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Hi, Rob. Hello. How's it going? How you been? I've been okay. How have you been? So much has gone on since you and I were having our crazy scenes together back in the Parks and Rec days. I mean, that feels like a hundred years ago, doesn't it? I've stopped saying, like, in light of...
Everything. I'm okay. Like, now it's just become I'm okay in the new normal, which is totally insane. I know. Now, this is real. Listen, this show is nothing if not real. Welcome to Literally with me, Rob Lowe. There's a reason we call it Literally.
And it's because it was one of the things my character on Parks and Rec said literally all the time. My guest today was literally on Parks and Rec with me. And that would be the really funny, really smart. I know I feel like I say that about a lot of people, but that doesn't mean it isn't true. She's a writer, a creator, great actor, really, really funny, a total original Jenny Slate.
Or as you Parks and Rec people will know her, John Ralphio's little sister, Mona Lisa. By the way, maybe one of the greatest characters of all time. Get ready for a fun talk.
Wow, that's the biggest water. Look at my big bottle of water I drink out of. I can't believe it. That is like the biggest. What is it? Just water in there. And this is what's great about a podcast is the listeners will have no idea how sexy this big bottle of water is. But it's it's a it's like a gallon, I think. Uh huh. And it's look, it says like, good morning. And then like, you've got it. And then keep
going and no excuses and a little bit more. And then at the end it says, well done. That's the one I drink it. But that's when I'm finishing at night. What is it? What's that weird thing where there's the microphones and people talk into them and it's the sounds are really weird. What is this thing called? What's it called? Do you know what that's called? Like, are you talking about ASMR? ASMR. Okay. Here's my ASMR with my bottle. Hang on. Let's see if I have a career in ASMR. Hang on.
And they always have that disgusting like – Like mouth. You can hear like their disgusting tongues on their mouth and their lip smacks. Disgusting. Hang on. I'm going to do it anyway. Okay. I'm Rob Lowe for Water. And I love water. I love drinking.
Is that what people are into? I don't know. I mean, there's that. First of all, there's definitely going to be a more of a niche group that will be into that, that you did that. But I think.
I don't actually know what ASMR really is, but. What does it mean? Okay, I have one of the, if anybody knows anything about audio, it's the great Devin who eavesdrops and fucks this show up front, left, and center anytime he gets a chance. Devin, what is ASMR? What does it mean? It means autonomous sensory meridian response. Ooh.
Also known as a brain massage. Wow. Meridians. I mean, I know about the like, I mean, and when I say I know about them, I don't know anything. But, you know, when you get acupuncture, isn't it about your meridians? Yeah. You're like energetic meridians. Anything with meridians. But how does...
Zoe Kravitz talking into one of those microphones about beer doing anything about my meridians. Can you explain that to me? Have you heard her commercial where she's like – I know. Yeah.
I don't know what it is, but my skin jumps off my body. Yeah, I mean, I have a theory that Zoe Kravitz doing anything is just like really like you like it, you know, like a person likes it. Like I like it. Yes, you do. Like I haven't ever seen her do something that I'm like, that doesn't really affect me. You know, like every time she does anything, I'm just like, that's really good. Yeah.
I'm down with it. I just don't like the microphone. I just don't like the clicking of the teeth. I can't stand a dry mouth noise in the microphone. And it really bums me out when it's like there's an interview that I'm really interested in and someone has that noise where you can hear their mouth sticking to themselves. First of all, because it reminds me of when I'm really anxious and I have dry mouth anxiety.
Yes. Which is weird because right now my body is reacting by filling my mouth with saliva to like protect me from that inevitability. But also, I like, yeah, it's always like adult. I feel like it's always adults on like NPR and they have like a dry mouth. It's very NPR-y, isn't it? Yeah. Maybe NPR invented this whole thing. It's always, I was taught, I saw this interview with Bruce Springsteen where he was talking about
about songs that were recorded in the 70s and everything was so covered in blankets and padded that there's no reverb or nothing is live. And he says the quiet feels like a velvet and it makes his skin crawl. And I kind of know what it is. There's such a quality to sound that I'm very susceptible to, which is odd coming from a guy who's deaf in one ear. Are you deaf in one ear? Yeah.
Yeah. Hence, look, I only have one earbud in. I had no idea. I get screwed royally out of all that stuff. Like, I only need one of them. Like, they should sell AirPods individually. Yes. Yeah. I mean. But it's been so much to overcome in my life. Yeah. You seem okay. You seem okay. Yeah. I'm getting through it. The only bummer is, you know, I don't get to hear Sgt. Pepper's.
Or, you know, Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. Right. With headphones on and trip. Right. Yeah. I mean, I guess you could still trip, but it just wouldn't be, those songs wouldn't be worth it. No, I trip, I trip half as well. Right. Let's face it.
I remember the first time I met you. Here's what's great. When I have guests, certain guests on the podcast, there are guests that I don't know. Not so many, but every once in a while. Yeah. And then guests that I've known for so long, I don't remember when I first met them. But I remember meeting you for the first time.
And I always think it's significant and fun to remember the first time you laid eyes on somebody. And I remember we were – I don't think we'd properly been introduced, which happens a lot when you're on a show and you come in and you're like – you just breeze into the set and there's new actors who are showing up that day and you literally meet them during rehearsal. And we were – it was – Aziz was running – right? Yeah. Aziz was running his clothes shop. Yeah. Isn't that your first –
Right. And you were so fucking your, your character. I mean, both you and John Ralphio, I think are the two characters on parks and recreation that, and that's saying something that people love more, more than, than, I mean, Mona Lisa goes down in, in history, I think. Yeah. She's really exceptional. And I, I mean, I remember that day because, um, I, um,
I mean, for me to not have been introduced to you, but have like been such a big fan and to have watched you my entire life. And it's funny that you bring this up right off because I was just thinking about, um,
about this this morning and that like for my whole life um I've always been like I don't I don't I'm too nervous to meet the famous people that I enjoy um I have always felt like I don't need to I just need to watch their work and um and I remember on that day being like this is totally crazy and thinking like I don't know being on SNL should have prepared me for being around people that you know you see um on TV or in movies or in the zeitgeist or whatever and like
It should prepare you, but it doesn't. And I remember being so shy that day and feeling responsible for myself as if you were going to think that I was my character and wanting to say like, I'm not bad. I'm not like, I'm not like Mona Lisa or whatever, as if you don't go to work at your job every day, which I'm just visiting by the way. And I remember being really, really shy and feeling the things that I bet a lot of people feel when they like,
when they meet someone that they've just loved watching, which is just like, don't bother them. Don't ask any questions. And then I had to double back and be like, Jenny, you're just at work. You deserve to be here. And it was like this whole internal dialogue. And meanwhile, I'm saying hard pass to Jerry and just feeling so mean. Oh, you're so hard pass. Might have been the first time I'd heard the phrase hard pass. I'd never heard it before. Yeah.
Yeah. I remember getting that script and being like, whoa, what a burn. What an intense burn. Intense, intense burn. Yeah. Now you, I remember, I remember you were, you were so like just crush, just a crusher, just coming in and crushing. But with that group, you'd have to be, I mean, cause that group would eat you alive. When you look back at
The Parks and Rec people, from the writing staff to the actors on it, I mean, good Lord, it's the 1927 New York Yankees. It's Murderer's Row, right? It really, I mean, without truly understanding the sports reference, I can say that I
They were a very good baseball team. That's what I figured. The 1970, the 1927 Yankees were notoriously the best team ever made. They say. Yeah. I mean, you could say like the, you know, Michael Jordan and the Bulls in the 90s. Bulls. Yes. I would understand that more. Okay. Well, then let me ask you this. Yeah. Who's, who's, then who is Dennis Rodman in Parks and Rec? Ooh. If that's the analogy. No. I mean, I don't know that there's a Rodman.
Yeah. Right. I mean, Rodman's a really, he's a, he really shines bright in his own way, but he's also really problematic. And that was the other thing about Parks and Rec, at least for me was that I was like, this place is a utopia. Like everyone's so nice to each other and it just works. And the comedy is like, so it's like, so a plus. And, um,
I think that's what you like. Like there's, there's not a lot of similarity between me and an athlete, but I think that professional comedians are really competitive. And when you know, like really competitive, you know, like this is the best show. This is the show with the best jokes and they're not like cheesy or dorky or schlocky. Like this is cutting edge comedy. That's going to inform the way comedy kind of,
is going to look for many years. Like kind of like when Will, when Will Ferrell went on to SNL, he, he just like changed everything for quite a while. Like everyone wanted to be like him, a whole school of, like a whole like imitation of comedy sprung from just trying to be like him. And I think Parks and Rec was the first of its, of its kind and that it was like so sweet. But the comedy was like, punch you in your face funny. Yeah.
Yeah, that's the thing. It was always really good-natured. Yeah. Just unbelievably. And as you know, that's Mike Schur. And it all sort of springs from his just genial ability and his aversion to mean humor. But I got to say, I can't get over the analogy of the Parks and Rec people as the Michael Jordan Bulls because it's making me feel very much like I'm the Bill Cartwright of the Michael Jordan Bulls. Ooh!
Bill Cartwright. Thank you. That's what I'm saying. That's thank you. Thank you. Yes. See, you went right to it.
I mean, we all know that Amy Poehler is Michael Jordan. We know it. Yeah. She is. Yeah. She's a blonde Michael Jordan. And I'm just the guy in the corner with the big elbows throwing the ball around. That's me. Bill Cartwright. You know who also doesn't apply? It doesn't apply. It was just these people are good at sports reference, but –
Now I forget the name of the small man that everyone was so mad at who, you know what I mean. Jerry, was that his name? Not on Parks and Rec. Yes. The guy who was responsible for all the trains. On the Bulls? Yeah. Oh yeah, Jerry Reinsdorf. Yeah. He's actually Jerry. He's actually, they're both Jerrys. Yeah. And it actually like hurts my heart, those moments where they show how much everybody hates that little man named Jerry and that he's like-
He just, he sort of, he like come, he comes to me in my mind, like he's a golem of what he has done. Like he has been like reduced and reformed by his like, you know, greedy. His behind the scenes, his behind the scenes machinations. Yeah. He's a bad little man, but that's just my judgment. He's the Jerry. Well, they certainly made him look like that in that documentary. I mean, good Lord. He clearly didn't have final cut. No, he didn't.
My favorite thing about that documentary is just Michael Jordan with the big, gnarly, long cigars in his, in his, I was going to say, I was going to say wardrobe, in his wardrobe, in his uniform, in the locker room. It's the best. Yeah. It's, first of all, his outfits, like when he goes to France, he goes to Paris, like his like gigantic suits that are in like sort of muted jewel tones. He always has a mock turtleneck. The whole,
The whole thing is really good. And then in the interviews themselves, what I'm fascinated by is how like he has a he has like a 17 ounce tumbler filled with like some sort of very expensive scotch or something. And it looks like maple syrup and it just like gets drained down through the interviews. And he's just like reclining and and truly is a person who has been better at something than most people have ever been at anything ever.
And he's just like telling us about it now. And influence, you know, people, you know, for generations to come. It's kind of like Polar. Polar's got that. I can see Polar reclining with a tumbler, just influencing people while she reclines with a tumbler.
Yeah. I kind of like that. I think it's good. I think it's really, really good. Ben Schwartz. Yeah. Did you know Ben before you guys met? I did. I mean, I knew him before because we were both on the TV show House of Lies together, which is like really one of my weirdest performances, I would say. I was so surprised that I... I don't know if you've ever felt that this way, but I remember getting...
It was a time in my career where it's like, just get me an audition. I need to have a job, you know, like I'll have a job. And I remember like, please let me have a job. And the description of the character, I was like,
I'm never going to get this part, you know, and then I did get the part. But I really remember thinking I should I don't know why they gave me this part, which is not how I felt about Mona Lisa. But but I met Ben on that show and we played he played like, you know, they were like power brokers or so they were like business people.
I it's so sad that I can't even describe the show that I was on or what it was about, but it was like about business. And I played the white, which makes it either the best show ever or the worst show ever. I find that if you can, if you can't explain a show, it's likely really, really great or just awful. Right. That's true. And I think it was very good. And Ben was really good on it, but he, he played like a, a funny guy, like a kind of snarky guy, but not John Ralphio. But anyway, between scenes, um,
Like we had never met before and we did. It's a weird thing to say, but we had like an immediate synergy and and would make each other laugh so hard. And and he is such a fun person to be on set with. Like and the other thing is that he's really funny. But what makes it special is that he encourages you to be funny also.
And we would just like goof off. And so then when we got to be Mona Lisa and John Ralphio together, it was like a nuclear combo. Well, that's why I brought it up because I didn't know you and I'd probably done maybe one or two scenes with John Ralphio, but I'd seen him on the show. Yeah. Maybe I hadn't done a scene with him and I just knew his character from the show. You two together felt like you had...
were actual brother and sister, like that you were a comedy duo. I thought maybe you guys were an actual comedy team. It would be so nice. Before the show. Yeah. I mean, he's got Middleditch now. He doesn't need me. Are those days happen? Remember there were like comedy teams. Nobody does that anymore, do they? Well, weirdly, Ben is in a comedy team with Thomas Middleditch, but they do. He's also great. He is also wonderful. I started my comedy career in a duo.
Really? Yeah. With my best friend from college, Gabe Liedman. And yeah, we were in a duo together. And mostly it was because like we were 22. We weren't like UCB people. We were just like kind of random people in New York. And I think we really leaned on each other. Like I was, you know, I was like a 22 year old woman. He was like,
my, my best friend who was a 22 year old gay guy. And that's what our act was about kind of, but our act was kind of about me pretending that I, or it was like a fictional, but it was like our stick, um,
was that I was in love with him and told everyone he was my boyfriend. And he was like, absolutely not. That was like the whole thing, which now I think about like, and then we, and that was kind of a crutch in a way. And then we grew out of it, but we were a comedy duo for like strictly comedy duo for maybe four or five years until we've just both kind of felt confident. And then we, we did start our own standup careers by ourselves, but yeah.
Comedy duos are like old fashioned and fun. Yeah, it feels very vaudevillian. Yeah, it felt like that to me, actually, which is a good feeling to have when you're like kind of at the very, very start of what might be living the dream. Like if you if you grew up like me and you like really, really want to be like,
a comedian or a comedy actor, um, it feels good to see yourself like, or at least be able to fashion yourself in your own mind, in the position that you imagine other people have been in before. Like, you're like, I, I think I'm getting close to the area, you know, like I'm doing the movements you're supposed to do. And, um, yeah, it felt really exciting. And, um, yeah,
There's no room for, I don't think there's not like a lot of room for the large amount of shyness that I have and had starting my career. So it was really good to have Gabe. That's what people don't understand about what we do. And I'm not a professional comedian like you are really, but people go, I could never do what you do because I'm too shy. I'm like, bro. Yeah. Most of us are really shy. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, we are. Right? I mean, it seems like, well, how could anybody who can play Mona Lisa be shy? Right.
That's what it seems like. But I get it, right? Yeah, I think, I mean, it's that. And I wonder if it's just that shyness is always seen as an impediment or that it shows up one way in a certain set of behaviors. But I've just always had it. And some of it is like it's like a blend of self-doubt or social anxiety. But
But there's something nice about shyness. Like, it's actually very gentle. And it's there because it doesn't, like, assume that you should have a place. You know, that's, like, the feeling is, like, ugh. I just... I don't want to, like, be too much in here if I'm not supposed to be. And I think also that's why I can be confused with not being confident. But I've always felt both shy and confident at once. I've never been able to really describe why. But, you know, the...
I think the reason why I can play a character like Mona Lisa is because like, I'm really not like her at all. And so I just like feel so, it just doesn't feel, um, I would be more threatened playing it. I would be very threatened playing a character who seemed like me. Hold that thought. We'll be right back.
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qualifying plan required wi-fi were available on select u.s airlines deposit and hilton honors membership required for 15 discount terms and conditions apply reese's peanut butter cups are the greatest but let me play devil's advocate here let's see so no that's a good thing that's definitely not a problem reese's you did it you stumped this charming devil you were a huge gilda fan correct yeah who wasn't by the way yeah
I mean, my first manager who I was with to the day he died was Gilda's manager. Oh, really? And Bernie Brillstein. And he wrote two books and Gilda's through both of them. And I'm assuming you've read Bunny Bunny by Alan Zweibel about Gilda. Yeah. Because if you haven't, it's – if anybody out there is a Gilda fan, the book Bunny Bunny –
Which I guess is a thing that Gilda on the 1st of April every year would have to say to the first person she met, bunny, bunny, for whatever reason. And if you didn't, you were going to have a bad year.
So Bunny Bunny, very cute. Yeah, she was, I mean, I grew up watching that too, but you do, I think you're in that lineage. I feel like that, I think she would be very happy with you in carrying that sort of torch for her. Was your whole family into watching SNL together in that era? We, you know, we weren't allowed to really watch very much TV growing up. And the
The only way those houses. Yeah. Oh, yes. Majorly one of those houses and a real like there's no soda in this house. Like, you know, like it was the 80s and my mom was like very frightened about cholesterol. And we were eating like really bad granola bars with like carob chips in them, like not even chocolate chips. It was not good.
It was not happening. I know that house. I've been to that house. That's what that is. We had the TV with the knobs, like...
We didn't have cable and all that stuff. But so my dad liked comedy. My older sister did. My mom, who's a lovely person, like truly does not seem to have a need for comedy in any way. And not even really music either. It's like kind of odd. But my dad, when I was like really little, said to me that I was like this woman on TV.
And he managed to get some tapes of SNL with Gilda on them and showed them to me. And he was like, you're like this. You're like this. And now when I think about that, I'm like, what an unbelievable stroke of luck that he did that. Because it wasn't just that I stumbled on it.
It was that like, you know, my parent who I loved and trusted was like, there's a like, I know you think you're getting in trouble a lot and you can't listen and you can't sit still or whatever. But it's not a comment on your character. And actually, there's like a grown up who's like you.
who has your energy. A successful, a successful, legendary, beloved grownup. Yeah. And then I was like obsessed and I was obsessed with SNL and like any way I could get to watch it. Like I just, uh, I just was obsessed with it for my entire life. And I'd never, I know everybody thinks this, but like there, there wasn't anyone like Gilda Radner because she was, there was so much kindness and vulnerability in her performances and,
And just like so much crazy, crazy energy. And she just wasn't scared. Or if she was, it was irrelevant.
Or incorporated, I guess. She was amazing. And then, so then fast forward and take me to your first Saturday Night Live audition. I'm obsessed with people's Saturday Night Live auditions. I could do a podcast just on those. Yeah. I mean, and probably you should, because I bet there's not one boring story, although maybe mine will be boring right now, but I hate to jinx myself. But I just...
I don't, I don't even know how in, how to describe facing something that is your biggest wish that like, and that it's real. Like you can be like, oh, I, you know, I, I don't know, like make wishes for the world. Like I wish we could all live in peace or whatever, but to have a specific career goal that is like so tied to your dream version of your own identity is like
Crazy stimulating, you know, and and I had put on a one woman show at UCB.
Um, which was not, I wasn't like a UCB person. I was a standup randomly, but they allowed me to do my show there. And I performed it like twice and somebody, I, I kind of think it was John Mulaney, but I'm not sure, told the casting person from SNL and she came and saw the second show that I ever did of my one woman show. And the next week I had an audition at SNL.
And like, you know, if you go through the groundlings or you go through UCB or second city or whatever, like a lot of that is kind of conditioning you to develop these characters and you're hoping you're going to like land on, you know, SNL or maybe at the time, like,
Mad TV or something like something like that. Yep. But I had none of that. I just had no training in that at all. And I had done improv in college, but, um, that was like really it. And so I had a week to put together, I think five characters, um,
And I just genuinely had nothing. And I could not in my mind make sense of the enormity of this huge chance and the fact that somehow after an entire life of specifically wanting this, I was unprepared. Yeah.
Um, but it all, and the other thing is that at the time my therapist was at the stop, um, one right after Rockefeller center. And I used to like go to therapy. And when we would pass through Rockefeller center on the, like, it was like the B or D train. I think I forget. Um, I would always be like, at the time I was very into the secret. I don't know if you remember that positivity, um,
Yeah, of course. Yeah. Very into it. I was like, one day I'll get off here and I'll go to work here. And it was like, I don't know. Why not? Why not hope? But so I remember being like, holy fuck, I'm going to get off there. I'm not, I mean, cause I'm not going to take a taxi from Brooklyn and like, I'm going to do this. And I got the characters together. Like I didn't ask anyone's opinion. I just got them together. And, um,
I remember doing an impression of Lady Gaga in like a robot voice. And it was like, I mean, this is when Lady Gaga was new. Like, and it was just like, what a weirdo, you know, like who we love. But, um, and I also had a character named Pamela Dogstein, who was a dog who does like schlocky standup and her catchphrase is throw me a bone. Yeah.
And it was like, it was like, it was terrible on purpose. And I had a dog suit with like a, you know, you could see my face, but I wore like a dog head with like ears and stuff. And, um, and it's amazing. It was like a girlfriend divine called me up the other day. She said, Oh my God, I've just been to the vet. I said, uh, uh, uh,
Spay me the details. Okay. Throw me a bone. That's what it was. That's like what I came in with. Growners. But on purpose. I can't remember. Oh, and I did an impression of Annette Bening. Oh, wait. This sounds amazing. I can't even believe it. Do you know what else is that? I'm terrible at impressions.
In every single way, except for that I wanted this job. I'm so ill-suited for it. But, like, I did an impression of Annette Bening giving a tour at the National Holocaust Museum. Oh, delicious. Truly something that did not end up on television for many, many reasons. Yeah.
And also, you know, they were like... My managers at the time, they were like... And I didn't have an agent. They were like, you're... They don't laugh at you. So don't go in there expecting to get any response because it's like... It's like a tough love environment and they're not going to laugh. And you're not going to... You're going to go there. They're going to make you wait for hours. It's like this whole thing. And I just remember going and being like, well...
Okay. I mean, I guess I can't like fight the system. I don't know what it is currently at the time. I mean, at the time I was like a stoner from Brooklyn and I was like, this is random. Like this is the most random thing. I feel like I, I made a wish and it came through and it was like, so it was so huge that I felt like if I thought about it at all, I would pass out. I would like short out and I got to 30 rock and I was just like,
telling myself like to remember to breathe in and out. And I remember at one point saying to myself, everybody here poops in a toilet. Everybody here has like poop and pee and it comes out of their body and they've had their feelings hurt and they're like hungry for their meals and you're just not different. And it doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is that you like go and at least do this one thing.
And, you know, some years... And then somebody told you, Lorne Michaels does not poop or pee. That's right. And he has a golden toilet, but it's just a sculpture, you know? That's right. And it just, nothing has ever come out. But yeah, so then anyway, I don't know. So then all I remember is... You know, the thing about my body, Jenny, is that I have no bodily functions. That's a really good Lorne. No need for a toilet. No need for a toilet. Yeah. Yeah.
No need. I think, Jenny, as you get older, you find that it's best to have a toilet that's a sculpture. Okay, so you're there. You never ran any of the characters by anybody. You never were like, look, I have this weird thing. It's Annette Bening. I don't know if people... It's Annette Bening, but it's a... Because that would be the first one I would run by somebody. But it's also the one that I'm most like, I'm down to see. I mean, I think I...
I must have done them for my boyfriend at the time. You know, there's no way I didn't like practice them for anyone. And I most likely told them to my manager. But like, I don't know. I just remember this major sense of like being alone. Yeah.
Like of just being really, really alone and, um, and just kind of being like, well, your main feelings about what this is just like, don't apply. It just doesn't matter. Obviously you're super scared. Obviously you're super excited. Like, um,
It did feel like I was like in a weird tunnel of fear and excitement. I was like, just go. And some years they I think they do the auditions like at a comedy club or whatever. But that the year that I auditioned, they did them on the stage at SNL. Oh, God. Yeah. I mean, I can't. I can't. But it's good because it's like, I don't know, like.
Sometimes in order to imagine yourself at the place where like your wildest dreams kind of converge, you might have to imagine yourself being a different person. Like you're like, well, I couldn't, it's not going to be me though. You know, when I do this, but it was just like the realness of all of it being like, I am on earth. I am in a skyscraper in New York city. I am. I'm just like, I'm just like standing in my shoes on a stage was like,
weirdly calming and a really kind of cheesy, but real feeling that's like, well, I made it this far and no one can ever tell me I didn't like stand on the stage here.
But then I did all the impressions and I like had a plastic bag, you know, like a like a like a plastic. When I think about it now, I'm like, what? But I brought my stuff and I did my stuff, my little things, my my impressions and my characters. And and they did laugh. And then I remember being like, oh, God, they're laughing now.
I think that's good. You know, like, I think that's good. And, and then it, the, that the experience I thought would be terrifying. And it was, it was like very, very positive. It was really positive.
Yeah. Wow. Yeah. I didn't expect the story to end like that. I thought it would be. And the silence was deafening and I got back on the train and I went to the next stop, which is my therapist. And I wept for a week. And I'm still in the office. And she has not solved it yet. Yeah, no. And it was like, wow, this is good. And then I heard some feedback that was like, that was really good. They thought it was good. And I was like,
This is this seems it seems like some other moments I've had in my life when I'm like, could it be? But all of those moments have been about love. Like they've all been. And this is also when like a major I realized like a major tie in between comedy and my love for performance and how I see like romantic things that they just feel like huge gifts that you're just like.
whoa, you're telling me that this thing that I love in myself, that's essential to me, that you like it and you like find it to be useful and attractive. Like that makes me think that magic is real or just that like the world is fundamentally good or I have no idea. But then I had to wait all summer, um, to hear if I would be on the show. And then they made me audition again. And at that point I like really had nothing. Yeah.
And so I remember going in there and the only character I remember was like, she was like a fortune. I think she was a fortune teller who was some sort of GPS. I'm really unsure, really unsure. And then she,
I walked in that day and I saw Seth Meyers while I was walking in. And it's like, if you've been seeing Seth Meyers on TV for like 10 years or whatever, and you see him in person, it's just like, it's very, very hard to be normal. And he was like, and I had, of course, my stupid plastic bag of like wigs. And he was like, can't wait to see, can't wait to see what's in there. And I was like, yes!
there as well. And it was like really dorky and stupid. And, um, and I remember the person who auditioned before me had like, you're only supposed to do five characters. So that's what I did. And he had like 10, you know, 45 second characters. And I remember being like, what? Like, it's a kiss up, you know, and being like, oh, this is so fucked, man. And then doing it and they laughed again. And, um,
I was like, okay. They laughed again. Like, what will this be? What the hell is going to happen to me? And then it all, like, really accelerated really, really quickly. And it was a real hold onto your butts situation. Ugh. Yeah. I feel like I just lived it vicariously. I'm so envious. I mean, I had...
For me, it was auditioning for The Outsiders for Francis Ford Coppola. Yeah. And like,
And it was, so I'm relating. So I'm like, I'm just so there with you with that story because it was the same. It was like, this will change my life. Yeah, yeah. This is all, I've wanted to do this since I was eight years old. I'm here. This is, and I don't know where it's going to lead. And it's totally competitive. And I'm frightened to death. And I'm so excited. Yeah.
And, you know, what, what it's mad. It is like you said, it's magic. It really, really, really is magic. But the, the other thing I love about what you said is that like the, the things in us that are different and weird and like, like that, like when you realize that there's maybe value in that is, is such a great, it's such a great moment. And then of course, the minute you, you realize that you forget it again, then you got to pay a shrink again to tell you, no, no, no, that,
Yeah. And the other thing is like, you can get that validation that it's like, okay, they saw it. Like Lauren saw it and they saw it and you were there and whether or not you, you're like, you know, stay on that show for 10 years or you're like me and you just have one.
it will always be at least for me that the question is like a refrain. Like, do they see it? Do they see it? Do the people see it? And that like now that I'm more into my career and more into my adulthood, I have like really learned to try to not depend on an answer to that question other than from myself. Like it's here. Who you are is here. It's here. But at that time it,
I think I was 27 when I got cast on SNL. I might have been 26, I forget. But I just needed validation from everywhere, from all sides. And if you've never been on TV before, really, it's not weird to want that. And it's certainly not weird to feel like a giant...
Like to feel like a bird that flew into a house a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. You're on your path and go, go, go. Yeah. And we'll be right back after this.
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Who have been your, you're not going to answer this, honestly. You can't. Here's what I was going to ask you. And I'm not going to ask you because you can't answer. You know what? I might answer it honestly. You don't know. I have like a weird compulsion to do it, but not that I should tempt that. So please go ahead. Okay. Well then, so who's your favorite like comedy cohort?
Was it Seth Meyers? Was it me? He said leadingly on Parks and Recreation. Is it, you know, is it Ben? Like who, who are the people that you're like, oh yeah, we, we, we, we can make funny stuff together. There are a lot of good ones. I do think that Ben Schwartz is like the easiest person.
fit like, like that. But I also think that about Nick Kroll, you know, like the, the work that we did together on his show, um, on Kroll show is like, it's like the comedy I'm proud of, um, because it is really, truly original. And, and so, Oh, I guess a lot of times for that type of work, like scene work where you're in character, like, yeah, I think Kroll and I really had like a great, um,
understanding of how to be in a duo as Liz, as like our characters on his show or the different ones. But, but I don't know. And then there, there are other people that they're just so strong that it will always be easy to work with them. And like, Will Forte is one of those people, I think, you know,
Those people would be in the 1927 Yankees, the baseball team that's very famous. And it was a very, very good baseball team. Right. New York, New York, the Big Apple. The Big Apple. And they would be batting first, second, third, and fourth. Right. On the Big Apple. When I hosted the show, you know, when I hosted the show, I did it three times, Jenny. How many times? Three times. Okay. Not many people. I did it three times. And it was the same for me. It was like...
It was like one of the highlights and remains of my life just because of how much the show meant to me and being 12 and 13 and learning everything I knew about comedy, watching it and like, you know, all that stuff. And then there I am. And they're like, no, you're Don Pardo's screaming my name and the band is playing and you just can't believe your life. You just can't believe it. Yeah. Will and I and I'd been and Lauren and I were friendly and I and still are. And I was with him when he went and scouted Will at Groundlings. Wow. Yeah.
And I remember being like, that guy's funny. And then fast forward to a few years later and I'm doing the show and Will and I, this reminds me of your Auschwitz, which I'm obsessed with. I'm goading you into doing it and so far you haven't taken the bait. I can't do it because it's not a good impression. That's, I understand. I get that. When you have an impression for a minute and then it's gone, you just can't do it. Yeah, I can't get it back. But
My version of it was Will and I had this thing where we played oncologists. Again, Auschwitz, not funny. No. Oncology, not funny. No. But we thought we would be oncologists-
Really good ones. But we had really bad bedside manners. And we would be giving people the news that they had terminal cancer while eating with our mouths full. Yeah. That was...
That was the whole predicate of the sketchy bag. Oh, it's chilly. I'm so sorry. It's very hot. Oh, you have stage four. I'm so sorry. Yeah. Oh, spicy. Stage four domestic cat. Not surprisingly, for a lot of reasons, that never made it. It didn't make it on. Yeah. But I mean, that is the stuff that is like now. Well, and I also think now it's kind of, at least for me, it's like, it's so much harder to,
to do comedy about stuff that feels like a little dark, dark or irreverent just because, um, because maybe the line has been completely obliterated between satire and real life, um, in our like current world. Um, but I felt that way for a while. Like I felt that way for, I would say, I don't know, like I felt very acutely for like the last four years, um, which is just like,
I don't know, like there would be times when when Gabe and I were in a duo, for example, we would use language that was like slurs against us as Jewish people or slurs against gay people like or slurs against women as a way to take that back, which is like a pretty, you know, it's like a thing that people do is they use hurtful language and they they turn it into something else. They take back the power. But over the last few years, I've thought like, oh, man, I'm
I don't I just like don't want to hear it at all. I like don't want to hear it. I don't want to see it. I just want to see new stuff. That's funny. And I sort of have an allergy to cynicism anyway. But but I like I really miss I in a way like I really miss those scenes.
Times when, at least to me, the world didn't feel so tempted to tip into darkness that you had to be like extra, extra careful, which is also actually the reason why I don't know if you saw the movie Jojo Rabbit, which came out last year. But I was like so impressed with it because I was like, you know.
It's a scary world. Like, we don't want to show footage of Nazis. We don't want to see swastikas and we don't want to have any characters that are Nazis that are like human or sympathetic in any ways, because at this point, we just don't. It seems like culture doesn't trust part of culture or whatever to not just be neo-Nazis because they see Nazis.
Because like they'll feel encouraged by it. And I was like watching that movie and I was like, this movie trusts us with really scary imagery and it trusts us with complexity. And it brought it like it was like so rejuvenating to me. I was like, this is what comedy used to be. You know, like I wonder, like, when did you and Will think of that idea? Like how many years ago was it? Oh, God, it was it was in the it was in the early. I'm going to say it was.
Like 2002. Yeah. Yeah.
I mean, it's such a different time. I just really want something different. I really want to be able to try to make people happy. This has been great. You've been so much fun. I'm glad we did this. This might actually have been the first time we've ever said more than five things to each other because it's like we show up in a van, we say hi, and then we're under pressure to get out of Tom Haverford's clothing sales set. And we got to like...
Like actually have a conversation. It was awesome. Well, I really loved it. And I remember you as a, as a very kind person and a wonderful conversationalist. And I remembered there was a day that,
We were waiting for something and they had like a trailer for the cast to hang out in. And it was like you and Aziz and we were hanging out and we were like, we were watching local news or something and just like spent 30 minutes talking about somebody's sweater. But I, again, to tie it kind of back to our initial conversation, I remember being like, wow, Rob is so nice. Like, you know, it doesn't have to be.
have to be this nice, but he is. And it was like a very positive experience for me, a very nice day. And then when you just see your face now, it's like, oh, I remember. Rob is so nice. Right. He's like a chatty, he's like a fun chatter. He's going to chat. Oh, thank you. I like that. That was people...
Don't really realize that about on Parks and Rec. We all shared trailers together when we'd be on location. And it's really unusual. You don't, most shows don't do that. The actors are in their own little nooks and crannies and whatever are in parks. We would have the moho, as we called it. Yeah, the moho.
And we would all be in the moho and like somebody was in the bathroom. You had to knock on the door, get out of the bathroom. And every somebody be eating disgusting food and stinking up the place. Like it was like you wouldn't expect the 1927 Yankees, the baseball team to be seven baseball Yankees, the baseball Yankees, not the soccer Yankees, not the football Yankees.
Right. And not the Brooklyn Dodgers. I get it. You're from Brooklyn. That's why you don't like the Yankees. I get it. I get it. Enough already. Move on. Throw me a bone. Dog head. Throw me a bone. Throw me a bone. With the dog head. The best. I want that character to breathe new life. I want that character to live again. Me too. And you know what? The last thing I'll say is that there was one person
one show where John Mulaney and I wrote an update like an update piece for Pamela Dogstein and it made it to dress and she was like giving Seth some report or whatever and we were rehearsing it and she was kind of
been this oh she she did do a lot of like what's the deal what's the deal with this or that and um it was kind of Seinfeldian but not really but um but that kind of it sort of seemed like that and I was doing it and really having I thought a good time and then like
You know, at SNL, people just walk. They just walk in sometimes. They just walk right in. Like one time I saw Leonardo DiCaprio standing underneath the bleachers and I was like, like, I had no idea. I truly thought I was going to die. I was so excited. But anyway, I was doing my bit and Jerry Seinfeld walked in and I was like, oh, no. Oh, like I'm not making fun of Jerry Seinfeld. I don't want to do this. It's like you have to rehearse your thing right now. And I just remember being like.
phoning it in so hard and just being so embarrassed that I'm in a dog suit being like, what's the deal? And then seeing Jerry Seinfeld and it did not make it to air. It did not make it. And I was just like, this is...
in my nightmare, it's that Jerry, you know, goes to Lauren and is like, that really hurt my feelings. But I don't think that happened. Hey, Lauren, that dog suit thing, not cool. Hey. Not cool. That Jewish girl in the dog suit, that was rude. Okay? That wasn't good. Touch me getting called from my agent. She's like, Jen, you're not coming back. I'm like, I know,
It lives on in my dreams, though. It's so good. That is the deal. Oh, man. Well, thank you so much. This was great. Thanks for taking your time out to talk to me. You make me laugh. You're funny as hell and smart and great and so many good things. And thanks for being on it with us. Hey, thanks for having me and all of those nice compliments right back at you. And I hope that you stay well and safe out there. Thank you. See you soon. Cool. Okay.
Thank you, Jenny Slate. You lived up to my wildest expectations and they were wild. They were wild. And that was really fun. I love that. And she is just such a funny, chill person.
She's the best. And I hope you liked it as much as I did. I always love walking down memory lane of my years on Parks and Rec. It's always fun. Anyway, tune in next week. We have somebody very special coming your way. And by the way, don't forget to subscribe. Hit the subscribe button on this endeavor of mine if you haven't. So every Thursday when you wake up, you automatically have –
hijinks from me. All right. Thank you. See you soon. You have been listening to Literally with Rob Lowe, produced and engineered by me, Devin Tory Bryant.
Executive produced by Rob Lowe for Lowe Profile. Adam Sachs and Jeff Ross at Team Coco. And Colin Anderson and Chris Bannon at Stitcher. The supervising producer is Aaron Blairt. Talent producer, Jennifer Sampas. Please rate and review this show on Apple Podcasts. And remember to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. This has been a Team Coco production in association with Stitcher.
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