Stories from ‘Saturday Night Live’

Hello, everyone, and welcome to a very special episode of Good Hang. You know, we have done 52 episodes, deck of cards, baby, and it is time to celebrate. And we are going to celebrate with a few clip shows that puts together some of our finest and most fun moments. And our first one this week is all of our SNL stories. So we have had cast members on here. We've had people who hosted and we've had a lot of people talk about their time on SNL, the good and the bad. And so we've grabbed some of them and put them together. And you're going to hear from some amazing people. You're going to hear from people like Maya Rudolph, Seth Meyers, Martin Short, Andy Samberg, Tina Fey, Jack Black, Rachel Dratch, Kristen Wiig, Anna Gasteyer. It's going to be incredible. And we are going to start this episode with someone who worked behind the scenes, someone who was and is still the most incredible photographer who took all the pictures of your favorite people and and they are their favorite photographs and just recently her new book the art of the snl portrait has come out mary ellen matthews is joining us and let's get the skinny about what it takes to work at that crazy place mary ellen hello This episode of Good Hang is presented by Uber Eats. Big news, Aldi is now on Uber Eats, and you get 20% off your first grocery order with code NEWALDI26. So whether your fridge is empty and you're too tired to shop, or you just ran out of essential ingredients in the middle of a meal prep, don't worry. Fill your fridge in just a few taps and get 20% off your first Aldi order on Uber eats. For orders over $60, you can save up to $20. And it's February 28th, 2026. Terms apply. See app for details. Mary Ellen. Hi. Hi, honey. Hi, honey. This is, I'm so, I'm so thrilled to be here. Like never in my wildest dreams. This is so, this is amazing. Are you kidding me? I'm so, you know, so we're like doing our clip show of all the SNL peeps that have come through. So many of them are in your book. The art of the SNL portrait, your book. I'm so excited to see it in your little pause. Tell everybody like what your job, what is your job consist of? What does the week look like? Um, so we find out who's going to be on the show like the week before, uh, or a couple of weeks before that, hopefully. And, um, and I just kind of have to come up with some ideas and talk to the stylist, talk to whoever's team it is because it's collaborative. It's between you and I, it's between whoever it is and myself. I don't want to drive the vision, just what I want to do. So, um, you know, try to include whoever it is in those decisions. And also it's like, it's not about just doing these, you know, uh, conceptual ones. It's just about, you know, you being you in this time and space because it's all, you know, it's a documentary also about the, about the time of you doing the show and what's going on in the world. And it's so true. You're right. Like everyone has an era that they're in. Yeah, for sure. And, um, like for instance, it was, there was a blizzard happening one in 2016. It was on a Saturday. Rhonda Rousey was on the show. So grabbed her between dress and air, threw her on a sled and just put her outside on 15th street. So things like that, if you can really like nail it down to the actual minute that it's happening is pretty special. That's cool. You want, you want the pictures to feel like live, like part of a live show. I mean, I wish I could do that more often, but you know, that's not, no one else wants to do that, but, but me. Let's talk about Tom Broker. What does he do at the show and how do you guys work together? Tom is the costume designer He designs all the costumes in the wardrobe for the entire show. And for me, I work with him on the photo shoots. So if he styles the photo shoots, if the person doesn't come with their own styling team. And if I have an idea of like, I want Amy to be in a, you know, 17th century Dutch masterpiece. piece, you know, of course that idea doesn't come till about 1.30 when you're going to step on set. So it's like, I'm like, Tom, you know, I'm so sorry this idea just came to me, but it happens sometimes. But, you know, so he has an archive and he's just a genius to know what to pull and know exactly how to make sense of this sort of, you know, wacky idea. Well, I'll give it a perfect personal example of what it's like working with Mary Ellen. So Mary Ellen's like, I have this idea where you have an apple on your head, you're balancing an apple on your head, right? And I'm like, okay, cool. And then props gets the apple. And then Tom's like, what are you thinking? And you're like, maybe something like angelic. And I put this like kind of white dress on it. It looks kind of culty. And you're like, that's cool. That's cool. And we're like, that's cool. That's cool. And then the apple goes on your head and someone's behind me holding the apple on my head. And you're like, don't worry. Well, you know, we'll paint it out. We can paint out the hand. So it looks like the apples on the head, but then you're like, but it looks kind of cool with the creepy hand holding the apple. Yeah. And that's a perfect example of like, all of these things are happening in real time. And the creativity part is the part you're getting the most excited about. A hundred percent. And you know, it's like, uh, I think who was it Quincy? I'm going to quote Quincy Jones right now and said, let's leave room for God when you walk into the studio, because you don't know what's going to happen. Mary Ellen, anyone that's worked with you, like your proof that if you're good at your job and you're wonderful to work with, like it should be easy. It shouldn't be hard. It shouldn't be torturous. It, you know, everyone that has worked with you comes away with their favorite pictures of themselves. That's so nice to hear. I mean, it's true. And it's a collaborative thing. I've got so many great people working with me and, um, you know, the styling goes into it in our prop department, you know, they're, uh, I can, I'll tell a funny story if you have time. Of course. Okay. Um, so Paul Rudd was on a Paul McCartney. And I thought of this at the very end, you know, we were all like, you know, I couldn't, you know, he's watching the rehearsal. I'm like, you got to come over here. We got this done. And at the very end, I was like, we should make you into a sixties version of Paul McCartney, the mop top. And so, you know, he's got to go on and do his rehearsals and whatnot. Speedy or Sir Speedy, who is, who is, you know, the wonderful guy who the gentleman who takes care of all the band's equipments and all logistics. He goes running down to like Chelsea guitar, gets like the left-handed bass for the, for the Paul McCartney. Jody's doing the wig and Tom's pulling together this and we put it together during meal break. And he is like, he nails this. I could show you. Yes. He nails this. I'm, I'm a mop top Paul McCartney. And it's one of my favorite. Oh my God. I remember that picture. So listeners, it's a black and white picture of Rudd looking like Paul McCartney. And it's, this is Mary Ellen in a nutshell, which is like, I have an idea and then everybody steps to it. It's a complete collaboration, like you said, and it looks incredible. And you can't ask that kind of get from people unless you know it's a good idea. Well, you took an amazing picture of Tina and I when we hosted Where We Were, Simon and Garfunkel. There's a great behind-the-scenes picture in there, by the way, at the very end. You two, like, laughing when we were doing that. Well, everyone should check out The Art of the SNL Portrait. Mary Ellen Matthews, the best photographer around. Mary Ellen, everyone that has worked with you adores you, and you are aging in reverse. Love you, Mary Ellen. Thank you so much for doing this and congrats again on your book. Yeah. I hope to see you soon, honey bunny. Okay, honey bunny. I'll see you soon. Thanks again. Bye. This episode is brought to you by Visible. This year is already in full swing, which means you're likely being pulled in a million different directions. Keep the new year, new me momentum going by switching to a new wireless plan from Visible. It's one line wireless with unlimited data and hotspot for $25 a month, taxes and fees included. You heard that right. $25 a month, same cost every month, all in Verizon's 5G network. It's the ultimate wireless hack to save money and still get great coverage and a reliable connection. Switch today to Visible today and cross wireless savings off your to-do list. Terms apply. See visible.com for planned features and network management details. Thank you, Mary Ellen. Thanks for getting on. It's so good to see you. And let's get started with our show. Let's hear first from Maya Rudolph. One thing I wanted to bring up in that office was there was a cleaning lady. Rosa. Rosa that worked on the 17th floor. Teeny, tiny lady. Very teeny. And she had been there for a very long time. She had seen some shit. Yeah. And there was a moment when, would you tell the moment when we were in that office and Rosa came in? I think it was probably, usually if we were in that office during the day, because we were there so much at night you know they we weren't keeping regular office hours so there weren't great times for people to come in and clean and change the trash cans out and stuff and so it's probably a read-through day maybe like a Wednesday and we were in there waiting for a table read to start and someone was definitely crying I think I think Emily might have been crying because her desk in that office was close to the door and so she had her back to the door and she was talking to us about something that was really hard and we were also sleep deprived and I just remember Rosa coming in and she didn't speak very much English um but she saw what she always saw which was she came in and she saw a few of us just sitting around talking to each other deep in conversation and Emily was crying and she put her hand on Emily's shoulder and she goes oh don't cry sexy do you remember that I love it so much it was like it was yesterday don't cry sexy and I highly recommend you say that to your friend when they're sad it's really don't cry sexy do you want to tell everyone the first time you met Barack Obama and who you were dressed as Yes, I would love to. The first time I met Barack Obama when he was running for office, I was dressed as Shirley MacLaine. And then the second time you saw him, you were dressed as? Barack Obama. Yeah. It was a sketch that you and Daryl were Hillary and Bill Clinton at a Halloween party. And I remember Barack was new on the scene, looking smooth. And at that time, I think, like, Barack Obama masks were popular, you know, because it was like the new candidate. And so the joke was going to be that I come in like, whop, whop, I'm Barack Obama. And then he taps me on the shoulder with his mask and takes the mask off. And he goes, oh, my God, it's the real Barack Obama. So we did that at dress and that was it Yeah He didn do it We did not do it at air Thank God Why Do we know why I do I mean I did not have a take on Barack Obama at all I didn know Also you know I just remember you were a teeny tiny He's a very tall man. Very tall, handsome man. It's very fun and stressful to be dressed exactly like the person you're standing next to. It is so much fun. And I remember the first time we saw each other was when we were about to walk out on stage. So at dress rehearsal, there was like a little flag there and a door that's supposed to open. And I'm there waiting in my little Brooks Brothers suit. And I think we like bound my boobs. And I had, I used to play Scott Joplin. And so I had my Scott Joplin wig on. And I was standing there. And people don't know, Maya has the cutest little, tiniest little legs. From knee down. Just the knee down. Knee down, it's like a little, teeny tiny toothpick. Look at those little legs from knee down. So cute. I like to kick, stretch, and kick. I'm 53. Teeny tiny. Teeny tiny. Just from the knee down. They're like breakable, I think. I know. They're so little. So you had your little suit on. My little suit on. And it was teeny tiny. And then he came over. And here's the thing. I didn't, it was written then. I didn't have a good impression. I was sort of like, I'm Barack Obama. And so I was standing there, and then he came over, and I said, well, what do you think? And all he said to me was, I don't wear a three-button suit. Damn. I still don't know what that means. It's like a guy knowledge thing. Sounds like flirting to me. Just kidding. No, I'm not. I will take that. I've gotten two tonight, and I'm taking them home with me. I'm taking them into the spank bank tonight. And you have a lot of female friends. I do. Great, like a great number. I count myself as one of them. Women in your life who are your friend, who you're deeply tender to, and very like, you really like take care of us and you care about us. And you, like, I mean, you're the only, you and Shoemaker are the only men that are ever allowed even close to a lot of the SNL women. We gather together as a group. And just recently we let you sit with us for 30 minutes. Yeah. And then we said, I think it might've, maybe it was Tina, but. Tina said, thank you for coming. And also thank you for leaving. Yeah. Well, on the way there, I said, Seth, heads up, we're meeting. and I think you have about a half an hour window. And you said, fine, I'll take that. And then we sat down at the steakhouse and you hung and then Tina said, and now it's time to go. Yeah. Yeah. It was, can I point out my favorite observations about you guys' group? Yes. You needed a second table for all your jackets and every one of you had two totes. Yeah. And most of the meal. Again, I think if people saw the seven women that were there, they would be like, oh my God, how funny was it? And I would say mostly they were looking through their totes. And at no point were less than two people looking through a tote for something. Well, yeah, because we had put it in the other tote. Just comedy legends. Yeah. Rustling through totes. And it was a lot of hand me my tote. And it was like, is this my tote? A lot of matching totes. Yeah, I think we had gotten some totes. Matching totes and puffy coats is how I would describe it. It was, I mean, it was the SNL 50th weekend. It was very cold. It was. Also, we were all dealing with like a lot of temperature. So our bodies, you know, we're of a certain age. We get hot and cold really fast. So it was a lot of putting on coats, taking off coats. It was a lot. And a lot of like, oh my, I'm so hot. And then taking the coat off and then handing it to you to put at the table. Every coat was louder than the next coat. When you moved the coat, it was like the sale of a schooner, which are like... Very hard to hear any conversation due to the rustling. Which is weird because we were shouting at each other. We do shout at each other across the table very loudly. Also, Paula within, Paula Pell, within like five seconds had set up a home office at a third table. You're right. She got a third table because she had to do some rewrites. It was during the show week. Real-time rewrites on SNL 50th. She was immediately had like a laptop and also like a TV monitor. Yeah. Hooked up. There's also, when we all go out, there's a ton of food panic. Yeah. When are we going to get our food? Who ordered? What should we order? And we all fall into very specific categories about like how fast we should order. There was a lot of talk about what you guys were going to get. And as soon as the server came over, the minute they spoke, everybody forgot everything that had been agreed upon. Yeah. And – Yeah. Because it went right back to square one. Yeah. And don't forget, you know, I'm a woman of a certain age. I need like 85 grams of protein a day. So we were just like, how many steaks? We need to get like 40 steaks? They put us in a private room where you could have a wedding. That's how big it was. Yeah. They knew what they were dealing with. And yet within like 10 minutes, I thought we might need a second room. The sprawl. Well, luckily in 10 minutes, we asked you to leave because it was enough time. It was so, it was so much. Putting on and taking off coats. Sometimes I think of an SNL sketch just at the table that for whatever reason stays with me forever. Do you remember Fred did a sketch once where he was someone at a dinner party who kept taking off and putting on a scarf? Yes. Yes, the longest scarf. It was a really long scarf. And he kept being like, oh my God, it's so hot. And he would take it off. And it was like, he had to like loop it around his head. And he had a practical scarf. And he'd loop it around his head like 10 times while everybody waited. And then he'd start telling his story. He's like, oh my God, it gets so chilly. And then just looping. I think about it all the time. Did it make it on air? No. No. But I can't, I think about it all the time. Also, Fred, I think Enilda was his, do you remember his stenographer, court stenographer character? Oh, yeah. And it was. It had a name? I think his court stenographer had a name. I think Anilda. Anilda. I think. I'm not sure. Okay. Type like this. Kind of a little bit like this. It was a lot like that. But also paused the trial a lot to look through her bag and just would say over and over, I can't find my chapstick. I can't find my chapstick. I would say I don't see a scarf without thinking about the first one or hear somebody say chapstick without thinking about the second. Fred Armisen is like, we talk about him all the time on here. He is truly the funniest of the funny people, I think. Fred can do these physical things, the slightest. There is no one funnier than Fred. I agree. This is what Fred said to me at the end of this. Fred Armisen for everybody listening. This is what, first of all, this is visual, but his dressing room is beside me. So I would pass his room and he'd be on his phone. I'd say, hey, Fred, and he'd go. I say, Fred, you're not really asleep. Oh, hi. How long have you been here? Fred, I just saw you. And the other thing he did, which she completely convinced me was true, was when I left the stage after the good nights, he said, why did you call Paul McCartney Tony McCartney? I said, what? Yeah. I mean, you said, oh, Tony McCartney. And because I didn't know Paul was standing beside me, I thought, did I? And then I told Bill Hader this, and Bill told Fred, and Fred sent me a text like a couple days ago. Sorry, I thought you knew that was a joke. I literally thought I said Tony McCartney. That would have been great. The stupidest thing in the world. Tony McCartney. Tony McCartney. I wish I had said it, of course, you know. Not knowing Paul's name. Fred used to send me long texts about his flight schedule, like when he was arriving, what airport, what time to get picked up as if I was picking him up from the airport. Yeah, I know. He is so deeply funny. He also does a bit that I love where if you haven't seen him for a long time at a party and you go, hey, Fred, he goes, hi, how are you? He pretends you're just a fan bothering him. He's so funny. He loves a bit. He does a million of them too, and everyone's funny. Yeah. I mean, that's what's so funny about – The stuff that we do is like nobody remembers the 10 to 1 versions of things that were just stinkers. Always. Crazy stuff. Stuff where I was mad that it would get cut and then I would go back and be like, oh, my God, there's nothing here. Like I was just running on fumes. Like why was I so mad? It was just because like it was literally as much as like I exist too. Like I want to be on the show too. Emily Spivey and I wrote a scene one night that we thought was so funny. And it was just about these two giant like trucks, like truck drivers who would come up next to each other and keep telling the other one to honk it. Yes. And it was like, honk it, honk it. And just telling the other one to honk it. And we were like, oh, we were dying. And we turned it in like, you know, 8.45 a.m. And Shoemaker was like, we're not doing honk it. And we were like, what? we already made t-shirts he was like we can't we can't produce Honk It we can't get two giant like you know yeah yeah yeah you know we can't get two cabs and also like you guys we're like 35 sketches over and like you turn this in at 845 and it's like and we were like justice for Honk It like we were still we were so mad so just to be clear you're not gonna let us read Honk It okay okay Noted. Looking forward to having an employer that supports Honkett. Fucking noted. Looking forward in the future to working with someone who understands Honkett and what it means to us. Oh, my God. The thing that made me laugh the hardest most recently was this clip of Bobby Moynihan from they did these really great SNL documentaries. And it was a documentary about auditioning for SNL. and it was people and you were in it, you were great in it. And they talk to people about the process of auditioning and then they show them their audition back and people get emotional. People, you know, they've never seen it or they, oh my gosh, this is from 50 years ago or whatever. And they showed, they made Bobby watch his audition back and he's doing a character that's in his audition that's just beyond inappropriate. And he's watching it and he's watching it and he goes, oh no. And then he just goes, oh Bobby. And the way he says, oh, Bobby, the way he calls himself by name is so gentle. And so it made me laugh so hard. And I think it should be the TikTok sound that people play. Like when you have to you have to see a piece of comedy that you're like, OK, we did we realize now that that's not OK. You just show the content and just hear the voice of Bobby going, oh, Bobby. And that's how you apologize for problematic content in the past. You just put the Oh Bobby sound over it and it means I see it. I'm sorry. Let's all move forward. I know better now. I know better now. I do better now. I'm an ally who makes mistakes. Oh Bobby. Oh Bobby. Oh Bobby. That really made me laugh. I couldn't stop watching it. You can make that, get that audio. You should trademark that audio and make merch. Well, you could have been a cast member. No, I don't think I could. I don't think I could handle it week in and week out. 100% disagree. Once every 20 years is more my speed for that gig But you could have I mean did you ever audition or wanna audition Because you were in I didn want to audition but then I didn audition I had an idea in mind that I never went and followed through with. What do you mean you had an idea? Well, I don't want to repeat it because now it really sounds stupid in my mind, but my audition was going to be basically, I was going to be a superhero that I created. I don't remember what it was called, but it was like a combination of the Hulk and maybe it was just the Hulk. I was going to come in as the Hulk and just jump around and do like this weird slow motion kind of performance art dance where I would crush things with my foot and then do like a mimed, the earth is cracking. I was not going to get in and I knew that. But I had practiced it in the mirror in my living room a few times, but I never pulled the trigger. You didn't? No. How come? Like, did you get an audition and you just didn't do it? Or you, like, I'm fascinated by it because also I'm interested in that story because that is a little bit of sabotage. Yeah. Maybe there was a party that didn't want to be on it. Well, that's the constant battle is the fear of failure. Yeah, totally. Sometimes you're up for the battle and sometimes you're just like, pass. Okay, do you remember Boys Night Out? Yes. Do you remember that? That didn't make it on SNL when I was there with you. Yes, Emily Spivey and I wrote a sketch called Boys Night Out, and it was Jack waiting for the boys to arrive. And they never showed up and just kept ordering more wings. But there was a song. Do you remember the song to it? Boys night out. Boys night out. Now we're really rocking and the chicks are all squawking because they're talking about a boys night out. You never forget a song like that. thank you so much that's all I needed to hear do you remember the first scene on SNL that like you were getting laughs and you thought like it's working like that no um um gosh I don't remember the first cause I remember the first few times I got on like I wasn't even I like left my body so I don't remember like Like, this is going really well. I was just like, I'm on. Like that kind of thing. Yeah, yeah. Well, the first, very first show, I wasn't in. Like the, you know, season premiere or whatever. Right. And like you've told all your friends, like, I'm on a set. And everyone's watching it. Your scene gets cut. Like it does. And then the next week, the same thing happened. Scene got cut. So it was like the third week. Who was the host? Do you remember? The one that I got on was, I should know this. Oh, my God. Well, I know the first one was Jerry Seinfeld. Then it was Norm Macdonald. And then it was, and does not compute. Oh, my God. I don't remember. Well, it's funny. The brain remembers trauma. So you remember the two shows that you weren't on? Dana Carvey? I'm going to have to go look. They're going to do those three guys in a row? Look on your computer. What year was it, Drachi? It was 1999, third episode. Okay, this will be a fun game. Dana Carvey? Okay, and I'm going to have you guess the musical guest because that's always fun, too. Oh, my God. See? I don't know this. 1999, I don't remember anything. 1999 SNL hosts. And don't worry, we're going to keep all this in. Let me tell you one cool thing, though. Let me tell you. I just heard that. Wait, let me tell you one cool thing, though. Please. Please. The very first musical guest was David Bowie. And when I was, I've told this before, but when I was getting my photo taken for like the very first opening credits, like it was on the stage, you know, like in 8H. and David Bowie was, it was Thursday, he was rehearsing with the band. So like I'm getting my picture taken and he's right over there singing Rebel Rebel. I mean, I have chills every time I think about that because that was just like, I mean, I don't even have words for like the surrealness. That's a very, that's a, like to have a soundtrack of that moment for your life and it's David Bowie playing live. It's David Bowie, icon, yeah. So I remember that. Should we tell the Black Crow story? So one time, so I don't do drugs at all. So then one time the Black Crows were the musical guests and someone on the Instagram came up to me. He's like, hey, do you want? That's my drug offer voice. Hey, do you want whatever you call it? joint? Not a joint, but just like a hit off a joint. I see. And I was, I don't know, I've tried it a couple times. It's never really worked. I've never really dug it. And then I was like, okay, sure. So I took like one puff off of this black crows. Am I going to get sued? The black crows pot. You took a hit off the black crows pot. I took a hit off the black crows pot and my cousin was visiting me, my cousin Zach, And I came back to the table and I was like, oh, I guess this is like I'm really high right now. And I was so embarrassed because like it was my little cousin. And I never, ever, ever get high. And then I came back and I was kind of like, I don't really remember if I told him or not. Oh, he didn't. He might not even know. I don't even know. But that was my one like. I remember you telling me you couldn't get up from your chair. Oh, I don't remember that. But it's possible. as possible. That you were kind of stuck. I was just like, really like, anyway, and that's why I don't do drugs. I mean, no, I'm just not into that feeling, I guess. No, you're not into that feeling. Only if it's from the Black Crows. And then, yes, Chris, Chris Robinson, call me, call me. And then when you were at SNL, like, I feel like we got, I was thinking today about all the stuff we got to do together and we got to do a lot of dumb so fun so fun stuff oh my gosh and but you know and I was thinking it was like I mean in many ways I wish we had I wish we had more time together when I was more experienced there because I was new and kind of stressed and I felt like I loosened up more and figured out how to like just have more fun as as I got older there yeah um but we did get to do some fun stuff together first of all you were in the original Debbie Downer and that was so fun. I mean, just to be laughing there with you. Well, you bring this up and, you know, I ask this question to people on this podcast and I truly feel like it is because of Debbie Downer that I asked this question. Again, I owe you a lot of money and thank you for building this podcast with me. But Debbie Downer, I've said it many times before, was and is the thing that I go to, also maybe now replaced by the clip. The clip. The clip of this podcast. I watch the clip a lot of times. And I just want to clarify, I don't go like watch my work. Like I don't go watch like a movie I did because like I just like to have it in my head. But that it's like I said, it was like seeing your biggest crack up. Yes. And just like I have to laugh every time I watch it. Me too. And Debbie Downer was like that for me during very dark times because it was the combination of us all having fun. you you're like the way in which you are physically trying to hold it together like the way like the laugh was like something you were trying to hold in combined with the zoom in and the sound effect and we've watched it so many times like Emily Spivey knows every single she's like this is the part where your lip starts quivering because there's one part where at the very beginning I'm going get get get get get get And then there's the part where something falls backstage. I look away. My eyes dart over there. Like, we know every single moment. It is. It's like the Zapruder film, like frame by frame. Yes. And it proves, it just, it got me, it's such a serotonin boost. Before we move on, talk to us about the, like, who did you write Debbie Downer with and how did it start? Oh, like the origin of it? Yes, the origin of it. Oh, okay. People will want to know. So, well, it really started because I went on a vacation by myself. So it had been suggested to me by a therapist. And I often leave that detail out. But since I'm on this one-on-one Amy interview. No, I said it like once or twice, but usually I leave that part out for the masses. But no, not like this. This number one podcast, masses. but no she just like she kept saying like take a trip by herself and I was like why like I don't want to do that I could go with friends like I don't want and I just kind of took it as like doctor's orders like I just sort of like I'm doing this and I like self propelled myself to the jungles of Costa Rica no but I wanted to pick somewhere that it wasn't going to be like honeymooners and like I wanted to pick somewhere that was like just like I don't know, somewhere kind of remote, I guess. So it was like very remote. It was in the Osa Peninsula. You had to take like the big plane. Then you take the smaller plane. Then you take the two-hour Jeep drive. I mean, I was going deep out of society. And each time they were like, it was like Barbara Potty 1. Well, no. So I picked this. It was like this eco-lodge thing. So I went there, and then it was just like a, it was, so there was like these commune. It wasn't like a lot of people there. And it was actually really cool. Like, and I did meet really cool people. And I met these two sisters that, like, they were older, but they're, like, my age right now. But, I mean, the age I am now. And they were sort of, like, they sort of told me, like, the rudimentary fundamentals of what is later known as the secret. Like, did I tell you this? Yes. When I was on this trip. People should know Dratch knew the secret before anyone knew the secret. And I learned it from the jungles of Costa Rica, from two white ladies that were from Colorado. motto but anyway so so so they like they were just weird you know because you're like chatting and i gotta say like hats off to the suggestion because i never would have talked to strangers if i was with friends right you know right so i'm like having this conversation and these women were telling me about like you know basically like what's the law of attraction i guess but they put it like you know if you if you think on positive things positive and if you're if you're Focusing on lack, you'll attract lack, basically. But then it almost, like, the whole thing got, like, sealed because then we were on this, like, you know, you could do, like, nature walks or whatever. And we were on this, like, walk on the beach, like, with the little, like, it wasn't, like, a group. It was, like, whoever's here and wants to do all this thing. And this woman was saying, like, there were these, like, beautiful birds overhead, these, like, scarlet macaws. And it was, like, way up in the sky. And this woman goes, I want a feather to bring home for my daughter. and I swear like 20 seconds later from like way way up high this feather starts to just go like falls down we all like kind of see it like and it lands like right at her feet whoa Amy doesn't believe in any of this stuff I do okay no that's cool that's cool but I just been manifesting that was cool though so then I was just like sold I'll join your cult No, but then that, okay, this isn't anything about Debbie Donner. This is just other stuff on that trip. But anyway, but then the Debbie Donner story is that when later, it was like sitting at dinner like you're with randos that are there, and people just making chit-chat. And someone said, like, where are you from? And I said New York And then they said like oh were you there for 9 And it was like three years after 9 It wasn like it just happened It was kind of and then I was kind of like uh yeah And then like, it's kind of like, just like in Debbie Downing, you had to like get the conversation back because it was like vacation times. Right. And then like about a week later after I got home, I was like out listening to some band, which isn't something I usually do. But I think that's kind of interesting because like doing something you don't usually do and then your brain is kind of like, I don't know, you're not on your usual channels, I guess. Yeah. But then I just had that idea of this kind of based on that, like someone like a Debbie Downer popped into my head. Yes. And then, which this is kind of just talking creativity. I found at SNL, you couldn't just go in there and like, OK, let's think of a scene. Like it had to be like moments like that. Like, and to me, that only happened like once or twice a year, which is why, like, you might sit there at home and be like, why isn't there? Like, like SNL, man. But it's like thinking of really original characters that kind of like hit on something. It's not something you can like steer the ship on. It's like to me, like it has to like vibe out with you. I don't know. You have to be like you have to to your point, you have to like keep the channel open and like find the muse and like find you. It just can't be like turned out. Exactly. And then what did you do? So then I took it to Paula Pell, who we wrote with often and is hilarious. And everyone knows Paula now because I love Paula's like out there more in front of the camera. But anyway, and then we were on writing night. We were trying to write it. We set it in an office. And it just kind of wasn't really flowing. It just wasn't really jiving. And then we were like, maybe we need to put her somewhere really happy. So then we thought of Disney World, of course, happiest place on earth. And then while we were writing it, like, of course, Paula was cracking me up with these one-liners and everything. And then we started just going like, like, just for ourselves. And then we were like, what if we put that in the scene with the actual trombone sound? So then for read-through, we had, I don't remember if we had like the live person or someone just had done it. But then at read-through, like, it killed. But then you never know because sometimes something can kill at the table. And then when we were in dress rehearsal, Jamie and Horatio were kind of laughing. and I was thinking like you guys like I feel like this could work like yeah keep it together guys and then like on air I just flubbed one of the lines and then I don't even know I guess I was like so nervous sure and then but you were on you but thankfully you just like like like the good Pisces fish like you just like you went along for the like it was it's so joyous watching it Because it is just the, it's like what real live TV is supposed to feel like. Okay, well, you've talked about this and I've heard you talk about it and really made me laugh. You're, for the first sketch you were in at SNL. Oh yeah. Was when you, right? Yeah. Were pregnant in the butt. My character was pregnant. Your character. But it's funny because back it up even to like my first pitch. because that was J.B. Smoove. Right. The great writer and performer J.B. Smoove. The great everything with the best pitcher. Incredible. And he pitched this thing where you were pregnant in the butt and everyone was laughing and I didn't know that like he just does like funny pitches. Right. And he wrote it. I think. And it got on. And he often, he often, J.B., I think you often pitch stuff that maybe you weren't going to write. Yes. You know what I mean? I always pitch stuff I wasn't going to write. Same. That was kind of the thing. On Monday night, you would be like, um, and you just kind of bullshit your way to get a laugh. And then you'd be like, okay, now I really have to buckle down. But I think because the response was so funny, J.B. was like, I should write this. That's the other thing. And you're like, I wasn't really going to write that thing. Yeah. It was my very first sketch. Jason Lee. Jason Lee was those. Foo Fighters. Yes. Foo Fighters. Foo Fighters. I did say that. Foo Fighters. I'm so happy that was my first sketch. That was your first sketch. And do you remember the first, like, I mean, the first character you have so many, but do you remember the first one that was a recurring that you thought was a target lady? Like where you felt like, oh, I'm going to get to do this again. Like I have some kind of, I know it might, it was an a-holes with Sudeikis. It was either a-holes or target lady. Yeah. I mean, for people who don't remember, um, you know, Kristen has done so many characters. I mean, we could talk about them all day, but there was, there was Target lady who was of course, very, very excited about things getting improved and had an incredible haircut, great wigs, incredible wig. And then another great wig and another character was A-Holes, which is Sudeikis, Jason Sudeikis and you, and you guys were kind of like, just like the worst people to show up anywhere. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And you did a great move where you would play with your hair and chew gum. Real simple. there's so many funny characters that I want to talk about, but I won't, I won't embarrass you by going through them, but I've said this to you before. My favorite character is the surprise lady. Thanks. That's one of my favorites. I love her. I love her for a million reasons. I love her because the, the, the way you play her is so funny. I love her wig. Fantastic wig. Oh, always in a turtleneck. Always. Well, she had to hide in it. She had to hide in it. That's right. That's right. did you did you write it was in the script that we like that we pulled it over yes and when i when i say that was one of my favorites that comes from doing it yeah like i i like being i like being in a sketch where there's a lot of people and there are moments where everyone is looking around like what is going on i love that moment I love a cut to Keenan. Like, we got to get out of here. Like, this lady is nuts. That's my favorite thing. That actually would be a really good way to sum up a lot of your characters. Oh, yeah. Most of my sketches, if you go back and look, like, no, you got to cut to people being weirded out by me to remind the audience that. But why I love the surprise lady so much is because there's a lot of wig in it, I think, because she is nervous, but excited. and she loves a party and she cannot wait to deliver that good news. She can't wait. And the physicality of her and the way so funny. God, I just watch clips of it all the time. I love it so much. It's so funny and stupid. Funny and stupid. Yes. Which is the best. Which we know is the highest praise in comedy. Agree. Like the more people go, oh, that's so dumb. That's so dumb. And you're like, yay, I did it. For people that didn't see the SNL 50th music special, which was amazing, there was like sketches in between acts and a lot of musical sketches. And Bobby and Marty came out and crushed. That was not an easy audience. It was an audience of truly every single person was either performing or a performer or like it was a cynical audience. Yeah. You guys crushed. What was that feeling to do that that night? It was so fun, for lack of a better word. Like it was so for there was something, you know, as you go back to these reunions and you bring all of your kind of history and baggage and whatever with you. Again, kind of speaking to your point of the fact that this is all just so embarrassing, because first of all, like it's Radio City Music Hall. It's 6,000 seats. I mean, it's a huge, epic space. Yeah. We followed Lauryn Hill. Sure. that's who you want to follow. So you have to understand that in the wings, there are like thousands of cool music people. I mean, like I, my dressing room was next to Jack White and his band and I'm dressed as Bobby Mohan Culp. Okay. I've got the giant glasses and my like striped dress and Will's got his bald paint and his, you know, we were rehearsing in the keyboard. So already we're like the losers in the wings. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. I mean the winners for me, but it was, It was fantastic. I mean, actually, you're like, you've got the violin and you've got the eye patch. 100%. And so we're already just like, what is happening? What is happening? Why are we here? And who invited us? You know, and then we just started to giggle because we, we, it was so cute because we, doing the sketch and doing that, we just, it was very easy to imagine how excited Bobby and Marty would have been, the people would have been to be at Radio City. And what was it like back then? What was it like back then? You see Jack White. Who else are you seeing? I mean, mayhem, like posses and people with like, you know, music people. So they got like, they're so cool. Big, cool hair and glasses and like Lauryn Hill's a fur coat and an afro. And like, everybody's got like floral pants that come up to here. And there's posses and, you know, weed everywhere. You know, Chris Martin's in the corner, like cool people, actual cool people who just looked right past us. Like they were, they did not know that we used to be on Saturday Night Live. They were just like, who brought Granny and Gramps? Like, just right past us. That actually probably was fun. It was so fun. That's fun. And then going, and then we like, you know, going out there and all that stuff just suddenly worked. You're right. Now that I'm remembering, Lauryn Hill had a surprise, incredible performance. Insane. And then it was like smoke. And then it was like, ahem. Test. Test. Test. And you guys cried. And that's what I mean. You know what I did? I knew it was streaming. and I also knew, I mean, it was really funny because we were like, they just, and all of their stuff was about how they'd come to New York for an ophthalmology appointment. You know, they were just lucky to slip in and just everything about it was so fun. And so we're sitting there and, uh, yeah. And I did have the feeling, I was like, this is streaming. Cause one thing about SNL for me, again, I don't know if you ever had this, but it's a little bit of an A student girl, you know, nerd girl thing. I was always, my greatest regret about the show, not that you would go back in time is that I couldn't, I never like settled into it and enjoyed it. Cause I was always so aware of the time and of running somebody running down the clock somebody else's sketch is going to get cut like I was always and when we were there it was such a you know like explosive surfate of of talent that there were always three sketches a night that might not make it you know yeah so I always felt like I had to like keep it moving keep it moving so I was suddenly very aware that it was streaming and that I was not going to be rushed and I was like I'm going to be Bobby, the funniest thing in the world to me is this woman and this man, these, these choir teachers getting people to settle because there's just nothing funnier. So that's what they did is they just kept telling people to settle. I need you to settle. I need quiet in the back. Hand goes up, mouth goes shut. Hand goes up, mouth goes shut. Just this idea. I was just like, I'm going to keep going until they settle. I'm not going to worry about it. And if I had been at 8H, we never would have done that. Right. Very good point. But we just, We took a full, probably 45 seconds to, you know, get people to pipe it. David Spade, pipe down. That's right. You guys called him out by name. I don't want to hear it, Pierce Brosnan. So stupid. You've been listening to Good Hang. The executive producers for this show are Bill Simmons, Jenna Weiss-Berman, and me, Amy Poehler. The show is produced by The Ringer and Paper Kite. For The Ringer, production by Jack Wilson, Kat Spillane, Kaya McMullin, and Alea Zanaris. For Paper Kite, production by Sam Green, Joel Lovell, and Jenna Weiss-Berman. Original music by Amy Miles.