Ariana Grande

Ariana Grande has no problem with being 5-foot-2. Amy hangs with the 'Wicked' star and talks with her about game nights with her mom, her Eugene Levy impersonation, and getting work done in the bath. Host: Amy PoehlerGuests: Bowen Yang and Ariana GrandeExecutive 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, Belle Roman, and Aleya Zenieris; lighting director Caroline Jannace; audio producer Kaya McMullen; video editor Drew van Steenbergen; and booker Kat SpillaneOriginal Music: Amy Miles Walmart.com/shop/gifts 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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• 0:45Amy Poehler?

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• 1:27Amy Poehler?

  See visible.com for plan features and network management details. Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Good Hang. Boy, we have a superstar on this podcast today and a wonderful person. Ariana Grande is joining us. And you know, I never had the pleasure of meeting Ariana, and I walked away feeling like the biggest fan, but also like I had met just a... Dear, dear, open-hearted and tender and nice person. So, um, we are going to talk about a lot of things today. We're going to talk about Ariana's love of the Christopher Guest movie Best in Show. We are going to talk about what it was like singing with Mariah Carey. We're going to talk about how she likes to take a bath and she's going to demonstrate

• 2:11Amy Poehler?

  what she does in there. And we're going to, of course, talk about Wicked 2, the film that's out this week, the gigantic hit that she is the star of. But, but before we get started talking to Ariana, with a person this special, we really need a special person to kick us off. And, you know, I wanted to talk to somebody who knows Ariana, who is, um, you know, close to her, who wants to speak well behind her back and give me a good question to ask her. And we have the one, the only Bowen Yang. Bowen Yang from SNL, who I just got the chance to perform with a few weeks ago. Incredible actor, comedian, on a terrific podcast with Matt Rogers, Los Culturistas, which we all know and love.

• 2:56Amy Poehler?

  So let's hear what Bowen has to say about our girl, Ariana Bowen. Hi.

• 3:08Amy Poehler?

  This episode is presented to you by Walmart. I'd like to say that I'm a pretty good gift giver. And for me, it's about making the extra effort to find the perfect gift. Walmart has the top brands we all love in one place. Nespresso, Nintendo, Apple, you name it. That's why it has to be Walmart for all my gifts this year. Guest Best Gift Giver Award goes to yours truly. Get the brands everyone loves at prices you'll love at Walmart. Who knew? Go to walmart.com or download the app to get all your gifts this season.

• 3:45Speaker 01

  Hi.

• 3:45Amy Poehler?

  Hi.

• 3:47Speaker 01

  I love this print and this pussy bow.

• 3:50Amy Poehler?

  Oh, my God. Thank you. I really was trying to think about what to wear for Ariana, and I wanted to go a little high femme.

• 3:56Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 3:57Amy Poehler?

  And this won't come as a surprise, but I don't have a lot of that in my closet.

• 4:03Speaker 01

  You are the high femme. You don't need adornments for that.

• 4:07Amy Poehler?

  Wow, thank you. She does bring out a feminine, a real, like, delicate feminine energy.

• 4:15Speaker 01

  Daintiness.

• 4:15Amy Poehler?

  Yes, a daintiness. That's really nice to try to get into. Okay, we're gonna talk to her today, and thank you for this time. But before we do, I just have to say, once again, confess my love for not only you and all of the work that you do, but Lost Culture, which, congratulations on the award show that you created out of nowhere, that I hope is very strong and lucrative IP for years to come. Congratulations on your podcast, which continues to delight, inform, and entertain me in all different ways all the time. I love it.

• 4:52Speaker 01

  The fact that, thank you so much, I received that, the fact that I was watching my heroes, you and Kristen, name dropping us very casually in your discussion about Salt Lake City Housewives. I leapt out of bed. I was like supine in bed, maybe flirting with seasonal depression. And then y'all cured me right quick.

• 5:22Amy Poehler?

  God, seasonal depression is a funny drag name for...

• 5:28Speaker 01

  For, I don't know, anyone. For me, I'll take it.

• 5:31Amy Poehler?

  Ladies and gentlemen, seasonal depression.

• 5:32Speaker 01

  Coming to the stage.

• 5:34Amy Poehler?

  By the way, before we get to...

• 5:39Amy Poehler?

  Before we get to the question, what, where are we right now? Are we in an office of yours?

• 5:43Speaker 01

  We are in my home office.

• 5:48Speaker 01

  And I feel like I'm a commentator on MSNBC.

• 5:51Amy Poehler?

  I was gonna say, if we were on a Zoom right now, like a Zoom pitch or something, I would pin your photo, make it full screen right now, and I would look at everything. Do you not do that when you're on Zoom?

• 6:02Speaker 01

  Listen, if this were my podcast, I would go into it. I don't think so many about blurring your background on Zoom. I get why people do it.

• 6:10Amy Poehler?

  I don't like it. I think a blurred background is usually hiding a bed.

• 6:15Speaker 01

  Yep, unmade.

• 6:17Amy Poehler?

  An unmade bed. And I remember those days of COVID where heads of giant film studios were talking in front of their unmade bed on Zoom.

• 6:30Speaker 01

  Have some respect. Not for you, for me.

• 6:34Amy Poehler?

  Have some respect for me.

• 6:37Speaker 01

  I don't want to see that. I don't want to see a crumpled duvet.

• 6:40Amy Poehler?

  No, get in front of a blank wall, babe. Anything but a bed in the background. You're a grown man.

• 6:48Speaker 01

  You're a grown, and somehow you're underlit? Like, fix it.

• 6:52Amy Poehler?

  But I, so, congrats on your background. It's beautiful. I love it.

• 6:55Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 6:55Amy Poehler?

  Okay. So, we're talking to Ariana Grande today, and, you know,

• 7:03Amy Poehler?

  I have been very heartened and not surprised by the relationship that you two have. Like, talent, talent loves talent, and the, both of you feel like you have just become very genuine and warm friends. Is that the case?

• 7:17Speaker 01

  It is absolutely, miraculously, the case.

• 7:22Amy Poehler?

  When did you guys first meet?

• 7:23Speaker 01

  We first met in rehearsals for Wicked, and this was after the saga of me maybe not being able to do the movie because of the SNL schedule, and it has always been, was always, in that time, like, my top priority. Our wonderful benefactor, friend, boss, Lorne Michaels was like, you can't miss shows. Like, if you're gonna fly back and forth to London, like, I just don't think it's gonna work. And then, on the Wicked end, they were trying to figure out how to make it happen, and they were like, okay, I think we're gonna deploy. Miss Grande to pick up the phone and call up Lorne and try to convince him to let me do it.

• 8:08Speaker 01

  And I think that was the beginning of like sealing the deal of finalizing it, right? It's like she like just that imagining that convert like to be a to be a wiretap fly on the wall for that phone conversation is is really thrilling to me, just like hearing the two of them talk to each other. I mean, they have a great relationship too, because she's been at the show. She hosted the first time. I thought that was a gangbusters episode before my time there. And so she really like, she already like went to bat for me before I even met her.

• 8:41Amy Poehler?

  And Lorne was like, Ariana, Ariana. I get it.

• 8:45Speaker 01

  Ariana, I get it.

• 8:46Amy Poehler?

  I get it. It's that thing where you're trying to balance.

• 8:53Speaker 01

  Friendship and your dreams.

• 8:55Amy Poehler?

  Are you going to Wimbledon?

• 8:57Speaker 01

  Are you going to Wimbledon? You know, I was at Tom Stoppard's birthday and

• 9:05Speaker 01

  he's, he's, he's written some of the best plays ever. And I think, you know, Wicked is, I think Wicked's a play.

• 9:11Amy Poehler?

  Would you say it's a play?

• 9:14Amy Poehler?

  But, you know, shout out to Lorne. He did not need to give you that time off, babe. He didn't need to give you the time off and she closed the deal.

• 9:22Speaker 01

  And she closed the deal and then that's began this like really organic thing. And I was very, this thing that I've learned from working at SNL is like you never step on the gas. If you want to like make any sort of genuine connection with the host, you never want to force a friendship or camaraderie. And so I went into that experience being like, I'm going to be boundaries king mutually, like respecting other peoples and honoring my own. And I was not like forcing this friendship necessarily, but she was just so warm and inviting. And somehow, within like a couple of weeks, we were like watching mommy dearest together and like playing rummy cube and like baking cakes. And it was, it just happened in the most unforced way, I think.

• 10:07Speaker 01

  And that is, that also speaks to like the tone of the friendship and the, and sort of her personhood in herself. Like she's just a very. I don't know. I think she's someone who like is strength in softness. She is like, you know, incredibly vulnerable and that is why people adore her.

• 10:27Amy Poehler?

  So what question, do you have a question that you think nobody ever asks Ariana or would be an interesting question for her to speak about or, um, you know, something that would be fun for us to talk about?

• 10:40Speaker 01

  Yeah. I mean, like, what does she think the through line of her work is? Like, I think she has had such a varied career, right? Like, start off Nickelodeon, or I'm sorry, you start off Broadway, you go to Nickelodeon, you go pop star, you go actor.

• 11:03Speaker 01

  And like, there's like fashion iconography on top of that, like throughout. It's like, I want to see what the unifying theory is from her. She will kind of like squirm at that question because anytime I like want to like talk to her about like what her favorite album is, she's like, don't do that. Like, it's, it's great. It's great. It's like true front. She's like, I don't want, you're not like Entertainment Tonight. Like, what are you doing? I'm curious to see how she would answer that through you, through me. And also, the second question is, um, silly dumb question. What's the best note to sing?

• 11:37Amy Poehler?

  Ooh.

• 11:39Speaker 01

  What's the best note to sing?

• 11:42Amy Poehler?

  That's such a good, it's so good because, I mean, I, I'm sure you are the same. I mean, I, I just love music and watching when the way singers sing. I feel that way about when dancers dance. Like, it's just like, it's just like, wow, how did you do that? I just can't, it just feels like magic. And there's so many notes that she can sing.

• 12:06Speaker 01

  Right. She must have one that she loves.

• 12:09Amy Poehler?

  Let's do, let's do a B, let's do an A. Let's keep it in G.

• 12:13Speaker 01

  Keep it in G. Let's do G, G5, or whatever the octave is. It's like, it's like the, the, the letter and the number because it's the octave on the piano or whatever. Like, I don't, you know, I'm not, I'm not a music theorist, but she, I'm sure she has a thought around that.

• 12:28Amy Poehler?

  That's such a good question. It's like, we've done B minor too many times. That old hacky note.

• 12:36Speaker 01

  Oh, that old chestnut, ugh. Get that away. Get B minor away. I need to do major.

• 12:41Amy Poehler?

  Well, I cannot wait to see you soon. Thank you so much for doing this. I know she will be thrilled that you did, Bowen. I just adore you.

• 12:49Speaker 01

  I love you so much. I'll see you very soon.

• 12:51Amy Poehler?

  Same, same, same. Thank you so much for your time.

• 12:54Speaker 01

  Bye, guys.

• 12:56Amy Poehler?

  Ariana.

• 12:57Speaker 02

  I'm so excited to be here with you. I don't even know how to talk anymore. That was not English.

• 13:02Amy Poehler?

  Did you just use an English accent?

• 13:04Speaker 02

  No.

• 13:10Amy Poehler?

  Do you? I feel like you're a sponge, though. I feel like you pick up on the way other people talk.

• 13:14Speaker 02

  I think I've always loved to do voices. Like, when I was a little girl, I loved to impersonate and do characters and voices and accents and...

• 13:23Amy Poehler?

  You're so good at them. And that's kind of what I wanted to start with today. First of all, it's nice to meet you.

• 13:27Speaker 02

  It's nice to meet you, too. I love you so much.

• 13:29Amy Poehler?

  I love you, too. I feel like I know you, as most people do, but I am thrilled to meet you in person.

• 13:35Speaker 02

  Me, too.

• 13:36Amy Poehler?

  And I was thinking about how to start today, and I was thinking, yes, we'll talk, of course, about the huge success of Wicked, and we'll talk about your music, and we'll talk about your life and all that. But I wanted to talk about you as a funny person, as a comedian, as a deeply, genuinely funny person. You're very funny.

• 13:53Speaker 02

  Thank you. Coming from you, I am, yeah, I'm shitting. Like, I've been saying since I walked in, but that's really how I feel. Like, I can't. I adore you, and I, yeah, I look up to you so much. I love SNL. I'm like a student of R.E.A.

• 14:10Amy Poehler?

  Well, what is your relationship to comedy? Like, when you were growing up, what were you watching? What did you like?

• 14:14Speaker 02

  My favorite movie was Best in Show from a really young age. I, which is so strange, you know, to be a child and to really love that. I don't know, I was really young.

• 14:25Amy Poehler?

  Did you love that style of, you know, that, like, mockumentary style?

• 14:29Speaker 02

  I did. I did. I loved, like, dry humor, and it made me feel so close to my family, like, laughter. My dad and I bonded over our favorite movies and...

• 14:39Amy Poehler?

  What kind of, what's your dad's sense of humor?

• 14:42Speaker 02

  We love Jim Carrey. We love, you know, all the Adam Sandler movies, and, you know, that kind of thing. The Christopher Guest, of course, and SNL. And that was just sort of how we bonded, was through comedy.

• 14:55Amy Poehler?

  Do you remember getting your first laugh? Do you remember, like, being in?

• 15:00Speaker 02

  Getting my first laugh. Yeah, I actually, wow, I've never thought about this in my life. But I was really little, I don't know how old I was, but I was doing stand up. I forget the name of my persona that I had created, but I was doing stand up as a guy. As like, I was like this guy, this old guy from my grandparents. And I got a laugh from them and I just remember it felt so special. I don't know.

• 15:28Amy Poehler?

  You were in their house doing it?

• 15:29Speaker 02

  Yes, and I don't remember the name of the character, but it was full out. It was like I had disappeared into this man.

• 15:36Amy Poehler?

  I'm always interested in the connection between musicians and comedians because I think they have some kind of love for each other. And I don't exactly know what it is.

• 15:43Speaker 02

  I think so. I think, I think for me personally, the thing that I love about both so much, music and comedy is that they've always made me feel so like safe and like I can relate to the person.

• 15:56Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 15:57Speaker 02

  And.

• 15:58Amy Poehler?

  You learn a lot about somebody by what they laugh at.

• 16:00Speaker 02

  Yes, you do.

• 16:02Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 16:03Speaker 02

  And when you find someone who has the same sort of like ticklish spots as you, that's just the best thing, you know? When you work with someone and you find someone that tickles you the same way. My best friend Liz Gillies, we look up to you and Tina so much because we are like, oh, my God, we should do things like that someday.

• 16:21Amy Poehler?

  You guys are so funny together.

• 16:22Speaker 02

  Oh, my God.

• 16:23Amy Poehler?

  What I love about your, what I've seen of your relationship is again, that kind of feeling of play, like you know each other and you kind of relax, like being stupid, basically.

• 16:32Speaker 02

  We love to be stupid. What a gift it is to be able to play and be stupid sometimes.

• 16:37Amy Poehler?

  I know, and I mean, I feel that when you do SNL is that you're not afraid to be stupid and you kind of like it.

• 16:42Speaker 02

  It's the best.

• 16:43Amy Poehler?

  It's the best.

• 16:43Speaker 02

  And it's, it's so vulnerable, but you can't be afraid. It's like, it's just the most thrilling thing and you really have to be down.

• 16:51Amy Poehler?

  You do, you can't go in halfway.

• 16:52Speaker 02

  No.

• 16:53Amy Poehler?

  And it is, whether it's you impersonating someone or you're doing some stupid idea, it's, it's. I'm sure you feel this way too. I bet it's similar to singing, which is you have to kind of push through to the other side and make sure you're committing to whatever you're doing.

• 17:09Speaker 02

  Have to see it through.

• 17:12Speaker 02

  It doesn't matter.

• 17:12Amy Poehler?

  And if you're on the, and you're locked eyes with someone in the scene is, because you've done SNL a few times.

• 17:17Speaker 02

  And their bald cap is sliding and you're like, what the hell are we doing?

• 17:21Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. Or you're like, this scene's never gonna see the light of day. Like, we're, this is not making the show.

• 17:26Speaker 02

  Well, we have to be safe with each other.

• 17:28Amy Poehler?

  Totally. It really is where like love, love blooms.

• 17:31Speaker 02

  It really is. It really is. It's true.

• 17:33Amy Poehler?

  It's true, because if you, if you hang in there with each other, then you're kind of friends for life.

• 17:38Speaker 02

  Yeah. It's true.

• 17:40Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 17:40Speaker 02

  We've, we've kind of had some really extraordinary circumstances with slime and bald caps and things.

• 17:45Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. Did you ever have any things on SNL where, where, you know, it's always fun, like the bloopers of that show, like where things go wrong, or you don't make your change or anything, like would a stress dream come true? Did anything ever happen there when you were there?

• 18:00Speaker 02

  First of all, I am dying for your stories. Can I, can I return the question after I answer?

• 18:05Amy Poehler?

  Absolutely.

• 18:06Speaker 02

  Please. I have so many for you. Can we do another episode where I'm just asking all the questions, please?

• 18:12Amy Poehler?

  Let's switch seats.

• 18:14Speaker 02

  But, no, I thankfully, other than like breaking a couple of times.

• 18:20Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 18:21Speaker 02

  Um, there was this sketch that didn't air that we did with Taron Killam.

• 18:26Amy Poehler?

  Mm-hmm.

• 18:27Speaker 02

  And he was, he had this big, big 70s hair and he played this like weird musician person and he wrote this song that was so long and so strange and, and I don't think, I don't think like Lorne loved it at the end of the day.

• 18:43Amy Poehler?

  Sure. And the audience was like.

• 18:45Speaker 02

  I loved it so much.

• 18:47Amy Poehler?

  You were fighting for it.

• 18:48Speaker 02

  And I thought the audience was on our side as well, but it was cut for time and that was kind of heartbreaking because it was just so ticklish.

• 18:54Amy Poehler?

  I bet he still thinks about it that and appreciates it because there's nothing better than when the host fights for something of yours, even if it doesn't make it, it means something that they do.

• 19:03Speaker 02

  I cherish it. My dad watches it every day. That sketch, it's on YouTube and he watches it every single day without, I'm, I'm not kidding. He starts his days with Smile. I think it's, I don't remember what it's called, but I think it's, the song was called Smile.

• 19:14Amy Poehler?

  And he was like a 70, so it made the show.

• 19:19Speaker 02

  And she smiled too big for her face. And everyone was like.

• 19:26Speaker 02

  But we were lo- we loved it. We loved it.

• 19:28Amy Poehler?

  Oh my god. I mean, yeah, one of the people that became a friend to you is Bowen Yang.

• 19:34Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 19:34Amy Poehler?

  Such a talented, nice person.

• 19:38Speaker 02

  The most brilliant, the kindest, most caring, so, so ridiculously otherworldly smart. Oh, and just so funny. I love him so much.

• 19:49Amy Poehler?

  Well, we do this thing on this pod where we kind of ask people, um, we have guests, uh, who know our guests to come on and, and we speak well behind their back and they give me a question to ask. And so we talked to Bowen today.

• 20:03Speaker 02

  Oh, my god.

• 20:04Amy Poehler?

  Yes. Bowen was your person.

• 20:06Speaker 02

  No.

• 20:06Amy Poehler?

  Yes. And, um, Bowen had such amazing things to say about you.

• 20:13Speaker 02

  Oh, no.

• 20:14Amy Poehler?

  And just you, that sketch when you two were together as the, that was your idea, right? That when you were basically playing some version of your mom?

• 20:22Speaker 02

  I was, I was. A version of my mom.

• 20:25Amy Poehler?

  So for people that don't remember, it was kind of like a game, a version.

• 20:28Speaker 02

  Yeah, sure. Yeah.

• 20:29Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, sure.

• 20:30Speaker 02

  She's very proud of that, too.

• 20:31Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, it was a game night that went wrong, basically.

• 20:34Speaker 02

  It sure was.

• 20:34Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. And you came to Bowen with the idea, which he said was like being handed a gift.

• 20:39Speaker 02

  Yes, because sometimes life has to inform art. And this was one of those moments. I was like, Bowen, there's no reason that this happened if we're not supposed to use it. And it was a...

• 20:52Amy Poehler?

  So what is your mom like? Tell us, tell us what your mom is like, like that sketch?

• 20:57Speaker 02

  I mean, just sometimes, just sometimes. That's a, that's a side of her. She's a beautiful, gorgeous soul. I love her so much. But she was very proud of that, too. I warned her 15 minutes before it started. The show, no, the, the show started that night. She was in my dressing room. She's like, break a leg, honey. I was like, by the way, sorry. I have to tell you because the wig arrived and it's your hair. I thought it was gonna be like a blonde bob. I didn't know it was gonna be your hair, but it, since it is your hair, you do have to know I'm you in a sketch. And she was like, oh, I can't wait. And she loved it.

• 21:25Amy Poehler?

  She loved it.

• 21:26Speaker 02

  And I heard her, as I was running to my quick change, being like, that's about me. That's about me. She's being me.

• 21:32Amy Poehler?

  She loved it.

• 21:32Speaker 02

  She loved it. She loved it. But we were having a family game night and...

• 21:39Speaker 02

  My brother's husband's brother was a guest. We were playing games and, um, you know, my, my, I don't have, I didn't get this thing that my brother and my mom have where playing games is really, is really, really competitive.

• 21:58Amy Poehler?

  Okay.

• 21:58Speaker 02

  I just want to be there.

• 21:59Amy Poehler?

  You just want to have fun.

• 22:00Speaker 02

  I love to have fun. I want to be with everyone. I love them. I'm like really thankful for the time that we get to be together. I'm like, yay, let's play a game. That's not how they are.

• 22:09Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 22:09Speaker 02

  It's really intense. Yeah, and they're really grateful too, and it's good vibes until, you know, someone's losing. And then, um, yeah, my mom just said like under her breath, like, tiny dick syndrome or something. And I was like, whoa, mommy? Excuse me.

• 22:28Amy Poehler?

  Mommy.

• 22:28Speaker 02

  Wait, wait, wait.

• 22:29Amy Poehler?

  Mommy, your inside thought went outside.

• 22:31Speaker 02

  Yeah, ma'am. I was like, mom, you didn't just say that. And they were all like giggling, but like nervously. And I was like, this is, she's joking, she's doing a bit. And she was like, no, that's what that is. And I was like.

• 22:44Amy Poehler?

  Coming down the barrel so hard.

• 22:46Speaker 02

  And I was like, excuse me, guys. Bowen, hi.

• 22:50Speaker 02

  That's something that's just happened at some point in our lives. We have to use this.

• 22:53Amy Poehler?

  You were so funny in it. I mean, you're so funny in so much stuff that you did.

• 22:57Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 22:58Amy Poehler?

  I mean, you're singing off key in Domingo, which is hard to do. I mean, was it hard to do to sing off key?

• 23:04Speaker 02

  It was fun. It was really fun. And I liked that it got worse every time I came back to the mic. It was like, I started really subtly.

• 23:10Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 23:11Speaker 02

  But, but no, but with game that I, I had to fight for that one. Like you said, like sometimes it's, it's the most gratifying when you fight for it and then finally people believe it. I was so happy.

• 23:23Amy Poehler?

  I feel like I get a sense from you that, you know, and you've been working long enough now to know that one of the things I think that's nice about getting older is you know what you're good at. Like you're like, I think I can do this well. Like, that isn't always the case when we're figuring ourselves out, like what we can actually deliver on. But I feel like, that's what I mean about the confidence. I feel like you know.

• 23:42Speaker 02

  Oh, God.

• 23:42Amy Poehler?

  What you can do well comedically.

• 23:44Speaker 02

  That is such a generous and nice thing to say. Oh, my God, I hope this is okay. Sorry that I'm here. No, I'm good. But like.

• 23:50Amy Poehler?

  But I feel that about you.

• 23:52Speaker 02

  I know what tickles me. And I know that I, um, I know how it feels like with the players, like to experience and if it has that like. Carbonation, that ticklish thing, it's, then there's a chance, you know?

• 24:05Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 24:05Speaker 02

  And I am not one to, you know, I would never, but we were in Lauren's office and we were going over the run of the show and he kept moving game night over. And I was like, Lauren, I'm so sorry. Please, can we at least try it at dress? Can we please try it at dress? Please, I'm so sorry. Like, I promise, I owe you forever. Can we just try it at dress? Okay. And he moved it back.

• 24:25Amy Poehler?

  I mean, people don't know that what's so cool and terrifying about the SNL system is it still uses just index cards.

• 24:33Speaker 02

  I love the index cards.

• 24:35Amy Poehler?

  And you have these index cards with your scenes and then it's just very like high school play. You walk in and everyone looks up to see if their card made it into the show.

• 24:46Speaker 02

  It's so special.

• 24:46Amy Poehler?

  It is. It's really old school and it is, I have a little bit of PTSD when I see index cards. Because when you just said, moving the index card, that I just had a moment of like,

• 24:58Speaker 02

  I'm so sorry.

• 24:59Amy Poehler?

  Because I remember many times where the index card was in a safe zone and then you come in, you're like, where did it go?

• 25:04Speaker 02

  Oh, no. Wait, do you have ones that you want to share about?

• 25:10Amy Poehler?

  Well, you know what's also fun about those index cards is there is always kind of a collection at the bottom because the show often runs long. And you know, sometimes things have to get cut on the fly, as people know. There'll be like two index cards fighting for the bottom.

• 25:23Speaker 02

  Right.

• 25:24Amy Poehler?

  There'll be two scenes that are in the bottom and you're like, see on the mat? Like, let's see which one makes it.

• 25:28Speaker 02

  And you don't know until it's just.

• 25:30Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. It really does kind of build your, I think, your tolerance for rejection.

• 25:36Speaker 02

  Right.

• 25:36Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. Just kind of like, you get used to thinking, okay, this isn't my last good idea. I have to try again next week. I think that's good.

• 25:43Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 25:44Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. But you feel, but I feel like, well, Bowen, Bowen was so great talking about you because, you know, he's such a friend and also.

• 25:55Amy Poehler?

  Loves talking about how easy it is to talk to you. And then his two questions were really funny. One, I don't really understand. One was kind of like.

• 26:05Speaker 02

  I'm scared.

• 26:06Amy Poehler?

  No, they were there. But one was like, um, what, what would Ariana say is the trajectory of her career? What is the unifying theme?

• 26:16Speaker 02

  Oh, wow.

• 26:17Amy Poehler?

  I know, it's, it's kind of, it might be hard to answer this early in the interview, but.

• 26:20Speaker 02

  No, I feel, it feels clear, actually.

• 26:23Amy Poehler?

  Oh, she's ready to answer.

• 26:24Speaker 02

  It just, it feels as clear as.

• 26:26Amy Poehler?

  Incredible.

• 26:26Speaker 02

  Yeah, I don't know. I, I think I just am feeling a lot more connected to myself and my art since I started doing different things. I think, um, you know, I spent so much time only doing pop music, but I grew up as a girl who loved musical theater and comedy. So I think the thing that will be like best for my soul and also for my art and for what I'm giving myself to is if I'm chasing things that, um, sort of feel

• 27:00Speaker 02

  just very right in the moment, even if it's spontaneous, but something different. Like I am doing a movie right now because it's a role that I, I read the script and I love it and it's funny and I love the cast and I'm so excited. And then I'm going to do a small stint of shows next year because that is like something that authentically sounded good to me.

• 27:22Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 27:23Speaker 02

  And then, you know, from there, there are other things that are different. And I think following those authentic impulses, um, feel, it feels like a really good idea, like a, a good thing. I think I was suffering.

• 27:40Amy Poehler?

  I think it's a sense of like getting older and getting, understanding, like listening to your own body, like figuring out, yeah, figuring out, asking yourself, what do you want first, which isn't always the case in, in, when we're, um, when we're doing a lot of work, we're sometimes doing things because we have to do them or we should do them. And then when you take even a second to say.

• 28:01Amy Poehler?

  What do I want to do? What feels right? Yeah.

• 28:04Speaker 02

  Yeah, that's something that is learned over time. For me, I, when I, you know, sort of came into all of this and my pop career sort of took over my life in a way. I didn't have that at all, you know?

• 28:18Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 28:19Speaker 02

  And I think that is, I feel very like privileged and grateful to have learned that, that there can be room for, for different creative endeavors.

• 28:28Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 28:30Speaker 02

  So that's been a really beautiful thing. I think it will change a lot. I think the first, the last, you know,

• 28:38Speaker 02

  10 or 15 years will look very different to the ones that are coming up. And I don't want to say any definitive things. Like, I, I do know that I'm very excited to do this small tour, but I think it might not happen again for a long, long, long, long time.

• 28:52Amy Poehler?

  Sure.

• 28:52Speaker 02

  You know, so I'm gonna give it my all and it's gonna be beautiful. And I'm so grateful that, I think that's why I'm doing it.

• 28:58Amy Poehler?

  Mm-hmm.

• 28:59Speaker 02

  Because I'm like, one last hurrah.

• 29:01Amy Poehler?

  Perfect, because for now, never say never.

• 29:04Speaker 02

  No, no, no, I'm not.

• 29:05Amy Poehler?

  And it'll, and also, I think, to your point, like, when you're able to step away from acting or music or writing, you, then you really appreciate it when you get to go back to it.

• 29:16Speaker 02

  So much more. And like, you are able to do better by that art form because you're appreciative and really able to feel present in it.

• 29:27Amy Poehler?

  Well, this leads me to Bowen's next question, which was, what is your favorite note to sing?

• 29:34Speaker 02

  Oh, my God. My favorite note to sing.

• 29:37Amy Poehler?

  I know. Okay, I'm gonna play you a note. You tell me if you like it. Okay.

• 29:42Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 29:43Amy Poehler?

  Because we gotta get, I mean, I, well, I just got nervous when I just named the note G because I was like, that's a note, right?

• 29:51Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 29:54Speaker 02

  I know that G is a note that I, that was the highest note of my ad lib that I sang in 13.

• 30:00Amy Poehler?

  I think G is pretty high.

• 30:01Speaker 02

  It was something that I sang in 13, I know that.

• 30:06Speaker 02

  That's a nice one.

• 30:09Speaker 02

  Can't tell you, but I love it.

• 30:10Amy Poehler?

  Okay, let's do another one.

• 30:12Speaker 02

  Is this what I'm supposed to do?

• 30:14Amy Poehler?

  Here we go.

• 30:17Amy Poehler?

  Here we go, here's a C.

• 30:18Speaker 02

  Oh. Beautiful. I have never sounded that.

• 30:24Speaker 02

  Gorgeous.

• 30:26Amy Poehler?

  Okay, so Bowen, we don't know, we don't know the answer. We don't know.

• 30:29Speaker 02

  But I did learn a lot about music theory today. Thank you so much, Amy Poehler, for my.

• 30:34Amy Poehler?

  For my. One of those notes reminds me of Annie, which I know you were in, which is one of my favorite musicals.

• 30:43Speaker 02

  Tomorrow.

• 30:45Amy Poehler?

  Yes, what is that note?

• 30:47Speaker 02

  I don't know.

• 30:48Amy Poehler?

  We'll never know. We'll never know.

• 30:50Speaker 02

  I'll never know, but I do know.

• 30:51Amy Poehler?

  That's a hard one to hit.

• 30:53Speaker 02

  I hear the relation, I hear the, I know why you thought of that.

• 30:56Amy Poehler?

  One of my favorite songs in any musical is Maybe in Annie. I love Maybe.

• 31:01Speaker 02

  That is such a good song. Sad one.

• 31:03Amy Poehler?

  That's a sad one.

• 31:04Speaker 02

  No, that'll do it.

• 31:05Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, that'll get you going.

• 31:06Speaker 02

  That'll get you going.

• 31:07Amy Poehler?

  And was that fun to be a little kid in Annie?

• 31:10Speaker 02

  It was fun to be a little kid in Annie.

• 31:12Amy Poehler?

  What a part!

• 31:13Speaker 02

  And what a big part. It was really a huge undertaking at that age.

• 31:17Amy Poehler?

  It's true. I was, I was talking to Rachel Dratch, we were talking about musicals that like shaped us. And for women my age, I'm in my 50s, like Annie was just, it was kind of like, it was about, it was just like, it was about us. Like it was, it was like a musical for us. It really was. It felt like the first, it was not about us, we were not orphans.

• 31:38Speaker 02

  I was thinking, wait, okay.

• 31:40Amy Poehler?

  But it was for us.

• 31:43Speaker 02

  Annie was for you?

• 31:44Amy Poehler?

  It was a young, it was, she was the same age as us, right? Like that part was, you know, to just to have a young girl be the lead of a, of a Broadway show, and it's named after her. It's not called Daddy Warbucks and the Little Girl. It's called Annie.

• 32:01Speaker 02

  It shouldn't be called that.

• 32:02Amy Poehler?

  Shouldn't be called that.

• 32:03Speaker 02

  I don't like that title. Wait, so what are your, what are your?

• 32:06Amy Poehler?

  Well, it's funny with, oh, my SNL or my musical?

• 32:10Speaker 02

  Your SNL, like?

• 32:11Amy Poehler?

  Bloopers?

• 32:12Speaker 02

  Bloopers. What's one of your favorite blooper moments?

• 32:15Amy Poehler?

  One thing that comes to mind is one time I was doing a sketch where, I think Jason Bateman was the host, and there was a monkey in the sketch, like a, I would say maybe a chimpanzee, like a formidable-

• 32:28Speaker 02

  An animal actor?

• 32:29Amy Poehler?

  Yes, an animal actor.

• 32:30Speaker 02

  How do you feel about animal actors?

• 32:31Amy Poehler?

  I don't like them.

• 32:32Speaker 02

  Yeah, not good.

• 32:33Amy Poehler?

  I don't like them, and I, it's too stressful for me. And it was like a young chimpanzee, and I keep, I'm going like this because I just want to show how strong it was.

• 32:45Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 32:46Amy Poehler?

  And I walked past the chimpanzee, and it reached out and grabbed me by the wrist.

• 32:53Speaker 02

  Oh, no.

• 32:54Amy Poehler?

  And wouldn't let go.

• 32:55Speaker 02

  Oh, fuck.

• 32:56Amy Poehler?

  In the middle of a quick change. I think it was like the blonde hair or my vibe.

• 33:01Speaker 02

  Ooh.

• 33:02Amy Poehler?

  And I started screaming.

• 33:04Speaker 02

  Oh, that's really traumatic.

• 33:06Amy Poehler?

  And chimpanzees are very strong.

• 33:09Speaker 02

  Yeah, I, I like, I, famously.

• 33:12Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, so that was one where I was like, and I couldn't get it to let go of me, and I had to-

• 33:17Speaker 02

  Were you okay?

• 33:18Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, it was all fine. It was all fine. But that wasn't, that was, would that be considered a blooper?

• 33:22Speaker 02

  I don't, I don't know. I think that's like PTSD.

• 33:24Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, that's PTSD.

• 33:25Speaker 02

  It's like a different colder, but I love it. I'm glad I know.

• 33:33Amy Poehler?

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• 34:18Amy Poehler?

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• 35:04Amy Poehler?

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• 36:17Amy Poehler?

  I do want to talk to you about musicals because I know you love musicals, of course.

• 36:22Speaker 02

  I do.

• 36:23Amy Poehler?

  I like them very much.

• 36:27Amy Poehler?

  I do, I like them very much.

• 36:30Speaker 02

  They are, I can also admit they're ridiculous.

• 36:32Amy Poehler?

  Well, what I love about them is when I feel transported, to me, that is the best feeling ever when I watch anything. But it's harder for me to get transported in musicals than in other things. And I get, you know, it's kind of like improv, like there's a vulnerability in that moment. And if it's good, you're psyched, and if it's not good.

• 36:52Speaker 02

  It's tough.

• 36:53Amy Poehler?

  It's tough.

• 36:53Speaker 02

  It's ticklish.

• 36:55Amy Poehler?

  Yes, how do you, when you've done many musicals, you're currently making a film about probably the most famous musical, Wicked. Like, when you're, when you have that moment right before the actor sings.

• 37:07Speaker 02

  Right.

• 37:07Amy Poehler?

  It's just like jumping off a cliff, kind of. You have to stay in the acting moment and then switch into song. Do you know what I mean? What do you do in the preciousness of that moment?

• 37:18Speaker 02

  Well, for Wicked, thankfully, I do feel like it's really well-written.

• 37:26Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 37:26Speaker 02

  For the characters and for the moment. So it feels like they have to sing the next thought, you know? But I think so that it can be as honest as possible and feel like it's just acting and like the singing, whatever. It's vocal training way long before you get there. So that it doesn't even feel like a thought. Like, I trained my voice for months before my first audition because Glinda's voice is so different than mine.

• 37:50Amy Poehler?

  How did you train it?

• 37:52Speaker 02

  I trained with my vocal coach, Eric Vitro. And it just takes muscle memory. So for weeks and weeks and weeks, I'd go every day. I was a coach on The Voice at the time. And I was going in the mornings to Eric and then my acting coach, Nancy Banks. And we would work on random things, not even Glinda-related things, just to sort of get the muscles moving. And I hadn't acted in a long time. And it was important to me to get ready for the audition. And, you know, I just spent...

• 38:25Speaker 02

  Every day going to retrain that falsetto operatic area of my voice because I wasn't using it for a long time. And you can hear the quality change if you look through like the voice notes from way back then. Like the first week I went, there was so much air seeping out. And then slowly but surely, like week after week, there was more purity and more clarity to the tone.

• 38:49Amy Poehler?

  When you get higher, does there have to be less air? Like, everything has to be tighter in the vocal cords?

• 38:54Speaker 02

  No, I think it just sounded, I guess what I mean by that was that you could hear like more rasp in my voice.

• 39:00Amy Poehler?

  Right.

• 39:01Speaker 02

  So the same amount of air, but just the quality became clearer and more pure as time went on.

• 39:05Amy Poehler?

  And Glenda doesn't have a rasp. She's a, does she?

• 39:09Speaker 02

  No, I mean, unless there's like an emotional break or something like that, that can be imperfect, but she has a pure tone.

• 39:16Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 39:17Speaker 02

  And it's more classical. And I trained really hard so that that could not be a thought on set. So that by the time we were in it and had to move seamlessly into the songs, hopefully, you know, that wasn't a stress, that wasn't a thing. No one was worried about, are the notes gonna come out right? And if they didn't, it probably made sense emotionally. You know, there are moments where, especially in the second one, where we have breaks and we have like choked up and you can hear it. And that's kind of like the beauty of being able to do it live on set because you get to honor what's happening in the scene.

• 39:53Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 39:54Speaker 02

  But it's Wicked. And I hear what you're saying, where like, maybe if it was something else, it might be, I don't know, it's like that back and forth is so hard to do. But, you know, thankfully, these songs felt so intentional. Every single song in Wicked feels so purposeful.

• 40:11Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 40:12Speaker 02

  For the arcs of the characters and for what's going on.

• 40:16Amy Poehler?

  Did you speak in a different voice as Glenda?

• 40:18Speaker 02

  I did, yeah.

• 40:19Amy Poehler?

  A higher voice so you could stay there when you sang?

• 40:21Speaker 02

  I did. It was kind of, so on days when I'm singing, I'll, and also, most of the time, this is kind of where my voice sits, is like here.

• 40:31Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 40:32Speaker 02

  But sometimes it'll move lower and then sometimes it'll move higher. For Glenda... When she's uh younger, it was a little bit pingier. And in the, when she's older, it's a little more grounded, a little more lived in. She's like a public figure now. She's supposed to, you know, she has this like responsibility. So it's a little more, and she's been through more. So it has a slightly different tone. But then when she's with Elfie again and having fun, there's more pep.

• 41:00Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 41:01Speaker 02

  And um, yeah, I feel like people's-

• 41:03Amy Poehler?

  That's incredible that you tracked all that.

• 41:05Speaker 02

  It was important.

• 41:06Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 41:07Speaker 02

  Uh, thank you, but you know, it felt really important and helpful because we were shooting both films at the same time.

• 41:13Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 41:13Speaker 02

  So just making sure, I also, I I kept uh track of all of that with color-coded sticky tabs. So that I could like-

• 41:22Amy Poehler?

  I love a sticky tab.

• 41:23Speaker 02

  Take a peek at which color so that I could bounce back and forth. And then, you know, there were a lot of little tools that helped with the mindset shift between both films, but that was um one of them. And singing voice and speaking voice feeling a little different. Where, that was a really fun thing to sort of figure out. Um, some of her songs in the second movie, you get to hear her open up a little more. Whereas like, everything in the first movie is so um controlled and prim and proper and bubbly. Um, yeah, you get to kind of like peel back so many different layers.

• 42:04Speaker 02

  She grows a lot in the first movie. Her arc is, she has a a big arc in the first movie. And then in the second one, there's a lot more to go.

• 42:12Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, because you're so good, you're such a mimic. You do men's voices very well.

• 42:18Speaker 02

  I am working on it. Cause I'd like to do more male drag and more male voices.

• 42:22Amy Poehler?

  Your Eugene Levy was amazing.

• 42:24Speaker 02

  Thank you. How did you see that? How have you seen that?

• 42:26Amy Poehler?

  From my laptop. I, everything is here.

• 42:30Speaker 02

  No one knows about that.

• 42:31Amy Poehler?

  You're, can you do a little Eugene Levy? Can you, do you remember?

• 42:34Speaker 02

  Yeah, I, you know, I, I, the thing about that day is I had- I went to a place that I've never gone before. And I don't know if I am able to access that just on the fly, but I can try.

• 42:46Amy Poehler?

  Of course, of course.

• 42:47Speaker 02

  I also had put my gum in my Invisalign.

• 42:50Amy Poehler?

  Ooh, that's helpful.

• 42:52Speaker 02

  Because we had teeth, but they weren't like working, they weren't sticking. So I put gum in my Invisalign, which really helped.

• 42:57Amy Poehler?

  And you were playing the character he played in Best in Show, but not Eugene.

• 43:01Speaker 02

  Yes, it wasn't Eugene, it was, um...

• 43:02Amy Poehler?

  Eugene is very sophisticated, not this character.

• 43:04Speaker 02

  Jerry Fleck.

• 43:05Amy Poehler?

  Mm-hmm.

• 43:06Speaker 02

  I was playing Jerry Fleck. And he was sort of like, "Hold on, I have to like, I have to like, relax my body." I don't know, I dropped into this.

• 43:14Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, Eugene.

• 43:15Speaker 02

  Um, I'd like to think that Cookie and I... It's not as low as I'd like today. I don't have my basement today.

• 43:21Amy Poehler?

  It's so good.

• 43:23Speaker 02

  Work as a team, though I do nothing. She does all the work with Winky. Uh, back to, uh, I don't know, back in the day when I was at Pont St. Elion Junior High. Well, uh...

• 43:37Amy Poehler?

  I wish you could... Fuck, I wish people listening could look at Ariana's face.

• 43:41Speaker 02

  It's really bad. What is it doing?

• 43:42Amy Poehler?

  It's transforming, it's really good.

• 43:45Speaker 02

  I never have any idea.

• 43:46Amy Poehler?

  But you have a, you have a way to get pretty, you can get pretty low.

• 43:50Speaker 02

  I sometimes can, yeah.

• 43:52Amy Poehler?

  And you do have that, I mean, I, I love, I, I love, I want, I wa, like, I feel like there's a lot of men's voices you could do well.

• 44:02Speaker 02

  Oh, my God.

• 44:02Amy Poehler?

  Because you're very, you're very, you're very high femme, as people like to say, I don't know. And, um...

• 44:08Speaker 02

  High femme.

• 44:08Amy Poehler?

  High femme.

• 44:09Speaker 02

  I think.

• 44:10Amy Poehler?

  And, um, but...

• 44:11Speaker 02

  I think we both are.

• 44:12Amy Poehler?

  I, I, I didn't think I was, but Bowen told me I was.

• 44:15Speaker 02

  I think you are, but you also have such comfortability doing great male voices and characters.

• 44:21Amy Poehler?

  Same, and I, and, you know, and I think what I love about you is the way in which you're very like, open and, um, supportive of the way that gender is its own fluid experience and expression in, in, in the way you live your life and also the way you support people who are expressing that fluidity. But I think you have a very interesting masculine feminine energy that you're always playing around with, and it's cool to see it.

• 44:49Speaker 02

  It's so nice.

• 44:50Amy Poehler?

  It's cool to see it.

• 44:51Speaker 02

  That's so nice.

• 44:51Amy Poehler?

  You have a wide range of how you can play around.

• 44:54Speaker 02

  That is so nice.

• 44:55Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 44:56Speaker 02

  I'd like to play more men.

• 44:57Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, okay, America.

• 45:02Speaker 02

  Oh, we should have worn mustaches.

• 45:04Amy Poehler?

  Oh, I love a mustache. I love a mustache.

• 45:07Speaker 02

  I love a mustache as well. With, with, for Jerry, for my performance as Jerry, I had these big eyebrows and no other makeup and, and big, the, yeah, the invisibility on my teeth. It was really fun.

• 45:19Amy Poehler?

  And then you can do that really breathy, you know, and also Judy Garland is up in that world. I know you love Judy. And she, and you have, you can do, I just, I mean, I'm just,

• 45:31Speaker 02

  This is so nice.

• 45:32Amy Poehler?

  I'm pointing out your range.

• 45:33Speaker 02

  Coming from you, I feel like I am dreaming.

• 45:36Amy Poehler?

  I don't know if anyone's told you, you're very talented.

• 45:38Speaker 02

  That is very kind.

• 45:39Amy Poehler?

  You're very, very talented.

• 45:41Speaker 02

  Well, so are you.

• 45:41Amy Poehler?

  Well, I mean, and, and you know, you, it is pretty, it's so fantastic to hear your name up with, it's like, Celine, Whitney, Mariah.

• 45:53Speaker 02

  What are you talking about?

• 45:55Amy Poehler?

  Ariana, you're in that sentence.

• 45:56Speaker 02

  No.

• 45:57Amy Poehler?

  Yes, ma'am.

• 45:58Speaker 02

  No, no, no.

• 45:59Amy Poehler?

  Yes, you are in that sentence. And what-

• 46:01Speaker 02

  That's crazy.

• 46:03Amy Poehler?

  It must be, I guess, because I'm talking about people that you love, study and completely like are, are, you know, a huge fan and you're also their peer and you're singing with them. Who is someone that you sang with that you had to just kind of like keep looking over and being like, oh my, oh my God, like, I can't believe I'm singing with them?

• 46:24Speaker 02

  Mariah.

• 46:25Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 46:26Speaker 02

  Every time I'm, I cross paths with her, which has been like a handful now, and that feels just like such a dream. I have to pinch myself and the best part is how kind she has been to me and how she's embraced me and just, she's a wonderful, kind person. I really love her. It's very surreal.

• 46:53Amy Poehler?

  What was it about Mariah's music, growing up, that spoke to you? What was that special sauce about her voice?

• 46:59Speaker 02

  The vocals and the sense of humor. I think her, her, her pen and her producing ear, I mean, yes, she's the greatest vocalist, of course, but the, the other pieces are just so, are just what make her her, you know?

• 47:17Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 47:19Speaker 02

  Talk about, you know, she's the greatest singer. So many people sing beautifully, but her, her point of view and her sense of humor and her um wit in her songwriting and yeah.

• 47:30Amy Poehler?

  And she, talk about male drag.

• 47:32Speaker 02

  Where did she do that?

• 47:33Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 47:34Speaker 02

  What did she do?

• 47:34Amy Poehler?

  The obsessed video. Look it up. Let's look it up.

• 47:37Speaker 02

  You have to see it.

• 47:38Amy Poehler?

  She dressed, she, and, and Lady Gaga also does that as well, so well.

• 47:43Speaker 02

  Yes, oh my god.

• 47:45Amy Poehler?

  And I, and I mean-

• 47:46Speaker 02

  I love these divas. I love, she's another as well, who is just so, I love her so much. She's the sweetest in the world.

• 47:52Amy Poehler?

  You, that Rain on Me is so good.

• 47:54Speaker 02

  Well, thank you.

• 47:55Amy Poehler?

  And I loved seeing you two together because it just felt like two professional super talents, like I could just-

• 48:02Speaker 02

  We're such, we're theater nerds as well.

• 48:04Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. Okay, obsessed Mariah Carey.

• 48:08Speaker 02

  Oh, she's dressed as a, um, she's at the limousine. She's a limousine driver. She's obsessed with herself. She's playing a-

• 48:19Amy Poehler?

  Wow, I never saw this.

• 48:21Speaker 02

  I know. I'm, she's one of us.

• 48:24Amy Poehler?

  That is so cool. Who are you seeing in music and film and who, who are you saying like, whoa, they're doing something really exciting. I'm inspired by them.

• 48:33Speaker 02

  I have to say, but I'm sort of, I'm on set right now, I'm filming this movie, I'm filming-

• 48:38Amy Poehler?

  Can you talk about what you're filming or is it too?

• 48:39Speaker 02

  Yes, I'm filming Focker in Law.

• 48:41Amy Poehler?

  Oh, nice.

• 48:42Speaker 02

  So I'm having so much, I know, it's crazy.

• 48:44Amy Poehler?

  That's great.

• 48:45Speaker 02

  The fourth Focker's movie, but it's like, it's such a treat and it's such a privilege. I'm, I'm learning so much and working with Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro and everyone that is in this cast, I, I'm really enjoying my time with and it's such a-

• 48:58Amy Poehler?

  Who's directing it?

• 48:59Speaker 02

  John Hamburg, who I-

• 49:00Amy Poehler?

  Oh, he's, John is awesome.

• 49:02Speaker 02

  Yeah, he's wonderful.

• 49:03Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, he's great.

• 49:04Speaker 02

  And it's just so great to um sort of experience a new, a new journey and uh like learn from those around me and I'm very inspired by my cast. I love, and Beanie Feldstein is in it and she's incredible. I love her so much.

• 49:20Amy Poehler?

  So funny.

• 49:21Speaker 02

  So funny, so wonderful and um yeah, I'm learning a lot from my castmates and um yeah.

• 49:28Amy Poehler?

  And it's probably like a lot less physical, um, it's probably a lot less physically exhausting than Wicked, which must be-

• 49:38Speaker 02

  No, it's not. I'm not kidding, I'm not kidding. I don't know if I'm allowed to say this, but I have to say it because you're gonna laugh your ass off. My character's a triathlete.

• 49:47Amy Poehler?

  Oh no.

• 49:49Amy Poehler?

  So you're always running?

• 49:50Speaker 02

  I spent yesterday doing burpees in high knees with Robert De Niro. And he's like, "Good job, Olivia, good job." And it's like, the craziest, the most appealing. I'm like, "What is this movie? What are we doing?" But I'm having a blast. It's really special, but no, it's far, it's not.

• 50:07Amy Poehler?

  It's not.

• 50:08Speaker 02

  Yeah, she's a lot of things. But a triathlete is one of them. There's also a lot of biking in this movie.

• 50:13Amy Poehler?

  Oh, no.

• 50:14Speaker 02

  A lot, a lot, a lot, a lot.

• 50:15Amy Poehler?

  Oh, no.

• 50:16Speaker 02

  Ben Stiller is so.

• 50:17Amy Poehler?

  He's so fit. He runs like a couple of miles a day.

• 50:21Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 50:22Amy Poehler?

  Before, yeah, it's too much.

• 50:24Speaker 02

  Totally.

• 50:24Amy Poehler?

  It's crazy. No, it's, it's too much.

• 50:26Speaker 02

  I feel like I'm on the set of The Avengers. Between him and Bob, Mr. De Niro, I'm like, are you guys?

• 50:32Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, but Bob, Bob's not running in the morning, is he? Oh, my God.

• 50:35Speaker 02

  At like four, at like 3:30. I love them.

• 50:39Amy Poehler?

  They gotta stop. That's not okay.

• 50:40Speaker 02

  I'm obsessed with them. But I do love a good morning Pilates moment.

• 50:43Amy Poehler?

  Here's how I feel about running.

• 50:45Speaker 02

  Yes, yes. You prefer, I prefer walking.

• 50:50Amy Poehler?

  I prefer walking.

• 50:50Speaker 02

  There we go.

• 50:51Amy Poehler?

  And when people are running, I'm like, too much running?

• 50:55Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 50:56Amy Poehler?

  What are you running from?

• 50:56Speaker 02

  I, I, here.

• 50:58Amy Poehler?

  It's too much running. But I just, I just assumed that Wicked is just so much physical. Because also the outfits.

• 51:06Speaker 02

  It is, it is, it is.

• 51:06Amy Poehler?

  The outfits are a lot of like, like, wearing an outfit is, is heavy, like, that's just, and the...

• 51:14Speaker 02

  Well, every day was corseted. The only, the only looks, the only looks that I had that weren't corseted were my pajamas. But it was, but it was helpful.

• 51:22Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, it kept you feeling...

• 51:24Speaker 02

  Yeah, I, I was so eager to get into my corset and her shoes because I wanted to like find her posture immediately and like her weird stiffness. I wanted to jump into that.

• 51:33Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 51:33Speaker 02

  So I had a rehearsal corset and rehearsal shoes and then it was like fine by the time we, you know? It was, it was great.

• 51:39Amy Poehler?

  And John Schu seems awesome.

• 51:40Speaker 02

  He's the best person in the whole entire world.

• 51:44Amy Poehler?

  You can just kind of tell right away. I mean, I have to say in general, the press that you and Cynthia did for the tour was so exciting to watch because... There is like, you know, there is this thing that one always has to push against when you're a woman in the business, which is people are kind of constantly comparing and asking each other. Like, there's just like a little bit of a

• 52:12Amy Poehler?

  an electricity in the air that people are looking for conflict.

• 52:15Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 52:16Amy Poehler?

  And what you and Cynthia did over and over and over again was so radical, which is you kept getting ahead of it, speaking to it, and then in the moment, really reminding everybody about how you made a commitment to each other to support each other through the project. It was really cool. And in doing so, you commented on the bigger idea of like the pressure women feel constantly to be compared to each other and have conflict with each other. Did you two make that pact together? It feels like you did. Did you say it to each other or was it just unspoken?

• 52:51Speaker 02

  Well, we did. You know, it was, it was really, first of all, thank you. It was, it was really hard work, you know?

• 52:58Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 53:00Speaker 02

  Not to commit to that, but to kind of

• 53:05Speaker 02

  take care of each other. Firstly, through this incredibly huge thing that was Making Wicked. You know, I really wanted to be safe

• 53:17Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 53:17Speaker 02

  in each other, you know? I wanted to make sure that she knew immediately. Like, I, I am a Cancer. I jumped in way too fast. I was like, hi.

• 53:28Speaker 02

  Time.

• 53:28Amy Poehler?

  You were like, ready to cry?

• 53:29Speaker 02

  Yeah, I was like, hello.

• 53:30Amy Poehler?

  Shall we cry together?

• 53:31Speaker 02

  Yeah, I'd start with the, like, the darkest. No, I was just, no, like, but, you know, I really did wanna, wanna establish that right, right away. And I kind of said, hey,

• 53:42Speaker 02

  we're getting to know each other. You know, we're gonna learn a lot about each other very quickly.

• 53:46Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 53:46Speaker 02

  You need to know, I want you to know, there's nothing that we can't talk about. You don't have to face something alone. If you need help with something, I am on your side already. I don't even know what it is yet, but we'll get there together. This is a huge undertaking.

• 54:02Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 54:03Speaker 02

  And I want us to stay connected as much as possible.

• 54:09Speaker 02

  Every step of the way. And you know, there were so many challenges in the making of. And that we checked in and we always stayed

• 54:21Speaker 02

  honest.

• 54:21Amy Poehler?

  You did, and we got to see it. It was really cool because you have to deal with a lot of people's energy when they're talking to you about the stuff that you made. And the way, and also you guys just physically checked in. Like, it's really sweet how you touch each other. You like to touch.

• 54:39Amy Poehler?

  In a, in a non-sexual way.

• 54:40Speaker 02

  Oh, God.

• 54:41Amy Poehler?

  In a, in a loving way of like, supporting each other.

• 54:44Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 54:45Amy Poehler?

  You like to hold each other's, like, hands and, and be there. It's very sweet.

• 54:50Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 54:50Amy Poehler?

  You like to do that with people, am I wrong?

• 54:52Speaker 02

  I do, I do, I, I am very, I, I, I, I channel a lot of energy through my hands.

• 54:58Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 54:59Speaker 02

  And so, I'm always holding a hand, I'm always like squeezing a something, as you've learned. I'm always reaching for something sometimes.

• 55:06Amy Poehler?

  We have so many things here that you can squeeze, fake food if you want.

• 55:09Speaker 02

  That's wonderful. No, but it's often, it's often like who I'm with.

• 55:12Amy Poehler?

  You want, yes.

• 55:13Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's like, I, I like to channel support and energy and like, whatever. I didn't even notice that it was a thing about me until that thing happened. And then.

• 55:22Amy Poehler?

  You're talking about when you grabbed Cynthia's little finger, it was so cute.

• 55:25Speaker 02

  Yeah, because I didn't know what the fuck was going on.

• 55:27Amy Poehler?

  Sure.

• 55:27Speaker 02

  And, um.

• 55:28Amy Poehler?

  And you were like, and you just reached over a little teeny tiny grab.

• 55:31Speaker 02

  And I knew it was tender and sincere and beautiful, and I just wanted to be supportive. I was like, oh, my God.

• 55:37Amy Poehler?

  And it was so sweet.

• 55:38Speaker 02

  It meant, well, it felt sweet, it felt beautiful.

• 55:40Amy Poehler?

  But again, a great example of in a awkward or confusing moment, you, you guys kept turning towards each other.

• 55:47Speaker 02

  Yes, and I think that's something that we've worked hard to maintain. And, you know, there's a lot of time that passes between the wrapping of the film and then the press tour happening.

• 55:54Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 55:55Speaker 02

  Um, and then, you know, it's a check-in here and there when you can. You know, we're both so busy, but we do our very best, um, to stay connected in that way and to take care of each other. Let's all take care of each other so that we can honor the project as much as humanly possible and do great work.

• 56:08Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 56:08Speaker 02

  Is like, the best lens ever.

• 56:11Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 56:11Speaker 02

  And I'm so lucky that John Chu is the king of that exact thing that we're talking about.

• 56:18Amy Poehler?

  I mean, the fact that he was at his baby's birth and not at Wicked premiere.

• 56:23Speaker 02

  No. Well, I mean, thank, thank God.

• 56:25Amy Poehler?

  I know, but there's a few people that would have made a different choice.

• 56:28Speaker 02

  I know, but he had three over the course of the whole film, you know, I think.

• 56:31Amy Poehler?

  He had three babies?

• 56:32Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 56:34Amy Poehler?

  Well, let's be clear. His wife had three babies.

• 56:36Speaker 02

  Yes, yes, Chris has had three babies.

• 56:38Amy Poehler?

  Yes, but...

• 56:40Speaker 02

  But that's how long we've been working on this thing.

• 56:41Amy Poehler?

  Wow, that's a lot of babies.

• 56:42Speaker 02

  Isn't that crazy?

• 56:43Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 56:44Speaker 02

  Three.

• 56:45Amy Poehler?

  Wow, no twins?

• 56:46Speaker 02

  No twins.

• 56:47Amy Poehler?

  Shit, okay. All right. Okay, I have a lightning round for you.

• 56:52Speaker 02

  Okay, okay. Okay. So I have to disclaim, I'm really bad at lightning.

• 56:56Amy Poehler?

  Lightning doesn't have to be fast.

• 56:59Speaker 02

  I'm like in the middle always because PTSD, I build a case for both answers.

• 57:03Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 57:03Speaker 02

  So I'm like very indecisive due to things.

• 57:08Amy Poehler?

  Okay, got it. So I want you to know that this is not... You don't have to worry about being fast because I also don't ask the questions fast.

• 57:15Speaker 02

  Oh, okay. Thank God.

• 57:17Amy Poehler?

  So it's a slow...

• 57:18Speaker 02

  Okay, good, I feel great.

• 57:19Amy Poehler?

  We're on a slow round, a really slow lightning. Like we're... You kind of see it in the sky and it comes down really slowly and it hits the ground really slowly.

• 57:26Speaker 02

  Turtle round.

• 57:28Amy Poehler?

  So the first thing I'm going to ask you is kind of a gotcha question.

• 57:30Speaker 02

  Okay. Give me a...

• 57:33Amy Poehler?

  And this gotcha question is...

• 57:38Amy Poehler?

  You say you're 5'3".

• 57:40Speaker 02

  I don't say that.

• 57:41Amy Poehler?

  That's what the internet says.

• 57:43Speaker 02

  I say I'm 5'2". Well, the internet says a lot of things. But I'm 5'2".

• 57:46Amy Poehler?

  That was the question.

• 57:48Speaker 02

  I'm 5'2".

• 57:48Amy Poehler?

  Are you 5'2"?

• 57:49Speaker 02

  I'm 5'2".

• 57:50Amy Poehler?

  Is it 5'2" on your license? Do you have a license?

• 57:56Speaker 02

  I haven't used it in a long time because I'm in New York now.

• 57:59Amy Poehler?

  Do you have a current driver's license?

• 58:01Speaker 02

  I think so.

• 58:02Amy Poehler?

  She thinks so.

• 58:03Speaker 02

  I'm kidding, I'm joking, I do, I do. I'm not driving though.

• 58:06Amy Poehler?

  Do you like being 5'2"? What's the pros and cons of being 5'2", I ask because I am also 5'2", but my license says 5'3".

• 58:12Speaker 02

  I... Oh, does it?

• 58:13Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 58:13Speaker 02

  Was that a choice?

• 58:14Amy Poehler?

  No, they measured me or somehow someone put it down.

• 58:17Speaker 02

  It was a tall day? You were having a tall day?

• 58:20Amy Poehler?

  I was having a tall day.

• 58:21Speaker 02

  I get it.

• 58:21Amy Poehler?

  And I got like excited, I was like 5'3", I was like, okay, and then... Yeah, so 5'2",

• 58:28Speaker 02

  We're 5'2"!

• 58:29Amy Poehler?

  So what do you think about being a tiny person?

• 58:32Speaker 02

  I think it's fine, I think I'm enjoying my time. Things I wish I could reach more.

• 58:37Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 58:37Speaker 02

  I wish I could reach like the water more, I wish I could reach it.

• 58:41Amy Poehler?

  Is there anything that you think you wish you had height for?

• 58:47Amy Poehler?

  Just, I guess, reaching.

• 58:49Speaker 02

  No, I mean, just reaching.

• 58:50Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 58:51Speaker 02

  You know, the highest book, the highest water, the highest whatever it is, but I'm okay with it. Are you, do you?

• 58:56Amy Poehler?

  I mean, I know, I know no other way.

• 58:58Speaker 02

  I know no other way either.

• 58:59Amy Poehler?

  I know no other way. I mean, I have heard that shorter people live longer.

• 59:05Amy Poehler?

  But, um, not to brag.

• 59:06Speaker 02

  I don't know why.

• 59:10Speaker 02

  I hope so.

• 59:11Amy Poehler?

  I hope so.

• 59:11Speaker 02

  Well, I hope we all live long. I don't know what I'm saying.

• 59:15Amy Poehler?

  I mean, we can't all live long. Let's give it to the short people.

• 59:17Speaker 02

  I hope everyone lives a beautiful, long life.

• 59:19Amy Poehler?

  Of course, but let's have short people live longer.

• 59:21Speaker 02

  Let's have something, yeah.

• 59:21Amy Poehler?

  Um, let's have something. Okay, moving on, lightning round.

• 59:26Amy Poehler?

  Do you think you had a past life? Have you ever felt like you've lived before?

• 59:29Speaker 02

  Oh, God, you're going here? That's so not lightning.

• 59:33Amy Poehler?

  This is not lightning?

• 59:34Speaker 02

  I do feel like I've lived before, but I don't know.

• 59:36Amy Poehler?

  Who, what? Who was she, he? What was, where did you live? Do you have a sense?

• 59:40Speaker 02

  I have no sense.

• 59:41Amy Poehler?

  Okay.

• 59:41Speaker 02

  But I do feel old. Um, so that's what people say.

• 59:45Amy Poehler?

  Like an old soul.

• 59:46Speaker 02

  I'm not calling myself an old soul.

• 59:48Amy Poehler?

  Okay.

• 59:49Speaker 02

  I think I'm just tired, actually.

• 59:51Amy Poehler?

  Whoever you were was tired.

• 59:54Speaker 02

  I think I was tired and I think, I think they might have drowned.

• 59:57Amy Poehler?

  Ooh.

• 59:59Speaker 02

  Sorry, I'm sorry. I just have a thing with like when people hold their breath underwater. I don't like that.

• 1:00:04Amy Poehler?

  Okay, very good to know.

• 1:00:06Speaker 02

  I don't like that at all.

• 1:00:07Amy Poehler?

  Great.

• 1:00:07Speaker 02

  But back to the thing when you said, is there anything you wish you could do? I just have one more.

• 1:00:10Amy Poehler?

  Yes, please.

• 1:00:11Speaker 02

  If I don't get it out, I wish I were a person who, like, had entomology, endless entomology knowledge, and I could look at a bug and be like, ah, a lapidoptera pieridae. You know, that kind of person?

• 1:00:20Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 1:00:21Speaker 02

  I do wish I had that.

• 1:00:22Amy Poehler?

  Who could classify insects.

• 1:00:23Speaker 02

  Different insects.

• 1:00:24Amy Poehler?

  Mm-hmm, I know what you mean.

• 1:00:26Speaker 02

  You know, the people who do that with birds? I have the Bird app, the Merlin app. Do you have that?

• 1:00:30Amy Poehler?

  No.

• 1:00:31Speaker 02

  It's fabulous. You play, you record the sound of the bird and it quickly pops up what it is. They can tell by their tone of voice. I love that.

• 1:00:39Amy Poehler?

  I feel like you would also probably be able to impersonate a lot of birds.

• 1:00:42Speaker 02

  I think you have a lot of faith in me. You're being really kind to me.

• 1:00:47Amy Poehler?

  Best Halloween costume you've ever worn?

• 1:00:49Speaker 02

  Oh, well.

• 1:00:51Amy Poehler?

  Or one that you've worn?

• 1:00:52Speaker 02

  I think my favorites are the Best in Show stuff that I did with Liz. That we did together. That's forever my favorite. And I was also the pig face from Twilight Zone. That was like a fun.

• 1:01:05Amy Poehler?

  Yes, that's an old classic.

• 1:01:07Speaker 02

  Yes, I love Halloween.

• 1:01:08Amy Poehler?

  For people that don't remember, there was a Twilight Zone where a woman woke up from...

• 1:01:12Speaker 02

  Beauty with the Beholder.

• 1:01:13Amy Poehler?

  Yes, and it was, she woke up from what was like plastic surgery, and everyone started screaming, and her face looked beautiful.

• 1:01:20Speaker 02

  Gorgeous.

• 1:01:21Amy Poehler?

  But they were all...

• 1:01:22Speaker 02

  Pig faces. Fabulous.

• 1:01:25Amy Poehler?

  Chew on that.

• 1:01:26Speaker 02

  Fabulous episode.

• 1:01:28Amy Poehler?

  What about best bath product? You love taking baths. What?

• 1:01:32Speaker 02

  I love lush. I'm a lush person.

• 1:01:34Amy Poehler?

  You're like a bath bomb?

• 1:01:35Speaker 02

  I'm a bath bomb.

• 1:01:35Amy Poehler?

  So you love a fizz?

• 1:01:36Speaker 02

  I love a fizz. I love the smell. I love like salts and a bath bomb and a trickle of oil, like essential oils.

• 1:01:44Amy Poehler?

  And do you take, um, do you have one of those things on your bathtub? Like where it goes across where you can put your phone? Do you take your phone to your bath?

• 1:01:52Speaker 02

  I do. I take my, I also take my laptop. I get a lot of work done. I'm not kidding. Okay, so I have to talk about this because I'm a big bath person. Did someone tell you, tip you off?

• 1:02:01Amy Poehler?

  Yes, we heard you were a big bath person.

• 1:02:02Speaker 02

  Oh my God, I'm a big bath person. I like, like, it's like a, it's a ritual. It's a, yeah, it's a ceremony.

• 1:02:08Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:02:08Speaker 02

  And I have...

• 1:02:09Amy Poehler?

  Talk us through the ceremony.

• 1:02:10Speaker 02

  I have my like, I have my, I'm in the bath and I have my coffee. I have my coffee here.

• 1:02:17Amy Poehler?

  Got it. Do you have a tray?

• 1:02:19Speaker 02

  And my laptop here. No, it's just on the edge of the thing.

• 1:02:21Amy Poehler?

  Oh no, that's scary.

• 1:02:22Speaker 02

  I know, I know, but it's okay. It's always fine. And you know, I push the bubbles back so that they're not, they're not in the way because this is, this is, this is when I have time to do like my approvals of stuff before I go to work.

• 1:02:33Amy Poehler?

  Ah, that's good.

• 1:02:34Speaker 02

  So I'm able to like look at the links of stuff.

• 1:02:36Amy Poehler?

  In the water?

• 1:02:37Speaker 02

  Yeah, look at it.

• 1:02:37Amy Poehler?

  But so interesting and yet afraid of drowning.

• 1:02:40Speaker 02

  I know, but that's the thing. So I'm in control in the bath. There we go. It's a big control piece that we're working on. And I'm in control in the bath.

• 1:02:49Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:02:49Speaker 02

  And I'm a Cancer, so I'm very aquatic. I love the water. I love to be submerged, but the drowning thing.

• 1:02:55Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. Favorite Italian food?

• 1:02:58Speaker 02

  Ooh. I have to say pasta.

• 1:03:02Amy Poehler?

  What kind? So many kinds.

• 1:03:04Speaker 02

  Marinara.

• 1:03:06Amy Poehler?

  Just simple marinara?

• 1:03:07Speaker 02

  Yeah, what my Nona would make.

• 1:03:08Amy Poehler?

  Yes, I'm sorry about the passing of your Nona. She seemed amazing.

• 1:03:12Speaker 02

  She was amazing. She was so funny.

• 1:03:14Amy Poehler?

  Tell me about her.

• 1:03:15Speaker 02

  My favorite Nona story is Frankie coming out. To her. And, um.

• 1:03:21Amy Poehler?

  So Frankie, you're.

• 1:03:22Speaker 02

  My brother is Frankie. He is gay. And he is very gay. I don't know if you know. And he, um, and he came out to us and, you know, my first question was like, do you have a boyfriend? Who is he? I want to meet him. And, um, you know, Nona was just trying to figure it out. You know, very accepting, very loving, very celebratory. But she was just trying to figure it out because she couldn't believe it. And, you know, in her mind, she had plenty of like boyfriend. He had plenty of girlfriends and whatever. And, um, so she goes Frankie,

• 1:03:53Speaker 02

  have you seen a pair of breasts?

• 1:03:57Speaker 02

  And he was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, Nona, I've, I've seen breasts, yeah. And she goes, didn't do anything for you?

• 1:04:07Speaker 02

  He was like,

• 1:04:09Speaker 02

  no, no, no, no. And she was like, well, you're gay. And that was like, yeah, I know. He was like, I wasn't asking for you to tell me that I'm gay.

• 1:04:21Amy Poehler?

  Right before you leave, can I just tempt you one more time? Have you seen all of them?

• 1:04:26Speaker 02

  She was like, I just want to know if you know what you're, what you mean. It was just so funny.

• 1:04:30Amy Poehler?

  Before you go, I'd like to remind you what you're missing. And Frankie was like, I'm okay.

• 1:04:34Speaker 02

  Yeah, I'm good. I know. I've already asked this question. I promise.

• 1:04:38Amy Poehler?

  She seems amazing.

• 1:04:39Speaker 02

  She was amazing.

• 1:04:40Amy Poehler?

  Your family seems like they're like a really funny, like tight group. Like you seem really connected to your family.

• 1:04:48Speaker 02

  They are. I mean, we are. We are.

• 1:04:50Amy Poehler?

  I mean, are you a typical Italian family?

• 1:04:52Speaker 02

  I think so. I think so. I think like I. That's how we kind of grew up in the loud Italian household. Sunday dinners and cards and, you know, I learned poker, but like I was saying way before I should have. Probably and yeah, I was, I do feel like I am so right smack in the middle between my mom and my dad. Like I think Frankie and my mom are like very similar and that I'm like kind of in the middle of it all. But yeah, they were amazing and my grandpa was the best ever.

• 1:05:23Amy Poehler?

  What was he like?

• 1:05:24Speaker 02

  He was the best and.

• 1:05:25Amy Poehler?

  What did you call him?

• 1:05:27Speaker 02

  My grandpa.

• 1:05:27Amy Poehler?

  Grandpa.

• 1:05:28Speaker 02

  I called my Nona, Nona and my grandpa grandpa because he thought Nono sounded too negative.

• 1:05:34Amy Poehler?

  No, no.

• 1:05:34Speaker 02

  No, no.

• 1:05:35Amy Poehler?

  He didn't like it. He was like, no, no, no, no, no.

• 1:05:39Speaker 02

  But he was incredible.

• 1:05:40Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:05:41Speaker 02

  And he didn't, and when Frankie came out to him, he was just like, what the hell? Who cares? What are we gonna love him any less? We got dinner reservations at Positano. Let's go.

• 1:05:49Amy Poehler?

  Perfect. It's like that's what you wish for every kid. You wish for every kid that they have that kind of like loving, teasing, instant acceptance, instant love.

• 1:05:59Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 1:06:00Amy Poehler?

  And just like being seen right away.

• 1:06:02Speaker 02

  We need it now more than ever.

• 1:06:03Amy Poehler?

  Amen. Amen.

• 1:06:05Speaker 02

  I wish that for all the kids.

• 1:06:06Amy Poehler?

  Same. And you do, you provide that for a lot of people, Ariana. You're just so great.

• 1:06:11Speaker 02

  You are. I love you so much.

• 1:06:12Amy Poehler?

  I just love, love you so much too.

• 1:06:13Speaker 02

  I was so nervous and excited to come here because I adore you so much.

• 1:06:17Amy Poehler?

  Thank you. Was there anything we didn't talk about?

• 1:06:18Speaker 02

  I don't think there is.

• 1:06:19Amy Poehler?

  Okay, great. Thanks so much for doing this. It means a lot. And congrats on Wicked 2, which is gonna be out this week. And I'm sure this little indie film is gonna get a lot of people talking. No, but congrats on the huge success of it. And I can't wait to see all the stuff that's coming up for you. And I'm just such a fan. So thanks for doing this.

• 1:06:41Speaker 02

  Me too. I love you and thank you for having me.

• 1:06:43Amy Poehler?

  Thank you so much.

• 1:06:46Amy Poehler?

  Thank you, Ariana. It was so great to have you and so great to hear you talk about all of the good things. And it is time now for the Polar Plunge. Today's Polar Plunge is presented by Visible. When your phone plans as good as Visible, you've got to tell your people. Unlimited data, just 25 bucks a month. Join today at visible.com. So to plunge into the, into the interview today, I just want to say that Ariana talked a lot about game night and how, how much fun she has playing games and how some members of her family get competitive. And I just, I wanted to just kind of do a public service announcement to remind people that a competitive person at game night can ruin a game night.

• 1:07:28Amy Poehler?

  But as kind of a competitive person myself, don't come if you're not ready to win. So walk the line, be, care and try, but don't be, you know, so awful that you make everybody quiet. It's a fine line, but I know you can reach it. So today's Polar Plunge was presented by Visible. It's one line wireless on Verizon's 5G network for $25 a month. That's a top tier network at a budget friendly cost. Tell your people and make the switch. Terms apply. See visible.com for plan features and network management details. Thank you so much for listening. See you again. Bye. You've been listening to Good Hang. The executive producers for this show are Bill

• 1:08:11Amy Poehler?

  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.

• 1:08:33Amy 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.

• 1:09:04Speaker 04

  Ugh, I hate Mondays. King's Hawaiian cinnamon swirl bite? Uh, Taylor Hansen? Sure, I'll try one. Mmm.

• 1:09:13Speaker 05

  Hey, let's get back to work, please.

• 1:09:15Speaker 04

  But Taylor Hansen's making my day way better with these new soft and swirly King's Hawaiian cinnamon bites.

• 1:09:19Speaker 05

  Taylor Hansen? Nice. Try one. Mmm.

• 1:09:26Speaker 03

  King's Hawaiian cinnamon bites. There's nothing like it.