-Welcome back to "Late Night." We're here with Vanessa Bayer.
So you went to QVC's studios to research.
-Yes, yes. -And the show sort of has
that on-camera personas, off-camera personas,
a little bit of how people interact with each other.
It does seem like a bit similar to "SNL."
-Yes, there's definitely a lot of similarities
because it's live TV and everything.
And in the show, my character, you know, shows up
to her first day of work, and she's so starstruck
by the other hosts that she's, like, been -- you know, like,
Molly Shannon's character and all the people
that she's been kind of watching from home.
And when I showed up at my first day at "SNL," I was like,
"What the hell?"
Like, it was just like seeing Andy Samberg and Abby Elliott
and, like, Kristen Wiig.
I was just, like, so starstruck.
And I had to act normal.
And it was so weird because people are like -- you know,
like, "Where are you staying?"
You know, and I was like, "Yeah, um, like, at a hotel."
And they're like, "Yeah, like, how's, you know --"
What do people say in conversation?
[ Laughter ]
-I think everybody's hearing this being like,
"I've had this exact conversation."
-But, you know, they'd be like, It's --
-It sounds like me, 'cause that is how I talked back then.
I'd be like, "Yeah, um, where are you staying?"
-That's me doing you.
-It was probably you were talking to me.
-Yeah, they would just be like, you know, and I'd just be
like, "Uh, yeah, I guess so."
[ Laughter ]
-Were you starstruck when you met the QVC people?
-Yes. Okay, so Jeremy Beiler, who I created the show with,
he was a wonderful writer at "SNL."
We went on this tour of QVC together.
And then they allowed us to meet these two hosts that I watched
when I was a kid that are still hosts there, Jane Treacy
and Mary Beth Roe. They're the best hosts.
It sounds like a few of you -- and I got to meet them.
And even after seven years on "SNL," where we would have
different celebrities -- -Huge celebrities.
-Huge celebrity hosts, musical guests.
I was, like, so starstruck by these two QVC hosts.
And they did not disappoint.
They told -- we talked to them for like an hour, and it went by
so quickly because they are so incredible at talking.
-Yeah. -And the other thing
that I always think about is, you know,
on QVC, they take -- and any home shopping network,
they take callers.
And, like, that's the one element that we didn't have
at "SNL," was we didn't have callers.
-Like mid-sketch callers? -Yeah.
People being like, "How do you think it's going?"
They would just be like, "Ugh, the cast isn't as good
as when I was growing up."
[ Laughter ]
-Also, in the show, there's someone in
your ear being like, "This isn't going well."
-Yeah, yeah. -It would be very bad if Lorne,
mid-sketch, could be like, "We're dying."
[ Laughter ]
Did you -- so, alright, one of the -- not to
give anything away, but you use an element in the show of sort
of using your cancer -- -Yes, yeah.
-To garner sympathy at a job. -Yes, totally.
-In real life, was this a thing?
-It's always been sort of a thing where, like, you know,
when I was younger, I would use it to, like, get to go to school
late, and the attendance woman would never question me.
Like, I kind of used it for all the perks because, you know,
like, I earned it. And so I feel like --
but, yeah, I remember once when I was at "SNL,"
I was flying with Lorne on, like, his jet to L.A.
or something, and he started asking me about when I was sick.
And I was like, "oh, my God."
I'm like -- this is, like, one area where he's,
like, genuinely interested.
Like I can -- I'm, like, at the height of my, like, power here,
like, talking about when I was sick.
And he was asking me questions.
And I was, like, really, like, you know, I'm kind of
the belle of the ball -- the plane.
And so I was telling him all about when I was sick.
And he was really interested.
And I was like, he probably thinks it's really cool.
Like, I made it through this thing
and I have this experience.
And then I sort of finished talking about it with him,
and there was, like, this silence.
So I just went, "Um, hey, Lorne, what's John Travolta like?"
[ Laughter ]
And immediately I went from being, like, so cool
to, like, such a little dummy.
[ Laughter ]
He was just like, "He's nice." And I was like, "Cool, cool."
And then a week later, I came back to work, and I saw
Kristen Wiig just randomly.
And I was like, oh -- she was like, "How was your break?"
And I was like, "It was good.
I was on a plane with Lorne and I asked him,
what's John Travolta like?"
I'm like, "Isn't that embarrassing?
I'm sure he doesn't even remember."
And she was like, "Oh, yeah, he told me."
[ Laughter ]
-Yeah, it was -- we were all on a text thing with him
talking about it.
[ Laughter ]
-He thinks you suck, yeah. -[ Laughs ]
-I do like -- in our final minute here, any things
from your "SNL" days that you felt deserved a chance to be on
the show that didn't make it?
-Well, you know, Seth, there was a sketch called "Boids."
-"Boids" -- B-O-I-D-S. -Yeah.
-Yeah. -That Taran and I wrote
for Will Ferrell where we work at, like, a zoo or a place
where -- where there's, like, a big bird display.
-Yeah. -And we play these guys
who go like, "Hey, you want to see the boids?"
[ Laughter ]
-You pointed like that was going better than --
[ Laughter ]
Oh, sorry. We have a caller.
We have a caller.
[ Laughter ]
-I'm trying to, like, will it into being funny.
And so -- which it is. And so we were like, yeah.
And then Will Ferrell comes out and it's like
he raps about birds. -Boids.
And he goes like -- and I don't know the words,
but it's something like
[Humming] ♪ Is an amazing kind of boid ♪
♪ Boid, boid, boid, boids ♪
♪ And that's a lot of boids ♪
-Yeah. -And, like, obviously
it was a great sketch. -Yeah.
-And I do think, Seth -- and, like, I don't remember this
or care, but I do remember once you were going to kind of
rewrite it with us.
-I do remember. I said --
I came out of that on a weird boid high.
And I remember saying to you guys,
"I think I would like to help you guys rework it."
-Yes, yes. And then we kind of never --
-I didn't do it, yeah. -Heard back from you on that.
[ Laughter ]
-I think what happened, and don't take this
the wrong way, because I actually cracked the knuckles
and sat down with "Boids" and took a look at it.
-Yeah, yeah, yeah. -And I think it's a little bit
like sometimes a doc is like, "We can't save it."
[ Laughter ]
But you would be willing to do "Boids"
if we could get the original gang back together?
-It would be my dream.
This show and doing "Boids" are like my two dreams.
-Talk about "Boids" real quick like a QVC host.
-Okay, so "Boids" is one of those sketches that has it all.
It has great music in it. It has great jokes.
It has great laughs. And it's got great actors.
And honestly, if you watch "Boids," then you're going to
go, "Wait a second. I love sketch comedy."
And you're going to go, "And I just adore it."
And don't we love it so much? Because we do so very much.
[ Laughter, cheers and applause ]
-Vanessa Bayer, everybody!
"I Love That For You" begins streaming April 29th
and premieres May 1st on Showtime.
We'll be right back with more "Late Night."