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folks I like that word folks that's what a lot of politicians say they go they go
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for the folks at home yeah that's true you know what they don't say you can't
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say men or women they say for the folks at home it's a good word for Obama folks are hurting folks folks aren't sure how
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to pay the bill that's what folks are doing folks are feeling the pinch folks are feeling the pain folks it's
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definitely a lot of politicians use it it's kind of a homey thing but folks we have a super guest today on super super
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flying the wall Carol leafer is with us who's who's a mainstream of Comedy for
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the from 1981 or two she was on David Letterman and she's worked as a standup and also
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David her writing career huge writing career Seinfeld from Seinfeld to hacks
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presently where they're winning em over curus well good friends with Larry David
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and Jerry Seinfeld and she has some interesting takes on their relationship
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teaser alert she has a book out Dana it's called how to write a funny speech
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for a wedding a bar mitzvah or birthday or any other event you didn't want to go
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to in the first place by Carol leafer we laughed a lot during this one because she's a standup that you knew in the old
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days I've known her recently and I just saw her at the Laugh Factory actually so
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very funny uh great Storyteller exactly what we want in this show yes and also
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one last thing the the sort of famous season of 1985 she was there writing and she'll
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talk about at SNL Robert Downey Junior at like 19 years of age skating down the
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hall and stuff like that so so it's really fun she's super likable I've known her for longer than I want to
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remember I'm now doing years please enjoy the one and only
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Carol leave [Music]
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her you mean the set that I did for The Tonight Show yeah mhm um well it's a bit
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of a saga because uh you know Letterman saw me on the big New York
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laugh off oh the laugh off yeah yeah because
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you know in our day that's how you got people to pay attention to you you you
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did and um he he saw the big laugh off you know that's the one where um Eddie
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Murphy came in fifth and I came in fourth oh yes so he had seen me on the
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big laugh off and he recommended me to Jim mcau as you know the talent Booker
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for The Tonight Show and then they passed and then probably when I saw you
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Dana they saw me again and they passed and I auditioned
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22 times until I finally got the Tonight Show in 1992 right before Johnny left never even
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heard of that that's that many times I've never heard of that over a decade or what's the time frame of the 22
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auditions I would say from 1980 to 92 but what happen
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also was it is that um you know I was
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doing Letterman a lot during those years so tanai show also saw me as a letterman
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act so that stood in my way but it just became like I don't know should I wear a
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dress the next time okay oh yeah like it just became a bit of like okay I guess
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I'll go out there again and it's always mcau
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it was always mcau yeah I mean you remember how powerful he Great and
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Powerful Oz I didn't even try they just like you don't you don't you don't got
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it don't even audition just yeah well I was doing characters and stuff and they
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they like jokes I'm just going to ask you from a personal point of view what kind of standup in your head were you in
00:04:21
'92 compared to 1980 well I was much more you know you
00:04:27
have 12 years of experience as you know I mean you get better every year and at
00:04:35
that time in New York I mean you guys didn't come up in the New York scene but you could do eight sets on a Saturday
00:04:43
night me the I don't do that in a year it sounds Preposterous but it's
00:04:51
true yeah I've heard that I've heard that yeah you know with all the different comedy clubs I mean you have you know a 710 here an eight you know
00:04:59
eight 15 here it just went on and on and on so I just was a better comedian but
00:05:05
wait a minute so Dan you never did The Tonight Show with Johnny I did but I came out as a guest from Satur Night
00:05:11
Live I never came out behind the curtain and did that terrifying thing what I want to ask you two things about those
00:05:17
days did you ever say and step on it to the cab driver in New York and did you
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ever get so good that like leafers here like you because I think confidence you
00:05:28
know Eddie Murphy had confidence at 19 he has it now there are certain people Sandler took me a long time but when you
00:05:35
get the confidence it's fun do you ever walk in and go I'm the [ __ ] man [ __ ] you people
00:05:41
I've heard her say that okay two questions step on it I'm about to have a baby okay go
00:05:47
ahead it was definitely something and I learned in many different languages
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to with all of the C but I think by 92 you you
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know I remember it was just I had done the New Year show with Leno umh before
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and I just feel like they kind of felt like oh we got to put her on I mean this is ridiculous already it's such an
00:06:15
Omission at this point it looks weird at and who were your peers it was elain bozler who were who were your female
00:06:21
peers at the time elain booer was actually not my female Pier she was
00:06:27
before me yeah and I got into standup because one of the
00:06:33
big reasons was because of aane you know I'm sure people have talked about on your pod that not not really enough not
00:06:39
that much yeah she was the yeah the top the female standup that when I was in
00:06:44
those early days she was she was on the cover of New York
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Magazine and you know funny girl and it just kind of
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changed I was like oh if this you know woman can do it like maybe I can do it I
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remember Seinfeld and I talking about that cover it had an impact on him in wanting to go into stand up because it
00:07:06
was a new uh new type of woman and person going into standup yeah the 70s
00:07:15
is when it all kind of shifted in what was allowed and then lately I don't want to jump too far
00:07:21
ahead but that we have a lot of our great women comedians or call them comedians comedians it's all about the
00:07:28
same now but but it was more differentiated and there's a liberation of really being as hardcore as the men
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it's just been a shift where the audience you know the women are more um they can be sexual they can they can
00:07:41
step outside the lines but you were kind of riding that wave and you had Phyllis Diller not Phyllis Diller she's a little
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more back there Joan Rivers quite a you know she was sort of the body and
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intense yes Joe Rivers was great but I think what differentiated her from my
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generation was you know it was a very like am I right ladies you know we talk right K we talk Elizabeth
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Taylor dog he said five face lips in a boob job
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please can we talk can we talk Bara bush is not sexy can we
00:08:21
talk Bara Bush not was Rosie O'Donnell around then or was that little Rosie oonn came a little after me but you know
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my peers were like Rita rudner and Pa but I remember with Rita because we
00:08:36
went on a cater Rising Star together you know in those days they wouldn't put two women on after each other it was like
00:08:43
horri horrify you know like okay there's the singer then the ventriloquist then a
00:08:50
woman the monkey act and then the another woman you know it was just now were two women on the same show that's
00:08:56
revolting to the audience it was it was revolutionary I work with Rita she was a
00:09:02
Lin Smith she could write great jokes it was just boom boom boom yeah she is one
00:09:07
of the all-time best joke writers for sure really good joke writer yeah maybe underrated because I don't hear about
00:09:13
her enough because I worked with her for a week and I was new and I just kept going wow this is you know really I was
00:09:19
like it is just Bam Bam Bam Bam interesting delivery you know interesting Persona yeah yeah she works
00:09:27
um a lot she gets a lot of the gigs that I want to get got sorry weegas all right let's put
00:09:36
that out into the universe corporates are fun yes juicy corporate she's clean she's funny she's
00:09:43
likable and she'll she'll go for pictures afterwards without any complaint CEO's kid even if it's not
00:09:49
part of the deal can we take a quick picture yes um you're kind of like you
00:09:54
this Lan because you're still here and you started there and you're you're getting more famous then your
00:10:01
resume um like I only found out this week and I want to talk about it because there's a whole documentary briefly just
00:10:08
about your your work as a writer while you were being stand up and I don't know what your one was before the 85 season
00:10:15
on S Night Live which did you okay let's just talk about that a little bit how you got the job and it you have you seen
00:10:20
the documentary about I have seen the documentary on uh are they what is
00:10:27
affectionately una affectionately called the weird year of SNL yeah when Lauren
00:10:34
came back and um I remember I auditioned at the comic strip uh to be a performer
00:10:42
and uh Al Franken the great Al Franken and
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sorry and Jim Downey as you know famous headwriter came yes to for a showcase
00:10:56
and I did well and they came over to me afterwards and they were like would you want to think about being a writer and I
00:11:03
was like what I want to yeah um so I lived in California and um they said
00:11:10
well come in and have a meeting with Lauren so I came into New York was all
00:11:17
ready for my you know I had it all planned you know an hour of what I could say to P you know perspective
00:11:24
perspective questions blah blah blah and it was literally Lauren was auditioning
00:11:29
talent in that big kind of like studio room in Broadway I don't know where they
00:11:35
held the auditions um it always looked like where they would audition dances
00:11:40
for Like A Chorus Line you know like know and two three four and you know but
00:11:46
um and I came and they said okay Lauren's GNA meet with you now he came outside the door of the um audition room
00:11:54
and he said you know uh they've said very good things about you I said oh thank you and um you know the job I
00:12:01
don't do a good Lauren impression so somebody could do this for me but yeah go
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ahead let's guess what he said the job is not easy but you you'll find it's
00:12:11
exciting um it's that thing of like you're G to find your voice this year and then you'll go on to like much
00:12:19
much bigger things um we we like you uh go ahead something you like how do you
00:12:25
like New York it was almost exactly like that just you have been told that Tuesday
00:12:32
nights are late and you you'd work very late I went yeah I okay so it lasted
00:12:37
about a minute minute long Mar meeting and um
00:12:43
and then I was hired um yeah it was a c it I love that
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documentary about uh the year because it was crazy and it was
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nutty but I still you know I was like tell young people you know we wrote uh
00:13:01
wrote long hand on yellow pads then you give it me too me too I say that all the
00:13:06
time yeah um so that was it and then I
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was really the only woman writer that year but you know it was amazing uh like murderer row of writers
00:13:19
like smigo was an apprentice whoa yeah I always teased him Apprentice means you
00:13:24
need to wear goggles in the writer's room you know John Schwartz welder and um
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Jack Handy and George um my Meer and uh
00:13:40
Don nello and it was just amazing but I've had a lot of stuff on I have to say
00:13:46
I look back and I was like I got you know I wrote a lot with Franken we did
00:13:51
this sketch quirk
00:13:59
um yeah this Tom Hank sketch you know a lot of people don't know as you guys
00:14:06
know you can write a sketch and have it at read through and if they pass on it
00:14:12
you can bring it back uh a few more times [Laughter]
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not and um it's a little stinky but you bring it back yeah and then Tom Hanks
00:14:22
finally um yeah put it over the Finish Line who was your cast I can't remember
00:14:29
let's talk about that a little bit for people who don't know but this pivotal year was the first year that Lauren came
00:14:34
back right after leaving with the the seminal cast of all time in 1980 his
00:14:40
first year back so a lot of pressure Lauren is back we've had the Billy Crystal Martin Short chrisopher guest
00:14:47
year we had the Eddie years with Joe Piscopo and now Lauren Michaels is back so uh who was on that
00:14:54
show Cass well it was um Dennis Miller of course of
00:14:59
course yeah okay thanks for the call shout out leafer okay
00:15:07
good um you know was Nora Dunn janac uh denitra
00:15:14
Vance um then the guys uh was it Terry
00:15:19
Sweeney Terry Sweeney it was Randy Quaid Anthony Michael Hall Anthony Michael
00:15:25
Hall Robert Downey Jr who I just saw at the Oscars ah did he remember I mean but
00:15:33
surely he did right oh yeah yeah go hey Carol right it's like I remember you
00:15:39
skateboarding down the halls of uh the 17th floor um yeah no it was you know
00:15:47
they talk about in the documentary Lauren hired actors more than uh
00:15:53
Comedians and it's that sort of oh and LoveIt litz was a cast member and he did
00:15:59
did really well that year I think he and Dennis were the and Nora were the only people that were brought back after that
00:16:05
survived the fire yeah people don't do people know this at the end of the season they the some
00:16:11
sketch I was watching it live and then ever all the casts had to go into a fire except three of them didn't have to go
00:16:18
into the fire I mean it was that who wrote that Al you went Al I wish I
00:16:24
remembered who wrote that uh yeah it was and then do you remember when Madonna
00:16:29
came back the next year to host she apologized for the entire 85 86 season
00:16:36
or like a Dall kind of thing my first time in studio she was our cold open oh
00:16:43
that's when you were there Dana yeah that was your year um yeah when did so
00:16:49
was your audition in one of those uh Chorus Line rehearsal rooms like I saw
00:16:56
them no I just real quick I had auditioned at The Comedy Store in like
00:17:02
20 people with no MC in the original room and I followed Kennison at midnight
00:17:08
before I went on they said SNL is here I don't think it was Lauren but SNL is here I bombed so bad so and I Al Franken
00:17:16
saw me at the punchline I just bombed and bombed and then um it was show came around again real fast I just went to
00:17:23
ig's you remember that little 100 Cedar yes Rosie o' donnald was headlining I
00:17:28
got a whole of Jan Smith I said I Lauren Michaels will come see me because we had the same my manager was managing him I
00:17:35
was with Bernie Brin and Brad gray yeah so then I met Rosie who seemed like just
00:17:40
like so confident in New York and everything I can't believe I young we both were but I got to do 40 minutes
00:17:48
Lauren came brought Brandon tarov and then Sher and I got 40 minutes in front
00:17:53
of a regular audience instead of five following Kennis and that's kind of how I got the show wow did Sher do five how
00:18:02
was her Set uh Sher came out and she had like a sequent dress on she goes half
00:18:09
funny half funny inste Half Breed I don't know I like it yeah do you believe
00:18:15
I'm 74 just kind of reaching with the the leafer PO and I don't know what's
00:18:24
[Music] going 22 auditions fade when was yours
00:18:30
thank you I'll take this question Dana um I'm going to stay quiet cuz this is R well funny story I was born in no I'm
00:18:38
kidding going too far back um I went with Schneider it's funny because
00:18:45
you were mentioning New York clubs I've never played them and they had us audition off a young comedian special
00:18:51
they brought us into audition at probably catch Rising Star if that sounds familiar yeah and on a tough
00:18:58
night and they all came in from Downey to maybe Smigel to maybe Franken to not
00:19:06
Lauren I don't think Lauren is there but I remember it's me Schneider Tom Kenny I always say this like it's negative to
00:19:12
Tom Kenny it's not negative Tom Kenny he was a uh San Francisco act that was very
00:19:18
just broader I knew him well SpongeBob became SpongeBob and he he owns most of
00:19:24
Nevada yeah but anyway he's so rich uh but but Dennis Miller was there too and
00:19:30
he was helping and you know before I went on he goes I told Dana he goes Spud you know you don't want to kill too
00:19:37
hard they don't want some polished [ __ ] road hack and I go so don't do good he's like all right three two one
00:19:45
I'm like wait Dennis what so anyway I took his advice did not do
00:19:50
well uh his advice was the right thing it just in the whole complexities of it
00:19:55
all I didn't really get it they were just really looking at the writing of the jokes for me to be a writer maybe a
00:20:01
performer later I thought it was to be a performer so I'm like yeah give him the whole johanet routine really amping it
00:20:08
up and then afterwards I got off early because I said I think I was supposed to do 20 I did 12 maybe I think Schneider
00:20:16
went off early but but Tom Kenny did do very well but Rob and I got the call to
00:20:21
come in and uh and write write and perform oh wow but you thought that
00:20:26
night you hadn't done well right I just knew it was a tough night but it was it was pretty sparse you know and it was
00:20:32
probably half it's probably 15 from SNL and 15 people so regular people so they
00:20:39
don't laugh a lot but they're just looking at sort of you know it's the same way I am now I can watch a comic
00:20:44
and even not killing I almost don't hear it I just go o that was a good one oh you know like I like it who cares if
00:20:50
they like it I was like I think that's good and well written or something about it you can you can tell like Name That
00:20:56
Tune in two jokes you go I think think this guy's got some game yes and so you know how it is so at a certain point you
00:21:03
know that but at that point I didn't but luckily some of the jokes they kind of liked how I put them together that
00:21:09
really got me in as a writer that was not ready to be a writer with my legal fan would you have
00:21:15
lik to have been a cast member Carol did you ever think of that or audition for I
00:21:21
think well you know the weird year it was like I don't know that I want to be a part of what do you say yourself the
00:21:28
fire at the end but you know I feel like that year I had one foot in and one foot
00:21:34
out because I really wanted to concentrate on my standup so uh yeah I I
00:21:40
don't think I I just on the weekend you know weeks off I'd be doing sets and all
00:21:46
that so um yeah no certainly maybe if I had been
00:21:51
on a more successful year I would have dreamt about it but uh did you ever take do you ever feel weird about taking a
00:21:58
stand up bit and putting it into sketch you feel like you're kind of wasting it and it's a selfish decision to go do I
00:22:04
try to get this out there and then I can never use it again but it would help here yeah I I didn't really have that uh
00:22:12
fear because as you boys know you know you got to get stuff on yeah or it's a
00:22:19
very bad feeling there you know it's a good way to put it I'm not
00:22:26
getting things say people start ignoring you and it's like oh no they go you're not even a formidable opponent here
00:22:33
you're just yeah yeah you want to get on so it's of course goes into the show if it can exactly so I always felt like if
00:22:41
I had to take for my ACT dig away because um if it keeps you alive at the
00:22:47
show 100 per. yeah that's so crazy but people don't think of that but it is a weird thing goes through your head
00:22:53
you're like because you're running out of ideas quickly yeah every host looks the same and you're like wait I got a I
00:23:01
got this guy and the next week it's Corbin burnson and then it's you know I think I had Corbin bson was there when I
00:23:08
did it yeah he was I think he was an overlapping great guy I think it was the third host yeah right yeah yeah yeah and
00:23:14
uh funny and I just uh sorry I'm show dropping the Oscars a couple of times
00:23:22
please John litho was um presenting this
00:23:27
year and I saw him the writers hang out in the green room and I saw him and I said you guest hosted the year that I
00:23:35
wrote on um SNL and he was like oh you know he like well he was very sweet he
00:23:42
was like oh you must have been a young child when you work there I said yes of course child labor but um no I told him
00:23:49
that you know he was such a great host he learned every writer's
00:23:55
name that week and he was incredible and he remembered the sketch that uh uh we
00:24:03
had written for him um that got on yeah yeah so he was he was amazing and still
00:24:09
is did you ever so what other can you tell us about the Oscars you were at the Oscars I wrot write on yeah I wrote on
00:24:17
the Oscars and you wrote so Conan's team brought you in or whatever how does it work team and then um this is my 11th
00:24:24
time I was part is there writers that come a lot for Oscars over the years
00:24:30
yeah yeah are you baked in and then Conan can bring some extra people is that how it works no Conan has his own
00:24:36
team of people um and then there's a show team that I'm part of okay um I
00:24:42
don't know if you guys know this guy John Max he's a head writer of many many great um he's he's the guy to go to for
00:24:50
your award shows and yeah and then we is banch in there no no Bruce banch but um
00:24:59
yeah it's a good group and it's fun you guys know it's fun writing of course
00:25:04
well who's the greatest host that you've written for did you write for Billy did you
00:25:11
write for Billy yes I wrote for Billy a couple times Billy's great I'm going to
00:25:17
say on this podcast they've all been great I loved Billy's um broadway songs
00:25:24
about the current movies she's
00:25:31
annoying I'm a wicked man you know I mean it's so Billy was uh just great
00:25:37
great host I don't know if he was the first one to go into the movies and be like they'd use the actors or the real
00:25:43
movie he'd be inside of them yeah he was in that was funny as [ __ ] yeah those yeah well um Troy Miller used to direct
00:25:50
all right yeah um and I loved Conan's um substance uh parody how funny was
00:25:59
that that was because for people haven't seen the movie he crawled out of in the
00:26:05
movie deore sort of becomes a wake a Walking Corpse or like a monster anyway
00:26:10
climbed out of her backside I mean to start the 119th Oscar show his head is I
00:26:17
mean it was it was definitely catching it was like okay we got something different here yeah but even I loved his
00:26:25
um his musical number was a lot like uh it reminded me of the great Billy stuff
00:26:30
too like that he was I thought he did great he thought I thought for Conan it was a little edgier than normal for him
00:26:37
to say like it's halftime usually Kendrick would be calling Drake a pedophile I'm like a pedophile joke is
00:26:43
kind of a lot for the Oscars and con I was fine with it but I thought oh good at least he's out of the box a little
00:26:49
bit yeah yeah it was uh look funny is
00:26:55
funny but yeah I agree that uh I'm just I'm saying I'm just surprised sometimes they don't they they Tamp down
00:27:02
a few things at different shows you know they go I don't know if that's what we do here kind of thing but at least
00:27:07
they're saying hey it's getting harder and harder to get people watched let's just go crazy some of these things pay
00:27:12
off these days like get out there and Shake It Up exactly it's fun to have
00:27:18
more free reign it's hard to get jokes killed it's like ah come on come on so
00:27:23
just so the people familiar so you wrote 12 times for the Oscars you wrote for
00:27:29
Seinfeld I mean can we talk about that a has Jerry changed has Jerry
00:27:35
changed we know him pretty well we had him on the podcast yes I I heard it it
00:27:40
was great yeah um Jerry Jerry um he Jerry is a great great guy
00:27:49
he made all my dreams come true a couple of weeks ago because I was in New York
00:27:55
and um as you can see I'm a big Beatles fan I have uh don't get me started did
00:28:02
you go to the be the Bowery or something yes yes wow how great yeah and not only did
00:28:11
we I go with him to see McCartney at the B Ballroom but afterwards there was a
00:28:18
little after party and he introduced me to him that's as good as it gets yeah and
00:28:26
he said my name he said said hello Carol uh and kissed me on the cheek whoa he
00:28:33
kissed you on the cheek kissed me on the cheek yeah he doesn't do that too hug I
00:28:39
know yeah I haven't seen it I know so you seem like a really nice lady you know so I get a little I gave her a
00:28:46
pekka on the cheekies you know just to kind of cheer up the whole room you know
00:28:52
then David Spade came over I just
00:28:58
not as impressive as Carol well you guys I have to say this is would you say that
00:29:04
so as far as musical Living Legends I'd say McCartney there's MC Jagger there's
00:29:09
I mean there's a couple but those two definitely could be the top two or I'm
00:29:15
sure I'm spacing on some people but Ringo I mean if you're in the Beatles you're up there of course yes uh and
00:29:22
Mick is such a just a worldwide phenomenon of uh you know Legend So who
00:29:28
else is up there like it's still cuz when you see Paul you just get like shook a bit Yeah well I'm going to ask
00:29:34
you I'm going to ask you about your introduction to The Beatles and your lifelong love affair because I was we're
00:29:39
in the same age group and then to meet him later on but to me I'm sorry there's just the Beatles and then there's
00:29:46
incredible bands Zeppelin Stones Pink Floyd and then you know go on and on
00:29:51
Eminem and uh um but there's just one Beatles because there's just too much
00:29:56
music and too much re evolutionary things going on so were you a classic I
00:30:01
Want to Hold Your Hand in 64 or when I see yeah yes yes I mean I was lucky that
00:30:09
uh yes yes yes the whole ride a little little little girl as a little little
00:30:14
Fus yeah I was introd no um you know I have an older sister who's five years
00:30:20
older and a brother who's 11 years older so I heard their music a lot as a kid
00:30:27
and we remember the Ed Sullivan Show them coming on going crazy you know what
00:30:34
a happening it was uh it's hard to explain to people how revolutionary
00:30:39
their haircuts were I mean that it was like what what what just just the haircuts Salone shot him up the haircut
00:30:47
alone but then I was lucky enough in 66 yes
00:30:53
1966 yeah um my brother was home from University Chicago and the night of the
00:30:59
Beatles Concert he said because we lived on Long Island hey hey squirt you want to go see the Beatles And I was like
00:31:06
yeah and we drove to Shay we tickets that night my sister who had gotten
00:31:14
ticket six months before she was like four rows in front of us it's like
00:31:19
this and saw The Beetles at Shay State at Shay State that's a that's a
00:31:25
legendary big thing for a band rock and roll to play a giant they have two PV
00:31:32
amps Dana wasn't it some shitty sound or whatever I think they only did 30 35
00:31:37
minutes they couldn't hear themselves the the Roar of the crowd they just couldn't you know oh yeah just not love
00:31:46
it though how great oh my God what a part of History if you had a not famous
00:31:52
Beetle song um like what is one of your favorites I'll throw out some she's leaving home and I love love her no
00:31:59
reply um hard days night I Want to Hold Your Hand which I think is I think that
00:32:05
um she loves you as a masterpiece it's like two minutes and five seconds but
00:32:10
are you kind of a strawberry fields or or you um Penny
00:32:16
Langan five I kind of am very uh wetted to
00:32:22
their early stuff because it reminds me of the Mania and of first seeeing them and all that so like I saw her standing
00:32:29
there you know that early early stuff but I'm also a Wings fan you know yeah
00:32:34
me too so um and I just worked with Lawrence jubber who was like his guitar
00:32:40
player in wings um so I run the gamut
00:32:46
you know with McCartney did you tell McCartney you saw him at the Shay Stadium what' you say did you tell him
00:32:53
you saw him no I was to um he would have probably freaked out that he doesn't
00:32:59
hear that every day yeah but um he was talking about um you know they didn't um people
00:33:09
couldn't have their phones that night at the bowy B they jum oh
00:33:15
oh no I brought my landline 2025 is calling spudley okay I
00:33:23
know but it was because there were and to watch the
00:33:28
uh show because we were up in this little you know I mean it maybe has like 300 people in the whole place but to
00:33:35
watch a concert now with people not having their phones it was such a joy
00:33:41
because it's like all right people actually experience it and not uh wanting it for
00:33:48
later yeah was incredible were you sitting or was it standing w't where sitting you get to sit um the VIPs like
00:33:56
Jerry and his Plus one were up on a balcony you know
00:34:02
on so we were standing but you want to stand everybody was standing there was no um well you stand every song anyway
00:34:08
because it's a hit so you stand up anyway yeah yeah every song's a hit basically can I do a clumsy kind of
00:34:15
forward thing um because during the peak of the Seinfeld years and how many
00:34:21
seasons did you WR on that show or three three there I think they're in the Rolling Stone almost like they were so
00:34:28
got so big there's only the Beatles but they were almost like a beatley
00:34:34
sitcom and and I'm always interested in the dynamic between Jerry and and Larry
00:34:42
you know because that this partnership and so how did you get hired
00:34:48
for that they just already knew you loved you they knew you from Letterman and you were just was that an easy kind
00:34:53
of well we really go so far back as to when I auditioned at the comic strip
00:34:59
along with Paul Riser and Rich Hall Paul Riser wow yeah Jerry was the MC and he
00:35:06
put us through the audition and then when I auditioned a catch a rising star Larry David was the MC and he put me
00:35:12
through that audition so I go back to my first days at these clubs with them but
00:35:18
what happened with Larry and Jerry was weird because I remember they I got a
00:35:24
call from both of them and it was like why are my friends calling me together you know I mean you know in 93 that was
00:35:31
probably like you know conference call like they had to you know be on the same
00:35:37
phone but I was like why are they calling me and they were like hey do you want to write on Seinfeld I was like uh
00:35:44
yeah um but my advantage was and I think other writers Advantage was they didn't
00:35:50
want people who'd written for sitcoms before because Larry hated all other
00:35:55
sitcoms they wanted people new to the task so I was lucky that way so that's
00:36:01
how I got [Music] hired it was such a you know interesting
00:36:10
sensibility on that show how it was kind of just about little things and everyone knows The Soup Nazi and the puffy shirt
00:36:17
it's like trying to catch the wind it's like it's even now with kirb your enthusiasm these last 15 years it's like
00:36:23
what is that sensibility about you know it just but it really pops the cast was
00:36:29
super likable um but there's something about the writing so smart and subtle and and well
00:36:38
observed so that's just a I mean that must that's the best writer room on a sitcom in history I think I I'm not
00:36:43
[ __ ] on Cheers or anybody else but I think it's gotta be well as far as it
00:36:49
worked I mean it just worked through the roof and are greatest half I think cheers was more considered just a great
00:36:56
sitcom and Seinfeld was a little off-kilter not just a sitcom it was like
00:37:01
sort of a different thing going on there what is the the thing about Seinfeld with it what do you think made
00:37:08
it go so huge you know in a lot of ways it
00:37:14
was like SNL to me because you had to pitch your ideas to Larry and Jerry you would go in and set
00:37:23
a time to go in and it was like two senten is kind of Max you know like um
00:37:31
like I went in you know Elaine thinks the Korean manicurist are talking about her behind her back um uh at the nail
00:37:39
salad you know and that kind of thing go yeah yeah we're doing that yeah yeah that's a great idea yeah yeah and then
00:37:46
you pitch other ones he had this habit of like rolling a shoulder and going ah
00:37:52
no you know I I could see that on another show no you know uh uh does he
00:37:58
say expand in the room like like some ideas are a little more than that like he'll go I like it so far what else is
00:38:05
on there or just go write it yeah he would be like if he likes something like
00:38:10
that or like Elaine thinks there are skinny mirrors at
00:38:15
Barney's you know he would go yeah yeah I love that but you know come back with like a George a Jerry um and Kramer
00:38:23
story you know that kind of right but it was the same thing like if you pitched ideas and it was a lot of uh no I I
00:38:31
don't know you know you sort of started to get anxious about it but when he liked something he was so effusive about
00:38:39
it it it lifted you to go off and do it right exciting I do think and let's go
00:38:45
back to the Beatles here I'd love to made the show great was the two of their
00:38:51
sensibilities together um I always call it kind of like lenon and McCartney you
00:38:56
know Jerry the more kind of Pop sensibility you know friendly stand Andy
00:39:03
Larry being more the linen you know the kogin um having the edge and that
00:39:10
together it made it uh lightning in a bottle yeah okay sure that's interesting
00:39:17
that make that makes sense to me yeah and even working on curb I know Larry so
00:39:23
well from Seinfeld that was the same thing a curb you know um you'd go in and
00:39:28
Pitch ideas and he would love them or not like them but when he loves something he was he always like I
00:39:36
remember the first time I pitched him curb ideas I said you know when you are
00:39:42
with regular people and by regular people I mean not Comedians and you make a joke and one of them goes butum bum
00:39:49
you know you want to strangle them you
00:39:54
know like you know um the equivalent of saying the nword you
00:40:01
know um and he was like he loved that you know so when he loves something and you're on a good role you can for sure
00:40:09
how F yeah you you wrote on so many though I've been looking at you did Modern Family also hacks right yes hack
00:40:16
just W an Emy hack is a big deal of course yeah uh I think I saw Hannah at
00:40:22
that party the other night I don't know her but I think I saw her walk by is she possibly taller than I would think she
00:40:27
seemed like I thought she wasy and isn't it amazing that she's
00:40:32
Lorraine Newman's daughter yeah I did not you know I didn't even put that together for so long yeah and sometimes
00:40:40
when she delivers lines it's like I totally love Lor I saw lorine at the thing oh yeah 50th yeah yeah well Dana
00:40:49
were you there no I had the flu oh okay
00:40:55
I missed it but I've already thought about just what I'm going to do on the 60th yeah and
00:41:02
it's going to be great I thought about the 100th what I'm going to do keep it a little quiet keep it real on the don't
00:41:08
don't start getting curious Leaf when people say but Dum pump I literally it's
00:41:14
like cutting your balls it's such a weird move to to say you're this is a
00:41:21
bad joke you're stupid and then they look cool or something yeah yeah it's a weird it's all weird vibe
00:41:27
and he loves all that small stuff like he loved um I had a pitch about you know
00:41:34
when um you pitch something to TV people execs and they go you know I don't love
00:41:43
it yeah I don't like it's like no I I don't love it and you know that's the
00:41:48
kind of thing he Sparks too like immediately I felt like a story I when
00:41:54
that's in The Ether now when I'm out and there's a situation I almost think of curbed I was
00:42:00
out somewhere and this it might even be an episode but I said by it when it took me forever to get out to the front and
00:42:06
say bye byebye and then I forgot my keys inside and I go I'm not going back in I cannot go through there again and just
00:42:13
that awkwardness of like I just left but I I'm they think I'm coming in for I ditch them or something and so it just
00:42:19
made me think that's one of those weird things that makes you think of that show you go
00:42:24
I could picture him in some awkward situation yes but but every episode I watch I think oh this is such a good
00:42:31
little weird curve ball like just everyday thing but they make a whole
00:42:37
meal out of it yeah you when you see stuff like that like the puffy corduroy pants looks like he's excited okay we'll
00:42:44
build a whole episode around that you go it's so simple it's so funny everybody knows what he's talking about but he
00:42:52
would totally he would have totally made something about that totally yeah
00:42:58
um have you talked about the SNL 50th like uh ad nauseum Spade or well not
00:43:04
really I mean with it's funner with people that have been there because we talked a little bit about it but what is your experience of it you can say
00:43:10
anything you want oh well I wanted to know I was only there for the concert um
00:43:15
so I didn't see what did you think of the concert concert was amazing yeah even
00:43:22
with my shitty seats it was amazing I think everyone I talked to had
00:43:28
shittier seats than they thought they were going to have yeah like H maybe this was I have a better View at home I
00:43:36
said LoveIt were you at the American Girl store for that too he goes no I was at Banana
00:43:43
Republic that was very close to Radio City jealous yeah no the 50th was a
00:43:50
blast to just goof around and but the the uh the the weekly events of that was
00:43:55
that night you went to which was I think more fun than people thought and um and
00:44:01
then the next night there was like a little toast thing and then uh the next night was the show so I did get a lot of
00:44:07
it that's why I wasn't at the party forever the night of the show cuz say I think it was a Sunday and also I just
00:44:15
done everything with everybody all week and I thought there's a three-story party I don't think I could do it that long yeah did you go to that thing or
00:44:22
did you skip it all um well the next night the Saturday was the writer Guild
00:44:28
Awards okay and we won for hacks oh hacks never because doesn't
00:44:35
kind of don't they win kind of everything I mean they winot stuff well I'll say this past season we sure did
00:44:42
yeah where's your Hardware you got Hardware back there somewhere I mean yeah you should throw it right up there in that cabinet I do have an Emmy it's
00:44:49
in the other room but I think it needs to be on camera uh also is it interesting go from you go from SNL you
00:44:56
go to Seinfeld and you're like everywhere feels like it just
00:45:02
couldn't be as good then you get on show like ha it's a great show and you go okay that feels good Modern Family is a great show yeah yeah no it's um it's a
00:45:10
good streak so when shows are really good what the common denor one common
00:45:15
denominator but I'm not let me just think I wonder what it is what would it be start at car Carol Carol King no no
00:45:22
no no but anyway I mean you must be proud of I mean it is pretty cool how many great shows you've worked on so
00:45:28
clearly you're a valuable commodity and I would like to negotiate whatever your next deal is personally you gonna push
00:45:37
uh you guys know as well as I do to be in a room with other funny people is
00:45:44
just it's just the greatest I mean as much as I love standup and I saw you recently spayed
00:45:53
at um there's there's nothing better to me than being in a room with fun people
00:46:00
it's just the greatest thing it's like I always think it's like you know you go to a foreign country and say you're
00:46:06
there for like a month like Italy and you know everybody speaking Italian and nobody speaks English and then like an
00:46:12
American comes in you're like oh my God you know and you just to me that's like
00:46:17
with any comedian there's always this kind of just instant bond and
00:46:24
yeah uh I'm always happy if I'm at at some event then I see a comedian or a comedian I know and that
00:46:31
we're just going to look at it all differently and trying to yeah just
00:46:36
clown on everything going on that was the same thing I went to some Oscar thing the other night and zip right to The Comedians and then uh just sort of
00:46:43
make fun of the whole situation exactly it's the only comfortable spot but that's why I like sketch is because I
00:46:49
was a standup and then i' had never done sketch comedy so then it was like oh you say that I say this we're working
00:46:56
together mhm and then of course you get funnier if you're in a writer's room and people are starting to riff your brain
00:47:02
gets kind of associative into this everything's funny or how about this thing oh how about this so I think I
00:47:08
totally relate to that if someone wanted to see I said Carol leafer is a great
00:47:13
standup is what would you want them to look
00:47:20
at I don't I would say probably some of your 25 letters
00:47:27
or I you know what I really have a great
00:47:33
affection for my first Letterman which was in 1982 just because you know your first
00:47:41
time like oh my God I'm on TV and people are seeing this and what I dreamed about
00:47:46
to me that's like my most precious kind of memory
00:47:53
because the first yeah Fernwood tonight when I came out and saw
00:48:00
that do does anyone remember Fernwood tonight Martin mole and funny it is yeah
00:48:06
kind of a parody of a talk show yeah did you ever work with Wendy Leman I'm yeah this is like the perfect
00:48:14
setup I am working with Wendy leedman on March 20th at Comedy and Magic Club oh
00:48:20
comy Magic how great also with the great Kathy ladman so three funny ladies all together
00:48:27
she's publicizing it as three funny ladies or no just a comedy show I think they're
00:48:33
calling it The Ladies of laughter Oh The Ladies of the night Dave and I go out as
00:48:40
the P pipsqueaks of funniness the pipsqueaks twinsies two
00:48:46
little Pixies with a dream we just did a corporate together it was pretty fun we
00:48:51
never done one it was pretty fun right yeah how much time did you have to do
00:48:57
well we Dan kind of twe tinkered with that this is inside baseball but we kind of like as a standup well I love being
00:49:04
out there with a friend just riffing so I said to the guys's in charge I said because they wanted 45 each you know and
00:49:10
it's hours in a ballroom all that I said you don't how about we do 30 each or 25
00:49:17
to 30 and then we come out together and just sort of talk to the audience and
00:49:22
they yell stuff out and he goes you would do that yeah yeah I'm going to go out in the limb I'm not going to try to
00:49:29
redo the deal but we will come out without a script or our act you know and
00:49:35
they're yelling out gu or Tommy Boy and we have sh it's a little chaotic but it
00:49:40
you know because we threw it at him late if we could have had a microphone out there or something but it it's just fun
00:49:46
because they just they also want to see a picture of us together or so you know whatever out together and it made it
00:49:52
more fun for us too that must have been a great gig it was super fun they never
00:49:57
had comedy and they were like oh this is great so well the sound was good it's really important you know the sound sound was great that that is important
00:50:04
you don't hear muffled jokes I didn't go I don't go to sound checks but I they Jay farell played the
00:50:12
night before some casino in West Virginia I go you need a sound check how was the sound for Jay phoh oh it great
00:50:17
he loved it so then I go out first thing I hear is a hugee slapback hello hello
00:50:23
hello I can't stop the show and do a sound check so it's difficult you think they do a show every night you think I
00:50:29
think they know what they're doing and then you go oh they
00:50:37
don't can I tell you a great story about Joan Rivers with that kind of stuff yes we would love it all right so I had a
00:50:44
corporate gig in New York when I was coming up and uh they had booked um Joe
00:50:50
rivers to just open the show and introduce me and leave so I get there you know before her obviously and you
00:50:57
know like you guys you know you don't travel with your agent or manager for these so I show up and I see that
00:51:04
there's uh no Spotlight so I say to the
00:51:09
guy The Tech Guy um yeah I'm the comedian I see you have a mic but you don't have a spotlight and he looks at
00:51:16
me like oh sorry we don't have your Spotlight share you know like you know
00:51:23
I'm some div I was like yeah people need to see me yeah dark you know and he just
00:51:28
like blew me off it was so brilliant so then Joan Rivers gets there she says
00:51:33
hello to me and she goes where's the spotlight and I go I know so and the you
00:51:41
know the tech guy was like hanging his head in shame she literally went on stage and she was like yeah she did her
00:51:47
bit you know qu you doing your Joan Rivers's impression but she goes um listen I'm
00:51:53
going to bring on uh the next ACT but you very nice to her all of you because there's no Spotlight and it's very
00:51:59
unprofessional and it was amazing I mean I love you Jo Rivers may you rest in
00:52:06
peace we've all we've all had these situations I was in a club once and I asked them to turn up the mic for the
00:52:12
second show because I couldn't you know and they they just turned it down I it's like just aggression and anger sometimes
00:52:19
the club owner is a frustrated standup and kind of hates you you know it's like
00:52:24
so we turn you can't laughs out there we're like I don't think they can hear me oh is that why I'm like yeah that is
00:52:31
why they can't hear me people are yelling I can't hear you did you like the clubs on on you know touring or
00:52:39
going on the road or did you just do it or you know were you in condos with other guys and
00:52:45
V the comedy condo was the worst experience of my
00:52:52
life I did a gig it was in h Phoenix and was a comedy cond doing it with my
00:52:58
friend Sue kinsky we get there and uh we go to the disgusting comedy condo and
00:53:05
there's you know the other guy there and like here if you want to go whatever so
00:53:12
about 7 o'clock Sue and I get ready we're getting ready to go to the gig and we yell up to the uh the guy well it's
00:53:19
you know we're an hour away from Showtime if you want to come down now we're going the guy comes down he's like
00:53:25
oh not a I just live here oh my God never heard of that condo
00:53:33
yeah had just one of their friends living in one of the rooms I mean if you don't call 911 then
00:53:41
I I really don't know what just oh my God for people just I mean so You' go to these cities and instead of putting you
00:53:47
in a hotel they'd have a comedy condo and there was the main room or the head room and if the header the for the best
00:53:55
place with its own bathroom if you come too late the venturist is in there with chuck wood you can't look at
00:54:01
his puppet don't even look at chuck wood don't even David stman I think no kid
00:54:07
but openers get the couch sometime they're a unique breed it's not a joke that that is definitely like that
00:54:13
Anthony Hopkins movie chuck wood was real you know you must before it gets too late fellas um
00:54:21
can I promote my new book yes let's do it now we're wrapping up oh my God we should we we'll put it in the too yeah
00:54:27
okay yeah it's how to write a funny speech for a wedding for Mitzvah
00:54:33
graduation and every other event you didn't want to go to in the first place that's a good title so come on it's
00:54:40
Gonna Fly the show a goodt I like it so that is literally instructive and also
00:54:46
humorous but actually trying to help people with that process trying okay say
00:54:51
the title again how to write a funny speech for a wedd or Mitzvah graduation and every
00:54:59
other event you didn't want to go to in the first place okay I like it and I want to ask you a question so has no one
00:55:04
written this book because I I'm I think it's a great idea yeah it is yeah no no
00:55:10
one has WR I wrote it with my uh comedy writer friend Rick Mitchell and no no
00:55:16
comedy writers have written a book like this a lot of stiffs you know from the
00:55:22
uh you know uh corporate headquarters whatever have written it but no not
00:55:28
funny people right we were tired of going to events where someone just stinks up the room with their horable
00:55:36
speech and we felt like we could give them some help well that's the number one fear right it's public speaking there it's way up there so yes and most
00:55:43
comedians greatest Feer is not speaking in front of him how
00:55:50
sad and obviously I just want where if people want to get this book you just go
00:55:56
on Amazon it'll be on that oh yeah it's there Amazon you can just click click a
00:56:02
few buttons yeah and if you don't remember the title you can say Carol leafer book yeah exactly Carol LEF very
00:56:09
easy oh I wanted to ask you Spade because when I saw you I love your bit about Amber
00:56:17
Alerts yeah I got an amber alert I think that day that was new got an amber alert
00:56:22
Dana and uh I just want to know how much investigation I'm supposed to be in charge of what is my job here what are
00:56:29
my duties if the kid isn't laying on my dashboard that's it I feel like the
00:56:34
search is over it's a cold case that crushed it the day oh yeah I did it the other night yeah yeah that's new thank
00:56:40
God I got one that day that you were killing at that point I just said to the guy go can we get him off now I mean I think he's over him the light yeah can
00:56:47
we just is it okay to give him a light I mean I don't want to push but yeah because you were killing so hard you know Danny goes actually I got a light
00:56:53
I'm going to run in the back real you always want to sabotage your friend if you can God there's guys at the comedy
00:56:58
store they get the light and it means now start your act because I'm like wrapping up they're like what else is
00:57:05
going on I'm like there's no what else is going on you're doing your last bit and getting off not like what else is
00:57:11
going on let's going into the crowd you're done that should be what else is else sounds that's a good
00:57:19
special best title what else going on all right Carol thank you very much uh
00:57:24
thanks for being conratulations on your career your book nice to see you you're always uh she's one of the most
00:57:31
likable people that you know in this scene I think you have that reputation but yeah I'm always happy to see you and
00:57:37
you're very kind I'm just GNA say it I just love you guys you're just so you're
00:57:43
both so incredibly talented and I enjoy your talent this has been a presentation
00:57:48
of Odyssey please follow subscribe leave a like a review all the stuff smash that
00:57:54
button whatever it is wherever you get your podcast fly on the wall is executive produced by Dana Carvey and David Spade
00:58:00
Jenna Weiss Burman of Odyssey and Heather Santoro the show's lead producer is Greg holzwart
