-One of my favorite things about the book is --
and your tenure now at "SNL" --
It has been so long, and I had a great time
writing with you over the years.
And I'm such a fan of your writing.
And you talk about a lot about of your favorite sketches.
You have created some real indelible characters.
Drunk Uncle, one of my all-time favorites.
And I should note you created two with Bobby Moynihan.
The other being Anthony Crispino, Second Hand News.
-Second Hand News, yeah.
-Did you come up with Drunk Uncle first
or did you see Bobby and think that he would be good
at being a drunk uncle?
He's obviously perfect at it.
-He's like a deep -- It's one of the best acting performances
you'll see on our show 'cause it's live.
And he's finding all these different registers so quickly
and all these different emotions.
I had come up with the concept of Second Hand News.
And I was like, "What about Second Hand News?"
And then he had the voice.
He just had the like, "Yeah, I don't know about that."
Like that kind of -- which is a pure performance thing
that gave it a whole other dimension.
With Drunk Uncle, he came to me and was like,
"Two words -- drunk uncle.
I don't know what it is. Is there something?"
And I was like, "I think there's something there."
And then figuring out, like, you know, what the hell it was.
But it was -- He was just like,
"I just thought that was a funny phrase."
And the weird thing is when you do that sketch, you know,
Bobby and I both have uncles.
So, of course, their first question is,
"Now, is this based on me in some way?
I know I kind of go for it on Thanksgiving.
But I can hold back most days."
And so the first question's kind of like, "Are we okay?"
-From your uncles. Yeah.
You also wrote Cecily Strong's "the girl you wish you hadn't
started a conversation with at a party."
I think I said it right.
It's maybe the longest character name in the history of "SNL."
-I think almost no one, even fans of the character,
know what the character's called.
I think Michael Che said that his mom calls it
"the girl who's always wrong."
[ Laughter ]
-That's not bad. -Something like that.
And I was like, "Yeah, that's pretty -- that's maybe better."
-That was one of the more -- I mean, I think people forget --
I think that was the first thing Cecily did on the show.
And it's one of the most, like, bravura performances
I've ever seen.
-I remember in -- I write about it in the book,
but I remember being with you afterwards.
Like, when you got offstage and you had just done it with her.
Like, been out there
and just seen the character for the first time.
And we had a moment afterwards
where we were both kind of in awe of her performance
'cause you just don't see someone who's brand new
at the show hit it like --
just knock it out of the ballpark
in that specific, very fine-tuned way.
And the confidence -- -Yeah.
-It was really special.
-I think there was a moment
where she glanced in her purse at a phone.
There was some sort of physical moment that I just thought,
"Who can also do this?"
-Yeah. Own a small physical movement in the middle of
this big character piece on your first --
one of your first shows at "SNL."
And the move -- Yeah, you're right.
I remember she looked and put the phone --
and just with perfect precision and ease.
-Yeah. It was like, oh, there --
She threw a perfect game her first time on the mound.
It was amazing. -Yes, it really is.
I think that's the right analogy.
Like, it was like throwing a perfect game your first game.
-It's such a fun book.
But that is one of my favorite things about it,
is over the years on this show,
and again, I don't think a ton of people know this.
You've done such a great job of identifying what's really funny
about cast members and writing to that voice.
And I think it's the most important thing
for a writer on that show.
And you're just so good at it, buddy.
-I mean, I learned a lot from you.
Like so many people who wrote at the show in the time
when you were head writer, you helped me tremendously.
And I learned about writing for people from you.
And you would write a scene
where basically every cast member had a part.
And it would be their funniest character
that they never got on the show in some other way,
like Fred's Mets character, where he just --
I remember one sketch you wrote that was about people
brainstorming themes for a prom.
And Fred looks like he's a 45-year-old man
with a mustache in a Mets' jacket
at a high school prom theme meeting who is just like,
"What about the Mets?
The Mets are pretty cool."
It was like a throw-away thing he had done in the office
and you made it a starring part in this sketch.
You were great at it.
-I think we both would admit to the fact
that we have been incredibly lucky in our careers
to be surrounded by performers that elevate every word
you would ever put on the page. -Yes.
And that is -- that's where you learn -- I certainly --
you learn your own limitations and then you see someone else
that can do these things that you cannot.
And you're, like, "Ooh, that's exciting to write for that --
write for that person's voice"
and get to do things that you can't do yourself.
-Well, buddy, obviously nobody knows what the future holds,
but I'm looking forward to hopefully the fall
and "SNL" and you at the desk.
And congrats on the book, and it's always the best to see you.
-Thank you. It is wonderful to see you.
I was trying to figure out some elaborate scam
when you had an attic door still
of who I could hire to be in there and jump out
halfway through and scare you.
[ Laughs ]
But it turns out it's hard to hire street performers
who will travel to remote places
during a quarantine to scare people.
-To violate pandemic rules for the purposes of a laugh?
-And then also hard to convince wives to let a stranger
hide in a crawl space for a day before a show.
-Oh, no, no. My wife loves all your ideas.
-[ Laughs ]
They love -- All of our wives love your ideas the most.
-[ Laughs ]
-Alright. I love you, buddy.
-I love you. It's great to see you.