The Three Questions with Andy Richter - Natalie Palamides

Episode Date: February 2, 2021

Comedian and former Conan intern Natalie Palamides joins Andy from her childhood neighbor’s closet. Natalie and Andy talk about how she got into devised theatre, physically laying eggs on stage, and the development behind her extraordinary, award-winning and now-available-on Netflix one man show, Nate. Plus, why Natalie got in trouble while working at Conan.

Hello, everyone. It's Andy Richter. You're listening to the three questions again. And I am excited to have a very funny woman here on my podcast today. She has an amazing one-person show. It is a one-man show because it's a man, right? Kind of? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I call it a one-man show.

Yeah. A one-man show called Nate on Netflix, which is crazy and weird and hilarious. And it's filthy. And it makes makes you think and it makes you laugh and it's full of gross body hair. This is true. And stretchy wieners. And it's real. And you should all look at it. Yeah. So hi, it's Natalie Palamides. How are you? Thank you so much, Andy. Wow. It's it's such an honor to be talking to you. Thank you so much for having me. I'm happy to have you. You're from Pittsburgh, right? And that's where you are now. That's where I am now. Yeah. In my neighbor's closet. So I drove back home for the holidays

and then, yeah, just decided to chill for a bit. Oh, nice. And then you can drive back. Yeah. Yeah. Well, drive back, fly back. Maybe I'll ship my car back. I don't know. Yeah, see what's, people say planes are safe. I don't know. The first time I was trying to avoid the planes and then it was a twofer. I was also teaching my best friend who had never learned how to drive, how to drive.

So the first time he drove was on Route 66. He had just been in parking lots before. So your friend drove across country with you as their first driving experience? Yeah. Wow. I mean, I drove most of the time, but yeah, he got a few solid hours in there. And did you stop many times? We had a few good stops.

Yeah, we stayed at a few haunted places. And did you like you say, hey, look, there's this haunted place. And well, the first one in Arizona we stumbled upon. And then when we went to St. Louis, we sought out a haunted place. Yeah. Dear Yelp. Yeah, you can Yelp it. Yeah. Have you ever driven across the country? I have a few times, but it was it was never like I've never done a pleasant take your time and see things kind of drive. It's always been because I had to get to L.A. or had to get home and I didn't have time to fuck around or money to fuck around. The first time that I came out to LA, I had a pickup truck, a Toyota pickup truck. And so I had all my stuff in the back of a pickup truck and like drove through snow and stuff. So like all my shit got snowed on and the terrifyingness of driving

through Albuquerque at rush hour and then falling asleep for 10 or 12 seconds. You know what I mean? Like in rush hour traffic, you know, just that feeling kind of held the road. But, you know, like just the terror that you feel when you wake up from doing that. It's scary. One time I drove across the state of Pennsylvania after pulling an all-nighter. It was finals week at my university and I had stayed up all night studying for a final, had to take the final, then had to drive to Philadelphia

because I was doing a play there. Wow. And then I was like driving the whole way up, hopped up on Red Bull, you know, and same thing, like kind of dozed off for 10 seconds in traffic, woke back up, went there and then did rehearsal and then went to sleep. I don't know what I was on. Now, are you from a big family? I'm from a big, maybe extended family. So my parents have a lot of brothers and sisters and I have a lot of cousins as a result of that. But I just have one brother. Oh, OK.

Yeah. And I have a lot of cousins as a result of that. But I just have one brother. Oh, okay. Yeah. I mean, your comedy and the stuff you do is so big and dirty. It is very dirty. And a lot of like that wonderful kind of body horror, body humor. Yeah, yeah. Which I just think is, I just love because it is like the fact that we're walking around in these ridiculous contraptions. I know. Isn't it nuts? Have you watched the boys? Yes. How about that one? This is a spoiler alert, I guess.

But the second season, that guy has that big stretchy wiener that strangles somebody. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's nuts. I was watching that with my dad last night and he's all pissed about my stretchy wiener, my show. He's like, that's disgusting. You should be ashamed of yourself doing that. And then he's watching this big stretchy wiener on the boys. And he's like, that's genius. All those guys are twisted, you know, and he loves it. I'm like, you're a hypocrite. I'm like, you don't like it when I do it. Well, I mean, is your family funny? I mean, are they kind of. Yeah, they're colorful people for sure. My dad's really funny and he's he was always doing different voices and stuff growing up. And then my mom is dry and sarcastic. And yeah, they just kind of raised me on Austin Powers. I was watching Austin Powers when I was like in third grade. And I'm like, how could you be confused at what you created? So at school, were you an act out kind of kid? Like were you? I was a class clown kind of kid. Yeah. But my teachers actually loved it.

I remember I had this one student teacher who I guess was not well liked. Maybe it was kind of mean of me, but I came up with an impression of her. And after the student teacher left, my English teacher let me teach a whole class as her, you know, like doing an impression of her. as her, you know, like doing an impression of her. Yeah. I mean, what message is that sending to the class clown? I guess not an encouraging one. Yeah.

Not a good one. And did you know you wanted to perform? Like, was it always kind of in your mind? Yeah. I kind of always wanted to perform. I remember when I was a kid, my aunt asked me what I wanted to do. And I told her I wanted to be a comedian. And she was like, why don't you do something that helps people like doctor, teacher? And I was like, well, laughing helps people. And she said, that's true. Yeah, but I kind of I don't know. I just always loved making people laugh and was always seeking it out.

I was always doing like characters in the hallway. Kids would stop me in the hallway to do different characters. And I was I played in fifth grade. My teacher called me Vanna and I was his assistant up at the chalkboard. You know, so, yeah, I'm always, I've always been kind of an attention whore. And then the Baxters, whose house I'm recording from right now, they, you know, kind of all halfway raised me. I was always over here and they called me the goof.

I was always goofing off. Like when they had family dinner, I was always eating kind of grotesquely. You know, I would like hold the meat, dangle the meat above my mouth and eat it like. And Mrs. Baxter, she would laugh and she kind of encouraged it. You know, she would say, are you raised by wolves or whatever? And, you know, try, you know, she would give me a little not a slap on the wrist. But, you know, she would say, like, don't do that.

But she'd be laughing. The power of making some an adult who's mad at you laugh while. Is it pretty, pretty intoxicating? And that's good. Did you get up to that as well? Absolutely. Just teachers that were. And but then there were a couple of times where they were teachers.

Like a lot of times the laugh would sort of diffuse, but then there would be times when they'd be really pissed at me and I would say something funny and I could tell it was funny to them, but it would just make them more, you know, like I had already gone too far, you know? Yes. like you know like i never wanted to like get in trouble like you know that i wasn't one of the kids that like you know i knew kids who'd like climb uh power line towers and shit like that or they would do they called it trestling and they would go sit on railroad trestles and the trains would pass like three or four feet below you. And it apparently was very exciting. But I was like, no fucking way am I going to do that. Yeah, forget that. It seems scary. And the notion of actually getting in trouble for breaking into the school or something like that was just no way would I be able to do that.

That was just like... Yeah. Did you get in trouble? Were you like a partier that got in trouble and snuck out or anything like that? I was not a party animal and I was very adamant that I wouldn't drink even a good amount into my first fall semester of college. I didn't drink and I was like, nobody's going to make me drink. And then my friend who was older after the first play of the year at the cast party, she gave me like a 40 of Mike's Hard Lemonade. And that was it. And I liked it after that.

I liked it. Yeah, I liked it. Like Sybil's mother. I liked it. Exactly. But no, I didn't get up to any bad partying. That was more my brother. But I did get in trouble for like being mischievous. So like during school photos, I would dress up in like a weird outfit. Like this one year I put wires in my braids and I put these big goofy glasses on and I had a reindeer sweater on with all these different kind of reindeers on it. And I smiled kind of weird like that. And I got called into the office for taking an inappropriate school photo. And they were like, that's not an accurate representation of you. And I was like, yes, it is. And they're like, no, it's not. And I was like, who are you to say if that's an accurate representation of me or not? I was like, that's how I felt like dressing that day. And that's how I felt like smiling. And they were like, don't be smart, you know, and you're going to have to go retake it. So they made me retake my school photo and I refused to smile. So that's kind of the rebelliousness I got up to, I guess. Yeah. And then I would speak up. I mean, I would speak up if there was like a dumb rule or something like especially like I have a soft place for people getting bullied or ostracized. I didn't like that. And there was this one rule that they made all of a sudden where only eight people could sit at your lunch table. And typically, you know, like 13 kids would sit at a lunch table. And then all of a sudden they

made this rule that only eight kids could sit at a lunch table. And all these kids were getting like kicked out of the lunch table. And it became this kind of like bullying thing where like people were getting ostracized from the groups that they were in. And they were like, well, like, if we're going to kick anybody out, like, it's going to be you. Sorry. You know, and I like called the vice principal out on it in the hallway. And I was like, you're ostracizing kids, you know. And he's like, you're being passive aggressive. And I was like, well, you're causing bullying for no reason. You know, like you're causing disruption in the lunchroom. And I got called in for like stuff like that. But, you know, I was just sticking up for what I thought was right. Yeah, that's yeah, that seems. Yeah. There's so much so many stupid, arbitrary things that happen in the world of kids because there's stupid, arbitrary people that are

Yeah. World of kids because there's stupid, arbitrary people that are running kids lives. You know, I mean, I don't get it. It's the same thing. Like, you know, like, why not let you wear your fucking braids? You know, it was cool. I have a wire. Yeah. Who gives a shit?

I was just being, you know, I'm creative. Yeah. I like to be creative. Yeah. Heaven forbid that people for years from now would look through that yearbook and go, oh, that person is fun. Like there's a little tiny ounce of joy coming through the pages of this fucking yearbook. I know. Like what did they think they were correcting in me by not having me wear some weird outfit?

I don't know. But I guess I've carried that into my driver's license photos, all of my driver's license photos. I'm making some goofy face. And people ask me, they're like, how do you get away with that? I say, I just go in there with that face on. And even while you're waiting in line, pull that face. I've gone before with my mom, you know, to the DMV. She's like, don't do that, Natalie.

And I'm like, I'm doing it. Sorry, Mom. I got to be me. Yeah, I got to be me. They're used to me by now, though. Well, I mean, you know, I wouldn't even let them see the live version of Nate. You know, I had been doing this show for about two years when it got released on Netflix, but they never got to see it because I knew they wouldn't like

it. And, you know, they didn't they didn't like my first solo show I did, which was about a woman who lays an egg every day and she has to decide whether she's going to raise it or eat it anyway. And that one, you know, it's kind of gross. Like I'm birthing eggs and like eating a bunch of like maybe some like not so well cooked eggs, but I'm not naked or anything. And they didn't even like that one. Well, when you say you're birthing eggs, is there some like. I have this contraption. Well, it's just like Spanx essentially.

And I like sewed this hole in the vagina area with like a little drawstring with elastic. And I just have about like 30 eggs up my pants that I pull it out throughout the show. Well, you couldn't sit down then, obviously. Well, I do, but you'd be surprised how strong eggs are. But sometimes I'm hovering. Sometimes it looks like I'm sitting, you know, but I'm not. And then I make sure to put cushions on all the stools I need to sit on, yeah.

Are they raw? They're raw eggs, and then I have a hot plate cushions on all the stools I need to sit on. Are they raw? They're raw eggs and then I have a hot plate on stage that I cook on. But sometimes there's not enough time to cook it all the way through. I got to keep the show moving. Right, exactly. You can't wait for something to scramble. Yeah, exactly. You went to school for theater?

Yeah, so I went to school called IUP, Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Which sounds fishy. It does sound fishy. It's a it's a Miami of Ohio. Make up your mind. I know. It's like, where the fuck do you think you are? And I actually had this one girl in my class. She was from Indiana, the state. in my class, she was from Indiana, the state, and she came to that school because she thought that it was a sister school to Indiana University. Yeah. And she thought she would get in-state tuition. And so she came to this like state school. She never checked it out and figured it out? I mean, eventually she figured it out, but she was like, oh, I'm already here or whatever. I mean, eventually she figured it out, but she was like, I'm already here or whatever.

Why is it Indiana University in Pennsylvania? Well, so the town that it's in is called Indiana. I don't know why they called the town that, but it's actually where Jimmy Stewart was born. Oh, wow. And when you press at some of the crosswalks, when you press the button to cross the street, Jimmy Stewart's voice comes on. And he says, the walk signal, this is Jimmy Stewart. The walk signal's on for all crossings, so take your time. And then he starts counting down how much time. A one, a two, a three.

Exactly. They should have had you do it. You do it a little bit better. Jimmy Stewart, I think, probably does the best Jimmy Stewart. Well, I don't know if it was him. I think they had somebody in person. Oh, well, God damn it. Yeah, then it's fucked up.

Yeah, then it's fucked up. They should have had you. So how was theater school? Oh, it was cool. So, yes. So I went to theater school. I had a double major in theater and then communications media, which is why I came to do the internship at a Conan. And yeah, it was awesome. I I initially was so upset about going there because I wanted to go to some fancy theater school. theater school. Yeah, it was actually ended up being awesome because my one of my professors introduced me to clown and devised theater. And he brought this theater company in from Philadelphia

to do a residency at our school. And they kind of introduced me to the way that I make theater now, which is called devised theater. And essentially it's just creating a play through improvisation. That's how, that's how you explore making material kind of like second city, you know, like even for Nate, still no script exists. It's just in my head. That's how I create all my, all my pieces I've ever done. No script. It just would exist in my head. And then if I didn't do it for a while, I would be like, oh, fuck, like, what is that? You know, or like, you know, luckily, you have a video of it to reference back to or something. But um, or do you ever just like jot down an outline so that you know, like,

yeah, and you do stuff that you would never have written or you think of stuff on your feet that you would never think of when you're writing down or, you know, when you're trying to save a moment that's dying, you do something that that never would happen otherwise. You know, were you still in school when you did the Conan internship? Yeah. So I was that was summer 2011, I think. Yeah, I was. So that was my junior year of school. And that was your first year at TBS. I think it was the first summer there at the TBS. Is Conan a good place? I mean, was had a better experience than some because I always like to insert myself in things. And like I didn't have a really specific internship.

I was just a general production intern. But I made myself a props intern that didn't really exist. But I was like, I'm sick of like just sitting around all day, like waiting for an assignment. I was like, I'm going to go, you know, get to know some people around the place. You know, you got like free reign. You can just walk around. So I went down to John and Bill and I was like, hey, you guys need an intern. And they were like, yeah, sure.

And it was so fun, like working with those guys. And yeah, you they are like just as real as can be and fun and funny. I know. It's like a toy room, you know. I got to do so much fun stuff. They sent me on this. One of my most memorable prop runs was to this dildo factory. Well, yeah, they do that.

Yeah, and I had to get like this thing called the Accommodator, which was like a chin strap dildo. But it never made it to air. Oh, yeah. Yeah. They shot a segment with it. Like, you know, Conan had the like chin strap dildo. I don't know if you put it on or what. But I am.

No, I don't remember. I cut it. I remember. I mean, years ago, there was like this Canadian Dr. Ruth and she was on the show, and she had it. I remember the segment that she did it. And, you know, she was probably in her late 60s and put this thing on and then, like, made a big point of waggling it around while it was on her chin. Oh, cranky.

Yeah, it was burned into my memory. Yeah, you got to get some lockjaw doing that. I remember reading the directions on it, and I was like, how is this enjoyable for anybody? Yeah, it was burned into my memory. Yeah, you got to get some lockjaw doing that. I remember reading the directions on it, and I was like, how is this enjoyable for anybody? I don't know. You got to be moving your chin and your tongue at the same time. And your neck, yeah. Yeah, I mean, it would just really put a crank in your neck. You have to see the chiropractor after using that thing.

An awkward explanation to the chiropractor. Like, yeah. Are you familiar with the accommod the chiropractor. Like, yeah. Are you familiar with the accommodator? Oh, sure, sure, yeah. Can't you tell my loves are growing? I saw some story that you bought weed for somebody. I did. So it was the Tedeschi Truck Band and their horns section, who I guess is also the same

horn section for Outkast. They just pulled me aside and they were like, hey, you know, can you go get us some weed? And I was like, yeah, you know, like, I'm not going to say no to this like cool, you know, rock and rollers. Yeah. And I was like, yeah, this is my job as intern to go on runs. And I was like, yeah, I can go get you some weed. So they gave me a wad of cash. And do you clear it with John and Bill? No, I didn't clear, but I think they had relieved me of my props duties that day. I think it was like a light day on props and they were like, go find something else. So I think I was just kind of like wandering around and whatnot. And they gave me a wad of cash and they gave me this guy's number. His name was Dave Dirty

Jersey. Okay. And I had to drive somewhere on Santa Monica Boulevard and I just pulled over and yeah, I gave him the cash and he gave me the weed. He was walking his dog and I said, Hey, are you Dave Dirty Jersey? And he was like, yeah. And yeah, we did the exchange. I brought the weed back, but you know what? We're in California. I mean, it wasn't legal yet, but I think it was like medically legal. And yeah, you know, they were asking me like, do you have a medical card? And I was like, oh, no, I'm like just an intern from Pennsylvania or whatever. Yeah.

Anyways, they had to hook up. And, you know, I got in big trouble because, of course, I didn't keep my mouth shut. But I also didn't know that what I did was wrong. Yeah. You know, going on a drive. I was like, oh, I'm just an intern, like, doing my run. Right. It's show business. It's rock and roll. Yeah. And what, when you say get in trouble, someone just said you shouldn't do that. Or was there some actual consequence?

Well, the intern manager, she just pulled me aside and she said, anytime anybody asks you to get drugs, like don't go get it. Like you tell me first. And I was like, oh, yeah, that makes sense. Like, I should have. Yeah. But, you know, I was like thinking, this is so fun. I'm getting drugs for the band. You know, I wasn't like scared at all. I was like, this is great. I was like, this guy's name is Dave Dirty Jersey. I was like, can't wait to meet him. Well, after college, you get done with college. And what's your next step then? device theater and we workshopped this play that was like a sci-fi melodrama drag show um and that's where my character nate was born actually during the workshopping of that show because we were just churning out so many different characters and i was always in drag

so that was fun and then uh male drag or different kinds of drag i was in male drag but sometimes i was playing a woman too it was so it was a show about these like it was like a planet of nuns that only birthed gay men uh-huh it was inspired by the work of this guy. His name is Charles Ludlam. And he was famous for remounting classical plays in drag and performing very campy, you know, and still being able to move people to tears. And so that's also what was really inspiring to me. And, you know, I still carry with me when I'm making my work is like, you know, doing the hot and cold shower where you do something like really lewd and crude and crazy and lowbrow. And then you swing the pendulum and all of a sudden you're you're getting the feels and you're yanking at people's heartstrings, you know. At what point did you start to kind of be able to just make your living performing?

Well, I lucked out. So whenever I was kind of trying to get an agent, I had done like a couple sketches that I shot on my own and some student films and I had cut together a reel. And I was just trying to get a commercial agent. And I got called into Abrams Artist Agency for a meeting with the commercial agent. And I got called into Abrams Abrams Artist Agency for a meeting with the commercial department. And when I walked in the assistant at the desk, she just I don't know, she liked my voice. And she was like, Do you do voiceover? And I was I had been taking, you know, voiceover classes or whatever. And I was like, Yeah, yeah. And she was like, do you want to meet with the voiceover department, too? And I was like, yeah. And, you know, because it's so hard to get a meeting with anybody. Yeah. Yeah. So they brought me in and I just lucked out that, you know, they they took a chance on me and they brought me back. I did like a read of some characters in the booth. But I was doing like every voiceover audition I could for like a year. And then finally, my first gig I got was this pilot for a Disney show.

And I thought, oh, that's going to be my big break. And that didn't go. But having that credit on my resume helped me book the Powerpuff Girls. Oh, OK. Yeah. the powerpuff girls oh okay yeah and so that that was the thing that let me kind of have more freedom artistic freedom and i could spend my time kind of honing my craft and it's it's fun work too oh my gosh yeah it's so much fun yeah like cartoon voices fuck yeah i was like oh man cartoon voices would be fun to do. You love what you do.

You never work a day in your life. That's true. Well, I mean, eventually it gets us up in its work, you know. So and you're still doing animated voices, right? Yeah. You said still kind of a regular. You can put together a pretty decent living, you know. I feel so lucky to have it, especially during this year with COVID. Like it was the one thing that didn't go away. It didn't stop, you know it's i feel so lucky to have it especially during this year with covid like it was

the one thing that didn't go away it didn't stop you know yeah and um yeah same as you i feel every time i record a cartoon i'm like what the fuck like i can't believe i'm doing this like i can't believe somebody's paying me to make up some weird voice yeah you know it's awesome and then you you got that progressive commercial thing that's gotta be a nice little fucking piece of crap well that really set the leash loose on me i mean i don't know how i got that thing i'm knocking on my head right now because knock on wood that was just i mean and they're so cool and supportive. They love Nate, which like, you know, I thought, oh, for sure. Like after my tits are out on Netflix, like they're not going to want me repping their company or whatever. But they're so supportive of the show.

And that's awesome. So that's that was a really lucky gig. And it's ongoing, too. I mean, they can bring you back whenever, right? They bring me back whenever. And yeah, luckily they do that because I'm not under contract or anything. But yeah, the first time I did one of those progressive spots, I was like, oh, my gosh, I suck so bad. Well, like, also, I had been on a veil, like, three times before for progressive and never booked it.

So, like, whenever I was going in for another progressive audition, I was like, one of these, you know. Yeah. And my character is kind of, like, dry and over it. So maybe that helps my. I just think there's like a natural thing, too, that it's like the I think we're naturally drawn to people that that kind of give off the vibe that they'll be fine without us. You know what I mean? Yeah. There's nothing sexier than the person that's kind of like, you know, like, oh, hi.

You know, you want to say you want to go? No big deal. No sweat off my, you know, like, oh, hi, you know, you want to say you want to go? No big deal. No sweat off my, you know, whatever. And I think that that can definitely help you sometimes in auditions. But then other times there then there are people that are like they want to feel like you want it. Yeah. That like you're killing yourself to get it like i because like you know i knew people that would you know travel around with different fucking clothes in their car so that they could like dress like the you know somewhat like the what they're going to be playing in the commercial and i always just felt like they if they can't imagine me i know in a fucking suit you know like if i'm supposed to wear like this is a guy that works in an office or he wears a suit.

And it's like, I don't I'm not I don't have a suit, you know, like or yeah, like just picture me. Like, have you ever seen someone in a suit? I imagine me in a suit. And then and I could just tell there were some they're like, oh, well, you're just kind of casual. I feel like I started getting more work when I started to kind of get that. Look, take it or leave it. You know,

you know, here I am. This is it. I'm not, you're not going to break my heart. If you say no, you know, because half the time you too,

you can tell so many times. And I haven't, I haven't actually auditioned for anything in ages yeah and that's just it's because a i have a job a regular job and then b when you get to a certain age or point they just you know like your manager your agent like they i'm fine with auditioning and i will audition but there are people that are like i won't audition anymore because you ought to know whether you want me or not want me me or not, which, okay, there's a point to that, but I'm fine to audition. I never thought that that would not be part of the deal. You know, you gotta test drive

me to know that I'm going to be right. What if you, what if you suck? Yeah. So tell me how the development of Nate started. I mean, were you workshopping it, specifically looking to make another show? Yeah. So when I got back from my first Edinburgh, I had won the Best Newcomer Award. Oh, that's right. We skipped over that. What was the name of the show where you laid eggs? It's called Laid.

Laid. Sweet. Yes. Yes. skipped over that you're that what was the name of the show where you laid eggs it's called laid laid sweet yes yes and so i took that show to uh edinburgh my first edinburgh in 2017 and walked out with you know the heinsman or whatever the heisman what's that trophy anyways i got a trophy football the heisman yeah the heisman, yeah. The Heisman. The golden chuckle. I got the chuckle. And so the production company that took me to Edinburgh was like, you should make another show for next year. And so you got to kind of start right away making a show again for that next year. I mean, it takes me like a year to make a show. Well, at least a good one. takes me like a year to make a show, at least a good one. And I workshop most of my shows at this theater in Los Angeles called the Lear Kuyperian Theater. Lear Kuyperian is run by this guy named

Dr. Brown, who also directed Laid and Nate. And he's a clown teacher also and he would run these shows at the Lyric called The Incubator and essentially what they are they're like a week-long boot camp where you do a show every night and you start the week with a brand new piece that you never tried before and it's like a variety show so it's full of a bunch of different performers and everybody has like five to 10 minutes. And he always encourages you to with your new piece that you're going to try for that week to try something riskier that feels new to you that you've never done before. And I was like, I've never wrestled like and so when I was when I was getting back from Edinburgh, I had this this incubator show to do. And I was like, wrestling sounds risky to me.

And my brother always wrestled me growing up. So I was like, that'd be fun to incorporate that into a show. And I was like, what character should I use? And I had Nate in my back pocket just from, you know, doing sketches and stuff with him all throughout like UCB and stuff like that. And I used him for this bit where I wrestle an audience member and it's the piece that you see in the show. But the piece started out with, I mean, the first time I tried the piece, you know, we're talking about how like you just improvise over and over again until it becomes a text. The first time I tried the bit, I didn't have a wrestling mat. I just knew like, OK, I'm going to discover in the audience that my girlfriend is here with another guy and I'm going to challenge him to wrestle me and then just improvise my way through that, essentially. like have people out of the audience come up because hey it always you know there's that inviting an audience member up is already you're already kind of like giving them license to fuck with your space yeah you never know who you're gonna get sometimes yeah you never know who you're

gonna get sometimes they're too much sometimes they're too little yeah and also were you were you shirtless again for all of them yes yeah see that's another, just it's such a great added weird element because it is like you're, you know, you're playing a man. Yeah. But everyone knows you're a woman and you're inviting a man to come up and grapple with you while you're shirtless. In front of his girlfriend, which is also part of the fun mischievousness, I think. But everybody. Is that too much of a fun mischievousness, I think. But everybody. Is that too much of a spoiler? Did I?

That's fine. I mean, people can read about the show. It's fine. You know, at this point, you're going to you just got to watch it if you want. It's spoiled, I suppose. But I think it's still probably fun to watch anyway. But yeah. Oh, it is.

Absolutely. I don't think that nobody's going to go like, well, I don't, you know, like, well, that's ruined. Forget it now. Yeah. Forget it. But actually, you know, what's fun. And this is, you know, we're speaking about devising earlier how sometimes something happens live that you could have never thought of. And the taking off of the shirt, like I was always topless, but I had like an open shirt on that I was wearing. But the first time somebody took off their shirt in the bit, it was an audience member who was like taking off his jacket to fight me. And then in response to that, I took off my shirt and then, you know, encourage them to get more and more naked. Yeah, yeah.

So that 10 minute piece by the end of that incubator week was really solid and it, you know, did really well. And so I was like, oh, this would be a good character to make a one hour show on for Edinburgh next year. And I already had 10 minutes, you know, and an Edinburgh show, you want it to be 50 minutes to an hour anyway. So essentially you just got to think of like four or five more 10 minute pieces. And, um, so essentially what I do is I schedule these one hour slots at the theater and I invite people to come watch for free because I like playing with an audience when I'm working on stuff. And I just throw shit at the wall. I just bring a bunch of different costumes

and ideas and props. Sometimes I just have an image in my head. Sometimes I have a little bit of an outline of what I want to try. And if something sucks or if something fails completely, I just move on to the next thing. Or I try to save it or, you know, I try to think about like, oh, if I really want to keep that image in the show, like, how do I change it to try it again next time, make it work? And then after I have all these pieces that are essentially like stand standalone pieces, I thread them together to make a show. So much happens when you are fooling around with taboos or with sort of different sort of sexual paradigms in this show. And I wonder when you're thinking, or I did wonder while I was watching it, how much of this is when you're thinking of these bits? And I also love that the show, that it's strung together bits.

You know, it's not, it's because it keeps it moving and it's all funny. How much do you balance just being funny and also kind of trying to mean something? I think I always seek to, like, just make people laugh. That's always what's most important to me. That's always what's most important to me. And I like also the surprise of like, you know, the left turn into something a little more serious or vulnerable. And I think it keeps the audience on their toes. And once you take the audience to that vulnerable place, I think they'll laugh even harder.

You know, they're just like that much more open. So I think that's why I enjoy it the most. It just like is opening people up that much more. It's more cathartic, I think. And do you have when you do these bits? How much experimentation is there? How much is there? Like, here's something like there's a lot you're stirring around a lot of stuff about consent in Nate. And I mean, and how much of that is kind of like, I have something specific I want to say about consent, or is it just like, let's fuck around with consent and see what happens?

I think it's more of an exploration. I mean, I'm definitely having in the back of my head to be careful. Like, I don't want to, you know, be too flippant with the subject matter and be harmful or too vulgar with it just for vulgarity's sake or something. Like I'm always trying to uh, keep people's feelings in mind, I suppose. But yeah, whenever I'm workshopping the shows, feelings in mind, I suppose. But yeah, whenever I'm workshopping the shows, I'll always put a trigger warning on the door and just tell people, you know, you're welcome to leave if you want. I don't want people to feel like that pressure of leaving a show and being afraid to like hurt my feelings or something. Yeah. And if they do leave, you don't fuck with

them as they go out the door. No, no. Hackle them or anything. No, exactly. Yeah. But, you know, there have definitely been times during the workshopping process where I have crossed the line. walk the line engage you know the first time when I threw up that sex scene in the park um when I was improvising that the first time I was like oh fuck like this is kind of working and like I'm like I wonder you know it's really tense that moment when you know he's having sex in the park with the mannequin and I'm, I wonder if I can get a laugh here. And I try, I made like a, you know, a joke, you know, had the mannequin speak and it worked. And I was like, oh my God. And I was just like, you know, discovering the pieces I went along, but trying to stay sensitive the whole time to what the audience would allow. I think it's rare for somebody who's doing the kind of work that you're doing, especially

because, A, it's different most of the time. You know, I mean, you're reacting to, you know, almost all the bits in your thing are variable based on who you get out of the audience because the show is so much audience participatory that you're getting a different show. You know, the container is the same, but the filling can be different from night to night. And I think, you know, it's like you're challenging them, but it's hard to know exactly what you're going to say with something like that. It's like there's a lot of times with things that I've written more, where people or even just like, you know, a bit that I'll do and the notion of like,

what does that mean? What are you trying to say? What's the point? It's kind of like, I don't know, you know, like, it was kind of funny, and it seems kind of complicated. And, you know, and those are the two best things put together. And it's like, it's not even necessarily my call is to say what it's about. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. To get back to that question that you asked, it is just more of an exploration of consent. And my only goal with the show was to get people to talk about it. This thing that always seems too taboo to talk about face to face, you know, and, you know, part of the inspiration for making the show was I was getting so frustrated just seeing people have this terrible like discourse online about consent and not allowing for really any reasonable discourse. Yeah. It wasn't even a

discourse. It was more like shouting and attacking each other. And I just wanted to get everybody in a room together, which is, you know, the theater is a perfect place to do that and say like, hey, guys, I think like most people I don't think want to hurt each other when they're discussing these things. from a place of like defending themselves or defending a friend. It's only, you know, conducive to discuss these really sensitive subject matters when you're looking into somebody's eyes. Yeah. Well, and you're also creating a paradigm where there's a consent thing going on between you and the audience. Yes. Sometimes I feel like, oh, I'm afraid I'm going to get into a little bit of trouble

because, you know, there's that one part in the show where I twap that guy's nipples. Yeah. A lot of the time when I do that in my shows, the guy will respond by saying he didn't ask. And I'm like, well, this is a fight, you know, like I don't have to ask you in a fight. This is different. if he's game to play with me, you know, but also I'm not like about to have sex with him. I mean, unless the show goes really well. Well, all right. We're getting close to me taking up too much of your time. No.

Yes. Me taking up too much of your time. No, no, no. I have nothing in my life. I'm wondering like what you're looking forward to in your future. Like, and whether it's like just forget this and open your own restaurant on a boat or whatever. You know, I mean, it doesn't have to be a work thing. But, I mean, what do you see yourself doing, like, show after show after show like this and just kind of that being your career?

Or is there something you're aiming towards? Yeah, I mean, well, I always love I'm definitely looking forward to doing live shows again. I would love to make something for TV. My friend and I wrote a movie this summer, so I hope she and I get to do that together. And then I guess like way down the road, I would love to have like a hot dog stand at the beach. Like way down the road, I would love to have like a hot dog stand at the beach. Listen, I'm constantly thinking like make enough money to get the fuck out of here and then like go to Key West and open a breakfast place. That's what's up.

That's what I'm saying. You know what I mean? Yeah, just chill out. Just cook some eggs for people and then spend the rest of the day fishing or whatever. Yeah, no, I'm with you. Yeah. And also, too, as I get older, like, cooking is – I like cooking for people. Like, that's like, honestly, if somebody said, I'll give you the same amount of money you're making right now for the rest of your life and all you got to do is cook for people, I'd be like, okay. Yeah, hands down.

I'll do that, you know. For the rest of your life and all you got to do is cook for people, I'd be like, okay. Yeah. I'll do that. You know, I mean, hopefully it's not like 15 hours a day cooking for people, but you know. But yeah, no. But I mean, but to have a cool little hang like that. Yeah.

When I went to, I used to go to Cape May, New Jersey for vacation growing up. And there was this guy there. I'm sure, I hope he's still there. His name is Hot Dog Tommy. And he's just got this awesome hot dog stand that I would go see every day. What a crazy coincidence to be named that and then go into the hot dog business. I know. It's like his parents knew his destiny almost. Wow.

Yeah. Lucky him. Lucky him. Lucky him. But, yeah, he's just always been an inspiration. I don't get why people, like, you know, super rich people like don't just like go on vacation. I'm like, you're done, dude. Why you want to go work in the government?

I don't. I believe me. I do not understand. I do not understand. And the thing, too, is that like that's the kind of shit that you might do when you're young you know like when you're younger if you make a shitload of money and then you're like i gotta be the captain of the industry now whereas like if you're my age and you make a gazillion dollars like what the fuck are you doing like you know how this is all nonsense at this point or you should you know like

exactly the whole point is it's the only thing that matters is is how you feel when you close your eyes for the last time you know that's like and if you're mad because all of a sudden elon musk has beaten you as the richest man in the world you're fucking cursing yourself for a lifetime of unhappiness seriously you. You're going to come back as, I don't know what you come back as if you're that pissed. You know, like the concept of reincarnation is like if you do good in the last life, then you get to come back as a better thing the next time. And I'm like, what did that thing in the previous life do to come back as that guy? life do to come back as that guy? Like he had to have been not good in the life before or something. I don't know. Like a really bad pelican or something.

A really bad pelican. But I thought you get to come back as a human once you've been good. But I'm like, oh, no, you must not have been good if you're coming back into that kind of attitude. There's still like a hierarchical structure to that. It's supposed to be so cool and open and, you know, but it's like, well, yeah, but who's to say? Whenever it's like, you're going to be better, like who's to say better, you know? Exactly, like dogs. I think that seems like the top of the chain to me. Not bad.

I had a friend years and years ago would say like, yeah, I'd want to be a pelican. They got the best fucking life. They're just like, they hang out at the beach and they just, you know, like they steal the bait from fishing boats. It's just like a really sort of chill life. You know what I think would be hell is being a chicken, having wings and not being able to fly. Oh, yeah. Or ostrich.

Or ostrich, yeah. Although ostriches are terrifying and there's got to be some kind of satisfaction in being terrifying. Yeah. Those animals probably just exist for like to punish like in terms of like, you know, reincarnation. They're just punishment animals. They're hells on earth. That's why all ostriches are evil yeah

all ostriches are like serial killers Hitler I mean they must have been they must have been to have wings

and not be able to fly yeah and then they and speaking of pushing out eggs that's a big egg to push out oh

you're telling me you've ever seen an ostrich I don't want that coming out of my ass I'll tell you that. Well, it would be your cloaca. Sure, sure, my cloaca. Well, what's the point of it all, Natalie?

The point is that it only matters how you feel when you're closing your eyes. Oh, I've heard that somewhere before. Yeah, somebody very wise once told me that. Well, thank you so much for coming on my podcast. Thank you so much for having me. So much fun. It's good to see you. I mean, I think you and I did some weird little pilot thing together.

Yes, we did. A number of years ago. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Drew Tarver was in it. And I think Betsy Sedaro. Was she on that too? Yes, Betsy Sedaro and Lou.

And a big kid. Yeah, yeah, Lou. It was one of those weird gigs that you're like, it was a pilot presentation for an improv game show. Yes. Where people were, you guys were the players and I was the host. And we shot it in Glendale. That's right. And it was one of those things where I, like I talked to,

because I knew people involved, like production, like I knew the network people and I talked to the network. I'd be like, what do you want out of this show? Like, what's the point of this show? And be like,

I don't know. It's really up to the production company. And then I asked the production people, like what, like what's, because the show just had no form. It just like. I remember.

Yeah. It didn't make any sense. I was all over the place. And then I asked the production company, like, what do you guys want to do? Well, it's up to the network. And I realized no one is in charge of this thing. And surprise, surprise, it never went anywhere. Surprise, surprise.

Yeah. It was fun, though. Yeah. It was a fun hang for a couple of days. Yeah. The point of game shows is that you want to win. You want to watch somebody win. You were like, I don't even know how you could win.

It was just us doing a bunch of goofy shit. Yeah. And then the point totals would just be told from the control room, like, okay, that's 20 points. Yeah. And I think if you're not gonna take the game seriously don't make it a game show yeah because it drives me crazy when there's like game shows where the points are arbitrary and the winners arbitrary it's like no fuck you man don't call it a game show exactly what's the point i want to watch somebody lose and i want to watch somebody win

yeah that's why it's a stakes like there there's, you know. Exactly. Nobody watches the frickin Olympics to see everybody fuck around. You know, I want to see somebody win a fucking run a fucking race. You know. Yeah. That's the only that's the only area where I overlap with conservative people. Just game shows. Game shows. No participation trophies.

The supreme being must arise. You should run on that platform. It's so exhausting. Yeah, you got to have your diner at the beach. That's right. Well, Natalie Palamides, thank you so much. Thank you so much, Andy Richter. Everybody go watch Nate.

It's still there, waiting to blow your mind. Check it out. And I look forward. Are you working on another show like that? I hope to when the theaters open back up. Yeah, I would love to. Yeah. When life starts.

I look forward to it as well. I do too. And this one I'll come see in person, I swear to God. Please do. Please do. Well, thank you. And thank all of you out there for listening to this episode of the three questions. And we will be here next week. Bye bye. The three questions with Andy Richter is a team Coco

and Earwolf production. It's produced by me, Kevin Bartelt, executive produced by Adam Sachs and Jeff Ross at Team Coco and Chris Bannon and Colin Anderson at Earwolf. Our supervising producer is Aaron Blair, associate produced by Jen Samples and Galit Zahayek, and engineered by Will Becton. And if you haven't already, make sure to rate and review The Three Questions with Andy Richter on Apple Podcasts. This has been a Team Coco production in association with Earwolf.