Latest / Podlandia: A-O Rewatch with Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein / Kyle MacLachlan (The Mayor)

Transcript

Kyle MacLachlan (The Mayor) · Podlandia: A-O Rewatch with Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Hey, hey, hey, watch, watch. Hey, hey, hey, watch, watch. Hey, hey, hey, watch, watch.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: Rewatch.
• 0:08
  Speaker 3: Rewatch. Rewatch.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Rewatch.
• 0:09
  Speaker 3: Rewatch.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Rewatch. Rewatch.
• 0:12
  Speaker 3: Rewatch.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Rewatch. Rewatch. Rewatch.
• 0:32
  Speaker 4: You're listening to Podlandia. Hi, I'm Carrie.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: I'm Fred. This is AO Rewatch.
• 0:39
  Speaker 4: AO Rewatch, a Portlandia Rewatch podcast.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: Is there a copyright or anything?
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: We should do a copyright.
• 0:47
  Speaker 4: Let's do a quick one.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: We've got Kyle McLaughlin with us.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: Hello. Hi, Kyle.
• 0:55
  Speaker 4: Thanks for doing this show.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: I had nothing else to do, so it was perfect. Great.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: You know I love you both so much.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: We love you.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: We love you. We love Fest up here.
• 1:07
  Speaker 4: And one of the things that I miss about Portlandia,
• 1:10
  Speaker 4: and there are many things I miss, but in the
• 1:13
  Speaker 4: top two or three is missing getting to work with you. Oh,
• 1:18
  Speaker 4: bless you. And see you. I mean, Kyle was part
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: of every season of the show.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: I was.
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: The mayor was an intrinsic part of the show. And
• 1:28
  Speaker 4: you're just signing off on the show from the beginning.
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: We should at least, please talk about, we've talked about
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: this a little bit, but your impression, you know, we
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: reached out to you. You were the first person, the
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: only person we thought of to play the mayor. And
• 1:45
  Speaker 4: I remember you came.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: I came to meet you all. Yeah.
• 1:49
  Speaker 4: And what were your impressions? First of all, what did
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: you think? How was the show.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: Pitched to you?
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: I don't remember. Because it was sort of like a
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: sketch comedy show, improv, and you wanted me to play
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: the mayor. And I was like, okay. And I said,
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: and I recognized that you were all playing lots of
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: different roles. And I said, well, can I play other
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: roles besides the mayor? And they came back and said, no,
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: you're the mayor. I said, okay, I'm the mayor. Okay, good.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: And I didn't really understand the concept. but I sat
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: down with you all and Andrew Singer, and I think John,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: Jonathan was there.
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: Okay. Um, and I just said, I don't really understand
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: what's happening, but I really like you. And it seems
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: really fun and seems creative. And why not? So I just,
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: that those were, that's how deep the decision was. It's like,
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: I think we're going to have fun. So let's go
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: do it. I had no idea what I was getting
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: myself into.
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: And you were, perfect in that it seemed to match
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: your personality. Like the Kyle that I know seems to
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: me like the mayor.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: You gave me a chance to expand my sort of weird, funny,
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: quirky side. And actually more than expanded, you encouraged it.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: You fanned the flames. And I think it was one
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: of the first times I got to do that. And
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: that has led to further things we were just talking about,
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: my podcast and social presence, which is kind of the mayor,
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: but just kind of gone out of control a little bit.
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: Yeah, because I remember something you said in that meeting
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: was that the last few things you had done at
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: that time were Desperate Housewives and Sex in the City,
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: which were much different roles than earlier in your career,
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: where that stuff was a little weirder and more avant-garde
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: and that you were, this felt potentially like a return
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: to something where it would be a little more unleashed. Yes.
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: And have some more freedom to. Yes.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: And man, was it ever, I mean, I remember the first,
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: the most fun I think was putting on the different
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: hair pieces. Um, because you like the soul patch for
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: the mayor when he goes and, and the idea of
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: the mayor going off the grid. I love that. And,
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: it seemed like so much of it was just sort of, oh,
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: let's try this. I'm like, okay. You know, and I mean,
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: that was the fun of it. It was really, there
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: was some sense of anarchy there, but controlled and chaos. But,
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: you know, Jonathan Kreissel kept everything, you know, kind of
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: kept the borders going. And we all knew, you know,
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: we're all professionals, so we're not going crazy, but it
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: felt really like right.
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: Yeah. And what was interesting, because we had so many
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: guest stars and you to me are just like a,
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: permanent cast member, you know, sort of me, Fred and you,
• 4:57
  Speaker 4: but I remember in the first thing we shot with you,
• 4:59
  Speaker 4: which was the pilot, although it ended up becoming the
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: second episode where, um, we, you commissioned us to make,
• 5:06
  Speaker 4: to write a song for Portland. But I remember working
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: with you and it's like, you never know what is
• 5:11
  Speaker 4: this going to feel like? Like how far it like,
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: is this going to feel elastic? Is this going to
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: feel like, formal or, you know, like, is this going
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: to be nerve wracking? And it was like, oh no,
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: we're all on board. Like we've all bought into this.
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: And that's, you know, whether it was you or someone
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: else like that is just such a relief because all
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: of a sudden we're just playing, you know? And I just,
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: I never knew where things were going to go with you.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: Genuinely.
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: Yeah. And you, you would always embrace whatever you were
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: given prop-wise. It's like, okay, here's this big ball instead
• 5:46
  Speaker 4: of a traditional mayor's chair. I will be on this ball.
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: And you're so smart and such a good performer in
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: this way that it becomes seamless to the person. You're
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: just like, this is an extension of who this person is,
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: who this character is. And you built out that character
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: with such, I mean, time limitations. You know, you're like,
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: this is a two and a half minute scene. I,
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: you bouncing on that ball is telling me everything I
• 6:11
  Speaker 4: need to know. The amount of times, you know, the
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: mayor mentioned Seattle, like suddenly you're building like, okay, there's a,
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: there's a competition here. You know, you were just so good.
• 6:20
  Speaker 4: I think at deepening character in such a small amount
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: of time.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: That's so cool that you said, cause I felt like
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: we all were on board of that. You know, that's
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: the improv.
• 6:28
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: And, you know, and go forward. And I remember a
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: couple of things. One, we would do a scene and,
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: And then we would, you know, we would go on
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: for a bit and then we'd sort of, it would
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: sort of Peter out eventually. And then Jonathan would come
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: in and say very, just like, well, you know, that
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: was like, we like this. And you were like, yeah,
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: I sort of, and everyone was just sort of pitching
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: on like what directions we felt had value maybe, or
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: were interested. We wanted to mine a little bit more
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: and some things like maybe less of that, you know, uh,
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: maybe less mayer. They would say, no, they would say
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: less of this and less of that. And then you would,
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: and I'd never worked like that before. It truly was
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: one of the first times that I've ever done like
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: improv and just kind of, my brain would like, I
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: don't know if you noticed, some would melt and just
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: come out of my ears because I was working so hard,
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: but it's like the duck, you know, the brain is
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: like paddling under the water and we're on top, you're
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: trying to be just kind of cool and together. And
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: I always felt like that. So by the end of
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: the day, I was just like, I just have to
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: go home and like take two Advil and collapse because
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: it was like really, but wonderful, but hard work.
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: We were just talking about that, about at the end
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: of the day, the exhaustion from that amount of concentration.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: Yes, exactly.
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: But I will say, you know, we shot it at
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: the real city hall in Portland, in the real mayor's office,
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: his actual office. The mayor was there playing your assistant,
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: Sam Adams. But hanging out with you, in between takes,
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: I never felt worried for your happiness.
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: I never felt like, hey, are you okay? We'll be
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: done really quickly.
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: Your presence is very calming, and you seemed happy.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: I was totally happy.
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: And those days at City Hall were just great. They
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: felt very like we got to, in between takes, just
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: sit around.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, it was so creative and so fun. And
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: you both were so inspirational people. to me and encouraging.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: And I just sort of took a page from your book,
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: I guess, and said, well, whatever Fred and Carrie are doing,
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna try and do that too. So thanks for
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: setting such a great tone and pace and I don't know, attitude.
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: Well, speaking of like filming at, you know, a city hall, like,
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: and I'm sure you remember how sort of like threadbare,
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: like the actual, like the company was and all of the,
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: like the perks, you know, Was that the first time
• 9:00
  Speaker 4: or had it been a while since you shared a
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: trailer with the other actors where there wasn't really, you
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: didn't have your own dressing room? Did you like that?
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: We just dressed on the street pretty much. We walked outside.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: But it was Portland, so it was okay. Everybody was
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: sort of doing.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: That.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: Kind of, yeah. When I worked with, we were talking
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: about Ethan Hawke earlier when we did Hamlet and when
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: we did Tesla with Michael Almereda, director. Same thing. There
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: was like with Hamlet, there was one room, kind of
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: all the actors hung out in one big room and
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: just like a green room. It's kind of like the
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: green room.
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: You know, which, and that was a sort of the
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: same thing on Portlandia. We had that trailer. We kind
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: of hang out in the trailer altogether, which I really,
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: I really loved. I mean, if you needed a moment
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: to kind of go and chill out, you could always,
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: you know, walk a little bit or find a place,
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: you know, if you needed a quiet spot for a minute,
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: but I never really needed it. I just loved hanging
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: out with everybody and, you know, it was just really
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: a nice vibe. It was a great vibe.
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: Yeah all around i found it so odd and super
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: anomalous to be have access to city hall like that
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: i mean you know you just there was no one
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: there was no guards i mean i remember sitting with
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: you for hours in a room where there were like
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: file cabinets and like you know i assume like confidential or,
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: you know, private information. No one was coming in to
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: say like, Hey, please don't touch this. Don't sit here. Um,
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: and I, I just can't imagine doing that in another city.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: Right. And they were very welcoming.
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: They were very welcoming. Yeah.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: The office in particular and Sam got to play my assistant,
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: which was really fun. Yeah.
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: Were we, you remember that we were shooting on Saturdays.
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: Was that true? I thought we were... I feel like.
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: John was remembering the show on Saturdays, but I.
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: I didn't remember that because.
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: I didn't remember that either.
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: I don't think we.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: Oh, maybe it was because the offices would have been
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: not available.
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: But I guess, would we have just shifted to Saturday
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: for City Hall?
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: Maybe.
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: Maybe we did.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: I think we did.
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: Yeah, okay. That makes more sense.
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: Because it was pretty empty.
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: Oh, yes. It was empty. Yeah. Yeah.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: Like, who's minding the store, really?
• 11:03
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, a couple people around, and I think they were bored.
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: I would see people sort of like the security people, like,
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: even they were like not... impressed or moved. We watched
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: this one, you know, where the mayor's missing and you're playing, right?
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: I love that.
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: There's a press conference scene.
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: Oh my gosh.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: That is so good.
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: Where they're asking you questions and it gets specific about reggae.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: Oh.
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: About dub.
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: And then you start.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: Yes, outside, remember at the podium.
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: And you were, I would basically just say, well, we're
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: going to edit this the heck out of it. So
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: I would like, I'd go like, Fred, And he'd be like,
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: say this and this and this and this and this.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: I'm like, okay. So yeah, maybe, you know, with King,
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: I can't even remember what I said.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: It was Augustus Pablo or something.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I got something with Dub, Scott, Bob.
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: But the key thing, of course, was to do it
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: all very, like, matter of fact.
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: And political, like a politician.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, this is what I do. And it's like this,
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: and this is why it's important. You know? And I
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: thought that would be the humor of it. And then
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: I got to actually play the bass, which was really fun.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: So I said, oh yeah, I kind of remember my
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: brother plays the bass. And I was like, okay. And
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: last minute, I love telling this story. Last minute, I
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: was like, I need something. I need a soul patch.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: And I went to hair and makeup and they were like, yes,
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: they got it. And they just put this little thing. Literally,
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: they were like almost rolling camera and just hold on
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: one second. And I was like, okay, we're ready.
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: And the character just happened.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: That happened a couple of times. That happened when the mayor,
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: when we went to the farm. The beard?
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: That's right.
• 12:38
  Speaker 4: The off the grid, yeah.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: When the mayor was off the grid. Yeah. And then
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: you let me do the most amazing thing, which was
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: the Apocalypse Now.
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: Kurt's thing.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: Oh, man.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: It was the only time I think I got you
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: to snort. I don't know if you totally broke, but
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: you snorted. And I said, my job is done here.
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: Because you changed your personality a little bit because you
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: were like lost a little bit.
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: I know.
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: You're so in the show.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: It's crazy.
• 13:03
  Speaker 4: I loved it. we wrote for the mayor every, I mean,
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: it was so fun to think of sketches. And they
• 13:10
  Speaker 4: were usually the wraparounds. They weren't one-off sketches. In season
• 13:15
  Speaker 4: one and two, which is the ones we're doing on
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: the podcast, the other one's No Olympics. And was it
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: No Olympics where you sang a national, you, like, improvised
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: an entire song for Portland? I can't remember.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: I can't believe Jonathan made me do that. I really am, like,
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: scared the hell out of me.
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: I couldn't, like, that's when I was like, Kyle is
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: going for it here. You fully improvised, not just words,
• 13:37
  Speaker 4: but a song, a melody.
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: Well, I thought he was going to write, I thought
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: you were all going to write a song for me.
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: I remember you thinking that.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: And Jonathan, we have the music. I said, oh, great. Okay, good.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: I'll listen to it and I'll get it all kind
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: of going right. And the day went on and we
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: were coming to the end. And he said, okay, here's
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: the music. And I said, and I listened to the music.
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: I was like, okay, okay. Okay, I guess. And I said,
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: what are the words? And he said, oh, oh, you
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: just make those up. And I thought, is he serious?
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: He's serious. And I thought, make up the words of
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: the song. And I had nothing. And I remember he
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: sort of turned and took a step. And then he
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: turned back and said, oh, just make it a love
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: letter to Portland. And that's all he said. And I
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: was like, right, love letter to Portland. Okay, okay, I've
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: got an idea now. And then somehow, somewhere, William Shatner
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: popped into my head. And I said, I'm going to do,
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: because he had that Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: sort of thing. I didn't really know what I was doing,
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: but I said, no, there's something there. So it gives
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: you a physicality of his kind of now. And so
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: I just tried to channel William Shatner and do an
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: ode to Portland and sing. I don't know what I sang,
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: to be honest.
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: It was incredible. And I just remember people just starting
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: to walk. You know, sometimes when you're filming and people
• 15:00
  Speaker 4: don't have to be on set, you're sort of doing
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: something else while you're working. But you started singing and
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: I could just feel everyone walking in. And I just
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: wanted you to do it over and over again.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: Oh, thank you.
• 15:10
  Speaker 4: Please, we have more takes.
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: Your faces were great because you were kind of up
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: on the podium and I was sort of singing. And
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: I just kept looking and saying... Because it really was
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: about if you could get someone to break or laugh.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: I don't know why that became so important.
• 15:23
  Speaker 4: Sure.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: It's a good goal. It's a good goal to have.
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: But, yeah, you sang it all the way through. I
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: feel like what surface were you on? Were you on
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: a table or a chair?
• 15:34
  Speaker 4: It was like a podium, right?
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: No, it was on a soft. Something was soft. It
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: was like a bean bag.
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: I don't know why I was on a bean bag.
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: So I was sort of standing and I was off
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: balance a little bit. But I don't know why.
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: I'm remembering like pillows or something.
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: It was like a pillow thing. A big, big round pillow.
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: And you were like, Portland. Yes.
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: And the concept also that a mayor should sing a
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: song for its city, that should happen more often.
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: I agree.
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: I agree. Like make the mayor sing a song.
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: Serenade, yeah. How much do you love the city?
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: About his city.
• 16:09
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: I'd listen to the Cleveland mayor sing a song.
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, every city.
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: We dare you.
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we dare you. Send us your songs.
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: There's a dynamic that started to happen almost immediately. Whenever
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: we played Fred and Carrie with the mayor, where Carrie
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: and the mayor were sort of... They were sort of
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: conspiring with each other and I was on the outside
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: of it.
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: In cahoots.
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: A weird, like.
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: I was almost a straight man to all your crazy ideas.
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: So there's like the baseball one. And you guys are like.
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: Well, that was.
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: That was ridiculous. I mean, we just started saying those
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: names like Batty Batterson. You yes anded me so hard
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: because suddenly we were writing a cartoon. We were writing
• 16:58
  Speaker 4: an animated show.
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: It turned into something else. Yeah, suddenly it turned. And
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: then the mayor comes in and out a couple of times,
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: I think. And everyone got excited about, oh, we could
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: take it here.
• 17:09
  Speaker 4: And you were like, we're talking, what about baseball? We
• 17:11
  Speaker 4: were way past baseball. Way past it.
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: I think I call up a logic where I'm like, well,
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: where is it animated?
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: Why?
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: For what? Yeah.
• 17:23
  Speaker 4: And that was the first time we had done that.
• 17:25
  Speaker 4: And that's the first season where, yeah, the dynamics sort
• 17:28
  Speaker 4: of shifted because it's usually like the alliance is you
• 17:31
  Speaker 4: and I. And then, you know, sort of we're working
• 17:34
  Speaker 4: for the mayor. It's not even like conflict, but it's
• 17:36
  Speaker 4: just that's where the triangulation is. But yeah, it started
• 17:41
  Speaker 4: to be that suddenly the mayor and I would be,
• 17:44
  Speaker 4: and you just looked at us like, you're idiots.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: What are you thinking?
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: Why? What are you doing? And it continued, I think.
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: I think in other seasons that pops.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: Up once in a while. It kept getting more. What
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: were some other examples? Those, I remember them, because that
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: was when, wasn't that the episode where I was in
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: the kayak?
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: Oh, that's Brunch Village.
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: Brunch Village, I think.
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: Brunch Village. Okay. Oh, or maybe I just showed up.
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: Was there one more than one? Were you on the kayak?
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: I think it was just the one.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: Maybe I showed up wearing the kayak. No, no, no.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: I was on my bike.
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: That's what it was. I was on my bike outside
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: and I waved from outside.
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, yeah.
• 18:23
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: The window.
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Oh, my God.
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: That's an insane episode.
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: That's an insane episode.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: I love that one.
• 18:31
  Speaker 4: Brunch Village is insane. Like the blackout, that's where you
• 18:34
  Speaker 4: go off the grid. That's insane.
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: And then what was the one where there's a printer
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: that we have to?
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: Oh, my gosh.
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: Was that with the dongles and everything?
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: No, no. It's later where your printer prints.
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: And Mike Nesmith is in it.
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Mike Nesmith. Oh, that's right. Who played my dad, right?
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: Because he gifted you the city. Didn't he?
• 19:00
  Speaker 4: That's right.
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: You're spoiled. Yes. I'm just remembering this now.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: He was very good.
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: He was great.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: Very interesting guy. Because I was a huge Monkees fan
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: as a kid.
• 19:14
  Speaker 4: A real intellectual, that guy. I mean, just a deep,
• 19:16
  Speaker 4: deep thinker.
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: Lived up in, I want to say, Carmel?
• 19:22
  Speaker 4: Yeah. Speaking of, what was like, you grew up in
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: Washington State. What do you like about working in the Northwest?
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: It feels comfortable because I knew Portland. because I'd spent
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: some time there. My grandparents and my father grew up
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: in Vancouver, just across the Columbia. And we would come
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: into Portland occasionally for dinner, that kind of thing. And
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: it was a big city. you can imagine and my
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: dad would always get very confused because it's very the
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: one ways or you know that was the only city
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: that had like well Seattle too but he didn't drive
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: much in Seattle but it was very like confusing to
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: him he's like oh my god He's like, how do
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: I get off this road? He would get very upset.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: My mother had to calm him down, calm down. Because
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: we were driving in a station wagon with three kids
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: screaming in the back.
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: No seatbelts.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: No seatbelts. I can't really blame him. So that was interesting.
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: But I loved that in Seattle. I was super familiar with.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: I don't know. It's like there's an attitude up there
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: that I really like. People are really nice. People are
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: very chill, go with the flow for the most part.
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: And if they're not, then you just kind of make
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: fun of them.
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: A little bit.
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: Because they're very adamant about what they think and believe.
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: And you're like, okay, sure. That sounds great.
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: I don't know.
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: I like that. I love it.
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: I love being up there.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: Did you keep a place up there? Yeah.
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: And there's something physical about it.
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: Just everything, every street I drive down, walk down, there's something.
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: It's just I'm very comfortable there. The whole place feels
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: like a nice sweater.
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: People seem to be interested in people. Yeah. Like in
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: New York, you're walking around and there's a lot of people,
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: but no one's really interested in engaging with people, you know,
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: like that. And in Portland and Seattle, I feel like people, hey,
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: there's more, what are you doing? You know, or shoes
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: or I don't know, whatever. They're more interactive.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I love it. I love that we got to
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: work up there. It was the best. I was going
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: to ask you about Pursued by Bear.
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: How's it going? It's going. And did you, when you
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: were up there, did you take that opportunity to?
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: Go visit Walla Walla. So I have a winery in
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: Walla Walla that I started in 2005 that I called
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: Pursued by Bear, which is a portion of a stage
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: direction Shakespeare wrote in The Winter's Tale. I'm not that
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: smart really, but I thought it was really a funny
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: idea to make something Pursued by Bear. And it was
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: another great opportunity to go kind of be home. When
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: I started the brand, it was intentional to go and
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: visit my dad more and get him kind of engaged,
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: because we're from Yakima, which is about two hours from
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: Walla Walla. And he loved wine, and he loved the
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: whole adventure of it. So we shared that. He passed
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: in 2011. So we had about six years when it
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: was really fun, and we just hung out and did stuff.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: And that just kept going. So it's going well. I've
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: got a tasting room in downtown Walla Walla now. I'm
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: actually going to go up there. I don't know when
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: we're going to air this, but I'm going to be
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: up there May 1, 2, and 3 for spring release.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: And I'm very heavily involved and very hands-on. Spring release? Yeah,
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: spring release.
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: Is that a term for?
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: It's a thing. So in Walla Walla, spring and fall release.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: So spring release is when the wines, you know, the wineries,
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: it's kind of like spring awakening. Everything, you know, wakes
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: up and invite people to come to Walla Walla because
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: the weather's getting better. And it's a beautiful place to visit.
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: Oh, it sounds ideal.
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: It's really fun. Small town, really charming, lots of wine. So, yeah, thanks.
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: After you did Portland, this is after Portland, yeah. You know,
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: you did that newer version of Twin Peaks.
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: And it's some of the best acting that I've seen.
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: You know, you played these multiple parts and everything.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: I did, yeah.
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: And it was... It was just really intense. I really
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: loved it.
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: Oh, thank you.
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: I'm assuming that working on Portlandia sort of, you know,
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: paved the way for you to like.
• 23:37
  Speaker 4: Oh, totally.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: My entire career basically started.
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: It starts with Portlandia. It's like it's an hourglass.
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: It comes to a stand. Portlandia's right here and then
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: everything just kind of.
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: You're able to do stuff.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: This is something I didn't prepare for an answer. So
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: I don't mind if this is like... This answer is
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: not to my.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: To your liking?
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: My liking.
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: But is there a world where David Lynch was aware
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: of Portlandia?
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: Yes, I think so. You know, he was very involved
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: in his creative process. And that included, I mean, you
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: name it, and he was doing it. You know, whether
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: it was carving something or a wood shop or... sculpting
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: or painting or music or writing. I mean, he did
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: everything like that. So I'm going to say yes.
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: It's okay if the answer is no.
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: I mean, honestly, it didn't come up, but I would say,
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: but he was also interested in what, to a point,
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: what his, we're not collaborators necessarily, but Laura Dern and
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: myself and people that he was close with that were creative.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: He was a little interested in what they were doing acting-wise,
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: but he was really mostly interested in what we were
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: doing with him, which I get. But I think he
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: likes quirky stuff, right? And he likes humor that is off-kilter,
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: offbeat a little bit. And yeah, I think Portlandia was
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: right up his alley, I would say.
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: I'll hope.
• 25:15
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: I'm so good in that.
• 25:18
  Speaker 4: I know.
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: That was a, that was very frightening.
• 25:21
  Speaker 4: That was some of the most experimental, like anarchic TV
• 25:25
  Speaker 4: I had seen. I mean, even compared to the first
• 25:27
  Speaker 4: iteration of Twin Peaks. I mean, he just came back
• 25:30
  Speaker 4: and just like exploded that world and, and deepened it
• 25:33
  Speaker 4: and just trusted that the audience would figure it out,
• 25:37
  Speaker 4: which is a real like gift to an audience, like
• 25:41
  Speaker 4: to a viewer, I think, you know, to just like it,
• 25:45
  Speaker 4: asks you to step forward. You know, it's not all
• 25:47
  Speaker 4: just coming at you. You're like, okay, I guess I
• 25:49
  Speaker 4: have to explore this more than I was planning on.
• 25:52
  Speaker 4: And I appreciate that. Cause I think sometimes, especially now
• 25:55
  Speaker 4: there are so many things that just, it just feels
• 25:57
  Speaker 4: like the hands reaching through the screen to be like,
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: this is it, this is it. Like it feels very
• 26:02
  Speaker 4: heavy handed and kind of repetitive in some ways, almost
• 26:05
  Speaker 4: like in case you were looking away, we're going to
• 26:08
  Speaker 4: tell you what that is again. And I feel just
• 26:11
  Speaker 4: like the, the, pauses, like the discomfort, you know, just visually, emotionally.
• 26:19
  Speaker 4: That stuff's really special. It's very artful.
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: It's rare. Yeah. And it was fantastic that he got
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: an opportunity that David Nevins at Showtime said, okay, make
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: your show, make what you want to make, which wasn't
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: the case the first time. I mean, it became something
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: wonderful the first time, but suddenly there was the expectation
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: to solve this mystery, this murder, which they had to do. And,
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: and that turned it around a little bit and the
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: expectations got really high and David's like, he's not interested
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: in that. So this was something where he really was,
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: it was really pure, pure David. He directed every frame
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: he wrote and with Mark's help, they both wrote everything,
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: but he visualized everything. He was, it was unbelievable. He
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: just was, he was so happy.
• 27:09
  Speaker 4: What's something you learned from David?
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: You know, one of the things I appreciate the most
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: was the energy on set. Not every set is like that,
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: where there's a joy and there's kind of a, you know,
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: you're working towards something, but there's no, like, screaming. There's no,
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: certainly he would get mad a couple times, but that
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: was more fun, kind of playful, mad. But it was
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: really more about the joy of, the process and the fun.
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: And that's, it was just a beautiful environment. Um, he's,
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: you know, one of the characters that I played was
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: a very, uh, interior, um, very, um, kind of a new,
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: kind of a new being Dougie Jones. And I, he,
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: I learned courage is very, very difficult to not do anything,
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: to really not do anything for long periods of time
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: when all you want to do is do something, you know,
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: you want to do something. And I, I just said, okay,
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: stillness is, and that's, and I had that experience with
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: him plus the character that talked about Mr. C, which
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: was one of the darkest, the darkest character I've ever played.
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: And that was so, um, so powerful. it's such a
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: powerful experience and so kind of like I was very
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: cautious with this like playing with a crucible of hot
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: molten liquid you know you want to be just so
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: careful with this person and when you're done with the
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: day you want to put him down and then step
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: away very slowly and I would get out of wardrobe
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: and I would just leave him in the trailer like
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: that because I was going home and I didn't want
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: to have any shred of that character that mindset combing
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: with me, if you know what I mean.
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: It's so, that character's so intense that sometimes I picture, like,
• 29:19
  Speaker 3: your makeup, I feel like there was something, like a
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: layer of something.
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there's like a darkening, it was sort of a
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: greasy darkening, like dirty. And that was David. David would
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: come in and he would like, so he would do that,
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: you know, he would paint you, kind of, you know,
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: he would, and we decided on, the look obviously the
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: look and everything and the contact which I worked for
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: that and the wardrobe but but just dirty hands and
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: dirty face which just was like you're like oh yes perfect.
• 29:51
  Speaker 3: Wait contacts did you have contacts I wore contacts for
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: it yeah and was it just darker they were.
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: Darker yeah so that there was no no no life Oh, geez.
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: It makes all the difference.
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: It does, really.
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: We should have done it for the mayor.
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: That would have been scary for the mayor.
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: The scary version of Portland, yeah.
• 30:21
  Speaker 3: Well, I'm glad we got to do it. I'm glad
• 30:25
  Speaker 3: we got to spend all that we had you for
• 30:27
  Speaker 3: every season.
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: I was so grateful. You don't know how much I
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: look forward to every summer knowing I was going to
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: come up to Portland for a couple of days to
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: do a character that I love, to work with you,
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: to do something wacky, to do something different. It was
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: something I looked forward to and was so grateful.
• 30:49
  Speaker 4: Did you ever reach out or ask for a heads up?
• 30:54
  Speaker 4: Or were you just willing to be? Like, okay, I
• 30:57
  Speaker 4: know the drill. I'm going to get there and I'm
• 30:59
  Speaker 4: going to get the story.
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I was just kind of, I mean,
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: and if I did, it would have been more like, oh,
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: I'm so excited. What do you have in store for
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: the mayor? And I was always, but I didn't want
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: to know it because I wanted to be surprised because
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: I loved it. I was like, oh, this is going
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: to be so much fun. But I knew that when
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: we worked together, whatever we did was going to be
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: so fun, so satisfying, so challenging. Yeah. And I just,
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: I was always inspired to bring my A game. I mean,
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: because I knew I was working with you two, which,
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: you know, I mean, that was like, you're at the pinnacle.
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: I was like, okay, okay. I've got to really, I've
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: got to be, I've got to bring my, you know,
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: all everything. I got to, I got to listen. You
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: know what I mean? I got to react. I got
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: to think. I got to be in the moment. I
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: got to be in the moment. That was the main thing.
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: Stay in the moment. Yeah.
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: You're always also. So like your posture, everything was just
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: your posture, Mr.
• 31:53
  Speaker 3: Mayor.
• 31:54
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: It's funny, right? You put on a certain thing and
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: then you just, your physical changes.
• 32:00
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it just, it did seem like you were so.
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: Like when I'm on the ball, I was sitting up
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: very straight.
• 32:03
  Speaker 4: So upright, like such good, your core was tight and
• 32:07
  Speaker 4: your back was straight.
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: The way the book was, just how many steps?
• 32:10
  Speaker 4: Oh, yeah, that's right.
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: But it was never like ironic.
• 32:13
  Speaker 3: Like when you posed for like the fake photos, it
• 32:16
  Speaker 3: never looked like you were doing like a pretend positive guy.
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: It seemed like a natural positivity.
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: Yes, he was all that. And he sort of formed
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: based upon kind of, I don't know, he just sort of,
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: he disappeared from there. The energy, the excitement, and the
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: love of his city.
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, simple love of his city.
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and when it was, that was, that just expanded.
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: It was really fun. It was really fun. Do you
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: miss it? Do you miss parts of it?
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely.
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: Definitely.
• 32:49
  Speaker 3: But we also, Carrie and I still get to hang out.
• 32:54
  Speaker 3: So that part of it is like intact.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: That's great.
• 32:57
  Speaker 3: And I still get to go up to Portland. So
• 32:59
  Speaker 3: there are parts of it that, the important parts.
• 33:02
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: I'm just glad that we shot everything we did. Yeah.
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: I'm just glad that we did those sketches.
• 33:07
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: At that time. I know.
• 33:11
  Speaker 4: It's not a show. There's so many shows I think
• 33:13
  Speaker 4: about that wouldn't be made today.
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: Interesting you say that. I think you're right.
• 33:17
  Speaker 4: Just the kind of freedom.
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: Do you think Portlandia would maybe not resonate the same?
• 33:21
  Speaker 4: I don't know if it would resonate. if it's about
• 33:24
  Speaker 4: whether it would resonate, but just that, like those kinds
• 33:27
  Speaker 4: of the, those shows that just came out at that time,
• 33:30
  Speaker 4: they just feel like they were weirder. And like, we
• 33:36
  Speaker 4: just were left that feeling of being left alone, you know,
• 33:39
  Speaker 4: that feeling of things being kind of like messy and
• 33:42
  Speaker 4: chaotic and, you know, having a lot of faith in,
• 33:47
  Speaker 4: getting to do something also eight seasons, I think is
• 33:49
  Speaker 4: very rare.
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: Eight seasons is a lot.
• 33:51
  Speaker 4: You know, like when, even when things are hitting right now,
• 33:54
  Speaker 4: it's like, okay, they're doing three seasons or doing four seasons,
• 33:58
  Speaker 4: but it just, it felt like a special time for
• 34:00
  Speaker 4: TV where there was just a lot of like really
• 34:03
  Speaker 4: artists driven work. Yeah. Um, but I just don't know
• 34:08
  Speaker 4: if that would happen today.
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 34:10
  Speaker 4: It, it also feels like we were so lucky that,
• 34:14
  Speaker 4: when we pitched it, you know, cause I was coming
• 34:15
  Speaker 4: from music, Fred was on SNL there, there were a
• 34:19
  Speaker 4: million reasons why they could have said like, okay, well,
• 34:21
  Speaker 4: it's cool that you have this little thing with your friend,
• 34:24
  Speaker 4: but you there's, you know, Maya Rudolph or Kristen or
• 34:28
  Speaker 4: Amy or all, you know, all these brilliant women that
• 34:30
  Speaker 4: you work with. And instead they were like, oh yeah,
• 34:33
  Speaker 4: we have faith in this organic, you know, connection that
• 34:37
  Speaker 4: you guys have. Like those kinds of things seem rare to, you.
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: Know, Those decision makers, are they still in place? Do
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: you remember?
• 34:47
  Speaker 3: I don't know if IFC is even a company anymore
• 34:51
  Speaker 3: in that way. I mean, I don't think they are.
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: Because it was Andrew Singer who produced one of his
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: very first things, I think.
• 34:59
  Speaker 3: Yes, he's not at Broadway Video anymore, the production company
• 35:04
  Speaker 3: for the show.
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: But he's still producing. He's got his own company now.
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: And Jonathan was.
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: Jonathan, we had him yesterday.
• 35:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: We were talking to him and busy all the time.
• 35:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: He's working all the time. It was a different idea too.
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: I remember going on set and it was so like,
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: it really was casual. It appeared casual. It felt casual.
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: No, it was.
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: But he would be very, but at the same time,
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: he's editing in his head. I'm sure there was a
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: few people editing. I mean, you guys may have been
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: doing the same thing. Just sort of think this, this, this, this,
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: this as you're going. But he was very clear about
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: what he thought and what it needed to be, which
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: is so helpful.
• 35:46
  Speaker 4: It was helpful because sometimes it didn't feel like there
• 35:49
  Speaker 4: were boundaries, which is kind of what you need as
• 35:51
  Speaker 4: a performer. But I think we all, and we told
• 35:53
  Speaker 4: this to Jonathan yesterday, we trusted that he had the
• 35:56
  Speaker 4: North Star. So I felt then like we could go
• 36:00
  Speaker 4: out on a limb and take risks and try something
• 36:03
  Speaker 4: that might not work. but eventually we would be reined
• 36:07
  Speaker 4: back in and he would know where that limit was.
• 36:10
  Speaker 4: And I think as long as someone else is keeping
• 36:12
  Speaker 4: track of that, like, you know, I found it very invigorating.
• 36:17
  Speaker 4: And then, yeah, sure enough, it gets edited and you're like, oh,
• 36:20
  Speaker 4: you found, you carved the story out of this. Because
• 36:24
  Speaker 4: it would get so tangential. And he, I loved that.
• 36:27
  Speaker 4: Sometimes the tangent, sometimes the tangent became the center. Like
• 36:30
  Speaker 4: we would find something and now that's the story, but
• 36:32
  Speaker 4: the allowance for that, you know, that like, to sort
• 36:35
  Speaker 4: of be like, we're all going down this road. And
• 36:37
  Speaker 4: if you guys veer off, that's okay. You know, like,
• 36:40
  Speaker 4: but I, we need at least him to be keeping track.
• 36:44
  Speaker 4: And he was, you know, so that was great. But
• 36:47
  Speaker 4: that casualness, I think part of that was the nature
• 36:51
  Speaker 4: of the show. And then another, I think was just
• 36:53
  Speaker 4: like the vibe. It was almost like illusory. Like someone
• 36:57
  Speaker 4: was sort of, was in charge. Yeah.
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: Who's in charge here.
• 37:02
  Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah. but that like we had enough of an
• 37:05
  Speaker 4: identity that like from there, okay, we have the solid foundation,
• 37:09
  Speaker 4: but everything up here can stay like fluid and mercurial,
• 37:13
  Speaker 4: which was great.
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah. He, he would, um, he never seemed to be concerned.
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: So it was just like, Oh, it's pretty good. You know,
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: we'll do a little more of this maybe. And what
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: do you think about it? And he asked a little
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: question about that. Maybe we go into there a little
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: bit more. And it's interesting because, again, I say I've
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: never worked like that before, which I loved. But then
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: you sort of reposition, kind of like, okay, all right, gotcha. Okay,
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: a little more of this. And in your head, you
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: sort of edit it a little bit.
• 37:45
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: Rough edit. And like, okay, let's go again. And we'll
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: stay in these lanes now. It's just a very unusual
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: way to work.
• 37:52
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: For me, it was anyway.
• 37:54
  Speaker 4: Same. Well, the allowance defined it, you know, to not
• 37:56
  Speaker 4: go in knowing necessarily, like, what this was about and
• 38:01
  Speaker 4: find it on the day and then drill down on it.
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 38:05
  Speaker 4: It was, I mean, we were talking about the, the
• 38:08
  Speaker 4: early takes sometimes, you know, we'd be like, okay, that
• 38:11
  Speaker 4: was a 35 minute take.
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: It was so long. We made it shorter after a while.
• 38:16
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: But we just let her run. Yeah. And I'd be
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: part of that at some certain point in time. And
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: she'd be like, I think I'm empty. No, we're still going.
• 38:24
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: We're still going.
• 38:25
  Speaker 4: All right. All right.
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: What about this? You know, and then something else would pop.
• 38:28
  Speaker 2: In and, There's a gesture he did. We had him
• 38:32
  Speaker 2: here yesterday. Right.
• 38:33
  Speaker 3: And he was talking about when the script supervisor would say,
• 38:38
  Speaker 3: this is illogical. And there's a gesture he did, which
• 38:41
  Speaker 3: was like, meaning, I got it.
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I know, I know. Let the kids play.
• 38:47
  Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah.
• 38:49
  Speaker 2: So that's when we knew we were in good shape.
• 38:51
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: Adore him. Was he someone, so did you two create a,
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: And then did Jonathan kind.
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: Of come in?
• 38:59
  Speaker 4: Yeah, he came definitely as the co-creator because we just
• 39:01
  Speaker 4: had this, we were making these little videos called Thunder Ant.
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I remember.
• 39:06
  Speaker 4: And then we, when we went to pitch it as
• 39:08
  Speaker 4: a show, I guess it was picked up by IFC,
• 39:10
  Speaker 4: but then we needed someone to kind of elevate it.
• 39:13
  Speaker 4: And I think he really helped bring an identity to it.
• 39:17
  Speaker 4: You know, he just was a big picture guy.
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 39:20
  Speaker 4: And in terms of the aesthetics and, you know, the
• 39:23
  Speaker 4: feel of it, I think that was really John. Yeah. Like,
• 39:27
  Speaker 4: Dream of the 90s.
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: I remember him, oh, I interrupted you, I'm sorry.
• 39:31
  Speaker 4: Oh, no, I was saying, like, Dream of the 90s,
• 39:33
  Speaker 4: which was kind of the thesis for the first season,
• 39:34
  Speaker 4: I mean, that was John. Like, that really gave the
• 39:36
  Speaker 4: show an anchor. So many people were like, oh, this
• 39:40
  Speaker 4: is the thesis. Yeah.
• 39:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: I love that.
• 39:43
  Speaker 3: I would even say that, my memory might be wrong
• 39:46
  Speaker 3: about this, but I think he was the one who said,
• 39:47
  Speaker 3: we should get someone like Kyle MacLachlan.
• 39:51
  Speaker 4: Yes, because I think we were talking about like the
• 39:55
  Speaker 4: color palette of the Pacific Northwest. Like what world do
• 39:59
  Speaker 4: we want to conjure? And then we brought up David Lynch,
• 40:01
  Speaker 4: you know, Twin Peaks. And then we love the way
• 40:04
  Speaker 4: that that casting works where it's like by thinking of
• 40:07
  Speaker 4: you that like people's brains are like, oh, now I'm
• 40:10
  Speaker 4: conflating these two things. Like these worlds, there's no overlap,
• 40:14
  Speaker 4: but there is just some kind of like little connection
• 40:17
  Speaker 4: that I can make. And it's a very satisfying connection
• 40:20
  Speaker 4: when other, I love when other, like when Stranger Things
• 40:23
  Speaker 4: brought Winona Ryder and your brain's just like, okay, that
• 40:26
  Speaker 4: makes sense. Like, you know, it's something almost metaphysical. You're like,
• 40:30
  Speaker 4: there it is out in the ether, these two things colliding.
• 40:33
  Speaker 4: And I think it was smart because it was just like, oh, right,
• 40:36
  Speaker 4: this is the guy from Twin Peaks. And now he's
• 40:38
  Speaker 4: in this other kind of mythical place that exists in
• 40:42
  Speaker 4: the Northwest. Right, right. Like that just makes sense.
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah. That was, that was clever. That was good.
• 40:48
  Speaker 4: But I agree. It was John.
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 40:50
  Speaker 2: We were at Twin Peaks.
• 40:54
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: Um, all right.
• 40:57
  Speaker 4: Well, do, um, I feel like we could wrap it up.
• 41:01
  Speaker 2: I think so too.
• 41:02
  Speaker 4: Um, do you, is there anything else that you would
• 41:04
  Speaker 4: like to, let's at least promote your podcast. Would you
• 41:07
  Speaker 4: have a great podcast?
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: Oh, I would love that. That's so nice. I've, I've,
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: we're just kind of getting close to our first season
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: of what are we even doing? Um, where I sit
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: down with Gen Z and young millennials and we talk
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: creative process and talk to musicians, uh, actors, writers, um, uh,
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: drag Queens. We have everybody, everybody comes on and shares
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: how they got to where they are and where they
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: want to go and what, you know, what, what's important
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: to them. And, how they use social in the way
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: of their own self promotion. And it's, it's fascinating for me. Um,
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: cause I, I don't want to be one of those
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: people that sort of just, you know, it says no
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: youth culture. No, that's not right. Our culture was the best,
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: you know, it's like, no, no, there's exciting things coming.
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: So thank you.
• 41:59
  Speaker 4: I love that. I love that. It's not dismissive, not dismissive.
• 42:03
  Speaker 4: It's not. And you need, I need optimism. I need,
• 42:07
  Speaker 4: I need that faith. Yeah. So, Thank you for bringing that.
• 42:11
  Speaker 4: And thanks for being on the show.
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: Oh, my God. This was like a dream. I feel
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: like we should go back and do the show. Maybe
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: I feel like this is almost an episode of the show.
• 42:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 42:20
  Speaker 4: I'm always glad not to redo the show, but I
• 42:24
  Speaker 4: am so grateful that we did it. You know what
• 42:27
  Speaker 4: I mean? It's hard work. It's hard work. Also, I
• 42:30
  Speaker 4: feel like when people do the reboot, there are a
• 42:33
  Speaker 4: couple reboots out there. Right. Like, and good for them.
• 42:37
  Speaker 4: And I'm sure it does feel great to be back
• 42:39
  Speaker 4: with those people.
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 42:40
  Speaker 4: But I, I feel good about where we left it.
• 42:44
  Speaker 2: I agree.
• 42:44
  Speaker 4: You know, eight seasons. And I also feel like it's
• 42:49
  Speaker 4: people who I will know for the rest of my life,
• 42:51
  Speaker 4: including yourself. And like that, that connection will always be there.
• 42:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: A hundred percent. Yeah.