Hi, everyone, and happy holidays. I hope you're unplugged and taking some time to do whatever it is you like to do this time of year. The On team is taking a break for the holidays, so today we're sharing an episode of one of my favorite podcasts, CNN's The Assignment with Audie Cornish. But don't worry, you're not totally free of me because I'm actually in this episode. For a pilot we're doing for CNN, Audie, podcaster Van Latham, and I sat down with Samantha Bee, one of the funniest comedians I know.

She's a former host of Full Frontal with Samantha Bee and host of her own podcast called Choice Words with Samantha Bee. We talked about a lot of things, and I've interviewed Sam many times over the many years, but this time we talked about her checking out of politics, which has been her area that she's been making jokes about for so, so long, and why she did that, and also about the worst thing she's ever done. It has to do with a friend,

and a boyfriend. We'll see what that is when you listen to it. In any case, I think you're going to like this listen. It's a great conversation. I was very happy to be part of. Enjoy. Support for On With Kara Swisher comes from Elf Beauty.

Get ready to start with feeling good. An ELF's new album can help you find the spark. Get Ready With Music, the album, is a collection of inspiring songs from emerging global artists that brings together beauty and music in a unique way. The album comes from ELF Beauty's new entertainment arm, ELF Made. Every eye, lip, and face has a unique story to tell, and it becomes even richer with a soundtrack. You can enjoy Get Ready With Music, the album, on Spotify, Apple Music, iHeart, YouTube, and TikTok.

Support for this show comes from Google Gemini, an AI assistant you can talk to anytime you need help brainstorming, prepping for something important like an interview or exam, or just learning something new. And the best part is, you already know how to use it. Just open the app, start talking, and Gemini will do the rest. And by the way, this script was actually read by Gemini. You can download the Gemini app for free on iOS or Android. Must be 18 plus to use Gemini Live. Support for this show comes from Klaviyo.

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Please introduce yourself. Hello. Okay, well, hello. Hello. My name is Samantha Bee. Mm-hmm. And I'm a former television host and current New York City Gadabout. Gadabout. I don't know. Oh, Gadabout's a good word. I mean, that's a good word. I don't know what it means exactly, but I'm saying it. You kind of do. It's another word. Layabout. Sometimes a layabout. We are, we're super glad you're here. Thank you. Yeah, but we do, before we can like add you to the group chat. Okay. Okay.

you need to submit to the authenticator. Submit. Okay, to determine if I'm an authentic human being. Is that it? Okay, all right. First question. If aliens landed on Earth, and you had to nominate one person alive to represent the human race, who would you nominate? Our fate is in your hands. From the entirety of the human race. The choice is obvious. It's Ina Garten.

Because she is an entertainer, she makes the best parties, she brings baked goods. I think she could do it. She's like, she's fun. Her and Jeffrey? Actually, it's the two of them, yeah.

Okay. Don't you think? And she'd provide the famous tomato sauce. She's an emissary of peace. So you feel like we're going to host a party for the aliens. You're anticipating like a— I think you start with a party, and then you go— Then you move to kidnapping. I'm curious. That's why you didn't pick Martha Stewart, who is a possible enemy of Edegard.

Are they? Yeah, they were beefing about something. Were they beefing? They were beef Wellington about something. Hey, I'm here all week. Okay, sorry. Do you like that? I'm choosing Ina because I just personally mainlined her memoir two times in a row at slow speed because I found it really comforting to hear a woman describe roasted chicken. It comforted me greatly. Are we in a friendship circle here? Yeah. I don't know who that is. Oh!

But we were in a friendship circle. Now you're out. I am so shocked. She is one of the premier modern...

entrepreneurial domestic goddesses. Is that a good description? Oh my God. Can you do my descriptor as we go into this? Because it would be much better. And author of The Barefoot Contessa. Oh, I know The Barefoot Contessa. Hey, Brandon. Yeah, okay. Next question, Amy Authenticator. What is a popular song that everyone loves but that you hate? Okay, a popular song that everyone loves but I hate. Oh, actually...

Well, a singer that everyone seems to love that I hate is Elvis Presley. I hate all his music. I actually hate it so much that I would leap across a studio to turn the music off. Is there a particular song? No, it's every song in the... So there's not one Elvis song that you kind of like? I find it so intolerable, like actually intolerable that even thinking about it,

Why? Because it's upsetting viscerally? No. I have no idea. I just want you to know, I've been to Tupelo. I love Elvis so much. And I'm basically just like him. I was about to say, yes, I think we got the look. I'm literally jailhouse talking. Young Elvis. I never even, I never, I don't see it. I feel like we can't be friends anymore. Wow. I've betrayed you. I've been to all the places. All right, next question.

Well, I know how this is not going to be answered. Exactly. You're a celebrity crush.

Celebrity crush. I'm going to, okay, I have a really hard time with celebrity crush. I don't really have celebrity crushes. So I'm going to say who is the person who I will always sit down and watch? Actually, no, sorry. I'm going to say George Clooney. Okay. It's a complicated answer. I did meet George Clooney recently for the very first time and a picture was taken of the two of us together and I'm literally looking up at him.

holding onto my heart, like holding it into my chest and my eyes are closed like I'm having a religious experience. And it's a highly embarrassing photograph. So I'm going to say, where were you? So the truth was revealed. It was like a

party. It was a fancy party and he was hosting it. And so it was a pleasure to be there. So I'm going to say him because I've never made that expression when meeting him. Can we see it? Anyhow, we're going to have to Google it immediately now. It's really humiliating. What's the worst decision you've ever made in your life?

Oh, I chose a boy over a very long-term friendship. And that is the worst decision. You still remember it? How old were you? I was a teenager. And I wish, it's like the one thing. Because I don't really think back on life and go, oh, I would love to change all of these things. Because I kind of think even bad decisions make you who you are. They give you spice. But that is one decision that I would have changed. What was his age? I can't. I can't.

These people are alive. It's just like the first name. I can't. A Toby? A Brock? Brock. Yeah, it was Brock.

It was definitely Brock. Those are, yeah, I see where you're going with that. Brock. Those are beefcake teenage things. I yawn in Thomas to start. I realize that we've just met each other, but do I look like somebody who would date a Brock? It looks like you're recovering from a Brock. We were all young ones. Yeah, exactly. Oh my God. Okay, okay. Well, that's slightly more serious. I believe that people are basically the same. Actually, I believe that people are basically the same. The same. Meaning? Meaning?

We're kind of motivated by the same things. Which are? Which are, well, I think we're motivated by love. And hopefully the majority of people are motivated by protecting their loved ones. They want to keep their families safe. We're also motivated by selfishness and greed and kind of self-serving. And I think that kind of just is true across the human race. It's not all good things. Some of it is bad, too. So what would your mother say about you?

I think that my mother would say that I remind her of her mother. Oh. In a complimentary way? In a complimentary way. I just have a lot of qualities. I share a lot of qualities. I share qualities with my mother, but with my grandmother, I think there's a real similarity. I think she was kind of...

And she was like, she liked her things just so. And she kept her glasses in the kitchen in like an orchard. And I do, I have all those habits. I like to keep the corners clean, you know. What keeps you up at night?

Worrying about the safety of my children. For sure. Yep. For sure. It's pretty much the only thing that keeps me up at night. Yeah. Hard agreement on that one. We asked you earlier about your regret. What do you think is your superpower? I think that my superpower is de-escalation.

That's a fantastic. Say more. Yeah. I do think that I actually have a calming influence to things. And I do like to, I am, I was born in Canada and that's probably partially where it comes from, but I do like to take a fight. I'm a good moderator. I'm good at actually calming everybody down and sorting things out. Interesting. I'm an escalator.

You know what? That's why we're a good team. That's why we're good together. Do you like balance? Do you like being that? I'm just curious. I don't always like being that. Yeah, no. Because I often, I think...

sublimate myself to the process. You feel compelled to be that. I do. I can't, like, I can't, I don't know. I'm an only child. I don't know. I can't stand it when things are really tense. I can't operate in those. I can't think straight. I can't see straight. I need everything. I need everything to be kind of calm. I'm going to have hard discussions like within the calmness, but I like it to not be a fighting atmosphere. Yeah. I feel like that, did that make you a good boss? Uh, I

good and bad. Like, I think that there's benefits and there's also, there's, yeah, there's a benefit to it, but there's a downside to it too. Things don't happen. Which is like, people sometimes need to fight. They actually need to express themselves. They don't need me modulating their, their opinions at all times, which I do kind of have a tendency to do. Yeah. My son's a de-escalator. I wish he was more of an escalator. I think I,

I think it's good for parenting. Yeah. I think it's actually very, very helpful. All right. Last question. Yeah. It's difficult. Okay. What's your most controversial opinion? Make it good. I think that the drinking age and the driving age should be reversed.

Okay. I think people should be able to drink at 16 and they shouldn't be able to drive until they're 21. You know what the, okay. I like this. Yeah. But you know what the problem with it is? Tell me. Okay, so this is the problem with that. I watched this whole thing. It was fascinating. Okay.

The older you have to learn to drive, the more afraid you are. The reason why it's good to have people learn to drive at 14 and 15 is because they don't have an affixed understanding. Whatever. That's the driving ages that we learn to drive in Louisiana. People in my ears are telling me that's not the driving age. Okay.

But the reason why you learn to drive at 13. The reason why they say that psychologically, it's better for you to learn to drive that way is because you're not afraid. You have no real risk assessment, you're saying? People start driving because there are people that live in other places that don't have driving cultures. And then when they have to learn to drive, they're 21, 22, 23, they're terrified.

I feel like it's good to be terrified. I think you should be. I think if everybody was, like, a little more terrified, that would be better. And I think people should be able to drink earlier because I think when you keep it— So like France. Like France. I think when you keep it, like, separated from people's lives, they—

they wait too long to develop like a healthy relationship with alcohol or they're forced to like take it underground and like do it secretly the way that I did, like out of the trunk of a car before a dance. And I feel like if we just like had a healthier...

Oh, God. Canadian rye whiskey, like out of a jam jar. That is. Yeah, I thought you were going to be like peach nuts. I started off on E&J, Mad Dog. Oh, okay. All right. Well, you have been authenticated. Thank you. Thank you. Please stay with us because Sam B is going to stay and talk more. Support for On with Kara Swisher comes from Elf Beauty.

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with you. You can enjoy Get Ready With Music, the album, on Spotify, Apple Music, iHeart, YouTube, and TikTok. Support for this show comes from Google Gemini. Imagine an AI assistant that doesn't just spit out answers, but that you can have a real conversation with.

You can use Gemini to brainstorm ideas, prepare for something big like a test or presentation, or to just learn something new. And the best part is it's easy to use. To get started, all you need to do is start talking. And by the way, this script was actually read by Gemini. You can download the Gemini app on iOS or Android free of charge. Must be 18 plus to use Gemini Live. Support for this show comes from Klaviyo. You're building a business. Klaviyo helps you grow it.

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Welcome back. We're here with Sam B. Hi. Hi, Sam. How are you doing? So I just had you on my podcast and you were talking about where you are right now as a voter. Explain where you are. I was so surprised when you said this. Oh, really? Absolutely. Because you know from your show, you're, you know. Sure, sure, sure. I said on your show that I am changing my political affiliation to just like be an

independent for a while because not that I'm like not GOP curious in the least, but I am want to be a little bit Democrat celibate for a while. I just want to take a break. I don't want any more fundraising emails for a time. I would like to step outside the circular firing squad and not be a part of it for a little while. Yeah. I knew I'm on a break. Yeah. It's interesting that you use the word celibate though. Yeah. Yeah. I,

The connotations of this move. Let's have a dry spell, folks. Yeah, exactly. Let's all just step away for a minute and reassess. So you're like 4B. You're going to 4B them. Yeah, cutting edge. Yes, I'm going to 4B them. Yes. But do they deserve that? Shouldn't you be jumping more into it? Like, isn't it critical to jump more? Or are you just exhausted?

I'm happy to jump into the issues, happy to talk about all the issues, very excited and agitated by the news and ready to get in there, but I don't need to go and prove my bona fides. I'm like, you all can fight amongst yourselves. That's fine with me. If you're not, you'll be curious.

I couldn't be less curious. You know, when I'm talking to a friend who has jumped out of the dating pool and is not interested in men or women, I always ask, what are you looking for? Like you're a celibate now from the Democrats. You don't want to date them anymore. What are you looking for in a Democratic Party?

That's a question I just cannot answer right now. I just want to like, I feel like there's a lot of work to do. There's a lot of stuff to talk about. I don't have to have a political affiliation particularly to get in there, like to get in there and talk about it and think about it. I don't.

Does it make you miss satire? Because like Jon Stewart coming back to his show and kind of jumping right back into the fray of things. I've wondered if you've had some moments at home where you thought, actually, maybe I could have fun with this. It would be fun.

be fun to watch them all like tear themselves to pieces, which they so clearly are right now. But I'm podcasting. I talk about it kind of when I want. I write about it when I want to. And that is actually very satisfying. I don't feel the need to, I don't want to have to talk about it.

about it. Do you know what I mean? I love to just kind of at my leisure engage with... Also, I'm not sure that if that humor works anymore. Like, this is moving away from him himself, but just a lot of those shows that were pretend news person behind a desk, like, they didn't survive. And I do wonder if it is harder to do. I feel like everybody, you know, we always reach for those shows to achieve, like, catharsis or to see the issues of the day kind of like

processed in a way that is unique and interesting. And that is great. But I do feel the full force of the news cycle at all times. Like I'm still, I am still a person who is just like completely pegged to the news cycle. I am, I always know exactly what is happening. And sometimes I do need to take like a little step back from it.

I don't know. I don't know. It's going to be a wild ride. Well, can I stick with comedy? Because one of the things that you were so good at, and when you went to like the GOP convention and you asked, and there was that famous one where you said, there's a word choice. That was your bit. I love that bit. I watch it over and over again. Thank you.

That was sort of like, and Jordan Klepper then did a similar thing. So like you act like they're smart, right, essentially, and then get them to say the bad things. Is that effective? I try to think about it. I kind of like it, but then I think, is that actually funny anymore? Yeah.

I mean, again, to me, the purpose is catharsis because you're not reaching outside. I mean, we are siloed now. The walls of the silo are made of impenetrable materials. Like no one...

who doesn't agree with your worldview is going to watch a piece like that and go, I did look silly. Oh, hold on a second. Let me rethink my positions on the issues. But you, but there's a benefit to people who want to experience that kind of like that letting go, that kind of like

What's the word? It's just kind of affirmation. You know, it can achieve something, but it's more of an affirmation. Speaking of comedy, the one thing that people say about President Trump, whether or not they're criticizing him or not, is they say, well, the guy's funny.

And it seems to be the way that he accepts himself into... You can't say Trump's not funny. He makes me laugh. Do you find Donald Trump to be funny? I find him to be so deeply unfunny that I can't... I don't know. I mean, there's a lot of... To me, there's just like a ton...

Often what happens is he says something outrageous or just completely like addled or he goes off on some crazy weave. And then the cleanup is like, oh, he was just trying to be funny. I don't know. I just don't find him. Maybe I just don't get the joke. I don't know. I don't find him funny. Why do you think so many people do?

I have no idea, but there's no accounting for taste. We all think different things are funny. That's not to my taste. But he did well on those sort of bro comedy things. Like, how do you look at those right now? The Andrew Schultz, the rest of them? I pretend they don't. I don't engage with them. Like, I don't... Not even...

even remotely curious about. I think I know, I think I pretty much have an idea of what it's, what they're talking about and what it sounds like. And I don't, there's no need for, there's no value in my life. Like I don't tend to, which would really surprise people. I don't really tend to drop into things that will drive me crazy, that will give me, like will wake me up in the middle of the night. I just kind of,

I practice avoidance. I put on Ina Garten's autobiography at, you know, .25 speed, and I just listen to it slowly over 18 and a half hours. Like, I don't need it. Especially since, like, the show is satire, but I do fantasize about being the news person who will suddenly get to stop thinking about it. Mm-hmm.

Like it comes to me where I'm just like, oh, I would like a day where I don't have to know. Right. So I'm just looking at you now with raw envy. Do you ever get a day where you don't have to know? You don't ever get a day. Even when you're on vacation, I bet you have to know. You do. And you don't.

you feel it, you start to get jittery. I don't know about you, but if you don't have a byline, yeah, why did I even ask? I like the knowing. Oh, really? I'm one of those people that like... But when it's your job, when it's like when I was first starting out and there was like bad weather somewhere, right? Like if someone was getting executed by the state, I was waiting for my phone to ring, right? Like I had to go to it. And it's...

it made me anxious. You know, it just was very like intense. I know. I had a blackberry in my hand when I had my baby. So I guess I like it. I don't know. I feel like it. Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean, I like it too. I'm not like dropping out of the news cycle, but it is nice to be able to choose to be in it or not in it. Thumbtack presents the ins and outs of caring for your home. Out. Indecision. Overthinking. Second guessing every choice you make. In.

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What's the most brainless thing that you do? The most brainless thing that I do? The thing that you do, like for example, like I'll get on the PlayStation 5, swing around as Spider-Man, three hours, nothing else matters. Okay. Just zoned out. Yeah. Completely detached, mind rebuilding. Is there anything that you do that is just mundane,

brainless takes absolutely zero mental work. Well, I do like, okay, there's two things that I do. So I like to do, I like cycling classes, like in a dark room. And I just feel like they, when the music is, I love it. Like when the music is right, which is like intergalactic robots, just like murderous.

murdering each other in outer space. Like I like really horrific. It's like you're paying someone to yell at you. Like I don't understand the joy of cycling classes. Everybody's happy. Everybody's just like listening to them. Everybody's just like in the music. So that is a full detachment because I'm just trying to survive. Like that is just survival. I'm just like, am I breathing? Great. And then anything beyond that, I like to cook. I actually like to do stuff with my hands. So I like to...

That's how, that's my meditation actually is like, is cocaine. It's completely bifurcates my- You say and cocaine? And cocaine. Sometimes Kara just zones out and like fantasizes. Right, right. Which I pay for with a check. In that thing, you have a podcast with Joanna Coles for the Daily Beast. Yeah. You got Mika Brzezinski.

Talk a little bit about that. Yeah, sure. Talk about it. Well, Joanna and Mika are friends. And I mean, they're, yeah, they're friends. And so Joanna asked her to be on. And she's like, Mika has become the news herself because she and Joe went to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump and just have a short discussion. So, and she was getting tremendous blowback from that. So Joanna asked her to come on and she said yes. And so we interviewed her. And I actually, I thought it

really good. I thought it was really interesting. She said something that I did understand. I'm sure hundreds of thousands of people will disagree, but her point was that she made to us was that this is the hand of cards that we were dealt and it's not really normalizing something that has been very normalized. Like you are not, it's, the ship has sailed on not normalizing Trump. He is normal. He is the president again.

more than half the country voted for him or whatever it was. He's the president. He has the House. He has the Senate. It couldn't be more normalized than that already. And her point was, if I can move him on the issues that are important to me or press my point, I'm going to take every opportunity to press my point. And I see what she's saying. Right. How does that... What's the prescription for the average American? Because you said before that we're siloed, and we are siloed. Sure. But there are people out there that are like just...

deathly afraid of being a part of the thing that destroys the country. Of course. And they don't want to, the neighbors that they see that are a part of it, people at their jobs that they see that are a part of it, they don't want to be one of them. However, we can't live in silos. We have to share a community together. What do we do? Well, in real life, we do share a community together. You know, in real life, real life is real life. And that is different. Like, I don't really know. I don't,

You know, I don't have the prescription for the contrary. I know that we just like— Did you buy it when she said it? I do buy it. I do buy it because I do buy it for her. I don't buy it for myself. Yeah. Did you do an interview with him? Never. No, never. I never would. You couldn't drag—you would have to cremate me and take my ashes to Mar-a-Lago to get me to transgress the doorstop.

But that's, I'm not her. I think everybody's got their personal limitations. That's like a whole, that's a big difference from her going, cremation and her. So what, yeah. And this is the escalator scene. We're different people. We do different jobs. I'm not on television. It's not my job. It's not my work. We've also talked about access. And it's funny with this story and them, I haven't thought so much of the normalization thing, but what is the price of access?

What's the price of this? What is the price? Yeah. I don't know. And I do like... They agree with you on that? I agree with you. And I also agree with her. Like, I mean, to be a de-escalator, I kind of agree with both. Now you're an independent, so you can agree with both. I mean, I can agree with both because I do... I see the point. Like, okay, reproductive justice, reproductive rights. It's something that she... It's one of her core beliefs. And if she feels like she can...

be in his ear like a tiny amount and it doesn't have to be a social, I don't. Although it's not a nonpartisan thing to say, I think we've learned from the last four or six years that when you're in Trump's orbit, you don't move him.

He's the son. Well, she's already. You go around the son. But I think more than enough, like, memoirs came out after of Republicans who thought they would change things. The only thing you do is make him a Republican. Yeah, yeah. But that's not a bad thing. He's the president. But the idea that you somehow will have this undue influence just by being there has proven not to be true. And I don't think, and by the way, I should have said at the beginning, I don't think that anything she's trying is going to work.

Like, I definitely don't. But I understand her motivation. But if you had a show, would you do it? I would have a complete plot to interview Trump. I would interview him at Mar-a-Lago. You would. With velvet ropes in the middle of the lobby. Oh, you got it all planned out? Yeah, she does. Because I want him to have a hometown crowd. I want him to feel safe there. Right, right, right. That's good. Do you have friends that are Trump supporters? No. No?

No, I don't believe, well, I don't know. How do I know? Is it a disqualifying thing for you to be friends with someone who- I think it would be very difficult. I wouldn't be able to understand, but I don't know. I don't have like a, I don't have a purity test that I force my friends to go through, but I have a small group of friends. I think I know them very well.

I really, you know, voting is very private. It's possible that some of my friends voted for Trump. Like I would die if I found out. See, one of the things I've been thinking about are the people who are like blocking their friends who posted a lot or their family members just basically saying, I am no longer even occupying the digital space with you. And does that feel kosher to you? I can't make that judgment for other people. I think it's,

So individual. But what's a scenario where you can lock someone out of your life? For me, unless you're wearing an actual pointy hat, you know what I mean? You have to kind of be burning the cross on my lawn before I'm like, you should not, I erase you. Yeah, that should be your criteria. But these also, these could be... It just feels like, I don't know, you're always so open to things. I'm sort of surprised you're saying this. I'm open to things, but there are things like,

There are conversations I won't have, right? So if you come up to me and you go, well, if you look at it this way, George Floyd wasn't really murdered. I'm going to go, I don't think we have very much to talk about. And that's not because I'm making a judgment about you. But you're not like, and I don't want to ever speak to you again.

We probably don't have a lot to talk about, but the only reason why I'm saying that is because that comes from such a distinct worldview that inviting you into my life is going to invite nothing but confusion. See, I think I'm more than capable of existing with someone and holding them at arm's length, which is probably something for my therapist to do.

I don't hate to do it, but I don't like to do it. The people that are around, I like to hold. I just hang up on people. I mean, stop talking to me. I guess it's not super clear. I find that whole world and all of like Trumpism in general is an ideology that I would like to take and push into the sea and have it drop into the Marianas Trench never to be heard from again. I mean, they might feel that way about you, so I think that would be... Can I have one more question? You're doing podcasting now. You're doing...

you want to do other things. Sure. Would you get back to comedy? And what's funny to you? How would you make comedy now, given comedy's on TikTok, comedy's here, there's a little bro comedy, there's this. Bro comedy's always been around. It's always been around. Yeah, it has always been around. I don't know. Take my wife, please.

I feel like for me, I still do comedy. Like I'm writing a book about menopause actually, and it's really, really funny. And you had a show, right? And I had a show and it did great. And it was so fun to do and so funny. So like-

I will do, I do comedy all the time. It's just very, you know, it's a sliver of a thing. It's just something that I feel passionately about and I will talk about it and make comedy. I am secretly stoked you brought this up because the menopausal sense that's happening where like, Haley Berry and like, no,

all of these people are very publicly talking about perimenopause. It's kind of fascinating. There's like a cohort of entertainers who reached it and did not feel the need to just like disappear and never mention it. It became like the social media feeds, the magazines talking about people saying, did you know? Because I didn't know. And it sort of reminds me of that period when everyone was talking about like,

an orgasm. You know what I mean? Sort of like, hey, remember when women are discovering? You don't remember? I feel like this was like the plot of Fried Green Tomatoes. Yeah, that's straight ladies. Don't you remember that? This was an act. Did you see Fried Green Tomatoes? It's a classic. All we gotta remember about the movie, didn't someone get killed and then fed to somebody else? Yes. That was the best part. It had multitudes. The point is, it's everywhere. And is it weird that it's everywhere? And did you feel weird talking about it?

No. Well, I felt weird. I couldn't, I really couldn't talk about it for a couple of years, probably, where I was just like existing in this space of not understanding what was happening to me and actually just thinking that I was completely losing my mind due to my like high intensity job when actually there were like a lot of things going on. So I don't feel weird talking about it now. I have a healthy relationship to it. And I actually think that it

that it is comedy. Like, you can always make jokes about something that is happening to you in the moment, and that is what I do. I'm very super comfortable with it. - Can you let Dana know what the funniest thing about menopause is? - Yeah, 'cause I'm, yeah, I wanna know. - What's the funniest thing about menopause? - Oh my God. - It's really hard to-- - Who's curving menopause? Who's that? - What? - It's a joke.

But what's the funniest thing about that book? Oh, my God. I don't even know. Oh, my God. Like, funny, but it's like, it's more like comedy slash tragedy. It's very hard for me to, we're going to have to go off camera and I'll tell you everything. Who makes you laugh right now? God, who makes me laugh? Well, that's a,

Oh, no. Oh, my God. Not Trump. Yeah. No, but that's. Sam, you've completely. When did you last laugh? You've completely checked out. Yeah. You're in your own bubble. When did I last laugh? You've checked out. Laugh. I don't know. It's so weird having come from the world of comedy. All I watch are tragic things. Like I'm watching that show about Ireland and the Troubles. Yeah. But also great book, great show. Yeah. Oh, God. So good. So good. We'll go on to the Memendis brothers.

When I really want to laugh, I'll go back. You know what? When I really want to laugh. Actually, that's so funny. Election, the day after the election, I was like, I have to watch...

some Tim Robinson sketches and we put on I Think You Should Leave and we just selected our favorite sketches. The funniest show on television. Always will laugh. Oh. He always makes me laugh. Still has to do a pulse check with comedy. The funniest show on television. Funniest show in existence that I have maybe ever, that it consistently makes me laugh. It is. To tears. Sublimely stupid.

Right? Oh, it's insanity. It's like the funniest show on television. Yeah. For sure. So that makes you laugh. Oh, yeah. You know what that tells me? That you're at a point where you have to, because that's. It's chaos. It's chaos. Like aggressively beating you over the head with comedy. Yes. And you're kind of in that space where you have to be. Yeah.

has to cut through. Wild. Like I don't watch, like I don't, okay, okay. Actually that's, I also love Maria Bamford. Do you know Maria? Oh yeah. I love Maria Bamford. Literally comedy about depression and mental illness. Yeah, no, no, no, no. It's so much more than that. It's so much more than that. Yeah, but like interesting given what you've said. Yeah, yeah. I just love it. I went like, I binged a bunch. Maria is just one of the funniest people on

planet Earth and she just like takes me there. So I went to see her. Are you worried about your ability to laugh? No. Now that you're not. I will always laugh. I will always laugh. My husband does comedy. We're both comedic performers. We're comedy writers. We all laugh. My children are

insanely funny. I like to watch shows about the troubles. I'm like a very complicated person. You are. I'm like an authentic. She contains multitude. She is. She is. And I just like, I had a rollercoaster of emotions in this interview. Thank you, Samantha Bee. Thank you so much for coming. We made you laugh. Coming on the show. We made you laugh. Going off script. We appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you.

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