Alanis Morissette (Live)

Alanis Morissette is a shaky poodle on the inside and a black stallion on the outside. Amy hangs with the iconic singer-songwriter for a live taping of Good Hang and talks about fangirling over John Ritter, why meditation is overrated, and having good hair privilege. Host: Amy Poehler Guests: Kelly Kroyer and Alanis Morissette Executive Producers: Bill Simmons, Amy Poehler, and Jenna Weiss-Berman For Paper Kite Productions: Executive producer Jenna Weiss-Berman, coordinator Sam Green, and supervising producer Joel Lovell For 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; social producer Bridget Geerlings; video editor Drew van Steenbergen; and bookers Kat Spillane and Paige Garbarini Original Music: Amy Miles Live Show Production By: Elizabeth Fierman, Helen Eichner, Tessa Herrick, Aleya Zenieris, Nick Kosut, Curtis Matzke, Jonathan Lopez, Nick Hasson, and Justine Bursoni Brought to you by PayPal. Learn more at https://paypal.com/payin4 This episode is brought to you by Subaru. Love goes the extra mile in the Subaru Crosstrek Hybrid and Subaru Forester Hybrid. Visit https://subaru.com/hybrid to learn more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

• 0:00Amy Poehler?

  This episode is brought to you by eBay Live. Here's how it goes. First, you're watching the eBay livestream telling yourself, I'm just looking. And then boom, you see a vintage Rolex go for an absolute steal. Suddenly, a rare beanie baby pops up. Adrenaline hits and you're bidding. You might lose that first one, but you bid again and win. And that winning rush? Incredible, because you beat everyone to it. Meanwhile, on eBay Live, you don't just watch the action, you're in it. Download the eBay app to stream and shop live. eBay Live, things people love.

• 0:38Amy Poehler?

  Hello, Chicago! Hello, everyone. This is Amy Poehler. Welcome to the Vic.

• 0:52Amy Poehler?

  We are so excited that you're here and thank you so much for coming. Just a quick announcement. Now would be a great time to silence your cell phones or put it on vibrate and shove it down your pants. Are you guys ready for a great show?

• 1:13Amy Poehler?

  Thank you so much. Welcome to Good Hang Live Chicago. And as we get started, I want to introduce our musical guest for the evening. Give it up for Amy Miles, everybody! Amy Miles!

• 1:29Speaker 01

  So here it is. This is the theme of Good Hang. We're so excited to play it for you.

• 1:37Speaker 01

  And I know that it was a rumor that this was, that it was Amy singing the theme song, which I'm flattered, I love it. But, no.

• 1:48Speaker 01

  It's this one.

• 1:50Speaker 01

  Ready?

• 1:52Speaker 01

  Oh, my God, here we go. Oh, right. Oh, this is an audience participation. Okay, quickly. So I'm going to teach you guys a really hard thing to do. Are you ready? You're going to clap. Like 16 times, really fast. Okay, it's gonna, we're gonna practice it once. Are we ready? We go, one, two, three, clap.

• 2:16Speaker 01

  Okay. I don't know if that was 16, it sounded right. You just clap until it gets weird.

• 2:25Speaker 01

  Are you ready? One, two, three, clap.

• 2:35Speaker 01

  Nice.

• 4:22Speaker 01

  People of Chicago, are you ready for your host?

• 4:29Speaker 01

  Here comes the finest Amy in town tonight. Miss Amy Poehler!

• 4:49Amy Poehler?

  Hello!

• 4:56Amy Poehler?

  Amy Miles! Chris Anderson!

• 5:09Amy Poehler?

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

• 5:44Amy Poehler?

  Hello, Chicago! It's really nice to be back.

• 5:51Amy Poehler?

  2:00 PM show, baby.

• 5:55Amy Poehler?

  Can you believe it? Isn't it great?

• 5:59Amy Poehler?

  Isn't it great? You're welcome.

• 6:03Amy Poehler?

  We'll be done before 4:00. You still have some sun. You get to get in your pajamas by 6:00. You could watch a show tonight. You could do two things, two cultural things in one day. It's incredible. Hello, Chicago. You know, it's so nice to be back. We are here because you made it happen. We, we reached out to our Good Hang fans and asked, where should we go? And you said, Chicago, and we could not be happier. This is the best city in the world.

• 6:41Amy Poehler?

  Indeed.

• 6:43Amy Poehler?

  And Chicago is where I started my comedy career. Well, I didn't get paid for it, but I did do it here.

• 6:54Amy Poehler?

  And I worked at a bunch of restaurants in Chicago. I started working at a place called Carlucci's. Does anyone remember Carlucci's? Yeah.

• 7:07Amy Poehler?

  Lot of cocaine at Carlucci's.

• 7:14Amy Poehler?

  Not in the food, not in the food.

• 7:18Amy Poehler?

  Chicago, we love you. And by the way, congratulations on a beautiful day. Right? You, as we know, this time of year, it can go either way. It's, the winter is coming, as they say in Game of Thrones. And we love this time of year where you guys are running in shorts and you're just trying to get that sun for as long as you can until you get stuck in the dark closet of Chicago winter, never to see the sun again. But congrats on global warming for you guys, because that is better.

• 7:54Amy Poehler?

  But, but did anybody here write in to get us to Chicago? Like, did anybody? Thank you. Thank you for doing that. We got a lot of responses. I should know the number. And, and Chicago won. And it does, it's not, does not surprise me because this city is incredible and it supports its artists. And I'll say that this city is a city that you can learn in, you can perform in, you can feel supported in. And everyone I love comes from Chicago. So thank you, Chicago, for what you have given me. And thank you for being here.

• 8:33Amy Poehler?

  We really appreciate it.

• 8:37Amy Poehler?

  We'd also like to thank PayPal. PayPal, thank you PayPal.

• 8:43Amy Poehler?

  Thank you PayPal, presented by PayPal. Thank you very much. And thank you to Spotify and everybody who helped get this show up and running.

• 8:54Amy Poehler?

  So, you know, I never, I never know how to reveal who our guest is. And sometimes it's, you know, in this case, I think it was revealed online a little bit. But is there anybody here who doesn't know who our, who our guest is? Exciting.

• 9:14Amy Poehler?

  Very exciting. Well, you know, we always invite somebody on the podcast to talk well behind our guests' back, to give stories or a point of view. And we ask friends, sometimes we ask family members, sometimes we ask fans. And so we thought, because today is a day where we're celebrating the Good Hang fans, we could also celebrate fans in general. And so our first guest today is a fan of our guest. And they're going to talk well behind their back because they love her. And then we're going to bring out our guest. But you know, I don't like to tease. I don't think it's nice.

• 9:59Amy Poehler?

  So you should know that joining me later onstage this afternoon is Alanis Morissette.

• 10:15Amy Poehler?

  Cannot wait to talk to Alanis and cannot wait to get into it. But before we do that, we're going to check in with someone, a Chicago native. I've never met this person. I'm very excited she's joining us. She was recently in marketing, but is now a stay-at-home mom. And she's born and raised in Chicago. She counts herself as a huge Alanis Morissette fan. And I hope a somewhat middling good hang fan.

• 10:42Amy Poehler?

  Let's bring up Kelly Croyer from Chicago. Kelly, are you here?

• 10:49Amy Poehler?

  This episode is brought to you by Subaru. There's something about being on the road that has a way of leading to those unexpectedly memorable little moments. And in the all-new 2026 Subaru Hybrid, it's like the destination isn't even important. It's the drive, baby. And let me tell you, I'm in that car and I feel like a million bucks. Quiet ride, comfortable. Love my Subaru, can't get enough. With up to 581 miles in the Subaru Forester Hybrid, and even more, 597 in the Crosstrek Hybrid, you can go further between stops and stay in the moment longer. Visit subaru.com/hybrid to learn more. The Subaru Forester Hybrid and Crosstrek Hybrid, love goes the extra mile.

• 11:35Amy Poehler?

  Hi, nice to meet you. Have a seat. Kelly's here, everybody. Kelly's here.

• 11:46Amy Poehler?

  Hi, Kelly from Chicago.

• 11:48Speaker 02

  Hello.

• 11:48Amy Poehler?

  Are you nervous?

• 11:50Speaker 02

  Just a tiny bit.

• 11:51Amy Poehler?

  Okay, no reason to be nervous. Everyone, this is Kelly.

• 11:55Speaker 02

  Hi, everyone.

• 11:58Amy Poehler?

  Kelly, you are an Alanis Morissette fan.

• 12:01Speaker 02

  I am, I am.

• 12:02Amy Poehler?

  Okay, well, let's get into how much you love her. But before we do that, let's talk about you.

• 12:06Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 12:07Amy Poehler?

  Where in Chicago are you from?

• 12:09Speaker 02

  I was born and raised in Chicago. We're actually on the North Side. So if you flew into O'Hare Airport, I am right in that neck of the woods.

• 12:15Amy Poehler?

  What can we do about the ride from O'Hare into?

• 12:21Speaker 02

  Fair question. Half of the reasons why I left corporate America because of that ride into the city.

• 12:24Amy Poehler?

  It is brutal.

• 12:26Speaker 02

  It is, it is.

• 12:27Amy Poehler?

  What can we, I guess we could live near O'Hare, that would help.

• 12:30Speaker 02

  You could, you could, yeah, yeah. I take the train a lot, so I depended on the CTA a lot.

• 12:34Amy Poehler?

  And how long does it take you? Let's get into traffic.

• 12:37Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's about 45 minutes, door-to-door.

• 12:41Amy Poehler?

  Well, that's not that much shorter than the drive.

• 12:43Speaker 02

  You get to, you know, work on some stuff. You don't have to like concentrate on driving and all that stuff.

• 12:48Amy Poehler?

  But we here could hang love global warming.

• 12:55Amy Poehler?

  So that's not going to work. So you're a Chicago girl?

• 13:00Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 13:00Amy Poehler?

  Excuse me, woman.

• 13:01Speaker 02

  Woman.

• 13:03Amy Poehler?

  And what do your parents do? Like, what were you like as a Chicago? Because we're, you're a little younger than me. You're in your 40s?

• 13:09Speaker 02

  Forty-two.

• 13:10Amy Poehler?

  Okay, so what was it like growing up in Chicago in the 80s?

• 13:14Speaker 02

  It was wonderful. Both of my parents were actually Chicago police officers, so.

• 13:18Amy Poehler?

  Both, both?

• 13:20Speaker 02

  Yes, both of them were, yes, yeah, so.

• 13:22Amy Poehler?

  That's cool.

• 13:23Speaker 02

  I couldn't sneak out anywhere.

• 13:27Amy Poehler?

  You know, you don't hear a family where both are police officers.

• 13:30Speaker 02

  It was incredible. They had some great stories.

• 13:33Amy Poehler?

  Oh, yeah.

• 13:33Speaker 02

  I was sheltered a little bit because of those stories, but it was fantastic.

• 13:37Amy Poehler?

  Were you allowed to date?

• 13:38Speaker 02

  I was. My dad wasn't really thrilled with it, but I was much later.

• 13:42Amy Poehler?

  Did you, were you ever at a party that was broken up by one of your parents?

• 13:48Speaker 02

  Oh, my gosh, no, but that would have been a great story if I was. No, I was a very like G-rated kid. I really didn't go to a lot of parties.

• 13:55Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, I know. It's okay. You don't want to peak too early.

• 13:58Speaker 02

  Yeah, there, yeah.

• 13:59Amy Poehler?

  You don't want to peak too early. And did you ever think about going into law enforcement?

• 14:03Speaker 02

  Everyone asks me that. No, absolutely not.

• 14:06Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 14:07Speaker 02

  I steered clear of that. My parents weren't too thrilled, but they're like, you find your.

• 14:10Amy Poehler?

  They wanted you to go in?

• 14:10Speaker 02

  They wanted me, yeah. They thought I was, I mean, my mom actually had two careers. She was a flight attendant before that, left that and became a cop. And it was, yeah, and she loved it. And they wanted me to do it and follow suit, so I did not.

• 14:22Amy Poehler?

  Is there any flight attendants in the audience? They're flying.

• 14:25Speaker 02

  Oh.

• 14:29Amy Poehler?

  I get it.

• 14:32Amy Poehler?

  But why I ask is that being a flight attendant and being a police officer are closer.

• 14:37Speaker 02

  Two totally different things.

• 14:38Amy Poehler?

  I was going to say closer than ever.

• 14:42Speaker 02

  This is true, Al. This is very true.

• 14:44Amy Poehler?

  Closer than ever.

• 14:45Speaker 02

  This is true. This is very, very true.

• 14:48Amy Poehler?

  Did you get your party on in college?

• 14:51Speaker 02

  I did. I went to a community college beforehand where I got all that out of my system before I transferred over.

• 14:56Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, because would you guys agree that if you don't get it out in high school, then it comes out in college?

• 15:02Speaker 02

  I think so. I think so.

• 15:07Amy Poehler?

  And did they, did your parents break up any college parties?

• 15:10Speaker 02

  No, my gosh.

• 15:11Amy Poehler?

  No, no, no, no.

• 15:12Speaker 02

  I would have loved to hear those stories if they did.

• 15:13Amy Poehler?

  And so what did you do when you left school?

• 15:15Speaker 02

  I actually walked up and down a street called River Road by O'Hare Airport to get a job at a front desk because my parents weren't going to allow me to sort of just not have one. And I started my now 22-career, 22-year career in hotel hospitality. So I kind of just accidentally stuck with it.

• 15:31Amy Poehler?

  Oh, wow, 22 years in hotels. I'm sure you've been asked this question, but never in front of an audience.

• 15:40Speaker 02

  This is a first.

• 15:42Amy Poehler?

  What was one of the more specific or strange requests you had in hospitality from a person in a hotel?

• 15:51Speaker 02

  Ah, there's so many. I don't even know where to start.

• 15:54Amy Poehler?

  Okay, say five.

• 15:57Speaker 02

  We had a guest one time that just hated our beds but wouldn't stay anywhere else. And then they insisted on putting a board under the beds to make it harder, even though the purpose of sleeping is to be comfy and not uncomfortable. So we found, we had to get engineering up there, remove the whole mattress, put the board under the mattress for this man and.

• 16:16Amy Poehler?

  Did he pay extra?

• 16:17Speaker 02

  I can't remember, but he should have.

• 16:19Amy Poehler?

  I bet he did. I hope he had a board fee.

• 16:22Speaker 02

  Yeah, we, there should be. There's amenity fees for everything now, so.

• 16:25Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's interesting. He couldn't stay anywhere else, but he didn't like the bed.

• 16:30Speaker 02

  Yeah, yep.

• 16:31Amy Poehler?

  And it was a man, interesting.

• 16:38Amy Poehler?

  Just interesting to me.

• 16:42Amy Poehler?

  So Kelly, how would you describe your musical taste?

• 16:46Speaker 02

  You know, I didn't really discover music until I discovered Alanis early on. And she's kind of, her style of music made me sort of expand a little bit more. I heard this angry woman on the radio one day in like 1998. And I was like, I want to know more about her and hear more about her. And she really is my style is just, you know, get all those words out. Tell us how you feel.

• 17:09Amy Poehler?

  Yes, I want to talk to, thank you for bringing that up. Because I want to talk about even the word angry, because it's an interesting word, right? Like, there's, yes, like, there was this feeling when we first heard her that we were being spoken for. And we were being spoken for by somebody who really knew how to use her words.

• 17:29Speaker 02

  Yeah, absolutely.

• 17:30Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, and it was thrilling. It was thrilling.

• 17:33Speaker 02

  Yes, yes.

• 17:34Amy Poehler?

  Do you remember, were you, how old were you then?

• 17:38Speaker 02

  I just remember it was like freshman year of high school. I was like 98 and I didn't know anything about anything. And I heard her music and it sort of just guided me through the last, next four years, really.

• 17:49Amy Poehler?

  Really?

• 17:50Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 17:50Amy Poehler?

  Her record did that?

• 17:51Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, you know, "Uninvited" was really my favorite song of the time. And it was just.

• 17:56Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 17:58Speaker 02

  It helped me through a lot of stuff, so, yeah.

• 17:59Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, what did it, you know, I feel like music can do that. It can articulate something that you can't figure out, you know, without certainly feeling like you have to get too personal. What was it connecting to you feelings-wise in that, in that stage of your life?

• 18:14Speaker 02

  I'm an only child, so I felt kind of very alone a lot, as most only children I think do. And I think it was sort of just like, I felt like somebody was holding my hand for the first time when, after I heard her music and like, you got this, kind of giving a pep talk through the music, so.

• 18:27Amy Poehler?

  Yes, so true.

• 18:28Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 18:30Amy Poehler?

  Well said. Well said, Kelly.

• 18:34Amy Poehler?

  Do you play any music or do you?

• 18:36Speaker 02

  I am, I don't play any.

• 18:38Amy Poehler?

  Do you sing?

• 18:39Speaker 02

  I do not.

• 18:41Amy Poehler?

  Do you sing secretly?

• 18:42Speaker 02

  I do, very well in my shower, very, very well in my shower.

• 18:45Amy Poehler?

  Do you sing along with Alanis's music?

• 18:49Speaker 02

  I definitely do.

• 18:51Amy Poehler?

  Right?

• 18:51Speaker 02

  Yeah, how can you not?

• 18:53Amy Poehler?

  I agree. It feels like this very like, like an incantation that we're all supposed to join in on.

• 19:00Amy Poehler?

  And I, you know, another thing that I do want to talk to her about is the idea of like finding your voice and the power of a voice. Did you ever see her perform?

• 19:08Speaker 02

  I did about 15 years ago when she came into town in Ravinia. And I got tickets last minute and I scrounged my way all the way up to the front and I just didn't leave. And I loved it, every moment.

• 19:19Amy Poehler?

  Oh, you were at the front?

• 19:20Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 19:21Amy Poehler?

  Were you afraid you were going to get squished?

• 19:23Speaker 02

  Uh, no, well, the front had some seating and I was on lawn, but I found my way right up to that corner where I could just find my pocket. And even if I did get squished, I wouldn't have cared.

• 19:33Amy Poehler?

  And do you remember who she, was there an opener?

• 19:36Speaker 02

  I couldn't remember. I can't remember most of yesterday.

• 19:38Amy Poehler?

  Was it a fest, I know. I can't either. I really can't. Was it a festival?

• 19:42Speaker 02

  There was an opener, or I think she was the main act for sure. And there might have been a really nice opener. I just don't remember who it was.

• 19:47Amy Poehler?

  And Ravinia is like an outdoor?

• 19:49Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's an outdoor venue up north. It's beautiful. I'm sure a lot of people here know about it. You could bring your picnic up with you and just sit on the lawn and enjoy whatever show's happening there. It's amazing, so.

• 20:01Amy Poehler?

  And how far is that from O'Hare?

• 20:05Speaker 02

  A little too far.

• 20:06Amy Poehler?

  During traffic time, how long will it take?

• 20:07Speaker 02

  A long time.

• 20:10Amy Poehler?

  And the last thing I wanted to ask you about Alanis, as we talk well behind her back, is what do you think is the thing that we still, like, she's continuing to make vital, interesting, curious stuff many years after Jagged Little Pill. She's, she has won 1,000 awards, she has done Broadway, she has, she has, she has spoken in the, in, she does like incredible speeches about the idea of wholeness. She is the mother of three. She is like, she feels like a person in the world, as well as this big, famous, talented singer.

• 20:55Amy Poehler?

  What do you think it is about her that draws us to her as an artist?

• 21:00Speaker 02

  God, that's a great question. I mean, truly, I lean a lot on the fact that she's a mom and she gets it and she can share that time, it seems like, with her family and all these wonderful things she's doing with her music and her, like, any philanthropy that she does. She's finding the way to do it and showing us that it's possible, but also making her family probably the priority, so.

• 21:19Amy Poehler?

  Okay, so we always ask our guests who come in to speak about our guests to give me a question to ask them. Do you have a question that you think I should ask Alanis today?

• 21:30Speaker 02

  I sure do. So my question is, is there a song that you wrote early in your career that you understand differently now? Not because the lyrics changed, but because you did. And what does that song mean to you now?

• 21:43Amy Poehler?

  Wow.

• 21:51Amy Poehler?

  Kelly Croyer, everybody.

• 21:56Amy Poehler?

  Give it up for Kelly Croyer!

• 22:15Amy Poehler?

  This episode is brought to you by AutoTrader. If car shopping feels like a whole thing, buying your car online on AutoTrader makes it way easier, really. Shop tons of cars online, compare prices, check financing, and trade-in options from wherever you are. Start online, test drive at the dealer, and finish wherever works for you. Your info stays with you, so there's no starting over. Plus, you're working with local dealers with real people there to help. Buy your car online on AutoTrader, really. 'Tis the season for giving, for calling, for cheer, texting and calling loved ones straight through the new year. But who can keep up with this daunting feat? Visible Wireless, the plan to meet.

• 22:59Amy Poehler?

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• 23:44Amy Poehler?

  It could save you hundreds. You're in good hands with Allstate. Potential savings vary, subject to terms, conditions, and availability. Allstate North American Insurance Company and Affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois. This episode is brought to you by Subaru. There's something about being on the road that has a way of leading to those unexpectedly memorable little moments. And in the all-new 2026 Subaru Hybrid, it's like, the destination isn't even important, it's the drive, baby. And let me tell you, I'm in that car and I feel like a million bucks. Quiet ride, comfortable, love my Subaru, can't get enough. With up to 581 miles in the Subaru Forester Hybrid, and even more, 597 in the Crosstrek

• 24:27Amy Poehler?

  Hybrid, you can go further between stops and stay in the moment longer. Visit subaru.com/hybrid to learn more. The Subaru Forester Hybrid and Crosstrek Hybrid, love goes the extra mile.

• 24:43Amy Poehler?

  Wow, Kelly, you're hired!

• 24:48Amy Poehler?

  Okay, so let's get started with our, our podcast guest today. She has stolen our hearts since the minute we met her, and she always tells the truth. A true badass, grown-ass woman. Give it up for Alanis Morissette, everybody.

• 25:25Amy Poehler?

  Alanis!

• 25:27Speaker 03

  Hi!

• 25:28Amy Poehler?

  Hi! Should we just stare at each other? Welcome to Chicago.

• 25:32Speaker 03

  Thank you.

• 25:33Amy Poehler?

  Thank you for coming here.

• 25:34Speaker 03

  Thank you for having me.

• 25:35Amy Poehler?

  Oh, my God.

• 25:36Speaker 03

  They said it was live, and I said, yes.

• 25:38Amy Poehler?

  Absolute thrill. You know, I, I've gotten to know you from your work, and I've gotten to hear you speak about your work, and I just want to say, so thrilled to have you here, because I know that you are a person that shows up and likes to get into the deep end, which is like...

• 25:59Speaker 03

  NoSmallTalk.com.

• 26:02Amy Poehler?

  What are your favorite movies?

• 26:04Speaker 03

  Bresnuths.

• 26:08Amy Poehler?

  But, but you're, you know, I, I've listened to you speak about so many things, and you have this ability, I think, to synthesize really complex information in a way that makes, welcomes us in.

• 26:21Speaker 03

  Nice.

• 26:21Amy Poehler?

  And I really appreciate that.

• 26:23Speaker 03

  Thanks for saying it.

• 26:24Amy Poehler?

  You do it in your work, you do it in your life. And so what is the best thing about being the age you are now?

• 26:32Speaker 03

  Everything.

• 26:33Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 26:33Speaker 03

  I highly recommend getting older.

• 26:38Speaker 03

  Well, menopause is just magic.

• 26:42Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 26:42Speaker 03

  It's just every stone.

• 26:44Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 26:44Speaker 03

  Everything. Identity, service, value systems, relationships, who is God, how to, how to talk to these parts, these billions of parts in here.

• 26:55Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 26:55Speaker 03

  Be responsible for what this is and not make it everyone else's problem.

• 26:59Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. Two minutes in, who is God? Alanis Morissette. I love it. I love it so much. I'm so with you. I mean, I, I...

• 27:13Amy Poehler?

  I love it because, because you're absolutely right, because the dismantling is the, the last part, like, the, the letting go of all the armor, all the stuff that you, we've all added on. The shedding of that, I think, is the interesting part.

• 27:30Speaker 03

  Yeah, I mean, if we're in the context of patriarchy, which we were and still are, everything's through the male gaze, the hormones we have in, in this body is the procreative imperative. Put a baby in me, I'm gonna tolerate everything. Then you get closer to menopause and progesterone, all the hormones are at zero. So you're, all this sort of scaffolding of cotton balls and cozy tolerance, they go away.

• 27:52Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 27:53Speaker 03

  And what they used to do, there's a book called Shocked Women, they used to go up to women in the day for the town hall meetings, they would seek out the women who were PMSing. Because they would be the ones to lead the town hall meetings and tell the city what they needed to do.

• 28:08Amy Poehler?

  They were like, I'm gonna tell you the truth.

• 28:10Speaker 03

  Who we getting on the seat? Oh, those three women.

• 28:12Amy Poehler?

  Wow. What's your relationship to Chicago? I'm sure you've toured here many times, spent time here. Do you have an impression of Chicago?

• 28:20Speaker 03

  It's, it's been called the sister city of my hometown in Ottawa, Canada. Very funny people.

• 28:27Amy Poehler?

  Very funny.

• 28:27Speaker 03

  Some of the funniest people I know are from Chicago.

• 28:30Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 28:31Speaker 03

  Diversity, you said earlier, I live.

• 28:33Amy Poehler?

  I want to talk to you about your relationship to comedy, because you are a secret goofball. You're a goofball.

• 28:40Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 28:40Amy Poehler?

  You love comedy.

• 28:42Speaker 03

  Yes, I will do anything for a laugh.

• 28:44Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. And you call, you know, you come from Canada, so Canadians are really proud of their comedy.

• 28:51Speaker 03

  Are they?

• 28:52Amy Poehler?

  You don't think so?

• 28:55Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 28:56Amy Poehler?

  You grew up, I mean, you, I mean, we have this in common, is we both did sketch comedy when we were young. You, you did sketch comedy, you were in a Canadian show.

• 29:06Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 29:07Amy Poehler?

  You were, and you can't do that on television.

• 29:11Amy Poehler?

  For people who don't, remember that show, didn't see it, how would you explain what it was? What was that show like?

• 29:16Speaker 03

  It was a show written for adults, but it was for kids. There's a lot of innuendo and just a group of people that I entered into this fray, and they'd, they'd already had years of knowing each other, so I was the new girl in school.

• 29:28Amy Poehler?

  How'd you get the job?

• 29:30Speaker 03

  I auditioned. It was a call, there were hundreds of kids, and I did the audition.

• 29:35Amy Poehler?

  Do you remember what you did for an audition?

• 29:37Speaker 03

  I read a scene or two, I think with Alistair Gillis and Adam. And they said immediately halfway through my audition, they said, you're too tall, you can get out of here.

• 29:47Amy Poehler?

  Too tall?

• 29:47Speaker 03

  You're too tall, you can get out of here. So I got out of there. And then they came running out of the building and chased me and said, we don't care that you're too tall, get back in here.

• 29:58Speaker 03

  Auditions are awesome.

• 30:01Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. Honestly, I don't think I've ever gotten a job from an audition. And it's interesting, you say you're too tall, because I remember someone saying, oh, I wish you were taller.

• 30:12Speaker 03

  To you?

• 30:14Amy Poehler?

  To my face as I auditioned.

• 30:17Speaker 03

  Oh, so we both have a similar trauma?

• 30:19Amy Poehler?

  Yes, a high trauma.

• 30:23Amy Poehler?

  It is wild, back then, people would say right in front of you, oh, if only, if only you were different.

• 30:31Speaker 03

  That was my experience on dates.

• 30:35Speaker 03

  But only all of them.

• 30:38Amy Poehler?

  What were you watching as a kid? Like, what was the kind of comedy that was on in your house?

• 30:42Speaker 03

  Three's Company.

• 30:44Amy Poehler?

  Oh, my god. Let's talk about Three's Company.

• 30:46Speaker 03

  Every episode, I've seen 19 times. And when I first moved to LA.

• 30:50Amy Poehler?

  John Ritter.

• 30:51Speaker 03

  Sitting right next to me at a exercise place. I was on the bike and he got on and I.

• 30:56Amy Poehler?

  John Ritter.

• 30:57Speaker 03

  The blood went all the way down to my feet and I. And I didn't say hi. And then years later, I was at Starbucks at a movie theater and he walked right up to me and he goes, "Elanis." And I was like, "Oh, my god." And then he said, "Coffee?" And I was, "Yeah, let's go for coffee." So, we just had coffee and just loved on each other verbally.

• 31:18Speaker 03

  The whole time. And I, heart, heart, heart, heart, heart, heartbroken.

• 31:21Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, what a loss. He, what a, what a talent, John Ritter.

• 31:25Speaker 03

  What a person.

• 31:26Amy Poehler?

  What a person. I've heard just, I've never had, never had the pleasure to meet him. And what a, what an amazing talent. And what a weird show that was.

• 31:34Speaker 03

  What a cool show. Way before its time.

• 31:38Amy Poehler?

  Totally. It was. It was strange. Every, it was a farce and everyone was just.

• 31:43Speaker 03

  Just.

• 31:44Amy Poehler?

  Going for it.

• 31:48Speaker 03

  Yes, they couldn't stop.

• 31:50Amy Poehler?

  But when you were doing comedy, doing like on TV as a little kid, and then you start writing songs. And, or, or, had you always been writing? You like, you wrote your first song, I think, when you were eight or nine or something?

• 32:04Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 32:05Amy Poehler?

  What was, what was, where was the music introduced in your house? Where did you first kind of learn to write or make music?

• 32:13Speaker 03

  When I was younger, it was very multitudinous. So, it was comedy and then drawing. I can't draw to save my life, but I still drew. Music, dancing, it was everything. And then music. I was always writing songs and I sent a tape, a cassette tape, to a friend of our family, of our family. His name's Lindsay Morgan. He's passed away since, but. He heard it and when I went to visit him next, our family went to visit him, he had a track ready. And my brothers had told me I couldn't sing my way out of a paper bag, which they're wont to do.

• 32:44Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. That's a brother's job.

• 32:46Speaker 03

  It's kind of their job to.

• 32:47Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 32:48Speaker 03

  And so, I said, "Who's gonna sing it?" And he said, "You are." And then I did and that was the beginning of Much Love.

• 32:57Amy Poehler?

  Wow. And you started writing songs and in fact, started your own label at 11?

• 33:04Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 33:06Amy Poehler?

  What are your kids doing?

• 33:12Speaker 03

  Hence the therapy.

• 33:16Amy Poehler?

  You spoke about it a little bit, but I love the reason why you did. Why, why did you?

• 33:19Speaker 03

  Yeah, back at that time, nobody was signing children. Now, my joke is that they crawl up the vagina into the uterus to get the signature real quick.

• 33:32Speaker 03

  Now, they don't care. Then, they did. So, I thought, "Well, I still want to share this music." So, we started a record label when I was 10 or 11.

• 33:43Amy Poehler?

  Do you feel like even then, you had a sense of? I mean, I don't want to ascribe this to you if it's not true, but it feels like you had a sense of how to navigate things that were

• 34:00Amy Poehler?

  much more mature than you were at the time?

• 34:02Speaker 03

  It's like a, it's like being a cockroach.

• 34:05Amy Poehler?

  Okay, say more.

• 34:11Speaker 03

  It's like just staying the course. I remember my, my manager of many years at the time said, "Elanis, the only way you're gonna get through this is if you stay on the train track, but just look down one step at a time." And that helped.

• 34:24Amy Poehler?

  That's good advice.

• 34:25Speaker 03

  But I mean, the temperament I have is like a scared, tiny, shaky poodle. But my outward-facing situation is often a black stallion. So, there are odds a lot.

• 34:35Amy Poehler?

  Ooh, whoa, that's so cool.

• 34:39Speaker 03

  I'd say you're inside that body.

• 34:41Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's very cool. I know what you mean, though. I often, I can relate to this idea that you're like, "If you only knew the kind of circus music playing inside my head."

• 34:53Speaker 03

  Exactly. You have the over-excitable cognition.

• 34:55Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 34:56Speaker 03

  Amy.

• 34:57Amy Poehler?

  What's it called?

• 34:58Speaker 03

  Well, they say it's over-excitable cognition, but I just say it's excitable cognition. The brain, and people, people often misdiagnose themselves. They'll say, "I have ADHD," and they may well.

• 35:07Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 35:08Speaker 03

  But often, it's just a lot of activity. And that's how you were born.

• 35:12Amy Poehler?

  Yes. And then, the idea that how you present is different than how you're feeling is like the lifelong lesson that someone may seem one way, but they're feeling a different way. I know I'm saying it's so.

• 35:27Speaker 03

  People are more complex.

• 35:28Amy Poehler?

  I know, it's, but it's, it's this lesson we learn over and over again.

• 35:32Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 35:32Amy Poehler?

  Over and over with ourselves and each other, which is, the way they seemed is not the way they felt.

• 35:39Speaker 03

  Right. Or, they felt both, plus 17 other things.

• 35:43Amy Poehler?

  That's right.

• 35:43Speaker 03

  But the one that was picked up on was maybe the lowest hanging fruit in terms of accepting that part of a human.

• 35:49Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. You put out two records before Jagged Little Pill and they are really well-received. And you have this moment

• 36:01Amy Poehler?

  where you decide to make this record with Glenn Ballard and you're 21.

• 36:08Speaker 03

  19.

• 36:09Amy Poehler?

  Wow. Even younger.

• 36:14Amy Poehler?

  You're 19, you're making this monster hit. And I just want to pause for a second to say, not to bring my, my own story in here, but I'd like to because we're in Chicago. At the same time, I just want to say, I'm here in Chicago. I'm in my early twenties. I'm meeting these people and performing, doing comedy and sketch comedy with people who will go on to influence the next 20 years of my life. And you're, you're, you're making this record that will be, it will completely change the trajectory of your life. And I imagine, much like I was, you're just making stuff and feeling creative and not really even understanding what, what success could mean or look like or.

• 36:58Speaker 03

  Or even how to define it.

• 37:00Amy Poehler?

  Or how to define it.

• 37:01Speaker 03

  How does a woman define success today? Amy.

• 37:08Amy Poehler?

  A 2 PM show.

• 37:09Speaker 03

  Shall we bandy?

• 37:10Amy Poehler?

  A 2 PM show. For me, a 2 PM show. And getting to talk to Elanis Morissette.

• 37:19Amy Poehler?

  But, but my, I guess my question was like, when you look back at Jagged Little Pill, which now, you know, so many years later, how do you look at it now? It's almost like a, it's like a child.

• 37:30Speaker 03

  It's like a friend.

• 37:32Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 37:32Speaker 03

  Yeah. I see songs as snapshots of moments. And there was something about, I'll usually write about 25 songs for a record and then pick 12-ish. But they feel like chapters captured very semi-casually. The process is not casual. It may look effortless, but it's.

• 37:55Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 37:55Speaker 03

  Effort very full.

• 37:58Speaker 03

  But yeah, they're chapters of time. So, that chapter of time, I felt like the feminist movement, the humanistic movement was happening. I'm the one that when someone says, "Who wants to volunteer for?" And I don't even know what they're gonna ask and my hand is already up. I just want to do it. So, I think the wave of feminism was happening with or without any of us, really. And I just volunteered to get on the top of the wave. And then I was there. And I was being credited for things that may or may not have been appropriate to credit me for. But what I was happy to do was be at the epicenter of it and I was happy to be on the front and get my head chopped off.

• 38:34Amy Poehler?

  So badass. 1995, you know? That was when it was, when the record came out, 95. So, you work on it, you turn 21. You're, and you're right. You really were suddenly like put, like you were in the front lines. There was a lot projected on you.

• 38:54Speaker 03

  You knew that? Or are you just thinking about that today?

• 38:57Amy Poehler?

  It's actually a really good question.

• 38:59Speaker 03

  Could you see it then?

• 39:00Amy Poehler?

  Great question. And I'm the interviewer here, so.

• 39:07Amy Poehler?

  I think I could. I think what I felt at the time is, I felt very seen by your music, very drawn to it. And I also realized that people were deciding how you were feeling about what you were singing about without your permission or consent.

• 39:25Speaker 03

  Yeah. Well, that's fame. Fame is a giant screen upon which people project all their beautiful stuff to define themselves in accordance to you. And sometimes, it's an accurate perception. Often, it's an inaccurate perception. Sometimes, it's a misguided one or an incomplete one. But that became an exercise almost, to the point where I'd, I'd hear and I'd avoid it at all costs. And I still don't really read any perceptions of me. But if I would read something, the first question I would ask is, if it triggered me, it meant it was some shadow that I needed to look at.

• 40:02Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 40:02Speaker 03

  If it didn't trigger me, it meant it was a projection of a kind. Or it felt accurate. Like, "Oh, I felt seen there for 10 seconds, that's cool." So, it became like a psychological exercise, the press itself.

• 40:14Amy Poehler?

  Yes. But that, you're a young person. Handling that in handling the, also, like not wanting to forget to have fun that things are successful and fun.

• 40:25Speaker 03

  You know? That, that, the touring nomadic community thing helps. So, a lot of people would see footage of me and say, "All we saw was you laughing." I was like, "Oh, my gosh, being on tour with my bandmates is the most fun thing in the world."

• 40:38Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 40:39Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 40:39Amy Poehler?

  I mean, when, when I read, or maybe I heard you speak about this, which I loved, another, again, example of, of

• 40:50Amy Poehler?

  The Lone Wolf, The Sheep, I forget what it was. The Lone Wolf.

• 40:53Speaker 03

  Poodle.

• 40:54Amy Poehler?

  The Poodle.

• 40:55Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 40:55Amy Poehler?

  Holding steady at an age where it was hard, I think it's hard to do, where you wanted You Oughta Know to be the first single. And a lot of people didn't.

• 41:04Speaker 03

  Yeah, they thought it was a little harsh to receive anger from a woman. And I thought, "Well, that's actually the note to start on."

• 41:12Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 41:13Speaker 03

  And then we go from there.

• 41:15Amy Poehler?

  Why is it, why did you think it was the note to start on?

• 41:17Speaker 03

  I love anger so much.

• 41:18Amy Poehler?

  Okay, great. I want to talk about it. Okay, I want to talk about it. Okay. I learned about emotions from Inside Out.

• 41:33Amy Poehler?

  Up until that point, I didn't know. No, I'm just kidding.

• 41:35Speaker 03

  You're like, what am I feeling, mommy?

• 41:37Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 41:38Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 41:38Amy Poehler?

  But anger is so juicy.

• 41:41Speaker 03

  Delicious.

• 41:42Amy Poehler?

  Is it your, of all those, you know, is it the easiest for you to access?

• 41:47Speaker 03

  It's always right there. And I think what happened was anger gets such a bad rap.

• 41:52Amy Poehler?

  Agreed.

• 41:52Speaker 03

  Because when we hear anger, we think destructive acting's out. We think guns, knives, murder, death, you know, destruction. That's the acting's out of anger. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about anger itself, the beautiful current that courses through you when it's appropriate. There's been a boundary transgressed. You can't touch my stuff. You can't tell me what I'm feeling. You can't tell me what I'm thinking. And you cannot touch my body without permission. And when those four, any of those four are transgressed.

• 42:26Amy Poehler?

  A little bit of rage.

• 42:27Speaker 03

  Yeah. And that anger is an indication that there's been a transgression. Of all my social activist community, we're all raging. But of course, we are. We know things. And when we know things as a collective, that anger is a propulsion to make effect, show up, change, support, shift focus away from this patriarchal house of card nightmare, and turn it toward what we know is possible.

• 42:54Amy Poehler?

  Mm hmm. So well said. So well said. So well said. I mean, I felt like I'm here to remind you of the mess you left when you went away will go down in history as, you know, a beautiful witch's lament. It's just divine feminine power at its finest, which is, I'm not going to let you forget because I'm here to remind you. Like beautifully said, sung, and we all sing that still. And we all like to scream it. And it is a feeling

• 43:37Amy Poehler?

  of relief. It's release. It's release.

• 43:40Speaker 03

  It moves the current. I feel like we're imploders or exploders. I was an imploder because fight, flight, freeze, collapse, befriend, or appease. I have the appeasement survival strategy.

• 43:52Amy Poehler?

  When I found out about fawn, I was like, hey, girl.

• 43:56Speaker 03

  I was like, there's one more F? Yes. Oh, by the way, I'm particularly upset about the fact that fawn is the one that gets the bad rap. People are like, ooh, clingy, needy. I'm like, it's of the five survival strategies. It's the only one that's relational. It's the only one that reaches for connection.

• 44:15Amy Poehler?

  Okay. But because you're so smart and good at emotions and thinking,

• 44:22Amy Poehler?

  do you feel, do you feel like you're able to, and I'm going to ask this to you, and I want us all to think about it here in the audience, too. With like, with our, like, with wisdom, with getting a little bit better, for those listening, Alanis is coming over to fill my cup. Oh, in more ways than one. Thank you. So Canadian of you.

• 44:48Speaker 03

  You gotta water your women.

• 44:50Amy Poehler?

  Oh, my God, this is straight vodka.

• 44:54Speaker 03

  Amy, I was on the down low.

• 44:56Amy Poehler?

  Um, but you, but you, but because you're so articulate in this world, you work hard to try to figure that out. You pay attention. Do you feel sometimes like there is a, how should I put it, a grace you have to give yourself and others when you're sensing exactly what you just said, we all have these styles of talking and coping.

• 45:21Speaker 03

  Holding it together.

• 45:21Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. And we all come in with our ways in which, like, I know for me, like, obviously, comedy is a way to like, just bypass.

• 45:30Speaker 03

  Oh, it's the best.

• 45:31Amy Poehler?

  It's the.

• 45:31Speaker 03

  It's the fricking best.

• 45:32Amy Poehler?

  If you have a feeling, make a joke.

• 45:34Speaker 03

  Oh, no.

• 45:36Amy Poehler?

  And then the feeling goes away. And sometimes you can sing the feeling, and then you don't have it.

• 45:44Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 45:46Speaker 03

  All right. Can we do a song together on the next record?

• 45:49Amy Poehler?

  So what do you do? It's hard. It's like, I see dead people. Like, you, you can see it well, and that's hard.

• 45:56Speaker 03

  But I'm not always monitoring psychologically. That would be exhausting.

• 45:59Amy Poehler?

  I guess that's what I'm asking.

• 46:00Speaker 03

  I'm actually, my first place is, can I laugh with this person? That's number one.

• 46:06Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 46:06Speaker 03

  And if I throw the ball and it hits the drapes, I'm really sad. Because there's no Ray Partey or banding.

• 46:12Amy Poehler?

  Yes.

• 46:12Speaker 03

  Because I actually think of all the billions of the intelligences that there are, and I love speaking about them, comedy. I know people say music sometimes, but I think comedy is number one.

• 46:24Amy Poehler?

  I kind of do, too.

• 46:26Speaker 03

  I do, too.

• 46:27Amy Poehler?

  I'm sorry. I do, too.

• 46:29Speaker 03

  I'm sorry.

• 46:31Amy Poehler?

  No, okay. I didn't want to be braggy, but.

• 46:34Speaker 03

  Can Amy be braggy, please, honey?

• 46:36Amy Poehler?

  I think that there's some, it's so, I know, it feels like my biggest way of connection.

• 46:43Speaker 03

  It's love, yeah.

• 46:44Amy Poehler?

  And it is such a love language. If someone loves to joke, God, I love it so much.

• 46:51Speaker 03

  Such pure joy.

• 46:51Amy Poehler?

  It really is. It feels, I mean, and I assume it feels that way when you're on stage. And when you're performing and singing, where you're looking over at someone, and you're playing, and you're like, look at us. It must feel that way.

• 47:04Speaker 03

  It's rapture. That's the word I keep using.

• 47:07Amy Poehler?

  It makes me think about one of your old bandmates, who I, I just would love to hear you talk about, which is Taylor Hawkins.

• 47:16Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 47:17Amy Poehler?

  Can you talk a little bit about him and where you guys met?

• 47:20Speaker 03

  I auditioned, I think I was 20. And I auditioned tons of people. And he came in, and he was just instant soul brother. And then how he played was so reverent and respectful, but also wildly bombastic and uniquely him. And so we just became a mutually supportive, championing force, you know, up until just before he died. All I, all I received from Taylor was regalings of kindness and mirroring and validation and just upliftment and mensch, mensch, mensch.

• 47:54Amy Poehler?

  Oh, so great.

• 47:56Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 47:56Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. I mean, you were also like on tour. There were a lot of people that you met in different stages of their careers. Like, you were with Radiohead. Did you tour with Radiohead?

• 48:07Speaker 03

  Well, I wrote all their songs.

• 48:08Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 48:11Amy Poehler?

  That's true.

• 48:12Speaker 03

  Yeah. They played, they played before me in whatever year that was. And I was obsessed.

• 48:20Amy Poehler?

  But, you know, you've described yourself a little bit here, too, as much more introverted than people would assume. And, and I know that's a flat term, but, and then you have this extrovert, I mean, you really have to be like, up on stage, you have to rock and just move and sing. And when you do that, do you let, what do you do to get there, I guess is the question, when you're like, oh, God, I gotta go out there?

• 48:47Speaker 03

  I always tell my kids, it's a combo between profound humility. So I'm always just praying and thanking and combined with confidence and full ham.

• 48:59Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 49:00Speaker 03

  So they both show up.

• 49:01Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 49:02Speaker 03

  And it is a deep bow. And then it's a submitting.

• 49:07Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 49:08Speaker 03

  I feel like I just submit to it, and it takes me.

• 49:11Amy Poehler?

  It's such a good way to put it, because nobody really knows what's embarrassing until we tell them.

• 49:17Speaker 03

  Tell me more about that.

• 49:18Amy Poehler?

  Well, I'm really into embarrassment as an idea.

• 49:21Speaker 03

  Like on purpose?

• 49:21Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 49:23Speaker 03

  Like, like slapstick stuff? Or what are we talking?

• 49:25Amy Poehler?

  Well, I think that like comedy and music, you both have to, you just have to commit.

• 49:28Speaker 03

  You have to, strong and wrong.

• 49:32Amy Poehler?

  What's that mean?

• 49:33Speaker 03

  Just strong, strong and wrong.

• 49:34Amy Poehler?

  Strong and wrong.

• 49:35Speaker 03

  Yeah. Like, just if you're gonna embarrass yourself, go big.

• 49:39Amy Poehler?

  Yes, you can't go halfway.

• 49:40Speaker 03

  No.

• 49:40Amy Poehler?

  And I'm sure everyone here feels that feeling of when you see someone up on stage, it doesn't even have to be on, it doesn't have to be in a giant stadium. It can just be at your workplace when they're giving a presentation. And your mirror neurons, when they are nervous.

• 49:55Speaker 03

  It's the worst.

• 49:55Amy Poehler?

  It is the worst feeling in the world.

• 49:57Speaker 03

  I'm always nervous.

• 49:59Amy Poehler?

  Really?

• 49:59Speaker 03

  No, people ask me, like, how do I deal with my nerves? I want to do what you do. And I'm like, oh, you don't. They're with you for life. You can't, I can't change my temperament. I would love to just pull this out.

• 50:11Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 50:12Speaker 03

  Let it take a bath.

• 50:14Amy Poehler?

  Can you talk about wholeness?

• 50:16Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 50:17Amy Poehler?

  And it's not wellness.

• 50:20Speaker 03

  No, wellness, I think the wellness movement was well intended. But that leaves out all the other parts, you know, the so-called shadow, darker, challenging parts. And I love humanity so much. I mean, I hate humanity, too, don't worry. But I love humans.

• 50:40Amy Poehler?

  I do, too.

• 50:41Speaker 03

  Enneagram number, you got your name?

• 50:42Amy Poehler?

  Oh, my God. Thank you. Guys, I want you to know that I didn't bring it up. Okay? I didn't ask.

• 50:52Speaker 03

  Are you an eight?

• 50:52Amy Poehler?

  I'm an eight.

• 50:53Speaker 03

  Eight. What's your wing?

• 50:55Amy Poehler?

  My wing, eight, wing nine.

• 50:57Speaker 03

  Oh.

• 50:58Amy Poehler?

  The bear. So I tend to.

• 51:00Speaker 03

  So you lead?

• 51:01Amy Poehler?

  I lead, but I like to collaborate. I'm not a monster.

• 51:03Speaker 03

  You're a nine. You're a nine. No, you're, no, you're not a monster. My daughter's an eight.

• 51:08Amy Poehler?

  I love eights.

• 51:09Speaker 03

  Eights lead the world.

• 51:09Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, baby. I don't mean to be rude, but there's no number I would rather be than eight. No way.

• 51:17Speaker 03

  Born to be an eight.

• 51:18Amy Poehler?

  Love eight. Okay, what are you?

• 51:20Speaker 03

  I'm a four with a five wing shocker. And I've not thought I was a three wing, because three is more sort of associated with public.

• 51:28Amy Poehler?

  Mm hmm.

• 51:29Speaker 03

  But no.

• 51:29Amy Poehler?

  Achievement, but you're a five. Yeah, that makes sense.

• 51:31Speaker 03

  I'm a five. I like to watch and think and observe and.

• 51:34Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 51:34Speaker 03

  Sit in it.

• 51:36Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. And wholeness is.

• 51:38Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah. So back to wholeness.

• 51:39Amy Poehler?

  How do we work on our wholeness while still not trying too hard to improve?

• 51:46Speaker 03

  Well, the thing about wholeness is.

• 51:48Amy Poehler?

  Because I have a.

• 51:49Speaker 03

  You're asking for a buddy?

• 51:51Amy Poehler?

  I'm asking for all women, because I feel like there is a tendency or an expectation or a self, like, put upon pressure, yeah, that we have to keep getting better at things, where I would like us to stop.

• 52:03Speaker 03

  That's patriarchy.

• 52:03Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, I'd like us to stop.

• 52:05Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 52:06Amy Poehler?

  Right now? We're good. Like, we should wait for everybody to catch up, and we should stop improving.

• 52:17Speaker 03

  And then everyone can catch up. So I think the movement toward better

• 52:24Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 52:25Speaker 03

  wellness

• 52:26Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 52:26Speaker 03

  is this way.

• 52:27Amy Poehler?

  Right.

• 52:28Speaker 03

  Wholeness is coming home.

• 52:29Amy Poehler?

  Uh huh.

• 52:30Speaker 03

  Totally different direction. There's nothing to add. You don't need to be fixed. It's just remembering who you are and being in environments where people will reflect you accurately enough, just enough, that you're there. And for those of us who were raised by narcissism and don't actually have a sense of self, it is not for the weak of heart, this journey of becoming a whole person.

• 52:53Amy Poehler?

  It's not. It's a whole lifelong journey.

• 52:56Speaker 03

  It really is, and it's juicy, and it's so vulnerable.

• 52:59Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 53:00Speaker 03

  But it's awesome, and it's awesome as we gather. It's the gathering that makes it great for me.

• 53:07Amy Poehler?

  Can I ask you about meditation?

• 53:09Speaker 03

  Sure.

• 53:10Amy Poehler?

  Just by show of hands, and how many people here meditate? Okay, Chicago, we gotta work on that.

• 53:18Speaker 03

  Meditation is overrated.

• 53:22Amy Poehler?

  Oh, my God, hot take, hold on.

• 53:26Speaker 03

  It actually

• 53:27Amy Poehler?

  Same words.

• 53:27Speaker 03

  Well, for those of us who are in the midst of trauma, or a traumatic experience that we're perhaps on the verge of beginning to heal, meditating is actually quite dangerous because you're left alone with all these protective voices who are attempting to protect you, God bless, but they can be really mean.

• 53:46Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 53:47Speaker 03

  So for some people, it's actually, Peter Levine calls it something like anxiety, or meditation-induced anxiety. So what can happen, not for everybody, sometimes meditation is bliss for some, but for some people, meditating puts you straight in the middle of the pain.

• 54:06Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 54:07Speaker 03

  It's not necessarily a developed resource, a person you can hold, or something you can imagine. So then I wouldn't actually recommend meditating at all.

• 54:16Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 54:16Speaker 03

  Yeah. But for others of us, it's a fun invitation, and it's so much going on in here.

• 54:22Amy Poehler?

  I love what you've talked about, like your inner critic, we all have it, and the idea that it shows, how it shows up and when it shows up. And I related, because you just said our protective voices, and I find sometimes, like, I call them my bodyguards.

• 54:37Speaker 03

  Yeah, nice.

• 54:38Amy Poehler?

  But when my bodyguards show up, they mean well.

• 54:41Speaker 03

  There's a reason.

• 54:41Amy Poehler?

  They mean well.

• 54:42Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 54:42Amy Poehler?

  But they really keep me from connection.

• 54:44Speaker 03

  I know.

• 54:45Amy Poehler?

  But they're so great. They're big, burly.

• 54:47Speaker 03

  They're the genius.

• 54:48Amy Poehler?

  And they are like, don't do that, don't be lame, don't be a loser.

• 54:52Speaker 03

  Don't say hi.

• 54:53Amy Poehler?

  Don't say hi, yes. Don't say you're afraid, get out of here. Like, they get me in the car, fast.

• 55:00Speaker 03

  Same.

• 55:00Amy Poehler?

  And I'm like, thank you so much, you guys are all guys, sorry.

• 55:02Speaker 03

  But they are all guys.

• 55:04Amy Poehler?

  They are all guys. And then, and then I get in the car, and I'm like, I'm lonely.

• 55:09Speaker 03

  I should have seen.

• 55:10Amy Poehler?

  I don't have any friends.

• 55:11Speaker 03

  I'm scared, I'm lonely.

• 55:14Amy Poehler?

  Do you do that, where you think about parts of your brain as people?

• 55:18Speaker 03

  They're all, there's thousands in here.

• 55:19Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 55:21Speaker 03

  And, yeah, I just have to be responsible to them, and listen, and as often as I can heed, you know, there's some action they often ask for me to take. Often, it's just, slow down, Marisa, slow down. Or I'll say, you know, what do you need from me? What, what action can I take on your behalf? What wisdom do you have for me? What am I not seeing here? And often, they'll tell me.

• 55:43Amy Poehler?

  Hmm.

• 55:45Speaker 03

  And then that's that.

• 55:46Amy Poehler?

  That's cool.

• 55:46Speaker 03

  And then there's often about 12 parts trying to get my attention. So I interact with them like I would with my kids, which is, I want to hear all of you, just one at a time, the rest of you sit next to me.

• 55:56Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 55:56Speaker 03

  And then I'm just going to talk with this one, and maybe these two. It doesn't take long, I can do it at a stoplight in 13 seconds.

• 56:02Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. I sometimes picture my parts, and again, this is very inside out, but I picture the parts in my head at around a table.

• 56:11Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 56:12Amy Poehler?

  And

• 56:12Speaker 03

  This kind of table?

• 56:13Amy Poehler?

  This kind of table.

• 56:14Speaker 03

  What part am I playing today?

• 56:16Amy Poehler?

  Wow.

• 56:17Speaker 03

  Because they can be externalized.

• 56:20Amy Poehler?

  I feel, I feel very, like, you're a lot of fun.

• 56:26Speaker 03

  That's not the first word people say when they talk about me.

• 56:28Amy Poehler?

  Really?

• 56:29Speaker 03

  I mean, my friends.

• 56:30Amy Poehler?

  I'm having a lot of fun.

• 56:32Speaker 03

  I am too.

• 56:33Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, okay, good.

• 56:33Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 56:34Amy Poehler?

  So you're fun.

• 56:35Speaker 03

  That's why I'm here.

• 56:36Amy Poehler?

  You're playing the fun part, and I like when I look at the table, and I'm like, oh, somebody has been seated at the head of the table for a long time, and they need, maybe need a little rest.

• 56:48Speaker 03

  They don't want to drive.

• 56:49Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 56:50Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 56:50Amy Poehler?

  And that person often is my, like, Tony Soprano ego.

• 56:54Speaker 03

  Yeah, I've seen her.

• 56:57Amy Poehler?

  Oopsie.

• 56:58Speaker 03

  Yeah. You know, that was out loud, right? No, I love her, though, I love that part, I need her.

• 57:04Amy Poehler?

  Oh, my God, I mean, that part is incredible.

• 57:06Speaker 03

  I know.

• 57:07Amy Poehler?

  I mean, forget about it. And then, in a, like, a kind of completely different version of things, you're releasing a holiday album.

• 57:17Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 57:18Amy Poehler?

  Well, first of all, why did you want to make a Christmas album?

• 57:22Speaker 03

  Every year, for a few years, we just, we would just do one song, just to kind of get inside the whole experience. I never cared about Christmas, and then my son was born Christmas morning, and now I really care.

• 57:32Amy Poehler?

  Oh, Jesus's birthday.

• 57:36Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 57:36Amy Poehler?

  Does he, is he okay sharing a birthday with Jesus?

• 57:45Speaker 03

  He is.

• 57:46Amy Poehler?

  He's a very big person to share a birthday with.

• 57:51Speaker 03

  Yes, it's his birthday and Christmas.

• 57:53Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 57:56Speaker 03

  Why was I talking about

• 57:57Amy Poehler?

  Doesn't matter.

• 57:57Speaker 03

  Birth?

• 57:58Amy Poehler?

  Oh, no, because we're talking about, so you would do a song every once in a while?

• 58:01Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah, Christmas, okay, yeah. So I would do a song every year, and then this year, it just became, shall we finish it, shall we make it whole? And the answer was, hell, yes.

• 58:11Amy Poehler?

  Awesome.

• 58:12Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 58:13Amy Poehler?

  And so you have really great collaborators, Brandy Carlisle.

• 58:17Speaker 03

  I mean

• 58:18Amy Poehler?

  Let's talk about Brandy, let's talk about her for a second.

• 58:23Speaker 03

  For the next 20 minutes.

• 58:24Amy Poehler?

  And also, you guys were just on stage, I just saw footage of you on my phone, which is where I get all my news.

• 58:30Speaker 03

  Your bad news. But this one was good news.

• 58:32Amy Poehler?

  Yep, and I saw you two on stage just recently, and she's been covering your music a lot, and you guys have been performing together. What's it like to work with her? She's incredible.

• 58:40Speaker 03

  Yeah, she's the greatest person in the world.

• 58:42Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 58:43Speaker 03

  I mean

• 58:45Amy Poehler?

  And you both, you both, I would say, have these voices that feel like they're, I don't know, they just feel really otherworldly. And I like to ask singers this, when did you feel like you knew you were good at singing? Like, when did you, like, singing is so, like, any skill, it just, you're always kind of changing and working on it, but there has to be a point of view that knows, I'm a good singer.

• 59:13Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 59:14Amy Poehler?

  When did you know that?

• 59:14Speaker 03

  I think when I was entering into these talent competitions as a young creature, and I, winning, whatever winning means, but I won, and I remember thinking, oh, maybe my brothers were wrong.

• 59:28Amy Poehler?

  Isn't it funny that when you're young, and someone says, hey, you're good at that, it's just like

• 59:35Speaker 03

  I was in church, and singing very loudly, and a woman tapped my shoulder, and I turned around, and she said, you have a lovely voice, sweetheart.

• 59:43Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. I think Brandy Carlisle told a very similar story, that it was in church, that she got, like, positive feedback that made her feel like, I can do this.

• 59:56Speaker 03

  Yeah, anything, anything exaltative and gospel, anything that is just God-loving, I'm in. Singing-wise, because it's rapture, it's the same.

• 1:00:05Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. You were also so incredible at the recent Daisy Chain Fields with Olivia Rodrigo.

• 1:00:12Speaker 03

  Hello, yeah.

• 1:00:16Amy Poehler?

  So great, she's so incredible.

• 1:00:19Speaker 03

  I know.

• 1:00:20Amy Poehler?

  It must feel really good to be, like, around those young women who really have it together, and are talented and smart. What was that experience like?

• 1:00:27Speaker 03

  Amazing, standing across from her is just, anytime I see Olivia, I just think everything's going to be okay.

• 1:00:32Amy Poehler?

  She's really, really doing it right.

• 1:00:34Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:00:35Amy Poehler?

  And in your Christmas album, you have Steve Martin playing banjo.

• 1:00:39Speaker 03

  Because I had to, because I knew he was so good, he's so good. And I remember promising myself at, you know, 22, that one day, me, Steve Martin and a banjo, yeah, are going to happen. Anyway, yeah, no, I'm so thrilled, I just can't stop smiling.

• 1:00:59Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. And Martin Short also on the record?

• 1:01:02Speaker 03

  So he and I are both obsessed with Judy Garland, who isn't. So he said, what about the Merry Christmas tune? And so now I have this thought that, there's a funny music video with Judy, and so my wish is to frame by frame with Marty, I'm dying.

• 1:01:19Amy Poehler?

  Oh, my God, recreate. Is there anyone funnier than Marty Short? He's so funny. Again, Canada.

• 1:01:27Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:01:28Amy Poehler?

  You guys, you have, you're heavy hitters. When did you meet Steve and Marty? Did you meet them before you worked with them on this record? Like, was it back in the day, or did you fan out?

• 1:01:39Speaker 03

  Marty and I did a Shakespeare thing with a bunch of people, which was hilarious, and I instantly loved. And then Steve Martin, I ran into him on a grassy field somewhere. And I ran up to him, and I said, hi, I'm a Latin He's like, ah, hi. And then, we off. So same happened with Annie Lennox, I live for Annie Lennox.

• 1:02:01Amy Poehler?

  Oh, same.

• 1:02:02Speaker 03

  And I just thought, oh, this is my moment, we're at the Brit Awards, I'm going to hang out with her, we're going to, she's going to bounce me on the yoga ball. I was so excited, and she, we walked up to each other, and I was like, Annie. She's like, hello, nice to meet you, lovely work you're doing, and walked off.

• 1:02:17Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:02:20Speaker 03

  The intimacy I thought was possible.

• 1:02:22Amy Poehler?

  Oof.

• 1:02:24Speaker 03

  The club, Amy, the club, the fame club, I thought I would just be kumbaya-ing.

• 1:02:30Amy Poehler?

  Do you feel like, maybe she just had to go to the bathroom?

• 1:02:33Speaker 03

  I know, but like, bring me with you.

• 1:02:35Amy Poehler?

  Bring, bring me with you.

• 1:02:36Speaker 03

  I can pee with you.

• 1:02:37Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, I'll stand outside.

• 1:02:38Speaker 03

  I have done way worse.

• 1:02:40Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. Maybe that's what freaked her out, is she was like, I have to go, and you were like, do you have to go to the bathroom? I'll go with you.

• 1:02:46Speaker 03

  I mean, I have to pee. We can chat between

• 1:02:51Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. I know what you mean, at SNL, the best part of the job are the heroes that come through the hallway, but, boy.

• 1:02:58Speaker 03

  But then your heart is broke.

• 1:03:00Amy Poehler?

  And also, just, you realize, just people are regular people, and people, like, have to go to the bathroom and stuff.

• 1:03:06Speaker 03

  I know, it's so not okay that they do that.

• 1:03:09Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, yeah. You get shy?

• 1:03:12Speaker 03

  I don't know if the word shy is real.

• 1:03:14Amy Poehler?

  Whoa, what the fuck?

• 1:03:23Amy Poehler?

  Okay.

• 1:03:24Speaker 03

  Because.

• 1:03:25Amy Poehler?

  No, I get it.

• 1:03:26Speaker 03

  You're like, I don't want to fucking know.

• 1:03:27Amy Poehler?

  I get it, and I love it.

• 1:03:30Speaker 03

  Shy is just pausing to check if the person is safe.

• 1:03:34Amy Poehler?

  Interesting. Oh, we got some claps.

• 1:03:38Speaker 03

  We got some sensitive temperament.

• 1:03:40Amy Poehler?

  From some people in the back who seem very shy.

• 1:03:41Speaker 03

  Who've had just about enough.

• 1:03:44Amy Poehler?

  Well, someone who was kind of shy and then really rose to the occasion is our guest earlier, Kelly Kroyer. And Kelly, thank you so much.

• 1:03:57Amy Poehler?

  And she asked me a question to ask you, which I think is a beautiful one, and I'm gonna ask it to you now, which is, is there a song you wrote years ago that you understand completely differently now, not because the lyrics have changed, but because you did?

• 1:04:12Speaker 03

  Well, I think not "The Doctor",

• 1:04:17Speaker 03

  because when I wrote it, it was very much like, hey, you know what, you take care of your stuff and we'll talk.

• 1:04:24Speaker 03

  Having been in very long, committed relationships now, I know that ideally, in my mind, we are actively participating in each other's healing. So, some of those lyrics, I think, oh, Alanis.

• 1:04:40Amy Poehler?

  Okay, I've got a little lightning round, if you're ready.

• 1:04:43Speaker 03

  Oh, I'm scared.

• 1:04:43Amy Poehler?

  Let's hydrate.

• 1:04:46Amy Poehler?

  Favorite song you've heard recently, something you're humming and listening to or singing?

• 1:04:50Speaker 03

  I went back in time, a Keen Hamburg song.

• 1:04:54Amy Poehler?

  Keen Hamburg song. I don't think I know that. Amazing.

• 1:04:58Speaker 03

  Nothing better than "A Feminine Man" or "A Masculine Woman".

• 1:05:03Amy Poehler?

  Indeed.

• 1:05:06Amy Poehler?

  Well said.

• 1:05:09Amy Poehler?

  Well said.

• 1:05:12Amy Poehler?

  A musician, or music, or a song that your kids turned you on to?

• 1:05:17Speaker 03

  Steve Lacey.

• 1:05:18Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. What's the most Canadian thing about you, Alanis?

• 1:05:23Speaker 03

  The fact that I have had a really hard time learning how to monologue when no one's asking. So, in Canada, I don't know if the whole country's doing this, but I wouldn't speak unless someone asked me something.

• 1:05:39Amy Poehler?

  Right.

• 1:05:40Speaker 03

  I wouldn't just, of my own volition, just speak into a room. Now, that's partly patriarchy and narcissism and Canada. But I moved to America, moved to LA, and I didn't speak for six months. I was waiting for someone to ask a question.

• 1:05:55Speaker 03

  And then the muscle I had to cultivate, which I'm really glad I did, because it's allowing me to speak with you right now, was just speak when no one asks. That was hard.

• 1:06:05Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:06Speaker 03

  But now I know how to do it.

• 1:06:08Amy Poehler?

  I used to often be on conference calls, and we would be getting ready to be done, and I would just say, just one more thing before we go, I just want to talk, okay?

• 1:06:19Speaker 03

  Those are my favorite themes.

• 1:06:21Amy Poehler?

  Yeah. And what is your order at Tim Hortons?

• 1:06:26Speaker 03

  The munchkins?

• 1:06:29Speaker 03

  The sugary and the chocolate. I mean, they're both so high nutrient.

• 1:06:33Amy Poehler?

  Delicious.

• 1:06:34Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:06:34Amy Poehler?

  And delicious. You've run a marathon, more than one?

• 1:06:37Speaker 03

  A few, yeah.

• 1:06:38Amy Poehler?

  My question is, running, why?

• 1:06:45Amy Poehler?

  It's hard.

• 1:06:47Speaker 03

  I mean, exactly why. I did it for charity, because there was no way I was gonna be able to train without doing it for charity, so some NEDA, National Eating Disorder Association. I did it as a way of saying, this is an instrument, this is not just an ornament. And then, you know, marathon running, wow. I won't be doing it again.

• 1:07:07Amy Poehler?

  What was the thing that you really are proud of about that, obviously, doing it and training, but what was, in the experience of doing it, what was the most kind of surprising and satisfying part of it?

• 1:07:18Speaker 03

  I would say mile 20 to the finish each time, and just the weeping after. I would just go into cold water and just sob. It's part of the over-functioning thing.

• 1:07:32Amy Poehler?

  Sounds so fun.

• 1:07:33Speaker 03

  It sounds terrible.

• 1:07:34Amy Poehler?

  Every single person that talks to me about running, it just sounds worse and worse.

• 1:07:41Speaker 03

  But you're still intrigued.

• 1:07:42Amy Poehler?

  No.

• 1:07:43Speaker 03

  I'm not. You're done.

• 1:07:45Amy Poehler?

  Oh, my god, no.

• 1:07:46Speaker 03

  No, it's quite beautiful, actually. I love running, but I won't be doing much more of it now.

• 1:07:49Amy Poehler?

  Joan Jett. You performed with her, you were on tour with her?

• 1:07:54Speaker 03

  Yeah, we toured together.

• 1:07:55Amy Poehler?

  What was that like?

• 1:07:56Speaker 03

  It's the greatest.

• 1:07:57Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:07:58Speaker 03

  I can't even believe sometimes the joy I get from being around masters, and whether it's musical, or comedic, or producerial, or directors, I just feel like I can't swing a dirty sock without hitting masters around me.

• 1:08:12Amy Poehler?

  Joan is cool.

• 1:08:15Speaker 03

  Joan is the greatest.

• 1:08:16Amy Poehler?

  She was definitely one of the many artists when I was growing up, and, you know, and honestly, you were one too, where the minute you see them, you're like,

• 1:08:25Speaker 03

  Oh.

• 1:08:25Amy Poehler?

  Where did they come, where, who is that? And Joan definitely has that too. She just arrived and was like, I'm your favorite now.

• 1:08:33Speaker 03

  Thank you. She imposed herself into our souls.

• 1:08:37Amy Poehler?

  And Alanis, you did that too.

• 1:08:39Speaker 03

  Oh, thanks, Amy. I just love the idea of picking women who will be around me when Armageddon hits, which is like yesterday. I just feel like Joan would be in that gaggle.

• 1:08:50Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, yeah, she'd be tough.

• 1:08:52Speaker 03

  She'd be like grabbing the wood.

• 1:08:54Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, definitely.

• 1:08:55Speaker 03

  Lighting fires.

• 1:08:56Amy Poehler?

  A lot of people don't know you're a twin.

• 1:08:58Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:08:59Amy Poehler?

  What's the twinniest thing about you?

• 1:09:02Speaker 03

  I think just the straight telepathy.

• 1:09:04Amy Poehler?

  Do you have it?

• 1:09:04Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:09:06Amy Poehler?

  So, can you give us an example of that?

• 1:09:09Speaker 03

  We would be, my twin and I would be camping on some island in Canada, and there'd be a few people around, fire crackling, and we would have an entire conversation that was quiet. And then, once in a while, I would finish it with a verbal like, yeah. And everyone else would be like, what? And Wade, my twin, would go.

• 1:09:32Speaker 03

  So, very, we talk all the time, and I know, I have a sense of what's up with him, and he knows what's up with me, and

• 1:09:38Amy Poehler?

  Whoa.

• 1:09:38Speaker 03

  A lot of comedy, though.

• 1:09:40Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:09:41Speaker 03

  So, this is the number one for us.

• 1:09:42Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:09:43Speaker 03

  Yeah, a lot of laughing.

• 1:09:44Amy Poehler?

  What do you, what do you think he's doing right now, and then we can cross-check it?

• 1:09:51Speaker 03

  He's in the bathroom.

• 1:09:55Amy Poehler?

  That would be a really funny bit for like a psychic to be like, okay, I'm with your brother. Right now, he's pooping.

• 1:10:07Speaker 03

  Because we spent so much

• 1:10:08Amy Poehler?

  Can you contact him? We spent so much time in the bathroom, of course. There must be a time when someone's pooping.

• 1:10:15Speaker 03

  That's just a gasp.

• 1:10:16Amy Poehler?

  Oh, god, okay. And your hair.

• 1:10:23Amy Poehler?

  Right? Congratulations on it.

• 1:10:28Amy Poehler?

  It's incredible.

• 1:10:29Speaker 03

  It's the fifth Beatle.

• 1:10:32Amy Poehler?

  It is its own, your hair, it got in your way, it covered you, it

• 1:10:39Speaker 03

  Thank god.

• 1:10:40Amy Poehler?

  You know, it also like, it spoke for you, it was this, it was really such a part of when we were first seeing you.

• 1:10:49Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:10:50Amy Poehler?

  What do you, what's your relationship with your hair? Like, it's, your hair is so powerful.

• 1:10:55Speaker 03

  Oh, lovely. I love it. It's a security blanket, for sure. Because when, when on stage, as the light, it's slightly ceaseless, which is not great, so I can hide, hide, hide, hide, lots of hiding, anywhere. Hair is great for hiding.

• 1:11:14Amy Poehler?

  Hair is great for hiding.

• 1:11:15Speaker 03

  And then it also does the job of femme for me, because I like to dress like a 14-year-old boy.

• 1:11:19Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:11:20Speaker 03

  So, I'm like, you do the femme stuff, and it does.

• 1:11:22Amy Poehler?

  Yes. Have you, did you shave your head once?

• 1:11:26Speaker 03

  I came, like, close. I had to. It's a rite of passage to

• 1:11:31Amy Poehler?

  No, you know, this is only for people who have good hair.

• 1:11:34Speaker 03

  We're not shaving our hair tomorrow, Amy?

• 1:11:36Amy Poehler?

  No, I'm just, if you have fantastic hair, you can just be like, I'll shave it, it'll come back, but for those of us that are hanging on by a thread.

• 1:11:45Speaker 03

  You're shaving nothing. I am extra herring.

• 1:11:51Amy Poehler?

  And do you air dry it?

• 1:11:54Speaker 03

  I have never used a, what do you call those?

• 1:11:59Speaker 03

  I mean, other people have used it on me.

• 1:12:00Amy Poehler?

  Okay.

• 1:12:01Speaker 03

  But I, I can't.

• 1:12:03Amy Poehler?

  So, when you get out of the shower, and sorry, but this is what the people want to know. We're gonna wrap this up, but am I wrong?

• 1:12:14Amy Poehler?

  When Alanis gets out of the shower, how are you combing through your hair? Do you even comb through it?

• 1:12:20Speaker 03

  Yeah, I have to.

• 1:12:21Amy Poehler?

  Okay.

• 1:12:22Speaker 03

  Yeah, I have to.

• 1:12:22Amy Poehler?

  We're using a nice brush?

• 1:12:24Speaker 03

  Oh, we're using a super overpriced brush.

• 1:12:26Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, great. A super overpriced, of course. Well, you know what?

• 1:12:30Speaker 03

  Whatever.

• 1:12:31Amy Poehler?

  Because we, I mean, we work hard.

• 1:12:33Speaker 03

  But everybody works hard.

• 1:12:34Amy Poehler?

  Then you use the pri, hold on, let's get back to your hair.

• 1:12:37Speaker 03

  We have access, Amy, we have access, okay.

• 1:12:39Amy Poehler?

  We get through the brush, then we put a product in it?

• 1:12:44Speaker 03

  No.

• 1:12:44Amy Poehler?

  No, incredible.

• 1:12:45Speaker 03

  I'm very

• 1:12:48Amy Poehler?

  God, the hair privilege is unbelievable.

• 1:12:52Speaker 03

  Yeah, I'm sorry.

• 1:12:53Amy Poehler?

  It really is, it's incredible.

• 1:12:54Speaker 03

  Will you edit this whole thing out?

• 1:12:59Speaker 03

  Yeah, I don't know what to say.

• 1:13:00Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, incredible.

• 1:13:03Amy Poehler?

  And, and, okay, and with, as we wrap up.

• 1:13:06Speaker 03

  Because we landed on the most important.

• 1:13:08Amy Poehler?

  We landed on the most important, well, I don't know. I mean, I actually think, and you know that, like, hair is political and it is so interesting. And it is, you speak of it, but it did feel at that time like it was a security blanket for you.

• 1:13:22Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah. It was life-saving.

• 1:13:24Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:13:24Speaker 03

  Still is.

• 1:13:25Amy Poehler?

  And it's so cool.

• 1:13:27Speaker 03

  Is it?

• 1:13:28Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:13:28Speaker 03

  Yeah, hair's cool.

• 1:13:29Amy Poehler?

  Yeah.

• 1:13:30Speaker 03

  But then when we're dead on the deathbed, it's not going to matter so much.

• 1:13:33Amy Poehler?

  Why did you have to bring that up?

• 1:13:36Speaker 03

  Because I'm Alanis, and I'm a four with a five wing, goddamn it.

• 1:13:40Amy Poehler?

  And so many of them are of you.

• 1:13:41Speaker 03

  Death, despair, destruction. I love you.

• 1:13:46Speaker 03

  Everything's gonna be okay.

• 1:13:49Amy Poehler?

  Oh, my God, Alanis, I love you. Okay. And we'll end this way. What's making you laugh these days?

• 1:13:56Speaker 03

  You right now.

• 1:13:57Amy Poehler?

  Oh, my God. What do you go to to like, laugh, to have fun? Where do you go for release and relief?

• 1:14:08Speaker 03

  Patty Guggenheim.

• 1:14:09Amy Poehler?

  Same one.

• 1:14:10Speaker 03

  I mean, you know this one. Collaboration, I'm gonna start crying. Like, it's the greatest thing in the world. The one plus one equals 14, and you're just laughing the entire time you're writing, even when it's harrowing. And maybe laughing harder when it's harrowing. It's just the sweetest relationship. It's, the unsung relationships are the friendships and the collaborative profound intimacy. It's an unsung relationship that I live for.

• 1:14:37Amy Poehler?

  Yeah, that's a really nice thing about getting older. And also that your friends know you really well, and they still like you.

• 1:14:43Speaker 03

  Oh, my God, and they love you maybe more.

• 1:14:45Amy Poehler?

  They maybe love you more.

• 1:14:45Speaker 03

  That's weird. It's like, wait, you know me really well, and you still like me? That's awesome.

• 1:14:52Amy Poehler?

  Well, I don't, I don't know if I know you really well, but I really like you.

• 1:14:57Speaker 03

  Oh, I like you too.

• 1:14:59Amy Poehler?

  And I knew I would. And I, I'm just so grateful that you came and did this. And that I'm grateful for your work. I'm grateful for the way you speak about your life and your work. And I'm just so thankful that you came to Chicago to do this show. Thank you so much for being here.

• 1:15:15Speaker 03

  Thank you.

• 1:15:16Amy Poehler?

  Alanis Morissette, everybody. Alanis Morissette!

• 1:15:24Amy 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, Kaya McMullin, Aleia Zanarez, Brigid Gierlings, Paige Garberini, Belle Roman, and Drew Van Steen-Burgen. For Paperkite, production by Sam Green, Joel Lovell, and Jenna Weiss-Berman. Original music by Amy Miles.

• 1:15:55Amy 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.

• 1:16:27Speaker 04

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