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David Spade
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Dana Carvey
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David Spade
So lately I've been trying to be more intentional with my wardrobe, if you know what that means.
Dana Carvey
I like that. Yeah.
David Spade
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Dana Carvey
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David Spade
Yeah.
Dana Carvey
Mm.
David Spade
Yeah.
Dana Carvey
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Hank Azaria
Quince.com/fly my agent forbade me from doing.
David Spade
Oh really?
Hank Azaria
This is a question for you because like you don't Want to do that. It's crazy over there. You're going to enter a situation that is crazy political and you're going to be like a lamb at the slaughter in there. I wanted to act not just because I enjoyed the voices like we were talking about earlier, but it was a deeper, darker, like I really wasn't too comfortable being myself. I preferred being other people. And so to get up and Roy's whole thing was if you want to really act well on stage or film or tv, you have to be willing to expose yourself. Like really be yourself in front of people. Which I absolutely could not do. I couldn't do it. I showed my 16 year old son the Godfather for the first time. So I've been working on my veto cardio profession.
David Spade
Oh good.
Hank Azaria
It's good for disciplining. His name's. How come over here.
David Spade
Hank is area. Hank Azaria is in most things. You see.
Dana Carvey
He's in a lot of movies, a lot of TV shows and of course he's the, he's the full course the full monty of 800 episodes of the Simpsons. He's in each and every one since 1980.
David Spade
Good. He did a show Brockmire that was very well received. He's been in and out. I've seen him over the years. What a cool dude. And what a great time we had. Just blowing it up with him.
Dana Carvey
Yeah, he's got a great ear and he's, he just throws his voices out and it's from some of his characters. It's really fun. Fun to watch.
David Spade
Oh yeah, I did a lot of impressions.
Dana Carvey
Yeah, impression impressions too. We got, we'll get into the old timey impressions.
David Spade
Oh yeah, that's right.
Dana Carvey
I'll just say, I'll say two words for you people who were born in the 50s. Boris Carloff.
David Spade
Oh, that's right.
Dana Carvey
That's right. All right.
David Spade
Well have a good time with them. You'll have some laughs. Hank Aaria.
Hank Azaria
Hello.
Dana Carvey
I got pitched a script once where it was, I think it was a Japanese woman who was a thought that maybe I was her dad. In the script.
David Spade
I like that.
Hank Azaria
In the script.
David Spade
The script.
Dana Carvey
I, I, she was seeking me and thought maybe I was her dad. I don't know.
Hank Azaria
I have a. We should roll because I have a story along.
Dana Carvey
We, we're officially.
David Spade
Once I pop on, it's, it's on.
Dana Carvey
We were riveting. We had some pretty cool stuff going.
David Spade
I know, I'm like, I don't, I'm feel bad they're going to waste it.
Dana Carvey
But I Think we're still locked and loaded. Hank.
Hank Azaria
Hello, gentlemen.
Dana Carvey
Thanks for coming on our show. We're really happy to see you. I feel like you're a brother from another mother. Why are you apologizing?
Hank Azaria
Did I apologize?
Dana Carvey
I thought you said I interrupted you. Oh, no. So, my brother from another mother. Because when I hear you and I see you do these things and you inhabit them, and I just totally relate to how much fun it is and that certain voices make you really happy, you know, more than other voices.
Hank Azaria
Yes. That's a tremendous compliment coming from you. And, yeah, I know you. I've, you know, enjoyed your. Your voices a lot over the years, you know.
Dana Carvey
Thank you.
Hank Azaria
Yeah. Incredible.
David Spade
What about this voice?
Hank Azaria
That's a good voice that lives in a sword. Do you remember, David? We used to run into each other a lot back in the day. And you used to say to me, please. Something used to say to me, hey, go. Hey, could I do voices on the Simpsons? Listen,
David Spade
that's good one.
Hank Azaria
That's good. That's good.
David Spade
You need that, by the way. What a dumb thing to say to the guy. Everyone's like, can I be on this?
Hank Azaria
I don't think you really were.
David Spade
I think I was kidding.
Hank Azaria
I think you were just having a little fun.
David Spade
Even though the Simpsons is still on. I don't know if you know this. Still on.
Hank Azaria
I knew that.
David Spade
Right. And still funny. That's the hardest part.
Hank Azaria
Yeah, the. The writers do an amazing job. They really do. I don't know where they. Some. They. They reach for some strange story lines these days, but you can't blame them. After like 800 episodes, they have to.
David Spade
I think when Conan left, I think he was secretly hoping it would all collapse.
Hank Azaria
That was the craziest thing. Like that he, you know, left to. To host a late night talk show. I mean, he had never even done standoff.
David Spade
I know.
Dana Carvey
Yeah.
David Spade
It was a pretty out of the blue. Even though we knew him, we knew he was funny, but for Lauren and like, who's it going to be? And Conan and to have it work.
Hank Azaria
Yeah, it was. Who was the head of NBC that just decided. Was it Warren Littlefield? I was very insane.
David Spade
It wasn't tartar sauce. He was gone. Brandon Tartar sauce.
Dana Carvey
Brandon Tartar sauce. Yeah, that. I know they had that. That was his birth name. They covered it up. Fun fact. But yeah, Conan and I were writing Hans and Franz, the Girly man dilemma, a movie, and they were considering me to do that job. And I was completely conflicted, you know, at that time. And. And then when Conan got it because I. You hung out with him enough. It kind of made sense. And then. You know what I mean?
Hank Azaria
Yeah. I mean, he was. He was the only writer at the Simpsons that would, like, sort of work the room with the. With the voice, act like, you know, you knew Conan was hilarious, whereas the other guys. It was sort of a Harvard Hasty Pudding, you know, almost MIT vibe to the way they approach things.
Dana Carvey
Kind of Slightly tortured. Yeah, yeah.
Hank Azaria
Sort of on the spectrumy and, you know, But Conan was just hilarious. But remember, do you guys know Jake Hogan? Remember, you guys know Jay Cole, writer.
Dana Carvey
Was he. Was he on SNL for a while or. There were a couple that came from snl. George.
Hank Azaria
George Meyer.
Dana Carvey
George Meyer, yeah. Which Robert Smiggle used to say, because George was very hard on the show itself when I. I was there my first year. And so he would kind of go around kind of as a joke and go, show dying. You know, that.
Hank Azaria
That. That became famous that. We knew that at the Simpsons.
Dana Carvey
Oh, it matriculated over there.
Hank Azaria
Yeah. I think there were another couple of SNL writers that came to the Simpsons and they sort of said that, yeah, they busted George on that. Yeah. And we would. We picked it up as sort of a catchphrase. Show dying.
Dana Carvey
Farewell show.
David Spade
Conan get up and act out, like, the voices. Or does he just pitch ideas he wouldn't do.
Hank Azaria
He's not a voice guy, really. But no, he would just. Neither. He would just kind of break into comedy, you know, while we were recording. He just would just be hilarious.
David Spade
Now, between.
Dana Carvey
He would violently convulse. I mean, Conan would be standing there and he's just doing. Yeah. I'd be like, the guy's like, what? It was like, you know, it's like a sudden convulsion.
David Spade
He would snap his head a little
Dana Carvey
bit, like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
David Spade
Was it from SNL to the Simpsons or the other way around?
Hank Azaria
I think Conan is SNL to the Simpsons for Conan, because then I think he went straight from the Simpsons to his Late Night the show.
David Spade
Oh, okay.
Hank Azaria
Conan would do things like maybe would he do this at snl? He would just kind of yell out, non sequiturs.
Dana Carvey
Sure.
Hank Azaria
In the writers room. And then they would actually. Then he'd like. It was like a game to turn it into an actual bit. Like, he. He would kept. He kept saying, jub, jub, jub, jub. He was like, what are you saying? And he just would say. And then that became like the name of Patty and Selma's pet lizard or something. He just would like, Free associate and turn them into bits.
David Spade
Yeah. He'd grab me and go, what do you think you're doing on the side of the show, dude? Like, you know, everything was, like, bitsy stuff, you know, but it was funny because also, I was new, and he knew he could push me around.
Hank Azaria
Did he? Did he? Was he What?
Dana Carvey
It's always 225.
David Spade
He could push a lot of 12. 103.
Dana Carvey
He's just under 7ft, 302.
David Spade
And.
Hank Azaria
Well, that brings me, actually, to a question I want to ask you guys.
Dana Carvey
We love questions.
Hank Azaria
See, I really do admire you both very much. And I love SNL. You know, I think I was 11 in 1975 when SNL premiered.
Dana Carvey
Yeah.
Hank Azaria
And it premiered very close to when PBS first aired Monty Python as well. We were, like, right next to each other.
Dana Carvey
Yep. I remember that whole era, those two.
Hank Azaria
Yes. And it totally blew my mind. I couldn't believe adults could be that silly and smart and funny. Like, gave me hope for the world, literally, those two shows. And so, you know, snl, to me, it still has this, like, mythic. It's. It's the apex of comedy to me. And, you know, always wanted. I never auditioned. I don't know why I never got myself together to do it. I think partly it's because I didn't start writing until much too late into my life, you know, to, like, figure it out. And then I was dying to host. Like, I was supposed to host. I had this NBC show a long time ago, and then the show got canceled, like, right away, so they canceled it. And I was like. I was. I do these charity poker things sometimes, and I was playing in a game at the table was, like, Bryan Cranston and Jon Hamm and Amy Schumer and Don Cheadle and I can't remember who else. And they're all talking about. They're all trading stories about when they hosted SNL. And after about 10 minutes, I went, yeah, I. I think I'm the only one here that. That's never hosted the show. And so then for the rest of the game, every time I lost a hand, it was. Maybe if you'd hosted that hand might have gone better for you. But then there was a time when I was.
Dana Carvey
That was Jon Hamm, right?
Hank Azaria
That was Ham, Yeah.
Dana Carvey
Because that's his sense humor.
Hank Azaria
Everybody. Everybody happily joined in on it. But then there was a time when I was, like, in my mid-30s. I was like, you know what? I want to, like, go back. I'm an audition. I'm just going to get my shit together. I know I'm old, but I'm going to just get my shit together and audition and my agent forbade me from doing it.
David Spade
Oh really?
Hank Azaria
The question for you because like you don't want to do that. It's crazy over there. You're going to enter a situation that is crazy political and you're going to be like a lamb at the slaughter in there.
David Spade
And you know, was that around the Chris Elliott years? Janine Garoppolo. I wonder when it would be because would be 90. Would it be the rep of like I might have been.
Hank Azaria
It was like 2000, 2001, 2002 in there.
Dana Carvey
Okay. So Will Ferrell had arrived and was about to exit, I guess.
Hank Azaria
Well, was it as hard as all that? You do hear stories about how it could be really rough.
Dana Carvey
Yeah. I would just say it all depends. I mean I think if your skill set seems perfectly adapted for it. So it's kind of like it's still based on characters, reoccurring characters, voices, you know, so I don't know. It would. I. It'd be very interesting to see you host it. I put you on the cast now. I mean, you know. Yeah, there is no.
Hank Azaria
That's what this is about for me. If you can make a couple of calls, I would highly appreciate it.
David Spade
Cast would be fun for you. Hosting would be fun also. But Lauren, what do you.
Dana Carvey
Lauren, what do you doing? Oh, I'm just looking at the list of show folk that. The ones that got away.
David Spade
Yeah.
Dana Carvey
Hank Azaria never just really, really like really wanted him but his agent didn't want him to block me.
Hank Azaria
No, I never got that far.
Dana Carvey
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David Spade
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Dana Carvey
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Dana Carvey
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David Spade
Yep.
Dana Carvey
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Dana Carvey
Do you? Yeah. That's so interesting because I thought that I couldn't find it because I was looking around, you know, Hanka's area host snl. I thought, you know, there's something had to have been there.
David Spade
Was there whispers? Was there a point where you go, this is the time I probably would have.
Hank Azaria
It was that I had this NBC show, okay. And I was all over it. I'm like, okay, I'm on an MNBC show.
David Spade
So this is a natural network. So.
Hank Azaria
And they did. They had set it up and then it got canceled. Like, it was one of those seven. They aired two and goodbye.
David Spade
It was a. I did an animated show for NBC and they said Dana's buddy Brad Gray made a deal to put on NBC. And I'm like, this is about a deadbeat dad. It's not like a family show. It's a cartoon. It's weird. I said, maybe it's more for hbo. And they're like, he goes, no, I gotta deal with NBC. We'll do. So like, helped him in a weird way. Meanwhile, NBC was like, this isn't really a family show. They called me ahead of time. It's airing in July. We're gonna air two episodes back to back and cancel it. And I was like, that.
Dana Carvey
That.
David Spade
What if it kills it? They're like, it won't. Anyway, so two and out. I was like, oh, my God, I've
Hank Azaria
had two of those two.
Dana Carvey
Almost exactly everything I ever did failed. Everything I ever did failed. Except. Except in Wayne's World, every pilot, every series, everything. I'm just. I don't want to. I'm just sort of curious. Was there potentially any conflict of interest with this person that Said, oh, you don't want to do snl?
Hank Azaria
No, I think he was being genuine.
Dana Carvey
Okay, so that helps.
Hank Azaria
I regret it. I think he felt like it would have been a step back in my career, you know, And I disagree. I should have had more balls and stuff.
Dana Carvey
Well, Phil Hartman, the late. Our awesome friend.
David Spade
You would have been like a Phil.
Dana Carvey
He was 38 and didn't even mean a thing. Because we're always. A lot of times, even today's cast, like, you know, Marcelo's 28 and he's playing somebody who's 60. You know, I mean, it's usually you're aging up, but Phil was just perfect, you know, used to be.
David Spade
They go, we need a dad type. We need a younger. But now everybody, game show host, dad,
Dana Carvey
straight man to the host also. And also can do all these other things you ask them to do, you know?
David Spade
So, yeah, I don't want you have
Dana Carvey
any regrets, though, because you had. You've had. Are having such an amazing career. In my mind, it's too.
Hank Azaria
It's too late. I have the regrets. I think. I think if I wrote more at the. I would have just done. I would have said, screw you. I'm just gonna put together something and do it, even just for fun, you know?
David Spade
Would you hate it if you auditioned and didn't get it?
Hank Azaria
Well, I mean, I'm used to it. Aren't we all used to that at this point?
David Spade
Actually, you never think you're gonna get.
Dana Carvey
No. If you never audition, you never get, you know, you never lose.
David Spade
Right. You just do it and you walk away and you. And they call and you go, what's this about? Didn't you have an audition today? And I go, oh, I already wrote it off as it's not happening. And like, no, it's happening. I'm like, oh, wait, let me look. What was it again?
Hank Azaria
See, no, I'm the opposite. I'm like, all over it to a point where I have to calm down.
David Spade
When I started, I was like. When I was in acting class, obviously I didn't finish all of them, but the.
Hank Azaria
Wasn't I in class with you for a while?
David Spade
Was I. Was that Ivana?
Hank Azaria
Yes. And Roy London.
David Spade
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Hank Azaria
I think that's where you said the Simpsons thing.
David Spade
Maybe that's because Roy.
Dana Carvey
Roy London. Yeah, I actually.
David Spade
I didn't get Roy London, Hank. I got passed down.
Dana Carvey
Roy something.
David Spade
Jv. Roy London. Because Brad was a. Brad Pitt was with our management and they said, go to. And Shanley went to Roy Lund watched like he was the Best. And I go, this would be great. And they go, great. You're going to go over here in this room. And this is the spillover room. And it was Ivana.
Hank Azaria
Well, in fairness, everybody started that way. David, you had.
David Spade
Oh, is that what happened? You don't start with Roy.
Hank Azaria
Like, yeah, you had to do like the farm system. And then they would bring you.
David Spade
I, I stayed in aaa, but actually Ivana was good. I liked her.
Hank Azaria
She was great.
David Spade
Yeah. And she got me to do better. Yeah.
Dana Carvey
So Roy London, how would you describe. Because what. I met him a few times and his philosophy of, of acting was so unique, I thought. And I don't know if you, how will you describe it? I'd have a way to describe it, but I want to hear you.
Hank Azaria
I really needed him badly because I was in there for like three years and I, I, I went because I was already on the Simpsons and had done a few things and Roy, like sized me up right away once I got out of Ivana and said, okay, you're not allowed to do any voices or even be particularly funny in here. You're just gonna be yourself. And I was like, oh, that's terrible.
David Spade
Yeah, what's that?
Dana Carvey
That's terrible.
Hank Azaria
Well, I didn't even real. I re. I realized that I, you know, I'm, I'm a mimic at, at heart. That's really the basis of everything for me. And I wanted to act not just because I enjoyed the voices like we were talking about earlier, but there was a deeper, darker, like I really wasn't too comfortable being myself. I preferred being other people. And so to get up and Roy's whole thing was, if you want to really act well on stage or film or tv, you have to be willing to expose yourself. Like really be yourself in front of you people. Which I absolutely could not do. I couldn't do it.
Dana Carvey
And neither could Peter Sellers.
Hank Azaria
Yes, it's true. Imposter syndrome. Yes. There's certain about. Do you, I mean, you know, Dana, are you like that at all? Like, do you Totally. Yeah.
Dana Carvey
Yeah. I was casting things. I had a T nle face for about three weeks. So I was casting things as the straight man playing myself. And I was just absolutely awful. But the lines were like, when I did a sitcom with Mickey Rooney and Nathan Lane in New York, I was the straight man. And the first day at the read through, Mickey pointed at me, said, you're the straight man. You know, I'd been doing stand up and everything. You hear me? Bang.
David Spade
Give him no jokes.
Dana Carvey
So I would just My question. I would ask questions. I was just a guy going, what are you doing? When's he coming home? This and that.
David Spade
I.
Dana Carvey
And I sucked. I was terrible. But, yeah, it's fun to do a character. I think a lot of people, like Rob Lowe said he would love to be in prosthetics and playing a character more than anything else.
David Spade
He's more a version of himself. Yeah, it's the opposite.
Dana Carvey
I mean, you can. You're so versatile that you could do. But you've done a lot of things where you're acting as a. As yourself, using yourself, and you're great.
Hank Azaria
Thanks to Roy. I mean, I did have a breakthrough in there one day.
Dana Carvey
What happened? What was the breakthrough?
Hank Azaria
You know, he finally, like. I was there for, like, three years, and he started. Everybody in that class would have their turn maybe two, three times a year, where you were sort of the focus. You know, it wouldn't be like you'd spend. They spend. He'd spend the whole three. By the way, I was in class when Brad Pitt had his breakthrough. That was an unbelievable thing to see.
David Spade
Oh, it was like one day, one class.
Hank Azaria
He didn't come much, but, yeah, he was, like, sorta having a little trouble. And then Roy just kind of said this or that. And all of a sudden you saw Brad Pitt appear before your eyes. Same. I saw Sharon Stone have a similar breakthrough in that.
David Spade
Oh, wow.
Hank Azaria
Sharon Stone was almost the point where she was in there for months. And you almost, you know, you. That person in class, you want to kind of pull him aside and say, maybe you shouldn't do this, because I don't know that you're getting the hang of this.
David Spade
It's not getting better. Yeah.
Hank Azaria
She was like. In my opinion, she was kind of one of those people. And then one day she just, like, had this breakthrough. And she was unbelievable in this scene. And like, ever after, she was incredible. But Roy. So I'm up there in front of Roy and I'm doing. We're doing a scene from a play, a Lanford Wilson play called Burn this, that Malkovich actually, the aforementioned, made. Made famous on Broadway. And doing the scene, and he goes there, right there. I do a line and go, what happened? You're going along fine. And then it's like you jump out of your body. Like, what happens to you? I was like. To be honest, I hear myself give, like, a tinny line reading. I think in my mind, I was trying to do, like, my version of how I imagine Malkovich would do the scene, because that's my Shtick, you know, not like I was imitating him, but.
David Spade
But it's still not exactly genuine. Right.
Dana Carvey
That's how Nicholas Cage works, you know.
Hank Azaria
Is that right? So I didn't like that.
Dana Carvey
He just says, in this next scene, I'm going to do Daniel Day Lewis. I go, really? And so it's kind of a wide shot with a woman. He comes in, he drops to his knees, he's going to do Daniel Day Lewis from the Name of the Father. And he doesn't tell the director or anybody. He just comes in, drop to his knees.
Hank Azaria
Why?
Dana Carvey
Why? Why? Total commitment, you know. Yeah. So that's how he does it. He just thinks acting should be. Should be an art form rather than just realism, you know.
Hank Azaria
Well, I'm kind of with him on that. Like, I'll. You can do that to play around or try a thing or a weird take or, you know, sometimes just having another actor in mind, you know, Woody Allen used to say that he thought he was doing such a direct Bob Hope impression that people gonna bust him on it.
Dana Carvey
Yeah.
Hank Azaria
You know, but Bob Hope, in his mind, through a Woody Allen filter, is quite a unique thing.
David Spade
I didn't even.
Dana Carvey
But I. I get the connection. But I know that Woody was. It was different, but it was. This is kind of pause, you know, right before. Because I. Why aren't we quietly humping, you know? Yes, it's in. Bob Hope is like, yes, I gotta go. He's sort of scared, the nervous Coward character. Yeah. And. And halting speech before the fear comes out. It's just the fact that I'm terrified might get in our way, you know, all that stuff.
Hank Azaria
Exact. I have a good Woody Allen story, too, that I could tell you. Anyway, Roy said, please. He gave this amazing thing. He said. So I. I heard myself give a bad line reading and I, like, froze. And I basically wanted to quit acting in that moment, let alone the scene. And Roy tells me this story goes, look, when I was like 15 years old, is Roy talking? I met the. I love my dad very much. And I was having lunch with my mother at our country club. And I see my dad coming into the 18th hole in the golf green and he's finishing his round of golf. And me and my mom see him grab his heart and fall to the ground on the 18th green. And by the time we got to him, he was gone. He was. Wow. He was dead. And he said, now, that was 35 years ago when he told the story. He said, sometimes when I tell that story, I'm filled with emotion as if it just happened, you know, and sometimes I'm just reporting a thing that was really painful for me, but I don't have much emotional connection to it because it's been a long time. And he said, he said to me, that's what acting is. He said, you're not. Some takes or some nights on stage, you're going to really feel it and just be in there. And he said, in some nights you're not. He said, but instead of like listening to yourself, be in it or not. If you just. He said, sometimes when I, every time that I tell that story, though, to somebody, they understand how devastating it was for me, whether I'm filled with emotion or not. He said, as an actor, if you don't feel it, just make sure your scene partner gets where you're coming from. And it's a way to completely relock back into the scene. It's okay to report on life as an actor on stage, too. And after that, I was told, totally freed up to like, you know, even when I felt like I sucked, I felt like I could still stay in the scene and make something that worked interesting.
David Spade
Yeah, yeah, it's good. You picked up a lot and it really, really helped.
Hank Azaria
Oh, I, I, I couldn't, I couldn't do, I couldn't have done anything, really. It made all my Simpsons characters funnier because I felt like I like, instead of Jeff just doing Chief Wigam, which was such a fun voice, this is just my impression of Mel Blanc's impression of Edward G. Robinson, you know, and, but then all of a sudden I was like, well, what if I really were a cop? How would I really hand. I felt like I could put myself more into these even stupid characters. And it made things funnier and better, which is something I think you do naturally. Dana, in these voices. Did you ever have to, like, feel like you had to step up the acting or once you got the voice, you just click?
Dana Carvey
Kind of depends on the character. I mean, I think for me, like with George Bush Senior, I was just trying to learn it with the audience. I didn't have a very good one when I first was assigned it because my character won the election. And so I was very, you know, and then as I went further, I was more playful with it because I was in a one shot and the studio is quiet. There wasn't any editing where I throw anyone else off. So I said that area, that thing, and then I would start taking it. And then it became, it literally became probably, er, two years before we're not going to do it before I. He left, it was like not gotta do it. And it, it worked because the audience was coming with me. But if I. When I was doing Jimmy Stewart in It's a Wonderful Life parody, I was just trying to be a really good, a Jimmy Stewart actor, completely channeling him as much as I could. And, and sometimes you just feel it when you're doing a character. You feel there. There's earnestness in Jimmy Stewart's thing. Everything is just sincere, you know, at least. And It's a Wonderful Life.
Hank Azaria
Yeah.
Dana Carvey
Everything is just sincere. Well, we have Hank Azara on here and a lot of people are saying a lot of nice things. Things about him. So I don't, I don't know. I mean, do you ever do like, just. Why don't you. You do a special with it where you do sketches?
Hank Azaria
I get. I did. I. I've written a one man show. I've actually become one of those people.
David Spade
And. Yeah, well, that's kind of close what he's saying anyway. That's not bad.
Hank Azaria
And actually it's pretty. It kind of talks about what I just told you about that, I think, class thing. And I go in a lot of kind of, you know, as one man shows will sort of darker things about how it was like things that were funny weren't so funny and how it was equally my desire to be anybody else with myself that drove me to do characters and voices.
David Spade
Yeah.
Hank Azaria
And you know, so, yeah, I did that. I hopefully put that up in New York this year.
David Spade
Let's put it up.
Dana Carvey
Oh, really?
Hank Azaria
Yeah.
Dana Carvey
What's the. Do you want to give us the title of it or.
David Spade
Hank.
Hank Azaria
I. I think it's called Listen, never mind, which is what my mother used to say to me all the time. Listen, never mind. She.
David Spade
Listen, never mind. Yes, that's funny.
Hank Azaria
Well, she was the most dismissive person I ever knew.
David Spade
Dismissive.
Hank Azaria
And she had a dismissive catchphrase which was, listen, never mind.
Dana Carvey
Oh, never mind. It's not worth it.
David Spade
Isn't it?
Hank Azaria
Well, it's like, mom, I'm really hungry. Listen, never mind. There's people starving. But they also didn't make any sense. Like, mama, I think I might twist a manka. Listen, never mind. It's almost Yom Kippur, which doesn't make any sense, but I like young people starving.
David Spade
You're like, do I have to join them? Can I eat? And then they're still starving.
Hank Azaria
Exactly.
Dana Carvey
You're going to play a lot of different characters in the play or.
Hank Azaria
Yeah, it's really Like a life story. It's like a lot of the origins of the voices. This was that guy and that was that person and, and you know, stuff like I was, I, you know, I do a young, young Al Pacino impression. You know, Godfather Al.
David Spade
Good one.
Hank Azaria
Yeah, I'm dying here. Everybody's coming down on me here.
David Spade
Love it.
Hank Azaria
I was doing a play in West Hollywood when I got the Simpsons audition. I was playing a drug dealer, the one app voice. So I auditioned for Mo the Bartender with this voice. And they want, they said, can you make it gravelly? We like the. And so to me gravel is Bruce Springsteen. So I've been imitating since I was 15 years old.
Dana Carvey
That's fantastic.
Hank Azaria
If you, if you take young Al Pacino one and, and Bruce Springsteen in the other and you mix them right in the middle there, that's Motor Bartender. He's a mash up there.
Dana Carvey
Hello.
Hank Azaria
So it's a lot of that kind of relaying little origins of voices like that.
Dana Carvey
People love that stuff.
Hank Azaria
Kids do enjoy that.
Dana Carvey
In the early days of, of when Trump came out, I was on some talk show and I said, it's really, it's Regis Philman and Brando coming together, you know, anyway, you ready for this? And then I, anyway, I gotta, you know, I mean you can see how those two together.
Hank Azaria
I showed my 16 year old son the Godfather for the first time. So I've been working on my veto Caron impression.
David Spade
Oh, good.
Hank Azaria
It's good for disciplining him more. His name's House. Hel, come over here.
David Spade
Me and Dana were just talking about Brando in the field at the end when he, like the kids playing when
Dana Carvey
he dies with the teeth. And you're like, we were just saying,
David Spade
I don't even know if they knew what they were doing that take Copel's like, do whatever you want on this one. You know. And we.
Dana Carvey
In your mind, is Brando the greatest film actor or. Or you have another favorite?
David Spade
Good one.
Hank Azaria
Well, he was so all over the place. You know, there were some that were just baffling. I mean Vito Corleone is definitely one of the best ever. And he was to me, like in Streetcar and. And on the Waterfront, he was way ahead of his time. So it was Jimmy Stewart actually in my opinion, like his performance in Its Wonderful Life was breathtakingly realistic.
Dana Carvey
And you know, in an era when
Hank Azaria
they all sounded like this, they all sounded like, you know.
David Spade
Oh, that's right.
Dana Carvey
Oh, and the darkness before his nervous breakdown with the, with it was saying, why do I have to have all these kids. I mean, the movie is way heavier than people think. And the theme of the movie is so evergreen. I mean, just.
Hank Azaria
It was a flop, too. Nobody. It was so ahead of his time. Nobody liked it when it came out.
Dana Carvey
Capricorn, they called it.
Hank Azaria
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
David Spade
Well, it's a Wonderful Life you're talking about.
Dana Carvey
Yeah, yeah. Bombed, basically. Yeah, yeah, Just get it out of here. Then they sold movie out of my theater.
Hank Azaria
I think it only really had its life by the time it became public domain.
Dana Carvey
I think TVs.
David Spade
Or everyone could just see it. I think they. Yeah, they're burning it off at Christmas or something. Maybe I heard this too. And then everyone got into it.
Hank Azaria
Yeah.
David Spade
You know, the Grinch never worked again after that one. All right, whatever. No, just the Grinch.
Hank Azaria
There have been a lot of Grinches. Let's.
Dana Carvey
I like those old timey actors, as Bill Hader calls them. But I do a bit about the world's first sociopath. Did people know they had mental problems in ancient times? And I'm just using Peter Lorre and no one has busted me on it. You know, like, just. Just think like, where's. Where's that Steve? I don't know. What's that hand coming out of the ground? It's Steve. I killed him. Am I weird? I don't know. But you got to stop that. So anyway, it's just. You can use those characters and no one really remembers. I have. Oh, yeah, let me hear off.
Hank Azaria
I was
David Spade
still.
Hank Azaria
Movie night at the museum, too.
David Spade
Oh, yeah, where you were.
Hank Azaria
That was as a joke. I just went, should I do bth? Call off. He was the original mommy. And Ben cracked up and said, no, you have to do that. It's like, really? So, yeah. And yes, Peter Laurie, you can use for sure. Professor Frank is just. It's just a naughty professor. The Jerry Lewis version, of course. Yeah. They're so old that nobody. I think their original voices.
Dana Carvey
I know. That's. That's a really great use of your. Your gift.
David Spade
Lou the Cop is Stallone. Is that what you said?
Hank Azaria
Yeah. Lou the cop wins a bad Stallone, you know, and a little toned downs to low. Yeah, yeah.
Dana Carvey
It's very nasally there. Why not? When you do people like that, like Boris Karloff, is it kind of informed, like what was in that guy's brain that somehow he decided to talk like that? Because it's almost feminine or bizarre wings
David Spade
back then, like waters.
Dana Carvey
Where is. Who is that person that's talking?
Hank Azaria
I mean, I think that's Just the way he talked, I.
Dana Carvey
Really compelling. Yeah.
Hank Azaria
A lot of those guys had very distinct. I mean, they were Lori and Karloff. I'm big fans of both them. They were unbelievable actors. They were just. Oh yeah, talk about, you know, free to be themselves on camera. They were just like. And they, they brought a lot of, you know, reality and grit to these weird old fashioned things.
Dana Carvey
Yeah, I mean there's, it's. It. It's sort of. I don't know if it's a trope at this point, but doing for young impressionists, doing modern movie stars. I, I just make a joke that I, I do a Timothy Chalamet, but I just go, what's up, man? You know, I'm not doing it at all. But there was a cavalcade, you know, between John Wayne and Kirk Douglas and all those old movie stars. They just had really weird voices. Who do we have?
David Spade
Wow.
Dana Carvey
We have the same amount of who's
David Spade
today that's got a very interesting.
Dana Carvey
Who's Carrie Grant? Well, who's the guy that talks like this?
David Spade
Yeah, yeah.
Hank Azaria
We don't have one. We don't carry.
David Spade
Grant was great with that.
Dana Carvey
Well, I don't do.
Hank Azaria
In my. I used to do Eric Roberts.
Dana Carvey
Oh, yeah.
Hank Azaria
Greenwich Village, man.
David Spade
Be a.
Dana Carvey
They cut off my
Hank Azaria
dumb. I used to do.
Dana Carvey
Yeah.
Hank Azaria
Mickey Rourke too. I used to like to do.
Dana Carvey
Oh, really? I know what you're doing, but don't do it. It's from Body Heat.
Hank Azaria
Yeah, Body Heat.
Dana Carvey
Body Heat.
Hank Azaria
You know, Pope Greenwich for diner.
David Spade
Great movie.
Dana Carvey
Yeah, let me do it. I do it for you, counselor. And then this thing he kept using in all his movies. Right.
Hank Azaria
But now Mickey sounds like. Why do all the. Why do old actors end up sounding like this? What is this? You know, like Pacino was like this, you know, and now Al sounds like this. What is that?
David Spade
Maybe they're projecting a fainter voice or something.
Dana Carvey
I have a theory that as the testosterone goes down and they're older gentlemen, they make their voice super alpha, you know, hey, I'm 97,
Hank Azaria
how are you doing?
Dana Carvey
You know, it's like, I guess that's the great ass.
Hank Azaria
Exactly. I hope it doesn't happen to me. That's all I.
Dana Carvey
Here's another thing I want to ask you about. Does it seem like most actors get more theatrical movie stars like Al Pacino, which I, I love Scarface. I'm possessed by it, actually, as a, as an operatic movie, you know, all that stuff. And then Christopher Walken also, if you see him in the Woody Allen movie and where he kind of made a character out of him. But those are sort of recent times. Big, big time. Big voice actors theories.
Hank Azaria
Do they. I mean, Daniel. Jeff Goldblum, sort of similar.
Dana Carvey
Yeah.
Hank Azaria
I mean, some of them get more subtle cadence. You asked me. I mean, Daniel Day Lewis is amazing. I personally think Robert Downey Jr. Is maybe the American genius of our time. I mean, I know he's Iron man and everything, and that's what we think of him as now, but I don't. There's nothing the guy can't do, really.
Dana Carvey
Yeah, he's. He's. He's freaky good. Freaky good.
Hank Azaria
But, yeah, Chris Walk, I don't know. He's amazing. Like, some of these guys, just real Shatner, they realize that they're sort of bigger than life and they lean into it. Like, sort of did the same thing later in his career.
David Spade
Once people pick up on it, they almost turn into that more. They turn into the impression more.
Dana Carvey
Yeah. Well, the rhythm of what Christopher Walken did is just so effective. I don't know. Waiting for the word. I mean, it's like. It's a brilliant song. I look at him as, musically, just brilliant.
David Spade
Talks in haikus, which.
Hank Azaria
He is gifted that way. He comes from musical theater. I really wonder. I worked with him once. I wanted to ask him, but I never got up the nerve. I'm like, do you plan this, or is it just what comes out? You know what I mean?
Dana Carvey
Yeah.
David Spade
Or does everyone expect this is how we're hiring you? We want you to sound like this because it's so.
Dana Carvey
But was he improvising, you mean? Or just doing the rhythm of that voice in such a he?
Hank Azaria
I mean, I didn't work with him much, but he would know. He was. He pretty much stuck to the script. And, yeah, it was kind of a little different each time, but it's just that delivery. I just. I wondered if he planned it out. Although. Did you see him in Severance?
Dana Carvey
Yes. Yeah, he was very, very small.
Hank Azaria
Yeah.
Dana Carvey
Yeah. He can do whatever he wants. Yeah, I love him. I did. I was. He was in Wayne's World 2. And that was kind of a thrill at the time. I'm dressed as Garth, and then he would come up and his first line was Garth. And the way he would say it was so. Like he was going to kill me. Goth. Long, long pause, you know, So I. I decided to do Lou Costello. And then Mike and I both went, you know, one of the. That thing of fear. But goth, it's like a. It's got three syllables that kills Me,
David Spade
whenever I run into him, if I run into him, he says, he sounds like him to me. In the brief times like that. It's not like. Only when he's on camera, he. He was asking me if I ever worked with an actor dog. And.
Dana Carvey
Oh, yeah, remember?
David Spade
He caught me off guard. But. But he was doing pauses. It was an odd question. And then he continued to ask questions, and I was like, this is great, and I wish this was shot. Everything he's saying is funny.
Hank Azaria
He does. He is really. He does have that rhythm in real life.
David Spade
Yeah.
Hank Azaria
Did you ever work with an actor dog?
Dana Carvey
A lot of stuff.
David Spade
We were waiting for a scene and we were in the dark, and there's about four characters in there waiting for action, and they're, like, holding. And there's a pause and he's in the dark. And then he goes, david, I can't really do him. He goes, hey, did you ever work with an actor dog? And I go, weird. I go, I have. There is. That's the funniest part. I go, there is one in this movie, in some other scenes. And he goes. He goes, they're good.
Dana Carvey
They. They really.
David Spade
They know what to do. They're well trained. I go, yeah. And then he paused and he goes, hey, have you ever worked with an actor cat? And I go, an actor cat? I go, no, I don't. I mean. And then we're all kind of giggling going, is he serious? I go, I don't. I don't think so. Because he goes. He goes, they're no good because you tell them what to do and they don't do it. But if you yell or something to an actor cat, they jump. But that's.
Hank Azaria
That's.
David Spade
Every cat would do that.
Dana Carvey
He'll go into the details.
David Spade
And I go, yeah. And then he goes, ever work with an actor mouse?
Hank Azaria
No, he didn't.
David Spade
And I go, I don't think there are that many.
Dana Carvey
He's making it up.
David Spade
There are. I did Mousetrap, remember? Mousetrap?
Dana Carvey
Oh, yeah. Nathan Lane. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Hank Azaria
Who was the other guy?
David Spade
It wasn't Broderick, by the Matthew. So he goes, you tell a mouse to go up, take a beat, and go to the right, and they do it. They're smart. He thinks they're smarter than cats, which they maybe are. And then once he's getting into how smart the actor mouses are, then they go, rolling. And then we never, never came up again.
Dana Carvey
Did you ever work with Anthony Hopkins? He's another character.
Hank Azaria
I never did, but I know people who collect Nathan Lane stories. It was Lee Evans, by the way. That's.
David Spade
Oh, that's.
Hank Azaria
Oh, yeah. Mouse Hunt with Nathan Lee.
David Spade
Mousetrap. Yeah.
Hank Azaria
Awesome. Oh, yeah, I just forgot. What did you say?
Dana Carvey
Nathan Lane stories. Oh, I just. Anthony Hopkins is also.
Hank Azaria
No, never. Oh, he's on. Yeah. He's got to go up there, read.
Dana Carvey
Reads the script 200 times. Does no research, nothing. Reads it. He said 200 times. He has the entire script memorized. He had a Polaroid. This is in the early 90s of his character. And he took it out his pocket. It was kind of crumpled up. Polaroid shot of himself. And they're going, speed. And he would just put it up against his face, look at it, and then put it on his face and go. And then put it back in. And then he would be the character. So he's got his own way of doing Hannibal Lecter. Like, I know there was a little bit of that Dennis Hopper movie. What was that Blue velvet Definition.
Hank Azaria
Yeah. There's people who collect Chris Walken stories. Series, you know.
Dana Carvey
Yeah.
Hank Azaria
Like, you know that actor Titus Welliver. I just played that great detective series.
David Spade
Sounds like a fake.
Hank Azaria
Books. Anyway, he does an unbelievably good walking impression. And apparently, like, when he and Grace Jones were shooting that Bond movie where they played, like, villains together, you know, he had, like. Grace Jones had, like, blonde hair.
Dana Carvey
And.
Hank Azaria
Yeah, they're shooting, like, in the Swiss Alps or something. And he and Grace Jones walked into some, you know, local little tavern or whatever, and you can imagine. And he had, like, white hair, I think. And she had. And so the locals all kind of turned around and stared at them.
David Spade
Yeah.
Hank Azaria
As you might imagine. And apparently Chris Walken broke the ice with coleslaw for everyone.
David Spade
There's no story. You could say where. You'd have to say which one is real and which one is a fake walking story.
Hank Azaria
No, it's. Yeah.
David Spade
Indistinguishable.
Hank Azaria
Also, I think Titus, this happened to him personally. He was doing some film with them, and it was their day off. No, this is. I got this from the person, though. This wasn't like a secondhand story. And then they're shooting somewhere and it's the day off, and Chris is. They're walking somewhere, and Chris is, like, waiting. He's in the river. Like, he's in a creek or something. He's just standing in water, you know, like a pool or. I don't know where he was, but it was odd. And they said, hey, Chris, or are you okay? Because he was just standing in There.
Dana Carvey
Yeah.
Hank Azaria
And he apparently went, today I am an alligator.
Dana Carvey
Today I am an alligator. Yeah.
David Spade
All right, we're back in five.
Dana Carvey
I was hanging out with him for this photo shoot, New York. It just ended up on a couch with him for like an hour. And he was just interesting. He saw my phone. Don't have a phone, though, you know. Well, do you have tv? Don't watch it night. No, you don't watch tv. What do you, what do you do? What do you do at night? He goes, magazines, magazines. Every night you read like, that's how many. And then I asked him, do you paint? And he goes, of course I paint. All old actors paint.
Hank Azaria
That's funny.
Dana Carvey
You know those weeks where your schedule is just completely packed and somehow you still need a fully stocked fridge?
David Spade
Yep.
Dana Carvey
That's where Instacart has really come through for me.
David Spade
Yeah, that's every week for me. You know, I've been using delivery through Instacart for my weekly grocery restock. And what I like most is how much control I have over quality. Because.
Dana Carvey
That's right.
David Spade
You don't know this about me. I'm pretty particular. So, yes. Whether it's specific brands, fresh produce, or ingredients for meals I've already planned, I can be really specific. When you're on the app, you know, you can message your shopper if you want certain ripeness on avocados, you can really just get on them and say, swap that out. It all makes a big difference. Yeah, honest. Convenience is huge.
Dana Carvey
Yep, that's right. That's right. It's amazing being able to order on my schedule, have everything arrive in as fast as get this 30 minutes. Saves me so much time and mental energy.
David Spade
It's.
Dana Carvey
It just takes one more thing off my plate. Instacart brings convenience, quality and ease right to your door so you can focus on what matters most. Download the Instacart app now and get groceries just how you like.
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Hank Azaria
Some of the probably the most uncomfortable moments of my life have been spent like that, like in between takes with legendary actors or like who? Well, you just run out of small talk after like two or three days. And then, you know, like Gene Hackman, for example.
Dana Carvey
Oh, wow.
David Spade
Oh, is that a birdcage?
Hank Azaria
Yeah.
Dana Carvey
Oh, that's right. Birdcage. Gene Hackman, that incredible movie, perfect movie. You were great in that.
Hank Azaria
Thank you very much. Mike Nichols, amazing. But yeah, Gene Hackman and you know, he just doesn't suffer fools, really. Which you turn into around. I get very like wound up around. Oh, yeah. People I admire.
Dana Carvey
You know, he's intimidating.
David Spade
Go ahead. He's a big. He's one of my favorites.
Hank Azaria
He was amazing and he was very nice and then. But he just doesn't. Once the small talk was done, he just didn't feel the need to, you know. But you know how you're like you just said with Chris. What? But you're there together for many minutes, like waiting for action or whatever you're doing.
Dana Carvey
Yeah, yeah.
David Spade
By the way, this is a world of no phones. So it's not like people go back to their phones. It's like sitting in silence and sometimes you just gotta let them just sit there.
Dana Carvey
Well, you're just thinking, what could you say to Gene Hackman at that moment in time that he would sit up, go, yeah. And start, you know, like, turn them on. Basically, like get really excited.
Hank Azaria
I did a movie called the ultimate of this. I did a movie called Mystery Alaska. It was this hockey movie.
David Spade
Hockey.
Hank Azaria
And Burt Reynolds was in it. Okay. And I had this one scene with Bert and Burt Reynolds. Absolutely. Had like an old fashioned movie star freak out, meltdown, like just screaming at the top of his life.
Dana Carvey
Really?
Hank Azaria
Yeah.
David Spade
Why?
Dana Carvey
Or just tell the story.
Hank Azaria
He. Oh my. It was. Oh, it was the weekend he was nominated for Boogie Nights. Okay.
David Spade
Oh, Boogie Nights.
Dana Carvey
Yeah.
Hank Azaria
Shooting in the. In the Canadian Rockies, near Calgary, in, like, the middle of the middle of nowhere. And we had to get. Shoot him out so that he'd get back to LA and Dupress, you know, for the Oscars that week. Yeah. And so we rehearse the scene a little bit, and Bert also had one of those old actor voices at that point. He says, the director, which was Jay Roach.
Dana Carvey
Oh, Austin Powers. Yeah.
Hank Azaria
Yes. If you like, I can stand up on this line. She says, yeah, maybe that just might save you a shot. Because. Because that over there said, it's gonna be a long night. It's pointing at a producer who I guess had said, it's going to be a long night.
Dana Carvey
Oh, because. Oh, because Bert just made a suggestion kind of.
Hank Azaria
No, I think just because we were night shooting, I guess Bert was feeling codependent because we had to shoot him out by midnight to get on a helicopter to go to the Oscars.
Dana Carvey
Yeah.
Hank Azaria
And he. He literally. He, like, flipped out on the guy. Just absolutely flipped up.
David Spade
Yeah.
Hank Azaria
Bert's a scary.
Dana Carvey
That was pretty intense, what you just did.
Hank Azaria
Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you.
Dana Carvey
No, no. I mean, use that the next time you're in a movie. Do what you did on Fly on the Wall.
Hank Azaria
Well, thanks to Roy London, I didn't commit. I can relay it. Yes, it was terrifying. But the point is, he flips out, we calm him down, and we're waiting. They're setting up the lights. And we couldn't go anywhere because it was a snowstorm and we're in this set and all of us were together, the crew and the cast, the producers, everyone. And I sat there for 20 minutes and Burke sits next to me because we're waiting to shoot. And I racked my brain for like, what do you possibly say to somebody?
Dana Carvey
Yes, okay, I want to know, David, what would you say then? We're going to find out what happened. David, what would you say in that moment? It's like a game show.
David Spade
I'd say, who do you think the Cardinals are going to pick in the draft?
Dana Carvey
I would say, you know, Bert, that guy over there. You're right. That guy. That's what I would have done. That.
David Spade
That prick was talking shit to me earlier, too. Bert.
Dana Carvey
Yeah. So what happened?
Hank Azaria
I thought, I've been dismissed many things like that. And I'm sitting there, literally just. I. I can't get up and walk away because I'm terrified to make him angry. I don't know what to do. And finally, he broke the silence. I swear to God this is true. He leaned into me very quietly, and he said, I. I never told Sally I loved her.
Dana Carvey
Whoa.
Hank Azaria
I said, what?
Dana Carvey
Wow.
Hank Azaria
I should. I should. I said. Oh, you mean. You're talking about Sally Field, aren't you?
David Spade
Wow.
Hank Azaria
Because they were, like, famously.
Dana Carvey
Yeah, A couple.
David Spade
Yeah.
Hank Azaria
But like, 25 years before that.
David Spade
Right.
Hank Azaria
So why he chose that moment to break that silence with that statement, I will never know.
Dana Carvey
Felt like, you know, sometimes when people have PTSD or redundant things, they need to get out. You were like fresh meat. You were someone to tell. And obviously, he intuited that you were a very decent person.
David Spade
Right, Right.
Hank Azaria
So that would be very positive spin on that story.
Dana Carvey
I try to be positive.
David Spade
I think it's nice.
Dana Carvey
Here's what I would have said as a backup. Look, I don't. I don't mean to pan out, but your. Your performance and Deliverance is one of the greatest things ever put on film. Anyway, I got to get scared. Can I get something at catering? Would that work? Vanity play.
Hank Azaria
Yes, that would have actually worked.
David Spade
They have chili cup. I'll get you a chili cup.
Hank Azaria
I'll be.
Dana Carvey
Or some other more obscure movie maybe, you know, but yeah.
Hank Azaria
Sharky's Machine.
Dana Carvey
Sharky Machine, Smokey and the Bandit two with Gleon.
Hank Azaria
With Jack Famous story about. Apparently James L. Brooks offered Burt Reynolds the Nicholson role in Terms of Endearment.
Dana Carvey
That's what I read, too.
Hank Azaria
And he turned it down to do, like, Stroker Race or something.
Dana Carvey
I don't understand that.
Hank Azaria
They might have been still upset about that. That might have contributed to the.
David Spade
Well, wait. Last thing I know. We got to get going. But Sharkey's Machine, they cut off his hand. Cut off his thumb. My crazy. When I was a kid, I saw.
Hank Azaria
I think it's Pinky.
David Spade
Was he. Was he a loan shark or a fixer or something?
Hank Azaria
He was a cop. He was a cop.
David Spade
Oh, he's a cop.
Hank Azaria
And he's getting too close to, like, the mob. I've seen this.
David Spade
Yeah. I got too close to the heat.
Hank Azaria
Yes. And it turns out one of his fellow cops betrayed him, and they, like, they got him, and. And they need to know where he's fallen in love with. Who is that gorgeous actress? Rachel Ward.
David Spade
Oof.
Hank Azaria
And she's this prostitute who knows too much, and he's got her stash somewhere, and they need to know where, and they start chopping off his fingers by the joint, you know?
David Spade
You know, it's funny. This is a side story. But these beautiful, well known actresses, almost every movie they're like, in this scene you're just going to be completely naked and they're like, okay, rolling. It was like, you know what I mean? It just at some point just stopped. But for a while there I was like, is everyone just going along with this? I guess I think it was. You couldn't really fight it.
Hank Azaria
Some actresses drew the line. But yeah, back then it was sort of standard. You ever do a scene where you had to be naked with someone? Like, yeah, sex scene or whatever. It's one of the weirdest things ever.
David Spade
It's one of the grossest for them.
Hank Azaria
That's where I did, I did this thing with Kelly lynch. Okay. And she had a nudity clause so it couldn't be her new.
Dana Carvey
So you had to be the.
Hank Azaria
Well, I, I mean they didn't.
David Spade
Your claw said you had to be.
Hank Azaria
Didn't show any of my money. Money parts. But. No, but at one point we're doing this scene and it's like a porno. It's like a porn like, okay, now you know, they like, the director like yells, so now kiss down her body. Okay, now like he'll direct you like how to, you know, nuts. What? Foreplay. To engage.
David Spade
Crazy.
Hank Azaria
Yeah. Really. So then they call cut. And you do that with, with Kelly and she goes out and they bring, they bring in this, this body double.
Dana Carvey
Oh, oh, oh, wow.
Hank Azaria
And they say, hi, this is, this is Jennifer. Hi, nice to meet you. And the robot, she's naked and she gets in bed and, and then do the stuff that now they can show the nudity. Like okay, so kiss down her body. Okay, okay, go back. Now kiss back up. And now like, okay, fondler brass now. And so, and you do that for a take. Like cut. Great, we got it. And. And she's gone. And you never see her again. I'm sure that there are prostitutes and johns who had much more of an exchange.
Dana Carvey
Did you find yourself hanging out, you know, for the close up? So like, okay, it's the moment of he's in, he's just, he's penetrated you. And, and you want her reaction. You could tell that the size of the member. But he's like, do you know what I'm saying? So you can be there, go.
Hank Azaria
No, honey, I'm bigger than that. So can you react more?
Dana Carvey
It's gonna be, it's gonna be quite a thing. So could you get a little bigger in your close up or the director,
David Spade
it's whatever he's into, he's like now kiss up her elbow and kind of chew it a little bit. I wonder.
Hank Azaria
Well, it was kind of like that, you know, it was like, okay, that's how you do that.
David Spade
But the funny thing is the movie I'm watching, let's say I watch that movie, I think it's Kelly Lynch. So she's not really saving anything. It's like, oh, those are boobs. They don't show her face, but I guess those are her boobs. I don't know.
Hank Azaria
Totally. I mean, yeah, but you know.
David Spade
Yeah.
Dana Carvey
I missed the old fashioned movies where the woman would pound the guy's chest. You're an impossible beast. And then they'd make out.
Hank Azaria
Yeah. Then it's.
Dana Carvey
That's four Impossible Beasts.
David Spade
That's what I like, Dana.
Dana Carvey
I like those. We've never brought up that subject of reaction shots on simulated sex before. That's a first. Yeah, that's a good area.
Hank Azaria
Just wanted, I wanted to break ground here.
Dana Carvey
No, no, I brought up the thing of you being on set going, I need a little bigger reaction, please.
David Spade
Dana, do you need to ask Hank anything other than.
Dana Carvey
Well, I would just do this real quick because I, I, you're very interesting to talk to and this is an impossible thing to ask people. But in no particular order, top five movies all time. No particular order, because saying 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
Hank Azaria
We've talked like, I, you know, it's a very boring list.
Dana Carvey
Godfather one and two.
Hank Azaria
There's two good fellas for sure, which I like to think of as Godfather 3. I replace the actual Godfather. Yeah.
Dana Carvey
Okay.
Hank Azaria
Those are all It's a Wonderful Life absolutely is in my top five.
Dana Carvey
Okay. You can go to 10 if you've got so many.
Hank Azaria
I don't know.
Dana Carvey
Those are really huge ones that I just like. Long time when I, I appreciate Jaws a lot.
Hank Azaria
Yeah, it's a great film.
Dana Carvey
I appreciate Alien a lot.
Hank Azaria
Yeah.
Dana Carvey
I love, I love probably the time I saw it. I was 14 when I saw 2001 A Space Odyssey. I love Planet of the Apes. Boom. I love redford in the 70s. I love, I love all the President's
Hank Azaria
Men is definitely in my top 10.
Dana Carvey
At least we've seen it recently. My wife and I hadn't seen it in a few years and. Holy. Does it hold up.
Hank Azaria
Totally. It's more relevant than then.
Dana Carvey
It's so brilliant and, and relevant. Everything. Three Days of the Condor, Butch Casting, Sundance Kid.
Hank Azaria
Oh, the Sting. I would put way up Sting the Redford. Newman. Redford got. Newman got more subtle as he went along as an older actor.
Dana Carvey
But Redford was always. We haven't had a blue eyed wasp held back movie star that. Well, we just watched the Horse Whisperer the other night, you know, and he just had a, he had, he's this movie star. I don't know. I mean, they never gave him an acting award, but he's, and he was, he was behind all the movies. Sidney Pollock and he were collaborating and finally he does Ordinary People. So anyway, he's an interesting. God rest his whole character.
Hank Azaria
No, I, I, I did Quiz show for, for him.
Dana Carvey
Oh, that's right.
Hank Azaria
My first big movie that I got and thanks to Roy London. And I just ran into John Turturro who was in that as well just the other night.
Dana Carvey
Another great, great actor.
Hank Azaria
He's incredible. But yeah, that. They don't make him like Redford and, and Newman anymore or Burt Reynolds. I used to love Charles Brunson too.
Dana Carvey
Oh, yeah. God, that guy was awesome. Death wish in the modern era. Who are you? Are you a Christopher Nolan or, or Tarantino or both. Who's your favorite director or do you like. Who's the guy who did Sideways and Descendants? Oh, Alex, the director.
Hank Azaria
Yeah.
David Spade
Alex.
Hank Azaria
Is it Alex?
David Spade
No, Alexander Payne.
Hank Azaria
Alexander Pay.
Dana Carvey
Alex. Yeah, it is Alex.
Hank Azaria
Amazing.
Dana Carvey
Yeah.
Hank Azaria
Nolan at his best. I'm a, I'm a comic book geek and so I love what he did.
Dana Carvey
Well, the reboot, that first reboot with Christopher Bale. Yeah.
Hank Azaria
But when, When Christopher Nolan gets too. Plays with time too much, it drives me crazy. I can't handle it.
Dana Carvey
Well, that's. I saw Dunkirk. I felt the same way.
Hank Azaria
I couldn't deal.
Dana Carvey
I liked it, but. But then I saw it a few years later. There was a reissue and I, I kind of knew what was happening in terms of that. So then I fell in love with the movie. All those time jumps that you're not sure.
David Spade
There was Inception and then there was Tenet. Right.
Dana Carvey
Yeah, those get very. Yeah, those are two scenarios.
Hank Azaria
They get meta on themselves to a point where, like, you can't anymore.
Dana Carvey
Inception. I like Tenet was a challenge, but I do like Once Upon a Time in Hollywood a lot.
Hank Azaria
Oh, I. Tarantino at his best is pretty. I loved Once upon it and I
Dana Carvey
saw it 11 times.
Hank Azaria
I had no clue. I knew nothing about it when I saw it.
Dana Carvey
Yeah.
Hank Azaria
And so I'm thinking, you know, this is heading towards, you know, Sharon Tate disaster.
David Spade
Right.
Hank Azaria
And my mind was so blown by that, like, alternate ending of like. Yeah, I, I just. What a great use of a movie star like Brad Pitt to just like erase history like that and.
Dana Carvey
Yeah.
Hank Azaria
Save the day.
Dana Carvey
I remember your white little face. And you were on a horsey. All right. I'm as real as a hot dog. Yeah. That whole movie. And you know, Leo is so great in that too. Let's face it. I'm a good. God damn. It has been. Don't cry in front of the Mexicans.
Hank Azaria
He's incredible, too. I always wanna dislike Leo DiCaprio. And then I. I see. I'm like, I gotta give it up.
David Spade
He's just.
Hank Azaria
He's great. Not good. He's great.
David Spade
He doesn't make sense. Good looking has it all. Then. He's really.
Dana Carvey
Yeah, that's true. Anyway. Well, we kept you a little longer, but I. I love talking about movies and everything.
Hank Azaria
Me too.
Dana Carvey
Feel. Feel good about yourself. I. I read that you would be. It would have been a therapist. Maybe if you.
Hank Azaria
Oh, yeah. I was all set to go back to grad school for psychology. And then I've got the Simpsons, basically. So I still have it.
Dana Carvey
So that's. That run. Once you've talked about it, just. It's. It's incomprehensible that it's lasted this long and stayed at this quality. And you're the 89 all the way through. It's extraordinary.
Hank Azaria
Yeah. I took. I took over the crown from. There was a ceremony last year where I was dubbed Luckiest man in Show Business. I took the crown away from Alan Beck, who had preceded.
Dana Carvey
Really?
David Spade
Yeah.
Hank Azaria
Thick.
Dana Carvey
Well, that's. Yeah. I don't know. I. Yeah, that. That. That whole thing. Yeah. But you're brilliant at it. So, I mean, it's. It's not like they could take. Let's get an actor and have him do a funny voice. You know, it's a lot now.
Hank Azaria
AI can probably do it, but that's
Dana Carvey
a whole other story. I know.
David Spade
We have AI on after you.
Dana Carvey
I'm a digital copy of Dana Car right now. So.
David Spade
A joke.
Hank Azaria
But.
Dana Carvey
Yeah.
David Spade
You know the test. Put the hand in front of the face. You ever heard that?
Hank Azaria
No.
David Spade
They show them on zooms. These people that are fake interviewing for things really put your hands in front of your face. And he goes, why would I have to do that? You just put your head in front of your face. And they can't go like that. I don't know why. And they talk about it and they won't do it. And they go, thank you. That's all. If they can't do it. So that means.
Hank Azaria
That's terrifying.
David Spade
They don't want to show. That's not weird.
Hank Azaria
Yeah.
David Spade
They're finding these little glitches.
Hank Azaria
Yeah, well, the suno fix that too.
David Spade
Yeah, that's a. That's. I could fix that.
Dana Carvey
This is still baby AI. This is infant AI. Yeah, just wait eight more months. It'll be a mature.
David Spade
Okay. Don't scare us.
Hank Azaria
I'm scared. No, it's really true. I don't. I'm not. I think it's really cool. I read this thing where like. And the odds are better than I thought. You know, the. That can go wrong is intense, of course, and. But there's only like a 20% chance of that. It's like 80% likely that it will all be fine and just.
David Spade
Yeah, that's a little too high for me.
Hank Azaria
Yeah, I thought it was more coin flip. Yeah, well, yeah, when you think about, like, would you get on a plane if I said, listen, you got 80% chance of landing?
David Spade
You're not going to cry.
Dana Carvey
Yeah, I get on a plane thinking I have a 1% chance. So, I mean, I don't like flying.
David Spade
Where's all the fixing cancer and everything? AI, Come on now. Let's go.
Dana Carvey
Well, they're going to give us fusion energy, unlimited clean energy, and they're going to cure all these diseases, cancer and Parkinson's and all that. Let's just hope it does that in the first few weeks when it doesn't
Hank Azaria
see us as the disease.
Dana Carvey
Well, that every science fiction movie we had in 2001. The AI turns on the humans. Yeah. The only problem with the earth are humans is we've seen it in, you know, Isaac Isimoff and all these science fiction books and everything.
David Spade
Yeah.
Hank Azaria
So named Hal. So I take it really, really personal
Dana Carvey
based on how the computer.
Hank Azaria
No, no, it's despite. Despite that I just like the name. I love Hal Ashby and Hal Holbrook.
Dana Carvey
Oh, okay. I like.
Hank Azaria
We're looking for an age name.
Dana Carvey
That's cool. Yeah. All right, thank you, fellas.
David Spade
Hey, guys, if you're loving this podcast, which you are, be sure to click on your favorite podcast app, give us a review, five star rating, and maybe even share an episode that you've loved with a friend.
Dana Carvey
If you're watching this episode on YouTube, please subscribe. We're on video now.
David Spade
Fly on the Wall is presented by Odyssey, an executive produced by Danny Carvey and David Spade, Heather Santoro and Greg Holtzman, Maddie Sprung Kaiser and Leah Reese Dennis of Odyssey.
Dana Carvey
Our senior producer is Greg Holtzman, and the show is produced and edited by
David Spade
Phil Sweet tech booking by Cultivated Entertainment,
Dana Carvey
special thanks to Patrick Fogarty, Evan Cox Maura Curran, Melissa Wester, Hillary Schuff, Eric Donnelly, Colin Gaynor, Sean Cherry, Kirk Courtney and Lauren Vieira.
David Spade
Reach out with us. Any questions to be asked and answered on the show, you can email us at Fly on the wall@odyssey.com that's a U D a C-Y dot com.
Release Date: May 7, 2026
Guest: Hank Azaria
Dana Carvey and David Spade welcome actor, comedian, and impressionist Hank Azaria for a candid, hilarious, and deeply insightful conversation about performance, acting, voices, and the idiosyncrasies of show business. The episode dives into Azaria’s roots as a mimic, his acting journey (including regrets and missed opportunities with SNL), the art of impersonation, stories from Hollywood sets, acting philosophy, and rapid-fire banter about icons like Conan O’Brien, Marlon Brando, Christopher Walken, Brad Pitt, Gene Hackman, Burt Reynolds, and more.
Impressions as a Defense/Comfort
Roy London Acting Class Stories (22:51–28:40)
The episode is marked by rapid-fire wit, candid vulnerability, and the fraternal teasing particular to Dana and David. Hank Azaria comfortably shifts from self-deprecation to insightful exposition, seamlessly blending showbiz tales, craft talk, and dead-on impressions. Listeners experience a blend of masterclass in comic performance, classic Hollywood lore, and inside baseball of show business—all with warmth, absurdity, and laughter.
This episode offers a treasure trove for fans of comedy, acting, and pop culture. You’ll get an honest look at the creative insecurities behind comedic bravado, hear the real stories behind iconic impressions, and laugh through reminiscences of classic actors and modern movie stars—plus behind-the-scenes tales from the world’s longest-running cartoon sitcom. The banter is unfiltered, revealing, and often hilarious; the perfect listen for anyone enthralled by the mysteries and magic of showbiz.