00:00:00
You know, David, um, our good friend is, uh, a movie star and he's an action
00:00:07
star. His name is Bob Odenkirk. Robert Odenkirk. That's one of our favorite guests because we
00:00:12
we've we've known him forever since the 80s. And then he comes out in Nobody and
00:00:18
he plays an action star. We know him in the 90s, too. And going forward, I knew him in the 90s. God dang. And so
00:00:25
he's got uh next week it comes out and Nobody Nobody Too. I saw this Billboard
00:00:33
and uh I think he talked about a little bit on here. It was great. You know, we love Bob. Um for him to spin into this
00:00:40
is crazy. And then to get a sequel, that's how you know it was a success. I saw the first one. I will see the second one.
00:00:45
Uh lot of fun. And also he's just funny anyway. But he gets to play this which
00:00:52
I'm so jealous, you know. I know. Oh, and he we we talk about during this podcast how how how funny he
00:00:58
knows it is that first he becomes a great TV star, Better Call Saul, and now
00:01:03
he's an action movie star later in his career where he had all this uh he he'll go over it in the episode about his his
00:01:10
career and stuff and we laughed a lot and how he just gets this off the ground because if tomorrow D said I want to do an action movie, no one's just handing
00:01:16
me a budget to do an action. You know, you have to sort of plus I'm so fragile, but you have to sort of figure out a way
00:01:24
to get that across. But he does a lot of training. Well, I'll tell you. I'll tell you. Anyway, yeah, it's it's just great
00:01:29
the sound effects. Well, you turn your shoulder and you hear that crunch, you know. He's he does it great. I mean,
00:01:35
because also he's at heart he's a comedian, you know, and then he's an actor, so it all combines. So, that'll be good. But this
00:01:42
episode I loved. One of my favorites. So, hope you enjoy it. Oh, wait. I have a great I have a great
00:01:48
beginning. Ready? Here we go. Robert John Odenkirk was born in Benin,
00:01:53
Illinois to Barbara and John. Then you got SNL Wikipedia a little there is to
00:01:58
it. That's really a big jump. I'll get Well, that's that's all that matters. Little birdie told me at this morning
00:02:07
at a given point he said everybody knew Bob Odenkirk was the funniest guy in
00:02:12
Chicago. Someone told me that today when I was doing my research
00:02:18
at at some point in time his initials are RS. Oh jeez. You know, Robert Robert thought
00:02:26
that. Robert thought that, but I don't think anyone else thought that. And uh what did Chicago vote on that?
00:02:33
It was common knowledge. No, they would have picked someone else. Uh
00:02:38
yeah. Uh Larry uh Larry uh oh what's his name? He's a stand up in Chicago. Larry
00:02:45
Farley. Oh [ __ ] No, he was actually really funny.
00:02:50
The cable guy comic who did zies all the time. Oh,
00:02:58
I should know this. Chicago guy. Chicago guy. And he never never left the Chicago circuit. You know who's really funny is
00:03:03
a guy named Mike Tumi. Uh, also a Chicago who just stayed there. We had Will
00:03:09
Durst. Yeah, we had San Francisco, you know. Yeah. Just they like it. Yeah.
00:03:15
Some people don't want to branch out. They just they do well there. They make money there and they just stay. That's right. That's right. And it's
00:03:22
okay. They like the town. They get plenty of work. They get married and have kids and they and they don't go crazy like the rest of
00:03:28
us. And they're local stars, right? They go on the top radio show. Anyway, Bob, how are you? How are you?
00:03:35
This is what I would ask you if we were at a restaurant. I'd say, "Bob, how are you?" Yeah.
00:03:40
Um, just generalize. I'm so good because I'm talking to you guys. God, it's the best answer I've ever got.
00:03:46
Thank you. I really I really love that you asked me to do this and that I get to hang out
00:03:52
with you because it's true. It's like I listen to podcasts to listen to my
00:03:57
friends talk to hear their voices and uh cuz we don't get to do anything either
00:04:03
because we're working or co [ __ ] us up for 2 years or you know or you know just
00:04:09
lives you get separated by having families and and stuff and uh it's just a really
00:04:16
wonderful thing to get to just hang out with people and I've been listening a lot to the Gilbert Godfrey podcast which
00:04:23
has been so so entertaining even though I didn't know Gilbert very well. Um but uh a lot of people I do know are
00:04:30
on that, you know, and um he just was Yeah. You know, uh Gilbert, you know,
00:04:37
when I worked with the Funny Boys, do you remember them? The comedy team in the old days. Uh Jim Valley and Jonathan Schmott, both
00:04:44
funny on their own and they wrote together and performed. And so they were the guys that got me
00:04:49
in the improv. Louiesie got me in the comedy store and I didn't make it. I was 20. And the Funny Boys got me in the
00:04:55
improv and I did make it. And uh when they and I stayed on Jim Valley's couch
00:05:01
and then he goes, "I'm leaving for a week, but someone's going to stay here." And I go in, it's like, "Hello." It was
00:05:07
Gilbert Godfrieded in his underpants and he just sat eating cocoa puffs and I had
00:05:12
a roommate for a week and I did. I was like, "Who's this man?" Like I didn't, you know, it's very weird to live with
00:05:17
someone you don't know. And uh so I don't know him well like you Bob but I did get to spend a week just hearing him
00:05:23
then I'd see him out and about and he was so you know I just say what everyone else said very very interesting brain and uh
00:05:30
it sounds like interesting guy very funny Gilbert would share some certain sensibilities Bob you know the way he
00:05:35
deconstruct I mean his his androidized clay bit his bad impre they were just so
00:05:42
funny and he was just yeah I mean I certainly appreciated the hell out of Um, you know, he was, uh, I
00:05:49
only would see him around in New York actually, and you probably did, too, at clubs. You know, when I did SNL, you
00:05:56
guys probably don't know this, but I would go cuz you probably didn't even know I did some standup once in a while,
00:06:02
but I would do Sunday Night at the Improv, which is not a it was kind of a sad club, but it for me for me it was
00:06:10
like I just get a couple laughs and it just was like it made me feel so much better after my
00:06:17
week of getting the [ __ ] kicked out of me. And just to even get a few laughs on
00:06:23
that stage meant a lot to me. It like charged me up for the week ahead. And uh
00:06:29
and so I would see him and Larry David and and those guys around that club. Um
00:06:34
yeah, it was it was interesting. Well, those are hard earned laughs. I mean, when you're by yourself and you
00:06:40
walk up and just get a couple laughs is that means a lot. Yeah. Yeah. And uh but it it it gave me
00:06:47
a little boost that I needed. Um and when standup is giving you a boost, you know you're in a hole.
00:06:56
I remember going to that improv. I Dana, this is stupid, but and we'll get to Bob in about 40 minutes, but what I did is I
00:07:03
used to I would come from Arizona and they said I was a standup and my buddies
00:07:09
said, uh you know, there's this guy Gary Grant that can book you gigs. So, I'd fly the crummiest airline. I'd stay at
00:07:16
Columbia with my friend. I would take my suitcase with props. Oh, yeah.
00:07:21
And I would get my New York coat in quotes, which was my heavy like, you
00:07:26
know, like winter coat I would never wear in Arizona. Looked like a duster. I looked like young guns. So, then I'd
00:07:31
walk to the subway, take the subway to 44th, walk the improv, wait until they
00:07:36
assign me some comedian. I remember this guy was 36 and he had a Nova. And I go, "If I'm still doing this at age 36,
00:07:43
please kill me." Cuz I was 20. And then we drove to like BF Pakis or somewhere
00:07:48
in Jersey. This is how you did it. I'd do a set bomb. I would get maybe 60
00:07:54
bucks, come home, maybe spring for a cab fair cuz it's too late and scary to do the subway and do that for two weeks and
00:08:01
I' I'd clear 500. Uh, and it was great. But I got to see the improv and I
00:08:07
thought the improv I'd always meet at the improv was the point. Um, but I it was so I I always heard about it and I
00:08:13
go in there and the stage is like four inches high. It's like not that big of a deal in New York. Yeah.
00:08:19
You know what was interesting about that when I first went there was they had that wall of photographs uh when you
00:08:25
came out of the the showroom into the bar. And in those photographs were stuff
00:08:31
from the 60s and 70s. Uh, and there's Andy Kaufman and there's, you know, um,
00:08:40
probably Jerry Seinfeld's up there, but then there's a guy juggling and there's a singer
00:08:46
and I and I asked, uh, I don't know the I don't think I asked Silver who ran
00:08:51
that club at the time, but I asked uh, probably the bartender or somebody, "What's with the singer and what what is
00:08:58
this juggler doing?" And and they said, "Well, that's what the club used to be.
00:09:03
That's what all clubs used to be is specialty act, singer. Yeah. Uh or music and then a comic.
00:09:10
That's all of them. And Yeah. And then it became And then the standup comedy boom hit and it was like
00:09:15
everybody get the [ __ ] out of here. It's just standups. It's just then you had like Peter Povski. There
00:09:21
was like guys that were juggler comedians, magic comedians, and they kept the comedy part and it was probably
00:09:27
easier to get on stage. You know, I think it probably there's some value to it in that, you know, if it's just one
00:09:35
comic after another, it's like if there's just something between the
00:09:41
comics that can kind of clean clear the pallet a little bit with is kind of a I
00:09:48
don't know. To me, the issue I had and I write about it in my book, which is why we're talking, right?
00:09:54
Comedy, comedy, comedy, drama. I'm halfway through it. Great. Fascinating.
00:10:00
I hope you like it, Dana. I just got to the comedy. I have my own lane of this life we've shared together.
00:10:07
And then where we intersected was so cool. I just have great memories of you and we wrote a movie together which you
00:10:13
primarily wrote but called Tucson and uh we had a lot of fun in Tucson.
00:10:20
That still is a great really funny script. Oh yeah. Uh thanks Dana. I think so too.
00:10:27
I think it's a great scenario that you cooked up which is that little guy in the west and he's
00:10:32
Irishman. Yeah. Irishman with good with his guns but just sweet as hell and so the opposite
00:10:39
of Clint Eastwood just the very polar opposite of a Clint Eastwood character
00:10:44
and uh so um what was I saying? Just that uh you remember the first scene I thought
00:10:50
must have been it's so you oh what well I think I come to town I'm from Ireland. Yeah. And Love it is is got a
00:10:56
hangman's noose around him. And there's posters. He was running for mayor and the posters said, "If I don't clean up
00:11:03
the town, you can hang me." And then love us was the conniving. Oh, hello.
00:11:09
And I was well, I put my gun. So anyway, but that was But um
00:11:14
there was a joke in there, Dana, that somebody else did in a movie very in the
00:11:20
last few years. It was one of the characters was named like Clint Eastwood and there was some his name was Clint
00:11:26
Eastwood and uh there was so much great stuff in there. Somebody did that joke recently.
00:11:31
You're right. Yeah, that's or John Ham. Sometimes when John Ham is in a show they call him John Ham just as on Larry
00:11:38
David is funny but yeah. [Music]
00:11:46
Should we go back to and then make our way to SNL? I just I I'm sort of curious cuz I don't didn't see it, but what was
00:11:52
the stuff that you know got you? I talk a lot about the trauma of SNL. You know, I I I SNL is pretty easy to
00:12:00
write about because it was so hard and and difficult for me personally, but
00:12:06
that's true, I think, for a lot of people and the story's been told many times, but I just told my version of it.
00:12:12
Um, but it's such a crucible, right, of pressure and desire and and
00:12:20
discovering yourself and and it just leads to a lot of interior trauma and
00:12:26
then that's something to write about. Whereas, you know, when I got to the later parts of the book and I'm writing
00:12:33
about Breaking Bad where, well, I mean, there was a journey there
00:12:38
to become a better actor, but also the journey of the show becoming famous, but
00:12:43
the show itself was a welloiled machine with nothing but pros in every direction
00:12:48
and nobody having any emotional issues, just working really hard and supporting
00:12:55
each other and pulling together. Yeah. And and so there's not much to say. We, you know, isn't it great? The
00:13:04
writers did a great job and then we all worked really hard and it turned out well and oh, there's nothing to say.
00:13:10
And it's not like if they if someone has a good scene and everyone goes, "That guy's the best one. He's the best one in
00:13:16
that scene." And then the rest of the day you feel like [ __ ] That's you know you're getting it dayto
00:13:21
day. I assume like you when you're doing better calls. So a lot of people are writing a great day. It's going to be
00:13:27
great, right? Uh yeah, there's a Yeah. I mean, especially over time as you the more you do it and you get to know the the values
00:13:34
of the show, what's good about the show and you see it coming across in the writing and and you know what you
00:13:40
captured that day and think, well, that's going to play really well or be fun to watch and and yeah, it's just not
00:13:47
the it's there's not as much to say uh as there is to say about Saturday Night
00:13:53
Live where there's so many books and so many and they're all fascinating. I love them all. By the way, one of the reasons
00:13:58
I wrote my book is I love to read showbiz memoirs. I just love them.
00:14:04
Yeah. Uh and and usually when somebody gets into something that works and or they're
00:14:10
talking about their hit show, there's not much to say. It's all about the struggle and the failure and the loss
00:14:17
and the that's where there's juicy stories. You know, Dana, when I got there, uh
00:14:22
Dana was Bob was there already when I got there. Seven, I believe, viewers. Yeah, Bob was there and uh Dana was there and
00:14:30
I came in and Bob is always uh I saw Bob more than Dana just because Bob was a writer with me and we were in there all
00:14:36
the time. But Bob's always sort of in a good mood shockingly when I look back because it's hard to be in a good mood
00:14:42
at that place. But always laughing, always took a second for me. Uh so did
00:14:47
Conan. Uh uh but you guys at least would explain a little bit of what was going on because I was really a rude just
00:14:54
right. I was a middle act. I didn't know how to write. I didn't know how to use I didn't know how to use a yellow pad. I
00:14:59
didn't know how I had a square wooden desk. And they just Downey goes, "Here's your room. Bye." And I'm like, "I don't
00:15:05
know what's going on. What am I doing?" And uh and so I would Everyone has so much to do on their own plate. You do,
00:15:12
Bob. Dana does. And it's hard to take a second to tell someone, "Hey, because
00:15:17
it's someone that not ultimately might take your job. It's just one more person kind of in your way in a weird way. And
00:15:23
you have to put that aside for a second and be a human being." And uh you did that. It was very nice.
00:15:28
And then and now when I ever I see you at a party, if it's a showbiz thing, I don't see Dana out as much unless we
00:15:33
have dinner. But I run into Bob places and then I just beline over to him cuz we always just start laughing within
00:15:39
seconds. And that's fun to have. And we we got through the craziness and we're both sort of sane, I think.
00:15:45
Absolutely, buddy. That's how I feel. I I I never told you this, but that party at Gaio Series where I met McCartney and
00:15:53
got to sit with him for 15 20 minutes. Um, as we as Naomi and I were walking
00:15:59
in, my wife and I, I'm dreading going to this party because I'm, you know, 59 or
00:16:06
at the time 54 or whatever and thinking, "Fuck it. I don't I don't want to go out anymore at all ever." And uh, and I'm
00:16:14
I'm thinking it's just going to be intimidating. there's going to be famous people here and I don't know what to say
00:16:19
to them. And I turn to Naomi and I go, "You know what? David Spade will be here." And and buddy, I we walk in the
00:16:28
front door and we look down the hall and there you are. It [ __ ] blew our
00:16:34
minds. I love He's a man about town. There was one time I went to Guys. I went to Guys. I didn't even go to I
00:16:40
obviously don't go to the Oscars. I didn't go to Vanity Fair or anything. I just went straight over to Guys cuz Rock was over there. And I get there and
00:16:47
before you get in there's a line for the bathroom. So I just stand in line for a second and then McCartney comes behind
00:16:52
me and then he has a little chitter chatter and then I'm floored and then
00:16:57
Bono comes out. So I knew I was like again like you I don't think anyone knows what to say to anyone. So I do a
00:17:04
few jokes that you know sort of strike out and then we all kind of dart our eyes and then I drift away.
00:17:09
Do you have something throughout you know Mr. Shell or anything if someone comes up to you in an airport or something? I assume like most
00:17:15
celebrities specific compliments are the most flattering rather than you're great, you know, because someone came up
00:17:22
to me, I'll just couch it. They came up to me at an airport and they said, "I love skin heads in Maine, the thing I
00:17:28
did with Co Bear on my show." And it's so specific. My friends share that and laugh about it all the time. But you
00:17:33
must have a hundred of those, especially with Mr. Show. There's so many quirky
00:17:38
show. I I'll tell you I have uh pretty Yeah. I mean, we've all gotten to
00:17:44
do lots of cool stuff between the three of us. I've just had this the variety in
00:17:50
my career is sometimes strange uh in its intensity,
00:17:55
you know, because this movie, nobody that I did this action movie that's like around the world, a whole different
00:18:00
audience that probably they've never heard of Mr. Show. Some of them have seen Breaking Bad and they're just like
00:18:07
a whole another set of people. And uh but but you know the strangest thing is is I always do have to do the math when
00:18:14
somebody comes up to me of like I have no idea what you know me from or what you think I did that was great. And I've
00:18:21
had the biggest surprise is how more than the a few times a year
00:18:26
somebody will come up and go you are so great on how I met your mother. I mean,
00:18:32
you're just the best. And it's like, wow. I was on the show six times. Do you have anything like that? David,
00:18:40
do you have anything? Probably. Yeah. I mean, there are little nuggets that I've done that people, you know, I get Emperor's New Groove and that's the
00:18:46
only thing they know me from cuz my voice and then um you get things that are like light sleeper where I played one scene and
00:18:53
someone doesn't really know you at all and they know you're famous or you're something, but that's the only thing in your whole life they saw
00:18:59
and and they appreciate it. So, I'm I'm happy. And it's true. I can sort of guess by who's coming up, I'm guessing
00:19:05
sort of what they know me from. You know what I mean? And you you might be able to get a feel. If they just say you're great, I go,
00:19:12
"Yeah, well, let's now let's dig in." I find that if someone is funny or in
00:19:18
one scene of a movie or one part of a show, if they if they catch me and really make me laugh or impress me, I'm
00:19:23
kind of like a fan from then on, even if it's just like a small cameo. Bob, the the interesting part of your story
00:19:30
obviously is like we know where it sort of is it it went and I'm just wondering
00:19:36
when you we go back to 87 to 91 and knowing you and your work ethic, you're smart, so funny, all that stuff like how
00:19:43
does that guy what was the emotional I mean who was Bob in that those years that was so
00:19:49
tenacious and so talented that then you went to this and then of course nobody is that they're going to make 10 of
00:19:56
those that was so great for that genre to reinvent that genre. Uh, thanks. Thanks. Listen, first of
00:20:03
all, I got to tell you, when they finally green lit that movie and I went to go make it, obviously I'm thinking
00:20:09
probably we're going to [ __ ] everything up and it'll be a mess. But I also
00:20:15
thought if it works, if it works, Yeah. then the thing I'm most excited about is my
00:20:22
friends Yeah. going, "What the fuck?" Yes, I said it. I'm like it what? It's
00:20:30
like Bob is doing this now and it's not a oneoff. They all that is too good.
00:20:36
It's like too [ __ ] good. I watch it and I go this better be exactly what I think it's going to be
00:20:42
and it was and it delivered and the fight I think it was on a bus or something. I'm like what the [ __ ] I
00:20:47
couldn't even do I was like I'm a bigger puss out of all of us and I couldn't even do the fake stunts for that cuz I'm
00:20:54
I'm such a puss. be like, "We can't even fake do it with you." Yeah. Because I go, "I don't really need to get beaten
00:20:59
up, but I can't lift my leg up and kick and I my this will hurt my clavicle if I hold this too high." So, I like that it
00:21:06
was you and you you have to be in shape just to do a fight scene, a fake for that, right? To pull punches, to do
00:21:12
anything. I worked really hard because I knew I had a long way to go. And I and I and I and listen, right from the start, I was
00:21:18
like, "Look, if we're going to do this, it's not going to be ironic. I'm not going to wink at the camera. I'm not
00:21:23
going to give myself an out. I'm going to look if I'm going to look like an [ __ ] I'm going to look like huge
00:21:29
midlife crisis loser pathetic like what happened to you guy? I'm going to do
00:21:35
this thing all the way or not at all. And then if it works, it's amazing. Yeah. And if it doesn't work, well, who didn't
00:21:42
who didn't think it wouldn't work? I mean, come on. Um but I did. When do you realize it worked? um
00:21:49
at a test screening or at uh just rough dailies or is there a certain point where you go this is actually coming
00:21:55
together co really worked in our favor because we had a cut it was good but it felt kind
00:22:01
of like an indie movie. Mhm. Mh. Uh it was a little slow um and small and
00:22:07
then this because of co this um editor who's the second editor on the project
00:22:13
whose name is on it because it should be uh said I got I got nothing to do. Give me your movie. Let me [ __ ] with it. And
00:22:20
two weeks later this guy turned the movie back to us and it was like oh wow. Okay. Wait a second. And the
00:22:28
interesting thing is he added he built the sequence that opens the film out of
00:22:33
[ __ ] that was on the cutting room floor. Didn't not shot for the movie, just thrown away.
00:22:39
What a worker. And everything else in the movie, all he did was chop it a little bit, shift some
00:22:46
of the um order a little bit, not much. All he and it was a totally different
00:22:53
movie, totally different experience. and just work from be the get-go that
00:23:00
tighten and brighten. It was amazing what this guy did because you connected to the character because it does work in in the whole
00:23:06
emotional arc. You really do feel symp I feel sympathetic for your character. I
00:23:12
want him to win. Yeah. Well, that's actually honestly that's one of the things I thought I
00:23:17
could bring to that genre is just a Yeah. vulnerability genuine like that
00:23:24
you bought like cuz a lot of times you know you don't really they try to have it but you don't really buy it but you
00:23:31
don't care if you're watching an action movie a lot of times you don't care you're like so what I I like this guy I
00:23:36
like the scenario go hit somebody yeah it's fine go let's see the action and let's have some fun with it but I
00:23:42
thought is there something I could bring to this genre and I thought you know
00:23:48
around the world I'm known from better call saw And that's a character who's
00:23:54
getting his ass kicked in a lot of ways and emotionally getting his ass kicked.
00:23:59
And um and I play him and there's a sort of a great degree of uh empathy that
00:24:07
people have for that guy and what the story they've Evan Schiff is the editor. Evan Schiff
00:24:13
came on board and and made that thing a beauty. It's important to give credit. I love
00:24:18
it. Yeah. And uh well, if you're if you're bullied a lot, Bob, like I was and Dana was and uh
00:24:24
those movies are [ __ ] I love because it's what I could never do. And when you see like Death Wish with Charles
00:24:30
Bronson, he's at least a guy that's not getting bullied every day cuz he's tough. But when you see a guy
00:24:36
like you, I totally buy. I go, "All right, Bob's a nice guy. He's out there trying to [ __ ] get through the world
00:24:41
like everybody." And people just always [ __ ] They do it to me all the time. And so I know Chris Rock is doing the
00:24:47
sequel, but anyway, um, but I feel like when you when you when
00:24:53
you see you in that situation and I'm like, please [ __ ] screw these guys up. It's like the equalizer or
00:24:59
something. Right. Right. Right. And it's the fantasy wish fulfillment that I could deliver on because I could really be
00:25:06
that first iteration of the guy and you really really felt like, yeah, he really is. It's not just, you know, um, I don't
00:25:14
know, Tom Cruz with glasses on or, you know, or a a buttoned up shirt, a shirt
00:25:20
buttoned up to the collar. You know, I think you go into a bar or you go into someone and you say you want to see
00:25:27
somebody, they don't want you to, and you don't back down at all on anything, which is I love. You just go, I think
00:25:32
it's best if you and you're like, this is the way I want to talk in all my whole life. I just want to say,
00:25:38
listen, here's what's going to happen. I hit you, you hit the ground. I hit the next guy, he goes down. And the guy's
00:25:44
like, "What are you talking about?" And you're like, "Just you wait about 30 seconds, you'll see how this goes." You
00:25:49
know, I love that [ __ ] I love it. I the So the fun of this this idea, this
00:25:54
thing I had, this secret I had inside me when I'm training, which is like my
00:26:00
friends Dana Carvey, David Spade, all these guys. If I get to make this and it
00:26:05
comes off, they're they're just not gonna know where to turn. They're going
00:26:11
to have to go to the hospital and get an MRI. Yeah, definitely was a little bit of a
00:26:16
opening an oldfashioned newspaper. Bob Odkerk starring an action film. What the
00:26:21
[ __ ] And the picture the poster is like you kind of beat up. I think I'm like that was a great poster. What's going on here? Yeah. Well, uh, it
00:26:29
was a great joy to make that happen and to have that come to life. But anyway,
00:26:37
[Music] can I ask you a personal question? Yeah, you Jamie. Yeah, go ahead.
00:26:43
Oh, I I just for a second cuz you're starring in this film and you know film and television have all overlap. Now
00:26:49
it's like the best stuff's on television. You're starring a film. So like when you're like in the 70s,
00:26:54
whatever. What films uh woke you up to to filmhood or show business? Like what was a seminal film for you as a kid? You
00:27:02
know, it could be for Ben Stiller it was um the Poseidon Adventure. For uh for uh
00:27:10
for uh Bill her it was Taxi Driver.
00:27:16
Hanks was 2001. I can tell you American Graffiti. Oh yeah. Okay. Ron Howard 1973. Harrison
00:27:21
Ford. Yeah. and and uh you know I'd gone to films you know fun movies at
00:27:29
the Cinniplex and they were just building Cinniplexes at the time but we had an oldtime movie theater in our
00:27:35
small town of Neapville Illinois and I'd seen a John Wayne film there
00:27:41
on its first run big Rio Lobo Y yeah I thought it was the Cowboys
00:27:48
and I liked it um and and it was great and I loved going to movies uh when I could, but um we didn't go to a lot of
00:27:55
movies, but going to that little old theater where,
00:28:00
you know, they showed just the latest thing from the studios for a week or two, right? Um
00:28:06
and seeing American Graffiti, man, that was a totally different vibe
00:28:12
than every everything I had seen. I remember it in that theater or anywhere. that was
00:28:20
it was uh new wave for film in America and uh it felt more
00:28:26
real. Um it u it had a modern energy to
00:28:32
it and uh it's a very good film. Yeah, George Lucas,
00:28:38
it's really good. Yeah. was it's it's so interesting to see a movie that sort of changes the way
00:28:44
you think and maybe it tilted you toward comedy, maybe not, but just that's the beauty of movies when they you see a
00:28:51
bunch that do nothing and you're just sort of killing time and then one just grabs you. Nothing like it. It's it's what you want
00:28:56
to do when you make movies. You go, I want one that people remember. Right. Right. You know something that's the funnest. Yeah. the thing a movie can be that a TV
00:29:03
show pretty much isn't, which is this kind of very core elemental connection
00:29:09
that just gets you deeply. It's like a it's a fable and a and and it's and it
00:29:16
really uh takes you on a ride. I think with TV, you're always, no matter how
00:29:23
well it's done, you just aren't as close to those lead characters. You're still
00:29:28
just watching the story. You can be totally wrapped in the story, but you're just not. I don't know. I feel like
00:29:35
movies just kind of grab you and take you on that one ride and you feel close
00:29:43
to those characters in a personal way. But, you know, I I agree. It might be the fact that
00:29:50
it's singular. You know, Bob, like it's just you go and this is it. Beginning, middle, end, and you go, "Wow." And you
00:29:56
want to see the whole thing again. and TV sometimes you go if someone says, "Did you see the series?" I'm like,
00:30:01
"Oh, what?" And they're like, "It's on episode four." I mean, you know, like season 4, you I I can't 200 hours right
00:30:08
now. Go ahead, Bob. I I I just think the power of film more than ever now is turning off the cell phone
00:30:14
and not being distracted cuz you're watching something with your wife, you're enjoying it, and then ringing
00:30:19
ding ding. I mean, it's just it's it's a problem, you know. So, the focus of a film
00:30:24
Well, yeah. is really strong and and really a powerful experience. Anyway, I still
00:30:31
love TV and I love everything that we all get to do and I I really I like
00:30:38
moving around and I don't certainly don't think I have a career, a future as a movie star, but I will get to make a
00:30:45
few more movies, but it's not important to me. It wasn't like the drive of my life. I I was driven by comedy as my
00:30:52
book really really says. I mean, I'm really trying to warn people with that
00:30:58
title. I I you know, I know a lot of people know me from Better Call Saul and and
00:31:04
Breaking Bad, but I want to say, oh, right, you know, I'm going to talk about, you know, comedy in Chicago in 198
00:31:12
uh 85 and you're probably not going to give a [ __ ] about that. And
00:31:17
Right. You definitely have fans that don't know you from comedy at all. Yeah. At all. At all. That's rare for us
00:31:22
for, you know, for comedians that you have a whole huge new crowd.
00:31:28
It's It's Yeah, it's true. And I And I I I want to move around between these things because that's always been the
00:31:34
most fun thing for me. And that's one of the reasons I think I love sketch comedy so much is you're just jumping around
00:31:39
from different ideas, different, you know, different tones. Something's really broad, something's a little
00:31:44
subtler, you know? I like jumping around between all that stuff. So, how did how did you find yourself?
00:31:50
cuz not everyone if people should read the book but you know just quickly that journey from I know Monty Python was a
00:31:56
big big wakeup call for you and then you Chicago Second City but what was it
00:32:02
about Monty Python that's not in the book you know what what are your feel even today you feel like that is the one
00:32:08
that you and your brother Bill just went holy [ __ ] yeah uh you know I think um
00:32:15
you know there's a lot of comedy in the 70s that we all watched It had kind of a look, some of it was
00:32:22
great, you know. Um, for sure. I mean, I loved Carol Bernett's show. Uh, the the
00:32:29
vibe with those people was like joining a party that was a very welcoming party.
00:32:34
Friendly and sweet. It wasn't like they were Yeah. Friendly and sweet. And we sure needed that in my house.
00:32:40
So, I loved that. But I think Python was for me the thing
00:32:45
that spoke about how I looked at the world. and it kind of put an arm around me and said, "Yeah, the adults are crazy
00:32:53
[ __ ] and uh don't worry, it's you're not the only one thinking this." And uh
00:33:00
it's okay. You can laugh at it. That's what you can do. And uh and I think it's
00:33:06
because, you know, they're young guys. They were in their 20s making that show. Um and
00:33:12
they were very smart and they're very silly. like extremely silly but very
00:33:18
smart. Yeah. And that's that's the that's the tough combo to get right. Yeah. That's the magic combination to
00:33:25
me. And uh and I I just it just spoke to my
00:33:31
the way I needed to see the world to be uh really comforted. You know, I mean,
00:33:37
this is what all the things we do and the things that affect us on a deep level do in in whether it's a movie or a
00:33:43
book or a TV show or some standup act is it makes you feel less alone.
00:33:50
You just get that feeling of I'm not the only one who sees this in the world. And
00:33:56
and when you're a kid and you're 10 or 11, at the time I was I think 11 when I
00:34:01
first saw Python, that is a crucial you're just about to become an adult.
00:34:06
You're probably really sensing and in my house, I mean, life was extremely
00:34:12
unstable at that point cuz there's at that point five kids, two more to
00:34:18
come. Wow. Two more to come. How the [ __ ] does that happen when you know financially it's
00:34:26
off the rails? There's no future. There's no stability anywhere anywhere
00:34:32
near you and like how and you just as a kid, you know, no one's including you in
00:34:38
any of that [ __ ] Your parents, your daughter was Alec Baldwin. Oh boy. I wish he was. I wish he was.
00:34:45
Mine wasn't a picnic either. But we we've talked about this, I'm sure, privately, but it was rough. And yours
00:34:50
sounds really intense. Yeah, but I mean look, you know, but it's not that special. Yeah. I mean, I
00:34:56
try to express in the book, look, I know my child is not special. It is a very
00:35:01
typical '7s childhood. You know, uh people were just starting to have the word alcoholism in their
00:35:09
vocabulary. Yeah, I mean there was uh you know it was just
00:35:14
coming to understand a lot of all of my dad's friends all ended up broke,
00:35:20
bankrupt, divorced all really. And he Yeah. He used to take us out. He said
00:35:26
occasionally when he would hang out with us, he would take us to his office and we'd go to lunch with these five guys
00:35:31
and they'd get [ __ ] ripped at lunch and uh and all of them. Car crashes,
00:35:37
divorce, like America, the playbook. It was like the playbook.
00:35:43
Hey, you had your car crash. I'm next. I'm next. You know, and uh I remember my dad
00:35:50
quiet getting in his car accident. Uh and his was a good one. He went through the window in
00:35:55
his car accident. Yeah. He went through the window and landed like 15 feet outside the car. Wow.
00:36:01
And I remember him looking in the mirror picking glass out of his head. Like even
00:36:06
like a week later, he's still picking little pieces of glass out of his out of his bald head.
00:36:12
Jeez. God. So you went But come on. That was a 70s That was a dad. I mean,
00:36:18
my dad was a drunk. We had We had all kinds of excitement. Yeah. Yeah. But look, the bottom line is it
00:36:24
wasn't special. It was just where I was at when comedy came along
00:36:30
and told me, "Yeah, he's nuts. It's crazy. It's okay.
00:36:36
Just laugh at it." and and uh and Steve Martin on SNL was also like a superpower
00:36:43
rocket ship to like crazy town and the best comedy the best mix of
00:36:49
you know amp you know conceptualized uh you know like the the fastest trunk
00:36:55
brothers like that's [ __ ] off the rails stuff you know um the wild and crazy guys
00:37:01
two wild and crazy guys um I am but they pull it off and It isn't. Look,
00:37:08
there was there was a thing about the '7s humor that was kind of cute and palsy and wasn't didn't make me happy.
00:37:15
The dangerous stuff is what made me happy and uh and that's what came in
00:37:20
came around around, you know, this time for me. Yeah. Car, by the way, your American graffiti was
00:37:26
my Life of Brian in Arizona. I saw Life of Brian and I was like, "What the [ __ ] is I didn't know anything of Montipython. I just went to a comedy and
00:37:32
we snuck in cuz it was R-rated wild and it really hit me like what the [ __ ]
00:37:37
are these guys? It was nothing like I'd seen and you know I don't want to harp on it but I just wanted to acknowledge that Money
00:37:44
Python stuff did hit me also. I mean I saw Animal House. I saw all the stuff I'm supposed to see and [ __ ] loved.
00:37:50
And then um that was just a little different move and smart silly of course and just doing stuff we didn't do here.
00:37:56
Oh yeah. I had the same reaction. All my friends loved it. And you now now Bob I have to ask Bob if he wrote for Dennis
00:38:02
because I didn't know that. I don't think I knew you wrote for Dennis Miller before SNL. Yeah. Before I got on as a writer,
00:38:09
I would send jokes. Well, I would send scripts to Robert. Mhm. Here's what happened. Okay.
00:38:14
I was doing different crazy [ __ ] in Chicago, standup, sketch shows,
00:38:20
anything. And Robert Smeiggel, I'd seen his work at this little theater
00:38:27
that we all went to school at called The Players Workshop. And he wrote a show there that later became a hit show. It
00:38:34
ran for like a year and a half and and made tons of money. And um and so I saw
00:38:41
that show in its early iterations and it was already solid. such good writing and
00:38:47
so strong and so like it just works like I had a his hit ratio of like 15%.
00:38:56
And and and I didn't care by the way that was fine and uh and Smiggle had a
00:39:02
hit ratio of like 90% and it was like yeah he he was a big slugging percentage.
00:39:07
Holy [ __ ] man I don't know where that comes from. You know, Robert says it's
00:39:12
the Rupert Pupkin effect is what he calls his achievement as as a young
00:39:18
writer where all these years I've been pretending in my head that I was this
00:39:23
writer and I've been sort of writing stuff in my head like Rupert Pumpkin in his basement. And
00:39:30
then he said, "If you notice on the show in the movie, The King of Comedy, when
00:39:35
he actually gets a chance, it actually works pretty good. Yeah.
00:39:40
Yeah. And it's like just from hundreds of hours of, you know, of doing it in front of the,
00:39:47
you know, in front of the wall. Interesting. And uh and and I hadn't done what Robert
00:39:52
did, I think, not even close to the hours he'd put in on really examining writing and sketch work and what a
00:39:59
sketch is and and uh but he had he I saw his work. I
00:40:04
loved it. He saw me in this crazy show. It was off the rails silly stuff, but I
00:40:10
was doing characters and I was my I mean, the only thing you could recommend about it was my commitment and my
00:40:16
silliness. I mean, it was super silly. And he got that I was willing to just go
00:40:22
that far and and thought it was cool and we started writing a show together and
00:40:27
then he got hired at SNL and so here I am in Chicago and he doesn't know anybody when he gets
00:40:34
to SNL. So, he's calling me up on a Monday and going, "I have these two ideas." Calling me again on Tuesday,
00:40:41
reading the script to me. I'm going, "Do this joke. What about this?" I'm just pitching him jokes. And he had he just has a partner even
00:40:48
though he's, you know, at SNL, new to the job and he's got someone to call and work
00:40:54
his stuff on with and work his stuff with on. And, uh,
00:40:59
so I'm sending stuff in. I guess he's sharing it with some other writers. And then I'm sending jokes in for Dennis and
00:41:06
Dennis is doing them. I mean that you know what that means to
00:41:11
waiting tables in Chicago to go see a joke on the air. Yeah. My I remember my first joke. I
00:41:18
remember delivering food to the table at Ed Devik in Chicago and I keep checking
00:41:24
the screen because they have SNL on. You can't hear it but it's on the TV. And there's that picture of Bob Hope and
00:41:31
there's my nasty joke. mean-spirited joke. Mean-spirited from this [ __ ]
00:41:37
kid. Do you want to tell us what it is? The the the stat the statute of
00:41:43
limitations on respecting Bob Hope for his earlier work ran out today.
00:41:52
I love it. And that's the statue of limitations. It's all the language and you know it's like a nicely tightly
00:41:59
written funny short and tight but and people and it's something everyone's thinking
00:42:04
no one says out loud no one says out loud and and and it it it it did great and Dennis does a
00:42:12
couple of my jokes over the next year or two and Smiggle actually there was one scene I wrote that got on it was the uh
00:42:19
sideshow of the stars so you know they had circus of the stars and this was sideshow of the stars
00:42:26
where they have, you know, I don't even remember the jokes, but somebody's got hair all over their body that you didn't
00:42:32
know or something, some, you know, sitcom actor. Uh, and
00:42:38
uh, and and Robert, of course, punched it punched that way up. Uh, but, uh, I
00:42:43
only got that was the only sketch that I got on when I hadn't been a writer there yet. And then um I had that meeting with
00:42:51
Lauren that I detail in the book and I kind of exaggerated. But the truth is Dana and David, I went into Lauren's
00:42:59
office and I really did think this guy does not want his ass kissed. He's heard enough
00:43:07
people, you know, praise him. He wants to if he's going to hire somebody, he wants to hear somebody with
00:43:13
a critical mind who a moxy. I I got to hear what you said. I
00:43:18
don't sure it's in the book. Well, I mean, I just went like, uh, yeah.
00:43:25
I don't know. I don't know. Well, what do you think of the show? Do you like it?
00:43:30
I don't know. I could fix it. It's been better. It's been better for
00:43:36
sure. I mean, I think the early years, you know, and and what Well, what what comedy do you like?
00:43:42
What do you like? Oh, Monty Python. Money Python. Now, that was great. And that was great because it was smart and silly and and
00:43:49
they didn't have to, you know, they they didn't they knew their lines. They weren't, you know, reading Q cards. I'm
00:43:56
[ __ ] ripping the show because Well, thanks for coming in, Bob. I kind of think he he's going to like
00:44:02
this, you know. I mean,
00:44:08
talk about not reading a room, man. Holy [ __ ] And uh and the fact that he hired
00:44:14
me is insane. The only thing I had in my favor was he doesn't really
00:44:20
uh I want to he doesn't have to examine that kind of hiring that closely. I
00:44:26
mean, if a couple writers want you to hire somebody, you're going to say, "Sure, go ahead. Give them a try. We can
00:44:32
they think they're good." Cuz he doesn't he's not for how can he tell in a meeting. But also he goes, "In fairness, I wasn't listening." The other thing I'd
00:44:38
say, David, is I mean, Lauren loves Python, too. I mean, Lauren also Yeah.
00:44:45
Lauren probably would say if you said, "What's the best comedy show of the last hundred years?" He'd go, "Oh, well, it's
00:44:50
not my show. It's Money Python." you know, and and so the fact is he probably
00:44:56
kind of Well, the other thing is he also knows what it's like to sit across from a very
00:45:02
nervous young person who doesn't know what to say, is completely wildly intimidated
00:45:09
and he's just done that 10,000 times and probably kind of
00:45:14
gave me a little break for that maybe. Sure. He's a he's a he's very funny also and I don't know if that always comes
00:45:20
across so we talk about him because we joke but he's very funny. He's very dry and he and when you can make Lauren
00:45:26
laugh at read through it's so fun when he cracks up sometimes he slaps the table and laughs and you're like oh my
00:45:31
god what a home run. Yeah. I don't I never did that but yeah. Bob. Bob. Bob, we uh Dane, I don't know
00:45:39
if you remember when I was having some troubles on the show, and I think I would just credit Bob with uh the one in
00:45:46
my picture in my head when I'm joking about People magazine or just killing time in the day. And Bob is a great
00:45:51
laugher, by the way, which always helps disarm, you know, make you feel better. And sincere sort of came up with Hollywood
00:45:58
Minute and steered it with me. And uh remember, Bob, we were thinking like David, what did I do to help you with
00:46:05
that? I just said what you do here back in the writer room, you should just do that. You're
00:46:10
Yes. It was something that simple, but it made me and we were framing it and I'm like, could it be a show called Guess What? Like, guess what? You're an
00:46:17
idiot. Uh, you know, and uh and then it turned into like just a series of photos, which when you said that Bob
00:46:23
Hope one, that was kind of like a simple way it's put, you know, do a joke, try
00:46:29
to think of something people are thinking. Everyone's kissing ass to celebrities. weird and I I was unknown
00:46:35
which helped you know just innocent looking. That was part of it. That's why it took I didn't want to do it as much
00:46:40
later because I sort of turned into someone people knew and then it's then it turns meaner and it was just kind of
00:46:46
fun to take someone's legs out for no reason like hey this guy is famous [ __ ] you and you know and then and there was
00:46:54
always a reason like I didn't want to go at people more than once because you know you get one freebie if they screw
00:46:59
up and I didn't want it to be that mean. It was just for fun, but uh but it was a big up just the fact that
00:47:06
you encourage or even listen to me in between we're eating Wall-E and Joseph's or whatever. Uh, it was nice and then it
00:47:13
sort of just got me thinking, you know, I I love to hear somebody young, you know, I've helped a
00:47:20
couple young talent uh groups or people to find some way
00:47:27
forward. And it it's because I I know what it's like to um tread water and
00:47:33
lose ground and be lost. and and if you can give somebody a little cue that
00:47:38
maybe gives them a shortcut or clarifies what they're doing already and it's a great feeling to to to be able to
00:47:45
do that and and uh I guess I've done that even more than I thought but um
00:47:51
yeah I like to do it. I mean, part of it is, you know, one of the ways that you can
00:47:58
use your skills when you've been at SNL for a few years as a writer, and by the time you were there, I'd been there for
00:48:04
3 years. And uh I finally was feeling like I'm starting to understand
00:48:12
what the show needs, what what cuz instead of what I wanted it to be,
00:48:17
which was insane because it's never going to be Monty Python. could change it to what you are.
00:48:24
Oh my god, there's so much about the reality. What's the reality? How can you help? What's the show?
00:48:30
It took me for years years. But somewhere around my third year, my brain
00:48:36
started to calm down and go, wait, it's not this other thing that you want it to
00:48:42
be. It is a thing that is has all kinds of first of all, it's so [ __ ] hard to
00:48:48
do. you know, whenever we talk about it and we critique the show and I mean, the [ __ ] thing just on the on
00:48:54
the face of it is impossible thing. It's absurd. And the more I go
00:48:59
back, the more I go when I go back and see the show being done, I'm like,
00:49:05
"Oh my god, this is impossible." You know, when I was young, I never thought that. Oh my god. I when I would
00:49:12
got hired there, I was like, "Come on, how come this isn't better? Come on, work, you guys. This is not hard. This
00:49:17
is easy. This shouldn't be hard, you know. And it's like once you've produced a few things, you're like, you want me
00:49:25
to do a show Saturday night with sets and how good all the departments are.
00:49:30
Yeah, the departments are so [ __ ] on it. They're so good. They're so practical. Yeah.
00:49:36
Anyway, did you ever think during a long dress show sometimes I thought maybe tonight's
00:49:42
the night it won't the show won't go on. They'll show a rerun or something. Sometimes it just seemed like
00:49:47
I never I never thought that. I mean I I think it more now but again when I was
00:49:53
there Dana when I started there I had such I don't know you know you guys know
00:49:58
the people who start in this business there's such a strange mix of confidence
00:50:07
ego selfhatred. It's the weirdest like how does it work? How does it work that
00:50:15
you have a friend, you know, we all have a friend, literally walks around all day
00:50:21
hating themselves, talking about how stupid and dumb they are, and then gets on stage and tells a b a crowd of
00:50:28
strangers what they think like house.
00:50:34
Well, how does that work? Something's wrong here. Because if you don't think you're worth anything, then then you
00:50:41
shouldn't be thinking, I give me that mic. I need to tell everyone what I Give me that mic. I just always felt
00:50:48
I need to lecture these people, [Music]
00:50:55
Bob. I always felt if I didn't kill, I'd be I'd get fired. I I felt like I had to destroy and maybe I pushed a little too
00:51:01
much at times until I got to Johnny Carson was the only sketch I did toward the end where I wasn't pushing. But I I
00:51:07
just wanted to make the point that um Are you still with us? Your screen's frozen. Oh, okay. God, you were just
00:51:13
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Is that it seemed like you were like if you told me you had a a pretty good time
00:51:18
on SNL, wouldn't surprise you because it seems like you were sort of around a lot like you'd be in a room with Conan or
00:51:23
Robert or here's an example I wanted the audience to hear. Franken and I are doing a George Bush Senior. We're
00:51:29
sitting around somewhere going, "Hey, I'm doing the thing. Gotta do it. Gotta go." And then and then it was uh we're
00:51:36
trying to go I think Al said in the less uh the lesson of Vietnam and you would
00:51:42
just easedropped or just walked by and you just went stay out of Vietnam and
00:51:47
that killed on the show on Saturday. Lesson of Vietnam, stay out of Vietnam.
00:51:53
Do you remember that moment, Bob? But I think you were around the show a lot. Grumpy Old Man was really your you
00:51:59
originated that. I don't know. It seemed like you were around, you know. I I I listen if I try to think
00:52:06
of the things I contributed to SNL and basically I say in my book that I didn't
00:52:12
help at all and I got paid and I learned so much about how to write a sketch and
00:52:18
what a sketch is made of and I but and then I gave nothing back
00:52:25
nothing in return. Like Lauren totally got the [ __ ] end of the stick with me.
00:52:31
Um um but uh probably those things maybe added up to
00:52:37
something. The little things that I was able to do because Robert included me in
00:52:42
in writing or you know anybody did. I mean I can think of some of them because
00:52:48
they stick out because they were um it would meant a lot to me when I was able to help and and say something that
00:52:55
helped. I I I wanted it to work. That's the other thing. Sometimes I think I when I talk about the show it sounds
00:53:01
like I hated the show or thought it was dumb and and [ __ ] this place and it's
00:53:06
not true. It's not true. I I wanted nothing more than to be helpful
00:53:13
and meaningful there and uh it it would have meant so much to me to feel that
00:53:20
way. But I I I just did my best. And uh And
00:53:25
but you brought in like motivational speaker, which is one of the greats. I mean that that's just that alone you
00:53:31
could have [ __ ] off. I know, David. That was after I left. That [ __ ] scene was on. Is that true?
00:53:36
That was the next Yeah, that that they did that scene the year after I left. Now, they gave me credit for it, of
00:53:42
course, cuz I wrote it. I I wrote it alone in my apartment in Chicago. But but that
00:53:49
wasn't even I had left down by the river did that just that wow what
00:53:54
fan down by the river as poet I mean just the fact that it's one of the most I mean listen I I just was in
00:54:01
the scene and I hear about it every day so uh but I had nothing to do with it I just was cast thank god Lord Jesus
00:54:07
well you guys know that as proud as I am that I wrote it and I'm supremely proud
00:54:13
it's a standout moment in my life's life is you Chris Chris Farley is the
00:54:19
reason freight train is he's just come on. I mean that guy I mean I talk about him a lot in the
00:54:25
book and and it's weird and it's fun to talk to you guys right now because I mentioned to Howard Stern on his uh
00:54:32
podcast that uh you know it's strange to to write about somebody who I I mean
00:54:40
David you were very close to him. I was not. I mean, I
00:54:45
I was I felt very close to him, but so did anyone who saw him perform
00:54:51
or even hung met him. Such a sweet Yeah. He was so nice and look in the eye and just like shake your hand and be
00:54:58
happy and they felt like, oh, that's why he was so lovable. They're like, oh, this guy's my friend immediately. Yeah. Howard said, you know, I didn't
00:55:04
really know him. And I said, but you did. You did cuz you saw him perform. You saw him as a
00:55:10
That's basically what it was. Yeah. And uh and so I I I was I felt a little
00:55:16
strange about writing as much as I did, but it was pure honesty and he affected
00:55:21
me and uh impacted me greatly as he did everyone who who got to know him. So,
00:55:29
um, so you know, I mean, it's fun to talk about how I I got to write that
00:55:34
sketch and that it played so well on the show, but it's all Chris, you know, the show is always the show is always
00:55:41
performance. One of the things that probably bothered me uh was that SNL is always going to
00:55:48
reward and and celebrate a performance laugh over a construction story laugh.
00:55:57
And as a writer, I'm wanting those two to at least be equal,
00:56:02
right? Or if not lean in my direction where you go, yeah, that performer who does says band,
00:56:09
he's all right. But the [ __ ] idea, the con that's so well constructed and that probably was Jack Handy, right?
00:56:17
Jack Handy. Yeah, a Jack Handy sketch is a Jack Handy sketch. It is funny because Jack
00:56:24
Handy is [ __ ] genius and and it does that. You could put seven other actors
00:56:29
in there if they're okay. Yeah. You're going to laugh. Frozen caveman lawyer. I mean, Phil was great, but the concept was just so Jack
00:56:37
handy and Phil nailing it, but just he's nailing a great piece of writing sketch
00:56:42
that was written so well and handy sketches, you know, like a fingerprint within a half a page of read through.
00:56:49
You're like looking around going, "Is this Jack Andy?" like it's immediately comes out of this of the gate.
00:56:54
I would love to talk to you guys for five more hours. Uh I love you, Bob. Thank you for coming, man. Bob, it's been such a pleasure.
00:57:01
You're right. We could go for five more hours.
00:57:07
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00:58:08
[Music]
