The Three Questions with Andy Richter - Bobby Moynihan

Episode Date: February 15, 2022

Bobby Moynihan joins Andy Richter to talk about growing up wanting to work with the Muppets, reading cue cards on Saturday Night Live and more!

hey everybody uh andy richter here another episode of the three questions today uh i'm very happy i'm going to be posing those three questions to a very funny man we know a million people in common but we don't really know each other that well. I mean, do we? I don't know you. Do you know me? No.

Have we ever, have we ever met? I don't remember. Honestly, I met you a very long time ago when I was on Conan, like doing bits on Conan. Like, Oh,

okay. Yeah. Like I was like in a couple, like of those sides, I was like in the couple like of those side i was like in the desk driving bit i was dark theater in my under a bunch of those was i still there at that time uh i met you once there like i met you once around in the building around there and then uh and i don't know i don't think so actually i don't think i was yeah because i think that you came to new york in 2001 and that was like when I moved

to L.A. So I think I had been in New York my whole life. But yes, 2001. Yeah. But I mean, when you came to sort of start being a comedy legend. Yeah, sure. Yes. Yeah, sure. No, you're supposed to go. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.

I'm in a closet. I'm in a closet. Yeah. No, yeah, yeah. That's what happened. I'm in a closet. I'm in a closet. I want to. Yeah. No, that's. Yeah, that's. I. Yeah, I was gone by then.

So I like I. We met. I met you in person once before SNL. But like, I believe as a fan, like, hi, hi. Like, you know, like. Oh, OK. And then and then then I started doing Conan stuff. and after that, I don't think I did. Did the cigarette I put on you burn badly?

I mean... Emotionally. Yes. I'm sorry. Well, I'm glad to have you here. How are you? Are you in L.A., New York? I am in L.A., New York.

The new most terrible place in the world. All the worst of both. It smells and it hurts your feelings. Yeah, yeah. Yep, yep. Be disappointed. Feel bad. You're garbage.

And it smells like pee. You thought you were cold there. Now you're cold here. Do you live in Los Angeles now? Or did you move back? We bought a house in Los Angeles. Because it's after SNL, you kind of, I mean, you walk into the woods and die.

That's what Lorne wants. but you're like no yeah i'm gonna live i'm gonna try i'm gonna procreate too i'll have a baby fuck you lorn the baby's name is fuck you lorn i uh no i i i just me, it's always like when somebody, I just, it's like when I left the Conan show, I was okay for a little bit, but then it was like, I gotta get my fucking ass to LA. I can't live in New York city without a steady gig. That's hilarious. I was, I think I was the exact opposite. Really? Really? Where?

Yeah. I think I was like, I want to be on SNL. And then it ended and i went like sweet oh really and then i just i went i yeah i had a baby came out here started a sitcom and went like eh whatever yeah yeah yeah but i i got i got i got lucky now now i'm on a show i really like and but yeah that is yeah that's a huge thing because you know one of the i mean it's a privileged desperation but it's a life of quiet desperation when you're on a show your dreams come true you're making money and it sucks yeah yeah it's tough

yeah yeah um that i i yeah the job I have right now is I can't believe, I feel like I keep saying this, but it's like second TV lottery. Like I went like, just in the sense of like, oh, I love these people. I'm very proud of this show. And it's the Ted Danson show, right? The Ted Danson show, yes. That's what they're calling it now. I forget the name of it.

It's called Mr. Mayor, but they should call it the Ted Danson show. I'm not a very good interviewer. I mean, I know Ted Danson's involved. I'm shallow. I know famous people, but I don't remember names. I just think it should be called that. But he is one of the princes of show business. He's just the best.

Yes, the crown prince, as they say. The yes, the crown prince. Yes. They say of working with him, you truly go like, oh, this is a man who has been on a sitcom for his entire life. Yeah. And he knows how to do it's just such a nice person and it's people at that level as much as it sounds terrible they don't have to be nice you know and a lot of them aren't that that's it him and mary you just you immediately go like oh these are just two nice people who also happen to be ted danson and Mary Steenburgen yes they almost trick you into believing they're just nice yeah yeah um so uh like were you happy to move to LA when you did or or I had grown up in New York my whole life I loved it there I think I was very reticent at

the time but I didn't know what was going on it was like snl ended i had a baby eight days after the baby i was like 12 days later i was on stage at the hollywood ball with the muppets and like like and it was just like it was just a very chaotic and then like then and then went straight into shooting a sitcom with john larroquette and jaleel white and i was just like it was just like, it's a mad lib. It was like a mad lib year. And then all of a sudden, all of that ended, and I just played with toys for three years and had a blast.

Yeah, yeah, that's nice. And did cartoons and just worked from home. It was wonderful. Oh, my God, that's fantastic. How will you you continue how did you get on another sitcom after that when you had it so nice uh well tell me about uh where you're from you're from eastchester correct correct eastchester new york yeah uh rivals of westchester is there like like deadly gang violence between the two? Eastchester is a small town in Westchester County, which is something I have been explaining for my entire life.

Well, I'm just another asshole. No, it's just, it's the whole, it's the whole hair. Hey, you get a haircut. And then the next 12 people say, hey, you get a haircut? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's what it is. So you have to do it. You're wearing a doctor costume for a sketch.

Somebody passes you. It says doctor. Yes, hello. They have to. They have to. They have to. They have to. It's just a thing.

Yeah, it's like when you see 69, you got to say nice. Yeah. Nice. You got to go fuck a puncher friend. Yeah, yeah. Sorry if I, I don't know if I can curse. No, you sure you can. Yeah, I grew Sorry if I, I don't know if I can curse. No, you're sure you can. Yeah, I grew up in Eastchester, a small town, the best.

And what do your folks do? You know, like big family, Catholic, you know. Grew up Catholic, small family. My dad owned a liquor store. My mom worked as the town tax assessor across the street from our apartment building. It was the town hall. And so she just walked across the street and went to work. Wow.

Wow, that's great. And do you have siblings? I have an older sister. Uh-huh. Yeah. And was it a fairly idyllic childhood? I mean. Yeah. Yeah. Not I mean. Yeah.

Yeah. Not so bad. Yeah. Came out all right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I have a good relationship with all my family.

I love my sister. I still talk to her to this day. Yeah. Yeah. And your folks? You get along good with your folks? My folks passed away. Oh, I'm sorry.

That's okay. A couple years, a year, six months after my daughter was born, my father passed away. And then a couple months later, my mom passed away. Oh, my gosh. That's terrible. Yeah. That was no fun. Was that their first grandchild?

Did they at least kind of get to? Second. My sister has a kid. Yeah. Yeah. So I didn't disappoint them. They got to. Yeah.

He procreated. We can go. I proved it can go proved it i proved it yeah oh um well we i mean we're that was it a was it a funny household i mean because we're on funny stuff now dead parents are always that's where you go uh yeah uh sure, it was. They were up until the moment they passed away. Hilarious. In fact, both died from pratfalls. My dad slipped on a banana, fell on my mother. absolutely hilarious my dad was a ball buster my mom super super witty and and and dry sense of humor but really loved comedy understood it loved it she's honest you know she she did the uh mother's day special oh that's great that's great i remember that special yeah yeah i was super nervous and she walked on with like the most confident i've ever seen her in her entire life. And literally was like, relax is the best. That's fantastic.

And did you like, did you know that you wanted to be a comedian at an early age? Like, was that something, were you a big comedy fan that, you know, like was SNL a big deal? I mean, you know, SNL, Mr. Show, huge deal. The State, you know. Yeah. All that stuff.

Tom Lennon, like, you know, like, just, like, all that. Definitely grew up on that. And, like, very early on as a child, got mixed up in a musical theater group. Like, you know, started doing, like, summer summer theater with with like a bunch of my friends it was all my every single kid in my high school and like neighboring like eastchester was super small so i we had a bunch of friends from like tuckahoe which was right next door and chris when we would all hang out and uh do this summer theater during the summer but it was it was like all my guy friends that weren't in the shows did the tech

and saying like so it was just like we were just with each other and then we all worked as life guards together so it was just like this weird friendship thing and we just yeah i did summer theater did like king and i west side story all that stuff for you know throughout high school and then uh but i also like drew comic books i wanted to draw i wanted to draw comic books or like work with the muppets i don't i don't know what i wanted to do yeah and then uh uh college came around i had no money and i was like well uh yukon has a puppetry department i'll go up there and like look at it and i've signed i think i just walked in and did a mod i did one flew over the cuckoo's nest in high school and walked into the Yukon acting department, just like did a monologue.

It was like here. And then they were like, you want to come here for acting? And I was like, why not? And did you get scholarship money? I did. That's why I went. I believe I believe I got the Ron Polillo scholarship. Oh, my God. Yep. I think it was like Ron Palillo scholarship. Oh, my God.

Yep. I think it was like 80 bucks. Right. It was not a lot. I remember going like, well, that'll help. But yeah. Thanks, Ron. That's very horse Shacky.

It really was. It really was. Well, that goddamn, that sounds like a lot of fun like you know just to have like that because so many people that i talk to about this kind of you know where you come from and how do you end up being and you know and most everybody's a comedian that i talk to um because i'm a snob and drama people are losers uh but i i so many people like and myself included you know like i had friends and i was popular but i didn't feel like until i got to be in my 20s that i was in sort of my group you know that i found my people so to have found them so early is kind of unique and really cool you know that that's absolutely insane that you say that i just last night i had

a zoom with like 14 or 15 of my close like childhood friends wow and and and and i was i literally hung up going like like that's crazy i think that's like i always go like gosh i have no friends i don't do anything but like it's not true at all yeah yeah yeah yeah uh it's that's having kids having kids you feel like you like your life stops which it kind of snl for 10 years and then kids yeah yeah yeah no you have a very like you know split life here you've really changed tracks but that's also i mean you get your life back too but it's just and it is, you know, like you're very lucky. I'm very lucky. Really, really.

To have all that time is amazing. Yeah, it's crazy. And it's important and it's great. And, you know, you know, you'll get like I say, you get your life back because after a while it does get like how old is your daughter? Four, four and a half, four. Oh, OK. Yeah. Yeah.

So you're past the like you're you know she's up and around she's practically out on her own you know now uh that's old enough but um yeah it's god that's great that's great that you got to stay home because i you know like with my son there was i was he was real little when we moved out here and they were like there was like times when i wouldn't even see him awake for days at a time because i'd leave before he woke up and came home after he was asleep and it it sucked yeah that that's absolutely yeah that was terrifying for me and like i got super lucky in the very beginning because i just i i i got to work from home doing cartoons and

stuff i would just do everything from home. The lockdown helped a lot. But I just, I wouldn't take a job that would take me that far away or anything. And then literally because of Ted Danson, I woke up with my daughter and put her to bed almost every, I think I missed her going to sleep like twice in the entire season of shooting. Yeah, yeah. That's been the best part of the last four years is how lucky I've gotten with that. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, the best.

Well, no, that, I mean, yeah, you actually, you have had too much sort of stability and, you know, sort of like good soil for mental health growth to really be in comedy. You probably shouldn't. know oh i'm a mess i'm just doing a lot i'm just doing a lot better now oh i see i see you're just probably on a good this is all a cover story oh yeah i was with my friends doing plays but we were all on crack we're all terrible yeah i didn't tell you what was going on well so do you when you get to uconn i mean do your parents are they like you're gonna do acting for a living or you know and and seriously was puppetry part of it or was that yeah yeah really you were how had you been doing puppetry like uconn is the only school i believe in america that has a puppetry department but prior to that i mean how did i just i just uh uh

i think it's just like sesame street and the muppets like i think sesame street the muppets there's no difference between saturday night live and the muppets yeah and the you know the muppet show was saturday night live with puppets and and the Muppets were on. And I think just that, I think that that, that concept just maybe dawned on me way, way, way too early. So, so like,

yeah. So like, that was like, it was, there was no difference between George Carlin and Gonzo. Like, it was just like, they were both,

both people to be admired. But I also, but I also love Dave Goels. Like, I was a weird kid that figured out, like, oh, Dave Goels is the guy who does Gonzo, and I like him specifically. Oh, wow. Yeah. Very specific. Yeah, yeah.

And, like, um. He says, with a little bit of regret and shame. Yeah, I know. Well, I mean, notoriously, the puppeteers aren't the coolest. I don't think they't think that's uh i don't think that's uh i uh i don't think they would be mad at me for saying that um but like yeah no i i i was just fascinated by it i think it's an amazing art that a lot of people can do and i was never good at it and uh i went for acting instead

no i i actually i think I just made the right choice. I think I didn't know what I wanted to do. Yeah. I wanted to draw. I was, I drew comic books. And then I think that had, I wanted to like make puppets or like make, I was wanting to like sculpt action figures. I don't know. Like that was a weird thing I enjoyed doing when I was a kid.

And then acting came along and I went with that. So did you try? What were you? What was? Did you try puppetry? Did you take some classes in the puppet? Yeah. Like, I took, like, the beginning stuff for it.

Puppet 101. Yeah. Like, yeah, the minor, the stuff to get the minor in it. Oh, yeah, yeah. Like, rod puppets, shadow puppets and and and stuff like that but then it was either that or you had i didn't take math at uconn because my the math class that i was supposed to take was like so remedial because i had done so poorly in high school in math yeah it was only at one time.

They only gave it at one time, and that was during our core acting class. So they were just like, you're not taking math. And I was like, cool. That's nice. But now it has slipped through the cracks, and I can't count. Listen, I figured out, because I figured out early that I was probably going to go to University of Illinois. I grew up in Yorkville

Illinois and I figured out like what they wanted and what I needed from high school and I didn't take math beyond my sophomore year of high school like I just figured out like oh I can take science classes instead because I did not like math so I haven't taken math since I was whatever, like 14 years old, 15 years old. And let's start a bank. Bad math. Bad at math. That'd be good. But it would it became when my kids started to help my kids with homework.

I was it was just like embarrassing and use and I was just useless. And I just was like long division like they. use and i was just useless and i just was like long division like they well there's new math now from what i hear i'm terrified terrified it's just kind of you know on it's and my ex-wife never enjoyed this but i would have when we'd have to go to like school things and i would be like how you know i just would zone out like every year it's like it's the parent, like all the parents are coming in. We're going to tell them what we're going to teach.

And I always say to my ex-wife, it's like, isn't that really between our kid and the teacher? Like, why do we have, why do we have to be involved in this? And she's like, you have to know. And I'm like, they could tell me what this math is 50 times. And I would not remember it 50 times. I want my kid to come home and tell me what it is. 50 times and i would not remember it 50 times i want my kid to come home and tell me what it is yeah yeah yeah that's what i would like right they can how about teaching

me for once um well so when you get out when you get out of yukon are you uh you know murder years were those big basketball years for UConn? Like, did you get that was I was there like the year women's and men won like Rebecca Lobo, Jake Voskal those days. Very much. I mean, yeah, I yes, very much the height of UConn basketball. And I was yeah. And I was in like a little black box theater doing glengarry glen ross

yeah I was gonna say did you care at all about the basketball no I met I I was online at the Yukon co-op once and Rebecca Lobo like cut in front of me and I was like excuse me miss I was online and somebody like was like hey and pointed to like a VHS tape with her picture on it and I was like I don't care I gotta get back I was, I don't care who this ginormous woman is. She cut me in line. Yeah. Yeah, that's, yeah. But that was the extent of my basketball at UConn.

I worked at Gamp, I did inventory at Gampel Pavilion and they got a lot of really nice free stuff. And I remember thinking, I'm doing the wrong thing being an actor I should I should be a basketball player um uh yeah no right after UConn uh was that was it that was like when I figured it out that was I moved back home to New York uh back to Westchester was just working I started like to try and do stand-up i took like a comic strip i went to comic strip live and took their like stand-up class that was like every day at two o'clock every one once a week at two o'clock and then did one show on a tuesday our class show was on a

tuesday and literally right before i went up uh they were like there's a girl here who has an audition she needs to tape and she's gonna go up and it was Sarah Silverman and wow I was like oh great now I have to go up next and like she wasn't Sarah Silverman yet but still like it was like it was like Jesus um immediately stopped that and was like this is not for me I don't think this is the the right thing what didn't you like about it or what wasn't what why wasn't it suited for you i think the i think uh uh my personality is bad for i would not leave the ball i would just sit there and i would just sit there all night and drink like it's just like i'm i'm a homebody like like I started UCB and I didn't leave the theater for 10 years.

You know what I mean? Like, you know what I mean? Like it was like it was to do stand up. I was like, oh, I'm going to be one of these miserable men in 30 years just sitting at the bar afterwards drinking. Like I just the atmosphere of it. I went like, I don't think this is this this particular route is for me. I need i need other people up here with me kind of yeah the reason i ask is because i am 100 on that same page

yeah and and i find i tried it and it just wasn't for me yeah and not all stand-up clubs are like this but i do find and i you know it could just be but I, a lot of times when I've been in standup clubs, the atmosphere just feels unhappy and stressful. You know, it's like, well, it's a Coliseum arena and it's like, entertain me.

There's a lot of alcohol and, and personalities. And, but I also think that the core of it is there is no part of me that thinks I should just stand anywhere and go, this is what I think. Yeah.

Yeah. I would much rather go on stage and go, give me a word. Coconut. Cool. I'm yeah, I'm exactly the same way. And also too,

I always like, I want to be on stage because of the other people that I'm on stage with, not the audience. Like the audience is like, they're kind of giving us a reason to do this. But the real fun for me is the people that I'm doing it with. Because in Chicago, like shows get canceled all the time

because of a blizzard or whatever, you know? And we'd show up for the show and find out, oh, it's canceled. And then I'd still get to go have fun with all. It's not like we all went home, you know? We went out and got drunk together and that was that was equally rewarding to me as entertaining an audience you know i agree i think it's why i'm it's why i'm an alcoholic i think it was that i think once i found ucb and i found that

like it reminded me of doing those summer theater things of like, oh, look, it's just 50 of us, you know, and and having a good time and trying to trying to do stuff. And I think, you know, I was in kind of that second round of UCB, like, you know, the the original crew, like Amy and, you know, Rob Hubel, Paul Scheer, all those amazing guys that kind of like were there in the beginning. I kind of came in the second round of that when they were still at the old theater and and it wasn't like a gigantic school you know full of you know teaching improv across america yeah yeah so there was very much this like we're doing comedy in a basement under a grocery store yeah in an old strip club there was very much that that sense to it and i i when i was at the peak of my like improv doing it you know seven nights a week sometimes uh some of those shows that you would just do with those other eight people it was it was a stop like you would we would look at each

other like holy shit like we just did that like that that feeling was what i that that's what i went for i think it yeah it's it's it's an amazing and i i've said this before like the at my peak of doing improv in chicago there would be times when we would do shows and they would you know i know for people that don't know but like long form improv frequently is supposed to kind of discover itself as a package. Like, it seems like it's all random shit, and then suddenly it ties together in a few different ways. And then you end, it buttons kind of, like, and even sometimes when it's really good, it has like a real ending.

It's almost, you know, like, well, basically it's like, improv is always like the biggest, the biggest compliment is like, it's like it was written, which is the best question. Well, just fucking write something. That being said, just in you saying that I was romanticizing about my old improv and I went, you know, gosh, I've been doing improv for 30 years and there's one show, one that I remember ending like, wow, that's it. Yeah. Maybe a couple of three. Hundreds of thousands.

Maybe a couple of three that I, you know, and who knows what our standards are. My standards might be lower than yours. But I do remember definitely after shows and even within the show, having a moment of like saying something that's like really good. Like it fits the moment really well and it like ties in something else like a like you know because sometimes it's you know it's a game kind of you know i mean they're all based on games and it's like we need we need a three-pointer here you know and then and then i would you know i would say something and i would be like i don't

know where that came from but but it was fucking great. You know, that was always the best too. Yeah. Yeah. That was, that was the best part. That was when you knew you were on your game was when you didn't have to,

or, or you have an idea and then someone comes out and finishes it. Like that was, that was it. And like, at that time I was doing improv with like Zach Woods and Joe Wenger. And like these guys that like these just geniuses, like comedic geniuses.

Can't you tell my loves are growing? So how does how does SNL happen? You tell me. No, I wait. Well, first of all, let me say, how are you making a living during this time? And, you know, and I mean, are you are you living at home? Oh, bartending. OK.

Do you have your own apartment in the city by this point? Bartender, a pizzeria, you know, many, many years. And I was living at home, then moved, was living in my friend's uh walk-in closet in brooklyn when i started ucb september 11th happened i moved back home for a little bit and then uh uh uh 2008 2001 i started ucb i kind of did all that i got on their touring company spent many years doing that started doing sketch shows got into the Just for Laughs comedy festival kind of got on

SNL's radar there met Horatio Sands doing ASCAT at UCB and Amy and Seth and all them went on tour with Horatio doing the Kings of Improv tour. Oh, right.

Like they're doing that. Yeah. And SNL kind of just got on their radar and they said, do you want to come in and audition? I said, this has been my life's dream. This is all I've ever wanted to do. I can't believe it's a possibility. Can I have some time? Kind of.

I don't want to do it wrong. I had heard I did. I kind of had heard a terrible rumor that like somebody did it and didn't get it. And then the next year they were like, OK, now I now I'm ready. And like they were like, yeah, this is great. But like they didn't want to hear from them. And I was like, I had it in my mind. Don't let that happen to you for some reason.

And like I waited like six months and then worked on my audition super hard and needlessly now and now looking back did not need to do that at all why not why not why do you i mean because it didn't matter i was i was already where i was at i just i think my first audition for snl i went in and i did three characters and three impressions and I'm terrible at impressions and they liked me, but I think they liked me and they brought me in. I went in with a bunch of other really great people and then the writer's strike happened like three days later. And that was it. So for nine months, I just sat there waiting, thinking I had already gotten it, but I'm not allowed to tell anybody. But I also don't know if I got it. And they never tell you. You're not getting paid. No.

And I'm not on the show. And no one has said anything. And then the second the writer's strike ended, I got a phone call saying, why don't you come back in and audition again? And I went like, well, this is ridiculous. I had lost my mind for nine months and thought it was never going to happen. I went in and I just went like, here's a bunch of shit that I think is funny. And like a week later, I was on the show. Like a week later, I was on air. Wow. Yeah. What's the first day like when you show up? I mean, or actually probably the more interesting day is the second day.

Because the first day is just go around, meet everyone. And then the second day is like, okay, now work starts. That is, no one has ever asked me that question. But the crazy thing was, is I have a story. The night before my first SNL, i did askat at ucb and uh it hadn't been announced yet that i was going to be on saturday night live and they were going to be like congratulations like bobby's gonna be on saturday night live like kind of thing like and seth was there and he was like don't do just don't do it yet he was just like and he made just a comment like welcome to like a welcome to like a world

of slights from now on of just like this where you're just like this is not it and i remember being like mildly disappointed and being like oh i want to tell people and then out of nowhere uh robin williams walks in robin williams just walks backstage and he's like hey do you mind if i perform with you guys and we're just like what and like of course so long story short we can do an hour-long improv show with robin williams it's the it's the i just found out i'm about to be on saturday night live i can't fucking understand what's happening yeah and robin williams comes back comes up to me backstage and goes mr moyninihan, I hear I hear you just got you're just going to be you're going to be on Saturday Night Live. This is amazing. Grabs me by the face and it's like, I'm coming with you.

Wouldn't it be hilarious if I took your clothes and went in on your first day and I dressed up as you and I went in and we pretend that I'm you? And my instantaneous thought is, how do I tell Robin Williams I do not want to do this at all? At all. Robin, that's a terrible idea. And really, also, it's kind of all about you. I could not think of a way to make Lauren hate me faster than to send Robin Williams in my clothes for my first day of work oh that would be like yeah you would come off as such an asshole oh gosh yeah yeah I'm glad I

but I spent my first day panicking that Robin Williams was going to show up and do a bit uh no it was like space camp it was like i couldn't believe it you know i i couldn't believe it the first week the first week was like what i assume uh they do for sick children uh i felt like i felt like thank you you make a wish yeah this was this was the best week of my life and then the second week they were like all right now you're looking at the cue cards wrong idiot and i'm like what and then i panicked for 10 years um now uh is do you do you find right away because i mean i've heard so many things about you know kind of the competitive atmosphere uh SNL. And that like, you know, did you, did you, I mean, how did you survive that in the beginning? Like, do you have to find a place where I think you fit in? Do you have to find your own place?

Do people find it for you? I think now being gone for a couple of years, I think I spent my early time there just being just truly not understanding that i was there truly just being like wow yeah this is great right guys and then spent a couple years going like okay this is a job and like now other stuff is happening and there's a lot of stuff you like all of a sudden fame and and stuff and that that was super weird and i i handled it weird yeah but like as far as like finding my footing at snl like i don't think i ever did i i i kept think i kept thinking i did and then never really feel like i i feel like there was one season where like i got to do a bunch of stuff that like I'm super proud of and like, but I never really felt like I got it.

I figured it out. Like other people that I saw go through that place that did figure it out. And why do you think that? I mean, do you have any theories as to why that didn't happen for you as to why, you know, you didn't stumble on that thing that other people stumbled on i was gonna say when you said is there a competitiveness to it i i think no i think that there's this long-standing thing of there's a competitiveness and you have it's very cutthroat at snl and i think that's true but it's only inwardly directed uh-huh i think a lot of people are competitive with themselves because there's so

much amazing talent there it's not like you have to be funnier than this person because we're demanding it it's like yeah you you feel i have to be just as funny to keep up like you know like so it's like it's it's cutthroat and i felt it was cutthroat and competitive, but only with myself. Does that make sense? Oh, really? Yeah, yeah. I also think, too, that you were there during a nice time, you know, like when I think that the atmosphere was better. Because I know when we started the Conan show in 93 and I had friends that worked on SNL and you know i it i don't think it was as i agree i agree there were people in rooms like plotting what are they doing we've got you know that kind of thing i mean i mean i i i definitely think that was happening when i was there but i think

not not on the level as like maybe the david sp, like where you hear a lot about it in that era. I don't know why I pinned him to it. No, but I mean because – In that era of people. But it is. It's true. It's kind of Adam Sandler. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, and I think one of the big differences is, well, Tina Fey made a huge difference when she came on and was like head writer oh a billion percent she's the most important person to ever come through that door yeah to have to have her as head writer i think just absolutely changed the culture in a minute billion percent um but also another thing too was that cast when you look back on that kevin nealon cast you know there were only a couple of improvisers there were only a couple of improvisers. There were only a couple of sketch people. These are all mostly stand-ups. And there was kind of a whole era of SNL that was mostly stand-ups. And they don't play well with other people.

Like, that's not their first suit, you know? That's a really interesting thing. You always hear, I always hear the, sometimes it's actor-driven and sometimes it's writer-driven. But you're right. You're right. There was that. that yeah there was that period of just stand-ups yeah and i yeah i mean fascinating yeah and the comedy kind of well i mean snl can be that way too depending like on the the cue cards just the cue card setup there is still to me may it just blows my mind sometimes in In what way? Just because there's just times when, it depends on the talent too,

where the regular cast members can play to the cards and play off. And I mean, you have to learn the skill. It is, yeah. You have to learn the skill to reading cards. And also, I figured out really quickly, you either have to memorize or you have to reading cards and also like i figured out really quickly like you either have to memorize or you have to have cards you can't do both because you'll fuck up like if you've memorized

it tell them to put the cards away you know because on snl you can't memorize because they'll change the line in the middle of it yeah exactly exactly but i just mean and there's you know that that yes i agree yeah i agree and and but there's just some people who on that show, who's just, their eyes are pinned on the cards and they do not move. You know, like there's just scenes where like, it's all puppies running around and they're just looking and waiting for their next line, you know? Or, yeah. Or it's two people talking and they're, they're all just facing out.

Yeah. Facing out this way. Just, yeah. But yeah, it's because they're looking at the car. It's funny. Yeah. That's what's it's because they're looking at the car. It's funny. Yeah. That's what's happening there is they're looking at the actor. Cause when you look at the cards,

it looks like you're looking at the camera, but when you start to try and look at the actor, it looks like you're looking off because the eyeline is off. So yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's weird.

Yeah. That's also 10 years of, uh, of people going, why are you looking at the cards idiot and i go like it's really hard it's live television hard yeah and you don't want to think like oh i got this i got this i got this line and then you turn to the person that you know you make the direct eye contact you know like it's real life and you're acting and then you're like

i don't remember well i mean yeah wally wally the guy that does the cue cards has been doing it forever and he's he's the absolute greatest and he doesn't make mistakes and he hires like that's the whole he hires people and he goes like your job is to not make a mistake like yeah that's why we don't have monitors is because he's lauren says he's like machines can break down he's like while he's like wally hasn't made a mistake in 13 years right exactly and then yeah and there's a rhythm that you know there's like a rhythm that especially like our cue card guy steve burham he's you know he's another guy barely almost never makes a mistake but also knows conan's rhythm and knows

like when to wait when when to speed up, you know, when, when to like, and they even would understand like with, if Conan would cut something on the fly, they, you know,

they would have this kind of just unspoken understanding of like, oh, we're going to kill that joke. You know? that would happen. I would be on, you know, update and doing drunk uncle and they would just be putting tape over

certain lines or, or, or dropping full cards for real and like so helpful yeah you're just like well yeah but it's like wally saved my life yeah yeah one time only one time on live uh on the live show it was my first it was just me and kristen wig in the cold open uh that it was was like nothing story that was well that's terrible to say but it was like a story that happened it was like there one week and then it was gone

it was this guy Eric Massa that guy who got caught like doing something with his male interns called he called it snorkeling or something it was some like weird thing back in the day this politician did something weird now it's like not even a blip on the radar I don't even remember exactly yeah yeah with trump now it's nothing and uh and it

but it was my first time it was just me and kristin and i got to say live from new york at saturday night for the first time well known and i was like fun fun yeah i was like you know it was it was a big thing for me and the live show starts cue card guy holds up the cards and it says thank you thank you it's great to be here hosting saturday night live and i was just like oh no and kristin doesn't know what's going on because there's three sets of cards and so kristin starts speaking and my first line i'm like i don't know it i don't i didn't I didn't memorize this. And so I literally go. You see me go like, well, it happened. I completely turn around and look behind me, and they realize what's going on. And then the kid just walked.

The kid was brand new. He had the wrong set of cards and never saw him again. Wow. He just walked away. Yeah. Never saw him again. So you think he's dead, right? I think he's alive.

I think he's in a cage in Lauren's office. He wears a Chevy Chase costume. Here's some more popcorn for you. Well, was it you were there nine years, nine seasons? Yeah, nine seasons. And generally, if you had to sort of say like it, it was a happy time or it was an un... Like, was it mostly happy, you know? Yes, it was.

Yes, it was the best time of my life. Yes, it was. I got to do Saturday Night Live for nine years. Don't let your kid hear that. Yes, I think, like, there were things that were hard about it. Yeah, yeah. And when I think about it, there are things that were hard about it yeah and when i think about it there are things that changed me forever at that place but also like i'm i'm where i am now because of it and i'm in a much better place with it now but yeah it was crazy what i mean without getting you know libelous or anything like what what specific what specific things changed about you that were that were i think i was naive i think i

think when i showed up i was i was ucb bobby who showed up like we're all gonna do improv together and then we're gonna write sketches and then we're gonna do saturday night live and then we're gonna go to the after party and then we're gonna talk about the sketches we're gonna write on monday on sunday yeah and now we're gonna do cocaine with Marilyn Manson. And I think by the end I was like, well, I got through that show. Now I should go try and write something that I could, you know, do after this show is over. Like, I think it just knocked that comedy, you know, like that unabashed, like, I'll do comedy for the rest of my life. It became a job. It became like, okay the rest of my life. It became a job. It became like, OK, I got it now.

It's a job. I get it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it changes. It changes drastically. I think I think meeting getting this new job, Mr. Mayor that I'm on that Tina Fey and Robert Carlock do and just having even just a few conversations with Tina. Tina Fey and Robert Carlock do and just having even just a few conversations with Tina I I'm I'm very happy with where where I am at and that in my SNL mind yeah yeah it was a wonderful place

I'm on this I feel like I won a second TV lottery with this right mayor show I'm happy that I get to work with these amazing people yeah and also know, like you're a character actor, you're relatively young as character actors go and you're on a show that like. You're on a steady show, that's a nice place to work, that's well received, and you're like, whatever, like, let me guess, like you're number four on the call sheet, maybe three, number three on the call sheet. See, I was I was, yeah, nagging you right here. I'm fine with that. I'm yeah, I know. And that's what I'm saying. Like that to me, everything you're saying, I'm like, oh, my God, get me one of those. Oh, yeah. It's like it's like I think like there's this expectation to be the star of Saturday Night Live.

expectation to be the star of Saturday Night Live. And I was like, I'm on it. I'm psyched. And I think that some other people didn't think that way or thought that I should think differently. And like they were like, don't you want to be Jimmy Fallon? And I was like, I kind of want to be Ed Begley Jr. Now, were these people like agent manager types that are saying this to you? I feel like a lot of people were saying it around that time to me.

A lot of people were going like, yeah. And I don't, yeah, it didn't, I was just happy. I was just happy to be there. Yeah, because like when I left the Conan show, well, first of all, and I don't know if you felt this, but I had noticed it from friends that had been on The Daily Show, like Matt Walsh and Rob Corddry and Rob Riggle, all these different people that had been on The Daily Show as correspondents. And when they got out, they were hot, like because they were they had been on TV, they'd been on a successful thing, and now they're available where they weren't available before. TV, they'd been on a successful thing and now they're available where they weren't available before. And like the toddler brain of Hollywood and of show business is like new thing I want. And that was the way it was when I left the Conan show. It wasn't like, you know, it was like, you got to be the star or something. And so, which again, like I kind of was like, I mean,

one of the reasons I left the Conan show in the first place in 2000 was ambition. I wanted to see like how much further I could push it, you know, and see like how much I could take my good fortune and make more of it. But like after I was number one on the call sheet on three TV shows, which is like, you know, and there's also just like the mind fuck of. And I know it doesn't matter. I think I think that this is what we're talking about is that side of it. Like it.

I feel naive. I almost like I feel like Michael Scott when it comes to that side of it. Like, yeah, I go like when SNL ended. You're right. I think I was like, as you say, super hot. Like, you know, when SNL ended, if you want to or the most I have ever been in my career. That's what I mean. Me too.

I'm not saying I'm Taylor Swift. You know, I mean, you know, but I didn't see that. I just went like, oh, I'm having a baby. Like, I just like it was like I was that. I, I, I, I, yeah, I'm bad with the business side of acting and I can be funny and I got Saturday Night Live. I because I I don't know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Afterwards, I just went like, I don't know what I'm doing.

And then like now that I've had some years to relax, kind of take in that 10 years of SNL, have a kid and go like, okay, what, what do I want to do now? It's like, now I love SNL, everything it's done for me. I'm producing cartoons. I just wrote a children's book. I'm doing a lot like, like now I go, like, I get it now. I understand what I want to do. And, uh, being the star face of a new sitcom on, on is not like I go like, I'm cool. I'm cool. Yeah. Yeah. Well yeah yeah well it just you know it happened three times and it wasn't anything you know i figured out it's not for me you know and like now as i develop things and i also too like i just got you know i got older too and i got sort of like calmer about things. And I look back on it. And one of the things I was going to say is that, like, I was the star of three network television shows.

And it doesn't happen so much anymore. But, like, when I went back to work for Conan, there was just like all this, you know, it's all social media shit and snark know, snarky shit of like crawling back to Conan after his failures. I can't, I can't even imagine, you know, and then I, and there's times, you know,

and I would be like, wait a minute. I had three TV shows. One of them had my name in the fucking title. What do you people want from me? They want, they want to see you in Conan spot every single night. It's true.

Or I love that people, what happened to you since Saturday night live? I was like, spot every single night. It's true. Or I love that. I don't know. What happened to you since Saturday Night Live? I was like, I've been working. It's crazy. I'm doing better now. I tell them now. I just say, I got bit by a shark.

On the face. Yes, on the face. Right on the face. Right on the comedy face. Right on the part of my face that does all the comedy. Yeah, yeah. On the funny window. Can I ask you a serious question?

Of course you can. Have you ever gone to therapy? For dozens and dozens. I've been, I've actually. I didn't find it until right after SNL. Like after SNL when my parents passed away was when I found therapy. And I wish that somebody went, you got Saturday Night Live. Here's a therapist.

Yeah. If that would have changed my entire life, I think. Yeah, I think that's and that's I mean, that's kind of I mean, this podcast is kind of about therapy, whether or not. Aren't they all? Well, well, you know, when they when they were, you know, a lot of people told me I should do a podcast and I didn't know what I wanted to do. And I certainly want to do something that didn't take a lot of preparation because, you know, that you can do in your bedroom. Yeah, yeah. I have I have to brush my hair for three hours a day. And and I so I wanted to do because I thought about the kind of conversations that I like to have with people.

Because I thought about the kind of conversations that I like to have with people. And it was going to be famous people because who wants to hear a podcast where I talk to the guy that lives across the street from me or anything. That's pretty sweet. I wouldn't mind hearing that. But I wanted to have the kind of conversations that I would have on the couch in the Conan show, like during commercial breaks in the Conan show, because I always tried to engage people and not in like a hostile way, because it's what I'm interested in, but in a real way, like, like what's your work day like, like, that's always fascinating to me. And if, and I like to know, like, what's a hockey player's work day like, and what's a opera singer's work day like and that kind of stuff and then and then also to incorporate therapy into it like because it is the three questions of this thing you know where

you come from where are you going and what and what have you learned those that's therapy you know you take where you're coming from you figure out why you are the way you are now and how you're going to do it in the future and you know and then you got kind of like an over overview of the whole thing. So it's pretty nuts. It's also crazy, like, especially this now, like ever since I had a kid, I don't normally like when I was on SNL, it was just that was it. All I did was tell the story about how I got SNL for 10 years and then people would go, great, we'll see you.

We can't put you in this right now because you're on SNL. So we'll see you when you're done got SNL for 10 years and then people would go, great, we'll see you. We can't put you in this right now because you're on SNL. So we'll see you when you're done with SNL. And so it was just telling SNL stories for 10 years. And now I don't talk about it that much, but you're right. When I go, when I do something like this, it is weird to talk about all of it

because it all comes back up again. But also this one is super weird because you're connected to it in a way and you know it you like literally just being in the building at the time and like and and and all that stuff but like it's bizarre it's also uh i find it isn't it crazy to talk to somebody like i've i go like i've known you for years we've met like we met once before way before anything like it truly is insane that, and like, but there is also,

I go like, but it's, I've been talking to Andy for my whole life, but he's right here. And it's, it's a bizarre world. I do this. I do the same thing.

Like, I feel like I know you because, uh, we've seen each other on television. We've seen each other. But also, but it also goes beyond like, I,

I, you know, I like you. I know what kind of person you are. I know that you were like a UCB person. And so I just, I just assume like we're pals, you know, like we're just pals that haven't really met up yet. That's a fascinating way to put it.

Yeah. And I, it's always been such a bummer when that, like, when I meet someone like you, like, I know that guy's work. I've never met him. But, man, he really seems like, and then you meet him and they're just like a dud. Oh, that's, yeah. It's such a bummer. Are you kidding? The first 10 seconds of this phone call, you got angry and I was like, oh, God, he's going to hate me.

He's going to hate me. Oh, no, no, no. I was, we, we had a, no, we just had, we had a misunderstanding about how long this is going to take. And, and, and Bobby's publicist or the show's publicist thought it was only a half an hour. And I was like, no, it's got to be an hour because that's what it is. And I was doing like, I mean, I wasn't being like, no, no, I'm not. I didn't mean to throw you out. I was more saying my immediate thought was like, I've already pissed off a man.

Yes. That I admire. Oh, no, no, no. I'm just kidding. No, no, no, no. Not at all. Not at all. You curse so much at the publicist.

You cursed so much. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. You piece of shit. You human garbage. She's a nice lady. Yeah, she's very nice. And I just, I was just, I was, you know, that you take the risk sometimes.

You choose a character. You make a character choice. You gotta stand up for yourself. And it's like, and it's like, I was just kidding. Because the notion, because honestly, the notion of hurting people's feelings is like fucking garlic to vampires to me. Like, if I feel like I hurt. Well, that's why we're comedians, right? I know.

I know. Please like me. Please. I know. Well, that was like an early Twitter lesson for me. Like, you know, like if I make fun of Andrew Zimmern, five minutes later, he's going to come back and say, why the fuck are you making fun of me, asshole? Andrew Zimmerman? Andrew Zimmern.

You know, Andrew Zimmern. Oh, yeah. I thought you meant that horrible murderer guy. Oh, no, no, no, no. I was like, maybe don't engage him. I mean, maybe Andrew Zimmern's a murderer. No, he hosts food network shows where he goes and eats Cobra hearts and stuff. And I just said something that I was looking for you know like different kind of murderer yeah yeah i was just looking for like

one of those jokes where you like you just need a name to plug in and it just you know and it's like uh you know and i go through the rolodex and i just picked him and i was just like i am so sorry you know but i just that's see that's why i'm not on i'm not really on social media i'm afraid that my handle is bibby moynihan i spelled my name wrong on purpose and and i just like it's just like someone's like will you tweet this because you're on tv and i'm like here it is and that's all i yeah yeah yeah i don't engage i can't i lurk but i can't engage well has um did go into therapy i mean has it helped your relationship with your wife, if I may ask? I mean, is that like something that's, or was it more sort of just stuff about internal stuff?

I lost my parents and finished Saturday Night Live and had a baby all within like eight months of each other and went like, maybe it's time to chat. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think, yeah, that was it. And it was just a rough time, and I'm much better for it easily. Are you still in therapy, or is it just a situation? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think it's – I'm always shocked by somebody who's like – I think it changed my life.

I am always shocked by people who are like, I don't need therapy. And I just am like, yeah, everybody could use a little bit. You know, it's like, you know, just to touch up. After now, now, after going to therapy, I realized that I think I grew up in a house that wasn't necessarily like, you don't go to therapy. You don't need that. It was more just like the Moynihan's just like they were like, you don't go to the doctor. You just get better. Like kind of. And like, I that's a terrible way to live. And I'm not living that

way anymore. Well, let's move on to the, to the, uh, where you're going part. I mean, you kind of covered it. You said, uh, you know, you got a children's book, tell everyone what that is. And when it comes out, I can't yet, i will soon all right then forget it yeah no children's book no i a lot of stuff going on i got a lot of stuff going on i'm doing a couple cartoons produced a couple cartoons i wrote i did a lot of stuff uh right now i'm here what what i'm here to promote as the publicist that you almost murdered uh put me on here to tell no just kidding um uh i'm on a new cartoon called uh alice's wonderland bakery for for uh disney channel disney plus and it's uh reimagining of alice's wonderland it's uh alice's granddaughter alice and uh and uh uh me and vanessa bayer play

uh uh tweedle do and Tweedledon't we are oh fun relatives of Tweedledee and Tweedledum yeah and that's great

doing that now it starts February 4th on Disney Plus February 9th my apologies February

Erica go away it's gonna be on Disney Plus and Disney Channel go turn on Disney Plus and wait it's absolutely fantastic on disney plus and disney channel and go turn on disney plus and wait it's absolutely fantastic but lots of other stuff too yeah yeah um and mr and how about how about just sort of like you know psychologically spiritually where do you want to go you're not i mean obviously you got a kid you got it you know you got to see that through i mean you don't have

to yeah the the light the i think it was for for years, it was the Lifestream was SNL. Or 35 years, the Lifestream was SNL. Five years was going, okay. And now it's just, yeah. I think now it's just focus on happy and healthy to see daughter get married. Nice. Yeah. Well, what have you learned? what's the bobby moynihan moral of the bobby moynihan story slow down take a breath you're doing everything okay trust yourself

everything's gonna be just fine Wow. That's it. That's it. That's good. That's good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm just in a happy place. He says as the plane's engines fall off and it crashes to land.

Don't worry. Everything's going to be just fine. I'm in a closet. I haven't left my house in a year. I got to wear a mask. The president called someone a son of a bitch yesterday. We're losing our mind. my house in a year. I got away a mess. The president called someone a son of a bitch yesterday. We're losing our mind. Well, Bobby, thank you so much for taking the time to talk

to me. And and it's great. I mean, I've always I've always loved your work. I've always really, really found you so funny and really enjoyed you and and was glad that you did this. And Mr. Mayor, does that have like a, is that anything special happening? Is that a new date with that or anything? Yeah, we just did a Christmas special which you could check out on Peacock and I believe the season two starts March 15th on NBC.

Well, check it out all you people out there when you're not listening to this podcast. And check out Alice's Wonderland Bakery in February. All right. Well, Bobby, thank you so much. And thank all of you out there for listening. And I will be back next week, God willing. I've got a big, big love for you.

The Three Questions with Andy Richter is a Team Coco and Your Wolf production. It is produced by Lane Gerbig, engineered by Marina Pice, and talent produced by Galitza Hayek. The associate producer is Jen Samples, supervising producer Aaron Blair, and executive producers Adam Sachs and Jeff Ross at Team Coco, and Colin Anderson and Cody Fisher at Earwolf. Make sure to rate and review The Three Questions with Andy Richter on Apple Podcasts.