Fred Armisen: Drum Kit Judgement
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That's 15% off at SaatchiArt.com. S-A-A-T-C-H-I-Art.com. Ever wish your favorite TV show had twice as many episodes? Everyone knows that feeling. And so does Discover. Everyone wants more of their favorites. That's why Discover doubles another favorite thing. Cash back.

That's right. Discover automatically doubles the cash back earned on your credit card at the end of your first year with Cash Back Match. Now that's a real crowd pleaser. Everyone knows how it ends. Double the cash back. See terms at discover.com slash credit card. When you look at someone's kit, do you make a judgment? Always. Always. Always. I knew it. It's just, you could just tell what kind of drumming they're going to do.

Welcome, everybody, to literally. Thank you for downloading, tuning in, whatever the hell you did to get here. Really appreciate you taking part in our little foray today. Fred Armisen.

I just, everything about him makes me laugh. He's one of those people where you look in his eyes, you go, okay, I'm going to be laughing. And today we're going to prove hearing his voice will make you laugh. He's multi-talented, one of the nicest men you'll ever work with, and probably my single favorite Parks and Recreation guest star. But we've got a lot to unpack with Fred, so let's get to it.

You know, you're a serious drummer. Yeah, I've been a drummer since, I don't know, since I was like 12 or something. And...

I still consider myself an active drummer. Even if I'm doing comedy, if I'm doing something on a show or something, I still approach it like I'm a drummer. I was thinking about you because I just was on a plane and looked over at this guy and was like, oh my god, that's Dave Grohl. Don't you think drummers have a very specific kind of thing?

I don't know if it's is it a worldview? Is it a vibe? Is it I don't know what it is, but like even like I'm obsessed with obviously the Beatles documentary and watching Ringo. We roll and I were talking about it. He goes, what I love about it is you just see what drummers are forced to do, which is sit around a lot and watch.

The other people go, are we ever going to play? Yeah. A good example also of just like watching someone listen. Like Ringo is just like listening the whole time, listening to how the songs go, you know, hearing their conversations. I can't get enough of that documentary and watching Ringo. And Ringo is also, he's really consistent.

He, every time he plays, it's, it's just, he's really dependable. He's such a, he really, really is just the greatest. And, and, you know, people always kind of shit on him forever. I don't know why. Cause he was, it was like, Oh, and like, well in Saturday Night Live, Lauren has that famous line.

Lorne Michaels thing where he wants the Beatles to reunite for $75,000. And he goes like, you can divide it amongst yourselves however you want. You can give Ringo less. It's just a general drummer thing. And since there's like the most famous band, that's like a famous sort of, you know, attitude towards just a lot of drummers in general. Just because there's, I think it's because they're in the back.

They're sort of... They're not usually the principal songwriters. And so they don't have that thing where they're like up front in the stage. They're just like kind of, you know, just back there somewhere. Even though sometimes they're on risers, but I just feel like sometimes there's that attitude towards them. When you look at someone's kit, do you make a judgment? Always. Always. Always. Always. And it's...

And usually it's just, you could just tell what kind of drumming they're going to do. If there's too much stuff, like a lot of little cymbals and stuff, you just know it's going to be, there's going to be a lot of playing, meaning like as opposed to just, you know, playing along to a song or just keeping the beat. Weirdly, and this happens, I think, with sort of,

People who have extra money but aren't really playing that much music, when it's really expensive equipment. When you see a lot of hardware and brand new drums, that's when it looks like a hobby. When it's someone who's got a lot of money, they're like, I just want to really get a lot of stuff. And when I see... I'm not talking about arena bands and stuff, but I think a lot of the more...

respected and successful drummers have kind of scaled down kits because they're so confident in their own playing. By the way, this isn't a judgment call on drummers with expensive kits. I just mean that a lot of like really accomplished drummers just keep it simple. Well, let me ask you this. So, okay. That was just my opinion. No, and I always mix it. There's, there's Steve and Jeff Piccaro. One's the famous drummer. It's Jeff, right?

Yeah. So Jeff Piccaro, you know, God rest him, acclaimed as one of the most technically proficient, amazing drummers who ever lived. Yeah. The biggest kit you've ever seen. Mm-hmm.

And then Charlie Watts. Yeah. They're both equally good, right? Definitely. It's almost like just two different tools, almost two different genres. I mean, they're kind of in, you know, obviously in rock and roll, but both, yeah, incredible artists.

proficient drummers, but just different forms of expression. I love your show, Documentary Now, and I want you guys to do, I know you've done the Eagles Breakup, but I want you, have you seen these things? It's not behind the music. I'm trying to think of the name of them. They're on YouTube. It's like the making of various albums. Yeah.

Yes. And there's one on Steely Dance Asia. Whoa. Their thing was they could never agree on the studio musician. So they'd bring, like, there's this great bit where they break down the guitar solo on Peg.

And they show you all of the different guys who came in and according to them, fucked it up. And they play their solos that they didn't use. And then they bring in the guy who crushes it, but they have the pretty shuffle for, you know, and he's, he talks about putting his, he put a sign up in his kit. Do you know this whole thing? No, this, I don't know. He would put a sign up.

On his kit, like saying you hired Purdy, the hit maker or something. It's just, it's so ripe for you, but if you do it, I need to be in it. That one I haven't seen, but it's, it's pretty great. And, um, I, I like the idea of breaking down albums and just getting into it. And there's so much there to unpack comedically.

Yes. Because of the minutia of it. It just makes me laugh. So much, yes. Engineers. The engineers isolating the tracks? Yeah. It's beyond belief. It's beyond belief. I can't get enough. I love seeing that because I've done Beatles ones too. Yeah. I can't get enough of it, but oh my God, it's in every documentary.

And it makes me laugh. Isolating the tracks. Have you, I went back and watched The Ruttles. Oh, yeah. And for those of you who don't know The Ruttles, you need to. If you at all care about The Beatles or music or comedy or...

Because it's the original parody satire of all those Beatles documentaries, which were all the same. They were all the same. And they're so funny. And I and the Monty Python guys made it. Yeah. Lorne Michaels produced it. And you know that it, I believe, has to this day the world records for the lowest rated television show ever aired. I didn't know that. Yeah.

Literally, there's never been anything aired on the network that got less ratings than the Ruddles. Wow. Somehow it...

Somehow that's fitting. Isn't it? I agree. Yeah, it's like a nice, that's like a, I like that as a title. So what are you doing with Apocalypse, Apocalypse now. With Documentary Now. Documentary Now, we're starting in a couple of months and we're going to be shooting in England. By the way, who knows with, you know, the way things get postponed. Why England?

Because there was like one documentary we wanted to try that would be based out of there. And one of the directors is from Wales. He's Welsh. And then little by little, it seemed to make the most sense. Whenever we do something overseas with documentary now, something about it feels a little more real. It seems more like a camping trip or something.

So that little by little, that's sort of made more and more sense. And then that's, that's where, I mean, you know, who knows with all the COVID stuff, but at the moment it's scheduled to be in, in England and I can't wait. I love it over there. And, but I don't think we've ventured into the, the idea of like the, you know, the engineer, it's so good. Yeah.

We should do that. And again, Fagin and Becker, dude, they break down Michael McDonald's harmonies. Amazing. And it's beyond belief. Again, it's on peg. And it's just insane what they made him sing.

It's insane what they made. I mean, there's so many layers in that song. And also that guitar solo is just wild. There's so much going on in that guitar solo. Now, I haven't watched it yet, but is the guitar solo edited to sound like that, to the structure of it? Or did the... No, they let them play. That's the thing is they let these guys come in and do... They come in, they hear the song, and they go, okay, play.

And this is what one guy decided to play. And this is what another guy decided to play. And this is what this guy's. And by the way, all the ones that are bad, some perfectly good to me. And then of course you get to the one that's, it's iconic because you've heard it so much. Right. You're just used to that one. But in and of itself, I don't know that it's that much better than the other stuff. There's one that's bad. And that makes me laugh. There's really one guy that came in and he shit the bed badly. And, and these two, these two guys who are just,

Just so funny. Yeah. Such a good approach. Did you finish the Beatles one? Did you finish Get Back? Oh, yeah. I finished it and this is the thing I said to Dave Grohl. I think it's the greatest capture of inspiration and creativity that's ever been put on film. Literally, there's a camera on Paul McCartney. Oh, there's a camera on George Harrison where he says, wherever songs come from,

the universe, wherever they come from, there's a camera on him. Yeah. As it's coming from that place into his mind, going, something in the way she moves attracts me like, I don't know what it attracts me like. And he goes, and John Lennon goes, attracts me like an avocado. It doesn't matter. Just sing whatever it matters. And you're like, I'm witnessing. Yeah. I'm witnessing a transformative thing. Yeah. And the other part of it though, that you never get to see,

that people need to know about creativity is the drudgery. And that's why I like that this whole thing is too long. It's incredibly boring in parts. And that's what's great because it is boring. It should be. If it was just edited down to all the like flashy parts, it's just not a good representation. The fact that they had band practices and seeing even a band like the Beatles have doubts and just them wondering, you know,

Eating a lot of toast. So much toast. If it was LA, what would it be? Sushi? Avocado toast. Yeah, avocado toast. I cannot take credit for that joke. That was my producers who put that up there. And well-earned. But that's totally what it would be. And so, I, but again, I'm obsessed. I mean, you have such a great body of work and we can talk about all of that, but I am really obsessed with

With documentary now. And, um, because I love, because all I do is watch documentaries. Yeah. That's all I do. I feel like I read so many scripts. I've, I've, you know, I, I, I, sometimes this sounds incredibly jaded, but I feel like there isn't a story beat. Forget that. I haven't seen.

That I haven't played myself. Yeah. And so every turn, everything just feels like, yeah, okay, to me. Yeah, yeah. So I go to documentaries. Yeah.

And I, what is your favorite? Give me your three or whatever. I don't want to put pressure on a number, but like- That's a tough one. Do you want me to go first? Yeah, let's hear it. Okay, so my favorite documentary for sure, without any question, anything coming close, has to be Ken Burns' Civil War. Fantastic, yeah. I mean, yeah, saying that he's great is like saying that Dave Grohl's a great drummer, but I will not counter that. I will add to that by saying the most-

Moving documentary that has ever affected my life is also Ken Burns. There's this one about country music. It's just called Country Music. It was a series. It changed the way that I hear country music. That's how good it was. Really? The way he broke it down, I now buy country records in a very different way. Really? I met him briefly. You did? He's such a nice man. Yeah, I did. He was a big West Wing fan and he came to the set.

And, and it was great. It was good. And he has a very specific look. Like I'm surprised you haven't played him because he's got, he's got the, he's got the Beatles hair. He's got, he's got a beetle haircut. He's totally has a beetle haircut. Yeah. My other, see my other, I think I might like the Elvis documentary with, with the weirdest, most bizarre banal title. It's like Elvis, that's the way it is. And it's the documentary of his,

legendary comeback tour at the Hilton in Las Vegas. It's all the behind the scenes and like a great, you know, who's who of the glitterati of the time. It's not the one where he plays Madison Square Garden then? It's a Las Vegas one? It's a Las Vegas Hilton. And he's opening the Hilton, which was like the

You know, never been a hotel like it before. And people, my dad, who was not a particular music fan, happened to be in Vegas. And he went back every single night. Every single night he went back. He said it changed his life. And Elvis was considered a joke at that point. He'd done all the bad movies. He was a long way away from success.

you know, you know, jailhouse rock and all of that. And he was considered kind of a hack. And he came back and did this and just the most charismatic, you just can't believe that a human being like that existed. And what is the documentary? Is it behind the scenes or just him live? It's both. Do you get a good sense of this person? Knowing what we know about Elvis, it's definitely a sort of sanitized documentary.

version of it but it's it's it's you know it's you see him he's putting on his you know his suit and he's talking to the guys and he's warming up and you see him rehearsing and practicing and arriving and eating and it's all of that but it's mostly um the the actual performance there's a great bit where they follow sinatra coming to his seats and you see all the all the people coming to opening night it's pretty amazing wow

Now we're going to keep adding. Now we're just going to be adding things that we have to see. Yeah. I'm trying to think of what the other, I mean, obviously Grey Gardens was great. And that was, it was Grey Gardens the first one you guys did. Yeah. It was the first one we did. First one we shot. And Grey Gardens is so good. I mean, how did that even happen? How did that happen? Why didn't they pack away their cameras?

You know, you would think that they're like, oh, this, I don't know this. Let's just pack these away. This is like, I don't know what the situation, the fact that they just kept going, keep going. This is going to be a good documentary and it's just one of the best. Oh, well, speaking of which, just circling back to the Beatles, my brother's take on this is that John didn't break at the Beatles. George didn't break at the Beatles. Yoko, as it turns out, didn't break at the Beatles. You know who broke up the Beatles?

Michael Lindsay Hogg. His philosophy is Michael Lindsay Hogg broke the Beatles up because if you watch the documentary, he goes on and on. I don't know what this is. I don't know what we're doing here. I don't there's no story. There's no story to this. There's no story. So he he manifest created a story of the breaking up of the band.

Ooh, you mean just by sort of putting that out there, it just became... Yes, it was a self-fulfilling prophecy. Yeah. And if you look at it like, you know, all of the ideas, Paul wants to go on a...

riverboat and do it and he wants to do it in Tibet and I also love Michael Lindsay Hogg's horrible idea of doing it he keeps coming back to doing it in a temple or something and it's almost like it's really picture it it's amazing that part of it really made me laugh because it almost was like it was out of the ruddles I know I know but then I feel bad because I'm like you know he's still around so I still want to be like

thankful that he filmed it for sure all that footage so i'm like well that that something in there was you know but i think with that youth and also just trying it it's hard to see while you're making a documentary that there is something there but it's not going to be instant you know so that's what's scary i and you know i like making doc documentaries i haven't made many of them but i made

Well, the one that really worked the best was 30 for 30, all those documentaries. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I made one called I Hate Christian Laettner, which was about the great Duke basketball playing star. Uh-huh. And so now is when I go out and you try to pitch people to buy them, they always want to know.

Everything about a documentary and all the best documentaries find themselves while you're doing it. Like Grey Gardens. You're not pitching that. You're not going in and saying, we're going to find this couple and they're really crazy. You just...

Documentaries reveal themselves to you as you make them. Absolutely. How could you have predicted? There's almost no story to the Grey Gardens one. There's no story. There's nothing that really happens, you know? And it's riveting. Riveting. I could picture it all now. That's how riveting it is. Did you see Rashida's about Quincy Jones? Oh, it's amazing.

I loved it. You know, working with Rashida and I was so lucky on Parks, I worked with her all the time. And so we, Quincy was a person that I knew peripherally, just, you know, being, growing up and being around and running into him here and there. And we actually dated some of the same women, if you can believe that. Yeah.

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Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. So you sent a new script. Yep. Can you tell, when you look at it, do you go, oh, I know what this is going to be? I can tell by this dialogue, this is going to go this way and then that way, and it's going to be, or is it all still a mystery to you? It depends on the writing. And the great writers still fool you.

Springsteen has a great quote where he says, the audience wants two things from you. They want to be taken on a journey where they actually know where they're going, but they want to be surprised in how they get there. And you have to do both simultaneously. So when it's that, it's fun, but nine and a half times out of 10, I do see where it's all headed.

Nine times out of 10, you can kind of see like this is going to be this kind of thing. But also, look, part of it is I've done so much television. And as you know, an hour drama, particularly the show I'm on now, 9-1-1 Lone Star, which is an adventure show. So there's three adventures, an episode.

And think of just the story machine that just eats the story up. I think I've rescued people in every possible iteration of rescuing. Yeah. Under the Ice, done it. Towering Inferno, done it. It's like, and it's fun. It's totally fun because I love that genre. Like, I pitch stuff to the writers and they're like, we done it. Yeah, did it. Done it. Mm-hmm.

So you really see a lot. Yeah. Sometimes if something's been done before, I've learned anyway, sometimes it's still okay. I think, you know, if it's... Well, it's like that, you know, Joseph Conrad thing of there are only seven stories. I think it's him who said that. Yeah. Yeah.

especially with music parody stuff, there's Spinal Tap covered it all. Yes. What is your favorite Spinal Tap moment? So they're talking about a festival they played. They're like, where's that festival we played? It was the Isle of... You know, because there's like the Isle of Wight. Yeah.

Like, I love, I love, I love Lucy. I love Lucy. And it's just, it breezes by in a second. The breezes by in a second ones are the one that makes me like in the, in the famous scene where they're lost backstage. Yeah. Hello Cleveland. Yeah. The thing that makes me laugh is when they asked the janitor for directions and

And then Janer gives him directions in the middle of this. And then you're going to go to, you're going to fight. And then you make a right. And then it's a little, take a little jog. And then he's, we don't have time for that. Yeah. And then the other thing is like, where's the record? Well, they're, they're, they're experimenting with the album cover. And he says, well, they have monkeys open it. And it's not even covered. It's not even on camera. Yeah. Neither one of those are on camera. It might be a perfect movie. That might be, it's aged so well that it might be perfect. Yeah.

Spinal tap and puppet show. The part that's funny is that like in a band, someone's still trying to spin it like it's actually okay. Like actually, you know, our name was above. They're still trying to like, this is okay. The manager, I think it's the manager who's always trying to put a brave face on the fuck ups. Yeah. Is because we've all had that in our careers.

We've all had it. I can't tell you how many times, you know, the ratings come out and they're abysmal. And somebody's like, well, listen, you know, in rural areas, it's actually doing great. Always, always. There's always something you could sort of

pin your hope on actually no but in the plus five or whatever it is it actually did pretty good or a lot of shows are going through this a lot of shows it's actually this number is good because a lot of shows are right now this is the new normal yeah there's a lot of new normal

I just don't like Rob Reiner does a thing where he tries to cross his arms over his chest. Oh, fantastic. Do you know that bit? Yeah, because it sort of rolls into itself. Yeah, and then he doesn't commit to it. Like he's super awkward with it. And those accents are great, in my opinion. I mean, I'm not British, but I really feel like those are good British accents. Well, you played, according to my notes, Queen Elizabeth. Yeah. The joke of it was we wanted her to sound like she's in The Clash.

So I just did like a member of the Clash, Mick Jones, and just went from there. And, you know, Bill Hader is like a little more sort of Paul Simon on. And yeah, we just, it's an excuse for us to do accents like that and then to play punk music and then also to like feel like I'm on a sketch show. Like that sketch really made me feel in the moment like, wow, I'm really on a,

on SNL. I'm really on a sketch show. Just from the, it's so obviously clearly a sketch. Right. And it's not even that high concept. So it just feels just very, in those moments, it was really gratifying to be like, man, I'm just, I'm really in this show. Did you get more of a buzz out of like crushing it on SNL or like say Portlandia, which I think

The first episode of Portlandia, I love all of Portlandia, but in particular, that first episode is so fully formed for, I think, for a show. Like, it's like arrived. It was like undeniable. Thank you. Portlandia was more personal because it was just more of like, the project was just pretty much, you know, just me and Carrie. So that was felt a little more like,

like a smaller shop that so that which is kind of nice like it's like more of a personal touch but then SNL it's so far reaching well you know if I travel or something where someone has seen it like in a faraway place and it's also feels generational like it people of a certain age who grew up on that cast and

That's exciting because it's like that for me. When I think of the SNL that I grew up on, I like that everyone has their sort of their cast. And it's just, yeah, but they're both, people are so, they really, and I'm sure I know you experienced this. They just really connect and they like saying something and it's always so nice and it's so positive. I sometimes feel like Parks and Rec is almost like a cousin. Yeah.

I don't know, something about it that felt like, hey, we're kind of doing stuff at the same time. And I really liked that. And that's what was fun with staying in touch with Amy Poehler. Yeah. Like, what's your experience? What are you going through? And I always wanted life to be like that or, you know, post-SNL to be like that where you're still experiencing similar things. And your appearance on Parks is one of my favorite. It's one of my favorite episodes for sure. I think it's one of the first episodes

Because, you know, as you know, and you've been on it and thank you. I also do a podcast where we break down every episode of Parks and Recreation called Parks and Recollection. So if you're interested, if you're listening and you're interested in parks, you really should check out Parks and Recollection wherever you get your podcasts. But your episode when you show up is, I think, the first one of the first times where the show got absolutely funny and it got brilliant. And I think your character showing up from Venezuela is.

It was one of the first times where it was just absolutely, undeniably hilarious. I talked about it in the other podcast, but God, I loved it. I still have mementos from it. I'm looking at one, but I think I said this in the other podcast too, but I just keep a big Venezuelan hand with a flag on it.

that everybody signed. It was so nice, but it was great. And it made my mom proud since she's Venezuelan. Oh, wait, I'm looking at my notes on you right now. Tell me about this George Harrison, my sweet Lord. Yeah. Will you please explain to me what is, and how have I not seen it? And what is it? I was kind of enjoying you being that journalist. You should play a journalist someday.

Because I'm sure their job must be so crazy of just like... If it's Monday, it must be Leonardo DiCaprio. If it's Tuesday, I've got Matthew McConaughey. If it's Thursday, I've got Khloe Kardashian. Okay, whatever. The George Harrison thing... So the George Harrison estate re-released All Things Must Pass. The 50th anniversary of just...

One of the greatest albums ever, which is, by the way, you see the making of it in Get Back. You see him actually say, I'm just going to put out my own music. Right. So for that, they wanted to do, there's never been a video for My Sweet Lord. And-

They had this idea of it being comedians because George is clearly a comedy fan. So they got this director who's a friend of mine, Lance Bangs, who's got like a good eye for this kind of thing where things can look casual but magical at the same time. And little by little, almost like

in a way like the We Are The World thing where we were just here in LA and comedians are around and obviously George Harrison fans and everyone showed up and then it starts, the video starts with me and Vanessa Bayer. Well, it actually starts with me and Mark Hamill but then as the song starts it's me and Vanessa Bayer and

It is just us searching for something. We've got flashlights and we're going through downtown LA. It was cool as hell. To be part of anything having to do with the Beatles is endlessly great. I'll never get over it. No, you won't. At the end of it, Ringo is in it, our friend Ringo, and he's showing me, I have these flashlights with me and he's showing me a drum beat with flashlights. Ringo. Ringo.

It's, you know, I've been staring and listening to, I'm staring at pictures of the Beatles since I might have been seven or eight or something. Maybe eight. Listening to their music, like everybody. And there's Ringo. But still, the Beatles always seemed like from another era.

world that I thought, well, that's something that's out of reach. And Ringo's the reason I started playing drums. It's because I heard him drumming. He plays, like, I'm not a drummer. I don't know anything about it. But I know him when I hear him. Why is that? It's like a signature. It's like an audio signature. You can hear his expression. He's expressive. There's like humor in it.

And there's like a real point to it. When he plays it, there's a commitment to that, that fill that right away. You're like, Oh my God, of course. Right. Something about it. It's like a, it's like a, like with a Sharpie, it's like with an outline, like this is it.

I'm like, this is kind of it. I'm going to do noodle around over here. It's like a real frame for everything. That's a really good point. Yeah. Have you ever seen, you're clearly a music fan. I love the way this has turned into a total nerd music thing. There's a great, you know, do you know the famous Pat Metheny, Kenny G stuff? No, I saw the Kenny G documentary. Kenny's one of my oldest, well, his, well,

longtime wife, no longer together now, was my wife's best friend from sixth grade on. So I got to know Kenny super, super well and still am very, very close with Kenny. And he's such a character and a great, interesting dude. Yeah. And that documentary is great. It's so interesting. Isn't it? It spells out. I mean, it really shows...

why Kenny G is great and why he is the way he is. But there is, and by the way, my producers are giving you information that is wrong. No, Kenny, Pat Metheny has a bone to pick with Kenny G and it's super funny. And you pull up the interview and he accuses him of noodling. That's what made me laugh. Ah, noodling. Yeah. Yeah, noodling is kind of like just, you know, drums, yeah, little things. Yeah.

Kenny, my noodle. And I love him. I can say that. His attitude is so good. I think it just happens to anyone who's like the most popular of anything. They become a target for stuff like that. By the way, do you know that I based Chris Traeger on Kenny G? How so? Well, it's the cadence. It's the voice.

And it's his, and you don't really see it in the documentary because that's the other side of Kenny, his more serious business side. He doesn't really go into Tragerville, but it's like his enthusiasm for things that he doesn't really know anything about. Like, oh, raisins. I like raisins. Oh, this is good. Like that's literally Kenny. Like that version of Chris is 100% a direct rip from Kenny. Ooh, over.

oh vitamins i'm gonna take some of those or that's all just kenny that's who he is he's got that thing and i i remember going raisins they're nature's candy because i never knew that and it makes total sense doesn't it it's the weirdest thing that you how is that that positivity but it's like a curious positive it's curious it's unrelentingly positive which at the end of the day

was chris boiled down to its essence would be positivity and enthusiasm yeah and that's that's that that is kenny kenny oh that sounds great tell me about that he's he just lives in kenny world and he's happy as a a clam you know my favorite story is um he was doing the tonight show this is how they broke how they broke him with songbird that was the big song yeah yeah and maybe he tells it in the documentary he does he does yeah that that story where he

Where they cut the song and you're only going to do one song, but do not do Songbird. Yeah. You know, people say Kenny's a wimp and the happy go light. It's like, that's a baller, hardcore move. Especially for a debut. Yes. That's when you're at your most nervous. Like, wait, whatever you say. You want to play Happy Birthday? Absolutely. And it made him. And it worked. And it worked. The power of your own convictions, you know? Yeah. Yeah.

Amazing. He's an amazing man. I mean, his Christmas album is the... I mean, the Kenny G Christmas album. To connect to that many people through music, through not even singing...

Not even singing. The fact that it's like an instrument that people don't even usually listen to. When I go surfing, I come through Kenny's house because he has a gate right under the best surf thing. And every time I come through Kenny's house, he's practicing. And then I asked Lindsey Buckingham, one of the great, I think the single most underrated guitarist.

in popular rock history without a doubt and he he never practices not to make this all about me i will add to that that my favorite guitar player of all time is lindsey buckingham no easily me too there are things that he plays that i can listen to over and over again i think he doesn't play with a pick either i think it's sort of like his hands you put it's banjo picking fingernails

Can't get enough. I know. On his solo albums, on everything. Where are you from originally? Ohio. Wow. What city? Dayton. Wow. You're from Dayton. Yeah. How do you know Dayton? Dayton had a really good music scene in the 90s. Or it still does. Well, it had the Ohio Players, bro. Ohio Players, The Breeders, Brainiac, Guided by Voices. For some reason, it's just like this real...

It's this place where great music comes out of. I didn't know the Breeders were from Dayton, but I had moved out before all that happened. I moved out in 76. So when I'm, it was really the Ohio Players at that point. It was like gnarly, great soul funk. Yeah. My dad was a lawyer, still is, and he represented Marvin Pierce of the Ohio Players. Really? Just made it.

Is he still practicing? Yeah, he's 81. Wow. Still practicing. That's a good lawyer. Right? Got that many years under your belt. Come into the courtroom. Yeah. Everybody practically stands up. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I only play lawyers on television. I don't have the faculties to actually be one. Although my son just passed the bar last year. What? Yeah. It actually makes my brain skip for a second. But then...

I'm back to reality. I know. Hey, congratulations. That's amazing. You know, it's like all around you. Law. I think it's actually what I would have done had I not made it as an actor. I think I would have probably done something like that.

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Meet the next generation of podcast stars with Sirius XM's Listen Next program, presented by State Farm. As part of their mission to help voices be heard, State Farm teamed up with Sirius XM to uplift diverse and emerging creators. Tune in to Stars and Stars with Issa as host Issa Nakazawa dives into birth charts of her celeb guests. This is just the start of a new wave of podcasting. Visit statefarm.com to find out how we can help prepare for your future.

Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. You know, at the end of the day, I want to promote you. This is about you. I want people to know when they want more Fred, where they're going to get it from and when. I've got a good answer for you. This, I mean, I know that

I don't know how much you could see in this screen. Oh, I can see a lot. I'm starting to grow a mustache. Oh, you are? Because on Friday... Wait, can I just say something? Has anyone ever told you this? You with the mustache, maybe it was the angle. You've got a little Tom Hanks thing going on. Has anyone ever said that to you before? I've had a couple people say it. Oh, there it is. It's definitely something you're doing with the angle. Yeah.

I should lean into it. When you're back, you're Fred Armisen. But when you come in like that, it's Tom Hanks. I'll take it. Yeah, it's good. But I interrupt. Tell me about the mustache. I know you interrupted. Editors, can we have that interruption edited out? And can I hear it back now? Say done. I just see done on my screen. I'm flying to Chile, to Santiago, Chile, to finish shooting...

a season of a show that we started during the pandemic. So we've already done season one of a show called Los Espookys. It's in Spanish. Of course. It's my favorite title ever. Thank you. So only now are we going back to finish it up. So that's what's next. Season two of Los Espookys. I was worried that Los Espookys was done. And now this is the best news ever. It will never be done. I officially, it's the one showbiz guarantee that I got from

showbiz they were like los espookys will keep going on forever as many episodes as you want they wrote a check they're like it literally as you talk about my sons it is my son jono and lows we've said it we've said it a lot it's our favorite title for anything we've ever heard of on television

Makes me smile every time I see it or hear it. Well, thank you. Is that the lawyer's son? This is the writer's son. A writer and a lawyer. I just like that they're productive members of society and good guys. Do you know what I mean? They're not out on the back of a boat somewhere with a Mai Tai and a model. They probably are, but if they are, they're not...

doing it on Instagram. - Did you purposefully instill that in them, like a sort of work ethic or did it just happen? - Their mom, who I'm still with, Cheryl, love her to death, doesn't listen to the podcast. I've established that she can't be bothered, but I do love her anyway. So we've been together for 30 plus years and she has the best work ethic of any human being I've ever met in my life.

And, you know, she was a makeup artist, then started a makeup company, then a jewelry company is killing it right now. I think I'm also a super hard worker. So they inherited double whammy work ethic. Yeah. But I was all over them about scholastics. All over them.

And you're from the arts. And I said out loud, I said, they are going to get enough artsy fartsy shit just by being in my world that what they're going to get is they're going to go to a school with uniforms where they call the teacher Mr.

And they're not carrying their skateboards in the hallways. It's not happening. Because I know other people in our world who go the other way. That's like the Montessori. And there was one very fancy school that we looked at. And I'll never forget, the teachers were wearing shorts. And the kids held up their hand and said, Bill, question number. And I was like, out. We're out. My kids are not having that. They're not being raised around this. Being in my circus, big top world, they're going to get enough of that.

Plenty. Plenty. So I went the other way. That's the way to go. I mean, I can't argue with the results. It's like they don't need to learn the music man as their single raison d'etre at school. Right.

Plenty of sets, plenty of studios, plenty of, you know. Finger painting. Yeah. Plenty. We're good. Like then it's done and whatever. And by the way, one of them, the one who was the most, who did the best in school, Stanford with straight A's, came out and got into the arts. From a healthy place. Yeah, because it's like, you know, I think if the arts are in you or they're not, you know, and you can only fight genetics.

so much and i thought he was going to be a scientist and that's what got him in stanford i thought great i'm gonna have a kid that's gonna help cure cancer and instead i got another kid who wears makeup for a living and writes what are you gonna do hey what are you gonna do what you do you can't fight you can't fight genetics at least it came from a good organic place yes it did um

I, again, I said it at the top. I'm going to say it again. I want to be in documentary now when the right thing comes up. So you have to let me know. I would love that. Fred is another one that I could talk to for hours. We didn't even get into Saturday Night Live enough, I don't think. I think we need to have him back. There's definitely a list of people that I'm putting together that we need to have back because we didn't even...

you know, get into the stuff we're supposed to talk about. But this is not the show where you go for what you're supposed to talk about. You want that, you can listen to anybody else. And now it is time to check the lowdown line. Hello, you've reached literally in our lowdown line where you can get the lowdown on all things about me, Rob Lowe. 323-570-4551. So have at it. Here's the beep.

Mr. Lowe, my name is Brian from St. Paul, Minnesota. Big fan of your movies, huge fan of Mr. Traeger, and a huge fan of 9-1-1. So when I heard you were going to be in your own version in the 9-1-1 averse...

I was very excited. My question is related to the 911 show. I'm curious how many of the calls in the 911 office and the calls that the fire crew go out to work on, how many of those are based in real life or is the writing crew and you guys, all you guys that are on the show, do you all kind of,

pull that out of the air, make that stuff up, write stuff that's interesting, how much of it is made up and how much of it is based on real life. Thanks so much. Have a great day. Can't wait to hear the next step. Thanks. Hey, Brian. I'm glad you're loving Lone Star. We have a blast doing it. Yeah, almost all of the calls and the rescues are based in reality.

Um, the writers spend a lot of time, um, culling over news reports and they're always obviously looking for something that's odd or different or things like that, but everything's based in reality. Everything's based in something that's happened. And then of course it's the writer's job to add a layer on top of it that makes it even more entertaining or even more bizarre. Um, but yeah, they, that's the job. Number one, my son writes on that staff. So, uh, they're always looking for something crazy. Um, anyway, thanks and keep watching.

Thanks to Fred. He was great as always. Thanks to you for listening. And we'll see you next week on Literally.

You've been listening to Literally with Rob Lowe, produced and engineered by me, Rob Schulte. Our coordinating producer is Lisa Berm. The podcast is executive produced by Rob Lowe for Low Profile. Jeff Ross, Adam Sachs, and Joanna Solitaroff at Team Coco. And Colin Anderson at Stitcher. Our researcher is Alyssa Grahl. Our talent bookers are Paula Davis, Gina Batista, and Britt Kahn.

And music is by Devin Bryant. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next week on Literally with Rob Lowe. This has been a Team Coco production in association with Stitcher.

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All set for your flight? Yep. I've got everything I need. Eye mask, neck pillow, T-Mobile, headphones. Wait, T-Mobile? You bet. Free in-flight Wi-Fi. 15% off all Hilton brands. I never go anywhere without T-Mobile. Same goes for my water bottle, chewing gum, nail clippers. Okay, I'm going to leave you to it. Find out how you can experience travel better at T-Mobile.com slash travel. ♪

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