The Three Questions with Andy Richter - Kate Flannery

Episode Date: January 4, 2022

Kate Flannery (The Office) joins Andy Richter to talk about meeting in an improv class, being a character actor, playing Meredith on The Office, and more!

hi everyone uh it's andy richter uh i am coming to you uh from rainy los angeles today and uh it's the three questions you probably probably figured that out. I don't think people stumble out along this, upon this podcast unknowingly. But I am talking to one of my oldest, dearest friends, very talented, multi-talented. She can do a lot of shit that I, I mean, that a lot of people can't do. Kate Flannery. Hi, Kate. Andy, how are you? I'm good. How are you? I'm good. I'm exhausted, but I'm good. Hi, Kate. Andy, how are you? I'm good.

How are you? I'm good. I'm exhausted, but I'm good. Good and tired. Yeah, you were just on the road, right? I was. Spreading Christmas cheer with Jane Lynch, right? Yeah, we just did 12 shows in 10 cities over 13 days.

It was a lot. A lot of driving. Yeah, yeah. We flew a lot at first and then drove a lot. So once you're over 50, you know, whoa. Well, yeah. I mean, in between the Tonight Show and the TBS show, we did like a tour with the Conan people. We did a tour.

I just felt like if I did this, I would just be addicted to everything. I did this I would just be addicted to everything like if I had to go from hotel room to hotel room to hotel room and you know and waking up in the middle of the night and not knowing where the bathroom is yes like yes you're in a different hotel room it's like where's the fucking bathroom I have to pee yeah and forgetting what room you're in because it's just like a less than 24-hour situation. You're like, okay. All right. Just don't poop on the bus. Woo-hoo. Well, how did the shows go?

They were great. Really great. Yeah. We ended in Philadelphia, which was awesome because it's my hometown. And literally my seventh grade teacher came to the show. Oh, that's great. Which was so great. Yeah, it was great.

That's great. Yeah. And some neighbors. And we did a little show for my dad on the curb because he's 97. He's going to be 98 next week. And he was a little sick. So he just stayed in the car. And the band came to him.

Oh, that's great. It was fantastic. How was the COVID situation touring? I mean, did you have like vaccination demands? Yeah, we demanded. And then, unfortunately, two people in our group got it right before we started tour, but luckily it was past the 10 days, but it's just nerve-wracking.

And they were boosted. I mean, that's the thing. They weren't boosted. They had their two shots. They didn't have the third, but still, it's like, ooh. No, I know. I'm now hearing about a bunch of different people getting breakthroughs you know like my

niece my niece got got it and she's you know she's 17 but uh but yeah she's fully vaccinated and is very careful but just somehow got it somewhere along the way it's just i'm literally like eating underneath my mask when i'm with other people like i've become that person but i can't help it i just i just you can make fun of me all you want but yeah no tongue please no tongue i love you i love you back does this happen a lot to you well i'm on the road a lot andy i don't mean to brag yeah and you were you were a hell's angel for all those years you know and that's how they greet each other now uh you and i and i tell this to people uh you know when i'm name dropping um you and i it wasn't your first because we talked about it but my first improv class i sat next to you right uh and i think even i don't know if it was the first one but it was

within some of the early ones i actually looked over your shoulder as you wrote in your journal. I love that you waited so long to tell me this story. I have to say, thank God I've had some therapy. And I'm like, I was nuts at the time. You were right to look over. I was writing some really crazy crap. I honestly don't remember what the particulars were, but. It was about some guy I had no business dating.

And I was like, I love you. I hate hate you like literally in the same sentence yeah well that's yeah i mean what we were probably what would that have been like 20 22 1989 oh my god i can't even i can't even yeah i was such a stupid i was yeah i'm a couple years older than you but i'm also a couple years younger than you if you know what i'm saying emotionally i was like i'm a couple of years older than you, but I'm also a couple of years younger than you, if you know what I'm saying, emotionally. I was like, I had a lot of catching up to do. No, it was just one of those moments where it's like, I feel bad, but I mean, come on, there's a journal open right there. And she's right.

Yeah. She's not doing a very good job with security here. So, but yeah, we were in that first class together. And so like, you're like one of the. You and Tommy, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Tommy Blatcha, who is a friend of mine who tagged along, who was a writer on Conan and is now writing.

He works in animation a lot these days. Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, that was, but you had already started. You were in Second City, right? And I was supposed to be in Brian Stacks class two months before, but I decided to stay and save a little more money. So I stayed in Philly a little bit longer.

Oh, I see. Yeah. But yeah. So the first person I ever met was, was Brian Stack at my first audition. And we ended up hanging out that weekend because I was, my aunt gave me a ticket to check out second city. She lived in Chicago. I just graduated from college and she thought it'd be a good fit. Totally changed my life. Totally changed my life. Yeah. Because I was. My aunt gave me a ticket to check out Second City. She lived in Chicago. I had just graduated from college.

And she thought it would be a good fit. Totally changed my life. Totally changed my life. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She was kind of like Auntie Mame. I could curse in front of her.

And she was like a world traveler. And had a great sense of humor. Yeah. I had an aunt like that. My Aunt Pat was like that. Yeah. Thank God. Well now.

You mentioned it. You're originally from Philly. Yeah. You're from one of those ridiculous Irish broods. 7,000 children. Yeah. Seven kids. My dad owned a bar. Fl're originally from Philly. Yeah. You're from one of those ridiculous Irish broods, 7,000 children. Yeah, seven kids. My dad owned a bar, Flannery's Tavern, that my grandfather started in 1933. So we're Democrats because FDR made an honest man out of my grandfather.

I've heard that story forever. What do you mean? I see, I see. So he's, oh, okay, that's good. I mean, I am like, if you can't type stereotype, I am the stereotypical Irish Catholic. Like you cannot, you know. Right. It's all. And also tavern, a tavern family.

That's a very unique family. Yes. Yes. You see a lot. Yes. And my dad owned the rooms above the bar. So he was really like a pillar to a certain community. I mean, he took care of these guys that lived upstairs. If they could not work out the rent, he would let them

work it off. So we always had a lot of alcoholics like putting up a shelf or painting, you know. Yeah, yeah. There was a guy that broke into my dad's station wagon. My dad found him. My dad gave him a job and a place to live for the next 35 years. No joke. Yeah. He was a little shell shocked from World War II. You put a potato peeler in your hand in his hand and if if you finished all the potatoes you have to sort of like wrestle it out i'm like there's no more potatoes you know wow yeah it was there were some real characters real characters there yeah yeah well it's nice that he would you know that he was kind you know, that he was kind, you know, and, you know.

He was a friend of the forgotten man. Absolutely. Yeah. That's wonderful. Yeah. Yeah. Good man. Good heart.

Had a great sense of humor and a real love for these guys. Like really cared about them. I can remember being at funerals where there'd be, you know, we'd be at a funeral for one of these guys. There'd be like maybe one kid, like one daughter or one nephew. And then nobody else showed up. It was just be us. Yeah. It was like some of these guys had some dark stories, but you know,

I don't know. What was your, what, I mean, you kind of joked about it, but what did your dad have like a lot of PTSD from the war? He did. Yeah. My dad was in world war II and he was a prisoner of war for over a year. He drank a lot.

He drank a lot when he first got back. And then he said he watched uh days of wine and roses which is a movie with jack lemon about uh sobriety and that movie scared the shit out of him so he got sober after that wow yeah yeah and you know kind of got really clear he got sober while working at a tavern i imagine was that a struggle a struggle? I mean, did he slip a lot? Yeah, they wanted to buy. Yeah, he slipped from time to time. He wasn't really, he didn't do AA, but he would go to mass every morning, like first thing.

He'd get it out of the way, like first thing. And if there was a snowstorm and the mass was canceled, he'd go to the first thing that was available, which would probably be like a funeral. He'd go to a lot of funerals of people he didn't know. It was just like a thing he did. Oh, and so that was what, he just went to church. Yeah. Wow. Yeah.

Wow. And what was your mom like? My mom was the daughter of an eye doctor. And I don't think she expected to have seven kids. So she definitely believed in the Communist Party in the sense that the kids as they got older would take over the duties yes no i think it's also like yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah right exactly you're six years old you're old enough to pick up a you're you can

pick up the weight of a baby okay you're picking up the baby it was like yeah yeah literally yeah as soon as you're out of diapers you you're learning to change diapers. Exactly. Somebody else's diaper. Exactly. Pitch in, baby. Well, you know what? Honestly, that's probably the natural order. Oh, it's the only way it would work, right? Yeah.

She would be dead. Yeah. There's no way. But I mean, even a bus is like just primates. That has to be the order where you just become this ape troop and you need to get the numbers up and everybody's got to pitch in. Yeah. Right. So I, so my oldest sister, she never had kids because she said, I feel like I already raised six kids.

Why do I want my own? I'm done. Yeah. Yeah. Whoa. Yeah. Wow. And what's the age span between her and the youngest?

13 and a half years. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's a long, that's a, that's many years for your mom to be pregnant through. Yes, for sure. A lot of being pregnant. Well, I mean, was there just, was birth control, was it a Catholic thing or was it just kind of.

I think it was a Catholic thing. Yeah. I think it was a Catholic thing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It seems. Rhythm.

Rhythm my ass. I know. I know. I don't know. It just seems like, I don't know. Is he really that upset about condoms? Does God really get that upset about it? I don't think so. I don't think so. Now, did you live close to the tavern? We did not that close, no.

Oh, okay. No. And then when I was seven, we sort of moved into my mom's dream home. So we were like in this colonial house in the suburbs of Philadelphia, which was great. It was, you know, it was, we had a, you know, I mean, I felt like I had enough space to think, you know, we were a little cramped before. I think there were literally four of us in one bedroom for a few years, which was kind of nuts. Yeah. And then we had like room and there was only two in a room, except for my brother. He got his own room.

Yeah. Six girls and a boy. Yeah. What was it? I mean, were you expected to work at the family business? Or is that kind of like separate? And that was, yeah. You know what my brother did? My dad was a little sexist.

He's like, my sister, Eileen, waited tables there very briefly, but only because she didn't have a job. And he's like, okay, if you haven't found anything by then, then I'm going to let you work there. But otherwise he just wanted, you know, my, just another women, you know, it was a rough neighborhood too. My dad's bar became a rough neighborhood. So it was, it wasn't, it wasn't totally sexist on his part. It was sort of like, well, you're kind of, there was a train, but like literally one of the guys would have to meet you from the train because even walking a block was a little sketchy oh wow germantown in philadelphia

nice town there's a there's a um and better call saul there's a scene that um mike has in and he's in nice town philadelphia and that was that was right in my dad's bar it was like it's a tough neighborhood yeah oh wow yeah it had changed a lot and since the 60s and my dad was like the last holdout you know so he got broken into a lot and, you know, he got held up a lot. Like he used to use the, he used to take the front of the cigarette machine off.

Cause if they were going to break in, just don't break it. Same thing with the jukebox. And the, like that was part of closing was to open up the cigarette machine. Absolutely. Wow. Wow.

Yeah. That's great. Yeah. Crazy. I mean, not great, but it was very, my dad had a very, he was, a very, he was a man of ritual.

And he would make the, okay, that works. Okay, all right. I don't want that, you know, his brain worked a very specific way. Yeah. Now, did the tavern close when he retired or was it sold or nobody wanted to? My brother wanted to take it over. And my dad said, no, I think you should move. So, my brother ended up buying to take it over and my dad said, no, I think you should move.

So my brother ended up buying his own and then my dad sold his a year later and then ended up working for my brother for 15 years, kind of a semi-retired. My dad would just work five days a week for lunches, which was great.

So then my dad worked till he was 87 and my dad's 97 now. So he's only not worked for 10 years because my brother sold the bar 10 years ago. Oh my God. I know. It's crazy. The plan was to drop dead behind the bar, Andy.

That's what he said. That's the plan. What am I doing here? Well, that's what he gets for getting sober. Right? Yeah. If he kept boozing it up, he wouldn't be wasting everyone's time now. With Christmas cards and visits.

So true. He'd be too busy. And what about your mom? Is your mom still around? My mom died nine years ago. She had emphysema. She was a big smoker. Yeah.

So, yeah. But, I mean, she was tough. She lived until she was 85. She was sick for, like, 13 years. I mean, in my book, she was kind of like the terminator like wow i can't believe she she lasted as long as she did right you know yeah that's one of those things where if you're gonna be a heavy smoker living to 85 is kind of like you're you you did it you won you won yeah absolutely got a lifetime of smoking cigarettes and you know did and a pretty

healthy long life yeah i mean she was on oxygen for like probably the last seven years which was you know total buzzkill you know right buzzkill but but my grandfather who was an eye doctor he got emphysema and in his 80s and i remember he had the big oxygen tank this was like in like i think 1969 or 70 sure i remember and he would smoke on the porch and then come in and get oxygen my mother at least gave up the smoking remember and he would smoke on the porch and then come in and get oxygen my mother at least gave up the smoking jeez it's crazy yeah that that one i mean everybody has a relative with like you know david sedaris has the famous story about his mom going to the hospital like to basically to for the end and she goes oh wait i forgot something and he knows that she went back in and had one more cigarette before she it's it's just it's the craziest i mean i you know i'm an ex-smoker so it's like it is it's it's crazy what

you go through for this silly silly habit that doesn't you know it's like you know drinking gets you drunk smoking weed gets you high. Eating makes you full. You know, like you need liquid and food. But it's just, there's this, you know, little tubes of dried leaves that you don't really get anything. I mean, you get, you know. There's a fix. There's a fix. Yeah, there is a fix.

There's a fix. But it's not, it's not such a, you know, it's not like an altering kind of thing like other drugs are. Right, right. You know what I mean? It's just, it's really a unique addiction. Absolutely. You know what's so interesting? My mom asked for a drink on her deathbed.

Like, little, she knew she was dying, and like, what do you want? She's like, I want a Bloody Mary. So we were like, oh, my God. We ran out and got like a, you know, my sister Susie, who doesn't drink, went to a bar and asked for a drink to go. I'm like, what are you doing? You don't ask for a drink to go. It doesn't work. You just buy it and run out.

Just like, I say you're going to the bathroom. I'm like, what are you preaching? Yeah, yeah. Put it in your coat sleeve. Yeah. We went to like, yeah. So, but yeah. And she enjoyed it.

My dad said she was like licking the ice. She loved it so much. She finished it. She was, she really enjoyed it. Oh, it so much. She finished it. She really enjoyed it. Oh, that's great. Yeah. That's great. Well, was it hard to get attention in the house with all those kids?

Absolutely. I'm the youngest, but I'm a twin. My sister Susie and I, we're not identical. And she's a social worker, so I'm totally the evil twin. But she's great. She's the best. She's been taking care of my dad for years. She's actually way funnier than I am. And, you know, she deals with these psychiatric outpatients

and, you know, she'll say someone that had an episode and at her expense, and she'll say another satisfied customer. She's the best. Now, well, that's funny too, because it's like, not only are you in a house full of kids, you don't even get to be your own birth no i know i know you have to share a birth spot yeah it's true so i'm an ensemble player andy that's how it goes yeah that's right my thing you know yeah it's all yes and it's true it's easier i'm more comfortable you know at least that's one other person you know do you find do you think having a twin like is there like a special bond that you guys have there beyond every even though we it was adversarial for a while uh for a long time um just because we were different and um she would just make fun of

me because i was um you know like i because i wanted to wear makeup i want to be in show business since i was you know probably eight yeah that annoyed the crap out of her. So, you know, whatever. Right, right, right. Social workers. I know. And play the piano. What are you, humble?

Want to help other people? I know, right? Yeah. You don't want to stand in a dark room in front of the only light and have everyone look at you? You don't want that? Right? Come on. Oh, my God.

Yeah. right come on god oh yeah well was anybody i mean was there anybody was your family like anybody else like to perform or no i mean you know no i mean my dad sometimes would sing with me at the piano and that was always fun yeah um but uh you know and i have one of the sisters that play the piano my sister nancy but it was different she was more like classical music and like by the book and i was like you know, I was, you know, I had a different, a different vibe all around, around it. Yeah. And where were your folks amenable to your, your showbiz desires? My mom did not want me to be a kid actor and I really wanted to be. And I, at the time I found it super frustrating and the older I get and the more former child stars I meet, I'm so grateful. Yeah. I'm going to actually got to tell my mom

on her deathbed, like, thank you. Yeah. Like seriously. Yeah. Cause you were pushing it. You wanted to do like local theater or theater. I went on audition for the touring company of Annie when it first came out. And, uh, I, um, beg, beg, beg. I actually had an audition for the TV show Zoom, but she wouldn't let me go because it was in Boston and you had to live in Boston. I was like, I could live with my piano teacher sister. I'm like, I was nuts.

You know, it was not going to happen. I had to call the people at Zoom and tell them I couldn't keep the appointment, which I cried, you know, I think I was in fifth grade or something. Wow. Crazy. No, Zoom was a big deal.

Zoom was like. It was. Yeah, that was like, that seemed like the cool kids. Totally. Yeah. And where are they now? You know what? Actually, you can find out.

Yes, there's an article about it. Yeah. Articles and YouTube videos and all kinds of stuff. Yeah. See, this is one of the reasons why I really think of myself as a late bloomer, even though I've been perpetually at this for a long time. Because I just think getting fame a little bit later is the biggest gift you can ask for, because you're never compared to your younger self. I mean, between 40 and 60, I'm not going to change that as much as I would from 20 to 40. So you're not under that microscope. I don't get

that much makeup on the office, let's be honest. So I'm happy to be out in the real world and people go, hey, even if I look the same, you're like, that's a win. That's a win for me. Well, and I think, too, and I, you know, I don't talk. You and I are both in the same. You are character actors. We're mostly comedic character actors. And the longevity that that will have is, you know, I mean,

you and I can play old farts until we're in the ground. You know what I mean? Yeah, you're not going to grow out of your category. Yeah. Yeah. And you meet people out here. You come across people that are like, oh, that guy came out here to be an actor, and now he's, you know, selling real estate or whatever.

Yeah. Because he lost his hair like there's so many guys like you lose your hair or something and then either you have to train and i've and i've known guys who while they were losing their hair didn't work much and then when it was all out now they can be a bald guy you know like now they can get whole all different kinds of of of parts if they can be an acceptance too and some people can't they had this very specific dream and you know there's some people occasionally i'll see with a weird system on their head they put them on 24 god bless yeah i don't know yeah i was i was

just at a christmas party standing around with a bunch of actors and the the subject of like weird hair you know hair processes came up and as i'm talking i realized there i think it was maybe six people i was like i think three of these people have one of those so i'm going i'm not going to like chime up with my normal sort of bitchiness i'm going to just kind of be like no it's an understandable thing why you would want to have you know i know just hairs jammed into your skull with a with a needle but between that and the male botox you know it's real for some of these guys yeah i i yeah it's it's a strange thing i mean i can't luckily i don't have to no i don't have to worry about like i don't like i've never traded on my beauty

so i don't have to worry about it if you don't like I've never traded on my beauty. So I don't have to worry about it. If you started, I might have a conversation with you and I, you know, and I don't like to, I'm not, I mean, I'm a let it be. To butt in. Right. Right. Yeah. And I'd rather spend that money on something else other than work on my fucking head.

At least the exterior of my head. Right. But yeah, it is. It's a strange business. And I'm just, there's part, I'm really, like, you know, everybody wants to be handsome and beautiful and, you know, fawned over. But then ultimately, when you get to a growing apart and you're like, oh, God, that's a lot of fucking work. Oh, yeah. It's so temporary. And a lot of fucking work. Oh, yeah. And it has a shelf life.

So temporary. And the back end of that is not pleasant. You know, if that's what you're trading on your whole life. Absolutely. You know, I mean, it's I don't ever want to walk in a room and disappoint people by the way I look. You know, I'd rather I'd rather. That's why I always picked crappier pictures of myself. Like in the business, I always did.

I never picked a particularly nice picture of myself really yeah my headshots were always like i always kind of look better than my headshot and because i i it was it was a weird thing where i just didn't want to disappoint anybody walking in the room yeah these glam shots and it's it's weird yeah you don't look like this yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah i mean yeah it's it's the same. I don't, I can't even stand looking at myself. My entire career, I've had somebody else pick the pictures. Right, right. Because when you do something and they give you, you know, like whether it's a press thing or, you know, the photographer on set is, they give you a sheet of thumbnails, you know. Right, right.

A proof sheet. Yeah. You can cross through ones that you don't think you look good at. And I'm like, I would, I would tear this sheet to ribbons. If I was, if I was going to pick, like, I don't want to, I don't want a bad picture of me out there. I'd be like, no, no, it's fine. Yeah. I mean, I know it's just, it's one of the rings of hell though.

Like looking at myself for any length of time. Yeah. Do I got it? Do I have to? Yeah. Well, I mean, where do you start acting then? In school? In high school? Yeah. Actually, in high school, I did high school plays.

And then when I was 15, I actually sang in a club. I kind of like started a little act. Like I was in some variety show that one of my sisters worked with somebody that was putting something together. And he was, he wasn't a Catskills comic. He was from Philadelphia. So he was a Poconos. Sure.

Which is like almost not the same. I mean, it wants to be like a wannabe sort of. Yeah. And it went oddly enough, I was 15. I was in that show and I was telling jokes in between my songs. Like I didn't even know what I was going to say,

but it just kind of, I was like, Oh, I got to fill this time. And I still have a cassette tape of it. And I was, you know, still like belting, like I was, still pick me for Andy. I'm still young enough, whatever. Yeah, yeah. But I remember there was a writer who,

a woman who was a standup who became a writer on Sex and the City, Judy Toll. She grew up right near me and she was a couple of years older than me. And I remember I ran into her the next day. I was so hard on myself because I think one of the songs I cracked a note, I'd never performed like as myself. I'm like, I was so hard on myself. And she's like, this is the process. You got to be, take it easy on yourself. How old are you when this was happening?

I was 15. Oh yeah. I was 15. Yeah. And I just didn't get it. I thought like, if you're not perfect right away, don't do it. It's like, no, no, no, no, no, no. Yeah. So, so it was great to see her. And I, I, I had yet to see her, but I actually am really good friends with an old friend of hers who's married, who was on, it's Monica Horan Rosenthal, who was married to, she's married to Phil Rosenthal. She was on Everybody Loves Raymond.

She was really good. They were actually writing partners later. It's just such a small world that we, and yeah, and Monica and I should have met a million times because I knew the guy she went to the senior prom with we went to different high schools but i saw a production that she was in when i was in eighth grade of godspell yeah crazy crazy life is so yeah but i just yeah i i was i i mean just in small moments because another weird moment that i had with you was i was sitting next to you and we were both in LA kind of like after everyone else had cleared out and my, I don't, we might've been engaged at that time. My then

fiance was up in San Francisco and you were going to Jeff Gar, a Jeff Garland pilot taping where he played a cop. Oh, God. And he played like some kind of beat cop. And I think you just said like, hey, you know, because we didn't know anybody else in town at that point. Everyone else was gone. You said, hey, want to go to this taping? I said, sure.

And we sat in front of Bob Odenkirk and Carol Leifer. They were they and they weren't there together. They just happened to sit next to each other. And I got to eavesdrop on Bob talking about Conan O'Brien, who had just gotten the job right two days before. And I just got to sit there and eavesdrop about, oh, that's the guy that's going to be replacing Letterman. And then like three or four days later, I'm sitting in Junior's deli with him. So it's like, it was all. And I remember being at Bob Odenkirk's party when you guys first met, you and Conan first met.

But we didn't meet at that party. You didn't meet at that party. We were just at that party together. You never met. We figured it out. And you never met. Oh, my God. We were at.

That's so crazy. I went with you to a party because Bob Odenkirk, his girlfriend at the time, Claire, I'd been on an improv team with her. She was going to take over my apartment in Chicago when I left and it didn't work out. But anyway, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I was in touch with her. So you, yeah. So you're like, hey, Bob Odenkirk's having a party. I went with you and there's like 20 people there.

And Conan was one of them. And and i just and we figured it out years later like oh yeah i was at that party yeah that's so crazy you know i figured out the very first time i ever went to second city i saw jane lynch on stage because she was understudying for bonnie hunt who got married that day who came back to do the improv set in her wedding dress with like people from the park like so and all the people that were the wedding that weren't in the show their understudies were like shit like now i can't do the improv set so like mike myers came back and and bought like it was just nuts they came from the wedding they came for the wedding she did she did a bunch of scenes in a wedding gown they did i can't remember the setups

but they were hilarious like she was waiting for a first date in a wedding gown right right it was just you know classic yeah classic i mean on one hand yeah that's a good bit like hey i just got married i got this wedding gown on i bet if i went over there and it is a good bit but it's also kind of like um this might be evidence of uh an overweening need for attention like literally being the bride a bride at a wedding and that that's not enough. I know, right? Oh, my God. The pinnacle of attention that you could ever get. And, of course, I mentioned this when I was on Bunny Hunt's talk show.

I was like, I was there the day of your wedding. She's like, we're not married anymore. I'm like, gosh. It happens. Well, what a shock. What a shock. In this world, right. Well, now, do you study college in college?

Oh, actually, my senior year of high school, I was in a dinner theater show. My mom let me be in Bye Bye Birdie, eight shows a week, Riverfront Dinner Theater. I felt like a child star because I got to leave on Wednesdays after fourth period because I had had a matinee which was kind of crazy and then i started yeah which was fun it was and that's i mean you're probably making a decent living you know okay i mean it's probably a decent for a kid part-time job yeah it was it was actually pretty good yeah better than the grocery store well that's true that's true yeah yeah yeah no and learning sort of the idea of like doing a show over and over again, that was like a whole thing that had never existed in my mind or heart. I was like, oh, I think I could do this. It was kind of fun, you know?

Yeah. And they gave me a song that was in the movie because my character, Ursula, didn't have a song. So they gave me the theme, Bye Bye Brody, that Ann-Margaret sang. So I felt like I had a moment. You know, it was totally worth it. Oh, you got to sing the Ann-Margaret? I did. The Bye Bye Brody.

Oh, that's fun. Because that song's not in the actual show. So, yeah. So, you know, I got to sing the Ann-Margret? I did, the Bye Bye Break, because that song's not in the actual show. So, yeah, I got decent reviews. And then one of my best friends was a year older than me, and he went to a conservatory in Virginia, in Shenandoah. And so I remember going down and auditioning. They gave me a partial scholarship, and I had such a great time because I met all of his friends. But it was a total culture shock in Winchester, Virginia, let me tell you.

Yeah. There was a lot of born- agains and a lot of closet gays. I mean, this was a tough time, like 1982, 83, 84. It was like a lot of these guys were, they couldn't be who they were. It was a tough time to be in the middle of nowhere. I did learn a lot though. And I studied voice and actually everything I studied in the voice stuff I use when I sing with Jane because she demands that we do these really hard harmonies and these really intense arrangements. And it's all kind of come back.

So I'm happy I had that. But I realized at musical theater, nobody had a real sense of humor. And they were getting rid of the funny women in musicals in the 80s. Andrew Lloyd Webber did not care for the funny woman thing. Like, it was really big in the 50s and 60s and a little bit in the 70s. did not care for the funny woman thing. Like it was really big in the fifties and sixties and a little bit in the seventies, but there was no, like, you know, the genre was definitely like disappearing.

And I thought, I don't want to invest all in musical theater if I can't be funny because that's no fun, you know? And it was that like, was that brought to your attention? Or was that kind of like, like that sort of industry trend or, you know? Yeah. I think it's just something I noticed. Cause we see, you know, kind of gravitate toward these albums every year. And then you're like,

there'd always be some fun song, something comedic. And you're like, oh, wait, this is, I hate this stuff. I'm not a big Angela or whatever. Sorry. God bless, but it's not my thing. So yeah, and then I transferred

to University of the Arts in Philadelphia. And I had an interest, I just, I definitely didn't feel like I was, you know, the focus. I didn't feel like I had a lot of attention on me. I felt like it was a little bit grunt work because there wasn't as many flashy shows. We only had a couple, but it was sort of like, it kind of taught me, if you really want to do this, it's got to be about really wanting to do it, not about the weird applause and stuff. It's got to be about how the journey makes you not about the weird applause and stuff it's got to be about this like how the journey makes you feel inside so i feel like i kind of grew up in that way and one of my teachers was camille palia who was a famous anti-feminist well

whatever feminist anti-feminist yeah yeah right and uh she was actually a great teacher i had her every semester for either shakespearean literature or art history. She was a great teacher. She wasn't as controversial or as like game playing until after she published her books. But at the time, I remember she kicked some guy out of our class because he was eating a banana. That's a phallic symbol. Get that. She flipped out.

Would a peach been all right? I think so. I think so. Pomegranates? I don't know. What's more vaginal? I don't know. This halved papaya?

Is that all right, professor? She was nuts. But yeah, anyway, and I waited tables when I was in college as well. And again, that was another thing. It's like if you want to do something, you got to figure out, you know, you got to, it was something to me to like learn in the future. You know, there's kind of no time to just rest and sort of just do one thing, be able to do more than one thing at the same time.

And if you really want something. Yeah. And when you came back to Philly, did you live back at home or did you? I did. I did live at home. Yeah. Was that hard? I mean. Yeah. I mean, I was so back at home? I did. I did live at home. Yeah. Was that hard? I mean.

Yeah. I mean, I was so busy. I was barely there. Yeah. I really have to say, because I worked three shifts a week at a restaurant. But yeah. And was like just so busy. But yeah.

I mean, it was in one sense, but I definitely made the best of it. And I loved being in the city. And I had seen the movie Fame. Philadelphia was no New York. But I was a little too young for New York in my day. So yeah. Yeah. You need. Yeah. New York is is you need a starter city for a lot of people yeah yeah we were close enough i could go up and like sometimes i auditioned for stuff and i didn't i didn't really get anything you know for a long time i again like i feel like second city was like my aunt sort of brought that to my attention when i was graduating and i had auditioned for

everything in philadelphia and i so i feel like i didn't, I don't feel like Philadelphia really wanted or needed me at the time. It was fine. I was happy to be on my way. And when I got to Chicago, I was like, oh my God, it just felt like anything I wanted to do was possible. It really did. And the Annoyance Theater was such a great time. I remember Susan Messing's father was, he was dying. And so they asked me to understudy for her for that darn antichrist i had one day to learn the part and the show had just opened and uh i just remember like that was my in at the annoyance and yeah yeah it was just and then i just did show after show and uh i was still doing improv olympic too and had just finished a Second City, the training center. Yeah, for people, these are all improv concerns in Chicago

that we both were involved in, although I never did Second City. You didn't, yeah. Yeah, at the time, it just was kind of like, it wasn't, I mean, I'm not going to name names, but it was like under not that great of management. I know, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, but it was like under not that great of management. Yeah. And so they weren't doing particularly interesting work. And it seemed like you had to take a million classes before you got on stage.

Yeah. Yeah. It was a lot. And that just seems silly. Yeah. No, absolutely. And I think, you know, I actually got hired in a touring company, and I remember feeling like it was great to get the job, but the job itself was not what I expected. We were doing a lot of really old sketches. It was before a few people came in and went, what are we doing?

It really wasn't busted wide open like it should have been. So we were doing really old stuff from the 60s. Yeah, the whole place kind of was resting on its laurels at that time yeah and there was some improv kind of tacked on at the end but it seemed to be no it's like you said there were a couple people i feel like adam mckay was one of them that came in absolutely and just was like hey come on guys yeah yeah yeah absolutely yeah um but uh, and then the Annoyance Theater, for people that don't know, that was like the weird hippie commune improv, you know. Right. That was in an old.

It was a drag club. Defunct drag club. Defunct drag club. That actually had originally been a stable. Oh, right. So, yeah. So, the building was just, it was never very well weatherproofed. It basically was like a giant garage and it was full of rats, you know.

Yes, it was. Constantly full of rats. Yes. Oh, that's all the dead rats in the walls. Mm-hmm. Yummy. But it was a really fun place because it was kind of anything, truly anything goes.

Yeah. I mean, to the point where, uh, and this was, this was always my sort of philosophical difference with a lot of the philosophy with what the philosophical difference with the philosophy, um,

where I differed was that there's sometimes it's like, well, it doesn't matter if the show's not good or not. I was always kind of like, yeah, it does. Yeah, I know. You were asking me. No, no. And I almost felt like because I had had a more formal training in theater or musical theater, we made fun of a lot of musicals.

I almost felt like a few people were like, what are you doing? Like, don't be so good. You know, or don't be so, don't sing. Like, literally, it felt like there was a weird extra judgy i'm like oh god you know just right right bizarre just like yeah do we all have to say off key is that the only way this is funny yeah but right yeah can't we be different yeah well and that's also the intimate you know like the the insecurity behind sure sure sure you know but at the time i was like you know how do you want to fit in I was like, you know,

do you want to fit in with these people? All those weird things that go through your head. Yeah, yeah. I was a fucking idiot. But anyway. Well, and also there was a lot of mind fuckery going on. There was a lot of, there was a lot of, yeah, crazy group dynamics

because we're all 20, you know, 19 to 23. Yeah, and dramatic. Like the wise ones that were manipulating people were 26, you know, 19 to 23. Yeah. And, you know, like, like the wise ones that were manipulating people were 26, you know, like the old ones that were like, you know, you know, it was just, it was a whole group of young, horny people. It's so true. You know, wanted to have fun and get into show business. Yeah.

Run by McNapier who had a kind of a love-hate relationship with success. Yeah. He definitely, there was definitely some punishment for some people who left and did well, and not for everybody, but it was just, I, yeah, I can never quite figure out what that was about, but yeah, it's crazy. Well, I think a lot of, I mean, you know,

we're building families wherever we go, and some are just like, some are more, you know, like're building families wherever we go. And some are just like. Yeah. Some are more, you know, like you have your little work family. And usually that can be a rather benign sort of thing. But it is like it does have kind of a familial feel. Yes. And then there are like the institutional families that are fucked up, you know, that are just like, like it's a bunch of people with dysfunction that found each other and like, hey, let's start our own fucked up dysfunction.

Right. And there is something about you have to stick with, you have to believe everything that the tribe believes. Yeah. You're either all the way in or you're all the way out. There's nothing in the middle. And if you grow and change, like you, it feels like a threat to other people. Right.

And that's something I didn't understand at the time but it seems so clear now right and answer and well and we're also like you're starting out on this thing that's difficult that you're not sure is going to work out uh you're not sure what's going to happen to you um and then and then you're presented with this kind of like you said this sort this sort of like, are you in, like, are you willing to do what it takes? And then you look back on it and it's like, well, you can also go in and go like, look, I want to do shows, you know, like I'm not looking for a new philosophy or, or a guru or some life change. You know, I like my real family. I don't need to issue them in favor of you nuts. It's funny. Jane Lynch, I like my real family. I don't need to eschew them in favor of you nuts. It's funny.

Jane Lynch and I have talked about this. She always felt a little on the outs at the annoyance, even though she was doing the really Brady Bunch there. Yeah, yeah. And she kind of wanted to be more. And I said, rejection is protection, my dear. Like, you had it so much better. There's no, I mean, because it doesn't matter how in you are.

If you grow and and become who you're supposed to be then eventually you're going to be out anyway yeah you know yeah yeah jane and i jane and i we were when because we toured with the real live brady bunch for you folks at home and uh and we were mike and carol brady and we were kind of like on the outskirts of a lot of it you know like we would sort of go to the parties and then when stuff would start to get weird it was like we'd both be like all right let's get out let's go home that's enough of that and i was kind of coming in and out of the touring stuff right coming like a month here and there and like kind of

yeah because i was originally part of the brady's but i wasn't a Brady. I was an understudy to Jane and to Mary Weiss, who played Alice. And then I played like all the non-Brady roles, you know, which was really fun. Did the commercials and the game show. We had a blast. I mean, it was crazy. Yeah, it was. It was great fun. It was crazy that the, you know, that this stupid reruns, you know, reproductions of Brady bunches fed everybody.

Yeah. I always call it like, it's like pre YouTube theater. It was like a way for us to share and experience something together. Yeah. Yeah. Couldn't do it another way. Yeah.

And also I think really, truly was like seminal in terms of like a whole variety of satire. Parody theater, like doing live versions of, you know, you fill in the blank. Yeah, they're still doing the Golden Girls. Like, it's really big. They were doing Point Break here for years and years and years on stage.

Yes. I did Valley of the Dolls. Yeah. I don't think anybody did that before. No, no. I think that was the first. Because, yeah, we did Valley of the Dolls at the Circle in the Square on Bleecker in New York. We did it out

in LA first and we had one drag queen, Jackie Beat, in it. And that was great fun and that felt like groundbreaking at the time. It was really big in the gay and lesbian community and we got great reviews. Were you meanly in that? I was, Neil O'Hara. Yeah, with Liza Coyle, who was

the, you know, she was sort of like the ingenue. She was great. I mean, Ken Marino was in that production, too. He was Tony Pilar. How long was that? Ron Delsner was our producer, but he got hit by, you know, his car hit a moose and he was in the hospital for a while. And they just dropped, the publicity got all mixed up. There was something, they dropped the ball at some point and then the sales went down. Yeah. Yeah. Wow.

Now, did you think you were just, did you think you were going to be a theater actor? Like, did you have a much well you know i was i was in i was in consideration for um snl when lauren michaels came to see the miss vagina pageant with oh right with uh and he came with quincy jones which is so crazy i've talked to i remember that night yeah um and i i definitely wanted something more for sure but when that didn't work out it was such a trippy thing because when your friends get something that you want and then you're, it's just, we were so pitted against each other because we all had lunch together. Lauren does that thing, you know, and I had lunch together and Beth and Susan, it's just kind of weird. So I felt like once again, thanks for, thanks, thanks to a lot of therapy, I could sort of figure it because you want to feel, you don't want,

whatever. It's just, it's hard to figure out your feelings. But I remember running into Mike, Mike Shoemaker a few, few years later in LA when I was waiting tables in Beverly Hills. whatever. It's just, it's hard to figure out your feelings. But I remember running into Mike Shoemaker a few years later in LA when I was waiting tables in Beverly Hills. And he was with Tina Fey. It was before Tina Fey was doing, I think she had just started to do Weekend Update. And he said, don't you give up. I don't want you to give up. We had this great conversation and I was in the weeds. I'm like, ah, I got to go. But I got the message I definitely felt like I, there was some, I don't know why I always felt like there was something waiting for me. I never knew when, you know, I don't know.

I just feel like pleasant persistence. I always tell people, if you have that feeling, and it's also different for women, you know, sometimes it's better when you're older because it's harder to get character roles when you're younger or less of them, you know, and it's just, and also just women in comedy comedy i always feel like 15 for the guys one for their okay another 15 for you five for you you know it's just it the math is just funky you know yeah yeah but yeah and but it's it's also hard that was i mean that was a weird time because the brady bunch was big and Joey Soloway and Faith put together this show, The Miss Vagina Pageant, with a bunch of women from the theater. That was a, you know, like a spoofy, what do you call it? You know, like a spoofy.

Pageant parody. Yeah, pageant parody. Yeah, yeah. And yeah, it was known they're going to come and they're going to look at you guys for SNL. And like you say, it's pitting everybody against each other. And they hired Melanie Hutzel and Beth Cahill. And even, you know, like I wasn't in the middle of it, but it was my first experience of envy of somebody getting a gig. Yeah.

Because you start out doing this shit and your parents say where is this going what is this gonna do right and then for me you know i had been working in film production and which i did you know which was a a lot of work for not a ton of money at that point and i ended up quitting that just so i could do these shows for free and again it was like what the fuck are you doing and then you know and you don't know what's going to happen and then it's like wait a minute you might get on SNL like all this shit might end up being you're going to be on Saturday Night Live and that like that idea lands on you from the heavens. And then it's happening. And then it's like two people get to go away and the rest of you, good luck.

You know, don't forget to pick up the empty beer cans after the show, you know? And, and I remember feeling understudy and four of the shows for the six shows that she's left. Yeah. Yeah.

So good luck. Yeah. Now you get, yeah. Now you got gotta cancel shifts waiting tables because you got too many shows to do that's what it was yep and and it is you i do remember feeling like god damn it and i knew like i'm not they're obviously hiring women you know i'm i wasn't at you know but there's just this thing of like i want that i want that yeah and it was

like i say it was my first experience and it was a good experience to learn that you feel that. And then it goes, you know, you, it's a very, I mean, if you're not, if you're not fucked up, you know, if you're not, you know, a mess, but right. And I mean, and since then every time something really good happens to somebody that I like, I'm like, Oh like oh hooray god damn it you know still it never ends the most people andy yeah i'm just saying you are more honest oh that's good for you fucker um but it's such a time like i think about all the people that we were around

and you never knew who was gonna make it i mean I mean, I don't, you know, no, no, no. I was seeing people at second city and he couldn't get arrested at second city. No, I kept trying auditioning. And it was,

it was weird too, as it starts to then sort of like become professional and it does. Cause it seems just like you're fucking around and having fun and, you know, and, and hanging out and, you know, doing these out and you know doing these silly shows that 30 people are seeing and they're enjoying it and you're learning how to get better

at it but you're mostly just hanging out and you know right partying and having fun with all these weirdos and then all of a sudden it is kind of like you somebody gets a job and then it's like well we need other people like you and then it's they're just they're plucked from this same just like fucking around you know it's like yeah go from being kind of well like this kind of misguided loser you know like this right it's like this like pipe dream dum-dum doing this stuff and then all of a sudden it's like, oh, no, no, you're a professional. Like you're now a craftsman or craftswoman, you know? Yeah, yeah. It's real. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, the shift is almost invisible, but you feel it. Yeah. Was when the Brady Bunch came to L.A., was that what brought you to L.A. too? Yeah. Yeah. Well, I was, I think I came back. I was there for like a month for the summer because we did the Miss Vagina pageant that summer of 1991.

No, 92, 92. Yeah, it was 92. I came back. I got an agent there that was going to rep me for pilot season. And that's why I came back. So I came back in, like, I think I was there from January till March. And I borrowed Jane Lynch's car. She had stuck around that fall, but then she went back to Chicago to live with Elaine Soloway.

So I stayed, I drove her car. Yeah. Back. Yeah. One of my trips out, I brought, yeah,

I borrowed a car and got parking tickets. You got more tickets than I did. Yeah. Yeah. I got parking tickets that I was, that I just, I think I forgot to pay. And then it's become a joke.

Like she's mentioned it a couple times on television you know it's like kind of a bit but i can also tell like in the bit i also hear like oh no jane was pissed at me she was annoyed at me and i like i said i did pay him off but at the time you know at the time it was like it was just you know money was just there was no money oh my god yeah you know i always remember those stories of like like having roommates that just totally screwed you over with the phone bill and stuff. Or you're like, you just got, I had so many roommates in Chicago. Yeah, yeah.

I remember one time you came to my apartment where we had that lock-in show at the Annoyance. And I think you came to get a coffee maker or something because we needed a coffee maker. And I just, I had some crazy roommate that was, had some words with you. We're like, I can't get in touch with Kate. She was like yelling at you because I was unavailable because we were a coffee maker. And I just, I had some crazy roommate that had some words with you. We're like, I can't get in touch with Kate. She was like yelling at you because I was unavailable because we were in lockdown. I can't remember this, but. Oh, I can't, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you put up with more shit with me than you even remember. So I'm glad you dismissed it. I don't remember. I want to, but I can't. No, no. You were walking Kahlua, you know, the dog that was.

Uh-huh, right, right can't. No, no. You were walking Kahlua, you know, the dog that was, you know. Uh-huh. Right, right, right. Oh, wow. So crazy. When did the office come up during all of this? Okay, so I had moved, I lived in New York from 96, and I stayed, when we did Value the Dolls, I stayed for almost three years. And then I came back in 99.

uh came back um in 99 and then 2004 i i auditioned for the pilot didn't get the pilot but um i auditioned for the part of jan and allison jones said i think you're really right for this part i had met allison before when i was there for pilot season because my i had an on-camera coach glenn haynes who was really good friends with her and i think she was like casting flying blind this show from like i think from 90 98 or sometime in the nineties. So she said, I think you'd be right for this, even if this isn't your part. So they did the pilot without me. And I got a call in like late August, right before Labor Day. And I was going to Chicago and I couldn't make the next audition, but they didn't find anybody from that last week. So I went right after Labor Day and I got cast. I found out the day that I auditioned that I got cast.

I had to do it twice. I had to go back to Gower to do it again. I did it for Greg Daniels and everybody. And I remember seeing a few people from Chicago. They're like Rose Abdu and Brett Paisel. I'm thinking like, they book everything. I'm not going to get this. But by the time I got home, I found out I got the job, but i wasn't sure because i replaced somebody i always had that feeling well i don't know how permanent this is going to be because there's a bunch of us that were we were considered guest stars for the first season first season and a half so right there was this feeling like well don't get too used to this because yeah yeah well and i remember because i remember talking to you at the time, because I was going to say, you probably didn't really know how much those background characters were going. No, we had no idea.

Like how much you're going to be. No, we had no idea. Whether you're just going to be some kind of chorus or whether there's going to be actual stuff happening. Exactly. And they actually told us to bring paperwork. They wanted us to look busy they wanted the two um the dp and the the b camera were um they were documentary guys and they had done survivor and they had done like literally like animals in the wild they were shooting us like animals in the wild they didn't want us to suddenly start looking like we're working because the camera

was on they wanted us to already be working so i brought a lot of tax stuff and just like just filing stuff i just just weird but they had eventually they got like fake paperwork for us which we all sort of created these weird little systems so weird yeah yeah but uh somebody's medical records like dear god i don't know how much they paid didn't you tell me too that like at the beginning the computers weren't hooked up yeah they not and then you find and then you actually got internet and then you could just yeah on a tv show but you're fucking around on the internet what it was and then i my screen was always on um so i was in the shot a lot this one shot from michael's office when he was looking out at us so i always had to dump to solitaire so i became like solitaire queen I became very good at solitaire. Still solitaire.

Yeah, yeah. Oh, that's hilarious. But it was great. I mean, it was the greatest job for a million reasons. I mean, a million. Yeah. Greg Daniels was so, he was so protective of what this concept was. And he treated us all like we were equals, even though we all know that's not true.

You know what I mean? I mean, just, you know, but it was really nice to even pretend to behave that. And Steve is also the, Steve Carell is the best number one you ever want on a show. Yeah. He makes sure that the show is the star, not him. No, he can't. Even though, you know, the first two seasons in particular, he was doing most of the talking and they could switch his day and he would just do it. He was, he's it. He's amazing. He's an amazing actor.

He really, really is. And you also just get the lucky benefit of both of those men are kind and generous and respectful of other people and aware of other people. Yes, which is the rarest. Oh, my God. That's the rarest. Oh my God. That's the rarest piece. Oh yeah. I feel like,

you know, I mean, I had nine great years and I hope to be on another show, but I, I know I would, I'm, if it's half as good, I'll be happy as half.

If it's half as thoughtful, I'd be, I'd be happy, but I don't expect, you know, I've seen some weird shit go down, you know, just being a star and stuff.

You're like, okay. Oh, you want me back? Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I don't want to be back here. Yeah. No, thanks.

Did, were you ever, you know, like the, the, you know, Meredith is a drunk, you know, I mean, that's kind of like her thing, which is a very old fashioned kind of thing. It is. And I mean, was that hard to walk the line of no, not for me, not for me. I actually loved it. I loved it. Cause I'm so I'm like, I'm like a 95 year old woman, Andy. I mean, I have the taste of a 95. I do. I mean, I'm like, I'm so old show business. I mean, but, but I also understood just having, having something to latch onto. But I also understood just having something to latch on to.

And I remember the first episode, the first Christmas episode in season two where I had to flash Michael. And I was like, what? I mean, there was not a lot of talk or notice. It's not like they had a long conversation with me about it. We literally just sat there and read it. And I was like, oh, okay, this is happening. Nobody said anything. Nobody prefaced it with like hey would you mind nope not really yeah it may have been it may have been a sentence but it was not a conversation

it was like hey i've got this idea and uh we're gonna read about it just tell me what you think it was kind of like that welcome to hollywood baby well thank god it wasn't let's let's see them it wasn't hbo for fuck's sake. You know, thank God. You know, thank God. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, and I remember Steve being crazy respectful. He said, I'm not going to look at them. I'm going to look at your clavicle.

Well, that's almost an insult. I know. Look, while they're out here, you might as well. Wait a minute. Yeah. Take a peek, buddy. What? Yeah.

Can't you tell my love's a-growing? Where did Meredith's difficulties with alcohol come from? I mean, was it something that was there from the beginning or something that y'all stumbled on? We stumbled on it in the first Halloween episode and it got completely cut out because the network

thought it was too dark. And they wanted to, they literally were, they wanted to see Michael Scott giving out candy at the end of the episode. So, yeah, that was that. But I remember Paul Feig was directing and I was a witch with this crazy brains, like brain showing. It was like, it was a really elaborate costume.

I swiped the camera once. You don't even see me in the whole episode. They just cut me out. And I remember being like, oh no, oh no. Am I going to get, oh my God. Am I going to, is this, am I getting, I was like nervous. Like getting fired? I thought I was going to get fired. I thought I god is this am i getting i was i was like getting fired i thought i was gonna get fired i thought i was i was afraid i was like uh-oh um and then greg found the perfect way to put it in for the the christmas episode and and i felt like we were kind of off to

the races but then i remember season three a lot of my stuff got cut and i was like uh-oh uh-oh and then season four started with me getting hit by Michael Scott's car Meredith getting hit by the car and that was like oh my god I remember I got I was on the Tonight Show because of that because Joaquin Phoenix canceled at the last minute and they kept running that preview so much with me hitting the car and they're like

so I ran out so it was like one of those things that felt like a game changer and then suddenly she was not only a drunken slut, she was accident prone. And so we had some great stuff going on. It's like I'm a hair on fire at the Christmas party next season. And I got, you know, bit by a bat. She got really fleshed out.

It's true. It's true. It's so true. Multi-dimensional. It's fantastic. So, you know, there's things that happen that are, you know, I mean, there were some great, and I got to do a lot of my own stunts, which was really fun. So I felt like I didn't have a lot of dialogue. It was really fun to be the physical comedic, you know, to be the to actually get to do it, because I always think it's funnier when the real actor is doing it.

If it if it makes a difference. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. It's like I think almost, you know, like stunts and pratfalls and comedy, I think are almost more important than in action, you know? Yeah. Yeah. And it's like, and it's like, they're just, they're like comedy violence is some of the funniest things. Like, you know, out of the blue, somebody getting hit on the head with something can be just the funniest thing in the world. I got hit in the face with a football, and I was like, they're like, do you sure you want to do it? I'm like, I want to do it. Yeah.

I mean, I slept very well that night. I had weird dreams, but it was worth it. You know, it was fine. Oh, well. I didn't say yes to everything, though, but almost every stunt, so it was worth it. every stone. So it was worth it. Was it, was it tough being in the background of the office all those years and kind of, you know, the attention kind of coming and going to all of you? Cause I mean, you all were kind of in a group, you know, beyond the first five or six people in the cast, there was, you know, the Greek chorus of the people in the office.

You know what? I really made peace with it. I really did. And I felt like, I felt like I took it very seriously. I tried to be as present as possible because I also realized that sometimes I wouldn't have a line, but I'd get a laugh because they'd go to my face. So I was like, there's something else happening here. And I also felt like the sense of less is more because I find that when some characters get embraced on a season, sometimes they start talking more. They start morphing. They're not as funny.

They're more expositional. They lose what was initially funny about themselves. It happens all the time. I remember Greg saying to me, Meredith doesn't sing. So if you sing, like, not everybody can sing. And I was like, I get it. I totally get it. I don't want to be Patsy.

I get it. I thought, you know, Happy Days, like Patsy, like suddenly he was like I get it I totally get it I don't want to be Patsy I get it you know I thought you know happy days like Patsy like suddenly he was like a different weird character and the more he sang the weirder he got I thought the more he lost the dopey guy right right shame because he was really funny the first season or two you know and then he lost that so sorry Gary Marshall I'll you know but you know I think they're just there, you know. Well, that sort of, you know, people going, oh, I can sing, too, is, I'd say, eight out of ten times it's not a great idea. I know. I know. I know.

I know. And I wasn't volunteering, but he just said to me, just so you know. He's like, I know you sing, but you don't sing. I was like, so there's a scene when, in the Lice episode, season nine, where there's lice in the office and Pam blames Meredith, so she shaves her head. Turns out Pam was the one that came and brought the lice in because her daughter had it.

And so she takes her out for a drink after she shaves her head and we're at karaoke and we have to sing Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. And I remember purposely like, don't sing it too good. So I was like fucking up. Like I would even, you know, try to, you know,

I didn't follow the karaoke. I start too soon. And she's like, not yet. Like, you know, that'll interest would even you know try to you know i i didn't follow the karaoke i start too soon and she's like not yet like you know yeah that'll trust not you know was were there some people that handled it better than others and of course i don't want you to name me no absolutely and i think people went through phases where they were frustrated and they'd say like well we should complain i'm like no no no no no Don't put me in the way. No, no, no. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because like I said, I felt like there was some, and there was some respect for holding the line and not, not freaking out, you know, or freaking out on my own when I did, because it's like, it's not anybody's business. It's not. And also I feel like they were just trying to figure out what this was the first couple of seasons know yeah and and you know they're you know

i mean i was a talk show sidekick for years and years and i used to i used to joke on some shows you know where there i wouldn't be anywhere in this any of this script you know and i and i used to you know joke with the stage man i say if i play my cards right i don't have to say a word tonight um so you know and you just and yeah there's times and you're like god damn it but then you have to you always have to remind yourself look at where you are yeah you're getting paid right this is your remember your you know wildest dream? It's, here it is. You're living it, dum-dum. Absolutely.

Calm down. I always wanted to be on a sitcom like Mary Tyler Moore or MASH where they had a great finale. And we got a great finale. So I was so excited. I was like, I mean, it just was everything to me. And I do feel like if you're smart enough to just, you know, breathe through whatever that voice is.

I stopped counting lines. I'd never count it because I'd only be disappointed. And sometimes I wouldn't even talk in the read-through. They'd put lines in for me later, which happened a lot. And I was fine with it. Again, it's one of those things where you can make it a problem or you can just look at what's right about it and focus on the right. Yep. And also, I know from being on both sides of it, the actor that's complaining that they're not getting enough lines is not the actor that you're thinking like, I've got to put more words in that person's mouth.

See, that's the thing. You know what I mean? That's the person where you're like, hey, man, why don't you just back off? You know, like. Yeah. Or they suddenly get written out and you're like, oh, well, what a coincidence. Yeah. Whether, you know, you understand that they're having personal issues with what's happening and you're not accepting.

And I get it. But I also think this is the gift of, you know, I was 40 when I got the office. There's a gift in that being a little older and understanding like, okay, it's, it's, there's something bigger going on. This is life changing for many, many reasons. And even just sitting there listening to what's going on is gold because we have the best writers, the best directors, the funniest. I mean, you know, it's like, Jesus, it's, it's a great gig. I had the most comfortable wardrobe mean you know it's like jesus it's it's a great gig i had the most comfortable wardrobe you know right i got to sit at a desk i got to go sit at a desk every day being on set and having a place to sit is huge yes huge yes oh it just you know and if there was a crew member in your seat they had to get up when you came in because again they would want us

to start like ken quapis would always he would kind of do this like general view of us working before an episode you just kind of catch it and i it was great you know yeah just yeah it is i mentioned you yeah that's your place like even if you know you don't have anything to do like you go sit you probably ate lunch sitting there i bet sometimes sometimes there'll be times i had stuff on my desk real stuff on my desk and you know i mean it was, again, like the affection that people have for the show is amazing to me because I have that affection as an employee. I mean, so I love that it's, you know, that it continues and it has this cult follow. I mean, I feel like it's cultural now. It's nuts.

Absolutely. It has this cult follow. I mean, I feel like it's cultural now. It's nuts. Absolutely. It's like, I mean, I would put it, I mean, I'm not big on ranking things, but it has to be in top five of American TV comedies. Yeah, and it was number one in the pandemic. Yeah, it was number one on Netflix for a long time, and especially during the pandemic, which is just crazy. So, you know.

It's an amazing piece of work. Yeah. I mean, thank God I had a good experience because a lot of people want me to talk about it. And if I hated it, thank God I'm not stuck talking about it. I also love reading that you didn't quit your waitress job until the second season. Yeah, because I didn't know. And, you know, did people were you ever sitting and people going like, hey, aren't you on?

Yeah. Yeah. But I remember like Greg Daniels came in and I love it. He completely ignored that I was wearing a uniform. He's like, I got to talk to you about that. You improvise the word vagina. We're trying to get it in. NBC's fighting with us.

And I'm just really hoping it works out. And it was just like, did he come in to actually eat or did he just come in? Yeah, he was eating. He didn't know I worked there. He's like, oh, I'm so glad I ran into you. This is convenient. So great. Greg is the guy that literally rode his bike, literally in a tuxedo, to the Golden Globes because he lives that close to the Beverly Hills Motel.

Oh, that's fantastic. He's the best. Yeah. But, yeah, I mean, and then I remember I would wait on some of the directors, and then Ken Kwapis, the director, I waited on. And he was like, Oh, you work here. And there were a couple of directors that were like, Oh,

hi. They were a little like, yeah. I'm like, whatever. Right. But the cool ones, you know,

you know, they're the ones that still worked on the show. Right. But yeah, it was, it was, and then I, yeah,

I remember somebody asking me if, Hey, aren't you lactose intolerant? Cause that was something that came up in the first season. I was like, yeah, we're not bringing up my hysterectomy. Again, this is before I knew I was drunk. There's like very little to hang my hat on. But yeah, I can't drink milk and I'm barren. How about that? That's quite quite a background. Would jesus christ well where uh you know where are you going from here are you are you planning on doing kind of more of the musical stuff i mean we're actually doing um jane lynch and i do two shows we do a christmas show based on our christmas album that was in the billboard top 10 for a couple weeks which is amazing that's fantastic yeah it's a great so

we've been doing christmas tell people what it is so they just know the swinging little christmas and um we uh we've been touring i think since 2017 or 16 with this show um and uh it's great it's it's classics but it's it's in the the sort of early 60s, late 50s jazz vibe. Yeah. Because we have great musicians. There's Tony Guerrero Quintet. And it's just really fun. We do like We Three Kings, like Rubex Take Five.

It's really fun. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. But some of the music is beautiful, but we don't take ourselves too seriously. But yeah. And then we do a non-Christmas show called two lost souls that we did at the Carlisle in 2018 for a couple months. I know for a couple of weeks, a couple of weeks. So we're actually going to do a PBS special of two lost souls.

We're going to shoot that next month. And yeah, so that'll be on like the premium. So it'll kind of live on in perpetuity for them for a while. So, you know, it'll be fun. I'm excited to kind of take it to another audience. And, you know, that's great. Yeah. And we're still on.

We're hoping to get back to the Carlisle again at some point because you get to stay there and get a fancy breakfast every day. It's great. Wow. So it's so old New York. It's yeah. Yeah. It's and you see very specific famous people. Yes.

The breakfast restaurant that you would never see anywhere else on the planet. Right, right. It's good. That's awesome. Yeah, it was good. So what else is, what are you looking forward to? You know what, I'm doing a little bit of recording myself because I feel like I've always, I've done some recording with Jane. And I feel like, again, I have this thing, probably because I'm a twin, I have a hard time doing stuff by myself, but I want to do some recording by myself.

I don't really care what, what becomes of it or, you know, uh, if it's a hit or whatever, but just kind of for my, for my own self. Um, and, uh, you know, I, I don't know. I'm not sure. You know, I, I, I've been guest starring, um, and I, I just worked in Alaska and Hawaii this past year. I'm, you know, I did like a Magnum PI and I did like a movie in Alaska. Who knows?

But I'm having a good time and I'm not exactly sure what's next. But I don't know. Everything's good. And I'm, you know. No dream one woman show that you got sitting around? No, no. I mean, I really want to write about my dad and just kind of like my journey with him too. But it hasn't

happened yet we'll see we'll see yeah unfortunately i'm my own worst critic and it it sometimes paralyzes me unfortunately so i go through phases where i'm like i'm doing it and then i'm like i'm not doing it i yeah i mean i just have i i'm i think you and i are similar that like i and i've said this before i don't particularly want to be on stage by myself. Yeah, I don't really. It's not that fun for me. I don't like the laughs of faceless strangers, you know, is not that's not what does it for me. It's that it's the connection with the other people who are doing the thing.

Right. I mean, because from day one back in Chicago, when a show would get canceled, we'd show up and we'd find out, oh, the, you know, something, the roof is leaking. And so that, you know, we can't do a show. And so you just go out with everybody and have fun anyway. And for me, it was like, I'm still get to be funny and goof around with all these people. But I don't have to worry about, you know, remembering what the place that the scene is at and, you know, making a connection. You can just go have fun with these funny, funny people. It's so true.

Yeah. So I don't know. And I might still do the lampshades again, my dying lounge act, which luckily when we created 20 years ago, they were much older than we were. So we've only grown into these characters. But again, it's always been a dying lounge act. But we were doing flappers for like five years after ImprovOlympic and just like once a month. And we did a show last February.

It was a drive-in show up at Forest Lawn in Glendale. So people had to hug, which was really fun. But I'd been a little too busy with Jane, but we might start doing it again. Even, you know, we'll see. I don't know. With this new variant, I'm not sure about the clubs. I don't know. It's just weird because people are eating and, you know, I don't know how. Yeah, yeah you know we'll see i'm with this new variant i'm not sure about uh the clubs i don't know it's just weird because people are eating and you know i don't know how yeah yeah and also covet it's such a weird you don't know you know it's like who knows if it's

over who knows if we got another year of this you know it's i know yeah it's you know but everything's everything's great you know i met my boyfriend on the office he's an nbc photographer so i i'm really lucky because i got a guy and a show when I was 40. You know, I mean like that, that never happens. Yeah. Never happens. Yeah. Yeah. Um, especially without the plastic surgery, um, or hair systems. Yeah. Yes. Yes. Yeah. But you know, we're, he's really busy. He's, you know, he's the chief sales guy at NBC and he, you know, we were just, we, we have a great time. We're just, and even through this weird time, we're having a great time. And I'm, I'm one of the luckiest people I've ever met. So I'm, I'm grateful.

So like I say, if I actually literally got hit by a car, I think I'd be fine ultimately. I mean, I'm not wishing it, but it'd be okay really. I mean, don't let that get out. People, you know, people with a pen pension for vehicular manslaughter what am i saying in this day and age yeah might be cruising for you never mind and seen yeah the poetry in in life and death yeah well so so what uh what have you learned that's the third of these you know these, these three questions, you know, like what, what is this whole path sort of given you?

The most important thing I've learned is, you know, everybody is trying to get what they want, but it's really important to want what you got. And I think it's just constantly making peace with what is, what can I accept? What do I like about, you know, if there's a disappointment, like what do I like about the result? Cause there's usually something I like. And I feel like the older I get, the less drama there is. I'm not suffering from what I don't get, you know, because I live a much better life than I did before I got the office. And I don't think that's going to change, you know? So therefore anything else is kind of gravy.

I would like to do a Broadway show. I've done off Broadway, but I'd like to do like, you know, that's one thing I've not done, but, and that's kind of out of my control writing and all that stuff. Yeah. I would like to, but you know, we'll see. And we're going to put together some music, but again, it's gotta be for the inside. It can't be for, I don't have that I'll show you thing you know yeah yeah yeah i i think also too it's like i think built into there too is you know that

whole notion of gratitude which becomes almost like a cliche in in there and i you know and i've been hearing people say for years like it's all about gratitude you got to have gratitude and that you know and sometimes you're like you know what sometimes shit sucks i don't have, you know, and I've been hearing people say for years, like, it's all about gratitude. You got to have gratitude. And I, you know, and sometimes you're like, you know what? Sometimes shit sucks. I don't have to, you know, like I gotta be grateful. Yeah. I gotta be grateful for everything. But then, you know, the longer you live and kind of the calmer you get and the more you

figure stuff out and the, you know, and like, you know, if you got, you know, if you go to therapy, the better you are at being alive, you do realize like, oh, no, gratitude is like, it's kind of like a vitamin. Yeah, absolutely. It's something that you give that comes out of you, but it actually is nurturing you in a way. That comes out of you, but it actually is nurturing you in a way. Yeah, because you realize that resentment is always the poison that you take. You think you're giving someone else, but really you're just giving it to yourself. And that is like, once you have the realization, it's like, oh, shit. I don't want to feel worse for being mad and disappointed. I want to feel better.

But I also think giving yourself permission to be a human being too. I mean, that's the other thing that's like, I set the bar very, I used to set the bar crazy high for other people. And so I was disappointed constantly, you know. Yeah. You can't do that. So keep your expectations in check.

That is my message for sure. Yeah. Just, I hope they don't hit me with their car. You know, I mean, not yet. That's all you need. Not yet. Give me about 20 they don't hit me with their car. You know, I mean, not yet. That's all you need. Not yet. Give me about 20. Don't let me prove that point.

No, no, absolutely not. But you know, and also just, you know, it's just nice to see there's, you know,

people like you that I've known for so long. And I feel like, you know, I, we don't spend enough time together. I know I've seen you on New Year's Eve for most of our lives together. It's so funny. It is true.

And we run across each other, you know, pretty frequently. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, we got to do the wheel, that game show. Yeah, we did some game show just recently, and that was very weird. Very silly. Look out for it. The wheel. It's great to see you across the wheel.

On NBC, you sit on a giant wheel and spin around. Like a child. Like a child. We were like giant babies. It is. It's a big roulette wheel with six, I say, celebrities, because that's what they called us. But I mean, I don't know about that. But yeah, it was pretty crazy. It was pretty fun.

Once again, always great to look across the planet and see your face and you put it in perspective. And again, you're always a joy. And I just love that there's things in our past that, you know, no matter what came of them, they meant something to us. You know, like these meetings. And we've survived a lot. We've survived a lot of stuff and, and, and, and thrived. And I know there's going to be, I'm sure there's going to be interesting chapters for both of us.

I don't think we're done. I just don't know what they are. And luckily we're old and we don't care how we look. Yeah. We really showed them. All right. Well, Kate Flannery, I love you so much. I love you too. And I appreciate you taking the time out to talk to us. Thank you so much.

And you take care of yourself. I will. I will. Triple vac. What am I? Triple. I'm triple vacs. Yeah, I'm triple vacs too.

I might get a top off too. Yeah, I know, right? Why not? Just keep going back. It's CVS. They don't really check. Why does Andy seem kind of... Why is he leaking liquid out of his arms?

Well, thank all of you out there, too. Yeah, thank you, Kate. Thanks for listening, everybody. And thank all of you out there for listening, and we'll be back next week with three... Well, they're the same questions, but more three questions. 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.

Kalitza 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.