The Three Questions with Andy Richter - Richard Kind

Episode Date: May 4, 2021

Actor Richard Kind joins Andy to reflect on his impressive career on stage and screen. Richard shares how he's grown as an actor and why he never turns down work, even if it means acting some kid's Youtube series. Plus, Richard's life-changing workout routine.

uh hello podcast world it's me andy richter and i am back with another episode of the three questions and i am happy uh to have on today a very funny, talented guy that I've known for a long time. We have some shared history, a little bit, geographically at least. It's Richard Kind, star of Stage, Screen, and I don't know, anything else? TV? I've done an opera. Oh, yeah. And the opera world. And the opera world.

Wait, did you sing? I mean, I know you were in some Sondheim stuff. Are you a good singer? Am I a good singer? I'm loud. I can sing. I can sing enough to be at an opera at Lincoln Center, at City Opera. I did that indeed.

And there are high Gs that you have to hit. I think there's even an A that I may have hit back when I was younger and my voice was decent. Did you study singing? I can't say studied. Of course, I've taken lessons years and years ago. I am a character singer. I see. And I can sing fairly, fairly well.

I'm okay. sing fairly fairly well at what point because this is always fascinating to me because you know i came up just kind of through improv and then started to get work and when and no one really realized how untrained i truly was uh you know i'd just been you know in the basements of italian restaurants in chicago making things up so uh i didn't really have, you know, concrete skills, but I always wondered like, at what point do you start? Did you, was this in, in, in college? In high school I did all the musicals in college. I did them. And I can't look, false modesty. I can sing.

I can really project. I cannot harmonize, but I can stay on tune. Oh, that's great. And the more I rehearse, the better I get. And I was in an original Sondheim musical. Now, it was my dream, my dream. You must understand, people have bucket lists. This was my dream to be in an original Sondheim musical directed by Hal Prince. Yeah.

They stopped working together in 1982. So what are the chances? It's enough I can't sing well. They're not doing anything. Years later, they got together and they did get back together because Sondheim tried with a couple of different directors, a musical called Bounce. It was originally called Wise Guys, then Bounce, then went on to be called Roadshow. But I did the large version of this original musical and I got hired. And I'm not that great a singer. So it's really astounding that it happened. And one time I would happen to be in

the men's room with Stephen Sondheim. And I said, you know, I'm just so this is fantastic. And we got along very well. And I said, the one thing is, I'm so grateful to you that I don't have to harmonize during the show until the last note, the very last note of the show, we harmonize. And for some reason, I got it like that. And I said, because I'm so bad at harmony, he goes, I can't harmonize at all. And I look at him, I go, oh, my God, he can't harmonize. He can sing, but he can't harmonize either. So, you know, can I sing?

I can sing. Yeah. And I'm a decent singer. Look, I did The Producers on Broadway. Right. I did Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, the musical. I've done, hell yeah, I've done a lot of musicals. So yes, I can sing, but I'm not a great singer.

See, my theater knowledge is very, very shallow. I don't know a lot about theater. And yet the first time I saw you was Brady Bunch. Yes, that's true. That doesn't count as theater, though. Oh, you did it night after night, and it was scripted, wasn't it? That's true. I guess that is true, yeah.

It's theater. Yeah. It was theater. Was Jane Lynch in that, or was it Harriet Mantel? No, it was Jane Lynch. She was my TV wife for years. Okay, you want to hear something? Sure.

Now, we're recording this. Yes, we are. Not 25 minutes ago. I was talking to your TV wife. Oh, really? In person. Wow. She was filming Mrs. Maisel across the street from where I live. And I said hello to her. Did you just happen to see them out in the street or? Well, they, they film at this particular restaurant. It's the diner that they go to the Jewish deli that they always film at. And, uh, and actually a director who I've worked for twice in two musicals, most recently Kiss Me Kate was directing the episode too, Scott Ellis. So I said hello to him too. Oh, that's great. That's a lot of fun. How, how is the COVID restrictions on shooting there? Is it, you know, is everybody masked up? You know, I've shot here.

I've shot here and I've shot in L.A. I've shot in New Mexico and I've shot in somewhere else. Oh, yeah, in Virginia or West Virginia. I can't remember. I think it was West Virginia. They are the same and they are continuing to be strict. I feel safest on a set than I do anywhere else in the country. Yeah.

Even sitting alone in my apartment. Yeah. I feel safer on a set. Everybody is just masked and there's people annoying you. Put on your mask, Mr. Kind. And I go, shut up. You're right. I apologize.

Okay. And I say, I don't have my right. I apologize. Okay. You know, and I say, I don't have my mask. Oh, here's another one. And you know, I go through 30 days. You know, I was, it's very interesting. I come out of my apartment in New York maskless. And the minute I pass somebody, I go, Ooh, and I put on my mask. I have six in each pocket. Yep. I do the same thing, but it's getting out of my car. I just did it this morning. I got out of my car to get a cup of coffee and I walk and walk straight into somebody wearing a mask

and I go, oh shit. Oh, of course. Yeah. But it's literally, it's a, oh, of course. And I put it on. Right, right. The thing is that you and I

are a public face. And if anybody were to take a picture, they would go, look who's not wearing a mask. Oh, Mr. Liberal, Mr. Oh, we gotta be safe. So I believe in it and much less that, but it is not something that is automatic. Like it's automatic.

I put on clothes before I go outside. I do not put a mask on. And I'm amazed at myself that after a year of it, I still can get out of the car and go, doo-doo-doo-doo-doo, into the post office, oh, shit. Oh, shit.

And you gotta go back to the car to get your mask, because that's the right thing. I go into my pocket. I don't know what I'm gonna do when it's summertime, and I'm not wearing a coat. Because I keep literally three pockets, side, side, and then in the breast i keep uh one there doing the conan show is like such a now we're at uh largo at the coronet do you know that little are you at largo yeah yeah that must bring back memories for you it's oh it when they when they

started doing that i was it was funny because conan kind of just recently like in the last couple years started doing stuff at largo and i was kind of like do you know this place largo it's amazing and i was like yeah i yeah yeah like yeah i know 25 years yeah i knew it when there was no craft service yes yeah yes but so we've been you know, he just wanted to get out of the house, and we've been doing it from there. And there's only about nine. But who's in the audience? Just me, pretty much. Me, we had, he started doing it to an empty theater just to do it in a theater.

And then it evolved over time where we put cardboard cutouts that we had in props, like just like james comey and and some kevin we had for some reason for kevin hearts uh and that's great that's and then we they put out they said if any fans want to to send in a picture we'll make cardboard cutouts so now the whole room is full of two-dimensional fans uh in seats and then me, because when I came back, we were still, it was still very focused on distancing. So I sit in the audience now, which we just kind of, I mean, I probably don't have to at this point. And I, you know, I just got my second dose on Monday.

So we're kind of ready to go, but we're careful, but there's only about nine of us it feels like such a mom and pop organization at this point the the intimacy of of let's put on a show yes it really is you know i've got the bar and let's go do it and there's no audience yet it's three camera guys a sound guy a prompter guy uh conan's assistant flanagan that owns the theater uh oh yes flanagan yeah flanagan and and our executive producer our head writer and that's it and me and so it's very small but i've done some outside gigs uh that are you know bigger productions and those are the ones where i have you know like i was working on something that with a director who actually directed one of my shows that I was the star of.

And I was talking to him at the video monitors and somebody came up. I had never seen the guy tap me behind. He said, you can't talk to them. Like, because I was in the wrong zone. Because, you know, there's zones. Oh, you were in zone A. I was in the wrong zone. In zone there's oh you were in zone you were i was in the wrong zone yeah i've urinated in zone b so so i i know i know from what you speak and they treat it it's funny because whenever anybody comes to like the whenever the actors are walking onto the set

there's they treat it like there's a tiger there There's like somebody that, actors are walking, mask up. You know, we're a national treasure that needs protecting. Here's the funniest thing. The first thing I did coming back was one of those guy writes a pilot. You know that it's not going to get picked up by a network. You'll be lucky if somebody sees it at Netflix, which actually would be great, or at Amazon, which I think, but it's very good. When I say a skeleton crew, we had a DP and the writer, producer, director. Wow. And the writer, producer, director had to be the focus puller, but he was also directing.

So the cameraman and the director were, they were responsible. And they said, like you're moving could you move slower because we can't get this we can't get you in focus you're walking too fast yeah so i like where you're going just do it slow so that we because he wasn't very good at fully you know at focus right right to audience. Whenever you walk, the lens is going to have to follow you and must change. So that's what it was. And it was it was pretty cute. And of course, there was one person who was props and costume. And then, you know, somebody who, you know, craft service where they made up packets of grapes and raisins and a candy bar and a mask and thing,

all came in a plastic bag and you got that every day. Also, we were tested for the first time because of that. So we had to get tested according to SAG rules. We went to a place, it was being shot in New York, but the quickest we could get tested at this time in July was someplace out in Jersey. We're out at Jersey and we're sitting in the waiting room. And of course, we're distant from everybody. And I saw a guy, she goes, Bob, Bob Smith, could you come?

And Bob Smith and nobody in it. Somebody said, I think he's outside. She goes outside and says, Bob you come? Bob Smith and nobody. And somebody said, I think he's outside. And she goes outside and says, Bob, come in. And she goes, here are your results. You tested positive. And we're all in the waiting room going, he tested positive. He's got COVID. And he goes, he just took it.

And she goes, bye-bye. And he walked. No, this is what you should do right these are the precautions this is what it was just um you hear your test uh you came back positive you have covid we're all like oh god oh my god that was a freaky uh episode in my life and at that time covid meant death death. Yes. Right? Right. Yeah, yeah. So that's what it was.

Now, he was a young kid, and I'm sure he was sick for a week and a half, and God willing, he's fine for the rest of his life. But it was announced in front of everybody, sir, you have COVID. Right. And that was as scary a thing as I can remember. Was he masked? No, as I remember, he was a kid. He was this tall, lanky, 18 year old kid. Jesus.

And is he a mask? I don't remember. He must've been, I'm sure. Yeah, yeah. Masks at the time. So I can't say that, of course. But nonetheless, we're all in the room and here are your papers.

You know, it's the Gestapo saying, here you go, sir. May I see your papers? You know, get out the Gestapo saying, here you go, sir. May I see your papers? You know, it was a scary moment. That was something that I'll always remember. Yeah. No, it's, now it just, like when you say back in July, that feels like you're talking about 1984 or something. Oh, absolutely.

You know, it just seems like that was a million years ago. Yeah. Oh, in February, I was working in the Philippines in February. Oh, my God. And I'm at a resort. We were 300 miles as the crow flies from Wuhan. Wow. 300 miles.

Yeah, yeah. Okay. But COVID wasn't COVID. Yeah. You know, it didn't have that specter miles. Yeah, yeah. Okay. But COVID wasn't COVID. Yeah. You know, it didn't have that specter yet. Yeah, yeah. But we heard about it. And the population of this resort hotel, I was there for maybe two, three weeks.

You could see it dwindle every day so far that this is how I put it. They had the best buffet in the world for dinner. And then all of a sudden at the end they go, we got a little shelf filled with food because there was nobody there to feed. Yeah, yeah. That's how I remember it. Wow. Isn't that weird?

I know. Wow, that is weird. These are the things that I remember, you know, saying, oh, the population went down. But you go from this enormous room of food and different fish and soups and a big suckling pig was out there. They had a fish that they would carve in front of you and serve you. Yeah, yeah. Down to, here we have a tin of sardines. When did you come home from that?

I mean, were you home before, you know, that middle of March when it all shut down? Yes and no. I was in the Philippines, came home from there, went to L.A. I was doing the Goldbergs. I filmed. My last day was a Thursday. I filmed, my last day was a Thursday. I wanted to stay Friday and play golf and then come home on Saturday night

so I could play golf two days in a row. Thursday, I was through at about three o'clock in the afternoon. And it was one of those things that you say, you know what? They may close everything down. I don't know what's gonna happen. This was on the 12th.

It was Wednesday, Thursday the 12th. I took the red eye. And for me to spend extra to take the red eye, you know, to buy a ticket last minute. Right. I had a ticket for Saturday or Sunday or whenever it was. I said, I want to go tonight. I had to pay extra money. Very not like me, but I was really worried. And I took the red eye home that Thursday night, arrived Friday the 13th, got out. And I

said, if anybody has COVID, it's me. I've been on a set. I was on two sets. I was on two airplanes. Yeah. LA, golf course, set. I've got COVID. Yeah. Here's the car. Get out of here. We have a house by the Jersey Shore. And I sent my kids and my wife, boom, over to, out to Jersey.

And I was alone in my apartment from the 12th until May 17th. Alone. Wow. Listen, Andy, I loved it. I have so many, so many friends and they're almost all males that say, that secretly would go, it's been great. It was so, I read, I caught, I watched shows. I worked out. I worked out. The apartment was mine. I cleaned the apartment.

I would show them pictures. Yeah, you had to occupy yourself with things. I didn't go out. You know, I went to the grocery store back in the day when we were spraying our bananas and the beets and everything. Yeah. And I would go out. That's March to April, April to May. It was, it was about eight to nine weeks.

Wow. Wow. And, and, and we used to have a, a, a FaceTime conversation with me every night, five minutes to seven. Yeah. And I used to say, so that I could watch Jeopardy after. Yeah. Kids, you get five minutes to seven yeah and I used to say so that I could watch Jeopardy after yeah but kids you get five minutes you get five minutes kids but we would be on the phone for 35 minutes and they were living with each other and we would be on the phone yeah yeah it was fun wow well

that's nice you hear those stories and it's kind of like well that's you know I guess that's sort of I don't know if it's the bright spot of it, but it's just like the one that's like, okay, that was the safe part of it. That's not so awful. Yeah. It's not. I used to say it's making, taking a pimple and making it a beauty mark. Right, right. to joke to myself and not out loud, but you say, I want to get in a car accident that's not life threatening, that hurts me so that I'm laid up in bed for a month or two so I can watch The Crown

and I can finish Peaky Blinders and I can read, I can finally read Anna Karenina, do whatever I want to do. Well, it came. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't get nearly as much done as i thought i would but but that car accident came and i was fine i was supposed to like learn how to play an instrument or you know learn a language or something no i haven't done a goddamn thing right i mean but i i'm i've become a i mean i've always liked to cook, but like now I could start a fucking restaurant just because, you know. I mean, just like I really now, like my main fun hobby is what do I have in the fridge and what can I make out of it? You know, like that sort of thing. Well, you do that.

When I was very young, very, very young, I was on tour with a kid's show. We traveled 36 states in five and a half months. A show called Daniel Boone, a musical. I played Blackfish the Indian. Okay. Okay. Our Daniel Boone was 6'6". Yeah. Handsome, big strappy guy. And here's the makeup and the ponytail and everything. And here's this guy and we would be traveling in a van and he would be reading a cookbook as entertainment where some people read a novel. He would be flipping through cookbook. Wow. Now I flip through the internet looking for a good meal. I'm like you, but I don't go looking in the refrigerator. I say, I'm going to go to the grocery store. What do I need to buy for

a butter chicken? What do I need to, I'm making Mongolian beef tonight. What do I need? And now I do that. Now I'm going to say something that I, now that I'm talking to you, there are two people in this world who work, most people get 24 hours in a day. Yeah. Most people get 24 hours in a day. Yeah. You and Patton Oswalt get 25. I don't know how you do it.

I see you on Twitter. You have a TV show. Yes. You have another TV show. Yes, a guest spot. You've got a podcast. You are proactive with your life. Oh, thank you.

It doesn't always feel like that, but I appreciate it. I believe patton oswald is the same way yes he'll he'll host an event he's always on twitter he he writes books i don't know whether you've written a book have you written a book i haven't i damn it andy what the hell no i have i i have – I do have attention issues. Like I do have focus issues that I can't – like it is – it's hard for me to read a book that doesn't grab me. You know what I mean? Me too. I don't think you're alone, but okay. Yeah, but I mean it's really hard for me.

Like a book that isn't really – that can even be about a topic that I kind of enjoy, but after 10 minutes, I find myself falling asleep, you know? Oh, I'm the same way. Yeah, yeah. I have a very good solution for you. It will help save your life. Okay. Get an iPad. Uh-huh.

Make the print this big. Yeah. Get a book. Richard is, you're making it about, the print is about three quarters of an inch. Three quarters of an inch high. Yeah, yeah. Okay, there are about four sentences,

maybe three sentences on each page of an iPad. Yeah, yeah. Go to a treadmill and read for half an hour. That's a great idea. You won't get dizzy because the print is so big. Yeah. You just flip and you flip, you get exercise, you read a book and you do something. You really get an exercise in your

flipping finger for sure. It's correct. Yeah. You just flip, flip, flip, flip. As if you're reading Hebrew, you just go right to left, right to left. Exactly. Can't you tell my loves are growing? The point of this podcast is, you know, sort of its origin story, as some have put it. And you are originally from the New York area. You're from New Jersey new jersey right i don't know whether you would say that uh uh no i wouldn't say that at all oh i was i was born in trenton new jersey yeah my dad's store was in princeton new jersey which by train is about an

hour and five minutes okay okay so people would go to wall Street from Princeton. I see. Maybe even from Yardley, but I was raised in Pennsylvania. Oh, I see. Now, where I was raised is in a point that when the Rolling Stones were playing in concert, they played Madison Square Garden in New York, or they played the Spectrum in Philadelphia. In Philly, yeah. Many, many of my friends went to Philly. Yeah. Because I was used to going to New York to go see Broadway shows, which I saw all the time.

I would go see the Stones at Madison Square Garden. So was I from New York? Yes. But if you wanted to say I was really from Philadelphia, but I didn't go there. I don't know Philly well at all. But that's where my mom did live. My sister lives near Philly now. I still don't know Philly.

I was a New Yorker. So that's why you would think and the way that I talk. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, because I I always had thought of you when I first got to know you as a Chicago guy, because we knew so many people in common. That's right. Because you'd done Second City, you know, and I think I may have even met you at some point in Chicago. Oh, really? Okay.

Yeah, I don't remember, like through maybe Amy Sedaris or somebody like that. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I never worked with her until she was way out of Second City. Yeah. Look, I used to go backstage at Second City, and it was a company made up of Carell, Stephen Colbert,

Paul Dinello, Amy. Yeah. These phenomenal, I think Keegan-Michael Key might've been there. Oh, wow. And I would always come backstage and I would go, oh, you're so wonderful. Just enjoy it now because when you get out to LA, it's just tough. You'll never work. I didn't know where any of them would fit in. I didn't think there was a spot. And I looked back at it and I wish I could tell you that I am proud of the way that I felt because I was so benevolent to these tremendously talented people that I was afraid they would never work again. And I was working. I was a really working actor and I had TV shows and everything.

And I'm going, I just pray for you all. Well, needless to say, I didn't need to. What a waste of pity. There are so many people that I could have felt sorry for. Yeah. And they didn't need it, I know. When I look, it is one of the kind of like really, and you probably have the same thing, that one of those wonderful things when you think about the people that were just like, when you were saying, I want to do this long shot thing for a living. Like I want to enter into this minefield of rejection that from where I come from is just absurdly self-indulgent

to think that I'll be able to do this. I want to do this. And the people that were your peers when you were young and trying this silly, you know, like Don Quixote kind of impossible task, so many of them are household names now. I know so many people that really made a living doing this tough thing. And it's kind of exciting in retrospect and even now today, you know. Well, all those people that we just mentioned are truly household names.

Yeah. What you should go for, what you aspire to. Yeah. Is work. And if you ever go after this thing for fame or for money, you're an idiot. You're just an idiot. And if you succeed with the fame, you're really an idiot because you never realized what a mistake fame is. Money's good. I like money. Money's great. Fame gets you, I always say, whenever I go into a bank and they go, oh, Mr. Kind, Mr. Kind, oh, I love you. I love you so much. And I say, really? And they go, yes, really? You know, you have a bank,

a vault back there. Can I have some of that? And they go, they don't. They go, no, no, we love you so much. Here's a pen. Fame gets you a pen. All of that stuff. And they don't even give out toaster ovens anymore. Right, not anymore, no. I want what's behind the metal door.

No, no, no. But we have a pen for you because you're famous. Yeah, that's what it gets you. There's a famous, I can't remember the name. It's a famous screenwriting text that's like maybe got to there's a there's a famous i can't remember the name it's a famous screenwriting text that's like maybe the art of the screenwriter and it's just interviews and i remember patty chayefsky says that the desire for fame is fine if you're young like when you're young and you're starting out the desire for that that fame, because you have so much against you that you kind of have to have this crazy engine inside of you that's almost kind of megalomaniacal,

you know, in order to get over the hump of it. But once you get in it, because when I name these household names, the reason they're, or you name the household names, or these people that we all know so well, the reason we know them is because they're good. Because named the household names of these people that we all know so well. The reason we know them is because they're good. Because of their – Oh, yes. It's not because – like the one begets the other. And you're absolutely right.

If anybody – I feel like – and I also feel like the people that I know that are like really, really, really famous, they have weird lives that are like, they can't do normal things. Oh, you and I know these people intimately. Yes. And the, look, the tragedy of my great friend, George Clooney, who I rarely bring up, but other people do, but his life is compromised. Yeah. He cannot do what he used to do as he was growing up,

as he was coming up the ranks. Right. And I've heard Woody Allen and Neil Simon say, the journey is so much better than the end of the road. Not that we're at the end of the road now, but coming up. And you know what's great is that what you just said is, you said it's fine for your young.

No, it's essential to want, to desire that fame. Yeah. Because those are the gears and the gasoline that make this engine run and give you power to move ahead. Yeah. But once you recognize it, which is something I had to do, you know, to semi-quote that great line by Peter O'Toole in my favorite year, I'm not an actor, I'm a movie star. I didn't want to be an actor. I wanted to be famous.

Yeah. And then, thank God, I had a modicum of talent that could bloom and make me a better actor. Yeah. And I realized, oh, I really want to be a really good actor. In fact, I'm better now than I ever have been. And my cast ability is so much less because I'm older. But I am so much better than what I used to be. Oh, I pulled the wool over a lot of people's eyes for years and years.

You know, I just wasn't that good. When I look back, I cringe. I cringe. Yeah, I don't think I'm very good at four-camera sitcoms anymore. I'm just, I'm not that good. And for what reason? Like, what specifically do you think you're lacking

that you used to have? Look, I do talk loud, but I used to project. There used to be an audience there. I would, the last person in the row heard it. Yeah. Okay. They didn't need to. It was all right there.

I worked, I was lucky enough to work with Nick Nolte on a show called Luck. And I call Nick Nolte as a what actor because whenever he would talk, you want to go, what? Yeah. I mean, he would just go. Yeah. And I go Nick Nolte as a what actor, because whenever he would talk, you want to go, what? Yeah. I mean, he would just go. Yeah. I swear.

And I go, what? Like that. So I would have to learn his lines and watch his lips move and sort of hear what he was saying. Yeah. But my God, the microphone, it was right here and caught everything. Yeah. Me, I talk like, look, the microphone's right here. I'm pointing to it right now.

Yeah. It's inches away from me, but I talk look the microphone's right here i'm pointing to it right now yeah inches away from me but i talk loud it's theater training i did a movie with richard gear like like probably like he was 99 2000 something like that and um there was we did a scene we were supposed to be hunting or something and we were out in the woods and it was there were four of us and we were sitting on a log or something but we were out in the woods and it was there were four of us and we were sitting on a log or something but we were sitting in a line and he was on one end of the line and i was at the other end and we had dialogue back and forth that was kind of i think i was apologizing for something and it was i had to do the same thing where i just had to kind of like get the idea that he had stopped talking because i couldn't hear a fucking word he said right right and i was worried i was like yeesh is this gonna and then i saw the dailies

and oh yeah he's a movie star that's right it's like he wasn't it's like he's a movie actor yeah he's just like shit oh yeah there's and there was you weren't missing an ounce of anything once you saw it on the screen. Okay. I did a movie with Christopher Walken. Yeah. We're doing a walk and talk. Okay. I'm walking, talking, you know, doing the dialogue.

And there were times when I'm looking at him and I'm thinking, really? That's how you're going to say the line? That's your actor's choice, huh? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then I saw it and I go, oh my God. Yeah. He's magic. That's your actor's choice, huh? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Then I saw it and I go, oh my God. Yeah. He's magic. Yeah. He's magic. Yeah. It's, it's crazy. I am not that man. Yeah. At what age did you start to think like you wanted to do this? Oh, I was very young and it was my dad's best friend who I was supposed to go to law school, got accepted. And he said, try acting because you'll kick yourself when you're 40. And I was okay.

You know, I'm good. I was all right. And like I said, I got better and better. I'm glad that I did a lot of theater. Four and a half years on the Second City stage, that'll do it. The audience tells you. And it's called the Harvard of comedy, but it's not just of comedy.

It's of finding out who you are. There are times when you're not getting laughs, when you're trying to do the scene. There's a famous story of Paul Sills directing an early, early company of Second City where they had a good scene. And so they would take that scene, you know, every night you do an improv, you do that

sketch and you try and rewrite it and you write it and it escalates and becomes a whole by the time you're finished. So he goes, great scene, go out tonight, do it again. If you get one laugh, we're cutting it. They do it. No laughs. Do it again. Next night.

Do it again. If it gets one laugh, we're cutting it. Did this over and over and over. Finally comes in. Okay, we're doing that scene. Make it funny. And that's how they got, that's how they got, you know, and so you often go out with the hope that the scene is good and then becomes funny. Yeah, yeah. And all you have to do, are we allowed to curse on this? Yes, of course. Yeah, all you have to do is say, fuck White Castle or Proctologist and you'll get a laugh. Yeah, or, you know, or you just, when you say make it funny, a lot of people just mean, oh, you mean be gigantic. Yeah, well, and then you go and you are on a sitcom.

Yes, yes. Yes, and I can't be, even though I am an outsized personality and my voice is loud and I got a big mouth, I try and not be that all the time. In fact, I'm that in real life, and you get me on camera sometimes now, and I'm, you know, I'm trying to talk like Nick Nolte. So that's what I do.

Now, you went to Northwestern. And that was to study theater? Nope. No? Pre-law. Pre-law, wow. But I did more theater than most theater majors. Yeah, yeah.

I was in a lot of the shows. Yeah. So no, my major was communication studies with a minor in history and Russian literature. Wow. There's quite a few, you know, Julia Louis-Dreyfus is one. Oh yeah. Yeah.

And her husband, I think he was. Oh, absolutely. Brad Hall. Yeah. Yeah. I know a lot of them, a lot of them. Uh, and, uh, yeah, well, Steve, uh, Stephen Colbert. Yeah.

Went to, went to, uh, I wonder, I think he was, was he a theater major, I wonder? I don't know. I don't know either. I kind of think he was because I think, well, he's been in, he was in Sondheim musicals and I think he might have wanted to, you know. He might have been. Yeah, I think he probably, if they said, come be in musicals, he probably would. Oh, yes. That would be his preferred thing to do, yeah.

Right. Seth Meyers and Seth's brother, Josh, were both Northwestern people. Oh, that's right. That's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's storied. Yeah.

And when I, before I went, see, my dad's store was in Princeton, and I could have gotten into Princeton. Mm-hmm. And my dad, and my uncle was a big donor to Dartmouth. He was a graduate of Dartmouth School and the law school. And I might have been able to. And I didn't even apply there because I was afraid they would make me go there. Yeah.

Because where I always wanted to go was Northwestern because of Warren Beatty and Ann Margaret and Charlton Heston. Yeah, yeah. And names I could tell you. That was one, too. Yes, Paul Lynde. But Tony Roberts and Penny Fuller, who I don't know whether you know, but a magnificent actress.

Lawrence Pressman. You probably know David Pressman. Uh-huh. David's father, Larry. Great actor. Great actor. Tremendous. They all went to Northwestern

and talk of it so fondly. And I knew who they were when I saw them on stage. Yeah. And I said, you know, Penny Fuller was an applause, a musical called Applause. Larry was in a play called The Man in the Glass Booth. So I knew all of these people and they were not stars. Yeah. But they were people whose work I admired. People you wanted to be like, stars. Yeah. But they were people whose work I admired.

People you wanted to be like, yeah. Yeah. And as a teenager, as a teenager, you were amassing information and you were thinking like, where are the, you know, yeah, you were like,

where'd that guy go to college? Where'd she go to college? Oh my God, yes. Oh yes. Oh, and I did want to go to Carnegie Mellon. Yeah. But I wouldn't do it because... Pittsburgh.

You know, and we're going to get to these... Well, especially at that time. But I think we're going to get to these questions, to this answer, when I tend to rewrite the biography of my life. Really? From this vantage point. of my life. Really? From this vantage point. Like I would say, I want to go to Carnegie Mellon, but I think I've got to get an education first. Did I say that out loud to myself while I was young? Or am I now making it up and making it part of my life to make me seem smarter? I don't know. I think, well, I know exactly what you're talking about,

because I think it's things like, and this is, I mean, having gone to a lot of therapy too, there's a lot of things that I know, I know that I have known for years that I just never put into words. And then I put it into words and I'm like, yep, that's, you know, I might not have, I might not have been, you know, aware of it at the time, but in retrospect, we're justifying it. That's what was happening. Right. Now, are we fooling ourselves or did we really feel that way? I don't know. You're in therapy more than I am. I don't, I don't. Yeah. How do you know? Because I don't, I used to to go i haven't been in years and

years boy i think i need it and i i'm i'm if i give this reference i'm mildred pierce do you know mildred pierce i absolutely know milky okay mildred pierce just gave and gave to her daughter i give and give to my kids and my big fear is I will never work again. I have it every day, even while I'm working. The minute I get a job, I go, is this my last job? So all my money goes to my kids. And I feel that with the inflated cost of therapy, let it go to my kids.

It's so dewy, so dewy. But let them have it. $225, better they should spend it. Listen, I feel like my kids, you know, I like to say that because of LA private school, that my beach house is in my children's minds. Like all that money is, like I've been paying for somebody

to go to college basically. Right, right, right. Since about, I don't know, 2005, you know, I, you know, cause just, you know, like I, I seriously, I've been paying for someone to go to like a nice liberal arts college in the middle of Ohio, like a, like a small Midwestern college for years and years and years and years. I've been paying for that. Absolutely. So I can get a little shrinkage out of it. Let me have that. Yeah, yeah. I never joined a country

club. I just go to the shrink. That's my real indulgence. I understand. I understand. Can't you tell my loves are growing? The geographic location of Northwestern leads you to Second City. So that kind of is a kismet that maybe wouldn't have happened had you gone to Carnegie Mellon. You mentioned the – well, if I had gone to Carnegie Mellon, I might be on a David Kelly show. Yeah, yeah. Okay. What helped me in, as far as Northwestern, is there was a group that you probably know, Practical Theater Company?

Heard of them, yeah. Okay. Julia, Brad, Gary Kroger, and Rush Pearson. These people started a theater company, and then I went to school with all of them. I did go to school with Julia, but I knew her. People started a theater company, and then I went to school with all of them. I did go to school with Julia, but I knew her. They started a theater company, and they got picked up for SNL.

They come to New York. I see them in New York. I go to SNL, a party, everything. They go, why don't you go out to Chicago and open a show for a theater company? Sure. I'd love to. You know, left January 2nd. We opened in March. And the producer of Second City saw me in the show. He said, come to my office tomorrow. And I was a member of Second City. I didn't set out to be a member of Second City. I thought I was coming home in April. Yeah, yeah. You know, and again, I can justify how my, the road to my success, but I didn't. I, you make your own luck.

I'm a firm believer in make your own luck. Yeah. And I never, never, never turned down a job. Yeah. Never. Really? I'm going to do some kid's YouTube sitcom or some YouTube show. It's stupid.

What am I? Are you kidding? I did this little pilot that this wonderful guy wrote, and it's really smart, and it should be picked up, but I don't turn down work. Yeah. I love it. I just, I'm always late to set.

I'm about 10 to 15 minutes late to set, but I am the last person to leave. Yeah. Once I'm there, it's just a party. I don't leave parties. I want them to go on. Yeah. And I just love it.

And so I'll work anytime. It is fun. And now I'm kind of old and – I don't think I'm old old, but I mean I've been doing this a while and I'm kind of established. the sort of sense of poise to be able to say no, you know, like if somebody gives me a note that I just think is wrong or something, or, you know, if there's, or like X, you know,

like extra, extra ass kissy kind of shit that they want you to do. And I'll just, I don't want to just say, nah, I don't want to do that where I wouldn't have. Of course not. Oh,

I'll do it in a heartbeat. I have the same way as you. I, in the same way as you, I, I will, I come to set with decisions made like, yeah. Yeah. And if somebody gives me a note and I don't agree with it, you better have the best reason in the world why you give me that out. And here's the, the what's, what's the word? The contraposition of that. I love notes. Yeah. I love them. So give me somebody smart to say, oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'll do that. Yeah. Right, right. That's great. That's a great idea. I didn't think of that. It's fun to have somebody change your mind. Oh God.

Yeah, yeah. Oh, I love it. I love it. I'm going to tell you something that's sort of astounding. It's a little bit pat on my own back. Not a pilot, not a movie, certainly not a play, but if it's a guest spot that I have to audition for on TV and somebody gives me a direction, I've never lost the role.

Wow. Isn't that something? That's great. I know. Cause I like that. And the way that I act so big, they give me a note. I take it to the edge. Yeah. Yeah. I love doing it. Give it to me. I'll also, I do voiceovers and I'm sort of, they laugh at me, but give me a line reading. I don't think I know what you're talking about. Give me a line reading. I don't care. And I say, oh, that's so funny. Why aren't you doing this role? But I take it and I do it because I got this voice and I got hired. So that's what I do, but give it to me anytime. What I was saying is that like over these years too, the thing that I have always,

and I have worked with people who don't seem to be invested in this, but to me, it's always like, if this isn't fun, what do you, then don't do it. You know, like, like working on sets that aren't fun. And there, and I've done it a couple of times, but I mean, as you go on, you can kind of engineer it so that you're not going to be on sets that aren't fun and uh i just yeah you know what i mean though yeah well you don't you don't know for sure but you can uh you know i mean i've had a hunch here and there and also too you make your own fun you know like well of course if everybody's a drag you gotta got to be in it. You got to be like, all right,

come on, folks. We're not going to do this. We got it. Oh, and I sometimes put it upon myself as I'm going to be the entertainer. I'm going to pick this up. Like you said, it's a party. It is a party. But I will say, and this is something that I've said many, many times, my life is an extracurricular activity. Yeah. It's just what it is. We used to go to school for social studies and chemistry and do whatever. And then we went afterwards for the after school because we chose, these were electives. Yeah. And this is what we chose to do.

Yeah. And my life is an elect, and I get paid. Yeah. And I tell my son, I say, none of my kids interested in this business. I mean, they're blessed with not having talent, but so they're not going to go into it. But I say, I pray to God, you choose something that makes you want to go to work. And if you're lucky, you'll make money doing it. But first and foremost, love getting up in the morning because you got to go.

Because I have plenty of friends who just go, who they get worried about work, who they do not like the job they do. Yeah. They realize there are rewards and certainly, and if you have kids, a lot of times those jobs are necessities. But you and I, we are the lucky ones. Yeah. And when you get to do what you do on Conan, oh, my God. And first of all, God bless Conan for recognizing how wonderful you are and never putting the thumb on suppressing how wonderful. Because I have known how wonderful you are.

are. But you also know a talent. I don't know whether at the very start or you've developed when to keep your mouth shut, even though you could win an Academy Award for best ad lib. And you also get to meet these people, see them, hear them, maybe talk to them backstage. Yep. What a life. Yeah. What a life. I'm good friends with Alan Coulter, who was Letterman's announcer. And God, he's just the stories, the life that he's had, the wonder of wonders of seeing every year Darlene Love sing that Christmas song. Yeah. Just to be there, he's there. I know, I know.

And it's getting, it's, how lucky. I know, I know. And it's getting, it's, how lucky. I know, I know. Well, it's like, there's so many, so many just little stories that are like that. Like, you know, as you sing Darling Love,

like Tony Bennett used to come on our show every Christmas time and sing a song. So it got to be where I would, I, you know, a few times bumped into Tony Bennett and was standing on, you know, would stand on 6th Avenue chatting with Tony Bennett for 15 minutes. I know. Which, you know, a few times bumped into Tony Bennett and was standing on, you know, would stand on 6th Avenue chatting with Tony Bennett for 15 minutes. I know. Which, you know, while I'm doing it, it's not so crazy.

But then later it's like, that's fucking Tony Bennett. This is who I'm talking to. Yeah. Somebody who is elevated. And he's elevated in the world. Yes. May not be. I don't know what kind of a mind.

Yes. But for good reason, he's elevated in the world. Yes. May not be. For good reason. I don't know what kind of a mind. Yes. But for good reason, he is elevated. He is the best in a very difficult thing to do, singing great. Yes. And he's certainly, of that genre, top five. And I know him. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Oh, I agree with you. Crazy. You know, this is known as the three questions, and it's because, and so they're, you know, where have you been? And so what are you looking forward to going forward? I mean, is it just kind of keep taking those jobs when they come? Is there anything in particular? But with reason. There is reason. Number one, being an actor is playing pretend. When you're three years old, they say you laugh about a hundred times a day. As you grow older, you're lucky if you laugh five times. When I'm on set, when I'm doing this stuff, I laugh. I play. I am a child. I am not childish. I am childlike.

Yeah. I am still playing cowboys and Indians. This keeps me young. Yeah. Memorizing lines keeps my mind. Crossword puzzles do. I play games on my computer that I try or find words or connect words, letters. Memorizing lines keeps me young.

Yeah. words, letters, memorizing lines keeps me young. I'm somebody who really likes to work hard at what I find fun. Acting, the older I get, and now that I don't do sitcoms and things like that, acting has become more difficult because it's more challenging. I now find I love that because I love acting and I love working hard at what I love to do. So looking forward, the reason why I love golf, I love playing golf. And the only thing I will give up golf for really are my children and work. So, and so when my kids are finally in school, I hope to move to, I live in New York now, I hope to move to LA for a very hardworking retirement. Yeah. Most people go to Arizona for a week to retire.

And that warm climate of Florida, I have to take the warm climate of LA. Yeah. And hope that I work and work and work. Yeah. But play golf without, you know, from January, February and March. It's iffy, but I'll be there. It can still play, but it's 50 to 60 degrees. Work then just that'll be your work. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The first three months of the year. That's your real that's what that's your work year. That is what the future the future holds for me. And just holding on to health as best I can.

Have you ever been one to like find a project and say, I'm going to produce this or I, you know, champion this kind of book or anything, or you don't, that's, you're a utility guy. I am. And, and I'm going to tell you something, my group of, I've never said this to them. And if they're listening, I apologize because I love you all, but the group of actors who came a little before me and who I worked with at Second City, very talented. We wait by the phone.

A generation or two after, Amy Sedaris, Colbert, Carell. These were, Danilo. Yeah. These were proactive people who went out and created, what was that? Not The Road. What was the name of that show? Exit 57. Exit 57.

Strangers with Candy. And then Strangers with Candy. Yeah, yeah. They were proactive. Yeah. They did not wait by the phone. They said their fame, their hunger, what we were talking about earlier. Right, right.

They were wearing it on their sleeve. Yeah. And I don't know why, but that is not who I am. If I had been with them, I think that I might be, but I'm not that guy. I may talk about, oh, wow, I'd really love to produce that. I'm lying to myself. A podcast, would I love to? Well, I know I wouldn't be good at podcasts. I talk too much. But you went out and you did a podcast. I wish I were more proactive about that. I try and teach my kids a little bit, but I'm actually, I'm saying the words, but I'm really not living by example.

Yeah. But they know how hard I work. They do know how hard I work. I mean, I appreciate that your complimentary nature of your comments about my work, but I feel very much like, you know, I think one of the reasons that I became an improviser over an actor is because, well, A, it was a nice compromise between writing and acting. I wanted to write, but I have, you know, the same way that I said I can't read a book, to sit down in front of a blank screen and say like, okay, now I'm going to fill this up with words and ideas can be paralyzing to me. But if somebody, if I'm, if I'm with someone and says, we're going to do a show about, you know,

like a gas station run by a vampire, I'm like, all right, well, that's something let's go, you know, let's start. Let's get together and do it. Let's do it. I need, I need collaboration. I need other people. I can't. Me too. I don't have this notion of who I am and what I have to say. There's this fire. I'm kind of sitting here waiting for somebody to react. I'm more of a reactive person just kind of generally.

Me too. And I think it would be good, although I might be a little too heavy-handed with my opinions and know it's got to go this way. Yeah, yeah. But Andy Saves the Universe, that was the name of your show? Andy Richter Controls the Universe, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Who was responsible for that?

Well, a guy named Victor Fresco created the show. Oh, I love Victor Fresco. Yeah, yeah. Oh my God, he's great, he's great. Yeah, he created that. I mean, and we were, you know, we were in it together. I was a writer on the show. I mean, I like to say that when people compliment that show, I don't feel embarrassed by taking the compliment because I feel like I contributed enough to the identity of that show, aside from performing in it, but just, you know, producing it. I helped produce that show.

You helped produce that show. You helped produce that show. And I, you know, and I was firm about it, you know? I mean, there were times where there was, say, like an ending to an episode, and I would say, no, we got to come up with something better, you know? Great, great. Where I could assert myself in that way, you know? I think I'd love to be in that. I don't know whether I'm past my prime

with doing something like that, but I would love it. I would love it. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, I've been approached so many times with, oh, we've got this idea for a series for you. And this has something to do with your, the whole of who you are. You are likable. You are pleasant.. You are pleasant. Oh, thank you.

And you are, you have a round face that's inviting. You are not threatening. They could build a show around, even though you are a character, around that kind of character. Yeah. I know I am a satellite character. Here's the head of the show i am one like i was on spin city like i was never yeah i'm perfectly fine i would love to just sort of you know be a member of an ensemble the notion now at this point of like being the star of something which i mean i

don't know if there's any there's a market for that anyway. But I almost kind of want, I would rather be part of a team rather than be, like the notion of being the star or something. I have no interest in kind of the things that a lot of people are interested in that sense. Because quite frankly, living with Conan O'Brien over all these many years, there's so much bullshit that he has to do that I would just loathe. Like meetings and people he has to know and names he has to do that I would just loathe like meetings and people he has to know I understand he has to memorize and I just and I don't know if I could take the pressure of having all of this you know I got I got one family I don't need 60 of them that get paychecks from me that are my family too you know you're right yes oh I understand, I always say, once again, I'll bring up George, but when Brad Pitt says, yes, I'll do a movie, an industry opens up. That's a lot of pressure.

Yeah. I don't know. That's why we don't get the big bucks. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's because we don't have to deal with that pressure and feeding 60 families. Yeah, yeah. We're dancing monkeys on a string. Yep.

Do this. Yep. We'll give you a little bit of money. Don't you worry. And also, come in, do your work, go home, and you're done. Yes. You know, you're clear of it. Yeah, yeah.

My dad owned a jewelry store. He owned a jewelry store. His, the manager of the store, a guy named Phil Parato, knew more about jewelry, was a very good salesman, was there many more hours than my dad was. And I used to say, Dad, why doesn't Phil Parato own the store? You, you, so he goes, Phil Parato couldn't take this. He doesn't take the store home with him. Yeah. Yeah.

Every night I take the store home with me. I have to worry. I don't, I don't know. You get paid for that. You do. And I understand. Yeah. What lessons have you learned from your life that aren't specific? Like, what do you think you've learned that could be applicable to anybody's life? Like what what's you know, I mean, because we you know, we've talked a lot of shop here. So, OK, you know what? Yes, I usually say that the journey is always the most fun. I usually say that the journey is always the most fun. Here's something that I,

it's good to not always think you're as smart as you think you are. And I have to keep reminding myself that. Yeah. And I think I know everything and I have to step back and go. And especially when I talk to people who I admire, and usually I have to say this, not just people who are learned people, but I usually think stand-ups are especially smart or observant or cynical or have a take on the world that I don't have. And I have to, I keep wanting to impress them. And I should just stand back and say, well, you know you're not as funny as they are. You're not as witty, and you're not as smart.

Listen to what they have to say because they will entertain you more, and they will enhance your life more if you just listen. And I tend to talk a lot, and I really have to catch myself. I really have to catch myself. And that's a lesson that I have learned over time. And yet I still don't, I still talk too much. Yeah, yeah. But I do, I do. It's who I am. Thank you so much for talking to me today.

This has been a joy. It's been great seeing you. And good luck. And I hope to see you soon out on campus. I will tell you something about podcasts. There are people I know who I hear interviewed and I hear stories from them. And I go, I've known these people for 25 years. I never knew that about this person.

Yeah, yeah. It's a reason why I like doing podcasts like this, because I do know you. Yeah. I can't say I know you intimately. After today, I know you a little more intimately. And it's been my pleasure. It sure has. And I hope all you out there liked listening. And we will be back next week with more of The Three Questions.

Bye-bye. The Three Questions with Andy Richter is a Team Coco and Earwolf production. It is produced by Elaine Gerbig, engineered by Marina Pice, and talent produced by Galitza Hayek. The associate producer is Jen Samples, supervising producer Aaron Blair,

and executive producers Adam Sachs and Jeff Ross at Team Coco, and Colin Anderson and Cody Fisher at Earwolf. Make sure to rate and review The Three Questions with Andy Richter on Apple Podcasts. This has been a Team Coco production in association with Earwolf.