Steve Carell

Steve Carell's got a good embouchure. Amy hangs with the comedy legend and 'Rooster' star and talks about getting recognized in Massachusetts grocery stores, eating hot fudge sundaes on the set of 'Anchorman,' and what he said to Pam at the airport. Host: Amy PoehlerGuests: Stephen Colbert and Steve CarellExecutive producers: Bill Simmons, Amy Poehler, and Jenna Weiss-BermanFor Paper Kite Productions: Executive producer Jenna Weiss-Berman, coordinator Sam Green, and supervising producer Joel LovellFor The Ringer: Supervising producers Juliet Litman, Sean Fennessey, and Mallory Rubin; video producers Jack Wilson and Aleya Zenieris; audio producer Kaya McMullen; social producer Bridget Geerlings; video editor Drew van Steenbergen; and booker Kat SpillaneOriginal music: Amy Miles Use coupon code ‘EATCESAR10’ at Cesar.com for 10% off Check Allstate first for a quote that could save you hundreds: https://Allstate.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Amy Poehler?

  This episode is brought to you by Allstate. Checking Allstate first could save you hundreds on car insurance. Not checking which group chat you're typing in before hitting send? Next thing you know, you sent a scalding hot take about the restaurant to the group with the person who picked it. Yikes. Yeah, checking first is a good idea, so check Allstate first for an auto quote. It could save you hundreds. You're in good hands with Allstate. Potential savings vary, subject to terms, conditions, and availability. Allstate North American Insurance Company and affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois.

• 0:36Amy Poehler?

  Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Good Hang. We have a comedy legend on today, a hilarious leading man, box office giant, and sketch comedian who I first saw on the stage at Second City and, you know, wanted to be like ever since. Steve Carell joining us. Steve and I are going to talk about a lot of things. We're going to talk about Second City. We're going to talk about Anchorman. We're going to talk about The Office. We're going to talk about The Smooth Tones of the Baritone Horn. And we are going to talk about his new HBO show, Rooster, out now. So we get into a lot of fun stuff. And before we talk to Steve, we talk to someone who knows Steve, so we can speak well behind his back and get a question for me.

• 1:19Amy Poehler?

  And we are joined by his old Second City buddy, his old roommate, a person who was there from the beginning and who is also another hilarious and famous Steve. And that Steve is Stephen Colbert. Hello, Stephen Colbert. Bonjour.

• 1:44Amy Poehler?

  This episode is brought to you by Zoom. Many of us have been there. The calls where you zone out for one second and miss six key points. The quick check-ins that are anything but quick. Because here's the thing, every conversation creates work. With Zoom, though, the conversation itself can actually move work forward. Zoom is now a full system of action that can actually complete work from the context of your existing meetings, calls, and chats. No more post-call panic, no more inbox avalanche. You talked about it, Zoom got it done. Visit zoomahead.com to learn more.

• 2:28Amy Poehler?

  I just want to start by saying, you were the senior to my freshman when I arrived at Second City in Chicago. And it was you and Amy Sedaris and Correll and Paul Nello. And you were all getting ready to go do Exit 57, which was, at the time, just the thought that you could go and be like the captain onstage and then go have your own sketch show. It just felt like such a dream.

• 2:54Speaker 01

  We had no idea what we were doing. And we thought that the answer was, what if we just worked 24 hours a day? Wouldn't that make things funnier? And it made things weirder because you would fall into a chemo psychosis.

• 3:05Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 3:05Speaker 01

  And not have any sense. And I go back and I watch those sketches. Now I go, pick up the pace.

• 3:10Amy Poehler?

  Oh, yeah.

• 3:11Speaker 01

  What are you doing?

• 3:12Amy Poehler?

  Oh, god, yeah. I look at our old sketches and I'm like, you want to go six minutes on this? You really got it? You're going to stay up all night fighting for cuts?

• 3:20Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 3:21Amy Poehler?

  I think it would play a little better if it was half the time. Was Second City where you and Steve first met?

• 3:27Speaker 01

  Yeah. I was there. I worked there in the box office because I didn't have any job. I had gone, I'd done a gig overseas, and then I came back with no money. I mean, little. I was sleeping on a friend's floor. I didn't have a dime. And my friend, Anne Libra, said, she was the box office manager, and she said, you can answer phones here like two days a week if you need like basic cash. So I started answering phones. And then I found out that you could take classes for free if you worked there, even if you're like part-time like I was. And so I said, well, I mean, I never imagined that I would

• 4:10Speaker 01

  be at Second City because I was, I was real improv. I was, I had done, you know, I O. I had an improv Olympic and those people talked a lot of shit about Second City.

• 4:22Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, there was a fun east coast, west coast thing happening.

• 4:25Speaker 01

  A hundred percent. But it was like Lincoln Avenue, North Wells situation going on.

• 4:30Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 4:30Speaker 01

  And I was very much Cross Currents. That's where we would, I did it at Cross Currents.

• 4:34Amy Poehler?

  Mmm, yeah.

• 4:34Speaker 01

  Below the Belmont L. And, um, and I was like, no, man, I do. And then I went there and I saw the show and I went, oh, everybody hears, cares just as much as anybody else. They just happen to be sold out every night and there's liquor.

• 4:48Amy Poehler?

  Right.

• 4:48Speaker 01

  Like, I kinda like this. And then I took classes and I didn't know Steve. Steve had gotten there a year, year and a half ahead of me, something like that. He was a little bit ahead of me in that, you might call it process or like kind of rep system there. And, uh, and I didn't know him at all. A year later, a year after I started working there, I was invited to audition. And I auditioned and I got into the National Touring Company, which was like a red letter day in my career. I got into the tour co. And I think I got hired like on a Thursday and then like on Saturday, they said, can you go in at Northwest? Cause there used to be the theater on the, at Northwest. And I went, uh, yeah, sure.

• 5:29Speaker 01

  I, I, you know, I learned whatever I needed to learn as quickly as I could. I went up there and I met Steve, kind of like from backstage, watching him on stage. I met him in rehearsal. He's so gifted with music. You know how gifted musically he is, right?

• 5:39Amy Poehler?

  I did not. I did not know that.

• 5:41Speaker 01

  He, if it's made of brass, he can play it.

• 5:45Amy Poehler?

  You're kidding me. I did not know that.

• 5:47Speaker 01

  He can pick up a tin whistle, a recorder. He can, he can play, he plays the, I, I understudied for Steve. When I was at, when I was in tour co, I finally said, like, I, you're either gonna put me, you're gonna, you're gonna let me understudy or I'm gonna leave. And Joy said, don't threaten me. I don't respond to threats. I'm like, it's not a threat. I've been here for four years or almost four years at this point. I'm like, and I, and I love doing it, but I gotta go figure out what else I can do. I hope this isn't a threat. And so literally the next day they said, I, I understudied like ETC or something. And then they said, uh, Correll's gotta go, he's got like a Browns chicken commercial.

• 6:27Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. Big deal.

• 6:28Speaker 01

  Something like that.

• 6:28Amy Poehler?

  You could live off that for years.

• 6:30Speaker 01

  Oh shit, man.

• 6:31Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 6:31Speaker 01

  We were all jealous.

• 6:33Amy Poehler?

  Oh, yeah.

• 6:34Speaker 01

  Wait, he got a bacon bit spot?

• 6:38Speaker 01

  And so.

• 6:40Speaker 01

  He's selling funeral assurance to children? Jesus, that sounds like a great gig. And I, so anyway, they said, could you, could you go in for Carell? And I said, he plays the euphonium. He played the baritone horn, which is like a little tuba. And he goes, he plays the baritone horn in that. Do I have to play the baritone horn? And they said, yeah, yeah. And I said, I don't know how to play the baritone horn. And they said, okay, we'll ask Adzit to do it. And Scott Adzit.

• 7:11Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 7:11Speaker 01

  And I said, no, no, no, no, I'll learn it. I'll learn it. When do I, when do I need to go in? And they said, six days.

• 7:19Amy Poehler?

  Wow.

• 7:20Speaker 01

  And so I, and they wouldn't rent me a horn. I went and got the horn.

• 7:24Amy Poehler?

  Too expensive.

• 7:24Speaker 01

  It cost like 250 bucks, which is like what you'd get paid in a month at Second City. But I had to go in at the main stage. And so I, I went to Carell and I said, would you, I don't, can't read sheet music. Can you please write out the fingering for the horn and teach me an embouchure?

• 7:40Amy Poehler?

  What's, what's an embouchure? Oh.

• 7:42Speaker 01

  That's the, that's the thing that makes the sound in the horn. And like, you can get like three different.

• 7:48Amy Poehler?

  I knew I was gonna learn a new word from this interview. I knew you were gonna teach me a new word.

• 7:53Speaker 01

  Embouchure is a great, embouchure is a great word, especially if someone cuts a fart in front of you. A nice thing to say is, you go, ooh, nice embouchure. You know?

• 8:04Speaker 01

  Really tight on that embouchure. And um, French horn? And so anyway, I, I was dating this girl, now my wife, Evy McGee, in New York. And I was supposed to go see her that weekend. What did we do all weekend? We sat in her apartment and I, I learned anchors away, pretty woman, and taps. Oh, you're hitting those drums?

• 8:27Amy Poehler?

  Wait, no, who is, listeners, I don't know if you can hear, but there's some drums happening in your house. Is someone playing?

• 8:33Speaker 01

  That's my son.

• 8:34Amy Poehler?

  Oh, that's so cute. Wait, you're talking about music and your son is starting to play drums down in the basement?

• 8:41Speaker 01

  My son is practicing because he's going into his brother's band. They got a gig next weekend.

• 8:46Amy Poehler?

  Come on.

• 8:47Speaker 01

  In Brooklyn. And so there, he's going down there to practice because they, their drummer's out for the week. He's subbing in for his brother, yeah.

• 8:54Amy Poehler?

  That's kind of like.

• 8:54Speaker 01

  Which is all you want.

• 8:55Amy Poehler?

  That is all you want. That is exactly, I was gonna say, the sound of your son practicing to sub in for your other son, that's like a dream.

• 9:03Speaker 01

  Yeah, I met Carell, I met Carell at Northwest. Uh, back in, in 1988.

• 9:10Amy Poehler?

  And so when you guys were on The Daily Show together, it was like jackpot.

• 9:14Speaker 01

  We were in Carvey together.

• 9:15Amy Poehler?

  That's right. You were in Carvey. By the way, that viral clip, I'm sure you've seen on your phone, of you guys reacting to the incredible ad for the Dana Carvey Root Beer Variety Special Hour. It is so.

• 9:31Speaker 01

  I don't want to die.

• 9:33Amy Poehler?

  For people that don't know, that show that you wrote on was incredible and so ahead of its time. But there's a really funny moment where both you and Steve are shown an ad from that time where you are following a very special episode of Home Improvement. And in it, Jonathan Taylor Thomas's character, I believe, thinks he is going to die. He thinks he's ill or sick and he says, like, it's very sweet. And him and Tim Allen are having a moment and he says, I don't want to die, Dad. And then the next voiceover is.

• 10:04Speaker 01

  And the Mug Root Beer Dana Carvey Show, tonight on ABC.

• 10:09Amy Poehler?

  It's so funny. It's so. And watching you and Steve laugh is so funny. It's so. It's, and to me, that's like, I, I, I don't know how to explain it other than the joy of that, to me, sums up what it feels like to have funny friends and get to make things with them.

• 10:32Speaker 01

  The joy of failure.

• 10:33Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 10:34Speaker 01

  Was something that I, I said early on at, at Second City that I realized, oh, I think I should do this for the rest of my life, meaning comedy. Cause I was kind of biting whether I was going to do drama or comedy because I was doing straight theater in Chicago at the same time. And I, but we'd laugh so hard when we or someone else on stage would fail, but the other person on stage who was failing would also laugh. And I went, if this, if it can be this joyful. In failure, and there's also another joy in success, then I'd be dumb not to pursue this for the rest of my life.

• 11:06Amy Poehler?

  That's so beautifully said, that it is joyful in failure. That is beautifully said. That's exactly it.

• 11:13Speaker 01

  And also, it's almost like, because there's so much empathy for what's happened to the person who's eating it.

• 11:19Amy Poehler?

  But, but if, you know, just to extrapolate on that even more, there has to be a belief that you'll be okay.

• 11:25Speaker 01

  I know you asked to, for me to think of, like, what I would want to ask.

• 11:31Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. What would you want to ask Steve? Thank you.

• 11:34Speaker 01

  The amazing thing about Steve is his ability to do anything. Is, I know a lot of talented people, but I don't know many people who can do almost anything. And, and first of all, I mean, I remember one of my really early impressions of Steve is, wow, he can make anything funny.

• 11:55Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 11:55Speaker 01

  He can make any moment very full, not funny, but funny, but also very full. Very full of presence and energy and what we would call tensiveness, like, like the scenic tension. And I see that same ability, like, I marvelled at that ability, and also how he would never fuck around. He was always very professional. And I remember looking at him backstage at Second City and going, why is he so good? And I came up with this conclusion, and I wrote it down on a piece of paper with a calligraphic pen. And I taped it on the back of my little locker area to remind myself, and it just said, "Work." Because what I saw in Steve was that he worked really hard.

• 12:32Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 12:33Speaker 01

  And he never phoned it in. And I'm curious what his process is like when he does drama, or what people would perceive as drama, and versus comedy, or what people would perceive as comedy. And the reason why I say perceive is, is it all the same to him?

• 12:52Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 12:52Speaker 01

  With a different character intention, or with a different energy intention? Or is he really just approaching it in a totally different way? He's saying, "Well, that's, you know, that's sketch," or "That's something incredibly broad," like Anchorman, or, you know, Dinner for Schmucks, or now I'm doing Fox Catcher.

• 13:08Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 13:09Speaker 01

  Does he do it in a different way? Because I admire him so much in both directions.

• 13:14Amy Poehler?

  Same.

• 13:15Speaker 01

  And, and as far as I know... He's never talked about his process. So I don't, I mean, I've never seen him do it. So I don't, and I've worked with him since 1988. I mean, we roomed together practically for 10 years and I don't know what it is.

• 13:28Amy Poehler?

  That's a great question. And, um, uh, I mean, you're really good at, really good at this. You should, you should try to make this your job, asking questions.

• 13:37Speaker 01

  Are there any, are any of these jobs left?

• 13:39Amy Poehler?

  Nope.

• 13:40Speaker 01

  No, okay.

• 13:40Amy Poehler?

  Nope.

• 13:41Speaker 01

  Podcast it is.

• 13:43Amy Poehler?

  Well, um, I, thank you so much for this time.

• 13:47Speaker 01

  What a pleasure. Thanks so much.

• 13:48Amy Poehler?

  And, um, do we know what song your son is playing down in the basement before we go? Do you know, is it an original?

• 13:53Speaker 01

  He's either playing bossa nova.

• 13:56Amy Poehler?

  Mm hmm.

• 13:56Speaker 01

  Or he's playing, uh, deep space nine, which, uh, which has one of my favorite lyrics, uh, in any of his songs, which is your, your head's in deep space nine. I'm not taking you to family Thanksgiving.

• 14:11Speaker 01

  Vape, vape clouds destroyed your mind. I'm not taking you to family Thanksgiving, which is really tells a story.

• 14:18Amy Poehler?

  It's like you're a Swifty with your own children. Like you're just trying to break down all the lyrics.

• 14:23Speaker 01

  I got the bracelets.

• 14:24Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 14:28Amy Poehler?

  I, I mean, I think Steve's going to be so happy that we talked because, and we could talk about your relationship a lot today, and I hope we do because it's very special.

• 14:35Speaker 01

  The fact that I'm associated with him, that people still come up to me and say, Steve Carell, like they'll still get the name wrong.

• 14:41Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, sure, sure.

• 14:43Speaker 01

  I just love it.

• 14:43Amy Poehler?

  I feel that way about like, I, I feel like you and Steve have a little bit of what Tina and I have, which is we're just like, people put us together all the time and I couldn't be happier about it.

• 14:52Speaker 01

  Sure.

• 14:53Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 14:53Speaker 01

  I still, someday I'll do something. Someday I'll do something with him again. Ask him what he's doing, cause tell him I need a gig.

• 14:59Amy Poehler?

  Okay, great. Yeah, we'll, we'll let Carell pick your next gig.

• 15:02Speaker 01

  Okay, perfect.

• 15:03Amy Poehler?

  All right, all right. Thank you so much, buddy.

• 15:05Speaker 01

  Have a great conversation.

• 15:06Amy Poehler?

  Thanks. So nice talking to you and seeing you. Okay, take care. Bye.

• 15:10Amy Poehler?

  This episode is brought to you by Allstate. Checking Allstate first could save you hundreds on car insurance. That's smart. Not checking the meaning of a word all the kids say before using it yourself? Not smart. Not slay-worthy. Yeah, checking first is smart, so check Allstate first for a quote that could save you hundreds. You're in good hands with Allstate. Potential savings vary, subject to terms, conditions, and availability. Allstate North American Insurance Company and affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois.

• 15:40Amy Poehler?

  Thank you for doing this.

• 15:41Speaker 02

  My thanks for having me.

• 15:42Amy Poehler?

  Steve Carell is here. And Steve, I feel like you always feel the way you feel about somebody, like based kind of on the first time you see them. Like, you know, you just get like imprinted with when you first meet them. And I first met you when you were onstage. I never really knew you in Chicago. I just watched you perform. And you were the senior when I arrived with my bags, like being like, "Am I gonna try to do this, you know, business? Like, what is this?" And you guys were like the cool seniors.

• 16:14Speaker 02

  Well, we also, you hear about the people who they've just hired too. And you're one of those people that stuck out immediately. You know, people were talking about you super early on. And you always kind of keep tabs, like, "Well, who's next? Who are the, you know, who are the up and comers?"

• 16:32Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 16:33Speaker 02

  And you were definitely one of those people.

• 16:35Amy Poehler?

  You were in the very, like, you were in that class of people that, number one, were crushing it onstage, and then also went on to do things. Like, you had jobs. You got hired, made money. You got commercials.

• 16:49Speaker 02

  That was always so exciting to meet. You remember Ken Campbell?

• 16:55Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, sure.

• 16:56Speaker 02

  So Ken Campbell was the first one of like our group to kind of step out and got, he got a... He had a show called Herman's Head.

• 17:04Amy Poehler?

  Oh, yeah.

• 17:04Speaker 02

  Where they were all.

• 17:05Amy Poehler?

  Some could say inside a precursor to Inside Out.

• 17:08Speaker 02

  That's right. Yeah, exactly. He was the first person to have a job and it was astounding.

• 17:14Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 17:15Speaker 02

  Like, oh my, he's really doing it.

• 17:16Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, he's really gonna get paid to do it.

• 17:18Speaker 02

  He's getting paid and he's in Hollywood and he's a big shot.

• 17:23Amy Poehler?

  He's gonna have insurance, everything.

• 17:24Speaker 02

  I remember coming out and visiting him and we were doing a little, I don't know, some, some weird little theater show like one night and he and his wife were there. Just watch. And I remember he ordered steak and I thought, oh, man, that guy is, he's got it made.

• 17:42Amy Poehler?

  He's rolling in it.

• 17:43Speaker 02

  Sitting in the restaurant ordering steak, watching the show. Oh.

• 17:48Amy Poehler?

  Well, speaking of steak and speaking of restaurants, before I go any further, I need to point out, you're the first guest that technically my father booked for me.

• 17:57Amy Poehler?

  Bill Puller.

• 17:58Speaker 02

  They, they are.

• 18:00Amy Poehler?

  Okay, let's tell the story. What happened?

• 18:01Speaker 02

  The nicest people. So back in, back in Massachusetts.

• 18:05Amy Poehler?

  We'll see how this story goes.

• 18:06Speaker 02

  We.

• 18:09Speaker 02

  You have issues. Clearly you have issues with your parents.

• 18:12Amy Poehler?

  Well, you were in, my mom said.

• 18:13Speaker 02

  I don't wanna open a can of worms.

• 18:15Amy Poehler?

  All I know is I got a phone call saying, good news. We saw Steve Carell at a restaurant and we told him that he should be on your, on your show. So we think we've booked him is what my parents said. And I was like, my dad. And I was like, what did you say?

• 18:33Speaker 02

  That's exactly, no, he's, you know, Amy does a podcast. Like, I know.

• 18:38Amy Poehler?

  Well, let's set the scene. You're in Massachusetts at a nice restaurant.

• 18:42Speaker 02

  A nice restaurant out in the burbs.

• 18:44Amy Poehler?

  Gibbet Hill or something like that. Gib.

• 18:47Speaker 02

  Gibbet Hill Farms.

• 18:48Amy Poehler?

  Gibbet Hill Farms.

• 18:49Speaker 02

  Out in Groton, Mass.

• 18:51Amy Poehler?

  Yep.

• 18:51Speaker 02

  Like it was, and nowhere near where we live either. We just, I was meeting my brother out there.

• 18:57Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. I don't know why my parents were out there. They, they were with their friends, Tom and Sue.

• 19:02Speaker 02

  Lovely, lovely foursome. Um, they introduced themselves and, and we got to, they were very charming. Lovely. Um, and I know that surprises you. And, and, and you're, you know, your dad brought up your podcast and your mom said, you should be on. And I was like, I've never been asked to be on.

• 19:27Amy Poehler?

  You're like, I think I have to be asked.

• 19:30Speaker 02

  I'm not gonna just throw my hat in like, hey, hey, I wanna be on the show.

• 19:34Amy Poehler?

  Did they get awkward and they were like, ooh, there must, they got quiet? There must be a reason why.

• 19:39Speaker 02

  They retreated.

• 19:40Amy Poehler?

  They were like, forget it.

• 19:41Speaker 02

  Oh, no, no. Well, maybe she doesn't have a pocket. I don't remember what she did. Maybe, no, no, that's not right. It was somebody else who were thinking that had a pocket. They were so nice. Yeah. So I think maybe that planted the seed.

• 19:52Amy Poehler?

  I mean, I forget that you're a Boston boy.

• 19:55Speaker 02

  Yeah, I grew up in Acton.

• 19:56Amy Poehler?

  I know. And why do, I mean, you don't seem very Boston to me.

• 20:01Speaker 02

  How so?

• 20:02Amy Poehler?

  Well, well, you're polite.

• 20:08Amy Poehler?

  And thoughtful and considerate.

• 20:10Speaker 02

  There's a different, I will say politeness registers differently in Massachusetts.

• 20:17Amy Poehler?

  That's true.

• 20:18Speaker 02

  When you go back and people recognize you, do you have a different experience than you do here or in New York?

• 20:27Amy Poehler?

  I mean, I, I, I'm, I love Boston. I love where I'm from. I love the directness. I love the,

• 20:33Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 20:33Amy Poehler?

  like the real loyal, like, like, just really, really good, honest people. But there is a definite, um, how would you say it? There is a brusqueness and honestly, I'm gonna say it, there's just like, you're not better than me quality about Boston.

• 20:51Speaker 02

  Exactly it.

• 20:51Amy Poehler?

  That I love, but it's sometimes tough to be on the receiving end.

• 20:57Speaker 02

  If you, if you know, if you can anticipate that,

• 21:01Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 21:01Speaker 02

  it's actually very charming.

• 21:02Amy Poehler?

  Very true.

• 21:04Speaker 02

  And you just kind of take it at face value.

• 21:06Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 21:06Speaker 02

  Because I remember going back and, you know, shop around, I was in the supermarket. One guy came up to me and said, hey, Steve,

• 21:17Speaker 02

  I know you. That thing you did was good. Don't get cocky.

• 21:22Amy Poehler?

  Don't get cocky.

• 21:23Speaker 02

  It's all that love you. Don't get cocky.

• 21:26Amy Poehler?

  Oh, yeah. Don't.

• 21:28Speaker 02

  Don't. You're one of us.

• 21:29Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 21:30Speaker 02

  Don't embarrass us.

• 21:31Amy Poehler?

  Don't you dare grow or change?

• 21:35Speaker 02

  Mostly change.

• 21:36Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. Where did you go to college?

• 21:37Speaker 02

  Dennison University in Ohio.

• 21:39Amy Poehler?

  And then how did you get Ohio? And then how did you find out about Second City?

• 21:43Speaker 02

  Touring company came through Ohio State University.

• 21:47Amy Poehler?

  Oh, that's so funny.

• 21:47Speaker 02

  And we bought tickets and right then and there I thought that's funny. Nancy and I were just talking about this exact thing.

• 21:55Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 21:55Speaker 02

  That the touring company seemed like, and she saw a touring company too. It seemed like the most fun job to have.

• 22:02Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 22:03Speaker 02

  Of any job I could even imagine.

• 22:05Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 22:05Speaker 02

  And you, you know, you roll into a college town, you do all of these great sketches that are bulletproof because they've been tried and true and have been at Second City for years and years and they always work.

• 22:16Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 22:17Speaker 02

  So you feel like just you're on top of the world. You're going, it's not even your material. You're just going out and performing someone else's stuff and it's making people laugh. And it just, I thought that's it. That's what I want to do.

• 22:30Amy Poehler?

  When you were in college, you were thinking about being an actor?

• 22:33Speaker 02

  I, I was a history major.

• 22:35Amy Poehler?

  Ah, that makes sense.

• 22:36Speaker 02

  So I was not allowing myself to

• 22:38Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 22:38Speaker 02

  Kind of consider that seriously.

• 22:40Amy Poehler?

  Cause you probably didn't know a lot of people who were actors growing up who had that job. Yeah.

• 22:43Speaker 02

  No, it didn't seem, I mean, in Massachusetts.

• 22:46Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 22:47Speaker 02

  Your neck of the woods too.

• 22:48Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, it just doesn't seem like it's like it's a real, it didn't seem like a real job.

• 22:52Speaker 02

  Exactly. It's like, I'll either be that or an astronaut, you know? It didn't seem like a plausible final destination in terms of a career. So I always, I thought maybe history, maybe law school, something, something that sounded, something that sounded good to my parents.

• 23:08Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 23:08Speaker 02

  Honestly, I really wanted to, after all they invested in me and my education, my brothers, I, I just felt like I owed them something.

• 23:17Amy Poehler?

  So they could like, when, when, when you're older, they could go up to someone in a restaurant and say, you should join my son's law school.

• 23:25Amy Poehler?

  They could bother someone in the restaurant.

• 23:26Speaker 02

  They never got a chance to say that.

• 23:30Amy Poehler?

  And so then you're in Dennison, you see the touring company, you think, I'm gonna go to Chicago.

• 23:36Speaker 02

  It's two friends of mine from Dennison, after we graduated, they gave me a call randomly and said, we're moving, we're going to Chicago.

• 23:44Amy Poehler?

  Wow.

• 23:44Speaker 02

  And I don't think I would have had the guts to do it myself, just by myself. But we're getting a place, we're going to start an educational theater company, which will help pay some of the bills. And we'll get jobs and we will pursue careers as actors. And that's, and I was in.

• 24:01Amy Poehler?

  What year was that, then you arrived?

• 24:03Speaker 02

  Eighty-five.

• 24:04Amy Poehler?

  And you just were living in a cheap, do you remember the rent of your first apartment?

• 24:08Speaker 02

  Six hundred dollars, split three ways, all utilities included. Fantastic.

• 24:14Amy Poehler?

  What was your job then? What were you doing?

• 24:16Speaker 02

  I waited tables at Houlihan's.

• 24:18Amy Poehler?

  Oh, yeah. That was a hot spot, Houlihan's.

• 24:22Speaker 02

  Houlihan's on Division.

• 24:23Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, that's, I mean, it was so fun back then.

• 24:26Speaker 02

  It was.

• 24:27Amy Poehler?

  To be in that city. That city felt like it was, I don't know, maybe just because I was young when I was there, but it felt like it was, something was crackling and happening. I mean, when you think back about those Chicago times, what comes up for you? I mean, I mean, it's such youthful, exuberant, enthusiastic times, but what, what, what feelings and thoughts come up for you?

• 24:47Speaker 02

  I think, well, like all of the things we learn in class at Second City, having that freedom to fail.

• 24:56Speaker 02

  And there were very few constraints in terms of what you could try.

• 25:01Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 25:02Speaker 02

  And, and at Second City itself, it was the same thing, like being on stage every night and working it out and figuring, you know, you, that, that audience is such a great barometer.

• 25:13Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 25:13Speaker 02

  And, and if, if you're not doing it well or right, they'll tell you.

• 25:19Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 25:19Speaker 02

  You'll feel it. And it was so much fun.

• 25:21Amy Poehler?

  So much fun. And, and also, you know, I think about it now, as you're talking about it, is I think sometimes when I think back at sketch and improv, I kind of like. I don't know. I think like, oh, I wasn't working material like a stand up or something, but that's not true. We really had to, we had different audiences every night, rowdy audiences expecting stuff from us.

• 25:42Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 25:43Amy Poehler?

  And like, you had to learn how to kind of be hung out to dry a little bit on stage and be okay with it.

• 25:49Speaker 02

  Did you embrace that? I, we used to, we used to challenge each other.

• 25:54Amy Poehler?

  Okay.

• 25:55Speaker 02

  To embracing the awfulness of the scene? And like challenging each other not to leave because it's so easy if something's, if something's failing, you just want to bail.

• 26:06Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 26:07Speaker 02

  During an improv scene.

• 26:08Amy Poehler?

  Oh, yeah.

• 26:09Speaker 02

  But it was sort of a badge of honor.

• 26:11Amy Poehler?

  Mm hmm.

• 26:11Speaker 02

  Uh uh, we're, we're gonna drive this into the ground.

• 26:15Amy Poehler?

  It's an exquisite feeling.

• 26:17Speaker 02

  It's so.

• 26:18Amy Poehler?

  Look at your partner and be like, we're bombing.

• 26:20Speaker 02

  We're, and we're, and let's hold hands. And let's, let's do this together. And sometimes you'd be able to pull it out of a nosedive and other, a lot of times it's just the lights just slowly faded. Slowly faded.

• 26:35Amy Poehler?

  Well, what do you like about it? I know what you mean. What is the, what is the thing about it?

• 26:39Speaker 02

  I don't know. I think it's, I guess, just throwing everything off of you, like throwing all of, all of the worry, all of the concern of this isn't working and getting into your head about why isn't it working? We have to make it work. Everybody gets sweaty. Everybody, everybody starts trying too hard. But sometimes when you can just allow it to kind of wash over you.

• 27:06Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 27:07Speaker 02

  The things that you might find are really interesting.

• 27:11Amy Poehler?

  I mean, is it like, is it like a little death?

• 27:15Amy Poehler?

  Is it the closest to, it feels like you are, I mean, I'm trying to think, cause I, when you're explaining it, I'm getting this like feeling of what it felt like when it was, when you, I mean, one thing is we weren't usually alone.

• 27:28Speaker 02

  No.

• 27:28Amy Poehler?

  We weren't bombing alone.

• 27:30Speaker 02

  And that's, I, I can't imagine. Did you ever do stand up?

• 27:34Amy Poehler?

  I occasionally, like when I would be asked to do small shows. And I didn't mind it. I kind of liked it, but I never really like honed a set.

• 27:43Speaker 02

  I bet you would be, I bet you were great at it.

• 27:45Amy Poehler?

  I, I, I found it easier or I liked doing it as I was older. When I was younger, I just didn't think I understood. I had like a lot of respect for the art form and I didn't. And I wanted to be with people. I wanted to perform with people.

• 27:56Speaker 02

  Me too.

• 27:57Amy Poehler?

  So I think that that's what I mean is the bombing with people was like a special joy.

• 28:00Speaker 02

  I completely.

• 28:02Amy Poehler?

  But the one of the many things that Second City, I know it like created lifelong friendships. And like, you know, you got your, we all figured out how to like get our 10,000 hours on stage and all that stuff. But you met your wife.

• 28:15Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 28:16Amy Poehler?

  How did you meet Nancy Walls, the great hilarious Nancy Walls?

• 28:19Speaker 02

  This is going to sound super creepy. But I was teaching class at Second City.

• 28:24Amy Poehler?

  Okay.

• 28:25Speaker 02

  And she was in my improv character class.

• 28:29Amy Poehler?

  Dang.

• 28:29Speaker 02

  And, uh, and she was hilarious and super smart, beautiful, like I, I.

• 28:39Amy Poehler?

  I have to remember she was a real catch back then because Nancy is so funny.

• 28:44Speaker 02

  Great.

• 28:45Amy Poehler?

  And also beautiful. And I remember everyone being like, this is not quite fair. It's not quite fair. How tall and pretty and funny she is. Like you usually get, you don't get, you can get about one.

• 28:57Speaker 02

  She's so nice too.

• 28:58Amy Poehler?

  And no, so nice and cool.

• 29:00Speaker 02

  Cool and nice and sweet to everybody.

• 29:02Amy Poehler?

  But you really snagged the babe.

• 29:03Speaker 02

  Tell me about it.

• 29:04Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 29:05Speaker 02

  And we, so, but I thought she hated my guts because I'd be teaching and talking and I'd look over at her dead, nothing. Like dead eyes, no affect in her face at all. And I was like, boy, she is not buying any of this. She hates me, hates this class.

• 29:24Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 29:24Speaker 02

  Knows I'm a phony and, uh, and it turns out she was just nervous. That's what she told me later.

• 29:32Amy Poehler?

  And when she gets nervous, she gets like stone faced.

• 29:34Speaker 02

  She just doesn't want to show anything.

• 29:36Amy Poehler?

  That's a powerful move to do because it really makes the other person work for it.

• 29:39Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 29:40Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 29:41Speaker 02

  And she worked across the street. Um, she was a waitress across the street at a bar called The Last Act.

• 29:47Amy Poehler?

  Oh, yeah.

• 29:47Speaker 02

  So after shows or after class, I used to go over and I used to sit at the bar and I'd order a Diet Coke and we'd talk. But it took. So long because we both kind of talked around the whole thing forever. And nev like finally, one day, the conversation went something like, you know, if we're talking about people that we like, or like, what's your, who would you go out?

• 30:17Amy Poehler?

  Oh, my God, that's such a funny convo to have.

• 30:20Speaker 02

  And it was all just, just this circuitous, you, you know, someone down the bar is just saying, get to it. My, come on, you're annoying everybody. And I think I finally said, you know, if I were, if I were gonna ask somebody on a date, it'd be somebody like you. Like you'd be like that template of somebody that I'd love to go out with. And she's like, you know, if somebody like you asked me out, that would, I would love it. It would be fantastic. And there was a pause and I said, do you want to go out?

• 30:53Amy Poehler?

  Always with the moves.

• 30:54Speaker 02

  It was so super uncool. Like, yeah.

• 31:00Speaker 02

  So we went two doors out of the other bar, you know, like, then that's, that was the beginning of it.

• 31:04Amy Poehler?

  And then you could, when you left Chicago, where you, you weren't married yet?

• 31:08Speaker 02

  No, we were engaged. We got engaged a week before she got SNL.

• 31:12Amy Poehler?

  Wow.

• 31:13Speaker 02

  So, yeah, we went on our honeymoon and came back and moved right to New York for her to start rehearsals.

• 31:24Amy Poehler?

  This episode is brought to you by PayPal. Shine at gift giving this year by planning ahead. Shop your favorite online stores with PayPal this holiday like Sephora for gift sets, Target for toys and electronics, and TikTok Shop for fashion apparel and gadgets. Check out with the flexibility to pay now or pay later and split your payments with Pay in Four with no interest, no late fees. Shop now with PayPal. Pay in Four is subject to approval. Learn more at paypal.com/payinfour. PayPal, Inc., NMLS 910457.

• 31:58Amy Poehler?

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• 32:40Amy Poehler?

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• 33:24Amy Poehler?

  Shine at gift giving this year by planning ahead. Shop your favorite online stores with PayPal this holiday, like Sephora for gift sets, Target for toys and electronics, and TikTok Shop for fashion apparel and gadgets. Check out with the flexibility to pay now or pay later and split your payments with Pay in Four with no interest, no late fees. Shop now with PayPal. Pay in Four is subject to approval. Learn more at PayPal.com Pay in Four. PayPal, Inc., NMLS 910457.

• 33:58Amy Poehler?

  So you, people know, like, way ahead of its time, Dana Carvey Show, that you were, you and Colbert and others, Smigel and Conan, were all writers on?

• 34:09Speaker 02

  A bunch of people, yeah.

• 34:10Amy Poehler?

  Incredible cast of writers, and you were also in the rep company, like, did you, you did stuff?

• 34:16Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 34:19Amy Poehler?

  I mean, I was-

• 34:20Speaker 02

  Dana calls the sketch of tears.

• 34:23Amy Poehler?

  Can we talk about Dana Carvey for a second? Because Dana Carvey was so, was really important to me. Like, he was, you know, you always kind of fall in love with that, that cast, that when you're like 13, that you see in SNL, and it was Dana and Phil Harmon and Jan Hooks. Dana is so funny.

• 34:38Speaker 02

  He is so funny.

• 34:40Amy Poehler?

  He is so funny.

• 34:41Speaker 02

  I don't know if there's anyone funnier alive, too. Like, to, to be in a room with him is incredible. He's just a super funny, incredibly nice guy. Like, I owe him and Smigel everything for that opportunity on that show. Because that was, I was at a point in Chicago, my agent had told me, "If something doesn't happen for you soon, it's not gonna happen." My agent.

• 35:11Speaker 02

  Way to build me up. I was feeling very good about myself.

• 35:14Amy Poehler?

  Dang, that's harsh.

• 35:16Speaker 02

  And then, so, I moved, I moved to New York.

• 35:19Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 35:21Speaker 02

  And was able to, the next thing I got was Dana Carvey.

• 35:26Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 35:27Speaker 02

  And it changed, that really changed everything.

• 35:30Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 35:30Speaker 02

  That was my first kind of step into something other than Second City.

• 35:37Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. I mean, that show, I remember it being this, it felt like an experiment.

• 35:44Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 35:45Amy Poehler?

  And it was, it felt like it was like, you guys got an opportunity to make whatever you wanted with other people's money, and then they noticed you were doing it, and they said, "Stop." They said, "Stop doing that."

• 35:56Speaker 02

  Well, you heard about the first episode. Did you hear this, Jory?

• 36:00Amy Poehler?

  Tell, tell, tell us again.

• 36:02Speaker 02

  The first scene of the first Dana Carvey show was Dana playing Bill Clinton. And he was sitting at a desk in the Oval Office, talking about how he is the nurturing president, president. And at a certain point, he opens his shirt to reveal a prosthetic breast plate, like teats, if you will.

• 36:27Amy Poehler?

  Yes, teats.

• 36:27Speaker 02

  And I think he had eight nipples.

• 36:29Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 36:30Speaker 02

  And they brought, which, which

• 36:32Amy Poehler?

  Which had real milk.

• 36:33Speaker 02

  Were rigged to lactate.

• 36:35Amy Poehler?

  Right.

• 36:36Speaker 02

  And so they brought a bunch of puppies and stood them on the desk and the puppies started suckling because he was the nurturing president.

• 36:43Amy Poehler?

  Right.

• 36:44Speaker 02

  And so we started, we were following home improvement.

• 36:52Speaker 02

  And they said the ratings went from home improvement and they could chart it like at the beginning of this sketch, it just, it

• 37:04Amy Poehler?

  Like you could hear the drop off. It was so sharp.

• 37:07Speaker 02

  It was done. It was, the show was over. And that was the first episode, first scene.

• 37:13Amy Poehler?

  Oh, God, that's funny.

• 37:15Speaker 02

  ABC was not, not happy.

• 37:18Amy Poehler?

  No.

• 37:19Speaker 02

  It was, uh,

• 37:20Amy Poehler?

  But somebody had to approve that that was the first sketch. Somebody had to, I mean, it was not a surprise.

• 37:27Speaker 02

  To their credit, ABC allowed it to happen. Yeah, they, they took some huge swings and it was fun because like Colbert and I shared an office and we could, and, and we worked together a lot at Second City. We were in a bunch of cafes together and we come up with an idea and go down to Smigel's office, Robert Smigel, and just pitch something.

• 37:46Amy Poehler?

  Mm hmm.

• 37:47Speaker 02

  And he'd say, let's, yeah, let's go.

• 37:50Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 37:51Speaker 02

  And we'd do it on the show that night. I mean, it was the kind of, it was as close to live as you could get without being SNL.

• 37:57Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. You really did work on a bunch of like, Really specific, interesting places. Like, The Daily Show is its own system.

• 38:09Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 38:09Amy Poehler?

  That kept changing with different kind of versions of the same thing. But what was it like? What was that feeling like when you were all there, young, working on that? And it being so well received?

• 38:18Speaker 02

  It was similar to Second City.

• 38:20Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 38:21Speaker 02

  And I think those are the, I guess those are the kind of environments that I am drawn to.

• 38:25Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 38:26Speaker 02

  That everyone is just in it together.

• 38:28Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 38:28Speaker 02

  And there's a spontaneity to it. And, and we don't know if it's gonna work, but we're gonna give it our best shot.

• 38:35Amy Poehler?

  It was a lot of improvising on that show?

• 38:37Speaker 02

  Um, you know, in the field pieces, yes.

• 38:40Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 38:40Speaker 02

  Uh, because you just had, especially early on, they didn't know that we were a comedy show. So, so we were kind of undercover.

• 38:49Amy Poehler?

  Did you ever feel bad when you were tricking people?

• 38:52Speaker 02

  I did not, I did not like it at first, especially at first, because I was new and I was kind of following the template.

• 39:00Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 39:01Speaker 02

  And I never felt good about mocking someone who doesn't deserve it.

• 39:07Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 39:08Speaker 02

  Uh, and so I, I tried, and I know Colbert, Stephen gave me great advice, which was come up with a character.

• 39:16Amy Poehler?

  Mm-hmm.

• 39:17Speaker 02

  Um, and that will make it much more palatable. And my character was someone who didn't quite understand, didn't quite get it. Um, but was super serious about everything he was asking. Uh, but it was not, the onus was on me to be, I was, I was the idiot.

• 39:38Amy Poehler?

  Yes, yes, yes, yes.

• 39:39Speaker 02

  And to take the, to take that off of the people.

• 39:42Amy Poehler?

  That's smart.

• 39:42Speaker 02

  I remember doing one field piece, which were, um, it was a Klingon speakers convention.

• 39:48Amy Poehler?

  Mm-hmm.

• 39:49Speaker 02

  And, you know, you go, and obviously the idea is let's make fun of people who meet and learn how to speak Klingon. And they were the nicest.

• 40:03Speaker 02

  Gentlest? I really, and I really like these people a lot.

• 40:08Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 40:08Speaker 02

  They were very kind.

• 40:09Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 40:10Speaker 02

  And I thought, well, what, who are they harming? No one. I mean, it's, it's just harmless fun. It's just, people enjoy each other's company and have a shared hobby. I mean, how is it any different than a woodworking club? Or a photography club? It's just, it's what they did. It's what, it's where their interests lie. And it made them happy. And I thought, no, it has to, it has to be about what an idiot I am.

• 40:33Amy Poehler?

  Well, you're really good at that, Steve. You're so good at playing someone who's frustrated by their own lack of understanding. Comedically.

• 40:43Speaker 02

  That's such an interesting way to put it.

• 40:45Amy Poehler?

  Just like, God, I'm gonna just get this right. It's so.

• 40:51Speaker 02

  Why is the world so wrong?

• 40:54Amy Poehler?

  It's so, and that energy of that is so funny. And it's so funny.

• 41:00Speaker 02

  But Stephen was right. And Stephen, that, that took a lot of it, a lot of that strain away. Because then it, then it wasn't making fun of people. And they're, you know, I just, there's no, I don't like playing pranks in terms of being unkind or trying to make someone look stupid. Unless they deserve to look stupid. But more often than not, these people didn't. They were, you know, some of them were just eccentric. But who cares? Like, that's, that's the spice of life.

• 41:33Amy Poehler?

  And so do you think that Adam McKay, who wrote and directed Anchorman, wrote Brick with You in Mind?

• 41:38Speaker 02

  I don't think so, no.

• 41:41Speaker 02

  Not at all.

• 41:42Amy Poehler?

  Because, I mean, we've all seen the audition. It's so, that character is chef's kiss.

• 41:50Speaker 02

  That might have been the most fun I've ever had professionally. Like, with those guys.

• 41:56Speaker 02

  Well, one of the things we do every day when we were shooting, and it was really like my first big, it's one of the first things I ever did. And I just, I couldn't believe my good fortune. I thought, this might be it. You know, this might be the one that I just, this might be one and done. And I'm gonna, I'm going to enjoy it.

• 42:18Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 42:19Speaker 02

  But what we used to do during, they used to do dailies every day.

• 42:26Amy Poehler?

  And watch them?

• 42:26Speaker 02

  Everyone would watch them. They'd have a dailies trailer on set. And it was all on film still. So you'd watch from a few days before they developed the film and you'd just see selections from a few days earlier. And so we'd have lunch, this was every day. We'd have lunch and then the four of us and other cast members too, and the producers would go into this trailer and we'd all get hot fudge sundaes.

• 42:57Speaker 02

  At catering before we came in.

• 43:00Speaker 02

  Eating hot fudge sundaes and watching the dailies.

• 43:03Amy Poehler?

  Oh my god. Acting is so hard.

• 43:05Speaker 02

  I know, I know. I mean, I thought this, is this what is, is this it?

• 43:14Amy Poehler?

  This is what you would dream that acting would be.

• 43:17Speaker 02

  Yes. It's what you would dream.

• 43:21Speaker 02

  And it was just pure joy.

• 43:23Amy Poehler?

  And you would just laugh at what you had done a couple of days before.

• 43:27Speaker 02

  And most, you know, I'm sure you're the same way, watching yourself. You're like, nah. But get to somebody else's stuff.

• 43:34Amy Poehler?

  Totally.

• 43:35Speaker 02

  And it's just to watch what everybody else is doing. Cause you can't really watch while you're in it, while you're doing it. But to kind of watch objectively, oh.

• 43:45Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, I know what you mean. Like sometimes I've known, like, I don't know if I nailed it, but I'm gonna be in a funny movie. I don't know if I, yeah, I don't know if I'm gonna be the funny one in the funny movie, but I'm gonna, but I'm gonna be in one.

• 43:57Speaker 02

  If, if I cannot be, if I cannot detract from everyone else being funny, that's usually what I feel my job is. If I. Because I feel like when people, you can tell when people want to be the funniest thing.

• 44:11Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 44:12Speaker 02

  And are trying, want to get sweaty and they're trying super hard.

• 44:16Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 44:16Speaker 02

  And I don't know how you feel about improv as used in film.

• 44:25Amy Poehler?

  I have a strong feeling about it, actually.

• 44:26Speaker 02

  I would love to hear it.

• 44:27Amy Poehler?

  Well, because I feel like, especially during that time, so I was in Anchorman. I got cut.

• 44:34Speaker 02

  You were in the fight, the Battle City?

• 44:36Amy Poehler?

  I was in the, um.

• 44:37Speaker 02

  Were you in one of the big fights?

• 44:39Amy Poehler?

  No, in the original one, in the original Anchorman, there was a whole other, if you remember, that giant.

• 44:45Speaker 02

  Oh, the alarm clock?

• 44:46Amy Poehler?

  The alarm clock.

• 44:47Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 44:48Amy Poehler?

  So there was, I wasn't in the alarm clock, but there are people who have the DVD extras, know, there was like a whole other world of like bad guys that got cut out of that movie. I think an hour's worth of material.

• 45:01Speaker 02

  I never saw it.

• 45:02Amy Poehler?

  Maya Rudolph, Chuck D from Public Enemy, because of course, Kevin Corrigan, they were like the Weather Underground. They were this like, you know, feisty group of rebels, you know, trying to upset the city. I don't know how it had to do with you guys, but it was pages and pages and months and months. And I was, I did a scene with them where I was like a bank teller, you know, like a bulleter and bank teller or something. But I went and worked for a day. And so I have a picture of me and Chuck D and me and Maya in a great outfit and we're like, we're gonna be in Anchorman. And then McKay was like, we're not gonna be doing it.

• 45:41Speaker 02

  I don't, I don't.

• 45:43Amy Poehler?

  There's a whole other movie out there.

• 45:44Speaker 02

  Well, there was another, like a flashback scene that I don't know if we shot or whether, it's kind of a blur, but the idea was there's, it's a bit of a brick backstory, origin story, that he was their platoon leader.

• 46:05Speaker 02

  In Vietnam. And he was like the biggest badass.

• 46:11Amy Poehler?

  Oh, wow.

• 46:12Speaker 02

  And then, like, follow me. We're getting this shit done. That kind of thing.

• 46:20Speaker 02

  And then you cut to now. He's, he's their trusty mascot.

• 46:25Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 46:26Speaker 02

  But you don't know what happened in between.

• 46:29Amy Poehler?

  Funny. That's really funny.

• 46:32Speaker 02

  But in, in terms of, there was a lot of improv.

• 46:35Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, so during that time, there was a lot of like, and Adam loves to improvise and, and like,

• 46:40Speaker 02

  Great.

• 46:40Amy Poehler?

  And I used to love it because I felt like I, I could do it well. But it also, it, it did wear me down a little bit as the years went on.

• 46:47Speaker 02

  Yeah. No, I, I, I see that.

• 46:50Amy Poehler?

  Do you feel this way about improv? I do, which is sometimes people are like, it's great, you can improvise. And I'm like, oh.

• 46:55Speaker 02

  It's. Here, I, here's my take on it.

• 46:58Amy Poehler?

  What's your take?

• 47:00Speaker 02

  I, I think it's, I think it's a great tool. But I don't think it is the, the, I think it's a means to an end. I don't think it's, let's just do a big improv thing.

• 47:12Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 47:12Speaker 02

  Because, and, and I think this was true on The Office. The scripts were great on that show. Like really strong, every, every episode. And can I ask you a question?

• 47:24Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 47:25Speaker 02

  About Parks and Rec?

• 47:26Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 47:26Speaker 02

  So you, you know, you led that show for so many years. Did you ever, what, how did you maintain the, uh, the dignity of that character? And like, how did, how did you, how were you able to center that character all the way through? Because I think it's very easy for, you know, when writers turn over, when staffs turn over, sometimes new writers are more fans of the show and are kind of writing to the most obvious elements of a character as opposed to, you know, people who are like the creators of the actual, the writers who created the character.

• 48:12Speaker 02

  So how did, do you feel like you protected your character going through?

• 48:16Amy Poehler?

  That's a good question. I feel like the, the short answer is Mike Schur, who really was the best captain and just kept everyone's characters very sacred and safe and really paid attention to what we would and wouldn't say. I think we. Started off like a little wacky and we had to adjust on the fly. So we did some like early adjusting on that show and then locked in after that. But I know what you mean. Like, there would be times where I would have to say like, I don't know if, I don't know if this is too far. I don't know, but not a lot. I feel like everyone was in flow there. Everyone really got it.

• 48:58Amy Poehler?

  But it's funny that you bring up that exact thing because Parks and Recreation came after The Office. And there's really only two people that I've been told I am a poor man's version of. And one of them is you, which I take, I take that as high compliment. And but like, we came.

• 49:21Speaker 02

  I would take that as a huge insult.

• 49:26Amy Poehler?

  We were, you know, Parks and Rec had the worst launch ever. Everyone was like, this is not The Office. We don't like this. I just remember being like, and we're like, you're not Steve and you're not, we don't like it. And I remember being like, oh, I think I just associated and was just like, well.

• 49:43Speaker 02

  But our, our pilot, you heard about our pilot.

• 49:46Amy Poehler?

  I know, and I want to talk to you.

• 49:47Speaker 02

  It was the lowest testing pilot in the history, I think, of NBC. It, it, people, people really hated it, like, not just, just kind of.

• 49:59Amy Poehler?

  They actively hated it.

• 50:00Speaker 02

  They actively hated this show. And I don't quite know how it got legs after that.

• 50:07Amy Poehler?

  Well, I, I, I remember the moment. So Mike Schur, who was writing, was running Update, and I wasn't doing Update then, but I was just a cast member on SNL. And we were watching The British Office like everyone else and loving it. And I remember they were going to make the American version. And everyone was like, this is a terrible idea. This is a terrible idea. No one, no one can be as good as Ricky Gervais. No one can do that show. And then we heard it was you. And we were like, oh.

• 50:35Amy Poehler?

  Oh, whoever's making the show wants it to be funny. You know, like it was this thing of like, oh, that's a very, very good choice.

• 50:42Speaker 02

  Well, Greg Daniels is, was a, is a great producer. And he's also kind of, uh, he's very adept at putting together casts.

• 50:53Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 50:53Speaker 02

  Like the, the alchemy and the chemistry between those people.

• 50:56Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 50:57Speaker 02

  And we all got along so well.

• 50:59Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 51:00Speaker 02

  We're, we all bonded instantly and we all felt like we were a part of a team. There was no, there were no hierarchy at all in that cast. So I, I attribute that to him.

• 51:11Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 51:13Speaker 02

  But the, you know, I'm a poor man's Ricky Gervais.

• 51:18Amy Poehler?

  But you never watched the.

• 51:20Speaker 02

  I didn't.

• 51:20Amy Poehler?

  And never have watched the UK.

• 51:22Speaker 02

  No.

• 51:23Amy Poehler?

  Even now.

• 51:24Speaker 02

  No, I've watched all of his other shows, but I've never watched.

• 51:26Amy Poehler?

  I know what you mean. I don't know if I would have wanted to watch either. I just would have felt too stressed about.

• 51:31Speaker 02

  I watched like a minute.

• 51:33Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 51:33Speaker 02

  Of one of the show of him. And he was so good.

• 51:37Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 51:38Speaker 02

  And so specific and so funny, I thought if I watch a second more, I'm just going to go on an audition with that. I won't be able to even imagine it a different way.

• 51:47Amy Poehler?

  And I mean, are you like me? I mean, I don't enjoy comedy.

• 51:52Speaker 02

  No, no.

• 51:53Amy Poehler?

  I never have.

• 51:53Speaker 02

  Especially with me.

• 51:55Amy Poehler?

  And comedy that's done well? No.

• 51:58Speaker 02

  No.

• 51:59Amy Poehler?

  Pass.

• 52:01Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. So you went in not knowing, not watching the, no.

• 52:05Speaker 02

  Yeah. And it, well, it's funny that you guys all heard, oh, oh, the, you know, they're doing an American version. And everyone had the same reaction. And I remember Rudd.

• 52:16Speaker 02

  Rudd pulled me aside and was like, don't do it, man. Don't, don't audition. Don't audition. It is like, there is no, there's no way.

• 52:25Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. Everyone was like, don't even touch this. Don't touch this.

• 52:29Speaker 02

  Ten foot pole.

• 52:30Amy Poehler?

  And did you have like a, a major premise or theme about Michael's arc? Like if you would, to sum it up, would you say what was like, what was his? What was kind of his simple mission statement as a character?

• 52:45Speaker 02

  Um, early on, this, this was like a dream come true for him to be in a documentary.

• 52:54Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 52:54Speaker 02

  And be, be able to not only, uh, be in charge of all of these people, but to have the ability to perform and

• 53:04Amy Poehler?

  Right.

• 53:04Speaker 02

  And be watched and, and be loved.

• 53:06Amy Poehler?

  Right.

• 53:07Speaker 02

  It's, I think so much of, of who he, who he is, was, was about being loved, just being

• 53:14Amy Poehler?

  Yes, so good.

• 53:17Speaker 02

  I wouldn't even say respect. I think, I think he just wanted to be loved. Um, and the last, like a year before I knew I was going to leave, I talked to Greg about like what potentially the, the last arc for him would be. And I did want there to be a sense of, of growth for him.

• 53:38Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 53:39Speaker 02

  That, uh, I said, one, one thing I'm going to pitch is that the last day is not the last day. Like, everyone thinks that they're going to have, they're going to have a party for him. Um, but he leaves the day before.

• 53:54Amy Poehler?

  Oh.

• 53:55Speaker 02

  Because he doesn't, he doesn't need it. He doesn't, he wants to say goodbye on his own terms and he's sort of beyond being celebrated that way. And he's, that's, that's, I, that I thought would be an interesting way for him to go out.

• 54:11Amy Poehler?

  The Office is a show that people watch when they're stressed, when they're sad.

• 54:17Speaker 02

  Parks and Rec is exactly the same way.

• 54:18Amy Poehler?

  And during, I'm sure you had this happen too, like during the pandemic, everybody rewatched those shows. They went back to it. Like you have provided and, and everyone in that show has provided this like feeling of safety and security in a time when people are very, very anxious and they return over and over again. What does that feel like when people tell you that?

• 54:37Speaker 02

  I've provided a public service, really. And in that way, I think I'm more than an actor.

• 54:44Amy Poehler?

  Uh oh. You got cocky. You got cocky.

• 54:48Speaker 02

  You got cocky. Don't get cocky.

• 54:50Amy Poehler?

  Don't get cocky. No, but it's true. But it's true.

• 54:52Speaker 02

  It's nice.

• 54:53Amy Poehler?

  Like, we fell in love with the journey of Michael. We really, really, we do. We love him. And I will say, like, what your, what the Office did for me and watching it with my kids is like, exactly the way in which they enjoyed and learned this feeling of what the kids would call like, cringe, but the sparkly weird feeling of like, oh no, like tension and a little bit of stress about what is Michael gonna do and say and how is he gonna do it? And then watching him swing and miss over and over again while still being loved is like, they just, they didn't know how to put that into words, but they loved that. They loved that about him.

• 55:35Amy Poehler?

  It's such a, I mean, congrats on a great show. I don't know what else to say. I have no question here, you know? What did you say to Pam at the airport? Tell us what you said to Pam.

• 55:46Speaker 02

  I leaned in, I went, just to make it look like I was saying something.

• 55:52Amy Poehler?

  You did? You didn't?

• 55:52Speaker 02

  No.

• 55:53Amy Poehler?

  No, you did.

• 55:54Speaker 02

  No, we had, we had a very, a very emotional shared moment.

• 55:57Amy Poehler?

  I love that moment. Such a good moment. Okay, so we do something on the show where we talk to people who know our guests and who are friends of our guests to get a question asked. And we talk well behind their back. And so we talked to Stephen Colbert today.

• 56:13Speaker 02

  Oh, my gosh.

• 56:13Amy Poehler?

  I know. He was in his living room. It looked like a, or a study. I was so psyched to talk to him because like you, Stephen, you both were, you know, I kind of only got to know you later. I didn't know you in Chicago. And you were both these examples of like, you know, aspirational performers who I wanted to be in any way like. And Stephen talked a lot about those early times, the two of you, and what it was like to watch you on stage. And, and he talks about like how you can do almost anything. You know, like that you have this ability to be really, really big and really small. And you can have these characters that are really shallow and really deep.

• 56:55Amy Poehler?

  He told us that you can play any instrument, which I did not know, that you're like very good at brass instruments? Is that a lie?

• 57:02Speaker 02

  It's pretty amazing, isn't it?

• 57:05Amy Poehler?

  Did you learn? Did you take lessons?

• 57:08Speaker 02

  I took lessons.

• 57:09Amy Poehler?

  Like, what was your, what was your instrument of choice?

• 57:11Speaker 02

  Baritone horn.

• 57:12Amy Poehler?

  Oh dang.

• 57:13Speaker 02

  I know, right?

• 57:14Amy Poehler?

  You were like ladies.

• 57:15Speaker 02

  I don't.

• 57:18Amy Poehler?

  You were like ladies? I've got a baritone horn.

• 57:22Speaker 02

  I, uh, I play the baritone horn in the marching band.

• 57:25Amy Poehler?

  Why'd you pick the baritone horn?

• 57:26Speaker 02

  I love the tone.

• 57:27Amy Poehler?

  I want to know what it sounds like.

• 57:29Speaker 02

  It's sometimes, I, it's, it's also called a euphonium. It's basically a small tuba. I know, sexy.

• 57:38Amy Poehler?

  Baritone.

• 57:38Speaker 02

  I play the small tuba.

• 57:40Amy Poehler?

  And.

• 57:44Speaker 02

  Yeah. And I also play the fife.

• 57:46Amy Poehler?

  Would you like to go on a second date?

• 57:47Speaker 02

  Do you like that?

• 57:48Amy Poehler?

  The fife?

• 57:49Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 57:51Amy Poehler?

  Um, sorry, I can't, I gotta get commercials off of my YouTube.

• 57:56Amy Poehler?

  YouTube, if you can find a way to, okay, here we go.

• 58:00Speaker 02

  Yeah. Somewhere between a trombone, tuba, and a French horn.

• 58:06Amy Poehler?

  Oh, Tony is a trom, trombone teacher.

• 58:10Speaker 02

  I'm telling you, this podcast is going to elevate baritone horn play like never before.

• 58:17Amy Poehler?

  I love Tony. Here we go.

• 58:25Speaker 02

  Right.

• 58:28Amy Poehler?

  Euphonium or baritone horn?

• 58:29Speaker 02

  Right.

• 58:30Amy Poehler?

  Well, I, it's quite a large instrument.

• 58:32Speaker 02

  Yeah, you hold it like this.

• 58:34Amy Poehler?

  Yep.

• 58:34Speaker 02

  And I had the bell that went out like this and.

• 58:39Amy Poehler?

  Did you play in the band?

• 58:40Speaker 02

  So, I played in the band, I played in the jazz band, I played, yeah. I played it, I played it at Second City. Stephen Colbert had to learn how to play the baritone horn because he was my understudy.

• 58:51Amy Poehler?

  Yes, he mentioned that he had to understudy and he had to learn the baritone horn in like six days.

• 58:56Speaker 02

  Unbelievable.

• 58:56Amy Poehler?

  And he did.

• 58:57Speaker 02

  Talk about somebody who can do anything, like, I, I mean, I played the baritone horn since I was in fourth grade. He learned it in six days, so, yeah.

• 59:09Amy Poehler?

  And he told me that he, he also taught me a word. I've completely forgotten it. It's a word on, uh, that describes when you make the sound of the v, the v. Do you remember the name of the word?

• 59:21Speaker 02

  Ambusher?

• 59:21Amy Poehler?

  Yes, ambusher. He told me, he said, you, you taught him an ambusher. What was it like working with Steven? And what do you remember about meeting him for the first time?

• 59:33Speaker 02

  Um, wow. I, I, I just think, I, you know, I think about him a lot, to be honest. I, I just, I have, I'm in awe of him. He's so smart. He's so funny. He, he is someone who can literally do anything. He's, he can sing. He, he's a great writer. Uh, one of the funniest people I know. And a wonderful father and husband. Like, just like one of these straight arrow.

• 1:00:05Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:06Speaker 02

  I would trust him with my life kind of guys. And we got a lot, working with him, you know, when you work, well, you and Tina, when you know someone can finish your sentence.

• 1:00:19Amy Poehler?

  I, I, I mentioned that to him, that like, there's a feeling as we get older, when people knew us when, that feels really like beyond special and valuable. It's like, you just have been through a lot with someone.

• 1:00:31Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:00:32Amy Poehler?

  And when you've met them at the beginning of what eventually will be like, the best thing about your life, other than your family.

• 1:00:40Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:00:41Amy Poehler?

  And your partners is, is like, you're just, they knew, they knew you when you were struggling, like, in that you just, they, they have a part of your life in them and you and theirs.

• 1:00:52Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 1:00:53Amy Poehler?

  And that's what it feels like with the two of you.

• 1:00:55Speaker 02

  Well, it, for me too.

• 1:00:57Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:58Speaker 02

  And to, to, to learn at the same time.

• 1:01:03Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:03Speaker 02

  And to be going through, and I'm sure, you know, certainly you and Tina experienced that and others, to have that, as you were saying, like, those sort of formative years, when you don't really know what you're doing.

• 1:01:16Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:16Speaker 02

  But you're having fun and you're all having fun together and you're trusting each other. And I think that's one of the great things about Second City, was just learning how to trust other people. And, um, and I just, I just trust him. And I, as a person, as a performer, um, he's just fun. He's a...

• 1:01:38Speaker 02

  I can't wait to see what his next thing is because.

• 1:01:42Amy Poehler?

  Well, we were talking about it and we think you should decide.

• 1:01:46Speaker 02

  What his next thing is? Well, I'm always pitching the two of us doing a play.

• 1:01:53Amy Poehler?

  I love that. That's a great idea.

• 1:01:54Speaker 02

  I'd love to do a play with him. I think it would be, or anything, honestly, I would.

• 1:02:00Amy Poehler?

  That's a great idea.

• 1:02:01Speaker 02

  Do anything with him.

• 1:02:02Amy Poehler?

  His question for you, because of course it was, was very thoughtful and interesting, which was, you know, he was saying like, I've known Steve for so long, but I don't really know his process. We've never really talked about it in terms of like, is there a difference between when you're doing something dramatic and doing something comedic? Do you think about it differently? Do you approach it differently?

• 1:02:21Speaker 02

  I'll preface this by saying, whenever I hear an actor start to talk about their process.

• 1:02:27Amy Poehler?

  And we're gonna cut the answer.

• 1:02:28Speaker 02

  A character doesn't know if they're in a comedy or a drama. They're just living their life.

• 1:02:33Amy Poehler?

  Right.

• 1:02:34Speaker 02

  And so if funny things happen around this character, then the movie or the show is a comedy. But if it's tragic or scary or whatever, it leans towards drama. Sometimes it's a mixture of both. But, but I, I think if, if you can tell a character knows they're in a comedy, it's intrinsically less funny.

• 1:02:56Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 1:02:56Speaker 02

  Like I look, I look at somebody like Alan Arkin or Peter Sellers and they always seem very true to their characters. They were never, like, you couldn't tell whether Alan Arkin was doing something intensely dramatic or something crazily funny.

• 1:03:15Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 1:03:15Speaker 02

  It was the same, like, not the same kind of, not the same acting. He played different characters, but he was equally committed to both of them and never letting on. He was never winking, like, I'm in a comedy.

• 1:03:28Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:03:29Speaker 02

  Here we go.

• 1:03:29Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:03:30Speaker 02

  Watch this joke.

• 1:03:30Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:03:31Speaker 02

  You're gonna laugh. Do you ever sense actors sometimes waiting for the, waiting for the laugh in a movie?

• 1:03:39Amy Poehler?

  They're like, look around like.

• 1:03:41Speaker 02

  Like they, like a punchline, like, wait a second, where?

• 1:03:45Amy Poehler?

  The also, the other thing that makes me so stressed out and like sweaty is in real life, when people say like, I'm funny. And I'm like, oof. I don't know. I don't know. If you gotta say it out loud. I don't know.

• 1:03:59Speaker 02

  Have you ever had an executive? I, I had an executive once say, listen, I know comedy.

• 1:04:06Amy Poehler?

  Okay.

• 1:04:07Speaker 02

  Like.

• 1:04:08Amy Poehler?

  I know it.

• 1:04:09Speaker 02

  I know it.

• 1:04:10Amy Poehler?

  I know it. I've studied it. Okay.

• 1:04:12Speaker 02

  It's such a subjective thing.

• 1:04:13Amy Poehler?

  And, and, and, and reverse it, right? Like if you, if I went up to like a, you know, and like if I went up to Meryl and I was like, I'm pretty dramatic.

• 1:04:24Amy Poehler?

  Like reverse it'd be like, I'm pretty good at being pretty sad.

• 1:04:27Speaker 02

  I'm pretty deep.

• 1:04:29Amy Poehler?

  I'm pretty, I can get pretty sad. And people will buy it.

• 1:04:32Speaker 02

  I think when I cry, I'm gonna make other people cry.

• 1:04:36Amy Poehler?

  So, I've cried. A lot of my friends have seen me cry.

• 1:04:44Amy Poehler?

  But Steve, I, I mean, I'm gonna glaze you for a second. Beautiful Boy, Foxcatcher, The Patient. You're so good at that. That series was so incredible. I loved you in four seasons. I loved that series and I look forward for season two and your ghost, obviously haunting the set. I don't know.

• 1:05:03Speaker 02

  I just think I should be in background. I think I should just, just.

• 1:05:08Amy Poehler?

  Just like wears bald though.

• 1:05:09Speaker 02

  Deep background and I just like turn, but like almost.

• 1:05:15Amy Poehler?

  It's like, was that him?

• 1:05:16Speaker 02

  Like you can't, yeah. You can't tell if it's me or not.

• 1:05:19Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. But, but I love what she said about the two of you working together, because I do think that you both have similar qualities. You, you work really hard. You're very professional and you're shyer than people would think, both of you.

• 1:05:32Speaker 02

  Yeah, well, we talked about that. Like we worked together before and it took us 15 years after that to become friends.

• 1:05:42Speaker 02

  Because it is true. I'm very, I think closed off is what the word you're looking for. I'm not shy. I'm just impenetrable.

• 1:05:52Amy Poehler?

  But, but are you?

• 1:05:57Speaker 02

  I'm pretty shy. Yeah.

• 1:05:58Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:05:59Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:05:59Amy Poehler?

  Well, I guess I bet people think like you're gonna be the life of the party.

• 1:06:03Speaker 02

  Oh, no.

• 1:06:04Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:05Speaker 02

  Do you remember coming to my house for the?

• 1:06:09Amy Poehler?

  I loved your house, but tell that story.

• 1:06:13Speaker 02

  So Nancy and I had a dinner party for the Oscars one year.

• 1:06:19Amy Poehler?

  That was so fun.

• 1:06:20Speaker 02

  And had a few couples over and it was really fun. It was fun to have everybody over. But that's, that's very unlike us. Like we don't, I don't, we're not, I think we're more social now that we're getting older, I guess. Time's running out.

• 1:06:40Speaker 02

  I have to solidify some of these friendships.

• 1:06:43Speaker 02

  But, um, so the Oscars and we had a very nice dinner and we taped it. We put, you know, we were taping the Oscars and

• 1:06:51Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, we ate first, like civilized and then we were gonna be like, let's go skip through the commercials.

• 1:06:56Speaker 02

  And then we're gonna go in and we'll watch and we can fast forward through the awards that we like. And we looked at the, the tape and we hadn't added the extension and Oscars always go long. So like the big awards.

• 1:07:10Amy Poehler?

  We missed.

• 1:07:11Speaker 02

  We completely missed.

• 1:07:13Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:07:14Speaker 02

  And we were frantic, like, I think somebody got online. We just started announcing like,

• 1:07:22Speaker 02

  who won the awards? Kind of acting it out.

• 1:07:26Amy Poehler?

  My, my memory of that time and feeling was that it was really fun. Like, so I can only imagine the stress of like, oh shit, we didn't record the Oscars, but also. I mean,

• 1:07:37Speaker 02

  That was just fun.

• 1:07:38Amy Poehler?

  That was so fun. But yeah, I think that people probably assume that you're gonna be kind of crazy.

• 1:07:44Speaker 02

  Yeah, I'm pretty, yeah, I'm, yeah, I'm not, I'm not out there. Know who, know who I really envy, envy, I admire is Will.

• 1:07:56Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:07:56Speaker 02

  Like, he just owns it.

• 1:07:59Amy Poehler?

  Will Ferrell.

• 1:07:59Speaker 02

  Like, he'll show, yeah, Will Ferrell. He, he, he'll show up at a Kings game. He was wearing a refs' uniform the other day, just sitting in his seat. He came as, as, his character from Elf, year before last, and was just smoking a cigarette and drinking a beer. But he just, he just kind of owns it.

• 1:08:20Amy Poehler?

  I know.

• 1:08:21Speaker 02

  And,

• 1:08:22Amy Poehler?

  He loves it.

• 1:08:22Speaker 02

  People love it. And I'm, I'm way too introverted to do that.

• 1:08:27Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:08:28Speaker 02

  I won one time, and I would never do this, but I thought, I'm just gonna do it. I was in Beverly Hills, I was driving around, and a tour bus went by. And I thought, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna wave. And I went, hey, everybody, not a person.

• 1:08:49Amy Poehler?

  They were like,

• 1:08:49Speaker 02

  Acknowledged. They were like, what? Who's that? And I, I shrugged into this little ball like, last time I'm ever doing anything.

• 1:08:58Amy Poehler?

  They were like, what have you been in? And you were like, oh, what the? You just start listing your resume.

• 1:09:04Speaker 02

  Oh, man. I was like, why did I even do that?

• 1:09:07Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:09:08Speaker 02

  It was certainly no gift to anybody.

• 1:09:11Amy Poehler?

  Oh, God.

• 1:09:12Speaker 02

  That was like, no.

• 1:09:14Amy Poehler?

  Oh, God. Oh, God. I, I mean, I, you're, you're, I mean, that is what I love about you, Steve, is like, I feel like, well, for many things. One is that I feel like you're just such an incredible actor, performer, and, and collaborative person to work with. And, and I do look forward to being in the play that you and Stephen do together.

• 1:09:33Speaker 02

  Yes. How about Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

• 1:09:37Speaker 02

  Want to do it?

• 1:09:38Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 1:09:39Speaker 02

  All right.

• 1:09:40Amy Poehler?

  Two things, though. I like to go to bed early and I don't want to do as many performances as they make you do. I think about our times when like the hardest part of our day was at the end of our day when we would do our shows and it was like in jeans, shuffling out there, be like, can we get a word to get started? Like a bunch of lazy motherfuckers.

• 1:09:59Speaker 02

  Shout a few things out. Shout it, just shout it out.

• 1:10:02Amy Poehler?

  Where do we work? Where do the two of us work?

• 1:10:07Speaker 02

  What's our relationship? What's my first line? What's my last line? And what are some of the lines in between?

• 1:10:15Amy Poehler?

  But you have been killed off on a couple of shows. Morning Show, you were killed off.

• 1:10:19Speaker 02

  Morning Show, The Patient.

• 1:10:22Amy Poehler?

  The Patient, the last three shows?

• 1:10:25Speaker 02

  The last three shows I've been killed off.

• 1:10:25Amy Poehler?

  What's going on?

• 1:10:26Speaker 02

  People love to see me killed off.

• 1:10:33Speaker 02

  It's a thing.

• 1:10:33Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. Now, your new show, you're not.

• 1:10:36Speaker 02

  No.

• 1:10:36Amy Poehler?

  Okay, let's talk about Rooster.

• 1:10:37Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:10:42Speaker 02

  Season one, so far so good.

• 1:10:44Amy Poehler?

  Okay, it just came out, it just came out on HBO.

• 1:10:47Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:10:48Amy Poehler?

  What is it about?

• 1:10:50Speaker 02

  It's about, my, my character, Greg, is a writer, not unlike Carl Hyacinth, whose daughter is a professor at a prestigious East Coast university. I go to that university to just do a reading and in order, my, my daughter kind of gets into some trouble and the president of the university, this is a long-winded version, president of the university asks if I'll stay on as a resident, you know, a writer in residence. And so I become the writer in residence at this college that my daughter, and so my, it, it really changes the dynamic between me and my daughter.

• 1:11:33Amy Poehler?

  And it's like you stepping into this like academic world.

• 1:11:37Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:11:37Amy Poehler?

  I like to see you as a professor. I like that a lot.

• 1:11:40Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's fun.

• 1:11:41Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:11:41Speaker 02

  I, I think it's really, and the cast is stacked, such a good, good group.

• 1:11:46Amy Poehler?

  What's it like doing another show with, like, how does it feel?

• 1:11:51Speaker 02

  Really.

• 1:11:53Speaker 02

  It was great.

• 1:11:54Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:11:54Speaker 02

  It was, it had that sense of freedom.

• 1:11:58Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:11:58Speaker 02

  And that sense of anything can happen at any time.

• 1:12:02Amy Poehler?

  Mm hmm.

• 1:12:03Speaker 02

  We can try stuff. Everybody's a great improviser. People, you know, talking before about improvising in character on point. Everybody's so good at that.

• 1:12:16Amy Poehler?

  So great.

• 1:12:16Speaker 02

  Um, it's, it's very well written and funny.

• 1:12:19Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:12:19Speaker 02

  I, I love it. I, I really love it.

• 1:12:22Amy Poehler?

  Congrats on that. That's great. It's gonna be my parents' favorite show.

• 1:12:25Speaker 02

  I hope to run into them at that restaurant.

• 1:12:27Amy Poehler?

  Well, I was hoping, actually, would you, would you mind if we just FaceTime them?

• 1:12:31Speaker 02

  Oh, my gosh.

• 1:12:32Amy Poehler?

  Do you mind?

• 1:12:33Speaker 02

  No.

• 1:12:34Amy Poehler?

  Cause I told them that we were interviewing you. And my mom texted back, okay, it was the Gibbet Hill Grill.

• 1:12:41Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:12:42Amy Poehler?

  In Groton, Mass.

• 1:12:43Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:12:44Amy Poehler?

  Now, when I called my dad before, when I texted my dad and said, where did you see Steve Carell? He didn't answer me back. And mom said he was at the gym. Let's, let's see if we can get ahold of him. Hi, Mama. I've got, I've got Steve Carell here.

• 1:13:02Speaker 03

  Oh, my God, how are you?

• 1:13:03Speaker 02

  How are you?

• 1:13:05Speaker 03

  Good to see you.

• 1:13:06Speaker 02

  How was your meal?

• 1:13:07Speaker 03

  It was very nice. I believe I had the stuffed scrot.

• 1:13:11Speaker 02

  Scrot. Scrot. Now, scrot is a Boston saying.

• 1:13:15Amy Poehler?

  We were talking about how Steve doesn't seem like he's from Boston. He doesn't have any kind of accent, but neither do you, Mom.

• 1:13:22Speaker 03

  Oh, don't even make fun of me. I know you're gonna ask me this, sister. Tom's a car.

• 1:13:29Amy Poehler?

  How mad is Dad gonna be that he didn't answer the phone? He's at the gym.

• 1:13:33Speaker 03

  No, he's right here.

• 1:13:35Amy Poehler?

  Oh, Bill's right here. Steve, do you mind?

• 1:13:37Speaker 02

  Of course.

• 1:13:38Speaker 03

  Steve Carell's on the phone here. Sit up, Steve Carell.

• 1:13:46Speaker 02

  Are you just lounging on the couch?

• 1:13:49Speaker 03

  Lounging on the recliner.

• 1:13:51Amy Poehler?

  He's in his recliner. What time is it there? Hi, Pop. Look who you secured for me.

• 1:13:57Speaker 04

  Yes. Do I get any benefit from that?

• 1:14:01Speaker 03

  Yeah, like what do you call it?

• 1:14:02Amy Poehler?

  Like a finder's fee?

• 1:14:04Speaker 04

  Yes, finder's fee.

• 1:14:07Speaker 02

  You know what? Are you, when you go out to restaurants now, are you just gonna be like scoping for people for the show?

• 1:14:15Speaker 03

  Yeah, that's what we try to do.

• 1:14:17Speaker 04

  You'd be interested to know what I said after you left. I said, "His wife is beautiful."

• 1:14:25Amy Poehler?

  Weird, weird. Thanks, Dad.

• 1:14:27Speaker 02

  Yeah, what's that about?

• 1:14:32Speaker 02

  Hey, Mrs. Pollard, that's not right. That's weird. Don't let your husband talk. That's gross.

• 1:14:40Speaker 03

  I'm filing for divorce now that I think about it.

• 1:14:47Amy Poehler?

  Well, thanks, you guys, for the assist. We had a great interview, and Dad, I owe you a couple bucks. Bye. So, Steve, thank you for being with my parents. And before I finish, I gotta ask you my most important question, which I almost forgot to ask you, which is, what is making you laugh these days? What are you watching, reading? Who's making you laugh? What do you like?

• 1:15:10Speaker 02

  Nancy and I just started, we're late to it, but just started watching The Righteous Gemstone. And that first season was such a joy. Loved it.

• 1:15:25Amy Poehler?

  Danny is incredible, but can we talk about Edie for a second? Edie Patterson on that show.

• 1:15:36Speaker 02

  I'd never seen her before.

• 1:15:37Amy Poehler?

  Oh, my God. She's so funny.

• 1:15:40Speaker 02

  So. See, that's when you start, when you see someone that just comes out of the blue.

• 1:15:48Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:15:48Speaker 02

  And

• 1:15:51Speaker 02

  unexpected and like a completely different approach to

• 1:15:58Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:15:58Speaker 02

  a character, so unique and specific. Yeah.

• 1:16:03Amy Poehler?

  I know. And talk about like improvising in character. She, like, everything she's saying is tumbling out of her mouth, it seems like.

• 1:16:12Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:16:12Amy Poehler?

  I don't know how much is written or improvised, but it looks like a lot is improvised, but I don't know. But everything is kind of tumbling out of her mouth, but it's never, ever a false note. She's just staying in that.

• 1:16:22Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:16:22Amy Poehler?

  All those characters are nuts.

• 1:16:23Speaker 02

  Yeah, I really like it.

• 1:16:25Amy Poehler?

  That is an amazing cast, John Goodman. I love John Goodman.

• 1:16:28Speaker 02

  I do, too.

• 1:16:28Amy Poehler?

  Adam Devine.

• 1:16:30Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's really good. I, and it's one of those, I

• 1:16:36Speaker 02

  just, it just kind of slipped by, like, it didn't, was under, under our radar and on a whim, we just said, you know, I've heard good things and started watching it.

• 1:16:49Amy Poehler?

  Let me call my parents and see what they think.

• 1:16:50Speaker 02

  Okay, let's see.

• 1:16:54Amy Poehler?

  Thank you, Steve. Thank you for doing this.

• 1:16:58Amy Poehler?

  Thank you, Steve Carell. Thank you for talking to my parents. You know, for this polar plunge, I just want to reiterate how grateful and lucky I am to be a Boston girl. You know, me and Steve are Boston kids who made it big and it is really nice always to feel like you are part of a community and that's what being from Boston feels like, so.

• 1:17:27Amy Poehler?

  Don't come at me, Boston, if I said one thing that made you mad, all right? Let it roll off your shoulders, all right? Because you're still the best, number one, don't forget. Boston forever. Go Sox. Okay, thanks for listening and we'll catch you next time on Good Hang. Bye.

• 1:17:46Amy Poehler?

  You've been listening to Good Hang. The executive producers for this show are Bill Simmons, Jenna Weiss-Berman, and me, Amy Poehler. The show is produced by The Ringer and Paperkite. For The Ringer, production by Jack Wilson, Kat Spillane, Kaia McMullin, and Aleia Zaneras. For Paperkite, production by Sam Green, Joel Lovell, and Jenna Weiss-Berman. Original music by Amy Miles.

• 1:18:12Amy Poehler?

  This episode is brought to you by Sephora. Holiday gifting can be a tough gig. You're frantically searching, second guessing everything, and accidentally buying your dad eye cream he's never gonna use. Thankfully, Sephora is here to save us from ourselves. Whether you're shopping for a total beauty guru or someone whose whole routine is hand soap, Sephora has the perfect gift for everyone on your list. And if you're still lost, don't panic. Their beauty advisors can guide you to safety. This holiday season, we all Sephora. Shop gifts at Sephora and give something beautiful.

• 1:18:44Speaker 05

  Pink Panther, us here. Coach and Spotify are teaming up to bring music and style together, and they want you to be part of it. Grab your friends and head to the Tabby Tour, hitting cities around the country with live performances from special artists, exclusive experiences, and personalized products. And discover custom playlists on Spotify, booked just for you based on who you are and how you listen. Live your story with Coach. Learn more at coach.com.