- I feel like we all have a... Like we're very business...
- It's important.
- [Kelly] Melanie Griffith, like working girl right now.
I like it.
- It's almost "Big Business", it's almost...
- [Kelly] "Big Business", oh, my God, I love it, yes.
I love that one too.
- I mean, you're nothing without a power blazer.
(audience and Kelly laugh)
I'm just nothing.
- I feel empty. - Yes.
- How did y'all meet?
Like when was the first time y'all met?
- So Kelly, Jessica was performing at a,
a comedy theater in New York,
called the Upright Citizens Brigade,
which was an improv theater and...
- Underneath, a Gristedes Supermarket.
(women and audience chuckle)
- It's very glamorous. - Super classy.
- Very glamorous. (Kelly laughs)
- And one of my best friends, Casey Wilson,
we were performing a show there
and Jessica was already kind of, an established vet.
- And by that, I mean, I was cleaning the toilets.
(Kelly and audience laugh)
So that I could get my classes for free.
(Kelly laughs)
And these ladies rolled in, did none of that.
(audience chuckles)
- [Kelly] They didn't have to work for their...
- Got an 8:00 PM slot.
And I'm like, "Who are these..."
(beeping)
(audience and Kelly laugh)
- [June] I'm so sorry, it's hard...
- Who are these... (beeping)
- It's hard to be this talented,
people just want to lift you up.
- [Kelly] They just lift you up, like as you come in.
- So, we did skip a few steps.
And, and some of the women in theater
had feelings about that. - Yeah.
- But Casey and I saw Jessica do a show
and I was like, "I've never seen someone
so funny, so beautiful".
We were obsessed with her and we locked eyes with her.
And I was like, "She will be our friend".
- Yeah.
- [June] Casey and I were living together,
we knew Jessica was going to come out to drinks with us.
We were worried about what we were wearing,
we met her at a bar in the East Village and then...
- You wore your power blazer.
- [June] Of course, I mean I had too.
- [Jessica] Of course.
- And then Casey, one of the first questions
out of Casey's mouth to Jessica,
which I was so mad at her about.
She goes, "So, what are you doing with your pubes?"
(audience and Kelly laugh)
- Oh, my God. - And I said, "Excuse me?"
And I was so angry at her.
And I said, we were walking home in the East Village
and I said, "You blew it, you blew it
with Jessica St. Clair".
- That was when she had me.
(audience laughs)
- [Kelly] That was when...
- That was when she had me because...
- [Kelly] I've found my people.
(audience laughs) - I found my people.
- Oh, my God.
- So, so that's how we met and then, through the years,
you know, Jessica and I have auditioned for shows together
and been up for a lot of the same roles.
- If she doesn't get it, I do and vice versa.
One time she had to drop out
and they wanted to protect my feelings.
They were like, "Do you want this prize?"
Of course, I'm free. (audience chuckles)
And so, I rolled in and they were like,
"All the clothes are your size".
I'm like, "Oh, I know.
Because my best friend was supposed to do this role".
(Kelly laughs)
And they were like, "Oh, God, she knows"
- Okay, wait, I want to know about "The Deep Dive".
Do you cover important, life-changing topics like this?
- Yes, like our bikini lines, absolutely.
(audience and Kelly chuckle)
But the podcast is really,
(June chuckles)
is really about how we are surviving adult womanhood.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- Motherhood, our friendships, aging parents, cancer.
All of the things that life has dealt us.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- And how so many of our girlfriends are doing it
with joy, with laughter. (audience applauds)
You know, our girls' night...
- [Kelly] You have to laugh.
- And how we couldn't do without each other.
(audience applauds)
We couldn't survive. - No.
- If you took away our best friends, we would not,
we would have failure to thrive.
- Yeah, it would just be an empty...
- [Kelly] I'm with you.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
(audience applauds)
- [Kelly] You can never have too many friends,
so let's bring out another pair of besties.
One, you can see now in the latest season of "Woke" on Hulu
and the other, you can see in "Grand Crew" on NBC.
Together, they also have a podcast.
It's called "Best Friends" and that's appropriate.
(audience and Kelly chuckle)
There's no hiding that.
Give it up for Nicole Byer and Sasheer Zamata.
(audience applauds) (upbeat music)
(audience applauds)
- [Sasheer] Nice to see you, thank you.
- [Nicole] It's hard to walk in these shoes, oh, boy.
- At this point, Nicole, I feel like you're a co-host.
I feel like you've been here a few times.
- [Nicole] I have, thank you for having me back.
- Yes, I know and just had Sasheer on.
- Yes. - Yes.
- And we're literally talking about like...
- I didn't leave.
- I know, I was like... - Just stayed here.
- [Kelly] It's a nice dressing room.
(Kelly chuckles)
So, like them, y'all met in improv as well.
You were telling me right, last time?
- Yes, yeah.
Also at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater.
- [Kelly] Oh, my God, I didn't know it was the same one.
(audience applauds)
I didn't put that together and remember, wow.
(audience applauds)
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- She was like really cool.
She was wearing this like, turquoise sweater
and a Goldenrod shirt.
And she had... (audience and Nicole laugh)
And she had a fro and she was like, so funny.
And I was like, "I love her"
(audience laughs) - Same.
- And I want to be her friend.
So then, I like made it a point to make her my friend
and I won.
- Forced friendships. - Yes.
- We've talked about this. - Yeah.
- So, so your podcast is called "Best Friends".
Was that just, you were like,
"Yep, that's the name". (Kelly chuckles)
Like, you were just..
- Yeah, we really didn't think about it too hard.
(audience and Kelly laugh)
- [Kelly] You were like, "This is what we are".
- This is what we are,
this is what we're going to talk about.
And we talk about friendships on the show.
We talk about our friendship, we catch up
and then, we also answer people's friendship questions.
And I didn't know the plethora of questions
that could be about about friendship.
- Friendship, yeah.
- Because it is a relationship
and I think there's so many things,
talking about romantic relationships or families,
but not a ton about friendship.
And so, there's so many people asking how to make friends,
how to keep them, how to deepen your friendships.
And it's, it's been cool,
I feel like it's helped our friendship too,
because we get to analyze it more.
- [Kelly] Yeah, and that's a real thing,
I've actually, it was so funny.
I don't see who we're talking to,
but my sister and I were talking to somebody
and they were like,
"I'm having a hard time, like finding friends".
And, and she was asking us
and my sister and I were like, "What?"
We'd literally just, we just, we had just gone to Target
and ran into like two or three women
that we had full on conversations with.
That like, and I was like,
I think it's just hard if you're an introvert,
like we're extroverts.
So like, I think if you're an introvert,
it is a hard thing to kind of, like...
Have y'all always been like extroverts, like?
- Yes. - Oh, yeah.
- Unfortunately, yes. (audience chuckles)
- [Kelly] I love, wait, can we just pause
at the idiotic question?
I just asked women in improv, like, yeah.
(women chuckle)
- [Sasheer] I'm an introvert.
- You are? - I am.
- See, it's not a dumb question.
- It's not a dumb question.
(audience laughs)
- Yeah, there are no dumb questions,
I found out in fourth grade. (women chuckle)
So, that's, so that's, wait, you're an introvert?
- I am, so it is helpful
to have a best friend who's an extrovert,
because she pulls me out of my shell a lot.
- [Kelly] I would never have guessed that about you.
- I'll be like, "Come over here and get in a waterfall".
(audience and Kelly laugh)
- [Sasheer] Like, literally.
- Unfortunately for Jessica and I, you know,
we don't like to go out at the same time,
because we feel like it's too much for the world.
(audience and Kelly laugh)
- Vibrational energy might be too high and we're too much.
- So, was there a moment that y'all knew like,
you know, it was your ride or die person?
- Yeah, we, we got dinner pretty early.
(Sasheer laughs)
In our, in our friendship.
And Nicole ordered a salad, I can't...
- Okay, it's in my defense, it's like...
- [Kelly] I love that you're defending it.
(audience and Kelly laugh)
- [Sasheer] I haven't even said the thing yet.
- [Nicole] Okay, but I know what you're going to say.
- [Kelly] You're defending the salad choice.
- Okay, it was, it was a Caesar salad,
but deconstructed, meaning I had to assemble it.
And if I wanted to assemble something,
I could have stayed home.
(audience and Kelly laugh)
It was, just... (audience applauds)
- [Kelly] You had to assemble it?
- Yeah, they brought you the romaine
and then the, the chicken was over here,
then the croutons are over here.
- [Kelly] What?
- And then I said, "Can I have bacon?"
And then they brought the wrong bacon.
- They brought the wrong bacon.
- They brought bits and I didn't want bits.
(Nicole laughs) - But then, and this is like,
like, third time was not the charm.
So she, they had bits,
and then she wanted a different version,
but they brought like a slab.
And then she...
- It was like, it was like, a steak of bacon.
(audience laughs)
It was so thick and I said, "This is not the right one".
And I threw it against the wall.
- Yeah. (audience laughs)
She threw it... - Oh, my God.
- [Sasheer] On the wall and it just like,
stuck there for a minute and like, slid down.
And we both sat across each other, silent.
And I was like, "I'm not going to say anything right now,
I'm going to wait for her to say something".
And then, eventually she was like,
"That was too much, right?"
And I was like, "Yes". (audience and Kelly laughs)
Yes, it was. (audience laughs)
- Yes, you're crazy.
(audience and Kelly laugh)
- I was like, "At least she got there by herself".
- [Kelly] You know why?
Here's the thing, you didn't really want the salad.
That's the anger, that's where it started, salads.
- [Nicole] Oh, no.
- I don't, yeah, I don't go out salad for salads.
- [Nicole] I pay too much for therapy. (Kelly laughs)
That was, that is exactly why I was so angry.
(Kelly laughs)
It wasn't the bacon that I wanted.
(Kelly laughs)
- [Kelly] Oh, my God, way to...
- But they closed, so I got the last ha-ha.
(audience laughs)
- [Sasheer] Everyone hated their salads.
- They made you make, make their food.
(Kelly chuckles)
Wait, so what was your ride or die moment?
- Oh, gosh.
You know, I, this is a little bit of a tear-jerker moment,
but I had breast cancer about six years ago now.
And this one summoned me in the middle of treatment
to the Four Seasons, where she was using as her Starbucks.
(audience chuckles) - I wasn't welcomed there.
- We didn't have any money, she would take a table
and just order sparkling water and answer emails.
So, she said, "Meet me at the Four Seasons".
And I showed up, and you know...
- I love this.
- [Jessica] I said, "Listen", I go, "June".
And I don't know why I felt like June
was the authority on my health,
when I had some very good doctors.
(audience laughs)
But I said, "June, like, do you think I'm gonna make it?"
And she goes, just like regally,
she probably was in a blazer.
She goes, "Oh I have no, no question you're gonna make it.
What I'm interested in is your mental health.
So, I'm going to"...
And I feel like she took out a Rolodex,
I know that wasn't true.
But she was like,
"I'm gonna send a multitude of healers to you".
And I said, "What?"
Cut two, ding dong, like, I'm going to lay hands on you.
My name's Ethan.
Like, I need to sage your house, like I'm, I do witchcraft.
I was like, "Wait, what?"
And that's what she did for me.
And, and it was, to know that, I don't know what it is,
when you ask your best friend,
"Do you think I'm gonna be okay?"
And they say, yes and you believe them.
It really did give me the courage
to get through the rest of it
and know I'm going to be okay. (audience applauds)
And I am. (audience applauds)
- [Kelly] Absolutely.
- I mean, look. - She is, better than ever.
(audience applauds) Better than ever.
- Okay, better than ever. - And listen...
When you send over 20 healers, like,
they're not all going to be great.
- [Jessica] They weren't all great.
(Kelly laughs) - Some are going to be weird.
Yes, just the numbers aren't going to always work out.
- The numbers are against you, but someone will work out.