Latest / Podlandia: A-O Rewatch with Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein / 201: Mixologist

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201: Mixologist · Podlandia: A-O Rewatch with Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hey, hey, hey, watch, watch Hey, hey, hey, watch, watch Hey, hey, hey, watch,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: watch Hey, hey, hey, watch, watch Hey, hey, hey, watch,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: watch You're watching Podlandia.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: Hello, I'm Keri.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: I'm Fred.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: And this is AO Rewatch.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: A Portlandia Rewatch podcast.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: Just so everyone knows, we are at the episode where
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: we finally get to explain where AO comes from. But
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: this is the premiere episode of season two.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Right. And if you're going by Netflix, there's a Brunch
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Village episode that they've sort of put before this.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: Yes. But when they originally aired.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: This was the beginning of the season.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Mixologist was the first episode of season two.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: So that's what we're going to talk about.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: Second season, we're really... We've dialed in what the show
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: is going to be.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: That's how it feels to me. I remember thinking that
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: at the time. I think that when I.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: Look back on Portlandia just when people talk to me
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: about it or when I'm just kind of assessing it
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: as a whole to me season two I'm like okay
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: we it might be one of my favorite seasons some
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: of my favorite sketches but I agree it feels like
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: we locked in and you can really see some of
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: the things we were working out in season one that
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: still felt a little bit inchoate and kind of just
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: halfway there, like it's just clicking.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: Um, and so it's, I'm excited to start talking about
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: this season. I'm not as trapped. There was some in
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: season one where I was like, I had like a
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: little trepidation because I just, I remember at the time
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: feeling like, Oh, this didn't work or that didn't work
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: or like, Um, you know, just something that we, we
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: talked about a little bit, like what is the show?
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: We were still figuring it out. Like there'd be times
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: where you'd be like, Oh, this is a sketch. I
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: was going to pitch on SNL and I'm just going
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: to bring this one here.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: Which is totally normal at the time. But then later
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: we would never, like Portland was so its own thing.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: You would never be like, Oh, here's, you wouldn't pitch
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: it to the same place. Right.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: And I feel like the characters we've figured out, Yes,
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: and we get to bring back our favorite characters and
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: build on them and build out their world and their relationship.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: And that was very fun to do. And we talked
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: about this a little bit on another episode of the podcast,
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: but it was really nice to write for certain characters
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: and have an idea and know, oh, this phenomenon would
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: align really well with this duo.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: And now we have a proper writer's room.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: We have a proper writer's room. Wait, remind me, season two,
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: are we out in the Paramount lot? That's season three.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: Season two... I thought we.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: Were already in Portland for this one. Am I crazy?
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: I thought we always started in L.A.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: We would start there and then continue the writing process in.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: In Portland.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: In Portland.
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: But where were we in L.A. at this time?
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: This is.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: We were not at that Universal lot anymore.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, nor were we at... This is not the Chelsea
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: Pretty year. That's the other.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm not sure.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: Gosh.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: Was it the house we rented in Silver Lake? That's later.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: That's later. Wow. This is so factual, this podcast.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: Gosh. But Carrie Dornetto, I think, has joined us.
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: Carrie Dornetto, who ends up writing with us for the rest...
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: Of Portlandia.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: And is a dear friend. Big fans of hers. She
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: brings a wonderful sensibility. She's goofy. She's smart. She really
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: laughs in the room too. Yeah. Which is nice when
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: you're pitching.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: She's got a good laugh. Pitching is really like scary.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: Just putting it out there like it's very vulnerable.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: You know, like it's, it's an, it's an act of vulnerability.
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: Like you, you know, you're out in the world, you're
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: thinking about things, you're taking notes. You may, you might
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: read something or see something or have, you know, experienced
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: something and you're like, ah, this is a good pitch.
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: This is a good idea for the show. And it's
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: more nerve wracking than you'd think, even for people who
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: have done it a lot to just bring up an
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: idea and cold and have people not react.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: Sometimes as you're talking, or sometimes I remember as this
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: idea seems so fully formed in my head, as the
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: words come out of my mouth, it's nonsense. This is
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: not an idea. This is just a feeling of some kind.
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: I will say we had a great group of people,
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: very supportive and good at being able to just kind
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: of be like, Whatever, without making it personal. I do
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: feel like we entertained things momentarily or at least just,
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: you know, no one was negative or like derisive towards
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: someone else at all. It's just, but you feel energetically like,
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: you know, it die.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah. Or like you're wasting everyone's time.
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. And often when you have to keep explaining something,
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: that's when you know it's bad.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: That's when you know it's bad.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: I I'm remembering a pitch that I had towards the
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: end of the run. Okay. And I was so sure
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: of it. Okay. And I, it was not, it's not
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: an idea, but I'm just going to, this is the
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: feeling of like when it's something dies in the room
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: here in LA, if you go drive around Burbank, sometimes
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: there are like lonely main streets, like a main street somewhere.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: And there'll be like, I guess a night, not even
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: a nightclub, just a sort of social, not a bar,
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: just a sort of banquet hall.
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: There'll be like a neon light around it. And I
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: think that if I stand in front of it, that's
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: the loneliest place you could ever be. There's something lonely
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: about being in front of a place like that. And
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: I don't want to go in, but you know, and
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: that's what I pitched as an idea for a sketch.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: I was like, what's the loneliest place ever? you could
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: ever stand in, but that's not a sketch.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: It's so high concept.
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: It's just a feeling.
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: I mean, I'm excited for your art show.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: That's, that's where it belongs. Yeah.
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: Your performance art.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah. So that's just kind of an aside about the process. Also,
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: I will say when you enter a writer's room, you,
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: we start with the blue sky period when that's just,
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: that's fun. That's just everyone. It's like, we haven't seen
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: each other for, you know, some of the writers we
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: haven't seen for a year, like, but you know, it's
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: been eight months, seven months since we filmed the show,
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: maybe half a year, I guess. And so we're kind
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: of catching up. It's very anecdotal. That's really fun. Like, um,
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: if you've been, you know, like a new dating experience or,
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: you know, any new interpersonal dynamics, like it's, that is
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: a very exciting time just sharing all that stuff and
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: gleaning stories from.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: That, That's the best.
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: Do you remember me and you used to get together?
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: Beforehand. Just us two. Yeah.
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: Like in Portland, I remember.
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: Whatever.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: Restaurant, coffee shop, where there are little notebook of ideas. Yeah.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: I still have some of those. I will bring that
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: to a future taping of this podcast because I still
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: have like just a long list of things, a lot
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: of which, you know, never made it, but some of
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: which became sketches.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: Anyhow, the cold open is recurring characters. Although in an
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: interesting kind of turn of events, something we didn't do often,
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: we give them sort of a different look. This is
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: Bryce and Lisa. Yeah. I remember saying that, but it.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: We made this decision that was like, they're always going
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: to change their look.
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah. But this is like a fully different wig for me.
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: Like we look.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: I have a mustache. Yeah.
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: We look kind of like old timey, like much more like.
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: like farmers kind of like, yeah, I know we're confused now.
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: And if you're confused as an audience member, just know
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: we're just as agog as you are.
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: Um, yeah.
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: Anyway, supposedly this is Bryce and Lisa. Uh, anyway, this
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: presentational characters like put a bird on it, you know, um,
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: to camera, which, you know, obviously we don't do for
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: most of the sketches. But yeah, the premises, we can
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: pickle that. An observation, Fred is attributing it to our director, co-creator,
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: Jonathan Kreisel. And some of this feels like him. I'm
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: not sure if the original idea was his, but certainly
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: an observation many of us had. Again, just sort of
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: this like trend spotting, trend casting of like, oh yeah,
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: everything's pickled when you go to places yeah and sort
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: of we we take it as far as we possibly
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: can in terms of what what these characters are able
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: to pickle yeah.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: And it's like and it's like easy to present as
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: a sketch and that all we had to do was
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: take objects and put them in vinegar so the parking
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: ticket just put it in so it's easy to see
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: what the idea is yeah that we could pickle anything
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: and it starts with danger Aaron this.
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: Is danger Aaron yes he is a motorcycle rider, a
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: stunt guy, and he's part of the Jackass movie and
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: TV show universe. Portland resident. He will come back to
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: Portlandia over and over again later in the season, in fact.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: And a good character, like playing a kind of misfit
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: in a way, but someone who's still fun.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, sweet but irascible. Yeah. And one of those, like,
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: cool guys. Like, you know how there's still a sort of, like,
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: it's kind of rare, like a little intimidating. Like I'm
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: just not of that world.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: Of like a motorcycle. Yeah.
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: Like enthusiasts. Like it's a little intimidating to me.
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: But he's not so in motorcycle culture that he's like
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: a biker. He's like this other version.
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: That's like, just like confident and like very fearless. I mean,
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: all of the, that's the whole ethos of jackass. Like
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: that's the idea is that they're very stunt people. driven
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: and like thrill seeking but he kind of brings that
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: energy yeah and I was just gonna say there's a
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: little danger to him literally his nickname is Andrew Aaron
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: anyway that's his vibe sweet guy um and yeah so
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: he starts off in the he's in the sketch yeah.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah and just presentational and I'm glad we got to
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: do it like it's a good start to the season
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: yes into the episode.
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: Yes And at the time, I think there were certain things,
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: even though obviously everyone can understand this today and it's
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: not something that's gone away. It was like very like
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: of the moment.
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: Oh, yeah. Yeah.
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: Pickling.
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: And pickle jars.
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: Oh, pickle jars as an aesthetic.
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah. It really was everywhere. Yeah.
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: And restaurants were really like offering up the pickled items. Yeah.
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: People were really excited about it.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Fermentation.
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: Uh, yeah. And ends with, we were, we were talking
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: about this before we started recording. This is the part
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: that we attribute to John Kreisel. Like I remember wanting
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: him wanting the end. It is, it's like a very
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: ambiguous ending. Like there's this couple in bed and they're
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: having a conversation. Like, you know, they're sort of unable
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: to like, you know, there's problems in the bedroom. Yeah.
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: And you know, there it's like, you're not sure where
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: this is going, you know? And then we, hop up.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: Next to them in bed.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: We're just waiting.
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: And you think, because, you know, there's been a reference
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: to this man's flaccid penis and you're like making, your
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: mind is connecting penises and pickles and you, you think we're,
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: you think we're just going to go somewhere and that
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: it doesn't.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: We're just smiling.
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: We're just smiling and we ask if we can, if
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: there's a restroom available.
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah. So it's a odd ending. Yeah. But I like
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: that that's the ending. Like I like how it sort
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: of just deviates from one's expectations.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: And then it just goes right into the opening credits.
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: So that it's like, it's, I like the opening credits
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: always feel like it saves us from whatever, like no
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: matter what.
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: Yes. And that's thanks mostly to the theme song written
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: by washed out.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: Uh, and I, I, yeah, I think you're right. There's,
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: and also that the theme song, it's like, it's weighty.
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: You know what I mean? Like, yeah. it has like
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: this heaviness to it and this like groove that just,
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: it's like, if we're sort of like vacillating on something
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: or like something's not landing yet, like just puts you
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: on this track and you're like, okay, here we go.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: Um, or if it does, if, if it is a
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: great cold open, it just feels like an extension of that. Yeah.
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: It works either way.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: And by the way, I do like this as a
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: cold open. I am not saying this sketch is unsuccessful,
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: but you're right that it just kind of like, it's
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: like this mindset. You're like, okay, here we are. We're
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: in the zone. Yeah. We're in the zone.
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: It's okay wherever it ends up.
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. This is the wraparound, which is the three-part,
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: sometimes four-part sketch that becomes kind of the container, the
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: through line for the episode. This one, we have a
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: guest star, Andy Samberg.
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: Our friend.
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: Our friend. Very funny guy. Very game.
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: And just sweet.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: Sweet. Really knows how to make things funnier.
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: And his performance is great, but also likable immediately.
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: Always. Lovable. Lovable, for sure. And I'll say, going back
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: to the writing, we're still in the mode of most things,
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: despite having an outline and certainly scripts, lots of improvisation. Lots, yeah.
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: And Andy, obviously, coming from SNL, a total pro at that.
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: So in this, it's a Fred and Carrie wraparound. So
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: we were back in the characters of Fred and Carrie
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: loosely based on the real Fred and Carrie, um, with
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: a little license to be, uh, sillier and, um, stupider. Uh,
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: but we are at a bar, a cocktail bar and
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: I spot a handsome bartender.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: Who mixologist mixologist yeah yeah sorry bartender but also like
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: really yeah in.
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: Fact later we differentiate yeah i can't believe i just
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: said bartender yeah how pedestrian no he's he's a mixologist
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: yeah yes you really actually were like no not you're
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: right yeah yes i mean and that was but also
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: again this like this distinction that felt like needed to
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: exist for a while like no he's like there's chemistry
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: and science and yes yeah it's like It's like someone
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: getting a PhD a little bit.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: Yes. Yeah. And he plays it really... He does this
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: physical comedy of really working on this drink and there's
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: a spherical ice cube. I guess not an ice cube.
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: In the drink... Ice sphere? Ice sphere. Yeah. So that
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: takes up the whole... The whole glass. Yeah.
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: And also... I mean, the drink that they end up
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: bringing me, I imagine props like cleaned up. Our props
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: department cleaned up. But Andy did make a drink using
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: a ridiculous amount and combination of ingredients, which he really
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: plays up during this scene.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I can't tell if he memorized the ingredients because
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: he rattles them off. I know. And I wonder if
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: we had scripted it.
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: I think, I mean, there definitely was a script that
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: it feels like that. I mean, I don't doubt that
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: he could have improvised that, but it feels very specific.
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: It's very specific.
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: What he's rattling off.
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: Side note, you know, I worked with him on SNL.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: There was also, you know, we shoot this in Portland.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: I remember the feeling of like being happy to show
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: him Portland.
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: I don't know if he had been there before. I'm
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: guessing not that much. So sort of feeling of like, Hey,
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: this is, this place. And I remember that was very exciting. Yeah.
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: I remember that about, about you. Like, because we had
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: like the first season we had Jason Sudeikis and you know,
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: now we have Andy Sandberg and then we will go
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: on to have many SNL current cast at the time.
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: And then people who are already alumni of the, of
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: the cast, alumna of the cast on the show. And,
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: and for me, I always being from the Pacific Northwest,
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: having lived in Portland, before we started making the show,
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: I also felt that. I remember also, for the first
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: couple years, maybe for the first half of the show,
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: we took everyone out to dinner. Which, when you arrive
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: as a guest actor on a show, you often don't
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: meet anyone you're working with until you're in the trailer,
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: maybe hair and makeup trailer in the morning, maybe you've
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: talked to producers on the phone or director to get
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: a sense of who your character is and what the
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: expectations are, but you rarely meet anyone or like go out.
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: And we just, I think we were so excited and
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: so eager to sort of bring people into the world
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: of the show. The show did feel anomalous compared to
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: how other shows are run, you know, and people were
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: coming to Portland. It's not like the most common destination
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: for people in the U S some people had never been.
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: We were always like, we would be like, Hey, did
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: you land? Let's take you out to dinner. So we
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: would wrap the night before, like from a full day
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: of work and then go grab dinner.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: The energy.
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: The energy. I know.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: To do that. But it was great.
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: It was great. And I think also just to kind of,
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: I mean, Andy would kind of know how the show
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: was and that it was going to be improvised, but
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: I think a lot of people weren't necessarily excited. expecting that.
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: And I think we wanted to just bring people into, well,
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: make them feel at home and welcome and show our appreciation.
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: So there are a lot of dinners.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: A lot of dinners.
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: A lot of dinners.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: And at really nice places. That's the other thing. Like
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: Portland restaurants are so great that. Yeah. That was, that's
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: the easy part of it.
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Again, there's just this real seamlessness between us filming
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: the show and us living in Portland. Like it just
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: felt one in the same.
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: Like it just was. just felt like so permeating, you know,
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: and like atmospheric. and that, yeah, it makes me sentimental
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: for that time because it just there, it wasn't like, okay,
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: we're going to the studio to shoot or, you know,
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: we're going checking at the security gate and going in
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: and you're sort of isolated from the city. It's like,
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: we're just in the city, we're in the city all day, often,
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: you know, eating lunch, like in the back, you know,
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: someone's yard became where we did like broke for lunch, um,
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: you know, meeting and hanging out with the homeowners whose
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: house we were shooting at, or, you know, the owners
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: of a shop or just, you know, people passing on
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: the street, like in talking to people, like it just,
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: it just didn't have that sort of like delineation between like, okay, well,
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: I'm leaving work. And it's like, no, I'm just, I'm
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: in Portland shooting this. Anyway, that was sort of the
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: spirit of it. And we always tried to bring our
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: guests into that. So, so yeah, that's the first part
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: of this sketch is just, you know, I sort of,
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: I'm eyeing this guy.
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: He's cute.
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: He's kind of giving me a little like look back
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: and then he brings me this drink and it's a
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: piece of art. And you say as my friend, like.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: This guy, he's like.
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: He likes you.
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: You won't even say he loves you.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: I think so.
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: And I even, we'll talk about that. I mean, that's
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: a new dynamic. So I think because the relationship of
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: Fred and Carrie is ambiguous. So it could be anything.
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: We don't know if they used to date, if they
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: maybe currently sort of date, if they have feelings for
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: each other. Like we haven't really established that we lived later.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: We sort of do in the Amy man sketch from
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: season one. But we haven't really solidified that and we
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: keep it purposely ambiguous and vague. Yeah.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: And in this one, without any reservation, very supportive of like, hey,
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: this guy really likes you. Yeah. You don't even see
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: a hint of like, well, this is getting weird for me.
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: Not at all.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: It's fully supportive.
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: And the other thing I like is you decide on,
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: and these are often decisions that happen in the moment.
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: We've talked about this a little bit, like what are
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: the other decisions? relationship dynamics and you choose you made
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: this choice with Andy to kind of like do this
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: like kind of bro-y guy thing like on the side
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: which you repeat in the later parts of this wraparound
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: but almost in this way where you're like sort of
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: showing him that you're not a threat like sort of
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: apropos of what we're talking about like you're kind of
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: letting him know like I'm her friend but like this
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: is cool and hey like man to.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: Man yeah you know it's a tone.
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: It's a tone it's a little bit paternal.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean?
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: Almost like, yeah, this is, but yeah, it's, it's an
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: interesting dynamic, but I, it's funny. And you kind of
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: do this like little bro-y thing.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: And Andy's doing it as well. This is kind of,
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: this is kind of like where you've been living here
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: a long time. Yeah. Yeah. This kind of, it's like
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: a little up, like a little louder, a little.
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: Sort of code switching between like him, like flirting with
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: me and then him being like, but I can still
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: talk to you as a guy. Yeah. Yeah.
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah. You're like working here. Yeah.
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: Like it's all business.
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah.
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: It's, uh, it's funny. Anyway, so that's the end of...
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: Is that the end of part one?
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Basically, we set up. Okay, he did this for you. Oh,
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: I know.
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: Mix tape.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: Mix him a tape.
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: Right. So you say he made you a mixed drink. Yeah.
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: You've got to make him a mixed tape. Yeah. All right.
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: We go now to... what this podcast is named after.
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so this is a Kath and Dave sketch. Kath
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: and Dave, we met them in season one at the
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: dog park, at the outdoor movie screening, and here they
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: are on a trip to the river, a rafting trip.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: And again, so much gear, so much gear, and an
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: excess of gear, like superfluous, unnecessary amount of gear.
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: Yep. Overprepared.
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: Yes. But also always underprepared at the same time. Yes.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: The irony, of course.
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: And then, so also we're trying, it's nature and a
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: river has its own literal like flow to it, right?
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: Like it is, it will wind in its own pace.
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: You know, and, or wind, whatever, winding.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Anyway, we're trying to actually prepare police the pace
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: of people floating down a river. Yes. Like you can't
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: control the current and we're like trying to lay claim
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: to like a certain amount of real estate, not just
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: on the shore.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: No, in the water.
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: But in the water.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: And people passing through.
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: Moving water.
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Anyway.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: And Portland does have like a relationship with the river. Yes.
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: This is like, this is a part of.
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: It's a river city.
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah. It's a port city. Hmm. Um, the Willamette river
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: literally divides east and west. Um, and a lot of people,
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: this is not the Willamette river. I believe we're on
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: the Sandy river here, but, um, tubing, you know, doing,
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: you know, floats on, you know, inner tubes and the
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: summer rafting paddle, but it's very popular summer thing to do. Um,
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: so that's, it is a beautiful summer day when we shoot.
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: And I remember the background being pretty excited to just
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: kind of float down the river in a tube and
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: then circle back and float down again. Anyway, Dave and
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: Kath are trying to figure out how they will communicate
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: to each other in case something goes wrong.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: And I decide, as Kath, that I will shout Ayo River.
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: Ayo River! And that's something I made up on the spot.
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: I don't know where it came from. Never before had
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: I shouted Ayo River in any situation.
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: No.
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: I don't think I had put together Ayo as a
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: It wasn't a normal greeting I had. Yeah, Kath, there's
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: a lot of, like in the Come On movie, Make
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: It Start from season one. When I put that ponytail
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: on the back of my head, things come out of
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: my mouth that have never come out of my mouth before.
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: And so, yeah, Ayo River. And said in that way,
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: Ayo River.
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: I think also with your hand up.
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: Oh, I mean, and much louder than this. Like, you know,
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: don't want to damage the mic. It's very loud, abrasive.
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah. So we decide that that's going to be, you know,
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: our sort of our word, if our phrase.
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: It becomes one of the catchphrases of the show in general.
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah. It basically goes from put a bird on it, cacao,
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: Ayo River.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: Yes. When I do stand up currently, people will shout that.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: I'll hear it whenever there's an opportunity for people to
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: say something out loud. I will hear AO River. Yeah.
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: Same.
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: Same. And when I post on social media, sometimes AO
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: River is just a comment I will get back. Yeah.
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: Which I love, by the way, because it's not a
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: phrase that existed before this.
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: I mean, it became the, you know. focal point of
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: the sketch.
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: Yes as well yeah so right and this is another
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: example of you know we sort of have a general
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: idea of how the sketch is going to go and
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: then suddenly it becomes about A.O. River and when Kath
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: gets kind of swept up in the current and floats
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: down stream Dave I'm shouting A.O. River and Dave can't
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: remember what what it meant what it meant and so
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: he starts writing me a letter yeah yeah that I'm.
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: A I put in a bottle to send down to you.
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah. And I'm fine in any way. Yeah. That's basically
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: the end of the sketch.
• 27:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: But the classic Kath and Dave sketch.
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: Not making a lot of friends. Kath and Dave, like
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: they don't. Yeah.
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: Not interested in friends.
• 28:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: A lot of our characters actually are couples.
• 28:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: Have an insularity to them.
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: Which I think is something that we talk a lot
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: as we're developing characters or we talk a lot. when
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: we're in character, I remember we would have conversations about
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: couples a lot, like traits of couples that we had observed,
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: things we found really interesting.
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: Some things that we found annoying.
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: Things or things we aspired to like, Oh God, like
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: I just, you know, I wish I could be like that.
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: You know, I'm just not able anyway, but yeah, they're
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: just like a world unto themselves. A lot of our couples.
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: Kath and Dave. Very much so.
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: Very much so. Yeah.
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: Develop their own language and way of being.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: That's maybe intolerable for most other people.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: But they love it. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, so finally, AO River,
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: AO Rewatch, we've made it. It all makes sense now.
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: Sorry if you had to wait this long.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: But now it's going to be easier to listen.
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah. You're going to know it. And now I can
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: really double down when I'm introing the podcast. I can
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: do it in the full cast.
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: No shyness about it.
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: No shyness.
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: Shed the shyness as Kath would do. All right. That
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: leads us to part two of the wraparound sketch mixology.
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: Yes. And this part is all over the place.
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: By the way, this has many parts to it. This
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: part two is actually very like multifaceted, which is rare.
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: Like we're on a full journey starting with us going
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: back to the bar the next day. where Andy has
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: worked or where we met Andy to bring the mixtape
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: and we find out he's moved.
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: Yep. To SoCal.
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Which was a choice. We did not want to
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: call it say LA or Orange County or even Southern California.
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: Yes. SoCal. Yeah. We make our way down and we've
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: got to depict Southern California. I'm shooting in Portland and
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: it's sunny.
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: It's sunny. And it's already, we're already shooting in the summer.
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: So most of Portlandia is actually like pretty beatific, you know,
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: and bright compared to, you know, an average day in Portland.
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: But we had to make SoCal even brighter. So it's
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: like a glaring, glaring sun.
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: And it's like a joke about the Pacific Northwest that
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: we're saying, Oh, the sun, it's so bright.
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, like we haven't seen it in ages, which is,
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: to be fair, how it does feel come February, March.
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: So we can barely tolerate the heat and the glare
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: of the sun. And like a mirage in the distance,
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: we see like a sign for a restaurant around the
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: world in 80 plates.
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: Well, first there's the burkas we put on.
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: Oh, right. We head-to-toe coverage.
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: Yes, and then we walk along the highway.
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: And then we really shot along the highway.
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: Which actually, at the time, I thought, this is very dangerous.
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: Yes, it felt dangerous.
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: And no one, obviously, this is, by the way, a
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: live freeway. Think about anyone who works on any kind
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: of shoot. You know how the safety is paramount, right?
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: Even if you are shooting, if it's a live anything,
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: like it's a tiny, quiet neighborhood street, There are people
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: at either side there to stop traffic, to hold traffic,
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: and everyone is in high-vis gear. Like, everyone in the
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: crew is in high-vis gear, even if a car is, like,
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: coming along at one mile per hour.
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: There's warnings, like, this is a driveway.
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: Active driveway.
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: Everything. Everything. You're just hyper-aware.
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: In a good way. Like, very cautious, safe. There were
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: elements of Portlandia... that because we just weren't and it's
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: a union show like you know it's like it's it's
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: fully like up and running and you know like it's
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: a it's a legitimate show but because of just like
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: how we shot and like that sometimes we were like
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: you know a breakaway crew or something like trying to
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: cover a lot you know we just we fred and
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: i are walking on on an active highway yep yeah.
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: And the sound of trucks going by is a very
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: scary sound.
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: It's not just, it's the sound of trucks because there
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: are trucks going by. Oh, it's crazy how real those
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: trucks looked and sounded. I actually, there were a few
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: times filming Portlandia that I felt scared and this was
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: one of them.
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: Same. This was, this, we felt it.
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Is there someone we can sue?
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: I think technically we have to sue each other.
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: Which is a, It's a bummer.
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: But it works out. We just agree on the same,
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: similar amount. Yeah.
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: Anyway. But yeah, being very honest, I was, I was
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: really scared.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: I remember the same.
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: Because I think we were at a distance. Meaning we
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: didn't have the safety. Yeah. Yeah.
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: They were just like, just start walking. The camera will
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: see you back here. Camera's fully on land. Like, or sorry,
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: not on land, but like on a grass strip off
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: the highway.
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: So for us, it was like we were out on
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: our own.
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: They were like, just start walking.
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: And like, have they yelled cut?
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: I think so.
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: Who knows?
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: I think we're done.
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: Who knows? I'm a half mile down.
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Anyway, don't try that at home. Okay. So after
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: walking on the highway, we do see a sign in
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: the distance for Around the World in 80 Plates. And
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: so we stopped to get some food.
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: And here's Kumail.
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: Here's Kumail Nanjiani making his second appearance on the show
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: after his brilliant stint in season one. And yet again,
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: he comes absolutely prepared with this very, um, amazing like menu.
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: Kumail had worked with our art department to have, make
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: sure that the language he wanted was, was on these menus.
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: Cause he, and he, so he wrote a lot of
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: his own jokes for this. And, um, the, this became, uh,
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: like the dynamic that always sort of occurred between whoever
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: Kumail was playing and Fred and Carrie, which was that
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: we were just completely thwarted. We wanted things to move quickly.
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: There was an urgency in season one. We're trying to
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: find the mayor. In this scene, we are very hungry,
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: very thirsty. All we want is food and that is
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: just not going to happen.
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: And I'm trying my best to keep it simple and
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: just order a burger. And it just cannot happen It
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: is a wall. It is a wall. He is a wall.
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: He is a wall. It's one of the most fun
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: games to play.
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: As an actor. And I'm just mostly trying not to laugh.
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: I mean, just what he was throwing out, like.
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: His logic.
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: Smile tea. Every.
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: And restaurants, some restaurants are like this, where they've got
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: names for things and sizes and.
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: Just make it very, it slows everything down.
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: It slows everything down. And if you don't order using
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: the correct parlance, they really sometimes act as if they
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: don't understand what you're saying.
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: And they force you to say it like that.
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: Do you want to, what was it? Double down or
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: do you want, whatever it is.
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: Lobster eyes. I mean, there were so many.
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: And it's around. And then the restaurant is around the
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: world in 80 plates, which makes it, you realize, oh,
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: this is a real nightmare. Yes. Because they're taking you
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: around the world. And I remember the menus were also cumbersome.
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: It was like a book.
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: There's one shot where I'm trying to give him back
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: the menu and he pushes it back down.
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah. There's a moment where you ask for an iced
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: tea and he says, we don't have iced tea. We
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: have smile tea. And you're like, what's smile tea? And
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: he says, it's tea with ice.
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: Yes. Yeah.
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: And yeah.
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: I'm mad now.
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: I know. I know. And another thing that often happens
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: in scenes is that I kind of become susceptible to it.
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: Like I buy in, which really pisses you off.
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: Because like I start to think like some of this
• 36:25
  Speaker 2: stuff sounds good. Yes.
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: So I think I either lobsterize or double down on something.
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: And I'm ordering. There's a list of sides.
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: And I order like a couple of them.
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: I remember looking at the list of sides too, and
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: it's really well written, meaning they don't have French fries,
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: but these other things that I'm like, fried something.
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: From all different cuisines, which also is not a great
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: way to eat. You know, like good separately, not great together.
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: No. Terrible, terrible.
• 36:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: No sharing.
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Like an egg roll and a tostada is like,
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: you know, separately amazing together, like a lot, you know?
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: Although, to be fair, it's really how I loved eating
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: as a child. Oh, yeah. Yeah. A buffet to me
• 37:10
  Speaker 2: was like a really great place. Because it's all your
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: favorite food on one plate.
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: Something happens as you get older, I think, with buffets.
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: Where you just realize like this is not a good idea.
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: Germs wise.
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: Oh, germs wise?
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: Oh, I wasn't even thinking germs. I was just thinking
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: like in terms of like it's kind of a gut bomb,
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: I think, to just like. But yeah, germs wise.
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: It's a little bit like, wait a minute. What? What's this?
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: Why are we all handling the same?
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: You know, there's that like sneeze guard.
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: So you're fine.
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: As long as there's a sneeze guard.
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: That's true.
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Anyway, we should go to a buffet later.
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: Anyway, that is the end of that part, that part
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: two of Mixologist. And yeah, I just, Kumail, just one
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: of the best. And I remember.
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: I mean, it's its own show.
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: It's its own show.
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I could live in it forever, although it frustrates me.
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: But he really keeps getting in the way and I
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: just love how he does it. Yeah.
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: And again, like once we start establishing sort of what
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: the dynamics are, we start writing for them. Yeah. So,
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: you know, I think when we were writing this bit
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: and we were thinking of who could play that or
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: what kind of character we needed, it was like, oh,
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: let's get Kumail and then you know, in subsequent seasons,
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: it was even more deliberate. It was like, okay, we
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: need that kind of like antagonist.
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: Who can come in and just like throw up a
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: roadblock for Fred and Carrie. That's Kumail, you know, which
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: is really fun to do.
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: I think he's laughing a little in it.
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: I think there's a couple of spots.
• 38:53
  Speaker 2: I feel like he's one of the guest stars who
• 38:57
  Speaker 2: makes me break the most.
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Oh, so good.
• 39:01
  Speaker 2: Anyway. Then we get to a feminist bookstore sketch. Feminist bookstore,
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: Tony and Candace, Women and Women First is the name
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: of our bookstore. We shot at a real feminist bookstore.
• 39:21
  Speaker 2: In other words, in North Portland. And this is one
• 39:26
  Speaker 2: of the only feminist bookstore sketches that doesn't feature like
• 39:31
  Speaker 2: an out-of-town guest star right it might be the only
• 39:33
  Speaker 2: one yeah or it's definitely oh.
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: That that i'm not sure but yes.
• 39:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah a rare yeah sketch a feminist bookstore sketch because
• 39:41
  Speaker 2: often they were popular characters we loved playing them and
• 39:45
  Speaker 2: they were characters that we knew guest stars would want
• 39:47
  Speaker 2: to play opposite to yeah But yeah, this is Ernie. Yep.
• 39:54
  Speaker 2: He's the actor. And we have him back multiple times.
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 39:58
  Speaker 2: He plays the ACs out and we're overheated and he
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: comes in to fix it.
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: Yes. Yeah. I see now that as I watch it, hair,
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: like the wigs are a little more taken care of.
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: We're just a little more conscious. In a good way.
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: I could tell that my makeup is a little more...
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: Maybe I'm more shaved or something. It's just a little
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: streamlined a bit. I think the wigs are also styled.
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: It's combed in a way that's getting better. Right.
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: Well, just as writers and then as performers, we started
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: being more intentional and learning from past... mistakes or just
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: realizing there were things we could do better. I feel
• 40:48
  Speaker 2: like all the department heads did that too. Like, Oh,
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: this is how we can streamline this or, Hey, I
• 40:54
  Speaker 2: need to remind Fred shave or here's literally, here's a razor.
• 40:58
  Speaker 2: I remember, um, you know, you would be handed a
• 41:01
  Speaker 2: razor to shave like chest hair or, you know, like
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: everyone started, I think being more particular about that stuff
• 41:09
  Speaker 2: and just wanting it to look better.
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 41:13
  Speaker 2: Uh, and it became sort of less like haphazard and
• 41:17
  Speaker 2: like just intentional is the right word. Like we just,
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: there was more intention I think with season two.
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 41:23
  Speaker 2: Um, so yeah, I agree with that. Um, and this
• 41:28
  Speaker 2: ends with them basically just taking our entire tip jar. Well,
• 41:31
  Speaker 2: you can't, we literally don't have money to pay them.
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 41:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: Okay. And it seems to be okay that that's the
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: amount that we ended up paying him. Is that $ 28? Yes. Something,
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: I mean, I just feel like that's also kind of,
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: maybe at the time, Portland-y too. Money. I remember I
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: had a couch delivered there, and I tried to tip
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: the delivery guys, and they wouldn't take my tip.
• 41:58
  Speaker 2: Oh.
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: And that was a very rare thing for me.
• 42:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: They're like, nope. Yeah. From there, we go to helicopter parents.
• 42:10
  Speaker 2: Malcolm and Chris, who are also... recurring characters. And I
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: think their last name is Singer. And we were sort of,
• 42:18
  Speaker 2: our executive producer is Andrew Singer. And this is something
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: we did a lot, which is sometimes we would just
• 42:24
  Speaker 2: nod to like, you know, tip our hat to a
• 42:27
  Speaker 2: friend or colleague and, you know, just kind of a
• 42:31
  Speaker 2: little Easter egg if, you know, you were watching and
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: you would know like, okay, this is this person to
• 42:39
  Speaker 2: which we're referring. So yeah. These people I remember, Malcolm
• 42:43
  Speaker 2: and Chris, I grew up in and around Seattle, mostly
• 42:48
  Speaker 2: in the suburbs of Seattle. And Seattle and Portland, it's
• 42:53
  Speaker 2: sometimes tricky to explain the difference. Now it might be
• 42:58
  Speaker 2: a little more obvious. Seattle has had a tech boom
• 43:00
  Speaker 2: and feels like a much bigger city. But I remember
• 43:06
  Speaker 2: saying to you that Malcolm and Chris were Seattleites. Like
• 43:09
  Speaker 2: there was a slight sophistication and they were more moneyed,
• 43:14
  Speaker 2: which is often like to me, Seattle, while it used
• 43:19
  Speaker 2: to be a little bit crunchier, a little bit more
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: like bohemian, obviously there was such an influx of money there.
• 43:26
  Speaker 2: I think certainly before Portland had it and still, of course.
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: And I think less self-conscious about like displays of wealth
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: in Seattle and you know, or Portland, I think wears
• 43:40
  Speaker 2: that a little self-consciously. It's like, you know, not wanting
• 43:42
  Speaker 2: to necessarily come across as like better than anyone. I
• 43:46
  Speaker 2: think Seattle is established enough, just feels more confident. You know,
• 43:49
  Speaker 2: we've talked a little bit about this, like identities of
• 43:51
  Speaker 2: cities and which ones are sort of willing to like
• 43:53
  Speaker 2: embrace things. And I feel like there's also a version
• 43:57
  Speaker 2: of money in Seattle where it's also still, it's like,
• 43:59
  Speaker 2: how can I sort of be like counterculture and, you know, bohemian?
• 44:03
  Speaker 2: How can I be like a wealthy looking ceramicist? You know, like,
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: sort of an inner like intersection of all these different identities.
• 44:11
  Speaker 2: But I remember thinking just in terms of the wigs
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: and the way that we, we were dressed that Malcolm
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: and Chris, for me, it was, I actually was like, Oh,
• 44:19
  Speaker 2: they're Seattleites.
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: Oh, that's great.
• 44:21
  Speaker 2: Transplanted because their kid lives there. In my mind, like
• 44:24
  Speaker 2: the backstory was like, you know, like they, okay, we're
• 44:26
  Speaker 2: going to raise our kid in Portland. So this is,
• 44:30
  Speaker 2: we're sort of helicopter parenting. And again, our, uh, co-creator
• 44:33
  Speaker 2: and the director of the first couple of seasons, John
• 44:35
  Speaker 2: Chrysler had had a child the first year of the show.
• 44:39
  Speaker 2: And so he was, was he the only, well, Alison Silverman,
• 44:43
  Speaker 2: one of our writers from first season had kids, but
• 44:46
  Speaker 2: they were like, depending on where the writers were in
• 44:49
  Speaker 2: their lives, like that's where a lot of the pitches
• 44:51
  Speaker 2: came from. And I remember John would pitch a lot
• 44:53
  Speaker 2: of like parent stuff and this came from him. Yeah. Yeah. Um,
• 44:59
  Speaker 2: pat boils in this pat boils season one she plays
• 45:02
  Speaker 2: a reporter um and here she's really good at like
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: a no nonsense character yes uh no bullshit does not
• 45:12
  Speaker 2: suffer fools and all of that sort of like extra
• 45:17
  Speaker 2: like extraneous discourse and explanation she's not having it no
• 45:22
  Speaker 2: she and she's having none of it and i love
• 45:25
  Speaker 2: that about her yeah.
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah it's really closes the door in a very convincing way.
• 45:29
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Uh, and then this ends with, so we're helicopter
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: parenting and then our parents show up.
• 45:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah. We're already like in our, our, these characters are
• 45:41
  Speaker 2: like in their forties.
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 45:42
  Speaker 2: And then when we fail, yes. Our parents who are
• 45:46
  Speaker 2: like in their seventies.
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 45:48
  Speaker 2: Come to save us.
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 45:50
  Speaker 2: Yes. Um, generational helicoptering.
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: Yes. We're now in SoCal.
• 45:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we have tracked Andy down because I've got to
• 46:00
  Speaker 2: deliver this mixtape.
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he doesn't recognize you at first.
• 46:03
  Speaker 2: Well, because he's no longer, we even say this is
• 46:06
  Speaker 2: where it's like he's not a mixologist. Now he's just
• 46:08
  Speaker 2: a bartender, a lowly bartender, like very Tom Cruise cocktail vibes. Yeah. sunglasses,
• 46:16
  Speaker 2: like flipping the bottles. Like, and now it's like a club,
• 46:19
  Speaker 2: like not like a little, you know, bespoke like cocktail bar,
• 46:25
  Speaker 2: like overly considered, but like just a big kind of
• 46:28
  Speaker 2: generic warehouse bar club. And I worry that Andy no
• 46:34
  Speaker 2: longer recognizes me.
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: And the way, you know, the way I'm sort of
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: being a cheerleader, I say, well, go, you know, go
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: back and try again. And then you sing a song
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: from summer camp.
• 46:49
  Speaker 2: Yes. We didn't say, but in the first part I say, Hey,
• 46:55
  Speaker 2: I think I know that guy from camp. Right. So
• 46:56
  Speaker 2: we use this camp song is almost the way of
• 46:59
  Speaker 2: breaking the spell, breaking the SoCal spell that Andy has
• 47:03
  Speaker 2: fallen prey to.
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: And it works.
• 47:04
  Speaker 2: And it works. And that is not my voice. Mostly
• 47:07
  Speaker 2: when I'm singing on the show, you're singing on the show.
• 47:09
  Speaker 2: We have prerecorded and it's actually our voice. I am
• 47:12
  Speaker 2: lip syncing. It's an original song, but yeah, I did
• 47:15
  Speaker 2: not do the pre-record on this. And it brings us together. Yep.
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: And then we end it with that sort of guy
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: tone of like, I'll see you later. Okay. Yeah.
• 47:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: A little, you know.
• 47:29
  Speaker 2: It's like the button after the button. Yeah.
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 47:32
  Speaker 2: The denouement. Yeah. Yeah.
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: But loved having Andy on. Love this episode. What a
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: great way to start the new season.
• 47:39
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 47:40
  Speaker 2: Yes. to start one of what will become one of
• 47:44
  Speaker 2: our favorite seasons. So thank you for tuning in.