August 22, 2023 • 31 mins
Ellie Kemper (The Office, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) and Brooke bond over memories of their alma mater Princeton (Go Tigers!), and their shared love for Wawa hoagies. Ellie also opens up about her short-lived career as a D1 athlete, her 'terrifying' audition for SNL, and why you won’t see her in a drama anytime soon.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
What do you do when life doesn't go according to
plan that moment you lose a job, or a loved one,
or even a piece of yourself. I'm Brookshields and this
is now What, a podcast about pivotal moments as told
by people who lived them. Each week, I sit down
with a guest to talk about the times they were
knocked off course and what they did to move forward.
(00:27):
Some stories are funny, others are gut wrenching, but all
are unapologetically human and remind us that every success and
every setback is accompanied by a choice, and that choice
answers one question. Now, what one of the guys that
(00:50):
moved me into my dorm room freshman week, freshman day,
he's now working there and he drives by in the
car and he goes, Shields, get in the god Carney boy,
you took me to Huahwah. I got me a subway.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Now.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
It was like you're.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Eating this right now, a Wawa subway sandwich. Heals all wounds.
It is that there's nothing. And I don't know how
recently you've been back. They've now changed the wabble, or
they've remodeled, they've reloaded that.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Well, they moved the trend, didn't they moved the station
or they.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Moved a whole dinky station I think, and the wah
wah with it. But there is nothing. I mean, you
can't compare Princeton reunions. I don't know how that statement sounds,
but it is what it is to anything. I mean,
it's like the Kentucky Derby.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Do you know it's the It's the second largest amount
of alcohol consumed. Oh lord, next to yep, second only
to the DY five hundred?
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Are you kidding?
Speaker 1 (01:44):
So there? I was close.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
I was close with that comparison.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
My guest today is Elliet Kemper, an actor and author,
a podcast host, a wife, a mother, and, as you'll
hear us discuss throughout this episode, a proud Princeton, a lion.
Like many of you, I fell in love with the
contagious optimism she portrayed through her roles and shows like
The Office and Unbreakable Kimmie Schmidt, And though I personally
(02:11):
didn't know Ellie before this interview, I was thrilled to
discover that she exudes the best parts of her most
iconic characters. She's hilarious, she's gracious, resilient, and downright impressive. So,
without further ado, here is Ellie Kemper. Ellie Kemper, Hello,
(02:34):
I am so happy you wanted to do the show. Obviously,
I'm a huge fan. My gosh. I also love that
I'm speaking with a fellow Princetonian.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
I am so happy to be a guest on your show.
I am the enormous fan of you. So I'm not
even looking you in the eye right now. I'm looking
off to the side of my laptop. But the Princeton
Vaughn dies hard.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Have they ever asked you to speak at commencement? Yes?
Speaker 2 (03:00):
I y And actually I'm sort of embarrassed to not know.
Did you You must have spoken several times.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
No, it just just once. And Andrew Dureki, who's also
a past Princetonian, he talked me into doing it because
I was just I was sort of obliterated by fear
and it was just one of those things when I
just I wanted to be funny and I wanted to
and I just wanted to, you know, it was such
(03:31):
an important time for me. Have you been back lately?
Speaker 2 (03:36):
So I just celebrated my twentieth reunion last year in
twenty twenty two. I know and so I live in
New York. So I went for the day.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Did you alone or did you bring your husband or
my husbands stayed at home. I brought my best friend
who also went to Princeton. Her name is Joe, and
we went together. And I can't imagine what it's like
for you. Have you been back to reunions. I've gone
back to the big ones. But I had my thirty fifth.
So I'm I'm well. And you know, it's funny because
my mom, my, my mom, listen to me. Oh, she
(04:06):
she wants to be in every conversation even though she's dead.
She's died.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Well, I'm sorry, but yes, that's so.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
That's Wendy Williams. When she's talked about her mom, she
goes she's died. So I went. So I said to
my husband, Okay, I'm gonna go. And he's like, look,
why don't you just go alone for the first day
and then I'll come the next day and bring the
kids or whatever. And I was like, okay, all right,
I just I'm not gonna stay long. And then at
(04:34):
every tent I kept saying, okay, I'm not, I'm not
I'm not gonna stay a long I'm not gonna stay
long four o'clock in the morning. I am like meandering,
not in a straight line.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
And the guy, one of.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
The guys that moved me into my dorm room freshman week,
freshman day, he's now working there, and he drives by
in the car and he goes shields, get in the
goddamn car. And I was like, but I nice man.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
And I was like, oh god, he.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Goes, some thing's never changed. Getting the goddamn carney boy.
He took me to it, got me in a subway.
It was like, you're yeating this right now.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Yep, a wah wah subway sandwich. Heals all wounds.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
If you say the wah wah wighs the way to go.
People understand you wholeheartedly. What did did you always want
to go there? I?
Speaker 2 (05:29):
And oh is the answered? No, it wasn't.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
I didn't.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
I mean, I don't know what your thought process was.
I mean, you and I had very different childhood experience.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Tell me about your but I so what.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
I wasn't instantly recognizable to you every person on the globe.
But I didn't really give too much thought about where
I wanted to go to college. I knew I wanted
to go to college in the Northeast, and I when
I visited Princeton, I mean, it's iconic, it's gorgeous, it's stunning,
it's beautiful, and there was a comb anas I played
field hockey. I knew that. You know, Princeton had these
(06:03):
great theater You were also in the Triangle Club, which
is a theater musical theater group at Princeton for those
of us who don't know what that is. And I
and I just I had such a great experience visiting
and then I got in and I and I accepted.
But it wasn't a life long whatever dream. It just
felt like I felt very lucky to be able to
go there.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Now you grew up, you grew up in Saint Louis.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
I grew up in Saint Louis, and uh yes, I
went to I live there all my life and in fact,
I mean until I graduated high school and in fact,
my experience leaving for college. This is one thing that
I don't want to like forget, which is that I
was profoundly homesick. My first song too, oh it was
(06:47):
my sobbed and I was like, you know, I'm just
I remember going home for Christmas break, but I brought
all of my laundry with me, but like not to
do it at home in Saint Louis. But because I
was like, well, I'm not I'm not going back, Like
in my head it was a weird I wasn't consciously
doing but but I sort of was because it. I
remember thinking for the first time I realized that the
(07:08):
Midwest is a different uh reagion from the rest of
the country. Because when I went to for instance, I said,
I remember checking my mom on the phone and I
was like, Mom, it is you know. I say hello
to people here, like passing them on campus, and they
do not smile back. And I remember feeling like this
is so different now, like why are people saying hi?
Speaker 1 (07:31):
But did you feel like Saint Louis. So I'm born
and raised in Manhattan, right, and that has shaped me undoubtedly.
How do you think Saint Louis has shaped you as
a child.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
I feel very lucky that I grew up there. I
grew up in a suburb of Saint Louis. I had
a very lucky childhood I had. I have a wonderful,
supportive family. I have three siblings, two parents. I went
to an excellent school. I have a kind of I
recognize how lucky I was, and I have maybe a
childhood that would make other people angry because there weren't
(08:07):
any major traumas. And I feel like living growing up
in Saint Louis, I now see having lived in New
York and Los Angeles, I do feel grateful for growing
up in a relatively quiet place. And I do think
about now. I have two boys, ages seven and almost four,
and I do wonder about, you know, where I will
(08:29):
be raising them because I have a different job than
my parents had. It as you know, it requires you
to be in possibly different cities than Saint Louis, And
you know, I do think that like having experienced the
Midwest and Saint Louis growing up, it had to have
had an impact on my outlook and personality. Like I said,
I do think there's just a I mean, this is
(08:50):
no great insight, but there is a friendliness and openness
I think to the Midwest that isn't everywhere, and I
appreciate that it does actually feel genuine like fake.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
And it's got something you're trying to really impart to
your boys, like do you want them to also really
know that.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Yeah, yes, yes, and I think that there's you know,
I had a friend say once, you know, it doesn't
matter where you're raising your kids if you have to,
you know, if you have family, parents, blood relatives or not,
you know, chosen family, whatever it is, who have a
good head on their shoulders, then your kids will be fine.
So I do think it's it doesn't matter where you
know they you will be raising them so long as
(09:32):
you're setting a you know, kind of grounded example.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
You mentioned your career, which has been incredible. How did
you discover that you were a comedian?
Speaker 2 (09:48):
I did? Quick Fire?
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Was quick Fire?
Speaker 2 (09:50):
I don't know when was founded, Okay.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
I think it like ninety like ninety two. I founded
because it didn't exist. Yes, so quick Fire is the
improv comedy at Princeton.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
And I loved it, so I auditioned my sophomore year.
I played field hockey my freshman year, but I used
the term play very loosely. I sat on the bench
and observed it. I was just telling my friends the
other day who also went to Princeton. I believe it
was somewhere between thirteen and eighteen seconds of a playing
(10:22):
time that I had my entire field hacking career. That's
not a lot too. My friends goes, he goes. Isn't
that more insulting than just not playing at all? I
was like, you know, I've never thought of that way,
but yeah, I guess it is. I think. Yeah, So
I decided to leave that behind and I auditioned for
quip Fire, and it was this clicking that I sort
(10:43):
of had never really experienced before where I did feel
like I am good at this and I had never
I didn't suffer from low self confidence, but I don't
think I had ever felt as confident as I did
when I was in that improv group.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Triangle was a bit that, but it was really it
was doing comedy with like Bob Hope and and then
doing friends and realizing that my instincts were actually funnier
and better than what was on the page. Like it,
you know, the combination that I really that was like
a revelation to me. And it was just like, oh,
I finally found home. It says where I belong.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Well, well that's what I loved because in high school
I was in my high school plays and musicals and
you know, oh who was I? And anything goes? Bonnie?
I think she's like the cut up, she's like crazy,
but it's so it's comedy in like a very specific way.
This stuff that I was doing at Quip Fire in
Princeston or in quip Fire at Prinston felt for the
(11:44):
first time what I call now improv, which was, you know,
I both studied that our Citizen's Brigade and and you
know started in Chicago, and it was the first time
again where it instantly clicked and like you said, there's
a shorthand. So it felt like, oh, these people that
I'm with they get it too, like we all get it.
And I hadn't been in that environment before. I had been,
(12:08):
you know, kind of a jock, but I was in
the school plays. But then this I felt, you know,
at home. But I say that, I don't know why
I say that tongue in cheek, because I really did
feel at home. And I'm friends with those you know,
well they are mostly guys. I'm friends with most of
those guys to this day, which is says something you know.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Which says it's yeah, I mean that those those friendships
and comedy friendships. To me, John Ham, it comes to mind.
He he was your teacher, your drama teacher. Is that crazy?
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Is that insane? Oh, it's so crazy, It's so crazy.
He went to my high school in Saint Louis, and
he went to college and then he came back to
teach at our school was called John Burrows. He came
back to teach at Burroughs for a year. He taught
theater and so I was in ninth grade at the time.
So he taught. I took a semester of I think
(13:01):
it was called like theater nine ninth grade, whatever ninth
grade theater was, and he taught the improv portion.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
We were just at his wedde Oh. Yeah, he's really
good friends with my mi Okay, yes, who's a comedy writer.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Yes, yep, yep, yep. So I have always thought of
him as like an uncle, Like he's just kind of,
you know, there's that he he feels. I have no
idea if I'm just like projecting this and it's he
doesn't actually feel protective, but the air he gives off
is that of a protective uncle. I feel like because
I contacted him when I went to Los Angeles to
(13:33):
do my one person show, and I you know, emailed him,
just cold emailed him from our Burrows like alumni website.
I said, I'm doing this show. He was on mad Men.
I think it was like a third season of mad Men.
It's like, any chance you can call to see my show,
and you know, he showed up and he was in
the bah. Of course he did, and he's like that.
He helps out anyone from Saint Louis who like reaches
(13:55):
out to him. He's like, how can I help? He
is so giving. I adore the man.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
And then you worked with him, Yeah, yeah, better.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
I couldn't believe this. It's so talk about nerves. Now
you just think I'm always a nervous wreck. But when
he came so he was the reverend on Unbreakable Kimy
Schmidt where I was Kimmy and he uh showed up.
I guess it was the end of the first season.
And so I'm in a scene with him. Of course
I fled my first line. Of course I did. And
(14:22):
I was like, oh, because there was a combiny so
many things at play. One I knew him as Don
Draper from mad Men. Two he was my teacher, so
I feel like he's great me. And then three he's
a phenomenal actor.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
So I was.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Like, I hope I don't. I hope, I like, bring
my a game. But all of that was after I
got the flubbed line out of the way. It was easy.
I was like, Okay, this is actually fun.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
You know what though it's it's it's surprising to me
all that you've done, but that you really sort of
didn't kind of break into the entertainment industry until we
were like twenty nine, like you were.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Yes, I was actually thinking about that in anticipation of
our conversation because we've had so like two totally different experiences,
and I feel like, in talking about Saint Louis and
my upbringing there, it does seem how you've navigated your
way is so different from from me. But I do
feel I feel grateful that I had this quote unquote
(15:23):
normal childhood because then I think it has given me
perspective as I continue to navigate the entertainment industry and
especially getting older, there's been some life experience that has
just been non show business, which is valuable.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
You know.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
I'm not sure that I said that eloquently, but I'm
grateful that I began work a little bit later.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
So what were your twenties really like you when you're
living and you're working in New York. But prior to
my office, what were those years like for you? Those
years were? They were?
Speaker 2 (15:56):
I wouldn't call them. They were fine. I wasn't like happy.
I wasn't unhappy, but I wasn't, you know, living it up.
I'm much more content now, And I know that sounds trite,
but it's true. I do feel like as I've gotten older,
I feel more secure and confident, and in my twenties
it's more like, Okay, well, what is the plan here?
(16:18):
I'm doing improv at the People's Improv Theater at the
Upper Citizens Brigade. I'm doing that at night. I was
very lucky to have gotten a commercial agent and to
have booked commercials. I was earning a paycheck, which is
hugely satisfying, and not having to rely on my parents,
which I did have to, and was grateful to be
(16:38):
able to do that at first, but then began to
make my own money, which is just so satisfying on
many levels. But it also felt like, well, what is
the end goal? Is it to be a commercial actor
and do improv?
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Did you have a plan? B?
Speaker 2 (16:53):
No? And still don't, And so that's why I often
I don't know how your mind works. But every time
I'm like out of work for more than a month,
I'm like, well, what, I guess I'm like a peloton
shut I could become a peloton instructor, I really don't.
I don't have any others. I don't have another skill set.
(17:13):
So so, and not that I could become a peloton instructor,
I would get too tired. But there was no plan B.
And it was more like, you know, I got to
audition for Saturday Night Live, I think in like two
thousand and eight, so maybe when I was like twenty eight,
and I didn't get apart, but that felt like progress.
That felt like okay, I had and parks and rec too, right, yes,
(17:35):
actually sort of right next to each other, like the
same year, and didn't get either.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
And how do you deal with how did you deal
with that? It's to me, it's like, you know, I
never get used to rejection. I just don't.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Oh, I'm I'm really deep, don't.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
It's because it fills personal and you know it's not.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Personal, Yes it does. You know it's not, and yet
it's so.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
How did you deal with that rejection? What did it
spur you to do it?
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Oh? Do you know what it was? Actually, this is
maybe a good I don't know if it's a good quality.
It's something that I just have, which is I get
angry when I'm rejected, so it makes me work harder.
So it was a thing of like, and you know,
for Saturday Night Life, they don't outright call you and
say you didn't get it. They just don't call you.
So after like a few months, I was like, I
(18:18):
have a feel that the season has started.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
And I'm not there, and I'm not there.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
I have a Princeton education, so I was able to
put two and two together and I realized I didn't
get the job.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Were you afraid when you auditioned? Were you nervous? Oh?
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Yeah, I was. I was sick with nerves because yes,
it's like it's Lauren Michaels and it's everything you've.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Read Apperiales work.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you present When I did it, there
were I think it was three characters of your own
invention and then three celebrity impressions, which, oh wow, I
cannot do impressions. I my face sort of looks like Renezelwegger's.
It's not that's not a compliment to myself. That's not
it just is it happens to look like her, and
(19:03):
so I can scrunch up my face and look like her.
It requires no skill, it's just like what happens. So
I did her, and then I did I cannot. I
did a Miley Cyrus something with Miley Cyrus and I
don't know the third. But it's like I've honestly felt
the relief. I don't remember the nerves. I remember the
relief afterwards, like I did it. It's done. I never
(19:23):
have to do that again, Like I remember it like
a dream, I think, because it did feel so surreal
and there's no prep time. It was like a week
before I met with Seth Meyers and Lorne Michaels, and
then it's like you have a week before the actual audition,
so there was no I felt like, that's not time
to prepare anyway, and so you just have to It's exhilarating.
(19:45):
That was an exhilarating experience. But I should say that
it also inspired confidence because I felt like, oh wow,
I've been invited to audition by Lorne Michaels, who is
the king of comedy, and so it felt like, okay,
well I made it. That far that's something and then
you know, and then from there I think I do
(20:06):
feel like you know, I was able to make contacts
through the Saturday Night Live audition that introduced me to
people in Los Angeles, and that's how I was able
to audition for parts and rec and also not get it.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
So I call this show now What because it really
is about those unexpected things that pop up into our lives,
you know, personal, professional, spiritual, any any of that. But
they force us to really ask ourselves, now what Now
what do I do? So looking back, do you have
(20:47):
is there any pivotal now what moment for you?
Speaker 2 (20:50):
There are two pivotal now what moments, and the first
one is and I'm going to talk like profession wise
because it's what you and I were talking about earlier
about it happens to have taken place at Princeton, but
just about college and being nineteen years old and feeling like, Okay,
well I'm going to college to play field hockey, because
like I said, I played field hockey and I sort
(21:13):
of laughed it off, but I did find sitting on
the bench to be somewhat demoralizing because I was the
star in high school and I prided myself on that
and I thought it gave me a lot of I
felt a lot of self worth from that, and so
being humiliated at whether on purpose or not, at a
higher level was ultimately I have to think good for
(21:35):
me because I think humility is always a good thing.
But also walking away from one thing, the now what
moment of like, oh, you know, this is not going
as I planned. I thought that I would be good
on this team. I thought that I would be a
contributing member of this team and gain recognition from that,
and I was not. And instead of sitting on the bench,
(21:59):
which would not have been you know, I don't know
that that would have been a bad move, but I
do feel like your four years in college are precious.
I didn't want to. I had to recognize that I
am not going to succeed at the level I want to.
So pivoting from that, I now feel was invaluable because
if I hadn't quit the team, I would not have
(22:20):
auditioned for the improv team, and that is what absolutely
changed my outlook on what It's not that I wanted
to become a professional field hockey player, but I don't
think I would have taken improv and comedy as a
serious career track. Had I not had that experience with
Quippire where where I was introduced to the you know
(22:41):
history of Chicago improv and all the legends that have
come out of there, Like, I didn't see that as
a viable career for me. And then but that pivot
did I think open my eyes to that, which was
I feel.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
Very grateful for it. And what was the second one?
What was the other one?
Speaker 2 (22:58):
And the second one was I think that moment of
not getting the Saturday Night Live job and the Parks
and Rec job which you brought up, which is like
I was doing this one person show and so it
was like, well, you just got to keep working on
that and doing creating your own content, you know, to
bring something to it's it's it's weird with our jobs
(23:20):
because you're rejected in a way that feels out that
is usually out of your control. It doesn't mean you're
bad at your job. It means that you weren't chosen
for this job. So I feel like the you know,
being rejected from those two jobs opened the doors to
be on the office and that led to a lot
of other you know opportunities. So it's weird. The now
(23:41):
what thing is like endlessly interesting because that's all life is.
It's like so many pieces of this are out of
our control.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
I think, once you have a child, you live in
perpetual Now what moments do you have any that staying
out as a parent for you?
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Oh my gosh, yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
You know.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
I think it's I mean, this is probably infinitely relatable.
But just the pandemic, which was like, okay, so my
kids were on the whole. I feel lucky that they
were as little as they were because they were they
didn't know what was going on. But it is that
feeling of just like okay, there's do you remember the
brainwash we all what the necessary like brainwash we all
(24:23):
went into, which was like okay, now we're living in
a world where nobody can see anyway. So that felt like,
but I'm raising two babies, okay, and so are millions
of other people.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Now what.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
We went back to Saint Louis, we lived in we
were able to live with family for almost a year
and and hunker down in that way and that and
then it was like, but now things are ebbing, where
do we go now? And then I think, now, what
going back to New York and trying to, you know,
figure out how to how to resume some sort of
normalcy there.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Have they seen any of your stuff? Like you're do
they know who Aaron Hannon in the office is.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
I think someone told him who Kimmy Schmidt was. Someone
told my almost second grader who Kimmy Schmidt was, and
so he he was like, he wasn't He didn't really
have a strong take on it. He was like, he
knows that I'm an actor and that my husband's a writer,
but he doesn't know too much about it except that
I also did a voice on Sophia the First so
he knows, which is a cartoon, so he knows those things.
(25:23):
How old were your daughters when they knew that you
what you do?
Speaker 1 (25:25):
I mean, the irony is that I did. I did
the voice of Miss Spider this cartoon, and yes, and
yeah that was like they thought that that's they thought
that that's all I did. And then and tried on clothes.
My daughter was my younger one. When they asked her,
she was like seven or something. They so, what does
your mom do? She goes, yeah, you know, clothes. I
(25:48):
was like what, Because I'm always I was always in
fittings like, so I yes, and i'd have to be
she thought that's what I did for a living.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Oh I love that, but I yep, I could see
that as a kid being like, yeah, that's what she does.
She she haes on closed and then they being her
after Oh okay.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
So you know, but they were like, I'm we're never
seeing any of your movies unless it's like a flat
out comedy like they've seen, Like they'll see if I
do a rom com, they'll watch that. But they have
no interest in seeing any of my earlier stuff because
it's like then it's not their mom. You know, they
don't want You're owned by the other by people, and
(26:29):
that means that all of a sudden, they're not just
You're You're not just their mom, and they don't like that,
you know, even at twenty right, I don't like that.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
But I'm so glad that they recognize that that that
limitation is there, or that boundary is in place, because
I do think about that.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Susan Loop though. Yeah, that their rooms at night.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
That's smart, that's smart.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
Their mom was funny, look at her, you might.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
That's the worst when I try to make them laugh
and I fail, and I'm like, you know that I
do this for a job, and I don't say that,
but I do think it, and I'm like, oh, well,
I hope someone thinks they're much. Are they always funnier?
Speaker 1 (27:13):
They always?
Speaker 2 (27:14):
They always their kids, of course they're funnier.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
I mean that's you know, would you ever consider like
a darker role that wasn't comedic? Would you ever do that?
Or is that? I think so?
Speaker 2 (27:26):
I don't, you know, I don't know where I stand
on that. I used to think, yes, I want to.
I want to, you know, expand my range and explore
something like that. But I also wonder it's sort of
the same thing as you know, admitting I guess that
you went to Princeton. It's like here where it feels
like should I not be you know? Is that something
to be ashamed of? Is that something that sounds too
(27:47):
you know, privileged and crazy in this world? And I
do I know this is a strange comparison, but I
I kind of feel like I enjoy doing comedy and
I feel like I'm good at it, and I don't
feel all a strong poll to try to do drama
or at this point, so no, the answer is no,
(28:08):
because I don't.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
You know, I used to think that I would only
be credible if I, you know, went to those dark
places and was really yes, all this yeah, And then
I got older and I was just like, I don't
enjoy it. I only enjoy comedy.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
You are your words of music to my ears. It
doesn't I have done you know small I've had. I've
had experiences doing that. I don't feel like I've plumbed
the depths. I don't feel like I have. There's no
I don't feel the same sense of satisfaction as as
do when I do comedy, which isn't to say like, oh,
(28:47):
I want to do the thing I know I can do.
I feel challenged in comedy all the time. Anytime you're
in like what a scene with johnnym okay forget, that's
a huge challenge. So I would and I would prefer
to continue to challenge myself in that way.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
You also started a You've launched a comedy podcast.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
On my Heart as I have on iHeart.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
Yes, and it's called Born to Love. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Correct, It's wonderful. I have been co hosting the show
with my quick Fire. He's my friend from back at
Princeton we were in our improv group together and I've
known him for over twenty years. So we host this
show called Born to Love and every week we have
a guest on to talk about something that they love
and talk about keeping it light. It is a light buoyant,
(29:36):
I hope boyant show where our guest talks about something
totally unrelated to what they do for a living usually
and it's just supposed to be. I think when Scott
and I were trying to think of, okay, we want
to work on something together every you know, there are
a lot of podcasts out there. What's something sort of
different we could do. What I like about this is
that you hear people talk about something you might be
(29:57):
surprised to know, you know that they love, and people
like talking about things that they like. It actually works
out well.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
And what do you what do you think you were
born to love?
Speaker 2 (30:08):
If I were a guest on my show, I would
probably talk about running. And I know that maybe sounds boring,
but I do love running. It's always been an outlet
like ever since, I mean field hockey aside, it's just
I need to do it. You have the thing I
do I need, Endoyan. I'm a junkie for Endorfis and
so it doesn't matter if I run for fifteen minutes
(30:29):
or you know, two hours. I never run for two hours.
I don't know why I just said that, but I
do feel like the release, the meditation it is. It's
just like I it's a both a chemical, you know, release,
but it's also just gives you time to think. And
so everybody, I know, I feel like this self care
mantra is to me. At first, I kept telling myself, Oh,
(30:51):
this is trendy, this is going to pass. No it's not.
It's like so valuable, Like you have to take care
of yourself. You just have to. Everybody does everybody.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
That was the hilarious Ellie Kemper. If you want to
hear more from her, go listen to her new podcast
Born to Love on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you
get your podcasts. That's it for us today. Talk to
you next week now. What with Burke Shields is a
(31:25):
production of iHeartRadio. Our lead producer and wonderful showrunner is
Julia Weaver. Additional research and editing by Darby Masters and
Abu Zafar. Our executive producer is Christina Everett. The show
is mixed by Baheed Fraser.
What do you do when life doesn't go according to
plan that moment you lose a job, or a loved one,
or even a piece of yourself. I'm Brookshields and this
is now What, a podcast about pivotal moments as told
by people who lived them. Each week, I sit down
with a guest to talk about the times they were
knocked off course and what they did to move forward.
(00:27):
Some stories are funny, others are gut wrenching, but all
are unapologetically human and remind us that every success and
every setback is accompanied by a choice, and that choice
answers one question. Now, what one of the guys that
(00:50):
moved me into my dorm room freshman week, freshman day,
he's now working there and he drives by in the
car and he goes, Shields, get in the god Carney boy,
you took me to Huahwah. I got me a subway.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Now.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
It was like you're.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Eating this right now, a Wawa subway sandwich. Heals all wounds.
It is that there's nothing. And I don't know how
recently you've been back. They've now changed the wabble, or
they've remodeled, they've reloaded that.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Well, they moved the trend, didn't they moved the station
or they.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Moved a whole dinky station I think, and the wah
wah with it. But there is nothing. I mean, you
can't compare Princeton reunions. I don't know how that statement sounds,
but it is what it is to anything. I mean,
it's like the Kentucky Derby.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Do you know it's the It's the second largest amount
of alcohol consumed. Oh lord, next to yep, second only
to the DY five hundred?
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Are you kidding?
Speaker 1 (01:44):
So there? I was close.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
I was close with that comparison.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
My guest today is Elliet Kemper, an actor and author,
a podcast host, a wife, a mother, and, as you'll
hear us discuss throughout this episode, a proud Princeton, a lion.
Like many of you, I fell in love with the
contagious optimism she portrayed through her roles and shows like
The Office and Unbreakable Kimmie Schmidt, And though I personally
(02:11):
didn't know Ellie before this interview, I was thrilled to
discover that she exudes the best parts of her most
iconic characters. She's hilarious, she's gracious, resilient, and downright impressive. So,
without further ado, here is Ellie Kemper. Ellie Kemper, Hello,
(02:34):
I am so happy you wanted to do the show. Obviously,
I'm a huge fan. My gosh. I also love that
I'm speaking with a fellow Princetonian.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
I am so happy to be a guest on your show.
I am the enormous fan of you. So I'm not
even looking you in the eye right now. I'm looking
off to the side of my laptop. But the Princeton
Vaughn dies hard.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Have they ever asked you to speak at commencement? Yes?
Speaker 2 (03:00):
I y And actually I'm sort of embarrassed to not know.
Did you You must have spoken several times.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
No, it just just once. And Andrew Dureki, who's also
a past Princetonian, he talked me into doing it because
I was just I was sort of obliterated by fear
and it was just one of those things when I
just I wanted to be funny and I wanted to
and I just wanted to, you know, it was such
(03:31):
an important time for me. Have you been back lately?
Speaker 2 (03:36):
So I just celebrated my twentieth reunion last year in
twenty twenty two. I know and so I live in
New York. So I went for the day.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Did you alone or did you bring your husband or
my husbands stayed at home. I brought my best friend
who also went to Princeton. Her name is Joe, and
we went together. And I can't imagine what it's like
for you. Have you been back to reunions. I've gone
back to the big ones. But I had my thirty fifth.
So I'm I'm well. And you know, it's funny because
my mom, my, my mom, listen to me. Oh, she
(04:06):
she wants to be in every conversation even though she's dead.
She's died.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Well, I'm sorry, but yes, that's so.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
That's Wendy Williams. When she's talked about her mom, she
goes she's died. So I went. So I said to
my husband, Okay, I'm gonna go. And he's like, look,
why don't you just go alone for the first day
and then I'll come the next day and bring the
kids or whatever. And I was like, okay, all right,
I just I'm not gonna stay long. And then at
(04:34):
every tent I kept saying, okay, I'm not, I'm not
I'm not gonna stay a long I'm not gonna stay
long four o'clock in the morning. I am like meandering,
not in a straight line.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
And the guy, one of.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
The guys that moved me into my dorm room freshman week,
freshman day, he's now working there, and he drives by
in the car and he goes shields, get in the
goddamn car. And I was like, but I nice man.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
And I was like, oh god, he.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Goes, some thing's never changed. Getting the goddamn carney boy.
He took me to it, got me in a subway.
It was like, you're yeating this right now.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Yep, a wah wah subway sandwich. Heals all wounds.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
If you say the wah wah wighs the way to go.
People understand you wholeheartedly. What did did you always want
to go there? I?
Speaker 2 (05:29):
And oh is the answered? No, it wasn't.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
I didn't.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
I mean, I don't know what your thought process was.
I mean, you and I had very different childhood experience.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Tell me about your but I so what.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
I wasn't instantly recognizable to you every person on the globe.
But I didn't really give too much thought about where
I wanted to go to college. I knew I wanted
to go to college in the Northeast, and I when
I visited Princeton, I mean, it's iconic, it's gorgeous, it's stunning,
it's beautiful, and there was a comb anas I played
field hockey. I knew that. You know, Princeton had these
(06:03):
great theater You were also in the Triangle Club, which
is a theater musical theater group at Princeton for those
of us who don't know what that is. And I
and I just I had such a great experience visiting
and then I got in and I and I accepted.
But it wasn't a life long whatever dream. It just
felt like I felt very lucky to be able to
go there.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Now you grew up, you grew up in Saint Louis.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
I grew up in Saint Louis, and uh yes, I
went to I live there all my life and in fact,
I mean until I graduated high school and in fact,
my experience leaving for college. This is one thing that
I don't want to like forget, which is that I
was profoundly homesick. My first song too, oh it was
(06:47):
my sobbed and I was like, you know, I'm just
I remember going home for Christmas break, but I brought
all of my laundry with me, but like not to
do it at home in Saint Louis. But because I
was like, well, I'm not I'm not going back, Like
in my head it was a weird I wasn't consciously
doing but but I sort of was because it. I
remember thinking for the first time I realized that the
(07:08):
Midwest is a different uh reagion from the rest of
the country. Because when I went to for instance, I said,
I remember checking my mom on the phone and I
was like, Mom, it is you know. I say hello
to people here, like passing them on campus, and they
do not smile back. And I remember feeling like this
is so different now, like why are people saying hi?
Speaker 1 (07:31):
But did you feel like Saint Louis. So I'm born
and raised in Manhattan, right, and that has shaped me undoubtedly.
How do you think Saint Louis has shaped you as
a child.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
I feel very lucky that I grew up there. I
grew up in a suburb of Saint Louis. I had
a very lucky childhood I had. I have a wonderful,
supportive family. I have three siblings, two parents. I went
to an excellent school. I have a kind of I
recognize how lucky I was, and I have maybe a
childhood that would make other people angry because there weren't
(08:07):
any major traumas. And I feel like living growing up
in Saint Louis, I now see having lived in New
York and Los Angeles, I do feel grateful for growing
up in a relatively quiet place. And I do think
about now. I have two boys, ages seven and almost four,
and I do wonder about, you know, where I will
(08:29):
be raising them because I have a different job than
my parents had. It as you know, it requires you
to be in possibly different cities than Saint Louis, And
you know, I do think that like having experienced the
Midwest and Saint Louis growing up, it had to have
had an impact on my outlook and personality. Like I said,
I do think there's just a I mean, this is
(08:50):
no great insight, but there is a friendliness and openness
I think to the Midwest that isn't everywhere, and I
appreciate that it does actually feel genuine like fake.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
And it's got something you're trying to really impart to
your boys, like do you want them to also really
know that.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Yeah, yes, yes, and I think that there's you know,
I had a friend say once, you know, it doesn't
matter where you're raising your kids if you have to,
you know, if you have family, parents, blood relatives or not,
you know, chosen family, whatever it is, who have a
good head on their shoulders, then your kids will be fine.
So I do think it's it doesn't matter where you
know they you will be raising them so long as
(09:32):
you're setting a you know, kind of grounded example.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
You mentioned your career, which has been incredible. How did
you discover that you were a comedian?
Speaker 2 (09:48):
I did? Quick Fire?
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Was quick Fire?
Speaker 2 (09:50):
I don't know when was founded, Okay.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
I think it like ninety like ninety two. I founded
because it didn't exist. Yes, so quick Fire is the
improv comedy at Princeton.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
And I loved it, so I auditioned my sophomore year.
I played field hockey my freshman year, but I used
the term play very loosely. I sat on the bench
and observed it. I was just telling my friends the
other day who also went to Princeton. I believe it
was somewhere between thirteen and eighteen seconds of a playing
(10:22):
time that I had my entire field hacking career. That's
not a lot too. My friends goes, he goes. Isn't
that more insulting than just not playing at all? I
was like, you know, I've never thought of that way,
but yeah, I guess it is. I think. Yeah, So
I decided to leave that behind and I auditioned for
quip Fire, and it was this clicking that I sort
(10:43):
of had never really experienced before where I did feel
like I am good at this and I had never
I didn't suffer from low self confidence, but I don't
think I had ever felt as confident as I did
when I was in that improv group.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Triangle was a bit that, but it was really it
was doing comedy with like Bob Hope and and then
doing friends and realizing that my instincts were actually funnier
and better than what was on the page. Like it,
you know, the combination that I really that was like
a revelation to me. And it was just like, oh,
I finally found home. It says where I belong.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Well, well that's what I loved because in high school
I was in my high school plays and musicals and
you know, oh who was I? And anything goes? Bonnie?
I think she's like the cut up, she's like crazy,
but it's so it's comedy in like a very specific way.
This stuff that I was doing at Quip Fire in
Princeston or in quip Fire at Prinston felt for the
(11:44):
first time what I call now improv, which was, you know,
I both studied that our Citizen's Brigade and and you
know started in Chicago, and it was the first time
again where it instantly clicked and like you said, there's
a shorthand. So it felt like, oh, these people that
I'm with they get it too, like we all get it.
And I hadn't been in that environment before. I had been,
(12:08):
you know, kind of a jock, but I was in
the school plays. But then this I felt, you know,
at home. But I say that, I don't know why
I say that tongue in cheek, because I really did
feel at home. And I'm friends with those you know,
well they are mostly guys. I'm friends with most of
those guys to this day, which is says something you know.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Which says it's yeah, I mean that those those friendships
and comedy friendships. To me, John Ham, it comes to mind.
He he was your teacher, your drama teacher. Is that crazy?
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Is that insane? Oh, it's so crazy, It's so crazy.
He went to my high school in Saint Louis, and
he went to college and then he came back to
teach at our school was called John Burrows. He came
back to teach at Burroughs for a year. He taught
theater and so I was in ninth grade at the time.
So he taught. I took a semester of I think
(13:01):
it was called like theater nine ninth grade, whatever ninth
grade theater was, and he taught the improv portion.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
We were just at his wedde Oh. Yeah, he's really
good friends with my mi Okay, yes, who's a comedy writer.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Yes, yep, yep, yep. So I have always thought of
him as like an uncle, Like he's just kind of,
you know, there's that he he feels. I have no
idea if I'm just like projecting this and it's he
doesn't actually feel protective, but the air he gives off
is that of a protective uncle. I feel like because
I contacted him when I went to Los Angeles to
(13:33):
do my one person show, and I you know, emailed him,
just cold emailed him from our Burrows like alumni website.
I said, I'm doing this show. He was on mad Men.
I think it was like a third season of mad Men.
It's like, any chance you can call to see my show,
and you know, he showed up and he was in
the bah. Of course he did, and he's like that.
He helps out anyone from Saint Louis who like reaches
(13:55):
out to him. He's like, how can I help? He
is so giving. I adore the man.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
And then you worked with him, Yeah, yeah, better.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
I couldn't believe this. It's so talk about nerves. Now
you just think I'm always a nervous wreck. But when
he came so he was the reverend on Unbreakable Kimy
Schmidt where I was Kimmy and he uh showed up.
I guess it was the end of the first season.
And so I'm in a scene with him. Of course
I fled my first line. Of course I did. And
(14:22):
I was like, oh, because there was a combiny so
many things at play. One I knew him as Don
Draper from mad Men. Two he was my teacher, so
I feel like he's great me. And then three he's
a phenomenal actor.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
So I was.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Like, I hope I don't. I hope, I like, bring
my a game. But all of that was after I
got the flubbed line out of the way. It was easy.
I was like, Okay, this is actually fun.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
You know what though it's it's it's surprising to me
all that you've done, but that you really sort of
didn't kind of break into the entertainment industry until we
were like twenty nine, like you were.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Yes, I was actually thinking about that in anticipation of
our conversation because we've had so like two totally different experiences,
and I feel like, in talking about Saint Louis and
my upbringing there, it does seem how you've navigated your
way is so different from from me. But I do
feel I feel grateful that I had this quote unquote
(15:23):
normal childhood because then I think it has given me
perspective as I continue to navigate the entertainment industry and
especially getting older, there's been some life experience that has
just been non show business, which is valuable.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
You know.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
I'm not sure that I said that eloquently, but I'm
grateful that I began work a little bit later.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
So what were your twenties really like you when you're
living and you're working in New York. But prior to
my office, what were those years like for you? Those
years were? They were?
Speaker 2 (15:56):
I wouldn't call them. They were fine. I wasn't like happy.
I wasn't unhappy, but I wasn't, you know, living it up.
I'm much more content now, And I know that sounds trite,
but it's true. I do feel like as I've gotten older,
I feel more secure and confident, and in my twenties
it's more like, Okay, well, what is the plan here?
(16:18):
I'm doing improv at the People's Improv Theater at the
Upper Citizens Brigade. I'm doing that at night. I was
very lucky to have gotten a commercial agent and to
have booked commercials. I was earning a paycheck, which is
hugely satisfying, and not having to rely on my parents,
which I did have to, and was grateful to be
(16:38):
able to do that at first, but then began to
make my own money, which is just so satisfying on
many levels. But it also felt like, well, what is
the end goal? Is it to be a commercial actor
and do improv?
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Did you have a plan? B?
Speaker 2 (16:53):
No? And still don't, And so that's why I often
I don't know how your mind works. But every time
I'm like out of work for more than a month,
I'm like, well, what, I guess I'm like a peloton
shut I could become a peloton instructor, I really don't.
I don't have any others. I don't have another skill set.
(17:13):
So so, and not that I could become a peloton instructor,
I would get too tired. But there was no plan B.
And it was more like, you know, I got to
audition for Saturday Night Live, I think in like two
thousand and eight, so maybe when I was like twenty eight,
and I didn't get apart, but that felt like progress.
That felt like okay, I had and parks and rec too, right, yes,
(17:35):
actually sort of right next to each other, like the
same year, and didn't get either.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
And how do you deal with how did you deal
with that? It's to me, it's like, you know, I
never get used to rejection. I just don't.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Oh, I'm I'm really deep, don't.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
It's because it fills personal and you know it's not.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Personal, Yes it does. You know it's not, and yet
it's so.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
How did you deal with that rejection? What did it
spur you to do it?
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Oh? Do you know what it was? Actually, this is
maybe a good I don't know if it's a good quality.
It's something that I just have, which is I get
angry when I'm rejected, so it makes me work harder.
So it was a thing of like, and you know,
for Saturday Night Life, they don't outright call you and
say you didn't get it. They just don't call you.
So after like a few months, I was like, I
(18:18):
have a feel that the season has started.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
And I'm not there, and I'm not there.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
I have a Princeton education, so I was able to
put two and two together and I realized I didn't
get the job.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Were you afraid when you auditioned? Were you nervous? Oh?
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Yeah, I was. I was sick with nerves because yes,
it's like it's Lauren Michaels and it's everything you've.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Read Apperiales work.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you present When I did it, there
were I think it was three characters of your own
invention and then three celebrity impressions, which, oh wow, I
cannot do impressions. I my face sort of looks like Renezelwegger's.
It's not that's not a compliment to myself. That's not
it just is it happens to look like her, and
(19:03):
so I can scrunch up my face and look like her.
It requires no skill, it's just like what happens. So
I did her, and then I did I cannot. I
did a Miley Cyrus something with Miley Cyrus and I
don't know the third. But it's like I've honestly felt
the relief. I don't remember the nerves. I remember the
relief afterwards, like I did it. It's done. I never
(19:23):
have to do that again, Like I remember it like
a dream, I think, because it did feel so surreal
and there's no prep time. It was like a week
before I met with Seth Meyers and Lorne Michaels, and
then it's like you have a week before the actual audition,
so there was no I felt like, that's not time
to prepare anyway, and so you just have to It's exhilarating.
(19:45):
That was an exhilarating experience. But I should say that
it also inspired confidence because I felt like, oh wow,
I've been invited to audition by Lorne Michaels, who is
the king of comedy, and so it felt like, okay,
well I made it. That far that's something and then
you know, and then from there I think I do
(20:06):
feel like you know, I was able to make contacts
through the Saturday Night Live audition that introduced me to
people in Los Angeles, and that's how I was able
to audition for parts and rec and also not get it.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
So I call this show now What because it really
is about those unexpected things that pop up into our lives,
you know, personal, professional, spiritual, any any of that. But
they force us to really ask ourselves, now what Now
what do I do? So looking back, do you have
(20:47):
is there any pivotal now what moment for you?
Speaker 2 (20:50):
There are two pivotal now what moments, and the first
one is and I'm going to talk like profession wise
because it's what you and I were talking about earlier
about it happens to have taken place at Princeton, but
just about college and being nineteen years old and feeling like, Okay,
well I'm going to college to play field hockey, because
like I said, I played field hockey and I sort
(21:13):
of laughed it off, but I did find sitting on
the bench to be somewhat demoralizing because I was the
star in high school and I prided myself on that
and I thought it gave me a lot of I
felt a lot of self worth from that, and so
being humiliated at whether on purpose or not, at a
higher level was ultimately I have to think good for
(21:35):
me because I think humility is always a good thing.
But also walking away from one thing, the now what
moment of like, oh, you know, this is not going
as I planned. I thought that I would be good
on this team. I thought that I would be a
contributing member of this team and gain recognition from that,
and I was not. And instead of sitting on the bench,
(21:59):
which would not have been you know, I don't know
that that would have been a bad move, but I
do feel like your four years in college are precious.
I didn't want to. I had to recognize that I
am not going to succeed at the level I want to.
So pivoting from that, I now feel was invaluable because
if I hadn't quit the team, I would not have
(22:20):
auditioned for the improv team, and that is what absolutely
changed my outlook on what It's not that I wanted
to become a professional field hockey player, but I don't
think I would have taken improv and comedy as a
serious career track. Had I not had that experience with
Quippire where where I was introduced to the you know
(22:41):
history of Chicago improv and all the legends that have
come out of there, Like, I didn't see that as
a viable career for me. And then but that pivot
did I think open my eyes to that, which was
I feel.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
Very grateful for it. And what was the second one?
What was the other one?
Speaker 2 (22:58):
And the second one was I think that moment of
not getting the Saturday Night Live job and the Parks
and Rec job which you brought up, which is like
I was doing this one person show and so it
was like, well, you just got to keep working on
that and doing creating your own content, you know, to
bring something to it's it's it's weird with our jobs
(23:20):
because you're rejected in a way that feels out that
is usually out of your control. It doesn't mean you're
bad at your job. It means that you weren't chosen
for this job. So I feel like the you know,
being rejected from those two jobs opened the doors to
be on the office and that led to a lot
of other you know opportunities. So it's weird. The now
(23:41):
what thing is like endlessly interesting because that's all life is.
It's like so many pieces of this are out of
our control.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
I think, once you have a child, you live in
perpetual Now what moments do you have any that staying
out as a parent for you?
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Oh my gosh, yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
You know.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
I think it's I mean, this is probably infinitely relatable.
But just the pandemic, which was like, okay, so my
kids were on the whole. I feel lucky that they
were as little as they were because they were they
didn't know what was going on. But it is that
feeling of just like okay, there's do you remember the
brainwash we all what the necessary like brainwash we all
(24:23):
went into, which was like okay, now we're living in
a world where nobody can see anyway. So that felt like,
but I'm raising two babies, okay, and so are millions
of other people.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Now what.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
We went back to Saint Louis, we lived in we
were able to live with family for almost a year
and and hunker down in that way and that and
then it was like, but now things are ebbing, where
do we go now? And then I think, now, what
going back to New York and trying to, you know,
figure out how to how to resume some sort of
normalcy there.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Have they seen any of your stuff? Like you're do
they know who Aaron Hannon in the office is.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
I think someone told him who Kimmy Schmidt was. Someone
told my almost second grader who Kimmy Schmidt was, and
so he he was like, he wasn't He didn't really
have a strong take on it. He was like, he
knows that I'm an actor and that my husband's a writer,
but he doesn't know too much about it except that
I also did a voice on Sophia the First so
he knows, which is a cartoon, so he knows those things.
(25:23):
How old were your daughters when they knew that you
what you do?
Speaker 1 (25:25):
I mean, the irony is that I did. I did
the voice of Miss Spider this cartoon, and yes, and
yeah that was like they thought that that's they thought
that that's all I did. And then and tried on clothes.
My daughter was my younger one. When they asked her,
she was like seven or something. They so, what does
your mom do? She goes, yeah, you know, clothes. I
(25:48):
was like what, Because I'm always I was always in
fittings like, so I yes, and i'd have to be
she thought that's what I did for a living.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Oh I love that, but I yep, I could see
that as a kid being like, yeah, that's what she does.
She she haes on closed and then they being her
after Oh okay.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
So you know, but they were like, I'm we're never
seeing any of your movies unless it's like a flat
out comedy like they've seen, Like they'll see if I
do a rom com, they'll watch that. But they have
no interest in seeing any of my earlier stuff because
it's like then it's not their mom. You know, they
don't want You're owned by the other by people, and
(26:29):
that means that all of a sudden, they're not just
You're You're not just their mom, and they don't like that,
you know, even at twenty right, I don't like that.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
But I'm so glad that they recognize that that that
limitation is there, or that boundary is in place, because
I do think about that.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Susan Loop though. Yeah, that their rooms at night.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
That's smart, that's smart.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
Their mom was funny, look at her, you might.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
That's the worst when I try to make them laugh
and I fail, and I'm like, you know that I
do this for a job, and I don't say that,
but I do think it, and I'm like, oh, well,
I hope someone thinks they're much. Are they always funnier?
Speaker 1 (27:13):
They always?
Speaker 2 (27:14):
They always their kids, of course they're funnier.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
I mean that's you know, would you ever consider like
a darker role that wasn't comedic? Would you ever do that?
Or is that? I think so?
Speaker 2 (27:26):
I don't, you know, I don't know where I stand
on that. I used to think, yes, I want to.
I want to, you know, expand my range and explore
something like that. But I also wonder it's sort of
the same thing as you know, admitting I guess that
you went to Princeton. It's like here where it feels
like should I not be you know? Is that something
to be ashamed of? Is that something that sounds too
(27:47):
you know, privileged and crazy in this world? And I
do I know this is a strange comparison, but I
I kind of feel like I enjoy doing comedy and
I feel like I'm good at it, and I don't
feel all a strong poll to try to do drama
or at this point, so no, the answer is no,
(28:08):
because I don't.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
You know, I used to think that I would only
be credible if I, you know, went to those dark
places and was really yes, all this yeah, And then
I got older and I was just like, I don't
enjoy it. I only enjoy comedy.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
You are your words of music to my ears. It
doesn't I have done you know small I've had. I've
had experiences doing that. I don't feel like I've plumbed
the depths. I don't feel like I have. There's no
I don't feel the same sense of satisfaction as as
do when I do comedy, which isn't to say like, oh,
(28:47):
I want to do the thing I know I can do.
I feel challenged in comedy all the time. Anytime you're
in like what a scene with johnnym okay forget, that's
a huge challenge. So I would and I would prefer
to continue to challenge myself in that way.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
You also started a You've launched a comedy podcast.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
On my Heart as I have on iHeart.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
Yes, and it's called Born to Love. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Correct, It's wonderful. I have been co hosting the show
with my quick Fire. He's my friend from back at
Princeton we were in our improv group together and I've
known him for over twenty years. So we host this
show called Born to Love and every week we have
a guest on to talk about something that they love
and talk about keeping it light. It is a light buoyant,
(29:36):
I hope boyant show where our guest talks about something
totally unrelated to what they do for a living usually
and it's just supposed to be. I think when Scott
and I were trying to think of, okay, we want
to work on something together every you know, there are
a lot of podcasts out there. What's something sort of
different we could do. What I like about this is
that you hear people talk about something you might be
(29:57):
surprised to know, you know that they love, and people
like talking about things that they like. It actually works
out well.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
And what do you what do you think you were
born to love?
Speaker 2 (30:08):
If I were a guest on my show, I would
probably talk about running. And I know that maybe sounds boring,
but I do love running. It's always been an outlet
like ever since, I mean field hockey aside, it's just
I need to do it. You have the thing I
do I need, Endoyan. I'm a junkie for Endorfis and
so it doesn't matter if I run for fifteen minutes
(30:29):
or you know, two hours. I never run for two hours.
I don't know why I just said that, but I
do feel like the release, the meditation it is. It's
just like I it's a both a chemical, you know, release,
but it's also just gives you time to think. And
so everybody, I know, I feel like this self care
mantra is to me. At first, I kept telling myself, Oh,
(30:51):
this is trendy, this is going to pass. No it's not.
It's like so valuable, Like you have to take care
of yourself. You just have to. Everybody does everybody.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
That was the hilarious Ellie Kemper. If you want to
hear more from her, go listen to her new podcast
Born to Love on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you
get your podcasts. That's it for us today. Talk to
you next week now. What with Burke Shields is a
(31:25):
production of iHeartRadio. Our lead producer and wonderful showrunner is
Julia Weaver. Additional research and editing by Darby Masters and
Abu Zafar. Our executive producer is Christina Everett. The show
is mixed by Baheed Fraser.
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