The Three Questions with Andy Richter - Ken Marino

Episode Date: July 11, 2023

Ken Marino joins Andy Richter to discuss the new seasons of “Party Down” and “The Other Two,” his sentimental relationship with porta-potties, the formation of The State comedy group, playing “panicky idiots,” his upcoming project with Shonda Rhimes, and much more.

hi everyone uh it's the three questions and i am uh very happy to be talking to someone that i actually like today because most of the time the people that i get in here you just don't like oh just fucking riffraff. That's got to be painful. It's awful. It doesn't matter whether they're politicians or journalists or whatever. Most of them are just awful, awful. Awful people.

Well, thank God I'm here. Yeah, because you're a real talent. You actually are contributing something to the culture. We were just talking. Tell me more. We were just talking before the podcast actually officially started that I sometimes feel that I don't, that I listened to other podcasts and I hear people getting smoke blown up their ass so much that I feel like I don't do that enough. So then I was going to say, I'm just going to butter you up. I'm talking to Ken Marino. You don't have to butter me up i know i don't well mostly because you're you're not a big fan well i mean i just uh overrated

it's just the thing that thing yeah yeah yeah it's just you know it's just like enough of the thing already right enough of the thing we've seen the thing yeah the thing, the Marino thing. No, I'm very happy to have you here. Thank you. And I told you this, Ruthie, who works for us, who works here, what do I mean us? The company. Me in the Chicago outfit. But she works here and took a photo of us, and she just said how much that everyone loves the other two, which is so good. And I just out of because I hadn't seen Party Down yet.

And it's like not the whole thing, but just the last season. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so I knew you were coming and it was on my list, you know, how you got that. Now TV is a fucking to-do list. Yeah, it's hard. It's difficult. But I devoured them all in like five minutes you watched uh the last season oh they're so fun it's good it's such a funny funny funny show yeah and you're so great in it and you're thanks it's but it's almost like well and well the point i was gonna make was that you're in such good stuff like there's not a lot of like when you look at

your resume like like my imd pay imdb page it's like oof ow yeesh pretty good paycheck oh okay that one's all right you know all i could say is i feel uh very lucky uh when i look back at and see some of the shows that i've been you you know, lucky enough to be a part of. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, the other, I didn't think party down was coming back.

Yeah. I mean, we talked about it for years and years, but I never, at a certain point I gave up hope. Yeah. And then, and then we got the call that it was happening again.

And to get to do that again while I was shooting the other two, which is another show that is, I think, is the, you know, I think Party Down and the other two are genuinely two of the funniest shows out there right now. I mean, the people who run the writers of those shows, John Embaum. No, I mean, just generally speaking. Yeah, Sarah Schneider and Chris Kelly are all incredibly gifted writers. Kelly are all incredibly gifted writers and and the type of humor it is and the the the amount of jokes per minute you know there aren't a lot of shows out there right now that that are producing that kind of quality comedy yeah yeah no it's I feel very lucky yeah part of it well I mean and I and I said this to you but, but it's because you're really good.

You really are like a fantastic utility player where, I mean, and it's just a wonderful combination of likable, lovable, and dumb. Big dummy, yeah. Like, yeah, you just play so many idiots. Yeah, that's my sweet spot. But you do it so fucking well well maybe because i'm maybe i'm just a big no but you're not and i don't think you could you couldn't do as you couldn't play like so many panicky panicky idiots as you do perhaps i'm a little smarter than the characters i play much smarter than they are but i mean mean, but does that ever, like, do you ever feel sometimes like, like, do you ever want to just play like a murderer?

You know? Well, I mean, I have played darker parts and I certainly have played. I mean, Children's Hospital was a weird mix of all kinds of different things. Yeah, sure. And kind of in an absurd, you know, like way. And I've and I've played in movies that I've written with David Wayne in role models and Wanderlust. I play like a, you know, terrible, terrible asshole. Sure.

Sure. Nasty being. So I get to I like to play that as well. Yeah. But yeah, I like to I you know, I would love the well, I'm on a show right now. Yeah, I would love the opportunity. Well, I'm on a show right now that's part of the Shondaland world called The Residence, and I'm pretty much a terrible human being on that.

Uh-huh. And that's with Uzo Aduba. That's correct. I don't know if you know that. Have you met her? No, thank you for telling me that she's in it. I can't wait to meet her. She's in it. She's great.

No, I've met her, and she's incredible. And she's super it. I can't wait to meet her. She's in it. She's great. No, I've met her and she's incredible. Yeah, yeah. And she's super, super nice and incredibly talented. Well, that's all I, you know, I'm done now. That was it. That was, well,

this was a lot of fun. Well, if I didn't say it, I had a great time. I'm glad you drove up from La Jolla. Yes. It was a long trip, a lot of traffic.

No, well, let's get, let's go back early. First of all, I see here you're two years younger than me how fucking dare you um long island that's me italian american sure worked with his dad delivering porta potties to events and then would have to clean them after that's right yeah my dad i love that because i my used to work for my stepfather, plumber. Yeah. And crawl into houses. Yeah, yeah.

You know. Do you, when you smell like some, like a sewer or a cesspool or like a backed up toilet. Yes. Do you immediately get thrown back to that time? Do you think of it fondly? Does that smell? No. Disgust you?

Just yesterday. And it's not so much, it's not sewage, like sewage. No, I mean, no, I mean, I, sewage is sewage, you know? And it's not, it's not an old fond memory. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not, ah, finally. Although I do, you know, I used to live in, there's a part of Burbank that's a horsey, you know, equestrian. And I lived there for about 10 years. The smell of manure brings you back there. And like I was one time checked into a hotel on Central Park South and opened the window.

It had a window it could open. And the smell of horse shit from the carriages came up. And I was like, oh, I'm at home. But horse shit is a very pleasant shit as shit smells go it is more pleasant more pleasant yeah yeah it's not it's not as bad as like pig shit or chicken shit or human shit or human shit yeah yeah i mean unless you're into that sort of thing and i don't want to shame people but you know for most most people for you yeah i'm a i am shit avoidant right for you if there

was a chart right horse shit would be on most like right and then right well at the top would be my farts right right of course we all love our own we sure we all love our own and then it would be horse shit and then going down sure sure no but um but this when you say like the smell the sense memory i was standing on the corner of magnolia boulevard in burbank yesterday and some kind of work van drove past and like kind of you know drove close and i could smell from the inside cigarettes and like oil like the smell of oil and and, that smell. And it was like, oh, plumber van. Yeah. And it's a bummer.

Oh, you didn't like it? It was a plumber bummer. It was a plumber bummer. Yeah. It just, it just, it just reminds me of being a kid in the summertime being dragged around to your parents. Like, like they take you to work cause they got it. You got to go to work and then you got to work. Right. Yeah. I hated, I hated at the time going to work with my dad

for the most part. Maybe there were times that I was like, yeah, I'll do it and make some money. What age did this start? Well, he was doing it. He was a, he was a clam digger and then he had a pump truck when I was, you know, third, fourth grade. And then, and then from there on, he was, they started working just as a plumber. And then as all through junior high and high school, I would, I would work with him. Yeah. Even though I didn't like it back then, or I complained about it. I do have a nostalgic feeling when I do smell those stupid disgusting mints in the porta potties or when I see a like when we work on a set and we're in the honey wagons right and the guys come and they're cleaning out the stuff and everybody's like oh that smell and I'm like yeah it's disgusting but

it also reminds me of like driving around with my dad as a kid. And so I somehow in my brain tap into the joy of it as opposed to the disgust of it. And then any time we have a plumbing problem at the house or friends have a plumbing problem, I'm like, oh, i'll help out with that yeah i love getting into it uh just because um it it makes me feel like i learned something from my father yeah and it somehow brings me closer to him even though you know he's on the other side of the country and i see him you know not as frequently as i'd like you know it brings me closer to him and so i don't know there's something about it that I enjoy. But it's a weird thing to like, you know, like when I see a porta potty or when I go into a porta potty in the middle of the summer and it's hot and disgusting in there.

I'm like, hey, this is my childhood. It's a little weird, right? I miss my dad. Come out crying. Oh, is that bad? No, I just miss my daddy. Was exactly. Come out crying. Oh, it's that bad? No, I just miss my daddy. Was it that bad? What?

If you go back and look at any movie I've been involved in, in terms of writing, you'll see that pretty much every movie that I've had some say in the story, there's either a plumber or a guy who owns a porta potty or there's this person sitting on a toilet or there's somebody talking about shit. Everything that I've had been able to write about, there's always something like that in there. Yeah. And I don't necessarily. I don't think so. You've just noticed that it kind of happens. Yeah, it just keeps happening. And I'm like, oh, I don't think so. It just, you've just noticed that it kind of happens. Yeah. It just keeps happening.

And I'm like, Oh, I guess that's just, yeah. That's like your Alfred, like Alfred Hitchcock cameo. Like it's your, that's your thing.

That's right. Right. And then Ken Marino catalog. Right. Right. Spot the, John Malkovich, spot the shit related thing.

John Malkovich wears wigs. Yeah. Alfred Hitchcock shows up in his thing. Yeah. Yeah. You know, Christopher Walken likes to dance and sing and everything he does. And Marino likes to put shit and porta-potties in anything he does.

And then even something I had no creative input on, I was asked to do this movie called Bad Milo that the Duplass brothers produced. It's about a monster that comes out of my ass when I'm stressed out and kills people and then crawls back up my ass. Yeah. And so I basically shit out a monster. And when I saw the script, they're like, it's an unusual script. As soon as I saw what it was about, I'm like, I'm in.

Yeah, let's do that. Why wouldn't I do that? Yeah, it's ass-based. That's on theme. Yeah, yeah. That's so nice. It's good to have motifs, I guess. For me, too, it was always like the complicated, like I worked for different family members whose businesses were always just hanging on by the skin of their teeth.

were always just hanging on by the skin of their teeth. Right. So there always was this sort of layering on of adult, just like, and you know, like I would know like, oh, this plumbing business is not doing well. Or, you know, I worked for my uncle and like, oh, his office supply. So how did that affect you? You just like. Just a feeling of just worry and stress and, you know, like. Waiting for the other shoe to drop in terms of like.

Oh, shit. Yeah, like. It's all going to end. Yeah, like, you know. Professionally, work-wise. Yeah, and like I've said, at an early age, I learned, I could pick up the phone and just from a, you know, is Glenda there that my mother, you know, I could tell a bill collector and I could say, no, she's not here. And she could be standing right next to me. Right.

And I, you know, learned that. And it's, I would argue that's not a great thing to put on a kid. Right. But I mean, do you feel like, do you feel like it has affected you as an adult? Have you gained anything from it? Or do you feel like it's this thing that's been with you that you wish you didn't have? No, I mean, it just makes me realize that worry about money and about, you know, like I just have never been able to not feel all the time. I feel the same way. But do you think that that has to do with like a – because it's more of a blue-collar, white –

like my dad was a blue-collar dude who was like we were struggling to – my mom and dad were struggling to pay the bills. And I never felt like we were rolling in the dough. And I never felt like we were rolling in the dough. Yeah. And his work ethic was like he was just working long hours every day. Yeah. And my mom was working. And so when I approach this profession, I approach it consciously or subconsciously, unconsciously, whatever the word is, the way my parents approached it, which is like go and collect, go out and collect the money.

Yeah. And then pay the bills. Yes. And I don't think of like, I mean, I like doing what I do, and I understand it's like, you know, it's artistic and it's fun and it's creative. But in terms of the business part of it, I think of it like the way my father would think about cleaning somebody's cesspool.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He was just like, go get as much work done there as you can, give them a bill, and collect the money and go home. Yeah, no, definitely. Do you feel that way? There is that aspect of that for sure. And I have a very sort of like tradesman-like attitude about what I do for a living and what I do for a living is entertainment but also kind of more specifically the thing that I did the most of was I made a television show every day you know like I not alone but I mean I was definitely one

of the deciding voices daily in the making of a television show. So that's my trade now. I mean, occasionally I will allow myself to feel like an artist because I think it's good for me and I could probably use a little bit more of that in my life. But most of the time, I think of like the fact that like I got a skill, I know how to,

it's based on sort of natural ability and I got this skill that I got from repetition, hours and hours and hours of doing it, that I can do this now. I can make a game show. If you drop me, I think, and probably the same with you, if you dropped either one of us, I think, into the local news in Lincoln, Nebraska, give us a couple of days and we'll be able to figure out how to put on the news. Sure. You know what I mean? Because it's TV.

It's all just kind of TV. But the aspect of it that I do think the reason that I'm not doing something else is because I was bummed out by the struggles that I saw doing plumbing, doing, my mother was in cabinetry. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. By my, my uncle had a, you know, office and factory supply business, building lockers and shelves and stuff. I decided if I'm going to fucking work, I'm going to do something fun. Right, right, right.

And do you think that that's kind of what, do you think that that, you did that in reaction or do you think you just kind of like, I like acting? No, I didn't do that in reaction. I never, because I got the acting bug pretty young. Yeah. And then I just was sort of chasing that dragon from a very young age. Do you remember like what started it? Yeah.

I was, my sister and I went to this church, this Methodist church around the corner from where we lived. And we won a free two weeks at this camp, this summer camp on Shelter Island. And at the end of the two weeks, you're supposed to- Was it a drawing or was there a talent thing involved? No, it was just a drawing thing. And we both won this thing. And so we went to this church camp on Shelter Island. And at the end, everybody was going to perform like a song or a dance or a play or whatever.

And my age group was doing a play of The Prodigal Son. And so I like to clown around a lot. And so they cast me. The Prodigal Son is like there's an old there's a father he's got two sons and one son's a fuck up and one's not and he's he retires and he splits his wealth and the fuck up takes the wealth and goes off and spends it on prostitutes and then comes back and the other son's responsible and does all the things his dad did then the fuck up comes back and the dad has this big celebration and party for his son,

who was a fuck-up, the prodigal son. And so we did that play, and I was the fuck-up because I clowned around a lot. And then on the day of the play, I got stage fright because I never acted before.

I never stood in front of people and did anything. So I locked myself in the bathroom. My sister talked me out of the bathroom, my older sister. How old are you? I'm 54, my sister. No, no bathroom my older sister and um how old are you i'm i'm 54 my sister no no no i mean how old are you then oh i was 54 no um yeah it just happened yeah like right moments ago wow yeah yeah um no i guess i was in third grade okay wow that's young

wow my sister talked me out and then i went went on stage and I started clowning around and everybody was laughing and I got applause and all that stuff. And I think about it now and I'm like, maybe they were just doing that to encourage me because I came out of the bathroom. But at the time, I thought I fucking found it. I found my thing. On my thing. Yeah. And so from that point on, I have been chasing that laugh and that feeling of what I got from the audience on that day. I have not stopped looking for that.

Yeah. Have you ever found it? Is it ever going to be enough? I don't know. I don't know, Andy. Is that hole going to get filled? No, but it might. No, I mean, the truth is that I get it a lot.

I get those hits a lot. I don't remember exactly what it was like then, but I just know that I wanted more of it. And I've been lucky enough from that point on to have people encourage me to continue to do it until I started doing it professionally. And then when I started doing it professionally, for the most part, I had enough luck where I didn't completely run out of money and get run out of town. So I just kept doing stuff. And so here we are did you i mean when you went back home did you tell your folks like i want to do this more and i want to be in did you get in

community theater yeah i did yeah yeah yeah i just tried to get into and you know and on long island there's not a lot of that so we had to go like four or five towns away and i did like you know there was some some uh the arena players theater in in Farmingdale or something. And so I would do children's theater and I would do acting classes, whatever, anything. Anything and then plays in school and stuff like that. And you never diverged from that. You never thought as you're getting ready for college, that was it.

That was it. It was weird. Yeah. And like I said, it was just because the times that was it it was weird yeah that and and like i said it was just because the times that i maybe had doubt yeah there was always somebody there like no don't don't just stay with it and i was like okay and i don't know why that happened yeah but i i you know i chuck it up to just luck yeah can't you tell my love's a girl and you went to nyu then right that's it i mean that's like a and lee strasburg so you went to some pretty fancy places you know well nyu when you go to

i wanted to go there for theater and i i you know i wasn't going there to be a comedian i just i wanted to act yeah and so when you get to nyu't going there to be a comedian. I just, I wanted to act. Yeah. And so when you get to NYU, there's like four, at the time there were four different programs. There's Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler, Circle in a Square, and Experiment, the Experimental Wing. And so I think they interview you and they ask you what you would like to do or where you would like to go.

And then you have, you know. It's like a high school junior kind of? No, no. When I got, I guess when I got accepted- Oh, when you get there. I see. Or sometime before getting accepted, maybe before they accept you, you have like a little interview.

I don't remember how college went. It's all a blur. It's been a long time. It's been a long time. Yes. But then you get there and they put me in the Strasburg program. I mean, I remember when the state came out. I mean, I was, I had, you know, started.

Because you guys were, yeah, you guys were just barely out of college when you guys started working as a group, right? We graduated, I graduated, David and I and Todd Holaback were a year older than everybody else in that group, right? Okay. Tom Lennon, Ben Garant, Mike Black, Mike Showalter, Kerry Kenney, Joe LaTruglia, a bunch of people. So I was out a year, and I had done a national tour of a few good men, and I was trying to just get acting gigs. Yeah. As soon as those guys graduated, we got our job at MTV. Wow.

We got our job at MTV. Wow. So we literally went right from, they went right from graduating NYU to having a, being on the John Stewart show called You Wrote It, You Watch It. Like a collection of sketch performers, basically. Yeah, basically the premise was John Stewart would read letters that people wrote in about like, I don't know, worst parent story or best date you've ever had or whatever.

And then there would be a group of actors who would act it out. Yeah. And Jon Stewart would read the letter. interning at MTV at the time and said, what if we do man on the street video people telling a story as opposed to just reading a letter and intercut it with us performing our group? Yeah. And so they're like, I don't know what that is. And so we just went out and did five of them and handed it to them, completed. And they're like, oh yeah, we like that. And so then they hired us to do two or three of those per show. So we were our own thing on the Jon Stewart show.

So they were a group of actors who we didn't ever cross paths with. Oh, wow. Jon reading the letters, and then we would just hand in completed projects. Video projects. Video projects. And they'd put two or three of them on per show. And then out of that, Jon got his own talk show on MTV, and we got our own sketch show. Wow.

See, that's – I remember at the time, because I think I was – I had started doing improv at that time. And I just – the thing about the state that I remembered was how many of you there were. There's a lot of us, yeah. It was like – and it's's but it's really remarkable you said the names uh michael lean black carrie uh carrie kenny silver thomas lemon uh tom lennon joe latrulio michael showalter david wayne you i mean just like and i'm sure uh michael chan kevin allison todd hollebeck and but i mean people still working you know most most most of us work this town in a – have been working in this town in a real way this whole time, which is kind of crazy to think about. It's unbelievable.

And have, you know, like have written movies and been on like many shows. Yeah, and like, you know, most of you are directors, you know. I mean, Showalter is a gigantic director right now. Yeah, yeah. You know, David is a huge, you know, big director who's done these cult movies. Yeah. I mean, it's just a lot of people. And Tom never stops working.

Tom never stops working. Joe Truglio never stops working. Yeah. Kerry Kenny never stops working. Yeah, yeah. Michael Black. I mean, it's pretty weird. I think everybody in that group put their heart and soul into that group.

How many were there? There were 11 people. 11 people? We all were passionate about what we did, and we all cared a lot about it. And, you know, we were all very competitive. So there were some people who weren't in as many sketches because at a certain point certain people were like all right fine i don't want to yeah fucking deal with the yeah yeah competition like like all right i don't need to be in that sketch that sketch whereas other people you know were like i'm i want to be in this i'm

you know and would fight for it and same with the writing five sketch ideas and here's and here's five sketches that i wrote and i think that these five should be in the show. And then other people would be like, I wrote this sketch. Nobody's responding to it. Okay. I mean, I'll try it again. But everybody was putting their blood, sweat, and tears into that show and into that group up until we stopped doing the group. Yeah. And how many seasons were you guys on?

We just did, I think we did four seasons for MTV. And then MTV wanted to do more, but we had bigger plans for the group and quit MTV. Yeah, yeah. And tried to do, we had a deal with ABC. Yeah. somehow went away and so then we got a sort of um uh consolation uh deal at cbs to do a special in with the i think the abc deal was something like we would late night shows we had like a like a whole guarantee to do all these shows we went out and smoked cigars and had like a whiskey with a scotch with uh all the heads of uh william morris and then that deal never never never happened like they were they were like the deal the deal has happened yeah

and we're like this is great and then then like every week we'd be like is are we what's happening are we uh do we have to sign anything and then like a couple of months later they're like deal's not happening. I'm like oh okay. Yeah. That's one of the cool one of the early lessons I learned was

until you get a call time or they send a car to pick you up it might not happen. Yeah. You know. Yeah. Everything can go away.

You know. I've seen people I've seen people get fired at the table read like they had the job and then they at the table read table they had the job and then they oh yeah table read table refirings are they don't do so good and then after that it's like that guy's got to go you know so you know it's a brutal brutal business in many ways very brutal yeah but now

how but how unwieldy then is it to kind of move forward with 11 people? And who makes the decisions? Because it's just too hard. Everybody had an equal vote. The reason that group was formed is David Wayne – well, not David Wayne. Todd Holaback, who founded the group, the state, was in a different sketch comedy group when we were in college called Sterilyak, which was run by Mo Willems. I know who Mo is, yeah. Piggy and Elephant.

He's an incredible children's book author. And so he had a sketch group at NYU that Todd was in and David Wayne was in and Todd didn't like that there wasn't a sort of uh everybody gets their everybody gets an equal vote so he broke off and started his own group that the whole philosophy was we all have say in this as opposed to uh I guess in Sterilized Mo made the the final call. Right. Or something like that. And so that was the philosophy. And so it made for long, long conversations amongst 11 people. Long, creative conversations that, you know, at first we were all passionate about.

And then over time, everybody would start to get like, oh, Jesus, do we have to? Everybody's got to vote on this yeah but that's sort of just like a you know a band mentality or like like you know like after a while everybody's like there's got to be a shorthand to this right and so well bands aren't 11 people that's the other you know yeah there's a lot there's a lot of people it's hard to decide where to go to dinner when it's more than three or four people. Right. You know what I mean? So to decide what our next career move is. Yes.

With 11 just sounds so daunting to me. Yes. And so, you know, as we moved forward, there were people who sort of became the people who were guiding what the decisions were but we still always had to vote we still always had to get everybody's opinion and you know they needed to be heard and so and that took up a lot of time and over time that became a little tedious i guess amongst the group but it but that's but but that's what I loved about the group overall is that we all got to have our say. When and how do you kind of then start to do – I mean, you were obviously – you were working as an actor. You're doing tours and stuff.

But at a certain point, you were no longer part of the state. We all made a commitment to each other to stay together um even if like people wanted to kind of pull some of us out and i had an opportunity like during that time where i it was like you know back in the 90s there were these like overall deals that they would sign actors to and so i got an offer to do that and it was a big deal with the group because i came back i was like i'm being offered to do this overall deal or should we just stay this 11-headed monster and continue down the path that we're heading down because we believe in ourselves? And that was like one of the first times that the group had to kind of make a decision together and I had to make a decision and I decided to not take the deal and I stuck with the group. And then soon after after the group stopped making

money and we all had to kind of go our separate ways anyway and that deal is way long gone yeah yeah um so but uh so what was your question well just like how did how does it the group ends and then you're and then what do you do yeah the group ends and then you know i mean you were doing this as well i mean i think we we came up together in this town. When you come out to Hollywood, you do pilot season, you try to build up your quote, you try to get a job, you try to see if you don't get the job, but you're trying to build that quote up. So when you do get the job, you're going to get a paycheck that is not the least amount that they can give you. a paycheck that is not the, the, the least amount that they can give you, you know? And like, so every, so I came out and I shot, um, a pilot and it didn't go, it was, it was a,

it was interesting pilot because it was with Sean Astin and Mark Ruffalo and me, we played brothers. Oh, wow. And, um, and I don't know if their careers went anywhere, if they did anything. Um, but, uh, yeah, it was called housebroken and we were brothers and we took over our parents house and and nothing ever happened with it you know but that was my first that was the reason i sort of came that was my first visit out to la and then the next and then after that i wound up getting um men behaving badly uh which was, I replaced Ron Eldard, who had left after the first season. So I did that for 13 episodes. That immediately gets canceled.

And then I was out here. And so I was in that kind of, that world of like, okay, here's pilot season. Run across town. Do this audition. Do this audition. Oh, they want to test you.

They don't want to test you. Oh, they want to test you. You tested for it. They don't like you, but there's something over here. Run over there. Sign that contract. And then, you know, and so I've shot, and I'm sure, I know you did. You shot a number of shows and I bet you were on, in between all of those, you were on probably eight, 10 other pilots that never went. Not that many, because mine is just a little bit more different in that I was in LA. I had done the movie Cabin Boy and I was getting to audition for things. Well, I had an agent that would send me out on lots of different stuff. And I really, I was like, I could, I appreciated it. And I knew it like, oh, I'm getting all kinds of different things. And then I got in the movie Cabin Boy, and then I was just sent out on, let's see, it says moron.

Let's send Andy. It says idiot. Oh, Andy could do that. It says deeply, deeply stupid. Andy, why don't you do that? So I just played dumb really well, so I was doing that. But nothing really hit, and the conan show happened no you had a you had a couple of series didn't you know that was after the that was after conan yeah yeah

i hadn't i had done before i did conan the only things that i did professionally i did was add a small part in a cable movie and then cabin boy and then oh my god and then cabin boy came out and i was i've told this before like I was looking for a job. I was, you know, and, and I got the job, uh, writing and being on Conan. So when I came out to LA again, I was a known quantity. So it was like. Right. After Conan, then you were like, right.

Cause then you had a number of series that like. I did. I had very funny shows. Yeah. Three of them. But in between, there would be – like my pattern after the first one stopped was write something for myself, either by myself or with somebody. And when that got squashed, then get a job on a pilot and work for somebody else. And I did that for a few, you know, a few different pilot seasons.

But then, you know, I, I also was really lucky enough to, to be the number one on the call sheet for three different shows. Right. Um, but I was intensely aware after the third one was canceled, there's this thing about threes, like in opportunities when you get three and then all of a sudden you're not going to get a fourth and then the fourth just kind of peters out right it's like and it was at that time when he came he came back he came out here to do the tonight show and i was more than ready yeah i was more than ready to

I was more than ready. Yeah, I was more than ready to make TV every night. Right, right. You know, again, and not have to wait for people. Yeah. Not have to have a meeting and then wait two weeks to hear. It's brutal. Oh, it's the worst.

I hate it. And I'm kind of in it right now, and I hate it. I mean, the strike has kind of put a stop to it, but yeah. Well, that's what I did. That's what I was doing. I mean, I came out here and from 97 96 97 no i moved out here 90 90 ended 97 at 98 and then i was out here and every year i would do every every year i did a pilot yeah every year and a couple of them got picked up and lasted for three seasons i mean three episodes or eight episodes and then

get canceled and then i would back to it again yeah and it was uh it was brutal how did you manage money like because i mean when you have 13 episodes after not having anything that seems like i mean i know personally like you know i was on a show on fox that was like 22 episodes and that was just like i mean even compared to conan you, I made a nice living on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, but nothing compared to. Well, the first thing I got after I shot that first pilot, the housebroken thing with Ruffalo and Sean Astin was Men Behaving Badly. I shot 13 of them. That's what I'm saying. So I put some money away.

Oh, you did. Okay. Yeah. I mean, it wasn't like a ton of money, but for somebody who was working with the state and we were making $1,100 an episode or whatever, what I made was significant. And all I needed was a room to live in. And so that's what I was doing. I had a roommate. I was, for a while, I room to live in. Yeah. And so that's what I was doing. I had, you know, a roommate. I was, for a while, I was living with somebody.

Then I moved in with somebody else, and I just paid my bills and didn't go crazy. And, you know, each time I got a pilot, I put some money away, and, you know, I never overspent. Yeah, yeah. And then, you know, I would get lucky enough where, like, after three or four seasons

of no pilot i would get a pilot and we'd shoot eight and i put that money away and yeah you know but then at a certain point i lost i i there was no money left and i wound up teaching acting for a little bit oh really yeah wow and how was that i love it i love actors and i love talking about acting and i love um just the process of just breaking you know scenes down and talking about them so it was fun to a certain extent but then you know it was sort of a bummer because i was like i'm doing this because yeah you know there's nothing happening right now. But that didn't last too long. So I didn't get that bummed out about it. And at least you're still in it.

You know, you're still kind of keeping the beak wet, you know, a little bit. And then I was lucky enough to, you know, then start to do Party Down and, you know, like Children's Hospital and all those, you know, different shows that sort of. I turned a corner in that party down. When do you start to really, because I mean, so many actors and, you know, it's a cliche. What I really want to do is direct. Like, when did you start to think, like, I really want to do this. I want to direct and I'm going to do it. Like, I really want to do this.

I want to direct, and I'm going to do it. Well, I've always had that bug because the state was such a unique group. We wrote and directed and edited. And, you know, on You Already Watch It, we provided the wardrobe. Like, we did all of the departments. Right. we provided the wardrobe like we we did all of the departments right and we just like you know the grown-up me is like oh you kids you're just giving the cheapest network on television free shit yeah yeah yeah but i mean it worked out okay like i mean i worked for mtv they were the cheapest oh for sure motherfuckers on the we got paid nothing but we didn't care we got we had our own show

we're like we're 21 we i know it's a you know god bless you we had enough money to go to the bar it's only yeah at the because i at the in in retrospect like i had we shot a pilot a bunch a bunch of chicago people i did we shot a pilot for mtv a sketch comedy pilot wait which one it was called Head Cheese. Oh, yeah, Head Cheese. Did you see it? Yeah, of course. Yeah, yeah. But they would give us the numbers,

you know, like, because we were, there was probably eight or nine people minimum in that group, too. And when, just knowing what I made for the pilot and knowing what we'd make for the show, I was like,

I'm going to have to be behind a bar. Yeah. And people are going to be like, hey yeah and people are gonna be like hey isn't that you on the tv yeah it is whoa when did that show go off the air oh no it's still i'm on there and i'll be shooting there tomorrow you know but i also have to wait tables or bartend in order to continue you know to live in manhattan you know that is true all of that is true but we were given the opportunity to put our shit out there i i know and so i know i i just ultimately it's how it works and it's it's the same thing when people you know like i'm old enough that when there's young people that are

like i'm doing a improv show for this theater and i'm not getting paid i'm like well yeah what do you what the fuck do you expect it's an improv show and it's also the flip side is like when when people like and then these actors are asking for so much you're like well yeah because we know that yes yes for the last 20 years we've got paid nothing yes yes and we'd like to somehow yes make a living doing this yes we'd like to stop eating shit and now eat food. So, yeah. So, I don't know what we were talking about. Oh, just about when you want to get to directing.

You know, because, but you'd had such a hands-on thing with the stage. Yeah, so I always enjoyed it. And then I think it was during Party Down, the second season, I was like, I'd love to direct an episode if possible and you know

I had directed like little things that weren't on TV little bit before that and I was I was like wanting to do a show

and so I got to direct the final what was this the series finale until the show came back yeah

I got to direct that episode which was a big episode and it went well. And then I had always been looking for other stuff to direct. And, you know, what came across,

my wife wrote a show called Burning Love that we did for Yahoo. But it was, we did three short, quick little seasons of that. And I directed all of those. And I loved it. And and i just you know i think i my comedy college and my directing college was all you know uh the state was that diy

that's yeah that's that's where i learned most of my shit yeah and and i learned a lot yeah because we were we were running and gunning and doing yeah we were just making it happen and and and i learned a lot yeah because we were we were running and gunning and doing we were just making it happen and and and so we were problem solving constantly because there was no money you know we were probably figuring it out and so that has helped me enormously uh when i it helps me enormously when i step into a directing thing because i understand how the departments work i understand what time means and like how to manage it and how important it is to get, you know, what you need in a 12 and a half hour, you know, period. And then I, you know, I know how to mine comedy out of something because of my stuff on the

state and like, I know how to be like, okay, well, this isn't working, but we can do this and this connective tissue can bring us into this yeah you know and and i love it it's fun i get a rush from it yeah i love directing i love the responsibility and carrying all that like i love answering the questions and making the decisions of yeah this is what we'll do and i'm happy to live or die by my decisions because I think I have a good sense of what works and what doesn't work. I'm not always right, but,

but I enjoy directing and I think I do it confidently and bring out good performances. Good. Yeah. So I'm happy. I'm happy. Yeah. That all of that.

I agree with all of it. Cause it is, it's fun. It's directing is just fun. I think some people do it as like an ego trip, but for me, it feels like a game show. It feels like beat the clock. Yeah. And we're going to throw curveballs at you.

Yeah, it's exciting. Yeah, it's great. It's exciting. It's really fun. Yeah. Especially when it's a part of what you've been doing anyway, but now, you know, as you work and people, you know, you sort of earn some respect or whatever, you know, or people where they know that you're not an idiot. It's like, they'll listen to you.

But again, this one, like, everyone listens to you. You know, and you really get to say, let's do it this way. And they, cause, cause you know, I mean, you know how it is when there's six people and they're all funny people and you're trying to write something, there's six good opinions, but you just got to pick one and just go with it. And so it's like, if it's your turn to be the one that says we're going to do it this way, that's, you know, that's, that's like a it's your turn to be the one that says we're gonna do it this way that's you know that's that's like a good day you know for sure what are the things you that

you're most proud of in in work wise i know you're gonna say your kids because everybody's fucking proud of their i'm proud of my kids they're're great. But I mean work, show business. My work kids. Yeah, yeah. Your work babies. My work babies. What work babies am I most proud of? Do you mean like what shows have I worked on that I'm most proud of?

Yeah, or just moments or just like that episode of Party down you directed or you know i mean when do you feel like like like what days did you feel like really really good about yourself i don't know if i ever feel really really good about myself i understand i really do but yeah i don't know if that yeah exists i mean i feel i feel like that was a good day or that was a great experience. I mean, you and I both grew up watching a lot of 70s TV. And so some of the funnest thing or the coolest things that I've experienced at this point in my life is getting to work with people that we grew up on. Yes. Yes.

Right? So, like, you know, I got to do Children's Hospital, and here walks in Henry Winkler. Yeah. And he is the biggest mensch and the sweetest man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he's giving me. Almost suspiciously so, if you ask me. What's up with that guy? It's like, what is, you can't be this nice.

But he is. He is a sweetheart. this nice um but he is he is a sweetheart and to get to know him as a human being yeah to work with him to get to see the choices he makes and to talk to him about acting and his life and um and just about life you know we did uh dave and i did a movie called wanderlust and we were like you know it'd be really good for this uh this? Alan Alda. Can we ask? Let's see if Alan Alda will do it. Alan Alda did it. Yeah.

And then to get to meet Alan Alda. Yeah. And to, you know, your expectation of what he would be is dwarfed by who he really is. Yeah, yeah. and to get to experience that and to be around him or Linda Lavin or Ed Begley Jr. You meet these people that you grew up watching. Robert Urich played my dad in an early thing that I did. And I was like, this is fucking Robert Urich is my dad.

Yeah, yeah. You know, like, I mean, I like to, I just feel like that. Those are the times when I'm like, Oh, I'm in it. I'm, I'm actually part of this town.

Yep. In a, in a real way where most times I feel like I'm just, I'm just, you know, kidding everybody and, and trying to get side hustles and jobs and stuff. Right. When I'm with those people, I'm like, Oh, to get side hustles and jobs and stuff. Right.

When I'm with those people, I'm like, Oh, I'm in something that's somehow legitimate. Yeah. Or I'm. And when they treat you like a peer. Yes.

Or a colleague, holy shit. Yeah. So. It's unbelievable. Yeah. So to, to,

and I'm, you know, I could, I could list a bunch of more people if I, you know, stopped and thought about it. But there are people like Alan Alda, Henry Winkler, Linda Lavin. There are people that just I pinch myself and I go, wow, I got to work with them.

And that's really super special to me. So those are the really special days. And there are other – and then then too oh and then and then just to go back to the state you know anytime i get to do something now in the year you know 2023 or like you know like with those guys and gal like what a what a incredible thing that is the odds of that happening yeah it's just so unlikely and here we are and we get to do these things together after all these years and i love those people like those are my brothers and sister like i i and so to be able to still get to act like idiots with them and do funny

things with them yeah and get to see them do so such great work and funny stuff and get to watch them on TV and be like, and, and see people like adore them for the, the, the stuff that they're doing. Like, and, and, and like, I get so excited because they're, you know, they're, they're my brother, they're my brothers and sister. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it's also kind of, I mean, the people that you just fall right back into it with too. That's, you know, like the people that, you know, I came up with that I don't see. I won't see for two years and then see them. And it's.

It's like you did Mr. Day. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I felt that way on Party Down. Yeah. Like that we, you know, it was 11, 12 years. Yeah. We did the, you know, the end of the second season.

Yeah. And here we are and we all got in the room together. And it was like right back at it. It was like just the third season of, you know, it just so happened that 11 or 12 years passed. That's great. Another incredible thing that I think about in this town is I got to create this show called Burning Love with my wife.

Yeah. And she wrote the whole season. And I got to direct it and be in it. And we put all these funny people in it. And it's one of the things that I'm probably most proud wife. Yeah. And she wrote the whole season and I got to direct it and be in it and we put all these funny people in it. And it's one of the things that I'm probably most proud of. Yeah. Because I think it's just a solid

like three seasons of funny. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, and to be able to do that with her was really special. And it was easy to work with your wife? It wasn't too many? No, it was super easy. It was great.

Oh, that's good. It was great. Yeah. Well, um. Can't you tell my love's a girl? Is there anything left undone? I mean, is there stuff that you, what do you, do you kind of want to keep going, doing what you're doing? I mean, you've got The Residence with Uzo Aduba.

When is that going to be coming out? That's the Shonda Rhimes have to ask netflix all right shonda uh you're part of the upcoming holiday movie candy cane lane with eddie murphy okay so here you go i got eddie murphy i got to fucking work with eddie murphy right i had to play eddie murphy's neighbor and we meet up in the middle of a street and we just start like, you know, you know, ripping into each other. And I got the part.

I was like, I, I, I get to stand in, in the same frame as Eddie Murphy. Like, you know, I mean,

we grew up watching Eddie Murphy and now here I, here I am. I get to say lines with Eddie Murphy. Yeah. And it was incredible. Yeah. You know, um, those are the moments that just like blow my mind yeah so yeah there's a christmas movie with eddie murphy that

i get so what what do you you know do you want to just kind of keep the say of the same course you're doing is there like a passion project that has is hasn't been done yet that you know um no i mean i would love to what i've learned over the years is that all the thing that's most important to me is to work with people that i care about and that are good people yeah and i've had the luxury of being able to do that in the last like i don't know 10 years or so like i've been i've been lucky enough to be able to pick projects or or fall into projects where there are good people and and that's what i want to continue doing i don't have the time or the patience or inclination to like to uh work with assholes. Yeah.

And I don't ever want to do that again. Yeah, yeah. And so that's really, that's the only thing I want. But I don't want to continue working. Yes. I want to do as much stuff as I can do, you know, until I, you know, can't move. I enjoy it.

Yeah, yeah. I love it. It's pretty fun. It's a fun job. It is a really fun job. Yeah. Hey, do you remember when we did the $100,000 pyramid? I do.

That was fun. And honestly, you mentioning that, and I didn't say it, but that was one of those, that was a day for me. And having been in that building to do other game shows, I mean, like, you know, I was in a Robert Altman movie and that was exciting and thrilling. I went to film school. He's one of my film heroes.

So that was really great. But there is something about being on the hundred thousand dollar pyramid and walking down the hallway to the studio and seeing like truth or consequences or, you know password and seeing betty white and joan rivers and kitty carlisle and all these people that i grew up with as like those are tv people right and then being in that hallway i'm like that's me i know i'm one of them that's what i'm saying like that's sort of the same. Yeah, yeah. I got that same feeling, just like I was saying, like, with Alan Alda or Henry Winkler. Like, being on that set, I was like, oh.

You know, like. Here we go. We were watching that. I'm Norman Fell. Exactly. Yes. I'm Vicki Lawrence. No, it's thrilling.

And I mean, it's silly, but it's so great. So yeah, I do remember. We also did a pilot together for Fox. Which pilot? I'm telling you, I did so many pilots. With Eva Longoria. Oh my God. Yeah.

It was a show called... Assholes. It was, yeah. It was based on the book Assholes, right? Yeah, something like that. It was – I can't remember what they ended up calling it because they changed the title of it. But we were a consulting firm that downsized, that would come in and fire people. That's right.

And it was – so it was like we – I think the idea was like, here's the thing. You know, most of the time sitcoms are concerned with having likable characters. This is nothing but unlikable people. It was based on the book Assholes. Yes. Yeah. Yes. That's right.

Yeah. That was a fun. It was a fun. That was a fun five days. Yeah. Yeah. It was a fun five days. I was kind of like, yeah.

And I was actually working on the Conan show at the time, so it was kind of like, because I was sort of like. That's right. I don't know what's going to happen if it gets picked up. I know. That's right. But, you know. I thought it had a good chance.

I did, too. It was really funny. And, you know, you were very good. You were the, you know, the male love interest. Yes. And now you're just, you're very fuckable. You were the male love interest. Yes. And now you're very fuckable. I was.

Well, Eric Nunn, I think I fucked everybody on that set. Yeah, you did. You did. I think that's why it didn't get picked up. Yeah. HR came and saw me, and it was a big problem, big issue. And I mean, when you fucked me, I feel like it was just like, you would have felt bad to leave me out.

I just wanted to meet Conan. I thought that was my end. Well, okay. I hope it was worth it. All right. Well, you know, the final of this is kind of like, you's a, what have you learned? It's like, what advice you would have? What kind of the point of your journey? What do you think? My life journey?

My professional journey? Or your life journey. We end up talking mostly work things, but it's because I, I mean, on this podcast generally, but it's, and I'd love to talk about nothing but personal shit, but you know, I, I, I can't like to be like, you know, like what's your kids do you like best? You know, I can't really, you know, do that kind of thing. Sure. It's what I really want to know, you know? Well, I'll tell you later.

Okay. Of course. They're both listening. Um, so I don't know. I mean, like when people ask you for advice what is there like something that you kind of fall back on my yes uh for sure my advice and it and it's because of my i can only speak through my experience when people ask me what should i do how do i get started what do I do? How do I get started? What do I do? My advice is always surround yourself

with like-minded people. Hang out with them. Spend as much time with them as possible. Meet people who are writers and directors and go to bars with them and write down stupid ideas

on bar napkins or wherever you go and then just start creating stuff with them. And then, you know, whether or not something happens with it you'll you know is is is out out of your hands but like surround yourself spend as much time of your waking time with creative like-minded people and find find who those people are first find who those people are yeah that you like to spend time with and then spend as much time with them as you possibly can and create yeah and then but create things that like make you laugh or make you question things or wonder or like excite you

but just like use your personal social time to put hours you know know, work hours in. Yeah. Like fun work hours. Yeah. But like, just like, just keep grinding away and have fun doing it. I would, yeah. I mean, I would also add to that because I know is that you're also, you're just going to have a better life. You're going to have more fun. You're going to be happier.

You're going to, I mean, having gone from living in a small town to going to, you know, a big state school to then going to film school to then going to improv. I felt like every step of the way I was getting closer and closer to just like, oh, you know, any kind of feeling that I didn't fit in just got less and less and less as that process went on till I was with improv people. I was like, oh my God, finally I'm with people that are as right and as wrong as I am. Find your crew. And they're out there. They're out there.

You don't know where they are. So just keep looking and keep hanging out and keep meeting people because they're out there. Yeah. And then build stuff with them, create stuff with them. Yeah. And then something will happen. Might not be the thing you think it's going to be.

But something will happen. And they'll also make you better. You know, that will show you different ways to be you that are better. Yes. You know. Well, Ken, thank you so much. This has been really a lovely way to spend an afternoon. I really appreciate you coming in.

Thank you. You know, should I mention Party Down or the other two since they're out right now? We already did. Oh, we did. Okay. We did. We talked about it. Yeah, no.

Party Down. And I don't know if I said this while we were recording or not, but season three of Party Down, I had just dragged my feet on seeing it for no good reason. Because it is like, A, the original Party Down was, I'm not even, like, I don't watch a lot of comedy on TV. It feels like, you know, like a carpenter watching HGTV or something. Yeah, it's like a chef watching cooking. Yeah, yeah. like a carpenter watching HGTV or something. It's like a chef watching cooking.

Yeah. Yeah. So, but party down was just pure, always pure joy with me. And the thing that I really struck me too, was that the Lizzie Kaplan, Adam Scott, romance-y part,

I was giddy about it. And I usually, that usually that part, I just feel like, here we go, the boy girl stuff. Right, right, right usually that part i just feel like here we go the boy girl stuff right right and that i just was like so invested in their love and then and i mean in this new one with with jennifer garner that's a testament to the you know adam and lizzie of course yeah and and jennifer garner but also john ambom is like it's one of the best. It's just really, really, really good stuff.

And again, and you mentioned it earlier too, like lines that a couple times I just popped back, you know, the 10 seconds, just because there was a line that was so full of jokes that I needed to be like, wait a minute, I think there was like four jokes in that one line. I need to go back and hear that again. So yeah, and the other two, again, we talked about just fantastic, just really, really good stuff.

And it's really putting pressure on the Shondaland thing. The Shondaland thing better be freaking good. I think it's going to be very good. All right. It's a murder mystery in the White House. Oh. Watch out. One of those.

So many murders in the White House. You'd think they'd look into that. They should. Yeah, yeah. All right, Ken. Well, thank you. Thank. Watch out. One of those. So many murders in the White House. You'd think they'd look into that. They should. Yeah, yeah. All right, Ken, well, thank you. Thank you so much. It was nice seeing you. It was great to see you.

Yeah. And thank all of you for tuning in, or whatever it is. Is it tuning in? Yeah, let's call it tuning in. Sure. Tuning in. Tuning in. And we'll talk to you next week.

The Three Questions with Andy Richter is a Team Coco production. It is produced by Sean Daugherty and engineered by Rich Garcia. Additional engineering support by Eduardo Perez and Joanna Samuel. Executive produced by Nick Liao, Adam Sachs, and Jeff Ross. Talent booking by Paula Davis, Gina Batista, with assistance from Maddy Ogden. Research by Alyssa Grahl. Don't forget to rate and review and subscribe to The Three Questions with Andy Richter wherever you get your podcasts.

And do you have a favorite question you always like to ask people? Let us know in the review section. Can't you tell my love's a-growing? Can't you feel it ain't a-showing? Oh, you must be a-knowing. I've got a big, big love This has been a Team Coco production.