Fred Armisen

Fred Armisen is not impressed with free climbers. Amy hangs with her fellow 'SNL' alum and talks about his time as a drummer for the Blue Man Group, getting paid $1 million a week at 'SNL,' and his preferred conflict style. Host: Amy PoehlerGuests: Carrie Brownstein and Fred ArmisenExecutive 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 and Devon Baroldi; 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 Visible. Live in the know. https://www.visible.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?

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• 0:38Amy Poehler?

  Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Good Hang. So excited that my old friend, my dear friend Fred Armisen, is joining me today. And it's always the best to talk to Fred. And we're going to talk about so much stuff. We're going to talk about SNL, of course. We're going to talk about how we don't like taking physical risks. We're going to talk about our different conflict styles. And we're going to talk about Wednesday, the big hit show on Netflix that he is a part of. We're going to discuss the past, the present, the future. But we have a great guest joining us to discuss Fred and how wonderful Fred is. A person who is here to talk well behind his back and give me a question to ask Fred.

• 1:20Amy Poehler?

  That person is Carrie Brownstein. She is the star of Portlandia, Sleater-Kinney. She's an actor, director, a writer, and just all around cool, awesome person. Carrie, thank you for joining us. Hi.

• 1:41Amy Poehler?

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• 2:26Amy Poehler?

  Carrie?

• 2:27Speaker 01

  Hi.

• 2:28Amy Poehler?

  Hi.

• 2:30Speaker 01

  Nice to see you. How are you?

• 2:32Amy Poehler?

  I'm great. It's so good to see you. Look at how nice your background is.

• 2:36Speaker 01

  Well, I could say the same for yours.

• 2:38Amy Poehler?

  We're talking to Fred today and we can talk about Fred forever, but I just want to talk about you for a second. I was a fan of yours long before I met you and I just remember saying to Fred, like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Carrie from Sleater-Kinney? Like, wait, that Carrie? Like, I can remember this feeling of, oh, my God, I might get a chance to meet you. But meeting you was so important to me because I thought you were so cool. I loved you. I loved your band. I loved your music. And then to find out that you are so deeply funny, talented, prolific, interesting.

• 3:16Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, I mean, I don't have a question here. I just want to say, remember that?

• 3:21Speaker 01

  Yes, I, well, I mean,

• 3:27Speaker 01

  you're right. That wasn't a question, but I will, my retort will be that I felt the same. I mean, I was such a big fan of yours. And I think Fred did. There were a lot of people I met through Fred, obviously, like so many people from SNL that I already admired.

• 3:43Amy Poehler?

  You and Fred are such partners in so many different, how do you define your relationship? How do you describe your relationship with each other?

• 3:50Speaker 01

  Now, I was thinking about this because it's not romantic. We've never had that kind of relationship. But there is something that is deeply loving in a slightly romantic way. And I mean that because it's kind of heightened in the way that romance is heightened. And so it is just a seamless, like, kind of loving, like, heart to heart.

• 4:16Speaker 01

  A platonic friendship, but it feels like family.

• 4:20Amy Poehler?

  How did you two meet?

• 4:21Speaker 01

  We differ on this slightly. The one that we definitely agree on where we hung out was, he was on SNL at this point. Later, Kenny were playing at Irving Plaza in New York. So we weren't able to go to see SNL. He invited me and the rest of my band to the show. But because, you know, we had this conflict, he said, okay, we'll just come to the after party. And it was 2003. It was Jennifer Garner and Beck were the, you know, host and musical guest. And we went to this after party and Fred came up in the way that he's always magnanimous and friendly. And he was wearing a little button with my face on it.

• 5:00Speaker 01

  Which is, you know, from someone else, that might be weird. You know, you're like, hi, nice to meet you. Oh, there I am on your shirt. But with Fred, it's just he wears both his heart and his fandom on his sleeve.

• 5:11Amy Poehler?

  Totally.

• 5:11Speaker 01

  You know, kind of literally and figuratively. I think that's why he, people just want to be around him. Cause he's just not cynical in that way. So anyway, we hung out that night and then started to just talk about collaborating. I assumed he'd want to do music and instead he had all these little like comedic shorts. He wanted to start making with me, which was very surprising and surreal, but just completely based on our friendship. It was very organic. It wasn't like, let's pitch this or let's try to do something, you know, bigger than it is. It's like, let's just hang out and make little videos. And we did that for years before Portlandia.

• 5:49Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. And with Portlandia, did you guys go in and pitch Lauren at Broadway Video?

• 5:53Speaker 01

  Well, we did. Eventually we did. I think it was Fred's manager, who then became mine, Tim Sarkis, who said, hey, you guys are really developing this chemistry. There's a whole sensibility here in this series of videos that you've done. And then you kind of have to pitch to Lorne if you're on SNL. And Fred thought, there's no way. You know, Lorne's just gonna look at this and say like, okay, good luck. Thank you. No. And instead, Lorne and Andrew Singer brought away videos and said, yeah, we'd love to be part of this. We got really lucky. And Fred was still on SNL for like the first four seasons of the show. So we made a pilot super quickly. And we basically, we said to IFC, like, you either pick this up now or we just don't do it.

• 6:37Speaker 01

  Because he's got to get back to SNL in September.

• 6:40Amy Poehler?

  Both you and Fred were musicians and reformers. You're a writer, you're a director, you're an actor. You're also, you know, you go back on tour. Like this idea that you have to be the one thing felt like Fred was the embodiment of that at SNL. Like, he showed up at the show, and I want to talk to him about it. But, you know, he was interviewing bands as a character. That's how he made his own show, basically. Playing like a very kind of rude German interviewer who didn't understand, you know, social protocol. And he would let, and he would interview musicians. And but he also was in the Blue Man Group before he was at SNL.

• 7:25Amy Poehler?

  Like, he has, yeah, there's like, kind of like, nothing he doesn't want to try. And by being around him, you feel really comfortable trying things, too.

• 7:34Speaker 01

  For sure. He is almost like the Swiss Army knife in this way where you know what the sort of familiar elements are of a Swiss Army knife, but he uses them in ways that surprise you. And I just, I can't believe all that he's capable of. I still, I'll be watching something and I'm like, there's Fred. When did he do this? Like, he's just, he's everywhere and he can do so many things. Like, when he goes on a show and just decides to do an accent from every 50 states, then you're like, oh. I didn't, like, he surprises me all the time.

• 8:07Amy Poehler?

  You're right. And I kind of want to talk to him about that, too, because why I think that bit is genius. I mean, I really do think Fred is a genius, a comedic genius. But why that bit is especially genius speaks, I think, to the bigger way that Fred participates in his work. Is he's just making a choice, like whether or not it's the best choice or the most like, he's just deciding that that's how people talk from that state. And the comfort that you get knowing that Fred has made a choice is what is funny. It's and it's the same way with any impression that he does or any comedic choice that he makes. He's just in the moment deciding, I'm going to do it like this. And it's very relaxing.

• 8:47Speaker 01

  Relaxing. He and there's just this like kindness and generosity. I think because he can be, his taste is actually kind of esoteric, but he makes the audience feel like they don't need to know that stuff, you know, it's there's something alienating about it. So when he makes a decision, a choice, as you're saying, to like, pick an accent for Alabama, it doesn't matter. People just think like, oh, that's something. I trust this because you're just making me feel okay to believe it, you know, he's just, and Fred just really, he believes in it. He believes in comedy. He believes in like connecting with people. That's very comforting.

• 9:25Amy Poehler?

  Yes, he has, he has a specific taste, but he's not a snob.

• 9:29Speaker 01

  He's not a snob. And he doesn't, he really is averse to that.

• 9:32Amy Poehler?

  And and he's one of the few people in my life that like he can do an impression of me to me, and it doesn't hurt my feelings.

• 9:40Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 9:41Amy Poehler?

  A lot of impressions, a lot of impressions are like the things that you don't want to hear people doing, that you want to be done behind your back and the hopes that, but Fred can do impressions of people to them and they feel seen, but it's got, it's, it's just as fascinating like he, he can do that.

• 9:59Speaker 01

  Fred's impression of me, he tells me he can't do my voice, but so what he does is he walks. And I didn't realize until Fred did an impression of me that I'm a trudger. I trudge. It's a weird, but it was inoffensive. And there's also something very loving about it. Like, you're like, yeah, you notice something about me that someone else doesn't. What's his impression of you?

• 10:22Amy Poehler?

  His impression of me is like asking kind of the leading question. It's kind of like a suspicious question. It's like a little, but it delights me. Like, when he does it, I just feel so like, hee hee, that's me. Like, you got it, or whatever.

• 10:37Speaker 01

  Yeah, because what he's pointing out is just that you're curious and you're, he's pointing out intelligence. Like, that's very flattering. You're like, yeah, I guess I am smart and ask really good questions. Thank you for noticing.

• 10:49Amy Poehler?

  Okay, so I asked my first guest to give a question for my second guest. And I was wondering, you probably know so much about Fred. What do you think would be a question maybe he'd want to answer? You'd want to know, or that people listening might want to know?

• 11:04Speaker 01

  We touched on this, you know, just the like, the music stuff. So I guess my question is, I would want him to describe the way that one of his musical heroes, humor, sensibility, playfulness, informed his own comedy. That's something I'm actually curious about.

• 11:23Amy Poehler?

  Such a good question.

• 11:26Speaker 01

  I just can't wait to hear your talk with Fred. So I just want to-

• 11:29Amy Poehler?

  Carrie, you're the best. Thank you so much for doing this. I really want us to deep dive soon together. I cannot wait for those live shows. I definitely want to go. That sounds so fun. And I just love spending time with you. Thank you so much for this time.

• 11:44Speaker 01

  Thank you, Amy. Take care. Good to see you.

• 11:46Amy Poehler?

  You too. Bye, Carrie.

• 11:50Amy Poehler?

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• 12:31Amy Poehler?

  Oh my god.

• 12:33Speaker 02

  Oh my god.

• 12:34Amy Poehler?

  Fred and I.

• 12:36Speaker 02

  Oh my god.

• 12:37Amy Poehler?

  We got our khaki on.

• 12:38Speaker 02

  That is really funny.

• 12:40Amy Poehler?

  I kind of, well, I'm dressing today like one of your, my favorite characters of yours, Nicholas Fain.

• 12:45Speaker 02

  Oh. But I think like we're all starting to dress like.

• 12:48Amy Poehler?

  We are.

• 12:49Speaker 02

  That.

• 12:49Amy Poehler?

  I, I feel like we, men and women are all dressing the same.

• 12:53Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 12:53Amy Poehler?

  And we're all dressing the same way.

• 12:55Speaker 02

  Yeah. I forgot what store I went to, but there was like sort of a department store where all the guys' clothes were stuff like all the colors I would like.

• 13:03Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 13:03Speaker 02

  So it's very, it felt very like.

• 13:05Amy Poehler?

  And I like to dress pretty mask in general. Like I feel safe when I'm kind of buttoned up and kind of like.

• 13:13Speaker 02

  So.

• 13:14Amy Poehler?

  Fred Armisen is here and we're, we're, we're, we both have similar colors on today.

• 13:19Speaker 02

  Yeah. Amy, I, I can't even begin. I mean, thank you so much for this. I love this.

• 13:25Amy Poehler?

  Come on.

• 13:26Speaker 02

  I'm gonna call it a show.

• 13:27Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 13:27Speaker 02

  But I love it and I can't believe it's happening. I also, I mean, you know this everywhere, like we could talk forever.

• 13:34Amy Poehler?

  I know. I don't even know what we're gonna talk about.

• 13:36Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's.

• 13:38Amy Poehler?

  I know. I was just like, I have notes and I, we were going over and I was like, I, I feel like we could, we could talk about, we could talk about talking on podcasts.

• 13:48Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 13:48Amy Poehler?

  For, for an hour and a half.

• 13:50Speaker 02

  We could. Like the tone, because people's tones do change a little bit.

• 13:54Amy Poehler?

  Fred, you are, you're probably talked about more than almost anybody on this podcast. I, I don't know if you've heard how well you've been spoken of here.

• 14:01Speaker 02

  It's really, and I, and it makes me very happy. It's flattering. It's the nicest thing. It's all people who I love and respect.

• 14:09Amy Poehler?

  Same.

• 14:09Speaker 02

  And it's, it's the best.

• 14:11Amy Poehler?

  And you were on the first Zoom that Dratchy could get her headphones on. You were nice enough to do that. Thank you. One of a million, million times you have come through and helped me out and been, and not ever been like, what is this?

• 14:26Speaker 02

  No, but that's that's easy because everything you're working on, it just seems like, oh, of course, that's gonna be great.

• 14:33Amy Poehler?

  But not everybody is like that. I mean, I want to talk about it today, but I feel like I learn a lot from the way you approach saying yes to things. And when you're actually there, you're actually there. You're actually a present person, which is pretty hard to be.

• 14:47Speaker 02

  Thank you. But it's for it's for stuff that I want to do. So that's what that's like most of the, you know, the battle of being there.

• 14:55Amy Poehler?

  But I don't even know how to start this conversation because I love it so much. I'm so excited. But, okay, I feel like you are a comedic genius. And of all the funny people, of which we know the funniest people, everybody loves you the most and says you're the funniest. And Martin Short told a really sweet anecdote on this where he made him laugh in that moment where you told him that you tricked him into thinking that he said Tony McCartney instead of Paul McCartney when he introduced Paul McCartney at the SNL 50th.

• 15:29Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 15:30Amy Poehler?

  I guess, what is it like to like make your heroes laugh?

• 15:35Speaker 02

  Well, first of all, thank you for those really kind words.

• 15:38Amy Poehler?

  Well, we need you to live up to it.

• 15:40Speaker 02

  Yeah, wait, wait till you see what I do on this. I memorized all these bits, did you? It is like, it's gonna sound like, it is a mutual thing.

• 15:53Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 15:53Speaker 02

  Like, it's a very, like, I don't, when I'm around Martin Short, I'm not like, hey, I'm gonna, it's just like, it really does feel like, he's so funny, let's just goof around. It really does feel that way.

• 16:03Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 16:04Speaker 02

  And with the Tony McCartney thing, I thought, for sure, I thought he knew, just by me talking about it, that I was joking.

• 16:12Amy Poehler?

  But did he actually get fooled for a second?

• 16:14Speaker 02

  He got fooled, yeah. Because I guess it was a very heightened moment. It's like the end, that was after Good Nights of the 50th. And so it might have just been a moment where he thought it really happened.

• 16:28Amy Poehler?

  But I, that's the thing I love about working with you and knowing you, is there's like a impish, like playful side to you that never feels mean, but feels very fun. Like, I feel like if shit went down. I want to turn to you, Fred, because I feel like if someone's yelling, or if someone's like, if something uncomfortable is happening, it's fun to turn to you. And when something, if something great is happening, it's fun to turn to you.

• 16:56Speaker 02

  Yeah, likewise. But I, but I feel like I lean on you, though, because you have a gauge of like, this is what's really happening. There is one thing you told me when I was thinking of leaving SNL. I think I'd already decided that I was leaving SNL. And you said, I didn't even ask you, but you were like, don't worry. Lauren always stays in your life. That's what I mean. It's a bigger, it's like, it's a map. It's like a little further away. And, and you just know, like, the thing to say.

• 17:28Amy Poehler?

  How many years were you on SNL?

• 17:30Speaker 02

  11.

• 17:31Amy Poehler?

  Oh, wow.

• 17:32Speaker 02

  Yeah. And I remember right at the end, I was just sort of like, you know, trying to decide, and you had already left. So I looked to you as like, what is this?

• 17:42Amy Poehler?

  I was just, I mean, there's so many things to talk about. One thing I learned today, is, is this true or is the internet wrong? That your full name is Faridum?

• 17:52Speaker 02

  Faridun.

• 17:53Amy Poehler?

  Faridun.

• 17:53Speaker 02

  Yeah, that's my given name.

• 17:55Amy Poehler?

  Faridun.

• 17:56Speaker 02

  Yeah, Faridun.

• 17:56Amy Poehler?

  And it is your father's name?

• 17:58Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 17:59Amy Poehler?

  And it is a Iranian name?

• 18:01Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 18:01Amy Poehler?

  But he is German?

• 18:03Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 18:03Amy Poehler?

  And Korean?

• 18:04Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 18:05Amy Poehler?

  Why does he have an Iranian name?

• 18:06Speaker 02

  Because his mom in Germany was dating a Persian man at the time, when she got pregnant, not by him.

• 18:15Amy Poehler?

  So she gave her child her boyfriend's name?

• 18:17Speaker 02

  Yeah, he, or he chimed in on what his name should be. There were, there were Persian workers in Germany at the time. And, you know, even though it wasn't his baby, she was like, what should I call this kid? And he was like, he, he came up with that name.

• 18:35Amy Poehler?

  You have German descent, Korean descent.

• 18:38Speaker 02

  Venezuela.

• 18:38Amy Poehler?

  Mama's from Venezuela, like, and you have an Iranian name, even though you don't have any Persian, like, that is, that's you in a nutshell.

• 18:46Speaker 02

  That's crazy.

• 18:47Amy Poehler?

  I know. And so then you, you were just called Fred from when you were a little kid?

• 18:51Speaker 02

  Yeah, and my dad was as well. When I say it was crazy, I'm not, I'm not talking about myself like I'm like amazed, like, yeah, it's crazy. I mean more that learning the history of what I thought Germany was like, that there were immigrants there and foreign workers, you know, that things are just more complex than I ever learned originally. Or that- There was racism against Koreans in Japan.

• 19:15Amy Poehler?

  Right.

• 19:15Speaker 02

  I had no idea.

• 19:16Amy Poehler?

  And much like Andy Samberg, who was on here talking about how he did his roots. When you did your roots, you found out that you always thought that your dad was Japanese and you found out that his relatives were Japanese.

• 19:27Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 19:28Amy Poehler?

  You found out they were Korean.

• 19:29Speaker 02

  Yeah. It was, I was in this room for four hours, you know, as they're opening these books and and it really feels at first, it is disbelief, like this cannot be true. Have you done it?

• 19:41Amy Poehler?

  No, because I'm Irish, white, it's not gonna go well. I mean, there's no way.

• 19:46Speaker 02

  You'll be surprised. You'll be surprised and that's like, that's also their job.

• 19:50Amy Poehler?

  Yes, I will be surprised. And I mean, they're just, it's never gonna go back to something good.

• 19:55Speaker 02

  What if you're full-blooded Canadian?

• 19:57Amy Poehler?

  And people would be, I'd be like, no way, my relatives are from Canada? But when you were growing up, you have German and Korean dad, what you thought was Japanese, but Korean. You have Venezuelan mom. How did you identify, culturally?

• 20:12Speaker 02

  Venezuelan.

• 20:12Amy Poehler?

  Venezuelan.

• 20:13Speaker 02

  Uh, my dad's from East Germany, which means that it was communist Germany at the time. So we had no relatives around us.

• 20:20Amy Poehler?

  Right.

• 20:21Speaker 02

  And with Venezuela, the relatives are over all the time. We were traveling there, so it was a distant relationship with Germany.

• 20:29Amy Poehler?

  And you could speak, you were like, could speak Spanish from when you were young? Like you just learned, your mom speaks Spanish in the home?

• 20:35Speaker 02

  That was a lucky thing.

• 20:36Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 20:37Speaker 02

  Because at the time, I didn't appreciate it.

• 20:39Amy Poehler?

  Of course.

• 20:40Speaker 02

  What is this?

• 20:41Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 20:41Speaker 02

  And then now it's just like, it's such a gift.

• 20:44Amy Poehler?

  And also like, you know, a lot of like first, you know, uh, first generation like didn't always speak there. They wanted to speak English in the home to try to, but your mom spoke both.

• 20:55Speaker 02

  She did.

• 20:56Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 20:56Speaker 02

  And she kept it going.

• 20:57Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 20:57Speaker 02

  Thankfully. And I still write to her, like if there are things that I'm like, what is the Spanish word for this? It's great. She, she's helped me, a lot of SNL stuff, a lot of cold opens and stuff.

• 21:07Amy Poehler?

  One of the nice things about working at SNL is like, you just meet people's parents. Because over the years, like they come to the show, like you're just like, you see.

• 21:16Speaker 02

  Like when you were talking about the name Polar, I pictured your dad. And he's always like, he's got like a smirk.

• 21:22Amy Poehler?

  Oh, my God.

• 21:23Speaker 02

  He's always like.

• 21:23Amy Poehler?

  My dad, my parents are such fans of Fred Armisen.

• 21:26Speaker 02

  Well, I'm a fan of theirs.

• 21:27Amy Poehler?

  And we, we always had our relatives there and like, we were always hosting family and it was like you would. Go to sit at the table and your mom, who I have such warm feelings for when I think about is, you guys look a lot alike.

• 21:41Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 21:42Amy Poehler?

  Like, really, she, you kind of have her face.

• 21:45Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 21:46Amy Poehler?

  But you so, okay, so Freddie, little Freddie, growing up in?

• 21:51Speaker 02

  Long Island a little bit and then Brazil a little bit.

• 21:54Amy Poehler?

  Right.

• 21:55Speaker 02

  For a couple of years.

• 21:56Amy Poehler?

  Couple of years in Brazil.

• 21:58Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 21:58Amy Poehler?

  How old when you went to Brazil?

• 22:00Speaker 02

  Uh, I was, that was like first, second, uh, second and third grade.

• 22:04Amy Poehler?

  Okay, so do you remember what it was like?

• 22:06Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 22:07Amy Poehler?

  Arriving in Brazil, what it was like?

• 22:09Speaker 02

  I just wanted to be, I was homesick.

• 22:10Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 22:11Speaker 02

  So now I can color the story with like, oh, it was so exotic and there were drums everywhere, but at the time I just wanted to like, I just wanted to be with my friends.

• 22:21Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 22:22Speaker 02

  Back in Long Island.

• 22:23Amy Poehler?

  It's so true, though. You're right. Like, we look back at stuff and we're like, it was such an amazing experience. And like, when, when I would travel, I'd be like, this food is weird. I hate this place.

• 22:33Speaker 02

  The word hate got used so much. I hate it. I hate, I must have said that most of the time. I hate it here.

• 22:41Amy Poehler?

  Were you sad when you had to move back? Or like, had you gotten used to it?

• 22:45Speaker 02

  I had gotten used to it, but I don't know if I was sad. I think I was okay moving back.

• 22:48Amy Poehler?

  You were ready to go back?

• 22:49Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 22:49Amy Poehler?

  So then you go back to Long Island. Then you think about going to college for visual arts.

• 22:54Speaker 02

  Yeah, that took a while. That, that was more like, went back to, uh, um, Long Island, went to high school there.

• 23:02Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 23:03Speaker 02

  And then I really had it in my head that I wanted to be in a band.

• 23:06Amy Poehler?

  Hmm.

• 23:07Speaker 02

  So the common way to go is to go to art school. So then.

• 23:12Amy Poehler?

  Why is, why is it a common way to get into bands to go to art school? You just want to be around artists and just like?

• 23:17Speaker 02

  Yeah, like all my favorites. That was Talking Heads, The Beatles were all like, art school. I don't know what it is like, but I'm glad I did it. I mean.

• 23:25Amy Poehler?

  Did you, did you think you were gonna be like, was like a medium that you were into working with? Like, did you, were you painting or?

• 23:32Speaker 02

  You know what?

• 23:33Amy Poehler?

  Photography?

• 23:33Speaker 02

  It was, it was, I went for film.

• 23:35Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 23:36Speaker 02

  And to be honest, oh, people say it to be honest so much. I hate that I just said that.

• 23:40Amy Poehler?

  Oh, my God. Everything I say on this podcast, I hate. To be honest.

• 23:44Speaker 02

  I don't think I was really drawn to it because I went to school with like filmmakers.

• 23:49Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 23:50Speaker 02

  And they would talk about it so much. And I'd be like, why are we actually talking about this? They would talk about editing and I'm like, we're supposed to get good grades, but we're not supposed to like.

• 23:59Amy Poehler?

  Talk all day about this stuff.

• 24:00Speaker 02

  And that's the difference in, in like. A passion for doing something. I thought it was like, no, we're just going to art school to be in art school and.

• 24:08Amy Poehler?

  That's so true. That's such a good distinction is you realize you don't have a passion for something when you see other people wanting to spend all day, every day doing it. And you're like, we're gonna do other things, right?

• 24:18Speaker 02

  Yeah. That was exactly that.

• 24:21Amy Poehler?

  And so then you meet your bandmates.

• 24:23Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 24:24Amy Poehler?

  At art school.

• 24:25Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 24:26Amy Poehler?

  And you're in a band called?

• 24:27Speaker 02

  Trench Mouth.

• 24:28Amy Poehler?

  And Trench Mouth is like, what, 1988 Chicago?

• 24:32Speaker 02

  That's right. More like 89, 90 was when it like really took, took shape.

• 24:40Amy Poehler?

  So let's, just for the heck of it, let's listen to a little Trench Mouth.

• 24:43Speaker 02

  Let's go back.

• 24:45Amy Poehler?

  Let's go back. Do you still remember how to play this?

• 24:47Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 24:56Amy Poehler?

  This photo of you guys is so of this era. You guys are all in front of a, you're a VW, in front of a VW van and just being like.

• 25:04Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 25:06Amy Poehler?

  I don't even know how we got here.

• 25:07Speaker 02

  We loved being on tour.

• 25:08Amy Poehler?

  Okay, what was it like?

• 25:09Speaker 02

  We loved that van.

• 25:10Amy Poehler?

  What was it like playing? Like, was that feeling?

• 25:12Speaker 02

  The feeling was like, it's like a campaign. Like, we're gonna do it. We're gonna drop our jobs. We're gonna do it. This band did it. This band did it. Go. What's the gig? Des Moines, Iowa? Great.

• 25:24Amy Poehler?

  Mm-hmm.

• 25:25Speaker 02

  No money? Fine. Go, go, go. Fill the tank. You know, we kept the van running and clean and.

• 25:32Amy Poehler?

  Right.

• 25:32Speaker 02

  It was like being Boy Scouts and, you know, packing up the drums. Come on, come on. Lifting and putting things on. What time are we going on? Hey, let's all dress in black for this. Great. Let's all dress in white. Great.

• 25:45Amy Poehler?

  The energy, like.

• 25:46Speaker 02

  The energy of, mm, like it's us.

• 25:49Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 25:50Speaker 02

  How'd you like that? They were awesome. Let's exchange information with them. Didn't like that band so much. That's okay. They're lame. I don't want to be like them.

• 25:56Amy Poehler?

  Right.

• 25:56Speaker 02

  A lot of like, looking up to bands. Like, that's the way to go.

• 26:00Amy Poehler?

  Who were you looking up to at the time?

• 26:02Speaker 02

  Lungfish, No Means No, Fugazi, Jawbox, Nation of Ulysses. We looked up at these, like, we, they, because they were also really like possessed. They were possessed with this thing.

• 26:16Amy Poehler?

  Mm-hmm.

• 26:16Speaker 02

  How much longer can we be on the road? Go, go. It was just this. And then playing, as you hear with this music. Everything, come on, there's a change here, another change, and louder. And everything was kind of mathematical. This wasn't like jam out music.

• 26:31Amy Poehler?

  Right.

• 26:32Speaker 02

  Let's enjoy. How about something, there was no groove.

• 26:36Amy Poehler?

  I laugh and I love that, like, the feelings that I remember in that, at that age, where you would argue about like something for hours. Like you had the luxury of time.

• 26:48Speaker 02

  Oh, yes.

• 26:48Amy Poehler?

  Like you just would just like, you know, I remember thinking about like jokes we would write or whatever and would, we'd just spend hours.

• 26:55Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 26:55Amy Poehler?

  Talking about it and it was so important and it was so important. And like just the energy of getting everything right.

• 27:02Speaker 02

  God, that.

• 27:03Amy Poehler?

  Did you guys have like?

• 27:04Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 27:05Amy Poehler?

  Were you an arguing band?

• 27:07Speaker 02

  Oh, you know, a couple of normal.

• 27:08Amy Poehler?

  Sure.

• 27:09Speaker 02

  Arguments, but what you're talking about, about those discussions, they would go into the night. Well, as it's getting dark, as we're driving, everything's getting dark and we're still like, but that's not, that's not what punk is then. Or by your definition, that's not what it is. Well, that's not what I'm saying. And then silence and then endless, endless and into, you know, I get like that, the feeling it's giving me now of like, I remember that like, it's like you have a flag in your head and you're like, no, this is the way it's got to be.

• 27:38Amy Poehler?

  Yes, and very like, I mean, so much of it, I feel like in your twenties is like rejecting some version that you think if you're not careful, you'll turn into.

• 27:47Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 27:47Amy Poehler?

  And playing punk is such a true expression of that, of like being like, I'm not going to be that person.

• 27:53Speaker 02

  Absolutely.

• 27:53Amy Poehler?

  I always find that interesting that like bands have to keep reinvesting in the band like every couple of years, like, and I can relate because it felt that way with like sketch, like you were in a group and you were like, no, let's, and then, you know, certain people would like get opportunities and you'd have to decide like, no, I'm doubling down, I'm staying with the band. And then you'd see other success happening and you'd think like. It's because we're not like, it was like, we need to be more committed for that success to happen, but sometimes that isn't always the case. It's so.

• 28:28Speaker 02

  It's exactly that. That's so funny. So you went through the same thing.

• 28:31Amy Poehler?

  I did with UCB because we had to, you know, we were like, you know, we were like doing shows and people were trying to, you know, cherry pick us or like, and you had to just keep like, you had to just keep like renewing the contract.

• 28:43Speaker 02

  Yeah, or renewing the goal.

• 28:45Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, renewing it all.

• 28:46Speaker 02

  Now, as long as we're this, now if we get on this label or whatever.

• 28:49Amy Poehler?

  And we were in Chicago at the same time, like all that, like Smashing Pumpkins, Liz Phair, like, ah, so cool.

• 28:54Speaker 02

  So cool.

• 28:59Amy Poehler?

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• 29:40Amy Poehler?

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• 30:22Amy Poehler?

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• 31:04Amy Poehler?

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• 31:34Amy Poehler?

  Okay, so you're there, you're in the band, you're like, we're close, but we're not quite there yet. Then you, how does joining Blue Man Group happen?

• 31:44Speaker 02

  Oh.

• 31:46Speaker 02

  Well, you know, I have to give credit to my wife at the time, Sally. She's in this band, the Mecans. And she was kind of a little bit like, if you're gonna do stuff, you have to sort of open up to not just being in this one band. They were coming to Chicago and I auditioned, I went to this rehearsal space.

• 32:08Amy Poehler?

  What was it, were you just drumming for the audition, is that all? Did you have to do anything else?

• 32:12Speaker 02

  I was drumming and they were like, there were other musicians there kind of playing. And they were, they did a thing where they're like, do a fill, but don't end on the one. So usually, you know, you do a fill and it's like a resolve that's very predictable. They're like, make it a little, which is kind of like what Trench Mouth was like anyway. It was a little jagged. So then I got it. Then they, they had a series of drummers, different rotations of bands.

• 32:42Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 32:42Speaker 02

  And. It was like my first showbiz paycheck.

• 32:46Amy Poehler?

  What was it like, like how, was it like a Broadway run? You had to be performing all the time? Did you, you rotated?

• 32:52Speaker 02

  The, I rotated. So there was a full-time drummer and I would, I would play like two or three shows a week or something. Out of whatever, eight. What was it like? It was fantastic.

• 33:00Amy Poehler?

  What was your favorite part? I've never, I never saw the Blue Man Group, but I was, they were such a big.

• 33:04Speaker 02

  Oh, we'll pull it up.

• 33:06Amy Poehler?

  Let's pull it up. Is there footage of you in the Blue Man Group? I wonder.

• 33:10Speaker 02

  I wonder.

• 33:11Amy Poehler?

  But what was your favorite part of the show? You know how like, it's always like, oh, I like that song. Oh, I like that moment.

• 33:16Speaker 02

  Oh, the, the opening. So like, uh, the opening, like, the first, there's just three blue men on these paint drums and they do their own thing. And then the band kicks in when they're done and it's, it was great. Cause it, we were lit by blue, you know, those black light.

• 33:30Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 33:31Speaker 02

  And so we had like stick figure drawings on us, on our costumes and uh, there's a stick player, a zither player. So we'd start playing and that was just like, it really felt like a big, a proper beginning of a show.

• 33:44Amy Poehler?

  Mm-hmm.

• 33:44Speaker 02

  Very loud. Huge drum kit, huge.

• 33:48Amy Poehler?

  Really?

• 33:48Speaker 02

  Yeah, I went through training for it. I trained a little bit in Boston, in New York and, uh, it made my drumming better. It was really frenetic and crazy and I really loved it. I, I learned a lot.

• 34:01Amy Poehler?

  And the dumb question, but like, is like, what was the makeup application and removal like?

• 34:07Speaker 02

  Well, for me.

• 34:08Amy Poehler?

  For people who don't remember, you had to paint yourself blue.

• 34:10Speaker 02

  Yeah, uh, but the band didn't. The band we had, we had like, we painted like stick, yeah, like sort of, you know, on our hands and like.

• 34:19Amy Poehler?

  But easy to get off.

• 34:20Speaker 02

  Easy to get off with, with water. The Blue Men had like a bald cap that went over their ears.

• 34:26Amy Poehler?

  Uh-huh.

• 34:27Speaker 02

  And layers of like glow in the dark paint, then blue paint.

• 34:30Amy Poehler?

  Wow.

• 34:30Speaker 02

  And they had a lot. They had like blue gloves on. They, that was a real ordeal. And then the rest of the time, they would walk around with like, they'd always have a little blue in their nose and ears. And they were like interesting people, you know? They're like all kind of, I would say like juggler, performance artist, athlete, those types, like those.

• 34:53Speaker 02

  Perfect, you know, like perfectly fit people.

• 34:56Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 34:57Speaker 02

  Who also drummed. So they were really great to be around.

• 35:00Amy Poehler?

  OK, so then you do that. And then there's so much that happens after that. But you create this video series, that pre-SNL, that is a version of a character that you played interviewing musicians. And you kind of play this hilarious, German interviewer who knows nothing about the bands.

• 35:24Speaker 02

  Yeah, or is very mean to bands.

• 35:26Amy Poehler?

  That's right.

• 35:26Speaker 02

  Because we experienced it all the time. And I don't think they meant to be mean. I think they just, that's their, where they are, is that they would always tell us how poorly we were doing. You know, they'd always say like, oh, your group is not so good. Fugazi was here a week ago and it was very crowded and that's not so crowded today. And it was just based on that.

• 35:45Amy Poehler?

  It was so genius because it didn't, it didn't expect much of the musicians. Like the musicians could just kind of play it real. And you were steering, like, you were doing the comedy, basically. But what was so fun is watching all these musicians who, and realizing that a lot of them were very naturally funny.

• 36:03Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 36:04Amy Poehler?

  Like, that was so fun, is watching them make choices with your character.

• 36:09Speaker 02

  Yes. Steve Albini did it, a bunch of people, Bob from Pavement. Yeah, it was, I just put a video together in.

• 36:19Amy Poehler?

  I mean, that was back when you just like filmed it and made a.

• 36:22Speaker 02

  Asked someone to edit it. Can you edit this? No concept of money.

• 36:26Amy Poehler?

  I don't even know.

• 36:26Speaker 02

  You know, just like, can you do it? Yeah. And then they did it.

• 36:29Amy Poehler?

  And then they give it back to you and you carried it around.

• 36:31Speaker 02

  Thank you. And then that's, that's what existed.

• 36:33Amy Poehler?

  I mean, to like age us, I don't know if this was like, when you started in 2003, but in 2001 at SNL, there were still, when we wanted to do an impression, you'd have to go.

• 36:45Speaker 02

  VHS.

• 36:46Amy Poehler?

  Get a VHS tape.

• 36:47Speaker 02

  Yep. Can you believe it?

• 36:49Amy Poehler?

  No. And they'd tape it off the Today Show or TV. And then you'd get a big bulky tape that you would. And you put in a VCR and you'd watch like six minutes of whatever thing that they had and they'd have tapes and tapes of of people that you were impersonating.

• 37:04Speaker 02

  This is so funny talking to you about all this because I've you don't need to put this in, but like I've known you for so long.

• 37:10Amy Poehler?

  I know.

• 37:10Speaker 02

  And to talk about Blue Man Group actually makes me like it jumps like a track in my head of like, oh, yeah, we've never talked about Blue Man Group.

• 37:20Amy Poehler?

  We've never talked about it. We talked about it very briefly, but everybody's road to where they get is so circuitous, like one different, one different change and we're not where we are. But I would say, Freddie, more than anyone I know, you know that every day. Like you really know every day. I can't believe I got here. Like you say it.

• 37:41Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 37:41Amy Poehler?

  You live your life that way.

• 37:43Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 37:44Amy Poehler?

  Like, like, what, like, what are we doing here?

• 37:48Speaker 02

  Every bit of it.

• 37:48Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 37:49Speaker 02

  Standing on that stage, uh, auditioning for SNL, that already felt like this is insane. That whatever from Blue Man Group to be here in front of Tina.

• 38:02Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. How did you get the audition?

• 38:04Speaker 02

  Through, um, Marcy Klein.

• 38:06Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 38:06Speaker 02

  She found.

• 38:07Amy Poehler?

  A producer on the show, Marcy Klein.

• 38:08Speaker 02

  She found a video of like all the stuff that I'd done.

• 38:12Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 38:12Speaker 02

  And she showed, she made Lauren watch it. And then they called me in.

• 38:17Amy Poehler?

  Wow.

• 38:18Speaker 02

  Insane.

• 38:19Amy Poehler?

  And you were like, you know, thirty, what, when you auditioned?

• 38:24Speaker 02

  Three, thirty-two, thirty-two, thirty-three.

• 38:26Amy Poehler?

  And I was thirty when I got the show. And I, I just wonder, like, there's something about having a little bit of life before that really helped.

• 38:35Speaker 02

  I appreciated it so much because also because I'd been through being in the band.

• 38:39Amy Poehler?

  Right.

• 38:40Speaker 02

  For so long, so that I, I, I mean it, like, it all felt like icing. The whole thing felt like, ah, this is, I was just in the van, you know, like.

• 38:49Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 38:50Speaker 02

  Whatever. Maybe five years before that, it felt very like, ah, this is all, even with like, the money part of it.

• 38:58Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 38:59Speaker 02

  Where some people would say like, that's not a lot to get paid for your first year. I was like, are you kidding me? To me, it was so much money.

• 39:06Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 39:07Speaker 02

  To me, it felt like a million dollars.

• 39:08Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 39:09Speaker 02

  And it was a million dollars.

• 39:10Amy Poehler?

  And it was a million dollars. Fred insisted on a million dollars a week and it almost took the show down.

• 39:15Speaker 02

  I asked, but I asked really nicely. I was like, please, come on, come on. Give me a break.

• 39:19Amy Poehler?

  Come on, man.

• 39:20Speaker 02

  Come on, Lauren, give me a break. Come on, it's just me.

• 39:23Amy Poehler?

  It's me, your friend Fred.

• 39:24Speaker 02

  What are you spending? Come on. Lauren, look at me. Buddy.

• 39:32Amy Poehler?

  And you're like, all right. I feel like a lot of people that got on SNL have like evidence when they were younger of like, see you on SNL or like writing in their journals. Like, was it a dream growing up? Did you watch the show and think, I want to be on it?

• 39:45Speaker 02

  The relationship I had to SNL was I watched it all the time.

• 39:49Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 39:50Speaker 02

  But I really connected to the B-52s and Devo and Talking Heads like, and I'm not saying it in a way that's like, hey, I just only like the bands. I'm saying that like Lauren was communicating with me, these bands that he had on, I did feel like I, there's something I understood about the show. And then like Mr. Bill and every like the sketches, but also like the bands on there. I was like, that must be fun.

• 40:15Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 40:16Speaker 02

  That's kind of was like, and then as the years went on, when Mike Myers was on, was more of a like, I felt like that was a direct message of like, there's gotta be some way to, I felt like we were speaking the same language.

• 40:33Amy Poehler?

  Ooh, have you ever told Mike Myers that?

• 40:35Speaker 02

  I think I might have told him.

• 40:36Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 40:37Speaker 02

  Um, but.

• 40:39Amy Poehler?

  It's a good way to put it.

• 40:40Speaker 02

  Yeah, like that sketch, Sprockets.

• 40:43Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 40:43Speaker 02

  Was a, a favorite sketch of mine before I'd even seen it. Someone described it and I was like, what is going on over there?

• 40:50Amy Poehler?

  So then you make, you're on SNL, you, you like, some of my most fond memories of being on that show is doing bits with you when we weren't on, when we weren't on camera. And the in-between-ness of that job, like, I'll never have anything like it. The, talk about luxury of time, like just the amount of time wasted, not even wasted, amount of time, the amount of time like thinking about sketches and talking about stuff and fucking around, basically, which is like the most, which is like, that was the preciousness of it.

• 41:29Speaker 02

  Oh, that's the, the best. I have a million memories of it too. And of you. It's for me to even describe bits you've done. It doesn't do it justice.

• 41:37Amy Poehler?

  I just, I know, I was gonna describe all your bits and that was like, it's like inside jokey.

• 41:41Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's like too difficult to even, but I remember like voices and faces you've done. Who knows where, in some dressing room somewhere for no reason. And it's the funniest times of my life.

• 41:52Amy Poehler?

  Same, and, and what I love about and always loved about playing around with you is,

• 41:59Amy Poehler?

  and I'm just gonna say it Freddie, I do think that you and I share this, which is we definitely liked,

• 42:08Amy Poehler?

  we wanted to not forget that we were having a good time. Like we really, it matters to us. It matters to us that we don't forget the joy part in all of the other hard stuff. We don't love a complainer.

• 42:22Speaker 02

  No.

• 42:23Amy Poehler?

  You and I do not love a complainer.

• 42:24Speaker 02

  That's a real crime.

• 42:26Amy Poehler?

  If SNL's a microcosm of life, you can spend your whole life figuring out what you don't have. You can, you can, it doesn't matter how much you have, you can focus on what you don't have.

• 42:34Speaker 02

  You sure can.

• 42:35Amy Poehler?

  And the more you talk about what you don't have, like the more you.

• 42:38Speaker 02

  It's wild.

• 42:38Amy Poehler?

  I know.

• 42:40Speaker 02

  I've met some real complainers.

• 42:41Amy Poehler?

  Me too.

• 42:42Speaker 02

  And it's really shocking.

• 42:44Amy Poehler?

  It is really interesting when I'm complaining, cause we always, we all complain. But when I find myself complaining, I'm like, ooh, something's off.

• 42:54Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 42:55Amy Poehler?

  Something's off, like not other people, I'm off.

• 42:58Speaker 02

  I'm trying to get better at spotting it, cause sometimes you fool yourself into, you, you, but this isn't really a complaint, and like, well, that might actually be a complaint.

• 43:07Amy Poehler?

  But I don't think of you, I don't think of you as conflict diverse, but you don't love conflict.

• 43:12Speaker 02

  No.

• 43:12Amy Poehler?

  So, let's say you're doing, let's say you're getting ready for your tour and like, the light is, like, the lights aren't working the way you want them to work and you don't, and you're like, hey, can we adjust the lights and it still isn't working? What do you do next?

• 43:28Speaker 02

  Um, I, let's say.

• 43:33Amy Poehler?

  So Fred, you have a very intense light show. And you're like, here's how the lights go. And then you've run it and the lights aren't working. And you're like, okay, and then, okay, I'm just gonna talk out this thought experiment. And then the show happened and you're like, just make sure that the blues come up at the right time. They don't. What do you do?

• 43:52Speaker 02

  Oh, well, if it's hour to hour, day to day, it's gone. It's, I really do feel, treat it like a page that's turned. I'm like, oh, that didn't work out. But to your point, let's say if I'm being asked too much. You okay? All good?

• 44:08Amy Poehler?

  See, we're very-

• 44:09Speaker 02

  You know, and I'm like,

• 44:12Speaker 02

  how do you tell someone?

• 44:13Amy Poehler?

  I know exactly, because I've done it.

• 44:16Amy Poehler?

  This is where Fred and I are a little different. I've said, I'm, notice you're asking me a lot. I, Fred hates this. This is where, because I, you hate, I don't think you like this, this direct conflict.

• 44:30Speaker 02

  I had, I envy it. I wish I could do it.

• 44:33Amy Poehler?

  I wish I could be a little less direct, because sometimes I feel like it comes on too strong. But I would say, I'm noticing that you're asking, Fred's so uncomfortable.

• 44:43Amy Poehler?

  I've, I've said, like, okay, I think about it like when I'm in, like, when getting my,

• 44:49Amy Poehler?

  let's say you're getting your hair, like, I'm getting my hair done for a scene. And, you know, if you're doing, like, if you're doing a couple of days on a new show, that, new people, they don't exactly know what you like, and they're trying to, like, you know, figure out, like, or they're giving you a hairdo or whatever. I've had very nice people be like, just checking in. Do you like, is this working? You know, and I'll say, I notice that you're asking a lot. I promise you, I won't suffer if I don't like something. You'll know. If I don't like something, I'll let you know. But I have to nip it in the bud because it makes me insane. Because are you okay? Are you okay? Are you mad? Are you okay? It makes me nuts. It makes you nuts, too. But what do you do instead?

• 45:30Speaker 02

  For me, I just sort of, I know that, I know that it's temporary. And I think, well, the next tour, that person isn't, they'll be on, they'll be doing that to somebody else. And maybe that other person loves it. I'm not saying that the way that I do it is correct.

• 45:43Amy Poehler?

  Same.

• 45:44Speaker 02

  I just sort of gently, like, if it's like on water, like, the little boat just goes the other way.

• 45:51Amy Poehler?

  And you go, shh, shh.

• 45:53Speaker 02

  I'm okay. Now I'm okay. And then they, then they're off.

• 45:57Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 45:58Speaker 02

  But I'm like, I can get my own things. I can get my water. I can get

• 46:03Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 46:04Speaker 02

  to be asked if, you know.

• 46:06Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 46:07Speaker 02

  But now, now that sounded like complaining. That was very complaining of me.

• 46:10Amy Poehler?

  No, that was not complaining of you. You, I, you never, ever complained. That would be a funny sketch you should have done where you were like the head of the complaint department. And you were like, what?

• 46:19Speaker 02

  Are you joking?

• 46:20Amy Poehler?

  You have a complaint?

• 46:21Speaker 02

  You got a job in show business? And there's a problem of some kind?

• 46:27Amy Poehler?

  God, it's true, though. And that's what's fun about working at a place like SNL is you have someone come through. Every week is a new guest. They're really vulnerable. When people are vulnerable, they're kind of, they're like, a lot of stuff comes up. And when people are scared, they get, they act all different kinds of ways. And you kind of see like this very human moment where people feel vulnerable and sometimes they misbehave.

• 46:53Speaker 02

  Oh, yes.

• 46:54Amy Poehler?

  And it's like, woo hoo hoo. And also often they're, often they're great.

• 47:00Amy Poehler?

  Often they're great.

• 47:00Speaker 02

  You don't have to put this in. You probably won't, but you, your reaction to some hosts, oh my god. It's delicious. It's the best thing in the world. Like, you really.

• 47:10Amy Poehler?

  I just, I'm like.

• 47:11Speaker 02

  You said this, not even like, actually, and you're not insulting to them.

• 47:16Amy Poehler?

  Never.

• 47:16Speaker 02

  In a, in a way that is so good. You're like, no, no.

• 47:22Speaker 02

  And I'm like, oh, that's exactly what's happening.

• 47:25Amy Poehler?

  I mean, people are audacious.

• 47:28Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 47:29Amy Poehler?

  Outrageous.

• 47:29Speaker 02

  Outrageous.

• 47:31Amy Poehler?

  I mean.

• 47:32Speaker 02

  And people ask it like in interviews, like, who's been the worst host of best? And I always keep it.

• 47:36Amy Poehler?

  Same. I would.

• 47:37Speaker 02

  Well, what am I gonna?

• 47:38Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, that's the most low hanging, like.

• 47:40Speaker 02

  Why?

• 47:40Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, why would I ever say that? But I have a lot of thoughts.

• 47:44Speaker 02

  Yeah, oh, yeah.

• 47:45Amy Poehler?

  I have a lot of thoughts. And I do, I, I mean, I've actually tried to work on it because I, like, that's my stuff is like, I like to be like paying attention to like, detective-y, like, you know, like, hmm, like, I hate that part of myself that's very like. You did it right, you did it wrong, but.

• 48:03Speaker 02

  No, little.

• 48:04Amy Poehler?

  I pay attention.

• 48:05Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, you do.

• 48:06Amy Poehler?

  And I, and I won't for, like, I remember, I'm like, I remember that you were not very nice, or I remember that you were very late.

• 48:13Speaker 02

  Tina has a good memory for that stuff, too.

• 48:15Amy Poehler?

  Tina, Tina, that's Tina and I, that were like yummy food, which like yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum. That's our favorite food, like, yum, yum, yum. Oh, we love it so much. And that's what I mean is bad behavior is sometimes kind of fun because I'm like, holy shit. My favorite feeling sometimes in the world is when someone's acting badly and you can feel everybody else like watching them and just like, I can't wait to talk about this.

• 48:41Speaker 02

  It's like telepathy and, and it's almost like everyone's waiting for the moment to be done. Like, everyone's like, let this finish out.

• 48:47Amy Poehler?

  And there's a little electricity. And no one's looking at each other. Everyone's like.

• 48:53Amy Poehler?

  And you're just like, I'm just trying to remember every moment.

• 48:55Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 48:55Amy Poehler?

  So I can, I know.

• 48:56Speaker 02

  And try to have like a face that's like, oh, and then.

• 48:59Amy Poehler?

  I know, but I've, but in general, like, and I think you would say the same thing, like every, I found people to be awesome to work with and like.

• 49:06Speaker 02

  Incredible.

• 49:07Amy Poehler?

  Who did you meet on SNL that like you just think about now and you're just like, they just met what you thought they'd be like, like you just, you think about them and love them.

• 49:16Speaker 02

  Do you, do you mean like, uh, hosts?

• 49:18Amy Poehler?

  Anyone, hosts or people that came in to do a bit or old cast members. Oh, like, for example, I'll, I'll, I'll give you one right now. Like, I didn't really know Lorraine Newman that well.

• 49:28Speaker 02

  Oh, she's great.

• 49:29Amy Poehler?

  And hung out with her at the 50th. Fuck, she's so cool. I mean.

• 49:33Speaker 02

  So cool.

• 49:34Amy Poehler?

  I knew she would be cool and I didn't really get a chance very much to talk to her over the years and she's the fucking coolest.

• 49:40Speaker 02

  She is the coolest.

• 49:41Amy Poehler?

  Excuse my language.

• 49:43Speaker 02

  That's okay. Um, Lorne?

• 49:45Amy Poehler?

  Yes. You and Lorne had a really, you have a very sweet relationship. How would you define it? How would you explain it?

• 49:54Speaker 02

  I think he's a fan as well. When, whenever he describes, cause I grill him all the time on musical guests. He is, he, you know how some people are like, I don't know what you're talking about?

• 50:05Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 50:05Speaker 02

  He knows what I'm talking about.

• 50:06Amy Poehler?

  Mm hmm. Who do you talk, like, I mean, there's, there was an amazing Questlove, um, doc about all the musical guests. But if you can remember, like, who were like the, you know, I, I'm thinking of like Elvis Costello's performance.

• 50:22Speaker 02

  The specials was the best thing I've ever seen of a musical guest. Cause for me.

• 50:30Speaker 02

  I'm from Long Island, you know, so we were like Long Island and I had kind of like longer hair and these guys with these little suits and crew cuts. This like energetic band running off the stage when they were done, I that really.

• 50:44Amy Poehler?

  Hold on, I want to watch it again with you right now. I have a laptop.

• 50:49Speaker 02

  I've watched it so much. There's a song called Gangsters that I wonder if you'll find it.

• 50:53Amy Poehler?

  It's right here.

• 50:54Speaker 02

  Look at the drummer. It's like back straight.

• 51:01Speaker 02

  Jumping around.

• 51:03Amy Poehler?

  Holding a machine gun.

• 51:08Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, they're so cool. Did you like drummers that played like this?

• 51:11Speaker 02

  Yeah, I like Clem Burke was that way. Really good, really good posture.

• 51:16Amy Poehler?

  Clem Burke?

• 51:16Speaker 02

  Uh, from Blondie.

• 51:17Amy Poehler?

  Ah.

• 51:18Speaker 02

  The Blondie drummer. My favorite drummer ever.

• 51:20Amy Poehler?

  Really?

• 51:20Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah. And really like my suit. I think he had a turtleneck on SNL. Uh, just really like, you know, placed on the drum throne.

• 51:32Amy Poehler?

  Mmm.

• 51:33Speaker 02

  Loved it. And Blondie was great on SNL, Devo, um, and the B-52s really like, that was like, I remember that was the first moment of like, oh, there are weirdos in the world.

• 51:44Amy Poehler?

  Yes. And like, talk about full circle. At the SNL 50th, you get to play with the B-52s and Devo.

• 51:52Speaker 02

  And Devo.

• 51:52Amy Poehler?

  What was that like?

• 51:54Speaker 02

  It was like the top, like the very crystallized top of a mountain. Like, I, it's almost scary because I was like, that's it.

• 52:05Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, you're like, I'm gonna have a heart attack.

• 52:07Speaker 02

  It felt that way. I was like, that's, that is the very like, you know, that shows at Radio City Music Hall. I had seen Devo when I was 14 at Radio City Music Hall. I had paid for.

• 52:18Amy Poehler?

  Wow.

• 52:19Speaker 02

  Tickets to see them and, and also getting to meet them. They're great people. Being friends with them. It's like, it really. Yeah, those two. That was unreal. And also on SNL, not at some gig, not some show somewhere like, hey, I got up. On SNL.

• 52:38Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 52:39Speaker 02

  It's, it's everything at once.

• 52:41Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 52:42Speaker 02

  I can't believe it.

• 52:43Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. Okay, so now I want to just get on to a new section, but the person that will help us get to this section is Carrie Brownstein.

• 52:52Speaker 02

  Oh.

• 52:53Amy Poehler?

  Because we talked to her today.

• 52:54Speaker 02

  You did?

• 52:55Amy Poehler?

  Yes. You know, I was saying this to Carrie, but maybe you can speak to this too. Like, your relationship with Carrie is very special. It's, it's, like, how do you define your relationship with her?

• 53:06Speaker 02

  She's like, she's my soulmate. She is a person who I feel like I've known forever. I don't mean to speak in those terms. I know that, you know, those like, sort of spiritual terms, but it does feel spiritual. And it's immediate. It's just a feeling I had as soon as I met her. And every time I talk to her, it feels the same. I'm completely stripped of being worried if I'm boring or, or talking too much or anything. I'm completely, completely myself around her. And it's always been that way. And I just love her so much.

• 53:48Speaker 02

  And I'm really into everything she does. When I watch her play guitar, I'm like, there's nothing better than watching her play guitar and sing. And then getting, she's so smart and so funny that I feel like getting to do that show with her was just, that was a lucky thing, but it keeps going. We just keep.

• 54:12Amy Poehler?

  It's so, it like remains like, it has such a life, Portlandia. And those characters in Portlandia are so fun, are so specific, and therefore feel so universal.

• 54:25Speaker 02

  God, it was the best. I got to hang out with her all the time. We could, she's a great writer. She's such, not that you need me to tell you that, but so funny, brilliant. And she came up with like, a lot of those ideas that are now sort of things that people repeat. Put a bird on it and all that stuff is like, that's all Carrie.

• 54:43Amy Poehler?

  Okay, Carrie said, "Describe the way one of your musical heroes informed your comedy."

• 54:50Speaker 02

  Oh, that's easy. Uh, David Byrne, the way that he would direct a movie and then sort of choreograph part of his show, like the way that he presented everything. To me was like, that really informed like, you know, what

• 55:15Speaker 02

  a comedian can be. Like, there was a way that he was like, not exactly making a joke, but also not being totally serious, that, whatever that was.

• 55:24Amy Poehler?

  Right.

• 55:24Speaker 02

  Really, I was like, that's a really great way to be.

• 55:27Amy Poehler?

  Like, like a playfulness. And he kind of also, he was also, like, I guess, not afraid to, he like, wasn't trying to be cool at all.

• 55:37Speaker 02

  Nope.

• 55:38Amy Poehler?

  But he was very cool.

• 55:39Speaker 02

  Yeah. Just the way, like, for no reason, you know, I have a fuzzy suit or something.

• 55:45Amy Poehler?

  So I'm gonna do a rapid fire. Tell me what you think about these things or what you remember. You can be as fast or as slow as you want. Um, Freddie, you do many accents really well. And one of the things I love about you is you can do accents from anywhere. What are some of your favorite state or countries, like, that you like hearing?

• 56:01Speaker 02

  I really love how Texas just really, it just changes from city to city.

• 56:09Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 56:09Speaker 02

  I, there's something about it, that, there's something about Texas that has so much varying personality.

• 56:15Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 56:16Speaker 02

  That, uh, always, that does exceed my expectations.

• 56:21Amy Poehler?

  So with that in mind, can you please do someone from Houston and someone from Dallas?

• 56:25Speaker 02

  Houston, I feel like has got a whisper to it. Uh, Houston, um, I've, some people I know from there are going through some personal growth. Personal growth. Uh, Dallas, I always, my idea about them is that, uh, they're kind of businesslike. Uh, I, I, I hear them on planes, on a conference call. I, I had been, uh, at, uh, I was on a layover.

• 56:54Speaker 02

  We know someone from Beaumont, and that's kind of.

• 56:58Speaker 02

  Bollmont's the biggest I've ever heard. I can't imagine. They're like there's a little Y before imagine.

• 57:06Amy Poehler?

  The longest word.

• 57:08Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 57:10Amy Poehler?

  And then countries. Can you do Iceland? We, we.

• 57:13Speaker 03

  Iceland.

• 57:15Amy Poehler?

  Iceland, Iceland.

• 57:16Speaker 03

  Iceland has a whisper to it.

• 57:19Speaker 03

  Iceland has a hushed, you're pushing through the throat, I think.

• 57:25Amy Poehler?

  It's like, it's.

• 57:27Speaker 03

  It's, it's very light.

• 57:28Amy Poehler?

  Very light.

• 57:30Speaker 02

  I, I feel like Sweden is so devoid of accent that I hear people from Sweden. And they sound almost like they're American. They sound like, I don't love it. The door is closing right now. There's like this thing where they no longer are Swedish people.

• 57:46Amy Poehler?

  Yes, you're right.

• 57:47Speaker 02

  There's this like thing where they're like so casual with English that I actually feel like I'm talking to someone.

• 57:53Amy Poehler?

  But you know what gives the Swedes away is the.

• 57:57Amy Poehler?

  That is the Swedish thing people don't know is, you know, instead of going, uh huh, uh huh, uh huh, Swedes go.

• 58:03Speaker 02

  It's true.

• 58:04Amy Poehler?

  And you hear them on the phone and you just always think they're getting the worst news.

• 58:07Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 58:07Amy Poehler?

  You're like, but they're just saying, uh huh, uh huh, uh huh.

• 58:10Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 58:10Amy Poehler?

  That is.

• 58:13Speaker 02

  Cause their face doesn't change.

• 58:14Amy Poehler?

  No.

• 58:16Amy Poehler?

  Okay. What do you like to do when you travel?

• 58:18Speaker 02

  Oh, wake up early, have breakfast, coffee, alone, just down in the restaurant.

• 58:25Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 58:26Speaker 02

  Not room service.

• 58:27Amy Poehler?

  Okay.

• 58:27Speaker 02

  I love, then I really feel like I'm in a country. So I've like landed somewhere. That's my, I can't wait for breakfast.

• 58:35Amy Poehler?

  Breakfast.

• 58:36Speaker 02

  Oh, I love it.

• 58:37Amy Poehler?

  And then you want, then do you, like, let's say you're doing a show in another country. Do you walk during the?

• 58:42Speaker 02

  Not that much. I kind of stick around like hotel, maybe this little store of some kind. I'm not a big like, I'm going to go explore this side of the city. I'm a little bit like, I get the, by the way, this is an ignorant thing to say and I'm sorry, but I just kind of like, this seems like Berlin.

• 59:02Amy Poehler?

  Okay, and then, um, uh, what do you hate doing when you travel? What do you, what do you not do? Like, uh, do you ever check a bag?

• 59:10Speaker 02

  I try not to.

• 59:11Amy Poehler?

  But sometimes you do?

• 59:12Speaker 02

  Sometimes you have, uh, sometimes you have to, but no, I'm pretty good about it.

• 59:16Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 59:16Speaker 02

  I travel pretty light.

• 59:18Amy Poehler?

  Got it.

• 59:18Speaker 02

  Um, but I, I did a, a tour recently and I had, did have to bring some equipment.

• 59:23Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, okay, got it. Um, Broad City.

• 59:26Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 59:26Amy Poehler?

  That was so fun.

• 59:28Speaker 02

  Amy.

• 59:29Amy Poehler?

  That's still.

• 59:30Speaker 02

  People.

• 59:30Amy Poehler?

  And parks, I mean, we did so much.

• 59:32Speaker 02

  People talk to me about Broad City all the time, all the time. When I, everywhere I go, someone brings it up. Some people do it as a deep cut. They think they're like, I'm actually a real fan.

• 59:43Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 59:44Speaker 02

  Which is great.

• 59:45Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 59:46Speaker 02

  But, oh my God.

• 59:47Amy Poehler?

  Fred came and did the first episode of Broad City, which was a huge get for us and.

• 59:52Speaker 02

  I've seen people dressed up as it, as Halloween.

• 59:54Amy Poehler?

  As the baby.

• 59:55Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 59:55Amy Poehler?

  I'm just a baby.

• 59:56Speaker 02

  A little mustache.

• 59:57Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 59:58Speaker 02

  Thanks for that. Thank you very much for that.

• 1:00:00Amy Poehler?

  You're so welcome that I could put you in a diaper and make you a Halloween costume.

• 1:00:03Speaker 02

  For real. Thank you for that. That was like, that really kept on going.

• 1:00:08Amy Poehler?

  Okay, dogs or cats?

• 1:00:09Speaker 02

  Cats.

• 1:00:10Amy Poehler?

  Interesting, I didn't know that. No dog, like, just no thank you to dogs?

• 1:00:12Speaker 02

  When we first met, I, the first thing I told you, I was like, cats.

• 1:00:17Speaker 02

  If I, cats, I just met Lauren, cats, you know that, right? Uh, I love cats.

• 1:00:21Amy Poehler?

  I mean, that makes sense that you would, that you're a cat person. I feel like you're more of a cat, you're a per, you're more of a cat than a dog as a person, I would say. Although you have a lot of dog qualities because you're very loyal and friendly, but you are a cat.

• 1:00:32Speaker 02

  I like how that they, they don't ask anything and they sort of.

• 1:00:36Amy Poehler?

  They don't.

• 1:00:37Speaker 02

  It's their own, yeah, their own business.

• 1:00:39Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. Um, sweet or salty?

• 1:00:42Speaker 02

  Sweet.

• 1:00:44Amy Poehler?

  Hmm, that you say that.

• 1:00:45Speaker 02

  I wish, I wish it wasn't that way.

• 1:00:47Amy Poehler?

  Salty's not good either.

• 1:00:48Speaker 02

  I don't believe that.

• 1:00:49Amy Poehler?

  I don't either. I think salty is better.

• 1:00:51Speaker 02

  I, I think when people say that salt causes hot problems, I never believe it.

• 1:00:55Amy Poehler?

  But it does.

• 1:00:56Speaker 02

  I know, but I'm like, why? What is it turning into that's like, it's just salt.

• 1:01:01Amy Poehler?

  My blood pressure.

• 1:01:02Speaker 02

  I, I, yes, I know you're right, but.

• 1:01:04Amy Poehler?

  I know what you mean.

• 1:01:05Speaker 02

  But whenever they're like, there, there was too much salt in it. I'm like, I don't think that's gonna be the thing.

• 1:01:11Speaker 02

  That's the ignorance.

• 1:01:12Amy Poehler?

  Do you ever put salt on anything?

• 1:01:13Speaker 02

  No, no.

• 1:01:14Amy Poehler?

  You never like, like, salt your chocolate chip cookies or?

• 1:01:17Speaker 02

  Oh, I see what you mean. If there's a chocolate bar that has salt in it, great. I like that.

• 1:01:22Amy Poehler?

  You like that. Okay.

• 1:01:23Speaker 02

  But I love sweet. I mean, I love chocolate so much.

• 1:01:26Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. Too much, do you think?

• 1:01:28Speaker 02

  Yeah, I had too much.

• 1:01:29Amy Poehler?

  Are you trying to cut down or like you have to cut down?

• 1:01:31Speaker 02

  I'm too dependent on it at the end of the day, especially after a show. I'm always like, oh, there's a cookie, there's a.

• 1:01:37Amy Poehler?

  You love a little cookie treat.

• 1:01:39Speaker 02

  Oh, it's the best.

• 1:01:39Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:40Speaker 02

  You guys had great.

• 1:01:41Amy Poehler?

  I have a hard time, I have a harder time with sugar because I had get on a real ride and I had crashed pretty hard after sugar. Like I have, I have big sugar crashes.

• 1:01:48Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:01:49Amy Poehler?

  But salty, it's perfect.

• 1:01:52Speaker 02

  It is.

• 1:01:53Amy Poehler?

  Um, do you like to be scared?

• 1:01:55Speaker 02

  Yeah, I like horror movies and all that stuff. I do. But I don't like to be scared in real life, like on a flight.

• 1:02:04Amy Poehler?

  Have you ever been scared on a flight?

• 1:02:06Speaker 02

  Um, you know, the usual. I, I'm not afraid of flying.

• 1:02:10Amy Poehler?

  Do you have any phobias?

• 1:02:11Speaker 02

  Oh, heights.

• 1:02:12Amy Poehler?

  That's right, Fred.

• 1:02:14Speaker 02

  I couldn't do a taping of this because of it.

• 1:02:17Speaker 02

  Because they were like, it's on the whatever floor.

• 1:02:19Amy Poehler?

  I tape on the.

• 1:02:20Speaker 02

  Can't do it.

• 1:02:20Amy Poehler?

  That's right. In New York, may we speak of that? Is that okay?

• 1:02:24Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 1:02:25Amy Poehler?

  We record in, at, and Spotify in New York and it's a really, really high floor and Fred was like, nope.

• 1:02:32Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:02:33Amy Poehler?

  And I totally forgot about that.

• 1:02:35Speaker 02

  Yeah, but I told you about that. I think one time we were at a hotel and you guys were so nice because I, we, I just went up to your hotel.

• 1:02:44Speaker 02

  Me, you and Tina went up to your hotel and it was, um, I told you and you guys were so nice. You just closed the blinds and, but I did it. I wasn't like, I'm not going up there.

• 1:02:52Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, but you don't like it.

• 1:02:54Speaker 02

  I don't like it and I don't like that I don't like it.

• 1:02:56Amy Poehler?

  Hmm, how come?

• 1:02:58Speaker 02

  Because it's too like, it's not real. Like, buildings are built well for centuries. There's, there's never been like, hey, watch out going up in buildings. That one fell.

• 1:03:11Speaker 02

  I've never seen that in the news, you know, like, oh, New York, don't go up there.

• 1:03:16Amy Poehler?

  Mrs. Wonga la fa.

• 1:03:20Amy Poehler?

  I actually never even think about heights until I'm reminded that when someone who's afraid of heights, then you go like, whoa, wait, that is weird that we're up here so high.

• 1:03:29Speaker 02

  But there's so much engineering that's gone into it.

• 1:03:31Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:03:32Speaker 02

  An engineer would actually be insulted by that. Like, do you have any idea?

• 1:03:35Amy Poehler?

  Like, uh.

• 1:03:36Speaker 02

  We studied.

• 1:03:37Amy Poehler?

  Like hundreds and thousands of people going to build it, millions of people going to buildings every day.

• 1:03:41Speaker 02

  Around the world.

• 1:03:42Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:03:42Speaker 02

  Around everywhere.

• 1:03:44Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. But could you ever like climb a tree or like, is it that kind of height too? Like you could, a ladder, um, a, um, would you be able to get like?

• 1:03:53Speaker 02

  I don't love it, but I, you know, I do try to like expand a little, just so I'm not.

• 1:03:58Amy Poehler?

  Have you ever done any kind of like a bungee or?

• 1:04:00Speaker 02

  No, no, nothing like that.

• 1:04:01Amy Poehler?

  No, nothing like that.

• 1:04:02Speaker 02

  No.

• 1:04:02Amy Poehler?

  I like that about you, Freddie. I feel like we're very similar. We don't, I don't like, I don't like,

• 1:04:06Speaker 02

  I don't like, what am I, insanely, I don't like taking risks. No, no, no, no. None of that. I'm not interested.

• 1:04:12Amy Poehler?

  No.

• 1:04:13Speaker 02

  I'm also not interested in watching it. I'm not like, or stories about it, like all that. I'm not.

• 1:04:19Amy Poehler?

  No, like if you're gonna free, if you're gonna free climb, you know, I don't want to know about it.

• 1:04:25Speaker 02

  I don't want to know. I don't want to know about it.

• 1:04:27Amy Poehler?

  I don't want to know. I don't want to see it.

• 1:04:28Speaker 02

  I'm oddly not impressed.

• 1:04:29Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:04:30Speaker 02

  Of all the, the thing that you want me to be, I'm like.

• 1:04:32Amy Poehler?

  I'm like, whatever.

• 1:04:33Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:04:33Amy Poehler?

  I don't know.

• 1:04:34Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:04:35Amy Poehler?

  You.

• 1:04:36Speaker 02

  What is free climb? That's when you do the rocks.

• 1:04:37Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, when you do the like, no, with no, with no ropes. And just like, you just crevice and crevice and just thumb and foot.

• 1:04:49Speaker 02

  Yeah. And then like one more, and then.

• 1:04:53Amy Poehler?

  No.

• 1:04:54Speaker 02

  And then you get, what happens? You get to?

• 1:04:55Amy Poehler?

  If you had to do that by accident, if you, if you were stuck somewhere and you did it, I'd, I want to know everything about your story. If you do that for fun.

• 1:05:03Speaker 02

  That happened to me once. I was chased and I, I saw this mountain. I was like, this is where to go. And I was like.

• 1:05:11Speaker 02

  Get out of here. And then the person couldn't, they were like,

• 1:05:16Speaker 02

  they were like, and then.

• 1:05:18Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. And then you stayed on there.

• 1:05:19Speaker 02

  I feel bad because if someone's watching.

• 1:05:21Amy Poehler?

  I don't feel bad for people who recreationally free climb. What's wrong with you? What's, what is wrong with you? I think there, there's something wrong with them. I'm gonna say it.

• 1:05:34Speaker 02

  Wow.

• 1:05:34Amy Poehler?

  With no ropes?

• 1:05:38Amy Poehler?

  No one's making you do it?

• 1:05:40Speaker 02

  What if it's your job? Some people are unemployed. And they, that's, they fill out the application. They're like, I guess I have to.

• 1:05:47Amy Poehler?

  No way. There's not one.

• 1:05:49Speaker 02

  How much does it pay?

• 1:05:52Speaker 02

  Monday. I hate this job.

• 1:05:56Amy Poehler?

  You're right. There might be a few people, that's their job. That's their job. And they, and I'm sorry for those people. I'm sorry. And then last question, what are you, like, what kind of stuff do you watch, read, go to, to make you laugh? Like, what comedy, comedy are you watching? Who are you watching? Like, anything you'd recommend?

• 1:06:20Speaker 02

  Wow. For real? The thing that I'm most religious about, of like, actually catching, is SNL.

• 1:06:28Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:29Speaker 02

  It's the one, it's the one thing that I'm like, I watch it when it's live. And you know that those moments that you're like, that was pretty great.

• 1:06:37Amy Poehler?

  Oh, God, I could talk forever. I know we've ended this. But I, but I just want to say, I do feel like we, you and I, I think we've played this game before. It's like, it's like an improv game of experts, but I think I talked to you about this. I always wanted to do like a fake TED Talk, like a fake, you know, kind of like, experts symposium, where you just can talk about anything for like a minute. For a minute, you can seem like an expert on almost anything.

• 1:07:02Speaker 02

  Yeah, I think so. You have to memorize a couple of things.

• 1:07:05Amy Poehler?

  And then there'll be a word or something where people will go, huh? She doesn't know what she's talking about. But I think almost anything.

• 1:07:12Speaker 02

  It's reachable.

• 1:07:12Amy Poehler?

  It's reachable. It's a fun. So on our way out, I'm gonna give you something that I want you to pretend to be an expert in for one minute.

• 1:07:18Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 1:07:19Amy Poehler?

  Okay? I'm gonna set the timer. Um, I'm gonna say, um, the Alaskan Pipeline.

• 1:07:24Speaker 02

  The Alaskan Pipeline.

• 1:07:25Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, ready? So with, with me today is an expert, Fred Armisen, um, who has been studying the Alaskan Pipeline and is here to talk to us about it. Fred, what should we know about the Alaskan Pipeline?

• 1:07:36Speaker 02

  Well, the first, uh, misnomer is Alaskan. So, uh, many, many people do know this, that it's the originally, the Siberian Pipeline. Why is it the Siberian Pipeline? Oh, because it goes through Siberia. No, because the, the shipping magnates shipped oil through there from Siberia and through Russia. And the only people who benefited from it were people from Canada. You think it would be Alaska, since Alaska was not yet a state and the pipeline, uh, was built 1951?

• 1:08:14Speaker 02

  Canadians were the first to benefit it, but they didn't have oil refineries. Ah, why didn't they have oil refineries? Because of World War II.

• 1:08:24Speaker 02

  And as we knew Canada to be a series of provinces, they did not have the capacity to have these refineries. Ah, who comes in then? But Mexico.

• 1:08:37Amy Poehler?

  And that's a minute. Fantastic.

• 1:08:41Amy Poehler?

  Ah, answering your own question.

• 1:08:45Amy Poehler?

  You did it. I don't know if any of that's true, when you said 1951?

• 1:08:48Speaker 02

  I have no idea.

• 1:08:49Amy Poehler?

  No, no idea. Um, thank you, Fred. Love you. Thank you so much for doing this.

• 1:08:53Speaker 02

  I love you. Thank you so much for...

• 1:08:54Amy Poehler?

  You're the best. I'm glad we dressed you. I like...

• 1:08:56Speaker 02

  We did.

• 1:09:00Amy Poehler?

  Thank you so much, Fred Armisen. Thank you for coming and being on the pod. I love talking to you. And, you know, for this polar plunge, we like to go deep on something that we talked about. And there's so many things that we could go deep on. We could talk about David Byrne. We could talk about the specials. We could talk about Lorraine Newman, all cool, cool things. But I just want to shout out Fred's new record that he made with Drag City called 100 Sound Effects. But in this case, I believe he does 101, spoiler alert. Check out his record and everything that Fred does all the time. And yeah, and go back and look at old performances of all the music on SNL. It's an incredible, impressive,

• 1:09:43Amy Poehler?

  gigantic mix of culture, all in one place. Thanks so much for listening to Good Hang. Thank you always for tuning in and checking us out. And we'll see you soon. Bye.

• 1:09:57Amy 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 Zaniris. For Paperkite, production by Sam Green, Joel Lovell, and Jenna Weiss-Berman. Original music by Amy Miles.

• 1:10:22Amy 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.

• 1:10:54Speaker 04

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