The Three Questions with Andy Richter - Steven Wright

Episode Date: December 31, 2024

Legendary stand-up comedian Steven Wright joins Andy Richter to discuss his novel, “Harold,” the influence of Monty Python, why he moved out of Los Angeles, their favorite old-school radio shows, and much more.Do you want to talk to Andy live on SiriusXM’s Conan O’Brien Radio? Leave a voicemail at 855-266-2604 or fill out our Google Form at BIT.LY/CALLANDYRICHTER. Listen to "The Andy Richter Call-In Show" every Wednesday at 1pm Pacific on SiriusXM's Conan O'Brien Channel. 

Hey everybody, welcome back to The Three Questions. I am the host of The Three Questions, Andy Richter, and this week I am super excited to be talking to Stephen Wright, although he won't sound excited at all. That's his thing. Rolling Stone ranked him the 15th greatest comedian of all time, he's a legendary stand-up actor and writer, a genuinely hilarious guy, and his novel Harold is available wherever you get your books. Here's my conversation with Stephen Wright. You can ask whatever you want. Listen, I already did one of these today. You did?

Yeah. That was funny. That was funny. If that was the beginning of this, you go, I already did one of these. We are rolling. Now I'm going to talk. Oh, yeah. Yeah, we're rolling.

You know, I did one of these today, so you want to ask me things, go right ahead. I mean, frankly, I'm a better interviewer than you anyway. Let's be honest. Oh, I agree with you. I have two things to say. Oh, no. They're both ugly. I'll decide which one for now.

Well, how are you? I know I'm good. How long overall? Overall, that's what I like to say. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. How what are you doing in L.A.? Most of my friends live here. Oh, yeah. And I thought I I need to go see everybody. Yeah, yeah. Because time's moving on. Yeah. So do you like it out here? I time's moving on. Yeah. So.

Do you like it out here? I like, it's all right. I like it because I know, I used to live here, but I never felt connected to it. Yeah. I lived in Santa Monica, lived in Hollywood. For how many years? I lived in Hollywood two years and then I lived in Santa Monica 12 years. Oh, okay.

And I think the United States is so big that it's just called the United States, but it's like five different countries. That's how different, and it was like, this was just very different than New England. Visually, I'm very visually, all in the buildings, the seasons and all that. I didn't even notice what the people were like.

I was just in Western Massachusetts working on a little movie and I'm just amazed at how fucking woodsy it is. Like it's just, and it makes, I kept thinking about like the first people, like the first settlers that came there, cause I'm from Illinois and Illinois is prairie. So you can see, you can understand somebody coming there and being like, all right, well we tear up the grass,

you know, we turn up the grass and we have, we can plant some corn. But in New England, it just seems like you've got to cut down fucking trees to do anything. You know, there's so many trees. And then take the rocks out so you can. Yeah, yeah. Because where I grew up in Burlington,

there's stone walls going through the woods. Yeah, yeah. Because there used to be fields. Right, right. So I was here for a while and then I wanted to go back. Yeah. Did you feel like this town was full of shit? Like did that get to you or did you kind of like

live apart from that? Wasn't that it was full of shit, it was that it was... I was here for show business reasons and everyone I knew was in show business and after a while it's normal at first, but then it gets like a Twilight Zone. It's like one subject where everyone's talking about blue. Yeah. I said, like, well, they might make the color dark blue. They might make navy blue.

I heard striped blue fell through. What do you think? I'm going to go to this blue. Harry Winkle, fuck you. But I didn't hate it. I just didn't feel connected to it. So when I come out here, I don't I didn't hate it I just didn't feel connected to you so when I come out here I don't live here, so it's like It's fun. Do you stay by the beach?

No, I stayed on Hancock Park. Oh, yeah friend of mine lives there Oh, that's nice, and but I have stayed down the beaches saved me when I lived here, so I just seeing the water. Yeah. But can I ask you something? I don't know all you I know you of like being on Conan. Yeah. How did you get like I don't know any of your history. Like where did you start perform? How did you get to that spot? Well, I got recruited in college and I first went to Langley. And, no, I, I'm from Illinois and, and I started out wanting to, you know, kind of wanting to work in show business. Went to film school in Chicago. Oh, yeah. And then started taking improv classes and then just from, you know, then got in with the comedy people and sort of got to know each other.

And then the way that Conan and I met was that I was doing, I was doing a show that we had taken from Chicago to New York and a friend of mine that I had done improv with and a couple of friends of mine were on SNL at that time. They were on for a few seasons and I met Robert Smigel through them, just like as friends and stuff. And then when Conan got the job, Robert was the head writer on the show. I never knew that. Yeah. Robert Smigel was the head writer when Conan got the late night job. And then Robert just called me out of the blue and was like, hey, I'm doing this show with this guy Conan.

Would you want to maybe be a writer on it? And I was like, yeah, sure. And then it just kind of went from there. But I had been, I was in LA at that time and I had already done parts in a couple of movies, you know, and I was auditioning for things. But I mean, I wasn't setting the world on fire or anything, but. What was the group in Chicago? Improv Olympic, like, you know, Del Close. You know the name.

Yeah. He was like the improv guru guy. But I never did second city because at the time it like, it was, it wasn't like a vital place when I was there. Because it's been around forever and it's sort of relevance has ebbed and flowed. And at the time I was there, it was kind of like you take a bunch of classes, you take five levels of classes and you get a t-shirt. And if, and if you butter up the right people, then you might, you know, get stage time. Whereas with improv Olympic, they need, they needed bodies. So they put, just put you on stage. And so that's when I started doing

that. So when you wanted to do something in show business, you weren't exactly sure what. I was not. You went to the film thing first. Yeah. Yeah, because it was like a breakdown of compromises, you know? It's like, I didn't think it's like, you know, it's like I watched an old interview or an interview that you did about when you were promoting your book and you said something about, you know, seeing standups

on Johnny Carson and thinking like, well, I would like to do that, but that's like saying, I want to play in the NBA or, you know, or I want to be an astronaut. And that was kind of the same thing for me. So I mean, I started, I started in college, a high school counselor told me, oh, go into journalism. If you want to write, go into journalism. I was like, I don't care about journalism. I don't want to fucking report on the real world.

You said that to him first. I was like, I don't care about that. He's like, just do it. You can write your other stuff in your spare time. Brave soul that I was. I'm just brave enough to say, to differ, but then when pushed, I went, oh, okay, I'll do journalism. And then, you know, two years into college,

I just knew that's not what I wanna do. So I transferred and did film school, which again was- How did you like that? I loved it. It was really good and it was like, it was a step towards like getting to know the people, you know, like my crew, the people that were the same as me. But then when improv, when I got into improv, then it was really like, those are my people, you know. But I also too, I really, I think of myself

I think of myself as like, I'm a film television professional, and I just happen to have a really cushy job where I get my own toilet. But I don't feel like I'm that much different than when I was pulling cables or running errands or doing AD work or props. That's what I ended know, do an AD work, you know, or props. That's what I kind of ended up doing was props because it was fun. It was like art project or shopping. In the film school, you mean?

And no, in, in, in production in Chicago, I was doing commercials. Shopping for the movies. Absolutely. Yeah. They'd, it'd be like in June, we're doing a ski lodge And then, and then it was like, here's two grand cash, go buy ski lodge furniture. And then you have to be like, well, where the fuck do I do?

And there's no internet. So it'd be like, Oh, I'll get on the yellow pages and look up log furniture and then call and just ask and, you know, drive to Wisconsin to a guy that makes birch log furniture and buy birch log furniture from the, or rent it from him. And, you know, and then you have your ski lodge commercial and you drive it back to Wisconsin and give it back to him.

People have asked me this many times. And when you were in school, you must've been joking around. Oh, yeah. Were you joking around with the whole to make the class laugh or, or your buddies, cause I joke, but with one, with two guys, I didn't want the class looking or your buddies? Because I joked with one, with two guys. Yeah. I didn't want the class looking at me. Yeah, yeah.

What was your version? Mine was both, but I was very comfortable joking with the teacher. Ah, very interesting. Not like... In front of the class. Yeah, yeah, but it was more, it wasn't, you know, I don't, it's not like Biff from, you know, like, I wasn't like the class bully. I was more like, you know, from, what do you call it? The, the,

Back to the Future. Yeah. But, you know, like the, like that guy, I was, I was, I would, I frequently I frequently enjoyed the experience of having a teacher be infuriated with me. Oh, really? Because I was being such a fucking smart ass. And while they're infuriated with me, I would say something that would make them laugh. So they would be furious and laughing. And it was like, I win, I win. Because they couldn't really follow through on the anger. Although sometimes they did.

They'd be like, I mean, but I never, I wasn't a kid that liked to get in trouble. I didn't, I was terrified of getting in trouble. But being a smart ass, I couldn't help. But that was the pattern, Make the teacher mad. Yeah. Make the teacher laugh. Yeah. While they're mad.

Yeah, yeah. So you had no- Make them laugh mostly. The most- I was a joy to be around, to be honest. But also, you know, I was- But I was smart too, and a lot of dumb teachers. I just couldn't take how fucking dumb they were. And it's not their fault. You know, they're school teachers in Yorkville, Illinois, but I just, you know, and I also,

I never liked being told what to do. I have real authority problems. I'm not like a huge rebel, like I say, I don't like getting in trouble. I wasn't like one of the kids that was, you know, climbing power lines or whatever, you know, like kids do or, you know, playing chicken in a pickup trucks on a country road. But I definitely, I did not like being told what to do.

And I, you know, never have. I mean, I can tell you are kidding by how you are that you've been kidding around your whole life. Oh, I fucking, know, never have. I mean, I can tell you're kidding you by how you are that you've been kidding around your whole life. Oh, I fucking, it's the best. It's the best. But, and you had no public speaking, people don't like public speaking, but you seem to be not bothered by it

if you're talking to the teacher like that in front of the whole class, cause the class was in there. Yeah. You had, in- I was okay. I was okay with that. I'm not, I have that thing too,

that a lot of people have in that. And I mean, and you kind of embody it, like the introvert that wants to do something extroverted. Absolutely. You know? And I mean, do you think about why that is? I think that the comedy is so desirable to do and write and perform that it was like a fight against my being.

It's wrong. It's wrong for me to be doing this. Yeah. It's like I've been doing this for a long time, but I shouldn't really be doing it. I mean, I pull it off. But I don't know, now I'm wondering why I just didn't think, well, I wanna do that, but I'm not gonna do it. But it wasn't like that.

I forced myself to do it because I wanted to do it so bad. And I didn't even think what are those guys like, like Carlin and Robert Klein. I didn't even think what are those guys like, like Karl and Robert Klein. I didn't even think what they're like. But now that I'm thinking, I can't believe that they would be like, not liking to be out there. They seem comfortable, right?

Right. Yeah, definitely. But I think, well, but I think it makes sense to me that coming up with jokes is, well, A, your jokes are like, you know, and very much like words and like architectural with words, like you're always using words in ways that are surprising and interesting. And, and it's like, why I know, you know, you were on Twitter and you were great at Twitter because

it's kind of an awesome thing to be able to share your stories with people. And so I think that's the way I think about it. And I think that's the way I think about it. And I think that's the way I think about it. And, and it's like why I know, you know, you were on Twitter and you were great at Twitter because it's kind of, and I always love Twitter in its heyday because it's was like a little challenge. You get this much space to tell a joke. And if you can fit like, to me, it was always like, I bet I can fit three ideas

into that one joke and would, you know, and would try and massage the words and be very, you know, like trying you be as economical as I could to get across as much as I could by saying as little. And I think that that's kind of always how you've worked your joke. You, you know, you obviously love coming up with jokes and you can't help it. It's just what you do.

But you got, you know, are you gonna ride them for Joan Rivers? You know, are you gonna ride them for Shecky Green? You know, no, you gotta do them yourself. And so it's like you wanted, you like the cowboy lifestyle but you're scared of horses. Yes, exactly. You know?

Exactly. Yeah. Can't you tell my love's a-growing? I realized many years after doing it that the jokes were written, so that's just how I learned how to observe jokes. That's how I wrote them. But then I realized that they were so short that I didn't have to be standing there a long time before they left.

Like that's a public speaking thing. I wasn't telling a minute story. That's like now I'm in front of them, I'm in front of them. If they're laughing, laughing, laughing, it's like okay, you're Distracting yeah, okay. I'm here. I'm here, but they're laughing here. It's like a safe like a safety And you know I didn't know a lot of things to win till you're looking back. Yeah, yeah fear of Just having 500 people just staring at you. Yeah, it when I try new stuff, most of it doesn't work.

Yeah. So you got to weed it out. And then that's to me the hardest thing is to just stay standing there. And see, I can tell by your question that that doesn't faze you. I would like to get to the point of just saying many jokes don't work and not be bothered by it. But I don't like it though. It hasn't gotten easier? Yes, it has.

Yeah. Than the beginning. But it's still not like, it's casual. As easy as you'd like it to be. Casual. I mean, it's like, because you say it, you think it's funny, that's why you say it. And then 500 people, the silence is a vote. Yeah.

We disagree. We disagree. Right, right, right, right. Then I'll say one that I know works, then say another one that I don't know what's gonna happen. Well, my, I mean, it is true. Like I don't mind bombing, you know? I mean, and I'm, A, I'm not a standup, but I mean, it is true. Like I, I don't mind bombing, you know, I mean, and I'm a, I'm not a standup, but I mean, but I can now, and especially now I've done so, you know, being, I've just been in front of people talking so much that now it's really hard for me to get nervous.

That's fantastic. That's fantastic. And, you know, if I, like if I had to give a speech, but even then, I'm like, when I think about it, because like I've done sort of, I've gone to like political fundraisers, and they'll be like, talk for 10 minutes. And I'm like, and I don't have, you know, I don't have jokes to fall back on. But I, you know, like in the car ride over, I'll be like, okay, all right, that's 10, you know, that'll get me through. And I just, but there is times when I work and I think about like, maybe like, yeah,

it's like, it's easier for me, but maybe I'm missing out on something in that nothing feels that important to me. You know what I mean? Like you, it's important, the jokes work, like you really have a stake in it. And I don't know, sometimes I feel like, am I just breezing through life? Like, you know, just like, just like got my,

you know, always got, you know, the way people look across a party and catch the eye of someone else. It's like, that's it. But for me, it's the grave. Like, am I always just got an eye on the grave and like, hey, everybody, how's it going? What's going on? But I got a nap to take for forever, you know? Uh... But I? But I got a nap to take for forever. You know?

Um, but I mean, I do think that. And I used to tell people on the Conan show all the time, you know, big fucking movie stars, it'd be like after their segment, they'd be like, was that okay? And I would be like, it doesn't matter. Who cares? Like, it doesn't matter. You're, you're a priority. You have a built in higher priority of what's meaningful. And you're casual. You're very, I admire your casualness.

Oh, thank you. It's like, it's like it is. It's like when you think about it, is it that important? It's not really that important. That's amazing. And the thing that also, that I also think, and then I try and put this into other parts of my life, because the others, half of who cares if the segment was good is if you're in the head space of who cares if it was good, odds are it's going to be good. It's going to be better. Oh, did you find that?

Yeah. It's going to be more effortless. Yes. You's gonna be better. Oh, did you find that? Yeah, it's gonna be more effortless. Yes. You're gonna be... Because they can, the audience can feel... Yeah. If you're pressing it, if you're struggling. Yeah. So if it's casual, then they tend to laugh more. Yeah. And I always felt like it was like part of our jobs. A, the show was its own thing and that people were basically at home and they wanna eavesdrop on funny, interesting people talking, you know, it's like, it did, you know, if you sat down at a restaurant table

and you were next to you and me and Conan, you know, people would be like, oh, I want to listen in on this and hear. And so I always felt they want to hear us having a good time. So my job is to pursue my own good time. I should have fun here. And if I really want to do a good job for the people that are tuning into this show, me pursuing my own fun is probably the best way to do that. As opposed to fucking sweating about like, Oh, Jesus Christ, is this going to work?

Is this any good? It's so much better to be, you know, and when you think about it, anyone that you've ever wanted to fall in love with you, if they can take you or leave you, it's like, oh my God, now I'm really in love with you. You know, like, I really need you because you don't give a shit how I feel or whether I exist, you know. I want you so bad, you know. It's like, there's nothing more attractive than somebody that doesn't give a shit about you. Well, were you that casual even the first shows of Conan?

Why are you out there? Even I was no, I wasn't that I wasn't that casual, but I certainly certainly weren't overthinking it. I was not overthinking it. I was amazing. I had done enough. I had done enough improv to know like that won't help. That won't help, you know? And even in honestly like in the early days of the show,

there would be, and I mean, I also too, I was, it wasn't my name on the show. So I did, I was absolved of a lot of the worry that it would have been if it was late night with Andy Richter, then I would have had to probably care more, but I don't know, maybe I would have been the same, I'm not sure. Because I've been number one in different things and I always was kind of like, oh, I don't know,

we'll see, you know, we just gotta do as good as we can and see how it goes and it'll work or it won't. And, but Conan, there would be some nights just got to do as good as we can and see how it goes and it'll work or it won't. And, um, but Conan, there would be some nights where early on, and also Conan was, they were so fucking mean to both of us, but mostly to him and in big day. I mean, it felt like the world, but he would, uh, sometimes after a bad show, you know, then you do five a week. It's like, yeah, there's some that aren't gonna be great.

And he would be like, oh my God, he's like, that was terrible. I was, we'd get back and be like, that was awful. What are we gonna do? And I mean, I just had done enough improv and enough and been on stage for enough hours where I'd be like, I'd say to him, I go like, well, you know what the real shame is? We don't get to do one tomorrow. Oh wait, we do. We do. We're coming right back here tomorrow to

do the same thing. So that one's already gone. What are you going to do? You know, we can learn lessons from it, but it's like, some of them aren't going to be great. And it's, you know, and in a long, you know, in a show like that too, when you're doing so many of them, you need low spots to make the high spots higher too. You know, like your bad shows somehow make your better shows better. Would that help him when you would say that? Yeah. And then the fucker like two years later, one time told me, like a flat show and he goes, you you know the thing is we get to come back

tomorrow and do one and I was like I wonder where you heard that from you son of a bitch but um but yeah no it was and then once once it's going you know like my metaphor for it was always like it was it's you're laying track for a train that you can hear coming, you know, you don't have time To worry about every spike that you drive in be good on military World War Military guy me. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah or a crew ship that has problems Yeah, they bring me in just when it's sinking. They helicopter me in.

Guys, it's going to be all right. You're walking around the deck, hey, how are you? Look at the stars. This is amazing. Another drink. Don't go to that bar. The other one on the other side of the boat. Well, that one's getting wet.

So calm everyone down. Well, like I say, I try to do it in the rest of my life. I mean, are you- Were your parents like, not in depth, like I'm not trying to invade your privacy. Were they together, were they together, people? Like, because it's... I would not say so.

Well, why I say that is I've seen like they gave you a strong founding. Yes. I will say that my mom... I'm analyzing. I mean, I guess like, I just, I'm just... No, listen, like they say, I already did one of these today. So I'm analyzing. I'm in here. I'm just like, sorry, I just, I'm just like, I just. No, listen, like I say, I already did one of these today, so I'm happy to. No, my mother, my mother was very good about making me feel, giving me permission to do what I wanted. Like to follow my own, you know, like there wasn't like a, like, you gotta be a doctor or you gotta get into Harvard or whatever, any of that shit. It was do what makes you happy. You know, when I wanted to quit the football team, I came home and I was like, coach wants us to come in five days a week in the

summertime. And she was like, you're going to quit, right? And I was like, yes, mom, I am, I'm going to quit. I do not want to right? Yeah, because I do not wanna come five days a week in the summertime for two hours. And so she was very good about that. I mean, she's not like, like she's, and she's, you know, she's old now. And so, but she's, you know, kind of, I don't know. That's all right.

I mean, I met you child. Yeah, yeah. I mean, you seem like you've been no I thought like Light-hearted like You know amusing well no big deal everybody very funny. It was a funny family. So that's a family Yeah, there was that was a it was a funny family. There was my family was they weren't funny they weren't like weirdly angry, but there was, there was a, it was a funny family. There was my family. They weren't funny. They weren't like weirdly angry, but there was no, there was not like you're saying. Did you, I mean, were they surprised when you were like, I'm going to go get on stage and tell jokes?

I didn't really, uh, I was, I went and did it without telling them I was doing it. I didn't tell people I was going to do it in advance because I'm very superstitious. I thought if I told people it wouldn't happen. So I just told one guy, a guy I went to college with. But then I was going in the clubs in Boston. Then I told them I am doing this. And they didn't think it was great. They didn't think it was great,

they didn't think it was bad, they were just like medium reaction. Yeah. But then they started coming seeing me quite often in Boston. You know Lenny Clark? Yeah. My father loved Lenny Clark and he would ask me where I was playing and where Lenny was and then he would go to see Lenny.

Which is fine because they, mine lined it up better with that. Like I can see that. And did you not, I mean, would he have made you nervous if he was in the crowd? No, no, he was in the crowd. Quite often, just sometimes. Oh, but he would just do it when Lenny was there. Do what? Come see you.

No, no, he would ask me, you know, this show's Friday and Saturday, where is Lenny? Lenny's over that club. Where are you? I'm over there. I'm going to go see Lenny at that club. But some clubs, sometimes he would go see me. Yeah, yeah. And, sometimes he would go see me. Yeah, yeah. And, and, but he was fine with it.

Did you feel a drive to please him? No. Or your mom? No. No. I'm laughing at my answer because I'm wondering why is that? It was all in my, it was all my personal dream. Like, like it was all just in my mind. Yeah, no, I'm the same way.

And I sometimes, because I know so many people who were powered by, I'm going to prove to my dad, I'm going to show them. And I never had that. I never, like, my dad wasn't super present in my life. I mean, he and my mom divorced when I was young. And then I, you know, I saw him for a couple of weeks. And he was my dad, and I'd talk to him on the phone or stuff.

But I never felt like, oh, I gotta, you know, which, I mean, if I was gonna be like, I need to please my dad, it would be like, I need to listen to opera, you know? He was a college professor and, you know, or I need, you know, I listen to opera, you know, he was a college professor and you know, or I need you know, I need to study, you know romance languages. It's like I'm not gonna do that. So let's not worry about that But you've met people in the business

Yeah who have done it and it really seems like and they are like so driven and I Sometimes like I feel like I could use more drive and I and you didn't feel any kind of pressure like that was no, there was no one in show business. No one had any desire to be in show business. They didn't. They were fine. Like you said earlier, they were fine. Whatever I wanted to do. Yeah. They didn't. They didn't like it was fine and they would go and they would watch the shows.

But it's like you're a bizarre thing because doing this is such an odd thing and then everyone in your family has nothing, no connection, no desire. They're not writing comedy, they're not performing. But it wasn't weird. It was so different, but I didn't feel like now I'm not connected to them. Yeah. It was just, just, just how it is. Right. Right. Everyone has their own personality.

Yeah, no, yeah. No, I, I, I know what you mean. Cause like, you know, this is, I went into this. I mean, I could have, you know, gone into architecture. Nobody's an architect either, but you know, this is just what I do for a living. Although nobody asks you for free tickets to watch you do and be an architect. Can I see you design that? Can we watch you draw things?

It was the Monty Python. They had a novel writing in the stadium. They had a stadium of people. Do you remember that? That was one of their bits. Yeah. Yeah. Guy sitting in a? That was one of their bits. A guy sitting in a table and he's writing on that. They are.

Did you like them? I loved them. I loved them, yeah. When they were finding them on PBS when I was a kid, it was like, what the fuck is this? Absolutely. Surrealism. And I mean, I was like,

I was probably seven or eight years old and didn't understand half of it, but watched every single, I think it was on Sunday nights, would watch, me and my brother and I would watch every Sunday night. And like I say, not understand, because a lot of it's so English.

It's English references and stuff, but just it was unlike anything. I was in college and there was a movie called, and now for something completely different, which came out before the PBS thing, like a year before. My friend, Jory, saw it in Harvard Square and he said, you have to go see this. So I did and he was right. It was like, just so different.

It was like if Salvador Adali was doing comedy. It was like abstract. Absolutely. And then the series and then became addicted to that. It's just amazing how they thought and that group is just unbelievable. And just the form of it, you know, the transitions between sketches and the like and just that feeling of like, oh we don't really need an ending, you know? And there's not really, I mean, I guess there are some people like Tim Heidecker and Eric

Wareheim, you know, Tim and Eric, awesome, great job. It was a show on Adult Swim and it was a sketch comedy and it was kind of the same. It was, I mean, it's very different, but in informal terms, there was, it was like, there would be, just be sketches that was just weird shit. Just like a weird video effect and them like sweating, you know, you know, cuts of them sweating and making noises and it would, you know, and, and Eric Andre, I don't know if you ever watch

any Eric Andre, he does, he's a, he's a more of a stunt kind of guy. He, it's like a deconstructed talk show, like with, you know, stuff where a guest will come out and they'll torture them, you know, or he'll be nude from the waist down or something, you know. But he does comedy sketches and there's no, there's no, there's no, there's no beginning, middle or end. It's just get, he'll get right to the funny thing of like, you know, two, you know, a robber runs through a store and a cop stops them. And then they start the cop and the robber start making out like this, you know, just, there's no setting for it.

It's just, they get right to the, right to the weird funny part. I love that. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. There is part of me though that's like, everything can't be complete. You know, like everything can't be nonsense. Because I watch so many, you know, I am older than most comedians now, you know, I mean, but like, you know, the people that are comedies and young guys game,

you know, and the people that are doing like the, you know, the real vital comedy nowadays, like some, there are times and I'm like, where's the fucking jokes? Like, how about a joke now and then? Like, can we get a joke as opposed to just, you know, weirdness? And, you know, weirdness. Um, and, and, you know, but then there are plenty of people that do

weirdness that I really like, but I still do. There is like times when I'm like, that doesn't count. That doesn't count as funny. You know, it's like when standups go, you know, remember Charleston choose and everyone goes, woo. And then I just like, that doesn't count. That does not count. That is not an act to name off old things and then go remember that.

You're in the back with a megaphone. Stop, stop laughing. Stop clapping. Can't you tell my love's a girl? Because your style, you know, your style is very much your own style. And was it always there? Like from the get go? Yeah, right from the beginning. I mean, I would listen to Woody Allen.

I never listened to this radio show in Boston. The guy played two comedy albums every Sunday night. It was the time of the Boston Bruins, like with Bobby Orr days. Yeah. So I would listen to Bruins and I stumbled onto this show every Sunday. And so I tuned in for like two years. So I heard all these every this guy had this huge collection. And that's where I heard Woody Allen's live album, his stand-up album.

Within that, I noticed how he structured a joke. Then years later when I was doing it, I remembered that way of doing it. I thought, well, I guess I'll write the joke like that. Then I sure love George Carlin, him talking about everyday things. Yeah. I thoughtlin, him talking about everyday things. Yeah. I thought I'll talk about everyday things.

But so the jokes were because of that. So I learned how to write a joke and this is how I speak. This is just how I speak and I'm on there and I'm scared out of my mind. Yeah. So I have no expression because I'm trying to say the joke, right and I'm thinking of what's the next joke so I'm like this I'm like frightened out of my so so my voice yeah in and the face and the The Joe and mesh together by accident. It's all like just happened. Yeah, I'm very it's not a great gear

This delivery is not a gimmick It's fear This delivery is not a gimmick. It's fear. It's what? It's visible fear. This is how we talk. Anyway, I'm not afraid sitting here, but I talk like this anyway, then add in fright.

Yeah. And it's like, and then I'm going to... You know. Yeah. I just feel lucky that... Your mind is like a fingerprint, you know, everyone has a thing how your mind operates. Yeah. And that's how you you like you do. You just are how you are. Like, that's why I asked you all about how you are. It's like it's just well, it's just natural. Well, that's the point of this. It's not, that's the idea behind this podcast is like to, you know, the idea is like, it's

the kind of conversations I like to have, which is what's happened to you and how has it made you the way you are, you know? And it's always, I'm always surprised by people that aren't interested in that kind of stuff. Because to me, it's like, well, you know, don't you want to know how it all works? And by how it all works means the inside and the outside, you know, both sort of the individual and the universal. You know, it's like, how do these things all connect?

You know? The combination of how your brain is physiologically, then add the environment, the randomness. Your parents are random. Where you live is random. What country is where you're from, who your neighbors are is random. It's like a random festival, and it's molding you.

It's molding you forever. And it's all like fluke fluke. Absolutely. But the physiological is your body is that's not even that's fluke. The parents who made you like a soup. Like, yeah, it's almost scary. And I gotta stop thinking about it. It's like, there's no plan. There's so no plan. Yeah, no, there isn't. But then you get to be a person and like, it's like, it's, wow, it's pretty amazing really. Yeah.

You know, you start doing comedy and by you, I should say, you know, one starts doing comedy just because you want to do it. It's fun to make people laugh. It's fun to think of jokes. It's an exciting challenge. It feels good when you get those laughs. But do you ever get to a point where you're like, ah, but I, you know, like there's a philosophy behind what I'm doing.

Like there's something, like there's something more to what I'm doing. And have you ever gotten to that? Like what's the purpose of your work? No, no, I've never gotten like that. People have asked me just, are you doing it? What reason are you doing it? It's really basically, can I think of something else that's funny? Yeah.

It's just, I'm not trying to, that's all I'm doing. And they, the audience gets some enjoyment. They're distracted. My, what I like to do, write and perform, but I'm also a live distraction. That's not why I do it, but I'm distracting them from their life for an hour. Yeah.

And that's, but that's not why I'm doing it, but it's good because laughing is very powerful. Yeah. It's like, it's so calming, you know? You can be in a mood and then you get up and talk to your friend on the phone and you die and laugh. And it's like it has a a it doesn't have the respect

I don't mean comedy. I mean actually laughing. Yeah needs more respect because it's Can help so much helps. Yeah No, that's I you know, I've always said like I my job Is to elicit the definition of happiness. In terms of, like if you wanted, you know, on a philosophical sense, you want to spread happiness in the world, which is a nice, you know, I mean, that's like the basic sort of thing of all sort of good philosophies is make life better for people, make people happy. Like laughter is the basic cellular structure of happiness and that's what you're selling.

So yeah, in many ways it's like it's a pretty beautiful profession full of ugly people doing ugly things, doing terrifically ugly things. Do you ever, uh, like, do you care much about the state of modern comedy? Like, do you, you know, I don't really follow closely. Yeah. It's all you follow closely. Yeah.

To tell you the truth. Yeah. I mean, I just see what's really out there because it's like, I mean, there's a few guys like, you know, Hannibal Buress. Yeah, yeah. I love that guy. Yeah.

I saw him like four or five years ago in Boston. He was like, he was something else. He is something else. Yeah. He's was like, he was something. He is something else. He was just like, oh my God. Like I really admire what he does. And Bill Burr, of course. And, but I know, I know, you know, I started watching The Tonight Show when I was 15.

I'm watching it and that's how I wanted to be a comedian and then Watching it all the time every night and then I'm in the clubs and I'm doing it every night and I'm doing it for years And then when I got into my 40s, I started I didn't notice till later when I thought back you started watching it less But I was still writing it and performing it. It was like it like burn it like burned out like it wore off Like yeah, so I just would see sometimes. Yeah, it didn't affect What I was doing right right because if you just watching it from when you're 15, and then you're 50 What is that 35 years? Yeah watching something? It's all right. Oh, okay. Let me see what's on this channel. Yeah yeah there are other things. Yeah you follow like the modern like what present day like not like those guys you those names like I don't know you know oh the name yeah yeah yeah for

adult swim. I kind of stay current with comedy somewhat but But a lot, I mean, a lot of that is because I do, I do this and I do, and I have a radio show that I do once a week. Oh, you have a radio show too? I do. I have a call in show. Oh, a call in thing. Yeah, yeah. That's great. Because Sirius XM bought all of Conan's podcasts and they wanted more radio programming. Nice.

So they were, you know, they're like, Hey, want to do a call in show? And I was like, okay. Yeah. It's like, I mean, it's like playing radio guy. You know, I go into a studio with knobs and dots. No, it's at the Sirius XM studios in Hollywood. Um, but yeah, if you're around, if you want to, you know, I mean, we just take calls. Like we put on a topic of like dating disasters or- Is it the show? An hour. That's amazing.

Yeah, it's just an hour. And then we put out a call on social media. Like we're looking for injury stories or sports stories or bad parenting. And then people call in and we just, they just tell us our stuff. Cause that's always, I love that about radio. Like Howard Stern, I'll listen to Howard Stern forever.

And I just, I love it when people call in and they'll be like, Howard, I had a three way and I need to tell you about it. You know, it's like, I just love that shit. When people call in or, you know, or I caught my dad masturbating, you know, my elderly father masturbating. Like I just, those stories to me are just, I'd rather hear that than any movie star promo their movie, you know. What time is the show on?

It's Wednesdays at one o'clock here. So four o'clock. That's when you do it? One o'clock. Yeah. I would go on there with you some time. Take some calls. Next time you're in town, let me know. Because that'd be great. There's something about radio.

I mean, I listen to that show, the comedy guy playing the albums, it's at night, it was like 10 at night. There's something about listening to the radio in the dark. Yeah. In bed, then I went when Larry King, remember he was on the. Yeah. I was addicted to Larry. Yeah. I love it. You're in the dark and some guys calling up like, you know, you know, Houston, you're on the air. Yeah. Yeah, Larry.

I think that, you know, there's something about the regular guy. Yeah. Hearing the regular guy as opposed to the guy who's on there for some real reason. Like you're talking about the what you said, I don't even want to repeat what the guy saw his father. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Right. Right. I think that's funny too. But my my mind won't let me say that now. Really? In the parking lot I will. Because your respect for the airwaves? No, because of how my childhood as a Catholic boy. Yeah, yeah.

But Larry King, I would love that. Did you ever listen to Art Bell? Yes. Art Bell was the fucking best. And I miss him so much. Art Bell, he had a nighttime radio show and it was all parapsychology and UFOs and ghosts and spirit possession. spirit possession and people would, it was like calling all loonies, you know, call in. Absolutely. And then he would have like UFO experts on and like vampire experts on. And it was on late at night. It was on late at night. And he was doing it from coast to coast.

In the middle. In the desert. In the desert. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like broadcasting you from the desert. I didn't connect to really what they were saying. I was fascinated by how weird it was. Oh, absolutely. Just the whole vibe. His voice, too. But it's like, you say, in the car, at night, driving at night, hearing people talk about

like demonic possession. It's like that. I can't think of anything better, you know? But I always love to, you know, like driving long drives, which I, I, you know, I don't have an occasion to do. And especially like state to state and just flipping through the FM dial and finding like weird, holy roller shows and, you know, advice, you know, love to the lovelorn kind of things. Yeah, no, that was that's like, and I don't even know, you know, now there's podcasts

for that, but it's it's not the same as. Yes, it's different to radio. Having things be on demand, like it takes the magic out of it, I think. Yes, I agree. Yeah. It's better being old, like old people, the things old people like are better than young people things. Well, now I want to also ask because your book, Harold, a novel, it's out in paperback.

Yes. And I know, where are you going? I, it's out in paperback. Yes. I know. Where are you going? I'm just tucking in my shirt. All right. He's off mic, folks, because he just stood up and started putting his hands in his pants. Because I mentioned his book. I don't know. He's like,

finally. I don't know. Okay. He got excited about selling some paperbacks. It was a fluke. Who knew? Who knew when I stood up to tuck in my shirt that it would be two minutes of hilarity? Yes, go on. minutes of hilarity. I love that this book, like for people that don't know the book, you started writing it on Twitter and it's like from the perspective of a third grader and it truly did kind of just become a free associative thing where you just, and it's like, and it's such an admirable work ethic to me that you were just like,

I started this thing and I'm going to sit down every day and just crank through it. And I mean, have you always been that way? No, I never did that before. Really? Like the stand up just comes into my mind hanging out, seeing a sign, talking to people. Oh, that could be a joke. And then you jot it down and you add it to the file. Yeah, exactly.

Then try it out. But they started writing the book on Twitter and just like a page and a half. I would write two sentences and then the next day two sentences and the next day two sentences. Then I thought I'm not going to write it on there anymore. I'm just going to write it and see how long it could go. And as it kept getting more, I really started to like it. Like I was, I was creating this world and I liked visiting the world every day. Yeah.

And, and so I read in a book, like when you get into a book and you're like, Oh shit, I got to go to the dentist. I want to get back into the founding of Hong Kong. You know? Yes. It was like reading a book, but of course you could have whatever you want happen. So sitting down repeatedly day after day after day, there was things coming out of my mind that would never have come out if I wasn't sitting down on purpose. And forcing it out.

Yeah, it was like incredible. And did that inspire you? Like are you still doing that? Or once it was done, you're kinda like, all right, there, I did that. Well, I wanna do it again, but I don't wanna like think of what, I don't wanna think of the book next,

if I write another book, I want it to just happen. You know? Why? Why do you want it? You know what? Because that one happened. Yeah. That one happened.

There's something just I like about that it just happened naturally. But maybe I should think of something on purpose of a book on purpose. Yeah, because I mean, I do kind of understand like surprising yourself and enjoying that as a process and then seeing if it happens again. But I just want to, I wonder, is there something, do you somehow diminish the notion of planning

it out? Like, if you thought like, oh, I'm going to write a story about intergenerational trauma and then, you know, and then, or, you know, or I'm going to write a story about the Navy and then you're, but then does that somehow cheapen it for you because it's not spontaneous? Yeah. I don't know why, but yes, I don't know what it is. I'm going to be thinking about that. All right, good. That's your assignment, your homework. I loved doing it though. Yeah.

Because I have a lot of things in there that wouldn't be jokes on stage. That was the thing. Yeah. I used Harold's head to put in what I think of life, like universe and religion and God and the court system and evolution. You know, that can't, I can't say that as little jokes. Right. So it was like, I got so much of what I think

of this experience being alive in through his head. A third grader would never be thinking of this. Right, right. But I don't care. Yeah, and there's even like anachronistic stuff where he like thinks of stuff from 1990 or something like. Yes, it goes ahead of time. Yeah.

Even in parentheses, it's somewhere in there that says, this didn't happen until 30 years later, but I don't care. Ha ha ha. Did you, I mean, were you pleased with how it was received and, you know, and going out and promoting it and all that kind of work that takes from it? Yes, I was received. I mean, I was like how it was received and thinking back on it, it was weird. I wasn't concerned how, I was kind of naive. I wasn't thinking of how was it going to be received that much. I didn't think about it that much. Kind of like you with the comedy, not like putting it under a microscope.

Yeah. But it was received really good, which is, it's almost like you're telling a joke. It took years, it took seven years. You're telling a joke that took seven years. You don't know. It's just, and then you say it, you don't know if it's going to work. Yeah. Yeah.

But it did work. And it's a relief. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's fun. And you know, you didn't waste seven years. What are you doing nowadays?

What's occupying your days? Well, now I have all this stand up that I've never tried before. I just keep, like you said, I can't, I write jokes. They just come to me, like almost every day. I write them down. So now I'm like, like I focused on the book. Now I'm focused going through all this stuff,

like to see what I can do, arrange it into something. Yeah. You know, if you mind, it's like an endless, endless, creative thing. It's like a machine that It's just going endless. That's what I like to focus on. Yeah. And how many, I mean, is there,

do you still don't impose any kind of like, I'm gonna come up with three jokes today or anything like that? No. No? They come like just, they. I think they come like just I don't. They just come. They float in there. Just happen. Yeah.

Like, I don't know if I could write a joke on purpose. Like, I'm going to write a joke. Yeah. About they just you see a word like I saw that in the paper. I saw the word electrolysis. Yeah. And I, you know, oh, an interesting word. Yeah. Yeah. A hair.

It sounds weird. Then later my mind thought of this joke about a pony that was involved in a bizarre electrolysis act. Yeah. Yeah. All the hair was removed except for the tail. Yeah. Now I rent him out to Hare Krishna family picnic.

Yeah. Yeah. That was because of that. Just the word electrolysis, yeah. Sparking. It just happens. Yeah. But I couldn't sit down like, oh, now I'm going to write jokes.

Right. All right, now this process of like going through all this old material, are you going to take it out and do it or are you going to be the form of a special? When I go out on the road again, I'll try it out mixed in with the show that works. And I'll probably go into a club and try some of it out just on its own. Do you work from notes or are you able to still retain them all? Well, I don't have the notes out on the stage. Yeah, yeah. But I have notes, of course out on the stage. Yeah, yeah. But I have notes of course on the phone.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I mean you go out and you get do you do an hour, hour and a half? The show was 80 minutes. Yeah. But you know like okay and then I'm gonna leave holes to plug in. Yeah, then I have places where I might just I'll try

something new in there. That's the organization of your mind and of a stand-up's mind to me. It's always fascinating to me because I just, I mean, I've been, it's been ages that I was in a play and I had to memorize a play, but I just, I've always, it's amazing to me that you can just go like, yeah, no, I'm going to do, especially like, with your stuff, because it's so, there's, it's such short little things. Like I could see like, okay, now I, you know, I'm going to tell the story about, you know, the bank robbery that I saw. And then that for a comedian, it's like, I know how that goes, you know?

But with you, it's just, there's so many little pearls that you're stringing together. Well, it's one of the first things I learned early on was you better know what you're gonna say next. Because if you say a joke and then there's like a gap, you know, then the thing has stopped. Yeah. The thing, then it's, then it's, the thing has stopped. Yeah. The thing, then it's not going good.

And it's only cause you don't remember. So it's like your mind was, my mind was forced. It wasn't even questioned. It was like, I have to know what's coming next. Yeah. I have to. And then, cause you had to do it then. And I did it.

I, I do it. I know it's coming next because if I don't know what's coming next, it's going to be, it's going to suck. Yeah. You're just going to stand there. Well, um, we've been talking for an hour and this is great. Yeah. It's been really fun.

It's been great having you here. Thanks for having me again. I got to know a lot about you. Thank you. Do you have, you know, in this format, the end question is always what have you learned? And I mean, is there any kind of like, do you feel like there's any kind of- From this interview? No, no, no, from life, from your life. Yeah. I mean, this interview, of course, you would need time to process all the complicated ideas swarming. What have I learned?

Yeah. I would say to be grateful because there's so many things that can go wrong. And when you, and even, you know, it was just so lucky for so many things. Health, people, friends, career, how you think, just this experience from all these years with basically good stuff. Yeah. It's like a miracle. Yeah.

Like that's what I think. I really appreciate everything more in the last 10 years. Was there a time when you didn't? It's not that I... Yeah. I think when you're younger, you don't even think about it. You don't know how lucky you are because you're just not as aware. Yeah. I think you're busy trying to attain too. You've got that like, I gotta get there, and then you're not really appreciating what's around you. Yes, that too. Yeah. Well, Stephen, thank you so much for coming.

Thanks for having me. It was great to talk to you. And Harold, novel, is out in paperback now and you'll be touring. When are you going to head back out? I don't know yet. I'm taking a break. All right. Well, just go to your local sort of, you know, thousand-seater and just wait outside.

This was fun. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Yeah, it was great talking to you. All right. And thank you for listening. I'll be back next week with more of this. The Three Questions with Andy Richter is a Team Cocoa production.

It is produced by Sean Doherty and engineered by Rich Garcia. Additional engineering support by Eduardo Perez and Joanna Samuel. Executive produced by Nick Leow, Adam Sachs, and Jeff Ross. Talent booking by Paula Davis, Gina Battista with assistance from Maddy Ogden. Research by Alyssa Grahl. Don't forget to rate and review and subscribe to The Three Questions with Andy Richter wherever you get your podcasts. And do you have a favorite question you always like to ask people? Let us know in the review section. Can't you tell my love's a-growing? Can't you feel it ain't a-showin'?

Oh, you must be a-knowin' I've got a big, big love