From Stand-Up to Seinfeld: Carol Leifer on Comedy, Writing, & Embarrassing Speeches

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Really now, really, really.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Now, really Hello, and welcome to really know Really with
Jason Alexander and Peter Tilden, who keep melodically reminding you
to subscribe, subscribe, subscribe, as if we're singing some kind
of Christmas Carol, and speaking of Carol. Comedy writer and
stand up comic legend Carol Leafer has written some of
the funniest shows on television, including the OSCARS broadcast, The

(00:29):
Larry Sanders Show, Saturday Night Live, and Seinfeld, for which
her one time romance and subsequent friendship with Jerry Seinfeld
became the real life role model for the character of
Elaine Vennis.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
Really No Really.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
Her whole career has been about writing things that make
people funnier, and today she's talking about her new book
that can actually help you and everyone you know be
funnier and better at speechify. It's called How to Write
a Funny speech for a wedding, bar mitzvah, graduation, and
every other event you didn't want to go to in
the first place. See even the title's funny. Today, she
talks to the guys about life, love, and her story

(01:00):
career that has led to multiple Emmy nominations and a
win for her outstanding contribution to the hit show Hacks.
And speaking of Hacks, here are two of the best
ones in the biz, Jezon Alexander and Peter Tilden.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
Now, how we going to get into this one? You
know how many episodes have we done? One hundred and what?

Speaker 3 (01:18):
But it feels like one hundred episodes underwater one hundred and.

Speaker 4 (01:25):
I always wonder how we're going to start, how we're
going to start, how we're going to do this one.

Speaker 3 (01:29):
Feels like Larry, I can't do this, can't be done again.
The reason we have Carol leifer.

Speaker 5 (01:37):
On, I'm here to promote my book, by the way,
unusually long.

Speaker 4 (01:46):
How to write a funny speech dot dot dot for
a wedding, by mits, for graduation and every other event
you didn't want to go to in the first place.

Speaker 3 (01:54):
And it's a template in there, right, Yes, so you
can write speak like a mad lab.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
I can use one page. I'm gonna loved.

Speaker 3 (02:07):
And Jerry and we may use his name always said
that giving speeches ranks above. It's the thing people are
the scaredest about because they're to get up in front
of people, even my wife get up and go just know,
write something that you can't wait to tell him. We'd
be you know, have moments, you know, but people get panic.
Do you think Jerry's act, he says at a funeral,

(02:28):
the guy speaking is worse off than the coffee. As
far as that goes, death doesn't still stuck on. Scaredest,
more scared, more frightened, Yes, more scared, more frightened.

Speaker 4 (02:41):
That those are two words that exist in the Scaredest
is someone who you know, like racist scaredest, They like, yeah, scared.

Speaker 3 (02:51):
I make my point of memorable. One of the things
you do is memorable.

Speaker 4 (02:55):
Be memorable relief because I got to spend lovely time
with her on our show together when I was learning
all about comedy and television and you were just.

Speaker 1 (03:07):
God, come on, come on.

Speaker 4 (03:09):
That was I have to say, I don't know anybody
else's experience. I had a great time while we were
doing the show I did. I was always grateful, and
did anybody. I don't know if you checked everybody, but
I have grown more fond of it in distance, you know,

(03:32):
I guess because when you're doing once it's hit you
kind of went, oh, yeah, I'm on a big TV show,
what's next?

Speaker 1 (03:39):
What's next? And in retrospect, you look back and go,
what's next.

Speaker 4 (03:44):
Most people don't get that, you know, for God's sake
exactly to just sit and go with I always say,
you know, any any project is an arranged marriage. You
don't know what you're who you're getting. I don't know anything.
And I loved the people, love the material, love the characters. Yeah,
it was just it was the whole thing was really

(04:05):
a blessing. And though I was aware of it, I
think I'm you know, exponentially more aware of You.

Speaker 5 (04:11):
Know, the thing I always say about the show is
you guys individually I mean amazing, but put together it
was like lightning in a.

Speaker 6 (04:22):
Bottle and it just all worked.

Speaker 5 (04:26):
And in talking about what a great place to work
it was, I mean, also, don't you think the tone
that Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld said it kind of
you know, the think you know, the fish stinks from
the top down, like when it's good guys at the top.
You know, the love that they spread, the crew, everybody

(04:50):
loved everybody.

Speaker 4 (04:51):
And also the you know, well Jerry talks about this
about writing stand up and I'm sure you can speak.

Speaker 1 (04:59):
To this as well.

Speaker 4 (05:01):
It's how much do you care how much are you
going to put into it? And I remember, I mean,
Jerry told a great story recently about when they came
up with the ending for the Marine Biologist, and he
talks about it in praise of me learning the monologue,
which was, you know, that's just a card trick. But
what I tell the story about is they had an

(05:21):
ending that we were all very excited about during the week,
and then we got it in front of the audience
and it didn't quite.

Speaker 1 (05:27):
Get the reaction. You remember what it was.

Speaker 4 (05:30):
I don't. I wasn't because I wasn't in it. My
storyline stopped when I walked out into the ocean.

Speaker 6 (05:35):
That's so funny.

Speaker 4 (05:35):
But I think it was a coffee shop scene and
I don't remember what storyline we were tying up, and
it wasn't mine. Yeah, and they did the scene in
front of the audience and it got a fine reaction,
but they just went and I remember the you guys
all circle the wagons, the circle of wagons of writers,
And fifteen minutes later Larry comes over and goes, how
FSK can you learn them all? But I always go

(05:58):
to have that idea in their back pocket. Yes, work
it out while the audience is sitting there and not
we were a hit show at this point.

Speaker 1 (06:07):
They could have let it go.

Speaker 3 (06:10):
Let it go on that note, because I'm thinking back,
there was a scene with the ugly people in the restaurant, yes,
and they needed a line, Kerb and Larry needed a line,
and your line was right.

Speaker 5 (06:23):
He needed a line when he saw the ugly people
as he was walking through. So I gave him what
happened here.

Speaker 3 (06:34):
But that's that kind of thing where you're stay there
embedded in my brain. But that's the writing. That's when
people say, what.

Speaker 1 (06:46):
Is it the writing?

Speaker 4 (06:46):
But and again another compliment for care, it's writing for
the guy you're writing for. I mean, in and of itself,
it's a smart line, but it's not as my home run.

Speaker 3 (07:00):
I mean that jumped out because I remember writing for shows.
I wrote for a lot of sitcoms of Earth, and
I hated it more than anything. I hate sitting in
writer's rooms trying to guess what's in the executive prinster's head.
And I'd watch it on t VINGO. It's not that funny,
right right. I hated the writer's rooms. But your experience
on Curb and also with Seinfold was pitching big idea.

(07:20):
It was a big idea show rather than a whole
story with a bit whatever. Did you have to pitch
ABC and D story like stories for each each of them,
how they intersected or did you just go in and say,
nail saloon. She can't understand what they're saying, so she
hires somebody to interpret. Well.

Speaker 5 (07:35):
It was an interesting process at Seinfeld on NBC, by
the way, like unlike a lot of other shows where
there's a group writing room, it was one on one.
You'd have an idea, you'd go in with a few
ideas because time with Larry and Jerry in their office
that they shared was rare. So you'd go in and

(08:00):
you'd sit on the couch and they would sit at
their desk and you would pitch the idea. But knowing,
you know, and a bunch of the ideas, you know,
you always knew when Larry didn't like it, because it'd
be like the look on his face and he'd move
his shoulder and he'd be like, I don't know. You know,
you could see that on another show that was like

(08:22):
the worst. But but like I remember it like it
was yesterday when I pitched George brings a deaf woman
to a party with him to find out why his
girlfriend broke up with him.

Speaker 6 (08:37):
You know, Larry would shoot up from his chair. Yeah
we're doing that. Yeah, we're doing that.

Speaker 1 (08:41):
You know.

Speaker 5 (08:42):
So you started to get an idea of what kind
of things they were going to respond to and what things.

Speaker 4 (08:51):
So once he said you were doing that, then you
got sent off and do a drift.

Speaker 5 (08:56):
Well that was your story, and then it was Jerry.
Remember it was all about the lines woman, Marley Matten Marley,
So then that became Jerry's story with her with Marley Mattlin,
with the lip reading and mistaking, sweep I need to

(09:17):
sweep up with sleep with somebody, So that became that story.
A Laine's story, Oh that was with another. You know,
they always loved personal ideas, so at that before I
joined the show, I was a comic full time, and
you know, I'd have these flights at like five in
the morning and a car service guy would pick me

(09:40):
up and he'd be like chatty Kathy at five am,
you know, like on and on, and sometimes I wished,
like I could tell them I was deaf so they
would shut the So I pitched that story for Elane
that she pretends that she's deaf cause she doesn't want

(10:01):
to talk to the car service guy. And then the
story for Kramer Jason. As you know, the stories we
could come up with for Michael Richards were always well,
if we have a tennis setting, well Kramer should be a.

Speaker 1 (10:13):
Ball man at the US Open.

Speaker 5 (10:16):
You know, he was easy to come up with ideas
far because he was so.

Speaker 6 (10:21):
Physical and it was like you knew that would be
a home run.

Speaker 5 (10:24):
So you had to go back to your office, figure
out the other three stories, go back to them and
say what do you think of these other stories, and
then go and write your draft. And then the beauty
of Seinfeld was you know, normally writers we hate being
rewritten and you know, get surly about it. You'd wait
outside the door to see what their draft was because

(10:47):
as a writer, I love to see what they kept
of my draft and then what they changed or added,
because and I learned so much from that because the
draft would always be that much better, you know, elevated
to another degree. So it was really a great education
for me. And you know, learning I think from the masters.

Speaker 3 (11:08):
So you were one of the funniest people I know,
and it's hard to do what you do. The Oscars
are a hard thing because it's a you got to
figure out, especially Lissia with Conan and the politics are
going on, and you're you're walking a tightrope and you
have to know his personality. You have to know culturally
what's going on. You have to know what's going to
resonate with a big audience. Yeah, and then you're watching
the whole show to see what moments are happening that

(11:31):
you can then mention.

Speaker 1 (11:32):
Right, Well, here's the thing.

Speaker 5 (11:33):
When I write on the Oscars, sometimes I'm on the
host team and sometimes on the on the show team,
where you write.

Speaker 6 (11:41):
For the presenters.

Speaker 5 (11:42):
So Conan brought in I think it's mostly, if not all,
the writers from his show that he has a comfort
with and ease with. And I was on the show team,
so we write, you know, the team rights for the presenters.
But what I think was masterful about Conan was not

(12:03):
only were the jokes brilliant, but in the moment he
was amazing and having uh, you know, this stable of
incredible comedy writers there was perfect. And the story that
I'm telling about the Oscars a lot is I know Conan,

(12:24):
and so before the show I went up to wish
him good luck and he said he looked great, relaxed,
and he said, you know what, I'm just going to
go out and have fun. And you know, God damn it,
that's what he did, which is amazing. Yeah, because I've
seen the look of fear of other hosts before they
go out, you know, and that's what it's all about.

Speaker 6 (12:47):
Go out and have fun.

Speaker 3 (12:48):
And Jerry, Jerry Seinfeld did a benefit for us Jason
and asked him and he did a wonderful benefit. It
was him as Ray Ramono. Jason did some stand up
and Jerry and you would know this. Jerry's about to
go out stage and I go nervous and he looked
at me like I had a third off. He went like,
you're an idiot, Like why would I be Why would

(13:08):
I be nervous? He couldn't wait to go do it
is like zero nerves. You just can't. It's like this
is what I do. There's no nerve.

Speaker 5 (13:14):
That's I think he's the exception to that because and
we talk about it in my speech book, which I
know we'll get to. But I get I get anxious,
I get nervous before I perform always and that you know, people,
I'm not afraid of my nervousness because, as you know
Jason also as a performer, it gives you a certain

(13:35):
amount of energy that's good to bring out on stage
with you. So you know, Jerry is his own performer
and person in many ways. And yeah, he sure does
look forward to it. But I think what people don't
necessarily realize about him is he might not be nervous

(13:56):
because he works so hard on his act all day
writing that he goes out there prepared. He's not just
winging it, and I think that gives him probably a sense.

Speaker 4 (14:07):
Of comment and he's got you know, forty years of
backup acky.

Speaker 3 (14:10):
But then I think he was confident, you know, doing
what he was doing.

Speaker 5 (14:15):
Yeah, because I first started at the Comic Strip, he
was the MC. I was the open mic nighter that
I went to with Paul Reiser. But he was already
a star at the comic Strip. He'd only been doing
it a year, but he was like the big man
on campus. So even when I met him as someone

(14:37):
just starting out in the business, he was already a
big mocker.

Speaker 6 (14:41):
As our people.

Speaker 1 (14:41):
Yes, as we say, yes, all right, I watched this segment.

Speaker 4 (14:44):
So, uh, you've written this book which I'm going to
hold up how to write a funny speech for a
wedding but mits for graduation and every other event he
didn't want to go to in.

Speaker 1 (14:57):
The first place.

Speaker 4 (14:58):
And I want to ask you about writing this book, okay,
and why you.

Speaker 1 (15:02):
Thought to write this book.

Speaker 4 (15:04):
But before I do that, yes, writing, So I do
remember you because I'm old enough. I remember when you
started making the scene, especially on television as as a
stand up comedy. Yes, yes, and I now, of course
stand up comedy is writing. But but to me, stand
up come comedians want to be performers.

Speaker 1 (15:22):
There.

Speaker 4 (15:23):
I think most stand up comments that I know think
of themselves primarily as performers that.

Speaker 6 (15:27):
We need a lot of attention.

Speaker 1 (15:29):
Yes, but arguably.

Speaker 4 (15:33):
I think at this point the bigger part of your
professional life has been as a writer.

Speaker 1 (15:38):
Yes, did you know that was where you were heading?
Were you happy that's where it went to? Was it?
Did it shock you or did you go no? This?
I know this was part of the plan.

Speaker 5 (15:48):
Well, I'll take you back to a story about my dad,
who was a big influence on me and wanted to
go into stand up. I was doing stand up and
then there was audition for Saturday Night Live for new
performers at the Comic Strip and I went on. I
had a good set, and Al Franken was there as

(16:11):
a producer and the head writer Jim Downey, And when
I came off stage, they said, we really enjoyed you.
Would you like to be a writer on the show.
So of course, you know, I was so excited at
the possibility. And I went back to my dad and
I said, they've offered me a writing jump, but you know,
I love to perform.

Speaker 6 (16:32):
And I want to be a stand up. My dad
was like, you.

Speaker 5 (16:35):
Know what, Carol, in any career, you got to diversify.
So if I were you, I would take no questions
asked jump at this writing job.

Speaker 6 (16:46):
And I did.

Speaker 5 (16:48):
I followed his advice and I did see that. Hm,
I do like this writing too. And what's been great
about it over the years is stand up is amazing.

Speaker 6 (16:59):
I still do it.

Speaker 5 (17:00):
I was just performing this weekend at wolf Trap. I mean,
I love it. But the great thing about writing is
anna is a lonely profession. You're traveling by yourself, without
an agent and a manager. You're in the podunk this
you're in this town and once I was in a
writer's room with other writers. I loved it. I felt

(17:23):
like I'm home. I'm with every funniest person that I've
ever known, and how great is this? And also it's
a profession where you don't have to travel, and especially
now being married having a kid, that was the saving
grace to.

Speaker 3 (17:40):
Menstly, that was tough for you because from what I understand,
Frank brought you in, but Lauren Michaels never gave his blessing.
It was not he never accepted you what he did.

Speaker 6 (17:51):
I love this story because, from what I.

Speaker 3 (18:03):
Understand, prank of Bart you in, but Lauren Michaels never
gave his bless It was not he never accepted you
or he did.

Speaker 5 (18:11):
I love this story because you know people like, oh,
you wrote for refn L.

Speaker 6 (18:14):
Do you have your meeting with Lauren to make it official?

Speaker 5 (18:17):
So I got dressed up and I thought, you know,
I'll be in there for an hour and I have
every answer ready. It was literally the meeting was they
were still auditioning performers for the season. He walks outside
the door. He says, al and Jim, tell me that
you're really good. You do know that the show you're

(18:40):
going to have to stay late many nights, Tuesday nights,
most writers stay over. I say, yeah, no, that's mine.
I went okay, and I was hired.

Speaker 1 (18:47):
So that my meeting was about a minute.

Speaker 6 (18:51):
But when I got there, Lauren had a bit of
a club.

Speaker 5 (18:56):
I think a lot of people who run a show,
you know, the people that they avitate too. And I
wasn't part of the club, so I always felt kind
of on the outs that way. But as a young
writer or a young person my inexperience, as I've learned
over the years, I kind of like accepted it and
kind of flew under his radar. Now doing this for

(19:18):
forty years, I would have done it differently.

Speaker 6 (19:21):
You know, if someone doesn't.

Speaker 5 (19:22):
Take to you right away, I would have tried harder
for him to like me, you know, engaged him more,
made more of a college try to work it out
instead of like, well, I'll side step him, because that's
that's what you need to do at a job.

Speaker 6 (19:40):
Your boss needs to like you a lot.

Speaker 5 (19:43):
You know. Jim Downey and Al Franken were you know,
second level and they liked me great. But he has
a thing plaque on his desk. You know, the captain's
word is law and it sure has served him well
over the years. But know he's the big number.

Speaker 3 (20:01):
One of the writers said that you go in and
you just make sure you put two things together because
you can't create the volume that you have to come
up with ideas. So he goes, uh, the submarine loaga maker.
You know, you're just you're throwing and they go do
it and you go, I have no idea what that is?
And I got to go back.

Speaker 1 (20:20):
Is that accurate?

Speaker 5 (20:21):
Yes, Because the way the show works is Monday, the
host come in, comes in. They you all go to
Lauren's office. The host is sitting in kind of a
chair of prominence, and then talk about pressure.

Speaker 1 (20:36):
Uh.

Speaker 5 (20:37):
They go around the room in Lauren's office. I remember,
what are you thinking about? What kind of sketter you
thinking of doing this week? And Yeah, a lot of
times you make something up because you know nobody's going
to remember it never happened, but you got to be
prepared for something.

Speaker 6 (20:55):
You hosted the.

Speaker 4 (20:55):
Show I hosted one time when I can't remember the year,
I can tell you who was there. It was Mike Meyer,
Rob Schneider, Sandler, Chris rock was there.

Speaker 1 (21:06):
I was so on my heels that whole week because
exactly that.

Speaker 4 (21:10):
I come, Man, these are the writers of Usnel and
they're go, what do you think about a thing? And
I'm going it sounds is there a can I read it?
I don't have it yet. Okay, Yeah, that could be funny.
You know, anything could be funny.

Speaker 3 (21:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (21:25):
My memory was Tuesday went by. I think I did
photographs on Tuesday. That was the big contribution.

Speaker 5 (21:30):
Wait, let me back to it. Monday night, did Lauren
take you out to dinner?

Speaker 1 (21:33):
No? I didn't get a dinner. I never got a dinner,
red button.

Speaker 4 (21:38):
It didn't end well with me and Lauren. I think
probably Tuesday. Nothing happened. Wednesday around five o'clock a stack
of like one hundred sketches shows us. Some of them
have been on the stack for seasons already, because I
remember there was one about the adventures to take off
on Dobey Gillis. It was called the Adventures of Pubie

(21:59):
Gillis about his pubacare showed out of the top of
his fans and the minute they went, oh my god,
Phubie Gillis is back. And you read every one of
these scripts and then Lauren took me into his office
and said, so, what do you like? And I went, oh,
I remember I thought, I thought the Mafia thing was funny,
all right?

Speaker 1 (22:18):
What else? I thought the Masterpiece Theater thing was fun okay? Well?

Speaker 4 (22:25):
And I went, are you just asking my opinion? Am
I picking of the show? I didn't know what was
because everything I said we wound up. I mean the
ones that I said we wound up at least going
to rehearsal with Thursday. There's a bunch of sets, but two.
There's twelve sketches, but there's two sets. They go, we'll
rehearse the two. We'll rehearse those two. And then I said, well,

(22:47):
we could rehearse all of them. I mean, we don't
have to have a set. It's just a chair, you know.
And Lauren said, you're from the theater, you know how
to do this. We rehearsed in the theater a lot.
We spent a lot of time rehearsing. And his line
to me to calm me down was I promise, by
the time we go to air, you'll have done everything
at least twice. It did not come mew Friday. The

(23:12):
other sets were there. We rehearsed everything once and then
I remember there was some makeup stuff and Saturday, next
thing I know, we're in dress and then things changed
after Anyway, we go to the reason why I think
I may have blown it with Lauren is we go
to the after party. He says that did you have
a good time? I said I did, But you know
I can I just say, I think you're making this

(23:34):
harder than it has to be.

Speaker 1 (23:37):
Buy good night, nurse. That was my time. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (23:41):
Yeah, I was trying to be helpful because I just thought,
you know, if you have an actor that is at
least from a comedy or a theater background, huh, you
don't have to wait till Friday to rehearse. We might
find something funny. Yeah, if we rehearse it once.

Speaker 5 (23:55):
Well, you know, the system is the system that's been
going on fifty years. Yeah, I think for actors, yeah,
it is. You got to be prepared for that week ruling.

Speaker 1 (24:09):
Yeah, it's crazy.

Speaker 3 (24:10):
You know.

Speaker 5 (24:11):
I always kind of get a little upset when SNLU
doesn't get the Emmy because as opposed to one show,
you know, one special, because.

Speaker 1 (24:22):
Week after week you have to do all the.

Speaker 6 (24:24):
Volume of it.

Speaker 5 (24:25):
I mean, there's gonna be some clunkers and they'll cop
to that. But look at you know how much they produce.

Speaker 3 (24:33):
Oh isn't sane? Yeah, So so that sounds like the
craziest grind in the world.

Speaker 4 (24:40):
I know, the Seinfeld grin. I'm going to come back
to the book in one second. But and I don't
mean to be stupid, because God knows, I've done Curb.

Speaker 1 (24:47):
But when you write for Curb, yeah, what are you writing?

Speaker 4 (24:54):
Is it coming up with the story of yes, and
because I mean I remember my Curb script when I
first before the Seinfelder, right, it was about nine pages
of and then and then this kind of happens, and
this kind of happens, and this kind of happened.

Speaker 1 (25:06):
Right, So what was what is that?

Speaker 6 (25:09):
It's a very different process there.

Speaker 5 (25:12):
But again, you go in at the start of the
season and you pitch ideas to Larry David and Jeff Schaeffer,
who we both know as a former writer of Seinfeld,
and the same thing.

Speaker 6 (25:26):
I would go in with a lot of stuff.

Speaker 5 (25:29):
So certain ideas, like the first idea I pitched for
Kerb was when a comedian is out with regular people
and the comedian says something funny and the regular person says,
but umpum, this is so infuriating to anybody funny you

(25:52):
want to strangle that person, strangle them. So I knew
the first one in. I was so happy. Larry loved it.
You know, we got to use that somewhere. So it
became something when I think they go to sell a
show to Hulu and they're bantering with the receptionists and

(26:13):
they say something funny and she goes, oh, but umpum.

Speaker 6 (26:16):
So there is little things like that.

Speaker 5 (26:18):
Also, a thing that I pitched was I hate when
you go to a meeting, usually in show business, and
you pitch an idea and the executive says, you know,
I don't love it. You know, do they say I
don't like it? No, you know, so you didn't like it.
You know.

Speaker 6 (26:35):
It's always taking.

Speaker 5 (26:36):
Things the next step, but you know, I don't love it.
Became something that Larry really was smarted to. So there
are always things like that. But then the bigger ideas,
Oh god, there's so many show business related ones. I
told them how I had just been at a meeting
at NBC and they have the fruit bowl in the

(26:57):
middle of the table, and of course the thought becomes
what you do what is acted out on curb.

Speaker 6 (27:06):
And I said to Larry and Jeff, I always thought.

Speaker 5 (27:08):
If I picked up an apple from that crupal and
I started eating it, how it's seeing weird?

Speaker 1 (27:15):
Would that be when I've done throwing.

Speaker 6 (27:20):
It in the office trash can? And that became.

Speaker 5 (27:26):
Artificial fruit that episode. So you pitch the ideas, you know,
other things like so we self serving, you know ideas
from back from Seinfeld. You know things that are shameless
things you do for selfish purposes. I had an Audi.

(27:47):
I took it to the dealership and van Nie and
I would go and they had a nice spread there,
you know, nice coffee machine, and they had those little
bunt cakes from nothing bun capes, and you know, I
have one of these bunkcakes, like this is delicious. So
every time I was in the valley and I passed

(28:08):
the Audi, I'd bring the car in and be like
I hear a little ping, here's something, and I'd go,
I'd have my coffee.

Speaker 6 (28:16):
I have nothing bunk And then we use that in curve.

Speaker 5 (28:20):
But Larry changed it to licorice that the car dealer
has greatly bush.

Speaker 6 (28:25):
So you'd pitch the ideas.

Speaker 5 (28:27):
He would tell you the ones he liked the big
idea or the funny things to say, and then he
and Jeff would go off and come up with an outline,
usually about ten pages, pretty much of what happens in
every scene and a line here and there. But also
there's a masterclass and improv with these actors that they

(28:47):
can just take this stuff and go with it. And
then when he would bring the writers in was when
we would shoot it, so you were there for the
entire shoot. You'd be on set, like with the I
need a line.

Speaker 3 (29:01):
When I come out, they're waiting to see what's not
working that they can wow.

Speaker 5 (29:07):
Yeah, So it's being you know because as you know,
then the action happens on set and some things go
off where you don't think they're going to go off,
and how many things hit that you don't even expect
to hit. Yeah, So it's a very different process than
other shows.

Speaker 3 (29:26):
That way a lot of pressure because you're doing it
in real time. It's like we got a couple of
minutes here, finish the scene. I need a fun of
your line, somebody.

Speaker 6 (29:33):
Well, he had a good stable.

Speaker 4 (29:35):
I needed I needed you, I needed your book because
there was I will say before I ask you.

Speaker 1 (29:40):
More about this.

Speaker 4 (29:41):
The greatest joy for me on Curb is all the
years unsidable, I guess because Larry was, you know, writing
a lot of it.

Speaker 1 (29:47):
I can make Larry laugh, but you know not how
I mean.

Speaker 4 (29:53):
He enjoyed what I was doing. He knew what it
was going to be. He was writing for me.

Speaker 1 (29:56):
At that point.

Speaker 6 (29:57):
Uh huh.

Speaker 4 (29:58):
We got the Curb, and the first episode that I
did of Curb outside of the arc was he and
I were going to work on a pilot together. He
was going to create a pilot for me. Let's take
a meeting. But he lives in the.

Speaker 1 (30:11):
Palisades and my office is a studio city. So we
tossed the coin.

Speaker 4 (30:15):
He's gonna come to me first for the first meeting,
and then I'll go to him for the second meeting.
And the whole episode is about everything happens to him.
He gets a flat tired and he shows up to
my office four hours late. They say, well, clearly I
can't have the meeting. So on the next one, you
come to me in the Palisades and I go. But
we but we didn't have the meeting we made, we said,

(30:37):
he said, but I'm here.

Speaker 1 (30:38):
I came and I said.

Speaker 4 (30:39):
You came four hours late to a meeting. We didn't
have to tell me we can't have a meeting. Let's
stick with the plan. Come here, we'll have a meeting.
And well, he could not get through a scene with me.
And he said, I've never been confronted with myself and
it was such a joy. Yeah, to make him break. Yeah,

(31:02):
he breaks in a lot of scenes.

Speaker 3 (31:04):
Einstein, Bob Einstein would make him break a lot.

Speaker 4 (31:08):
So now I am here to tell you I have
not read this book yet, So tell me the derivation.

Speaker 1 (31:13):
How did this come to be?

Speaker 6 (31:14):
Okay? And and that's easy?

Speaker 4 (31:17):
Yeah, and and and if I buy it? And I
won't because you're giving me this one? What's here? What
am I looking?

Speaker 6 (31:25):
Okay?

Speaker 5 (31:25):
So what happened was Rick Mitchell, who I co wrote
this with, who's a comedy writer. He worked for six
years on Alnja Generes's talk show, Emmy Winning.

Speaker 6 (31:35):
I might add to.

Speaker 4 (31:37):
Anybody with me, everybody but men.

Speaker 5 (31:43):
We got together during the strike, met for lunch. I
had just been to a wedding, saw a horrible speech
by the father of the bride. He had been to
an event where someone you know stank up the joint
with his speech and we were sitting there going, you
know a lot of people people don't know not only
one oh one about speech making, but making it funny

(32:05):
and having a good speech is really not that difficult.
And if we can help people, you know, step by
step the beginning of a speech, middle end. Uh, this
will be a public service to people because we've all
gone to events where someone has given a lousy speech
and it's put a damper on everything. Or it was

(32:27):
also taped, you know, with the advent of taping these things.
Now with your phone you can't escape it. So that
was the impetus for the book. And as you can see,
it's not you know, the Encyclopedia Britannica. It's small, it's handy.

Speaker 1 (32:44):
Uh.

Speaker 5 (32:44):
We give you know, we have templates for if you're
really lazy and you want to write a speech.

Speaker 6 (32:50):
We have like mad lips, fill in the blanks, and.

Speaker 5 (32:53):
We have jokes at the end that you know, if
you are stuck on a joke for an event, steal
our jokes that that's what they're there for, Go nutty.
And it's really you know, it's number one now on
Amazon and Public Speaking. How long, just two weeks and
Carol Burnette.

Speaker 6 (33:13):
As you'll notice, So.

Speaker 5 (33:17):
It's been really going great because I feel like we're
filling a void that hasn't been filled.

Speaker 3 (33:22):
You also addressed the AI think because everybody now is
using chat eptine on the right speech, and you tried it.
So it came out no, because it can't do humor.
Got stuff wrong right.

Speaker 5 (33:31):
Yes, a friend of mine, her daughter was getting married.
I don't know her daughter, so I did what I
do when I help people write a speech. We got
together for it's a lot of meals for dinner, and
I said to her, you know, let's tell me some stories,
funny stories about your daughter, some heartfelt stories, and we'll

(33:53):
put something together.

Speaker 6 (33:54):
It'll be easy.

Speaker 5 (33:56):
And she talked about how when her daughter was little,
she used to collect snails.

Speaker 6 (34:03):
In the garden. Uh.

Speaker 5 (34:06):
And so we thought we'd put that in, you know,
in the speech. And you know, the bunchline is like, yeah, boy,
you know you laugh. But what I saved on Barbie's
was amazing. So we put all these, all the bullet
points that she gave me into Aiuh. The snail story
became like as a daughter, she preferred the company of

(34:28):
gastropods as opposed to people, gastropod I don't even know
what that is. And Ai did it with every element
made it not funny, and then also added things that
weren't true, which the last thing you want to do,
like what you know, people sitting there like that never happened.

Speaker 3 (34:51):
Such a great speech, by the way, reading the AI
speech at at an event that is wrong.

Speaker 5 (34:57):
You know, that's a great idea. Yes, you do your
speech and then go here's what.

Speaker 3 (35:01):
I am here came up? Did you pay? Did the woman?
So this is what you do for a living?

Speaker 6 (35:06):
Peter?

Speaker 3 (35:07):
That's really did she charge that? Take it? Take it?
God bless you.

Speaker 6 (35:10):
Take my job.

Speaker 3 (35:11):
Take my joke.

Speaker 1 (35:11):
Please take you my joke.

Speaker 3 (35:14):
Did the woman pay you? Or is it just meals?
Because this is what you do for a living. That's
a curb that people who are reaching out, how Carol
will help you? Of course at three o'clock in the
morning and.

Speaker 5 (35:23):
Fred stolear episode with Banya right with I'm going to
give you some material and give you a meal, and
then it became just sup Yes.

Speaker 4 (35:34):
Frank and told me when he was in the Senate
that all the senators would call him and I need
I'm talking to a rotary club, you got anything else?

Speaker 1 (35:41):
Yeah, and he'd he'd be giving away material left and right. Right.

Speaker 3 (35:44):
So you do a lot of corporate stuff, right, And
what do they think they're getting when they get you
or did they tell you we want something about this?
We sell computer parts, So can you write a whole
chunk about computer parts?

Speaker 6 (35:56):
Well, there are two kinds.

Speaker 5 (35:57):
They're either they know what my thing is going to
be and I talk about being female, being in the
comedy business for almost fifty years, which is kooki. So
they know they're going to get my story and how
it can relate in the bigger picture to anybody who's
in business. And then sometimes they come to me with

(36:21):
this quality about Joe and this guy in accounting does
this blah blah blah, and they really eat it up
because it's about them and it's the funny things about
the people they work with. But that's a big point
of our book. You know, the personal is the gold
in any speech writing because you have the relationship with
this person that nobody else has, So to really capitalize

(36:46):
on that, because you're important enough in their life that
they've asked you to do a speech, So to really
think about those stories and those things about your relationship
that'll set you apart from everybody. And we also have
a section of you know, you can make it funny,
it's not that hard, and we walk you through step

(37:07):
by step of how you can do that.

Speaker 4 (37:08):
But you know, I'm so, for instance, right now I'm
going to do I'm going to EMC a thing for
La Family Housing in the next month. And they said,
could you do six minutes? I went, I'm not a
stand up I don't have six minutes. Well, if there's
something funny about building and housing, so I'm sitting down

(37:31):
already talking about but.

Speaker 1 (37:34):
You see, I don't, I don't.

Speaker 4 (37:36):
So I'm yesterday I was doing a thing about a
lot of building going on in Los Angeles, A lot
of building.

Speaker 1 (37:41):
I don't know what it is.

Speaker 4 (37:43):
Sixteen years lax, lax. We're going to have a people move.
Disney got rid of the people moving. They only get
sixty people we're gonna find. But I'm trying to come
up with bits and now with this book. Please say yes,
because would this book give me any insight on how

(38:06):
to do what is literally they're asking me to do
almost a stand up bit?

Speaker 1 (38:10):
Yeah, got a whole cloth.

Speaker 5 (38:11):
Well, I want to go back, because what gig was it?
I saw you host a Hollywood Bowl. Sure, yeah, stravaganza
where you killed And it's not just thirty people, it's
how many thousands of people too were amazing.

Speaker 1 (38:28):
Well, thank you by the way, Peter helped me right there. Ah.

Speaker 4 (38:32):
But it's not that I I mean, you know, I'm
an actor. I can play somebody who knows how to
tell a joke. It's just it's that's the thing I
always talk about with Seinfeld and I would imagine and
every good show you've worked on, and I'm sure this
is true of Hacks as well. When people talk to
me about the success of Seinfeld and they go, you
guys were so great, I went, thank you. When someone

(38:56):
throws you the ball at the two yard line, it
doesn't take as to fall into the episode. We had
great stuff to work with, you know, And that so yes,
at the Hollywood Bowl. If someone writes me a funny line,
I can probably deliver it. Yeah, but when But for
for the situation I'm in right now, That's what I'm
talking about, where I don't do what you do. I

(39:18):
don't sit down to write a comedic monologue. I don't
on a spot specific subject. Does this help me?

Speaker 1 (39:26):
Or do you? Or is that a different book.

Speaker 5 (39:29):
I think what they're looking for from you is not
necessarily a speech, because that's about the heartfelt and honoring
somebody in particular. But I know you do other events,
performing by yourself. Yeah, and you have a lot of
great What do I would mind things from?

Speaker 1 (39:47):
Well?

Speaker 4 (39:47):
I used I use Peter's model, and you know, honestly,
all I need in a six minute bit I need
four good lines because I can kerfuffle my way through,
you know. So that's what I look for, is okay,
what's a fun the observation about I mean to me,
I look at things like there's I live very close
to the to the subway line that they're building under

(40:10):
Wilshire Boulevard that's going to go from downtown to Santa Monica.
And I go, first of all, why who in Los
Angeles in an earthquake going the zone is going underground
for their transportation necessities?

Speaker 1 (40:22):
And you know, this makes no sense to me.

Speaker 4 (40:24):
And also if I'm sitting in downtown, do I go
you know where I'd like to go today? Santa Monica?
Between down Santa Monica. What I might like to get
over vice versa. If I'm if I'm at the beach,
you're going, you know, fun day, Let's hit little Tokyo downn.

Speaker 3 (40:42):
You know what already in l A, you got to
drive to the station where you parked car already, Right,
I'm already I get there. I'm driving around the circle's space.

Speaker 1 (40:51):
Right should I look for us?

Speaker 4 (40:55):
I look for the things, just like you said that
when you were pitching ideas, the little things that the
no me yes I go to Because I always thought,
if you're going to build transport, public transportation in LA. Honestly,
what I would have looked into where sky cable cars. Yeah,
people want to see where they're going, and those polls
move when there's an earthquake, you can sway in the rock.

Speaker 1 (41:16):
It seems cheap or safer fat what what if it is?

Speaker 6 (41:20):
I for again?

Speaker 5 (41:20):
You said La so La jokes are going to kill absolutely.
But I also think, Jason, what I think is important
At these gigs and I anywhere I speak, I always
talk a little bit about Seinfeld. You have played this
iconic character. Yeah, and people I think really appreciate a

(41:41):
story or two, which I know you have about being
George your time on the show. I would definitely throw
that in because people eat it up, they want to
hear it.

Speaker 3 (41:51):
Well.

Speaker 1 (41:51):
I do that, you know in personal appearance stuff.

Speaker 4 (41:53):
Yeah, I do a whole section my Q and a
show where I show, you know, a montage.

Speaker 1 (41:56):
From the show and then it's questions and I know
every question's come and they're not going to find a note.

Speaker 6 (42:02):
What's the question you get the most? I'm just interested?

Speaker 4 (42:05):
Favorite episode? How did you know it was a hit?
Who was your inspiration for George?

Speaker 1 (42:12):
Things like that? What do people say to you the most?

Speaker 5 (42:15):
His favorite episode? Marine Biologist?

Speaker 4 (42:17):
I would guess no, No, here's my answer truly is
I go, I don't have I don't literally have a
favorite episode. I say, I can tell you the two
that are remarkable to me where I took note of
the show. First one was the Chinese restaurant because NBC
came in and said, are you keeping crazy? What's wrong
with And we were not hit? In fact, we were
I don't even think on the ball. Yes, And you know,

(42:42):
Larry and Jerry got read the Riot Act. But the
only thing they didn't say, and this was Larry's line
when they left, Larry said, well they didn't say we
couldn't do it, so they did it anyway. And I
remember thinking, you know, I don't know if this thing's
going to last. But these guys they have integrity.

Speaker 1 (42:58):
Man.

Speaker 4 (42:59):
Yeah, they know what they want to do and they're
willing to roll the dice with it. And that was
when I was first kind of proud of the show.

Speaker 6 (43:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (43:06):
The one where I think it turned our fortunes for
the whole show was the contest.

Speaker 1 (43:12):
Yes, the contest was.

Speaker 4 (43:14):
The one where, you know, we heard about it coming,
then we went how they can be able to do this?
How they going to do this? And then it was
so brilliant. And the thing that I always talk about
that not only made it brilliant, but even more brilliant
was Elaine was in the contest. So not only are
we doing masturbation on a national broadcast television show, but we're.

Speaker 1 (43:35):
Going and girls too.

Speaker 5 (43:37):
I know.

Speaker 1 (43:38):
It was so audacious.

Speaker 4 (43:40):
Yes, and I just and you know, the story is
that by the time the West coast there the shows,
the numbers had tripled from Wow the East Coast.

Speaker 3 (43:49):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (43:50):
People were on the phone going, oh.

Speaker 4 (43:51):
My god, you got to see this, see this.

Speaker 5 (43:54):
And I knew that when we got away with my
episode the Rye. You know Elaine's boyfriend who's the exophonist. Uh,
I'm sure is ruined from what is implied and we
know as going down on all right, Yeah, because he did.

Speaker 3 (44:13):
Were they worried about so we do? No, not at all. No,
the network didn't say anything to that.

Speaker 6 (44:20):
Thing at that point.

Speaker 5 (44:21):
I think after Chinese Restaurant they were not going to
disagree with Larry David or Jerry Seinfeld on any Plat point.

Speaker 4 (44:28):
I remember Jerry told me a story about you know,
the network gave Larry notes about maybe the pilot or
the second episode, and Larry's response was to sit there
very calmly and listen to the notes and then said, here's.

Speaker 1 (44:41):
My response to you. Nothing.

Speaker 3 (44:48):
I were afraid. I think they were afraid to give. Well,
but the brilliant thing about it, I wish I had
done this unco I worked on. When you say I
can't do that, hire a guy who can do that,
because then it puts it back on them. Yeah, you're
actually not being mean and saying I think your note sucks.
You're saying I can't do that. That's not what I
hire somebody to do that. I'm leaving. And then what then.

Speaker 1 (45:09):
That's Larry Diddy left.

Speaker 3 (45:12):
Were you ever there with a note meeting in the
beginning or no.

Speaker 5 (45:16):
No, they always gave notes, but they were never really
like you can't do this storyline. I mean they always
did have notes. But wait, man, I want to backtrack
because I think I interrupted you.

Speaker 6 (45:30):
Jason. You're saying you normally you tell when you do
your corporate.

Speaker 4 (45:34):
I always do that stuff, but it's something like an
event like this. It's not about me. I'm there to
serve that thing. Yes, I don't want to drag it
back to here's something you probably want to know about
me and my career. Try and keep it as much
as I can in their things. Yes, so you know,
it's just a different mandate.

Speaker 1 (45:53):
But I listen.

Speaker 4 (45:56):
Another question I got all the time is are you
sick about talking about Seinfeld? And honestly, it's not performative.
It's Peter s heard me tell the story a thousand times.
My mom used to say to me, you know, it
would be a good life. I hope you live a
life of service to other people. And I go, well,
not going to happen, mon, because I'm an actor and
it's really the most selfish thing in the world.

Speaker 1 (46:16):
I do it because I seem to be okay at it.
They pay me.

Speaker 4 (46:19):
I get jobs, you know, And I thought, I'm never
gonna do that thing my mother wanted me to do.

Speaker 1 (46:25):
This has been true of I found.

Speaker 4 (46:27):
It's been true of a bunch of things I've been
lucky enough to do, but nothing more than our show.

Speaker 1 (46:31):
Yes, I meet people.

Speaker 4 (46:33):
Still every week, or or I get letters every week
that say I was going through dark stuff and I
had lost certainly my sense of joy, my sense of humanity.
And I would watch your shows back to back to back,
and I would find the laughter again, and you got
me through. Thank you for getting me through. And I
got and I would look up at the sky. I

(46:55):
guess I got the service, Mom, I guess I got.
And so, having never expected that I would be part
of something doing what I do, that would be so
much more than what it was, not just the TV show.
It is something that really affects people and has for
a long time. And I just go, I'm going to

(47:17):
be grateful for that for the rest of my life.
And if you fair enough to tell me about it,
I care enough to chat with you.

Speaker 5 (47:23):
About it, that's great. I mean, we were part of
a legendary show. How many people can say that. I mean,
that's such an honor.

Speaker 4 (47:30):
And we started today a little bit before we started
recording about Peter Belling about you and Hacks, and I
got to tell you it's glorious. I mean, you continue
to work on stuff that is so good. It's just
so thank you good. I hope you're having the time
of your life because the work is beautiful.

Speaker 6 (47:46):
Thank you. I really am.

Speaker 5 (47:47):
And I feel lucky every day that I get to
do what I do because you know, these shows affect
people that really do and I'm sure you got a
lot what I got during COVID. People said during COVID
Seinfeld save me. Yeah, I was watching I don't know
how many episodes, and it is, you know, of service

(48:11):
to people, it may sometimes restorative. And how great that
we were part of that and still a part of
it because it's on reruns every three seconds, thank god.

Speaker 6 (48:20):
And just to be a part of it is such
a joy to watch.

Speaker 4 (48:25):
How I marry Seinfeld and your book, Yes, Wayne Night,
I wish he was here because he tells the greatest story.
I will only butcher it, but it is the greatest
cross section between if someone had your book as a template.

Speaker 1 (48:37):
Yes, and it still didn't work. So he had an aunt,
huh that he.

Speaker 4 (48:41):
Barely knew, who passed away years ago in Las Vegas.

Speaker 1 (48:45):
Wa ain't happened to be in Las Vegas.

Speaker 4 (48:47):
His mother called and said, Yeah, the only member of
the family anywhere near you gotta go to go to
the funeral.

Speaker 1 (48:51):
Go to the funeral, Go comfort your uncle. He barely knew.
He goes.

Speaker 4 (48:57):
He sat with the uncle and the person doing the eulogy.
He was unknown to all of them, and they said,
I'm gonna spend some time with your uncle to get
some information about your aunts so I can personalize.

Speaker 6 (49:07):
The the eulogy.

Speaker 4 (49:10):
Wayne said, he is sitting in what is is almost
like the Elvis Chapel, and it's just a horrible The
ant is laid out in the box up front. It's Wayne,
some other guy, the uncle, and i think a paid
witness to be in the other and the guy with
the eulogy. And he said, the guy who had the
Mad Live version of your book. The theme was but

(49:30):
an end to all that, but it was things like
what the uncle, who I'm sure was had to mention
at this point, Yeah, showed him. So it was things
like Rose enjoyed chocolate, but an end to all that.
Towards the end, her medications caused her some flatulence, and

(49:51):
she found that embarrassing.

Speaker 1 (49:53):
But God, he's got the he's got the right template.
He just doesn't have to stuff to put I got.

Speaker 5 (50:00):
You know, I didn't get to tell my famous Seinfeld
story with you.

Speaker 3 (50:04):
Tell okay, oh we're out of top.

Speaker 7 (50:09):
Okay.

Speaker 5 (50:21):
You know I didn't get to tell my famous Seinbeld
story with you.

Speaker 3 (50:25):
Te okay, Oh we're at a top.

Speaker 7 (50:29):
Okay?

Speaker 5 (50:30):
The kiss Hello. So I was in it as an actor.
I played Wendy Malick's assistant. And you come to the
delicate genius of Wendy Malick, and then I tell you
that you have to pay. We required twenty four hours notice,

(50:52):
we're all cancelations, and you had to write a check
on the set and hand it to me. Jason would
write the most exploitive, filled, funniest things on this check
with the express purpose of cracking me up. And I
had to really keep my actor hat on because everything

(51:15):
he wrote every check was funnier than the next.

Speaker 6 (51:19):
So, Jason, I remember that from that.

Speaker 5 (51:22):
Episode that you would try to crack me up, and it.

Speaker 6 (51:26):
Was all I could do not to And those.

Speaker 3 (51:29):
Checks are on eBay right now if you go look.
I shouldn't say that the book is.

Speaker 4 (51:33):
Available hacks, but I'm gonna final little Do you remember
were you with us when the crew used to do
funny things on the menu board at the back of
the diner. No, and they would put very obscene things, really,
and somebody with a big TV freeze framed it, and
there was trouble in paradise. My memory is we had

(51:57):
to pay all kinds of fines because because we would, oh,
they were offend.

Speaker 3 (52:04):
And was that so that when you do your line
it was so in the sight that you would if
you were you know how sometimes would the booth we
would have to be all the way to the front.

Speaker 4 (52:14):
So if it's all the way to the front and
you're shooting the master, you can see that thing way
in the back. You can't read it unless you blow
it up to you know, I'm a somebody.

Speaker 6 (52:23):
I did not know that.

Speaker 3 (52:24):
Oh my god, now people are gonna be searching again
and being offended again. The last quote before you go,
Frank Sinatra said, you're one funny broad right, and then
an amazing the biggest compliment ever. There you go. Look
at that.

Speaker 5 (52:38):
Biggest compliment ever, said some cryptic things when I opened
for him, when I came out.

Speaker 6 (52:45):
Like Carol Leifer, she'll knock you over for the phone.
She's big.

Speaker 5 (52:53):
Yeah, I know, I had no idea.

Speaker 1 (52:56):
What that.

Speaker 5 (53:03):
All?

Speaker 1 (53:03):
Right?

Speaker 3 (53:04):
That kind of ruined the other thing, but that's okay.

Speaker 5 (53:05):
Hey, funny broad I'll take fun and every time has kills.

Speaker 3 (53:10):
What an amazing show. Emotional funny and gene smart is
just brilliant.

Speaker 4 (53:14):
So other than the book that we should be looking
for that we don't know about.

Speaker 5 (53:18):
Well, uh a date specific, I'll be opening for Paul
Reiser at the Comedy of Magic Club.

Speaker 1 (53:25):
Check your local listing. We'll make Yeah.

Speaker 5 (53:30):
And by the book, I mean, I'm so thrilled. It's
already number one on public speaking.

Speaker 3 (53:35):
By the way, you kill at your next funeral.

Speaker 5 (53:38):
I do very at what we like to call celebrations
of celebration.

Speaker 3 (53:44):
But that's there's an end to that.

Speaker 1 (53:46):
What is it?

Speaker 3 (53:51):
Great book titles? Tell your other book title, how to.

Speaker 6 (53:54):
Succeed in Business without really.

Speaker 3 (53:56):
Crying, and the other one as far as.

Speaker 5 (53:58):
When you lie about your age, the terrorists win.

Speaker 3 (54:04):
And still I'm still laughing at get those two people
still laughing at the restaurant, ugly people, and you said.

Speaker 6 (54:11):
Uh, what happened here? Oh? Thank you guys. It was fun.

Speaker 3 (54:19):
Oh my god, thank you everybody. This has been really.

Speaker 1 (54:25):
As another episode of Really No Really.

Speaker 2 (54:26):
He comes to a close. I know you're wondering, since
we're talking about writing an effective speech, what are some
of the most influential speeches in modern history. Well, I'll
answer that dream of a question in a moment, but
first let's thank our guest Carol Leafer. Her book, in
case you've somehow forgotten, is how to write a funny
speech for a wedding, bar mitzvah, graduation, and in every
other event you didn't want to go to in the
first place. And to follow Carrol, she is at Carol

(54:48):
Leafer on Instagram, X and Facebook, and her.

Speaker 1 (54:50):
Website is Carolleafer dot cal.

Speaker 2 (54:53):
Find all pertinent links in our show notes, our little
show hangs out on Instagram, TikTok YouTube, and threads at
really No Really podcasts, And of course, you can share
your thoughts and feedback with us online at reallynoreally dot com.
If you have a really some amazing fact or story
that boggles your mind share it with us, and if
we use it, we will send you a little gift.

(55:15):
Nothing life changing, obviously, but it's the thought that counts.
Check out our full episodes on YouTube, hit that subscribe
button and take that bell so you're updated when we
release new videos and episodes, which we do each Tuesday.
So listen and follow us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple
podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And now the
answer to the question, what are some of the most

(55:36):
influential speeches in modern history? Well, that assessment can be
pretty subjective, but here are a bunch that most people
have determined as pretty significant.

Speaker 1 (55:44):
President John F.

Speaker 2 (55:45):
Kennedy used his inaugural address to challenge America's commitment to
the nation when he said, ask not what your country
can do for you, ask what you can do for
your country. In nineteen forty, is Nazi troops were invading
much of Europe. Britain's Prime Minister Winston Churchill rally the
nation when he said, we shall fight on the beaches,
we shall fight on the landing grounds. We shall fight

(56:05):
in the fields and in the streets. We shall fight
in the hills. We shall never surrender. In nineteen eighty seven,
President Ronald Reagan offered a challenge to Russian President Gorbachev
which featured the line, mister Garbaschev, tear down this wall.

Speaker 1 (56:19):
The Gettysburg Address.

Speaker 2 (56:20):
Delivered by Abraham Lincoln that the height of the Civil
War in eighteen sixty three, is considered one of the
nation's most memorable speeches and was written by Lincoln on
the train to the occasion.

Speaker 1 (56:28):
In it, he.

Speaker 2 (56:29):
Writes, we here highly resolve that these dead shall not
have died in vain, that this nation, under God shall
have a new birth of freedom, and that government of
the people, by the people, or the people, shall not
perish from the earth. And lastly, a speech that still
resonates around the world, spoken by doctor Martin Luther King
Junior on the Capitol steps on August twenty eighth, nineteen

(56:50):
sixty three. In his plea for racial justice and equality,
he said, I have a dream that one day, on
the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves
and the sons of former slave owners will be able
to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

Speaker 1 (57:05):
I have a.

Speaker 2 (57:05):
Dream that my four little children will one day live
in a nation where they will not be judged by
the color of their skin, but by the content of
their character. I have a dream today all this is
proved positive that great ideals expressing great words can be
truly immortal. So pick up that book with the really
long title no Reason, really, No really is production of

(57:31):
blase entertainment.

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Peter Tilden

Jason Alexander

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}From Stand-Up to Seinfeld: Carol Leifer on Comedy, Writing, & Embarrassing Speeches