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Jake Szymanski | Full Episode | Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade

November 29, 2023 / 01:04:59

This episode features Jake Zamansky, a writer, director, and producer known for his work on the show Jury Duty. The discussion covers his experiences in the entertainment industry, including his time at SNL, and the unique premise of Jury Duty, which involves a real person unknowingly participating in a mockumentary.

Jake shares insights about the challenges of creating Jury Duty, where one participant believes they are part of a documentary while everyone else is acting. He discusses the careful planning and execution required to maintain the illusion, including the casting process and the need for actors to improvise while staying in character.

The conversation touches on Jake's background, including his upbringing in Milwaukee and his early influences in comedy. He recounts his journey from film school to working on various projects, including Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates and his collaborations with notable figures like Bill Hader and Andy Samberg.

Throughout the episode, Jake reflects on the importance of creating a positive environment on set and the dynamics of working with comedians. He emphasizes the significance of timing and rhythm in comedy, as well as the unique challenges posed by the format of Jury Duty.

Listeners will gain a deeper understanding of the creative process behind Jury Duty and the innovative approach taken to blend reality with scripted comedy.

TL;DR

Jake Zamansky discusses the creative process behind <i>Jury Duty</i> and his experiences in comedy and filmmaking.

Video

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hey guys it's spoodle uh you can always go to Davids spade.com to look at my
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tour dates because I bless a lot of cities in America with my hilarious standup act or you could not go to it
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and get on my enemy list up to you our next guest
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on we had a good time with Jake Sensi he's a writer director producer he's
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he's worked with a lot of big names and done a lot of things and recently did This brilliant show called jury duty a
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behind the scenes prank show that was brilliantly conceived and we spent an hour with Jake got to know him he's
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great yeah I think you know now and then uh we get someone that's sort of
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something in the zeit right now because we're branching out the show a little bit and he does have ties into SNL he
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did some shorts for them he's has some good stories actually more than I thought he would about it and jury duty
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with James Mar Marsen is is uh one of those things that you just heard people keep saying hey did you catch this thing
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and it was funny and interesting and you know very hard to do those kind of shows
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the right way they did it very well yeah and Jake talks a lot about the Highwire Act of that because they have they have
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a a person who thinks they're going to jury duty and everyone else is acting and there's there's behind the scene
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cameras and everything and they thought that the guy was think know wait a minute is this a joke and bust the whole
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thing open and they kept stretching it and he breaks down all the travails and all the preparation and work and it's
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kind of a magic show um yeah he he did that movie uh I think it's called Mike and Dave need wedding dates with Aubrey
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Plaza uh adamine so you know he's he's got a lot to talk about we had a nice
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time with him I think you will too really nice smart guy here he is Jake
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samansky got are pretty [Music]
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close I was I was going back I was like I got to watch some old videos I got to
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remember the SNL stuff you got to remember your own stuff a little you know a little bit it's like it's all
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it's all a blur at a certain point when you're when you're working at those places where it's just go go go and don't sleep a lot you know yeah I me
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Jake is our guest and you know with the last name even he can't pronounce do you know how to say it uh I pretend I
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pretend the hard letters aren't there so it's samansky oh it is yeah you've ever gone for Jake ass just like you know
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kind of shorten very I can't pull that off I asked anytime I meet someone like who's
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actually polish I say how do you pronounce my name and they tell me it's chinsky and so very different so make it
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up it easier I'm doing an accent we've been talking for 45 seconds I can sound
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like other people no it's just Eastern European could be Bulgarian could be Romanian it's EAS you know hard to place
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on purpose all right this just in I'm going to grab so this just in where do you think you're going water may I are
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we rolling you guys do edits how do you do it no well we have we Johnny edits behind us Greg they like to we mostly
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just let it all go because it's a chaotic barely controlled you know conversation we like to interrupt our
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guests like I just did there and bring it all back to us and if he gets on a roll watch me I will try to cut that
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[ __ ] down love it that's what makes it so fun to listen to yeah well at least we have a sense humor about Jake did a
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couple things Dana you don't know this but he did he to jury duty which was
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on uh the fabreze network that's right Amazon fabreze and he was uh which was a
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big hit and up for two emys four four oh trying to L you I know why I thought it
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was I guess low no the show is revolutionary should we get to it right now or go and he has an SNL connection
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but we will get to that so all could we just just because I'm curious because there's not a lot of stuff on your
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background I know that's why I was like I wonder how this is going to go well I'm it's like if I was we at a
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restaurant together hanging out with no mics I'd be like so where'd you grow up I grew up in Milwaukee wisc where you
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really grew up Poland are you trying to go for Poland no Milwaukee yeah okay yeah big big Polish family big uh family
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not not overly polish but yeah I had like you know I think my mom is one of eight and my dad too so I had like you
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know kind of 25 first cousins on one side another 15 on the other side so it was a lot of lot of family time growing
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up being from Milwaukee were was were you watching SNL when Farley was a big deal on
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there yes but well no actually I was late to SNL and that was that was kind
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of and I mean late by like you know sixth grade instead of fourth grade or something but I think I wasn't staying
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up late enough to have to have that access but I remember I would hear
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people talking like I remember in school being like there was this thing last night and someone trying to explain toun
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is the cat to me and I remember being I remember being like I should maybe I should try to try to watch this but
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Farley was a big deal because of the Wisconsin connection for sure but I think not only on the show on SNL but
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then obviously you know Tommy Boy and I I think he's wearing a Marquette jacket in that opening scene always to it it
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was a big deal you know we don't get a lot we don't we didn't get a lot back got some love yeah he would always try
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to get something going on so then you see something and everyone gets real excited about it just the fact that in Wayne's World they they mention
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Milwaukee that are shows Milwaukee I mean we lived off of that we Le and Shurley parody I think oh
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yeah uh let me ask a question so like if you go back in your old neighborhood and everybody it's like okay you were the
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funny guy or like are people surprised so people know how much you've done from your neighborhood like not many people
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get to write and direct movies and do cool things like you've done I I was
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always into comedy I was always a comedy nerd and and doing a lot of that so I think in that sense no I think it's a
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little bit I don't know if you guys have it too but it is that thing of like the people you grow up with especially if you're not from like in LA New York but
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I think it's hard to fully explain what you do all the time there every now and then there'll be a product that comes out and you see it once every two years
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but it's like yeah there's a lot of work that happens in between that so it's it's uh no not huge surprises but I
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don't think if you're not in the biz it's hard to fully get you performance side or was it always right or direct or
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you were you doing skits for family and stuff like that yeah yeah yeah yeah I
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did uh now we're getting to it I yeah I think ear a ham bone in there yeah yeah
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you know you're always I was I would watch a lot of comedy and stand up and
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try to do that I think early on like it was just repeating just stealing other repeating bits you know what I mean at
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like the school talent show or in front of the class or whatever it is I did that you did that right of course yeah yeah that's that's how you get going I
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thought I was good because I could recite Billy Crystal and I made people laugh just saying his jokes and you
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didn't realize there was a difference being Billy Crystal I would get laugh you went as Billy Crystal for a while
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lower it's funny I didn't mention that someone asked me the other night early albums and stuff but I listen to George Carl and all that stuff Steve Martin but
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I would say it and then when I got laugh I was so proud of so embarrassing did you ever have any kind
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of like but do you think it does like teach you a little bit about just like timing
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and Rhythm and stuff I think and recognizing what is good but also you're saying about like not you're not a Class
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Clown but you liked funny things I think we all grew up even as especially as boys sure women do but you know you just
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like funny things and but that by no means translates to you being funny or
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being a career in it you know yes and I think actually I discovered you know it's performing is hard what you get and
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standup is the hardest I painful I mean I I remember thinking like oh I want to I want to do that I mean my mom would
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when I was what 15 16 my mom would take me into the bar cuz she had to be there so I could like try and open mike Knight
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or something or something like that she was great supportive mom but also it's like yeah it's it's tough I think I
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found then when like oh a video camera came out we had a video camera at home I liked being able to shoot and kind of
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have the control to work on it myself uh you know work out the Kinks and then show it you know what I mean I think I
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started gravitating towards that moreel did did you ever have um like director
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it it seems like you kind of wonder where things come from but as a director you know you can sort of like I know
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Tarantino yells out you know we're doing Spielberg on this scene we're doing this scene you know what I mean because there
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is a template there same thing with his Billy Crystal story which I don't not sure I believe but um not sure I believe
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so that you decided to get behind the camera and make stuff then and show it to people yeah I was always I mean I
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just watched so many movies and so much TV and then at a certain point like that
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seems fun I wonder how to how do you do that you know what I mean so I always had an interest in it and it's not like
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there's a big film scene in Milwaukee so you know you're kind of reading up on it
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you know I came of age in the 90s that was like a great Indie movie early Mir Max where you're like let's explore
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these weird movies oh you can make a movie like that you can make a movie I think it was a a good time to get into
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film you know when you were little did you edit in the camera like stop move around s and then at one point you're
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able to actually edit I'm based on your age yeah yeah yeah like kind of I think
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when I was like a a senior in high school someone from someone from another
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high school had access to like the first Final Cup Pro and they were like I can get the software and install it on your
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computer you're like oh really let me try you know what's that like did you ever come across the toaster the video
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toaster oh of course famous Video Toaster you know my brother designed the first prototype with no what what's this
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connection he he's a guy who Gars based on yeah yeah yeah you look it up Brad Carvey to Video Toaster he named it the
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video toaster oh really yeah oh interesting not to be confused with the flying toaster screen saver no no
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toaster got used later as far as that was just the cool word toaster looks good sounds good kind of has all this
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emotion around it get the toaster get the toast get the toaster but that that's interesting because that was an intersection where you would have been
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around and that was the one of the first home editing so with Omega something yeah yeah yeah absolutely oh yeah I for
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sure remember oh I want to I want to talk that has more of a hamburger scene and you want to go into the movies in
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comedy hamburger scene throws that in we got a great we got a great burger scene
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but it's all bikers elicit milwauke you guys been to Milwaukee far milwauke you know what I
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played Milwaukee you know maybe 10 years ago my opening act went out was like maybe a thousand seed or anyway so he's
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playing very quiet he's a good standup it's not you you always killed but he's
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playing very very quiet so they told me before I went out so he's thinking I'm bombing they said
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oh they they don't laugh here in Milwaukee they're loving it but they they just don't laugh very hard to polite I know if that's true or not but
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when I went out there yeah they didn't laugh much but they really seem to enjoy it is that true and then a standing
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ovation at the end seven minute standing I I just did a gig there like a 15,000 Ceder and we were um all he's no I just
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G there BL up no I'm kidding I but we stayed at a hotel it's supposed to be haunted D I tell you I Fister yeah oh yeah and I and and
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they're not allowed to tell you what it's common knowledge common knowledge haunted hotel oh because I I knew it
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because they said uh Manny Machado or one of these guys in the Dodgers they go they were on a road game when I got back
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they go they were on a road game and uh he stayed in his own hotel or in Airbnb because he thinks the hotel is haunted
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and I was like if they show that [ __ ] and they showed a picture of it I go that's it they know it's haunted everyone knows Oh yeah and when and
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Bobby told me the guy that is on the road with me the comedian he goes I think this place is haunted I go no no
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don't say that we're here three days dude I'm playing Appleton I'm doing all these and I said I can't I get scared at
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that and then when we asked the staff I told you this they go and the waitress I go this place isn't haunted is it she
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first of all freezes then she goes you know we have Spirits at the bar I go
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shut the [ __ ] up I go is it haunted answer me and but they're not allowed to
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so they all have a like a company line they've had a meeting about it that's how haunted it is what do say we when
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people say but you didn't feel any weird I did hear kids talking upstairs and
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thumping and I don't know if there was anyone up there and I told Bobby this the second he goes oh it's for sure like
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children that's usually in haunted things I go no no children is the scariest in haunted movie I can't I
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can't take it so and I got sick on that trip do you believe in the you believe this place is haunted yeah I think so
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would you like to do a horror film Jake yeah would you yeah would you do a comy you know we did a we did like so many
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people we did a pandemic move into kind of like a big old fixer house and uh
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it's uh it's got some stuff going on we moved into a haunted house I think yeah um you know I I didn't really believe it
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until my Irish relatives just said oh yeah that was there's a little girl that lived at our house and we'd all say
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hello to her and everyone recognized her and just it was no big deal no big deal didn't feel threatened by it I've had a
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lot of different experiences with well had sort of you know waking dream states
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and hallucinations but enough about me we we found out we just move sorry I was a little tangent but we just moved and
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uh uh two and a half years ago and it was my wife was pregnant at the time and we moved into a house and we were picking baby names and we picked the
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name for my youngest daughter and then the neighbors were like that was the name of the woman who lived here and and
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died and we picked the name of the woman who lived there for 60 years and died in the house that just popped in your head
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and I was like I are are we being Rosemary baby right now like is someone they're giving us brownies cuz we move
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into the neighborhood is it lace like so we for a while we were like is this the beginning of a horror movie wow well my
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son's name is Damian and U isn't that fun mine mine son's name is
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lucer so it's not exactly it's not spelled like Lucifer so can I just ask you a second
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because I like talking about movies like what are the ones you know just a few of them that pop into your head I'd never
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say favorite movie but pop into your head um that you know kind of like wow
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that's that's got you goinging I'll throw out the Godfather just start start sure sure sure I think you know it's
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there's different phases right for everyone I mean certainly like you know I always go back to Boogie Nights as
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like one of the best of all time but that's also one of those movies BTA in in you know I'm in high school I'm
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trying to learn more about filming that movie comes out you're go like boom that's it and then and then but also
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back to when I was a kid it was like oh I I must have been five years old I remember seeing Space Balls in theaters
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and trying to repeat the lines from that so I love you know what I mean like that's locked in there comedy that [ __ ] kills you as a kid and you
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wonder when you get older when your comedy taste change you go would that still make me laugh but a lot of those still make me laugh when I go I think
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about airplane someone was asked me about it and just would the time be right I mean there's the political correct aspect but just something that
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just making jokes every second would seem kind of refreshing Les neon you know some those
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nied gun movies just like funny funny funny I mean airplane was always again the Zucker brothers are from Milwaukee
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and so that was like a local point of Pride so that was always like let's go let's watch airplane airplanes on TV a lot of people would talk about that was
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a monster that's like a top tenor of all time I feel um do you like Gladiators
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movie I mean just such a weird style and weird everything in your was new when it
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came out speaking of jury duty took took a genre and and then reinvented it so I
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I I was curious about did you ever see spinal tap yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah cuz I mean it seems like you have you've
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enjoyed doing a lot of that sort of sorry should I get that no it's this is
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funny it's this is Jake's wife make sure he eats in 20 minutes and with my medicine blood sugar
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I'm going to silence that oh Heather get his applesauce but are you sort of found your way like we intersected in 2013 I
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think with the presidential the presidential reunion you and Ron Howard were directing something that was like
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reunion of SNL people who' done presidents yeah and that was through funnier die the comedy website which I I
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worked for at the time and that was yeah getting everyone who had played a president at SNL yeah back to do a big
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reunion sketch I remember this and that was I mean and by the way that shows you
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how generous everyone like Ron Howard and the funnier D people are that I co-directed uh you know quote unquote
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co-directed that we must have met that day and you were there right we did yes yes I'm sure was it a one day shoot yes one day shoot and
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that's hard to Wrangle and and then and Jim Carrey played rean right because he filled in and and played rean and that
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was cool I mean just as a comedy fan I don't think I mean I hadn't met any of you guys but then to be there and see
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everyone come together and catch a little behind the scenes conversations cuz Chevy Chase was
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there wow you were there frell was there playing playing not I was playing was
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playing senior and he was W and I looked at it last night and I walked in me as
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the guy walked in well Ferell so were we completely improvising that thing where he goes I talk take a szi tub love you
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Daddy was that all was that somewhat scripted no I think it was somewhat scripted because I know McKay did a couple passes and and wrote and wrote
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that but but we played around for sure points but yeah that was I mean that was what 09 or something like that
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that was a while ago I think um you know that was amazing to see see everyone I remember being caught in a room and
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seeing and and hearing Chevy and Dan arroy catch up like they hadn't seen each other in a couple years and I was
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just kind of like be as quiet as you can don't make any moves and they're just like good to see yeah how's the family good making plans to do Thanksgiving
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together that year you know what I mean like oh you should come over for Thanksgiving it's been too long and all that and I was like man this is cool
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like see all these guys back together and what a good excuse to see people who haven't seen each other in a couple
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years that was that was very that was a great experience acoid by the way full circle was just one to talk about Poltergeist and stuff like that he's you
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know he he was well he is just a man of all trades I mean just really fun to
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talk to you know as far as your comment about Ron Howard because I've had some interaction with him it's like if the
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doll Dolly Lama was a director kind of reminds me of your man in jury duty oh
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you know like not just this earnestness but but you know has sharp edges when he
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needs to be he has to direct movies but Ron Howard has a a son of Earnest Midwestern something about such
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a nice guy so talented but I mean I got so lucky the people I got to work with
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early on because you know getting hired at funer die that was kind of like my break right uh access to so many people
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uh Adam McKay will frell Chris henchi started that website then getting to work with like Ron wants to make something go help him out and spend time
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with Ron Howard everyone they're such the nicest guy so talented and it was kind of a good not lesson because it's
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not like I was a huge jerk or anything but it was ref freshing to be like oh you can be on top and be nice and be a
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great guy and go yeah when you're making a movie no one wants to spend 6 months on set with a jerk like it's not worth
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it you know what I mean and so it was so nice to see because I feel like you move to LA you start doing the jobs you're
00:19:43
you're paing on this you're making runs and you can run into some jerks you know what I mean working on stuff and you go like oh on the top top top everyone's
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pretty great You More Level jerks are bad you know if you meet someone like Tom Cruz and you say oh you know he was
00:19:55
so nice and he doesn't have to be that's always the weirdest thing for I know I got credit few times when I got a little
00:20:01
more notoriety he just came in he bought a soda and he left like what I couldn't
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believe it man you know it's like I'm not doing anything right but U low maintenance you know I do think it's a
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Darwin and proposition in a sense that if you you got to be pretty talented if you're a
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jerk to stay there better be brilliant but yeah it was great to see you know
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Ron so nice and just to be like yeah you know you don't need to be a yeller on to get what you need to get done done it it
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was good early on me I had I had a lot of good people to look up did he tell you that no but just seeing it seeing
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how he works and doing the meetings with him you know what I mean and uh that was the best part about you know when they
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started funni or die that I always refer to that as my second film school cuz I'm out there trying to make my own little
00:20:47
gorilla videos and upload them online and hope anyone will see them and then all of a sudden I'm doing the same thing
00:20:54
but you know McKay was like here I got a script try to do this or uh uh hey uh you know this person called they want to
00:21:01
they want to do a sketch oh they're in town to do uh to do Kimmel but then they want to come by and do a sketch and it all of a sudden was like a a ton of
00:21:07
access so you're writing for celebrities and you're trying to help make them funny it was good training you know running running gun pretty much I mean
00:21:13
would happened fairly quickly compared to regular film making obviously very running gun I mean the first year of funnier die I don't even think we had
00:21:20
lights or proper microphones it was super gorilla just just like kids were making online they were like yeah let's
00:21:26
do that but we'll make it fun that's how it worked like You' I when I go in there to do something or they'd say we have an
00:21:31
idea for you and I'd go in or I'd say hey I want to do something about
00:21:36
Coachella and they go what do you need and I go I'm I'll write it but can you
00:21:42
get this person to do it or maybe we just film it or get a quick set thrown together yeah and then we did it and they let me help edit or they' edit it
00:21:49
and go what do you think and then they throw it up quickly timely cuz it was like that weekend and that was all and
00:21:55
I'd see on the board all these Stars head shot and they say Katy Perry wants to do something or this person wants to
00:22:00
do something yeah and so people would brainstorm ideas which was hard because they'd say no to something and then you're like oh [ __ ] we got to think of
00:22:06
another idea for them and uh that but funer die was really cruising there and had a lot of good stuff did you say you
00:22:12
went to film school before that I did I did I went to I was a film a film kid um so I went to film School
00:22:19
fizer High School for the Arts or college uh College College college um I
00:22:24
did like a I did like a summer camp in high school of like to try to learn about how to make movies but I was like
00:22:30
oh I like this this is cool I didn't know about this stuff wait we got to back up my joke was was it Fister School
00:22:36
of haunted film making that's where I was going with that one and I said fiser you said fiser and you were so everyone
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kind of laughed Fister no one knew what the [ __ ] I was talking about Fister is the hotel yes that's haunted Fister
00:22:49
haunted school [ __ ] film making and everyone just kept talking I was like KN the everyone has to know if
00:22:58
you're listening now in your car this was this was this never happened no I got it I want the people to know I don't
00:23:03
know what the [ __ ] I'm
00:23:09
doing but I'm sorry so you went to film school go ahead film school when was it I mean so you found
00:23:17
your way to SNL which is part of our theme but how the [ __ ] did you get to SNL that's a big that's well funni or
00:23:22
die is not a really big jump was it after funnier I've been at funni or die a couple years so they saw your stuff
00:23:29
they did but actually I think um it wasn't as direct of a line from from funni or die even though that was funer
00:23:36
die was like the best prep because all the people who ran fun your die came from SNL so they were kind of trying to
00:23:41
do a model of that for the internet yeah but I actually was shooting a commercial
00:23:47
back in the day with Bill hater and Bill had brought melany along to write for him and we were
00:23:54
shooting like internet Volkswagen ass or something and I was it was like a lot of
00:24:01
days and it was split up cuz Bill had a show and I went out and shot with him for a couple days then we took a week off and and they did uh they did a show
00:24:07
and then we came back and shot a couple more days and I had kind of rough cuts of what we had shot and they were like oh you like uh cut these for comedy like
00:24:15
these aren't like commercial Comm you're like we're going for the jokes I'm like oh yeah I'm like you know I I come from Comedy yeah they're like oh and we just
00:24:21
had a good time we really got along and I met them through that and actually at the end of filming a commercial I think
00:24:26
it was melany who was like hey you know we got we have like a an opening like uh we need a a kind of guest director for a
00:24:34
couple weeks would you ever be interested would you ever be interested I like yeah so they they I think are the ones
00:24:41
who recommended me after after we work together to to come on in and they were they had a director slot open at the
00:24:47
show wow and and I showed up to the show thinking it was a temporary like because
00:24:53
you know how you guys know at the show The Writers will sometimes come in for like just three weeks or four weeks something also no one tells you anything
00:24:59
no no one tells you anything and I thought that's what I was accepting like a three a three-week gig and then I show up and I remember talking with Steve
00:25:05
Higgins when I first got there and he's like it's not a temporary job it's full-time job I don't know what they were talking about oh oh okay okay I'll check my
00:25:13
blood pressure thank you but but it was great and and to get in there as they were figuring that out and that was um
00:25:20
uh you know I was only there for less than two seasons because I think because I thought it was temporary I was like
00:25:27
I'm just going to come in for a couple weeks and go back to kep going okay bye and they're like where you going you're like oh want to do another week yeah
00:25:33
yeah yeah a little a little bit like that it's funny or die then you get SNL and then you're going to make all these movies but I would like to talk a little
00:25:38
bit about some of these sketches I don't know what theil that you I don't know you wrote them or just directed them but
00:25:45
uh you you had sex ed couples with Steve bash that was 2011 I don't know if that was you oh yeah yeah yeah sex said with
00:25:52
Paul Britain's character the one I I just want to jump ahead to this one cuz it sort of blew my mind cuz it it ripped
00:25:57
rically went somewhere that I don't see comedy go to and it and it someone's
00:26:03
behind this so it was tennis balls with Jonah Hill I'm so happy you said that
00:26:09
one and and and first you're like okay the guys's getting hit in the crotch fine you know then you go to this Rhythm
00:26:17
he's on his back now who thought of that and how could you see that in an eding Bay and
00:26:22
not collapse with laughter cuz that's next level to me there's no it's so
00:26:27
distract and it has a funny Rhythm to it yeah yeah yeah the Rhythm well you know what's funny is like the ball was done
00:26:34
in post right so where we're just trying to get Jonah to go on a c he's getting
00:26:39
hit in the balls with a tennis ball like 300 times yeah we just we just show it
00:26:44
so many times and I think you know I love that you brought that up Andy and I talk about that all the time that's one of our favorites that we did together uh
00:26:51
Sam yeah Samberg and um uh yeah that's one of my favorite pieces I did there because it's so I mean I think the in
00:26:58
those the the the idea is can we do the silly joke how long can we get away with
00:27:04
it that will make you laugh two or three more times after you think it's over you know what I mean and that and that was
00:27:09
really fun to do yes because you're in kind of a generic thing guys gu kicking the balls or something in the
00:27:15
balls and then where where it goes I recommend anyone here YouTube at tennis balls SNL Jonah Hill where it goes to is
00:27:24
so abstract and took it so far we got ghost showing up in there remember that
00:27:29
remember that is tour to Pharmacy this is something was it HBO I
00:27:35
think I remember hearing this is Samberg and he was like Lance Armstrong something yeah I was thinking they do
00:27:41
these as like a oneoff and it was it that's the first time I seen like they did was it episodes or one thing just no
00:27:48
just one thing we had done seven days in a hell we did first uh which was a tennis mockumentary yeah and I thought
00:27:55
oh they're doing these it was and then we did Pharmacy a year later or two years later and they're kind of all as
00:28:00
like specials you know like 45 minute hour long one-offs and we had so much fun making those that was another thing
00:28:06
we were like I can't believe they're letting us make this they're probably not going to air it uh and uh just as I
00:28:12
refer to Seven Days in Hell In T Pharmacy as a series of hard right turns you know what I mean let's just see how
00:28:17
how long we can keep misdirecting and going for before it is really really good at doing that type of Comedy he's
00:28:25
the best and he's so he's so smart too and most fun of those is I mean we we shoot those quickly I mean when we shoot
00:28:32
those we're only filming for like four days for the oh for the um for all the
00:28:37
like archival footage the stuff that's supposed to take place in the past and then we'll do all the Talking Heads as we're in the edit which is nice because
00:28:43
you get to change what you need said a little bit as you're editing it but you know and Andy's in the edit for all of
00:28:49
that he's he's he's really smart and I thing about SNL people or cast members
00:28:55
most of them really would want to be in the editing Bay they understand that that's you know where it could be ruined
00:29:01
I've been in movies like that because when it's not done properly it doesn't go from funny as I always say to less
00:29:07
funny it goes from funny to not funny right if they it's over there when it's supposed to be over there the editors
00:29:12
have so much power you do a movie and you do seven takes eight takes and then you go in your head I'm thinking the
00:29:19
first half of my first take was great and the third take the beginning and then the L you know you could find it
00:29:27
mhm and then I I walk over I see someone go Circle that one moving on I'm like and then I realize sometimes the editor
00:29:33
just puts that whole last take in because they got everything they somebody liked and sometimes they just
00:29:38
don't go back if it works and you go oh my God there's three more jokes that you missed but no one went back so if you
00:29:44
need someone to go back say hey go back well there was something earli especially if you're playing around a little bit like I came like M and frell
00:29:53
you know I got to Shadow when they were making Step Brothers and the other guys I was around a lot but seeing how they
00:29:58
use improv but and you know they have a script that they'll shoot and then they'll shoot three scripts worth of
00:30:04
content just playing around and then that's a way to do it but to do it in a way where you can actually use it all is
00:30:11
is different actually a smart thing to learn and then but yeah you need time in the edit like so if I'm and I kind of so
00:30:17
again I'm you know I looked up to those guys they're teaching me how to do it I play around a lot and with those projects those mockumentaries we're
00:30:22
doing a ton of improv and if you don't have time in the edit to just keep going through it and find different ways to maybe put it together it doesn't work so
00:30:28
much fun to watch and you know comedians love that at least the most my comedian friends love the idea that the it's it's
00:30:35
being discovered while it's being filmed you know you could tell when will sits in a chair and you go for 15 minutes on
00:30:42
will and he goes on these flight of fancies something's going to work and there there's structure to it but then
00:30:47
he's also able to and it really pops well that's and that's the thing about Will and a lot of you know comedians is
00:30:52
you know will secretly is also one of the best writers out there so smart you know what I mean he can he can do it all
00:30:58
and so he's he's always working with Will is my favorite because you get to
00:31:03
give him a suggestion and then he makes it so good when he tries it makes it better and he's like oh thank you for
00:31:08
making me look smart on that one I I did that is why he's will far that is why he's the best but I I think you know
00:31:14
working with in comedy and with comedians if if you're making something where it's like no no no the job is just
00:31:20
to be funny we got to get laughs right A lot of it is letting you guys do what
00:31:26
you do like find your Rhythm and not not be too overbearing too you know what I mean why couldn't you have directed some
00:31:32
of the movies I was in because there's 1,00 takes and five camera angles and
00:31:38
it's just strangled to Death In traditional film making but the way you shot it loose or you you you you adapted
00:31:44
your camera to the to the talent basically right whatever I think so I like to get a good I like to get a A
00:31:50
vibe going with people and kind of know you know some people don't like to do a long take or try a lot of stuff and
00:31:55
great then you then you talk more beforehand and get out there but you know I'm a big believer in like if you're making a comedy there should be a
00:32:01
good vibe on set you know what I mean that's part of the no jerk policy is like you're joking around that you're
00:32:06
taking the work seriously but you got to kind of play to people's strengths and where they're comfortable and start there and then start pushing out into
00:32:13
into sometimes you watch playback you have a laugh then you go back and let's try one where we uh just do a different
00:32:18
ending or you know whatever and then someone's keeping track of it and you walk away going all right it's there
00:32:24
that's fun when you walk away and you go that good scene yeah yeah absolutely we got it the way we pictured it and it like I said as long
00:32:30
as you're shooting it a way where you can use it all you know you're not just trying stuff for the sake of trying it it's it's all like it's around that
00:32:37
sometimes you got to go back and you know oh hey let's actually walk in with the TV off because we did so much playing around it might not be about that anymore let's do this and then you
00:32:43
go okay now we're covered we can cut any version of that scene or whatever it is yeah it is hard when you're doing it just to do it you're like now we're just
00:32:49
wasting time because we can't get it all in yeah it's a fine it's a fine balance
00:32:54
yeah you did Brooklyn 99 with Andy right yeah you had did an episode of that I call it 99 the the 99 called Brook Brook
00:33:01
call BK you know how people drop the names of things you know I can't remember this
00:33:08
joke but anyway I'm gonna get to it um so you're on SNL and you're doing these short films and then you get to do these
00:33:15
HBO type films long short films mockumentaries y
00:33:20
what's the first big one the big Studio was it Mike and Dave yeah Mike and Dave need wedding dates is the first uh movie
00:33:27
oh good old Aubrey Plaza was that she think oh yeah Aubrey so good so it made 77 million because I I looked it up oh
00:33:34
good you know the number a low budget so how did Hollywood did it you emancipate you a little bit or you already were
00:33:39
going great guns or did people react to you different like oh he's not only talented he he just made something that
00:33:44
made a [ __ ] ton of money yeah you know it's interesting I don't I'm so bad at keeping up on the business end of things
00:33:51
and like the perception of that and it by the way it's like it's an important skill you know what I mean to get stuff done and I just uh I'm so bad at keeping
00:33:57
up on it I think with that movie it was interesting because we were testing like really high we were testing everyone was
00:34:05
top two boxes it was a Love Fest all the numbers were high people were like maybe it'll be a sequel and then it comes out
00:34:12
and it's like oh does pretty well I think people are making money but it's like but it wasn't it didn't take over the world1 because of whatever you know
00:34:20
expectations or I think also it's been a weird time for comedy movies in the last
00:34:26
you know five eight years eight years yeah I think it was right around I think Mike and Dave was actually one of the
00:34:32
last of of of kind of as it was changing I think unbridled yeah yeah there's
00:34:38
rules now our R of Comedy is it's tough to get them made now it's hard to get it's hard to even what was the dog one
00:34:43
that just came out that Josh Green bom oh it's great stra yeah I'll see that
00:34:49
that's our your precious will Ferell is in it yes he is that movie uh that movie is really fun I like the scene where he
00:34:55
humps his leg no it's hard territory to be in I know that
00:35:00
they for do is it it does it fall through the cracks is that what they call an El Camino because it's looks
00:35:06
like a kids movie but it's so who's going is it for adults or is it for kids you know what I mean well when I joined
00:35:11
the marketing team for Strays hey what's our audience of all
00:35:16
because listen I never want to see a movie didn't do that well because I've been in them but for that was it Jamie
00:35:23
Fox and will both hilarious I'm sure the movie is great but if they don't all show up I mean they couldn't really PR
00:35:30
striking and stuff did it not I thought I mean I don't know like I saw it and I'm like I love it it's great so that movie to me is Jake wake up a giant
00:35:36
success box office and greatness areed no I'm just saying it's great problem
00:35:42
with will I'm just saying you always get your next movie before the movie comes out no but there's producers that we
00:35:48
both have worked with and they when they're hearing the picture or anything they're thinking of the poster yeah and
00:35:53
I don't blame them they're thinking who's the audience poster there yeah and I I know young people have pitches to
00:35:59
sell and stuff and I go to be honest you're going to be pitching to someone's going to want to know who is the
00:36:04
audience how do we reach them how do we make money you know did you ever have a phow perial not a feral period but but a
00:36:11
time where things weren't happening for you because it seemed like according to your resume you've really consistently worked you know I've been really lucky
00:36:18
where or talented I've been no I've been very lucky I I kind of mostly
00:36:24
luck I've kind of only worked on stuff I like with people I like and the longer I'm in this you like us hey guys I just
00:36:32
realized it's kind of a rarity you know I I have friends you know working on stuff too and they're like I feel trapped here like I don't like and it's
00:36:38
like I'm pretty lucky that way so that's kind of my goal is to keep working with people I like and that make me laugh on
00:36:44
stuff you have I mean we've had them on your your friends on this podcast so you could take Andy Samberg or Bill hater
00:36:50
Fred armson I mean these are like a class nice guys're the best just they're not going to be a problem I saw a lot of
00:36:57
your doofy friends last night oh yeah that was melany armison and uh hater I
00:37:04
think that was it good crew that's a very friend Conan can we talk well I guess we should pivot to this um sort of
00:37:11
social phenomen oh called jury duty social experim Duty oh it's a social experiment
00:37:18
that's right you know I will we know you've done podcast and you you've been talking about the movie my goal is to
00:37:24
ask you questions you haven't been asked please [Music]
00:37:33
I love James Marson though the guy's always good and everything dead to me he was so awesome and re so funny really
00:37:40
funny and sharp improv skills kind of BW I mean I knew he was funny I knew he could hang and I knew he could do it but
00:37:46
just kind of took it to the next level on jury duty just for the five people that talking about on Amazon freezy M
00:37:54
just put it in there's a eight half hour live streaming show called jury duty
00:38:00
James Maron is the one sort of household name although he pared as his playing
00:38:05
himself he's playing a egotistical version of himself and they recruit uh a
00:38:11
young man to come in and doesn't know he's he thinks he's part of a documentary but doesn't know that everyone is acting except him right we
00:38:18
have one non-actor in the show one non-actor every cuz you say that before every episode there's a you know we were
00:38:24
so worried people were like do you understand what we're doing here because it is kind of a mix of like we're
00:38:30
cutting it to kind of feel like a sitcom in a mockumentary style like the office or parks and wreck that you're used to
00:38:37
but everyone plays it very real right and tries to seem like real people but then we we were like are people going to
00:38:43
know that one of these people doesn't know what's going on hasn't seen the scripts and is a real person so we were
00:38:49
there was lots of of conversations about that opening how it because immediately
00:38:54
they have to sort of get it or if they don't buy in they just don't buy in and then you're [ __ ] yeah although weirdly
00:38:59
I've had multiple people go I didn't know until the last episode that that guy wasn't an act and you're going what
00:39:06
are you doing during the opening credits man you know it's every episode lead in it it's by the way just did a game show
00:39:12
I'm explaining the rules after every commercial I'm like does anyone not get it yet and they're like wait so you get
00:39:18
5,000 I'm like yes I told you th000 times but that's what happens they go you got to hammer it in but obviously
00:39:24
we're in comedy world so you get it guards say swing is that a sexual thing or something do they mean to say swing
00:39:30
and they're saying it wrong Jesus mom yeah Jesus ma Jesus ma but um one thing
00:39:36
I found interesting just that like the the cast you got all the actors and we
00:39:42
know fox stand up might be
00:39:48
recognized a real concern on he's at the EMP no I saw that he's a very has a kind
00:39:53
of his Cadence and his voice is very parks and wck I said no mustache I said you got to
00:39:59
keep your SC you got to grow it out to a beard because I CU you couldn't have the guy recognized your main guy yes and it
00:40:05
was interesting because Kirk actually that role changed kind of late that that was that that role got changed in the
00:40:11
writing room maybe a month before we started filming so he was one of the last people we cast and we had done so
00:40:17
much work on trying to find people that wouldn't be recognizable and when I saw Kirk I was like I I mean I know him but
00:40:22
I'm in comedy the mustache is really recognizable maybe we can get around it and but we kind of didn't do our due
00:40:28
diligence because he was one of the last people we cast and then on like day two of filming Ronald the guy who who doesn't know what's going on he tells
00:40:36
James Marson I just love parks and wreck it's one of my favorite show and Kirk fox has been on Parks and wreck a bunch
00:40:41
so we immediately changed where everyone was sitting and tried to keep KK tried to keep Kirk off to the side so he
00:40:46
wouldn't be in direct eyeline and he he never put it together but I was like even in court when they're sitting there for four hours we can't have them just
00:40:54
be able to came a huge concern that we were going to blow it just with Kirk being I love I thought Kirk Fox too I said the
00:41:00
other ones might be good actors I just I'm not familiar recogniz them cuz that
00:41:06
you know who else is really good am I rushing the premise no no we have we have I love to talk about this show
00:41:11
because the premise of so everyone's in there's a jury case about what is it about the jury practice a sort of random
00:41:19
the guy screws up the business yeah and there's some dirt ball that's defendant I guess anyway so he gets put in jury
00:41:26
duty it's always funny when they give their excuses because a lot of people don't you know they're all mic so they're trying to whisper to each other
00:41:32
I don't want to be in this what am I going to say the [ __ ] guy that says I'm a racist is one of the biggest laughs that's like so gold you remember
00:41:39
that part he goes they go why can't you be this he goes blah blah I think he wants to see his girlfriend yeah yeah
00:41:44
and then they don't they say no and then he just goes but I'm also racist let me ask you a question Jake have you ever
00:41:49
been called for jury duty and gotten out of it by being clever uh I did no what
00:41:55
did you do was something about a Cop um doing something mean to somebody and
00:42:00
they were just interviewing I got up to the box and got interviewed I said well we've all had experiences with police
00:42:06
being a little aggressive and they get out of here oh that's all you had to say oh yeah I was pretty much that fast I
00:42:13
say I say I can tell someone's guilty when I look at them yeah yeah and they go oh okay good I go that might help
00:42:19
here we had to work with a lot of lawyers prepping for jury duty and I heard that actually so many people want to get out of jury duty everyone's
00:42:24
trying to get out right that one of the best ways to get out is actually to be really into jury duty like oh I can't
00:42:30
wait to get in there dude yeah I I know I know who's guilty right away no no no I'm the guy who's gonna tell you what's
00:42:36
up I'm I'm ready to be on this put me on get rid of this guy oh yeah that's great they don't want anyone any angle at all
00:42:43
just Blas yeah so that our listeners understand this so uh Jake is directing
00:42:50
and you have your producers and you're you're in a control room Yes somewhere and you're watching this on a bunch of
00:42:55
cameras MH and you have Ronald the non-actor and the whole premise is
00:43:00
ruined if he ever just goes [ __ ] you all I this is too weird what is this so
00:43:07
you're terrified the entire three weeks thinking all this work it was so stressful my my and it wasn't like
00:43:13
things would be going well and you'd still be so stressed that tomorrow's going to fall apart in fact the closer
00:43:19
you got to the end the the more stressed you were because you were like we only have 5 days left oh my God if it falls
00:43:25
apart now we don't have a show so like the better it went the more stressful it was somehow it's the only experience
00:43:31
I've you remember this part of course you do when when the you remember one time the bay goes the bay calls the
00:43:38
juror by her real Sandra not the and I think he she says it twice and who of
00:43:44
all [ __ ] people hears it but Ronald and he goes she just called her she just said cand Cassandra cassand we were like
00:43:51
it's over yeah he the other guy was cool he goes there's no cassand what are they talking about the way you stacked it
00:43:56
like it was like boiling a frog that's an analogy yeah was like boiling a frog got more and more absurd when the guy
00:44:04
was on testifying about masturbating a theater to the science fiction and then
00:44:11
the other actors are going to Ronald the non-actor going that's not even sexy that movie I would never what is he what
00:44:17
he so a lot of this it's just the theater of absurd kept ratcheting up but
00:44:22
it was true it was little by little and actually the biggest worry I had doing it was because I at the end of the
00:44:28
day I was into the experiment of it right like can we can we pull this off and can we do it in a positive way for
00:44:34
this guy but also then there's a part of me it's like but it's also got to be funny and it was actually those first
00:44:39
days where you're not trying to push it too much because you don't want to scare them off but you're still trying to go
00:44:44
like but where are our laughs where's our joke so I think those first two episodes those first couple days are are
00:44:50
were the toughest were the most like well we made it through but did we get enough laughs and
00:44:56
and thankfully it was I think as long as the audience is on board and that's why we were so concerned about like do you
00:45:02
know what's going on right away he's a real person everyone else is an actor let's explain that because as soon as you're on board with that even the
00:45:07
little moments people are invested in they they can be laughs and so that was like a pleasant Sur the H is nervous
00:45:12
also you know what the first thing Dana this is one of the not the first but this is one of the ones that really benefited from Tik Tok and clips and
00:45:19
stuff Tik Tok blew it up because Tik Tok the first one I saw was the actress who
00:45:24
you know her name and I can't remember uh you'll tell me in a second she was the brand ambassador oh Lisa Gilroy and
00:45:30
she was [ __ ] hysterical and everyone was like is this a real person and and they show her a whole speech on Tik Tok
00:45:37
it's it's very funny and that got me to go what is that and then and how long was it on Tik Tok What was the length I
00:45:45
don't well what happened was the the weekend we came out people started
00:45:51
recording their laptop screens and uploading it to Tik Tok oh that's smart we didn't do we didn't put it on Tik Tok
00:45:56
okay so it was very organic and then so people were like I can't believe the show and uploading it and the you know
00:46:03
we had a call the following Monday like how's it doing and there were the marketing team was like well it blew up on Tik Tok it like the video clips got
00:46:10
50 million views this weekend and then it just exploded from there I think it got like over half a billion video and
00:46:17
then people would tell people that's my favorite part actually is is going like oh how did you hear about it because it
00:46:22
was not a marketing campaign that anyone heard about it it was all MTH hard it's so
00:46:28
hard the audience just doesn't feel pushed toward it at least the initial
00:46:33
got to discover it like I you I had people telling me this woman who cuts my hair this a super cool show you got to
00:46:38
watch this show you know yeah Rosie told me about it she watch all the whole thing when I when she said I knew I I had a friend from high school you know
00:46:44
let me know she was like Hey you know my mom group uh was telling me about the show I got to watch and I remember you
00:46:50
posting something about it maybe so if you were involved in that congrats and I was like oh if we made it to Mom groups in Illinois we're doing okay like I
00:46:57
that's I had not experienced something like that I just want I'm sure you've talked about this in interviews and stuff but it felt like when I was
00:47:03
watching it the first time I thought okay they've gone a too far and that was
00:47:08
the guy with the chair pants chair pants chair pants huge swing David who plays
00:47:15
tot David Brown they're all so brilliant I mean everyone is yeah our entire cast please let's give them all the jobs ever
00:47:22
in this town they're so talented do you know their names and their character names cuz it's a big cast you know it's
00:47:27
very hard well you know to be honest with you we went character name only while filming because we didn't didn't
00:47:32
want to confuse and have someone slip you know what I mean so for my the first name I often think of is the character
00:47:39
name because for for months we almost name Genie Ron played Ken these are good
00:47:45
notes some down I you know I I was worried because when I started watching I'm like don't swing too hard I was like
00:47:52
don't [ __ ] this up yes cuz if it's someone fell off the ladder remember that yeah uh do you remember did you see
00:47:59
chair pants I didn't getair so the guy comes in there weren't going to be enough chairs David seen the the trailer
00:48:05
for the show but thees super long Tik Tok these things how do you describe might have been three minutes he
00:48:11
basically strapped some crutches to his butt and said this is my exos skeleton and and I can sit anywhere now and then
00:48:18
he tried to bring it into and that was another day we like okay this could all go away today let's see how it goes it
00:48:23
wasn't that burnout that looks like me that was next door neighbor they got blond ha yes yes him yeah he played
00:48:30
scare him and he was set up as an supposed to make him uncomfortable at first but Ronald just welcomed him right
00:48:35
away in fact chair pants the day he chair pants the day he when we shot pants displayed the chance as we call
00:48:42
them um Ronald just walked right by him didn't even say anything just like cool yep sitting on crutches and no reaction
00:48:49
and we're like do we have to push chair pants more like whoa he he kept
00:48:54
surprising us in that way the one bit we had is we were actually ready this is an example of how we pulled back to not
00:49:00
blow it on chair pants day he's in court and then the judge starts yelling at him what are you wearing why can't you sit down you got to sit down in the J that
00:49:06
help but that helped but what we had ready was we were gonna have the judge go like would you say this is a medical
00:49:13
device do you need this and he was going to kind of go well yeah technically it's for my body and he was going to go well
00:49:19
I can't argue with that and we had a maintenance guy ready with a wrench to come in and remove a juror chair from
00:49:24
the box and remove the chair so he could sit in chair pants all day and literally
00:49:29
we're watching going I think we're pushing it too far like he's getting a little like pull back pull back no so you know that's kind of like on the Fly
00:49:36
we would decide how far to push it be watching his reactions and then go okay never mind don't don't go to that level
00:49:41
you or any of your co-producers everever go noes to noes in the control room you are going to [ __ ] this project up mister
00:49:47
I mean did anything ever get that all agree we're going we had such a good team and you know we were all in
00:49:53
the writer room and producing it together it was a long journey you know the people that were there you know Cody
00:49:58
heler our showrunner Nick Hatton our producer and Andrew Weinberg one of our writers and executive producers it was
00:50:03
kind of like us four every day in that control room and we had all been prepping it in the writer's room as well
00:50:10
and so we we were kind of on the same page and and uh luckily no it never got to that if anything it was pull back
00:50:17
pull back and we'd all kind of pull back because we were so nervous about losing it and then when someone will go like maybe we push it a little bit and you're
00:50:23
like okay okay push it a little bit more have your top one two or three most
00:50:28
pushed I mean maybe it was the Jumping on the Bed sex I think yeah you're kind of covering it chair pants I think was a
00:50:35
huge push um you call soaking soaking soaking trying to get the the the Mormon
00:50:42
sex rumor of of of James Marsen would jump up and down the bed in a certain Cadence yeah would you he wouldn't be
00:50:49
responsible for his own orgasm kind of yeah I think I think there was something going around Twitter at the time saying
00:50:55
uh too much saying or not enough if if the car's in the garage I'm not
00:51:00
technically having sex if someone else is putting the motion in there you know what I mean and and so we play that in
00:51:06
front of Ronald our guy and again he he's just the sweetest guy he doesn't want to call someone out and be a jerk
00:51:12
you know what we realized actually is we were so worried about pushing it we realized afterwards that after day three
00:51:18
or four we actually could have gone way harder because you get to a point where
00:51:24
for someone to go wait this isn't real they would have to think back and go that means the last week of my life
00:51:30
wasn't real and these are actors that is such a foreign thought unless you're actually a psychopath or a narcissist
00:51:37
you're not you can't have that thought so the the idea that we're picking a nice guy a normal guy we realized oh it
00:51:42
would have been so hard for him after a certain amount of days to realize what we were doing we maybe could have gone harder dude I hate that I got punked
00:51:49
once and when everyone in the place applauded it made me sick I I it was
00:51:55
like Truman Show you were like floating going there's no so everyone just tricked me I felt I I don't like pranks
00:52:02
like that I was like horrified by it and that made me feel like when you see on Instagram and someone is they're usually
00:52:08
like mean pranks you know you throw a basball on a guy's face at a store and then you go hey who threw that it's like
00:52:14
well that's just to make this guy look like an [ __ ] and you look cool yes so those I drive me nuts but this one was
00:52:20
so elaborate and so for I wonder if he's if he ever just thinks that's so weird
00:52:26
he must well I wrote this down episode five there's a couple times where Ronald
00:52:32
is just standing there going crazy stuff just keeps happening crazy stuff you guys are all tight in the booth going no
00:52:38
no don't figure it out sh let's go to complete silence no he couldn't possibly hear you
00:52:45
where you were obviously no but I mean we would we'd be nervous we were in a courtroom there's the booth yeah we so
00:52:51
we found an Old Courthouse that was decommissioned right to to shoot in and uh for budget cuts and so there was
00:52:57
courtroom number three was where the actual case was happening Court courtroom number one was what we made
00:53:03
into the jury holding area and the booth was courtroom number two so we were right in between the the the the actual
00:53:10
courtroom and where they all waited and so we were very quiet a lot of times trying not to last and actors would say
00:53:16
I'm going to use the bathroom and then they go into video Village basically they got phones when they're in their own rooms and and Ronald doesn't have it
00:53:22
yes so fun they're texting each other and I have earbuds in with some of the actors so they can hear me live and and
00:53:28
we're giving them [Music]
00:53:34
notes so one thing that made me laugh this is kind of dry but James Marson playing a parody of a Clueless movie
00:53:41
star shallow and he his whole time he he's working on a film he wants to tell everyone so Lone Pine Lone Pine is such
00:53:48
a perfect funny could be real but ridiculous name that must made you laugh
00:53:53
every time he must time I love it Lone Pine we're working on Lone Pine was he hinting that it was like a big director
00:53:59
probably yeah yeah that was that was from the writer that was fun in the writer room they got to play around with
00:54:05
that and write fake scenes for that because I mean the other thing about our show obviously the actors do so much improvising but not I mean 80 90% of
00:54:12
what you see in the show was scripted you know what I mean and it it was just about how to get there how do we get to these lines that you can say come on my
00:54:18
shoulder was scripted uh maybe she threw that is it's such an abstract thing
00:54:25
walks by him it's a testimonial to the camera mhm and she's talking about her
00:54:30
plans with Ronald no with not with Ronald to corrupt Noah to corrupt Noah yes I'm gonna let him cry on my shoulder
00:54:36
maybe what played Noah that guy was great too mecky mecky leop who's he's nominated for one of our enemies for uh
00:54:42
for writing one of the episodes he was one of our writers as well so he that was great because he was in the room and fully understood the like he was you
00:54:49
know he's basically a producer level person in there because he knew all the background he knew all the bits we cut
00:54:56
he could go back to something so easily and he's just a really funny standup as well and who are you nominated against for the Emy like is there another show
00:55:03
like it out there but you're nominated for against Ted lasso or something yeah Ted lasso a lot of great shows masel
00:55:10
lasso um the bear which is uh obviously great um we did not expect to get I mean
00:55:18
you know we made this tiny little show that's a crazy experiment and we did not expect to get nominated feels feels
00:55:23
pretty nice but yeah who was the guy went to the bathroom didn't he say he's going to go whack off touches him on his shoulder I'm
00:55:29
going to whack off and then the other one that really was stretching is apparently Mars and pooed very like
00:55:35
aggressively in a bathroom and then the guy came in to fix it and then your hero Ronald took the blame took the so it was
00:55:42
me cuz Mars and said look it would get out in the tabloids it wouldn't look good tabloid saying the tabloids would publish a photo of normal people think
00:55:48
that pop Ry would would do that do you finish that scene and go okay that's a rap for the day people I mean it's to be
00:55:55
honest that was one of the ones that I was like should we do this because we could blow it because if if Ronald being
00:56:02
a nice guy tries to get in there and fix it like I can I'll incline it's not real
00:56:07
yeah because that was actually one of the biggest things for our show compared to a typical show or movie is like we
00:56:13
didn't have to be camera real you know like you're on set for a normal TV show or movie you might you know the wall
00:56:19
might be styrofoam or something it doesn't matter as long as it looks right on camera but we had to be reality real
00:56:25
guy who had to believe everything was real life it was a whole element of difficulty for the crew he walked into
00:56:30
the booth and he looks around when it's over yeah and then he sees like the back of sets so fake looking like oh my this
00:56:37
whole world is like spinning it took him a long time I think to fully processed it would anyone what would happen but
00:56:43
and that nerve rack of that maybe he would get upset or something would be we
00:56:49
were all in love with him by the point you know what I mean so we're like we really hope we don't like you know hurt
00:56:54
him you know what I mean but the the relationships are real like he really did he's friends with everyone
00:56:59
I was just talking to him yesterday we all keep in touch he's a great guy great head on his shoulders that's why he's so good in the show what was his job he had
00:57:06
just sold his business he was like a solar contractor solar he was working
00:57:11
with like a solar panel cleaning system I think and he had sold that and this speaks to his character and he was kind
00:57:17
of between jobs he had just sold his business and he was like wow what are some life experiences I could I could do
00:57:23
that I won't have time for again once I working again and he found this ad on Craigslist that said have you ever if
00:57:29
you've never served jury duty before and you'd like to be part in an interesting documentary this could be for you and he
00:57:34
signed up and I think it's like that's part of who we're looking for someone to say yes to things you know what I mean and that's uh and so and he also doesn't
00:57:42
want to ruffle feathers and he wants to come in and be good yes that helped too that he thinks he's in a documentary so
00:57:48
he's already used the cameras being around yes he thought there was like a five person Crew He didn't see the other
00:57:53
eight hid cameras saw a very small PBS European serious documentary in fact I
00:57:59
don't think it's in the final episode after we wrapped and I finally went out and met him and we were all talking with him and I was doing his final exit
00:58:05
interview and he goes can I can I can I give you guys one suggestion and uh we
00:58:10
go yeah he goes because we'd explain like you were kind of the moral compass and we wanted to do this live play of
00:58:15
crazy characters and situations around you and he goes oh that's really nice to you guys and um can I give you one
00:58:21
suggestion if you were going to cut this together I just want to say there there's a lot of funny things that happened maybe you could make it a a
00:58:27
comedy and we were and we were like yeah oh yeah sorry that's most the boring
00:58:33
stuff won't be in there you know what I mean we were gearing towards that right but he's just like you know that's who he is just a sweetheart going I was
00:58:40
laughing a lot during some stuff when I would get home at night you should look at that stuff you know what I mean it was yeah it's interesting because
00:58:45
earnestness Go full circle to that word that I think is part of his charm it's
00:58:51
not to do with uh being a pushover it's not to do with being um not very ex very
00:58:58
bright it's just this spectrum of his personality that is so sincere and also
00:59:05
always thinking of the best because you can't up with think God if I was in this situation would I be that nuts every
00:59:11
time something happened to someone he basically spun it positive he is such
00:59:16
because he's a very smart guy Ronald is just a very decent guy and he gives people the benefit of the doubt and
00:59:23
that's what we were looking for but even better we could what if he got mad at the end oh we we were we were truly
00:59:29
terrified of in fact you asked what the craziest things we were worried about was the reveal became the most
00:59:34
terrifying because we had gotten through all the big set pieces and then we were like now we got to tell them like there
00:59:40
was part of us like maybe we should just go a couple more days we don't want to we were so nervous about telling them that actually became the most scared we
00:59:47
were about doing it in the wrong way telling me in a way that would upset him how being very Ginger about it yes that
00:59:53
was he did a good job J we had a long speech we cut it down in the show but we really let's lay this out for you let's
01:00:01
do it bit by bit and we really had to and then what what got me and I guess what gets people meaning kind of te is
01:00:07
then the judge says you've done this and this and this and this and you are our
01:00:13
hero and then here's 100,000 yeah I mean that was kind ofy something yes but I
01:00:19
mean sugar help the emotion of that moment because he was I guess he was blushing and just so stunned well we
01:00:26
were so worried is he gonna is he gonna be upset is he gonna be happy is he gonna scream and it's like no the reality of someone telling you hey every
01:00:31
person you've interacted with for the last three weeks has been an actor stunning you just have to think about that what does that mean that is not a
01:00:38
normal thing to react to processing because in normal like hidden camera shows you maybe push someone for like
01:00:43
two hours three hours and go hey just kidding there's a camera here you immediately go Oh okay the last two hours he feel deceived he could feel
01:00:50
like yeah it would probably a lot of emotions and then but the 100 Grand helps helps but a lot of a lot of the
01:00:55
conversations behind the scenes between the producers was how do we do this in a in an okay way and do you think um one
01:01:01
thing I found interesting because everyone was so great and it's sort of it's love them it was scripted but also
01:01:08
they had to when they were around Ronald be listening and be in the moment in case they had to adjust yes so it
01:01:14
created this hyper acting like you I always tell people like if someone came in here oh FedEx guys come here I don't
01:01:20
want to see him anymore we would all go let's just tell them we're real busy we're going to do another yeah we'd all act perfectly probably
01:01:27
because it wouldn't be trying like oh no we're just going to be here for so just put it you know so that you had that
01:01:32
whatever that magic is it didn't seem like real Next Level kind of acting
01:01:38
they're all amazing they had that was the toughest part of casting was and shout out to Susie Ferris our amazing
01:01:43
casting director but we had to find people that were that wouldn't break strong enough to not break good good
01:01:49
enough at improv uh good enough at choosing their moments cuz we'd say say you got to get to this choke you got to
01:01:55
get to this line but we don't know exactly when it'll happen so you got to choose the right moment to jump in and be that good but not have already been a
01:02:03
serious regular on a show that he could recognize you from or something don't push it yeah yeah exactly don't push it
01:02:08
you get someone pushing you gotta write them in less because you get scared and that was our our call back process was
01:02:14
really fun because basically to test people we went to a real focus group Center where people you know get paid
01:02:21
100 bucks to come in and give your opinion on something we brought in actors that we that we were excited about and we brought in real people and
01:02:27
every group was five actors and five real people and the Five actors didn't know who the other actors were if they didn't know each other and we I gave
01:02:34
them a character and a goal and jokes to make and then it was let's see how they do with real people and can do they know
01:02:41
when to jump in do they know how to push it without breaking it and we needed that for sure to to be able to pick the
01:02:47
right cast and it shows you just you know not to go to back to the the strike or anything but you know Talent meets
01:02:54
opportunity and so any of those people could go anywhere they want to go it just it's very hard to get a break as an
01:03:00
actor yeah in Hollywood and become known and then have leverage and make a really good living it's so rare yes and just to
01:03:07
see that brilliant level of performance with all these people that I didn't know
01:03:12
who they were I'm so proud of all of them I really am they're amazing and so good on you to Foster that they must
01:03:18
love you good job on this uh thank you for talking to us D you have anything else you want to tell this um no I just
01:03:24
wanted to shout out to Ronald gladen that uh you know it's documentable that you are a very good person yes you know
01:03:32
that's nice to have it on film if you have kids later and they think dad's a jerk look at this I didn't even break
01:03:38
you know so um it's it's a it's a Next Level revolutionary project I don't know
01:03:43
how someone tries to do this again anytime soon I don't I don't either it's so so so unique in the form of canid
01:03:51
camera or the you know the whole Heritage of hidden cameras you you guys took it to a whole another level you can
01:03:56
do it It's Tricky but you could you know it is trickier the second time yeah I think we'll have to find a new a new a new setting yeah yeah yeah but everyone
01:04:04
wants to sign up to do a show Jake zamenski zamansky sorry the Polish Jake
01:04:09
zamansky um has been our guest today David Spade has been David Spade thanks for coming into the dungeon
01:04:16
thanks for having me in guys appreciate it really enjoyed it jury duty
01:04:21
everyone this has been a podcast presentation Cadence 13 please listen then rate review and follow all episodes
01:04:29
available now for free wherever you get your podcast no joke folks fly on thewall has been a
01:04:36
presentation of cadence 13 executive produced by Dana Carvey and David Spade Chris corkran of cadence 13 and Charlie
01:04:43
finan of brillstein entertainment the show's lead producer is Greg Holtman with production and Engineering support
01:04:48
from Serena Regan and Chris Basil of cadence 13

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  • 80
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  • 80
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Episode Highlights

  • From Funniest Die to SNL
    Transitioning from online sketches to a major network show, he found his footing in comedy.
    “Funnier Die was like the best prep for SNL.”
    @ 23m 36s
    November 29, 2023
  • The Art of Comedy Editing
    He discusses the importance of editing in comedy and how it can make or break a scene.
    “Editors have so much power; they can turn funny into not funny.”
    @ 29m 12s
    November 29, 2023
  • The Challenge of Modern Comedy Films
    He reflects on the changing landscape of comedy films and the difficulties in getting them made.
    “It's hard to get R-rated comedies made now.”
    @ 34m 38s
    November 29, 2023
  • The Jury Duty Experiment
    A unique show premise where a real person navigates a scripted jury experience.
    “Can we pull this off and can we do it in a positive way?”
    @ 44m 34s
    November 29, 2023
  • Going Viral on TikTok
    The show's unexpected rise in popularity thanks to organic TikTok clips.
    “It blew up on TikTok... 50 million views this weekend!”
    @ 46m 10s
    November 29, 2023
  • The Sweetheart Juror
    Ronald, the juror, brings sincerity and positivity to the absurd situations.
    “He's a very decent guy and gives people the benefit of the doubt.”
    @ 59m 23s
    November 29, 2023
  • Emotional Reactions
    The cast worried about how Ronald would react to the big reveal.
    “We were so worried, is he gonna be upset or happy?”
    @ 01h 00m 26s
    November 29, 2023
  • Casting Challenges
    Finding actors who could improvise without breaking character was a tough task.
    “The toughest part of casting was finding people that wouldn't break.”
    @ 01h 01m 43s
    November 29, 2023
  • A Unique Hidden Camera Experience
    The show takes hidden camera to a revolutionary level, challenging traditional formats.
    “You took it to a whole another level.”
    @ 01h 03m 51s
    November 29, 2023

Episode Quotes

Key Moments

  • Second Film School20:41
  • Guerilla Filmmaking21:20
  • SNL Journey23:17
  • Comedy Editing Insights29:12
  • Modern Comedy Challenges34:38
  • TikTok Explosion46:10
  • Emotional Reveal1:00:13
  • Unique Project1:03:38

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown

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