-Our next guest is a very funny actress and singer
who you know from her work on "Saturday Night Live"
and "The Goldbergs."
She stars in "American Auto,"
which airs Tuesday nights here on NBC.
Let's take a look. -There's the, uh,
official ribbon-cutting ceremony at the end of the day.
-God, these townies really love a chance
to celebrate, don't they?
-Well, this is the first factory to open there
since the recession.
It's a lot of new jobs.
They -- They want to express their gratitude.
-Well, it's nice.
The public never really liked me
when I was CEO of a drug company.
I don't know why. -Probably the opioid crisis.
-Maybe.
-Or the price gouging on prescription drugs.
-You know what? I was a girl boss.
That's very tough for some people.
-Please welcome back to the show
our very good friend Ana Gasteyer.
How are you, Ana?
-Hi, friend. How are you?
-I'm good.
I was lucky to see you right before the holidays.
We were both robust.
We were both... -We were.
-...feeling healthy, looking well.
-We were hale.
-And you also went through what I'm going through now.
You had a COVID issue at your home.
-Yes, we were felled by COVID.
We spent the holidays in a room, and we're on the other side.
And now I feel like Superman, because I'm super boosted.
-Super boosted.
You did get to go out --
You did some shows before you guys got hit.
You did some live shows on your "Sugar and Booze" tour, correct?
-That's exactly right.
I toured the COVID belt,
and then I literally finished
everything I was supposed to be doing on December 20th.
And I flew home, and I felt crappy.
Tested myself, and my son and I were both sick.
So we canceled Christmas,
and I'm really caught up on all shows relevant to 13-year-olds.
-That's wonderful.
Now, did you love being up and doing live shows again
before you were felled?
-Oh, yeah, it was fantastic. Of course, I haven't done --
These were shows that pushed from 2020.
So, no, it was incredible, actually,
to be out in the world.
You know, it was exciting.
I was in Kentucky for the tornadoes.
That was exciting. -Oh, my goodness.
-Yeah, it was terrifying and very sad and upsetting.
But I dressed in all my clothes and I laid in the bathtub.
So that was cool. -Alright.
You've had a very -- Since the last time I've seen you,
a lot has gone on.
And a lot has gone on since you first started working
on this show "American Auto."
This is about two years in the making, correct?
-This show was --
I was supposed to do this pilot the week of the shutdown --
the big original shutdown.
So, yeah, we ended up doing the --
I mean, you know, I went out to L.A., did my fittings.
They were supposed to do a table read.
That got canceled, and everybody ran home.
And I thought, "Oh, well, there goes my pilot."
And then we filmed the first season last July.
So July through, you know, fall.
So, yeah. So here we are.
So it was definitely like a long-fermented fruit,
if you will.
-So, as we can see from the clip,
you play the CEO of an auto company.
And we are living in a time
of great television shows about corporate culture,
and yet I know you and I have a very similar background
of not spending any time actually in corporate culture.
Do you enjoy pretending to know what you're talking about?
-Very much so. And I like to talk to people.
I mean, we've had overlords, I would argue.
We've had network --
-We have had our share of overlords.
-[ Laughs ]
But, yeah, no, I mean, I think you're right.
It is a moment, but there are not a lot of comedies
that are taking down corporate America.
So it is a very classic NBC half-hour workplace comedy,
but it is from the point of view
of these, you know, dodos making the decisions.
And I'm not saying all of corporate America
is full of dodos.
Especially our overlords are not dodos at all.
They're super smart. -So sharp.
I mean, yeah, smart as a whip, the people we're dealing with.
-No, no, no, they're super sharp.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, but, yeah, so --
but my character comes from big pharma.
She came in to run an automotive company,
in part because she's a woman.
They needed to diversify a little bit, I think.
And she doesn't know how to drive, which is problematic.
She's not big on cars.
But, you know, she's good at bossing people around, so --
-What was your first car?
-Datsun B210.
Try not to be too impressed.
Not unlike a beer can with wheels.
It had almost a go-kart quality.
[ Laughs ]
-I had one of those.
I had a Renault Le Car, which was just like a planter box.
I feel like that's what you should use it for, yeah.
-Yeah, I clipped a bus -- an actual bus --
and it was as though the Jolly Green Giant
had turned it on its side
and just stepped in the middle of it.
It's sort of a miracle that I survived.
That was my first car, and I learned --
My mom insisted that I learn to drive stick.
That was something -- But I grew up on Capitol Hill,
as you may recall, literally like on Capitol Hill,
like three blocks from the Capitol building,
and my mom taught me to drive a stick shift car
during rush hour on Capitol Hill.
It was absolutely terrifying.
So, I did my time, but I don't drive very much anymore.
-Well, then it's very fitting that you play a CEO
of an automobile company on a new sitcom.