The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast - The Tangent and Close Talkers

Episode Date: April 29, 2024

On this week’s episode The Lonely Island discusses another infamous digital short, The Tangent. Plus, the guys discuss Close Talkers AKA Two Inches, what Seth wrote that week, their favorite memories from working with Steve Martin, and more!Close Talkers(Not all the clips we mention are available online; some never even aired.) If you want to see more photos and clips follow us on Instagram @thelonelyislandpod.Sponsors:AirbnbThe Lonely Island Podcast is supported by Airbnb.  Your home might be worth more than you think.  Find out how much at airbnb.com/hostBetterHelpThe Lonely Island Podcast is supported by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/island and get on your way to being your best self. Produced by Rabbit Grin ProductionsExecutive Producers Jeph Porter and Rob HolyszLead Producer Kevin MillerCreative Producer Samantha SkeltonCoordinating Producer Derek JohnsonCover Art by Olney AtwellMusic by Greg Chun and Brent AsburyEdit by Cheyenne JonesMix and Master by Jason Richards

This episode is brought to you by Airbnb. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.com slash host. Hey, can we try something for the top? I'll say, hey, I'm Seth Meyers. And then let's go, Akiva, you introduce yourself, Jorma, then Andy. Let's just all say our names off the top.

Instead of making us say hi. And then I'll introduce the name of the show. Or you can go, hey, I'm Seth Meyers. And all three of us can go, and we're the lonely island all together. I feel like go, hey, I'm Seth Meyers and all three of us can go, and we're the Lonely Island all together. I feel like we should do it both ways.

Okay. Okay, great. Ready? Hey, everybody, I'm Seth Meyers. I'm Akiva Schaffer. And we're the Lonely Island. No! And we're the Lonely Island.

And we're the Lonely Island. God. Sorry. All right, so here's the question for our listeners. Would you prefer we start each episode like this? Hi, I'm Seth Meyers.

I'm Akiva Schaffer. I'm Jorma Tacone. And I'm Andy Samberg. Or Would you prefer we start each episode like this? Hi, I'm Seth Meyers. I'm Akiva Schaffer. I'm Jorma Tacone. And I'm Andy Samberg. Or would you prefer this? Hi, I'm Seth Meyers. And we're the Lonely Island. Try it again. Because they have to have a good example of it if they're going to vote. Okay, ready? Alright, Seth, lead us in. Hi, everybody. I'm Seth Meyers.

And we're the Lonely Island. Jorm took a huge sip of fucking coffee right when we were supposed to do it Did everybody have their coffee? Let's just start with this I just didn't realize that deep into your 40s You were still all about torpedoing people's ideas I think it gets worse and worse with time Oh you think this is sabotage

Jorm took a sip During the thing You don't feel like he needed the coffee I did Okay well I feel like ultimately those are three fair shakes at it. What? The Lonely Island Seth Meyers Podcast. This is episode five and we still haven't decided on a name.

It could be Seth Meyers Lonely Island Podcast or The Lonely Meyers or The Lonely Island Podcast hosted by Seth Meyers. We don't know. What we do know is we're going to talk about an episode hosted by Steve Martin, musical guest Prince with two digital shorts, Tangent and Two Inches Parentheticals Close Talkers. I think everybody is definitely going to appreciate how we've smoothed off the edges here in episode five as far as the top of show. Yeah, I would argue that theme song is not really keeping within the tone of what we're doing. Look, I think the good news is our tone's so all over the place, it just might at times fit. Yeah, you're right. Keev, I think you using your little bullshit headphones,

I'm hearing the mic of the rub against your tank top. Oh, against my tank? Again, we don't want to give away too many visual clues on our show, but Akiva is in a tank today. It's a Rambo tank top. That's right. If you're going to be hot, you might as well be fully hot. Keev, have you watched Samaritan yet? No, I have not watched Samaritan yet.

Should we do an episode on Samaritan? Should we all make sure we watch it? And then episode six is just about the Sylvester Stallone movie, Samaritan, that came out on Prime. I like that idea because it allows me to say, I have to watch Samaritan? Should we all make sure we watch it? And then episode six is just about the Sylvester Stallone movie, Samaritan, that came out on Prime. I like that idea because it allows me to say I have to watch Samaritan for work. Oh, yeah. Yeah. All of us. It's out now, Samaritan? Yeah. It's on Amazon Prime. How do we feel about it so far? Do we like it? Do people like it? I know no one here has watched it. I have no idea. It's just Andy knows it's something I will watch every day. He's like, have you watched it yet? And every day that goes by, he can't believe I haven't watched it yet.

That's a little bit of an easy one because there's no movie that I've heard of coming out that I'm like, oh, Kiva won't watch that. It's true. I do want to say two of my favorite collective movie viewing experiences of my life were with you guys plus others. One was we went to a theater to watch the animated Beowulf, which was outstanding. Yeah. And then one time at SNL, we watched Bad Lieutenant, Port of Call, New Orleans.

Oh, my God, yeah. Fuck, yeah. Which is maybe the most perfect Nick Cage performance of all time. It's up there. It also has the iguana cam, right? Yeah. I'm really deeply mad at myself. Werner Herzog was on my show, and I can't believe I didn't use all my time backstage

to talk to him about Bad Lieutenant Porter calling New Orleans. I also can't believe that. You blew it all on what, Mandalorian tidbits? No, we did a Documentary Now episode based on him, so I tried to explain it, and it didn't. Right. Like, what we're trying to do with Documentary Now was very hard to explain.

I even showed him a picture, and he just kind of smiled. He was like, what is this? Yeah, I think that if you're an actual documentary filmmaker, it would have been if he said, I restaged your wedding and just showed me photos of other people in a place that kind of looked like my wedding. I would have reacted the way he did where I'd go, oh, all right, cool. Interesting that you did that.

Good. That's great. Seth, did you ask him about his hatred of chickens? Because that's the thing I always think of with Werner because he's on record hating chickens and how dumb they are. That's fascinating. I didn't know that. Yeah, he hates them. I asked him a different question about roosters, which is cock-a-doodle-doo is only English, right? Each language has a different word for what they think that sounds like. And German is kikiriki. Yeah, I knew that. You did know that? I did know that, yeah. And so I was like, which one do you actually think is better? And what did he say? I can't remember. yeah. And so I was like, which one do you actually think is better? And what did he say? I can't remember.

Great. Well, that's something for people to go find, you know, go search it out. Yeah. Ultimately, this whole podcast is about cross-platform promotion to get people to go back and watch old interviews from late night. I think this is a perfect setup, you guys, because we're talking about the tangent. Oh, my goodness. We've got a lot to talk about today. Before we get to the tangent, I'm glad, actually, that we've already established a fair amount of tangents within the body of this podcast. But before we get to our two shorts, I want to ask you guys this.

Too short. You said it. I did. Are you going to blow the whistle, Seth? No, I was just going to say this, I feel like, is the first comedy legend to host the show when you guys are on the show, right? I mean, we've had a lot of nice guests your first season. But Steve is, I don't know how you guys felt when somebody like him showed up at almost, he was too big to write for. I didn't even know how to approach it.

Yes. It's insane to meet Steve Martin. It's insane. And then we're going to write stuff that he's going to say, and he's going to decide if he thinks we're funny or not. Just the jerk alone. If you took away his entire career, just were like, it's the dude that made the jerk. And now we are working with him in any capacity. It's crazy. I had a poster of him in college in my dorm room. That's how much I, to use a parlance of the day, jocked him. And this is Akiva.

Did you beat off to it? This is Akiva. I always ID myself before I say something weird. Andy! Quit interrupting me, Andy. You're, did you beat off to it? To the poster?

This is Akiva. My parents had his vinyl albums, and I brought one of his vinyl albums to college. I love that that's gonna sound like an edit when it actually was just seth moving on yeah there's a lot that was not sometimes my segues are gonna be so rough they'll sound like an edit they'll be so sudden i think it was probably the same album and that was what i had as the poster i unfolded the album and there's

a picture of him and i had that on my wall. It would actually be fair to argue that everybody in the room that day, at least one percent of their comedy DNA came from Steve Martin. It would just be impossible at that time to not have been influenced by him to some degree. You're right, Andy. The craziest thing is not just that he's going to read the things you're going to say, it's then he's going to have to evaluate with one of his oldest friends, Lorne Michaels.

And Lorne is going to be so mad if stuff's bad because we've embarrassed him in front of his oldest friend. I mean, we have a lot to talk about, but let's start with Tangent, which was filmed for The Scarlet Show and airs in The Steve Show. This is a digital short without Steve Martin. Hey, Joel, how are you? I've been meaning to call you. How was that restaurant you went to the other night? They were closed. I guess they have two different locations.

So we ended up going to the one uptown, but the name changed because the manager changed the name because there's two owners. But at the same time, I thought, why can't we just like come a little bit earlier to have some of the steak and some of the fish that they have and some of the vegetables that they have, some of the fruits that the steak and some of the fish that they have it's vegetables that they have some of the fruits that they have some of the salads that they have some of the broccoli that they have some of the peas that they have and the thing with new york

is any place like above 42nd street usually closes before 10 p.m so you're not able to find the table that you want not able to order drinks and even something akiva why don't you to the best of your ability explain tangent for our listeners yes so? Yes. So this came from Bill Hader, and it's based on the thing that Fred does where he can just talk about anything forever. You can just say, go, and he'll just talk. And it basically tells the story in a very short film, artsy way, of this guy who gets asked a very simple question about a restaurant that he ate at by wig. And then he just starts talking until she gets bored and walks away and he doesn't even seem to notice. And then Bill Hader walks up as like an agent and goes, wow, this guy's got something. And then it just goes through an entire

like showbiz life without Fred ever stopping talking. And it goes all the way through, you know, him becoming famous and then having a movie bomb and then being back where he was. And it's a pretty tight two minute vignette is what you might call it. This is a weird show, actually, because the cold open was a pre-taped film piece that Steve wrote. And then the monologue was something Steve wrote. A sketch later in the show that I believe was a filmed piece as well. There was a lot of film pieces in the show. Yet we also use tangent from a previous show. Obviously you're going into air, you know, you have two shorts. Were you excited about that Akiva? Did it feel weird?

I don't remember if it did or didn't. I just know that the thing that we keep coming back to that we kind of forgot is that the first season we have a lot of guest writers. Yes. We hadn't quite figured out the formula yet. And so there was a lot of just going to friends on the show and going like, yeah, anybody has one, we'll do one, which happened so much more rarely in later seasons. And so the tangent was written by Hayter, even though it's for Armisen, which is also odd on its face that Bill would write a whole sketch that he's barely in. But I have a special clip here now. I texted Bill and I asked him to send me a voice note telling me why he came up with Tangent. Here you go.

The idea for the Tangent came from Fred just doing a bit where he would go off on a tangent, and I thought it'd be really funny to just have him saying it to a bunch of different people. He just never stops talking and ends up going on this weird little journey. To be honest, I don't really remember much of it other than after we did it, Mike Shoemaker came up to me and was like,

why did you not write that for yourself? And I think it's the only laugh-free digital short. I think it's the only digital short that people went, huh. And I remember it played either before or after the famous Steve Martin surf camp sketch where he says, I'll see you guys in the blue room at the end of it. But

I was proud of it. There you go. Our first guest. Does that count as a guest? Our first guest. Yeah. It's so funny because I think that in his answer, he also answered Shoemakers, why didn't you write that for yourself? And the answer is, because it's going to bomb super hard. It is I mean, it is a thing you often saw Fred do, which was talking off the cuff without pause that became a much more effective skill later on with

Nicholas Fain. Yeah. Because it was the same move of just being tangential within the body of an answer to a question. Yes, but it is a concept piece that is relentless and has no laugh points, technically. There's escalations. It's kind of built like a TV funhouse in some ways when he would take an old piece of audio and have crazy things happening to the person. Yeah. I liked it. I watched it this morning and I liked it. I also will say that voice note from Bill was about 20% more enthusiastic than I was expecting. He's on set. Akiva texted him at 3 a.m.

Wake up. And said, this is an emergency. We need your take. I will say my favorite moment of rewatching him is the look Bill gives when he walks by Fred and recognizes it as a potential piece of talent. Yeah. Like his agent face is delicious. Mine is also a Bill moment, but it's at the end when the movie bombs where Bill's walking away in the office looking at his

phone. Yeah, that's my favorite part. He just doesn't care at all. I started this and now I'm acting like I have nothing to do with it. Also, that's Lauren's office where Parnell plays the sort of head agent, I guess. Parnell looks comfortable in that office too. Parnell looks wildly comfortable in that office. Are we saying after the 50th, maybe he's the successor? Maybe he's the guy? He looked good in the office.

That would be a thing that Lauren would say. He looks good in the office. He looked good. That would be a thing that Lauren would say. He looks good in the office. Yeah. Oh, my God. A good reason. He's got to learn how to play snood, though. I'm pretty hyped for that turning into a clickbait. Oh, yeah.

Is Partnell taking over? I was surprised to see TRL in there, and I liked it. I was surprised to see the Nightly News in there, and I liked it. Yeah. I kind of liked the whole short. Was that Gideon Yago? Yeah. Yeah. Gideon, a good man. Very nice to see him turning up there. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would this morning. That's my takeaway. Yeah. I forgot how many places we went to with that. Like there was a bunch of surprises. Also,

those concept ones to me, like it's one of my favorite shorts. It's not getting laughs, but it's not really asking for laughs, so it's not uncomfortable the way that other things like, for instance, surf meeting might be. Oh, yeah. For instance. I did think it was weird. Obviously, it's not. If anybody goes back and watches the short, the part that you won't see is that after it aired,

Akiva did walk out in front of the live audience and say, you know, that wasn't asking for laughs. Or even. It didn't actually bomb. What episode is this? Five? Yeah. Yes. I think I'm learning how different me and Yoram saw the show based on your reactions, Yoram. Like you were super mad about the Higgins Lazy Sunday thing. And then now I'm finding out that the tangent is one of your favorite shorts we ever did. Yeah. And I'm just like, we have like genuinely different views.

I should note that, Andy, you share your views with everyone else. That's true. You're saying I'm a little more down the middle. I think you might have the populist position. Right. Yorm's artsy. Yeah. But you're not that surprised that I kind of skew like a breakfast defector.

You know what I mean? You've always been a bit demented. Yeah, I'm demented. Yeah. I should note, it also feels like a short film. And weirdly, most digital shorts don't. I don't know quite the distinction, but it felt... Both of the ones this show felt like throwback short films from SNL to me.

Yeah, like Schiller's Reel type things. I think that that's why I like both of these. Yeah, they're both classy for sure. Yeah. And again, is that funny thing that it was 2005, 2006? Yeah, now we're in 2006. It's 2006. And it looks like a 1993 independent film.

It doesn't look like 2006. No, the quality is not very good on the video cameras. Yeah. And shittier than the show too, because now we're in HD too. quality is not very good on the video cameras. Yeah. And shittier than the show, too, because now we're in HD, too. This is, again, our first year of HD. It doesn't have the sort of crisp HD stylings of surf meeting, which we keep alluding to, but we're going to save for the end. Because.

You know what they say, save the worst for last. I mean, was it the last thing in the show? No, it was the podcast. Be sure to not tune in to the end of this episode. So our second short is Two Inches backslash Close Talkers. Forte and Steve Martin. And I should note, it brought me a lot of joy to go back and watch it. I should also note, I keep saying I should note,

and I realize that is my podcast tick, but I self-recognized it and I'm going to try to eliminate it right now. If it'll help, I'll start saying it more. If it'll help you. Okay. Yorm, how would you describe Close Talkers? Close Talkers is a sketch where Will Forte and Steve Martin see each other. They're maybe old colleagues or friends, and they have a very intimate, close-talking conversation. At first, you think they might kiss each other, and it's very romantic. And then the rest of it is just an insanely close-talking conversation where their lips are inches apart.

They have a very normal conversation. Then they get angry at each other, and then they peel apart, and they come right back into it. And it's very funny. I would add that the volume of their voices is in direct contrast to how close they are. They are speaking at full volume as if they are across a room. And then at the very end, they actually are very far away, but you don't realize it because they finally talk quiet. Like, hey, this was really nice.

I'll see you soon. And then it reveals that they're like 40 feet away from each other now. That part didn't work as well, I feel like. Agreed. I think they would have had to been even further away. But I remember in that hallway, we couldn't get them any further. No, that's what CG is for, you know what I mean? But we didn't have CG back in the day. That's right. Gary, how are you? Damn, I thought that was you. Hi. It has been so long. You look great. Not as great as you look. Gary, thank you for saying that, because I've been feeling very insecure lately,

and that comment is just what the doctor ordered. That was an easy prescription to fill. There's that old sense of humor. I'm not joking. You look great. Thank you. So, uh, you're standing a little closer than usual. What are you implying? I don't know. Why don't you tell me?

You know what? What? All of a sudden, I have to go. Then all of a sudden, go. Fine. Fine. I think it's safe to say that no one on that SNL writing staff or cast cared more deeply about Steve Martin than Forte.

Would that be something you guys would agree to? It's saying a lot, but I would agree. Yeah. Yeah. I think Forte definitely hyper influenced by Steve Martin. And it was really then cool to go back and watch that sketch and know how much that must have meant to Will. I will say the edit of that piece was one of the more interesting experiences for me because we tended to over-edit and not want to waste your time. And then sitting with Forte, I felt like he was pretty instrumental in being like, no, no edits. There should be very few edits. And it was funnier the way he was pitching.

Was it something he had done prior to SNL? It felt like dialed like it's a performance he had done before. Funny you should ask. So the idea for Close Talkers came from a sketch that I used to do with a guy named Mike Schwartz, who was a very funny comedian, very funny writer and actor. He actually used to write on the show Scrubs, and he was on the show as well. But we wrote that together at the Groundlings.

We called it Two Inches, but essentially it was exactly what Steve Martin and I did in that sketch. So Mike very graciously said, yeah, you know that thing that we've done for years and years and years together on stage and we share very equally in it? Go do it with Steve Martin. And I thought that was really cool of him. Anyway, I miss you guys.

I love you. Bye. Wow. That was delightful. Hard to hate that guy. Also, maybe I need to know what instructions you gave Forte because not the most succinct guy insofar as leaving messages. That's the fastest he's ever been.

He's gotten way better. Would you believe me if I told you there is a four-minute version? Believe me, if I told you, there is a four-minute version. And you text him back and say, do a shorter one? No, this is why I will say Jorma is right. He has grown a lot. I got two from him. I got the four-minute one, and then a minute later,

he went, here's a shorter one if that one was too long. Oh, my God. Yes, he's learned quite a bit from press. But that is the real icing on the cake of that story is that he hasn't gotten better in a way that saves him time. He's gotten better in a way that adds a minute. You know what I mean? He does the original and then he has to do a shorter. It also should be noted that a lot...

Oh, fuck. I said should be noted again. It also is very forte that the time... Watching him struggle through trying not to say it. We're okay with you saying it. Sorry. A lot of the time he wastes is praising other people. Oh, always. You know what I mean? Yeah. So it's not ego. It's not talking about himself. Instead, they stop two inches away and have a full conversation. My problem with it being called two inches is that they're significantly less than two inches. It's less than two inches away and have a full conversation. My problem with it being called two inches is that they're significantly less than two inches. It's less than two inches.

Well, that's why publicly it is called Close Talkers. If you want to go find it on the internet, look up Close Talkers SNL. But I think that's it because they did go nose to nose and then past nose to nose, like where their noses are almost touching the other one's cheekbone. It's like maybe under an inch.

Yeah. I've got a technical question. Were there cards for Steve? Obviously Forte was off book, but. We did have cards and then didn't use them. Right. So Steve just learned his dialogue. Part of what's so intimidating about Steve Martin

is not just that he made the funniest, goofiest stuff for so many years that was all of our favorite. It's that then as an adult, he really grew up and became an adult who like knows about fine art. Yes. And is an expert banjo player and is actually writes like novellas and is part of the pretentious art world that I don't even understand.

So he's done both. So then it's really intimidating to present any kind of writing. But what I do like knowing, though, is Seth, you've told me about moments where you've been able to have dinner with him and Martin Short, and hearing Martin Short rip on Steve, it brings you back to his humanity of like, oh, but you still have friends that are just going to talk shit to you nonstop

and make fun of you. And I should note that I feel his favorite thing in the world is getting ripped on by Martin Short to the point that it seems as though it's a game they often play. But it's an apartment filled with the most beautiful art I've ever seen. And Steve will point at the painting and say, Marty, tell me everything you know about this painting.

And Marty said, well, it's very embarrassing, Steve, because you hung it upside down. Just old school killer. He really is the funniest. Not to get off on a Steve and Marty love fest, but the fact that those guys still go and do a stage show where they obviously put so much time into the crafting of individual jokes.

It crushes, yeah. They never float on their reputation or even their charm, but the amount of technical effort that goes into writing the best possible jokes. Mm-hmm. The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers podcast is supported by Airbnb. Hey, Yorm.

Yes. I want to tell you real quick about a trip I took at an Airbnb in Pittsburgh. We got there. My family was there. You know, we love sports, my family. You guys are nuts for sports. The personal touches were really nice. There were old Steelers newspaper articles framed, Pirates articles framed, but also a big old picture of Mr. Rogers and another big old picture of Wiz Khalifa.

That is everything Pittsburgh. That is a black and yellow Airbnb. And it made our visit very personal. And this is just a shout out to anybody who might be listening thinking, hey, my home has personal touches. Anybody who might be listening thinking, hey, my home has personal touches. People who visited my town might want to stay there. You might as well just go over to Airbnb and see what your hosting opportunities are. And you can enjoy it as much as I enjoyed it. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at Airbnb.com slash host.

This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Hey, Jorm. Yes. We talk a lot on this podcast about a very special time in our life where we were just drained. Emotionally, physically, unempty. Are you talking about right now? Because that's where I'm at, Seth. Well, I was talking about the past. Oh, okay.

The past is often present with you, Jorm. It is. That's what I'm always saying. I think a lot of people we knew back in the day and a lot of those same people now have used therapy as a helpful tool for those days when you're feeling drained, when you feel like you have no energy for the things that are important to you. And BetterHelp is a great option for anyone who's looking for somebody to talk to. It's entirely online, designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited to your schedule. Just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist and switch therapists at any time for no additional charge. Seth, if they wanted to talk to you personally and just get it all out, could they?

No, I am not available nor licensed. But fortunately, BetterHelp is. Find your social sweet spot with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash island today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash island. All right, so, man, we really tangented that. Tangented. Well, it's a perfect episode title, The Tangent. I also want to talk about the fact that this is a really special show,

and I think one that all of us had circled on the calendar that year, because it wasn't just Steve Martin, it was also Prince. I just want to say there's nothing more Prince than the fact that we did a Prince show where Fred played Prince, which was an established recurring dead on the show.

Wonderful. One of the most fun impressions of all time. Prince, what do you see? I see Cora eating ice cream in a tree I see Mr. Hayes making funny faces at his sister I see Wendy riding on a dolphin I swam with a dolphin once. And we did a Prince show in a show with Prince and Prince wasn't in it. Right.

That's right. Which is such a great Prince move. Yeah. The expectation being if you write a Prince show, he'll eventually cave and agree to be in it. And he didn't. They definitely asked his rep. Oh, yeah. Who said Prince is not going to do that.

I'm stealing two people's stories. The first one, I love it so much, which is Maya and Amy were talking to Prince when they were shooting the promos. When we say the promos, that's the host and the musical guest and maybe one or two cast members on stage. And at times, Steve Martin, I'm hosting SNL this week with Prince. And then half a joke, the whole thing takes 12 seconds. And while they were setting up cameras, Amy said that her and Maya were talking to Prince and just nervously trying to fill the conversation with somebody who's that iconic. And Amy said in her nervousness, she started explaining all the sketches that were in the show that week. She said, Oh, it's gonna be such a funny show. We've got a sketch where and Prince just went,

it's going to be such a funny show. We've got a sketch where, and Prince just went, shh, don't ruin it, which I love. The Prince was, in the end of the day, enough of an SNL fan that he didn't want to hear

what the sketches were on Thursday. Or he was being sarcastic. Yeah, that's a nice way to look at it. And he didn't want to be told about it. The other was that Fred and Maya were told that he would talk to them after he finished rehearsing on Thursday about being in Prince's show. So they had talked to his reps, and the reps came back and said,

yeah, when he's done rehearsing, he'll come over and talk to you. Now, again, not like they paid any cost. They got to watch Prince rehearse. A great use of anyone's time, no matter how busy you are. Especially, it should be noted, Maya and Fred are going to want to watch Prince more than anybody. And then he finished his song and he walked off stage and they just watched him never break stride

and walk all the way down that long hall and get in the elevator. Wait for it. Right from the stage to the parking lot. They're like, I don't think he's going to do it. I don't think he's going to do the sketch. I did like his exit from one of the songs was just holding up that last note, holding out the guitar and then laying it down on the ground and leaving. You're like, yeah, that's the fucking coolest move ever.

Yeah. I think if there's one thing we can agree on, it's that Prince was cool. Seth, were you there? Did he play the Time 100 and stood with his back to the audience at the back of the stage the whole time? I remember him at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for George Harrison when he did the Guitar Gently Weeps solo. And when he finished that one, he threw his guitar in the air. Well, anyway, I was just trying to get it out there that I went to the Time 100 once. Were you at Time 100 honoree, Andy?

I don't think so. You never were on the 100? I have no idea. I feel like I went to do something. I hosted it? You probably hosted it. I think I hosted it. It's a pretty gnarly room to do jokes in.

Yeah. Because it is genuinely, across all fields, the most influential people. Are you Googling whether or not you ever were on the Time 100? No! I was checking something else. I will say right now, if you were watching the Zoom, Andy's got real Google eyes. Yeah. What did I, who am I?

Just squinting. I bet that is actually a hard thing to Google. I'm guessing it's not a robust database where you can just type in. I was thinking I was just going to look up time 100 on my own computer to see if I have a document of jokes. Ah, I see. Oh, good pivot. Good cover. Wait, did you guys go to Prince's after party that we all went to that, right? I did not go to Prince's after party. I, to this day, don't know why. Yeah, I was there. It was like a listening party where we went to a club and we got to meet

him and shake his hand, which was like, you know, I was there. It was like a listening party where we went to a club and we got to meet him and shake his hand, which was like, you know, incredible, obviously. And then you sat there while he was on top of a balcony looking down at everyone on the dance floor and we just listened to his entire album. But there was only like 15 people there. Yeah. It was just his band and then us and like Fred and Maya.

It was sort of awkward, but also great. Yeah, it was super empty. So it wasn't a dance party. It was just him watching you listen. We danced. Me and my wife danced hard to show him appreciation. And there was a buffet of food.

This is at 4 a.m., 5 a.m. But no matter whose album you're listening to, it's still an awkward thing to do. No matter how good... After song four, you're like, oh, the whole album.

We're going to listen to the whole one. It's also the middle of the night or early morning. Was it the next day that we all flew out to LA and Prince was on our flight though? Yeah, that was the next day. Was he really on your flight? Yeah. You were on a commercial flight with Prince? Yeah. It was very weird that he was on it and was the last person to board. It was our first first class flight we it and was the last person to board. two seats in the very first class. You know, there's only nine seats total up there. And then right before the door shut out of nowhere, Prince and one of his like dancers or bodyguards just like float into those seats. And then the door is shut and we're taking off within seconds. Wow. But also the rest of the first class cabin, because we were like, oh, this is first class.

This is what this is. It was the three of us, Paul Thompson and Maya Rudolph and Mario Testino, who's a massive fashion photographer. And then Prince showed up and we're like, oh, wow, this is first class. This is what it's like always. Yes. You always know everyone. Yes. The only time first class feels like the way I thought it would be in movies is when you fly back after the Emmys, because everybody in New York is sort of on the same flight. Yes. And I remembered once Alexi and I, my wife got on a plane to fly back, a red eye back after the event. And Slattery had the seat between us. And I know John, he'd been on the show, he'd done cameos on SNL. And I said, Hey, do you mind switching? And it was great, he'd been on the show. He'd done cameos on SNL. And I said, hey, do you mind switching?

And it was great because he just said, no, I'm sorry. He just sat between you and your wife the whole time? It was such a good bit that he wouldn't switch. But then, of course, he did. I love that. Just John Slattery refusing to switch. Yeah. So that a couple can't sit together. Hey, can we take a quick stop by Seth's Corner?

Oh, yeah, please. Fuck yeah. Gotta by Seth's Corner? Oh, yeah, please. Fuck yeah. Gotta. Seth's Corner, you're all invited. Seth's Corner, it's happening right now. Take it away, Seth. So this is a thing that I realize is just going to continue to happen the longer I'm away from the show.

I wrote a sketch that I went back and read that I had literally not one iota of memory about called State of the Galaxy, where I played a Brian Williams robot in 2050. And Forte, who was playing George W. Bush at the time, was playing a descendant of George W. Bush. And it was a lot of jokes about 2050 based on the current news. Freedom in our galaxy continues to spread. The planet Jupiter just held democratic elections for the very first time. Unfortunately, the creatures of Jupiter elected the radical Flurgon party, who have promised to destroy earth within a year. But there is good news in the war against terrorism. We are very close to capturing Osama bin Laden. This aired, this went to dress. This aired. I think it was written as a cold open,

but then we didn't need a cold open because there was a pre-taped film that Steve brought. Can we hear your robot, Brian Williams? Oh, I think it's better to hear Andy's Brian Williams, but good evening, I'm the Brian Williams 3000. Tonight, president of Earth. I mean, that's pretty good, Brian Williams. And now can you do yours, Andy?

I'm Brian Williams. Yours has more gravitas, Andy. It's a little Nick Cage in there. Well, if you... yours, Andy? Oh, I'm Brian Williams. Yours has more gravitas, Andy. It's a little Nick Cage in there. Well, if you... What are you doing? Yours is old. Yeah, I was like, wait a minute. Yours sounds 20 years older.

I found my Time 100 jokes. Oh, great. It only took five minutes. Do you have any one? Do you want to read one? Pick out a good Time 100. We're interrupting Seth's corner, though. I'll just read the whole thing.

It's only like 25 pages. good to be hosting the time 100 or as it's known to many the nerds choice awards burn i don't know a lot about politics i had to read up a lot for this so forgive me if i pronounce your name wrong i'm talking to you opera wan free okay we're off and running yep amazing to be here at the Time 100, or as my parents will always remember it, the night Andy met Elie Wiesel. Oh, my God. I don't know, man.

This is all good stuff. That was plenty. That was great. Thank you. Yeah, okay. Now, Seth, back to your corner. Yeah, I feel like now we're going to have to write an Andy's Corner within the body of Seth's Corner Corner.

Oh, yeah. Should we surf meeting? Andy's obviously going to be vacant for the rest of this because we can see his face. It's got the comforting glow of a laptop much closer to it than usual as he squints to read 25 pages of Time 100. Well, I should note that his reaction to his Time 100 jokes

are they are delighting him, but he knows none of them would work here yeah no they're not great it definitely seems like early days in terms of your hosting it was probably too soon for me to do something like this you know what i mean but those are good i think you could make the argument that there's no reason to ever want to get better at hosting things because then you have to keep hosting things. But it's very important to do a couple of things like the Time 100 if you're going to eventually host the Emmys. Sure. Which we both did. We both did. And these were sort of our building block award shows where it wasn't televised, but you did have A-listers in the room and you figure out what works and what doesn't. Yeah. And a lot of it is like talking to people,

which is the game you always end up doing. But like doing jokes like Sarah Palin is here. Joke to Sarah Palin about Sarah Palin, you know, it's like, Jesus, this is fucking intense. And you can see him in that little room. Oh, yeah. All right. So we're going to finish off tonight with a sketch I think about all the time, mostly because every time I see Steve Martin, he brings it up.

And this sketch is surf meeting and you guys wrote it. Will you tell me and our listeners what surf meeting was about? Andy. Surf meeting was a classic format for us. Became one. Which was one person sucking and not being able to take a hit over and over and over again, like way too many times. There's a surf meeting. It's a bunch of surfers meeting on the beach. I'm the leader of the surf crew saying one of us doesn't fit in and it's unfortunate, but we're going to have to ask one of our members of our surf crew to leave.

And Steve Martin is in an old timey bathing suit looking super dorkish and old going like, oh no, who is this gnarly bro? All right, everyone, thanks for meeting me down here. There's something we need to discuss, so listen up. Now, you may have noticed that someone in our group doesn't really fit in and has been ruining our surf sessions. Totally. Yeah, I would say.

Wow, that person sounds totally un-gnarly. You're right, Ted. They're not gnarly. They're not gnarly at all. Now, I think we've given this person as many hints as we possibly can, but unfortunately, they still don't get it. What a loser, huh? Who is this guy?

Actually, he's in the circle right now, Ted. One of the brohams? No way. Yeah, Ted, one of the brohams. Oh, wipeout. One of the brohams? No way! Yeah, Ted, one of the brohams. Oh, wipeout! So it was making us laugh so hard when we were writing it. We were like, this is the best thing ever.

It actually played great at the table. Yes. And we were like, we did it. We cracked a super funny sketch for Steveve martin where he kills and we get to like have it be on the show and then we started blocking it like when we rehearsed it the first time without cameras everyone laughed again and we were like oh yeah it's the best and then we just started rehearsing it and for whatever reason it started tailing off yeah it was like the blocking was wrong but the show is, if you don't fix it right then,

then that's your blocking and you're fucked. And that's what it felt like was happening, where you're like, oh shit. This was a live sketch, we should clarify. Yes. Yes. That's what was the big difference. We're down on the floor rehearsing it, blocking it out.

At the time, we really were like, the blocking must have messed it up because it was so funny. But it also may have just been a thing that sometimes happens, which is a sketch can be really funny as a radio play and as written and with you sitting at the table reading it. And then when you actually act it out, there's something about it that just doesn't translate to a live sketch. Yes. I don't think blocking had anything to do with this not working. Can I say what I think the actual problem was? Please. Which probably is not the reason.

One of the things that happens though in live sketches is that if there's a lot of characters, and this had a lot, it was like six different people or maybe seven with Steve, and that requires cutting to individual people, which means that there's someone in the booth having to be like camera one, camera two, camera... And so there was a lot of timing issues that were happening on the fly while someone's reading the page rather than being able to like time that out properly. Like there was no wide shots. It was a lot of editing. And I feel like if those hiccups start to happen, where it's like you're cutting to someone before they're ready for their line or right after, like I think that added to, this is maybe just an excuse.

I would argue it could still work as a short where we could make the edit go faster and faster and faster. Yes. I also will say that the moment it stopped working and there was no time to fix it because you just get that one blocking on a Thursday and then one more rehearsal on Saturday. It was like, then I saw Steve Martin correctly going, oh shit, this one's not going to work. What else can I add on top? So he changed the way he did it to be way goofier to try to save the sketch. And correct me if I'm wrong, I'm remembering it like a Ross Trent joke

where his pronunciation and stuff should be all old fogey, not goofy. Yes, as morale plummeted in the success of the sketch, Steve fought so fucking hard. And I actually remember, like, in between dress and air, going in to give him last notes on it, like, very disheartened, like, yeah. And just being like, I wish we had more time. And he was like, I wish we did too. It's so good.

And it's not going to be good. I do remember him after the show being like, what happened? Yeah. He was distraught about it because he liked it. Yeah, he really cared. And we all thought it was going to be a winner, and it had a great rhythm to it. All of the surfers ended up having really stupid names.

That was the second game of the sketch. Yeah, I was in it. I played a surfer. My name was Slapshot. Slapshot, there was Buttfish. Buttfish was a big one. Even you, Buttfish? Yeah, and he keeps asking everyone if they were firm on their

decision that he should go. It's like five pages of, are you firm on that? Really? All of you? We all feel that way, Ted. Even you, Buttfish? Yeah. Dragonfly? Seriously? I already said yes. Okay, now you're firm on that?

And Slapshot, are you firm? Yeah, I think we're all firm. Okay, well, I guess I'll be on my way. But before I go, would anyone like to come with me? Colossus? No, I'm good. Buttfish? Ted, please go.

Okay, I'm leaving. But before I go, I'd like to hear Buttfish's answer. No. That's sort of a Light motif Of your writing Andy I mean You like the comedy Of a guy

Who keeps asking A room full of people The same question Yeah Yeah so does Jorn Yes And circling back Keep circling back

The last person And then circling back To person one Going and you again You for sure It's always about Circling back I will say

When it was like Five in the morning Or whenever Like super late when we were writing it and I was dying laughing, I feel like this was the beginning of people not trusting my laughter at a certain time in the morning. Yeah. Ever again, where they were like,

oh no, this is a surf meeting laugh. Like where I'm doubled over. Yorm's laughing too hard. This is not going to work. That's really true. Yeah. When you heard a certain tone of laughter, you were in trouble.

Like, ooh boy, this is just for one person. But I will say, Jorm, writing Surf Meeting was one of the most fun moments of my entire time at SNL. Like we were dying laughing writing it. For whatever reason, it was just like slumber party giggles, like the middle of the night and we were doing our dream job and it just felt like incredible. Those are the moments that make SNL so fucking special and make you miss it. It feels like you're at like comedy college and you're having the best fucking time with like the funniest people in the world. I also want to reiterate something you said, Andy, in your description, which is like, we were so excited about it because it played great.

And we were like, oh my God, we're going to have like a Smigel level classic SNL sketch. Like my expectations of it were sky high. And I remember it exactly like you do, which is that it did do really well at the table. And it did do really well at the first read. But then the moment it was really on its feet and people put on wardrobe, something fell apart. And then the second guessing made it spiral

into something that's truly horrendously embarrassing. Also, I think there were cuts made between dress and hair to try and fix it. And that neutered some of the magic of how the too many times-ness of it. You know what I mean? Yeah. Now let me just play a little clip here that might offer a different perspective. My memory of surf meeting was that we did it at the table

and Andy, Yorma, and Akiva were laughing really hard, and no one else was. Well, that was a nice try. And we all have those moments where we kind of bomb at the table, and at least they were having fun. And then I got picked, and I was like, well, that's cool. I'm in it. So I get to wear a wetsuit and be in a sketch with Steve Martin. And then when we would rehearse it, no one was laughing except Andy.

So every time Steve Martin would say, Blowfish, do you have anything to say? And Andy would be crying laughing. And then Jorma would come out to give notes, and he would be crying laughing. And I just thought, you know what? Maybe I needed to grow up in California to get the humor in this one. I felt like, oh, this must be how everyone feels when I do Vincent Price

or a dead celebrity from the 50s. It's just like, oh, this is your sense of humor, and this is what's great about this show, you don't have to get everything. And then we did it on air, and the audience and the world felt the same way I did and I'm sure a lot of them did grow up in California

but Steve Martin really sold it he understood it and I was happy for my friends that they got their sketch on and I'm not really one to talk because as I said the tangent played even the kids in the hall would be like this needs some laughs.

This is like all attitude. Oh, my God. I disagree with him. I think he's misremembering because tangent was good. And this one we were not happy with. Yeah. All right. So, guys, I want to give the perspective.

At this point, I'm barely in sketches. Holding on for dear life. Very sweet of you to put me in here as Slapshot. I feel like this is final days of me as a sketch performer. I felt like I was aiding and abetting in a crime against a comedy legend. Yeah. We were all in our cool ass wetsuits. And this legend was in a dumb ass 1920s swimsuit.

For sure. He was the only guy who was even supposed to get a laugh in it. You know what I mean? None of us had lines to get laughs. Yes. So it was basically the younger generation doing none of the work and just watching one of the great comedy magicians of all time not be able to pull a rabbit out of a hat because we gave him a hat with no rabbits.

But at a certain point, it's not on us to say like, hey, this shouldn't air. Well, so here's the thing that Steve Martin always talks about. I feel like Steve to this day has a bone to pick with Lauren, but knowing Lauren, he thought this was a great sketch because it was the young generation with Steve.

He loved the way it looked. That's the thing. No, it's Andy and Bill That's the kind of thing. No, it's Andy and Bill and- Got a great look. It looks good and Steve and he'll make it work. And Steve was definitely, in his telling of it, fighting for a sketch called Bank Loan, where he and Amy Poehler were clearly alcoholics who just wanted money to go get more drinks. And they were drunkenly trying to get a bank loan from parnell and steve had a far better time in his regular clothes sitting next to amy poehler than he did standing

in an old-timey with a bunch of dudes 100 understandable 100 understandable but the great thing and why surf meeting endures for me is that for all his successes, it is a failure that still sticks with Steve Martin. Oh, man. Well, this is giving me some real food for thought. We felt that guilt, by the way. We felt guilty. Oh, yeah.

We were like, I can't believe we're responsible for any kind of a pockmark on his career. If an audience member screamed, leave him alone, it would have been fair. I have so many regrets about that week. I can't remember if I've told you guys this story too.

When we were blocking a different sketch, he so nicely was like chatting me up, being like, I heard that you did stand-up before the show. And I was like,

oh yeah, I did. Yeah. He's like, what was your stand-up like? I mean, obviously, I was slightly in a panic, And I was like, oh, yeah, I did. Yeah. He's like, what was your stand-up like? I mean, obviously, I was slightly in a panic, but I was like, it's kind of like meta. Like, it's almost like making fun of stand-up. I'm just like explaining to him the thing he invented

like 30 years previously and did the best of anyone ever. He's like, oh, it sounds interesting. And I was just like, I fucking suck. I don't know how to talk or do things good. But those moments where you never forget shit like that, where you're like, I blew it. Like I had just me and Steve Martin just chatting it up and I just tanked it.

In line with you explaining meta comedy to Steve Martin, Jerry Seinfeld once offered to do something on the show and I talked to the update team and we decided he should do a really with me. And I called him and I believe I'd never talked to him before. And I said, we think you would be really good at doing a really. And he said, some might say I even invented it. And he said, some might say I even invented it. And it was just dawning on me.

Oh, right. You're who I'm doing. He did it and was great. And the way he did it changed the way I did it after that. Oh, interesting. I believe the time he did really was the only time I ever had my actual nightmare happen on SNL, which was I was chatting with him under the bleachers and I was so gassed that I was getting to talk to Jerry Seinfeld

that I forgot I was in a sketch. Wow. It was like a courtroom sketch. I didn't have lines, but I didn't know that because they had cut my one line at the top of the sketch between dress and hair. So it actually didn't end up being a problem because it would have just been a shot of me sitting next to another cast member in a suit at the top of the sketch.

But it was the most panic I've ever felt maybe in my entire life. It was like I looked up at the monitor and the sketch had started and I was like, I am supposed to be in that it was horrifying what'd you do did you run over or was it too late at that point it was too late i think i ran over and they were just like because i had no lines they're just like get the out of here you blew it no one yelled at me or anything because it just worked out and i was like who cares i remember having a mustache on in a sketch with Jennifer Garner. I was a store manager.

And I walked off after what I thought was my last line. And I think Polar or Dratch was backstage. And I just saw them and very cockily walked up to them and went, and like ripped off my mustache. And they were like, you have another line. I was like, oh, no. So I was a super cocky guy being like, Myers, mustache, out. And I had to press it back on my face.

Drop the mic. How did they know? They were in the sketch. So they were backstage with me. Oh, backstage of the set. Yeah, I walked off stage thinking it had been my last line. And I had to walk back on for more. Yeah.

No, no, no, no, no. Oh, my God. Thank God they told you. Episode six is another big one, which I feel indicates the path that the shorts are going to take for years to come. Natalie Rapp will be our next. Lovely talking to you guys again. And by the way, not one of you said happy anniversary.

And I forgot that Keeve, you were not at my wedding because you were such a good dude that you let your wife come so you could take care of the girls. Yep. I still remember standing at the airport, you were not at my wedding because you were such a good dude that you let your wife come so you could take care of the girls. Yep. I still remember standing at the airport holding both of them, waving goodbye with two teeny little kids. God, that is a very cool move. You're a very nice dude, Keev, because that was a really good wedding. You fucking blew it. I remember it because I bring it up to Guilt Tripper like once a week.

So it's always fresh. Yeah. And it should be stressed. We ask for people not to bring kids. So smart move. It was a fun wedding. It was a good wedding. This is a hard one to talk about though,

because I don't want to make it sound like it was super great because Keeve had to miss it, but I don't want to make it sound like it was bad because I don't want you to feel bad about your wedding, Seth. I think at this point, Keeve knows it was super great. I wished for it to be great. I wasn't at home being like, I hope it sucks. The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers podcast is supported by Airbnb.