0:05

Hey everyone, I'm Bruce Bosi. Thanks

0:08

for pulling up a chair today on Table

0:10

for Two. We're back in my hometown,

0:13

New York City, and I could not be more

0:15

excited for our lunch at the Carlisle

0:17

Hotel, a new location for the show,

0:19

but a classic city spot that's as

0:22

glamorous as they come.

0:23

Do you eat here a lot since you live

0:25

in the neighborhood?

0:26

I do. I hear a decent amount I hear this

0:28

morning.

0:29

We're having lunch this afternoon with someone who might

0:31

be one of the sharpest people I know. It

0:34

just so happens that he's also incredibly

0:36

funny. He's both the co anchor of Weekend

0:38

Update and the head writer for Saturday Night

0:41

Live. He's also married

0:43

to arguably the biggest

0:45

movie story in the world.

0:47

You always need fries.

0:49

Need needs an interesting word.

0:50

You need I need fries.

0:53

Are the absolute most addictive one from you.

0:57

That's right, we're having lunch with mister

0:59

Colin.

1:00

We're going to talk about growing up in Staten Island,

1:03

SNL and so much more so.

1:06

Pull up a chair, we grab a glass of rose

1:08

and enjoy, because today's lunch

1:11

is going to be a lot of fun.

1:13

Did you say a Caesar salad with lobster.

1:15

Yeah, whoa.

1:19

I'm Bruce Bosi and this is my podcast

1:22

Table for two. We're

1:32

sitting with an incredibly talented man, funny

1:34

man, smart man

1:38

person. I have the luxury of calling friend

1:40

mister Colin Jost.

1:41

Welcome.

1:42

Thank you, Bruce, thanks for having me. Like I

1:44

only can't to hear that introduction now I'm waving. I

1:47

just needed an ego list.

1:49

You know, your wife was the first

1:51

guest that's Table for two at Via

1:53

Krorota way back when, so this sort of makes

1:56

sense.

1:57

As long as they do better than her, I'm happy.

2:00

It's all about competition. She did

2:02

good. Oh no, they tell you they

2:05

damn it in the room, damn it.

2:07

I have a feeling though.

2:08

Yeah, we're gonna meet. I'm gonna be I'm gonna be friend

2:10

everyone in this restaurant by the end.

2:12

Yeah. Yeah. So what I

2:14

loved about with Scarlett and I bonded is

2:16

we're all New York kids.

2:18

Yeah, different burroughs. Yeah,

2:21

growing up in Staten Island, what

2:23

was that like?

2:23

I mean, you lived on a block with your whole family, So

2:26

family is very important to you.

2:28

And how did that mold you?

2:30

To the man you grew into.

2:32

Yeah, you know, and obviously you have similar with your family.

2:34

I mean it's and then when you when you have kids,

2:37

you realize the value of that on a whole

2:39

other level. You're like, oh my god, it's so nice

2:41

the idea that you could just let them

2:43

go out of the house and they would run to another house

2:46

that your family's and you know, like your grandparents

2:48

or your cousins are in. You know,

2:50

that's so valuable and I

2:53

kind of miss it now. I mean, I love growing

2:55

up in sun Island. I had a great I found

2:57

it very idyllic as a kid. You had

3:00

lots of sports, you know, facilities,

3:02

lots of parks. I was at a swimming

3:04

pool like that was in the Great Hills

3:06

area that I spent

3:09

every single day of the summer there from

3:11

I would get dropped off at eight am and I would leave at

3:13

nine pm.

3:14

Wow.

3:14

And I had a lot of independence and autonomy.

3:16

Like my parents would be there sometimes, you know, in and

3:19

out, but you know, you were with a swim coach,

3:21

or you were with other friends, or some parents

3:23

would rotate keeping an eye on you. But you had

3:25

a lot of room to operate and everything was there

3:27

basketball courts, raquetball court I think you kind of

3:30

ran around. And

3:32

now when I think about that, being in the city, it's

3:34

so hard to find that it's basically impossible,

3:36

and especially with space where

3:39

you could get into kind of adventures, so you could get

3:41

into trouble, but not really bad

3:43

trouble, you know what I mean, like wandering

3:45

the woods, but hopefully nothing weird.

3:47

Now, yeah, it's a good balance.

3:49

And stan Alan had that, and

3:52

you could walk around your neighborhood and you'd see

3:54

friends, and you'd see people you you know, parents

3:56

of friends you knew, and it felt like a that's why

3:59

my mom still lives there. My mom's been there her

4:01

whole life, Like we grew up next to my grandparents.

4:03

You just moved to the house next door, which is amazing,

4:05

amazing, insane. First of all, it's like a sitcom

4:08

setup. And also I keep thinking, now my

4:10

dad, because if you think it's like for my mom,

4:12

like, oh, how great for my dad, it's like, it's

4:14

so weird that your in law just like walks into your

4:16

house anytime of day. It's

4:19

a full everybody else right right right,

4:21

And but it's you know, it's

4:23

a great I think it's a great way to grow up and

4:26

and I loved it. And then there's a you know,

4:28

it's also it's definitely an insular

4:31

place. It's literally an island, right, and

4:33

a lot of people, you know, some people

4:35

commute into work, so they're all the I commuted into

4:37

high school, so I was naturally there all the time,

4:39

right, And then you just see other parts

4:42

of the city and you get kind of you

4:44

have an itch to go get into Manhattan

4:47

and kind of see other stuff.

4:48

The idea that you can sort

4:51

of walk out your door and have your

4:53

adventures and spend your summers there

4:55

and have your buddies, but also have like your

4:57

aunts and your uncles and your grandparents to like

4:59

how informs you as a person.

5:01

Well, part of it is like my fam

5:03

my mom's side is mostly Irish, you

5:05

know, it was there. A lot of them were in the fire department,

5:08

and I think there's a

5:11

the sense of humor that comes out of

5:13

that was really important because it was it's kind

5:15

of a dark you know, you kind of especially

5:17

in the fire department, like there's so much life and death with

5:20

it.

5:21

But the people who.

5:22

Work in the fire department are really warm and

5:24

really and I think have a great

5:26

sense of humor in general, you know, like I think, and I

5:28

want to joke around and love the community

5:30

and the camaraderie, right, And that's part of why they

5:33

love their jobs, even though they're obviously very dangerous.

5:35

And I think, and maybe that's the nature

5:37

of dealing with a job that's really dangerous, is that you kind

5:39

of have to joke around about it sometimes because otherwise

5:42

you go crazy, you know. So that's

5:44

definitely the community I was raised in of

5:46

people wanting to wanting to have

5:48

fun, and no one wanted to be serious or

5:51

anything.

5:51

So State Island sort of really became

5:53

its own Burrow offshoot. Not a

5:55

lot of people were going to Staten

5:57

Island, and yet to me when I would go, I'd

6:00

be like, this is like country, this is beautiful.

6:02

I mean, it was literally real country

6:05

until probably like the fifties or

6:07

you know, there were huge farms,

6:10

there were it's where people in Manhattan and Brooklyn

6:12

had summer homes, believe it or not.

6:14

Like there was a walk.

6:15

My grandpa was a lifeguard on the boardwalk, and

6:17

it was it was probably similar

6:20

to really nice areas in the Jersey Shore, yea.

6:22

And it had this thriving beach. There's still like beach

6:24

bungalows in certain areas. And I

6:26

mean, basically, I guess the water just got so bad

6:28

that it was it became a lot less appealing that

6:31

to go in the water. But it used to

6:33

be that and now it's a lot

6:35

more crowded. I mean,

6:37

that's the biggest complaint for as

6:39

far as and there's not the same

6:42

you know, the population is

6:44

now probably five to six hundred thousand,

6:47

and it was back then in the fifties it might have been

6:49

like fifty thousand or something

6:51

like. It might have been a ten times growth

6:53

with and it sounds the size of Manhattan

6:56

basically the land area. So it's not

6:58

so much it's like a third of the population, right,

7:00

but still pretty that's still a lot of people.

7:02

I mean, you love it so much that you bought

7:05

a ferry? I did you and

7:07

Pete Davidson bought a ferry.

7:08

That's how much I invested in.

7:10

What is there going to be a party on that?

7:13

You're gonna be You're gonna be invited, don't worry.

7:15

Yeah, Okay, I feel like that's out a lot. When I'm

7:17

with Colin that I remind

7:19

him like you do that, you own that. And

7:21

when are we gonna.

7:22

When is the party? Yeah, it's a great question.

7:25

It's definitely going to start with a party. That's

7:28

the one thing we know right. Everything in between

7:30

is what we're figuring out. I'm very excited about

7:33

the project. It's such a giant project that it's

7:35

going to take time, but there's there's

7:38

really good I think it's a great opportunity.

7:40

There's a lot of good ideas that are already behind

7:42

it.

7:42

So and I love the fact that you guys

7:44

made this choice, you both Staten Island guys,

7:46

to preserve this.

7:49

Part of history. It's like, you know, these things

7:51

go away, you think.

7:53

Yeah, it would have been sad if it was just scrapped.

7:55

Yeah, maybe it might have been more financially

7:58

viable to just use the stealing would

8:00

and sell it, you know. But no, it

8:02

was cool and it was the it was the actual boat

8:05

that the ferry that I took every morning to school.

8:17

What did your room look like? Did you have posters

8:19

in your room? Like? What college?

8:20

My room still looks exactly

8:23

the same as it did. My parents have

8:25

They just like maybe changed the bed

8:27

from a twin bed to because it's like, who's

8:30

going to ever go and see this twin creepy

8:32

twin bed.

8:32

That's all there.

8:33

But it was, and

8:35

it stick. It still is. But since I was

8:38

probably a baby, it was baby

8:40

blue wallpaper, I

8:42

mean not wallpaper painted painted baby

8:44

blue, which it was throughout my entire high school

8:47

college. When I came home, it

8:49

had animated

8:51

looking poster of a penguin

8:53

with sunglasses that said chillin' that

8:56

I that I won selling

8:58

magazine subscriptions that

9:00

went up. There was a photo of me, like

9:04

a caricature of me that was painted in Paris

9:06

when I went with a friend in high school.

9:09

And then it was just bookshelves

9:12

with all these books of Russian

9:15

history, economics, old

9:17

English literature, poems,

9:20

romantic poetry, Michael Crichton

9:22

novels, Wow, and and

9:24

a desk that I would work at in

9:26

the closet with.

9:27

Some clothes and that was it.

9:29

That was it. I know.

9:30

I didn't put up I never had a phase where

9:32

I put up posters of things I liked. I

9:35

never had a phase where I had like real

9:37

stuff, Like I didn't build things and put

9:39

them up, or do art or put it up, or just

9:42

didn't do anything in my room like, I just like, I'm

9:44

here to sleep. Then I go and I live my

9:46

life and go to a school and everything.

9:48

And I've never really thought about it.

9:49

It's it's I just needed to like picture

9:52

it.

9:52

Because I didn't make a space. I just whatever

9:54

was there. I just used for what I need. You know, I

9:57

would read, I would write, I would sleep, and then I would

9:59

leave.

9:59

And it still exist and it's just probably the same.

10:01

I mean, it's almost like about that, Yeah,

10:03

should.

10:04

You really because before one day someone

10:06

your mom's like, you know what we're changing

10:08

and maybe.

10:09

Blow torch it's right, would

10:12

it would be very very flammable. I'm sure. I

10:23

basically have never eaten lunch in like twenty

10:26

years.

10:26

Really, I never eat lunch.

10:28

I never I never go to it.

10:29

Like, never sit and have a lunch unless

10:31

it's a meeting or you know, something,

10:34

very which is pretty rare. I

10:37

don't have lunch. I don't sit and have lunch.

10:39

I'll have I actually just don't even I

10:41

usually know breakfast. I'd usually kind

10:43

of wait, get to you know, with kids

10:45

and everything, and then I maybe can

10:47

get out of the house by nine or ten.

10:50

I'll work out.

10:51

Then I'll have a juice like a green juice

10:54

or a coffee.

10:55

And then I'll have an Usually I'll just

10:57

have like an egg white omelet when I finish, after I finish

11:00

exercising, and then i'm

11:02

you know, I'm kind of good till dinner, but

11:05

you know, of something on a go or

11:07

I work in between, but you

11:09

know, otherwise that's my next main meal.

11:11

Okay.

11:11

I mean you talk a lot about growing

11:13

up and being overweight, Yeah, which

11:16

I don't.

11:16

It was hard for me to believe.

11:19

Plus you're always so active on bicycles

11:21

and then doing crew at college, I don't understand.

11:24

Yeah, it was a very It was like a

11:26

paradox where I was. So I

11:29

was playing five sports

11:31

and I was gaining weight, and

11:33

I think it was like, honestly a testament to how

11:36

insanely caloric fast.

11:38

Food was in the nineties.

11:39

Yes, that I was able to maintain and even

11:41

add weight despite constant activity,

11:44

and my brother and I both were, like my brother

11:46

was even heavier than I was, really and

11:49

we were constantly eating like processed.

11:52

Yeah, there was a lot of.

11:54

McDonald We would go to McDonald's. We

11:56

would each get a full adult meal.

11:58

Then my brother and my dad and I

12:01

would like split a twenty piece nuggets

12:03

for the table, and like

12:05

you often would get like one other thing like a

12:07

triple cheeseburger.

12:08

To split out. And that's crazy, that's

12:10

a lot. That's like each having probably three

12:13

to four thousand calories.

12:14

For completely casual one.

12:16

Yeah, and we probably ate it all in about ten

12:18

minutes.

12:19

Nothing tastes better. And then you'd have dinner later

12:21

that night.

12:21

Oh yeah, of course we weren't missing meals.

12:24

I'm like, no, I should back off on dinner. They

12:27

made a lot of dinner, you know, my parents did cook a lot at

12:29

home, and then we had probably all

12:31

the things that you now realize are the worst breakfasts,

12:33

you know, like a bowl of cyrus, like bowl

12:35

of sugary cereal with

12:37

nothing else to wigger it in any

12:40

way, or like a doughnut or a bagel,

12:42

or all the things.

12:43

That right now you realize it right exactly

12:46

like.

12:46

The But you know, of course, I think

12:48

also at that time, no one was really thinking, certainly,

12:50

no one in my orbit was thinking about

12:52

nutrition or no.

12:55

No, no, no, that didn't come until later.

12:57

No, I

13:08

got to I talked to Share the other day, okay,

13:13

like three days ago. Why because

13:15

she was maybe gonna come on and do something on

13:17

the show.

13:18

She basically was like I wanted to. You know, she was extremely

13:20

nice.

13:23

Last like last show because she was doing she was

13:25

doing a show in Madison Square Garden and she was doing

13:27

a probably jingle ballingall and

13:29

we were kind of talking about Originally

13:32

we were talking about having her come on, like

13:35

introducing her as updated.

13:36

She wanted to do something.

13:37

Update, like saying, here to talk about the

13:39

NBA's first ever in season basketball

13:41

share, come

13:44

on, just give really good basketball

13:46

analysis of what's happening.

13:47

Come on.

13:50

I would have.

13:50

And when I talk to her, She's like, I don't know basketball.

13:53

I'm looking at these names. I don't know anyone that's

13:55

in this thing.

13:55

You're like, right, yeah, And then she

13:58

would have made it funnier.

14:00

It would have been, but I think it would have been.

14:01

But also I'm sure she maybe it would have

14:03

also been deeply unsatisfying for any fan of

14:05

Shares. I don't it would have basically eliminated

14:07

both those fans. But

14:10

she was she was so I mean, I was so excited

14:12

to talk to her, like, oh was

14:15

she like was she like really very nice? And

14:17

and and you

14:19

know, I really wanted to figure something out.

14:21

But it was hard.

14:23

I think the part of it being alive is so hard,

14:25

and so it's also such a scary thing,

14:27

you know, but hopefully

14:29

we will at some point. But she was she was really

14:31

cool to talk to. I mean, it's one of those people you're

14:34

like, oh, that's that's really she is.

14:54

Thanks for joining us on Table for two.

14:56

Colin Joe's graduated from Harvard, where he

14:58

served as president of the le gender humor

15:00

publication the Harvard Lampoon.

15:03

How did working at the Lampoon prepare

15:05

him for Saturday Night Live? When

15:08

you go to Harvard and you are,

15:11

you know, writing for the Lampoon, which you know,

15:13

they don't make it easier to get on that. It's

15:15

you know, to become a writer, and it's kind

15:17

of great that they kept a.

15:19

Yeah, it's a hard process and a kind of a mysterious

15:22

process, and and you

15:25

don't know.

15:26

There's a lot of things that kind of fuck with your head about

15:28

it, and you don't know whether you're blowing

15:30

it or you're doing okay. Like you know, there's no

15:33

there's very little support or structure

15:36

to what the advice is and stuff

15:38

there. So and you realize

15:40

you're just dealing with kids who are a year older

15:42

than you maybe and maybe they're drinking

15:45

during the day and maybe they're not totally in a

15:47

great position to be giving advice also, right,

15:49

So you're trying to go through this process. But

15:51

it is a really you know, it's a great meritocratic

15:54

writing process.

15:55

You know, you're simmoning sketches.

15:57

People are voting on sketches

16:00

not knowing who wrote them, you know, which I think

16:02

is kind of a cool thing, and theoretically

16:05

just trying to find who is the funniest person,

16:07

which is still subjective, but that's at least

16:09

what their goal is. And it's you know, you

16:11

have to write a lot to get in and when you're on you're

16:13

expected to write a lot.

16:14

So it's you know, that's wild.

16:16

So do you feel and you also, you know, by

16:18

the time you left you are at the top

16:20

of the chain in that you know you're top

16:23

dog there. Yeah, and also now being

16:25

you know, head writer and you've been head writer, and

16:28

what is it about you that you feel

16:30

gets you to that place? Are you highly ambitious

16:33

that way? Do you?

16:35

Definitely?

16:35

I mean, I'm definitely ambitious. I think the

16:38

head writer part was a combination of things.

16:40

Like part of it was just getting

16:42

better as a writer. It's not a job anyone

16:45

does. Like Michael Ja I

16:47

loved him as a comedian and recommended

16:50

him as a writer, but he came in like

16:52

he had never written a sketch before in his life,

16:54

you never written a single sketch. He was a great stand

16:57

up and he but he'd never in

16:59

a sketch.

16:59

And then he just figured it out,

17:02

like quickly.

17:03

He figured it out and wrote and has written. Some

17:06

of the best sketches that have been on the show

17:08

are right, And so

17:10

that's just like that, Yeah, I mean, obviously

17:12

it's talent. And then also someone

17:16

you know, I don't know what it is like willing themselves

17:18

to figure it out or just being savvy

17:21

enough to figure it out, you know, and which

17:23

is kind of a miracle that someone can

17:26

just do can come in and just figure it out

17:28

totally. Like I didn't have any experience writing

17:31

sketches really, but I would do, like

17:34

in the Lampoon, you're writing stuff that's

17:36

not always so dissimilar. And

17:38

then I definitely performed some things

17:40

with friends around the city that were kind of more

17:42

in a sketch world. So

17:45

it wasn't like totally and I wrote a

17:47

packet, like I wrote a couple packets to

17:49

try to apply and submit, which

17:51

he didn't do. So it's he really

17:54

went from like zero to one hundred successfully,

17:56

whereas at.

17:57

Least I had that, like I

17:59

had gone to it a little bit.

18:01

And then certainly it's ambition, like that was after

18:03

I first, your first goal is to not get fired, right,

18:05

You just want to be about have a chance to do

18:08

it and enjoy the job and write

18:10

things you think are funny and hope

18:12

that they get on the air. And I was lucky that some

18:14

things that I broke out on the air. And then

18:17

the second year I came back and

18:19

I had sort of an expectation of myself,

18:22

like I should be able to write a lot of stuff because I wrote

18:24

some stuff last year, and the second year,

18:27

like I want to even set up the first five or

18:29

six shows, like I didn't have anything in the show my

18:31

second year, and I was like, oh no, like am I regressing?

18:34

Am I bad at this now? Or like

18:36

did I submit? And it

18:38

just wasn't yeah, like yeah, you're in SNL.

18:41

And and then at

18:43

some point the second year it started clicking again.

18:45

And I started getting stuff on and then after

18:48

that it was like a build like

18:50

years three, four five, where I started getting

18:52

like something on every show. Then I

18:54

started getting like two things on a lot of shows.

18:57

Then I started getting like two things on every show, you

18:59

know, on average at least.

19:00

Just because did you figure out sort of

19:02

the rhythm of it?

19:03

I can. I got better. I mean, it's just getting

19:06

reps.

19:06

And you know, like I wrote, was writing hundreds

19:08

of sketches a year, so you get better at it

19:11

hopefully, Yeah,

19:14

and then you and and then also there's lots of things, right like

19:16

if you if you start getting sketches

19:18

on the show, then probably cast

19:21

members want to write with you more, or

19:23

if you're helpful to cast members who are funny, that

19:26

probably helps you also. And I was very

19:28

lucky to work with people who are really fun to cast.

19:30

You know.

19:30

If I started with Sadai, kis Andy

19:34

and Kristen and Bill, which is

19:36

essentially the best four, and

19:38

that was the whole class. So I

19:41

think that's pretty much like per capita

19:43

of the best incoming class ever. I

19:45

think, so with the exception maybe of the

19:47

first ever ever, you know,

19:50

but that's a pretty pretty incredible

19:52

group and so I think I was lucky

19:55

in that way, and I think, you know, I was. Then

19:57

then once you once it's like years three

19:59

to five or something, I think then I got promoted

20:01

to like supervising writing position, which was

20:04

was really just like you're getting a bunch of stuff on

20:06

and we need to give you some title. But

20:09

you're not a head writer, nor are you're ready

20:11

to be, so you know, but you're somewhere

20:13

in that you're in the mix of a new

20:15

generation.

20:15

Yeah whatever.

20:16

Then you're just like more, you get into

20:18

more the producesorial world of it. More, you're

20:21

in more meetings with the producers,

20:23

You're in more meetings with Lorne. You're

20:25

getting the comfort of being around Lorn

20:27

in a way too, because that's you know, because he

20:29

goes from goes from being a guy you see

20:32

in the hallway every so often

20:34

I are scared to say hi to

20:36

to he's asking your opinion on something,

20:38

which is that's a big change. And then you're

20:41

getting and then over time it's like you're growing.

20:43

There's a friendship growing with the person that you really

20:46

like, you care about.

20:48

So it's that was the build, but certainly there

20:50

was ambition like that was once I got over

20:52

the hump of being afraid of being fired

20:55

like that was definitely a goal in my mind at

20:58

some point was I wanted to be head

21:00

writer because that was a.

21:01

Lot of people that I looked up to.

21:02

We were head writers like Jim Downey

21:04

and Seth and Tina and

21:07

Paulapel, and there were a lot of people that were like

21:09

in that Michael o'donaghy back in the day, you

21:11

know, people that were you adopted.

21:23

It feels on Weekend Update when

21:25

you and Michael sort of go

21:28

back and forth. It feels like you write

21:30

what he's going to say, Like when you do the and

21:33

like he's never seen it, like you know, you'll

21:35

see it pop up on the screen and then you

21:37

shake your head and you smile like, Okay, I can't believe

21:40

I have to say this? Is that how it goes

21:42

down?

21:42

Yes, Yeah,

21:45

it's yeah,

21:48

it's really it's it's

21:51

it's both terrifying and exhilarating.

21:53

Like it's kind of crazy. There's

21:55

just not a lot of live television in the world anymore.

21:58

So the idea that you're on live television and

22:00

you have to say something you don't know what it is, that's

22:02

pretty crazy.

22:03

And it's not it's not usually gentle.

22:06

No.

22:06

So it's a very strange.

22:09

Uh, it's a very strange thing and a but a

22:11

crazy experience to go through. And

22:14

and it's really fun. Like

22:16

I'm someone who can also be really in my head a lot

22:19

of times, you know, it's in a right ely way. I could be

22:21

in my head and it definitely gets you out of your

22:23

head. And there's

22:25

times where things and I really like that when

22:27

when there's when there's times where you just have to react,

22:30

I'm probably better at that than when I'm thinking

22:32

it through. But then

22:34

you're like, I don't know how, why can't I get that normally

22:37

right?

22:37

Like I like, if you were anticipating it

22:40

because you knew it.

22:41

Then it wouldn't be the same.

22:42

It's it's a brilliant as a viewer,

22:44

it's a.

22:45

Brilliant moment like that your weekend

22:47

update together is when when when

22:50

it goes there it's hysterical.

22:52

It really just came out

22:54

of I'm just kind of

22:57

trying something and it was not Again,

22:59

we didn't really have an idea for it, and then we

23:01

just kind of tried it and it became

23:03

that and you know,

23:06

we'll see but it's always there's

23:08

definitely a reminder to

23:10

not be afraid of trying things, Like it's

23:13

hard at our show because you really only get one shot

23:15

to try something because it's at dress rehearsal.

23:17

Like if it doesn't go well address rehearsal, it's

23:20

pretty rare that it's going to still be on the air, right,

23:22

you know, so it can go the other way. It doesn't well

23:24

addressed and the not well at air, but it doesn't

23:26

really go the other way.

23:37

Who were the comics

23:40

that you were heavily influenced?

23:42

I was thinking about you.

23:44

So when I was a

23:46

young man in nineteen eighty nine, I was

23:49

a page at NBC and

23:52

that was a hell of a great job.

23:54

So every weekend we worked SNL. We

23:56

did tours during.

23:57

The day and then you know, you had your

23:59

break and then it was like boom. And I always with

24:01

Stephanie Phillips, we had big curly

24:04

hairs, very you know, late eighties

24:06

or late nineties, and we would

24:08

work the door at Studio H and it

24:10

was it was like the power job. And

24:12

my cast then the caste was

24:15

Dana Carvey, Nora Dunn, Phil

24:17

Hartman, Jan Hooks, Victoria

24:19

Jackson, who I just love John Lovetts,

24:22

Dennis Miller, Mike Myers, Kevin

24:24

Neelan and.

24:25

A Whitney Brown.

24:26

Wow, that's great. It was a good that's

24:28

a great guest.

24:29

Yeah, it was a great. Yeah, it was a great

24:31

I remember that.

24:31

I know that writing staff was great too at that time.

24:34

Really, so many great writers from that era.

24:35

I mean it was a hell of a year and

24:37

a half to be part of that and to be in those

24:39

shows. And yeah, that was the year too

24:43

that Gilda Radnadat and so

24:45

like that was a whole.

24:46

Thing in a moment.

24:47

Who were the people that really influenced you from

24:49

a comic standpoint? And

24:52

were you always interested in finding

24:54

yourself on the road

24:56

and pursuing that.

24:58

I mean, you also are a Russian literature ma, you're

25:00

you know, you're also a writer.

25:02

How did SNL

25:05

SNL wise that that was what

25:07

you're describing?

25:08

That cast is the first cast that I have

25:10

memories of.

25:11

Oh wow, And you

25:13

know, obviously loved Dana and Mike Myers

25:15

and Jan Hooks, and I mean Phil Hartman

25:18

was incredible and also from

25:20

you know, like so I marry

25:22

an axe murderer. I loved Phil Hartman's

25:24

great in that too, and his work on The Simpsons,

25:27

like I kind of was aware of that, you know, it's just

25:29

his voice acting that was so funny. And

25:31

when you know the Waynes World movies with Mike and

25:33

Dana were. Those were like the early SNL

25:35

people that I really loved then really

25:37

big were really in my sweet

25:40

spot in high school, I guess were

25:42

which is usually when people's SNL casts

25:44

are. It's like were Sandler

25:47

and Farley, rock Spade,

25:50

that whole crew. Those were

25:52

like the sketches that I would re enact at

25:55

school and stuff with my friends, Like

25:57

even formally we would go do like assemblies

25:59

and we would re create those.

26:01

That listener about that because that's really

26:03

funny.

26:04

We did, Yeah, we did, like you

26:06

know I did.

26:06

I basically hosted a show

26:09

in our class, which again now you realize

26:11

teachers will do anything to not teach. They're like,

26:13

yeah, you should do this, So I would host a

26:16

show as Letterman. Letterman was a huge

26:18

influence for me, and I would pretend

26:20

to be David Letterman and I would read

26:22

like his actual top ten lists that

26:24

he was doing, Like I had books and books of top

26:26

ten lists that I would read and pick out

26:28

the ones I thought were the funniest, and then I would read

26:30

them to my class, just fully

26:33

steal his material, and

26:35

then I would introduce it's

26:38

kind of not.

26:38

A bad hybrid format for a show.

26:40

I would host it as Letterman,

26:42

and then I would introduce sketches from SNL

26:44

that we would also steal and do. So my friends

26:47

and I, like a group of us Lenny and Mike Calcagny

26:49

and Mike Bodner and Frank Berlin

26:52

and Steve Paul mecI, we would go.

26:54

We would reenact them in front of

26:57

the whole in front of first it was just in front

26:59

of our whatever seventh grade class, and

27:01

then I guess we were good enough that we

27:03

got moved to full assembly, so

27:05

then we would do it for the whole school, which was kind

27:07

of kind of cool. So that was that was

27:10

like the first idea of performing

27:12

or putting a show together in a comedy way,

27:14

right, So that was like one track

27:16

of things. And then it was really actors

27:19

that I love, like Jim Carrey

27:21

was huge, Robin Williams

27:24

you know a little before, was big,

27:26

and then Will Ferrell was

27:29

was you know in both ways both SML and

27:31

movies. Was big, and

27:33

like when he came back to host

27:35

when I was a writer, that was like one of the coolest

27:38

things because he was a guy I you know

27:40

at SNL, Like so many of his sketches

27:42

were classics to me as a

27:44

comedy nerd. And then you know, in Tina

27:46

and Amy also like in an update way,

27:49

those were big. I mean, Norm too and

27:51

Tina Amy were you know, and Tina on the both

27:54

writing and update

27:56

side was really inspiring, like seeing

27:59

how she did that and she's

28:01

still like I think of her a lot when I'm

28:03

writing sketches because a

28:05

lot of the sketches she wrote were like really joke

28:08

dense and they had a funny premise.

28:10

They had got you know, good performance things, but they had

28:12

a lot of like every line it feels like it

28:14

was a joke and it's like a aiming

28:16

for that I think is such a great thing,

28:19

like to just remind yourself it's always better

28:21

if there's more jokes and it's more everything

28:23

is an opportunity for a joke.

28:25

Is after something that you're born with or is

28:27

that no.

28:29

No, no, I mean I

28:31

think some people are born probably with some

28:34

inclination to joke around

28:36

or some innate. Some people are obviously

28:39

naturally really funny, and you

28:41

know they're they're like even if they don't

28:43

do comedy, they're naturally funny. Like some of my

28:45

friends are lawyers who are really funny,

28:47

or doctors who are really funny, and they don't

28:49

even really think of it. I mean, I never knew it was a business.

28:52

I never knew it was a job to go do comedy. Growing

28:54

up, No one I ever met worked in any related

28:56

anything to show business, you know, So I

29:00

think beyond that, it's mostly

29:03

learned. You know, you're if you're doing and

29:05

what you're drawn to. So all I did, again, I

29:07

didn't know it was a job. But all I cared about

29:10

and really memorized and got into as

29:12

a kid was comedy. You know, Sandler's

29:14

albums I would listen to and memorize,

29:16

like word for word, knowing every

29:18

line from every movie that he

29:21

did, that Jim Carrey did.

29:23

That's just setting you down a path.

29:25

Now you might you might be that path and never find

29:27

the opportunity to be involved in making it.

29:30

But I then I did, and that was then I

29:32

was like, oh, yeah, this is a great way to do it.

29:34

Because I used to love it and now I could keep doing it.

29:55

Welcome back to Table for two.

29:57

A typical week at Saturday Night Live is

29:59

incredible stressful. There are

30:01

new sketches to write and rehearse, costumes

30:04

to design, and sets that need to be built.

30:06

I'm particularly curious what's it like

30:09

for Colin and the staff to work with a new

30:11

host each week. Has there

30:13

ever been you know, the host come and

30:15

you see them and you're like, you know who they are, and then you're

30:17

like, oh, okay, like you get like I'm sure very

30:19

surprised, like this push is actually really

30:21

good, Like they actually get it. You know, when

30:24

it goes either way, when it goes like, oh,

30:26

this is just you know, not this is going

30:28

to.

30:29

Be really an uphill battle.

30:30

This person it just doesn't have that, and it

30:32

happens. It can happen different ways throughout

30:34

the week. Like you can have a host who's

30:37

not that good at the read through table,

30:39

right like even maybe they're not a great cold reader.

30:42

Maybe they're you know, their their process

30:44

is more they're kind of reading it more

30:47

straight, and they're just they're

30:49

they're going through the character in their head because

30:52

they know it's not the real time, you know, they're

30:54

like more, they're more seeing the character in

30:56

their head instead of performing it. Then yeah,

30:58

like even or there's things like Melissa McCarthy

31:00

when she hosted, she had pieces that she

31:03

worked on, she wrote, and they

31:06

were fully formed in her head, but she

31:08

was kind of clocking in a different way at the table

31:10

read, and you kind of have to

31:12

trust, you know that, oh,

31:14

that's going to be folk.

31:15

She knows what she's doing.

31:16

I mean, obviously she knows we're doing, but like in this particular

31:18

sketch, she's got this all mapped out and yeah

31:22

or sure or yeah or it's like, you

31:24

know, whatever it is, there could be an element visually that's

31:27

not really in the piece, but she

31:29

knows in her head when she's performing it,

31:31

or she knows she could figure it out. And those

31:33

have been some of those sketches that killed the most and

31:36

were classics for her. So it's it's

31:38

it's that kind of thing. Or there's an actor

31:40

that has their own process, like you know, you can be and

31:43

finding it a little bit in a moment or trying

31:45

to differentiate because you're reading, you're reading

31:47

forty.

31:48

Sketches right at the table read, so

31:50

to.

31:50

Be able to make a choice in

31:52

all of those and that's something like actually,

31:54

Adam Driver's especially good at at the table

31:56

read, like he'll he makes a choice

31:58

for all those pieces.

32:00

And an interesting choice, and.

32:02

The same way Will Ferrell does in a but you know,

32:04

obviously he knows it in a whole other way,

32:06

but he will, We'll find

32:08

a new move for all of them. And

32:11

it's really a kind of a miracle or maya you

32:13

know, like my real will come back and to like have a different character

32:15

wherever. It's like, it's really

32:18

they're very yeah, they really are, and you

32:20

know, so that and then there's hosts that are

32:23

great at the table read because they're great

32:25

readers. You know, if

32:27

it was an audio series it would be great. But

32:29

they are less performers in

32:32

space, you know, so you're that other part

32:34

doesn't add in as much as you thought.

32:36

Some people have never done theater. Some

32:39

people have never done live anything

32:41

live, which is scary, yeah, you know, and

32:43

then some people are it's it's

32:45

also you're reading off Q cards

32:48

mostly, which is a very

32:50

hard thing.

32:51

If you don't know that.

32:52

It's you know, when I started an update, I

32:54

was like, I'm very good at reading.

32:56

I'm really very good at reading, and somehow I couldn't

32:59

do it well at all. And I was like in my head,

33:01

like, why.

33:01

Is this so hard?

33:02

You're like overly concentrating on reading,

33:05

you know, and you're like, just let go of it, don't Why

33:07

are you worried about being able to read in this situation. You're

33:10

able to read signs on the street and just

33:12

go just read, but it's

33:14

intimidating when you're not used to that and let

33:16

alone changes on the fly. Like Christopher

33:18

Walking, who's obviously one of the best hosts ever.

33:21

He when he posted you

33:24

and you have things at the table read and and you

33:26

always make changes between the table read and dress

33:28

rehearsal because you're trying to make it better or tighter

33:30

or whatever.

33:31

A joke didn't work, you fix it.

33:33

Christam Walker wun always be like no, leave it and

33:35

you're like, well, no, we didn't got to fix this part. He's like, no, leave

33:37

it, and you're like why He's like it's

33:39

fine. He's like, it's fine. I'd rather I don't

33:41

want it to changes. I'd rather find it

33:44

figure it out as an actor, know

33:46

the rhythm, have the comfort with

33:49

material, not have all these changes

33:52

and you know, that's another approach that I think

33:54

really works for him and maybe would work

33:56

more if we did that. But you know, the sometimes

33:58

we get into it's easier now to

34:01

make changes because technology has gotten better,

34:03

you know, like you can type in things fast, but you can

34:05

make it. But maybe that's bad in a way

34:07

because the sometimes the actors are less

34:09

familiar with the material and if they

34:11

saw a joke the same twice, maybe

34:14

it's not as good a joke, but they'd be

34:16

able to find something in the delivery that would

34:18

make it better than a new.

34:19

Joke, right. You know.

34:30

During the show itself, the live show, is

34:32

it daunting to look over at Lauren and see

34:34

his face at this point? Can you see in his face

34:36

when because when I've gone to the show and I look

34:39

at him and I swear, I'm like, I have nothing

34:41

to do with the show'rving, I'm

34:43

like, oh my god, did he like that?

34:45

Did he not?

34:46

It's a yes, it is still daunting.

34:49

Or like when he even kind of shows up at

34:51

a when you're rehearsing or something and he kind of

34:53

drifts into the back of the room, you're just a little

34:55

bit more on edge and you're you're second guessing

34:58

the like joke about pooping pants

35:00

that you have in and you're like, why did I do this? I

35:02

wish I didn't have to do that for the first time

35:04

in front of Lauren whatever it is. You know, like there's

35:07

that kind of feeling. But you

35:09

know, I've got you get over that to

35:11

some extent because he just realize like he's

35:14

seen a lot of bad stuff, so you

35:18

know he's not and he's seen a lot of bad stuff

35:20

get better, and he's seen a lot of you.

35:21

Know, does he throw things out like if

35:24

he sees it just maybe like like one of those

35:26

passion by comments that oh

35:29

yeah, oh okay, yes, yeah he

35:31

does.

35:31

He does, and he's judicious about it because

35:34

he's part of it. Is

35:36

at least for us with update, I

35:38

think now at this point he probably

35:40

knows that we're anticipating

35:42

some of the things he might say in a good way, not

35:44

like we're worried about what he's gonna say,

35:47

but more like he's taught us

35:49

some instincts that we probably sure

35:51

so we're like, oh, yeah that if it's a joke

35:53

that he's there

35:56

rehearsal for and sees it bomb where

35:58

he is pretty confident we're going to fix it with

36:00

or or cut it, probably without

36:03

him having to specifically say cut that horrible

36:05

joke. So that but he's but

36:07

he'll give like a you know, he'll just give like a small

36:10

but important note about how you're playing a

36:12

certain thing, or the tone

36:14

or the aftertaste of a joke, like

36:17

is that do you really want to have that

36:21

the perception of this joke after the fact,

36:23

or something you know, like if especially if it's about

36:25

someone, like is it mean

36:27

to that person? And I'm I'm

36:30

very sensitive about that. In general, I'm not a person who

36:32

likes doing things that are mean to people. I

36:36

prefer to do it based on what things they

36:38

do, like what a are actions, rather than about

36:40

I don't like making fun of people's personal lives that

36:43

it really does not maybe not like that,

36:45

but but

36:47

sometimes, like you know, I'll have a occasionally

36:50

I'll have a joke where I'm like, I think even that person

36:52

would not be offended by this joke, but

36:54

maybe they would be.

36:55

I don't know, who knows.

36:56

You never know.

37:04

I've had a wonderful lunch with Colin today.

37:06

I know that family plays a huge role in both

37:08

Colin and Scarlet's lives and

37:11

as our time together winds down, I'm

37:13

interested to know what Colin hopes

37:15

to share with his son as he

37:17

gets older and you talk about

37:20

family, and family is very important to you, It's very

37:22

important to Scarlet. I've talked to

37:24

Scarlet about her family when we had lunch,

37:26

and they're wonderful and as

37:28

are yours down to earth. Is there something

37:31

that you want to show your son You

37:33

want to make sure he sees there's so much

37:35

humor in your family.

37:36

I mean, there's so much wit and so much intelligence.

37:39

Is there anything that when you think of because when you become

37:41

a parent, it's just everything changes.

37:43

It just does.

37:44

Is there anything that you I want to do

37:46

this with Cosmo. I want to show him this.

37:49

You know. One thing that's really important to with

37:52

him is I take

37:54

him swimming a lot whenever I can, you

37:56

know, like pool or ocean.

37:58

And he's he's only two, and he's he's a pretty.

38:00

Good swimmer, actually, like he's almost independent

38:02

swimming, which is kind of crazy. He's

38:04

a smart he's a smart guy too, but he's

38:06

a great such a bunch hit.

38:08

But he I like that. I mean, the water

38:10

is really important to me.

38:12

And yeah, and it's always

38:15

been something I just you know, I didn't love always

38:17

the competitive part of swimming, but I did love

38:19

being in a pool, and I'm very happy

38:21

around water all the time. And

38:24

that's something I'd like to share with him in different ways,

38:27

you know. The first thing that came to mind was my grandpa.

38:30

My grandpa just passed away, and

38:33

he was he was a firefighter, His

38:35

dad was a firefighter. And he's the one, my

38:37

grandpa who lived next door, and he really helped to raise

38:39

me a lot. And I'm really happy

38:42

he got two years with Cosmo.

38:44

In the years to come, even though Cosmo

38:46

I'm sure won't remember that time, I'm

38:50

excited to kind of impart

38:52

elements of my grandpa in him.

38:54

His middle name is my grandpa's name, and

38:58

the spirit of a lot of the great things my

39:00

grandpa. A curiosity that my grandpa really

39:02

had, a friendly and outgoing of

39:04

friendliness and ability to go talk to anyone

39:07

and engage and really be curious about

39:09

them, and a real

39:11

joy and appreciation for life, like

39:13

a deep gratitude feeling

39:15

like you know what you would say late in life

39:17

he would constantly say, like if I go tomorrow, I'm

39:20

so happy, you know, like I don't

39:22

you know, I'm not wouldn't be sad. It's

39:24

all good, you know. And

39:26

and that's like one of the one of the last things,

39:29

like on his deathbed that he said to me was

39:32

like, don't worry, I'm okay, and

39:34

he literally said bye bye, like kind

39:37

of funny in a joking way. Yeah, And

39:39

that's the last thing. That's the last words that

39:41

he said to me. And he died that like later

39:43

that day. And you know, I think

39:46

that's what I will hopefully in

39:49

part and Cosmo, I don't know how much of it's taught

39:52

versus in you, but

39:54

you know, a gratitude in it,

39:56

some kind of grace I think with

39:58

with people is is a great thing.

40:00

Well, that's a beautiful story and

40:02

I think that, uh, I think it's a beautiful way

40:04

to sort of wrap our beautiful lunch. And Colin,

40:07

thank you, thank you for coming your mind.

40:09

My family loves you. I love

40:11

you. I love your family. And

40:14

you know you're just an incredibly

40:17

talented gift to the

40:20

world. What you how you see the world and did

40:22

you have this platform turn presented and you

40:24

make people happy?

40:26

Thank you very much. It's a pleasure.

40:28

It's a pleasure in any capacity,

40:30

but especially with this lobster

40:33

caesar salad and the second lobster that I ordered

40:35

to go.

40:36

Very generous of you.

40:37

My pleasure.

40:40

Ready that I'm going to have shipped exactly.

40:43

Anyway, Thanks for everyone for pulling up a chair

40:46

today on Table for two with Bruce

40:48

Bosi and mister Colin Joys and

40:51

We'll.

40:51

See you real soon.

41:01

Table for two with Bruce Bosi is produced by

41:03

iHeartRadio seven three seven Park

41:05

and Airmail. Our executive producers

41:08

are Bruce Bosi and Nathan King.

41:10

Our supervising producer and editor is

41:13

Dylan Fagan. Table for two

41:15

is researched and written by Jack

41:17

Sullivan. Our sound engineers are

41:19

Jess Krainich, Evan Taylor, and

41:22

Jesse Funk. Our music supervisor

41:24

is Randall Poster. Our talent booking

41:26

is done by Jane Sarkin. Table

41:28

for two's social media manager is Gracie

41:30

Wiener. Special thanks to Amy

41:33

Sugarman, Uni Scherer, Kevin

41:35

Yuvane, Bobby Bauer, Alison

41:38

Kanter Graber. For more podcasts

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