-Our next guest is an Emmy Award-winning writer
who you know from her work on "Saturday Night Live"
and the movie "Wine Country."
Her show "Bless the Harts" airs on Sunday nights on Fox.
Let's take a look. -There she is!
The Paula Abdula of Greenpoint.
-And the newest member
of the Carolina Panther cheerleading squad.
How'd the audition go?
-You guys, I'm sure I didn't get it.
Some of those girls have danced on cruise ships.
-Hush, Jenny, you're getting the hell out of Greenpoint.
You'll spend a year or two as a Panthers girl,
then go the J.Lo route.
Seduce a music producer, make a mint for all of us,
then star in an epic flop
with Ben Affleck and come out even stronger.
-And once you make the team, I'm coming with
because you're going to need an entourage,
you know, like that HBO show --
"Arliss."
-Please welcome back to the show our very good friend
Emily Spivey.
How you doing, Spives? -Hi! I'm doing so good, Seth.
It's so good to see you, oh, my God.
-It is so good to see you as well.
We started on the same day at "SNL" in 2001.
And I will -- You know, if you don't like watching
two people reminisce, you know, flip over to somewhere else
because we had great years together.
But I'm wondering if you, watching the show this year,
if you wish that you'd been
writing there during this election cycle or dreading it?
-Ooh, I have mixed feelings. I mean, how do you feel?
I felt relieved that I could just watch it.
Because as you know, we did -- you made T-shirts, Seth.
It was called the Gauntlet.
We did 8 ep-- wait, or was it 10 episodes of 8 weeks, right?
-Yeah, I think it was 10 episodes in 8 weeks
because we were doing "The Weekend Updates" Thursdays.
-And I, of course, was weirdly pregnant.
It's not we're weird to be pregnant
but it felt weird to be pregnant during this time,
and I had morning sickness
and was just sitting there going, "Ooh, whew, whew."
But at the same time it was amazing
because I remember sitting with Paula and Tina
in that weird, little, tiny office on nine,
watching Tina rehearse doing Sarah Palin.
So it was like, you know, you're part of history.
But still, ooh! No, no.
-Yeah. I mean, the fact that they did six Saturdays in a row,
I am not jealous of at all.
But I really do think they did an incredible job.
-And you were a hero, Seth.
You really -- I mean, listen to me.
You deserve -- Emmys should be raining down on you
for the work you did on that. -Oh, please stop.
-I mean, come on.
-We talk a lot about Second Chance Theater
with my old cohorts of the show. -Yes.
-What are some of your worst,
most delicious bombs under the bleachers with Lorne?
-Oh, my God.
There's almost too many to count.
-What was Chicken McNugs? -Well, Chicken McNugs was --
Okay, it was -- Matt Dillon was the host.
And he was sort of a hot shot boyfriend to Rachel Dratch,
who was sort of playing like a little --
you know, a girl with lots of cats
and scented candles who couldn't get a boyfriend.
So he broke up with her in a miserable way.
So then she just hauls it to McDonald's
and buys 500,000 chicken McNuggets,
all sauces, and it became a musical, alright?
I've never seen Lorne so angry.
[ Laughter ]
He said -- it was just -- it's so -- you know,
it was one of those things where he was so upset.
And by the way, I was upset too.
I don't -- I don't blame Lorne.
But he did throw -- he threw the headsets on the floor.
Again, I don't blame him.
And then I was like, "Okay, I'm out."
I walked to the elevators.
First I walked up to Maya's office,
got my backpack and my coat, went down to the street,
held up my little hand, was about to get a cab.
And then I got a call. "Lorne wants to see you."
So I went back up, and he apologized.
But still, I felt terrible.
The whole thing was a disaster.
But -- I don't know.
That is -- that was the worst day. It's a really sad story.
Happy birthday, Lorne, by the way.
I hope you had a good birthday. [ Laughter ]
-It should be noted.
I mean, it is -- it is intensely stressful
to be underneath the bleachers with Lorne.
-Oh, my God. -You mentioned the headset.
He is wearing a headset
that is plugged directly into the monitor.
-Yes. -So that he can get --
he can just like mainline the sketch into his ears.
-Yes, so he's hearing it and I'm kind of not hearing it.
Yeah, and so -- and then David McWilson was another sketch
where Rachel Dratch played a little boy,
and Lorne, it was -- she played a child actor,
and it was real quiet.
And Lorne turned to me in the middle of it,
and he was like, "This is almost Brechtian"
in a withering way, and I was like,
"I don't really even know what that means,
but I know it's not good."
I mean, I know Brecht. But anyway.
So there was just a lot of -- Ooh, so many --
so many hot farts under that bleachers,
'cause the nerves, it was terrible.
-I should note, lest anybody should doubt,
that you also had monster hits in your time on the show.
-Oh, Seth, you're so sweet. -You and Maya were friends
at The Groundlings.
You wrote Donatella Versace. -Oh, God.
-I mentioned to you I ran into her recently.
And I only sort of --
I had no awareness of her until you did this sketch.
And she was very complimentary.
She enjoyed it. -She did.
She had a very good sense of humor.
You know, as --
I think Europeans have better sense of humors
about themselves, you know?
Like, she thought it was very funny and adored Maya.
She gave us both very expensive watches.
Which, one, I still have but I can't wear it
because it's bananas-looking.
[ Laughter ]
By the way, Hugh Grant.
I mean, can you stand it?
He is so cute.
-You -- One thing that I know you've used some of your writing
for and some of the rejected sketches,
and I've talked to Amy Poehler about this, Tina Fey about this.
There is a text chain of women who worked on the show
that I was lucky enough to cross over with.
And you guys did a Zoom talent show with your children
that is already legendary.
-Is it? I wish it was.
Yeah. I -- my son, Rowe, won that talent show.
He did a very confusing sketch that I had written
for Steve Martin.
And, Seth, it was such a Spivey special.
I don't mean to talk about myself in third person.
But it was called -- it was, "Are you looking
for a rocking good time
with stick-to-your-ribs grub and entertainment?
Well, need to get yourself down to Rocking R's
and Captain T's smoking ribs and stuffing blues and such."
So the idea was just this ridiculous restaurant
where you poked, you know --
you ate mashed potatoes out of an old boot,
or you poked a donkey in the eye.
Like, it was just stupid.
And Rowe went on and read all these crazy lines
to a group of amazing,
I mean -- how did I even get in this group?
Andrea Martin, Tina Fey, Paula Pell, Jon Hamm.
And he was amazing and he won the talent show,
according to all the Tanglets,
which is what we call the Tang kids, the Tanglets.
-Now, it should be noted the Tang is...?
-It is a text chain that I have with Paula Pell, Tina Fey,
Ana Gasteyer, Rachel Dratch, Maya Rudolph, and me.
Who am I leaving out? Amy Poehler.
-It's a pretty good group of people.
-It's the funnest.
I don't know what I would -- the funnest.
I don't know would what I would do without it.
I would not get through this, like, turd hoagie
that is 2020 without the Tang. -The funnest.
There you are being Brechtian again.
-Oh, so Brechtian.
He was so withering when he said that.
I was like, "Can I kill myself?"
-I remember you and Amy at the read-through table
were close enough that you could pass notes.
-Yes. -I was right next to Dratch.
Dratch and I were note sharers.
-Yes. -It was a great gift
because those were the most stressful times of the week.
-Oh, my God, horrible.
-Were your note passing days with Poehler wonderful?
-Oh, my God, they were so w-- well, you know --
like, constantly --
Also, Seth, next time I'm on, or maybe at my funeral
when you're speaking at my funeral,
I'll read what you -- 'cause we used to pass notes too.
But my favorite note that Poehler ever passed me was,
I think, you know, "Jostie" --
Colin Jost used to come in looking like
he'd run through sprinklers all the way to 30 Rock.
And his hair was soak--
you know, that beautiful head of hair, soaking wet.
-Yeah.
-I'm like, "Jostie, what the hell are you doing anyway?"
So he came in sopping wet.
It was like a Jost wet T-shirt contest
'cause he just had on a white shirt.
You could see his nips and his chest hair.
And then me and Poehler were like, "Oh."
And then Poehler passed me a note that said,
"I like Jostie in the arm area."
[ Laughter ]
-I don't know. I feel like somebody should read that
at Jost's funeral. [ Laughter ]
-Listen, maybe we'll be buried together.
You know what, Seth, is Jost -- listen, Seth, is Jost okay?
'Cause I'm worried. -Why are you worried?
-Because like -- Can he find a girlfriend?
How is his career going? -Oh. Oh!
I don't know if you've heard. He's doing excellent.
-Right. [ Laughter ]
But tell me what's going on.
Oh, please, Jost, are you okay, baby?
-I think he's doing just fine. And I also -- you know,
even in that clip, we heard some of our friends --
obviously in "Bless the Harts."
That was Kristen. That was Maya.
And I know you have some great guest voices
coming up this year as well. -Oh, my God, we have so many.
We have Holly Hunter.
We have Mary Steenburgen, who is my heart.
We have Jon Hamm.
Jon Hamm's Jon Hamm,
which is one of my favorite Seth sketches.
We have Sal Vulcano from "Impractical Jokers."
-Yeah, the Jokers.
-I'm obsessed with "Impractical Jokers."
Obsessed. Who else do we have?
Natasha Lyonne and Fred Armisen.
-That's great. -Yeah.
-Well, Spivey, needless to say,
it is always wonderful seeing you.
You're the best.
-So are you, Sethly. -I love you.
-I love you too, babe.
Oh, my God, Seth, I love you.
And I love this show.
Will you put this on the show?
You got me through 2020. -You're too kind.
-Seriously, your "Closer Looks" and everything else,
it's like the voice of reason.
I love you so much.
-I'll see you on the other side, Spive.
-Alright.
-"Bless the Harts" airs Sundays on Fox.