Please welcome Chelsea Peretti.
[APPLAUSE, CHEERING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Welcome.
Hey, come here.
Hey.
Wow.
Thank you.
The people-- the people love you.
The people have spoken.
Wow.
You're very beloved. You're very beloved.
Yeah.
Does this chair vibrate?
Yeah, we--
Weird question-- I think I saw
an ad on Instagram for this.
RONNY CHIENG: Yeah, we try to keep our guests happy.
Thank you.
So the project's "First Time Female Director."
- Yes. - Film?
It's also--
It is, yeah.
You're also-- you're also a first-time female director.
This is going good.
Could I get the regular host? [LAUGHS]
RONNY CHIENG: Oh.
All right.
We said we wouldn't roast each other, and look at us.
Yeah, I know.
Look at us going at each other now.
"First Time Female Director," you had a real Larry David,
"Curb Your Enthusiasm" vibe, right?
Yeah, docu style, yeah.
Very handmade-- was that intentional?
Or was that a lack of budget?
[LAUGHS] I'm trying to spur him
to come after me because I'm a big fan of Ronny's.
I just want to say that. I really am.
No, I am a huge fan of yours too.
I am.
No, we-- we never met, but you were very
nice to me over the pandemic.
I DM'd you.
Over Instagram, and I was a huge fan of yours,
watching your comedy specials.
And I love your music album that you
released during the pandemic.
It was about coffee.
It was a coffee album.
Yeah, it was a coffee concept album-- one of those.
- Yeah. - So--
That you did during the pandemic.
It was a pandemic project.
Well, it was prepandemic, and then when the COVID happened,
I was like, why did I spend the last eight months of my life
making music about coffee?
What a waste. RONNY CHIENG: No.
No, no, it was a funny album. I loved it.
It's good music. - Thank you.
And you got a film right now.
And what's interesting to me, among many things, is that--
I mean, you're a standup comic.
Yeah.
RONNY CHIENG: So you're starting in these comedy
clubs and all that.
Right here in these city streets.
- Yeah. - Right here.
- You're on the streets. - Yeah.
Man, when you do comedy, you're in--
especially when you're starting out,
you're in a bar full of, like, drunk people--
- Yeah. - --if you're lucky.
Sometimes the bar is empty.
If you're lucky.
Usually, it's a bar full of drunk men exclusively.
RONNY CHIENG: Yeah.
And then you moved into directing a movie.
You know?
How did you get the that skill set?
It must be--
All it really took was decades.
So if you have decades to spare,
you too might be able to do that.
No, but I wrote for TV.
I wrote for "Parks and Rec."
And Amy produced this movie, so--
RONNY CHIENG: Sorry.
Sorry, yeah.
Don't just say Amy like--
Oh, Amy Poehler.
Yeah, Amy Poehler.
Yeah, I know you're on first name basis with her, but--
It would be weird if I always called her Amy Poehler.
Yeah, Amy Poehler brought on this.
And is that-- is she the one who kind of like
championed you to do this? - She is, yeah.
RONNY CHIENG: Right.
So I mean, how did this project come about?
Because it's very meta.
I don't want to like misdescribe this.
It's very meta, kind of--
It is.
You're a first-time director directing a play in the movie.
And then in real life, you're first-time female director
directing the movie.
So I mean, I was-- - That's pretty accurate.
Right.
Yeah, that was a good description.
But what was the inspiration?
The inspiration, well, I challenged myself
to write a fake excerpt of a play
at UCB Theater in Los Angeles, which
was a Southern rural drama.
And it was a fun night.
It was very silly.
We did a really pretentious Q&A afterwards.
And then I was like, could I make this into a movie?
And so that's kind of the origin story, if you will.
RONNY CHIENG: Right.
And that's how you started.
And you know, people who don't know-- you know,
making movies is very hard.
I mean, forget the making it, just trying to get it up
and going.
I tried to get Ronny.
I actually tried to get him for my movie,
and I was told he's offer only.
That-- that's when an actor thinks
they're too good to audition, so I was like,
whoa, whoa, this one hurts.
This one hurts.
Yeah, but-- but I am offer only.
You are. Yeah.
You are.
So why didn't you make an offer?
How did you get--
RONNY CHIENG: Why didn't you make an offer?
- Well-- - I was waiting.
I was waiting.
That's a good follow-up question.
Yeah.
Make the offer. I'm offer only.
Make the offer. - It's too late.
It's actually technically too late.
RONNY CHIENG: No, you can reshoot.
You can do reshoots. - Yeah.
You can reshoot.
What I want to offer you is the lead.
Yeah, well, yeah, I'll take the lead.
Yeah, we'll redo it.
This is good.
Yeah.
OK, but-- so it's--
and you "debut-ted" it last year.
I "debut-ted" it.
And I--
Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
Did I make a minor grammatical mistake
in one of my three languages?
I'm sorry.
When did you debut it?
Sorry, I'm a white feminist.
I don't really care about race.
OK, well, I'm a minority in America, so I don't know who--
I don't know who wins here if we keep going at it.
I think white people-- white men would know.
White men win.
If we keep fighting, white men are going to win,
so we gotta--
we got to get on board with this, yeah.
We got to get on board with this.
Let's get on board and promote the movie.
Yeah, what are we saying?
Watch it?
Yeah, when do you debut it?
Friday-- Friday, March 8.
RONNY CHIENG: Yeah, but you got into the festival.
Oh, we got into Tribeca. That was.
RONNY CHIENG: Yeah, which is hot.
It's hard to get into Tribeca.
[CHEERING]
You can't just walk into Tribeca.
It has to be a good movie.
No, you can't.
Yeah, this is a hot crowd, by the way.
This crowd is hot and--
Yeah.
[CHEERING]
They're hot, a little old, and--
Are they?
Yeah, a little bit, a little bit.
I appreciate it, but let's call it what-- you know,
and they've been waiting out in the New York rain,
so I really appreciate them waiting out.
No, that's a compliment.
Thanks for being so old and waiting out in the rain.
Yeah, and they love you. Yeah.
You're sweet. You're sweet with them.
You've got a tender rapport.
Yeah.
Yeah, and so Tribeca was great.
That's huge.
I know you're underselling it, but it's
hard to-- it's hard to get into the Tribeca Film Festival.
That's a huge achievement.
Yeah, I got a fake tan for it.
Yeah.
Very classy.
RONNY CHIENG: OK, and then now it's premiering on--
On Roku, March 8.
Yeah, so I'm excited, and I hope people enjoy it.
RONNY CHIENG: Yeah.
Yeah, that's awesome.
What was the most challenging thing you had on this project?
God, not not being able to get you in there.
I really was-- no--
RONNY CHIENG: Casting me was the biggest challenge?
Yeah.
I love how you you named it "First Time Female
Director" so, like, if anybody gives it a bad review,
is that like--
like, they're just sexist, right?
Yeah, yeah.
RONNY CHIENG: It's automatically sexist.
It's a good trap, right? RONNY CHIENG: Yeah.
That's what I'm always trying to set up
is some sort of infrastructure like that.
But it is weird.
Like, any title you think of, you
think of the snooty reviews, where they say,
like, something like-- you know,
they always use the title to slam the movie.
RONNY CHIENG: Yeah.
"First Time Female Director--"
RONNY CHIENG: Right, right. - --I don't know.
Maybe it's harder.
RONNY CHIENG: Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, yeah, well, there's no reason to slam the movie
because I watched it. It was great.
- Thank you. - Great job.
It's super funny. It's very original.
Thanks.
I'm just scanning your eyes to see
if you're telling the truth.
Yeah, I am. I am.
I really watched the movie. It was great.
It's a weird time because it's like-- everyone will be
like, oh, I loved the movie. I'm like this.
RONNY CHIENG: Yeah, you see, this is the com-- that's
how I know you're a comic.
Because comics can't take compliments.
- You cannot trust. - You can't take-- yeah.
You can't tell me a nice thing about myself.
I love you. I think you're--
Yeah, I don't believe that.
I don't believe that.
Well, you know what's funny is my dad loves you too.
And he was like-- we were at dinner, and he goes,
I love this comedian.
He's emotionless.
[LAUGHTER]
And the weirdest thing is--
I go, is it this guy?
And I pulled up a picture of you.
I'm like, do you mean rageful?
Because-- that was the joke.
But I guess I didn't hit.
No.
I appreciate your dad knowing me as emotionless
and not the Asian guy.
That's-- that's great.
- It's an upgrade. - Shoutout Mr. Peretti.
Thanks so much.
And yeah, well, Chelsea, thanks so much
for being on the show, man. I can't wait.
Thank you.
RONNY CHIENG: This thing is coming out Roku channel
March 8.
Please, take it-- give it a watch.
Chelsea Peretti, everybody.