Will Forte

That's Orville Willis Forte IV to you. Amy hangs with her fellow 'SNL' alum and talks about working for Brett in finance, his infamous 'SNL' audition, and sharing a trailer wall with Tina Fey. Host: Amy PoehlerGuests: Tina Fey and Will ForteExecutive 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, Chris Wohlers, and Aleya Zenieris; audio producer Kaya McMullen; video editor Drew van Steenbergen; and booker Kat SpillaneOriginal Music: Amy Miles Athleta.com Designed for the Power of SheOne-time use. Not combinable. Subject to change Get anything delivered on Uber Eats. www.ubereats.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 Subaru. There's something about being on the road that has a way of leading to those unexpectedly memorable little moments. And in the all-new 2026 Subaru Hybrid, it's like the destination isn't even important. It's the drive, baby. And let me tell you, I'm in that car and I feel like a million bucks. Quiet ride, comfortable. Love my Subaru. Can't get enough. With up to 581 miles in the Subaru Forester Hybrid, and even more, 597 in the Crosstrek Hybrid, you can go further between stops and stay in the moment longer. Visit subaru.com/hybrid to learn more. The Subaru Forester Hybrid and Crosstrek Hybrid, love goes the extra mile. Hi, everyone.

• 0:44Amy Poehler?

  Welcome to another episode of Good Hang. Very excited to introduce our guest today. It is Will Forte. Will, amazing actor, performer, writer, and my good friend who started at SNL pretty much the same time as me. So we get into those early years. Today, we talk about his amazing SNL audition. We talk about how he became incredible at Donkey Kong. And we also talk about The Four Seasons, the great new show that he's on Netflix currently with Tina Fey. And speaking of Tina Fey, we are asking Tina to join us and give us a question to ask our guest, Will Forte. And Tina is a friend of the pod. This is her third appearance, and technically, we probably need to start paying her. Tina, hi.

• 1:29Amy Poehler?

  Betty, can you hear me? This episode is presented by Athleta. Summer is here. It's time to get outside and get active. And Athleta has just what women need to move the way they want. That's shorts for every type of run, from a casual jog on the beach to a competitive road race. There's squirts for on the court and pants for cool stretching. And there's always a matchback bra and top to complete your outfit. For stylish, innovative activewear, the choice can only be Athleta. Power of she. Shop now at Athleta.com.

• 2:12Amy Poehler?

  Oh, who are we looking at?

• 2:16Speaker 01

  That's Teddy.

• 2:17Amy Poehler?

  Teddy.

• 2:20Amy Poehler?

  Oh my gosh, Teddy just responded to her, his?

• 2:24Speaker 01

  Uh, his.

• 2:25Amy Poehler?

  His name Teddy? Teddy?

• 2:29Speaker 01

  Oh, I wish you could smell him. Smells terrible.

• 2:34Amy Poehler?

  Betty, we were just saying that you are the official best friend of the pod because this is the third time you have been on the pod.

• 2:41Speaker 01

  Yay.

• 2:42Amy Poehler?

  Thank you for being here.

• 2:44Speaker 01

  I want a three timers jacket.

• 2:46Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, just like SNL will give you like a really heavy, ill-fitting robe.

• 2:51Speaker 01

  A really unflattering jacket.

• 2:54Speaker 01

  You have to wear every time.

• 2:56Amy Poehler?

  We're talking to you in New York and we're, um, we're talking to the great Will Forte today.

• 3:03Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 3:05Amy Poehler?

  Congratulations, by the way, on your show. I love it.

• 3:08Speaker 01

  Thank you. Thank you for watching it.

• 3:10Amy Poehler?

  We're gonna be plugging it while he's here, but Four Seasons, The Four Seasons is out on Netflix.

• 3:15Speaker 01

  It's currently streaming on Netflix, right?

• 3:17Amy Poehler?

  Right Teddy? And then there's a dog version for Teddy and other dogs.

• 3:22Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm. The dog version is a lot darker.

• 3:25Amy Poehler?

  What has it been like working with someone that you've known for so long? And what's good about it?

• 3:30Speaker 01

  It's, it was so easy to work with Will. Um, and we have stuff like, you know, when you work with people at SNL, it's, you just know them by osmosis because you just stay up all night with them. So many times you, you eat like a meat, cold meatball off the table next to them, even if you're not working directly together that much because Will and I didn't really write together or, you know, like, I don't think we, I don't think, I've never had dinner with like just Will, like, but it's just all osmosis. And so I just was very comfortable with him. I feel like we had a shorthand. I feel like, I was never worried that he, uh, would be mad at me or not like me, you know?

• 4:11Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 4:12Speaker 01

  Easy.

• 4:13Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 4:14Speaker 01

  And, and I knew he is a super hard worker because he is the hardest worker. Like he'll work himself to death.

• 4:20Amy Poehler?

  I just found out today that he... He did 20,000 steps a day, every day for the year 2024.

• 4:28Speaker 01

  20,000, yeah, at least. And he would wear his, he would wear it almost like a court ankle bracelet. He would wear it under his costume when we were filming and he would talk about how he got, I got 20,000 steps. And he would like get up at 5 o'clock in the morning before he came to the shoot to get the first 10,000.

• 4:46Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 4:47Speaker 01

  He also, one thing I know, I learned about him is he, and I, I know his family and friends do love him. So I don't know why he is this way, but I feel like he is so responsive to any words of praise. If you say like, well, he did a great job on that. He's like, he's like a plant that nobody watered for a week. He's like, thank you so much. He's so grateful. Like, I know your wife is nice to you, but he just really, I think his love language is words of affirmation.

• 5:14Amy Poehler?

  Oh, that's so good to know.

• 5:16Speaker 01

  Telling him he's doing a great job on the podcast and watch his face light up. He's gonna light up.

• 5:23Amy Poehler?

  It's so true because, I mean, and it's so easy to talk about how great he is because he is so, not only is he so funny and a great writer and a really nice person, but he, he could have been in another world like a finance bro, like he's, or a jock.

• 5:40Speaker 01

  So interesting, Amy, because that was the main question I thought to ask him is I'd like to know if he had not ended up in comedy. Because I know anecdotally from talking to him that he had a lot of weird jobs. You know, he was like, and he, he's had like, it's almost like he's immortal because he describes chunks of his life. I'm like, that's too many chunks. Like, what do you mean that one time you went up to Alaska and were a salmon fisherman? Like, what do you mean? So he's had all kinds of jobs and I wonder if he had not ended up a comedy writer and then a performer, what would he have been?

• 6:15Speaker 01

  What would it become of him?

• 6:17Amy Poehler?

  Great question.

• 6:17Speaker 01

  I think, you know, if in another era, if he had lived in another era, I feel like he would have been a really popular 70s game show host who then like killed a bunch of nurses.

• 6:31Speaker 01

  And then they would, like Mark Harmon would have played him in a movie.

• 6:34Amy Poehler?

  Yep, that makes sense.

• 6:35Speaker 01

  But yeah, like what, what would his life be like if he had gone a different route?

• 6:39Amy Poehler?

  And I'm gonna talk to him just a little bit about some of his characters, because I feel like they just are so like they, they just kind of came with him and SNL he had so many that he brought. But do you remember his audition?

• 6:54Speaker 01

  I kind of do, because I remember he did, um, I think he did Tim Calhoun, the really quiet guy, running for office is really quiet. And I, he did that kind of infamous silver face paint guy.

• 7:08Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 7:09Speaker 01

  His comedy is so truly unique. His voice, when you think of like MacGruber and the Falconer and all these, and like all the kind of, you know, the dancing football coach and the Halloween sketch where he's the guy who has to tell everybody he's a registered sex offender. His, his, or like the time he brought his lovely mom onto Weekend Update and just like, like was like gonna tribute her, but it was just like, when you die.

• 7:43Speaker 01

  He has such a weird sense of humor. I wonder what comedy things shaped him, because I don't think it's the same stuff as everybody else. You know, but like, what, like what combination of comedy viewing and real life, childhood trauma made this, made his comedy this?

• 8:02Amy Poehler?

  There's like a mischievous streak in him.

• 8:04Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 8:05Amy Poehler?

  I felt it a little bit in some of the scenes when you guys were throwing stuff at each other.

• 8:09Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 8:09Amy Poehler?

  Like there was a little bit, I was like, that is a little forte.

• 8:13Speaker 01

  Yes, he hits me with a cup and

• 8:15Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 8:16Speaker 01

  And I look genuinely really mad. And but also he was like, the, the obedient part of him was like so happy that he hit me with the cup on the first try.

• 8:26Speaker 01

  He likes anything that's close to sports.

• 8:28Amy Poehler?

  All right. Thank you, Betty, for this time.

• 8:29Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 8:30Amy Poehler?

  See you soon. Bye. This episode is brought to you by Uber Eats. Summer is here and you can now get almost anything you need for your sunny days, delivered by Uber Eats. What do I mean by almost? Well, you can't get a summer blockbuster delivered, but you can get a block of cheese. A cabana, that's a no. But a banana, that's a yes. You know what I like to order from Uber Eats? Batteries. Don't eat batteries. But I often need batteries and you can get batteries from Uber Eats. Get almost, almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. Order now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region.

• 9:15Amy Poehler?

  See app for details. Okay, I'll officially start. We are with Will Forte. We are with Orville Willis Forte the fourth.

• 9:25Speaker 02

  The fourth, yes.

• 9:27Amy Poehler?

  You're the fourth Orville?

• 9:29Speaker 02

  I'm always pissed if somebody doesn't say the fourth.

• 9:32Amy Poehler?

  I know.

• 9:32Speaker 02

  Sometimes people say the third and it's like, that's my dad.

• 9:35Amy Poehler?

  And it's also...

• 9:36Speaker 02

  Obviously.

• 9:37Amy Poehler?

  My mouth wants to say Orville Wilbur Forte, but it's not. It's Willis Forte.

• 9:42Speaker 02

  Oddly, I'd accept that. I'm totally fine with Wilbur just because there's something fun about it. But the fourth is just, that's disrespectful if you get the fourth wrong. They named me the fourth, like, for a reason.

• 9:53Amy Poehler?

  Well, tell me who... Because I love, you told me this very early on when we met. The names of all of... Because you go by Will, but you did not go by Will as a kid, right? You went by...

• 10:03Speaker 02

  I was Billy as a kid, but then it was, I was born in 1970. So when I started going to school, I started hearing about Billie Jean King. And people were like, you have a girl's name. And that was like a big deal. Like, so, so I was like, I am not Billy.

• 10:21Amy Poehler?

  I am Will.

• 10:22Speaker 02

  Will.

• 10:24Speaker 02

  And that's how, that's how, yeah, I think I just demanded a name change at like five or six years old.

• 10:30Amy Poehler?

  Okay, but then you went by Will, then your dad went by?

• 10:33Speaker 02

  Dad was Rebel.

• 10:36Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 10:36Speaker 02

  Cause he was born up by you. He was Weston, Massachusetts. So he's from Yankee territory, but he was born in New Orleans. His dad was stationed down in Rebel territory during World War II. I don't think it was still, I mean, yeah.

• 10:55Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 10:55Speaker 02

  So he went by, as a joke, they called him Rebel.

• 10:57Amy Poehler?

  And he went by Reb, right? He still goes by Reb.

• 10:59Speaker 02

  He still goes by Reb. He's still around, still skis. Eighty, almost 82, 82 and about three weeks and he still skis.

• 11:08Amy Poehler?

  I, I'm here to say, both your parents, just attractive people. I just saw Patty, your mom, and Reb at the Four Seasons premiere. Your dad is a handsome silver fox.

• 11:20Speaker 02

  He's, he's kind of a white fox now.

• 11:22Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, he's a white fox.

• 11:23Speaker 02

  Like, it's really, yeah.

• 11:24Amy Poehler?

  He's blending into the snow. Patty looks incredible.

• 11:27Speaker 02

  Right?

• 11:27Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 11:28Speaker 02

  Yeah, she's about to turn 82 also and she, if somebody, there are people who think she's in her like mid 60s.

• 11:35Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, she has like incredible skin.

• 11:37Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 11:38Amy Poehler?

  You have very good genes.

• 11:39Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 11:40Amy Poehler?

  Will Porte, I'm so excited to have you come today because I feel like all of us in, we like all went to the same comedy high school or something. Like, we all graduated at the same time at a, from a place. And I feel like when we all see each other, it just feels like we, like, in fact, I was talking, Tina was talking about this, like, it just feels like we all through osmosis just got to spend so many hours together.

• 12:10Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 12:11Amy Poehler?

  Like, we really spent a huge chunk of our lives.

• 12:14Speaker 02

  I would even say it's more than a high school experience. It's like a family.

• 12:17Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 12:17Speaker 02

  Like a, a real family and, and that 50th really

• 12:22Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 12:22Speaker 02

  showed it too, because there'd be a lot of people that you didn't meet that you felt like you knew. And it was just such a, like a warm homecoming with those people that like, you've heard of them, they've heard of you, and it's just like, oh my God, I'm finally meeting you. It, it was, but, but I mean, for somebody you went through it with for as long as we did, yeah, that, that, you guys are all family.

• 12:46Amy Poehler?

  I know. And did you meet anybody at the, for the first time at the 50th that you had never met? Like, that you had? Never.

• 12:53Speaker 02

  Yes, Melanie Hutzel.

• 12:54Amy Poehler?

  Mm hmm.

• 12:55Speaker 02

  Adam Driver, I had never met, and he was so sweet. And Nathan Lane was there, just people like that. Um, so it was just a delight. And then the capper was like, right after we go through this long rehearsal, we had noticed Paul McCartney just hanging out in the bleachers. And, uh, somebody said, you sticking around? Cause Paul McCartney is doing sound check right now. So we're like, fantastic. So I just hung around and called my wife and, and my daughter, whose birthday, her, it was her fourth birthday. So I said, get Zoe out of bed right now. Get over here. She's like, she's, yeah, cause she was taking a nap. So I said, get her up, get her up. I was so mean. I was like, get down here right now.

• 13:37Amy Poehler?

  Slap her.

• 13:38Speaker 02

  Or I'm leaving you. I'm leaving this family. So, so she runs her down and, and I have this just priceless video of like her watching Paul McCartney singing. It was the very end of like, you know, the, the whole golden slumbers medley.

• 13:55Amy Poehler?

  Is Zoe the daughter that had, that ate the ice cream for the first time?

• 13:59Speaker 02

  Yes. She's, uh, this daughter, right here. She's this one. There's Cecilia, right there. And there's Zoe.

• 14:08Amy Poehler?

  For listeners, Will Forte just lifted up his pants and showed us socks that has his daughter's faces on them. Where did you get those socks?

• 14:15Speaker 02

  My wife gets them for me like every, every Christmas, every Father's Day, every birthday. It's all I want. All like, I would say 90% of my socks have somebody special's face on them. I'm walking on my family all the time.

• 14:34Amy Poehler?

  You have two daughters, four and what?

• 14:36Speaker 02

  Four and two and a half.

• 14:37Amy Poehler?

  Well.

• 14:38Speaker 02

  They're so cute. Yeah, I started late. My wife got me when I first, um, when I first, uh, was, I think it was before the first one was born, she got a sweatshirt that she had made that said dad or grandpa? Question mark. Just so great.

• 14:59Speaker 02

  And definitely most people would probably go, grandpa.

• 15:02Amy Poehler?

  No.

• 15:02Speaker 02

  For sure.

• 15:03Amy Poehler?

  No way. Um, as an older dad.

• 15:05Speaker 02

  How dare you?

• 15:10Amy Poehler?

  You've lived a lot of lives. Like, you have a lot of versions of you. Before we met at SNL, you were, I mean, you were in, you were in finance before you worked in comedy.

• 15:23Speaker 02

  Yeah, but I was barely in, I was like, it was a, I was an intern and it was what my dad did. So it was, I, it, it was a big deal to me back then because it's what I thought I was gonna do just because my dad did it. So I always thought, oh, I'll follow in his footsteps. And then as I was doing it, it was like, oh, this doesn't feel right.

• 15:43Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 15:43Speaker 02

  Maybe it's just because, you know, I was working for this guy and he was a nice guy. But it's like, you know, it was, the, the thing that I was doing was kind of boring. I would just like call people on his behalf. And then right when I'd get them on the line, I would send them over to him. So I wouldn't have to like do the scary and exciting part of like trying to sell a product to this guy.

• 16:05Amy Poehler?

  You would just get him on the phone?

• 16:06Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's just like get the person on the phone. Hold for this guy. Out of his, out of, I don't want to say his name, just, he's a nice guy, but I like, I just, I've, I've said it in the past. I'm like, oh, I don't know if he wants to be part of my stories. But he's, he was great, but at a certain point, he's, he said, his name's Brett. He's a nice guy. I don't think he'd care.

• 16:29Amy Poehler?

  No, he won't care.

• 16:30Speaker 02

  Yeah. But he, at a certain point, he said, you know what? I want you to, I'm gonna put you through the series seven. And, and you'll come over and be part of my, like the junior guy in my team or some, something like that. And I just, it was at that point that I was like, oh, I know myself. And if I, if I agree to this, I will never leave. Like, I wouldn't, I wouldn't go like, oh, this, my attitude would be this guy went out on a limb, took a chance on me, I'm not gonna just F him over.

• 17:04Amy Poehler?

  But it is like, when you came, when, my memory of you was when you came to SNL. It was like you already had an aura because it was like he, it was like he was worked as a, in a brokerage firm and then he left to write comedy and you had already written for Letterman. And was it Third Rock from the Sun?

• 17:25Speaker 02

  Third Rock from the Sun.

• 17:26Amy Poehler?

  You had two genuine. And Seventy Show. When you auditioned for SNL.

• 17:31Speaker 02

  I was trying to get out of the audition because I was under contract for Seventy Show. So to me, I was like.

• 17:37Amy Poehler?

  That's right.

• 17:38Speaker 02

  I was like, I can't even do it anyway. I think we had just gotten picked up for two years in a row, which was unheard of. And, and so I was like, I finally had this job that's going to stick for a while. And loved the job and this experience at Letterman where I didn't do great. And I was like, this felt like, is this going to be another dream shattered? So just like, hold on to this thing that you know is your, you've got for sure is a bird in the hand, right?

• 18:09Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 18:09Speaker 02

  So, so I just was like, I finally, they talked me into coming to audition. So I went and, and then I got the job.

• 18:20Amy Poehler?

  Your audition. Your audition was, it was so funny, Will.

• 18:25Speaker 02

  Really?

• 18:26Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 18:26Speaker 02

  Well, thank you.

• 18:27Amy Poehler?

  It was so, I think it goes down as one of the best.

• 18:32Speaker 02

  Really?

• 18:32Amy Poehler?

  I think so. I mean, I remember.

• 18:35Speaker 02

  By the way, look at that audition. You'll see a, you'll see the doughy forte for sure. I probably was, yeah, thirty, thirty to forty pounds heavier.

• 18:44Amy Poehler?

  Baby forte, like just, yeah.

• 18:46Speaker 02

  Just like cheeseburger forte.

• 18:49Amy Poehler?

  You did a bunch of characters in that audition that you ended up doing on the show. You did Tim Calhoun. You're the soft spoken candidate.

• 18:56Speaker 02

  Speed, the speed reader ended up on the show.

• 19:00Amy Poehler?

  Yes, the speed reader that was the spelling bee guy?

• 19:04Speaker 02

  Spelling bee guy was kind of just Tim Calhoun.

• 19:07Amy Poehler?

  That's true.

• 19:07Speaker 02

  In a different, a different setup.

• 19:09Amy Poehler?

  That's true.

• 19:11Speaker 02

  But.

• 19:11Amy Poehler?

  Did you do any impressions?

• 19:13Speaker 02

  I, I did. I was not, I mean, you know, my impressions.

• 19:16Amy Poehler?

  Me too.

• 19:17Speaker 02

  They're so bad. I could do Kermit the Frog. That's I think it. I did Michael McDonald, which is like, I did the things everybody could do. And I did Martin Sheen. But I said like. It was.

• 19:31Amy Poehler?

  Like a West Wing Martin Sheen or an Apocalypse Now Martin Sheen?

• 19:34Speaker 02

  It was just like an old person voice, kind of, or like, I mean, he was not to, no disrespect, not, but just like, for me at the time, I was 32.

• 19:43Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 19:44Speaker 02

  And like, I, I just kind of said, hi, I'm Martin Sheen. And what I, what I said, I've had a kind of a cold lately. So if this doesn't sound like me, it's because of the cold. But, you know, if it does sound like me, then I guess the cold is gone.

• 20:02Speaker 02

  Or something like that.

• 20:05Amy Poehler?

  Oh, my God, that's so good. And then you did the amazing character that did end up on SNL once, which is the silver faced.

• 20:11Speaker 02

  Oh, it, it, we did it at dress rehearsal, but it didn't.

• 20:15Amy Poehler?

  But it didn't make the show?

• 20:16Speaker 02

  It didn't make the show, but I was so thankful that it didn't because.

• 20:20Amy Poehler?

  Can you just tell people about that, though, for people that don't know? Because it is, it is legendary that you did it in the audition.

• 20:27Speaker 02

  There, it, it was something I used to do at the Groundlings and I, it was a gold man and.

• 20:33Amy Poehler?

  Excuse me, not silver, it was gold.

• 20:34Speaker 02

  No, no, no, it's totally fine.

• 20:36Amy Poehler?

  So sorry. I'm so sorry.

• 20:37Speaker 02

  No, no, no, everyone always says silver man when they, I think, I think there are more people out on the streets that are silver than, than gold. Because it's just less expensive.

• 20:48Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, exactly.

• 20:49Speaker 02

  Anyway, so, so I, it's one of those guys who's, you know, dressed all in silver, silver, or now you got me.

• 20:57Amy Poehler?

  No, I'm so sorry.

• 21:00Speaker 02

  Dressed all in gold, frozen. And then if you put money in his thing, he, you know, moves around like a robot and then freezes until somebody puts more money in. So I did this sketch where it was, you know, had a thing that said dollars make me move. So, a robber comes up. This was, at the Groundlings, it was Jim Rash. And Jim Rash comes up and takes the money out. And I can't move because he's not putting money in. So I'm just stuck there until somebody else finally comes back and puts a dollar in. And then I like try to find this guy and I'm like,

• 21:41Amy Poehler?

  In a very robot way, in a very roboty way.

• 21:44Speaker 02

  Sadly, go back up onto my perch. And then somebody else, Jeremy Rowley, comes up. He's a kid with Kevin Ruff and says, Daddy, why's the gold man look so sad? And I was, you know, well, maybe if you ask him, he'll tell you. And or maybe if you put a dollar in, he'll tell you. Maybe if you put two dollars in, he'll tell you in song. And so then I do this song and that's what I did for the.

• 22:11Amy Poehler?

  And can you tell everyone what the song was?

• 22:12Speaker 02

  And I tried to do what I what I just told you in.

• 22:17Speaker 02

  I tried to do that in like 15 seconds.

• 22:19Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 22:20Speaker 02

  I don't think I did it, but it was like, so there's this guy. So, so, so do you know?

• 22:26Amy Poehler?

  So what was the song though? It's an incredible song.

• 22:29Speaker 02

  So this is so this is the, yeah, so I just set it up.

• 22:35Speaker 02

  I almost like retold the setup again. So keep in mind.

• 22:39Amy Poehler?

  Okay.

• 22:39Speaker 02

  So here we are. Just because I'm a man made of gold. So also, just so you know, before I do this, so, so he said, he puts in the $2. The kid puts in the $2 and then a bunch of people start gathering around. Maya Rudolph being one of them.

• 23:00Speaker 02

  Just because I'm a man made of gold doesn't mean I'm made out of money. But the calling I found is to give people pleasure. Their incredibly precise robotic movement. That's why I come out to the streets to help me make ends meet.

• 23:21Speaker 02

  And I work real hard to fill up that jar. But then a bad apple ruins a barrel. Heart of gold, twenty-four carat. But through all the pain, I grin and I bear it. Heart of gold. But I'm living a golden dream. Cause anyway you slice it, we're all on the same team. Come on now, everybody. And everybody starts singing along. Heart of gold, twenty-four carat. But through all the pain, I grin and I bear it. And the magazine grins and it bears it.

• 24:04Speaker 02

  Heart of gold. But it don't make me no saint. Cause I got a little secret. I suck cock for my face pain. Come on, sing with me, everybody, come on. Heart of gold, I suck cock for my face pain. I suck cock for my face pain. Cock, face pain. I suck cock for my face pain. I suck that cock for my face pain, face pain. Cock, face pain, face pain. Cock and face pain. Cock, cock, cock, cock, cock, cock, face pain. Cock, cock, face pain, face pain.

• 24:44Speaker 02

  Cock, cock, face pain, cock, cock, cock, cock, face, face, cock, cock, face pain, cock, face pain, cock, cock. Together at last in a heavenly union. Cock, cock, cock, cock, cock, cock. And then just kind of go out. And at this point, everybody's left. And then I'm just gone.

• 25:04Amy Poehler?

  Together at last in a heavenly union.

• 25:06Speaker 02

  Yeah. So I did that a bunch at the Groundlings. And.

• 25:12Amy Poehler?

  And you did it for your SNL audition.

• 25:14Speaker 02

  And I did it for my SNL audition. I remember walking out. Lauren was there and just kind of. Didn't do what I said. And I didn't know what to say. So I just said, sorry about all the cocks. And then, and then left and I got the job.

• 25:30Amy Poehler?

  It was, I can remember the reaction to that and how hard people were laughing on a notoriously like cold room, like that room is very, like people were dying laughing.

• 25:43Speaker 02

  That's really nice to hear because like, I mean.

• 25:45Amy Poehler?

  You don't remember that?

• 25:46Speaker 02

  No, because you're so focused on it and, and especially if you're singing, if you're doing anything loud, you can't really hear something until there's quiet. And this is just like constant noise. And I might've even had my music.

• 26:03Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 26:03Speaker 02

  Like there's this guy Teddy Zambe, thank you Teddy, uh, put like the, who was the musical director at the Groundlings, um, at the time I did that, had, gave me this tape of the music so I could do it to the, the music. And, uh,

• 26:19Amy Poehler?

  Together.

• 26:20Speaker 02

  Yeah. So I didn't know. I didn't, you know, you walk out of there, you just have no idea how you did. And then I actually, at some point I went up to Lauren's office. Cause I think also like because I had been such a little pain in the ass about even going out to audition. I think he was like, you know.

• 26:37Amy Poehler?

  Are you gonna take this job, you know, if, if I give it to you kind of thing?

• 26:41Speaker 02

  Well, it was the weirdest thing because I went in there and I was like, I think he was basically saying, you know, basically saying you have the job.

• 26:51Amy Poehler?

  Right. He doesn't like to actually tell anybody. He notoriously doesn't ever like hire or fire anybody. He's very enigmatic about it. He's just like.

• 27:00Speaker 02

  Said something like.

• 27:01Amy Poehler?

  And when you start, you know, like that kind of thing.

• 27:03Speaker 02

  When one works here.

• 27:04Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. I remember with him, he was like, and you know, there'll be a time when you're here and people will be, and I was like, did I get hired?

• 27:12Speaker 02

  Yeah. Yeah. Like skipping the part where it's like, so let me be clear. You've got the job and moving on to like.

• 27:18Amy Poehler?

  You know, in your first year, you're gonna find, and you're like, my first year here?

• 27:23Speaker 02

  Yeah. Like, but, but to me, I fill in the blanks of the first part that he glides over as like, you're very much on the fence, probably not going to get this job. But if you were lucky enough, if I, you know, somehow make a bad decision and hire you, in your first year, you would, you know, and then that stuff.

• 27:43Amy Poehler?

  Right, right. You got the job and then you had to go back and you had to turn down like a, a secure job.

• 27:49Speaker 02

  Well, if you remember this.

• 27:51Amy Poehler?

  Did you do double dip?

• 27:53Speaker 02

  No, I went back there and I was like, I'm not gonna leave 70's Show.

• 27:58Amy Poehler?

  That's right. Will, you, that's such a badass move because, I mean, it is.

• 28:04Speaker 02

  I was just a puss. I was scared.

• 28:06Amy Poehler?

  But you said, I can't, you turned it down.

• 28:09Speaker 02

  I did.

• 28:09Amy Poehler?

  You said, I can't do it because I have other obligations. And just like a, like a lady who doesn't answer her texts, SNL was like, I've never been more attracted to you. I mean, they double, it was like double down. Everyone was like, what?

• 28:29Speaker 02

  I was, I mean, what they, everyone's like, oh, what a punk rock move. What, and, and like, little did they know, I'm like, you know, yeah, yeah. And I'm like, oh, thank God I didn't have to go because I know I would have failed. And I was just like, so, it was totally a decision based in fear. And thank God, at the end of that situation, at the end of the, the year where I wrote at 70's Show, and, and it was great, but I thought about it all the time, like, oh, I should have done it. I should have done it. And thank God, Lauren came back. I remember Spyvy calling me up and saying, or, no, we went to somebody's wedding. That was it. We were at a wedding and, and Spyvy and, uh, Spyvy and Maya were both there. And

• 29:12Speaker 02

  so they were, you, we talked about it a little bit and I said, yeah, I, I kind of regret not doing it. I really regret not doing it. And so, so they, so they came back, Lauren came back and said, would you want to come audition again? And I, and so I said, yes. And then Mark Brazil, the guy who was my boss at 70's Show, said, you gotta. You gotta go do this.

• 29:36Amy Poehler?

  Hmm.

• 29:37Speaker 02

  Do this, and you have a job here if, if, uh.

• 29:40Amy Poehler?

  It's nice.

• 29:41Speaker 02

  If you, yeah, if you, if it doesn't work out, just come right back here.

• 29:44Amy Poehler?

  When you got on the show, did you ever feel secure, safe? Or did you always feel like you had to hustle every week for your stuff? Like, did you ever have a moment where you relaxed?

• 29:56Speaker 02

  I started relaxing like year seven, maybe.

• 30:00Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 30:00Speaker 02

  It was that my first year, everyone's terrified, right? I mean, you were, you were just like, you seemed like you were a pretty instant sensation.

• 30:14Speaker 02

  But it's, it was tough with, because like, a bunch of, I mean, it was a lot of like, white dudes. And so you had, like, it's, you know.

• 30:23Amy Poehler?

  It was 2001 and a lot of white dudes.

• 30:25Speaker 02

  It was a huge cast. It was like 17 people.

• 30:28Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 30:29Speaker 02

  And so you're, you're trying to get your stuff on, right? And you're, you're trying to get noticed. And then I got somehow the George Bush role. So I, it's like, you know, we, we talked earlier, like, I don't do impersonations. And like, it was a match not made in heaven.

• 30:50Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, you didn't like that.

• 30:51Speaker 02

  I mean, listen, Will Ferrell was George Bush. He was George W. Bush. He was so good at it. It was, I mean, I, like, I've said this before, but I, it, it, anybody replacing, it's like trying to replace the church lady. Trying to have somebody else do that, or like, you know, you just, he, he made it such his own thing that like, they should have just retired it. But of course, you can't retire the sitting president on SNL. You have to have, somebody has to be doing it. And I just like, I had to be that guy. So it was like, I was kind of a letdown for a year as Bush.

• 31:33Amy Poehler?

  It is interesting to watch and pay attention to how impersonations get passed around. And sometimes they hit, sometimes they don't. And yeah, you have a job to do, so you have to do it. But yeah, I know. And then, and then, as I, I feel you the same way. Like, it didn't take me until later on where I started to feel relaxed. But when you started to feel relaxed, like, I feel like all of your.

• 31:57Speaker 02

  Oh, but, well, the story that led to kind of relaxing is, it was. After the third, sorry to cut you off.

• 32:05Amy Poehler?

  No, please.

• 32:06Speaker 02

  But I think this was after my third season there, or it might have been after the second season. There was this big period where they were like rightly saying, something's a little off with this show. Let's figure it out. Put a bunch of us on hold. I think you might have been one of the only people who wasn't put on hold for like, they just like picked you up. But like 10 of us, just a bunch of us had our, there's a time for people who don't know, there's a time in like July where they are contractually obligated to tell you if you're getting picked up for the next season. And then sometimes they will make a request to have three extra weeks.

• 32:50Speaker 02

  And they did that with a bunch of people and that's always scary. And then I got to the end of that three weeks. A lot of people had gotten picked up and they asked for, this was Friday, they said, can we tell you Monday? And I'm like, what am I gonna say? So I'm like, sure. Then on Monday, they said, we're not gonna be able to tell you till Wednesday. And then it, that went on.

• 33:14Amy Poehler?

  Well.

• 33:14Speaker 02

  Jumping to every two days for three more weeks. Three more weeks. And I was the very last person who got asked back. Everybody else, I don't even think they cut anybody that year. They just.

• 33:27Amy Poehler?

  They just tortured everybody.

• 33:28Speaker 02

  But then what happened was eventually Lauren called me up. And it actually was a good thing because he said, he said, here's your deal. You still have a writer mindset. When you write your own things, you commit to them fully and you're, you're really good about that. But then when other people write things, you're, you get timid and you're, and, and, and, you know, in my head, I'm like, oh, freaking don't, you're so stupid. Of course, that's not happening. And of course, he was 100% right. I was like, I would remember back to it 70's show. If I'd write something and somebody's like, or just any, any job, you write something and you're like, no, that's.

• 34:13Speaker 02

  Said, nope, that's not how it's meant to be said. And, and it's like, so I, in my head, when I'm doing these sketches that other people have written, it's like, I could hear them going like, oh, he's blowing it.

• 34:25Amy Poehler?

  Oh, interesting. So the timidity came not from like you not caring or not trying, but it was like you were afraid that they were thinking this isn't right.

• 34:34Speaker 02

  I wanted to do it exactly how they wanted it, but didn't know how they wanted it. And so I was kind of timid and, and he's like, you just gotta

• 34:43Amy Poehler?

  Be as weird.

• 34:44Speaker 02

  Take ownership over this sketch.

• 34:45Amy Poehler?

  Be as big and weird in your stuff.

• 34:47Speaker 02

  And it was like, it really like, it could have gone either way. It could have been, I could have just like receded into the shell and melted down. And for some reason it became this thing of like, oh, it's all gravy from here. I could have just been fired. I wasn't fired.

• 35:02Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 35:02Speaker 02

  And so like, you know, I gotta give it to Lauren. He was totally right and really somehow, you know, in, it was kind of a master stroke of genius.

• 35:13Amy Poehler?

  That is a really good, good feedback and good note.

• 35:15Speaker 02

  So that, but it is still, probably took another two years before I was like feeling

• 35:20Amy Poehler?

  Do you remember that we sat next to each other at the read through table?

• 35:23Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 35:24Amy Poehler?

  You and I were next to each other. Do you remember when we had the guy come for the sexual harassment?

• 35:30Speaker 02

  I certainly do.

• 35:31Amy Poehler?

  Do you remember what we were doing during it?

• 35:34Speaker 02

  I mean, I think it was like drawing pictures of dicks or something. I assume it's something, I, I mean, my memory again is bad.

• 35:41Amy Poehler?

  We were consensually and appropriately, just with each other, I believe, drawing pictures of penises and giving them back and forth to each other. And then I accidentally handed that sheet of paper to the very nice man who had just done the entire seminar because I thought it was the sign in sheet. Do you know this part?

• 36:06Speaker 02

  I forgot that part.

• 36:08Amy Poehler?

  And he was like, what's this? And I said, oh, that's the wrong, that sir, that's the wrong paper. But moving forward.

• 36:19Speaker 02

  I mean, look.

• 36:19Amy Poehler?

  That, I mean, look.

• 36:20Speaker 02

  There are so many things that I look back now and I go like,

• 36:23Amy Poehler?

  Same.

• 36:23Speaker 02

  You think, oh, it's all about getting a laugh. It's all, it's,

• 36:26Amy Poehler?

  I agree, and I feel that's what like is, that's the part about getting older and being in, and being in comedy is you have to like, figure out like, oh, it's like, everything has an expiration date. I mean, there's like, even, even on the 50th, when they said like, here's all, they had that segment of like, which was like, here's all the ways we got things wrong. And they showed way inappropriate casting for people, you know? We all played people that we should not have played.

• 36:53Speaker 02

  Oh, my God.

• 36:53Amy Poehler?

  I misappropriated, I appropriated, I didn't know, I did know. Like, it's very real. And the best thing you can do is like, make repair, learn from your mistakes, do better. Like, it's all you can do.

• 37:08Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 37:13Amy Poehler?

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• 37:55Amy Poehler?

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• 38:40Amy Poehler?

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• 40:05Amy Poehler?

  Okay, so Four Seasons. Congratulations.

• 40:08Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 40:08Amy Poehler?

  It's so great.

• 40:10Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 40:10Amy Poehler?

  I watched the whole thing. Tina and I were on tour when it premiered. Will, you are so good in it.

• 40:17Speaker 02

  Thank you. Oh, man.

• 40:19Amy Poehler?

  You're so good.

• 40:20Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 40:21Amy Poehler?

  I mean, we know how good you are. I love watching you act. I just think you're such a great actor. I love it.

• 40:27Speaker 02

  I'll tell you, like, and...

• 40:29Amy Poehler?

  How fun was it to make?

• 40:31Speaker 02

  This will sound like avoiding a compliment, but I really mean it. Like, the way those guys write is... Makes you look like such a good actor. It's like, their writing is so good.

• 40:42Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 40:43Speaker 02

  It just like, and that goes for all Tina shows.

• 40:46Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 40:46Speaker 02

  Like, you know, 30 Rock. Getting to do the character I got to play in 30 Rock, Paul Lasname. It just like, it's the what? The stuff that I got to say was just a gift every single time. And it's like, anybody could have done that. It really is like such good writing.

• 41:05Amy Poehler?

  You and Tina had such a flow, and you were really sweet together, and we really bought you as a couple, and... I just love seeing you also play, because you have the capacity to play such really, like, you know, deeply funny, original, and eccentric characters. You've played a lot of eccentric characters. And I loved seeing you play this kind of person, because he was very, he's very close to how I perceive you, Will.

• 41:34Speaker 02

  Yeah, a lot of similarities, I think.

• 41:37Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, so I talked to Tina before this, you know, we like to talk about people behind their back, in a good way, and ask people what I should ask you. And so I talked to Tina before you came on, and she had a couple of good questions for you. One was, which I think we may have already covered, but like, if you weren't a comedy writer, like, you've had a lot of different, like, versions of you.

• 42:00Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 42:00Amy Poehler?

  Do you see a parallel world? If you never, if you were never a comedy actor and writer, what would you have been?

• 42:06Speaker 02

  I think I would have been, ideally, a college professor.

• 42:11Amy Poehler?

  Hmm, I see that.

• 42:12Speaker 02

  Some kind of history. I just, there's something...

• 42:16Amy Poehler?

  Well, you're a white male of a certain age, so you're obsessed with history, I mean...

• 42:20Speaker 02

  Yeah, it would have been white history.

• 42:22Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 42:23Speaker 02

  I just, I love, I love walking around campuses. That makes me sound a little bit like a creep, a little bit. Love walking around campuses, seeing those young people.

• 42:34Amy Poehler?

  And then, comedy view, oh, I wrote down her question, which was like, when you were growing up, who did you, who were your comedy, who did you see and you thought, oh, like, who were your influences, basically?

• 42:47Speaker 02

  I would say, number one was Steve Martin.

• 42:54Speaker 02

  Peter Sellers was another big one. Every SNL, just every SNL, just SNL.

• 43:02Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 43:02Speaker 02

  David Letterman, those are the four. But I mean, you know, Monty Python, SCTV, so, so much stuff, but, but like, Steve Martin, definitely my number one.

• 43:16Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, Steve Martin, for our generation, because we're about the same age, it was like... So big. Did you watch that documentary? His doc, that doc?

• 43:25Speaker 02

  I somehow haven't.

• 43:26Amy Poehler?

  Oh, my, it's so good.

• 43:28Speaker 02

  Tell me, that's right here.

• 43:29Amy Poehler?

  It's so good and it's really moving because it feels like, in the same way that the SNL 50th felt like our entire life. You know, it started when we were three, that show.

• 43:40Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 43:40Amy Poehler?

  Steve was like the big star when we were little kids. And like, he just, he just spans our life, too.

• 43:48Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 43:48Amy Poehler?

  He's so.

• 43:49Speaker 02

  All those stand up albums and, and yeah. But The Jerk, I mean, The Jerk, it was, for me, it was, it all started. But then, and there are still things that I stumble onto that I, you know, had never seen, like somehow I had never seen the, what was it, The Great Fly Dini?

• 44:08Amy Poehler?

  Oh, yeah.

• 44:08Speaker 02

  Have you seen?

• 44:11Speaker 02

  But there are, you know, I'm, I'm sure I'm leaving out a million things, you know? Was a huge fan of Cheers and that's, you know, that.

• 44:20Amy Poehler?

  Love Cheers. Cheers was in Boston, which was such a big deal growing up, like.

• 44:24Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 44:25Amy Poehler?

  Even though not one person had an authentic Boston accent in that show, but, including Cliff. He, it was not, it was not an authentic accent. But, um, but that was such a big deal, like Cheers felt like, oh, this was like a show for us or something.

• 44:40Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 44:40Amy Poehler?

  But I loved Cheers.

• 44:42Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 44:42Amy Poehler?

  So good.

• 44:44Speaker 02

  I mean, still.

• 44:44Amy Poehler?

  The pilot of Cheers and one of the best pilots ever.

• 44:46Speaker 02

  Yeah, and I, I look back now every once in a while, I'll go back and watch them and, and it's just, it's still so amazing. Like the storytelling is so good that that, those writers are just cream of the crop.

• 45:03Amy Poehler?

  And what are you watching today, looking at, listening to, reading? What do you, like, where, how do you check out? How do you zone out? Like, how do you get yourself? Happy or laugh, like what do you, where do you go? What do you watch?

• 45:18Speaker 02

  I, I, I play a lot of Sudoku. For some reason, it used, I have a bunch of things like checklist.

• 45:26Amy Poehler?

  Sudoku.

• 45:28Speaker 02

  I used to be, I'm, I'm, I mean, I'm still a big crossword. You know, I do the New York Times crossword puzzle, but usually I'll just wait till Saturday to do Saturday and Sunday.

• 45:38Amy Poehler?

  Saturday's hard.

• 45:39Speaker 02

  I know, I would just want to jump to that. I know it's a humble brag, but.

• 45:43Amy Poehler?

  Oh, that's good. That's, it's a learned skill.

• 45:45Speaker 02

  But it's like.

• 45:46Amy Poehler?

  And you, and you, and people don't know that you had like one of the highest scores ever in Donkey Kong.

• 45:50Speaker 02

  That's true. That's true, which is, you know, yeah, that's a big.

• 45:53Amy Poehler?

  That's true.

• 45:54Speaker 02

  Factor in, you know, measuring somebody's brain capacity.

• 45:59Amy Poehler?

  But what was your score and how did you get it?

• 46:01Speaker 02

  It was very high and.

• 46:04Amy Poehler?

  Where was it?

• 46:04Speaker 02

  No, this was, okay, so I was down in, um, here's the story about that. I think I had the, at one point, I had the 29th highest registered Donkey Kong score.

• 46:17Amy Poehler?

  Okay.

• 46:17Speaker 02

  The word registered should be in bold print because, so I was down doing that movie, Good Old Fashioned Orgy.

• 46:24Amy Poehler?

  Right.

• 46:24Speaker 02

  With, uh, Sudeikis and Lake Bell and Tyler Labine and, and Pete and Alex, Pete, Pete Hike and Alex Gregory, uh, just a million people, Lindsey Sloan. It was so fun. It was this very fun summer. And I was the person in this movie, it's a group of friends who are gonna all have an orgy and I was in, I was the friend, me and Lucy Punch played the couple that they didn't want to be at the orgy.

• 46:52Amy Poehler?

  So great.

• 46:53Speaker 02

  I forget why, I think we were, cause we were married or, yeah, but they didn't want us in the orgy. So I was basically only in like every fourth day. And so I found this bar, I would just go down to this bar that had a Donkey Kong in it and I wouldn't even drink there. I would just go and play Donkey Kong. And then there was this J L K, I still remember, J L K was, had all the high scores. And I'm like, I'm gonna get this fucker off this high score that I'm gonna beat. This guy, so I started getting better and better. And then I'd go home and I'd look up, you know, tips for how you get through this level that I was. And, you know, so I'm spending hours and hours all my off days. And so I'm getting better and better.

• 47:35Speaker 02

  Well, eventually I get a pretty high score and I showed, there was this guy Leo, Leo Daniels, I think was his name. And he was, you remember King of Kong?

• 47:45Amy Poehler?

  Yes, of course, that movie.

• 47:47Speaker 02

  Well, he was like, I think he, he was the record holder for Defender. Or there were a couple of different games that he was big in that scene. But he was, he was, he was on our crew for a good old fashioned orgy. So I showed him this picture. I'm like, check this out, not bad, huh? And he's like, that's pretty good. And I'm like, oh, really? And he said, yeah, that's pretty good. By the way, it was higher than J L K. So he sent it to that guy Walter, who was the, if you've seen King of Kong, I forget Walter's last name, but he was the guy who would watch the videotapes.

• 48:25Amy Poehler?

  Oh.

• 48:26Speaker 02

  And I didn't videotape it, but he, he just, I think he made a special S and L.

• 48:31Amy Poehler?

  And he said, I'm gonna put you in the books.

• 48:33Speaker 02

  So he registered it.

• 48:34Amy Poehler?

  Holy moly.

• 48:35Speaker 02

  But that's the thing, there are probably a million people who have higher scores. But like, who's gonna register their Donkey Kong score?

• 48:44Amy Poehler?

  If you're going for a high Donkey Kong score, you're gonna register it.

• 48:48Speaker 02

  Sure, but I was just like having fun. This was my own, I was establishing my own levels that I wanted to get to.

• 48:56Amy Poehler?

  Sudoku.

• 48:57Speaker 02

  I didn't do it for the glory.

• 48:59Amy Poehler?

  And what about what makes you laugh? What are you like laughing at these days?

• 49:02Speaker 02

  The kids, I mean, they're so friggin funny.

• 49:04Amy Poehler?

  Okay, there, there's a video that I saw of your daughter eating ice cream for the first time. And if I may describe it, because Tina and I were talking about it. It's the, it is the cutest. We were saying, it's like, it's such precious IP. You could sell it and then do an animated series off of it. It is. Can you explain what happens?

• 49:28Speaker 02

  She's, I mean, I could play the audio.

• 49:30Amy Poehler?

  Well, let's play the audio.

• 49:31Speaker 02

  Do you want to play the audio?

• 49:32Amy Poehler?

  Oh, it's so.

• 49:33Speaker 02

  It really is.

• 49:34Amy Poehler?

  It is.

• 49:34Speaker 02

  It's so cute.

• 49:35Amy Poehler?

  Listeners, it's like.

• 49:36Speaker 02

  I mean, I wonder if you have to see it, if it's.

• 49:39Amy Poehler?

  But she's, she's, is she having ice cream for the first time?

• 49:43Speaker 02

  No, she's had ice cream before, but it's, it's freezing. So what you can't see is like, she is pounding this ice cream. And she's like shivering and shaking. And then, but she keeps going and then she keeps getting brain freezes.

• 49:59Amy Poehler?

  Family because you love ice cream.

• 50:00Speaker 02

  Yes. Here, I'll show it to you so you can see it.

• 50:06Speaker 04

  You're shivering. You're not cold?

• 50:10Speaker 05

  No.

• 50:12Speaker 04

  And why are you shivering?

• 50:14Speaker 05

  Because my legs are bumpy.

• 50:18Speaker 02

  Because of my legs are bumpy?

• 50:19Speaker 04

  Because what, your legs are bumpy?

• 50:22Amy Poehler?

  She's deeply shivering and eating ice cream.

• 50:29Speaker 04

  You are so funny.

• 50:34Speaker 04

  You got ice cream up on your glasses, too.

• 50:36Speaker 02

  And then she crosses her eyes trying to see it on her glasses.

• 50:41Speaker 05

  Where?

• 50:42Speaker 04

  Right here.

• 50:43Amy Poehler?

  She crossed her eyes to find the ice cream on her glasses.

• 50:49Speaker 05

  I got a brain freeze.

• 50:52Speaker 04

  You got a brain freeze, that's your second brain freeze.

• 50:56Speaker 02

  It seems like she's gonna die and then she just, after this one, I think she dives right back in.

• 51:00Speaker 04

  It's your second brain freeze.

• 51:06Speaker 02

  So that's basically.

• 51:07Amy Poehler?

  Oh, that's so cute.

• 51:10Speaker 02

  It's, it helps to see the visuals because when you say like, you have, she had like ice cream appearance, like you have ice cream on your glasses or whatever, she goes.

• 51:20Amy Poehler?

  Little kids with glasses are so cute.

• 51:25Speaker 02

  Well, you would love both my kids then, because they have shitty eyesight.

• 51:29Amy Poehler?

  Little glasses, so cute.

• 51:32Speaker 02

  One has little pink glasses and one has purple.

• 51:35Amy Poehler?

  That's one of the things I do, it's so cute. One of my like, go to comfort watches is I watch videos of little kids getting glasses for the first time.

• 51:46Speaker 02

  That is the best, or kids who some have like cochlear implants.

• 51:51Amy Poehler?

  And they hear their mom.

• 51:52Speaker 02

  Soldiers coming home and surprising their kids at school.

• 51:55Amy Poehler?

  Absolutely. They're all in the same category.

• 51:58Speaker 02

  Dogs being away from.

• 52:00Amy Poehler?

  Elephants, elephants.

• 52:01Speaker 02

  Military, yeah.

• 52:02Amy Poehler?

  Who used to be trained by a guy and then they run back to the guy and they hug the guy.

• 52:06Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 52:07Amy Poehler?

  Anything, any reuniting and any like, I mean, when you see a little baby that's just kind of like not focusing and then they put those little glasses on them and the baby sees their mom and then they smile, forget it.

• 52:19Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 52:19Amy Poehler?

  I love those videos.

• 52:21Speaker 02

  It's so good.

• 52:22Amy Poehler?

  And then because of the rule of threes and because I too often have to circle back and close the loop. I feel like on behalf of one of my producers, Jack here, I need to ask you about this particular sketch. Will, you are one of the people that when I say like, I'm gonna have you on, every person I know, but a lot of men I know, you're their favorite. And also they want to talk about their favorite sketches that you've done. Like they want me to mention it. And the one that Jack wants me to mention. Jack, I feel like, right? I just feel like we can't end without it. Okay.

• 53:01Amy Poehler?

  Because is Clancy, you know, is Glass of Beer.

• 53:07Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 53:07Amy Poehler?

  So can you just tell us, for those people that don't know that sketch, can you just?

• 53:12Speaker 02

  Well, first of all, it's a jar of beer.

• 53:14Amy Poehler?

  I'm so sorry.

• 53:15Speaker 02

  I forgive you. Oh my God, I would be.

• 53:18Amy Poehler?

  What did I say, glass?

• 53:19Speaker 02

  You said glass.

• 53:20Amy Poehler?

  Jar of beer, how could I? You only say it 10 times.

• 53:23Speaker 02

  It's a glass jar. I mean, it's glass parentheses, unspoken, but like.

• 53:28Amy Poehler?

  So, so sorry. So can you just tell us how that sketch came about? And for people that don't know.

• 53:35Speaker 02

  So we.

• 53:36Amy Poehler?

  How do you even explain it?

• 53:37Speaker 02

  This was me and Wig and John Solomon.

• 53:42Speaker 02

  Wrote a sketch that was like a Thanksgiving sketch. It was just people singing.

• 53:52Speaker 02

  I forget the tune, but it was like, guess who's coming to, you know, Thanksgiving dinner this year? And then it was just a bunch of weird names like Pesamelia Giltwishna Froogfreem. You know, gibble, you know, Betsy People Poof and all these weird, weird things. And it did not make it. It was like fun, but it made it to dress rehearsal, I think.

• 54:17Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 54:17Speaker 02

  The next time we went in, we, um, we did, we figured out the thing of like, oh, we'll, we'll sing about toddlers, Model T cars. I think it just started out, we, the first song we wrote, it was going to be a bunch of different songs.

• 54:33Amy Poehler?

  And you just picked those words?

• 54:35Speaker 02

  We picked those things and we're like, what if every single one has those things? And then it became about that. But then the first time we put it up at a table read, it was like existing songs. So it was like, highway to the toddler zone.

• 54:50Amy Poehler?

  I remember that.

• 54:51Speaker 02

  Gonna, you know, drink a jar of beer with a, in a spaceship in the toddler zone. And then just, you know, and so it was probably 10 different songs that would have been the most expensive sketch of all time. So they said, get out of our face with that. So we were like, oh, let's do that because we love the concept of the, you know, the weird things. So we just wrote original songs and that was kind of how we did it.

• 55:16Amy Poehler?

  And it was Jackie and Clancy.

• 55:18Speaker 02

  Jackie Snad and Clancy T. Backlerad.

• 55:21Amy Poehler?

  That's right. And they, and you guys just sang songs and?

• 55:25Speaker 02

  About toddlers, jars of beer, um, spaceships and, wait, and Model T cars.

• 55:36Speaker 02

  That was one of the most fun to ever get to do.

• 55:41Amy Poehler?

  I remember watching that. I remember you doing it at the table and, you know, like I said, you were next to me, so it was really loud.

• 55:48Speaker 02

  Always, I'm sorry.

• 55:49Amy Poehler?

  No, it was incredible. And you and Wig were, you and Wig did so many funny things together. You're such a, like, you're just so great together. I mean, Kristen's a genius.

• 56:01Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 56:01Amy Poehler?

  But, but that one was like, felt particularly fun, because just like how you said, it kind of felt like you were, both of you felt like you were in like, your senioritis. Like, it was very like, loose and stupid and fun, that you can only get to if you've been on the show for a while. Like, you just, I don't know, you have to kind of earn it and get there. And that felt like that kind of sketch.

• 56:23Speaker 02

  It definitely was a really, that, you know, they would always say, like, you'd put stuff up and it would seem to go well at the table, and, and, and it wouldn't get picked. And they'd say, like, just wait, the, you know, when you're, when you're there for long enough, those things will start getting picked. And, and they were, it was right. It was right. Like, you know, certainly there were still a couple of times when you're like, hey, I want, you know, I deserve the old senior. And it was never, like, I, I was never, I never went in thinking like, hey, I deserve this because I'm a senior.

• 56:59Amy Poehler?

  No, you always worked very hard, every week.

• 57:00Speaker 02

  I would never want something that I thought sucked to get on. I was a part of a lot of things that sucked, by the way, that, that I, you know, probably liked myself. But, but to me, it was like, if something went well at the table read, it deserved, like, when you're in your seventh year, you deserve a shot.

• 57:17Amy Poehler?

  Yep.

• 57:19Speaker 02

  And sometimes, by the way, sometimes there'd be shows that were chock full of good stuff. And so I understand it with that. But then every once in a while, I'd be like, okay, that thing made it in. This.

• 57:31Amy Poehler?

  Oh, yeah. I mean, that was, that was a lot of it, which is like, okay, they're doing another one of those. Okay.

• 57:50Amy Poehler?

  But that sketch from beginning to end is and remains everybody's favorite. And so to end our podcast today, will you-

• 57:56Speaker 02

  Oh, can I tell one, Tina?

• 57:58Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 57:58Speaker 02

  We did so much press and I can't believe this never came up.

• 58:01Amy Poehler?

  Ooh.

• 58:01Speaker 02

  But like Tina, in the making of The Four Seasons, we all had what's called two bangers.

• 58:10Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 58:10Speaker 02

  Two banger trailers. So basically, there'd be a trailer with a wall in the middle and the toilets would be up against the wall. And so, uh, so I was, I wanted to be very extra respectful.

• 58:27Amy Poehler?

  You're very respectful.

• 58:27Speaker 02

  Like, I wanted her to know that like, I don't even know. I just want, at some point, I'm like, I just wanted you to know I'm never in there trying to listen to, you know, what's going on. If I hear that you even come close to that bathroom, I'm going-

• 58:41Amy Poehler?

  But this is an example where I know your intention is good, but you're bringing something up that no one would think. Like, no one would think that you-

• 58:51Speaker 02

  Everyone's thinking it. You kidding? Everyone's thinking it. It's so quiet in there. I can like hear if she like starts writing a letter at the far end of the trailer. It's like, oh, she's writing a letter. It's like, oh, it's a blue envelope. Yeah, you can hear everything.

• 59:06Amy Poehler?

  So you said, just so you know, I'm not trying to listen to you go in the bathroom.

• 59:10Speaker 02

  I just want you to feel comfortable. Like, if you ever go in there, I go in and I put on some music.

• 59:15Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 59:16Speaker 02

  And the door's shut.

• 59:17Amy Poehler?

  Sweet.

• 59:18Speaker 02

  I'm just not in there. And so we, so it became this joke thing. And then, and then we had a system where if we ever heard Iron Maiden, that was like, clear out of here, damage is being done. I can't believe that never came up. We just like did a full press junket. All did talk shows.

• 59:38Amy Poehler?

  We're saying it here.

• 59:39Speaker 02

  And it's like, that was like-

• 59:41Amy Poehler?

  That's actually, like, that loving care is actually what like a real marriage is like. Like, what you're just talking about, like, how you and Tina are, like, keeping each other's boundaries and also...

• 59:52Speaker 02

  I'll tell you, that was like, that was a really nice thing because like, to get to go through that experience, A, you know, forget about it with, like, the honor of getting to play Tina's husband, like, what a professionally, what a thrill.

• 1:00:07Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:07Speaker 02

  But personally, to get to have that experience, we're hanging out so much and, like, she was, you know, got to hang with my family and it was just, it was very special to go through that with her.

• 1:00:18Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, it's awesome. I loved, I loved it.

• 1:00:20Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 1:00:22Amy Poehler?

  All right, I want, but can, can you sing the glass, oh my God, I did it again. Can you sing the jar of beer? Do you remember the jar of beer song?

• 1:00:29Speaker 02

  Oh, crazy, can you take me down to spaceship camp? Does a toddler have a boiling frying egg up with a frying pan? So hop in my Model T car, look a spaceship. Toddler in a Model T car, spaceship camp. I, I forgot, I mean, I was butchering it, but it was like, I just remember also, it was like, spaceship camp, oh my God.

• 1:00:59Amy Poehler?

  Well, I love you. You're so great.

• 1:01:01Speaker 02

  I love you.

• 1:01:02Amy Poehler?

  Thank you so much for doing this.

• 1:01:04Speaker 02

  So, it is so fun.

• 1:01:05Amy Poehler?

  It's just so nice to spend time together. It's kind of like, we, we've been saying it.

• 1:01:08Speaker 02

  I barely see you anymore. We should, we should, we should, we should hang out more.

• 1:01:12Amy Poehler?

  I would love that. I would love that. I love every time I get to see you and, like, that's been the best thing about this is I get to spend like, an hour and a half talking while people watch.

• 1:01:25Amy Poehler?

  Thank you, buddy.

• 1:01:26Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 1:01:29Amy Poehler?

  Thank you so much, Will. Love you and you're just so hilarious always and love talking to you today. And, you know, Will talked about Donkey Kong and a great documentary. About Donkey Kong is called King of Kong. And I just wanted to say in The Polar Plunge, check out King of Kong. It came out maybe almost 20 years ago, but it's a documentary directed by Seth Gordon, a great director who went on to direct movies like Horrible Bosses and Identity Thief. And he actually directed a few episodes of Parks and Recreation in the early days. And it is just this incredible tale of men and their love of a particular game. So check it out.

• 1:02:12Amy Poehler?

  Check out Four Seasons and check out this podcast. See you soon. Bye. 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, Kaya McMullin, and Aleah Zanarez. For Paperkite, production by Sam Green, Joel Lovell, and Jenna Weiss-Berman. Original music by Amy Miles.

• 1:02:45Amy 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 going to 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.

• 1:03:18Speaker 06

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