too nervous
00:36:16
about
00:36:18
>> whoever's feelings it was.
00:36:20
>> I I understand that. I I feel the same
00:36:22
way. I I like I kind of sometimes feel
00:36:25
bad for Biden when I see him sort of
00:36:27
lost or whatever. And so, it's different
00:36:29
doing it now. It's weird when you get
00:36:31
older and life kind of kicks you on the
00:36:33
nuts and and you learn what pain is and
00:36:36
uh
00:36:37
>> Yeah.
00:36:38
>> Well, you know how careers are so hard
00:36:40
and up and down, you're like, I'm going
00:36:41
to probably hurt someone's career
00:36:42
somehow accidentally.
00:36:44
>> You know who would
00:36:45
>> Biden's hair looks like a spiderweb. Go
00:36:47
ahead.
00:36:48
>> The one person who would always scold me
00:36:49
when I was even when I was younger, and
00:36:51
I guess it's because he was sensitive to
00:36:53
all the bad reviews he was getting was
00:36:56
Sandler. He was like like I was doing
00:36:59
those cartoons and they were going
00:37:00
really well.
00:37:01
>> Yeah. Yeah.
00:37:02
>> You know, and I would do a cartoon about
00:37:04
like David Brener or something. Yes.
00:37:06
>> Being a guest on a talk show and it was
00:37:08
fun with real audio. And I would use a
00:37:10
real David Brener story, but I would
00:37:12
have him going on every talk show and
00:37:14
each host would get bored and press a
00:37:16
trapoor button and he would fall down
00:37:18
and go like, you know, so he starts on
00:37:21
like the Tonight Show and then trap door
00:37:23
goes down to Conan and then it goes down
00:37:25
to like Tom Snider and then
00:37:27
>> hilarious.
00:37:28
>> I remember that one. Yeah.
00:37:30
>> Yeah. And it was really funny and
00:37:32
everybody I played it for Conan because
00:37:34
Conan was in it and he was laughing
00:37:36
really hard and then I get a call from
00:37:38
Stanley. You feel good about yourself,
00:37:39
bud? You feel good about that?
00:37:41
>> No.
00:37:41
>> That guy that What if that guy's home
00:37:43
watching? You know, he's like had a hard
00:37:45
day and he's watching the show and he's
00:37:46
like,
00:37:47
>> "Yeah,
00:37:47
>> what is this? Why? What did I do?"
00:37:50
>> Yeah. Why?
00:37:51
>> He did Brener, didn't he? Sandler could
00:37:52
do Brener on the show.
00:37:54
>> He did a great David Brener.
00:37:55
>> That's right.
00:37:56
>> But it wasn't nearly as mean as this
00:37:58
cartoon.
00:37:59
>> No, it wasn't mean. It wasn't.
00:38:00
>> Remember the one you did where you had
00:38:02
you had Steman hiding from Oprah in the
00:38:04
mansion?
00:38:05
>> Oh my god. That was that was from the
00:38:07
Comedy Central show. And it's
00:38:09
interesting you bring that up because
00:38:11
that was a cartoon I wasn't going to do.
00:38:14
It was one of those lines that I would
00:38:16
draw for myself which people are always
00:38:18
shocked. You had
00:38:20
>> lines. I did. But I I I like I didn't
00:38:22
like to make fun of drug addiction.
00:38:25
>> I I always felt like when people are,
00:38:28
you know, that desperate.
00:38:30
>> It's not funny. you know, it's it's
00:38:32
like, you know, everybody
00:38:35
>> it's easy to to reduce somebody to a
00:38:37
cartoon character,
00:38:38
>> but I that was one and another one was
00:38:41
women's looks. I really hated
00:38:44
>> making fun of a woman for her looks
00:38:47
because women are held up to these
00:38:49
ridiculous standards and uh it just felt
00:38:52
shitty. And so this Oprah one was Andy
00:38:54
Breman's premise. And it the premise was
00:38:57
that Steedman
00:38:59
uh every time Oprah wants to have sex.
00:39:02
Steedman has convinced Oprah that he's
00:39:04
an international spy.
00:39:07
And every time Oprah wants to have sex,
00:39:10
Steman pretends he's getting an alert
00:39:13
and he has to go off. I'm not making it
00:39:14
sound as funny as it was funny and so I
00:39:18
like it. I broke the rule because it was
00:39:21
just too funny. And it it remains like
00:39:24
one of the funniest cartoons I've ever
00:39:26
been involved in. And uh but it was Andy
00:39:29
Breckman's idea. Also one of the nicest
00:39:32
people I've ever worked with,
00:39:34
>> Andy Breman. And yet he had this idea
00:39:36
that I thought was too neat.
00:39:43
>> Ask him about the bears. The bears the
00:39:45
big one. I love it.
00:39:47
I just want to say very quickly that I
00:39:49
know that John McGlaclin, which you
00:39:51
completely created,
00:39:53
>> loved loved our sketch.
00:39:55
>> Oh yeah,
00:39:56
>> Regis loved it. Perau loved it. George
00:39:59
Bush Senior loved it. It was only sweet.
00:40:02
Johnny Carson got a little tweaked and I
00:40:05
don't
00:40:05
>> Carson, we should talk about this one
00:40:07
cuz it was like uh So yes, so Rock comes
00:40:10
on. I got I'm sorry. Cario comes on and
00:40:14
plays Arcio.
00:40:15
>> Rob comes on and plays Arsenio. And this
00:40:17
was at this time when Johnny
00:40:19
>> was getting sort of threatened by
00:40:21
Arsenio's presence. Arcenio was white
00:40:23
hot.
00:40:24
>> That's a bad choice of words I suppose,
00:40:26
but Arenio was like
00:40:28
>> on fire. Everybody was talking about him
00:40:32
and we did that thing of like now I
00:40:33
understand that this you know that would
00:40:35
overexlaining thing but in this case it
00:40:37
was like
00:40:38
>> I understand you have a show
00:40:40
>> Dana you should do it. you remember.
00:40:42
>> I understand you have a show and um it's
00:40:45
um
00:40:46
>> and it says here he was like looking at
00:40:48
his notes. It says here that your show
00:40:51
is up against my show.
00:40:53
>> Yes. And it says here I did not know
00:40:56
that and your ratings have actually gone
00:40:58
up higher than my mine starting to
00:41:01
decline.
00:41:02
>> Right. It's weird. Weird.
00:41:03
>> I did not know that. And now it says
00:41:06
here, it says further that your show is
00:41:08
considered hip
00:41:10
and mine I am starting to be considered
00:41:12
out of touch.
00:41:13
>> Yeah.
00:41:14
>> I did not. Did you know that?
00:41:16
>> Yes.
00:41:18
>> A really sad yes.
00:41:20
>> Yes.
00:41:21
>> But but the thing that Johnny got
00:41:23
maddest at, Dana,
00:41:25
do you remember this? It was the first
00:41:27
guest. We had a throwaway first guest
00:41:29
before we bring on our cine.
00:41:32
>> Susan Day, right? It was Susan Day and I
00:41:35
had written it for Chenade O' Conor for
00:41:37
Jan Hooks to play Chenade
00:41:39
>> because she had already done it and it
00:41:41
was hilarious and um she's very serious
00:41:43
and you know you guys are just would be
00:41:45
doing
00:41:46
>> not a not a lot of hair on her head.
00:41:49
That is that is that is quite a dome you
00:41:51
know all that kind of stuff.
00:41:52
>> A little smooth on the upper turf.
00:41:56
>> Yeah.
00:41:56
>> Yeah. Okay.
00:41:57
>> Not a hairy woman sir.
00:42:00
>> From ear to ear not a lot going on.
00:42:02
Lauren was like, uh, you know, she's
00:42:05
done Chenade, she does a killer Susan
00:42:07
Day, which she had done once on the
00:42:08
show, and it was killer.
00:42:10
>> So Lauren suggested,
00:42:12
>> Lauren suggested, and it wasn't like it
00:42:14
wasn't funny. He suggested, what if he
00:42:16
has Susan Day on, but he keeps wanting
00:42:18
to talk about the Partridge family
00:42:20
>> and it had been years since it'd gone
00:42:22
off. Yeah.
00:42:23
>> Yes. And so that was how we wrote it.
00:42:25
And then Johnny took it
00:42:28
as like, are you seeing this, Ed? He
00:42:30
really, he said this on the show.
00:42:31
They're saying I'm scenile.
00:42:34
>> Mhm.
00:42:34
>> He literally thought we were now calling
00:42:36
him scenile
00:42:38
>> all because we had changed that opening.
00:42:41
>> That was the one that I thought was
00:42:42
Yeah. Yeah. He said it on He said it as
00:42:46
Dana or he
00:42:47
>> No. Johnny said it on his own show. He
00:42:50
started
00:42:51
>> Wow. Wow.
00:42:51
>> bitching
00:42:53
>> about Saturday Night Live on his own
00:42:55
show. And Dana,
00:42:57
I heard you say this to Regis and it
00:42:59
broke my heart because I had never heard
00:43:00
this. You said to Regis in an interview
00:43:03
like I don't know five, six years ago. I
00:43:05
saw
00:43:06
>> you said that you heard that Johnny said
00:43:11
when they start making fun of you, it's
00:43:13
time to go away.
00:43:15
>> Well, he would say it over at in Burbank
00:43:19
in the hallway, the big giant studio,
00:43:21
and just yell it out. They're making fun
00:43:23
of me now. It's time to go. Yeah, that
00:43:26
that that
00:43:27
>> but what what I realize and I would take
00:43:29
it for anyone in show business that
00:43:32
eventually
00:43:33
>> you become a characture of yourself if
00:43:36
you're a comedian. It doesn't matter.
00:43:38
You I don't want to name the person. You
00:43:40
could see someone and kind of go is that
00:43:42
a celebrity impersonator or is that the
00:43:44
real guy? So you do become a caricature
00:43:46
of yourself. It's kind of flattering.
00:43:48
But you know for Johnny I couldn't get
00:43:51
on the show after that.
00:43:53
body from SNL did for a year
00:43:55
>> and he really took it took it to heart
00:43:58
and so then
00:43:58
>> it was heartbreaking for us but then
00:44:01
>> then I think I also heard from you
00:44:04
back then. So then we did the Carinio
00:44:07
sketch which was basically Johnny
00:44:09
>> as trying to be like Arcenio.
00:44:11
>> Trying to be like Arsenio Hall and it
00:44:13
was a big hit sketch. He had the pointy
00:44:15
hair and had elongated fingers.
00:44:18
>> Yeah.
00:44:18
>> And he would do you see this head? All
00:44:20
you have to do is go whoop whoop whoop
00:44:22
and the audience goes whoop whoop whoop.
00:44:25
>> Do you know that a house is called a
00:44:26
crib? Ed, did you know that?
00:44:29
>> I did not know that. Yeah. Yeah.
00:44:31
>> You know, Robert, I did Carson two
00:44:33
months before he quit as standup.
00:44:35
>> Oh wow.
00:44:36
>> And he came back to the back and he
00:44:39
goes, "Who hates Dana Carvey?" I go, "I
00:44:41
do." And he goes, "That's my boy."
00:44:43
>> Really?
00:44:43
>> No, he No, he didn't. He came back and
00:44:45
said hi to me. But I remember it was
00:44:46
very hard to get on the show. I did do
00:44:49
it two months before he got off. And he
00:44:51
did come back, but he came back.
00:44:53
>> And you were on Saturday Night Live. You
00:44:54
broke the code.
00:44:55
>> No, I I was I on I went off in 93, I
00:44:59
believe.
00:45:00
>> You were absolutely on the show, Dave.
00:45:02
>> Yeah. Okay. Okay. For sure.
00:45:03
>> But let me just say this real quick.
00:45:05
Carvey told me that that he liked the
00:45:09
Carcinio sketch, but he said, "What do
00:45:12
you say? It makes fun of both of us."
00:45:13
>> You know, they're making fun of Arseno
00:45:15
as much as they're making fun of me. I
00:45:16
mean that that that's funny stuff, you
00:45:18
know, that kind of thing.
00:45:19
>> So So I remember feeling a lot better
00:45:21
about And then and then he did start
00:45:23
letting people on the show again.
00:45:26
>> No.
00:45:27
>> I mean I I was saying I got on somehow
00:45:29
and uh
00:45:30
>> I don't know just did my crummy act and
00:45:32
got out of there. But uh he he did he
00:45:35
waved me over Mike. I say that
00:45:37
>> and I left. I didn't go.
00:45:40
>> You gave him the finger.
00:45:42
>> Well the guy backstage Macaulay said he
00:45:45
goes get on there. hit your mark and get
00:45:46
off. And I go, "What if Johnny waves you
00:45:49
over?" And he goes, "He won't. Just go
00:45:50
do it." And I go, "Oh my god."
00:45:52
>> So I went out and turned and left and he
00:45:54
goes, "There he is." And
00:45:57
come over. He goes,
00:45:58
>> he goes, "Martin Short was with him."
00:46:00
And he goes, "Have him come over." And
00:46:01
he goes, "I'm trying to, but he won't
00:46:02
look at me." And he goes, "He's too
00:46:04
nervous." All right. There he goes. All
00:46:05
right. Well, that was David Spade.
00:46:06
>> He said that on the air.
00:46:08
>> Yeah.
00:46:08
>> That's amazing.
00:46:09
>> And then he came backstage.
00:46:11
>> Where were you? Uh, and I went, "What
00:46:13
the [ __ ] were you me there with egg?"
00:46:15
>> I had my shirt off.
00:46:17
>> You made a [ __ ] fool.
00:46:19
>> Yeah. And it was a bo [ __ ] torrential
00:46:21
storm back in my room cuz I was so
00:46:23
scared. I have my shirt off and I have
00:46:24
Pepto-Bismol. And they knock and I open
00:46:26
and it's it's Ed, I think, Doc and
00:46:29
Johnny. And he goes, "Uh,
00:46:31
>> all three of you.
00:46:31
>> I didn't." Yeah. He goes, "I didn't." He
00:46:33
goes, "I didn't get a chance to say good
00:46:36
job. I wanted I come over and nice job."
00:46:39
And I go, "Oh, I didn't even see you or
00:46:40
whatever." And he goes, "Pepto-Bismol,
00:46:43
I'm trying to quit the stuff myself."
00:46:45
And then he walked away. Isn't that
00:46:47
great? It's terrible.
00:46:48
>> That's a fantastic story.
00:46:49
>> He did a bit.
00:46:51
>> He did a bit, but in in reality, he was
00:46:54
um he was broken inside and he he went
00:46:57
around the office and says, "When they
00:46:59
start not not coming over to the couch,
00:47:02
it's time to
00:47:03
>> Who put you up to this?" Dana Carvey
00:47:05
that [ __ ]
00:47:08
>> So, it's you, Spain.
00:47:09
>> Yeah. You're the one who pushed him out.
00:47:12
>> Let's go. Let's go. Ed. Ed, let's go
00:47:14
back and find him. John, come on. LET'S
00:47:15
GO.
00:47:16
>> I'LL HIT HIM HIGH. YOU hit him low.
00:47:19
>> Hit him.
00:47:20
>> Well, talk about McLaclin, too, because
00:47:22
we Well, that was a great McLaclin
00:47:24
group.
00:47:24
>> John McLaclin ran a round table.
00:47:28
>> Well, we got to everyone know you did
00:47:30
Mclaclin. You did the Bears. So many.
00:47:32
You did Clucky [ __ ] Gaga.
00:47:35
>> Hey, what did you help me with the
00:47:38
Clucky or or Schmidz gay? You helped me
00:47:40
with one of those two.
00:47:41
>> I was almost in Schmidz for a rough
00:47:43
draft and then it went to Sandler and
00:47:44
>> Farley. It went to far that was that was
00:47:46
Downy's idea and it was a brilliant call
00:47:49
to take the two youngest guys in the
00:47:51
cast and make them the guys. That was
00:47:53
that was
00:47:53
>> What was I was I older than them?
00:47:56
>> I originally I had it as Dana and Kevin
00:47:58
because I thought it this is going to be
00:47:59
the first sketch of the year
00:48:01
>> and Dana and Kevin are the guys and then
00:48:03
I don't remember a draft with you. No,
00:48:06
someone maybe Shoemaker or someone said,
00:48:08
"I think you're in this."
00:48:09
>> Remind me what this sketch is. Gay.
00:48:12
>> Oh. Oh. Oh. Schmidz Gay. That was a
00:48:14
became a film, didn't it?
00:48:15
>> That was a big one. Yeah. Yeah.
00:48:17
>> No. You think it was the ambiguously gay
00:48:18
duo?
00:48:19
>> No. I was thinking commercial.
00:48:20
>> Sandler and Farley did something by a
00:48:23
pool.
00:48:24
>> Yeah. With Van Hal.
00:48:25
>> It was a parody of all those uh
00:48:27
>> So that that was,
00:48:28
>> you know, sexist beer commercials. It's
00:48:31
one of the ones I'm most proud of.
00:48:34
hysterical, but that ended up being
00:48:36
>> also like that the gay people weren't
00:48:38
like portrayed in any kind of like
00:48:40
mocking way, right?
00:48:42
>> The whole joke was turning the tables on
00:48:45
these objectifying these ridiculous
00:48:48
commercials that associate beer with
00:48:50
objectifying women.
00:48:52
>> And it just got this huge
00:48:55
It got one of the biggest responses.
00:48:57
>> So great Halen song in it. Oh yeah.
00:49:00
>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. and Farley and Sandler
00:49:03
doing the conga line. Yeah, it was
00:49:05
amazing.
00:49:06
>> But um but Spade, I thought you either
00:49:08
helped me with that or cluck and
00:49:09
chicken, which is my personal favorite.
00:49:11
>> Oh, cluck and chicken. I don't know. I
00:49:12
mean, sometimes I just get in there and
00:49:13
try to help anywhere.
00:49:14
>> I think you threw in I think you threw
00:49:16
me some jokes in there.
00:49:17
>> Maybe I threw you gaga gagi.
00:49:20
>> That sounded like me. The gag
00:49:24
me.
00:49:25
>> Oh, I love uh uh Sandler's voice. And
00:49:28
that was so funny. That was a cartoon.
00:49:30
That was half cartoon commercial parody.
00:49:33
>> Yeah, cartoon. Yeah, cartoon super.
00:49:35
That's how I met the guy JJ Settlemeer
00:49:38
who ended up doing um the first few
00:49:40
years of fun TV funhouse
00:49:42
>> cartoon V5 house. Welcome back to my
00:49:45
show. You But you put Lauren's voice in
00:49:47
there. Did anyone say anything?
00:49:49
>> That's maybe the hardest I've ever
00:49:51
laughed in my life because I became a
00:49:54
10-year-old again. Like the way I would
00:49:57
when I was 10, I would draw cartoons of
00:49:58
my teachers, that kind of thing.
00:50:00
>> Yeah.
00:50:00
>> And when a teacher would see, I would
00:50:03
like giggle like
00:50:05
and I remember the first time
00:50:08
>> you saw the dress rehearsal that the
00:50:10
ambiguously gay duo ran and and then
00:50:13
this little cartoon Lauren comes out and
00:50:15
chases the dog. Lego my show. LEGO MY
00:50:19
SHOW. AND I'M WATCHING Lauren watch it.
00:50:22
>> Oh my god.
00:50:22
>> And I'm just in tears. I was like, you
00:50:26
know, Lauren would call it, you put a
00:50:28
beanie on the boss.
00:50:29
>> You put a
00:50:32
>> What is that? Just make fun of the boss
00:50:34
or a beanie on the boss.
00:50:35
>> It's like it's like reducing the boss to
00:50:37
a, you know, lower status. It's like he,
00:50:40
you know, Lauren had a term for every
00:50:42
comedy move in the world.
00:50:43
>> Totally.
00:50:45
>> I've seen every sketch four times, you
00:50:47
know, so it's hard for me. Everything
00:50:50
you've anyone's written, I've seen a
00:50:51
version of it in my
00:50:53
>> One of my favorite recent Lauren ones
00:50:55
within the last 5 years around funny
00:50:57
people, people that do comedy. There's
00:51:00
only 900 of us on the planet.
00:51:02
>> Oh, really?
00:51:04
>> Yeah. It's a specific number like Well,
00:51:07
maybe that's true. I don't know.
00:51:08
>> We did run some numbers.
00:51:09
>> He's down to 898.
00:51:11
>> Yes. If you don't count Steve and Marty,
00:51:15
>> Steve counts for three. Marty, he counts
00:51:18
for a hundred.
00:51:19
>> I think uh Robert asked that good.
00:51:21
>> Didn't we ask William Shatner if he was
00:51:24
okay with that sketch you wrote? I think
00:51:26
he was right.
00:51:27
>> Oh, yeah. I pitched it to him
00:51:28
>> and he like sketch.
00:51:30
>> Yeah, that was a big famous sketch that
00:51:31
you wrote. Still resonates all the time.
00:51:34
>> That's a big big one.
00:51:35
>> Well, I have an affinity for nerds
00:51:37
because I was an SNL nerd. I was big a
00:51:40
nerd as anybody. I was completely in awe
00:51:43
of the show when I got there. I like
00:51:46
knew who Edie Baskin and Leo Yoshimura
00:51:49
were. Like I memorized them. That's how
00:51:52
pathetically nerdy I was.
00:51:54
>> So yeah, like you know, a lot of my most
00:51:57
famous stuff has to do with like Triumph
00:51:59
and the Star Wars line
00:52:01
>> is one of my happiest memories because I
00:52:04
was like making fun of them, but I felt
00:52:07
an affinity toward them at the same
00:52:09
time. The the nerds waiting online for
00:52:11
Star Wars and Triumphs. Uh they were all
00:52:14
like they all took it so well. They were
00:52:18
all just comedy fans. It was like uh
00:52:20
>> Yeah. It was like when it was like Have
00:52:23
you guys did you guys I'm sure you
00:52:25
spayed espec you both probably got to
00:52:26
meet Don Rickles, right?
00:52:28
>> Yeah, I did. Yep.
00:52:30
>> Did he insult you when he met you the
00:52:31
first time?
00:52:32
>> Do do an impression of a gorilla is what
00:52:34
he said to me.
00:52:35
>> Oh, really? Yeah. you know, uh, Smag's
00:52:39
on, um, one time, uh, Chris Farley took
00:52:42
his mom to see him on one of the breaks
00:52:43
on the weeks off and he goes and he
00:52:45
goes, I go, "What happened?" He goes,
00:52:47
"We sat right in the front row." And,
00:52:49
uh, he goes, Rickles comes over to him
00:52:52
in the middle and goes, "What's your
00:52:54
name, Tiny?"
00:52:55
>> And he goes, "Uh, he goes, my name's
00:52:58
Chris." And he goes, "How much you
00:53:00
weigh, Chris?" And he goes, "About 260."
00:53:02
He goes, "Hm, the left side of your ass,
00:53:04
maybe.
00:53:07
And then he went to the next table.
00:53:08
>> Yeah. Then he just
00:53:09
>> So he knew that it was Chris, right?
00:53:11
>> I don't know. I don't know. It's just
00:53:12
all funny.
00:53:13
>> So funny. He's just like, I'm just going
00:53:15
to treat him like anybody else.
00:53:17
>> Yeah. He just goes, "There's a fat guy
00:53:18
in the front, sir. Maybe go for him."
00:53:20
>> Yeah.
00:53:21
>> He has a little bug in his ear when he
00:53:23
got older. Fat guy. Three. Three
00:53:26
>> lady wearing a flower box hat.
00:53:29
>> Take four steps to the right. Fat guy
00:53:30
alert.
00:53:31
>> Closer. That's him. That's him.
00:53:34
>> Get him.
00:53:36
I took it as a badge of honor. I love
00:53:39
being ripped by
00:53:40
>> Oh, yeah. When when I met him, I was a
00:53:42
producer at the Conan show, I think. Or
00:53:43
no, I was doing Triumph,
00:53:45
>> I think.
00:53:46
>> And I did it for for Rickles, but but I
00:53:49
met him first. They introduced me
00:53:51
because they wanted to make it okay that
00:53:54
it, you know, make sure he would be cool
00:53:55
with it.
00:53:56
>> And he sees me and he just says, "Hello,
00:53:58
Rabbi." Which I later heard was a move
00:54:02
he had for a lot of Seemetic.
00:54:05
That was his move.
00:54:06
>> Like John Stewart told me once that that
00:54:08
was the first thing he said to John
00:54:09
Stewart when he
00:54:10
>> I'm Yeah, he had his biggest just a good
00:54:13
safe offensive across the board thing to
00:54:15
say.
00:54:15
>> Yeah, you know, we've all got our
00:54:17
standard zingers
00:54:18
>> going full full circle toward the end.
00:54:20
>> You think Triumph never said the buzz
00:54:22
around flies around my ass before.
00:54:25
You're sadly right.
00:54:26
>> There's only so many mathematical ways
00:54:29
to get a ass joke. Okay, they can be
00:54:32
flying around. But Regis told me once,
00:54:35
this was to when when Rickles was still
00:54:37
on the road, you know, honest to God,
00:54:39
some nights you don't know if he's going
00:54:40
to make it. They give him two eyeballs.
00:54:41
He's rubbing his knees. Honest to God, I
00:54:44
don't know. When they play the music, he
00:54:45
goes out and he kills him for an hour,
00:54:47
kid. Then he lies down.
00:54:48
>> I like I like honest to God.
00:54:50
>> Honest to God.
00:54:50
>> Honest to God, who's better than Robert
00:54:53
Smeaggel? Honest to God, this guy, he's
00:54:55
everywhere. I mean, you know, it really
00:54:56
is.
00:54:57
>> He was really nice to me, too. I You
00:54:59
know, one time, this is insane.
00:55:01
I had an idea for a sitcom and it's one
00:55:04
of the happiest half hours of my whole
00:55:06
life. I got to sit in a hotel room and
00:55:08
pitch Larry King and Regis Philin a
00:55:11
sitcom where they played an old gay
00:55:13
couple
00:55:15
and they took it dead serious like this
00:55:17
is a great idea and they had already
00:55:20
like consulted Rickles about it and
00:55:23
Larry King's like Rickles says we can do
00:55:25
it but we can't be too swishy swish
00:55:30
and um you know we would just talk about
00:55:32
it and Regis the funniest was Regis he
00:55:34
was like so Bob, again, I apologize for
00:55:37
my inferior reges, but it's like,
00:55:39
>> so if we do this, you know, I know
00:55:41
there's going to be a script, but not
00:55:43
not really, right? I mean,
00:55:45
>> you know, we can get out there and Larry
00:55:46
and I can just go off, right? Just play
00:55:49
off each other, right? Oh, there's a
00:55:51
story to the, you know, it's a sitcom.
00:55:54
It's got to happen. Yeah, but Bob, I
00:55:56
mean, yeah, Bob,
00:55:57
>> learning lines and Yeah. I mean, we have
00:56:00
a natural thing, Bob. Uh,
00:56:03
>> Rickles says, Rickles says we just have
00:56:05
to look natural. I'm like, when did
00:56:07
Rickles become the oracle of Su
00:56:09
everything by Rickles?
00:56:11
>> Mr. CPO Sharky.
00:56:13
>> CPO Sharky 1975. Yeah.
00:56:16
>> If if you have a copy of that treatment,
00:56:17
can you send it to me and Dana?
00:56:19
>> Um,
00:56:19
>> I don't think I ever bothered to write
00:56:21
it. Somehow they said yes
00:56:23
>> to just meeting with me for a half an
00:56:25
hour. One one one other thing
00:56:28
>> that Smiggle has that's one of the
00:56:30
funniest titles is the autism benefit.
00:56:33
The night of too many stars.
00:56:36
>> It's the funniest thing.
00:56:36
>> Both of you have done.
00:56:38
>> Of course.
00:56:38
>> Thank you. One. Well, both of you have
00:56:39
done it.
00:56:40
>> You
00:56:42
um you've done it a couple of times.
00:56:44
Dana, you did the first one and it was
00:56:46
one of the greatest bits that it's ever
00:56:48
been on that. We've done like seven of
00:56:49
them.
00:56:50
>> What was it?
00:56:50
>> Well, Hal Wilner, rest his soul.
00:56:53
>> Yes. music
00:56:54
>> was an incredibly great guy who uh was
00:56:56
the music um
00:56:57
>> supervisor
00:56:58
>> supervisor at Saturday Night Live and
00:57:00
>> for 200 years
00:57:02
>> for 200 years. He missed the first um
00:57:05
300 and he um he would help me book he
00:57:10
knew everybody in music.
00:57:12
>> Yeah. and he would help me book the show
00:57:15
with, you know, he we had a booker who
00:57:18
would be paid and then Hal for free
00:57:19
would get me, you know, he got me Elvis
00:57:22
Costello once, he got me Sting and this
00:57:25
particular bit he got me Lou Reed and it
00:57:27
was like a surprise appearance. the
00:57:29
people in Rosland. You remember we did
00:57:30
this in Rosland and they were crazy.
00:57:33
>> And Lou Reed comes out and it's like
00:57:35
Jimmy Fallon saying Lou Reed and he's
00:57:37
gonna have an all-star band
00:57:39
>> and then one by one he introduces the
00:57:41
all-star band and it's all comedians.
00:57:45
>> Mhm.
00:57:45
>> It's on the drums Dana Carvey on the
00:57:48
guitar. Con O'Brien
00:57:50
>> I think Sandler was there too.
00:57:52
>> Jack Black, Adam Sandler, and Lou Reed
00:57:54
played it perfectly like this is the
00:57:56
all-star band. And and then they did
00:57:59
this incredibly
00:58:01
funny, somewhat disrespectful,
00:58:04
but affectionate
00:58:07
>> version of Walk on the Wild Side.
00:58:09
>> Oh, I love it.
00:58:09
>> And it's on it's it's on YouTube and and
00:58:12
Sandler literally like is right in his
00:58:14
face going
00:58:24
Lou Reed got mad at me. It was very
00:58:26
awkward. I still remember it.
00:58:29
>> Yeah. After the rehearsal, I didn't
00:58:30
really have a monitor. I could hear it.
00:58:32
He used to go and take a walk on the
00:58:33
wild side. So, he very seriously as
00:58:35
everyone scattered just walked over to
00:58:37
me and just was intense Lou Reed and
00:58:39
goes, don't do that. Don't do that.
00:58:41
>> Don't do what?
00:58:42
>> Whatever he thought I was doing on the
00:58:43
drums. I go, I'm a comedian and I can't
00:58:45
air myself. Don't play like that. You
00:58:47
know, he just got very serious. Maybe it
00:58:49
was nerves. But then we came out later,
00:58:50
he was totally affable. He was probably
00:58:53
just that that was the only thing he
00:58:55
probably cared about was that it sounded
00:58:56
good.
00:58:57
>> Right. And I wanted I wanted to I wanted
00:58:59
to play well. I just that my monitor
00:59:01
drummer and and and you did you did it
00:59:03
sounds amazing.
00:59:04
>> Oh, that's good. I guess I got it on the
00:59:06
air show. We just had a brief rehearsal.
00:59:08
>> Absolutely. It was kind of an incredible
00:59:12
>> Adam's a great guitarist and Conan's a
00:59:14
good guitarist and and Jack Black's I
00:59:17
mean these are like all the most
00:59:18
musical. They just happened to all be
00:59:20
there
00:59:21
>> and that song is brilliant but it is
00:59:22
very very austere and very simple which
00:59:25
is you know take you know it's like
00:59:29
>> it was perfect and everybody got a turn.
00:59:31
>> Mhm.
00:59:31
>> Uh you didn't cuz you were the drummer
00:59:33
but every all these other guys did solos
00:59:36
in their different ways
00:59:37
>> right you know
00:59:38
>> and um
00:59:39
>> I learned a few things from Smiggle
00:59:40
today. I learned that Franken and Davis
00:59:42
hired him.
00:59:44
>> Franken and Davis hired me. That is
00:59:46
correct. His dad invented crest white
00:59:48
strips.
00:59:49
>> No, that's not true.
00:59:50
>> Okay. I invented I I heard that he
00:59:53
>> tooth bonding. He he was the he
00:59:55
developed the whole tooth bonding
00:59:57
technique.
00:59:58
>> Right. And I and Lou Reed hates Dana
01:00:00
Carvey. These are the only things I
01:00:01
picked up. Another one of my impressions
01:00:03
has gone to the stars. I have insight
01:00:05
insight onto this involves you. Someone
01:00:09
told me today. So Michael Gordon wants
01:00:11
to go right for the the Conan show. He
01:00:15
talks to Bob Bob Odenkirk
01:00:18
and Bob Odenkirk said, "Wait, wait till
01:00:21
we get Smiggle as the headwriter."
01:00:24
And then somehow you got you became the
01:00:27
head writer and then
01:00:28
>> Oh, you're talking about the original
01:00:30
Conan Show. I thought you meant Michael
01:00:31
Gordon wants to write for the new Conan.
01:00:33
>> Oh, sorry. This is always back in time
01:00:35
when they But he said
01:00:37
>> Michael Gordon knew Bob Odenkirk.
01:00:39
>> I think so. Or at least casually. Hey.
01:00:42
A, that's so funny.
01:00:44
>> Dana, so good. SO FUNNY.
01:00:46
>> OH MY GOD, that's so funny. Oh my god.
01:00:51
No, you're not doing that, are you? No.
01:00:53
Was he mad about Chipos? Cuz there's a
01:00:55
rumor down said I was really mad about
01:00:57
it and I wasn't.
01:00:58
>> Yeah, that was something Downey read
01:01:00
online. He read online that you It was
01:01:02
the most ridiculous lie imaginable that
01:01:04
you like marched into Lauren's office.
01:01:06
>> I just like you people.
01:01:10
You you you were like you'd been there
01:01:12
for like four weeks.
01:01:13
>> Yeah. I go, you know what, Marcy would
01:01:15
have
01:01:15
>> talked to the last per you could have
01:01:17
been there for 5 years. You never would
01:01:18
have pounded on Lauren's door.
01:01:21
>> That was clearly made up. But there's a
01:01:23
comfortity around
01:01:24
>> was that exploitive of Chris or not?
01:01:27
People have their difference opinions.
01:01:29
when he did the Chip and Dale sketch
01:01:30
with his shirt on.
01:01:31
>> I thought that I thought the opposite
01:01:34
which was I mean I just have an inherent
01:01:38
I thought the people were not laughing
01:01:40
at Chris. I didn't see it that way. I
01:01:42
thought cuz there have been a million
01:01:44
fat comedians who you know exploit their
01:01:48
bodies in some way or another play off
01:01:50
being sure
01:01:51
>> heavy
01:01:52
>> Jackie. The thing that
01:01:54
>> I saw that night was an audience fall in
01:01:57
love with Chris
01:01:58
>> because he was so committed and he was
01:02:00
such a good dancer
01:02:01
>> and he wasn't he acted like he wasn't
01:02:04
remotely ashamed
01:02:05
>> of his body. You know that whether
01:02:07
that's you know obviously not
01:02:09
necessarily the truth but that's what he
01:02:11
projected. Mhm.
01:02:13
>> And to me it was like if anything they
01:02:16
didn't use the word empowering back then
01:02:18
but to me that's how it felt to me like
01:02:21
you know the way somebody like Bridget
01:02:24
Everett where the person is
01:02:27
>> you know completely unself-conscious
01:02:29
about
01:02:31
their body. At least it played that way
01:02:33
to me. But, you know,
01:02:34
>> I would say this. I would say if you saw
01:02:38
that in Chris, if you felt that that
01:02:41
that was happening to Chris, then maybe
01:02:43
you should have talked to Chris about it
01:02:45
and made sure it was cool with Chris
01:02:47
instead of just saying tutt.
01:02:50
This is
01:02:51
>> I didn't know a thing. I just saw a
01:02:52
young cast member.
01:02:54
>> Yeah, I barely knew.
01:02:55
>> I did not. Look, there's different
01:02:57
levels. This was young Chris. I saw a
01:02:59
guy very athletic. I think anyone ne
01:03:01
next to Patrick sees would look kind of
01:03:04
chubby. And so Chris was moving really
01:03:07
like a chubby guy. Not like a next
01:03:10
level.
01:03:10
>> He was not even that big back then.
01:03:12
>> No. And I saw a guy killing with
01:03:15
physical comedy. But if he was sad about
01:03:18
it inside, I I was clueless to it.
01:03:20
>> I was clueless too if he was. But I mean
01:03:23
he when I saw him at Second City that
01:03:25
summer, he was another person I had the
01:03:27
privilege of seeing audition back then.
01:03:29
And he what struck me about him at
01:03:33
Second City was how graceful he was.
01:03:35
Like he was the opposite of how he falls
01:03:37
down
01:03:37
>> who got who gained some weight. He's
01:03:39
he's a he was an athlete.
01:03:40
>> Yeah.
01:03:41
>> Yeah. and he was incredibly graceful and
01:03:43
that's what separated him
01:03:45
>> besides you know his incredible
01:03:47
characterizations like
01:03:49
>> but you know so to me that's um the
01:03:53
sketch was the only thing it was
01:03:56
exploiting was his incredible was what
01:03:58
made him special
01:04:00
>> I would go by David's athleticism
01:04:02
>> only because David was probably the
01:04:04
closest to I don't remember any
01:04:06
>> I don't think David was the closest back
01:04:08
then though
01:04:09
>> maybe not back then but after they did
01:04:11
their movies and stuff. Well, right up
01:04:12
there. Right there.
01:04:13
>> That's different. By then, Chris started
01:04:15
to get like like, you know, in the
01:04:18
motivational speaker sketch, I remember
01:04:20
adding I had one contribution to that
01:04:22
sketch because Bob was no longer there,
01:04:24
oddly enough.
01:04:24
>> Yes.
01:04:25
>> Bob wrote the entire sketch and Spade,
01:04:27
you know, I I added just that little
01:04:29
part at the end where he's like, "Matt's
01:04:32
going to shade you. You're here. Matt's
01:04:34
here. You're You know that thing." And
01:04:36
then he knocks Yeah. That's great.
01:04:38
>> And he knocks over the coffee table.
01:04:40
Yeah.
01:04:41
>> And that was like I just felt it needed
01:04:43
like a physical topper at the end.
01:04:45
>> Yeah. A good
01:04:46
>> So we put it in and it worked.
01:04:48
>> And then I feel though that it did lead
01:04:50
to like the slippery slope of Farley
01:04:52
knocking things down.
01:04:53
>> Oh, he's going through walls to the
01:04:55
ceiling.
01:04:56
>> Yeah, it started it started something
01:04:58
that I did not intend to h to happen.
01:05:01
>> Well, they're kind of waiting for it
01:05:03
after that. Every sketch they're like,
01:05:04
"What's he going to hit? What's he going
01:05:05
to fall through?"
01:05:06
>> Well, certainly with the Matt Foley
01:05:07
ones. Yeah. But it started happening in
01:05:09
other sketches too.
01:05:10
>> He just walks in
01:05:11
>> fatty falls down falls down. That's all
01:05:14
you got. Far
01:05:15
>> I would call then then we started
01:05:17
getting cynical about like Chris you
01:05:19
know we would just come up with
01:05:20
different names for
01:05:22
>> but that Nancy Carrian sketch he was a
01:05:24
great ice skater too. That's true. There
01:05:27
you go.
01:05:28
>> Yeah he could ice skate as well. Yeah.
01:05:31
So that canceled out Chippendale. So
01:05:33
were you
01:05:34
>> I just you know when people say it's
01:05:36
just very glib to like you know that
01:05:38
sketch
01:05:40
>> set him off that it's just so I just
01:05:43
find that irresponsible to
01:05:45
>> well I never heard him complain about it
01:05:47
in the years to come. So I I I think he
01:05:49
was just like if you're a young cast
01:05:51
member
01:05:52
>> and that and you get a sketch that's a
01:05:54
10 out of 10 and he took it and it blew
01:05:57
him up. I don't think he ever looked
01:05:58
back and said, but I felt like
01:06:00
>> no, so many other things got
01:06:03
>> Did he ever take his shirt off again on
01:06:05
the show? I mean, he he fell around and
01:06:07
stuff and walk through walls, but I
01:06:09
don't remember. I'm
01:06:10
>> sure he did.
01:06:10
>> It didn't become a thing. Let's get
01:06:12
Chris's shirt off.
01:06:13
>> So, that's good, too.
01:06:16
>> I mean, there was a lot of restraint
01:06:17
until
01:06:18
>> like the later I think it was wasn't
01:06:20
until his like third or fourth year. It
01:06:22
was like people were running out of what
01:06:24
to do with him and
01:06:25
>> and it became like a shorthand kind of
01:06:27
cheap move to
01:06:29
>> have Farley break something, you know,
01:06:32
but he was like, "Oh my god, Spade." Do
01:06:35
you remember his acting in that uh Tom
01:06:38
Schiller?
01:06:39
>> Oh, the coffee one.
01:06:41
>> Yeah. Just the way his face changes when
01:06:43
he
01:06:44
>> when he hears that they've switched
01:06:46
folders.
01:06:48
>> Great idea. That was a great idea. How
01:06:50
many takes does he get to trash the
01:06:51
whole set?
01:06:52
>> I know that was all Tom Schiller.
01:06:54
>> The Schiller vision of the Folders
01:06:57
commercial was a real hit that is kind
01:06:58
of a and a gem that not everyone saw.
01:07:02
>> I put it in the best of because of that.
01:07:04
>> Yeah. Great one.
01:07:05
>> So that people would see it cuz it was
01:07:07
it was one of his greatest acting jobs
01:07:10
ever.
01:07:12
>> Yeah. They could look it up.
01:07:18
All right, let's wrap. What? Anything
01:07:20
else for this guy, Dana?
01:07:22
>> Let's see. Um, anything else for this
01:07:24
guy? Your social security number? Just
01:07:26
for this is just uh housekeeping basics
01:07:29
number.
01:07:30
>> Stay on and do the paperwork. We're
01:07:31
going to jump off, but
01:07:33
>> um um
01:07:34
>> No, that's we covered literally
01:07:37
everything you've ever done.
01:07:38
>> Well, we did a lot of SNL, but obviously
01:07:40
Robert and I did the Dana Carvey show
01:07:41
and he go and biggestly gay. Funny that
01:07:45
we didn't talk about the Dana Carvey
01:07:46
show.
01:07:47
>> It's all right. It's a really We're
01:07:48
Sarah at Life Focus, but that was uh
01:07:52
>> You'll do a whole podcast about that
01:07:53
some,
01:07:54
>> right? We have a Hotel Transennsylvania
01:07:55
podcast after this if you want to stay
01:07:56
on.
01:07:56
>> That's right. That's what I'm waiting
01:07:58
for.
01:07:58
>> You want to stay on? You you were Zohan.
01:08:00
>> Just a Hotel Transennylvania 2 podcast.
01:08:05
>> He did the Clutch Cargo characters on
01:08:07
Conan, which I loved. You know, the
01:08:10
Arnold just the lips and the arag.
01:08:13
Oh my god, we didn't talk about the Hans
01:08:15
and Fron movie. That was
01:08:16
>> a Hans and Fr.
01:08:18
>> This is the part of the show where we
01:08:19
just talk about how much better the show
01:08:21
could have been.
01:08:23
>> Well, we Hans and Fron movie. Oh,
01:08:26
>> we have to have you back. That's
01:08:28
>> We saw I wrote all your stuff out today
01:08:30
and I I knew there was no way this was
01:08:32
going to fit into an hour and so
01:08:34
>> I know. I just more than anything I wish
01:08:37
I talked about that.
01:08:38
>> Which one? the Hans and Fron movie
01:08:40
>> because
01:08:42
>> because it's so funny and it's
01:08:44
hysterical movie talked about it on here
01:08:46
because it was the whole way it got put
01:08:49
together and then it didn't work out but
01:08:51
there was so many
01:08:53
>> Hans and France the girly man dilemma
01:08:55
but it was not it's not homophobic it
01:08:58
was just girly men are not are just men
01:09:01
without big muscles like them
01:09:03
>> you know
01:09:04
>> do you remember the part okay well this
01:09:06
is gonna we can't I was going going to
01:09:09
talk about the Cisco and Eert part was
01:09:11
one of my favorite.
01:09:12
>> Yeah, that whole story. You have 12
01:09:14
seconds. Go ahead.
01:09:14
>> Hans and Fron were doing their movie and
01:09:16
they're running around somewhere and
01:09:18
they go into a room and Cisco and Eert
01:09:20
are watching.
01:09:20
>> It's a movie with I mean they're they're
01:09:22
not they're just doing the movie.
01:09:23
They're in the movie and they're doing a
01:09:25
cross-country trip to Los Angeles
01:09:27
because they want to be in the movies
01:09:29
and be with Arnold.
01:09:30
>> Yeah.
01:09:30
>> And then they're riding a bicycle across
01:09:33
country. And then at one point they
01:09:35
happen upon a big a big uh edifice and
01:09:39
they just walk in and Cisco and Eert the
01:09:43
most famous critics at the time Cisco
01:09:45
and Roger Eert are sitting in the
01:09:46
theater and it's just like
01:09:48
>> how's the movie? You like it? It's
01:09:50
pretty good so far. They're watching the
01:09:54
movie.
01:09:55
>> Lots of action and collapse.
01:09:57
>> They're in this in this dark room
01:09:59
watching the exact movie that's taking
01:10:01
place. So on the screen is them us
01:10:04
talking to them.
01:10:06
>> Yeah. It's you talking to them. They're
01:10:07
like in their movie seats and then
01:10:09
>> watching on the screen is us talking.
01:10:11
>> You see them watching
01:10:13
>> the movie,
01:10:14
>> right?
01:10:15
>> And it's like like 4 seconds behind
01:10:17
>> 4 seconds behind. Got it.
01:10:18
>> Yeah. That kind of thing.
01:10:20
>> Yeah.
01:10:21
>> And then eventually they get kidnapped
01:10:24
because they're girly men,
01:10:26
>> right? Like you go to check in on them
01:10:27
later and they're gone
01:10:30
>> because the the the evil villain has
01:10:32
kidnapped he's like remember Sunny Bono
01:10:34
disappears and
01:10:35
>> right
01:10:36
>> uh I can't remember who who famous girly
01:10:39
man of the day
01:10:40
>> the bad the bad guy had a big button
01:10:41
that said hurt the weather and then we
01:10:44
cut the window look out his window go
01:10:47
hey the weather seems hood somehow you
01:10:48
know
01:10:49
>> yeah it was uh it was going to be Dolph
01:10:51
Lungren
01:10:52
>> Mhm. And he had like this kind of like
01:10:54
final solution villain kind of thing
01:10:57
where I am going to eliminate all the
01:10:59
girly men of the earth
01:11:03
>> and then he'd turn to the camera and say
01:11:05
and I'm going to hurt the environment.
01:11:08
>> Oh, that's had the button that said hurt
01:11:11
the environment. That's right. Yeah,
01:11:12
>> cuz we were obsessed. My I I desperately
01:11:14
wanted to do like Mike Myers was my hero
01:11:18
later because he with Dr. evil created a
01:11:21
character that
01:11:22
>> remember all these 80s comedies the
01:11:25
villain you always had to like take it
01:11:26
seriously for like
01:11:28
>> right rather than
01:11:29
>> you know whether it was Max Fido or in
01:11:31
Strange Brew or like
01:11:33
>> there you always had to have these
01:11:35
obligatory villains
01:11:37
>> and so we were trying to
01:11:39
>> make fun of that and have the villain be
01:11:41
as funny as the and Mike and then Mike
01:11:43
ended up doing it perfect.
01:11:46
>> Good for Mike.
01:11:48
Good for Mike.
01:11:50
All right, I go my show.
01:11:52
>> This has been Robert Smeiggel, one of I
01:11:55
would say he's the greatest sketch
01:11:57
writer of his generation. You you he's
01:12:01
in the he's in the discussion. I put him
01:12:03
at the top, but everyone can have their
01:12:05
opinion.
01:12:06
>> Jack Andy was the guy that I
01:12:09
>> Different different lane though. I put
01:12:11
him in a different lane. But yeah,
01:12:12
>> it's a different lane. But here's what
01:12:13
I'll say about Jack. That was why all
01:12:15
the writers I would say if he pulled at
01:12:17
least the writers of that era
01:12:19
>> they would have gone with Jack and it's
01:12:20
because
01:12:22
>> someone like me wrote a lot of I'm very
01:12:24
proud of a lot of things I wrote but I
01:12:26
feel like you know there are ideas that
01:12:28
only I could have thought of but there
01:12:29
are other ones that I think other people
01:12:32
>> could have and where Jack
01:12:35
>> like nobody else could have thought of
01:12:37
almost any of the sketches Jack
01:12:39
>> Handy
01:12:41
any read through you'd be like oh my god
01:12:43
this is Jack handy within three lines.
01:12:44
You're like, "Everyone looks
01:12:46
>> exactly over there smiling." People act
01:12:48
like he was just the act seven guy, like
01:12:51
the 5 to 11 guy was huge.
01:12:54
>> Was the biggest character on the show
01:12:56
for a couple like literally the biggest
01:12:58
character on the show was a cat pup.
01:13:00
>> Yeah. Yeah.
01:13:04
>> Look out. And we frozen caveman lawyer.
01:13:08
>> Yeah. would always they would get no
01:13:10
laughs practically, but everybody from
01:13:13
Lauren on down was in awe of that
01:13:16
brilliant sketch. And so it was always
01:13:19
it always made the show. It was never at
01:13:21
the end of the show because we were all
01:13:23
collectively just so proud to
01:13:26
>> put it on.
01:13:27
>> I am a simple unfrozen caveman or
01:13:29
something.
01:13:30
>> Yeah. No. That was just the perfect use
01:13:32
of
01:13:34
>> you did that perfect. I don't know
01:13:36
what's going on. Yeah, it's almost like
01:13:40
I'm a cave. Simple cave, man. I think a
01:13:44
simple cave.
01:13:45
>> I think 60 million punitive damages
01:13:47
feels about right.
01:13:51
>> So, we all love Jack.
01:13:53
>> Yes. Okay. Thanks, Robert. Thanks,
01:13:55
Robert.
01:13:56
>> Thanks, guys.
01:13:57
>> Loved it.
01:14:02
>> Hey, guys. If you're loving this
01:14:04
podcast, which you are, be sure to click
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follow on your favorite podcast app.
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Give us a review, fivestar rating, and
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01:14:19
>> Fly on the Wall is presented by Odyssey,
01:14:21
an executive produced by Dana Carvey and
01:14:23
David Spade, Heather Santoro, and Greg
01:14:25
Holtzman, Mattie Sprung Kaiser, and Leah
01:14:28
Reese Dennis of Odyssey. Our senior
01:14:30
producer is Greg Holtzman and the show
01:14:32
is produced and edited by Phil Sweet
01:14:35
Tech. Booking by Cultivated
01:14:37
Entertainment.
01:14:37
>> Special thanks to Patrick Fogerty, Evan
01:14:40
Cox, Mora Curran, Melissa Wester,
01:14:45
Hillary Shuff, Eric Donnelly, Colin
01:14:48
Gainner, Sean Cherry, Kurt Courtourtney,
01:14:51
and Lauren Vieiraa. Reach out with us
01:14:53
any questions to be asked and answered
01:14:55
on the show. You can email us at
01:14:57
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01:15:00
That's audacy.com.
