Carol Leifer

Summary

Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade – Episode Featuring Carol Leifer

Release Date: March 12, 2025

In this engaging episode of "Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade," presented by Audacy, longtime comedy icons Dana Carvey and David Spade host the legendary comedy writer Carol Leifer. The conversation delves deep into Carol's extensive career in stand-up and television writing, offering listeners an insider’s perspective on the world of showbiz, the intricacies of writing for landmark television shows, and the personal anecdotes that shaped her journey.

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1. Introducing Carol Leifer: A Trailblazer in Comedy

Dana Carvey and David Spade warmly welcome Carol Leifer, highlighting her significant contributions to the comedy landscape since the early 1980s. Carol discusses her beginnings in stand-up comedy and the challenges she faced breaking into a predominantly male industry.

Notable Quote:

Carol Leifer [06:01]: “I auditioned 22 times until I finally got the Tonight Show in 1992.”

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2. The Struggle and Triumph: Joining The Tonight Show

Carol recounts her persistent efforts to become part of The Tonight Show, detailing the 22 auditions she endured over twelve years. Her relentless dedication underscores the often grueling path comedians face to land coveted spots on major platforms.

Notable Quote:

Carol Leifer [06:07]: “But probably when I saw you, Dana, they saw me again and they passed. I auditioned 22 times until I finally got the Tonight Show in 1992, right before Johnny left.”

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3. Life at Saturday Night Live: Navigating the Writers’ Room

Delving into her tenure at Saturday Night Live (SNL), Carol shares insights into the dynamic and pressure-filled environment of the writers’ room during the 1985 season. She highlights her collaborations with prominent figures such as Al Franken, Don Novello, and John Swartzwelder, painting a vivid picture of the creative process behind the scenes.

Notable Quote:

Carol Leifer [16:05]: “I was really the only woman writer that year. But, you know, it was amazing.”

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4. Crafting Comedy: Insights into Writing for Seinfeld

The conversation shifts to Carol’s pivotal role in writing for Seinfeld. She explains the unique collaborative relationship with Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, emphasizing the importance of pitching succinct yet innovative ideas.

Notable Quote:

Carol Leifer [46:58]: “If he likes something, he was so effusive about it, it lifted you to go off and do it right.”

Carol elaborates on how Seinfeld's writing process mirrors that of SNL, where ideas are pitched in concise briefs and either embraced or reworked, fostering an environment of creativity and excellence.

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5. Beyond Stand-Up: Writing for Award Shows and Beyond

Carol discusses her ventures into writing for prestigious events like the Oscars, detailing the challenges of tailoring humor to suit a diverse and high-profile audience. She praises hosts like Conan O'Brien for their creativity and ability to infuse originality into their performances.

Notable Quote:

Carol Leifer [30:42]: “I loved his musical number; it reminded me of the great Billy stuff too.”

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6. Personal Anecdotes: A Lifelong Love for The Beatles

Touching on her personal life, Carol shares heartwarming stories about her love for The Beatles, including memorable experiences like attending their concerts and interacting with Paul McCartney. These anecdotes not only highlight her diverse interests but also illustrate how personal passions intertwine with professional endeavors.

Notable Quote:

Carol Leifer [37:16]: “When I saw her standing there, you know, that early, early stuff. But I'm also a Wings fan, you know.”

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7. Promoting Her New Book: Merging Humor with Practicality

In a delightful blend of humor and practicality, Carol introduces her latest book, “How to Write a Funny Speech for a Wedding, a Bar Mitzvah, or Graduation.” She explains the inspiration behind the book, aiming to help individuals craft engaging and humorous speeches for various occasions.

Notable Quote:

Carol Leifer [65:37]: “We felt like we could give them some help.”

Carol emphasizes the unique angle of her book, differentiating it from typical speechwriting guides by infusing it with genuine comedic insights and techniques honed through years of stand-up and television writing.

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8. The Comedic Bond: The Chemistry Between Comedians

Dana and David highlight the special bond shared among comedians, emphasizing how shared experiences and mutual understanding enhance collaborative creativity. Carol echoes this sentiment, expressing her joy in working alongside other funny and talented individuals.

Notable Quote:

Carol Leifer [54:38]: “There's nothing better to me than being in a room with funny people. It's just the greatest thing.”

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9. Reflecting on Success: The Impact of Great Writing

The trio reflects on the factors contributing to the success of shows like Seinfeld and Hacks. Carol attributes it to the synergy of intelligent writing, relatable humor, and strong leadership from creators like Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld.

Notable Quote:

Carol Leifer [47:31]: “Made the show great. It was the two of their sensibilities together.”

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10. Closing Thoughts: Celebrating a Legacy in Comedy

As the episode concludes, Carol expresses her admiration for Dana and David, acknowledging their talents and the enduring impact they've had on the comedy scene. Dana and David reciprocate, celebrating Carol's achievements and her continuous influence as a writer and performer.

Notable Quote:

Carol Leifer [68:23]: “I just love you guys. You're just so incredibly talented, and I enjoy your talent.”

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Conclusion

This episode serves as a comprehensive exploration of Carol Leifer's remarkable journey in the comedy industry, offering listeners invaluable insights into the art of writing, the resilience required to succeed, and the joy of collaboration among comedic minds. Dana Carvey and David Spade skillfully navigate the conversation, blending humor with deep appreciation for Carol's contributions, making it a must-listen for fans of comedy and those interested in the behind-the-scenes magic of showbiz.

Transcript

[David Spade]

Everyone I know is on the road. They always are. Like, we stayed in Airbnb, and that's just a more common thing you hear all the time. It's. Hotels are great, but come on. I mean, when you can just pick everything about it you want. Like, here's my hotel today. They didn't even give my breakfast. Like, Airbnb, wake up. Whip it up in your kitchen.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah. And get a kitchen, get a pool, whatever you want. And it's all custom, and you just go online and you see how it's rated and what people like. And so I guess I'm going to say it's. It's just freedom, you know?

[David Spade]

Yeah. Listen, you got more space, more privacy, you. You can be closer to where you want to be.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah. I was staying at really nice hotels that I like in this area that we would go to, and then we found, like, a little house. So you kind of had a house, you know, and it was spotless. And you just drive up and you get the key out of this thing, you go in and there's a bottle of wine and a note, and it's just a great experience.

[David Spade]

Yeah. The people don't have to, I don't think, but they always seem to put little extras in there for you for your next adventure. People listening, maybe give it a try. They won't regret it. You make the switch from traditional hotels and let us know, are you ready to optimize your nutrition? Dana, this year.

[Dana Carvey]

Yes. I'm gonna say yes.

[David Spade]

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[Dana Carvey]

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[Dana Carvey]

That's Code Factor Podcast at FactorMeals.com Factor Podcast to get 50 off plus free shipping on your first box. Folks, I like that word, folks.

[David Spade]

That's what a lot of politicians say. They go, that's they go for the folks at home.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah, that's true.

[David Spade]

You know what they don't say? You can't say men or women. They say for the folks at home.

[Dana Carvey]

It's a good word for Obama. Folks are hurting, folks. Folks aren't sure how to pay the bill. That's what folks are doing.

[David Spade]

Folks are feeling the pinch.

[Dana Carvey]

Folks are feeling the pain. Folks. It's definitely a lot of politicians use it. It's kind of a homey thing. But folks, we have a super guest today on Super Super Fly on the Wall. Carol Leifer is with us. Who's who's a mainstream of comedy for the from 1981 or two she was on David Letterman and she's worked as a stand up and also David, her.

[David Spade]

Writing career, huge writing career.

[Dana Carvey]

Seinfeld.

[David Spade]

Seinfeld to hacks presently where they're winning.

[Dana Carvey]

Some of their curbier good friends with Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld and she has some interesting takes on their relationship. Teaser alert.

[David Spade]

She has a book out, Dana, it's called how to write a funny speech for a Wedding, a bar mitzvah or birthday or any other event you didn't want to go to in the first place by Carol Leifer. We laughed a lot during this one because she's a standup that you knew in the old days. I've known her recently and I just saw her at the Laugh Factory actually. So very funny. Great storyteller. Exactly what we want in this show.

[Dana Carvey]

Yes. And also one last thing. The the sort of famous season of 1985, she was there writing and she'll talk about at SNL Robert Downey Jr. At like 19 years of age, skating down the hall and stuff like that. So, so it's really fun. She's super likable. I've known her for longer than I Want to remember.

[David Spade]

15 years.

[Dana Carvey]

Please enjoy the one and only Carol Leafhar.

[Carol Leifer]

You mean the set that I did for the Tonight Show?

[David Spade]

Yeah.

[Carol Leifer]

Well, it's a bit of a saga because go you know Letterman saw me on the big New York Laugh Off.

[David Spade]

Oh, the Laugh Off. Yeah, yeah.

[Carol Leifer]

Because you know in our day that's how you got people to pay attention to you. You, you did. And he, he saw the Big Laugh Off. You know, that's the one where Eddie Murphy came in fifth and I came in fourth. Yes. So he had seen me on the Big Laugh off, and he recommended me to Jim McCauley as, you know, the talent booker for the Tonight Show. And then they passed. And then probably when I saw you, Dana, they saw me again and they passed. And I auditioned 22 times until I finally got the Tonight show in 1992, right before Johnny left.

[David Spade]

Never even heard of that. That's that many times. I've never heard of that.

[Dana Carvey]

Over a decade or. What's the time frame of the 22 auditions?

[Carol Leifer]

I would say from 1980-92. But what was happening also was. It is that, you know, I was doing Letterman a lot during those years. So Tonight show also saw me as a Letterman act. So that did in my way. But it just became like, I don't know, should I wear a dress the next time? Okay.

[David Spade]

Oh, yeah.

[Carol Leifer]

Like, it just became a bit of like, okay, I guess I'll go out there again.

[David Spade]

And it's always Macaulay.

[Carol Leifer]

It was always Macaulay. Yeah. I mean, you remember how powerful he.

[David Spade]

Of course.

[Dana Carvey]

Powerful.

[Carol Leifer]

Oz.

[Dana Carvey]

I didn't even try. They just like, you don't, you know, you don't got it. Don't even audition, just. Yeah, well, I was doing characters and stuff, and they. They like jokes. I was just gonna ask you from a personal point of view, what kind of stand up in your head were you in 92 compared to 1980?

[Carol Leifer]

Well, I was much more. You know, you have 12 years of experience, as you know, I mean, you get better every year. And at that time in New York, I mean, you guys didn't come up in the New York scene, but you could do eight sets on a Saturday night.

[Dana Carvey]

Well, I don't do that in a year.

[David Spade]

It sounds preposterous, but it's true. Yeah, I've heard that. I've heard that. Yeah.

[Carol Leifer]

You know, with all the different comedy clubs, I mean, you'd have, you know, a 7, 10 here, an 8, you know, 8, 15 here. It just went on and on and on. So I just was a better comedian. But wait a minute. So, Dana, you never did the Tonight show with Johnny?

[Dana Carvey]

I did, but I came out as a guest from Saturday Night Live. I never came out behind the curtain and did that terrifying thing.

[David Spade]

What?

[Dana Carvey]

I want to ask you two things about those days. Did you ever say and step on it to the cab driver in New York and did you ever get so good that, like, leafers here, like you. Because I think confidence. You know, Eddie Murphy had peak confidence at 19. He has it now. There are certain people. Sandler took me a long time, but when you get the confidence, it's fun. Do you ever walk in and go, I'm the shit man?

[David Spade]

You people, I've heard her say that.

[Dana Carvey]

Okay, two questions. Step on it. I'm about to have a baby. Okay, go ahead.

[Carol Leifer]

Step on it. Was definitely something. And I learned in many different languages to communicate with all of the cab drivers. But I think by 92, you know, I remember it was just. I had done the New Year show with Leno before, and I just feel like they kind of felt like, oh, we gotta put her on. I mean, this is ridiculous already.

[David Spade]

It's such an omission at this point. It looks weird.

[Dana Carvey]

And who were your peers? It was Elaine Boosler.

[David Spade]

Who were your female peers?

[Carol Leifer]

Elaine Boozler was actually not my female peer. She was before me.

[David Spade]

Yeah.

[Carol Leifer]

And I got into standup because one of the big reasons was because of Elaine. You know, I'm sure people have talked about on your pod that.

[Dana Carvey]

Not. Not really enough.

[David Spade]

Not that much. Yeah, she was the.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah, the top. The female stand up. That when I was in those early days, she was.

[Carol Leifer]

She was on the COVID of New York magazine and, you know, Funny Girl. And it just kind of changed. I was like, oh, if this, you know, woman can do it, like, maybe I can do it. I remember Seinfeld and I talking about that cover. It had an impact on him in wanting to go into stand up because it was a new type of woman and person going into stand up.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah, the 70s is when it all kind of shifted and what was allowed. And then lately, I don't want to jump too far ahead, but we have a lot of our great women comedians, or call them comedians.

[David Spade]

It's all about the same now, but it was more differentiated.

[Dana Carvey]

And there's a liberation of really being as hardcore as the men. It's just been a shift where the audience, you know, the women are more. They can be sexual. They can. They can step outside the lines. But you were kind of riding that wave. And you had Phyllis Diller, but not Phyllis Diller. She's a little more back there. Joan Rivers, quite a. You know, she was sort of bawdy and intense.

[Carol Leifer]

Yes, Joan Rivers was great. But I think what differentiated her from my generation was, you know, it was a very like. Am I right, ladies? You know, can we talk?

[Dana Carvey]

Right.

[David Spade]

Can we talk? Elizabeth Taylor, dog.

[Dana Carvey]

She said, five facelifts in a boob job, please. Can we talk. Can we talk? Barbara Bush is not sexy.

[David Spade]

Can we talk? Barbara bush. Was Rosie O'Donnell around then or was.

[Carol Leifer]

That little later Rosie O'Donnell came a little after me. But, you know, my peers were like Rita Rudner and Paul. But I remember with Rita because we went on a catch Rising Star together. You know, in those days, they wouldn't put two women on after each other. It was like horrifying, you know, like, okay, there's the singer, then the ventriloquist, then a woman, the monkey act, and maybe another woman.

[David Spade]

You know, it was just, how are two women on the same show? That's revolting to the audience.

[Dana Carvey]

It was revolutionary.

[David Spade]

I work with Rita. She was a linesmith. She could write great jokes. It was just boom, boom.

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah. She is one of the all time best joke writers, for sure.

[David Spade]

Really good joke writer.

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah.

[David Spade]

Maybe underrated because I don't hear about her enough because I worked there for a week and I was new and I just kept going, wow, this is, you know, really. I was like, it is just bam, bam, bam, bam. Interesting delivery, you know, interesting Persona.

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah, yeah. She works a lot. She gets a lot of the corporate gigs that I want to get.

[David Spade]

Oh, good. Sorry. We got Vegas.

[Dana Carvey]

All right, let's put that out into the universe.

[Carol Leifer]

Yes.

[Dana Carvey]

Juicy corporate. She's clean, she's funny, she's likable, and she'll. She'll go for pictures afterwards without any complaint.

[David Spade]

CEOs kid, even if it's not part of the deal. Can we take a quick picture? Yes.

[Dana Carvey]

You're kind of like you this lane because you're still here and you started there and you're getting more famous than your resume. Like, I only found out this week. And I want to talk about it because there's a whole documentary briefly, just about your. Your work as a writer while you were being stand up and I don't know what your one was before the 85 season on Saturday Night Live, which did you. Okay, so let's just talk about that a little bit. How you got the job and it. You. Have you seen the documentary about it?

[Carol Leifer]

I have seen the documentary.

[David Spade]

Okay.

[Carol Leifer]

Are they what is affectionately, unaffectionately called the weird year of SNL?

[David Spade]

Yeah.

[Carol Leifer]

5 When Lauren came back and I remember I auditioned at the Comic Strip to be a performer and Al Franken, the great Al Franken. And.

[David Spade]

Sorry.

[Carol Leifer]

And Jim Downey, as, you know, famous head writer came.

[David Spade]

Yes.

[Carol Leifer]

For a showcase. And I did well. And they came over to me afterwards and they were like, would you want to think about Being a writer. And I was like, what I want to be. Yeah. So I lived in California, and they said, well, come in and have a meeting with Lauren. So I came into New York, so ready for my, you know, I had it all planned, you know, an hour of what I could say to, you know, prospective, prospective questions, blah, blah, blah. And it was literally, Lauren was auditioning talent in that big kind of like studio room in Broadway. I don't know where they held the auditions. It always looked like where they would audition dances for like, A Chorus Line, you know, like. And 2, 3, 4, end hit, you know, but. And I came and they said, okay, Lauren's going to meet with you now. He came outside the door of the audition room and he said, you know, they've said very good things about you. I said, oh, thank you. And, you know, the job. I don't do a good Lauren impression, so somebody could do this for me. But.

[Dana Carvey]

Let'S guess. We said, the job is not easy, but you'll find it's exciting. It's that thing of, like, you're going to find your voice this year, and then you'll go on to, like, much, much bigger things. We like you. Go ahead. Something you like.

[David Spade]

How do you like New York?

[Carol Leifer]

Well, it was almost exactly like that. You have been told that Tuesday nights are late and you work very late. I went, yeah. No. Okay. So it lasted about a minute.

[David Spade]

Minute long meeting and.

[Carol Leifer]

And then I was hired. Yeah. It was a crazy. I love that documentary about the year because it was crazy and it was nutty. But I still, you know, I always like to tell young people, you know, we wrote. Wrote longhand on yellow pads then.

[David Spade]

You too? Me too. I say that all the time.

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah. So that was it. And then I was really the only woman writer that year. But, you know, it was amazing. Like, Murderer's Row of writers. Like, Smilo was an apprentice.

[David Spade]

Whoa.

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah. I always teased him, apprentice means you need to wear goggles in the writer's room. You know, John Swartzwelder and Jack Handy and George Meyer. Meyer and Don Novello. And it was just amazing. But I've had a lot of stuff on. I have to say. I look back and was like, I got. You know, I wrote a lot with Franken. We did this skit. Quirky. Yeah. This Tom Hanks sketch. You know, a lot of people don't know. As you guys know, you can write a sketch and have it at. Read through, and if they pass on it, you can bring it back a few more times.

[David Spade]

Not and It's a little stinky, but you bring it back.

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah. And then Tom Hanks finally. Yeah, it over the finish line.

[David Spade]

Who was your cast? I can't remember.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah, let's talk about that a little bit. For people who don't know, but this pivotal year was the first year that Lauren came back right after leaving with the. The seminal cast of all time in 1980. First year back. So a lot of pressure. Lauren is back. We've had the Billy Crystal, Martin Short, Christopher Guest year. We had the Eddie years with Joe Piscobo, and now Lauren Michaels is back. So who was on that show, Cass?

[Carol Leifer]

Well, it was Dennis Miller, of course.

[Dana Carvey]

Okay, thanks for the call. Shout out leafer. Okay, good.

[Carol Leifer]

You know, was Nora Dunn, Joan Zach, Dinitra Vance, then the guys.

[David Spade]

Was it Terry Sweeney?

[Carol Leifer]

Terry Sweeney. It was Randy Quaid, Anthony Michael Hall. Anthony Michael hall. Robert Downey Jr. Who I just saw at the Oscars.

[Dana Carvey]

Did he remember? I mean, but surely he did, right?

[Carol Leifer]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

Hey, Carol. All right.

[Carol Leifer]

It's like I remember you skateboarding down the halls of the 17th floor. Yeah, no, it was. You know, they talk about in the documentary, Lauren hired actors more than comedians. And it's that sort of. Oh, and Lovitz. Lovitz was a cast member and he did really well that year. I think he and Dennis were the. And Nora were the only people that.

[David Spade]

Were brought back after that survived the fire.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah, people don't. Do people know this at the end of the season, they. Some sketch. I was watching it live and then all the cast had to go into a fire, except three of them didn't have to go into the fire. I mean, it was really. Who wrote that?

[Carol Leifer]

Al.

[Dana Carvey]

You and Al?

[Carol Leifer]

I wish I remembered who wrote that. Yeah, it was. And then. Do you remember when Madonna came back the next year to host, he apologized for the entire 85.

[David Spade]

86 season or like a Dallas kind of thing.

[Dana Carvey]

My first studio. She was our cold open.

[David Spade]

Oh, and you were there, Dana?

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah, that was earlier.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah.

[Carol Leifer]

When did. So was you audition in one of those Chorus line rehearsal rooms like I saw them?

[Dana Carvey]

No, I just real quickly. I had auditioned at the Comedy store in like 20 people with no MC in the original room. And I followed Kennison at midnight before I went on, they said SNL is here. I don't think it was Lauren, but SNL is here. I bombed so bad, and Al Franken saw me at the punchline. I just bombed and bombed. And then it was. Show came around again real fast. I just went to IGB's you remember that little 100 seater?

[Carol Leifer]

Yes.

[Dana Carvey]

Rosie O'Donnell was headlining. I got a hold of Jan Smith. I said, I Lorne Michaels will come see me because we had the same My manager was managing him. I was with Bernie Brillston, Brad Gray. So then I met Rosie, who seemed like just like so confident in New York and everything. I can't believe how young we both were. But I got to do 40 minutes. Lauren came, brought Brandon Tartakoff, and then Cher. And I got 40 minutes in front of a regular audience instead of five following Kenison. And that's kind of how I got the show.

[Carol Leifer]

Wow.

[David Spade]

Did Cher do five? How was her set?

[Dana Carvey]

Cher came out and she had like a sequin dress on. She goes half funny, half funny. I don't know.

[David Spade]

I like it. Yeah. Do you believe I'm 74?

[Dana Carvey]

It's kind of reaching with the the leafer pod. I don't know what she gets it.

[David Spade]

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[David Spade]

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[Carol Leifer]

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[Carol Leifer]

When did you audition? Spade, when was yours?

[David Spade]

Thank you. I'll take this question, Dana.

[Dana Carvey]

I'm gonna stay quiet. Cause this is riveting.

[David Spade]

Funny story. I was born in. No, I'm kidding. Going too far back I went. It was Schneider. It's funny because you were mentioning New York clubs. I've never played them. And they had us audition off a young comedian special. They brought us in to audition at. Probably catch Rising Star, if that sounds familiar.

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah.

[David Spade]

And on a tough night. And they all came in from Downey to maybe Smigel to maybe Franken to. Not Lauren. I don't think Lauren is there, but I remember as me, Schneider, Tom Kenny. I always say this, like it's negative to Tom Kenny. It's not negative. Tom Kenny, he was a San Francisco act that was very. Just broader.

[Dana Carvey]

I knew him well. SpongeBob killed SpongeBob. And he. He owns most of Nevada.

[David Spade]

Yeah. But anyway, he's so rich. But Dennis Miller was there, too, and he was helping. And, you know, before I went on, he goes. I tell Dana, he goes, spud, you know, you don't want to kill too hard. They don't want some polished fucking road hack. And I go, so don't do good. He's like, all right. Three, two, one. I'm like, wait, Dennis, What? So anyway, I took his advice. Did not do well. His advice was the right thing. It just. In the whole complexities of it all, I didn't really get it. They were just really looking at the writing of the jokes. For me to be a writer, maybe a performer later, I thought it was to be a performer. So I'm like, yeah, I give him the whole JonBenet routine. Really amping it up. And then afterwards, I got off early because I said, I think I was supposed to do 20. I did 12, maybe. I think Schneider went off early, But Tom Kenny did do very well. But Rob and I got the call to come in and write. Write and perform.

[Carol Leifer]

Oh, wow. But you thought that night you hadn't done well. Right.

[David Spade]

I just knew it was a tough night. But it was. It was pretty sparse, you know, and it was probably half. It's probably 15 from SNL and 15 people. So regular people. So they don't laugh a lot, but they're just looking at sort of, you know, it's the same way I am now. I can watch a comic and even if not killing, I almost don't hear it. I just go, ooh, that was a good one. Ooh. You know, like, I like it. Who cares if they like it? I was like, I think that's good and well written or something about it. You can, you can tell like name that tune in two jokes, you go, I think this guy's got some game.

[Carol Leifer]

Yes.

[David Spade]

And so you know how it is. So at a certain point you know that. But at that point I didn't. But luckily some of the jokes, they kind of liked how I put them together and that really got me in as a writer that was not ready to be a writer with my legal path.

[Dana Carvey]

Would you have liked to have been a cast member, Carol? Did you ever think of that or audition for?

[Carol Leifer]

I, I think, well, you know, the weird year it was like, I don't know that I want to be a part of.

[David Spade]

Just throw yourself in the fire at the end.

[Carol Leifer]

But you know, I feel like that year I had one foot in and one foot out because I really wanted to concentrate on my stand up. So, yeah, I, I don't think I, I just. On the weekend, you know, weeks off, I'd be doing sets and all that. So. Yeah, no, certainly. Maybe if I had been on a more successful year, I would have dreamt about it.

[David Spade]

But did you ever take. Do you ever feel weird about taking a stand up bit and putting it into sketch? You feel like you're kind of wasting it and it's a selfish decision to go, do I try to get this on there? And then I can never use it again. But it would help here.

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah, I didn't really have that fear because as you boys know, you gotta get stuff on or it's a very bad feeling there, you know.

[David Spade]

That's a good way to put it.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah.

[David Spade]

I'm not getting things off to say and people start ignoring you and it's like, oh, no. They go, you're not even a formidable opponent here. You're just, yeah, yeah, you want to get on. So it's of course goes into the show if it can.

[Carol Leifer]

Exactly. So I always felt like if I had to take for my act. Dig away.

[David Spade]

Yeah.

[Carol Leifer]

If it keeps you alive at the show.

[David Spade]

100.

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah.

[David Spade]

That's so crazy. But people don't think of that. But it is a weird thing goes through your head. You're like. Because you're running out of ideas quickly.

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah.

[David Spade]

Every host looks the same and you're like, wait, I gotta I got this guy and the next week it's Corbin Bernson. And then it's. You know, I think I had.

[Dana Carvey]

Corbin Bernstein was there when I did it.

[David Spade]

Yeah, he was. I think he was an overlapping.

[Dana Carvey]

Great guy. I think it was the third host. Yeah, right.

[David Spade]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And funny.

[Carol Leifer]

And I just. Sorry, I'm show dropping the Oscars a couple of times.

[David Spade]

Please do.

[Carol Leifer]

John Litho was presenting this year, and I saw him, the writers hanging out in the green room. And I saw him and I said, you guest hosted the year that I wrote on snl. And he was like, oh, you know, he like. Well, he was very sweet. He was like, oh, you must have been a young child when you work there. I said, yes, of course, child labor. But no, I told him that he was such a great host. He learned every writer's name that week, and he was incredible. And he remembered the sketch that we.

[David Spade]

Had written for him that got on.

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah, yeah. So he was amazing and still is.

[Dana Carvey]

Did you ever. So what other can you tell us about the Oscars? You were at the Oscars.

[David Spade]

You wrote on them.

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah, I wrote on the Oscars.

[Dana Carvey]

And you wrote. So Conan's team brought you in or.

[David Spade]

Whatever, or how does it work?

[Carol Leifer]

And then this is my 11th time. I was part.

[David Spade]

Is there writers showed a lot for.

[Dana Carvey]

The Oscars over the years? Yeah, yeah.

[David Spade]

Are you baked in and then Conan can bring some extra people? Is that how it works?

[Carol Leifer]

No, Conan has his own team of people. And then there's a show team that I'm part of.

[David Spade]

Okay.

[Carol Leifer]

I don't know if you guys know this guy, John Max. He's a head writer of many, many great. He's. He's the guy to go to for your award shows. And. Yeah. And then we.

[David Spade]

Is Valanche in there?

[Carol Leifer]

No, no. Bruce Blanche. But yeah, it's a good group and it's fun. You guys know, it's fun writing.

[David Spade]

Of course.

[Dana Carvey]

Well, who's the greatest host that you've written for? Did you write for Billy? Did you write for Billy?

[Carol Leifer]

Yes, I wrote for Billy a couple times. Billy's great. I'm going to say on this podcast. They've all been great.

[Dana Carvey]

I loved Billy's Broadway songs about the current movies. I'm a wicked man. You know, I mean, it's so Billy was just great, great.

[David Spade]

I don't know if he was the first one to go into the movies and be like, they'd use the actors or the real movie. He'd be inside of them.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah, he was in there.

[David Spade]

That was Funny as shit. Yeah.

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah. Well, Troy Miller used to direct.

[David Spade]

Oh, right.

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah. And I loved Conan's substance parody. How funny was that?

[Dana Carvey]

That was because for people who haven't seen the movie, he crawled out of. In the movie, Demi Moore sort of becomes a wake a walking corpse or like a monster. Anyway. Climbed out of her backside. I mean, to start the 119th Oscar show. His head is. I mean, it was. It was definitely catching. It was like, okay, we got something different here.

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah. But even his. I loved his. His musical number was a lot. Like, it reminded me of the great Billy stuff too.

[Dana Carvey]

Like that he was. I thought he did great.

[David Spade]

I thought for Conan, it was a little edgier than normal for him to say, like, it's halftime. Usually Kendrick would be calling Drake a pedophile. Like a pedophile. Joke is kind of a lot for the Oscars and Conan, I was fine with it, but I thought, oh, good, at least he's out of the box a little bit.

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah, yeah, it was. Look, funny is funny. But. Yeah, I agree that.

[David Spade]

I'm just. I'm saying I'm just surprised. Sometimes they don't. They. They tamp down a few things at different shows. You know, they go, I don't know if that's what we do here, that kind of thing. But at least they're saying, hey, it's getting harder and harder to get people watched. Let's just go crazy. Some of these things pay off these days. Like, get out there and shake it up.

[Carol Leifer]

Exactly.

[David Spade]

It's fun to have more free reign. It's hard to get jokes killed. It's like, ah, come on, come on.

[Dana Carvey]

So look, just so the people familiarize. So you wrote 12 times for the Oscars. You wrote for Seinfeld. I mean, can we talk about that a little? Has Jerry changed? Has Jerry changed? We know him pretty well. We had him on the podcast.

[Carol Leifer]

Yes, I heard it. It was great. Yeah, Jerry. Jerry is a great, great guy. He made all my dreams come true a couple of weeks ago because I was in New York, and as you can see, I'm a big Beatles fan.

[Dana Carvey]

I have. Don't get me started.

[David Spade]

Did you go to the Beat the Bowery or something? Yes.

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah.

[David Spade]

How great?

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah. And not only did we. I go with him to see McCartney at the Bowery Ballroom, but afterwards, there was a little after party, and he introduced me to.

[David Spade]

That's as good as it gets.

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah. And he said my name. He said, hello, Carol, and kissed me on the cheek.

[Dana Carvey]

Whoa, he kissed you on the cheek?

[Carol Leifer]

Kiss me on the cheek. Yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

He doesn't do that too.

[David Spade]

I. Yeah, I haven't seen it.

[Carol Leifer]

I know. So.

[Dana Carvey]

Seem like a really nice lady, you know. So I get a little. I gave her a peka on a cheekies, you know, just to kind of cheer up the whole room, you know. Then David Spade came over, kind of buzz killed it. Not as impressive as Carol.

[David Spade]

Well, you guys, I have to say this is. Would you say that. So as far as musical living legends, I'd say McCartney, there's Mick Jagger, there's. I mean, there's a couple, but those two definitely could be the top two. Or I'm sure I'm spacing on some people. But Ringo, I mean, if you're in the Beatles, you're up there. Of course. Yes. And Mick is such a. Just a worldwide phenomenon of, you know, legend. So who else is up there? Like, it's still. Because when you see Paul, you just get like shook a bit.

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

I'm gonna ask you. I want to ask you about your introduction to the Beatles and your lifelong love affair. Because I was. We're in the same age group. And then to meet him later on. But to me, I'm sorry, there's just the Beatles and then there's incredible bands. Zeppelin, Stones, Pink Floyd and then, you know, go on and on Eminem and. But there's just one Beatles because there's just too much music and too much revolutionary things going on. So were you a classic I want to hold your hand in 64?

[Carol Leifer]

Or.

[Dana Carvey]

When did I see a. Yeah.

[Carol Leifer]

Yes, yes. I mean, I was lucky that.

[David Spade]

Yes, yes, yes.

[Dana Carvey]

The whole ride as a little, little, little girl.

[Carol Leifer]

As a little, little fetus.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah.

[Carol Leifer]

I was introduced. No. You know, I have an older sister who's five years older and a brother who's 11 years older. So I heard their music a lot as a kid and remember the Ed Sullivan show, them coming on, going crazy. You know what a happening it was. It's hard to explain to people how revolutionary their haircuts were. I mean, that it was like, what, What?

[David Spade]

Just. Just the haircuts alone shot him up the chart.

[Carol Leifer]

Alone. I was lucky enough in 66. Yes. 1966.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah.

[Carol Leifer]

My brother was home from University of Chicago and the night of the Beatles concert, he said, because we lived on Long island, hey, hey, squirt, you want to go see the Beatles? And I was like, yeah. And we drove to Shea. We tickets that night. My sister, who had gotten tickets six months before, she was like four rows in front of us and saw the.

[David Spade]

Beatles at Shay at Shay St. That's a. That's a legendary big thing for a.

[Dana Carvey]

Band, rock and roll band to play a giant.

[David Spade]

They have two PV amps. Dana, wasn't it some shitty sound or whatever?

[Dana Carvey]

I think they only did 30, 35 minutes. They couldn't hear themselves, the roar of the crowd. They just couldn't, you know.

[David Spade]

Oh, yeah. Just not love it, though. How great. Oh, my God. What a part of history.

[Dana Carvey]

If you had a not famous Beatles song like, what is one of your favorites? I'll throw out some. She's leaving home and I love her. No reply. Hard day's night. I want to hold your hand, which I think is. I think that she loves you is a masterpiece. It's like 2 minutes and 5 seconds. But are you kind of a Strawberry Fields or are you Penny Lane? Yeah, five seconds.

[Carol Leifer]

I kind of am very wedded to their early stuff because it reminds me of the mania and of first seeing them and all that. So, like, I saw her standing there, you know, that early, early stuff. But I'm also a Wings fan, you know.

[David Spade]

Yeah, me too.

[Carol Leifer]

And I just worked with Lawrence Juber, who was like his guitar player in Wings. So I run the gamut, you know, with McCartney.

[David Spade]

Did you tell McCartney you saw him at the Shea Stadium?

[Carol Leifer]

What did you say?

[David Spade]

Did you tell him you saw him?

[Carol Leifer]

No, I was too.

[David Spade]

He would have probably freaked out that he doesn't hear that every day.

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah, but he was talking about, you know, they didn't. People couldn't have their phones that night at the Bowery Ball.

[David Spade]

They J Stadium.

[Carol Leifer]

No, I brought my landline.

[Dana Carvey]

2025 is calling Spudley.

[Carol Leifer]

Okay, I know, but it was because they were. And to watch the show because we were up in this little. You know, I mean, maybe has like 300 people in the whole place, but to watch a concert now with people not having their phones, it was such a joy because it's like, oh, right. People actually experience it and not wanting it for later. Yeah, it's incredible.

[David Spade]

Were you sitting or was it standing room only? Was it sitting? You get to sit.

[Carol Leifer]

The VIPs, like Jerry and his plus one were up on a balcony, you know, so we were standing. But you wanted to stand. Everybody was standing. There was no.

[David Spade]

Well, you stand every song anyway because it's a hit. So you stand up anyway.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah, yeah, Every song's a hit, basically. Can I do a clumsy kind of forward thing? Because during the peak of the Seinfeld years and how many seasons did you write on that show or.

[David Spade]

3.

[Dana Carvey]

3. There I think they were in the Rolling Stone, almost like they were so. Got so big, there's only the Beatles, but they were almost like a Beatlees sitcom. And. And I'm always interested in the dynamic between Jerry and. And Larry, you know, because that. This partnership. And so how did you get hired for that? They just already knew you loved you. They knew you from Letterman, and you were just. Was that an easy kind of.

[Carol Leifer]

Well, we really go so far back as to when I auditioned at the Comic Strip along with Paul Reiser and Rich Hall.

[David Spade]

Paul Reiser, wow.

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah. Jerry was the emcee and he put us through the audition. And then when I auditioned to catch a rising star, Larry David was the emcee, and he put me through that audition. So I go back to my first days at these clubs with them. But what happened with Larry and Jerry was weird because I remember they. I got a call from both of them and it was like, why are my friends calling me together in 93? That was probably like conference call. They had to be on the same phone. But I was like, why are they calling me? And they were like, hey, do you want to write on Seinfeld? I was like, yeah. But my advantage was, and I think other writers advantage was they didn't want people who'd written for sitcoms before because Larry hated all other sitcoms. They wanted people new to the task. So I was lucky that way. So that's how I got hired.

[David Spade]

LinkedIn is something we've all heard about. Dana, you've heard about. I've heard about it. And as a small business owner, you don't have the luxury of clocking out early.

[Dana Carvey]

Nope.

[David Spade]

The biz is on your mind 24 7. So when you're hiring, you need a partner that grinds it out as hard as you do. That hiring partner's LinkedIn jobs. When you clock out, LinkedIn clocks. It makes it easy to post your job for free, share it with your network, and get qualified candidates that you can manage all in one place.

[Dana Carvey]

I like it. This is a famous one. I think this is one of the first online job hiring entities. And it does make it easy. It's a pain in the bottom. You have to interview tons of people. They don't work out. You post your job. LinkedIn's new feature can help you write the job description and then quick at your job in front of the right people with deep candidate insights.

[David Spade]

Yeah, you don't have to know much. They're going to like walk you through it. It's, you know, you don't have time to even like figure out how to do this. You just, you know, post your job for free or you can pay to promote it. Promoted Jobs gets three times more qualified applicants. You get qualified candidates. I've always heard this. At the end of the day, the most important thing to your small business is the quality of candidates. You want the right people. With LinkedIn you can feel confident you're getting the best.

[Dana Carvey]

That's right. Based on LinkedIn data, 72% of SMBs using LinkedIn say that LinkedIn helps them find high quality candidates.

[David Spade]

Listen, you share it with your network. You can let your network know you're hiring. You can even add hashtag hiring frame for your profile picture and get two times more qualified candidates.

[Dana Carvey]

If you're curious, David, what can they do?

[David Spade]

Well, you find out why more than 2 1/2 million small businesses use LinkedIn for hiring. Find your next great hire. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/candidates. That's LinkedIn.com/candidates to post your job for free. What applies though, Dana?

[Dana Carvey]

Terms and conditions.

[David Spade]

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[Dana Carvey]

I don't. And I need a vibe. You know what, David, you may not know this because you know, but Quince has all the must haves, like Mongolian cashmere sweaters. I must have iconic 100% leather jacket and comfortable pants.

[David Spade]

All I want is comfortable pants.

[Dana Carvey]

You know what, I looked at their website and there's a lot of just cool, simple stuff, things that you really need, like a good button down shirt. We need it for stand up, right? They have this Quince commuter stretch, peaked long sleeve button down.

[David Spade]

Oh, good.

[Dana Carvey]

And I'm going to order one.

[David Spade]

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[Dana Carvey]

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[David Spade]

Whoa. That's Q U I N C E dot com fly to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com sly.

[Dana Carvey]

It was such a, you know, interesting sensibility on that show. How it was kind of just about little things and everyone knows the soup Nazi and the puffy shirt. It's like trying to catch the win. It's like. It's even now with curb your enthusiasm these last 15 years, it's like, what is that sensibility about? You know, it just. But it really pops. The cast was super likable, but there's something about the writing. So smart and subtle and. And well observed. So that's just a. I mean, that must. That's the best writer's room on a sitcom in history, I think. I. I'm not on Cheers or anybody else, but I think it's gotta be.

[David Spade]

As far as it worked. I mean, it just worked through the roof. And our greatest. I think Cheers was more considered just a great sitcom. And Seinfeld was a little off kilter. Not just a sitcom. It was like sort of a different thing going on there.

[Dana Carvey]

What is the thing about Seinfeld? What do you think made it go so huge?

[Carol Leifer]

You know, in a lot of ways, it was like SNL to me because you had to pitch your ideas to Larry and Jerry. You would go in and set a time to go in and it was like two sentences, kind of max, you know, like. Like, I went in. You know, Elaine thinks the Korean manicurists are talking about her behind her back at the nail salon, you know, and that kind of thing go, yeah, yeah, we're doing that. Yeah, yeah, that's a great idea. Yeah, yeah. And then you pitch other ones. And he had this habit of, like, rolling a shield and going, no, no, no. You know, I could see that on another show now.

[David Spade]

You know, does he say expand in the room? Like. Like some ideas are a little more than that. Like, he'll go, I like it so far. What else is on there? Or just go write it.

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah, he would be like, if he likes something like that, or like, Elaine thinks there are skinny mirrors at Barney's, you know, he would go, yeah, yeah, I love that. But, you know, come back with, like, a ge. A Jerry and Kramer story, you know, that kind of thing. But it was the same thing. Like, if you pitched ideas and it was a lot of, I don't know, you know, you sort of started to get anxious about it. But when he likes something, he was so effusive about it, it lifted you to go off and do it right.

[David Spade]

Exciting.

[Carol Leifer]

I do think. And let's go back to the Beatles here.

[Dana Carvey]

I'd love to.

[Carol Leifer]

Made the show great. Was the two of their sensibilities together. I always call it kind of like Lennon McCartney, you know, Jerry the more kind of pop sensibility, you know, friendly, stand up and Larry being more the linen, you know, the curmudgeon having the edge and that together, it made it lightning in a bottle.

[David Spade]

Yeah, for sure.

[Dana Carvey]

That's interesting. That makes sense to me. Yeah.

[Carol Leifer]

And even working on Curb, I know Larry so well from Seinfeld that it was the same thing at Curb. You know, you'd go in and pitch ideas and he would love them or not like them. But when he loves something, he was. He always like. I remember the first time I pitched him Curb ideas, I said, you know, when you are with regular people, and by regular people, I mean not comedians, and you make a joke and one of them goes badum. You know, how you want to strangle them, you know, you know, the equivalent of saying the N word, you know, and he was like, he loved that, you know, so when he loves something.

[David Spade]

And you're on a good roll, you can for sure. How fun.

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah, you.

[David Spade]

You wrote on so many though. I've been looking at you. Did Modern Family also Hacks, right?

[Carol Leifer]

Yes, Hacks just won an Emmy.

[David Spade]

Hacks is a big deal. Of course.

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah.

[David Spade]

I think I saw Hannah at that party the other night. I don't know her, but I think I saw her walk by. Is she possibly taller than I would think? She seemed like. I thought she was tiny and isn't.

[Carol Leifer]

Amazing that she's Lorraine Newman's daughter?

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah.

[David Spade]

I did not, you know, I didn't even put that together for so long.

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah. And sometimes when she delivers lines, it's like, I totally.

[David Spade]

Oh, yeah. Love Lorraine. I saw Lorraine at the thing.

[Carol Leifer]

Oh, yeah.

[David Spade]

50Th. Yeah.

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah. Well, Dana, were you there?

[Dana Carvey]

No, I had the flu.

[Carol Leifer]

Oh, okay.

[Dana Carvey]

So I missed it. But I already. I've already thought about just what I'm going to do on the 60th. Yeah, it's going to be great.

[David Spade]

I thought about the hundredth what I'm going to do.

[Dana Carvey]

Keep it a little quiet.

[David Spade]

Keep it real on it.

[Dana Carvey]

Don't start getting curious.

[David Spade]

Leaf when people say but dumb bump. I literally. It's like cutting your balls. It's such a weird move to. To say you're. This is a bad joke, you're stupid and that they look cool or something.

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah, yeah.

[David Spade]

It's a weird. It's all weird vibe.

[Carol Leifer]

And he loves all that small stuff. Like, he loved. I had a pitch about, you know when you pitch something to TV people execs, and they go, you know, I don't love it. Yeah. I don't like. It's like, nah, I don't love it. And, you know, that's the kind of thing he sparks too.

[David Spade]

Like, immediately, I felt like a story when that's in the ether. Now when I'm out and there's a situation, I almost think of Curb. I was out somewhere and this might even be an episode, but I said bye to everyone. It took me forever to get out to the front and say, bye, bye, bye. And then I forgot my keys inside and I go, I'm not going back in. I cannot go through there again. And just that awkwardness of, like, I just left, but I. They think I'm coming in for. I ditched them or something. And so it just made me think. That's one of those weird things that makes you think of that show. You go, I could picture him in some awkward situation, but. But every episode I watch, I think, oh, this is such a good little weird curveball. Like, just everyday thing, but they make a whole meal out of it.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah. You want. You see stuff like that. Like the puffy, corduroy pants. Looks like he's excited. Okay. We'll build a whole episode around that. And you go, it's so simple. It's so funny. Everybody knows what he's talking about, but.

[Carol Leifer]

Or he would totally. He would have totally made something about that. Totally.

[David Spade]

Yeah.

[Carol Leifer]

Have you Talked about the SNL 50th, like, ad nauseam Spade or.

[David Spade]

Well, not really. I mean, it's funner with people that have been there because we talked a little bit about it. But what is your experience of it? You can say anything you want.

[Carol Leifer]

Oh, well, I wanted to know. I was only there for the concert, so I didn't see.

[Dana Carvey]

What did you think of the concert?

[Carol Leifer]

Concert was amazing.

[David Spade]

Yeah.

[Carol Leifer]

Even with my shitty seats, it was amazing.

[David Spade]

I think everyone I talked to had shittier seats than they thought they were gonna have.

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah, maybe this was. I'd have a better view at home.

[David Spade]

I said, lovett's. Were you at the American Girl store for that, too? He goes, no, I was at Banana Republic. That was very close to Radio City. Yeah, yeah. No, the 50th was a blast to just goof around and. But the. The. The. The weekly events of that was that night what you went to, which was, I think, more fun than people thought. And. And then the next night there was like a little toast thing. And then the next night was the show. So I did get a lot of it. That's why I wasn't at the party forever the night of the show because, say, I think it was a Sunday. And also I just done everything with everybody all week and I thought, there's a three story party. I don't think I could do it that long.

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah.

[David Spade]

Did you go to that thing or did you skip it all?

[Carol Leifer]

Well, the next night, the Saturday night was the Writers Guild Awards.

[David Spade]

Okay.

[Carol Leifer]

And we won for Hacks.

[David Spade]

Oh, hacks.

[Dana Carvey]

Never. Because doesn't kind of. Don't they win kind of everything?

[David Spade]

I mean, they win a lot of stuff.

[Carol Leifer]

Well, I'll say this past season, we sure did.

[David Spade]

Yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

Where's your hardware? You got a hardware back there somewhere? I mean.

[David Spade]

Yeah, you should throw it right up there in that cabinet.

[Carol Leifer]

I do have an Emmy, but it's in the other room.

[David Spade]

But I think it needs to be on camera also. Is it interesting? Go from. You go from snl, you go to Seinfeld and you're like, everywhere. Feels like it just couldn't be as good. Then you get a show like Hacks. It's a great show. And you go, okay, that feels good. Modern Family's a great show.

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah, yeah. No, it's.

[David Spade]

It's a good streak.

[Dana Carvey]

So when shows are really.

[David Spade]

What's the common denominator?

[Dana Carvey]

One common denominator, but I'm not. Let me just think what it is.

[Carol Leifer]

What would it be?

[Dana Carvey]

Start at? Carol. Carol King. No, no, no, no. But anyway, I mean, you must be proud. I mean, it is pretty cool how many great shows you've worked on. So clearly you're a valuable commodity. And I would like to negotiate whatever your next deal is.

[David Spade]

Personally, you're not going to push.

[Carol Leifer]

You guys know as well as I do, to be in a room with other funny people is just. It's just the greatest. I mean, as much as I love stand up and I saw you recently spayed at the image. There's. There's nothing better to me than being in a room with funny people. It's just the greatest thing. It's like, I always think it's like, you know, you go to a foreign country and say you're there for like a month, like Italy, and, you know, everybody's speaking Italian and nobody speaks English. And then like an American comes in, you're like, oh, my God. You know, and you just. To me, that's like with any comedian, there's always this kind of just instant bond.

[Dana Carvey]

And yeah, I'm always happy if I'm at some event, then I see a comedian or a comedian I know. And that we're just gonna look at it all differently and try to.

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah.

[David Spade]

This clown. On everything going on. That was the same thing. I went to some Oscar thing the other night and zip. Right the comedians and then just sort of make fun of the whole situation.

[Carol Leifer]

Exactly.

[David Spade]

It's the only comfortable spot.

[Dana Carvey]

But that's why I like sketches, because I was a standup and then I'd never done sketch comedy. So then it was like, oh, you say that. I say this. We're working together. And then of course, you get funnier. If you're in a writer's room and people are starting to riff, your brain gets kind of associative into this. Everything's funny. Or how about this angle? How about this? So I think I totally relate to that. If someone wanted to see, I said Carol Leifer is a great stand up. Is the. What would you want them to look at?

[Carol Leifer]

I don't.

[Dana Carvey]

I would say probably some of your 25 lettermans.

[Carol Leifer]

You know what? I really have a great affection for my first Letterman, which was in 1982. Just because, you know, your first time, like, oh, my God, I'm on TV and people are seeing this. And what I dreamed about, to me that's like my most precious kind of memory. Because the first.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah. Was Fernwood Tonight. And when I came out and so I know that was. Does anyone remember Fernwood Tonight? Martin Mull. And funny.

[Carol Leifer]

It is.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah. Kind of a parody of a talk show.

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah.

[David Spade]

Did you ever work with Wendy Liebman?

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah, this is like the perfect setup. I am working with Wendy Liebman on March 20 at Comedy and Magic Club.

[David Spade]

Oh, comedy magic. How great.

[Carol Leifer]

Also with the great Kathy Labman. So three funny ladies all together.

[David Spade]

She's great.

[Dana Carvey]

Publicizing it as three funny ladies or. No, just it's a comedy show.

[Carol Leifer]

I think they're calling it the Ladies of Laughter.

[David Spade]

Oh, the Ladies of the Night.

[Dana Carvey]

Dave and I go out as the Pip Squeaks of funniness.

[David Spade]

The Pip Squeaks. Twinsies.

[Dana Carvey]

Two little pixies with a dream.

[David Spade]

We just did a corporate together. It was pretty fun. We never done one. It was pretty fun, right?

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah. How much time did you have to do?

[David Spade]

Well, we kind of. Dana kind of tweaked, tinkered with that.

[Dana Carvey]

This is inside baseball. But we kind of like as a stand up. Well, I love being out there with a friend, just riffing. So I said to the guys in charge, I said, because they wanted 45 each, you know, and it's hours in a ballroom, all that. I said, you don't. How about we do 30 each or 25 to 30, and then we come out together and just sort of talk to the audience, and they yell stuff out. And he goes, you would do that?

[David Spade]

Yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

I'm gonna go out on a limb. I'm not gonna try to redo the deal.

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

We will come out without a script or our act, you know, and they're yelling out Garth or Tommy boy, and we have.

[David Spade]

It's a little chaotic, but it's, you know, because we threw it at him late. If we could have had a microphone up there or something. But it's just fun because they just. They also want to see a picture of us together or so, you know, whatever it. Out together. And it made it more fun for us, too.

[Carol Leifer]

That must have been a great gig.

[David Spade]

Yeah, it was super fun. They never had comedy, and they were like, oh, this is great.

[Dana Carvey]

So the sound was good. It's really important, you know, the sound is great.

[David Spade]

That's. That is important. You don't hear muffled jokes.

[Dana Carvey]

I didn't go. I don't go to sound checks. But I. They.

[David Spade]

The.

[Dana Carvey]

Jay Farrell played the night before some casino in West Virginia. I go, they need a sound check. How was the sound for Jay Farrell? Oh, it was great. He loved it. So then I go out. First thing I hear is a huge slap back. Hello, hello, hello. I can't stop the show and do a sound check. So it's difficult.

[David Spade]

You think they do a show every night? You think? I think they know what they're doing. And then you go, oh, they don't.

[Dana Carvey]

It's like, you know, what's an important thing, David, in life? And I don't know if you know this, but life insurance, you know, ethos.

[David Spade]

We got a good one here. Listen, life insurance is something everyone kind of thinks about, but you got to act, you got to make moves. You think it's out of the. You think it's maybe too expensive. You think it's a hassle. You just have to do it. These guys make it as easy as it could be, you know what I mean? Because you never know what's going to happen.

[Dana Carvey]

That's the thing, and it's a loving thing to do for your family, is to take out life insurance. And this is. This is a way to do that without it being, like you said, a giant hassle. You know, it's easy Easy to use. And they share how life insurance can protect your family, those you care about. Right?

[David Spade]

Listen, these companies, I've tried this where you try to get life insurance. It's so complicated. But let me. But, but with these guys, I think they saw that and they said, let's take out the confusion, let's take out the tedious process.

[Dana Carvey]

Yes.

[David Spade]

And they made. Ethos has made securing life insurance policies up to 3 million as smooth and as fast as possible. You know, you can apply for affordable life insurance quickly, easily online, all without a medical exam. What do you say? What's next?

[Dana Carvey]

No metal exam required. Just a few health questions. 100% online and you see your rate in minutes. This is, this sounds like a good, good way to get help.

[David Spade]

This is the way to go.

[Dana Carvey]

Listen, yeah, no hassle.

[David Spade]

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[Dana Carvey]

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[David Spade]

Notify trusted individuals of events like alarms or packages and set access windows for planned guests or even the dog walker. Without interrupting your day. Visit ADT.com to when every second counts, count on. ADT requires ADT Complete Pro monitoring plan and compatible devices. Copyright 2025 ADT LLC. All rights reserved.

[Carol Leifer]

Can I tell you a great story about Joan Rivers for that kind of stuff?

[Dana Carvey]

Yes, we would love it.

[Carol Leifer]

All right, so I had a corporate gig in New York when I was coming up, and they had booked Joan Rivers to just open the show and introduce me and leave. So I get there, you know, before her, obviously, and you know, like, you guys, you know, you don't travel with your agent or manager for these. So I show up and I see that there's no spotlight. So I say to the guy, the tech guy, yeah, I'm the comedian. I see you have a mic, but you don't have a spotlight. And he looks at me like, oh, sorry, we don't have your spotlight share. You know, like, you know, I'm some diva. I was like, no, people need to see me, you know, and he just like blew me off. It was so brilliant. So then Joan Rivers gets there, she says hello to me and she goes, where's the spotlight? And I go, I know, so. And the, you know, the tech guy was like hanging his head in chain. She Literally went on stage and she was like, yeah, she did her bit. You know, cue you doing your Joan Rivers impression. But she goes, listen, I'm gonna bring on the next act, but you be very nice to her, all of you, because there's no spotlight, and it's very unprofessional. And it was amazing. I mean, I love you, Joan Rivers. May you rest in peace.

[Dana Carvey]

We've all had these situations. I was in a club once, and I asked them to turn up the mic for the second show because I couldn't, you know, and they. They just turned it down. It's like just aggression and anger. Sometimes the club owner is a frustrated standup and kind of hate you, you know, it's like, so we turn.

[David Spade]

You can't get laughs out there. We're like, oh, I don't think they can hear me. Oh, is that why I'm like, yeah, that is why they can't hear me. People are yelling. I can't hear you.

[Dana Carvey]

Did you like the clubs on. On, you know, touring or going on the road, or did you just do it or, you know, were you in condos with other guys and ventriloquists and.

[Carol Leifer]

The comedy condo was the worst experience of my life ever. I did a gig, it was in Phoenix, and it was a comedy. Doing it with my friend Sue Kalinsky. We get there and we go to this disgusting comedy condo, and there's, you know, the other guy there and, like, disgusting. If you want to go, whatever. So about 7:00, sue and I get ready. We're getting ready to go to the gig, and we yell up to the. The guy, well, it's, you know, we're an hour away from Showtime. If you want to come down now, we're going. And the guy comes down, he's like, oh, I'm not a comic. I just live here.

[David Spade]

Oh, my God. Never heard of that.

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah. Had just one of their friends living in one of the rooms. I mean, if you don't call 91 1, then I. I really don't know what just.

[David Spade]

Oh, my God.

[Dana Carvey]

For people just. I mean. So you go to these cities, and instead of putting in a hotel, they'd have a comedy condo. And there was the main room or the head room. And if the headliner for the best place with its own bathroom. If you come too late, the Ventura Quest is in there with Chuck Wood. You can't look at his. Don't even look at Chuck Wood. Don't even. David Strassman, I think. No kidding.

[David Spade]

But openers get the Couch sometimes.

[Dana Carvey]

They're a unique breed. It's not a joke. That. That is definitely like that Anthony Hopkins movie. Chuck Wood was real, you know. You must have worked.

[Carol Leifer]

Before it gets too late, fellas, can I promote my new book?

[David Spade]

Yes, let's do it now. We're wrapping up.

[Dana Carvey]

Oh, my God. We should. We. We'll put it in the intro too.

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah, yeah. How to write a funny speech for a wedding, bar mitzvah graduation, and every other event you didn't want to go to in the first place.

[David Spade]

That's a good title.

[Carol Leifer]

So come on, It's Gonna fly.

[David Spade]

That's a good title. I like it.

[Dana Carvey]

So that is literally instructive and also humorous, but actually trying to help people with that process. Okay. Because say the title again.

[Carol Leifer]

How to write a funny speech for a wedding or mitzvah graduation and every other event you didn't want to go to in the first place.

[Dana Carvey]

Okay, I like it. And I want to ask you a question. So has no one written this book? Because I. I'm. I'm. I think it's a great idea.

[David Spade]

Yeah, it is.

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah. No, no one has written. I wrote it with my comedy writer friend Rick Mitchell. And no, no comedy writers have written a book like this. A lot of stiffs, you know, from the, you know, corporate headquarters, whatever, have written it.

[Dana Carvey]

But no, not funny people.

[Carol Leifer]

Right. We're tired of going to events where someone just stinks up the room with their horrible speech. And we felt like we could give them some help.

[David Spade]

Well, that's the number one fear, right? It's public speaking or it's way up there. So.

[Dana Carvey]

Yes.

[Carol Leifer]

And most comedians greatest fear is not speaking in front of them.

[David Spade]

How sad.

[Dana Carvey]

And obviously, I just want to. Where. If people want to get this book, you just go on Amazon. It'll be on that.

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah, it's there. Amazon. You can just click.

[David Spade]

Click a few buttons. Yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

And if you don't remember the title, you can say Carol Leifer book.

[Carol Leifer]

Yeah, exactly. Very easy. Oh, I wanted to ask you, Spade, because when I saw you, I looked your bit about Amber Alerts.

[David Spade]

Yeah, I got an Amber Alert. I think that day that was new. Got an Amber Alert, Dana. And I just want to know how much investigation I'm supposed to be in charge of. What is my job here? What are my duties? If the kid isn't laying on my dashboard, that's it. I feel like the search is over.

[Dana Carvey]

It's a cold case that crushed it the day.

[David Spade]

Oh, yeah, I did it the other night. Yeah. Yeah, that's new. Thank God. Because I got one.

[Dana Carvey]

That was. You were killing at that point. I just said to the guy, I go, can we get him off now? I mean, I think he's over.

[David Spade]

I give him the light. Yeah, can we just.

[Dana Carvey]

Is it okay to give him a light? I mean, I don't want to push, but yeah, because you were killing so hard.

[David Spade]

Danny goes, actually, I got a light. I'm gonna run in the back.

[Dana Carvey]

You always want to sabotage your friend if you can.

[David Spade]

God, there's guys, the Comedy Store, they get the light, and it means, now start your act. Because I'm, like, wrapping up. They're like, what else is going on? I'm like, there's no what else is going on? You're doing your last bit and getting off. Not like, what else is going on? Let's go into the crowd. Yeah, what else? You're done. That's just. What else.

[Dana Carvey]

What else is going on?

[David Spade]

That's a good special. What else? All right, Carol, thank you very much.

[Dana Carvey]

Thanks for being here on your career, your book. Nice to see you. You're always. She's one of the most likable people that you know in this scene. I think you have that reputation. But, yeah, I'm always happy to see you, and you're very kind. I'm just going to say it.

[Carol Leifer]

I just love you guys. You're just so. You're both so incredibly talented, and I enjoy your talent.

[David Spade]

This has been a presentation of Odyssey. Please follow, subscribe Leave a Like a review all this stuff. Smash that button, whatever it is. Wherever you get your podcasts, Fly on the Wall is executive produced by Dana Carvey and David Spade, Jenna Weiss Berman of Odyssey, and Heather Santoro. The show's lead producer is Greg Holtzman.