00:00:00
our next guest is a Charming funny young man sorry I thought I started as Johnny
00:00:05
I like it I should do Johnny our next guest uh Charming funny young man had a
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lot of success with uh the television show The Office with Steve Carell and of
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course the hangover Ed have you seen the office Ed have you seen The Hangover is a little rougher on the
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edges the office takes place in an office yeah it's Ed hel everybody you
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know the face uh he's does commercials he's in he was in the vacation reboot I
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think I saw that funny he was great on the office obviously The Hangover movies
00:00:43
you can't escape uh they're so funny and all three of them with Todd talk a lot about that we get all the Deets and ins
00:00:51
and outs of those movies and um really fun guy looks young Dana he really
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looked Young cuz when you're on on the zoom you see your face and you see his face and you go huh what the [ __ ] is
00:01:07
going on we look pretty young but he looks he's in better shape so I'm going to start doing whatever that is he's
00:01:12
he's got a later date on his birth certificate but he is uh he's Charming
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likable and funny and tells some great stories and one of the giant waves to go
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from the office to The Hangover movie was just like I me shot out of a rocket
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ship or whatever they say yeah so he's a funny young man funny young man and enjoys us and you're I think you're
00:01:35
gonna enjoy this one right Ed yes enjoying the younger
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actors not that great no it actually was pretty good I'm laughing cuz it was
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actually the right tone very shimmery good skin is Ed Helms guys Ed
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Helms [Music]
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Ed Helms thanks for thanks for coming on oh my God we love having you this is a
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this is a great privilege for me I am very excited to be here yeah honored I
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would say honored oh okay up only mildly thank you only mildly mildly mildly
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embarrassed but mostly honored but no mix
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feelings hopefully yes what I read a a quote the other day
00:02:34
someone said uh about Cala it's not about her at all but just the phrase up the wazu I hadn't seen it it was in the
00:02:41
New York Times like she's got experience up the wazu I just put it out there for
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you guys as a starting off point for the and to talk about the I haven't heard that in a while it's gone away for sure
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it feels 1960s to me is it new to you Dana because I've definitely heard it before
00:02:59
you Dana but I but I do feel like I haven't heard it since like college Ed
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David and Ed um no I think it's very 60s you know with bitching and stuff like
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that you guys are younger than me but we don't have to get into that was there ever a Wazoo there was a thing wazo was like
00:03:20
was a little metal oh [ __ ] one one letter off yeah damn it here's my
00:03:27
research but that help there it is I saved these for my book can somebody
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Google uh W wazo I want to know what I would assume it's like
00:03:41
coloo that's what I'm assuming yeah yeah it's the huge ass of an Arctic elk it
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says no I don't know oh God you had me it was such a good such a
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specific a person's a person's anus
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that's there you go it says it in there that's got to be slang a human anus that was a record the
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sad part is this is part of the podcast we we are well we always say anus on the podcast at some point but that was
00:04:14
only 242 anus is a very clinical term and I do find it I do find it funny when
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when you mix like a formal doctor setting with
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like uh I have a I have a pain in my in my woo
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right when a doctor said to me he goes I said I have a pain down here by my hip
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flexor he said it's here there's a hip flexor there's a tendon that goes right next to your nut sack and I go well yeah
00:04:46
Nick nickname doctor is fun a funny sketch your man
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unit is uh experiencing difficulties yeah it's Nick what would it be nickname doctor you would have done it on a
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segment on the on John Stewart oh yeah
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the got into that yeah because I remember you you reminded me of will
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farell in the sense you're running around uh kind of naked around you're like you have little bikini briefs on
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yeah that was and then you lean down you go I got a camera under my ball sorry it's the blue shell but nut sack let's
00:05:25
let's call let's use the clinical term it's a nutsack good we we've moved on from the yeah you're referring to the uh the a
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field segment I did um in which on The Daily Show yeah Point Pleasant New
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Jersey had just um reversed a decades long ban
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on uh um banana hammock type bathing
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suits or Speedos Speedo and uh so they had banned those for men for for decades
00:05:57
they they reversed the ban and so I of course went to Point Pleasant New Jersey
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and wanted the the uh Speedo point of view so we put a camera under my yeah
00:06:10
nut sack and I walk the streets my God this is television it sounds like filth it is absolute filth I'm not proud of it
00:06:18
no I'm mad it came up yeah mad it aired me and my darn research I am the speedo
00:06:27
Bandido have you ever worn one in real life I was I I was a competitive swimmer in
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high school I wore them all the time oh my god when you say competitive Let's uh
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like what was your what was your stroke what was your most what your best
00:06:45
stroke it's by bet well uh stro let's talk stroken um I was good at freestyle
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and Butterfly those were my Strokes yeah butterfly is kind of violent I mean it's
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weird I it's elegant it's like a kind of Dolph it's like very beautiful it's uh
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yeah so what was your resting pulse when you were like 17 in the morning if you
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because I I did track and field and intervals and all that stuff isn't pulse isn't my resting pulse was
00:07:16
34 you knew you're resting pulse in good or bad I don't know what was all the rage all your pulse your pulse rate you
00:07:23
know I just yeah I don't know I I have no idea I don't even know what it is now could you get back to us maybe after
00:07:30
I will I'll check Dana's like I met my wife we were talking about pulses one day and just connect sort of a common
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interest um yeah so you swim is freestyle the one where you go one arm one arm one arm one arm that's the class
00:07:44
that's like the Straight Ahead basic Tarzan Tarzan swim is there a Treading Water there's not that is there no not
00:07:51
not in I mean water polo guys do that do they touch the ground or they don't touch the ground no they don't touch the
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bottom at all oh and same with uh with what do you call it synchronized swimming like they don't even [ __ ] don't
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cross out one more Olympic sport I won't be doing but you you had to been crazy fit
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uh swimming like that what am I what's coming to mind yeah I was in good shape I was in really good shape in high
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school and then and then I stopped yeah whated you're in good shape now life's been good to you I want to meet your
00:08:25
dermatologist yeah you look good dude I don't know dermatologist is is zoom I
00:08:30
have the the little uh the what is the facial uh
00:08:36
yeah facial smoothing blurry background is is a good way to maybe look better or
00:08:42
worse because it's so much focus on just what's your app cuz I want to get it with the blur background you look you
00:08:48
look filmic right now you I'm G to tell you guys I'm going to give you guys a little tech support on how to look hot
00:08:55
WT um in go I want you to go into your camera menu I like this in your uh well
00:09:01
I'm what's that don't you love how tech support
00:09:07
people always say all right do me a favor go to your go to your file menu I
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like go I like go to your dashboard go in my car yeah go you just do me a favor
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do me a favor go do favor do me a favor here's what we're gonna do do you do you see what do you what do you see right
00:09:24
now you mind if I share your screen big blur I don't know if we're there yet
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yeah let me take over your screen I'm just gonna dip I'm gonna dip into your
00:09:35
your personal accounts your photos with you just give me complete control over this you care I close this window that
00:09:42
says boner Licious decom and I go now go ahead I don't need that anymore I I'm
00:09:47
almost straight face when they talk about porn I go no no that's
00:09:53
fine hold could you just leave that one do you need CL what does closing windows
00:09:58
do to help just leave it just push it inside is it taking up you got to close windows you got to close you got to
00:10:04
close the windows oh yeah that's Trump what sorry I had to throw in a little Trump oh Trump tech support that is a
00:10:11
good close the windows we're going to close close the windows let we're going to close windows they've never seen
00:10:17
windows closed like this this is the window closing do me a favor file menu
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JD get in here he's young he's vibrant look at the beard and the blue eyes get in here yeah you don't need hey Dad you don't
00:10:32
need this filter I hate to talk your regular uh
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job stuff but when you do The Daily Show like so do you have to be somewhat political you just have to be funny
00:10:44
right they don't it's just like what happens in politics they find a spin on it and then they say maybe this will be
00:10:50
funny to do a field piece kind of thing yeah I would imagine it's comparable to the kind of SNL cultural satire right
00:10:58
you're just you're just kind of looking at what's happening and and trying to figure out uh you so the the formula for
00:11:07
field pieces which is what what I did the most of was very simple it was sort of like find a news item like for
00:11:13
example that Point Pleasant New Jersey story and then just take the dumbest possible stance or or or in the case of
00:11:21
one I did about a guy who was like um who is anti- like trying to what was hey
00:11:29
he was trying to start a straight pride parade in in Boston I think so obviously he's a he's like a jerk and then you
00:11:37
just the formula is you just take his side and then you right or you just take
00:11:43
the wrong side you go with him and say let's do this let's and then he doesn't know he's being clowned or whatever uh
00:11:51
well well yeah you I mean you know I sat with that guy we did an interview there was another guy that was trying to do uh
00:11:58
a uh a he was a Libertarian and he he started a a as
00:12:06
it's it was ironic but it was to make a statement he started a guns for Tots
00:12:11
program and uh just to make his like libertarian statement and of and it was
00:12:17
like giving away free gun toys to children on on playgrounds a tough sell
00:12:24
so so I I had toy guns guilty I had toy gun I shot every kid on the Block I had
00:12:31
real guns no it was um uh but he he was
00:12:38
so ridiculous and then a lot of times people they might even know the Daily Show already but they think that they
00:12:47
can sort of outsmart you yeah yeah so you sit with them and it was a
00:12:52
little I will say like kind of the disingenuous part of it was hard for me
00:12:58
because I grew up I I grew up in the South I'm very people pleasy I just want to like make people
00:13:04
comfortable and and laugh and have a nice time and a nice hangout and I'm suddenly in this job where I have to sit
00:13:10
across from someone and try to make them squirm or ask ask like hor itchy yeah and so there there was a
00:13:18
little bit of a uh like a Yeah just something that that that
00:13:25
went against my grain somehow and I I kind of forced myself to do it I and I
00:13:30
always I did love there was it was fun to find those those those really rare moments of like extreme comedy in those
00:13:37
moments of tension but I actually I think I gravitate more towards just good
00:13:43
scripted comedy like you know the like the SNL stuff was always you know that
00:13:50
was my I mean just like probably everyone that you interview that was my dream was to go was to be on SNL and to
00:13:57
have your have your job and uh and I I just looked up to guys like you and
00:14:05
um and it was so that was always and then The Daily Show became all right I
00:14:10
this this feels like something I can do also and my favorite Parts on The Daily Show were actually this the scripted
00:14:16
segments the studio chats like with John where I'd be like at at a green screen you know in Baghdad or whatever and
00:14:23
those were really more like sketches that's fun because you write them ahead
00:14:29
of time you you know where the beats are you know you think it's going to kill up front yeah and at least you have faith in it I've done field pieces and uh I've
00:14:37
done also I produced a prank show that made me so itchy and then field pieces
00:14:42
my uh Theory I did some on SNL too where it's go have a wispy
00:14:48
idea go out shoot 12 and a half hours and get two and a half minute bit yeah
00:14:54
yeah if you shoot if you shoot enough footage you're GNA get something you can get an extra laugh out of a [ __ ]
00:15:01
reaction shot or something just get because sometimes you get it and you go this is a little thin guys and then they go well let's get in there and they edit
00:15:07
it and they add something little music and you go okay not too shabby you know yeah true you're you're absolutely right
00:15:14
it was th those field pieces were built in the edit and sometimes they fell
00:15:19
apart in the edit there were there were field pieces I did that just died in the edit room it was like there's just no
00:15:26
way to save this which was that's that's when you walk out like oh I'm getting fired today this is not uh working out
00:15:34
you know Dana I did one where I went to a plastic surgeon and when you know we were running out of bits and I go let's just go and then I go what would you do
00:15:41
to me it's like the dumbest thing because it got real real quick so he goes let's just take a quick picture of
00:15:47
you and I go well and I started getting a little weird I go well like this is already going sideways on me cuz he goes
00:15:54
oh there's a lot we could do to you and I go okay this wasn't the way in my head it was going to go and then takes one
00:15:59
picture and he goes hangang on I'm sitting across from his desk I'm looking at the camera and I'm like it was
00:16:05
funnier the fact that I was sickened by it then he turns he goes okay here's the 14 things I would do to you and you know
00:16:12
nine of these are like non-negotiable like you have to do by noon tomorrow I'm like what he goes take a little off the
00:16:17
nose take it off your eyes take it off your hair take a off your for take and we could get you up to an eight and I'm
00:16:23
like well I don't want to talk about this anymore and then I just walk out minut I got hit by a car I'm like hello
00:16:30
is the maximum yeah he goes listen we're not a [ __ ] miracle workers he
00:16:36
go Grand you can get to an eight from a four seven I well who said I was a four
00:16:41
what what are what numbers are are we fing people because I ran into the zip check on the computer did that
00:16:47
air can I watch that yeah I that somewhere I think I think that was from
00:16:53
lights out maybe I don't know maybe show that's brutal it's brutal dude brutal who is this guy
00:16:59
that guy me he took it seriously he goes oh yeah like I've been waiting for a guy like you to walk in he goes we're going
00:17:05
to fix you right up oh there's so much you can do oh my God you're such tell me
00:17:10
you have no budget you're a piece of clay I can I can mold you you're literally like a piece of clay that
00:17:15
hasn't been shaped just a Blobby piece of blob and I don't know if this is true or not or if it's a a wies taale that
00:17:23
that George Burns went in uh at 96 and got some work done no kiding all that
00:17:30
way you took us all that way I just thought was a funny idea of even at 96 he got five of of his 35 wrinkles
00:17:39
removed hard to tell what about when you see like The Golden Girls were all like you know 31 years old and you're like
00:17:46
wait on the show like no wonder people thought 50 year olds were so horribly
00:17:51
old it's like you know Archie Bunker was 36 on that show I'm like good God I know
00:17:57
do you ever watch old movies and just look up the age of the actors you can't right John Wayne was 47 here he looks
00:18:04
Wast yeah yeah him W Bond doing shots smoking hotter cigarettes it's like they
00:18:10
put it's like they put Whiskey on their face in the morning it just looks like um I think it was cool they said John
00:18:16
Wayne when he died uh they have you ever heard this rumor they found 55 pounds of
00:18:22
dead meat in his colon had no that wasn't that Elvis it was impact
00:18:29
no it's impacted feal matter is the is the actual medical this was cow meat that was still
00:18:36
so raw they good doctor could have brought it back to life I know I got a lot fresh burgers
00:18:42
out of yeah you could thrown on the
00:18:48
[Music] girl do you by the way the last thing on this was The Daily Show do you audition
00:18:54
do you do a fake field piece or how do you get on there that was your first big thing right yeah that was that was
00:19:00
definitely my first uh my first big thing I I'll give you a little bit of the ramp into it um I graduated from
00:19:08
college and and in the back of my head I was like I'm gonna get on SNL like that
00:19:13
is where that is my I didn't tell anybody I was very sort of I mean only
00:19:18
maybe one or two of my closest friends knew how driven I was on that and I so I
00:19:24
moved to but then I was like well how do I do that and I was looking at
00:19:29
I totally agree right but I really was like analytical about it and I was looking at you you know you guys and and
00:19:37
uh others and and how they had uh like the paths and it became clear it's like
00:19:43
you've got your Groundlings sort of you know pathway through through through Los
00:19:49
Angeles but then you also had this crop of of New York City standup comedians like Adam Sandler and and and and even
00:19:57
Eddie Murphy guys like that and and uh and I just felt like for some reason the
00:20:04
standup comedy well and and you that's your background too Dana right the
00:20:09
standup yeah I was a pure standup they the Groundlings didn't exist in San Francisco there was a couple of impr improv groups but I didn't know anything
00:20:16
about SK sketch comedy groups so I did standup so yeah that was so that was
00:20:22
what I was like this feels like what I can do it's it's kind of entrepreneurial I can just if I just apply myself I can
00:20:29
work my way up and that's that's what I did I just moved moved to New York started doing all the open mics and and
00:20:37
gradually kind of got some and I started auditioning for commercials and all the
00:20:43
all that stuff so were you terrified I mean your first set I mean how hard was that leap did you do enough theater in
00:20:50
Co high school or college I did well I did a lot of theater I was I I I did a lot of theater
00:20:56
in in high school and then a little bit in college but I never theater was not
00:21:03
what I wanted to do I yeah just but I started doing standup the summer after
00:21:08
my junior year in college I did my first set in at standup New York
00:21:15
and and what what were you like initially like who were you were you were you doing characters voices setups
00:21:21
when you're writing all your stuff yeah that does train you to write I I would
00:21:27
say like one my favorite comedians at the time and well still is is Brian rean
00:21:33
and I just always loved his love him yeah what a genius and I just loved his
00:21:39
um he would like describe something and then slip into the Goofy character in
00:21:45
that situation and so that was sort of how I would model my bits like uh I
00:21:51
would just sort of set something up and then kind of place myself in it like a dumber goofier you say I like guy at the
00:21:59
gym comes up to you hey using those weights you know just whatever you turn into the guys yeah yeah yeah I had these
00:22:06
are some of I mean these are so embarrassing but I had I want to hear them I had one of my like this was like
00:22:12
my closer for a while this long bit about how awkward it must be to be a
00:22:18
goldfish because when they poop the the strand of poop like stays attached to
00:22:26
their body oh embarrass while while they swim around and so I would do this whole bit of like what if that like then I
00:22:32
would be like imagine that happened to you at a bar and you like go to the bathroom you come back you're like
00:22:38
trying trying to like strike up a conversation but you have like a string of poop and it just went on and on and
00:22:45
it was you know that it but it was me in character basically as myself trying to
00:22:50
sort of explain away this what was the final line of that bit and then you said
00:22:56
I'm Ed Helms good night what was the actual last line so the Poo remains
00:23:04
attached oh my gosh I finally had to say does anybody have some scissors yeah something like that and
00:23:11
then you guys thanks for coming down to sirl you guys been great you guys have been great well then I then I I I
00:23:18
eventually dropped that one and my NE my next big one was uh going like it was a
00:23:27
little story about um taking a taxi and then getting out of the taxi
00:23:32
and thanking the taxi driver and then getting on an elevator and going up the elevator and then I get to my floor and
00:23:40
I step off and I turn around and thank the person still standing in the elevator the elevator ride and that was
00:23:47
sort of a setup for for me to just talk about all of my social awkwardness which
00:23:53
which was uh always has always been lot of thank you somewhat extreme yeah just
00:23:58
and then trying to explain to that person like oh I I'm sorry I was in a you know I was in a taxi taking set I
00:24:04
hadn't switched over to the elevator taking mindset yeah I had one where someone's
00:24:11
coming at the elevator and says hold hold please and then you have to fake like you're trying to find the button
00:24:17
yeah I can't I don't want this everybody had an elevator that I start on the
00:24:23
ceiling I go to the ceiling oh my God is it up here and they're like no on the wall I'm like behind me oh closed every
00:24:30
comedian did that Bas AR Army issue yeah or or racing to get on the subway and
00:24:37
you get this was this I I did this one for years you race race down the stairs
00:24:42
and Sprint down the platform and you get on the train and you're like and then the doors don't close for
00:24:49
five minutes you're just standing there panting having to explain like I'm sorry I thought the doors were going to close
00:24:55
that's why I I ran why am I walking you through all of my
00:25:01
worst the lowest point in my comedy well you're not using this anymore and we're always in the hunt for slay around you
00:25:08
know what Dana you can have it take it you can have it you could have this you
00:25:14
know what you should say this is guy this works is this tells me a joke everyone knows you can have it you can
00:25:21
have this one that's yours I tried to give this to someone Rec elevator bit on the elevator with a guy or woman
00:25:27
whatever they get off and they go see you later should I be worried what do you mean see you
00:25:34
later I did I take a ride with Dexter come on CH
00:25:40
is you have a big resume I don't know where to go but Daily Show so stand up
00:25:45
you you got good and they saw you well so yeah I got into the sort of Comedy Central at the time they were just there
00:25:52
were so many standups doing like this premium blend show and all kind they just sticking they were standups
00:25:59
everywhere and I kind of got on the radar and um and then The Daily Show
00:26:07
which at that point I was watching religiously because I had really fallen in love with the show and I was feeling
00:26:13
like I think I can do I was sort of studying it and um and then kind of out
00:26:19
of nowhere I get this they had this huge cattle call and um I go and I'm really
00:26:30
inexplicably arrogant like I really felt like I had done the homework which is rare for me because I I'm not good at
00:26:37
preparing for things but I just felt like I had been and i' been working on my SNL audition I had like a stable of
00:26:44
characters or whatever but then I at the same time I was like really studying Steph colar and Steve Carell and those
00:26:51
guys and um and and a friend of mine had auditioned maybe like a year before and
00:26:58
hadn't gotten it and I was like yeah like of course you didn't get it because you didn't do these five things that
00:27:03
they all do how do you not know that how did you and so I was just kind of a nerd about it and and uh I got out of the you
00:27:12
know few hundred cattle call people I got I was one of H five or six callbacks
00:27:18
and that was a a sitdown that was a segment in the studio with John so they
00:27:25
they give you a script now Ord again I would be terrified but they give
00:27:31
me the script and it was a script that coar had just done on the show like two weeks before and I knew exactly how he
00:27:39
did it and all of the tricks and stuff and the the kind of like newscaster
00:27:44
Cadence and um uh which I learned from from your Tom
00:27:50
baroka um one of my earliest bits was a going
00:27:56
back to that for a second newscaster ordering dinner with his wife and a surprise coming with my wife today
00:28:02
she'll ever her steak medium rare and a cup of black coffee instead of the
00:28:07
traditional cream and sugar so it is a funny Cadence and you had it yeah it's like a weird people don't realize that
00:28:14
and you see it in movies a lot when actors play newscasters they don't get it right um because it's totally its own
00:28:22
thing yeah but uh but coar and Carell at the time and and and others moraca Vance
00:28:29
degenerous those guys were crushing it on the show degenerous crushing uh by
00:28:35
the way I just want to ask you what was it like when you met uh Carell and col
00:28:40
bear I was so nervous uh that wasn't
00:28:45
until I actually got cast but um I really it's so funny thinking back on it
00:28:51
it was such a it was a basic cable Comedy Central show like it wasn't and
00:28:58
became more of a phenomenon but but it really wasn't that big a deal in the
00:29:03
world but to me it was it was my whole world I was so so excited and I had to
00:29:09
like pretend not to be excited and nervous because that's like you know
00:29:15
that that that when when you're too excited or nervous in a comedy setting everyone's like get out get out of here
00:29:20
like you're totally ruining the V grow it's just it's just hard try not to try
00:29:26
try to be confident not cocky they're all in this click and they have all their on liners and then you're the new
00:29:31
guy it's just that's always hard try not to try that that that is literally advice I got the first week uh with a a
00:29:40
a segment producer that I was working with she was like you're a little too eager you're too excited to be here and
00:29:47
that was Joe Biden was the segment producer you're too eager guess what the
00:29:53
fact of the matter is you're too eager your hair that happened so with
00:29:58
I just assume those guys because I gave them a job a few years earlier and I auditioned them and became friends with
00:30:04
them of course yeah they're not normal Show Business guys I mean they've been married for a half century they're so
00:30:12
Midwestern I that I just wondered how they would be they're kind of like on the show and they're becoming stars and
00:30:19
you're the new guy coming I assume they were incredibly kind I hope so so so great I and and Carell and I only
00:30:26
overlapped for few months before he left to do I think right watching Ellie or
00:30:32
some he got his own sitcom and then of course sh uh he really blew up on Bruce
00:30:39
Almighty which came out like a a little while later but
00:30:44
um or Evan Almighty I guess or BR Evan Almighty first one no Bruce was the one
00:30:50
where he was the newscaster that was like gibberish talking and and that was the Jim Cary one yeah that the Jim
00:30:57
Carrey one is where really popped because he was so funny so funny and
00:31:02
then he finds his way to the office I don't want to LEAP ahead but then you both end up on The Daily Show and you
00:31:07
both end up on the office yeah it's one of those things yeah I've had a front row SE to
00:31:14
Carell for many many has he has he changed has he ever gotten slightly
00:31:19
cocky the worst he he started out the worst he stayed the worst um no the
00:31:27
truly the the best like like gentleman and kind and never I mean we'll get to
00:31:36
the office stuff I have I have a lot to say that people will want to hear from you that um but uh but I forget where I
00:31:44
was somewhere oh so the so I get the audition and I go in um for this segment
00:31:50
with John and I knew how to do it and again I was like weirdly kind of self
00:31:58
assured I and I'm a generally kind of anxious person so I I but I it was one
00:32:04
of those rare moments where I kind of I I felt like I was where I was supposed to be and that was that's such a rare
00:32:12
beautiful gift of a feeling when you when we get it which I I feel like is probably rare for everyone but um but
00:32:19
the audition went really well and then they basically said okay so we're going to hire you and your buddy Rob cord who
00:32:28
I had come up through like improv he was more from the improv comedy space in New York but I had also been doing a lot of
00:32:34
improv um because that that was where Conan O'Brien was pulling cast for his
00:32:40
sketches on his show and so I'd gotten kind of into that world and um with the Upright Citizens Brigade
00:32:49
but anyway Rob and I get hired and well we don't get hired they they say we're
00:32:54
gonna give you guys uh segments to do and we're g to see how you do yeah so
00:33:01
essentially it was like a a fullblown TV segment but but as a tryy
00:33:08
out and so that was my first my first one and that was the one where the field
00:33:14
producer who was so great she was like just so she was I felt like she was
00:33:20
on my side like she wanted me to do well which is kind of rare in Show Business and she just was and she was the one who
00:33:26
like a couple of days in like look this is going great um we're going to have a lot of fun when we go shoot this thing
00:33:33
because you do like two weeks of prep work for one of those and she's like she's like and we're doing meetings with
00:33:38
John and and the writers and whatever she's like this is going great and and and you're trying a little too hard
00:33:44
you're you're too happy to be here and then so so I tried to sort of
00:33:50
this woman I she was so great and I I uh I tried to swallow my my eagerness a
00:33:55
little bit and cool even though I I just I felt out of my mind I was so excited
00:34:02
to be there um and it worked the segment went really really well and uh John
00:34:10
really liked it and and then I uh I pitched another segment my second
00:34:17
segment was probably the the one that clenched it for me and that was um uh kind of like your plastic surgery
00:34:24
bit David it was uh the it was called touched by a scalpel and it was um it
00:34:31
was right after Katie kurick had gotten a colonoscopy on camera for the Today Show right yes so we we're sort of like
00:34:38
sterzing like the dramatization of of uh medical you know news people going
00:34:46
under into medical situations and then making a story out of it kind of like exploiting themselves and uh I had a
00:34:53
mole removed from my nostril and uh and
00:34:58
we made this this huge dramatic segment about it and it was the most
00:35:03
inconsequential thing but it was very very fun and silly and went really well and then that's that's when it locked up
00:35:12
right and then at some point I don't know when it happens you you're out there with John it's a year later or
00:35:18
something and and the crowd goes crazy when they see you I mean that's that you
00:35:25
finally come a he thing that idea of success on television and
00:35:31
and people being just happy especially at comedians if you make if you make
00:35:37
someone laugh it's it's it's it's sticky yeah you're so right Dana it's like when
00:35:43
you can when you feel that um you when you feel like the audience
00:35:49
knows you and actually has like a um you're starting off ahead of the
00:35:55
starting line because is ready warm to what you do um yeah that that took a
00:36:02
while but then also weirdly and I don't know I don't know what how how your SNL
00:36:09
experiences were specifically I've I've lots of friends whove you know been cast
00:36:14
members but um it really after that initial sort of like ramp up like you're
00:36:20
saying of maybe five six months of just like pure excitement and Bliss like yeah
00:36:26
then set then the sort of like sign wave kicked in of like anxiety and oh that
00:36:33
segment went terrible or John didn't laugh at that joke or what and you're
00:36:38
sort of like uh I I don't know I started to kind of just poison myself a little
00:36:45
bit with negative thoughts and then and then you get you do something great and you're back on top and then it just and
00:36:51
then you're just sort of riding this SNL same thing yeah SNL if you if because
00:36:57
you have great shows where it really works and it's very rare um and then you have shows that are just
00:37:04
okay and yeah it's hard not to kind of go but on SNL yeah you just same thing you got the next show yeah usually
00:37:11
unless it's the finale this is the end of the season it would be like really really good if it was like a good
00:37:18
show as opposed to a bad show we love Lauren we like good
00:37:25
shows yeah there was one I did a feel segment I remember and we we we get back
00:37:31
to the edit and we're working on it and John would always come in for a screening or two and give notes and he
00:37:37
comes in he giv a screening and he's like I don't know guys I don't know if this one's I don't know if this one's
00:37:43
GNA work um and and he's like give it another day and then let's see how it
00:37:50
goes and so we keep working on it we're like rewriting all the voiceovers and
00:37:56
whatever trying to chop up and John comes in the next day he's like okay all right let's work on this
00:38:01
some more this is getting somewhere and then he digs in with us and he's spending time in there air which was very unusual in the field segments
00:38:08
usually he would just give notes and but like he's in there with us and I'm like is this good or bad like is this is it
00:38:14
good that he's here or is he like trying to resuscitate right could go either either way um and then and then a day or
00:38:22
two goes by which is and it's been in the edit way too long at this point but it's undeniably it's undeniably good by
00:38:30
the end of it so it's like okay it's gonna air thank God okay and it plays that night on the show gets a huge
00:38:36
reaction from the from the audience and I said to John after the show um I was
00:38:41
like that that went really really well you know like like kind of like can you can can you believe it went so great
00:38:47
after such a tough process and and his response was something like well yeah I mean you could make anything good if you
00:38:53
work hard enough on it and it was kind kind of like
00:39:00
uh the it was basically saying like we kind of had to like waste a lot of time
00:39:07
polishing your turd was how that's how you interpret it backhanded compliment
00:39:14
but it was it was it was I think it was a genuine way of saying like do better
00:39:19
like we gota you got to deliver like you can of course you can slave over something and really put all
00:39:26
hands on deck all and and that'll that'll get it passable but like like let's let's get it you can't burn that
00:39:32
much time in man hours yeah yeah yeah you're supposed to be better it shouldn't get to him yeah exactly
00:39:43
yeah so now you're successful and how did you find your way to the
00:39:49
office another smash so or the the smash I suppose of the last quarter Century or
00:39:55
something it's it's a phen well so um of course I knew Steve and
00:40:04
and I actually had a bit pardon in Evan Almighty which was really fun and and he
00:40:09
had started I think he had started working on the office at that point um and I remember when they cast Steve as
00:40:16
the Ricky Tres character I I just remember thinking like he is going to crush this that will be he's like so
00:40:24
perfect for that yes because like he that same he brought this kind of like
00:40:29
affable obliviousness to his Daily Show pieces and I I just knew it would be so
00:40:35
good in as awkward clueless guy weirdly arrogant in in ways yeah but still
00:40:42
likable yeah he had a it was a perfect match of a part to a to a performer yeah
00:40:48
exactly and I I sensed that even before the show started and then of course it was so so good and I and then then it
00:40:55
became another show that I watched religiously um in in kind of a studious
00:41:01
way also as a fan um oh and I I actually auditioned
00:41:06
for it so when NBC was casting the original cast I think I read for Jim or
00:41:14
Dwight I can't remember who but I went into 30 Rock for a casting session um
00:41:21
and obviously didn't get the part uh wasn't devastated because I loved my job at the daily show mhm um but then a year
00:41:30
or two goes by and I I I loved the the fake documentary format and I I worked
00:41:36
with a friend on a um on a short that was basically a short documentary about a zombie trying to like get his life
00:41:46
together and get out and then like start dating more and he was just complaining about the sort of like difficulties of
00:41:53
being a zombie and all the assumptions that people make about zombies and um
00:41:58
and so it was a lot of like it was very office style like talking to the camera mixed with like b-roll and um and little
00:42:07
bits um and and we and we paid for like really good zombie makeup so it was just
00:42:13
very very silly and somehow that got into um Greg Daniels hands Greg Greg
00:42:20
being the uh Greg Daniels yeah yeah Creator showrunner of the American office and um
00:42:29
and I got asked to pop in for a chat with Greg and
00:42:34
that's when they told me hey we've been thinking about this character he's like a Connecticut Yacht Club kid and he's
00:42:39
kind of an idiot and um we think it could be really fun what do you think
00:42:45
and I just started kind of like pitching on it a little bit and oh it could be like this and this and we just had a
00:42:51
really fun chat about what this Andy Bernard would eventually become mhm um
00:42:59
and then uh and then it kind of was it kind of felt similar to The Daily Show
00:43:04
because there was this sense of like they the story's going to split and they're gonna take Jim to the Stamford
00:43:10
branch and we're just going to try out these people and if it doesn't work we're just gonna float Jim right back to
00:43:17
scanton and so yeah it was a very uncertain casting it wasn't like join
00:43:22
the cast of The Office it was more like come on let's see how it goes MH so uh
00:43:28
that was just like The Daily Show yeah a little bit Yeah so but it put Rashida and me in this funny little Crucible
00:43:35
together and I think we we really bonded at that time because it was so uncertain
00:43:41
feeling and like what's going on um but uh it was so so fun and again it was one
00:43:49
of those rare moments where I just felt like oh this Andy Bernard character I get him I get why he's a doofus I get
00:43:56
why this is like fun and funny and um what's the vibe
00:44:01
like on there is it stressful you office your thought I'm sorry yeah is it like
00:44:07
run and gone I mean is it it's probably pretty thought out but is it stressful we got to get our days there's some
00:44:13
shows are tougher than they look you know yes and I would say it was long
00:44:20
very long hours early early mornings and then kind of late evenings a lot um
00:44:28
but it was such a cohesive
00:44:33
group and there was very little if any drama um the writers were so a lot of
00:44:41
the it was a lot of a few people from SNL like Mike Sher had come on board and
00:44:46
um and of course Greg Daniel's origin was SNL yeah but uh great but it just
00:44:54
had it felt I I didn't I would say the vibe was
00:45:00
exceptionally good it was an exceptionally good group of people that was enjoying each other making each
00:45:07
other laugh the writing was so everyone believed in the writing and believed in the show and that that takes you so far
00:45:14
I think if people if you're getting scripts where where you're disappointed or even a little apprehensive about
00:45:20
doing something or whatever that's when tension and like interpersonal conflict
00:45:25
can start to creep in to a you know a whole show Dynamic but
00:45:31
but really the shows were so good like the scripts were so good and and and the
00:45:36
cast was so funny everyone made each other other laugh and what I was going to say about Steve we we were starting
00:45:41
to talk about Steve a little bit before the thing I think that um that made it
00:45:49
work so well for so long is that Steve
00:45:55
understood and and in and in a lot of ways I think sort of passively taught
00:46:03
all of us he understood what it meant to lead a cast and he understood that um
00:46:10
and I don't even know if he thought about this or if it was just sort of his Natural Instinct but he was always on
00:46:15
time and he always knew his lines and he never ever complained um he would get
00:46:23
exasperated here and there you could tell but it was never he was never like complaining about the process or the people and when
00:46:33
the when when the Top Dog on a set is behaving that way it makes it impossible
00:46:39
for anyone under that person to behave in any other wayy yeah yeah because
00:46:45
because then it's like well Steve's not complaining Steve's Steve has more lines than anybody he's in more scenes than
00:46:50
anybody he's uh he has to work harder than any of us and he's not complaining
00:46:55
so like why why why would you complain and I think we all kind of internalized
00:47:01
that again not I wasn't even aware of it at the time it just was sort of like oh
00:47:07
this is how we are on this set we just we show up and we yeah are there for each other I don't think Steve's capable
00:47:14
of that being a midwesterner but it's also like he was passed over for SNL and
00:47:20
it it if you make it at 23 it's easier to develop being a little bit spoiled
00:47:25
but if you know that you have a job you know and never losing gratitude over
00:47:31
that you know and I think Steve would be incapable of that but uh I just loved I mean it was such a breath of fresh air
00:47:38
in America just the way everyone was alive in the frame all the time just with little glances and stuff just the
00:47:45
the way it was shot it just made it just so real as opposed to brilliant sitcoms
00:47:50
where there's laugh tracks and all that so sta in the obvious there but it it the thing that's interesting now is how
00:47:57
big it's become since it went off and it's on Netflix it's just it's just huge
00:48:03
I agree it it took on a life of its own even after the show ended and I still
00:48:09
have little kids come up to me that are so excited about the office I'm like you weren't even born when the show ended
00:48:17
yeah and you're and and it's still resonating for you and I I think it's um
00:48:23
a testament to the um the the commitment
00:48:29
of the of the writers and the cast and and the vibe like this vibe that I'm
00:48:36
talking about that everyone felt on Set uh made it somehow through the the
00:48:42
screen and I think people feel the warmth of it and they feel you and you also know you're working on a show that
00:48:47
works it's like a hit like that helps a lot yeah and it's growing so anyway it was because we don't have all day but we
00:48:54
have a lot of time just because you you go from that you get to the office I know there's all this stuff happen and
00:49:00
then all of a sudden and you've done a lot of other things but the hangover happens yeah the movie The Hangover one
00:49:07
of the biggest comedy hits of of all time and so what do you feeling at that
00:49:14
point and how did that come about because that thing was great I mean I look at those comedies just in context I
00:49:20
look at Tropic Thunder the one question I wanted to ask you and then hangover could is there anything in The
00:49:26
Hangover that couldn't be made today oh I think I I think so a lot of
00:49:32
things I mean I I haven't watched it in quite a few years but I my gut feeling
00:49:39
is that a lot lot of it I just assume probably a little tricky tonally um uh
00:49:46
yeah but um well Todd Phillips the director kind of stopped doing comedy
00:49:51
and went and did the Joker because he felt there were too many rules because of you know whatever the culture sure
00:49:58
had had shifted but that movie I was just like Tropic Thunder I think the year before when I went and saw it it it
00:50:04
caught me off guard in in a in a great way I really laughed my ass off at that movie first blush good title
00:50:13
R-rated everybody's good in it well such a clean concept I think the uh by the
00:50:20
way um it's uh making my year that
00:50:25
you're saying that I that really really means a lot about what that you liked the m a movie that I was in I really
00:50:31
appreciate that well Bradley Cooper and Zach and you the three of you guys it was three different notes it was so it's
00:50:38
a perfect casting you guys were all but it did it just it just had a lively pop
00:50:44
to it that you can't you know I also think it was a little the the plot of that movie is kind of a magic trick
00:50:50
because I was in a hotel lobby maybe a month or a few week or two after it came
00:50:55
out and there was a group of old ladies like literally grandmothers sitting around talking about bits from the movie
00:51:03
and how funny it was and I remember thinking uh okay this and then of course
00:51:09
you had like all the the Frat Boys that love it it but and so the the movie did
00:51:15
this thing where like the the guys this the characters are behaving horribly in
00:51:23
a way that like is very aspirational for like young men to be like party animals
00:51:29
right and they so they are party animals and that appeals to like young people but then the next morning they're
00:51:35
mortified by their own behavior so that's what makes it Redemptive to the
00:51:41
older set who are like oh these sweet boys got themselves in a pickle and it kind of like should have
00:51:48
been called the pickle the pickle you're right damn it um but it I just it it did
00:51:55
I I've always thought that that plot was very special because it it had it was able to appeal there were parts of the
00:52:02
story that connected to so many people yes it just such a funny device that
00:52:08
they're basically blackout drunk and then they're figuring out all this stuff
00:52:13
going backwards feeling very human human about it what I don't remember that you know
00:52:21
and you guys had that was Tyson right punching that was that the first one one
00:52:27
do you remember Tyson was in the first one and and the second and the second one yeah he's in the end of the second
00:52:33
one yeah second one's where I get his tattoo but getting Tyson and using Tyson
00:52:38
and how Tyson has become now with hot boxing podcast and how he's become this cultural figure that everybody loves um
00:52:46
it was just uh you know just it it the movie was Pac in a way that all of a
00:52:51
sudden you're seeing a tiger and Tyson you like it's just just like it mov on
00:52:57
such a great Pace it just never never let up you still talk to the
00:53:03
tiger it was so good I got in there and I didn't want to punch the tiger he so you said you got to punch the tiger I
00:53:08
said I don't want to punch the tiger because I got Tigers sorry can I tell you something it is terrifying working
00:53:14
with tigers have you ever no way working with a tiger it's uh I don't want with
00:53:21
their real indigenous teeth and Claws something so the first
00:53:27
SK Rel the thing yeah the the the the basically the tigers are
00:53:34
sort of only restrained by the illusion of restraint like the tiger believes
00:53:39
that their cord is strong enough but actually they could break it if they got really freaked out orak they said the
00:53:45
tiger beli is that what it is the tiger thing the tiger believes it can't break the cord but it probably could yeah
00:53:52
something like that well you're I don't know we're just looking at these leashes and like is not sufficient like that is
00:53:59
not um and then the the night the first night that we were the tiger uh it was
00:54:06
at the Tyson mansion Set uh which was out in Chatsworth I think and uh
00:54:14
and the the Tigers were on this truck and in these big
00:54:20
cages like in a flat on a big flatbed in these big cages and it has dusk set in
00:54:27
because it was a night shoot and so dusk is setting in and the wind is whipping up and there's all these trees and Tall
00:54:33
Grass like you know just like kind of billowing in the wind and the tigers are
00:54:39
growling in their Cate like back and forth pacing getting really anxious and antsy and and we're like what's going on
00:54:47
and the trainer's like oh you know they're they're they're nocturnal they're nigh Hunters so they're just they're getting keyed up they're getting
00:54:53
for someone to kill so is they're hunters and we're minutes yeah we're
00:54:58
gonna start with a night shoot and they give you this whole like safety lecture about how to like don't turn your back
00:55:05
on the tiger because if they see your back they think you're fing yeah that's
00:55:11
what makes them want to you'll never get bit if you do put pressure on it right
00:55:16
away or point at the tiger and yell stop because that's what we were told to do with dogs that would chase us when we
00:55:23
were running get eye contact and you'll stop but that would be terrifying with a tiger and then of course
00:55:29
Bradley that later on were were doing the the uh some of those photos for the
00:55:35
ending credits yeah yeah yeah and Bradley's like can I feed it they're like sure they give him a giant milk
00:55:42
bottle and he's just standing there I think it's one of the pictures in the credits where he's like actually feeding
00:55:48
I was like Bradley what the hell but I love big big movies that have budgets
00:55:54
where I guess it was Todd Phillips there's someone in a room writing Mansion Tyson punches tiger you know and
00:56:02
then and then it then it appears and it works out perfectly it works out it's
00:56:07
probably hard to do all that stuff by the way night shoots are tough anyway oh yeah just for anything and then when I
00:56:14
see a movie so when I ride them with my buddies we always go the final draft is like let's go through and eliminate
00:56:21
anything that could be day because sometimes you just put it in there and you realize you don't need it or you shoot it inside and they put they darken
00:56:28
the windows because flipping a whole movie to night and you do splits then
00:56:33
you you're like oh it throws everything off and so most people are sane enough to try to avoid night shoots what's your
00:56:40
longest day on a set you think at where you get there yeah hours this is this is
00:56:47
nuts um so I was shooting the office at the same time as the hangover and they
00:56:53
had both been incredibly accommodating so the The Hangover said we're going to
00:56:59
make our work week Wednesday to Sunday and um the office said we're gonna
00:57:05
crossboard you meaning they're going to condense all my scenes into Monday and Tuesdays of of an office production week
00:57:12
so there was one night where we did a night shoot in Las Vegas on a Sunday
00:57:19
night and I had to be on set for the office at like 6:30 the next morning um
00:57:27
but we're shooting until 4:30 like and I couldn't tell each production exactly
00:57:34
what was going on because it freaked out so um I with on my own dime I bought I
00:57:42
chartered a little jet from Las Vegas to um Van's airport which was 10 minutes
00:57:49
from the office uh stages okay and I wrap on The Hangover at like 4:30 5 in
00:57:56
the morning race to the airport in Las Vegas jump in this little jet that was
00:58:01
the size of a Honda Civic and L 25 probably I don't know what tiny little
00:58:08
thing um and uh I land in Van N I sleep maybe 15 minutes on this plane and
00:58:15
Landon van go straight to my trailer on the office stages get changed and start
00:58:21
shooting and have a full day and of course they've crossboard me so it's all me like I'm shooting every scene that
00:58:28
day um and CRA and the craziest part about that day and there were actually a
00:58:34
couple of days that kind of were like that but the craziest thing about that is that at the end of that office
00:58:40
production day Ben Stiller had asked me to do this little uh he was like had
00:58:46
some big benefit and he wanted me to be in a comedy sketch
00:58:51
that I had agreed to it like a month before Oh so uh it had squeezed in right
00:58:57
at the end of that office production day and I think I was on like my seventh or eighth Red Bull by the time I got got to
00:59:04
that um and I shot that thing and it it went fine and then just zoned out and I
00:59:10
will say as crazy as that was and that that was basically a month of insan of
00:59:16
like very intense Insanity flying back and forth from Vagas and and like long
00:59:22
days on both Productions um it was also like one of the happiest months of my
00:59:29
life I loved every minute of it the production of The Hangover was one of
00:59:34
the most fun things I could ever have hoped to be a part of yeah in this business um it was so collaborative it
00:59:42
was so none of us were you know Stars really
00:59:47
at the time and so everyone was just kind of like humble and eager to make
00:59:52
something great and um and it was a similar ethos to the office where like me Zach and Bradley actually were almost
01:00:00
competitive about like being on time and like being professional and kind of
01:00:06
showing up for Todd because Todd is a he's like a very obviously fun and
01:00:12
hilarious director but he's he's very professional like it's it's a it's like
01:00:18
an it's a grown-up set it's not like yeah it's not like other comedy movies i' I've been on where it's just kind of
01:00:24
like feels like a party um but we loved it all I I think all three of us just
01:00:30
were so psyched to to show up and do the work and um and find find the jokes we
01:00:38
would take these breaks and just step aside Todd would be like what's wrong with this like why isn't this funny
01:00:43
enough and and we would all just figure it out I remember wow he's now my favorite director just just saying that
01:00:50
going to the actual performers and going hey guys what do you think three funny guys you're like I just want to say here
01:00:57
for people listening is that when you're in stuff you know's not working and you're trapped in it whether it's a bad TV show or a movie or whatever that that
01:01:04
is very exhausting so your your hours are insane but you're in two spectacular
01:01:10
things that are memorable to this day pretty cool yeah I did not realize that
01:01:17
that was happening at the same [Music]
01:01:23
time well I also I had had a my two tooth removed uh so so I have an
01:01:28
implanted tooth here that I've had since since high school and um and I my
01:01:34
dentist was able to take the crown off of it for the hangover Jes so that but
01:01:42
then I had to have a a flipper that had a fake tooth on it to go to set on the
01:01:48
office yeah and the the weird thing is that it did affect my speech a tiny bit
01:01:54
if you really pay close attention you could tell but it was just one of like so many hilarious details about that
01:02:01
time it's crazy it's yeah it's an amazing an amazing trifect of three of
01:02:07
those on top of everything else she did um we should mention before we let you get back to to your magnificent life um
01:02:15
besides looking 36 uh you have a podcast yeah that's very cool called
01:02:22
snapu tell tell our audience about it well thank you so much for asking about
01:02:28
it Dana I love I love the idea of it and I wanted after you tell us what it's
01:02:33
about it's like the history that's happening right now in America in in a political sense you got ears coming off
01:02:40
you got people resigning and stumbling yeah and so to your podcast you're
01:02:46
actually go ahead yes well it's called snapu and the the premise is it's it's kind of a a documentary History Podcast
01:02:53
and the log line is it's about History's Greatest screw-ups and it's it's just a
01:02:59
really fun kind of cheeky look back at some moments in history where where [ __ ]
01:03:05
just went really sideways and um each season we this is a season two just came
01:03:13
out it's a iHeart radio or iHeart podcast and um along
01:03:20
that along with film nation and uh gilded audio production name I like oh
01:03:27
yeah Pacific electric Picture company is my company and um we all collabor video
01:03:32
or audio P pictures no the podcast is Audio Oh the the the podcast is is Audio Only
01:03:41
um but it's uh season one was a look back at this crazy event in uh
01:03:48
1983 called Able Archer where NATO had this giant military
01:03:54
exercise uh where they're moving troops and navies all over the planet and the
01:03:59
Soviet Union looked at that and was like hold on guys are you staging to invade us is this
01:04:04
practice The Invasion like NATO said it was it was just an exercise but the
01:04:10
Soviet Union thought it was real staging for an invasion and so they ramped up
01:04:15
their nuclear posture and then of course the US clocked that and our posture ramped up and and it a lot of historians
01:04:23
yeah a lot of historians believe it's the closest we came to to a nuclear Holocaust and all of this was completely
01:04:30
under the radar not known to the public at all until just a few years ago and
01:04:36
it's an insane story especially when you kind of look at the template of what uh
01:04:42
what Ronald Reagan and and other politicians were saying at the time and and then now knowing what was going on
01:04:48
underneath it it's a wild story that was season one season two of snafu just came out I'm so proud of it it's uh
01:04:56
this is like the ultimate mashup of my my nerdy Love of history and then of course my love of Storytelling um season
01:05:03
two is uh the story of medur which is a uh a acute abbreviation for media
01:05:10
burglary and it is the town of Media Pennsylvania where a group of um of
01:05:17
activists uh anti-war activists in in 1971 uh Vietnam war going on it's a
01:05:24
crazy like tumultuous time in America and these activists felt like the FBI
01:05:30
was getting a little bit shady and starting to intimidate or harass people
01:05:36
um and so they were like how do we prove this and so just these citizen
01:05:44
activists pulled off this insane heist where they break into an FBI office in
01:05:49
Pennsylvania steal files and then they start to leak them to this very courageous reporter Betty meder at the
01:05:56
Washington Post and she starts to publish them and that was the beginning of Jay Edgar
01:06:02
Hoover's uh sort of like exposure as a
01:06:07
very dark figure um yeah how many years was in the head of the FBI he had files
01:06:14
and he could have blackmailed everybody yeah he did he he flagrantly blackmailed
01:06:19
lots of people but yeah but even worse than that he was he was harassing uh
01:06:25
like so many civil rights activists Martin Luther King was getting Relentless harassment from the FBI um
01:06:32
and then of course the anti-war activists were also getting harassed and uh at times blackmailed they would write
01:06:39
these poison pen letters there's a for famous one that they wrote to Martin Luther King that's just like basically
01:06:46
telling him he should kill himself and but it's Anonymous right it's like what
01:06:51
but that came from FBI um and uh and
01:06:56
then of course co-intel Pro was revealed which is this uh which uh stands for uh
01:07:03
Counter Intelligence program and that was a a a program that under which the FBI was officially harassing and um
01:07:13
really like abusing its its power and surveilling so much like illegal surveillance of law-abiding citizens
01:07:18
which is terrifying and terrify all of us I don't like that would you would season 3 potentially be the Trump
01:07:26
assassination attempt I mean because that's like what yeah I don't yeah I but
01:07:34
you have actually season three is in the works already we have season three in the works it's an exciting one I I'll
01:07:40
I'll talk about that next time I was told by your producer that it's about
01:07:45
David and I starting this podcast it's an actual documentary this is all Deep Cover of me
01:07:52
get doing I love history as well and and things like that what we don't know
01:07:58
which went on behind the scenes is just fascinating so anyway snafu Ed snafu well thank you Ed it's
01:08:07
actually a blast talking to you guys yeah very interesting I want to get I want to do this in reverse and just talk
01:08:14
through your entire careers because I doing we talk about ourselves
01:08:20
so much it's fun it's fun just because as a bookmark we kind of didn't get to but
01:08:26
you did host SNL on May 11th 2013 and in which during the monologue you were in a
01:08:33
spandex unitard and you twirled baton so that's never been done
01:08:38
before very proud of that I don't think that uh yeah that was a wonderful
01:08:44
wonderful night and and really like the the I just remember feeling that was the
01:08:49
kind of that was the realization of that dream that I'd always had right to be on
01:08:55
SNL even as my dream was to be a cast member but then of course to host was like the second best dream is to come be
01:09:02
big enough to be a host of where the cast is kind of like hi Mr Helms they work for you yeah I have an idea where
01:09:09
you and I are Postman and oh anyway but um yeah what a what a story what an
01:09:16
incredible journey you've had my God it's amazing I'm just getting stuned
01:09:21
yeah you're just getting he believe me where I'm up up on the ladder you all is getting started you know don't don't
01:09:27
overage yourself you know people go well I'm this age it's kind of no no don't do that you have to just not go gently into
01:09:34
that good night you just keep going keep going till they stop you keep going till you get enough yeah it's
01:09:41
really I'm I'm really really glad to be here with you guys this means a lot all
01:09:47
right thank you buddy good to see you good luck with the podcast this has been a presentation of
01:09:52
Odyssey please follow subscribe leave a like a review all the stuff smash that button whatever it is
01:09:59
wherever you get your podcast fly on the wall is executive produced by Dana Carvey and David Spade Jenna Weiss
01:10:05
Burman of Odyssey and Heather Santoro the show's lead producer is Greg Holzman
