The Three Questions with Andy Richter - Tim Baltz

Episode Date: January 25, 2022

Tim Baltz (The Righteous Gemstones) joins Andy Richter to talk about discovering improv young, the Chicago comedic sensibility, and having a good attitude.

hello everyone this is a new whispery version of the three questions um i would get so much tail if that was what this podcast was just i was just wheelbarrows of tail asmr tail boy you know it uh well no you've turned you people out there you've tuned into the three questions i'm andy richter uh this is the three questions we're set to make podcast history again don't ask me how it's not up to me to decide my legacy. I'm talking today to Tim Baltz. Hi. How are you doing, Andy?

I'm good. I'm good. It's a lucky thing. I was just thinking because for some reason in my mind, I thought your name didn't have a T in it. And I was like, is his name Tim Baltz? Like that's in the realm of German things that can go wrong. That's up there. That's the high. Yeah. That's usually things that can go wrong. That's up there. That's the high, yeah.

That's usually the thing that goes wrong. And as a child, if that happened, I'd always be like, oh, this German person must be making a mistake. I mean, you probably heard Tim Balls your whole fucking life, you know? Yeah, usually it petered out pretty quickly because even the dumbest bullies would get sick of that pretty quickly. And it's not that good.

Like, it doesn't land that hard. It's true. Yeah, as far as low-hanging fruit, it's pretty rotten. Yeah, yeah. I used to get Andy Dichter, which never bothered me. It's like, okay, Andy Dichter, whatever, that's okay. It's like, okay, Andy Dichter, whatever. That's okay.

You know what that says about me, but whatever. If there's a bully instinct in me, I've never seen your name and thought Andy Dichter. Well, you know, I think that there's just an age in which there are some kids that are just supercomputers based on turning someone's name into like a fart joke or something. Just, oh, you got to work it somehow. You know, like, you know, like, you know, John Johnson. Oh, shit. It's already Johnson. It's already a penis.

Anyway, Tim, I, you, you are, you've been working for quite a while. You have been on the TV landscape, had your own show for a while. Very funny show. And now, is it just me or does it seem, because you're on the Righteous Gemstones, does it seem like that show is getting attention that it wasn't getting before? I think so. Yeah. I think that maybe two things happened. One, it got compared to Succession on a surface level, and people kind of didn't want to watch two of those shows.

And I think it really doesn't – that comparison dies skinny. Yeah. It's also like the Waltons in that there's a family, you know. It's the – it's Walton's succession. And then the other thing is that I think people were a bit wary of like, oh, are they going to be painting, you know, Christianity with a, with kind of a coarse brush? And that isn't the, the, the truth at all. I mean, the people that get most excited about this are probably my mom's religious neighbors. They're like, they ask me the most questions about this are probably my mom's religious neighbors.

They're like, they ask me the most questions about the show. And they love it. And I'm shocked. Yeah. Well, you know, it's because I think, I think it, and it's key is that, and it's interesting too, that it has a wrestling background. Like, do you know wrestling very much? I definitely in junior high, I was all about that. And it was kind of the glory

days of the WWF. So yeah, I tuned in then. Do you know the concept of kayfabe? Yeah. Yeah. So for anybody that doesn't know, kayfabe is the notion of keeping up the ruse. And in the old days of professional wrestling, to keep kayfabe meant to always protect the artifice and and this sort of you know story that this front that went out that it's all real yeah and they do that you know like the gemstone family does that too like they don't really seem to care about god but they always pay lip service. And, you know, when they throw a Jesus statue, they get upset. And I think that that makes it okay with people because it doesn't matter what you do.

It matters what you say. That's a great point. I think Eric Roberts has a line that references kayfabe in the, you know, when they're talking about wrestling and the church. And I mean, it's interesting too, how you start to look at kayfabe in your own life and you're like, what am I doing that with? Right, right, exactly. Right, right. What are my publicity campaigns that I'm pushing about myself? Yeah, because I grew up in a pretty Catholic town. There were no mega churches around, but there was definitely a lot of Catholic churches and, you know,

other denominations as well, but that was the majority one. And it is interesting. We start to realize like what attitudes that are very common and directly contradict Christianity that are just flowing right past, you know, you got your hour on Sunday to repent, you know,

and then the rest of the time you're like, look at this like disgusting poor person. I mean, that's exaggerated. Repent and judge, repent and judge. Yeah, that great, what's that Bob Dylan quote that's like, Hey, hey.

Yeah, that's the one. Hey, hey. That's his kayfabe, you know. I have that tattooed. It's my tramp stamp. Hey, yeah, that's the best. Yeah. Hey, that's his kayfabe. You know, I have that. I have that tattooed. It's my tramp stamp. Hey, oh, wait, I remember it's people don't do what's right. They just do it. What's most convenient. And then they repent. Yeah I'm sorry. And then, you know, wipe the slate clean. Start sinning fresh on Monday. And yeah, and it's yeah, it is. It is like. It's just it's funny to me. It's just it's funny.

Well, I don't know. I mean, belief is weird to me. It's like it's all. Well, I'm getting down like stoner Avenue here and we don't need to do that um i know let's go deeper andy dude one more rip dude yeah yeah come on buddy uh no um now you mentioned your hometown you're from joliet illinois yeah which i am familiar with because jolie i grew up in a town called yorkville which is nearby right and i had connections to joliet, Illinois. Yeah. Which I am familiar with because Joliet, I grew up in a town called Yorkville, which is nearby. Right. And I had connections to Joliet and we were there frequently.

One, because my mother's cousins lived there and owned a painting business, which your family owns a paint store. So I'm sure that the families overlapped. I'm sure that they did. Well, they used to. Our family a paint store. So I'm sure that the family's overlapped. I'm sure that they did. Well, they used to. Our family's paint store, it wasn't my family. It was my great grandfather, then my grandfather, then my uncle, then my cousins, but it lasted 140 years. Wow. And it closed down about five years ago. And it was my first job out of high school. I was a clerk there. And, you know, I, I just, I don't know. I don't know what I did. I wasn't that good at it.

Well, I mean, you know, there's not a lot of like curveballs thrown at you at a paint store. I mean, you know. Yeah. But I remember knowing that finding out that you were from Yorkville and being like, oh, that's interesting. And then obviously, like, you know, most Chicago improv and comedy people follow the generations above them and try to dissect, you know, what they did. And I don't know, they just follow their career. Like, we're fans.

Right, sure, sure, sure. But then to find out all these other weirder things that you had connections to Joliet and paint. Yes. It's like, well, this is a weird trifecta. Well, no, I mean, because it's like to say you're from Chicago means a big thing. But then to say like you're from Joliet and also Joliet like is a very like it is it is an example of like Midwestern decay. You know, it went from even even in my childhood because the other thing

the other reason was that's where the amtrak train was that i would take to visit my father because i come from a broken home and my parents couldn't stay together oh no no they my folks divorced when i was four and my dad uh lived taught college in Bloomton, Indiana. So that was where we would take the train or that we take the train down to Springfield because that's where my dad was originally from. So my brother and I rode the train to Springfield, our whole childhood, just the two of us, and we would catch it in Joliet. And just in my lifetime that train station going from kind of like what you'd see in the movies when i was a little kid like still sort of like busy and bustling with like luggage handlers and stuff to being like a shell when i was in high school yeah you know the steel mill

closed down in the late 70s early 80s and so that's when the decay kind of started yeah the bleeding didn't stop until riverboat casinos came in in the early 90s yeah yeah which is a double-edged sword because there is it's got jobs but then it's also got you know it's also a trap for addicts and people that are losing their mortgages so is this it was pumping money into the town and you're like well i guess yeah i guess good. They, I remember they bought us a soccer net for our, in high school. And we were like, yeah, Harris casino is so nice to us. A soccer net. It's also kind of like, huh, this town is sad and depressed. Let's, let's revive it with an industry that's depressing. That's about misery and disappointment and just soaked in sadness. Yeah. But as a kid growing up, everything is

normal to you as a kid. So to me, I absolutely adore my hometown. I understand it more clearly now. Right, right. But I loved it. And I really, like, I knew every nook and cranny of that town. I was a homebody. And I didn't, you know, it wasn't really until probably junior or senior year of college that my dad sat me down and was like, you know, you're not coming back here. I'm not letting you come back here after college. And. Wow.

And, you know, he ended up coming back. He had a very circuitous path home and it's both romantic and filled. You know, he had three different careers, but he didn't want that for me. And he saw what I was doing and I think maybe what I was capable of and just straight up was like, you're not coming back here. be what I was capable of. And, and just straight up was like, you're not coming back here. And had you, what, I mean, how did you, how did that, how did that idea land in on you? I mean, had you been thinking of that? Uh, well, I didn't really have a concrete plan, you know, I was, I was good at a lot of stuff, but I didn't, the only thing that had ever really sparked like that, that, you know, fire in me was improv.

And, you know, which I went up to Chicago and saw for the first time in like 95 or 96 as a high schooler. But I think I thought, well, the one safe place that I have to come back to, my dad is saying I can't come back to it. Yeah, yeah. It's just like, nope, you're just going out there and, and you're going to sink or swim. Yeah. And I, I mean, I graduated from college with like $200 to my name. So I was a bit panicked at what he'd said. Um, but I, you know, I, I made it work strong enough things together to get on my feet. Yeah. You got a plant, a plant and a painting behind you. You're obviously doing fine. Yeah. Yeah. Plants and paintings, a nice print, you know? Yeah. Yeah. You got a plant, a plant and a painting behind you. You're obviously doing fine.

Yeah. Yeah. Plants and paintings. A nice print, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Now, do you think that your dad maybe just wanted your room? Like, you know, he's like, I'm finally going to start tying flies, you know? Oh, man. No, it was definitely a very pointed. Yeah. Like, I'm not letting this kid come back here. Yeah, yeah. That would be great. I'm sure that part of it was like, yeah, we fought pretty hard to get these two kids out of the house. This is the last one. Yes.

And it is, though, it is because, see, there is something about those cities that is, well, and I mean, Joliet was also a big deal because they filmed a lot of the movie The Sting there. So when I was a kid, you know, because it very easily doubled for a city in the 1920s or 30s. Yeah. Because it has, it's almost like a movie studio, the downtown of Joliet, in that it's not very big and that you can get into the middle of it and you can feel like you're in the 1950s. I mean, I haven't been there in years, but that's sort of the way it used to be, you know? Yeah. It has that beautiful Rialto Square Theater, which was a stop on the Vaudeville Circuit. Right. And did they make that into a casino too? No, they didn't. Oh, they didn't. Oh. To their credit, they refinished it and it's gorgeous. Yeah. Yeah. It's really beautiful.

But you're right. There is, there's, and it's a bottomed out downtown, you know, once the steel mill closed, then the, all the stores kind of just moved westward. Yeah. And there was nothing there. And I went to high school really close to the downtown. Right by the train station, actually. Oh, really? Yeah. Which everyone mistakes for state bill. That's the other thing Joliet has going for it.

Yeah. It's the Blues Brothers prison. You know, all those cultural touchstones. Well, and I just, you know, I don't know. Maybe it's just growing up depressed among depressed people. And then because our like I said, my dad's family hometown is Springfield, which is not an inspiring city either. And has like a fairly depressed like you come in and it looks like this is, you know, like during Leave it to Beaver times, this place was hopping. And it's just like empty storefront upon empty storefront upon, you know, sad, sad, sad.

Yes. Aside from being the capital of Illinois, you know, plug. Yeah, yeah. Way to go. High five. Is there any other industry in Springfield? Abe Lincoln merchandise is a big deal. Yeah, there was a big, and I don't, you see, I don't even, when I was a kid, like, my family

either worked for the state in some capacity, and all different, like, you know, like, cousins that, like, wrote bus, school bus safety manuals and stuff like that. Ooh. Or a lot of people also worked for, there was an electrical manufacturing company there called Sangamo. Like Sangamon, you know, is the river that goes through Springfield? Yeah. You know, the Sangamon River. Yeah.

But there was a big electric company. I know that manufactured electric stuff. But other than that, I don't know. But it's, you know, it's a very sleepy little, it's, you know, it's got a very dead downtown. I mean, at least, like I say, the last time I was there, I don't imagine. Listeners, you know, if Springfield's hopping now, let me know. The post-Obama Springfield that I never got a taste of, let me know if I'm really missing out. Yeah.

Thanks, Obama. You revived Springfield, Illinois. Thanks a lot. Well, now tell me because of this family business thing and because your dad was not in it, how did that sort of how did he manage to not be in the family business or did he choose not to? You know, I mean, what? He was black sheep. Yeah, kind of. He was seven kids. He's kind of the only one who really left the area. He did like stage theater in the in the 60s and 70s. Oh, wow.

And had a master's in theatrical history. And, you know, you can get there like two jobs, uh, like academic jobs if you get that degree and you couldn't get them. Um, but he, you know, he toured with a few big productions and did some off Broadway in New York for a couple of years, but I think for him, it was more about a journey of discovery and a way to kind of like help him get out of town. Yeah. Um, and then he ended up back there.

Uh, he, he went through a divorce, came back. He, after his, or during his divorce, he walked from Joliet to the Black Hills in South Dakota, which took him about three months. And when he came back,

he happened to be- Is that just because of the divorce? He, you know, he could have gotten a car. You know, I think his biggest regret was that he didn't even think of that. No, obviously, obviously it was some sort of spiritual thing. And I can see, I mean, having been divorced, like needing to get away and be, have at least a confined period of reflection and solitude. It was probably pretty necessary. Well, it turns out that was the case. But growing up, my sister and I were like, man,

our dad loves to walk. Were there any children in this first marriage or no? No, there weren't. And then uh he just coincidentally he had just come back from that and my mom uh my mom's from the north of france and she ended up following her sister the most place in france yeah yeah yeah she's from a town that's basically joliet of france i'm not kidding it's like an industrial like afterthought town so it's more ooh la loo yeah ooh la la ooh la la

ooh la la oh that's a good one ooh la la ooh la la and they just happened to meet on Thanksgiving in the house that my dad kind of grew up in what do you mean by chance like what's some French girl wandering around your house? My mom was like the star pupil of the Montessori

headquarters school where you get trained. And they said to her, she happened on that path because her older sister had done it and said, I think you'd be good at this. So then my mom did that. And my aunt, Pascal, she ended up at this Montessori school in Joliet. And so when my mom graduated, they

were like, you're our star pupil. You're number one of your class. You can pick any school in the country. Where do you want to go? San Francisco? New York City? Boston? You name it. And she's like, I'd like Joliet, Illinois, please. Just because your

sister was there? Yeah. Wow. And family was important. And so she went there. And my dad's sister, I think, was also like studying or interning at the Joliet school. She invited my other aunt to Thanksgiving dinner who couldn't go. So she said, well, why don't you take my sister, who was my mom.

She went, met my dad, and my dad was just immediately, like he had just come back from his big walk, his liberation from the first marriage. And he was just like, I instantly fell in love and knew I was going to marry her. Wow, that's nice. Yeah.

That's nice. And she felt the same way, obviously, or was there a period of chasing? Well, I think she was still going through some cultural adaptation. But yeah, she definitely was like, this guy is really special. But she was kind of all about her career. You know, Montessori teachers, they're just cutthroat. Right, very driven.

Yeah, they're in it for the cash. You know, the cash. Yeah. You know? The cash and the little kitchen utensils. Yeah. The tiny kitchen utensils. The tiny potato mashers. Montessori jokes, folks. Get in on them.

Well, so was it tough for him to return to Joliet then? You know what I mean, was his tail between his legs and did he, you know, eat crow and all the other metaphors? To be honest, he didn't talk about it much. Yeah. It was what I really admired my parents. They're kind of my role models. And one of the things that I always admired about him was that it was just kind of one foot in front of the other, you know? Yeah.

And he ended up having three careers and he treated all of them the way that he was. He was an artist and he did all three of them like an artist would. What are they, if I may ask? So first was After. And then growing up for 20 years, he had his own picture frame store. Uh-huh. And he did incredible work. Yeah. And then kind of putting us through college kind of bankrupted him.

Jesus Christ. I mean, really, it was more like, you know, Michaels and Hobby Lobby movie. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And people doing things. Combined with, yeah. And people combined with, yeah. Combined with that. But I didn't realize that until years later, I think, because he closed that after my freshman year of college and my sister's senior year of college. Wow. And then he'd always been big into photography and he became the photography teacher at my old high school.

Oh, wow. Yeah. And he was great. And I think that was the thing that he realized like, oh, this is what I was meant to do. Yeah. He was so good at teaching kids. And my old high school had its share of, you know, rough and tumble kids.

Like it's not the easiest place to teach like beginning photography. Yeah. And he just had this magic touch and I still keep in touch with a handful of his students because they, they loved him. And he did that until, until he had to retire. He, he got ALS in the last few years of his life. And so he, he worked as long as he could. Yeah. And he passed? He did. Yeah. he passed in 2017. Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Thanks. I mean, what I mean is I really wish you'd kept it from me because now I'm sad. I'm so sorry. But the truth is, any jokes that we get coming out of this are really going to put a bounce in our step, I think.

Hey, everybody, it's time for the Dead Dad Show. Get ready to laugh. Can't you tell my loves are growing? Are you a religious person? No, I think, you know, spiritual in the sense that I, you know that I guess I believe in karma and meaning in the sense that if you're an asshole, you're bad. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Is that spiritual?

Right. Assholes are bad? Well, kind of. Yeah. Is that spiritual? Right. Assholes are bad? Well, kind of. I mean, because that's, I don't, you know, I like the phrase, and I definitely want to talk about Catholic school.

Did you go to Catholic school all the way through or just to college? No, public schools in Joliet are better. The Catholic schools in town were a way for white people to segregate their children. I see. I see. Yeah. segregate their children i see i see yeah so um but i well going back i to me the the the like the definition of agnostic is that you don't have an opinion on things that are unknowable and that's sort of the way i feel about it like who made the universe i don't know but man i don't think i'm

supposed to like i you know it's like i think i can just go about my business and and then you know and like i got i i i think i deleted it because i said something snotty about they were like talking about like there was some ecumenical counsel on the notion of original sin and, you know, and the fact that babies are born with sin and just like, and it's just like the notion of like that sin, like as some sort of product that has, that there's some force in the universe that cares about whether or not you steal a car, you know, it's just like, I don't know. It just all seems like, no, come on guys. it's just like i i don't know it just all seems like no come on guys it's just it should just be self-evident to not hurt each other and not steal things like that it should be its own reward not stealing things but you know that i i think trying to teach people

that uh uh in in a kind of a you know i, I don't know, controlled religious setting seemed like the right thing growing up because, you know, I went to like CCD, you know. Yeah. Monday night Catholic school or whatever. Yeah. Catechism or whatever they call it. Yeah. In order to get baptized and confirmed and all that. But then when you would see the systems kind of cover up or support abuse. Yeah. You're like, well, this seems pretty self-evident too, guys.

Yeah. There should be accountability. But I'm with you. I subscribe to the like, you know, do no, try to do no harm. Yeah. Yeah. And the notion of spirituality, I don't know. It just all seems like – like it doesn't – like there's a lot of stuff about Christianity, especially Catholic Christianity, where it's this notion of humility and you're so humble.

You're like so, so, so humble, which is like I am so humble that I am a fucking rock star. Like, and that's just that you should be elevated because you're so fucking humble. Yeah. And it just seems like that doesn't seem to be that. Like, if you're humble, I don't think, you know, people should be patting you on the back in church. I don't know. Whatever. Nobody cares about my religious beliefs, non-existent as they are. church. I don't know. Whatever. Nobody cares about my religious beliefs,

non-existent as they are. Well, I don't know. Let's get into the Beatitudes. You know how you feel about those. Maybe we go really deep. No, thank you. Well, let's get back to you. Enough about me.

So you went to college at, was it Loyola in Chicago? Yeah, that's true. Yeah. And also it was the same, my sister was three years older, so I got to see all the, and she was kind of a perfect student, had great, you know, grades and extracurricular activities. I hate her. She honestly was like a golden child and all my teachers growing up were like so you're emily boss's little brother and i'd be like go here we go okay

but i was a good student too and uh the result of her going ahead of me three years ahead was that i knew i knew how poor we were i knew yeah i knew the schools that I could get into that we couldn't afford. So that was a bit of a bummer, but Loyola, I maxed out all the scholarships I could get and I got to Loyola and that was the right place because I, you know, I fell in love with Chicago improv and I knew I wanted to be in the city close to it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That is good. Yeah. Cause I, yeah, I didn't, I didn't have any notes right i went to columbia college i started out at university of illinois uh and then i switched in my junior year to columbia college to study film um and yeah it was but it didn't occur to me like that i would think i was out of school and doing improv or i was out of school and working in

production when i started to think like hey maybe improv like I just I don't know you know it was it just wasn't on our agenda to go see comedy shows ever like I liked being funny and I liked watching comedy and paid attention to it but we would go to concerts in the city and Cubs game and Bears games and the occasional White Sox game. But like to go see comedy in the city, that was like, well, why would we do that? You know, so it wasn't until like I had a friend of mine that I went to Columbia with who was doing ImprovOlympic. I was like, oh, that sounds, and I also, I instinctively knew that for someone that has trouble focusing and writing, that this would be a good way to act right, you know, and, you know, and do it all together and not have to think about it, which is always a plus for me to just kind of have to do it. I had a, I mean, I had a similar introduction where a friend, his older brother was on a Herald team at ImprovOlympic and was like, we should go up and see it. And the first time I saw lot of theater in high school and college. I probably

did like 15 plays, but not at Loyola that there was like a, you know, seniority system and like a cool factor. Like if you were, if you were a sexy little it boy, you'd get cast and then, you know, you'd be like, I am John Proctor, you know, and everyone would be like, great. Yay. We did it. We saved everything. And, uh, and that was fine, but I, I was disenchanted because I'd almost done too much before I got to Loyola. And I'm like, I don't want to sit around and wait for this. And improv had that immediacy. You could just get up there and start doing stuff, even if it was in classes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

So I liked that. It helped. And talk about kayfabe. Like I had a director in high school who was like, Ruth, you never break. And he put the fear of God into us if we broke. And I took that into improv. And I remember on my first Herald team, one of the teammates was like, I think you believe what's going on on stage in a scene. I was like, no. And he's like, do you believe that it's happening? Do you actually think that like, like your life stops and the scene happens and then your life begins again? Like, no, no, I just, I just, I just was taught never to break. Yeah. And it just

kind of stayed in my body. Yeah. Like I almost, maybe it's Catholic too. I have this like shame or guilt if I break in a scene. No, you're doing it right. That's, that's, that's the, that's the simple answer is that guy was giving you a, like a compliment and saying, you are a really good actor who is committing to this thing in the way that it should be, you know, or the way that, you know, it's creators intended, you know, it's not supposed to be, I'm up here playing a guy. You're supposed to be creating realities that you're soaking in, you know, that was, so yeah, no, I can't stand breaking. I mean, you know, I was on a talk show and it was kind of loose and everything, but I would really, really, and I get mad at myself sometimes especially i mean there's

sometimes where it wouldn't matter because it was such a loosey-goosey kind of format and where it'd be we'd just be chit-chatting and then all of a sudden it's time to act um right but i never would break and i have and you folks at home you go through your mind of breakers and every single one of them I have judged. I have just been like lazy, lazy, lazy. What's interesting about that, because I do have memories of that, of your presence doing that. And, you know, I was such a huge fan of the show. And it was one of those like kind of platonic ideals, you know that oh gosh it really was like that thank you that's the that's the mount rushmore of comedy and i think

that you know your presence and the guests and conan like that together created this it creates like a playing field where you understand what you're looking at. Like you, you might describe it as loosey goosey cause you're on the inside and you know what's, what's being played strictly and what's being like a little looser and having fun. But to us, there was always like, there's this groundedness that allowed the silliness to pop even harder.

Oh, thank you. And I like, that's something that I loved cause I think silly, subtle stuff is some of my favorite, but it requires ingredients. Yes, absolutely. One of the ingredients is that you have to take it seriously and you have to, it's not like you don't have to not have fun. It's just like, it's probably going to look better if you do some acting or you don't break.

Or put some actual jokes in there yeah you know yeah jokes too like actual jokes are very helpful because there's you know and a lot of time a lot of a lot of comedy just makes me feel low because i just feel like there's a lot of comedy it's like there's no jokes there's just like it's the rhythm of comedy weird weird you know cuts and stuff or like i mean another one of my pet peeves is uh something that's you're it's being sold to you as comedy but what it is is like people imitating bad entertainment and it's just like oh man why don't you, how about taking a swing at making good entertainment? Before, you know, before you just like you trying to get play in everyone's minds by just being like, you know how there's some bad shows? We're doing a bad show.

Like, honey, what are you doing? You know, it's trending, Andy. You got to get into the trend. Yeah, yeah. Oh, Andy, you got to get into the trend. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, this isn't, yeah,

but it's not what your dad had that framing store for. He had it so you could not break. You know, I mean, he definitely, he introduced me to a lot of great stuff. He was a big WC fields fan and, oh yeah,

yeah. He liked a lot of British stuff and, you know, silly, subtle things. And yeah, IC Fields fan. Oh, yeah, yeah. He liked a lot of British stuff and, you know, silly, subtle things. Yeah. I don't know. Those are the things that kind of just maybe because they're foundational or the bond that we shared because of it. But they're always the things that I kind of come back to where I'm like, oh, that's.

I also think, you know, it's there can be a higher degree of difficulty to it. So when you hit a home run, you're like, this is a this is a nice home run don't you think it sure is yeah it feels really good exactly exactly uh yeah no well i mean and people with improv people i was always people would watch it and even in chicago where you think everybody kind of knows it because it's sort of like, you know, one of the, you know, hot dogs, pizza kind of things about Chicago, you know, is is that people would get done. They'd be like, wait a minute. And I mean, this is like shows for 30 people in a bar. Yeah. And then afterwards, somebody who watched the show would come up to you and be like, wait, seriously, all that was, you guys just made that all up on the fly. And then always, I always thought like how that's

kind of like, must seem like magic to people when it's not, there's like, you know, there's forms that you're, you know, there's like basically vessels that are games and things that you can fill up. So you understand the container that you're working in. And there's different sort of like, you know, you practice it. So yeah, there's some skill involved in keeping the ball, you know, in the air. But there is like real magic that happens that I think you, that I like, I experienced a few times as a performer where it was, I was saying and doing things that were so funny and so good. And I was not thinking,

they were like coming out of my mouth, like without me even trying. And it's, you know, it's amazing. It's like among, I mean, I don't even know if I'd be, I don't even know if I'd be, I feel like I'm too old to really get into that space again. I am starting to feel like that. Yeah, yeah. Your brain just is not, it's not as snappy as it used to be, you know? It's my body, too.

I think of my routine in my 20s, my weekly routine. I mean, I was doing like five or six nights a week. I was doing shows. There was like an eight month stretch where I was on the schedule at improv Olympic every night in a different show. Wow. And, and, uh, to the detriment of, you know, the relationship I was in at the time, but I definitely over, I went over the limit. And by the time I was done with second city i was kind of done with sketch in general yeah i toured for two and a half years i did three years on the stages um the last show being a main stage show so that's six nights a week and uh i remember

i auditioned for snl and the night that we auditioned i went to dinner with a bunch of people and we were sitting there and everyone's like, what's your dream scenario? Like, and everyone's like, I could be on SNL for seven years and be a movie star, you know? And we had just done Shrink. We had just done the improvised web series and turned it into a pilot and it had gotten into New York Television Festival. So that was coming up in a few months. And I was like, I kind of want to do a season of shrink because it was so different and bright and exciting. And seeing the different elements of production come together.

And it's crazy. It's crazy that you have ideas and then you show up and it's like, you know, a golf cart with flames painted on it. And then you show up and there's a fucking golf cart with flames painted on it. And we had, you know, this was the improvised one with no production. This costs like 200 bucks to make. Right. And it had somehow come together and we screened it at annoyance and people loved it. And we're like, maybe this is something.

And I remember saying that and everyone looked at me like I was an insane person. They're like, come on, you would say yes to SNL. I'm like, yeah, yes, I would. Obviously no one would say no to this, but I was, I think there was a part of my brain that's like, you don't want to do sketch like you're like you're done you're yeah the meter is empty on this i still loved improv and i still love sketch it's fun but you know in chicago that moment when you're when you realize that you don't know what you don't know elaborate a little bit i i, I started doing commercials and I'd come out to LA and you get a sense of what a production is like and what auditioning is like. And you realize that you're

not getting that experience in Chicago. Right. And that, that started to make me panic a little bit because I knew eventually I probably have to move out here. I didn't really want to, but then we sold shrink, um, to this old TV network called pivot. I was like, all right, well, I got to go. I, I, right. I kind of took a victory lap around Chicago and then, and then moved out here, but you start to realize, Oh, I think now it's a little different. Now you get to, there's more TV shows that are based out there, but at the time, at the time it was like SNL is the golden ticket out of town and otherwise fucking figure it out. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. No, that, that was definitely it. And there was, you, you, yeah. Well, you reached a certain point where you realized you got to leave. You know, if you want to make a living there's very few like there's one like there's the one example that i that i was in my life was always dave pasquazy uh who is a hilariously talented brilliant improviser but he always stayed in chicago and he had this like magic uh card

which was constant work on McDonald's voiceovers. Yeah. So he was able to just sit there and be the voice of McDonald's and make a nice living, you know, in a town that's really, that's fairly, you know, affordable in relative terms. And it was always sort of like, yeah, but there's only one McDonald's voiceover account, you know? Exactly. I, when, when I'd made the decision to move out and people were like, yeah, but there's only one McDonald's voiceover account, you know? Exactly. When I made the decision to move out and people were like, really?

You want to leave Chicago? You love Chicago. I'm like, I can count on one hand the people that can make, like, better money than what I'm making at Second City, you know, which is like 30 grand a year. Yeah. I can count those people on one hand and they're all doing a mixture of advertising commercials or they lucked into a once in a lifetime gig and they made a lifetime of money that way yeah which i'm like i uh i can't i don't i can't you can't count on that yeah yeah it's a bad bet yeah yeah and you also you know, you want to expand.

So it's, you know, at a certain point, it just makes sense. And yeah, and especially when you and your friends are just fucking around improvising on something, just turn the camera on and improvising it and selling it into a TV show. That's the deal. Like, that's what you're supposed to do, you know? Yeah. Like that's, that's what you're supposed to do, you know, where you're just through talent and in a very, you know, in a clever concept, you know, you got to make something on your own. And, and that, do you think that spoiled you? Like, do you think like it would be hard to get on like a real dumb fucking giant juggernaut of a show now?

I mean, because you've done you have not done a lot. I mean, as far as I know, you haven't done shitty work. You know, I've done shitty work. I mean, I mean, I'm not critiquing myself. I'm sure I've done shitty work and things. But I mean, I've done things that like it was like, ouch, man. shitty work and things but i mean i've done things that like it was like ouch man they like they just they're paying me just enough that i have to actually be in this thing and i believe me everyone out there with you i know what a privilege that is i know how lucky i am but still i had to be in fucking things that you didn't and that are still embarrassing me to this day.

I think I'm curious about all of it. I really am. I think it would be fascinating to do a bad multicam. It would be fascinating to do a good multicam. A good multicam would be great. Those are great. But the tone of everything I think is fascinating. That's one thing that I definitely felt going through the process of Shrink and definitely being in post and editing everything with the editors and the other EPs and trying to guarantee a certain tone was really hard. And we lucked out and were able to guarantee that tone.

I'm not exaggerating by about three minutes of footage. If we had had less than that, we would have been screwed. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. But we cast it just well enough to protect the tone. And the idea was like, if you get that through the first season, then they ordered a second season and then the whole network went under and that's a totally different story. But tone was fascinating to me. Now I watch things and I'm like, if this is a genre that I hate, but the tone is perfect, what can you say? As an actor and comedian, I think it'd be so cool to moonlight in any tone, just as a learning experience. life in any tone just as a learning experience.

Yep. That I, I, so if I, anytime I've gotten some other thing where I'm like, I think I'm out of place here. Yeah. And I, and I have had, I've had some offers that I said yes to, and then I show up and people kind of hate me because I'm, I don't get the tone. Yeah. And then the whole day is spent trying to get the tone and figure it out and successfully or unsuccessfully. And the part of me is embarrassed because I'm like, oh, I kind of sucked at that tone.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, yeah. No, there's times, yeah, where you're like, it's hard. And also, too, it's like I've done jobs where I go in and like, I I don't know, the director just kind of, like, doesn't seem very nice, you know? You know? And it's kind of like, and I feel like, is it about, and then you start thinking, like, is the director, like, being that way because of what I'm doing performance-wise? Or is that, is it just the way he is? Or is it, you know, like, and it's like, well, that's, well, just stop.

You know, you might as well stop because you're not going to do well, you know, like you, then you, and it's like, well, that's, well, you just stop, you know, you might as well stop because you're not going to do well, you know? Yeah. You kind of just have to take your lumps and be the whipping boy for the day. Right. Right. And they hired you. They hired you. They hired you.

Yeah. Just do it. My only problem on those, when that happens is like, just give me a line read. I can. Oh yeah. Yeah. My only problem on those when that happens is like, just give me a line read. I can. Oh, yeah, yeah. I can imitate what you want. But me trying five different things based on my own instinct and you hating every single one of them is not helping anyone.

Right. Out of principle, I avoid line readings. But there are times when I'm just like, especially voiceover stuff. Just tell me what you want. And then like say it. And then I'll just instantly copy it. Like there can't be even like, you know, a rolling in between. It's just like you say it.

Okay, there we go. But yeah, it's, I agree with you. I think there's something, because if you do lots of different things, and this is for you all out there, you get a holistic idea about the process. Like I went to film school, I loaded trucks, I got coffee for people, you know?

I did special effects prop. I did everything I could while I worked in production. And I feel like I have a knowledge of what happens on a production that a lot of actors don't have. And then, and then it just kind of expanded more and more into like, I do game shows, like, you know, I host game shows, I do cartoon voices, I, you know, and I get into different situations, where it is is like my thing is I make TV. And I can pop into – like I could go – I can have opinions about any television show you want and feel like it's – because it's all TV. There's a lot of similarities between The View and The Local News and The Tonight Show.

There's a lot of similar people with similar skills doing similar things in all three of those. And Succession. Yeah. Local News, The View, Succession, the other one that you said. They're all Succession. Yeah, right. They're all just Succession. Local News is imitating Succession, the other one that you said. They're all Succession. Yeah, right. They're all just Succession. Yeah.

Local news is imitating Succession. Tonight show, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, but I also, you know, because like when I was in Chicago and I did, I would do stuff at the Annoyance Theater, which at the time had the, like the sort of like Manson family, sort of like, oh, they're all crazy over there, you know, like having group sex and doing acid, which did happen.

But then there was the ImprovOlympic, which was, you know, more guys in Blackhawks jerseys, you know? And the guys in Blackhawks jerseys sometimes, why are you doing stuff over there at the Annoyance Theater with all those weirdos? And I'd be like, because it makes my work here better. And vice versa, people at the Annoyance, like, why are you still doing stuff over there? Like, it all informs each other.

And it all makes you better at stuff because you're getting different perspectives. I miss that about Chicago so much. Yeah. Because I think by the time I came around, you know, Annoyance was gone from 99 to 06. So when it popped back up in 06, I was touring and I got to be in the first big show that they put back up. And it felt there was less Jets versus Sharks versus Mansons, I guess. Yeah, yeah. Between Second City, IO, and Annoyance. And it was kind of like, if you want to be the best in town, you have to train everywhere. Yeah. And we had teachers who were like, you know, it's like the Bruce Lee approach. Like, I'm not, I don't practice Taekwondo.

I learn Taekwondo so that I can practice Bruce Lee. Right. And I do that with every style. And then you get out to LA and it very much is back to like, there's almost like a supremacy to each camp, which I found humiliating. I was like, this is, you are embarrassing yourself. Because every style has an application. Yeah. But it also has times when it does not apply at all.

Right. And stubbornly being like, I come from this place and it's the best. I was like, this is, we're adults. This is humiliating stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. And also it's, you know, it's show business. It's whatever they tell you to do, you do it, you know?

Yeah. Within reason, of course, you know? I'll eat slop from a trough. That's a butt or exactly. You want it? You want to like explode a chili bomb next to my face. Okay. You know, whatever. I've had all kinds of weird shit done.

It's just like I was just telling this to somebody the other day that was right after I first left the Conan show in 2000. It was right after I first left the Conan show in 2000. And because I had not been available, all of a sudden I was hot shit. And they had to put me like a bunch of lousy movies and stuff. But I was doing, I was finishing Scary Movie 2. And the last scene that they shot was, it's an exorcist parody, and it's the vomit shooting. So they had, like, air guns filled with pea soup that me and Natasha Lyonne and James Woods got blasted in the face with about 20 times, you know. And then a couple times they had to go through that clean up, you know, and then get blasted again just so they had that first blast. And I had to catch a plane to get to Vancouver because I had a 6 a.m. call time on another movie for the same studio.

So they were able to make it all work together. Wow. But I got, I like washed myself off, you know, took off the wig and wiped off the makeup, went straight to the airport, was like halfway up to Vancouver when I scratched my ear and realized that both ear cups, both of my ears were completely full of dried pea soup. Like literally like when I scraped it,

like my palm was full of flakes of dress. And I'm sitting next to somebody at that point for like, you know, two hours. Oh, by the way, you know, I think I might've even been like, oh, by the way, this is pea soup. Cause you know, I don't want to, I don't want to tell you something that's embarrassing. It's pea soup, you know, like I don't, you know. But anyway. I'm sure they were like, sure it is, Andy Richter. Yeah, right.

Yeah. Can't you tell my love's a-growing? What's been your proudest thing up to this point? Do you think it's, was it, or is there any one thing? Is it just kind of, are you just fat and sassy about how great you've got it? I'm sitting on a throne of my, of my own bones. Yeah. I think I definitely had a Chicago moment.

We did the second ETC show that we did was with a lot of friends and we all just really committed really hard. We ended up winning three Jeff Awards for the show. Oh, wow. I ended up winning one. And that show, you know, most shows go through lulls, you know, and like the Friday 8 p.m. crowd usually hates you, you know? Yeah, yeah. And then the show kind of starts to disintegrate and the scene doesn p.m. crowd usually hates you, you know? Yeah, yeah. And then the show kind of starts to disintegrate and the scene doesn't work anymore.

And you take your lumps at the top of act two or whatever. And that never happened with that show. It was just, it was a really heartfelt show and it didn't have less laughs than any other show that I did there. And I was really proud of that. And then I think shrink, I'm definitely the most proud of it probably just because it's the more I do in this business, the more improbable

it seems that it even happened. Yeah. It took six years to get it made. Um, and we just overcame every single obstacle in the book, which I can't publicly talk about all the time. Um, but there are just so many things that went wrong that we had problems solve on the fly. And, you know, it, for the six, the six weeks of production for filming and two of, of, six, there's six weeks of production for filming and two of, of, uh, of pre-production, you know, that was like 15 hour days for, for six weeks. Yeah. And, and we pulled it off and I, you know, it's also the cheapest production that I've ever worked on. So the quality per budget is the thing

that I'm the most proud of too. Um, and the response that it got, I, I honestly got, I get like several people a week in my DMS being like, can you, is there a way for me to watch this? And yeah, there is, I can't say how, but you know, I've had people like a lot of people that reached out that were like, I, I quit my profession and became a therapist because of this show. Wow. And then I have people that are social workers and therapists that have been working for years. And they'll reach out and they're like, this is the only therapy show that I've ever liked in my life because all the other ones are dramatized or that you make fun of crazy people as the butt of the joke. And this one doesn't do that.

And we just walked a really, really fine line, and we got to work with all the people that we love from Chicago and represent what we thought was the Chicago style of improv, which doesn't really get put into most TV shows. It doesn't have good representations stylistically. And then you also have most things that are made about Chicago are like deep dish, dot bears. Yeah, yeah. And it's like pandering to like a tourist's idea of Chicago from like 1991.

Yes. And that still happens. Yeah. And it's perpetuated by Chicago too. Oh, for sure. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, for sure. Because because we're a bit insecure about that. So you're like, yeah, let me reach into my grab bag of, you know, hot dogs. I don't know. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, that's fine. But I we walked a super fine line. And that that was the more I look back at it, the more I'm like, how the hell did we do it? Yeah. I, you know, every time, like people ask me what I'm doing right now. And I'm like, I'm developing things, which is like basically saying, uh, I'm talking to the tree in my backyard. You know, it's like, it means absolutely nothing, you know, to say like, I'm going around and I'm talking to people whose job it is to listen to ideas and I'm telling them ideas.

Still meaningless, nonsense, nothing. Yeah, it's an odd, like nebulous place to be. Yeah. And yeah, like creative ideas being fostered by uncreative people who get to have the say in it. It's just very, you know, but, you know, again, I've always said this. If I had to program a network, it would be a disaster. Like, you know, I can't I can't be like, oh, those fucking people at the network and their bad taste. It's like I don't I I would I mean, it'd be all fucking forged in fire and barn wood builders or something on mine.

Yeah, give them what they want. Yeah, knives and barns. Throw a little Dr. Pole in there. You can see some cows getting born. That's true. That's my TV watching right there. Dr. Pole? Yeah.

Have you ever seen Dr. Pole? No. It's on National Geographic. It's a veterinary show. dr pole no it's on it's on national geographic it's a veterinary show it's just it's like dr pole is this big goofy uh a dutch doctor he's got a uh uh you know like a a thriving veterinary business in in rural michigan and it's just all like oh this you know this sheep was bitten by a dog you know or, or, you know, my cat's got a bunch of buckshot in its butt, you know, just, just, you know, Michigan, rural Michigan kind of

animal things. And I cannot get enough. It's so, and, and, and just Dr. Polo is just, he's an old Dutchman. So he talks like this this you know and yeah yeah you know strips strips down to the waist in order to birth cow so he can put his like whole bare arm up a cow's ass shirtless at like when it's like 10 degrees below it's fantastic dr pole uh i think it's incredible dr pole or something like that it sounds like it's got characters in it. And it's just, I can watch it for hours and just feel like, you know, a baby with its whoopee. And also, I love, you know, like they show the real like stuff happening, like cows getting born and stuff like that. And that stuff is endlessly fascinating to me. Our thing like that is uh international

house hunters oh yeah i watched that one too yeah yeah we'll watch that and be like this idiot thinks they're gonna get a good place at that price i know i know there's such i i get tired of that one though because i feel like they're being coached too much like yeah they're being coached to like and and then you find out like they've, when they film these things, they've already chosen the apartment and they sort of back engineer some of it sometimes. So it's inauthentic. I know. I wish I didn't know that. Yeah.

Whereas like when you have a sheep that a dog bit, it's a sheep that a dog bit. It's not made up, you know. It's a real dog bit and sheep. Where are you going now? What's the next step for Tim Baltz? You got any concrete? Well, I mean, you're getting married. You have to the lovely Lily Sullivan, who very talented comedic actress and improviser herself.

Yeah, that's honestly, I've wanted to get married for a long time. And you just found somebody that, like, it was just anybody? Finally, someone said yes, you know? She is really insecure. So it worked out great. She's an improviser. She just said yes and, you know, you can trick improvisers. Sure, sure, sure.

No, I think I'm really looking forward to going into married life and continuing to work. I think, you know, the path that shrink took and the heartbreak that came as a result of that, losing my dad right after that kind of went away. It took it out of me. um, took, uh, it took it out of me. Um, you know, my dad was, he was, he was the, the main probably reason that I, that I got into this. And when he passed, I kind of wanted to quit. Um, so I'm just finding my, getting my, my sea legs back, um, to get back into development, for example, to get back into wanting to take on projects like that, even if they'll never happen again. You know, when you lose that drive to, like, do all that work for maybe nothing,

it's realistic and it's understandable why people lose that drive, but it's a bit scary and you can't really force it to come back. And for a long time, I tried to force it and then I kind of just let it flow the way it needed to flow. And, and I think I'm starting to get back to a place where I'm like, Oh, I, I really, I really love doing this. Yeah. I mean, obviously I love, I love working and the jobs that I have are super fun, but, um, you know, when I'm at rest, when I'm just inside my own head, it, it's weird to, to, to go look at the well and be like, oh, the well is kind of dry. Like, that's a scary thing. Yeah. Artistically. And to feel that coming back organically is good. That's

kind of where I'm, I'm going. Just getting back in touch with that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Would you be, how would you feel? I mean, because you come from a similar background as me, and this is a question that I asked myself, how would you feel if going out, you know, from here on forward, you were an actor, you know from here on forward you were an actor you know like like you tried to fly things up the flagpole but nothing really flapped but people were like no but you know you can come play this guy and you can come play that guy so you would just just be an actor which

i mean i know people that sounds crazy but it like say, it's something that I go through in my mind because we put such a priority and such an emphasis on creation and being authors when, you know, there's a lot of people out there like they don't need to write anything. They just want to get cast in things. And here we are kind of acting like, I guess I'm just saying other people's words, though. You know, I know exactly what you're saying. Yeah, I think having not really been treated like that yet, if I'm lucky, I'm entering a place where maybe that will start to flow a little bit more. I think I would find a challenge in that, but I would need something off to the side where I, even if it's just for me, even if it's just for me, I would have to be creating something. Yeah. Because the worst times of my life are always the times where I wasn't doing that because of some reason or I'd lost the interest. Yeah. If I've learned,

if I've learned anything, it's that you have to do that. Even if it's just a, you know, Sisyphus, you're just pushing the rock up the hill and then you're getting trampled by it. Like you kind of got to do it anyway. Yeah. Cause it's better than not doing it. You're it's, it's picking the, the way that's going to make you feel bad in a way that makes you feel creative, as opposed to a way that makes you feel bad and like, I don't know, just a slug. Just a bad way. Yeah. Yeah.

I was inspired, I mean, not to improv, but you know the actor Paul Dooley? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the thing that I always remember him, just for you folks out there, he was the dad in Breaking Away. But just an amazingly talented character actor. And I did a TV show with him. And he's probably in his 70s, probably. He still does improv, like weekly.

There's like a group of old people somewhere doing improv out there and he's part of it well this is a number you know probably five or six years ago but uh i was just like wow and he's just like yeah i just want to keep doing it you know that's great i know it's amazing i mean it's i can't do that like i i'm not gonna like be like on saturday let's go get nervous in front of people. That doesn't sound fun to me. I'm sweating for worse reasons though. I think I might do it. I get my week's worth of sweating out. I admire that. I really do. I think there's maybe going to be a time in my life where I would, I would jump back into that. Now, I think I'm working on the holistic approach where I'm like, well, writing wise, you know, I've got my 50,000 hours of improv under my belt. I think I need to try to get my 10,000 hours of writing under my belt. So I'm going to focus my energy there. get my 10,000 hours of writing under my belt. So I'm going to focus my energy there. And you know, you're in LA. So even if it weren't a pandemic, if someone's like, Hey, you want to do a show tonight? And you're like, yeah, yeah. Where is it? They're like a West Hollywood. And I'm like,

35 minute drive. No, thanks. Lousy parking. No, thanks. I'm not doing that. Pay to do it. No way. Again, that was my twenties. I paid to do a lot of improv. Right, right. Exactly. No, thank you. And also, for me, the thing is like, oh, and be among people who are all like, make me feel like the oldest man on earth. No, thanks. I'll just stay home and be not the oldest man on earth by myself. You know, I also, what I also really bristle at, which, you know, I'm not giving away any secrets. I think anyone who knows me is like, yeah, you visibly bristle at this. It's like kind of like trendy, like trends in improv. I think if you've been around long enough, you know that like most trends in improv last five or six years.

And the people that are committing super hard to the trend that are like, this is what it is now. You're like, ooh. Right. I'd love to be around when you find out that that's not the case, but I don't want to be around while you think it is the case. Yeah. And I think like the scenes are really like people are going hard on that and it's all about showcasing. And to have come up, you know, I kind of like learned improv from the generations before me because I started going and seeing it at such a young age. And it was very collaborative. It was very organic

group driven. It was about support. Anyone could have the best show that night. And now it feels very much like you are there to showcase yourself so that you book, so that you work. And I don't know. I, I, I don't think that leads to the best work. So it's hard to, I used to love going out and watching bad improv. I fucking loved it. I was the guy at the corner of the bar at IO when no one was laughing, laughing my fucking head off because that team of newbies was eating shit. I loved it.

Nothing was more delicious than watching these people on training wheels, like fall off. Because I'm like, yes, this is what it is. And then when they nail something accidentally or purposefully, you're like, bravo, that's great. Yeah. You're going to remember this moment for a long time, maybe the rest of your life. That to me was, that meant something. It was delicious. And now it just seems like a bunch of people, I don't know, it's a lot of careerists, which there's nothing wrong with that from Chicago.

You got to learn it. You know, you don't, I'm not a purist. Yeah. I recognize the need for that, but it doesn't make me want to, you know, leave the house. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's, yeah, it's all moderation. It's all like, yeah, you got to be business minded, but you also too got to do the work for the work sake, if only to do the best work.

Yes. Like if you like if you're only concerned about output and you'll do anything to get the best, most output. Don't do it shitty. Do it. You know, do it by the rules. Make it treat yourself like an artist you know you know pretty early on in after college when i was doing improv my dad i think realized he would you know no one was going to talk me out of doing this um and uh my other kind of career paths were kind of

falling by the wayside um and uh and he sat me and he sat me down and he was like, all right, he pulled up IMDB and he showed me John Cazale, who was in like five things that all won best picture. And, and another guy whose name, you know, escapes me now, but that guy had like 170 IMDB credits. And he's like, this guy was only in two hits out of 170. This guy was in five hits out of five. Yeah. Either one is great. Like both of these guys worked and they were good at their craft. It's just this guy sat around and waited for a perfect opportunity, you know? Yeah. And maybe did theater in between. And this guy, every time he was done with the job, picked up the phone and was like, what else you got? Yeah. And, and because that's what he liked and theater in between. And this guy, every time he was done with the job, picked up the phone and was like, what else you got?

Yeah. And because that's what he liked. And everything in between that is fair play. You know, you don't know, it's not going to be the way that you think it's going to be. It's going to be somewhere in between these two things, probably not John Cazale. Yeah, yeah.

And I was like, oh, okay, yeah. Well, all right. Well then, whatever's next is next yeah yeah is that you know just we're getting you know you've you've i've taken enough of your time here is that kind of what you would call like the the lesson that you've learned you know um like like what do you think what do you think that the main points that you've, like, come through this, you know, through your experience and your training and time, what do you think those are? Well, you can't control what happens. I've gotten screwed and had bad luck pretty hard, especially since coming to LA. But I've had good luck, too.

luck pretty hard, especially since coming to LA, but I've had good luck too. You can't control, you can't control the events, but you can control your reaction to the events. And you also can't see future possibility in front of you, but you can shut yourself off to future possibility with a bad attitude, you know like doom and gloom thinking um so if you if you hang in there you know you'll get through the forest and you'll hit the the open field and you'll see things more clearly so you got to hang in there through the good luck and the bad luck because you just don't know what's coming up around the bend yeah yeah you know i had a my a couple two other pieces of advice stick through me because they're those pieces of advice where you get it and you don't quite know what it is when you're getting it. And my dad once told me, he was in hospice when he told me, so it will never leave my brain.

But he's like, he asked this nurse for something and he complimented her and they were joking around and then she left and she came back with extra stuff for him. And he was laughing. I was like, oh, you're really buttering up these nurses, you know? And he goes, just stop laughing and was like, kindness can change a person sometimes immediately. person, sometimes immediately. Yeah. And, and, you know, it really can't like, it can disarm people when they're in a bad mood. It can, it can, it can give people hope. Um, and it can also make people want to run through a brick wall for you if you, if you were doing it sincerely. And I met a lot of people out here, especially over the last five years, since, you know, the culture's kind of shifted. There are a lot of people who are the biggest

pricks I've ever met who are now online being like, zoinks, I'm a good boy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's fine. Good. If that's what the culture is telling you to do, that's better than nothing. Right. But treat people, you know, you treat the measure of someone's character is to treat them is how they treat the person that they don't need. Yes, absolutely. And then the other is when we were doing the show, Vigilion Dollar Properties, which you were on, right? I was. I did. Yeah, I did a bit on that show.

Very. I've always said it's just such a such a clever gimmick to find locations to shoot is houses that are staged you know like make a real estate show because there's tons of empty houses to shoot in that are actually for sale you know cool up was so brilliant uh yeah the way the creator of that show yeah yeah oh man and uh in the last season, I got to film with Dana Carvey. Oh, wow. And I love Dana Carvey. And he was on SNL when I was starting to sneak downstairs and watch it without my parents' permission and stuff like that. And we were at the snack table at one point, and he's asking me about my thing. And I was about to leave, or I'd just come back from Chicago to film shrink. And it was about to come out and, and, um, I was telling him my circumstances and he's like, can I give you some unsolicited advice? And I'm like, sure, Dana Carvey, go for

it. And he's, and he's like, you got to find someone or people, uh, to go through this business in your life that can deal with emotional turbulence. Because the business is, you're going to have ups and downs that you just don't foresee. And whether it's a partner or friends, you're going to need to be surrounded by those people. Yeah. um you're going to need to you're going to need to be surrounded by those people yeah and and that i think is you know find those people and tell those people that you love them all the time yeah that's all the other lessons are are seem kind of secondary or yet to be discovered but those are the ones that i think are the most important. That one, and I agree. And that one's really good, too.

And it's something that, as I've gotten older, I see more and more, or I believe more and more, because I look around at the people, people who I think are sort of, you know, like, basically, like, people's careers that I envy a little bit. You know, I'm like, I wish I had what that guy has or I wish what she had. None of them are lone wolves. They all, even though they're like, you know, even though it's Will Ferrell, Will Ferrell has taken a bunch of people with him and collaborated to get to this point. And I think that that's, you know, that's applicable to anything. And even so, if you don't get to where you want to be, at least you got friends. At least you're not by yourself.

You know, you end up somewhere different different but you still have like a little micro family that you created yourself yeah um so yeah i think i agree uh dana carvey i agree with you uh thank you dana carvey thank you dana carvey well timbalt thank you uh for taking the time to spill your guts here um we're to cut it up in a way that makes you look real stupid. And we'll just have like, we'll cut in like braying donkey sounds.

Hee haw, hee haw. Please, God, do not edit this. Donkeys and hee haw's is such an inside joke with Lily and I. She will laugh and be furious with me. She'll be like, what did you tell Andy about donkeys and hee-haws? About donkeys and hee-haws. All right.

I don't want to know. I mean, someday maybe. I'll wait for the tell-all. All right. Well, thank you, Tim. Check out The Righteous Gemstones. It really is one of the funniest shows on TV. And I say this as someone who doesn't

watch much comedy. You know, I always am like, nah, it's comedy. I'd rather see you know, like a ghost cut off someone's head. That's more, that's like, that relaxes me more than watching someone else do what I do. But anyway, thanks, Tim.

Thanks, Andy. Say hi to Lily. And thank all of you out there for listening to The Three Questions. We'll be back next week, God willing. I've got a big, big love for you. The Three Questions with Andy Richter is a Team Coco and Your Wolf production.

It is produced by Lane Gerbig, engineered by Marina Pice, and talent produced by Kalitza Hayek. The associate producer is Jen Samples, supervising producer Aaron Blair, and executive producers Adam Sachs and Jeff Ross at Team Coco, and Colin Anderson and Cody Fisher at Earwolf. Make sure to rate and review The Three Questions with Andy Richter on Apple Podcasts.