New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce - Jason Sudeikis on Future of Ted Lasso, Scoring on LeBron, Behind the Scenes at SNL50 & More | Ep 129

Episode Date: March 14, 2025

92%ers we are back with another episode of New Heights presented by Audible! Today we are joined by Emmy Winner, SNL Alum, and Ted Lasso himself, Jason Sudeikis! Jason and the guys get into everything from the origins of Ted Lasso and what’s next for the series, his time doing improv in Las Vegas, his favorite SNL sketch of all time, the insanity that is meeting Paul McCartney, and so much more! You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. ...Download the full podcast here:Wondery: https://wondery.app.link/s9hHTgtXpMbApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/new-heights/id1643745036Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/1y3SUbFMUSESC1N43tBleK?si=LsuQ4a5MRN6wGMcfVcuynwFollow New Heights on Social Media for all the best moments from the show: https://lnk.to/newheightshowCheck out all of our new merch’ at https://homage.com/newheightsSupport the Show:  AUDIBLE: Visit https://audible.com/newheights and sign up for a free 30-Day TrialSUAVE MEN: No Nonsense Self-Care for Men. Find NEW deodorants in stores  https://a.co/d/iSEEdwn MENTOS: Yes to Fresh with Mentos Gum https://www.amazon.com/mentosSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to new heights early and ad free plus unlock access to exclusive episodes of the show Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app Apple podcast or Spotify today Until April 2nd sky-high elegance at dream prices during the Air France rendezvous It's time to book your rendezvous with Paris starting at $765 Paris, starting at $765, or Madrid, starting at $885 return. From Toronto, tax included. You can enjoy a glass of champagne however you fly, economy included.

Elegance is a journey. Air France. Travel from March 17th to June 28th, and from August 24th to November 30th, 2025. See conditions at airfrance.ca. Ted Lasso's a coach. Yeah. He's like the perfect temperament. I just think it's so ironic that now that you are a coach

of your daughter's team, you went back to the Coach Campbell style of coaching. Yeah. I'm not gonna say Lasso. Get your head on the line, ladies. Just because you're eight years old doesn't mean you gotta act like it. For God's sakes. I like it. I like it. I like it. I like it. I like it. I like it.

I like it. I like it. I like it. I like it. I like it. I like it. I like it. I like it.

I like it. I like it. I like it. I like it. I like it. I like it. I like it. I like it.

I like it. I like it. I like it. I like it. I like it. I like it. I like it. I like it. I like it. I like it. I like it. I Listen to what I gotta say. We're your hosts.

I'm Travis Cousins, my big brother Jason Kelsey. If you didn't know, we are the Kelseys, and that's what they call us, and you're listening to our podcast. We are recording together here in Los Angeles, California, making our way out west. Yeah. How about that?

It's pretty nice. Two Clevelander's making the way out west to the show. Big time. Yeah. How about that? It's pretty nice. Two Clevelander's making their way out west to the show big time. Hollywood. Officially out here for a small amount of time. Yes, and we're gonna enjoy it. Yeah. Subscribe on YouTube, OneDrew Plus,

or wherever you get your podcasts, and follow the show on social media at New Heights Show with 1S. Jason, let the people know what a special episode we have coming up. Well, we're back and we have an incredible episode for you guys, that's right. We are bringing you this episode on Friday

because we just couldn't wait to get it to you. That's right, this guest conversation was just too good. Get ready for Mr. Jason Sudeikis. Oh, man. I'm fired up about this. Dude, the best. We're gonna get into it right now. Gear up.

How long do we chat for the web? That only asks us. Well, I mean, how much time do you have? Whatever, I only ask that because it's like I can give short answers and long answers. I don't know what agenda you guys have. Whatever works best. We'll just talk, yeah, I think so, yeah.

This is not professional, as you know, Jason. We're just out here. All my podcasts viewing and listening are from clips. So it's like, oh no I'm working again and like, you know, I'll smoke it's like, you know, so I I know there's 30 seconds at a time No, yeah No, they'll make they'll cut it up to make it 30 seconds. How long when it is. I'll make it a clip. Yeah I respond well to editing

Same Z's. Well, that being said, Jason, you want to jump on the intro? All right, we're going to jump right into it. We got our own Bruce Buffer right here. Yeah, let's prove it. All right, our guest today, where's my ISO? All right, our guest today from Overland Park, Kansas, he's a four-time Emmy award-winning actor, a fifth-grade CYO championship-winning basketball player. You might know him from his nine seasons on SNL

or starring in the Emmy Award-winning show, Ted Lasso. All right now. Please welcome Mr. Jason Sedake! Yeah, baby! Holy smokes. Yeah, baby. It's nice to hear that all stated one after another. It's like I forget.

Yeah, right? Yeah, you're just driving out the windshield. I don't look in the rear of your mirror often enough. And we're only hitting the highlights. That's it, yeah. Exactly, right. Yeah, you're just driving out the windshield. I don't look in the rear view mirror often enough. And we're only hitting the highlights. We're getting the good. Yeah, exactly, yeah. They even mentioned my children. So, you know.

Speaking of which, how are your children? They're good. Yeah. Oda's daisy. Shout out, guys. They're doing great, yeah. They're doing well. Otis has got his birthday, his 11th birthday,

coming up here on April 20th. And so, yeah, now, you know, he's well into the double digits now. So, he's a little man. Little man. You already know, I'll get him a keg. Yeah, exactly, yeah. I'm just like, daddy, I don't like the bubbles.

That's how I would do that. He likes the ceremony of it, yeah. That and the pumping and the keg stand is just the taste he probably wouldn't respond to. Do you remember your first beer? Yeah, it was a lot later in life than most. Okay. Yeah, I was one of those athletes

that took strongly to the dare program. Me and you both, for real, me and you both. I am the odd one out of this situation. You're the cool one. No, I was not. I remember Jason stumbling into the bedroom at five, not at five, but on a Friday night. Just hearing, boom, boom, boom, boom,

and breaking doors off hinges. Yeah, yeah, and you're like, I'll wait for that. Yeah, I'll get to that eventually. That doesn't seem as cool as it's made out to be. But I do remember, mine was, I do remember, it was second semester freshman year of college, community college, I was on the basketball team, and we got, as an athlete, you guys know,

you got, well, maybe not for football, but for basketball, you would get there early before school athlete, you know, you guys know, you got that, well, maybe not for football, but like for basketball, you would get there early before school started, you know, second semester. So we were doing practice and everything like that. And I did three Miller lights and then half a root beer, bottle of root beer schnapps. Oh wow. And I was, I was ripped.

Yeah, yeah. And my good friends, Chris Sines and Brandon Bartels, they were roommates and they were the ones that paved, that let me use their phone. I remember calling information in LA, asking for Jim Carrey's phone number. Like we were using, Carrey, Jim, or maybe it's under James.

You know, like Ace Ventura was the biggest movie in the world at that point. We would watch it every other week. And yeah, so it was bad. And then the next day we had practice and I remember puking what looked like eggs, but I didn't eat eggs. It was like, yeah, it was bad news.

It was bad news. And then I stayed away for like a year or two. And then it wasn't till living in Las Vegas when I was doing Second City, like in my mid-20s, that then we would go to this bar called The Crown and Anchor, which is since closed recently. And so we named the bar in Tad Lasso after and it was one of those places, yeah,

we'd play a lot of darts and drink pints and eat Chip Buddies, which is basically like french fries on hamburger buns. Oh, it's a British thing. I mean, yeah, or a Vegas British thing. I don't know, one or the other, yeah. Chip Buddies. Don't ask too many questions.

Yeah, I know. Where should we start? You tell me, your show, I mean golly. Did you ever pitch Ted Lasso at SNL? No, no. No? So can you kind of give us the backstory? Because I think I know a little something.

I got a good friend in KC who married a girl that, I think her father was maybe a gym teacher? Oh, I had a basketball coach. Was it the basketball coach? Donny Campbell, yeah. Donny Campbell. I mean, the coach character itself was styled after Mike Ditka.

You know, we did these, okay, here, again, here. It was in 2013, it was the summer of, NBC Sports had the Premier League that they're gonna be showing on NBC. So they're like, okay, we wanna do an ad campaign. And they had this advertising company called Brooklyn Brothers, which was actually two British guys.

And they had like five different ideas for different promos. And one of them was an American football coach coaching soccer. They were modeling it after a coach character that I had played on SNL, which was much more of a yelling type, you know, like he was a football coach, he had a mustache, but he was a yeller and screamer, you know,

like a Bobby Knight type, type, you know, thing, like probably, you know, went to West Point kind of chair. Exactly, a hundred percent like that. Intimidation. Intimidation versus motivation, right? And so then I was like, oh, I like, it'd be more fun to play like a little bit, you know, softer version of it. And so then I was like, oh, it'd be more fun to play a little bit softer version of it. And so that's where the voice sort of came out, which was just a way that I would talk

when you're just sort of doing stuff with your friends and joking around and playing a certain type voice type coach. And it sounded a little bit like Bill Self, sounded a little bit like Roy Williams, sounded a little bit like Chip, but it was just a voice that I just, you know, it wasn't specifically after them. Okay. but like, it was just a voice that I just, it wasn't specifically after them. The coach, my high school coach, a fellow named Donnie Campbell, was definitely a guy, he was definitely the guy that introduced me to John Wooden,

who was like the patron saint of sort of the ethos for, you know, the Ted Lasso character where he ended up being on the show, but also was really, always had those fun kind of country, country fried phrases, you know, and the one that I always remember that I always bring up is like, you know, Sadat because you look more nervous than a, you know,

a long tail cat room full of rocking chairs. You know, and he's from like Lions, Kansas. But you know, he was like a bad-ass football player. You know, he played at K-State, was a quarterback, got drafted after Warren Moon, you know, by the Oilers. So he never saw an ounce of playing time. But like a big dude. And when he would, but he definitely, you know,

and I think he'd own up on this and I deserved at the time, but he was definitely more of a screamer. Like I got the brunt of Coach Campbell and rightfully so, you know, and yeah, he would holler at me quite a lot because I was a flashy, fancy kind of passer. His little peep that was out here. That was more my vibe and he was more of a Normandale, you got five crisp passes before we shoot.

What's all that fancy shit over there? Hundreds of snakes, what are you doing? Like all that. Then when we did the commercial in 2013, he was a little bit more of a knucklehead and then it did well. People liked the commercial, comedy people liked it, soccer people liked it, football people liked it. A favorite quote that Brennan and I heard a couple years after that was a British guy come up to, oh, I love those commercials. You got everything wrong perfectly.

Yeah. Which is like, oh, such a lovely way to say it. That's great. And we were flattered. So then we wanted to do another one in 2014, and so we came to NBC Sports, and they're like, sure, but we don't have the budget to fly over to London. And it's like, okay, great.

So then it became, okay, well, this is kind of funny because the story is he got hired and fired in three days by the Tottenham Hotspur's in the commercial, in the first commercial. So the second one was like, instead of him being mad about it, he fell in love with London, he fell in love with soccer and such football, and now he's just dedicated his life

and he bought a Mini Cooper and he's waking up in the butt crack of dawn to watch Premier League over here in the States and all that kind of stuff. But it unlocked this sort of childlike enthusiasm for him. He started coaching a little girl soccer team and whatnot. And so then that was 2014, then 2015, Brendan, Joe and I hung out, we were talking about, what else could we do?

Do we do another commercial? Is there more there? Is there like a movie? And we just sat down and just started writing. In one week's time, like in three days, like six different ideas for episodes, we wrote a pilot script, and then it just sat there for like two, three years. My ex and I, Olivia, we had a couple kids.

Joe, who's one of the co-creators of the show, co-created a show called Detroiters with Tim Robinson and Sam Richardson and their friend Zach Cannon. And then Brendan was writing plays and acting and all sorts of stuff. And then Bill Lawrence, who had created Cougar Town and Scrubs and whatnot, had an idea for a show

that he thought maybe I would be interested in. That one didn't quite work out, but we hit it off and he's like, well, if you have any other ideas, you know, let me know. And I was like, well, we got this. We had like this stack of papers. I was like, check this out. Is this anything?

Like, but again, towards the one I was saying earlier, no, you're gonna wanna check this. It was like, is this anything? Like literally, I don't know. You know, and I always put that phrase that I always heard about. You know. I was typing last night, we didn't wanna check out this.

But did you think that it was something? No, I mean, I knew it was fun. No, not, I mean, I knew it was something that we had fun doing, I knew it was something I was excited about, but it wasn't like- We'll assume more times than not, when it's that, it's something, right? Yeah, but not to the point, not to the level it became.

What it is, yeah. Yeah, just, no way, Jose. There's no way to know that. But it was at least, I wasn't embarrassed. I was given it to a guy who could, it was like a stalled car. I was like, do you have gas for this tank? And he certainly did.

And he read it on the flight back, and he was like, oh, there's definitely something there. He was 100% into it. And so then it was like this long, the long process of making it, of trying to pitch it making it, of like, you know, trying to pitch it to networks and streaming sites, trying to, you know, write a pilot,

then, you know, then writing it, then shooting it, then editing it, and then you then, you know, released it to the masses, yeah, what, August 2020? And then it just took off in a way that never in a million years would any of us thought. I mean, I don't, I have a decent imagination. I couldn't have imagined that at all. And as Ted Lasso fans, man, thank you,

because that shit is gold. I appreciate it. Thank you, absolute gold. Have you had professional athletes or just athletes in general come up and talk to you about how much they appreciate watching the show? Yeah. And like, I really do think like Ted Lasso as a coach

is like the perfect temperament as a coach. Yeah, yeah. I've always felt like, and you just nailed it. I appreciate that. I don't know, I've always been curious, like what that, you talk about your gym teacher, your basketball coach, like, how did you get to that tone with him?

I think it was having taken the best parts of all the different mentors and teachers and coaches I'd had in my life. People like Tina, people like Lauren Michaels, people like Coach Campbell, people that I didn't have, you know, like John Wooden, you know, people. It is that wish fulfillment, you know, the person that you'd want to be at the, like,

and it was also just fun, because it's like a hyped up, a guy that likes to say yes and to other people that deals with these things. And my, you know, the first season when doing press, people were like, how much is that, how much is that like you? It's like, I think it's the best version of myself.

I don't always have access to that, how many of us do? But it's like me after two beers on a friend's boat. You know, it's like a bright sunny day where you're just like, yeah, I'm loose, I'm having fun. It's like the water's cold, I don't care. Like, let's get in there. Hey, let's all hop in there. come on, let's see what happens. You know, and you're just like, you wanna dance,

you wanna DJ, you're just like, you're feeling it, you know? And yeah, you're just looking for the best in people. But I think it was an amalgamation of probably, if I were to sit down and really do the work, like probably like 20 different people in my life, and probably four of them are imaginary, just something you'd want. But we've had athletes, coaches, love it.

Like, I mean, heck, we have owners of sports teams, appreciate us showing like the human side of ownership too. You know what I mean? Like- Rebecca, shout out, yeah. And so it's in all aspects, and even just people, like I get to go speak at these events or like these companies. And it's a lot, you know, people that are in leadership

and we all are, whether we have a job that does it or not, we're all in a position of leadership. And so people respond to those. So many carryovers to everything. And it's interesting you brought up Yes Ann from your improv time. As, cause it is very similar with what he does in the show, but I just, you know, I think,

especially when you've been through sports for so long, and you've seen how like ego and things can be divisive. The way he forgives, the way he motivates, the way he keeps people calm, I mean the whole thing is just so well done. I don't even know what I'm asking. To be honest with you, I've just been a huge fan of the temperament of it from day one. I just think it's so ironic that now

that you are a coach of your daughter's team, you went back to the coach Campbell style of coaching. You gotta act like it. For God's sakes. Get out of my gym. Get the hell out of my gym, Dixie. That character's right there too. Everybody's got a little Coach Campbell. 100%. It's amazing that Coach Campbell, like a neat thing about the show is so many people who

connected to it have got to go off and blossom into their own thing. That Coach Campbell has like this great like speaking career as like the inspiration of Ted Lasso, which is wonderful. Which is so neat. That's so cool. He can tell the truth about me as an actual athlete. It's not, the older I get, the better I was.

Coach Campbell's there to stop that shit. He's like, nope, he was not that good. A lot of turnovers. One to three assisted turnover ratio. But those three- Never wanted to pass the ball. Unless it was through his legs or behind his back. Jason Williams, light.

Oh yeah, J. Will baby. No, I appreciate it. It's neat having people from, especially from the soccer world, because that's any of these are gatekeeper communities and the way that the football community embraced us, because they didn't know, they thought we were gonna be, you know, you know,

Mocking it or something. 100%. Why wouldn't we, Americans coming over there and yet, you know, impossible to do when you have someone like Brendan Hunt, who's like the football soul of that, he loves that sport, he comes about, his love for it. Honestly, he was, you know, a Chicago he was a Chicago boy who made fun of the scores and like 90 minutes of nothing

and then was working in Amsterdam and fell in love with the sport and loves it to his core and that permeates throughout the show and we try to honor that versus being parasitic towards it because it's the only way I think that the character would want to be. It sort of permeates from that ethos,

which is really, really, really special and really neat. Awesome, awesome. Well, is there season four? Is it in the works? Is it? I don't know what I'm allowed to ask. I think you can ask it. No, you're gonna, yeah.

That's what we're writing. We're writing season four now. Yeah! That's the official word, yeah. Ted's coaching, yeah, a women's team. So there, that's what we're right. We're right in season four now Ted's coach and yeah, they're a women's team. So there Back easy coming back to the States or do my ass too many questions back And it's only because I don't have, I don't know. Yeah. Only 10 minutes. I don't have many answers. We're just writing it down. There's a paper.

There's a paper with ink on it. We won't ask too many more questions. No, but that's what we've been up to. I'm very excited to hear that. It felt like there needed to be more, to be honest with you. That's nice. And it's, I know there's that, whenever you're writing something, I'm sure there's always like, at what point are we done with this and at what point do we keep going?

I think I speak for Ted Lasso fans everywhere that we really did not want you to stop. So please keep doing that. That was, you know, we had those, you know, a couple of years there where we had the writers and actor strike and that made the time off that we all earned feel a little less special because everybody was off. And it's heartbreaking because that makes things tougher for not just the actors and writers obviously, but everybody else involved in making these things

and people behind the scenes and put up the lights and make the costumes and all that. All that stuff came to a grinding halt. And then just through that post that I should say, yeah, the universe kept just like saying things whether kind folks at airports or on the internet or friends of my folks or just other people in the industry,

other people wherever in any walk of life. And I was just like, okay, okay, I hear you, I hear you. I hear you, we hear you, we hear you, we're listening. And then yeah, just more stories kept unfolding and just popping up in our heads. And so yeah, we're just exploring all that now. And yeah, yeah, just more stories kept unfolding and just, you know, popping up in our heads. And so, yeah, that's where we're just exploring all that now. And, yeah, it's exciting. I mean, it's daunting, you know, because we told the story we wanted to tell. But there's, yeah, there's more there.

And it is a neat group of people to work with. It's a wonderful group of people and characters to write around and for and... There's so many likable characters. Yeah. Everybody plays their parts so fun. I know, it's such a great group. I felt like Roy Cannon.

You are Roy Cannon. Literally. Yeah, you're starting to kind of lean into Roy a little bit. I don't know a lot of what this guy's doing right now. I mean, because that is that, that character is inspired by a bunch of things, but it's the way I felt like leaving SNL. I had done sketch comedy for so many years.

It's the way I felt about guys that were athletes, or when I stopped being an athlete. And again, I had that lovely crossfade from, I had a new passion, but when you've been this thing, this guy for this long, and now you aren't, it's like, what am I? And that question is so, is one that isn't, you know, and you got to play pro.

Think about all the, I mean, I think about all the young men that I played AAU basketball with that were the best in the country. You know, and then they're not. And it's like, and there's nothing set up on the other side to deal with that drop off. You know, when I look at these young men, yeah. You know, like it's scary. And you think about all the people that may have, you know, that when I look at these young men, yeah, you know, like it's

scary and you think about all the people that may have, you know, used them on the way up and they're not there to help as much as you would hope. And so, yeah, so, you know, someone like, someone like, but Brett and I used to say that there's a version of Roy Kent that may have, you know, gone the way of the dark side had Ted Lasso not coming in his life, you know what I mean? Absolutely. I'm getting goosebumps right now thinking about that. It is, it's the truth. It is, and it's real, that shit's real.

So I appreciate you feeling that way about it, because that's the way I feel about him too. And I certainly know it's the way that Brett embodied him and connected to him on the writing side and threw his hat in the ring to audition for you. You're just like, yeah, that's it, dude. You got it. Iconic, like, yeah, that's it, dude. You got it. Iconic.

Iconic. Like, holy smokes. So neat. Thanks to our sponsor, Audible. Hey. Let Audible expand your life by listening. That's right. Explore over 1 million audiobooks and exclusive Audible

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Follow Redacted, Declassified Mysteries on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Redacted early and ad free right now on Wondery+. I wanna hear about Second City in Vegas, man. Okay, yeah. Yeah, how did you end up going into Second City? Did you always know after your hoop dreams and everything?

It was really kind of nuts. I went from, there's a thing in Kansas City called Comedy Sports. Have you heard of that at all? It's still around and it's basically short form improv improv kind of like that TV show whose lines it anyway Yeah, so that's something you would go to after homecoming, you know You go to the dance and then again not not drinking we'd go see comedy sports because it was a family show and like there Was no swearing right like that. Yeah, so I did that in KC for a while Started like took classes

I got junior year and of high school then senior year, and then I was playing basketball, like I said, down at this Fort Scott Community College. I was driving home every weekend to go watch shows or do shows, and so my crossfade between from sports to comedy was comedy sports, the cycle comedy sports, which is pretty gross. Yeah, you know, and so it was that, and all the silliness that you do as a kid that gets you in trouble in class,

that get you, have you run in suicides in practice, we're now being applauded and lauded. So it's kinda like, okay, this is good, this is good. And it was improv, so there's no homework. You didn't have to memorize it. It was like, it's the best art form for talented, lazy people, which I still aim to be. Both talented, lazy, I got down.

And so then it was like, OK, well, where do you go from here? And it was like, well, you moved to Chicago. And so me and a couple of buddies from Comedy Sports, we moved to Chicago. And we did that for three years, like basically from 97 to the second three-peat for the Bulls. 97, 98. To live in Chicago

It's incredible. It was incredible, you know, and you're around that you're again, you know Just eating like hell and and you know taking five dollars finding the ATM that allows you to take five dollars out Which was right down the street from Wrigleyville or really field so I could go to Taco Bell around the corner Oh my gosh, and and you just you just figure those little life hacks out. And then while there, I auditioned for a couple things, one of which was a theater company, an improv show, theater show in Amsterdam called Boom Chicago. So then I ended up going over there for a few months.

And while there, this was in 2000, Second City's like, hey, we're gonna open up a second city in Las Vegas. Would you wanna do that? I was like, sure. I was like, great. How long people are doing three month contracts, six month contracts. I was like, I'll do a six month contract. You know, I'll be able to come home. I won't have to work a temp job or something like that. Man, I can only imagine signing up for a gig for six months in Vegas.

It was, it wasn't like, didn't do a lot of extracurriculars. They can make your time in Vegas much more dangerous, you know, or short, or short lived. And so, yeah, lived there, did that, ended up staying two years, nine months. And it was, it was a graduate school. Like we did so many shows, all that, like Malcolm Gladwell theory of 10,000 hours, that's where it was. And you had like earn it from the audience. Audiences, you know, they're used to seeing like headliners, like, you know, got it. Siegfried and Roy. Siegfried and Roy.

Or Celine Dion, like actual, like, you know, huge, huge stars. And here we're used to seeing like headliners, like, you know, gotcha. Siegfried and Roy. Siegfried and Roy. Or Celine Dion, like actual like, you know, huge, huge stars. And here we are trying to do like sketch and improv and right outside the window. Like it would be only these drapes, you know, type of things would be keeping the sound of people screaming for either winning or losing or just the sound of slot machines.

And like, and we were doing shows early on, you know, for like seven people. It was horrible. I mean, it was hard. It wasn't horrible, it was just hard because it's still like what we all love doing This is out of slot machines. And we were doing shows early on for like seven people. It was horrible. I mean, it was hard. It wasn't horrible, it was just hard because it's still like what we all love doing for a living. And we, yeah, we-

Did you catch yourself ever trying to like market it while you were there? We tried, yeah. I mean, you know, Second City eventually started doing that. And we started doing all these really interesting grassroots kind of marketing where we just invited all the cab drivers. And so they could come for free

so that when they would pick people up at McCarran, they'd be like, you know what show you should go see that we want to go see, you know, because the strip clubs had it down where it's like, they get a little kickback when they were pretty strictly us we didn't have. We didn't have that kind of, no, we didn't have that access or any of the similar show elements.

And so yeah, so we literally reached out to them like that. And then yeah, at some point, SNL asked, you know, I got asked if I wanna audition for SNL and send in a tape and then moved away to New York from Vegas. You brought up the 10,000 hours of essentially practicing over and over again from Mountable. How do you practice improv?

That's one thing that's never made, like when you practice music, you're practicing the exact same thing that you're gonna play in the show. Improv, you don't know what you're about to do. So how do you prepare and practice to get better at that? Well, I mean, there's some things like with sports, you know, you work on your ball handling,

you're working on your shooting form, and then you're improvising the rest of the thing. Yeah, you're setting up plays, but if you're running like a motion offense or some of the plays that Travis likes to play. Talk to him, just go. Just go, dude. Just go, dude.

Just open it up. I think you just prepare, you know, it's about getting comfortable on stage, getting comfortable with the people. I mean, there's rules, but you don't really need to follow the rules. I think the rules are there just to give you like, like, you know, some guidance and guidelines. Yeah, exactly. But it's not obviously not complete chaos. No, no, no, no.

Yeah, exactly. But and then at the end of the day, it's just like getting better at being yourself, getting better at listening. Yeah. And then at the end of the day, it's just like getting better at being yourself, getting better at listening, you know? And to not get in the way of yourself or try to do too much, it's like a little bit, like just a little bit stage savvy, a little bit like court presence,

you know, like where you can just, you feel at ease regardless of the chaos that you're about to, and the unknowingness that you're about to dive into. So the entire time in Vegas, like doing Second City though, you were going to the sports books on Sundays betting on the Chiefs. And you were just making sure,

like you didn't dabble a lot in the chain, the slots and the tables and all that. The kids now with their ash, they just have to go on the map. We had to go to a sports book and deal with old grizzled men with cigarettes, with ashes as long as like you know Their fingers know it's different. It's different different than we earned it. It was a dark thing back then I barely gamble

Now we put in now. We now it's okay. Yeah, come on. Let Pete Rose be That's right. I I'm with you. I was like stashed all I barely I think I gambled $500 in the three years I was there and it was only on blackjack. Maybe maybe I maybe I put some money on the the Jayhawks, you know for some Maybe at the beginning of the season just just because someone else did it and I was like I'll do that So yeah, but yeah for the most part I yeah at one time my roommate Mike had a buddy come stay with us and come to find out What I know now because people know this. He was on a card counting team. And so, yeah, it was like one of those guys,

like that those movies are about. And he was practicing basic strategy and he sort of explained to me all what was going on. And I just found it fascinating. And he had like a computer program that, you know, so you could just run through all the stuff you can do on your apps now when you want to train basic strategy. Yeah.

I remember we weren't allowed to drop him off at the safe house. We had to drop him off at a corner. It was like a Durango and Twain. I remember it because it always sounded like a bad ass like 80s cops movie, like Dango and Cash, like Durango and Twain. And then he had to walk to this place where when he explained it to us, it sounded like Fight Club.

There's like a bunch of bunk beds and then a bunch of dudes just practicing all day grinding because they're just trying to get a little like 1% over the house for sure to make these giant bets. And it was like, but that was like, you know, Vegas had like that kind of shit going on where and we're just trying to like, you know, do improv. It's the most transient place I've ever lived. People would come in, you'd see them at the pool.

They'd have some idea for a new slot machine handle, and then like they had just moved in, and then two weeks later they're gone, you never see them again. It was fascinating, and you know, yeah people, we lived in corporate housing right off of Flamingo and Koval, Koval and, Flamingo and Koval, right?

Which I found out a year into living there, it's right where Tupac was allegedly shot but yeah like yeah well it's all cleaned up now it did but we used to have we all bought razor scooters you know the backside of flamingo the hotel razor scooters there was a street I forget what it was, it wasn't Flamingo, but it was one, what was it, west of it, or east of it, and we would ride our little, we'd unfold our thing

and haul it up there. You would unfold them, right? Because these are all, it was filled with degenerate gamblers and addicts, and it was heavy duty, and we'd sneak in the back way to the Flamingo, walk, fold it up, walk in through the swimming pool area and then sneak right in.

Oh man. That's awesome. The Flamingo. Was there ever an end goal in mind? No. No. You were just enjoying doing what you were doing. Yeah.

I mean, the end goal at that point would have been 100% because we were being produced out of Chicago. Chicago is like the homeland for Second City. That's where it started back in 1959. Would have been to do one of the resident stages there. So that would have been, I was doing a resident stage, but it was in Las Vegas, but to do either the ETC or the main stage.

So to go back and to do as good of a job as you can, where you're doing your thing, and then have them say, hey, we want you to come back and do a show in Chicago would have been the end goal. They'd go right in front. I made it back. Yeah, 100%. And you used to go to the Second City shows in Chicago would have been the end goal. The end goal right in front. It's like wow, I made it back. Yeah, 100%. And you used to go to the second city shows in Chicago.

All the time, yeah. So did you ever see the legends pull up? Yeah, yeah. I mean, when I first moved to Chicago in September of 97, Tina Fey was still on stage, Rachel Dratch was on stage, Horatio Sands was in the ETC. I mean, I saw like, I mean, all those guys. Tina was just gonna get hired to go write on SNL.

But yeah. But we used to go every Christmas. We would go back to Chicago like Christmas for, you know, with my grandma on the South side and like all my mom's side of the family, tons of cousins and whatnot. And then like a lot of Junes too for like when kids started graduating from like Catholic school and whatnot.

And I would always ask to go to Second City and we'd go up there. So I saw, I definitely saw Colbert and Correll back in the day and Amy Sedaris and you just have faint memories because you didn't know who any of them were at the time. You didn't know who you were watching at the time. No, not yet. No. I remember seeing like Second City Touring Company came through and they performed at,

I forget the name of the theater down there, it's down in Crown Center, but they came and performed and I saw a guy, his name was John Farley, and he was doing a scene that his brother Chris had done, and John's incredible, you know, the whole family's hilarious, and I was just like, oh my God, that's gotta be Chris's brother, you know? And he was playing like a character that his brother created at Second City

and he was doing the touring company. So yeah, it's great. I mean, I still love going back there. It's super fun. It's a great show and like I said, family show. But that's where I took classes, you know, just like over a summer, it was like six weeks. And you know, one of my first improv teachers,

a fellow named Cory Rittmaster, who's a dude and you know we still we talk I talked to him more than family because we play fortnight together really in touch like I mean you know like you know taking on 98 other people I mean I don't want to get into it too specific but you, playing as Billy Eilish. So good. Yeah, sorry, just banged that. Well, you went from Vegas straight to SNL? Yeah, yeah. And you were at SNL for nine years?

10. 10, yeah, yeah. I wrote for the first two years, you know, which was awesome and scary because, you know, I'd only at that point really kind of realized how to write for myself now I'm being asked to write for other people, but I then got to Learn the show learn learn the staff learn learn the script format like it felt like you know to speak to you know Athletes like it felt like being redshirt, you know, and and yet it also felt it was scary

But it also felt a little bit like I didn't get the job that I was hoping to get But but I got a job job that allowed for so much more than I ever would have realized. And I got to, I started out hot. I got like, you know, a couple sketches on right off the bat, you know, writing for people, writing with other people. And then I just went blank for months, but I really, really loved the rewrite table.

And that's when you're like sitting around talking with the other writers, other cast, excuse me, other cast members, and you're just hyping up their material. So there's this whole theory in philosophy and SNL excuse me of an improv called yes and. Where you're supporting the idea and then you're adding to it. And that's just a form of rewriting. So all those 10,000 hours of doing this thing,

your brain just sort of clued into it. And then the other thing that's really neat and one of the things I always speak about in relation to team sports, which is just a direct correlation for me to the ensemble arts is just those time of being with your friends, with your teammates in the locker room, on the bus, and joking around and having different friends

with different sensibilities and different sense of humors and be able to joke around with any of them. Then to get paid for it at SNL's like, I was literally doing the same thing that I was doing with my friends back in high school, like after a win or a loss, driving from Lawrence, Kansas, getting our ass kicked by them, and then driving back to Overland Park, and that's 30 minutes of hell.

Or I would say that's 10 minutes of hell, and then the last 20 minutes is just silliness. I would say easily the thing I miss most about playing football is being in the locker room and being around the guys and that camaraderie for sure. So, nothing to relate to. Even to add on to that, growing up and how many sports we played, how many different playing hockey, playing baseball, the hockey guys are completely different than the football guys that are completely different than the basketball guys or even the lacrosse guys like it's like the wrestlers are the that's

the how do we do once I saw Jason's pimple on his forehead pop on someone else's face wrestling in middle school I was like yeah I'm good I'm wrestling I still remember getting pinned one time seven those were my seventh grade year so I was wrestling somebody older It's the weight, the yo-yo weights. I still remember getting pinned. One time, Kurt. No, this was my seventh grade year, so I was resting with somebody older. Oh, okay. And just hit, the guy had his armpit in my face.

Yeah, yeah. And the pungency of this guy's armpit will forever be embedded in my skull. I was just like, man, this is fucking gross. Remember what school was? Remember what puberty, remember what school was? Yeah, yeah. You remember what school was?

He had not discovered deodorant yet. Yeah. And he needed it. What school was it, remember the school? This was school was? He had not discovered deodorant yet. What school was it? Remember the school? This was actually a teammate. I didn't want to say, we were sparring. Yep, yep. Dang. We'll leave it at that.

Ended up being a great football player. No, I would say the only other athletes that- It's a good teammate right there, boys. It's a good teammate. When I was at Ford Scott, we shared our gym with the rodeo team. Like there was a real, the field house was half. That's the shit you don't get up in Cleveland, Ohio.

You don't get a rodeo team. I mean, it was nuts. And these dudes were the skinniest, like flattest butts dudes you've ever seen in your life. And they were so tough. We'd be in there like with the trainer, like how I jam my finger. They'd come in, they just got the rib

by like a bull's horn and they're just like tape it up so I can get back in there. And we're just like, okay, crazy. Some of these rodeo professionals, the injury list of that is much bigger than NFL. Absolutely. No, it was those guys, those men and women are so tough. And so I'll tell you what, man, some of them started wearing hockey helmets Yeah, I put on a hockey helmet before yeah, that shit ain't stopping nothing You got to put on everything yeah, no the Bulls the Bulls that's just another target for them

Did you enjoy so did you enjoy writing more performing more or do you enjoy writing and perform more or they they're both pretty Different sides of the same Yeah, I mean they're pretty fun. It's it's it's the both are fun. I mean 100% objectively writing is more difficult. It's just it's just it's exhausting like, you know, we're in the writing process now and it's just Like I know it's not farming. I know it's not digging ditches I know it's not teaching math to kids that don't want to be there I I know that yeah very well and yet it is I know it's not digging ditches. I know it's not teaching math to kids that don't want to be there. I know that very well. And yet it is, it is, it's so hard. Because you're just in your head the whole time and you're just actively

thinking and actively listening. And it's just a lot. And, um, and yet when it flows, it's, it's really, really fun. And, and, and there is something just fun about, uh, talking to yourself and then typing it out and, and having a feeling a little bit like you have control over the universe, which we have no control over. There is a little bit of that wish fulfillment. But I love rewriting, I love seeing something in someone

and trying to like, you know, bring that out of them and encourage them to access it for themselves. Like that's a fun thing to do. But performing is great. I mean, it's hard in a different way, but it's mostly writing something else. There's nothing more daunting than a blank page. Yeah.

It's so scary. I don't even know where you start. Yeah, me neither. Me neither, and I've done it for years. I don't think I'm good at it. You guys are already two steps ahead of me. I can't even read or write. So I was like, I don't know. I was like, I don't know, man.

I see a blank page, I'm like, that thing's probably gonna stay blank. It's like, I can read that. Yeah, no, I got that. I can imagine everything, actually. Endless possibilities right there. I was I started getting more stuff on the show when I was able to write it and act in it.

That that that was that that was one of the things you feel more comfortable writing for yourself at that time. At that point. Yeah, yeah. 100 percent. Yeah. Because then you just know how to what you can imagine. That's probably yeah, that has to be kind of a lot of people's sweet spot, right? Yeah. That can do both, at least.

Yeah, yeah. And I had such a bad-ass generation, my SNL generation. I'm so like, what a blessing to come in with that group of men and women, both behind the scenes, in front of the camera. It was something else. And so our cast could write their buns off. Yeah. I mean, it was neat.

Like, and so everybody, it was scary though too, cause you're kind of like, shit, you're all just jockeying for 30 minutes of air time, you know, between, you know, when a host comes in, you gotta, you know, you gotta share with the song, you gotta share with update, you gotta share with commercials, obviously, that's why it's there.

And then you're just, and it's the funniest people. I never thought about that. It's really just about 30 minutes. If that, it may be 27, it may, but I mean, it's the funniest people. I never thought about that. It's really just about 30 minutes. If that, it may be 27. But I mean, it's nuts when you really, really think about it. And then on Tuesday night when they're all writing and they're laughing, you know, when I'm, me and I was office mates with Bill Hader

the first five years and then Mike O'Brien the second five years. And my office was right next to a fellow named James Anderson, who's one of the best writers in SNL history. And he wrote a lot with Kristen Wiig. And when I'd hear those two laugh, and then sometimes Paula Pell would be in that office too,

because James and Paula were dear old friends. And you were just like, yeah, you were just like, oh no, what are they cooking up now? What's every little girl gonna be dressing up for next Halloween? It's like, what iconic silhouette is she gonna create and what voice is she gonna put it to? And yeah, it's just, it's something else.

Did you have like that goat in the acting world that you like looked up to that you aspire to be or even somebody at SNL where you were like, oh shit, I'm finally in the same room as- Oh, for sure. I mean, there were people like that. I mean, like Tina was such a, Tina was someone that I loved watching, like her,

and she did a lot of scenes with a fellow named Scott Adset, who's one of my all time favorite performers. They were like, second city legends. And he ended up playing Pete Hornberger on 30 Rock 2. And he's still, like when I watch him perform, he just knocks me out. I just think he's such a great actor. He's funny as well, but he's just a really good actor.

And he was really great at pantomime, which, you know, you do a lot at Second City, so you don't have all the props and all that stuff. I'm gonna need you to tell me what pantomime is real quick. Just miming. Just miming. Just miming, yeah. So, yeah, just brushing your teeth and all that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But he could... There's a scene that he does where he's running up a... a stairwell, like a stairwell like this, and it looks like there's a stairwell there, and it just looks like a magic trick. You're like, there's nothing there. Incredible. Or chasing a car, you know?

And he just would just... It was just... Yeah, he's just incredible. And it would make it all look so believable, but it was also very funny because he's making something out of nothing at the same time. But him and Tina would just do these really, really clever, really smart scenes. And so that was like, you know, so to be, to have Tina Fey be like a hero, then she becomes an icon, then she becomes like a mentor,

then she becomes, you know, a friend. And like that's one of those weird journeys that still knocks me out. But anytime anybody came back, like when Will Ferrell came back to host or to work with Tom Hanks, like those are the people that I loved. And you know, it was like, but growing up,

yeah, it was all, it was, you know, I was so lucky. We just rewatched at work, we just rewatched Hoosiers, you know, because of the Gene Hackman passing. And like that was someone that- That's the greatest sports movie ever. It's amazing. It's so good. It still holds up. Yeah. Still good.

Old statement, but I loved it. Yeah, yeah, what was that? It was a bold statement. You say greatest sports movie. It's not that bold a statement. What are you gonna put above Hooters? What do you have above Hooters? We were talking about Miracle last week

and that was a fucking. Miracle's great. But that happened. Like who, well I guess who, nobody I mean it's fair. I'm not going down that road. Like I said, I'm not gonna fight it. Exactly, yeah, this is a bold statement. I'm trying to think of a better one. There's like other comedy movies that I did.

Yeah, Bull Durham is great. Bull Durham. Major League. I love Waterboy. Waterboy. Major League. Yep, Major League, yeah. Yeah. Angels in the Outfield.

Yeah. Hey, Bull. Hey, Bull. Sandlot. Sandlot. Sandlot is no joke. Sandlot is so good. So good, still holds up. But yeah, getting to work with like,

when you meet those guys, like to me Tom Hanks That's like that's like, you know Statue of Liberty. I've been so I had the pleasure of just he was I Always forget the Halloween character. He does on us. Oh David pumpkins David Yeah, I don't know why I always I never like associate him with the name David. I don't know why I never do that. He was getting ready to do that skit three Halloweens ago when Jack Harlow was hosting it and I snuck up behind him and I was like,

is that the man with one red shoe? And he was just like, what? Who the? Yeah, who's? Of all my movies, that's what you're referencing? Yeah, that was like the first one I ever remembered. It was like the opening scene. They had an opening scene. We found the bike, yes. Man, I was like the first one I ever remembered. It was like the opening scene.

They had an opening scene. We had a bike. Yes, it was balancing. It's blowing my mind as a kid. 100%. I remember exactly that. I'm just like, this is the most skilled human being I've ever seen in my life.

Love that dude. He always had little tricks like that in his movies. He was always doing little fun things like that. Michael Keaton is another one that I've got to meet over the years. And cause for years I was kind of like, I was like, I love Bill Murray and I love Tom Hanks like but they're so different It's like and then like Michael Keaton is like my favorite parts of both those guys

I mean all three men are like iconic in their own ways, but like yeah, it's just been yeah That's one of those places where you just can't believe you're mean and then you know Then you get to then then Paul McCartney is there too every now and then Speaking of Paul you were talking about Will. Yeah, SNL 50 man Yeah, how awesome was that that happened? What like two weeks ago? Was it two weeks ago? Yeah I took that literally a week to recover. It looked like an entire award show Yeah, like the the amount of people that showed up like I don't know if I know they kind of do it every like ten years But the 40 didn't look like that. No, I mean, it was something else. And it was cool.

For me, the difference between 40 and 50 was, we had just left. Our generation had just left after the 40th. Andy and Kristen had left in maybe 2012. And then me, Fred, and Bill left in 2013. Seth left in 2014. So our generation had just really left. So it kind of felt like we were the freshmen

coming back to homecoming, like the college freshmen coming back to senior year homecoming. Now we're 10 years in, I got a couple of kids, it's neat having something that you've made that people responded to like Ted Lasso. So now you're just kind of baked in. And I think the generation after us too, with like Vanessa Bear and Taryn Killam and Kate McKinnon,

like that generation probably felt a little more baked in too because they were on the show at the time of the 40th. And so yeah, it was just, it was great. It was like, it was just neat and love. I mean, it's- I enjoyed every second of watching that thing. Yeah, same. You got to be in the skit, the jail skit.

Oh, scared straight. Scared straight. The one, I took a photo of the good nights when you're saying goodbye there at the end of Will Ferrell and Eddie Murphy saying hi to each other. Those are my two favorites from the show. Like, you know, and they're just saying hi to each other. This is at the 40th, and then 10 years later

to be in a sketch with them is nuts. No, it's great, and my kids came to watch rehearsal on Saturday, they just came to watch the big New York musical that we did where Fortanar and Wig are doing the songs from Les Mis and they're sitting there and then we're getting ready to leave, hop on the train, go back home. And Jenna, stage manager Jenna, if you remember,

she's like, Paul McCartney, Paul, we're ready for sound check. I was like, oh, Paul McCartney's about to play? Erk, erk, errk. We're gonna stick here for a little bit. He needs to watch this, sorry guys. I mean, when they say don't meet your heroes, they are not talking about Paul McCartney. That guy is a great person to meet.

He's just the, he loves being Paul McCartney. He is the coolest dude in any generation, in any room. He is just the coolest guy. He accepts the responsibility. He is like, I have been given this gift, I have been put into this Paul McCartney, he is that soul in a Paul McCartney vessel, and he's like, what do you need?

I mean, just having him and my sister were talking about Let It Be, like the song, and he's responding to her as if he's never told the story before, that no one's ever asked him before, and he's so present. Like it's amazing. And then everybody throughout the day or just every now and then when you see Paul up on stage, like at every point someone's looking on their phone looking, how old is he? It's like this guy's got more in the tank than I did at that point. I was exhausted.

He's like 82, almost 83. It's just yeah, it's like oh. That's so cool. Do you have a favorite sketch from your time at SNL? Ooh, I had another one of those questions. Yeah, I would say during my time, and I've answered this before, but it's the truth, was my favorite to do was What Up With That?

Because it was a big cast sketch, it also was one that people started getting really excited about, and we would normally do it after a weekend update. That became its slot. And so they, you know, you know, do you, were I one of your hosts? Yeah, so like, how incredible, like, what happens in the commercial breaks?

Like what that crew, what those men and women do in that amount of time with that amount of intensity and taking things down and putting them up. So when they whip that giant ass weekend update desk and they bring it right down the center pipe there and they're taking down the thing, then they start putting together the what up with that set. The crowd would just start getting like,

oh shit, here we go. And all of us are in it. We all know our function, we all know our role. Everybody gets like a little highlight, a little spot here and there. We'd always, we eventually started getting like insane like cameos, you know, whether it be Robin Williams or Robert De Niro or just someone, or Samuel L. Jackson,

like someone who's not gonna say anything is only there to be in this sketch, you know, and then wave goodnight and then come to the after party. Like it was, that was just so fun. That was like, that was one of the, out of the recurring ones. I loved, Wig and I, you know, our first few years together did these characters

called the two A-holes, which was really fun. Where it was like, you know, a guy, like a guy, you know, chewing gum and his girlfriend kind of like, you know, like playing with her hair and chewing gum. And they were just, those were, those were a blast to do and write. And people, it was definitely a type,

an archetype that people saw in the real world. It still exists, they're still out there, doing well. Then like a few of my personal favorites that I was involved in, like Forte and I had a lot of fun things. We did a sketch called Potato Chip. That very first time we did it was with Taylor

when she hosted. Nice. But it didn't make it to air. A young Taylor, yeah, yeah. But it didn't make it to't, it didn't make it. A young Taylor too. A young Taylor. Yeah. Yeah. And, um, but it didn't make it to air. Uh, we ended up doing it with Blake Lively. She ended up getting it, getting it over the hump for us. And they played it so differently, which is one of those neat things. And it was like, it's the silliest sketch in the world.

It's worth looking up. It's, you know, potato chip. And then Forte and I would do these ESPN announcers, like, uh, for women's sports where it was basically us. Like trying to sell, um, it was us, trying to sell, it was us doing like lawn darts or billiards, but then we would also be trying to sell everything was sponsored by like Massengill, you know, like I would do these like crazy rhymes,

like when you're, when your uterine lining looks like the elevator from The Shining. when your uterine lining looks like the elevator from The Shining. Maxi pads. You know, do the hand. And it's just, it was so ridiculous. Oh my gosh. And it's like, but people loved it. And I remember we got to do,

they put together a couple of years while we were still at the show, where it was like all the different sports sketches, from like when Joe Montana or Peyton had hosted at that point or Michael Jordan or whatever, and we got to do the bumpers. And so we filmed all these live in front of an, like just 30 minutes before an actual live show

and we got to do these things and we did them as these characters. And we had so many of those, like, crazy rhyming things that I can't remember any of them now, but they were all just, you know, more, like, standards and practices. The censors were more and more nervous with each one. And that, when you walk that tightrope on that show,

that's such a fun thing to do. Even though it drove Betsy Torres, our standard. Shout out to Betsy. Was there ever a sketch that you just knew was gonna crush it and it just never caught the air? Like ever got the green light? It's a good, hmm. One of the nice things that you learn there is that nobody knows shit.

Like, you don't know, you never know. You can have so much, I mean, you sorta do, I remember when we were all in the studio and Lazy Sunday was playing, Jack Blackhost, and that was like a great episode for the show and for our generation and just for Earth at large. I remember when that was playing,

whereas seeing it at dress being like, oh, this is gonna crush. But that's like a pre-taped piece and iconic in a way that very few things are. But that's like a pre-taped piece and iconic in a way that very few things are. But I would say, no, because it's almost like you don't wanna spook the muses either.

That was always a fun thing that they would like these little bit of superstitions that you were, don't call home and say your sketch is making it, don't text your friends, because it'll end up getting cut. Don't say you're gonna show up in that sketch because you'll part of it will get cut. And that happened more often than not.

So at some point, you're never like typing, being like, oh, this is gonna kill. This is the best. I could, I, even if I ever did, I don't know if I'd ever even say it out loud or would it get from my brain, yeah, to my mouth. Like something would stop inside. My soul would go, don't you say that shit.

Don't you dare, don't dare. Yeah, but nothing that comes up. I can think of maybe, yeah, nah, nothing. Thank you to our partner, Mentos Gum. Do do do do do do. Do ah. We did it. Life's got its mundane moments.

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this is Kiki Palmer on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine this, you help your podcasts. Imagine this. You help your little brother land a great job abroad, but when he arrives, the job doesn't exist. Instead, he's trapped in a heavily guarded compound, forced to sit at a computer and scam innocent victims. All while armed guards stand by with shoot to kill orders.

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I let the Ted Lasso characters live on through every day in practice as I scream Football is Light. Yes, you did. I still say it, dude. I love it. And I already announced that I'm coming back. But Chiefs fans, you have always been right there every single time towards the end of the seasons, in the locker rooms, on the field having fun with us, man. When did your Chiefs like fandom really build up? I mean, my line for years, because I, you know, growing up in Kansas City,

it was Royals Chiefs, you know, some dalliances with the Kansas City Comets and the indoor soccer days, growing up, but like, my line for years, awesome jerseys indeed, my, for years when people, especially at SNL, when like the crew guys would you know Like Giants fans and Jets fans were like you like the Chiefs and when we weren't you know We weren't doing as well as like I was like you love the Chiefs I was like no, but I love a lot of people to do and that was the sincere truth

It's like my family I'd gone to prior to the last three four years But like probably I think one actual Chiefs game at Arrowhead you know if for us we were a basketball team you know a basketball family so I would go to you know more I spent more time on going to KU or the big eight tournament big 12 term and all that stuff but then with you know having kids you know obviously the success of the team you know they're getting to know you and and and Patrick you know through big slick and the charity stuff we do back home like then it becomes becomes this personal thing.

And then what's even more fun is when getting to play this fake coach and then you have real coaches and real organizations that give you this beautiful treatment, we get to bring my good friends, two of those people that do love the Chiefs, like my friend Terry and his kids who you've met, my friend Billy and his children that you guys have been so kind to.

And the hunts let me roll deep. Like, where it's like, can I bring a plus 12? They're like, yeah. I was like, oh my gosh. Okay, but then you guys are like, that's great. Well, that's it? Perfect. Exactly, yeah.

And it's just been a joy to watch. And it's just, you know, so now, yeah, now Otis and Daisy, you know, we're watching every week and watching the, you know, we watched. Yeah, sorry about that. That's all right, I had some better story. I laugh about it now, but it hurts and so it's still. Of course, it's like, because it matters to you.

I blame Jason, he had the voodoo doll the next one the entire time. I did, I did, that did not work out well. I got a voodoo doll on Bourbon Street. Oh, no kidding. I was trying to like get Travis's hands warm in the middle of the game with the voodoo doll, it did not work, well. I got a voodoo doll on Bourbon Street. Oh, no kidding. Trying to get Travis' hands warm in the middle of the game with the voodoo doll. It was, it backfired.

Ice cold. My hands were ice cold. It might have been a doo-voo. Yeah. It was more doo-doo than voodoo. A doo-doo doll. Oh well. We'll be back better than ever.

We got this. We got this. That's the story. I got you, brother. You drop down one, then you come back for one shining moment. There we go. That's the story. I got you brother. You drop down one, then you come back and then you come back for one shining moment. There we go. You know, that's the story I'd write, you know.

You can't just be winning all the time, Travis. That's not interesting at all. Yeah. Nobody wants to watch five Super Bowls that you guys win. It fooled me, because I definitely thought. It'd be kind of fun. It'd be pretty amazing. It'd be pretty cool.

I know there's no way to, like I only deal with this in the fake make believe world and I'm sitting between guys who have actually done it, and then one who just went through the hardest part of it, and it feels very surreal right now. I don't know how to joke about it with you. I don't know. I mean, it was so long ago. Like, I don't even, I'm really good at just, you know,

cutting off my memory. Yeah. Yeah. But are there other dudes that are holding on to it? There's still like, are people still in the cave? It's still in there. You hold onto it forever. Yeah, I would have had to.

I still remember the one I lost and like, like one play I could have made it difficult. Yeah, well you only fucking lost one, Jason. Well I lost to you two, so shut the, I don't need your sob story right now. This is what I'm talking about. Now we're reaching new heights You carry that for some reason a lot the losses yes, especially that that loss in that game

So you always carry on with you move on you know what I mean, but and yeah, just like anything Third season three to the bear so it's kind of we're kind of same. Yeah, that's some bullshit, too Well, that's not the Kamala's not do that we're kind of the same. Yeah, that's some bullshit too. Well, that's not, come on, let's not do that. I know you want to play nice, but that is bullshit. That's that, come on, you can't argue art. And bear, and would you guys pay him? No, come on. How much money?

Oh, you think they paid? No, I hadn't heard that. I'm kidding, God, can we cut that? You brought a big slick, I've never been in a big slick. You got it, dude. I've heard a lot, I've seen a lot of that stuff. Come on, come on. I do want to go, I would love to be a part of it.

Dude, it is a Sam Blast. Jesus, I just want to go. What is Thunder Gong be a part of it. Dude, it is a slam blast. What is Thunder Gong? Thunder Gong, yeah. What the heck is that? Okay, so Big Psych is to help Children's Mercy Hospital. We do that. That's a whole weekend. Unbelievable.

It's a blast. Unbelievable. It's a blast. Last year was three mill raised. I think so, yeah. It keeps going up by the mill at this point. I know, it's scary. It's like being one of those high school teams,

they're 114 and 0. It's like I get so nervous. And it's like the money is cool and all, but what you guys do, actually going to the hospital the day before and actually like being around the patients and everything, it's amazing. It's lovely.

Yeah, it really is. You guys get such good support through the entire entertainment industry. Yeah, absolutely. And just the city turns out for it too. It's one of those neat things that we, yeah, we started ages ago. Rob Riggle had this idea saying,

hey, what if we do this? And then he hooked me and Paul in, Paul Rudd. And then we added, Keckner a year later. Then we added Eric Stone Street, now Heidi Gardner, all from Kansas City, all from the surrounding area. Like it's really, really neat. And so yeah, we have that, that's every like, usually in June, I think this year,

maybe around May 31st, but around the beginning of June. And then Thunder Gong is a thing that me and my buddy Billy, Brimelkum started, he runs this non-profit called Steps of Faith and we help buy, like amputees, new arms and legs. My line is we help people buy arms and legs so they don't cost an arm and a leg, right? But yeah, I mean, mean he like a lot of people

Put on a business card I love it and I mean business we do that in November and yeah, we help raise We get people that have lost their arm or leg that are uninsured We get them back literally on their feet, you know and working again and and provide, you know, help with the mental side of that too. And we work with these amazing prosthesis and yeah, and physical therapists. And we can get legs people for like 500 bucks. So every time someone gives 500 bucks, that gets someone back. That's our walk again. Yeah.

And, you know, Billy, yeah. And Billy comes about it honestly because he lost his, he's a drummer, he lost his left leg, got it amputated right above the knee back in 2005, I wanna say, when he was a touring musician, had no insurance. And so then we put together a comedy like rock show, like fundraiser, raised like 50 grand back in Kansas City. It was after my first year, second year at SNL.

We did some improv games, you know, his bands, a couple bands he was in played, and we raised all this money, auctions, some like cue cards that Tina Fey had signed and various things, and that got him a leg for that much money. And he felt so like moved by it. He was like, a couple years later,

he's like, how do I do that for other people? And then this fellow was like, I have this foundation, let Billy take it over, and then a couple years later, he's like, hey, why don't we do this? It's a charity concert, it's basically, we do some comedy too, but yeah, we've had amazing guests come through, Ben Harper, Winona Judd, Chance the Rapper, Brandi Carlos, sent in videos for us.

Foo Fighters did a video for us a couple years ago for the one during COVID. Yeah, it's amazing. And that's one night. The big slick is like a whole weekend. So it's like these two things, but yeah. And Kansas City shows up for all of them. It's-

When's Thunderball? When is that one? That's like the first Saturday of every November. Yeah, yeah, in the fall. Try to keep, yeah, so we're not double-dipping. Sure, yeah, you don't wanna. You got your band geek over here. What do you play?

Saxophone. Well, I did, I haven't played saxophone in a long time. Now I mess around on guitar. You gotta come to Thundergong and do Baker Street. Oh dude, I would. You would kill it. Like whatever, whatever. Or like some of the San Duby brothers.

Take it down the street. A little Duby born section. A little Mike McDonald. Yeah. No, Billy and his wife, Ali, have this band called Summer Breeze. Have you ever seen them in KC? I don't think I have.

I'll make you aware of them. But they play all the time and they're the house band. So they do all these yacht rock hits in Kansas City. But they can play everything. Like I remember the first band, so they do all these yacht rock hits in Kansas City, but they can play everything. I remember the first time, Fred Armisen, who's a legit great musician all his life, he just had the SNL 50s played with Devo and the B-52s. And I'm just like, which was so neat.

I'm sitting there, I feel like a proud papa. I asked him, I go, I can't believe you got to play with Devo, knowing that he loves Devo. He goes, the first show I ever saw at Radio City Music Hall as a teenager was Devo and I like and now you're up On stage well he goes it just so we just geek out like that kind of stuff all the time But we got over the b52s. Yeah, yeah My mom had two CDs in her car. Yeah, Yanni in a B-52 CD. We heard Love Shack so goddamn much again. To this day, if Love Shack comes on,

we're gonna be jamming to it. So funny. And Yanni, Yanni, you can't. Yanni, she just had Yanni to put us to sleep. She was just like, all right, you guys are talking way too much. I honestly, I don't remember many of the songs. I just remember the photo on the album, the hair. Pateano's and violins, that's all I remember.

It's a vibe. It's a, Vianni's a vibe, yeah, for sure. I love this, man. Dude, I want it to end, but we got one more, we got one more little part in here. Yeah, yeah. Even though we haven't been going off this side of the song.

I'm trying to actually, if we're gonna do the- Your battery's out. It's not the battery. I locked it and I don't know how to unlock it. Yeah, yeah. So, if somebody- Even more complicated. Oh, it's your 7 complicated. We are amateurs. There we go.

Hang in like this. Don't cut that off. Oh yeah, absolutely. Oh my gosh. We gotta ask. You don't have to answer. Great. You can tell us to fuck off, whatever you want.

Amazing. It's always, it's sometimes just a better answer. A little rapid fire section here. Yeah. Yeah, we already talked about you playing basketball. Talked about SNL and hosts and stuff. Who's better in their respective fields? Are you better as a basketball player or is LeBron better as an SNL host?

Wow. You play, you both played, you played an all star game with him. He played on SNL with you. Yeah. Look, as an SNL host, he's a hell of a basketball player. No, I love that. I mean, he's a hell of a basketball player. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha and we did with LeBron and I challenged him to one-on-one in the sketch and in rehearsal in Rehearsal I did I did go by him and then went up and he didn't know I was gonna go do a reverse layup And I did score on him 8-foot goal and he was actually trying to like, yeah, he was. He was definitely trying to turn that off. But and it was funny because Don Roy King, who was who was our director at the time,

who I just saw at the 50th came up and literally brought it up. He goes, he goes, if you ever need someone to like, you know, vouch for this, I did. I know it happened. I was like, thank you. So here it is. I'm, it kind of sucks to be the one telling the, you know, keeping this, this apocryphal story alive. You know, I'd prefer it to be someone else, but so be it.

Well now you have us two knuckleheads. We'll keep spreading this. We'll spread it, we'll spread it. We'll get to catch some legs. He was, I mean, he went for it. I can't believe he hadn't come back to do it again. Dude, he was so good, man. He was so good, I had so much fun.

The solid old dancer, come on. Come on now. It was great. The per. And Maverick, Maverick, badass. I remember Maverick sitting at the Host Dinner on Tuesday night, you know when you go out with Lauren and everything. Maverick sat next to Lauren

and just was just grilling him the whole time. The whole time? And I was like, I remember sitting across from him. I was a child. Yeah. In like a baby seat. I didn sitting across from him. I was a child. Yeah. In like a baby seat. But he was asking about business. I didn't say anything to any, oh okay.

It was like Michael Corleone talking to Don Corleone. It was like fantastic. I was like, LeBron, I didn't know who he was at that point. I was like, LeBron's so lucky to have this dude. This guy's got his buddies back like big time and asking Lauren these questions. Lauren was so fascinated by it. It was great.

It was just like watching an icon and an icon to be just kind of like, you know, just, just, yeah, it was, it was just a curious, smart dude. All the, yeah, those guys, good on him. You know, just a bunch of Cleveland guys. Yeah, that's all. Just making the way in the world today. How much would you have, would your life have changed if you would have been a sector into the Blue Man Group?

I had a hunch. That's what I... I don't know. I mean, everything? Yeah. Yeah, so I mean, I was obsessed with that show. And I loved it. It was the opportunity I felt,

oh, this would be the only chance I'll ever get to play music in front of people. And I wasn't a good enough drummer. I loved the show. I think it's so funny. I think it's so brilliant. And I wasn't a good enough drummer. I love the show. I think it's so funny. I think it's so brilliant. And I think it's so like subversive. I mean, it's all these things, you know, they just closed the show recently in New York,

which is where I ended up. You know, I auditioned in Vegas and they got flown out there right. This was August of 2001. So this is right before 9-11. And it was, and I had dudes the buddies of mine that were in blue man group in Vegas because they took a lot of our improv classes they so I guess we got to know our shows hung out a lot like both you know offstage and like you know at each other's houses you know I got and and it was um it was an amazing

amazing time because we were this different kind of show we that was sort of finding its way in Vegas. Like the ones that interacted with the audience and not just show girls or again, icons or magic. It was like this weird kind of thing. I remember so many, a handful of them when I was really, it would sort of take me aside and be like, do you really wanna do this?

Like, you're really good at talking. Like it's kind of your thing. And I was like, yeah, no, I don't care. I wanna do this. I think it's so neat. And yeah, but it would be, I mean, gosh, I wouldn't have my kids. I wouldn't, you know, there's a whole bunch of stuff.

That'd be different. I'd have, every time I blow my nose, blue stuff would come out. My eye boogers would be blue. You know, like, yeah, who knows? I'd be a much better drummer than I am. You know, my rudiments would be solid, but. Well, did you have to paint yourself for the audition?

Mm-hmm. Not for the audition, for when they flew us out to- There's gotta be a pic. I wish. There's gotta be. There's no way. There isn't, and here's- You dressed up like that and didn't get a pic.

Oh my God, I know. But when you wear all the same color, like- This is pre-iPhone. So, this is pre-iPhone, yeah, right? we had a disposal camera because when you they put you up in this like dorm, it was on like 13th Street and it was all these like like minded, like, you know, all of us were like six foot one white guys and majority of it, like if there was 10 of us, I would say nine of them were, you know, musicians first or eight of them were musicians first.

And I was more of an actor with like, and I had been literally practicing on like a drum pad during intermissions at my second city show or in between shows driving my castmates crazy, I'm sure. And yet everybody had this like fun spirit and we're all in New York flying in from other places. And we, I remember we bought a disposable camera cause we got bald and blue, as they say it.

They do a bald cap and the whole thing and the cobalt blue. And so somewhere, I don't know what happened to that disposable camera because you got cut like after three days, five days, seven days. I imagine it's like being in a combine or like in a camp. Like American Idol, Jesus.

It really was, yeah. And I got cut after three days. And they were like, he could be a blue man if he worked on his drumming. And then I go home kind of defeated. And then a few weeks later, 9-11, and then that sort of rattled us all. Like, okay, what do you love?

What do you really wanna do? And it was stick with Second City at that point. And so I never auditioned again. But yeah, there's a camera out there. But I know when I saw myself in the mirror, I looked at myself and no bullshit. I'm not even, this isn't even like humility. I was like, I look like a blue peanut Eminem. You couldn't see my cheekbones. You couldn't like, my feature, any features that I have on my face just got washed out.

And I just looked like a, like all the dudes that I was friends with, all look like male models. And I was like, oh, I think maybe this, I thought that if I wore this, I'd look as cool as they do. It's like, no, Jace, they look like that out of the makeup. I look, it's like,

I look like a man in a suit. I look like a man in a suit. I look like a man in a suit. I look like a man in a suit. I look like a man in a suit. I look like a man in a suit. I look like a man in a suit. I look like a models and I was like, oh I think maybe this, I thought that if I wore this, I'd look as cool as they do. It's like, no Jace, they look like that out of the makeup. I look, it looked like an upside down blue peanut on them. It was horrible. So yeah. Well, I mean, we know you're a music guy.

What's your go-to karaoke? Ooh, I like Into the Mystic by Van Morrison. Okay, nice. That's got some saxophone inophone. That's a great one Like that or I mean double the vo poison Crowd going and yellow rap on there. Yeah, you can get the dance. Yeah, that's true Yeah, as long as I don't Tara meniscus damn it. Don't do that. I know I know that's how you know You're old when you learn the word meniscus I'm going to do a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a

little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a

little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a

little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a in the West Village and just get after it in the afternoon. And it's just a blast. Paul Rudd, one of the greatest karaoke singers of all time because he does deep cuts. I have learned of songs from doing karaoke with Rudd where I'm like, what is this?

It's like, oh, this is a song called Dry Your Eyes by The Streets. It's like British hip hop guy. I'm like shazaming a dude for doing karaoke and it comes up. and that whole crew that did Wet Hot American Summer like Ken Marino and Joe LaTruge, they were like really, really great karaoke, Bobby Cannavale, like yeah,

really a remarkable group of guys that would sing. And then, you know, Rudd and I will do some Broadway that'll, you know, do Rent, Knock Your Socks Off. Nice. Oh wow. You know, when, cause in those private rooms, you can go to private places. You're literally, you know. Brett was another dude.

This is just so good. There's so many flashbacks. All right. Great. Let him be flash forwards, bud. All right, last question. If you weren't an actor, what would you be doing? Oddly enough, I think I would probably want to coach basketball and teach acting.

I think that would be so neat to be a drama teacher and it's kind of what I get to do as Ted Lasso, both behind the scenes and in front of the camera. I really like seeing people reach their potential. I like encouraging that. I don't do it as well as I could at every given moment, but that's one of the neat things of getting to write a show where you do play those type of characters.

But yeah, I think those are two things that I've benefited from greatly in my life, both team sports and being around the arts, like growing up, my mom taking us to see everything, my dad playing all sorts of music in the car and just everything in between, but I would wanna do some version of that. I mean, I guess I am kinda doing that with my kids.

Do something great. Take them to go see plays and go see basketball and sports and whatnot, but yeah, that would be it. What about you guys, what would you do? Me? What are you gonna do? I don't know.

Yeah, what am I doing? I mean, I think that's why Travis signed up for another year of football. Yeah, where it's like you don't have to ask that question. This guy has no idea what he's doing with his life right now. I gotta keep playing as long as I can. Yeah. Do you know what you've done?

I feel like I would have still been in sports, like done some sort of broadcasting or something like that. I just remember always mimicking what I heard on the TV and during games and stuff, like John Madden and all those games. Of course, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

You know what you'd done? Probably coach. Yeah. I mean, I just think it's so hard to envision myself doing something outside of sports. Yeah. That was really the only thing that I was ever good at. I could see you playing the sax on SNL.

The sax on SNL? Yeah. I was baritone in Cleveland Heights' jazz ensemble. You had some fuckin' solos, though. You know why I was Baritone in Cleveland Heights is jazz on you had some fucking solos You know why I was baritone because I wasn't good enough to play tenor Yeah slow fingers you gotta get ready Lenny Pickett is a legend oh yeah, come on power power Holy crazy legs. What was his name? No, I don't He has it. He has there's a dance that he does like Lenny Pickett

Yeah, who's the guy that you play with the saxophone on a power power as it but he has like a dance move that he did He would like I don't yes. It's something that my buddy Billy always brings up. He's like he's like, oh, that's Lenny Pickett man crazy legs Jason it's not what it's called. A very, very chill guy. His saxophone is all over the place when his voice is very chill. Lenny, legend.

I love it, man. Dude, thanks for coming on, brother. Of course, man. You're the best, brother. It's been so great. Thank you for having me. Really, yes, absolutely. Thank you so much.

Appreciate you always showing up in KC too, man. We'll get back on the train, baby. Absolutely. We'll get back on the train. We will, indeed, we will. It's a big game. This is what back on the train, baby. Absolutely. We'll get back on the train. We will, indeed, we will. I have, it's a big, again, it's a better, this is what happens at the end of the second act, you know, like this is when Woody and, you know,

Buzz Lightyear, they're away from each other, then they come back together. Yes. That's the chiefs in the trophy. Yes. Yes. Let's do it, baby. All right, now, shout out to Jason Sudeikis.

What a guy, man. Yeah. That was, god damn it. I loved every second of it It's one of those where like you really don't even read the rundown and I hate to say that's our producers Because you guys do a lot of hard work and a lot of research But don't do it Brandon. My my iPad was off. Yeah No, he's one of those guys where you just ask an interesting question Like how about the blue man crew?

Like are you kidding me? Yeah for sure the blue man crew like his time in Vegas Time at Second City right riding a razor scooter. Yeah through to the flamingo every day I just think I took away for sure just how much he's like how much he's valued all the people that he's been so grateful Yeah, it's just awesome. Just a Midwest, just a nice Midwest man. Yeah, for sure. That'll make him any better, man. No doubt.

And he's on the Chief's side, which is, you know, it's heartbreaking for me because I didn't make him proud one day. I think you did. One day I will. You did. No, man, Jason's the best. Boo boo boo boo boo basketball!

You know what I'm talking about? You have no fucking clue, this guy's clueless, man. No man, Jason's the best. Boo boo boo boo basketball. You know what I'm talking about? You have no fucking clue. This guy's clueless, man. All right, that wraps up another episode of New Heights, brought to you by Audible. You can listen to new episodes of New Heights early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.

New Heights, a Wondery show produced by Waves Sports and Entertainment and brought to you by Audible, just like Jason said. Listen to what I gotta say Yeah, the show on all social media at new heights show with 1s. Thanks to our production and crew for Kind of doing some good stuff this time around. Yeah, you know Always thanks to thanks to you guys Please delete anything that I will get canceled for. And to the 92%ers, hopefully you guys enjoyed

both episodes this week, and we will see you guys next week. Appreciate you tuning in. Peace, peace. ["Wonderful Wonders of the World"] Follow New Heights on the Wondry app or wherever you get your podcast. You can listen to New Heights early and ad free. Plus, enjoy exclusive episodes of the show by joining Wondry Plus in the Wondry app, Apple podcasts, or Spotify today.

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