Jason Sudeikis on Future of Ted Lasso, Scoring on LeBron, Behind the Scenes at SNL50 & More | Ep 129
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Ted Lasso as a coach is like the perfect temperament. I just think it's so ironic that now that you are a coach of your daughter's team, you went back to the Coach Campbell style of coaching of intimidation. Just yell at her. I'm not going to miss Ted Lasso. Get your ass on the line, ladies. Just because you're eight years old doesn't mean you've got to act like it. For God's sakes.

Welcome back. Welcome back. Welcome back. Welcome back to New Heights, ladies and gentlemen, a wondrous show produced by Wave Sports and Entertainment and brought to you by Audible. Ha!

Listen to what I gotta say. We're your hosts. I'm Travis Cousins and my big brother Jason Kelsey. If you didn't know, we are the Kelsies and that's what they call us and you're listening to our podcast. We are recording together here in Los Angeles, California, making our way out west. Yeah.

How about that? It's pretty nice. Two Clevelanders making their way out west to the show. Big time. Hollywood. Officially out here for a small amount of time. Yes, and we're going to enjoy it. Yeah. Subscribe on YouTube, Wondry Plus, or wherever you get your podcasts, and follow the show on social media at New Heights Show with 1S. Jason, let the people know.

What a special episode we have coming up. Well, we're back and we have an incredible episode for you guys. That's right. We are bringing you this episode on Friday because we just couldn't wait to get it to you. That's right. We've got a treat for you. This guest conversation was just too good. Get ready for Mr. Jason Sudeikis. Oh, man. I'm fired up about this. Dude, the best. We're going to get into it right now. Gear up.

how long do we chat for the way i mean how much time do you have whatever i i only asked that because it's like i can give short answers and long answers i don't know what you know what agenda you guys have whatever works yeah i think this is not professional as you know jason yeah we're just out here but i i i want all my podcasts viewing and listening are from clips so it's like you guys and megan and like you know all the smoke it's like you know

So I know that it's 30 seconds at a time. No. Yeah. No, they'll cut it up to make it 30 seconds. No matter how long winded it is, they'll make it a clip. Good. I respond well to editing. Samesies. Yeah. Well.

That being said, Jason, you want to jump on the intro? All right. We're going to jump right into it. We got our own Bruce Buffer right here. Yeah, let's prove it. All right. Our guest today, where's my ISO? All right. Our guest today from Overland Park, Kansas, he's a four-time Emmy Award winning actor, a fifth grade CYO championship winning basketball player.

You might know him from his nine seasons on SNL or starring in the Emmy Award winning show Ted Lasso. Not right now. Please welcome Mr. Jason Sudeikis. Yeah, baby. Holy smokes. Yeah, baby. It's nice to hear that all stated one after another. It's like I forget. Yeah, right? Yeah, you're just driving out the windshield. I don't look in the rearview mirror often enough. And we're only hitting the highlights. That's it. Yeah, exactly. They even mention my children. It's like, you know.

Speaking of which, how are your children? They're good. They're good. Yeah. Shout out, guys. They're doing great. Yeah. They're doing well.

Otis has got his birthday, his 11th birthday coming up here on April 20th. And so, yeah, now, you know, he's well into the double digits now. Love it. Love it. Little man. You already know. I'll get him a keg. Yeah, exactly. He's ready. He's ready. The bubbles. That's how we do that. He likes the ceremony of it. Yeah, you know, that and the pumping and the keg stand is just the taste. He probably wouldn't respond to it.

You remember your first beer yeah, it was a lot later in life than most okay Yeah, I was one of those athletes that took took strongly to the dare program and you both I Remember stumbling into the bedroom at five and not at five but on a Friday night. Yeah, just here at boom boom boom boom

And like breaking doors off hinges. Yeah, you're like I'll wait for that. Yeah But I do remember mine was I do remember it was Second semester freshman year of college community college. I was on the basketball team and and we got you know as an athlete You know you guys know you got that well Maybe not for football but like for basketball you would get there early before school started, you know second semester So we're doing practice and everything like that right and I did a

three Miller Lights and then half a bottle of root beer schnapps. Oh, wow. And I was ripped. Yeah. And my good friends, Chris Sines and Brandon Bartels, they were roommates and they were the ones that let me use their phone. I remember calling information in LA asking for Jim Carrey's phone number. Like, who are you? It's like, Carrey, Jim. Oh, maybe it's under James. Yeah.

You know, like H.V. Churro was the biggest movie in the world at that point. We would watch it every other week. And yeah, so it was bad. And then the next day we had practice and I remember puking what looked like eggs, but I didn't eat eggs. Yeah. It was like, yeah, it was bad news. It was bad news.

And then I stayed away for like a year or two. And then it wasn't until living in Las Vegas when I was doing Second City, like in my mid-20s, that then we would go to this bar called The Crown and Anchor, which has since closed recently. And so we named the bar in Ted Lasso after. And it was one of those places, yeah, we'd play a lot of darts and drink pints and eat chip buddies, which is basically like

French fries on hamburger buns. Oh, it's a British thing. Really? Or a Vegas British thing. I don't know. It's one or the other. Chip buddies. Don't ask too many questions. Yeah, I know. Where should we start? You tell me. It's your show. Golly. Did you ever pitch Ted Lasso at SNL? No. No? No. Can you kind of give us the backstory? Because I think I know a little something. I got a good friend in KC who married...

A girl that I think her father was maybe a gym teacher. Oh, I had a basketball coach Was it the basketball Campbell? Yeah, I mean the coach the coach character itself was was

styled after Mike Ditka. You know, we did these commercials. We got, okay, here, I can, here's, it was in 2013. It was a summer of, um, NBC sports had the premier league that they're going to be showing on, on, on, on NBC. So they're like, okay, we want to do an ad campaign. And they had this, this, this, uh, advertising company called Brooklyn brothers, which was actually two British guys. Uh,

And they had like five different ideas for different promos. And one of them was an American football coach coaching soccer. They were modeling it after a coach character that I had played on SNL, which was much more of a yelling type, you know, like he was a football coach. He had a mustache, but he was a yeller and screamer, you know, like a Bobby Knight type, type, you know, thing like probably, you know, went to West Point kind of. Or on chairs. Yeah, exactly. A hundred percent like that. Intimidation. Yeah, intimidation versus motivation. Stereotypical. Right. Yeah.

And, uh, and so then I, then I was like, Oh, I can't like, it'd be more fun to play like a little bit, you know, softer version of it. And so that's where the voice sort of came out, which was just a way that I would, you know, would talk when, when you're just sort of doing stuff with your friends and joking around, uh, and playing a certain type, uh,

voice type coach. And it sounded a little bit like Bill Self, sounded a little bit like Roy Williams, sounded a little bit like, but it was just a voice that I just, you know, it wasn't specifically after them. The coach, my high school coach, a fellow named Donnie Campbell, was definitely a guy who, he was definitely the guy that introduced me to John Wooden, who was like the

patron saint of sort of the ethos for, you know, the Ted Lasso character where he ended up being on the show. But also was really always had those fun kind of country fried phrases, you know. And the one that I always remember that I always bring up is like, you know, Sudeikis, you look more nervous than a, you know, a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. You know, and he's from, like, Lyons, Kansas. But, you know, he was like a badass football player. You know, he played at K-State, was a quarterback, got drafted after Warren Moon, you know, by the Oilers. So he never saw a now-to-play-in-time. No.

but like a big dude. And when he would, but he definitely, you know, and I think he'd own up on this and, and, and I deserved that time, but he was definitely more of a screamer. Like I got, I got the brunt of, of, of coach Campbell and rightfully so, uh, you know, and, um,

Yeah, he would holler at me quite a lot because I was a flashy, fancy kind of passer. That was more my vibe. He was more of a Normandale. You got five crisp passes before we shoot. What's all that fancy shit over there, Snakes? Snakes, what are you doing? Like all that.

Then when we did the commercial in 2013, you know, he was a little bit more of a knucklehead. And then we got to then it did well. Like people like the commercial comedy. People liked it. Soccer people like football. People liked it. A favorite quote that Brennan and I heard like a couple of years after that was like a British guy come up to. Oh, I love those commercials. You got everything wrong. Perfectly.

So then we wanted to do another one in 2014. And so we, we came to NBC sports and like, they're like, sure, but we don't have the budget to fly over to London. It's like, okay, great. So then it became, okay, well, this is kind of funny because of the story is he got hired and fired in three days by the Totem Hotspurs. Uh,

uh, in the commercial, in the first commercial. So the second one was like, instead of him being mad about it, he fell in love with London. He fell in love with, uh, you know, soccer slash football. And now he's just dedicated his life and he,

You know, he bought a Mini Cooper and he's waking up, you know, at the butt crack of dawn to watch Premier League over here in the States and all that kind of stuff. But it unlocked this sort of like childlike enthusiasm for him. He started coaching a little girl soccer team and whatnot. And so then that was 2014. Then 2015, Brendan, Joe and I hung out. You were talking about what else could we do? Do we do another commercial? Is there more there? Is there like a movie? And we just sat down and just started writing films.

In in one week's time like in three days like like six different ideas for episodes We you know wrote a pilot script and then it just sat there for like two three years, you know My ex and I Olivia we had we had a couple kids Joe was one of the co-creators the show co-created a show called Detroiters with Tim Robinson and Sam Richardson and their friends at Canon and then Brendan was you know writing plays and and and acting and all sorts of stuff and then I

uh bill lawrence uh who had created like cougar town and scrubs and and whatnot had an idea for a show that he thought maybe i could you know would be interested in that one didn't quite work out but we hit it off and he's like well if you have any other ideas you know uh let me know and i was like well we got this we had like this stack of papers i was like check this out is this anything like but again towards the what i was saying earlier no part of you you're gonna check it was like is this is this anything like literally i don't know yeah you know uh

And I always put that phrase that I always heard about. I was typing last night. I want to check out this. But did you think that it was something? No. I mean, I knew it was fun. No, not. I mean, I knew it was something that we had fun doing. I knew it was something I was excited about, but it wasn't like. I assume more times than not, when it's that, it's something. Yes. Right? Yeah, but not to the point, not to the level it became. What it is, yeah. Yeah, just, you know, no way, Jose. There's no way to know that.

But it was at least... I wasn't embarrassed. I was giving it to a guy who could... It was like a stalled car. I was like, do you have gas for this tank? And he certainly did. And he read it on the flight back and he was like, oh, there's definitely something there. He was 100% into it. And so then we... Then it was like this long... The long process of making it, of trying to pitch it to networks and streaming sites, trying to write a pilot, then writing it, then shooting it, then editing it, and then you...

you know, released it to the masses. Yeah. What August, 2020. And then it just took off in a way that never in a million years would, would any of us thought, I mean, I don't know. I have a decent imagination. I couldn't have imagined that at all. And Ted Lasso fans, man. Thank you. Cause that shit is gold. I appreciate it. Have you had professional athletes or just athletes in general, come up and talk to you about how much they appreciate watching the show. And like, I really do think like Ted Lasso as a coach is like the perfect, uh,

temperament as a coach. Yeah. Yeah. I've always felt like, and I just nailed it. And I don't know, I've always been curious, like what that you talk about your gym teacher, your basketball coach, like,

How did you get to that tone with him? I think it was having, taking the best parts of all the different mentors and teachers and coaches I'd had in my life. People like Tina, people like Lauren Michaels, people like coach Campbell, people, people that I didn't have, you know, like, like John wouldn't, you know, people, um, it is that wish fulfillment that, you know, the person that you'd want to be at the, like, and

And it was also just fun because it's like a hyped up guy that likes to say yes and to other people. For sure. That's my job. You know, the first season when doing press, how much is that? How much is that like you? It's like it's like I think it's the best version of myself. I don't always have access to that. How many of us do? But it's like me after two beers on a friend's boat.

You know, it's like a bright, sunny day where you're just like, yeah, I'm loose. I'm having fun. It's like the water's cold. I don't care. Like, let's get in there. Hey, let's all hop in there. Come on. Let's see what happens. You know, like and and you're just like you want to you want to dance. You want to DJ. You want to you're just like you're feeling it, you know, and and yeah, he's just looking for the best in people. But I think it was an amalgamation of of.

probably if I were to sit down and really do the work like probably like 20 different people in my life and probably four of them are imaginary just something you'd want but I've had we've had you know athletes coaches love it like I mean we've had heck we have owners of sports teams you know appreciate us showing like the human side of ownership too absolutely yeah like Rebecca shout out yeah and so it's it's in all aspects and and even just people

I get to go speak at these events at these companies. People that are in leadership, and we all are, whether we have a job that does it or not, we're all in a position of leadership. And so people respond to those. So many carryovers to everything. It's interesting you brought up Yes And from your improv time. Because it is very similar with what he does in the show. But I just, you know,

I think, especially when you've been through sports for so long and you've seen how like ego and things can be divisive. The way he forgives, the way he motivates, the way he keeps people calm. I mean, the whole thing is just so well done. I don't even know what I'm asking. To be honest with you, I've just been a huge fan of the temperament of it from day one. I just think it's so ironic that now that you are a coach of your daughter's team, you went back to the Coach Campbell style of coaching. I'm going to be this till the end.

Get your ass on the line, ladies. Just because you're eight years old doesn't mean you've got to act like it. For God's sakes. Get out of my gym. Get the hell out of my gym, Daisy.

That character's right there, too. Everybody's got a little Coach Campbell. 100%. 100%. It's amazing that Coach Campbell, like, a neat thing about this show is so many people connected to it have got to go off and blossom into their own thing. And Coach Campbell has, like, this great, like, speaking career as, like, the inspiration of Ted Lasso, which is wonderful. That's awesome. He can tell the truth about me as an actual athlete.

The older I get, the better I was. Coach Campbell's there to stop that shit. He's like, nope. He was not that good. A lot of turnovers. One to three assist to turnover ratio. But those three... Never wanted to pass the ball. Unless it was through his legs or behind his back.

Jason Williams, light. Oh, yes, I will, baby. No, I appreciate it. It's neat having people from, especially from the soccer world, because that's any of these are gatekeeper communities. And the way that the football community embraced us, because they didn't know. They thought we were going to be, you know, you know,

Mocking it or something. 100%. Why wouldn't we? Americans coming over there. And yet, you know, impossible to do when you have someone like Brendan Hunt, who's like the football soul of that. He loves that sport. He comes about his love for it. Honestly, he was, you know, a Chicago boy who, you know, made fun of the scores and, you know, like 90 minutes of nothing and then was working in Amsterdam and fell in love with the sport and loves it.

to his core and that permeates throughout the show. And we try to honor that versus being parasitic towards it because it's the only way I think that the character would want to be. It sort of permeates from that ethos, you know, which is really, really, really special and really neat. Awesome. Awesome. Well, is there...

Season four is it in the works is it? That's what we're right we're right in season four now Ted's coaching yeah, they're a women's team so there Back easy coming back to the States or I

I thought I meant answers. I was writing it down. There's a paper with ink on it. You ask too many more questions. I'm very excited to hear that. It felt like there needed to be more, to be honest with you. That's nice. I know there's that

Whenever you're writing something sure there's always I went at what point are we done with this and what point do we keep going? How they ask me for Ted Lasso fans everywhere that we really did not want you to stop so That was that you know that we had those, you know a couple years there where you know We had the the writers and an actor strike and that and that made the time the the time off that we all earned a

feel a little less special because everybody was off and it's heartbreaking because you know that that takes that that makes things uh tougher for not just the actors and writers obviously but everybody else involved in in in making these things and people behind the scenes and then put up the lights and make the costumes and all that all that stuff came to a grinding halt and then just through that um you know post that i should say yeah this the universe kept just like saying

saying things whether you know kind folks at airports or on the internet or sure if friends of my folks or just you know other people in the industry other people and Wherever in any walk of life and I was just like, okay. Okay. I hear you. I hear you. I hear you We hear you. We hear you. We're listening And then yeah, just more stories kept unfolding and just put you know

popping up in our heads. And so, yeah, that's where we're just exploring all that now. And, yeah, it's exciting. I mean, it's daunting, you know, because we told the story we wanted to tell. But there's, yeah, there's more. There's more there. And it is a neat group of people to work with. It's a wonderful group of people and characters to write

around and for and there's so many likable characters yeah it's everybody plays their part so far no it's such a great group i felt like roy kent you are literally starting to kind of lean into this guy's doing right now it's something i mean because that is that that character is a

is i mean inspired by a bunch of things but it's the way i felt like um like leaving snl like i'd done sketch comedy for for so many years it's the way i felt about you know guys that were athletes or when i stopped being an athlete and again i had that lovely crossfade from i had a new passion but when you don't when you've been this thing this guy for this long and now you aren't it's like what then what am i what and that question is so is is one that isn't you know

And you got to play pro think about all the I mean I think about all the young men I played a you basketball with that were the best in the country Yeah, you know and then they're not and it's like and and there's nothing set up on the other side to deal with that drop-off You know that when I look at these young men. Yeah, you know like it's it's it's scary and you think about all the people that may have you know,

used them on the way up and they're not there to help as much as you would hope. And so, yeah. So, you know, someone like someone like Brett and I used to say that I, there's a version of Roy Kent that may have, you know, gone the way of the dark side. Had he had Ted Lasso not coming in his life. You know what I mean? Absolutely. I'm getting goosebumps. It's the truth. It is. It's like,

It's it's and it's real. That shit's real. So I appreciate you feeling that way about it. That's the way I feel. That's what I felt about him, too. And so, you know, and I certainly know it's the way that Brett embodied him and connected to him on the writing side and threw his hat in the ring to audition for you. Just like, yeah, that's it, dude. You got it. Iconic. Like, holy smokes. So neat.

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We have it in stock with fast and free delivery. Come find the look that's right for you during the spring-style event at your furniture superstore. Mathis Home. I want to hear about Second City in Vegas, man. Okay, yeah. Yeah, how did you end up going into Second City? Did you always know after, like, your hoop dreams and everything? It was really kind of nuts. I went from...

There's a thing in Kansas City called comedy sports. Have you heard of that at all? Yeah. It's still around, and it's basically like short-form improv, kind of like that TV show Whose Line Is It Anyway? Yeah. So that's something you would go to after homecoming. You know, you'd go to the dance, and then, again, not drinking. We'd go see comedy sports because it was a family show, and there was no swearing or anything like that. Yeah. So I did that in KC for a while.

I started, like, took classes, like, junior year of high school and then senior year. And then I was playing basketball, like I said, down at Fort Scott Community College. I was driving home every weekend to go watch shows or do shows. And so my crossfade between from sports to comedy was comedy sports. Nice. Which is pretty great. You know, and so it was that. And.

All the silliness that you do as a kid, that gets you in trouble in class, that gets you, have you run in suicides in practice, were now being applauded and lauded. Well done. I was like, okay, this is good. This is good. And it was improv, so there's no homework. You didn't have to memorize it. It's the best art form for talented, lazy people.

which I still aim to be, both talented, lazy, I got down. And so then it was like, okay, well, where do you go from here? And it was like, well, you moved to Chicago. And so me and a couple of buddies from, from comedy sports, we moved to Chicago and we did that for three years, like basically from 97 to the second three Pete for the, for the, for the bulls, 97, 98 to live in Chicago. It's incredible. It was incredible. You know, and you're around that and you're, you're again, you know, just,

eating like hell and, and, you know, taking $5, finding the ATM that allows you to take $5 out, uh, which was right down the street from Wrigleyville or Wrigley field. So I can go to Taco Bell around the corner. Cause that's all you can afford. And, and you just figure those little, those little life hacks out. And then while there, I auditioned for a couple of things. One of which was a theater company, an improv show theater show in, um,

Amsterdam called boom Chicago so then I end up going over there for a few months and while there this is in 2000 Second City's like hey, we're gonna open up a second city in Las Vegas. Would you want to do that? I was like sure I was like great how long? People are doing three-month contracts six-month contracts. I was like I'll do a six-month contract You know, I'll be able to come home. I won't have to work a temp job or something like that Yeah, I can only imagine signing up for a year for six months in Vegas It was it wasn't like like didn't

Didn't do a lot of extracurriculars that can make your time in Vegas much more dangerous, you know or short or short-lived Yeah, and so yeah lit lived there did that end up staying two years nine months and it was it was a graduate school like we did so many shows all that like Malcolm Gladwell theory of 10,000 hours That's where it was and you had like earn it from the audience audiences you you know there they're used to seeing like headliners like you know, but

- Siegfried and Roy. - Or Celine Dion, like actual huge, huge stars. And here we are trying to do sketch and improv and right outside the window, like it would be only these drapes type of things would be keeping the sound of people screaming for either winning or losing or just the sound of slot machines.

And we were doing shows early on for like seven people. It was horrible. I mean, it was hard. It wasn't horrible. It was just hard because it's still like what we all love doing for a living. Did you catch yourself ever trying to market it while you were there? We tried, yeah. I mean, Second City eventually started doing that. And we started doing all these really interesting grassroots kind of marketing where we just invited all the cab drivers.

And so they can come for free so that when they would pick people up at McCarran, they'd be like, you know what show you should go see that we went to go see, you know, because the strip clubs had it down where it's like they get a little kickback when they were bringing the strip club. We didn't have that access or any of the similar show elements. And so, yeah, so we literally reached out to them like that. And then, yeah, at some point, SNL asked, you know, I got asked if I want to audition for SNL and send in a tape and then moved away to New York from Vegas.

You brought up the 10,000 hours of essentially practicing over and over again. How do you practice improv? That's one thing that's never made like...

When you practice music, you're practicing the exact same thing that you're going to play in the show. Improv, you don't know what you're about to do. So how do you prepare and practice to get better at that? Well, I mean, there's some things like with sports, you know, you work on your ball handling, you're working on your shooting form, and then you're improvising the rest of the thing. Yeah, you're setting up plays, but if you're running like a motion offense or some of the plays that Travis likes to play. Talk to him. Yeah, just go. Just go, dude. Just go. Yeah.

I think you just prepare, you know, it's about getting comfortable on stage, getting comfortable with the people. I mean, there's rules, but you don't really need to follow the rules. I think the rules are there just to give you like, like, you know, some guidelines. Yeah, exactly. But it's not obviously not complete chaos. No, no, no, no. Yeah, exactly. But, and then at the end of the day, it's just like getting better at being yourself, getting better at,

at listening yeah you know and and and to not get in the way of yourself or try to do too much it's like a little bit like just a little bit stage savvy a little bit like you know like court presence you know like where you just where you can just you feel at ease regardless of of the chaos that you're about and and the unknowingness that you're about to you know

For sure. Dive into. So the entire time in Vegas, like doing Second City, though, you were going to the sports books on Sundays, betting on the Chiefs. And you were just making sure, like you didn't dabble on the chain, the slots and the tables and all that. So much easier now. The kids now with their apps, they just have to go on the app. We had to go to a sports book and deal with old grizzled

men with cigarettes with ashes as long as like, you know, their fingers. No, it was different. It's different, different than we earned it. It was a dark thing back then. I barely gambled. Now we put in, now it's okay. Come on, let Pete Rose be. That's right. That's right. I'm with you. I was like, I barely, I think I gambled $500 in the three years I was there. No.

And it was only on blackjack. Maybe, maybe I, maybe I put some money on the, the Jayhawks, you know, for some, maybe at the beginning of the season, just, just because someone else did it. And I was like, I'll do that. But yeah, for the most part, I, yeah. I, one time my roommate, Mike had a buddy come stay with us and come to find out what I know now. Cause people know this world. He was on a card counting team.

And so, yeah, it was like one of those guys like that, those movies are about, and he was practicing basic strategy and he sort of explained to me all what was going on. And I just found it fascinating. And he had like a computer program that, you know, so you could just run through all the stuff you can do on your apps now when you want to train basic strategy. Yeah. I remember we, we weren't allowed to drop him off at the safe house. We had to drop them off at a corner.

It was like a Durango and Twain. I remember it because it always sounded like a badass 80s cops movie, like Durango and Cash, like Durango and Twain. And then he had to walk to this place where, when he explained it to us, it sounded like Fight Club. It was like a bunch of bunk beds and then a bunch of dudes just practicing all day grinding because they're just trying to get a little, like 1% over the house. For sure. To make these giant bets. It was crazy. But I was like, you know, Vegas had like that kind of shit going on where-

And we're just trying to like, you know, do improv. It's the most transient place I've ever lived. People would come in. You'd see them at the pool. They'd have some idea for a new slot machine handle. And then like they had just moved in. And then two weeks later, they're gone. You never see him again. It was fascinating. And, you know, yeah, people, we lived in corporate housing right off of,

and a Koval, Koval and Flamingo and Koval, right? Which I found out a year into living there. It's right where Tupac was allegedly shot. Oh, wow.

But yeah, like yeah, it got a little intense. Oh, yeah. Well, it's all cleaned up now. But we used to have we all bought razor scooters. You remember the backside of Flamingo Hotel? We're talking about razor scooters. Sorry about that. But there was a street. I forget what it was. It wasn't Flamingo, but it was one was west of it or east of it. And we would.

ride our little, we'd unfold our thing and haul it up there because these are all, it was filled with degenerate gamblers and addicts and it was heavy duty and we'd sneak in the back way to the Flamingo, you know, fold it up, walk in through the swimming pool area and then sneak right in. Oh man. That's awesome. The Flamingo. Was there ever an end goal in mind? No.

No, yeah, I know you were just enjoying what you're doing. Yeah, I mean I would know I mean the end goal at that point would have been 100% Because we were being produced out of Chicago and Chicago's like the homeland for a second city That's where I started back in 1959 would have been to do one of the resident stages there So that would have been I was doing a resident stage, but it was in Las Vegas But to do either the ETC or the main stage so to go back and and you know to do as good of a job as you can where you're doing your thing and then

have them say, hey, we want you to come back and do a show in Chicago. Would have been the end goal. I made it back. And you used to go to the Second City shows in Chicago. All the time, yeah. So did you ever see the legends pull up? Yeah, yeah. I mean, when I first moved to Chicago in...

September of 97, you know, Tina Fey was still I was still on stage. Rachel Dratch was on stage. Horatio Sands was in the ETC. I mean, I saw like like I mean, all those guys Tina had was just just getting was just going to get hired to go right on SNL.

but yeah, you know, but, but, but we used to go every Christmas. We would go back to Chicago like Christmas for, for, you know, with, with my grandma on the South side and like all my, my mom's side of the family, tons of tons of cousins and whatnot. And then like a lot of June's too, for like when kids started graduating from like Catholic school and whatnot. Uh,

and I would always ask to go to second city and we'd go up there. So I saw, I definitely saw Colbert and Corral back in the day and Amy Sedaris. And you just have them faint memories because you, you didn't know who any of them were at the time. You didn't know who you were watching at the time. Not yet. I remember seeing like a second city touring company came through, uh, and they performed at, I forget the name of the theater down there. It's down in crown center, but they came and performed. And I saw a guy, uh,

that his name was John Farley and he was, and he was doing a scene that his brother Chris had done. And John's incredible. You know, the whole family is hilarious. And, and I was just like, Oh my God, that's gotta be Chris's brother. You know? And cause he was playing like a character that his brother created at second city and he was doing the touring company. So yeah, it's, it's great. I mean, I still love going back there.

It's super fun. It's a great show. And like I said, family show. But that's where I took classes, you know, just like over a summer. It was like six weeks. And, you know, one of my first improv teachers, a fellow named Corey Rittmaster, who's a Kansas City dude. And, you know, we still, we talk, I talk to him more than family because we play Fortnite together. Nice. We're still in touch. Absolutely. Really in touch. Like, I mean, you know, like, you know.

Taking on 98 other people I don't want to get into it too specific, but you know playing as Billy Eilish Well, you went from Vegas straight to SNL yeah, yeah, and you were at SNL for nine years ten ten Yeah, yeah, I wrote for the first two years. Okay, you know which was awesome and scary because you know I'd only at that point really kind of realized how to write for myself now I'm being asked to write for other people and

But I then got to learn the show learn learn the staff learn learn the the script format like it felt like you know to speak to you know athletes like it felt like being redshirted, you know and And yet it also felt it was scary But it also felt a little bit like I didn't get the job that I was hoping to get but but I got a job that that allowed for so much more than I ever would have realized and I got to

I started out hot. I got like, you know, a couple sketches on right off the bat, you know, writing for people writing with other people. And then I just went blank for for months. But I really, really love the rewrite table. And that's when you're like sitting around talking with the other writers, other cat.

excuse me, other cast members and you're just hyping up their material. So there's this whole theory and philosophy in SNL, excuse me, in improv called yes and. You're supporting the idea and then you're adding to it. And that's just a form of rewriting. So all those 10,000 hours of doing this thing, your brain's just sort of clued into it. And then the other thing that's really neat and it's one of the things I always speak about in relation to team sports, which is just a direct

correlation for me to the ensemble arts, you know, is just those time of being with your friends, with your teammates in the locker room, on the bus and joking around and having different friends with different sensibilities and different sense of humors and be able to joke around with any of them. Then you do it. Then they get paid for it at SNL. It's like you're doing it. I was literally doing the same thing that I was doing with my friends, you know, back in high school, like after a win or a loss, you know, driving from, you know, Lawrence, you

Kansas getting our ass kicked by them and then driving back to Overland Park and that's 30 minutes of hell. I would say that's 10 minutes of hell and then the last 20 minutes is just silliness. I would say easily the thing I miss most about playing football is being in the locker room and being around the guys and that camaraderie for sure. And even to add on to that, growing up in

how many sports we played, how many different, like playing hockey, playing baseball, like the hockey guys are completely different than the football guys that are completely different than the basketball guys or even the lacrosse guys. Like it's like- - The wrestlers are the, that's the, what do you do? - Well, they're nutcases. - Yeah, I didn't do anything. - Once I saw Jason's pimple on his forehead pop on someone else's face.

Wrestling in middle school. I was like, yeah, I'm good on wrestling. It's the weight, the yo-yo weight stuff. I still remember getting pinned. One time, Kurt? No, this was my seventh grade year. So I was wrestling somebody older. Oh, okay. And just hit, the guy had his armpit in my face. Yeah, yeah. And the pungency of this guy's armpit.

will forever be embedded in my like skull i was just like man this is this is fucking gross i remember what school was yeah yeah you remember what school was discovered deodorant yeah yeah and he needed it what school was it remember the school this was actually a teammate i didn't want to say we were sparring yep okay we'll leave it at that no no initials

When I was at Fort Scott we shared our gym with the rodeo team like

Like there was a really the field house was half. That's the shit you don't get up in Cleveland, Ohio You don't get a rodeo. I mean it was nuts and these dudes were the skinniest like flattest butts dudes You've ever seen your life, and they would they were so tough We'd be in there like with the trainer like how I jam my finger and they come in they just got the rib by like a bulls horn And they're just like tape it up so I can get back in there, and we're just like okay

Crazy. You're looking on your list of some of these rodeo professionals. The injury list of that is much bigger than NFL players. Absolutely. No, it was those guys, those men and women were so tough and so like- I'll tell you what, man. Some of them started wearing hockey helmets. Yeah. I put on a hockey helmet before. Yeah. That shit ain't stopping nothing. No, no. Are you kidding me? It's going to hurt still. You got to put on everything. Yeah. No, the Bulls, that's just another target for them. They want- Back to the- Did you enjoy-

Did you enjoy writing more performing more or do you enjoy writing and perform more or they they're both pretty different sides of the same? Yeah, I mean they're pretty fun. It's it's it's the both are fun. I mean it 100% objectively writing is more difficult. You like it's just it's just it's exhausting like, you know, we're in the writing process now and it's just It like I know it's not farming. I know it's not digging ditches I know it's not teaching math to kids that don't want to be there. I I know that yeah very well and yet it is it is it's

it's so hard because you're just in your head the whole time and you're just actively thinking and actively listening and it's just a lot and yet when it flows it's really really fun and there is something just fun about

talking to yourself and then typing it out and, and having a feeling a little bit like you have control over the universe, which we have no control over. There is, there is a, there is a little bit of that wish fulfillment. Um, but I love rewriting. I love, I love seeing something in someone and, and, and, and trying to like, you know, bring that out of them and encourage them to access it for themselves. Like that's, that's, that's a, a fun thing to do.

But performing is great. I mean, it is. It's hard in a different way, but it's mostly...

Yeah, writing something else. There's nothing more daunting than a blank page. It's so scary. I don't even know where you start. Me neither, and I've done it for years. I don't think I'm good at it. You guys are already two steps ahead of me. I can't even read or write. I see a blank page. I'm like, that thing's probably going to stay blank. It's like, I can read that. I can imagine everything, actually. Yeah.

Endless possibilities right there. I started getting more stuff on the show when I was able to write it and act in it. That was one of those things. So you feel more comfortable writing for yourself at that time? At that point, yeah, yeah. 100%, yeah. Because then you just know what spin you want to put on that. Yeah, that has to be kind of a lot of people's sweet spot, right? Yeah. That can do both, at least. Yeah, yeah. And I had such a badass generation. My SNL generation. I'm so...

Like what a blessing to come in with with that the group men and women both be I'm both behind the scenes in front of the camera like it was something else and so like our Cast could write their buns off. Like yeah, I mean it was neat like and so everybody it was scary though, too Cuz you're kind of like shit. You're all just jockeying for 30 minutes of airtime, you know between you know when a host comes in you know, you gotta share with the

the song you gotta share with update you gotta share with commercials obviously that's why it's there and then you're just and it's the funniest people thought about that it's really just about 30 minutes if that it may be 27 it may but I mean it's it's it's nuts when you really really think about it and then on Tuesday night when when they're all right and then they're laughing you know when I'm I might me and uh I was I was

office mates with Bill Hader the first five years and then Mike O'Brien the second five years and our my office was right next to a fellow named James Anderson who's one of the best writers at SNL in SNL history and he wrote a lot with with Kristen Wiig and when I'd hear those two laughing and then sometimes Paul Appel would be in that office too because James and Paul were dear old friends and you were just like yeah you were just like oh no what are they cooking now

What's every little girl gonna be dressing up for next Halloween? It's like, what iconic silhouette is she gonna create and what voice is she gonna put it to? And yeah, it's just, it's something else. Did you have like that goat in the acting world that you like looked up to that you aspire to be or...

Or even somebody at SNL where you were like, oh shit, I'm finally in the same room as... Oh, for sure. I mean, there were people like that. I mean, like Tina was such a... Tina was someone that I loved watching. Like her and she did a lot of scenes with a fellow named Scott Adsit, who's one of my all-time favorite performers. They were like second city legends. And he ended up playing Pete Hornberger on 30 Rock too. And he's still, like when I watch him perform, he just knocks me out. I just think he's such a great actor. He's funny as well, but he's just...

really good actor and and he was really great at pantomime which you know you do a lot at second city because so you don't have all the props and all that stuff i'm gonna need you to tell me what pantomime is real quick just miming just just just mine yeah so like yeah like you just you know brushing your teeth and all that but he could he could there's a scene that he does where he's running up a um

stairwell like like a stairwell like this and it's just it looks like there's a stairwell there and it just looks like a magic trick you're like there's nothing Incredible or being or chasing a car, you know, and he just would just it was just yeah He's just incredible and he would make it all look so believable But it was also very funny because he's making something out of nothing at the same time But him and Tina would just do these really really clever really smart scenes and so that was like, you know, so

To be, to have Tina Fey be like a hero, then she becomes an icon, then she becomes like a mentor, then she becomes, you know, a friend. And like that's one of those weird journeys that still knocks me out. That's awesome. But anytime anybody came back, like when Will Ferrell came back to host or to work with Tom Hanks, like those are the people that I loved. And, you know, it was like, but growing up, yeah, it was all, it was, you know, I was so lucky. We just rewatched

At work, we just rewatched Hoosiers, you know, because of Gene Hackman passing. And like that was someone that... It's the greatest sports movie ever. It's amazing. It's so good. Still holds up. Yeah. Still good. Old statement, but I loved it. Yeah. Yeah. What's that? It was a bold statement. You say great sports movie. It's not that bold a statement. What are you going to put above Hoosiers? We were talking about Miracle last week. That was a fucking... Miracle's great. But that happened.

I love water boy Yep

Major League, yeah. Angels in the outfield. Sandlot. Sandlot. Sandlot is so good. So good. Still holds up. But yeah, getting to work with like when you meet, you know, those guys like, you know, like to me, Tom Hanks, that's like, that's like, you know, shaking hands with the Statue of Liberty. I had the pleasure of just, he was, I,

I always forget the Halloween character he does on SNL. - Oh, David Pumpkins. - David Pumpkins. I don't know why I always-- I never associate him with the name David. I don't know why I never do that. He was getting ready to do that skit three Halloweens ago when Jack Harlow was hosting it. And I snuck up behind him, I was like, "Is that the man with one red shoe?" And he was just like, "What? Who the--?"

- Of all my movies, that's what you're referencing? - Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was like the first one I ever remembered. - We had a VHS. - They had an opening scene. - We was on the bike. - It's blowing my mind as a kid. I'm like, I remember exactly that. I'm like, this is the most skilled human being I've ever seen in my life. - Love that dude. He always had little tricks like that in his movies.

He was always doing a little fun things like that. Michael Keaton is another one that I've got to meet over the years. And cause, cause for years I was, I was kind of like, I was like, I love, I love Bill Murray and I love Tom Hanks. Like, but they're so different. It's like, and then like Michael Keaton is like my favorite parts of, of both those guys. I mean, all three men are like iconic in their own ways, but like, it's just been, yeah, that's one of those places where you just can't believe you're meeting that. And then, you know, then you get to, then, then Paul McCartney is there too. Every

now. There you go. Well, speaking of Paul, you were talking about Will. Yeah. SNL 50, man. Yeah. How awesome was that? That happened, what, like two weeks ago? Was it two weeks ago? Yeah, it took me literally a week to recover. It looked like an entire award show. Yeah. Like, the amount of people that showed up, like, I don't know if...

I know they kind of do it every like 10 years, but 40 didn't look like that. No, I mean, it was something else. And it was cool. For me, the difference between 40 and 50 was we had just left. Like our generation had just left after the 40th. Like Andy and Kristen had left in maybe 2003.

And then me, Fred, and Bill left in 2013. Seth left in 2014. So our generation had just really left. So it kind of felt like we were the freshmen coming back to homecoming, like the college freshmen coming back to senior year homecoming. Now we're 10 years in. I got a couple of kids. It's neat having something like that.

that you've made that people responded to like Ted Lasso. So now you're just kind of baked in and I think the generation after us too with like Vanessa Barron and Taryn Killam and Kate McKinnon, like that generation probably felt a little more baked in too because they were on the show at the time of the 40th. And so yeah, it was great. It was just neat and love. Absolutely.

I enjoyed every second of watching that thing. Yeah, same. You got to be in the skit, the jail skit. Oh, scared straight, yeah. Scared straight. I took a photo of the good nights when you're saying goodbye there at the end of Will Ferrell and Eddie Murphy saying hi to each other. Those are my two favorites from the show. Like, you know.

And they're just saying hi to each other. This is at the 40th. And then 10 years later to be in a sketch with them is like, is nuts. No, it's, it's great. And, and my kids came to watch rehearsal on Saturday. They just came to watch the big New York musical that we did where Forte and I are doing and Wig are doing the songs from Les Mis and they're sitting there and then we're getting ready to leave, hop on the train, go back home. And Jenna, stage manager, Jenna, if you remember, she, she's like, she's like Paul McCartney,

Paul were ready for sound check. I was like, oh, Paul McCartney's about to play? We're going to stick here for a little bit. He needs to watch this. Sorry, guys. I mean, when they say don't meet your heroes, they are not talking about Paul McCartney. That guy is a great person to meet. He loves being Paul McCartney. He is the coolest dude in any generation, in any room. He loves being Paul McCartney.

He's just the coolest guy. He accepts the responsibility. He's like, I've been given this gift. I have been put into this Paul McCartney. He is that soul in a Paul McCartney vessel. And he's like, what do you need? I mean, just having him and my sister were talking about Let It Be, like the song. And he's responding to her as if he's never told the story before and no one's ever asked him before. And he's so present. Like it's crazy.

Amazing and then everybody throughout that throughout the day or just every now and then when you see Paul up on stage Like at every point someone is looking on their phone looking. How does he it's like this guy's got this guy He's got more in the tank than I did I was exhausted. He's like 82 almost 83 and it's just yeah, it's like oh, that's so cool Do you have a favorite sketch from your time at SNL? Oh, I had another one of those questions Yeah, I would say during my time my faith and I've answered this before because I

But it's the truth. It was my favorite to do was what up with that? Because it was a big cast sketch. It also was one that people started getting really excited about. And we would normally do it after a weekend update. That became its slot. And so they, you know, I mean, you know, you went where I went. Yeah. So like how incredible like.

What happens in the commercial breaks like what that crew what those men and women do is absolutely that amount of time with that amount of intensity and Taking things down and putting them up so when when they whip that

Giant ass we can update desk and they bring it right down the center pipe there And then they're taking down the thing then they start putting together the the what up with that set yeah the crowd would just start getting like We all know our function we all know our role everybody gets like a little highlight a little spot here and there we'd always we eventually started getting like insane like

like cameos, whether it be Robin Williams or Robert De Niro or just someone, or Samuel L. Jackson, someone who's not gonna say anything is only there to be in this sketch, and then wave goodnight and then come to the after party. That was just so fun. That was one of the, out of the recurring ones, I loved, Wig and I, in our first few years together, did these characters called the two A-holes,

which is really fun, where it's like a guy chewing gum and his girlfriend kind of like playing with her hair and chewing gum. And they were just, those were a blast to do and write. And people, it was definitely a type, an archetype that people saw in the real world. Sure. It still exists. They're still out there. They're doing well. Yeah.

Then like a few of my personal favorites that like I was involved in like Forte and I had a lot of fun things We did a sketch called potato chip That very first time we did was with Taylor when she hosted nice It but it didn't it didn't it didn't make young Taylor to a young Taylor. Yeah. Yeah, and But it didn't make it to air and we end up doing with Blake lively She ended up getting it getting it over the hump for us and they played it so differently which is one of those neat things and it was like

It's the silliest sketch in the world. It's worth looking up. It's called Potato Chip. And then Forte and I would do these ESPN announcers for women's sports where it was basically us trying to sell...

it was us, you know, doing like, like lawn darts or, or billiards. But then we would also be trying to sell a, everything was sponsored by like Massengill, you know, like I would do these like crazy rhymes. Like when, you know, when, when you're over, when you're, what is it like you're, when your uterine lining looks like,

elevator from The Shining. Maxi pads. And it's just... It was so ridiculous. Oh my gosh. And it's like... But people loved it. People loved it. And I remember we got to do... They put together...

a couple of years while we're still at the show, whereas like all the different sports sketches, you know, from like when Joe Montana or, or, or, uh, you know, Peyton had hosted at that point or Michael Jordan or whatever. And we got to do the bumpers. And so we would, we filmed all these live in front of an, like just 30 minutes before an actual live show. And we got to do these things and we did them as, as these characters. And we had so many of those like crazy rhyming things that I can't remember anyone now, but they're all just, you know, more like,

like standards and practices, the sensors were more and more nervous with each one. And that, when you walk that tight rope on that show, that's, that's such a fun thing to do. Absolutely. Even though it drove Betsy Torres, our standard. Shut up, shut up Betsy. Was there ever a sketch that you, you just knew was going to crush it and it just never caught the, the air? I don't know. Like ever got the green light? It's good. One of the nice things that you learn there is that nobody knows shit. Like,

Like, you don't know. You never know. You can have so much. I mean, you sort of do. Like, I mean, I remember when we were all in the studio and Lazy Sunday was playing and Jack Blackhost. Now that was like a great a great episode for for the show and for the and for our generation and just for Earth and at large. I remember when that was playing, whereas the first seeing it address being like, oh, this is going to crush. But you but that's like a pre-taped.

piece and and and iconic in a way that is that very few things are but i would say no because it's almost like you don't want to spook the muses either you don't you don't there that was always a fun thing that they would like those these little bit of superstitions that you were don't call home and say your sketches making it don't text your friends because it'll end up getting cut don't say you're going to show up in that sketch because you'll part will get okay and and that happened more often than not so at some point you're never like typing being like oh this is gonna

Even if I ever did, I don't know if I'd ever even say it out loud or would it get from my brain to my mouth. Something would stop inside. My soul would go, don't you say that shit. Don't you dare. Yeah, but nothing that comes up. I can think of maybe, yeah, nothing. Thank you to our partner, Mentos Gum. Do, do, do, do, do, do, do I.

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What's up, guys? It's your girl Kiki, and my podcast is back with a new season. And let me tell you, it's too good. And I'm diving into the brains of entertainment's best and brightest, okay? Every episode, I bring on a friend and have a real conversation. And I don't mean just friends. I mean the likes of Amy Poehler, Kel Mitchell, Vivica Fox. The list goes on. So follow, watch, and listen to Baby. This is Kiki Palmer on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.

I let the Ted Lasso characters live on through every day in practice as I scream football is life, man. Yes, you do. I still say it, dude. I love it. And...

I already announced that I'm coming back, but Chiefs fans, you have always been right there every single time towards the end of the season, in the locker rooms, on the field, having fun with us, man. When did your Chiefs-like fandom really build up? I mean, my line for years, because growing up in Kansas City, it was Royals, Chiefs, some dalliances with the Kansas City Comets and the indoor soccer days growing up. But my line for years... Awesome jerseys.

Indeed. For years when people, especially at SNL, when like the crew guys would, you know, like Giants fans and Jets fans were like, you like the Chiefs? And when we weren't, you know, we weren't doing as well. It was like, you love the Chiefs? I was like, no, but I love a lot of people that do. And that was the sincere truth. It was like my family, I'd gone to prior to the last three, four years,

but probably, I think, one actual Chiefs game at Arrowhead. For us, we were a basketball team. We're a basketball family, so I would spend more time going to KU or the Big 8 tournament, Big 12 tournament, all that stuff. But then with having kids, obviously the success of the team, getting to know you and Patrick through Big Slick and the charity stuff we do back home, then it becomes this personal thing. And then what's even more fun is...

When getting to play this fake coach and then you have real coaches and real organizations that give you this beautiful treatment, we get to bring my good friends who are those people that do love the Chiefs, like my friend Terry and his kids who you've met, my friend Billy and his children that you guys have been so kind to. And the Hunts let me roll deep. Where it's like, can I bring a plus 12? They're like, yeah.

I was like, oh, my God. I was like, that's it. Perfect. Exactly. Yeah. And it's just been it's just been a joy to watch. And it's just it's just, you know, so now. Yeah. Now, Otis and Daisy, you know, we're we're, you know, watching, you know, it's

every week and watching the you know we know we watched yeah sorry that's alright it's a better story I laugh about it now but it hurts and so it's still of course it's like because it matters to you I blame Jason he had the voodoo doll next to him the entire time I did that did not work out well yeah

Trying to like get Travis's hands warm in the middle It backfired ice cold my hands were ice cold might have been a do-do We'll be back better never we got this That's the that's the story I got you drop down one and then you come back and then you come back for one shining moment You know, that's that's that's

That's the story I'd write, you know? You can't just be winning all the time, Travis. That's what I mean. That's not interesting at all. Yeah. Nobody wants to watch five Super Bowls that you guys win. It fooled me because I definitely thought it would be kind of fun. It would be pretty amazing. It would be pretty cool. I know there's no way to, like, I only deal with this in the fake make-believe world and I'm sitting between guys who have actually done it and then one who just went through the hardest part of it.

and it feels very surreal right now i don't know how to joke about it with you i don't know i mean it was so long ago like i was it was i don't even i ain't gonna go i'm really good i'm really good at just you know cutting off my memory yeah yeah but are there are there other dudes that are holding on to it they're still like people still in the cave yeah i would i still remember the one i lost and like

Like one play, I could have made a different call. Yeah, well, you only fucking lost one, Jason. Well, I lost to you too, so shut the fuck up. I don't need your sob story right now. This is what I'm talking about. Now we're reaching new heights. But

But you carry, for some reason, the losses, especially that loss in that game. You always carry on with it. You move on, you know what I mean? But, yeah, just like anything. I joke about everything. We lost the Emmy season three to the Bear, so we're kind of the same. Yeah, that's some bullshit, too. Well, that's not. Come on, let's not do that. I know you want to play nice, but that is bullshit. That's that. Come on, you can't argue. And Bear, what did you guys pay him? No, come on. How much money? Oh, you think they paid him?

I didn't hurt that. I'm kidding. God, can we cut that? You brought up Big Slick. I've never been to Big Slick. But I've heard a lot. I've seen a lot of that stuff. I do want to go there. I would love to be a part of it. Dude, it is in the family. What is Thundergong?

Thunder going, yeah. What the heck is that? Okay, so Big Slug is to help Children's Mercy Hospital. We do that. That's a whole weekend. It's a blast. Unbelievable. It's a blast. Last year was three mil raised? I think so, yeah. It keeps going up by the mil at this point. I know. It's scary. It's like being one of those high school teams that's, you know, they're 114 and 0. It's awesome. I get so nervous. And it's like the money is cool and all, but what you guys do actually going to the hospital the day before and actually like

being around the patients and everything. It's amazing. It's lovely. Yeah, it really is. You guys get such good support through the entire entertainment industry. Yeah, absolutely. And just the city turns out for it, too. It's one of those neat things that we started ages ago. Rob Riggle had this idea saying, hey, why don't we do this? And then he hooked me and Paul Rudd. And then we added, you know, Keckner a year later. Then we added Eric Stonestreet and now Heidi Gardner, all from Kansas City, all from the surrounding area. It's really, really neat. Awesome.

And it's and so, yeah, we have that that that's every like it's beginning usually in June. I think this year may be around May 31st, but around the beginning of June and then Thunder Gong is a thing that me and my buddy Billy Brim will come started. He runs this nonprofit called Steps of Faith, and we help

like amputees, new arms and legs. My line is we help people buy arms and legs so they don't cost an arm and a leg, right? But yeah, I mean, he, like a lot of people. It's funny, but it's not. It's clean. You put it on a business card. People are like, I love it. And we do that in November. And yeah, we help raise money

We get people that have lost their arm or leg that are uninsured. We get them back literally on their feet, you know, and, and working again and then provide, you know, help with the, with the mental side of that too. And we work with these amazing prosthesis and, uh, and, and yeah, and, and, and,

physical therapists and we can get you can get a we can get legs people for like 500 bucks so every time you know someone gives 500 bucks that gets someone back literally yeah yeah and and you know Billy you know what comes about it honestly because he lost his he's a drummer he lost his left leg got an amputated right above the knee back in 2005 I want to say when he was a tour a touring musician had no had no insurance and so then we put together a

a comedy like rock show like fundraiser raised like 50 grand back in Kansas City. It was after my first year, second year at SNL. We did some improv games. You know, his bands, a couple bands he was in played and we raised all this money auctioning some like cue cards that Tina Fey had signed and various things and that got him a leg for that much money and he felt so like moved by it. He was like,

a couple years later he's like how do i do that for other people and then sure and then this fellow was like i have this foundation let billy take it over and then a couple years later he's like hey why don't we do this it's it's a charity concert it's basically you know we do some comedy too but yeah we we've had amazing guests um you know come through you know ben harper you know uh you know winona judd uh you know chance the rapper brandy carlos you know sent in videos for us uh

And Foo Fighters did a video for us a couple of years ago for the one during COVID. Yeah, it's amazing. And that's one night. The Big Slick is like a whole weekend. So it's like these two things. But yeah, and Kansas City shows up for all of them. It's the first Saturday of every November. Yeah, in the fall. Try to keep, yeah, so we're not double dipping. Sure, yeah, you don't want to. You got your band geek over here.

What do you play? Saxophone. Well, I did. I haven't played saxophone in a long time. Now I mess around on guitar. You've got to come to Thundergong and do Baker Street.

Oh, dude, I would... You would kill it. Like, whatever, whatever. Or like some Doobie Brothers. I would be a Doobie Brothers. Little Mike McDonald. No, Billy and his wife Allie have this band called Summer Breeze. Have you ever seen them in KC? I don't think I have. I should... I'll make you aware of them. But they play all the time, and they're the house band, so they do all...

all these yacht rock hits in kansas city but they can play everything like i remember first time fred armisen who's a legit like great musician and and all his life um you know he just said the snl 50th played with devo and the b-52s and i'm just like which was so neat

I'm sitting there like I feel like a proud Papa. I asked him I go I go I can't believe you got to play with Devo knowing that he loves Devo he goes the first show I ever saw at Radio City Music Hall as a teenager was Devo and I like and now you're up on stage like he goes it's just like we just geek out like that kind of stuff all the time um but uh we geek out over the B-52s yeah yeah the B-52s my mom had two CDs in her car yeah Yanni and

In a B-52 CD. I forgot all about Yanni, dude. We heard Love Shack so goddamn much as a kid. To this day, if Love Shack comes on, we're going to be jamming to it. Oh, it's so funny. And Yanni, Yanni, you can't...

She just had Yanni to put us to sleep. She was just like, all right, you guys are talking way too much. I honestly don't remember many of the songs. I just remember the photo on the album, the hair. Pianos and violins, that's all I remember. It's a vibe. Yanni's a vibe, yeah, for sure. I love this, man. Dude, I want it to end, but we got one more little part in here, even though we haven't been going off this. I'm sorry. Your battery's out.

This is not the battery I locked it and I don't know how to unlock it. Yeah, so complicated We gotta ask yeah, you don't have to answer great. You can tell us to fuck off whatever you want amazing It's always sometimes just a fire section here. Yeah. Yeah, we already talked about you playing basketball Talked about SNL and hosts and stuff who's

Who's better in their respective fields? Are you better as a basketball player or is LeBron better as an SNL host? Wow. You both played. You played in the All-Star game with him. He played on SNL with you. Yeah. Look, as an SNL host, he's a hell of a basketball player. Ha ha ha! Ha ha ha!

Yeah, bro. No, I love that dude. We need to do the best. We need to put this to the test. We need you and LeBron one-on-one on the basketball court, and then we need you one-on-one on the SNL stage. Improv stage. Improv stage. There's a sketch where we did characters that Bill and I did a couple times where I play like a stagehand who is just kind of a dick

to people. We did it to Julia Louis-Dreyfus, we did it with Paul Rudd, and we did it with LeBron, and I challenged him to one-on-one in the sketch. And in rehearsal, in rehearsal, I did go by him and then went up, and he didn't know I was going to do a reverse layup. And I did score on him on an eight-foot goal.

And he was actually trying to, like, he was, he was, oh yeah, yeah, he was definitely trying. He can't turn that off. He can't turn that off. No, no, it's like, it's a different, but, and it was funny because Don Roy King, who was, who was our, our director at the time, who I just saw at the 50th, came up and literally brought it up. He goes, he goes, if,

If you ever need someone to like, you know. Vouch for this. Vouch for this. I did. I know it happened. I was like, thank you. So here it is. It kind of sucks to be the one telling this, you know, keeping this apocryphal story alive. You know, I'd prefer it to be someone else, but so be it. Well, now you have us two knuckleheads. Exactly. We'll keep spreading this. We'll spread it. We'll spread it. We'll get you to catch some legs. I mean, he went for it. I can't believe he hadn't come back to do it again.

He was so good, man. He was so good. The solid gold dancer? Come on. Come on now. It was great. The Purr? And Maverick, badass. I remember Maverick sitting at the host dinner on Tuesday night, you know, when you go out with Lauren and everything. Maverick sat next to Lauren and was just grilling him the whole time. The whole time? And I remember sitting across from him. I was a child. Yeah. In like a baby seat. But he was asking about business. I didn't say anything to any...

It was like Michael Corleone talking to Don Corleone. It was like fantastic. I was like, LeBron is, you know, I didn't know who he was at that point. I was like, LeBron's so lucky to have this dude. This guy's got his buddies back like big time and asking Lauren these questions. Lauren was so fascinated by it. It was great. It was just like watching, you know, an icon and an icon to be just kind of like, you know, just, yeah, it was just a curious, smart dude. Yeah, those guys, good on them. You know it.

Just a bunch of Cleveland guys. Yeah, that's all. Just making the way in the world today. How much would your life have changed if you would have been accepted into the Blue Man Group? I had a hunch. I don't know. I mean, everything? Yeah. So, I mean, I was obsessed with that show. And I loved it. It was the opportunity I felt. I was like, oh, this will be the only chance I'll ever get to play music in front of people. Yeah.

And I wasn't a good enough drummer. I love the show. I think it's so funny. I think it's so brilliant. And I think it's so subversive. I mean, it's all these things. They just closed the show recently in New York, which is where I ended up. I auditioned in Vegas and then got flown out there. This was August of 2001. So this is right before...

uh, nine 11 and, and it was, um, and I had dudes, the buddies of mine that were in blue man group in Vegas because they took a lot of our improv classes. They, so I guess we got to know our shows hung out a lot, like both, you know, offstage and like, you know, at each other's houses, you know, I got it. And, and,

It was it was an amazing, amazing time because we were this different kind of show. We that was sort of finding its way in Vegas, like the ones that interacted with the audience and not just showgirls or again, icons or magic. It was like this weird kind of thing. I remember so many a handful of them when I was really it would sort of take me aside and be like, do you really want to do this?

Like, you're really good at talking. Like, it's kind of your thing. And I was like, yeah, no, I don't care. I want to do this. I think it's so neat. And yeah, but it would be, I mean, gosh, I wouldn't, I mean, I wouldn't have my kids. I wouldn't, you know, there's a whole bunch of stuff. That'd be different. I'd have, I'd be, every time I blow my nose, blue stuff would come out. My eye boogers would be blue. You know, like, yeah, who knows? I'd be a much better drummer than I am. You know, my rudiments would be solid, but. Well, did you have to paint yourself for the audition? Mm-hmm.

- There's gotta be a pic. - I wish. - There's gotta be. - There's no way. - You dressed up like that and didn't get a pic? - Oh my God, I know. - But when you wear all the same color,

This is pre-iPhone. It's pre-iPhone, yeah. We had a disposable camera because when you, they put you up in this like dorm, it was on like 13th Street and it was all these like like-minded, like, you know, all of us were like six foot one white guys and majority of, like if there was 10 of us, I would say,

nine of them were you know musicians first or eight of them were musicians first and and I was more of an actor with like like and I had been literally practicing on like a drum pad during intermissions at my second city show or in between shows driving my cast mates crazy I'm sure and and yet everybody had this like fun spirit and we're all in New York flying in from other places and

And we, I remember we bought a disposable camera cause we got bald and blue, as they say it, you know, they do a bald cap and the, and the whole thing and the, and the, the blue. And, and so somewhere, I don't know what happened to that disposable camera because you got cut like after three days, five days, seven days. I imagine it's like, you know, being in a combine or like in a, in a camp, like it really was. Yeah. And I got cut after three days and they were, they were like, if he, he could be a blue man if he worked on his drumming. And then, then I go home kind of defeated. And then, you know, a few weeks later, you know, nine 11. And then it was like,

then that sort of like rattled us all and like, okay, what do you love? What do you, what do you really want to do? And it was stick with second city at that point. And so I never, never auditioned again, but, but there's the, there's a camera out there, but I know when I saw myself in the mirror, um,

I looked at myself and no bullshit. I'm not even, this isn't even like humility. I was like, I look like a blue peanut on Eminem. You couldn't see my cheekbones. You couldn't like my, like my feature, any features that I have on my face just, just got washed out. And I just looked like a, like all the dudes that I was friends with all look like male models. And I was like, oh, I think maybe this, I thought that if I wore this, I'd look as cool as they do. It's like, no, Jace, they look like that out of the makeup. Yeah.

It looked like an upside down blue peanut on my nose. It was horrible. So, yeah. Well, I mean, we know you're a music guy. What's your go-to karaoke? Ooh.

I like Into the Mystic by Van Morrison. Okay. Yeah. Nice. That's got some saxophone in it. That's a great one. Yeah, I love that. Yeah, I like it. You can play that. Like that. Or, I mean, Bellevue DeVoe, Poison. Nice. Gets the crowd going. And you got a little rap on there, too. Yeah, you can get the dance moves going with that one. That's true, yeah. As long as I don't tear a meniscus. Damn it. Don't do that. Do not do that. I know. That's how you know you're old, when you learn the word meniscus.

Football players very familiar with the nerd world. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, those are a couple that come to mind. Forte and I used to do karaoke so much during our SNL years. Like we would just go, just the two of us, to one of those private rooms in the West Village. Oh, yeah.

and just get after it in the afternoon. - Nice. - It's just a blast. Paul Rudd, one of the greatest karaoke singers of all time because he does deep cuts. I have learned of songs from doing karaoke with Rudd where I'm like, "What is this?" It's like, "Oh, this is a song

called dry your eyes by the streets i'm like it's like british hip-hop guy i was like i'm like shazamming doing karaoke that comes up yeah that whole that whole crew that did wet hot american summer like ken marino and joe latrugo like really really great karaoke bobby cannavale like yeah really a remarkable group of guys that would sing and then you know rudd and i will do some broadway that'll you know do rent knock your socks off nice oh wow you know when because in those private rooms you can go to private places

You're literally... You know. Brent was another dude. This is just so... So good. There'll be so many flashbacks. All right. Great. Let it be flash forwards, bud. Come on. Great.

Last question if you weren't an actor. Mm-hmm. What would you be doing? Oddly enough? I think I would probably want to coach basketball and teach like acting like like dude like I think that'd be so neat to like To be a drama teacher and and it's kind of what I get to do as you know Ted Lasso, you know both behind the scenes and and in front of the camera, I really like seeing people

reach their potential. Like I like encouraging that I, I don't do it as well as, as, as I could at every given moment, but that's one of the neat things of getting to write a show where you, where you do play those type of characters. Um, but yeah, I think those are two things that I've benefited from greatly in my life. Uh, both, you know, team sports and, and, and

and being around the arts like growing up you know my mom taking us to see everything my dad playing all sorts of music in the car and just everything in between but I would want to do some version of that I mean I guess I am kind of doing that with my kids to a certain degree you know and take them to go see plays and go to see basketball and sports and what not but yeah that would be it what about you guys what would you do

Me? What are you going to do? I don't know. Yeah. What am I doing? I mean, I think that's why Travis signed up for another year of football. So you don't have to ask that question. This guy has no idea what he's doing with his life right now. I got to keep playing as long as I can. Do you know what you would have done? I feel like I would have still been in sports, like done some sort of broadcasting or something like that. I just remember always mimicking what I heard on the TV during games and stuff. Yeah. Like John Madden and all those games. Of course, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You know what you'd do? Probably coach. Yeah. I mean, I just think it's so hard to envision myself doing something outside of sports. Yeah. That was really the only thing that I was ever good at. I can see you playing the sax on SNL. The sax on SNL? Yeah.

I was baritone in Cleveland Heights' jazz ensemble. You had some fucking solos, though. You know why I was baritone? Because I wasn't good enough to play tenor alto. Baritone's like the bass line? Yeah, that's funny. Slow fingers. You gotta get those things fast. You know Lenny Pickett is a legend. Oh, yeah. I mean, come on. Power, power. Yeah, baby. Golly. Crazy Legs? What was his name? Do you know? No, I don't. I forget.

There's a dance that he does, like Lenny Pickett, who's the guy that played with the saxophone on SMO. Tower Power is one of ours. Tower Power is his. But he has a dance move that he did. It's something that my buddy Billy always brings up. He's like, oh, that's Lenny Pickett, man. Crazy legs. I can't wait to watch these. I know. I've got to find out what it is. Jason, it's not what it's called. He's a very chill guy. His saxophone is all over the place. His voice is very chill. Lenny, legend.

I love it, man. Dude, thanks for coming on, brother. Of course, man. You're the best, brother. It's been so great. Thank you for having me. Really, yes, absolutely. Thank you so much. Appreciate you always showing up in KC, too, man. We'll get back on the train, baby. Absolutely. We'll get back on the train. We will, indeed. We will. Again, this is what happens at the end of the second act. This is when Woody and Buzz Lightyear, they're away from each other, and they come back together. Yes. That's the Chiefs and the trophy. Let's do it, baby.

All right now shout out to Jason Sudeikis What a guy man. Yeah, that was goddammit. I loved every second of it It's one of those where like you really don't even read the rundown and I hate to say that to our producers because you guys do a lot of hard work and a lot of research but don't do it Brandon my My iPad was off. Yeah. No, he's one of those guys where you just ask an interesting question Like how about the blue man crew? Like are you kidding me?

Yeah, for sure. The Blue Man Crew, like his time in Vegas, his time in Second City. Riding a Razor scooter to the Flamingo every day. I just... The thing I took away for sure is just how much he's valued all the people that he's been trying to be. Oh, he's so grateful. He's the best. Yeah, and it's just awesome. Just a Midwest... Hearing from people that... Just a nice Midwest man. Yeah, for sure. It'll make him any better, man. No doubt. And he's on the Chief side, which...

is, you know, it's heartbreaking for me because I didn't make him proud. One day. I think you did. One day I will. You did. You did.

No, man. Jason's the best. Boo, boo, boo, boo, boo, basketball. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah. You have no fucking clue. This guy's clueless, man. All right. And that wraps up another episode of New Heights brought to you by Audible. You can listen to new episodes of New Heights early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. New Heights, a Wondery show produced by Wave Sports and Entertainment and brought to you by Audible. Just like Jason said, listen to what I got to say.

Follow the show on all social media at New Heights Show with 1S. Thanks to our production and crew for kind of doing some good stuff this time around. Yeah. Always. Always. Thanks to you guys. Please delete anything that I will get canceled for. And to the 92%ers, hopefully you guys enjoyed both episodes this week. And we will see you guys next week. Appreciate you tuning in. Peace. Peace.

Follow New Heights on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to New Heights early and ad-free. Plus, enjoy exclusive episodes of the show by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify today. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at wondery.com slash survey.

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