August 25, 2025 • 62 mins
This week, Karen and Chris welcome actor and comedian Lennon Parham to talk about karaoke fever, snake wranglers and more!
https://www.instagram.com/dynarpodcast/
https://twitter.com/DynarPodcast
https://www.facebook.com/dynarpodcast/
Buy Merch! https://www.exactlyrightmedia.com/merch
Follow Lennon Parham –
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/lennonparham/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/LennonParhamOfficial/
Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3UMGNo5
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
I leave in I you wanna way back home? Either way,
we want to be there.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Doesn't matter how much baggage you claim and give us
time and aid termino and gage aid.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
We want to send you off in style.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
We wanna welcome you back home. Tell us all about it.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
We scared her? Was it fine?
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Now?
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Porn? Do you need to ride? Do you need to ride?
(00:52):
Do you need to ride? Do you need to ride?
Do you need to ride? Do your need to ride?
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Ride with Karen and Chris? Welcome to Do you need
to ride? This is Chris Fairbanks and this.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Is Karen Kilgarath.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
It's good.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
I think the dramatic cho yeah, you know people, it's
like we're revealing something two things ourselves hosts. We are
driving with the guests in the back, and I don't
like to do that thing where you Hey, why don't
you be quiet back there.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
While we riff for ten minutes?
Speaker 1 (01:38):
No like that.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
We dive right into Yes.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Please, we're very excited about today's guests. You now are
from clubs and colleges across the country. Right, writer, actor, improviser, comedian,
wonderful person. Put your ears together for Lennon Parham.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
No, there we go I was waiting for the dramatic pause.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
Put your ears together for Lenin Karum.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Nice, am I.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Because I feel like I'm dramatically avoiding that there's an
H in your last name. H.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
I'm kind of smoothing over it.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
No, you did it right, said exactly right.
Speaker 4 (02:23):
Okay, goohead.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
I did do some research, and so I'm kind of
pretending nice.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (02:29):
Yeah, sometimes people put a K in there. Parkham, Yes,
usually at a doctor's office. But yes, Parham is my
maiden name, my given name, and I got so famous
before I got married that I had to keep it.
I'd already established myself, that's right. So yeah, my married
(02:51):
name is Guzman. And when Lenin Guzman shows up, you
don't know what the fuck you're getting. You know, what's
this TV show?
Speaker 1 (02:59):
I don't even understand.
Speaker 5 (03:03):
A lot of times I'm a mister on a like
if I've donated money, I get like a letter thanking
mister Parum.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
That offends me literally speaking. I don't know why, oh
I would. It's just automated, I'm sure, but oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
It's the automated version of someone knocking on your door
and saying, hi.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
It is the man of the house here. Yeah, who
makes the financial decisions?
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Well I do. Goddamn it. You're looking at her this, mister.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
Have you have you entertained the notion of a hyphen?
Speaker 1 (03:36):
No?
Speaker 4 (03:37):
Like yeah, no, no too late?
Speaker 3 (03:39):
No, no, no good, that's the right answer.
Speaker 5 (03:42):
Lenin, I mean that is my middle. So my official
legal name is Lenin. Parum is my middle and Guzman
is my last name.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
What's your illegal street name?
Speaker 5 (03:55):
My illegal street name I think is hold On bo Chartley.
Isn't that like the first your first pet and your
street used to live on.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Oh yeah, that's your porn name, I think, yeah, bo Chartlie.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
Yeah, I'm Shaky Kensington.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
I'm pepsis what Yeah, that's the best. This is quite
a group of dancers we got here.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Please welcome to stage. Pepsi eucalyptus my what is that song?
Speaker 2 (04:28):
God?
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (04:30):
Girls girls once warrant, Oh no, that's great.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Welcome. You knew that, that's what you said, that's how
it leads in.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
Yeah, yeah, wait oh no once.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Once we start talking dancing clubs, will I will spit
out all the.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
Songs that in high school.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Okay, let's hear it.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
Uh warrant. Cherry Pie didn't care for it.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Well, but the video with the girl on the hood,
right classic.
Speaker 4 (04:59):
Oh are you are you thinking of white Snakes? Here
I go again on my own.
Speaker 5 (05:03):
That's one of my favorite karaokes. Oh really that's a
good one, yeah, because it starts so slow and then
there's a nice build, you know.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Yeah, it's funny. The songs that were my go to
karaoke I guess jams you could.
Speaker 5 (05:19):
Say jams, yeah right, they were so the shorts, the
short the like surfer shorts from the eighties.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
Yes, yes, my favorite jammers.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Were songs I didn't care for, but I knew other
people would like. Because when it comes down to it,
karaoke is entertainment, and that is the truth.
Speaker 4 (05:37):
You don't want to do You.
Speaker 5 (05:38):
Can't just do something for yourself, no, right, you got
to play to the audience.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
But like the time, and that is why.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
The time I was at karaoke with Marylyn Rice cub
So she signed me up to sing nothing Compares to You,
an absolute dirge that never picks up, everyone hates, and
I was so, I hate karaoke anyway because usually well
I'm sober, I would be doing it sober. So I'm
just like, it's already hard and then it was like
(06:08):
five minutes of just the same thing as the SOB.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
That's a lot. That's a hard one, too much, that's.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
A hard one.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Yeah, can't really dress it.
Speaker 5 (06:17):
Up unless you start crying, well or like end on
the floor or something like tighten it.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Or like trans I don't know.
Speaker 5 (06:25):
Sometimes you can do innuendos in the middle of it.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Oh.
Speaker 5 (06:29):
Like there's a song Strawberry Wine, which is a country song,
and it's about a girl going to like live with
her uncle for a summer and she has like a
summer fling with a farm hand and it's so filthy. Ye,
but it's all romanticized. And so when I sang it,
when I used to sing it at the the karaoke
(06:51):
part of How Joy Chinese Restaurant in Greenville, Mississippi, I
would really and you endo it up and it killed
it really killed.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
It was like you're putting the new the modern twist
of like, hey, should we have been singing this song
yeah in the day because this is filthy.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
And then at the end you tear a picture of
the pope up.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Yeah, that's right. Take that, Mississippi.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
That were you into karaoke when you before comedy and everything, or.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
Just you did it because other people I did it.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
It was like the thing.
Speaker 5 (07:30):
So I did this program called Teach for America in
right after college, and I was placed in Greenville, Mississippi,
which is in the the Delta of Mississippi, which is
like where Sinners was set. Oh sure, okay, so good,
and it's not that different from that film.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
It does feel very similar.
Speaker 5 (07:52):
Not a lot has changed, great catfish, amazing, blues, terrible
at schools and they needed a lot of help. And
so we would come in fresh out of college knowing
zero and teach in these schools where they just were
having a hard time hiring people.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
I think.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
And you taught French.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
I taught high school French.
Speaker 5 (08:15):
And good were you that you got that from the
Wikipedia research?
Speaker 1 (08:19):
He loves a nice word.
Speaker 5 (08:20):
Yeah, they called me miss p because they couldn't pronounce
the h. E didn't know what to do with the
h either, And yeah, it was. It was an incredible
experience that I learned a lot being there and also
learn like how, like what's the bare minimum that I
need to be happy?
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Like hmm? So on Friday nights that was the.
Speaker 5 (08:44):
How Joy Karaoke Lounge and and people everybody had like
their one song that they did. There was one woman
who sang Broken Wing by Martina McBride.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
It was a lot of you know, a lot of
country because it's in Mississippi. Sure, and would you just
bring the down?
Speaker 5 (09:00):
And I don't know what she did for work or
why she was there, but it was she had the
voice of an angel.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
I saw that one night at the Mint, which was
a karaoke spot right on the edge of the Castro
in San Francisco when I lived there and worked at
the Gap across the street. Yeah, we would all we
close it down and go over to the Mint. And
a woman there one night sag Aerosmith's dream on and
it was the most incredible thing I've ever seen.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Yeah, and to this day, yes, yeah, I mean she should.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Have been like I feel like if American Idol started,
you know, ten twenty years of those rubber boots.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
Yeah, they were perfect rubber boots.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
If American Idol had started in the eighties, we would
know who this woman should be a household name. Yeah,
But she also kind of just she had like a
buzz cut and she was kind of like regular lady.
But it was I was like, how are we all
witnessing this? And I could have been drunk, but it
was very magical experience.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
I love those.
Speaker 5 (10:02):
Yeah, really it stays, and that's what I hope every
time karaoke, that I'm doing that for someone, which I
know that's not the case, that's what you.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Want, but that's that's the goal.
Speaker 4 (10:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
There has to be a balance though, because I've been
to these nights where everyone is professionally good at singing. Yeah,
and it's like, oh, get over yourselves, Like for some reason.
Speaker 5 (10:26):
I don't want you, don't want to every single person
to be great.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
Yeah, let's have a couple human Yeah.
Speaker 5 (10:33):
My friend is a musical theater genius and he teaches
voice and he all of his friends are musical theater performers.
And I went to karaoke with him and my normal
Like I took a risk singing just once by James Ingram,
which again I know it's a risk.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Yes, so good, so good.
Speaker 5 (10:55):
But everyone else was like literally nailing whatever Broadway song
they sang, you know, and everybody we sang the song
from Rent five hundred and twenty five thousand, six sorta
minutes and everyone knew and like on the part where
you know, most like one person usually like goes freestyle
right everyone's room. Everyone in the room did like this
(11:16):
amazing run and it was really it was terrifying that
happened to me.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
We went to Maurice Crisis one night when I was
in New York City. I think I was working on
a show there, and so it was supposed to be
this fun thing and I didn't realize it, but my
friend put my name in, but every other person that
it's just a guy with.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
A piano, and then people getting over.
Speaker 5 (11:38):
It's like, oh my god, it's live piano, live piano.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
It's fun, real Broadway people. They're there to drink after
they just were in the chorus for something but burn
off steam. Yes, and they're so good. They're in the
forest just like waiting for their moments. So like a
Maurice Crisis song, everyone's like, this is incredible and suddenly
they're like Karen and I was just like, oh shit,
God damn.
Speaker 5 (12:00):
It, and I just left you did you weren't there anymore?
Speaker 1 (12:04):
I could? I want to be that.
Speaker 5 (12:08):
I know.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
One instance, I was ten years old and Andrew mccartial's
cast album of Annie.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Oh yeah, you know what I mean where it's like
belting it out or whatever.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
And then over the years realizing loud isn't always good.
You have to get everything else kind of right. And
so then sitting in this bar watching people just be
able to get up and like with no mic sing,
you know, lean on a piano and then just deliver,
I was like, that's all I would I would love
to do it more than anything, and I know I'm
(12:36):
not going to be able to. I just am not
gonna be able to even touch their the hem of
their garment. I have to go, oh man, And everyone's like,
what is.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Wrong with you?
Speaker 5 (12:46):
Oh yeah, that way you get up there and then
tell them the song and the person just plays it.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
They know it. Yeah yeah, oh and they had to have.
Speaker 5 (12:54):
The words like in your brain, yeah that's it.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
Wow, that's skang.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
A lot of someone's as a surprise, Oh me, okay,
I guess I mean.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
Right, And then I'm at gleen I'm stuck with that
and just the most obnoxious nasal shit.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (13:13):
It's a good vocal exercise to sing with your with
that note, with that yeah yeah sound, though, it really
opens you up.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
It was very apparently it was very popular in the
late seventies early eighties of singing like that.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Yeah, totally kind of all head head voice, I guess.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
Yeah. I like to sing from right behind my nose. Yeah,
I sing.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
A lot of people go from the diaphragm. I go
from the septum.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (13:43):
In New York City they had rooms karaoke rooms, and
you could pay during the day four dollars an hour,
sometimes two dollars if you bought a coke and have
the room for an hour two hours. And so I
would go sometimes by myself hmmm. And then you could
like try out different songs, right, this was before I
(14:06):
think karaoke tracks existed on LimeWire or wherever, right, And
so you would just go and sing, and you could
play with the key or you could skip if it
was a terrible song.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Hmm. And then I had my friend Michael.
Speaker 5 (14:19):
I would force him to come and sing duets with me,
like musical theater duets. And he was like a train,
like he did musical theater in college, and he could
nail it. But we didn't always have the same repertoire,
but he could. He still sounded good even when and
his name was Michael Kine different Kane.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
But wow, yeah, I mean that sounds so fun. It's
so fun because then you're kind of you don't have
to worry about the performance of it.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
It's just your own enjoyment.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
I think that's that's what I would be looking for,
because I'm just so like, yeah, well, this isn't good enough,
don't do it?
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Like what a waste? And it's like, no, it's that's
not the point.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
It's funny though, the nerves I've gotten and what the
nerves get you rooms, so I don't if there's an
audience of strangers, importantly, that's when I.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Will be able to do that's easier for you.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
Yes, if it's my fan, like my sister.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Sometimes it's like, let's go to one of these karaoke
rooms and I'm singing and my dad is watching.
Speaker 4 (15:17):
Okay, that's that's terrifying.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Yeah, and he's got his keys in his hand for
some reason. He's got to go yeah yeah and sit down.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
People already loved me. I could only fuck this up.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
You're not winning anybody over your conditional love though, right, yeah,
unless you lose it, right right. We went to the
karaoke rooms in New York that it was on that
same job, and my friend Hayley was super drunk and
everybody was but me, And so she kept doing a
thing where she would pick a song and she would
take the microphone out into the hallway and shut the
(15:53):
door because she wanted to do an entrance and she
felt like an entrance would really be.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
The thing, it would set her up, yeah, for success,
And so she would.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Go outside and the song would start and then she
couldn't hear it because she was outside, and so over
she did it like four or five times in a
row where she'd be like, Okay, started overg at it
this time, and then she'd just be drunk in the
hallway and we'd be like, Haley, go open the door.
It was the funniest, like she was so sure that
this was going to be the thing that nailed it
(16:21):
for her, and it's like, you have to be in
here to sing it.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Oh, yeah, I won't do well unless people see me
running from across the street and jumping through this flaming hoop.
Speaker 5 (16:33):
Ye set it up, Yeah, gotta set up, set up
the expectations.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Yeah, I was into it. And once you start doing
stand up.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
That void gets filled.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
But there's also a documentary called Karaoke Fever that I watched.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Really, this is a real thing, yes, And.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
It was when I lived in Austin. It was just
one of the films in the festival. And it was
such a group of of a group of you know, nerds.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
Thank you. I dance around that word nerds, just say it.
I do.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
It's just I want to offend someone with tape on
their glasses. That's good at something.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
Uh yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
It And it was like, oh, this is a this
is all these folks have. And it was kind of sad.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
But they love it. They're happy.
Speaker 5 (17:24):
They all documentaries are about, right, yeah, someone who is
obsessed about King Kong or whatever. You're not King Kong
Donkey Kong right right right or King Kong? And they
that's they do that to the exclusion of everything else
in their lives, right, relationships.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Yes, you see it, tearing apart, taking away any chance
of a normal life, traveling around to compete in karaoke contests.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Yeah, Lennon, I first heard of you, yes, may I
may I tell you please? I first heard of you
because when I were wrote on Pete Holmes talk show,
Oh yeah, and every it was all mostly the writers
on there were all New York comics, and they all
knew you, and several had gone to UCB and you
(18:12):
were their teacher, and they should worship Pete Holmes, especially
just worship you.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
They talked about you. I was kind of like, oh,
my god, that's enough. Okay, I don't know her.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
But but then my sister started watching Playing House when
that came out. And my sister, which I told you,
is your number one fan, is that show's number fan,
and she forced me to watch it. And then it
was like, fine, everyone's right about her. Fine, And then.
Speaker 5 (18:40):
I became your number one fan. That's so sweet, that's
so funny. I was so excited for Pete when he
got that. Obviously he'd been working so hard before that
as well. And but yeah, he was in I think
he was in an intensive that I taught, maybe like
just level one improv. And he's told this story. I
(19:02):
think I've told this story.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
But he was.
Speaker 5 (19:05):
He's so funny and specific and so smart, and he
was playing a witch doctor in a scene and he
but he was just physically himself and so it was
like Pete Holmes, and I guess that could have been
the interesting thing is that this witch doctor was just like,
(19:25):
you know, a normal white guy, white dude, but he
was the specifics were very witch doctory, and so I
was like, I was like, pause the seed, and I
was like, Pete, can you like physicalize this, Let me
see this in your body.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
And we went on a little further and it was
it didn't work.
Speaker 5 (19:46):
That note did not work, and so I paused it again,
and I came up onto the stage or in the
classroom with him, and I was like, I'm gonna be
the physicalization of your character and I want you to
match me as you're saying the smart things you're saying
and so and anyway, it was like this this moment
(20:07):
that felt like a success for both of us, I think,
and so yeah, and then he went on, obviously to
do exactly the thing between the scene to great success
and having his own show and all that stuff. But yeah,
that was fun. I really loved teaching improv. I loved
teaching just teaching in general, I.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Think, Yeah, and being in that kind of scene. I mean,
that must have been amazing to be in that UCB
scene in New York at that time. It's kind of
the place to be, right, Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
The I mean.
Speaker 5 (20:39):
The first thing I did when I moved to New
York was take Second City because I had gone to
college with Jack mcbrear and he was a senior when
I was a freshman, and we used to goof around
during our work study in the costume shop and we
would just like be putting away vintage like women's forty shoes,
and we would pop in and of these.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Like characters like a British elf or whatever.
Speaker 5 (21:03):
You know, and it was so fun and I had
never played like that with anybody. Yeah, And then I
watched him as he went to Chicago and did at
First Io and then Second City, and I was just
so like he was the funniest person that I had
ever known in my life. And so it was it
(21:23):
felt correct when he started to succeed and get recognized
in the way that. And he's also so generous with
his with his advice or with his time with his.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Home, you know, Like.
Speaker 5 (21:38):
I think he just felt grateful that he was where
he was and doing what he was doing. And one
summer I lived in Chicago and I taught again. I
taught at a day camp, and I lived in Evanston
from college, and I would go see Jack every Friday
night doing Improvalympic.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
It just like totally blew my mind.
Speaker 5 (22:02):
And then he I was hanging out with him and
his friends from his team, TJ jag Gadowski and a
couple of other people that I was like just totally
obsessed with, and he was like, Lennon, I think you
could do this. I think you'd be real good at this.
And I was like, I mean I just kind of
held it close, you know. And then when I got
to New York, I saw Second City was offering classes
(22:25):
for they had for a little bit Second City Classes
in New York, and so I signed up and I
did their whole essential training program and then in during
the like Sketch showcase at the very end, I met
two girls, Molly Prather and Leslie Mizell, who were on
house teams at UCB.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
I had never heard of it, yea, and they were like,
they invited me to be on a in.
Speaker 5 (22:50):
A three on three improv tournament, and so I did
improv on the UCB stage before ever taking a class
in front of Matt Wall Oh wow, Ian Roberts and
I think Sean Conroy and we did not win, and
I was terrified. And then afterwards I kind of found
out like what I had just done was insane. And
(23:13):
then I signed up for classes because I was like,
oh my god, like people are waiting in line to
be in these classes because it was before the internet
and all that jazz, and so you had to like
come real early in the morning and just sit on
the sidewalk to sign up for classes. Yeah, and then
once I was in class, it was clear that that
was the place to be. And then I got on
a team after taking like four classes there, and my
(23:36):
team was had Zach Woods on it, Joe Wengert, Anthony King,
who ran my writer's room for Playing House, and we
hired him on Best Friends Forever as a staff writer
because he was like the smartest, funniest person I knew.
And now he's like gone on to write all these
(23:57):
Broadway musicals and all signed really yeah, he well, he
was like a musical theater guy. He worked at I
think Manhattan Theater Club and he's got great stories. But
he wrote Beatle, he wrote the book for Beetlejuice the musical.
And they're doing a Univision is it not Univision? What's
(24:18):
the euro Vision? They're doing a Eurovision one. And then
are we getting on the highway? How excited to do
you ever get out and go into Ikea? We're so close.
She'd be just shopped really quick. Nothing is really quick
in the Ikia and Gutenberg. I don't know if you
(24:41):
heard about this musical. It's a two person musical about
that these two guys wrote a musical.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
It's so meta.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
It's like, anyway, it's a a musical about two guys
who wrote a musical.
Speaker 5 (24:52):
Yes, and they're doing the musical for uh for backers.
It's kind of like waiting for Guffman esque in that way.
And Andrew Rynolds and Josh gadd just did it uh
re revived it on Broadway.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Oh wow.
Speaker 5 (25:08):
And anyway, So anyway, So what I'm saying is my
very first team was like heavy hitters, and we all
were in love with each other, and then all around
us were all of these other incredible comedians and we
were doing it for free in a basement and getting
paid nothing. And I would have done it for free,
(25:28):
you know, for the rest of my life if I
could have liked it was. I still do improv. I
still love to do shows. It's like therapy. Yeah, it's
easy now you know. Now I know all the rules
and how to break them, and.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Right, yeah, it's just so fun.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
It really would help to have a friend that was
doing it successfully say hey, you could do this.
Speaker 4 (25:51):
I yeah, that's the best situation to be in.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Yeah, and being that friend is so it's crazy, right yeah.
Speaker 5 (25:58):
Mcbreer and also Jason Minzukus. They both like helped me
get to like I was already on a house team
and they were like, cause I was, I wanted to
like make forward steps, but I didn't quite know how.
And they were like, you need to start doing ASCAT
And I'm like, which is the big Sunday night show
that like all the Saturday night life people were doing.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
And I was like, how the hell am I just like,
you know, like make that transition.
Speaker 5 (26:25):
And they were like, just go every week and one
week they'll need people, yeah, because one week will be
a holiday and everyone will be not there and whatever.
And so I was teaching improv and I would teach
on Sundays, I think I don't remember, like five thirty
(26:46):
to eight thirty or something, and so I would go
catch the last of the seven thirty show and then
stay for the nine thirty show. And one week I
was there in my teaching outfit was like a ratty
American Eagles T shirt and sweat and Chris Gethard and
Billy Merritt were they were just short and they were like,
(27:06):
come on, and I was like, and this was like
after two years of going every Sunday night to watch
you know, the best improv in the world. And I
was doing shows twice a week, probably like Harold shows
on the Harald Night and then Saturday night I had
a show with Ruben Williams my other team, and I
sat in and it was terrifying. And I don't think
(27:28):
I ever came off the back wall. Maybe once somebody
pulled me into a scene, and then from then on out,
I just I just kept going. And then I like
was folded into the rotating cast and got less and
less scared, and you know, yeah, was.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
There a point where because when I did improv, it
was mostly the games like short forms improv where I
would just try and think of.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
A joke yep, and grab that, yeah, grab that last.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
I don't care what anyone else working towards. I'm going
to get a laugh, and which is bad. But the
times we dabbled with longer form. I was so scared. Yeah,
like so different to me because you're not going for
a laugh or you're trying to.
Speaker 4 (28:14):
Build a story. Did you see there was a difference,
Like were you scared to do long form improv?
Speaker 5 (28:21):
It felt better to me, honestly than short form. I
think like I had done comedy sports once in high school, right,
and you just have to be so quick, and it
felt less intuitive to me than the improv where you're
building relationships and characters and finding comedy together within that, Yeah,
(28:44):
based on human behavior. Like that felt like because I
went to theater school like to be an actor, and
so I learned all this stuff, and so it felt
like I could actually that was like a skill I
could bring to the playing field, was to really ground
it and make it feel real.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
And then inside of that, we're finding the truth in comedy, which.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
Is a book.
Speaker 4 (29:11):
Helper. I remember reading it.
Speaker 5 (29:16):
One of the first shows I ever did in New
York was called Tom Soder's Improv and it was short form.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
It must have been had another title.
Speaker 5 (29:26):
But Tom Soder was the guy and he would like
scout I think this is the truth. He would scout
like indie shows and find people or maybe he had auditions.
I might have gone to like a backstage open call.
And then I got invited to do the short and
they were short formed. They were comedy sports kind of games,
(29:48):
and I had been obsessed with comedy.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
What's the one? Oh my god? The short form? Whose
line is it?
Speaker 3 (29:55):
Anyway?
Speaker 4 (29:56):
I had been.
Speaker 5 (29:56):
Obsessed with the British version and then the American version
and the Drew Carey hosted, and then so I knew
all the games, but like it just was so hard,
like yeah, and I'd be so happy when we would
have a scene to do, as opposed to like, yeah, yeah,
(30:17):
you know that finding those jokes and that those funny
rhymes like was so terrifying. It's so stressful to just
do that on the spot like that, like I don't know.
Speaker 4 (30:30):
It's funny. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (30:31):
The opposite problem, I didn't have the patience for seeing
the build and I'd get anxious, No one's where's the jokes.
Speaker 4 (30:39):
That's why I ended up doing stand up, I think.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
Yeah, the difference when I got tricked into doing an
improv class and I was always like, there's.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
No way, did someone just announce your name and you
had to get on Well, it.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
Was Marilynn when she was taking it and she goes,
just come with me, you could just sit in the back,
and I'm like, oh great. And it was Chris Barnes
from Second City in Chicago. He was like, no auditing
in this class, get up here on the stage, and
I was like everything about it where I'm like, oh no,
I'm a stand up in that way of like I
control it. I get the laugh like there's no one
(31:12):
interacting with me, like control control, and so it was
so scared. I was already scared just to even watch it.
And then I was like, oh no. And the first
scene I ever did, he's like, okay, Karen, start an
action and this guy will walk in.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
So I of course I'm just like blindly so scared,
flipping Hamburgers with no you know what I mean up
here weird spacework whatever. And the guy walks in and
he asked the question. I just turned my back and
Chris goes, okay, hold on, it's just he's not there,
and I'm.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Like, yeah, I don't, Yeah, that's not my problem, Like
literally would not acknowledge the guy.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
The guy in the scene, and it was like it
took a why a couple classes to even just like
let it go and be like it's not supposed to
be the funniest thing every single time you talk like
it's supposed to be real.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
And it was so helpful for comedy.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
Like after I did, I think I was better at
stand up and I was looser, and there was like
the ease of just being able to be on stage.
I don't know, it's like it really turned my head around.
But I was so afraid of it for so long
that it felt like the scariest thing I'd ever done.
Speaker 5 (32:23):
I imagine it would help with crowd work, but you know,
like and kind of go in with the flow if
you get off track to get you back to where
you're going or whatever.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
Right, yes, yes, And that people enjoy a performer who's
enjoying themselves as opposed to someone who is like I
have my words memorized and you will respond this one
way like that. I just had a really strange approach
that like once I was like, just like what you're
doing and allowed them to don't turn your back on
(32:54):
the audience as you're doing it, just like a little
freer and easier.
Speaker 5 (32:58):
See, And for me, stand up is so terrifying, Like
I can't imagine. I've done a one woman show and
that was terrifying. But like being other characters, like I
think just saying out loud, this is what I think
is funny.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
It's so scary.
Speaker 5 (33:17):
But to also say my name is this, and this
is what I think is funny. Have you guys ever
noticed like it's so, it's so, it would just be so.
I just I've done stand up in character and it
was so hard. So I just have such respect for
(33:38):
stand ups in general because it's I just could.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
I don't think I could do it.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
Yeah, for a while, when I moved to Austin, I
was doing both and there'd be a show where, oh,
the early show, I'm in the improv group, and then
the light show I'm doing stand up, and I never
could do well at each of them in the same night.
Speaker 4 (33:57):
They were like either my brain was in improv mode.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
Isn't that funny?
Speaker 3 (34:01):
Or yeah, oh without fail, Oh the improv was fun.
That means I'm going to eat it at stand up.
It's probably my brain, but they're different muscles.
Speaker 5 (34:11):
But it's true too, Like you know I've done I
used to do touring company shows, you know, and on
a different night, like the audience the first thing I
did bombed and so they were like, nap, I don't
like her, she's not funny. And then you're like, oh god,
and then the next show you're fine, you know. Yeah,
(34:32):
So it really depends on where you are, And I
mean with stand up, it's a similar thing, right, like
what works in Kansas isn't going to work in Ore
again or whatever.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
My thing is like I would always get up and
immediately see a blonde guy that would not smile, and
that's like, he's the only person in the room. Now,
now I am as bad as he his expression, which
could have nothing to do with anything, like right, who
knows what that guy's deal is, But I'd be like
laser focused and then it just like constant mental duress
as you're just like, here's my speech. Why won't you
(35:05):
crack a smart like it's such a crazy kind of
way to do things. But then like the first time
I did I can't remember if it was Askat or Armando.
Speaker 5 (35:14):
Are they the same, and just yeah, it's the same form.
It was created by I think Armando Diaz. It was
named after him. And then they kind of it's the
just the monologue form. So you have a monologist, which
I think is a word that was created for them,
because monologist is not.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
A word in the world.
Speaker 5 (35:33):
Monologists who tell stories, funny stories, sometimes not funny stories.
And then the improviser's improvise inspired by that, Yeah, but yeah,
askat was the New York version of the Armando or
that UCB version of the Armando.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
It just is like such a fun in between, like
you as a comic get to be a part of
the improv without having to do improv learn improv or
be that good at it, and then the story doesn't
have to be Like the first time I did it,
I was just like I have to be so good
because the people that are about to improvise are so
good whatever mindset. But it was like, but you can't
(36:10):
be because it's the suggestion. So it's like, well, you
can scrape your brain for some quote unquote hilarious bit,
but actually they just want to hear you tell a
real story so that the next thing is good.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
Yeah, And then the.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
Looseness of that allows allowed me to then be like, oh,
this is fine. I'm just gonna tell a story about
my childhood dentist and it turns out to be funny,
not because I'm making it funny.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (36:36):
I just think so satisfics of it are so funny,
Like if you're telling a real story, like my dentist
was named doctor Eichel, and he had giant photos of
himself in front of the pyramids on like wall murals,
and you can't make like that's just what that's reality
and that is such a dumb specific And then from
(36:57):
that you can there's like thousands of things it could
then be made up. So it's easier when the monologist
is not trying to be funny, you know, or they're
just telling. Sometimes they get in their head or they
like run out of steam or you know, and it's
only it's you know, it's the hardest it's ever been
(37:18):
is when someone was clearly not being truthful. Yeah, like
they were making up stories and you're like, okay, well
this is already a ridiculous improv seeing like how do
I take this to the next you know, and make
something out of it?
Speaker 3 (37:32):
Yeah, you just make their character a compulsive liar.
Speaker 4 (37:36):
Hey where'd that come from?
Speaker 1 (37:37):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (37:38):
Yeah, exactly, that's so funny.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
Or Dennis, those pictures the guard that the orthopedic surgeon
that did my hip years ago was had photos of
him sculpting marble in like where you he could get
the same light as the.
Speaker 5 (37:53):
Masters and jeez, Louise Gee, yeah, they was that here
in Los Angeles, Yes.
Speaker 3 (38:00):
And they seem pretentious and everything, but I knew from
those photos that he was sure of himself.
Speaker 4 (38:08):
Like that's one of the thing.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
That you wanted. A surgeon is someone that is the
most cocky you ever met.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
Yeah, that must mean you're good. I don't have to
hang out with you. I just want to be able
to walk.
Speaker 5 (38:17):
You just have to be so good that you know
that you think that you could do your work on marble.
Speaker 4 (38:25):
That's so funny.
Speaker 3 (38:26):
And yeah, pictures in the lobby of him sculpting marble.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
I got gum surgery one time, and the antithesiologist was
one of the most like irritating, I shouldn't say irritating,
like the strongest personality where he called me beforehand he
was like, Okay, Karen, I need to talk to you
about your wit and weight and like all these different
things where it's just like okay, and he was just
(38:51):
like this presence in my life for like two weeks
before I got the surgery. So when I went in
to have him put me under, I literally was just like, oh,
this this guy, he's a pro. Like he told me
he was a pro ten times. Yeah, he just laid
it all out in this perfect way. And then I
was just like, I am in the perfect hands. So
it was kind of effective. But yeah, I would not
(39:12):
want to eat dinner with him.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
No, yeah, no offense or what if he's my number
one fan.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
He's like, I listen to all of your goddamn podcasts
and now you turn describe to.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
Your patrioch, my major mouth what it is today.
Speaker 3 (39:29):
If all of the Hollywood were to shut down, Lennon,
would you what is your plan?
Speaker 4 (39:36):
B what is your favorite pastime?
Speaker 1 (39:39):
Well?
Speaker 5 (39:39):
I don't think I I think I would Uh, I
would probably become a midwife.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
Okay, have you ever helped birtha baby? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (39:49):
Well I mean specific right me.
Speaker 1 (39:51):
I've helped myself, Yeah I did. You were very helpful
in those than you did. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (39:59):
I would help him midwife both times, which was incredible, and.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
It went very fast. It was very.
Speaker 5 (40:07):
Intense, and I was I had like done this really
intense birth class ahead of time.
Speaker 1 (40:15):
It was a ten week class.
Speaker 5 (40:17):
Normally you just go to the hospital for like two
three hours or something, but this was every Sunday for
ten weeks for three hours. It's a lot of content
and we learned because I think before getting pregnant, I
had not even considered what the what giving birth was
(40:39):
going to be like, or really what was happening while
I was pregnant, just like I want to be a
mom kind of, and so getting pregnant once that was
happening to me, and like learning the intricacies of what
your body does as a birthing body.
Speaker 3 (41:00):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 5 (41:01):
I was just like totally blown away. Yeah, and I
loved being pregnant, which is not not everybody has that experience.
Speaker 1 (41:09):
What did you love about it?
Speaker 5 (41:12):
It felt like I looked like the pictures for the
first time, Like you open up a birthing book and
you're like, yeah, that's me. Whereas if I'd ever looked
in a I don't know, does that make sense.
Speaker 1 (41:22):
Like like you're glowing and it's embodying you.
Speaker 5 (41:25):
Well, like my physical body looked correct for the first
one ever. Always I'd always been like too skinny, too tall,
too flat chested, to whatever, you know what I mean
too young, too old.
Speaker 1 (41:38):
Not till now have I been too old.
Speaker 6 (41:40):
But.
Speaker 5 (41:42):
Just that I and then I had like this larger purpose,
like my physical being had a larger purpose, and so
I took really good care of myself, like limited my
caffeine and take like track my protein.
Speaker 1 (41:56):
I do not do that any of the other months
of my life.
Speaker 3 (42:00):
Oh yeah, made you do your self care?
Speaker 1 (42:03):
Yeah exactly.
Speaker 5 (42:05):
I was doing yoga regularly, like all this stuff, and
and so that I liked all that. And then also
just the natural piece of it, of like the kind
of accomplishment of it, like the physical.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
Like what your body like this like.
Speaker 5 (42:27):
Shit, like if you were passed out, your body would
give birth to the baby without your help.
Speaker 4 (42:36):
Oh your kidding? Is that true? I did not know that.
Speaker 1 (42:38):
Okay, I don't.
Speaker 5 (42:39):
I'm pretty sure, but I mean that's what contractions do.
They literally work the baby. The muscles are squeezing the
baby out of you. Okay, So like without your help,
potentially it would be way easier because once you get
once the fear piece enters into everything changes, you know,
(43:01):
and anytime you go it's the only time that you
go to a hospital potentially where it's not something bad
it's happening, you know. So we have all these negative
associations with hospitals and stuff. I've been in hospitals a
lot of times. It's never been great, you know what
I mean, Yeah, no matter how good your doctor is
or your nurses or whatever.
Speaker 1 (43:22):
So I don't know. I just was just really fascinated.
Speaker 5 (43:26):
Like once the baby comes out, you put the baby
on you, your body temperature will rise to warm up
the baby like shit like that. Like that's crazy, yeah,
like you it's somehow it's in there internally, you know.
Speaker 1 (43:41):
Yeah. Yeah, And I just had not thought. I just
not had not considered.
Speaker 5 (43:46):
But when I went into labor, I had all of
this information that I don't think most pregnant women get,
like what the different stages of labor are like that.
Speaker 4 (43:57):
Especially our parents. You just there was that book, yeah right,
like yeah.
Speaker 2 (44:03):
Well and I'm sure you know this Linon but like
I just I'm sure I saw a TikTok on it
or something. But like how women having a baby laying
down with their knees up is the worst position they
could be in. And the only reason they put women
in that position was for the doctor.
Speaker 1 (44:19):
It was easier for the doctors so crazy.
Speaker 5 (44:21):
Yeah, so when you're in that class, you're learning all
the different positions that you could potentially be in and
all that stuff, and the things that would make it
feel better, the things your partner can do to help
help you make it feel better. But also for me
as a control freak, like knowing that there was a
part called transition where you might throw up or feel
(44:45):
nauseous or your legs might start shaking.
Speaker 1 (44:48):
And that precedes the like pushing phase.
Speaker 5 (44:51):
Like having that information, and then when my body started
doing it, I was like, oh, Okay, this is transition.
This is supposed to be happening, not you know, nothing
is wrong. Yeah, I'm safe, And then I could kind
of breathe into it. And then but I did get
to the hospital about an hour before both of my.
Speaker 1 (45:12):
Children came out, just because I would.
Speaker 5 (45:15):
You know, they tell you that it's going to take
forever and you should stay at home as long as
you can, and so yeah, we got to the hospital
at three thirty and then she was born at four
forty three thirty am four forty am, and then my
son was similar. We left the house at seven. We
got to the birthing center at seven fifteen. He was
(45:36):
born at eight fifteen, but I'd been in you know,
labor previous to that.
Speaker 2 (45:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (45:43):
Yeah, so maybe a midwife, I think I like that.
Speaker 4 (45:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (45:46):
Any you're right, any job where you're like immediately helping
someone and there's immediate results, Yeah, that would be.
Speaker 5 (45:53):
That would be I would just like to know, Like
I would just like to learn about all of that,
you know, I would like to have a reason in
to know everything there is to know about it.
Speaker 1 (46:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (46:04):
And that idea that you could be helping with the
fear piece of a thing that's that powerful. Yeah, Like
here's the way you should You can look at it
as opposed to oh my god, I'm throwing up, Oh
my god, my legs are buckling or whatever.
Speaker 1 (46:17):
Yeah, it's great.
Speaker 5 (46:18):
When we when we wrote the birth scene in Playing House,
you know, I think I had seen a lot of
like giving birth scenes, and it's always like the woman
screaming you did this to me, and like, which is
very funny, but was not my experience. It was not
the experience of many people that I knew, and so
(46:41):
I wanted to portray like a different version of it,
you know, So we we tried to avoid the tropes
of it. I guess because for me, like reading all
of these, I'm sorry, I'm really distracted by the Sebastian
stand double.
Speaker 1 (46:58):
At the car next to us. For me, like reating
all these like.
Speaker 5 (47:05):
Positive like birth stories like from May. I think her
name is Aname. I was gonna say Ina Garten, but
it's not. It's definitely not hers. She gives birth to
different delicious chickens, chicken dishes. Yeah, but she's this very
famous midwife who had this place in North Carolina I
think or Virginia.
Speaker 1 (47:25):
Called the Farm. I think that's what it's called.
Speaker 5 (47:27):
Maybe not great name, but she was like a community
of midwives and women would come there to give birth,
and then there were all of these stories that came
out of those experiences. And you know, I think a
lot of people we tell we tell stories that we
want people to be engaged in, and so a lot
of times they're scary stories or there something went wrong,
(47:49):
and with every birth something happens that's not usually not usual,
you know. But I just wanted to tell us a
different version that was still a story but also showed
birth maybe in a different light.
Speaker 1 (48:04):
Yeah, like a little calmer and.
Speaker 5 (48:07):
More to your experience, and like you have everything you need,
right kind of thing.
Speaker 3 (48:12):
Yeah, I remember any of those trophy birth scenes. My
mom would get so offended and insist that birth was
not painful for her.
Speaker 1 (48:23):
Oh, she wasn't painful at all.
Speaker 4 (48:25):
Yeah, she's how many? Did she have nine pound baby too?
Speaker 1 (48:29):
Okay, but good for her.
Speaker 4 (48:31):
Yeah, maybe she's just tough. She's just showing off how
tough she is.
Speaker 1 (48:36):
It is.
Speaker 4 (48:36):
And then she'd asked me an arm wrestle.
Speaker 1 (48:38):
Did she have an epidural? Do you know?
Speaker 4 (48:41):
I don't know's we never talked. She was, but I
think it was very She.
Speaker 3 (48:49):
Was into doing it as natural as possible. Yeah, grass
fading and everything.
Speaker 4 (48:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (48:54):
Every time I see a birthing scene, I then look
at it, going, what if I had to play this
part and scream this much? Yeah, and this intensely, which
it's not just these three minutes, it's actually she had
to do this for four hours.
Speaker 1 (49:09):
Sometimes I do try to.
Speaker 2 (49:10):
Scream a little bit, just to see, like, what would
my birthing up screaming sound like.
Speaker 5 (49:17):
Because I've never had a baby, I wouldn't know. Can
I tell you what I sounded like? Yeah, I gave birth. Okay,
hold on, analyse. You might want to turn it so
it was like it was the most insane, guttural like
where did that goes?
Speaker 1 (49:35):
Like otherworldly, I don't know, like it was. It was
not screams.
Speaker 5 (49:42):
It was like gutteral like Torso noises, Yeah, Torso noise exactly.
Speaker 2 (49:48):
But I mean even though it wasn't like the worst screaming,
there was an experience in there that you were having
that was like muscles twisting around.
Speaker 1 (49:59):
I mean, yes, yeah, right, it would.
Speaker 3 (50:02):
Be more like it's it just pressure. It just would
be such a foreign it is.
Speaker 5 (50:08):
It's like nothing you've ever felt before, and you know,
nothing that you could describe to someone.
Speaker 1 (50:13):
I described it, this is terrible.
Speaker 5 (50:17):
I described it once as you know, before you have diarrhea, sure,
that feeling that you have that like flushes from your
face down through your entire body. And then you and
that happens like four times, and then you're diarrhea maybe
and then you're like, oh, I better get to a toilet.
Speaker 1 (50:35):
You guys all know what I'm talking. Yes, you should
show you.
Speaker 3 (50:39):
Should be a midwife, sure, but also you should speak
to groups of men who who and explain what Bertha's
like and give them the diarrheas.
Speaker 4 (50:49):
Yeah, the diarrhea. Oh, no, I get it. Yeah, that's
what my wife's going through.
Speaker 1 (50:53):
And it feels like you're you don't have in that
moment that you're not in charge anymore, right, you're your diary.
Speaker 5 (51:02):
And you need to get to somewhere fast and and
but it feels like a wave and it moves through
your body. That's what it felt like to me to
have contractions. They kind of start high and then they
move through low. But it's it's the most intense feeling
you've ever had.
Speaker 4 (51:22):
What is the most painful experience You've ever had?
Speaker 1 (51:25):
The most pain? Yeah, I guess I guess that.
Speaker 5 (51:32):
I mean, I don't know. Yeah, fell and cut my
knee open one time I had I had spine surgery,
but I didn't thanks to my faces anesthesiologists. You didn't
have any pain at all and the recovery was okay.
Speaker 3 (51:49):
Yeah, I guess surgery. I'm just thinking, Yeah, I've had
my hairpriplace. But I wouldn't use that as an example.
It would be the time I was stung by many,
many many bees.
Speaker 1 (51:58):
Oh what kind of bees?
Speaker 3 (52:00):
I don't know there was It might have been the
second time was wasps. The first time, It's like a
classic where are You Going, which happened a couple of times.
Speaker 4 (52:10):
I don't.
Speaker 1 (52:10):
I'm a bee keeper.
Speaker 4 (52:15):
Jason Stathamy Way, I simply care for beats.
Speaker 5 (52:20):
You thought you were like agy from Fried Green Tomatoes,
like reaching up into it.
Speaker 1 (52:24):
Honeywell, right, right, very much.
Speaker 3 (52:27):
The scene from My Girl. I had never seen that,
and I didn't mean to make.
Speaker 1 (52:32):
Light of that anabalactic shop, thank.
Speaker 4 (52:35):
You, thank you, not.
Speaker 3 (52:36):
Real, No, it's not. I still have an eppy pen
on me. I Both times I was hanging from a rope.
The first time I was young, I swam swung or
swang on a rope across a large backyard and it
hit a beehive and then they all And the next time, yeah,
(52:57):
years later, repelling down a cliff and kicked a beehive
and had light landed in my lap.
Speaker 4 (53:03):
Oh my god, that time was so painful.
Speaker 5 (53:07):
Times with Road, I know, that's like when that happens.
Speaker 3 (53:13):
It's like people out there that get struck by lightning
multiple times, It's like, what did I do it?
Speaker 4 (53:19):
Because clearly I deserve it. What are the chances?
Speaker 1 (53:22):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (53:24):
But yeah, one time we were filming promos for Playing
House and because for the last couple of years. We
paid for our show with integrations basically, and so we
agreed to like integrate products into our show for Comcast,
(53:45):
Toyota and like Maytag I think, and or Samsung I
can't remember, but we would integrate it into the show
and then we would also write commercials for them which
would air during the show on demand or whatever. And
they were good, they were funny.
Speaker 2 (54:02):
I watched those and I'm like, this is a hard
this is a hard assignment.
Speaker 1 (54:06):
And think anyone's ever said it's true. It's true.
Speaker 5 (54:09):
It was the hardest thing, but thank got it. We
had a writer's room at the time because they were
all crack at it, crack, crack at it. Yeah, they
were crack jacks at it jack and they.
Speaker 1 (54:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (54:24):
And so we were filming a Toyota commercial and we
were using a non union company that somebody knew, and
they set up hair and makeup for like the cast.
We were just in a van, like it was so hot,
and so they were like, we set up these.
Speaker 1 (54:40):
Five cheers for you over here. And one of the chairs.
Speaker 5 (54:45):
Was on top of a wasps nest that was in
the ground, and so we were getting touched up and
someone got stung in their crotch, because the wasp flew
up into this makeup artist's crot under her skirt, and I,
having experience growing up in the South with wasps nests
being in the ground, I looked down and saw the
(55:09):
wasps had just gotten the signal, right, it's go time,
gang yep, and so I screamed.
Speaker 6 (55:16):
Wasps ng And so everybody started taking off in every direction,
but like one person had been marked, and so the
wasp were chasing her, and then they were chasing all
these other people.
Speaker 5 (55:29):
Luckily, the only person that was actually allergic was still
in the hair and makeup trailer getting the sexy firefighters ready,
and so she was not with us, but there was
no medic on set because it was non union. And
after that we were like, fuck this, We're never doing
it this way again. You have to have these are
the things you have to have in order to keep
your crew safe.
Speaker 1 (55:50):
Like this is insane.
Speaker 5 (55:52):
And so Jessica got stung, our hair and makeup Alexis
and Kathleen both got stung. I think somebody else got stung,
and we were like, we just railed. I mean, the
next time we you know, had a call about it.
We were like you know, we got very upset because
obviously that's not acceptable.
Speaker 1 (56:08):
But that's insane. Yeah, it was insane.
Speaker 4 (56:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (56:12):
I was on a set once and there was because
we had to work with a rattlesnake.
Speaker 4 (56:17):
There was a rattlesnake handler.
Speaker 5 (56:19):
There was it snake bitch, I don't know. There was
on bless this mess she didn't have. There was a woman?
Was it a woman?
Speaker 6 (56:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (56:30):
Yeah, I wish that this guy, if you could see him,
it would be really hilarious.
Speaker 4 (56:34):
If his title was snake long heavy metal hair.
Speaker 3 (56:40):
Made me think of his yeah, backup days, being a
roadie for a CD. That's the thing he was doing, joke.
He had a fake snake. He was there to protect
us from the real snake, but he.
Speaker 1 (56:55):
Thought it was funny to have a face.
Speaker 3 (56:57):
Yeah, and he'd put a rubber snake under people chairs
and then go oh, looks like a guy loose and
everyone understandably was on.
Speaker 1 (57:05):
The edge, and that is yeah, very unaccepted.
Speaker 3 (57:10):
I complained about him, and then he wasn't there the
next day. But I didn't want to.
Speaker 1 (57:14):
Ask if if you got him fired, right, because who
am I?
Speaker 3 (57:19):
You know a guy that can I guess on that
day I was very powerful, and now I feel bad
I forgot that was the end of the story.
Speaker 1 (57:27):
Well maybe he learned his lesson and didn't do that anymore. Well,
did not give him like feedback.
Speaker 4 (57:31):
It's been doing it.
Speaker 5 (57:33):
Get canceled, snake canceled. Yeah, he got me too with snakes.
Speaker 4 (57:37):
That thing I did with the snake. What did you
guys think of it? I'm just uh, oh, you.
Speaker 1 (57:41):
Didn't exclusively touring this out. I'm sorry.
Speaker 4 (57:45):
Yeah, I should have just given him some feedback. No,
I've gotten him canned.
Speaker 5 (57:50):
Well, there was a woman who was our snake wrangler
on Bless this Mess, and she had legally changed her
middle name to snake Bitch and was one of the
best human beings I've ever known. And we would we
had a game where we would flip each other off,
like whoever could flip each other off first one and
so like I would come out of the makeup triller
(58:11):
and she'd be like Helena and I would turn it
to be flipping.
Speaker 1 (58:14):
Me the bird and I'd be like, damn it.
Speaker 5 (58:16):
And then I would try to catch her the next
time I saw her, But she was always hunting around
trying to keep us safe, not freak us out right.
Speaker 1 (58:23):
But she was so it was like safe, the snake's
away fun safety. Yeah, yeah, safety can be funny.
Speaker 3 (58:29):
But would she a trainer of snakes, snake, pitch, all
things snake?
Speaker 5 (58:34):
Probably she was the word just a wrangler. So she
was keeping because we were shooting in Santa Clarita on
Sable Ranch, which is like in the middle of the desert.
Speaker 1 (58:41):
You know. Yeah, so I don't she wasn't a trainer.
Speaker 3 (58:45):
When you say legally changed, did you see her ID?
Did it say snake bitch on it? That's the best.
Speaker 1 (58:51):
Yes, she had legally changed her name.
Speaker 3 (58:53):
I met this guy in college in a bar and
he was like a very serious hippie type kid, guy
with dreadlocks, and he said his name was fun and
I'm like, no, it is not. And they showed me
his ID and it just said fun on it.
Speaker 1 (59:10):
One name likedons, but not fun. Oh that's what interesting.
Speaker 4 (59:15):
Maybe he knew that and it was ironic, like.
Speaker 1 (59:18):
His initials were like Fred Underhill nance.
Speaker 3 (59:22):
I just did not. Yeah, I would think you have
to come up with a fake middle name and a
fake not just one word.
Speaker 1 (59:29):
Yeah, one s can't just be one legally one name
was my thing is.
Speaker 2 (59:34):
These people that get these ideas are the kind of
people that can also get paperwork done where I'm like.
Speaker 1 (59:40):
A lot of ideas.
Speaker 2 (59:41):
I will not go and fill out a DMV W
two whatever it is.
Speaker 1 (59:46):
To get that actual idea all the way, you have.
Speaker 5 (59:48):
To change your name and then go do that thing, right,
So you have to change your name legally and then
provide documentation to the DMV and to Social Security and
to all these other Is that true?
Speaker 1 (01:00:00):
Yes, well I'm not doing it. Yeah, that's and I
want your name.
Speaker 3 (01:00:05):
Is iconic, just just so for the rest of your
life you can tell someone your name and then they go, no, it.
Speaker 1 (01:00:13):
Is, and yes it is. I'm doing it again. I
love this.
Speaker 3 (01:00:17):
I love finding out that no one thinks I'm fun
when I mentioned my name.
Speaker 1 (01:00:21):
You know who's fun is Lenham Parhum.
Speaker 2 (01:00:24):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (01:00:26):
I love ending with the right kind of button it up.
Speaker 3 (01:00:31):
Do you have anything other than your butting midwife career?
Speaker 1 (01:00:34):
Oh my god, I wish it was promoting. Do you
have a podcast? Jessica and I had this one called
wamp It Up.
Speaker 5 (01:00:43):
We just released a new episode that came out actually today,
which will probably be last week or something, but yeah,
it's wamp it up. But it's on Comedy Bang Bang World,
so you have to you have to go there to
get it. But it's our it's our characters that kind
of happened at I mean, this was episode ninety two,
which I could not believe. You guys have thousands and
(01:01:04):
thousands of podcasts under your belt, but that's my I
can only do podcasts in character or in interview for him.
Speaker 1 (01:01:11):
I wouldn't. I couldn't do it, just me, just chitting chatting.
You were great, just you Yeah, boy, you guys were great,
really did? It's a fun hang? Who was a.
Speaker 3 (01:01:20):
Funn Can I if I ever see you out in
the wild, can I call you a snake bitch?
Speaker 7 (01:01:25):
Please don't forget me. You told that story for you
a bird. You have to thank you for being on Yes,
this was thanks delay. Sorry it took so long to
make it happen, but we were here, no problem.
Speaker 4 (01:01:37):
It all worked out.
Speaker 1 (01:01:38):
Get used to it perfectly. Please come back. Yeah, anytime.
It would be so fun to just if you have
a we literally only talked about improv and giving birth.
Speaker 4 (01:01:48):
I love it.
Speaker 5 (01:01:49):
There's other karaoke carryo karaoke listen if that's my legacy
then I've done my job.
Speaker 2 (01:01:54):
I feel like karaoke is the perfect combination of improv
and giving birth.
Speaker 1 (01:01:59):
Don't you think at the end of the day.
Speaker 4 (01:02:00):
Oh yeah, my days do.
Speaker 1 (01:02:02):
Nevergot about it, but have to say that was.
Speaker 3 (01:02:04):
My baby when I sang don job wanted dead or alive.
Speaker 1 (01:02:09):
We will never have a.
Speaker 4 (01:02:10):
Real kid anyway. You've been listening to Do You Need
a Ride?
Speaker 1 (01:02:15):
D y n Aar.
Speaker 3 (01:02:24):
This has been an exactly right production.
Speaker 1 (01:02:27):
Our senior producer is Analise Nelson.
Speaker 4 (01:02:29):
Mixed by Edson Choy.
Speaker 1 (01:02:31):
Our talent booker is Patrick Cootner.
Speaker 4 (01:02:33):
Theme song by Karen Kilgarret.
Speaker 1 (01:02:36):
Artwork by Chris Fairbanks.
Speaker 2 (01:02:37):
Follow the show on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook at dinar
podcast That's d y n ar Podcast.
Speaker 3 (01:02:44):
For more information, go to exactly Rightmedia dot com.
Speaker 1 (01:02:48):
Thank you, Oh You're welcome.
I leave in I you wanna way back home? Either way,
we want to be there.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Doesn't matter how much baggage you claim and give us
time and aid termino and gage aid.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
We want to send you off in style.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
We wanna welcome you back home. Tell us all about it.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
We scared her? Was it fine?
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Now?
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Porn? Do you need to ride? Do you need to ride?
(00:52):
Do you need to ride? Do you need to ride?
Do you need to ride? Do your need to ride?
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Ride with Karen and Chris? Welcome to Do you need
to ride? This is Chris Fairbanks and this.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Is Karen Kilgarath.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
It's good.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
I think the dramatic cho yeah, you know people, it's
like we're revealing something two things ourselves hosts. We are
driving with the guests in the back, and I don't
like to do that thing where you Hey, why don't
you be quiet back there.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
While we riff for ten minutes?
Speaker 1 (01:38):
No like that.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
We dive right into Yes.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Please, we're very excited about today's guests. You now are
from clubs and colleges across the country. Right, writer, actor, improviser, comedian,
wonderful person. Put your ears together for Lennon Parham.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
No, there we go I was waiting for the dramatic pause.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
Put your ears together for Lenin Karum.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Nice, am I.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Because I feel like I'm dramatically avoiding that there's an
H in your last name. H.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
I'm kind of smoothing over it.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
No, you did it right, said exactly right.
Speaker 4 (02:23):
Okay, goohead.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
I did do some research, and so I'm kind of
pretending nice.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (02:29):
Yeah, sometimes people put a K in there. Parkham, Yes,
usually at a doctor's office. But yes, Parham is my
maiden name, my given name, and I got so famous
before I got married that I had to keep it.
I'd already established myself, that's right. So yeah, my married
(02:51):
name is Guzman. And when Lenin Guzman shows up, you
don't know what the fuck you're getting. You know, what's
this TV show?
Speaker 1 (02:59):
I don't even understand.
Speaker 5 (03:03):
A lot of times I'm a mister on a like
if I've donated money, I get like a letter thanking
mister Parum.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
That offends me literally speaking. I don't know why, oh
I would. It's just automated, I'm sure, but oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
It's the automated version of someone knocking on your door
and saying, hi.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
It is the man of the house here. Yeah, who
makes the financial decisions?
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Well I do. Goddamn it. You're looking at her this, mister.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
Have you have you entertained the notion of a hyphen?
Speaker 1 (03:36):
No?
Speaker 4 (03:37):
Like yeah, no, no too late?
Speaker 3 (03:39):
No, no, no good, that's the right answer.
Speaker 5 (03:42):
Lenin, I mean that is my middle. So my official
legal name is Lenin. Parum is my middle and Guzman
is my last name.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
What's your illegal street name?
Speaker 5 (03:55):
My illegal street name I think is hold On bo Chartley.
Isn't that like the first your first pet and your
street used to live on.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Oh yeah, that's your porn name, I think, yeah, bo Chartlie.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
Yeah, I'm Shaky Kensington.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
I'm pepsis what Yeah, that's the best. This is quite
a group of dancers we got here.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Please welcome to stage. Pepsi eucalyptus my what is that song?
Speaker 2 (04:28):
God?
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (04:30):
Girls girls once warrant, Oh no, that's great.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Welcome. You knew that, that's what you said, that's how
it leads in.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
Yeah, yeah, wait oh no once.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Once we start talking dancing clubs, will I will spit
out all the.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
Songs that in high school.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Okay, let's hear it.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
Uh warrant. Cherry Pie didn't care for it.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Well, but the video with the girl on the hood,
right classic.
Speaker 4 (04:59):
Oh are you are you thinking of white Snakes? Here
I go again on my own.
Speaker 5 (05:03):
That's one of my favorite karaokes. Oh really that's a
good one, yeah, because it starts so slow and then
there's a nice build, you know.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Yeah, it's funny. The songs that were my go to
karaoke I guess jams you could.
Speaker 5 (05:19):
Say jams, yeah right, they were so the shorts, the
short the like surfer shorts from the eighties.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
Yes, yes, my favorite jammers.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Were songs I didn't care for, but I knew other
people would like. Because when it comes down to it,
karaoke is entertainment, and that is the truth.
Speaker 4 (05:37):
You don't want to do You.
Speaker 5 (05:38):
Can't just do something for yourself, no, right, you got
to play to the audience.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
But like the time, and that is why.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
The time I was at karaoke with Marylyn Rice cub
So she signed me up to sing nothing Compares to You,
an absolute dirge that never picks up, everyone hates, and
I was so, I hate karaoke anyway because usually well
I'm sober, I would be doing it sober. So I'm
just like, it's already hard and then it was like
(06:08):
five minutes of just the same thing as the SOB.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
That's a lot. That's a hard one, too much, that's.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
A hard one.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Yeah, can't really dress it.
Speaker 5 (06:17):
Up unless you start crying, well or like end on
the floor or something like tighten it.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Or like trans I don't know.
Speaker 5 (06:25):
Sometimes you can do innuendos in the middle of it.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Oh.
Speaker 5 (06:29):
Like there's a song Strawberry Wine, which is a country song,
and it's about a girl going to like live with
her uncle for a summer and she has like a
summer fling with a farm hand and it's so filthy. Ye,
but it's all romanticized. And so when I sang it,
when I used to sing it at the the karaoke
(06:51):
part of How Joy Chinese Restaurant in Greenville, Mississippi, I
would really and you endo it up and it killed
it really killed.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
It was like you're putting the new the modern twist
of like, hey, should we have been singing this song
yeah in the day because this is filthy.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
And then at the end you tear a picture of
the pope up.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Yeah, that's right. Take that, Mississippi.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
That were you into karaoke when you before comedy and everything, or.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
Just you did it because other people I did it.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
It was like the thing.
Speaker 5 (07:30):
So I did this program called Teach for America in
right after college, and I was placed in Greenville, Mississippi,
which is in the the Delta of Mississippi, which is
like where Sinners was set. Oh sure, okay, so good,
and it's not that different from that film.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
It does feel very similar.
Speaker 5 (07:52):
Not a lot has changed, great catfish, amazing, blues, terrible
at schools and they needed a lot of help. And
so we would come in fresh out of college knowing
zero and teach in these schools where they just were
having a hard time hiring people.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
I think.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
And you taught French.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
I taught high school French.
Speaker 5 (08:15):
And good were you that you got that from the
Wikipedia research?
Speaker 1 (08:19):
He loves a nice word.
Speaker 5 (08:20):
Yeah, they called me miss p because they couldn't pronounce
the h. E didn't know what to do with the
h either, And yeah, it was. It was an incredible
experience that I learned a lot being there and also
learn like how, like what's the bare minimum that I
need to be happy?
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Like hmm? So on Friday nights that was the.
Speaker 5 (08:44):
How Joy Karaoke Lounge and and people everybody had like
their one song that they did. There was one woman
who sang Broken Wing by Martina McBride.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
It was a lot of you know, a lot of
country because it's in Mississippi. Sure, and would you just
bring the down?
Speaker 5 (09:00):
And I don't know what she did for work or
why she was there, but it was she had the
voice of an angel.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
I saw that one night at the Mint, which was
a karaoke spot right on the edge of the Castro
in San Francisco when I lived there and worked at
the Gap across the street. Yeah, we would all we
close it down and go over to the Mint. And
a woman there one night sag Aerosmith's dream on and
it was the most incredible thing I've ever seen.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Yeah, and to this day, yes, yeah, I mean she should.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Have been like I feel like if American Idol started,
you know, ten twenty years of those rubber boots.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
Yeah, they were perfect rubber boots.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
If American Idol had started in the eighties, we would
know who this woman should be a household name. Yeah,
But she also kind of just she had like a
buzz cut and she was kind of like regular lady.
But it was I was like, how are we all
witnessing this? And I could have been drunk, but it
was very magical experience.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
I love those.
Speaker 5 (10:02):
Yeah, really it stays, and that's what I hope every
time karaoke, that I'm doing that for someone, which I
know that's not the case, that's what you.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Want, but that's that's the goal.
Speaker 4 (10:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
There has to be a balance though, because I've been
to these nights where everyone is professionally good at singing. Yeah,
and it's like, oh, get over yourselves, Like for some reason.
Speaker 5 (10:26):
I don't want you, don't want to every single person
to be great.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
Yeah, let's have a couple human Yeah.
Speaker 5 (10:33):
My friend is a musical theater genius and he teaches
voice and he all of his friends are musical theater performers.
And I went to karaoke with him and my normal
Like I took a risk singing just once by James Ingram,
which again I know it's a risk.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Yes, so good, so good.
Speaker 5 (10:55):
But everyone else was like literally nailing whatever Broadway song
they sang, you know, and everybody we sang the song
from Rent five hundred and twenty five thousand, six sorta
minutes and everyone knew and like on the part where
you know, most like one person usually like goes freestyle
right everyone's room. Everyone in the room did like this
(11:16):
amazing run and it was really it was terrifying that
happened to me.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
We went to Maurice Crisis one night when I was
in New York City. I think I was working on
a show there, and so it was supposed to be
this fun thing and I didn't realize it, but my
friend put my name in, but every other person that
it's just a guy with.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
A piano, and then people getting over.
Speaker 5 (11:38):
It's like, oh my god, it's live piano, live piano.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
It's fun, real Broadway people. They're there to drink after
they just were in the chorus for something but burn
off steam. Yes, and they're so good. They're in the
forest just like waiting for their moments. So like a
Maurice Crisis song, everyone's like, this is incredible and suddenly
they're like Karen and I was just like, oh shit,
God damn.
Speaker 5 (12:00):
It, and I just left you did you weren't there anymore?
Speaker 1 (12:04):
I could? I want to be that.
Speaker 5 (12:08):
I know.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
One instance, I was ten years old and Andrew mccartial's
cast album of Annie.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Oh yeah, you know what I mean where it's like
belting it out or whatever.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
And then over the years realizing loud isn't always good.
You have to get everything else kind of right. And
so then sitting in this bar watching people just be
able to get up and like with no mic sing,
you know, lean on a piano and then just deliver,
I was like, that's all I would I would love
to do it more than anything, and I know I'm
(12:36):
not going to be able to. I just am not
gonna be able to even touch their the hem of
their garment. I have to go, oh man, And everyone's like,
what is.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Wrong with you?
Speaker 5 (12:46):
Oh yeah, that way you get up there and then
tell them the song and the person just plays it.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
They know it. Yeah yeah, oh and they had to have.
Speaker 5 (12:54):
The words like in your brain, yeah that's it.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
Wow, that's skang.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
A lot of someone's as a surprise, Oh me, okay,
I guess I mean.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
Right, And then I'm at gleen I'm stuck with that
and just the most obnoxious nasal shit.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (13:13):
It's a good vocal exercise to sing with your with
that note, with that yeah yeah sound, though, it really
opens you up.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
It was very apparently it was very popular in the
late seventies early eighties of singing like that.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Yeah, totally kind of all head head voice, I guess.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
Yeah. I like to sing from right behind my nose. Yeah,
I sing.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
A lot of people go from the diaphragm. I go
from the septum.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (13:43):
In New York City they had rooms karaoke rooms, and
you could pay during the day four dollars an hour,
sometimes two dollars if you bought a coke and have
the room for an hour two hours. And so I
would go sometimes by myself hmmm. And then you could
like try out different songs, right, this was before I
(14:06):
think karaoke tracks existed on LimeWire or wherever, right, And
so you would just go and sing, and you could
play with the key or you could skip if it
was a terrible song.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Hmm. And then I had my friend Michael.
Speaker 5 (14:19):
I would force him to come and sing duets with me,
like musical theater duets. And he was like a train,
like he did musical theater in college, and he could
nail it. But we didn't always have the same repertoire,
but he could. He still sounded good even when and
his name was Michael Kine different Kane.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
But wow, yeah, I mean that sounds so fun. It's
so fun because then you're kind of you don't have
to worry about the performance of it.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
It's just your own enjoyment.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
I think that's that's what I would be looking for,
because I'm just so like, yeah, well, this isn't good enough,
don't do it?
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Like what a waste? And it's like, no, it's that's
not the point.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
It's funny though, the nerves I've gotten and what the
nerves get you rooms, so I don't if there's an
audience of strangers, importantly, that's when I.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Will be able to do that's easier for you.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
Yes, if it's my fan, like my sister.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Sometimes it's like, let's go to one of these karaoke
rooms and I'm singing and my dad is watching.
Speaker 4 (15:17):
Okay, that's that's terrifying.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Yeah, and he's got his keys in his hand for
some reason. He's got to go yeah yeah and sit down.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
People already loved me. I could only fuck this up.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
You're not winning anybody over your conditional love though, right, yeah,
unless you lose it, right right. We went to the
karaoke rooms in New York that it was on that
same job, and my friend Hayley was super drunk and
everybody was but me, And so she kept doing a
thing where she would pick a song and she would
take the microphone out into the hallway and shut the
(15:53):
door because she wanted to do an entrance and she
felt like an entrance would really be.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
The thing, it would set her up, yeah, for success,
And so she would.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Go outside and the song would start and then she
couldn't hear it because she was outside, and so over
she did it like four or five times in a
row where she'd be like, Okay, started overg at it
this time, and then she'd just be drunk in the
hallway and we'd be like, Haley, go open the door.
It was the funniest, like she was so sure that
this was going to be the thing that nailed it
(16:21):
for her, and it's like, you have to be in
here to sing it.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Oh, yeah, I won't do well unless people see me
running from across the street and jumping through this flaming hoop.
Speaker 5 (16:33):
Ye set it up, Yeah, gotta set up, set up
the expectations.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Yeah, I was into it. And once you start doing
stand up.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
That void gets filled.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
But there's also a documentary called Karaoke Fever that I watched.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Really, this is a real thing, yes, And.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
It was when I lived in Austin. It was just
one of the films in the festival. And it was
such a group of of a group of you know, nerds.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
Thank you. I dance around that word nerds, just say it.
I do.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
It's just I want to offend someone with tape on
their glasses. That's good at something.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
Uh yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
It And it was like, oh, this is a this
is all these folks have. And it was kind of sad.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
But they love it. They're happy.
Speaker 5 (17:24):
They all documentaries are about, right, yeah, someone who is
obsessed about King Kong or whatever. You're not King Kong
Donkey Kong right right right or King Kong? And they
that's they do that to the exclusion of everything else
in their lives, right, relationships.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Yes, you see it, tearing apart, taking away any chance
of a normal life, traveling around to compete in karaoke contests.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Yeah, Lennon, I first heard of you, yes, may I
may I tell you please? I first heard of you
because when I were wrote on Pete Holmes talk show,
Oh yeah, and every it was all mostly the writers
on there were all New York comics, and they all
knew you, and several had gone to UCB and you
(18:12):
were their teacher, and they should worship Pete Holmes, especially
just worship you.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
They talked about you. I was kind of like, oh,
my god, that's enough. Okay, I don't know her.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
But but then my sister started watching Playing House when
that came out. And my sister, which I told you,
is your number one fan, is that show's number fan,
and she forced me to watch it. And then it
was like, fine, everyone's right about her. Fine, And then.
Speaker 5 (18:40):
I became your number one fan. That's so sweet, that's
so funny. I was so excited for Pete when he
got that. Obviously he'd been working so hard before that
as well. And but yeah, he was in I think
he was in an intensive that I taught, maybe like
just level one improv. And he's told this story. I
(19:02):
think I've told this story.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
But he was.
Speaker 5 (19:05):
He's so funny and specific and so smart, and he
was playing a witch doctor in a scene and he
but he was just physically himself and so it was
like Pete Holmes, and I guess that could have been
the interesting thing is that this witch doctor was just like,
(19:25):
you know, a normal white guy, white dude, but he
was the specifics were very witch doctory, and so I
was like, I was like, pause the seed, and I
was like, Pete, can you like physicalize this, Let me
see this in your body.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
And we went on a little further and it was
it didn't work.
Speaker 5 (19:46):
That note did not work, and so I paused it again,
and I came up onto the stage or in the
classroom with him, and I was like, I'm gonna be
the physicalization of your character and I want you to
match me as you're saying the smart things you're saying
and so and anyway, it was like this this moment
(20:07):
that felt like a success for both of us, I think,
and so yeah, and then he went on, obviously to
do exactly the thing between the scene to great success
and having his own show and all that stuff. But yeah,
that was fun. I really loved teaching improv. I loved
teaching just teaching in general, I.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Think, Yeah, and being in that kind of scene. I mean,
that must have been amazing to be in that UCB
scene in New York at that time. It's kind of
the place to be, right, Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
The I mean.
Speaker 5 (20:39):
The first thing I did when I moved to New
York was take Second City because I had gone to
college with Jack mcbrear and he was a senior when
I was a freshman, and we used to goof around
during our work study in the costume shop and we
would just like be putting away vintage like women's forty shoes,
and we would pop in and of these.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Like characters like a British elf or whatever.
Speaker 5 (21:03):
You know, and it was so fun and I had
never played like that with anybody. Yeah, And then I
watched him as he went to Chicago and did at
First Io and then Second City, and I was just
so like he was the funniest person that I had
ever known in my life. And so it was it
(21:23):
felt correct when he started to succeed and get recognized
in the way that. And he's also so generous with
his with his advice or with his time with his.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Home, you know, Like.
Speaker 5 (21:38):
I think he just felt grateful that he was where
he was and doing what he was doing. And one
summer I lived in Chicago and I taught again. I
taught at a day camp, and I lived in Evanston
from college, and I would go see Jack every Friday
night doing Improvalympic.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
It just like totally blew my mind.
Speaker 5 (22:02):
And then he I was hanging out with him and
his friends from his team, TJ jag Gadowski and a
couple of other people that I was like just totally
obsessed with, and he was like, Lennon, I think you
could do this. I think you'd be real good at this.
And I was like, I mean I just kind of
held it close, you know. And then when I got
to New York, I saw Second City was offering classes
(22:25):
for they had for a little bit Second City Classes
in New York, and so I signed up and I
did their whole essential training program and then in during
the like Sketch showcase at the very end, I met
two girls, Molly Prather and Leslie Mizell, who were on
house teams at UCB.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
I had never heard of it, yea, and they were like,
they invited me to be on a in.
Speaker 5 (22:50):
A three on three improv tournament, and so I did
improv on the UCB stage before ever taking a class
in front of Matt Wall Oh wow, Ian Roberts and
I think Sean Conroy and we did not win, and
I was terrified. And then afterwards I kind of found
out like what I had just done was insane. And
(23:13):
then I signed up for classes because I was like,
oh my god, like people are waiting in line to
be in these classes because it was before the internet
and all that jazz, and so you had to like
come real early in the morning and just sit on
the sidewalk to sign up for classes. Yeah, and then
once I was in class, it was clear that that
was the place to be. And then I got on
a team after taking like four classes there, and my
(23:36):
team was had Zach Woods on it, Joe Wengert, Anthony King,
who ran my writer's room for Playing House, and we
hired him on Best Friends Forever as a staff writer
because he was like the smartest, funniest person I knew.
And now he's like gone on to write all these
(23:57):
Broadway musicals and all signed really yeah, he well, he
was like a musical theater guy. He worked at I
think Manhattan Theater Club and he's got great stories. But
he wrote Beatle, he wrote the book for Beetlejuice the musical.
And they're doing a Univision is it not Univision? What's
(24:18):
the euro Vision? They're doing a Eurovision one. And then
are we getting on the highway? How excited to do
you ever get out and go into Ikea? We're so close.
She'd be just shopped really quick. Nothing is really quick
in the Ikia and Gutenberg. I don't know if you
(24:41):
heard about this musical. It's a two person musical about
that these two guys wrote a musical.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
It's so meta.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
It's like, anyway, it's a a musical about two guys
who wrote a musical.
Speaker 5 (24:52):
Yes, and they're doing the musical for uh for backers.
It's kind of like waiting for Guffman esque in that way.
And Andrew Rynolds and Josh gadd just did it uh
re revived it on Broadway.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Oh wow.
Speaker 5 (25:08):
And anyway, So anyway, So what I'm saying is my
very first team was like heavy hitters, and we all
were in love with each other, and then all around
us were all of these other incredible comedians and we
were doing it for free in a basement and getting
paid nothing. And I would have done it for free,
(25:28):
you know, for the rest of my life if I
could have liked it was. I still do improv. I
still love to do shows. It's like therapy. Yeah, it's
easy now you know. Now I know all the rules
and how to break them, and.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Right, yeah, it's just so fun.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
It really would help to have a friend that was
doing it successfully say hey, you could do this.
Speaker 4 (25:51):
I yeah, that's the best situation to be in.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Yeah, and being that friend is so it's crazy, right yeah.
Speaker 5 (25:58):
Mcbreer and also Jason Minzukus. They both like helped me
get to like I was already on a house team
and they were like, cause I was, I wanted to
like make forward steps, but I didn't quite know how.
And they were like, you need to start doing ASCAT
And I'm like, which is the big Sunday night show
that like all the Saturday night life people were doing.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
And I was like, how the hell am I just like,
you know, like make that transition.
Speaker 5 (26:25):
And they were like, just go every week and one
week they'll need people, yeah, because one week will be
a holiday and everyone will be not there and whatever.
And so I was teaching improv and I would teach
on Sundays, I think I don't remember, like five thirty
(26:46):
to eight thirty or something, and so I would go
catch the last of the seven thirty show and then
stay for the nine thirty show. And one week I
was there in my teaching outfit was like a ratty
American Eagles T shirt and sweat and Chris Gethard and
Billy Merritt were they were just short and they were like,
(27:06):
come on, and I was like, and this was like
after two years of going every Sunday night to watch
you know, the best improv in the world. And I
was doing shows twice a week, probably like Harold shows
on the Harald Night and then Saturday night I had
a show with Ruben Williams my other team, and I
sat in and it was terrifying. And I don't think
(27:28):
I ever came off the back wall. Maybe once somebody
pulled me into a scene, and then from then on out,
I just I just kept going. And then I like
was folded into the rotating cast and got less and
less scared, and you know, yeah, was.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
There a point where because when I did improv, it
was mostly the games like short forms improv where I
would just try and think of.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
A joke yep, and grab that, yeah, grab that last.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
I don't care what anyone else working towards. I'm going
to get a laugh, and which is bad. But the
times we dabbled with longer form. I was so scared. Yeah,
like so different to me because you're not going for
a laugh or you're trying to.
Speaker 4 (28:14):
Build a story. Did you see there was a difference,
Like were you scared to do long form improv?
Speaker 5 (28:21):
It felt better to me, honestly than short form. I
think like I had done comedy sports once in high school, right,
and you just have to be so quick, and it
felt less intuitive to me than the improv where you're
building relationships and characters and finding comedy together within that, Yeah,
(28:44):
based on human behavior. Like that felt like because I
went to theater school like to be an actor, and
so I learned all this stuff, and so it felt
like I could actually that was like a skill I
could bring to the playing field, was to really ground
it and make it feel real.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
And then inside of that, we're finding the truth in comedy, which.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
Is a book.
Speaker 4 (29:11):
Helper. I remember reading it.
Speaker 5 (29:16):
One of the first shows I ever did in New
York was called Tom Soder's Improv and it was short form.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
It must have been had another title.
Speaker 5 (29:26):
But Tom Soder was the guy and he would like
scout I think this is the truth. He would scout
like indie shows and find people or maybe he had auditions.
I might have gone to like a backstage open call.
And then I got invited to do the short and
they were short formed. They were comedy sports kind of games,
(29:48):
and I had been obsessed with comedy.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
What's the one? Oh my god? The short form? Whose
line is it?
Speaker 3 (29:55):
Anyway?
Speaker 4 (29:56):
I had been.
Speaker 5 (29:56):
Obsessed with the British version and then the American version
and the Drew Carey hosted, and then so I knew
all the games, but like it just was so hard,
like yeah, and I'd be so happy when we would
have a scene to do, as opposed to like, yeah, yeah,
(30:17):
you know that finding those jokes and that those funny
rhymes like was so terrifying. It's so stressful to just
do that on the spot like that, like I don't know.
Speaker 4 (30:30):
It's funny. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (30:31):
The opposite problem, I didn't have the patience for seeing
the build and I'd get anxious, No one's where's the jokes.
Speaker 4 (30:39):
That's why I ended up doing stand up, I think.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
Yeah, the difference when I got tricked into doing an
improv class and I was always like, there's.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
No way, did someone just announce your name and you
had to get on Well, it.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
Was Marilynn when she was taking it and she goes,
just come with me, you could just sit in the back,
and I'm like, oh great. And it was Chris Barnes
from Second City in Chicago. He was like, no auditing
in this class, get up here on the stage, and
I was like everything about it where I'm like, oh no,
I'm a stand up in that way of like I
control it. I get the laugh like there's no one
(31:12):
interacting with me, like control control, and so it was
so scared. I was already scared just to even watch it.
And then I was like, oh no. And the first
scene I ever did, he's like, okay, Karen, start an
action and this guy will walk in.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
So I of course I'm just like blindly so scared,
flipping Hamburgers with no you know what I mean up
here weird spacework whatever. And the guy walks in and
he asked the question. I just turned my back and
Chris goes, okay, hold on, it's just he's not there,
and I'm.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Like, yeah, I don't, Yeah, that's not my problem, Like
literally would not acknowledge the guy.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
The guy in the scene, and it was like it
took a why a couple classes to even just like
let it go and be like it's not supposed to
be the funniest thing every single time you talk like
it's supposed to be real.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
And it was so helpful for comedy.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
Like after I did, I think I was better at
stand up and I was looser, and there was like
the ease of just being able to be on stage.
I don't know, it's like it really turned my head around.
But I was so afraid of it for so long
that it felt like the scariest thing I'd ever done.
Speaker 5 (32:23):
I imagine it would help with crowd work, but you know,
like and kind of go in with the flow if
you get off track to get you back to where
you're going or whatever.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
Right, yes, yes, And that people enjoy a performer who's
enjoying themselves as opposed to someone who is like I
have my words memorized and you will respond this one
way like that. I just had a really strange approach
that like once I was like, just like what you're
doing and allowed them to don't turn your back on
(32:54):
the audience as you're doing it, just like a little
freer and easier.
Speaker 5 (32:58):
See, And for me, stand up is so terrifying, Like
I can't imagine. I've done a one woman show and
that was terrifying. But like being other characters, like I
think just saying out loud, this is what I think
is funny.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
It's so scary.
Speaker 5 (33:17):
But to also say my name is this, and this
is what I think is funny. Have you guys ever
noticed like it's so, it's so, it would just be so.
I just I've done stand up in character and it
was so hard. So I just have such respect for
(33:38):
stand ups in general because it's I just could.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
I don't think I could do it.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
Yeah, for a while, when I moved to Austin, I
was doing both and there'd be a show where, oh,
the early show, I'm in the improv group, and then
the light show I'm doing stand up, and I never
could do well at each of them in the same night.
Speaker 4 (33:57):
They were like either my brain was in improv mode.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
Isn't that funny?
Speaker 3 (34:01):
Or yeah, oh without fail, Oh the improv was fun.
That means I'm going to eat it at stand up.
It's probably my brain, but they're different muscles.
Speaker 5 (34:11):
But it's true too, Like you know I've done I
used to do touring company shows, you know, and on
a different night, like the audience the first thing I
did bombed and so they were like, nap, I don't
like her, she's not funny. And then you're like, oh god,
and then the next show you're fine, you know. Yeah,
(34:32):
So it really depends on where you are, And I
mean with stand up, it's a similar thing, right, like
what works in Kansas isn't going to work in Ore
again or whatever.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
My thing is like I would always get up and
immediately see a blonde guy that would not smile, and
that's like, he's the only person in the room. Now,
now I am as bad as he his expression, which
could have nothing to do with anything, like right, who
knows what that guy's deal is, But I'd be like
laser focused and then it just like constant mental duress
as you're just like, here's my speech. Why won't you
(35:05):
crack a smart like it's such a crazy kind of
way to do things. But then like the first time
I did I can't remember if it was Askat or Armando.
Speaker 5 (35:14):
Are they the same, and just yeah, it's the same form.
It was created by I think Armando Diaz. It was
named after him. And then they kind of it's the
just the monologue form. So you have a monologist, which
I think is a word that was created for them,
because monologist is not.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
A word in the world.
Speaker 5 (35:33):
Monologists who tell stories, funny stories, sometimes not funny stories.
And then the improviser's improvise inspired by that, Yeah, but yeah,
askat was the New York version of the Armando or
that UCB version of the Armando.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
It just is like such a fun in between, like
you as a comic get to be a part of
the improv without having to do improv learn improv or
be that good at it, and then the story doesn't
have to be Like the first time I did it,
I was just like I have to be so good
because the people that are about to improvise are so
good whatever mindset. But it was like, but you can't
(36:10):
be because it's the suggestion. So it's like, well, you
can scrape your brain for some quote unquote hilarious bit,
but actually they just want to hear you tell a
real story so that the next thing is good.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
Yeah, And then the.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
Looseness of that allows allowed me to then be like, oh,
this is fine. I'm just gonna tell a story about
my childhood dentist and it turns out to be funny,
not because I'm making it funny.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (36:36):
I just think so satisfics of it are so funny,
Like if you're telling a real story, like my dentist
was named doctor Eichel, and he had giant photos of
himself in front of the pyramids on like wall murals,
and you can't make like that's just what that's reality
and that is such a dumb specific And then from
(36:57):
that you can there's like thousands of things it could
then be made up. So it's easier when the monologist
is not trying to be funny, you know, or they're
just telling. Sometimes they get in their head or they
like run out of steam or you know, and it's
only it's you know, it's the hardest it's ever been
(37:18):
is when someone was clearly not being truthful. Yeah, like
they were making up stories and you're like, okay, well
this is already a ridiculous improv seeing like how do
I take this to the next you know, and make
something out of it?
Speaker 3 (37:32):
Yeah, you just make their character a compulsive liar.
Speaker 4 (37:36):
Hey where'd that come from?
Speaker 1 (37:37):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (37:38):
Yeah, exactly, that's so funny.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
Or Dennis, those pictures the guard that the orthopedic surgeon
that did my hip years ago was had photos of
him sculpting marble in like where you he could get
the same light as the.
Speaker 5 (37:53):
Masters and jeez, Louise Gee, yeah, they was that here
in Los Angeles, Yes.
Speaker 3 (38:00):
And they seem pretentious and everything, but I knew from
those photos that he was sure of himself.
Speaker 4 (38:08):
Like that's one of the thing.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
That you wanted. A surgeon is someone that is the
most cocky you ever met.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
Yeah, that must mean you're good. I don't have to
hang out with you. I just want to be able
to walk.
Speaker 5 (38:17):
You just have to be so good that you know
that you think that you could do your work on marble.
Speaker 4 (38:25):
That's so funny.
Speaker 3 (38:26):
And yeah, pictures in the lobby of him sculpting marble.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
I got gum surgery one time, and the antithesiologist was
one of the most like irritating, I shouldn't say irritating,
like the strongest personality where he called me beforehand he
was like, Okay, Karen, I need to talk to you
about your wit and weight and like all these different
things where it's just like okay, and he was just
(38:51):
like this presence in my life for like two weeks
before I got the surgery. So when I went in
to have him put me under, I literally was just like, oh,
this this guy, he's a pro. Like he told me
he was a pro ten times. Yeah, he just laid
it all out in this perfect way. And then I
was just like, I am in the perfect hands. So
it was kind of effective. But yeah, I would not
(39:12):
want to eat dinner with him.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
No, yeah, no offense or what if he's my number
one fan.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
He's like, I listen to all of your goddamn podcasts
and now you turn describe to.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
Your patrioch, my major mouth what it is today.
Speaker 3 (39:29):
If all of the Hollywood were to shut down, Lennon,
would you what is your plan?
Speaker 4 (39:36):
B what is your favorite pastime?
Speaker 1 (39:39):
Well?
Speaker 5 (39:39):
I don't think I I think I would Uh, I
would probably become a midwife.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
Okay, have you ever helped birtha baby? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (39:49):
Well I mean specific right me.
Speaker 1 (39:51):
I've helped myself, Yeah I did. You were very helpful
in those than you did. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (39:59):
I would help him midwife both times, which was incredible, and.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
It went very fast. It was very.
Speaker 5 (40:07):
Intense, and I was I had like done this really
intense birth class ahead of time.
Speaker 1 (40:15):
It was a ten week class.
Speaker 5 (40:17):
Normally you just go to the hospital for like two
three hours or something, but this was every Sunday for
ten weeks for three hours. It's a lot of content
and we learned because I think before getting pregnant, I
had not even considered what the what giving birth was
(40:39):
going to be like, or really what was happening while
I was pregnant, just like I want to be a
mom kind of, and so getting pregnant once that was
happening to me, and like learning the intricacies of what
your body does as a birthing body.
Speaker 3 (41:00):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 5 (41:01):
I was just like totally blown away. Yeah, and I
loved being pregnant, which is not not everybody has that experience.
Speaker 1 (41:09):
What did you love about it?
Speaker 5 (41:12):
It felt like I looked like the pictures for the
first time, Like you open up a birthing book and
you're like, yeah, that's me. Whereas if I'd ever looked
in a I don't know, does that make sense.
Speaker 1 (41:22):
Like like you're glowing and it's embodying you.
Speaker 5 (41:25):
Well, like my physical body looked correct for the first
one ever. Always I'd always been like too skinny, too tall,
too flat chested, to whatever, you know what I mean
too young, too old.
Speaker 1 (41:38):
Not till now have I been too old.
Speaker 6 (41:40):
But.
Speaker 5 (41:42):
Just that I and then I had like this larger purpose,
like my physical being had a larger purpose, and so
I took really good care of myself, like limited my
caffeine and take like track my protein.
Speaker 1 (41:56):
I do not do that any of the other months
of my life.
Speaker 3 (42:00):
Oh yeah, made you do your self care?
Speaker 1 (42:03):
Yeah exactly.
Speaker 5 (42:05):
I was doing yoga regularly, like all this stuff, and
and so that I liked all that. And then also
just the natural piece of it, of like the kind
of accomplishment of it, like the physical.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
Like what your body like this like.
Speaker 5 (42:27):
Shit, like if you were passed out, your body would
give birth to the baby without your help.
Speaker 4 (42:36):
Oh your kidding? Is that true? I did not know that.
Speaker 1 (42:38):
Okay, I don't.
Speaker 5 (42:39):
I'm pretty sure, but I mean that's what contractions do.
They literally work the baby. The muscles are squeezing the
baby out of you. Okay, So like without your help,
potentially it would be way easier because once you get
once the fear piece enters into everything changes, you know,
(43:01):
and anytime you go it's the only time that you
go to a hospital potentially where it's not something bad
it's happening, you know. So we have all these negative
associations with hospitals and stuff. I've been in hospitals a
lot of times. It's never been great, you know what
I mean, Yeah, no matter how good your doctor is
or your nurses or whatever.
Speaker 1 (43:22):
So I don't know. I just was just really fascinated.
Speaker 5 (43:26):
Like once the baby comes out, you put the baby
on you, your body temperature will rise to warm up
the baby like shit like that. Like that's crazy, yeah,
like you it's somehow it's in there internally, you know.
Speaker 1 (43:41):
Yeah. Yeah, And I just had not thought. I just
not had not considered.
Speaker 5 (43:46):
But when I went into labor, I had all of
this information that I don't think most pregnant women get,
like what the different stages of labor are like that.
Speaker 4 (43:57):
Especially our parents. You just there was that book, yeah right,
like yeah.
Speaker 2 (44:03):
Well and I'm sure you know this Linon but like
I just I'm sure I saw a TikTok on it
or something. But like how women having a baby laying
down with their knees up is the worst position they
could be in. And the only reason they put women
in that position was for the doctor.
Speaker 1 (44:19):
It was easier for the doctors so crazy.
Speaker 5 (44:21):
Yeah, so when you're in that class, you're learning all
the different positions that you could potentially be in and
all that stuff, and the things that would make it
feel better, the things your partner can do to help
help you make it feel better. But also for me
as a control freak, like knowing that there was a
part called transition where you might throw up or feel
(44:45):
nauseous or your legs might start shaking.
Speaker 1 (44:48):
And that precedes the like pushing phase.
Speaker 5 (44:51):
Like having that information, and then when my body started
doing it, I was like, oh, Okay, this is transition.
This is supposed to be happening, not you know, nothing
is wrong. Yeah, I'm safe, And then I could kind
of breathe into it. And then but I did get
to the hospital about an hour before both of my.
Speaker 1 (45:12):
Children came out, just because I would.
Speaker 5 (45:15):
You know, they tell you that it's going to take
forever and you should stay at home as long as
you can, and so yeah, we got to the hospital
at three thirty and then she was born at four
forty three thirty am four forty am, and then my
son was similar. We left the house at seven. We
got to the birthing center at seven fifteen. He was
(45:36):
born at eight fifteen, but I'd been in you know,
labor previous to that.
Speaker 2 (45:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (45:43):
Yeah, so maybe a midwife, I think I like that.
Speaker 4 (45:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (45:46):
Any you're right, any job where you're like immediately helping
someone and there's immediate results, Yeah, that would be.
Speaker 5 (45:53):
That would be I would just like to know, Like
I would just like to learn about all of that,
you know, I would like to have a reason in
to know everything there is to know about it.
Speaker 1 (46:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (46:04):
And that idea that you could be helping with the
fear piece of a thing that's that powerful. Yeah, Like
here's the way you should You can look at it
as opposed to oh my god, I'm throwing up, Oh
my god, my legs are buckling or whatever.
Speaker 1 (46:17):
Yeah, it's great.
Speaker 5 (46:18):
When we when we wrote the birth scene in Playing House,
you know, I think I had seen a lot of
like giving birth scenes, and it's always like the woman
screaming you did this to me, and like, which is
very funny, but was not my experience. It was not
the experience of many people that I knew, and so
(46:41):
I wanted to portray like a different version of it,
you know, So we we tried to avoid the tropes
of it. I guess because for me, like reading all
of these, I'm sorry, I'm really distracted by the Sebastian
stand double.
Speaker 1 (46:58):
At the car next to us. For me, like reating
all these like.
Speaker 5 (47:05):
Positive like birth stories like from May. I think her
name is Aname. I was gonna say Ina Garten, but
it's not. It's definitely not hers. She gives birth to
different delicious chickens, chicken dishes. Yeah, but she's this very
famous midwife who had this place in North Carolina I
think or Virginia.
Speaker 1 (47:25):
Called the Farm. I think that's what it's called.
Speaker 5 (47:27):
Maybe not great name, but she was like a community
of midwives and women would come there to give birth,
and then there were all of these stories that came
out of those experiences. And you know, I think a
lot of people we tell we tell stories that we
want people to be engaged in, and so a lot
of times they're scary stories or there something went wrong,
(47:49):
and with every birth something happens that's not usually not usual,
you know. But I just wanted to tell us a
different version that was still a story but also showed
birth maybe in a different light.
Speaker 1 (48:04):
Yeah, like a little calmer and.
Speaker 5 (48:07):
More to your experience, and like you have everything you need,
right kind of thing.
Speaker 3 (48:12):
Yeah, I remember any of those trophy birth scenes. My
mom would get so offended and insist that birth was
not painful for her.
Speaker 1 (48:23):
Oh, she wasn't painful at all.
Speaker 4 (48:25):
Yeah, she's how many? Did she have nine pound baby too?
Speaker 1 (48:29):
Okay, but good for her.
Speaker 4 (48:31):
Yeah, maybe she's just tough. She's just showing off how
tough she is.
Speaker 1 (48:36):
It is.
Speaker 4 (48:36):
And then she'd asked me an arm wrestle.
Speaker 1 (48:38):
Did she have an epidural? Do you know?
Speaker 4 (48:41):
I don't know's we never talked. She was, but I
think it was very She.
Speaker 3 (48:49):
Was into doing it as natural as possible. Yeah, grass
fading and everything.
Speaker 4 (48:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (48:54):
Every time I see a birthing scene, I then look
at it, going, what if I had to play this
part and scream this much? Yeah, and this intensely, which
it's not just these three minutes, it's actually she had
to do this for four hours.
Speaker 1 (49:09):
Sometimes I do try to.
Speaker 2 (49:10):
Scream a little bit, just to see, like, what would
my birthing up screaming sound like.
Speaker 5 (49:17):
Because I've never had a baby, I wouldn't know. Can
I tell you what I sounded like? Yeah, I gave birth. Okay,
hold on, analyse. You might want to turn it so
it was like it was the most insane, guttural like
where did that goes?
Speaker 1 (49:35):
Like otherworldly, I don't know, like it was. It was
not screams.
Speaker 5 (49:42):
It was like gutteral like Torso noises, Yeah, Torso noise exactly.
Speaker 2 (49:48):
But I mean even though it wasn't like the worst screaming,
there was an experience in there that you were having
that was like muscles twisting around.
Speaker 1 (49:59):
I mean, yes, yeah, right, it would.
Speaker 3 (50:02):
Be more like it's it just pressure. It just would
be such a foreign it is.
Speaker 5 (50:08):
It's like nothing you've ever felt before, and you know,
nothing that you could describe to someone.
Speaker 1 (50:13):
I described it, this is terrible.
Speaker 5 (50:17):
I described it once as you know, before you have diarrhea, sure,
that feeling that you have that like flushes from your
face down through your entire body. And then you and
that happens like four times, and then you're diarrhea maybe
and then you're like, oh, I better get to a toilet.
Speaker 1 (50:35):
You guys all know what I'm talking. Yes, you should
show you.
Speaker 3 (50:39):
Should be a midwife, sure, but also you should speak
to groups of men who who and explain what Bertha's
like and give them the diarrheas.
Speaker 4 (50:49):
Yeah, the diarrhea. Oh, no, I get it. Yeah, that's
what my wife's going through.
Speaker 1 (50:53):
And it feels like you're you don't have in that
moment that you're not in charge anymore, right, you're your diary.
Speaker 5 (51:02):
And you need to get to somewhere fast and and
but it feels like a wave and it moves through
your body. That's what it felt like to me to
have contractions. They kind of start high and then they
move through low. But it's it's the most intense feeling
you've ever had.
Speaker 4 (51:22):
What is the most painful experience You've ever had?
Speaker 1 (51:25):
The most pain? Yeah, I guess I guess that.
Speaker 5 (51:32):
I mean, I don't know. Yeah, fell and cut my
knee open one time I had I had spine surgery,
but I didn't thanks to my faces anesthesiologists. You didn't
have any pain at all and the recovery was okay.
Speaker 3 (51:49):
Yeah, I guess surgery. I'm just thinking, Yeah, I've had
my hairpriplace. But I wouldn't use that as an example.
It would be the time I was stung by many,
many many bees.
Speaker 1 (51:58):
Oh what kind of bees?
Speaker 3 (52:00):
I don't know there was It might have been the
second time was wasps. The first time, It's like a
classic where are You Going, which happened a couple of times.
Speaker 4 (52:10):
I don't.
Speaker 1 (52:10):
I'm a bee keeper.
Speaker 4 (52:15):
Jason Stathamy Way, I simply care for beats.
Speaker 5 (52:20):
You thought you were like agy from Fried Green Tomatoes,
like reaching up into it.
Speaker 1 (52:24):
Honeywell, right, right, very much.
Speaker 3 (52:27):
The scene from My Girl. I had never seen that,
and I didn't mean to make.
Speaker 1 (52:32):
Light of that anabalactic shop, thank.
Speaker 4 (52:35):
You, thank you, not.
Speaker 3 (52:36):
Real, No, it's not. I still have an eppy pen
on me. I Both times I was hanging from a rope.
The first time I was young, I swam swung or
swang on a rope across a large backyard and it
hit a beehive and then they all And the next time, yeah,
(52:57):
years later, repelling down a cliff and kicked a beehive
and had light landed in my lap.
Speaker 4 (53:03):
Oh my god, that time was so painful.
Speaker 5 (53:07):
Times with Road, I know, that's like when that happens.
Speaker 3 (53:13):
It's like people out there that get struck by lightning
multiple times, It's like, what did I do it?
Speaker 4 (53:19):
Because clearly I deserve it. What are the chances?
Speaker 1 (53:22):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (53:24):
But yeah, one time we were filming promos for Playing
House and because for the last couple of years. We
paid for our show with integrations basically, and so we
agreed to like integrate products into our show for Comcast,
(53:45):
Toyota and like Maytag I think, and or Samsung I
can't remember, but we would integrate it into the show
and then we would also write commercials for them which
would air during the show on demand or whatever. And
they were good, they were funny.
Speaker 2 (54:02):
I watched those and I'm like, this is a hard
this is a hard assignment.
Speaker 1 (54:06):
And think anyone's ever said it's true. It's true.
Speaker 5 (54:09):
It was the hardest thing, but thank got it. We
had a writer's room at the time because they were
all crack at it, crack, crack at it. Yeah, they
were crack jacks at it jack and they.
Speaker 1 (54:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (54:24):
And so we were filming a Toyota commercial and we
were using a non union company that somebody knew, and
they set up hair and makeup for like the cast.
We were just in a van, like it was so hot,
and so they were like, we set up these.
Speaker 1 (54:40):
Five cheers for you over here. And one of the chairs.
Speaker 5 (54:45):
Was on top of a wasps nest that was in
the ground, and so we were getting touched up and
someone got stung in their crotch, because the wasp flew
up into this makeup artist's crot under her skirt, and I,
having experience growing up in the South with wasps nests
being in the ground, I looked down and saw the
(55:09):
wasps had just gotten the signal, right, it's go time,
gang yep, and so I screamed.
Speaker 6 (55:16):
Wasps ng And so everybody started taking off in every direction,
but like one person had been marked, and so the
wasp were chasing her, and then they were chasing all
these other people.
Speaker 5 (55:29):
Luckily, the only person that was actually allergic was still
in the hair and makeup trailer getting the sexy firefighters ready,
and so she was not with us, but there was
no medic on set because it was non union. And
after that we were like, fuck this, We're never doing
it this way again. You have to have these are
the things you have to have in order to keep
your crew safe.
Speaker 1 (55:50):
Like this is insane.
Speaker 5 (55:52):
And so Jessica got stung, our hair and makeup Alexis
and Kathleen both got stung. I think somebody else got stung,
and we were like, we just railed. I mean, the
next time we you know, had a call about it.
We were like you know, we got very upset because
obviously that's not acceptable.
Speaker 1 (56:08):
But that's insane. Yeah, it was insane.
Speaker 4 (56:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (56:12):
I was on a set once and there was because
we had to work with a rattlesnake.
Speaker 4 (56:17):
There was a rattlesnake handler.
Speaker 5 (56:19):
There was it snake bitch, I don't know. There was
on bless this mess she didn't have. There was a woman?
Was it a woman?
Speaker 6 (56:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (56:30):
Yeah, I wish that this guy, if you could see him,
it would be really hilarious.
Speaker 4 (56:34):
If his title was snake long heavy metal hair.
Speaker 3 (56:40):
Made me think of his yeah, backup days, being a
roadie for a CD. That's the thing he was doing, joke.
He had a fake snake. He was there to protect
us from the real snake, but he.
Speaker 1 (56:55):
Thought it was funny to have a face.
Speaker 3 (56:57):
Yeah, and he'd put a rubber snake under people chairs
and then go oh, looks like a guy loose and
everyone understandably was on.
Speaker 1 (57:05):
The edge, and that is yeah, very unaccepted.
Speaker 3 (57:10):
I complained about him, and then he wasn't there the
next day. But I didn't want to.
Speaker 1 (57:14):
Ask if if you got him fired, right, because who
am I?
Speaker 3 (57:19):
You know a guy that can I guess on that
day I was very powerful, and now I feel bad
I forgot that was the end of the story.
Speaker 1 (57:27):
Well maybe he learned his lesson and didn't do that anymore. Well,
did not give him like feedback.
Speaker 4 (57:31):
It's been doing it.
Speaker 5 (57:33):
Get canceled, snake canceled. Yeah, he got me too with snakes.
Speaker 4 (57:37):
That thing I did with the snake. What did you
guys think of it? I'm just uh, oh, you.
Speaker 1 (57:41):
Didn't exclusively touring this out. I'm sorry.
Speaker 4 (57:45):
Yeah, I should have just given him some feedback. No,
I've gotten him canned.
Speaker 5 (57:50):
Well, there was a woman who was our snake wrangler
on Bless this Mess, and she had legally changed her
middle name to snake Bitch and was one of the
best human beings I've ever known. And we would we
had a game where we would flip each other off,
like whoever could flip each other off first one and
so like I would come out of the makeup triller
(58:11):
and she'd be like Helena and I would turn it
to be flipping.
Speaker 1 (58:14):
Me the bird and I'd be like, damn it.
Speaker 5 (58:16):
And then I would try to catch her the next
time I saw her, But she was always hunting around
trying to keep us safe, not freak us out right.
Speaker 1 (58:23):
But she was so it was like safe, the snake's
away fun safety. Yeah, yeah, safety can be funny.
Speaker 3 (58:29):
But would she a trainer of snakes, snake, pitch, all
things snake?
Speaker 5 (58:34):
Probably she was the word just a wrangler. So she
was keeping because we were shooting in Santa Clarita on
Sable Ranch, which is like in the middle of the desert.
Speaker 1 (58:41):
You know. Yeah, so I don't she wasn't a trainer.
Speaker 3 (58:45):
When you say legally changed, did you see her ID?
Did it say snake bitch on it? That's the best.
Speaker 1 (58:51):
Yes, she had legally changed her name.
Speaker 3 (58:53):
I met this guy in college in a bar and
he was like a very serious hippie type kid, guy
with dreadlocks, and he said his name was fun and
I'm like, no, it is not. And they showed me
his ID and it just said fun on it.
Speaker 1 (59:10):
One name likedons, but not fun. Oh that's what interesting.
Speaker 4 (59:15):
Maybe he knew that and it was ironic, like.
Speaker 1 (59:18):
His initials were like Fred Underhill nance.
Speaker 3 (59:22):
I just did not. Yeah, I would think you have
to come up with a fake middle name and a
fake not just one word.
Speaker 1 (59:29):
Yeah, one s can't just be one legally one name
was my thing is.
Speaker 2 (59:34):
These people that get these ideas are the kind of
people that can also get paperwork done where I'm like.
Speaker 1 (59:40):
A lot of ideas.
Speaker 2 (59:41):
I will not go and fill out a DMV W
two whatever it is.
Speaker 1 (59:46):
To get that actual idea all the way, you have.
Speaker 5 (59:48):
To change your name and then go do that thing, right,
So you have to change your name legally and then
provide documentation to the DMV and to Social Security and
to all these other Is that true?
Speaker 1 (01:00:00):
Yes, well I'm not doing it. Yeah, that's and I
want your name.
Speaker 3 (01:00:05):
Is iconic, just just so for the rest of your
life you can tell someone your name and then they go, no, it.
Speaker 1 (01:00:13):
Is, and yes it is. I'm doing it again. I
love this.
Speaker 3 (01:00:17):
I love finding out that no one thinks I'm fun
when I mentioned my name.
Speaker 1 (01:00:21):
You know who's fun is Lenham Parhum.
Speaker 2 (01:00:24):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (01:00:26):
I love ending with the right kind of button it up.
Speaker 3 (01:00:31):
Do you have anything other than your butting midwife career?
Speaker 1 (01:00:34):
Oh my god, I wish it was promoting. Do you
have a podcast? Jessica and I had this one called
wamp It Up.
Speaker 5 (01:00:43):
We just released a new episode that came out actually today,
which will probably be last week or something, but yeah,
it's wamp it up. But it's on Comedy Bang Bang World,
so you have to you have to go there to
get it. But it's our it's our characters that kind
of happened at I mean, this was episode ninety two,
which I could not believe. You guys have thousands and
(01:01:04):
thousands of podcasts under your belt, but that's my I
can only do podcasts in character or in interview for him.
Speaker 1 (01:01:11):
I wouldn't. I couldn't do it, just me, just chitting chatting.
You were great, just you Yeah, boy, you guys were great,
really did? It's a fun hang? Who was a.
Speaker 3 (01:01:20):
Funn Can I if I ever see you out in
the wild, can I call you a snake bitch?
Speaker 7 (01:01:25):
Please don't forget me. You told that story for you
a bird. You have to thank you for being on Yes,
this was thanks delay. Sorry it took so long to
make it happen, but we were here, no problem.
Speaker 4 (01:01:37):
It all worked out.
Speaker 1 (01:01:38):
Get used to it perfectly. Please come back. Yeah, anytime.
It would be so fun to just if you have
a we literally only talked about improv and giving birth.
Speaker 4 (01:01:48):
I love it.
Speaker 5 (01:01:49):
There's other karaoke carryo karaoke listen if that's my legacy
then I've done my job.
Speaker 2 (01:01:54):
I feel like karaoke is the perfect combination of improv
and giving birth.
Speaker 1 (01:01:59):
Don't you think at the end of the day.
Speaker 4 (01:02:00):
Oh yeah, my days do.
Speaker 1 (01:02:02):
Nevergot about it, but have to say that was.
Speaker 3 (01:02:04):
My baby when I sang don job wanted dead or alive.
Speaker 1 (01:02:09):
We will never have a.
Speaker 4 (01:02:10):
Real kid anyway. You've been listening to Do You Need
a Ride?
Speaker 1 (01:02:15):
D y n Aar.
Speaker 3 (01:02:24):
This has been an exactly right production.
Speaker 1 (01:02:27):
Our senior producer is Analise Nelson.
Speaker 4 (01:02:29):
Mixed by Edson Choy.
Speaker 1 (01:02:31):
Our talent booker is Patrick Cootner.
Speaker 4 (01:02:33):
Theme song by Karen Kilgarret.
Speaker 1 (01:02:36):
Artwork by Chris Fairbanks.
Speaker 2 (01:02:37):
Follow the show on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook at dinar
podcast That's d y n ar Podcast.
Speaker 3 (01:02:44):
For more information, go to exactly Rightmedia dot com.
Speaker 1 (01:02:48):
Thank you, Oh You're welcome.
Hosts And Creators
Karen Kilgariff
Chris Fairbanks
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.