Lisa Kudrow

Summary

Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade: Episode Featuring Lisa Kudrow

Release Date: February 5, 2025

In this engaging episode of "Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade," longtime comedians Dana Carvey and David Spade delve deep into the life and career of their esteemed guest, Lisa Kudrow. The trio navigates through Lisa's illustrious journey in the entertainment industry, her experiences on iconic shows like Friends, and her latest ventures, all while sharing anecdotes that highlight her wit and charm.

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1. Introduction to Lisa Kudrow

The episode kicks off with Dana and David introducing Lisa Kudrow, highlighting her role in the new Netflix show "No Good Deed" alongside talents like Ray Romano and Linda Cardellini.

• Dana Carvey [02:54]: "It's a great cast. And it's from the people who brought you Dead to Me, which was another great show on Netflix."

• David Spade [03:10]: "She's a really funny, talented actress, super down to earth, nice to talk to."

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2. Early Life and Relationships

Lisa shares insights into her childhood, particularly her bond with John Lovitz, whom she met at a very young age. The conversation reveals the longstanding friendship between Lisa and John, emphasizing how their early years shaped their comedic styles.

• Dana Carvey [04:10]: "Explain John then to John now just as a personality."

• Lisa Kudrow [05:10]: "There's no difference."

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3. Pursuing an Acting Career

Delving into her passion for acting, Lisa recounts her initial challenges in breaking into the industry. She discusses her time with The Groundlings, emphasizing the importance of improv and genuine interaction in acting.

• Lisa Kudrow [07:48]: "I think John was right. You have to listen and respond. It's the most important thing in acting."

• Dana Carvey [08:34]: "You have to audition and keep graduating."

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4. Auditioning Anecdotes

One of the standout moments is Lisa's recollection of her audition for Garry Shandling's Larry Sanders, where she inadvertently scared Garry with her improvisation. This story underscores the unpredictable nature of auditions and the fine line performers walk between showcasing talent and overstepping.

• Lisa Kudrow [20:40]: "I scared Gary. I know that."

• Dana Carvey [21:11]: "What was their side?"

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5. Transition to "The Comeback" and Beyond

Lisa discusses her role in "The Comeback," highlighting the differences between scripted shows and more improvisational projects. She emphasizes the raw and unfiltered nature of reality shows, juxtaposing them with traditional sitcoms.

• Lisa Kudrow [25:39]: "It was meant to just be raw footage from a reality show."

• David Spade [25:58]: "It was like the early days of The Office."

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6. Behind the Scenes of "Friends"

A significant portion of the conversation revolves around Lisa's experiences on "Friends." She provides a glimpse into the rigorous shooting schedules, the dynamics with her co-stars, and the challenges of maintaining performance quality over ten years.

• Lisa Kudrow [56:22]: "Everyone was accountable to everybody else."

• David Spade [54:18]: "It was a little easier to get through it all because we appreciated it."

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7. Navigating Show Business and Fame

Lisa offers her perspective on the intrusive nature of fame, discussing paparazzi encounters and the balance between personal life and public persona. She highlights the importance of staying grounded despite the pressures of show business.

• Lisa Kudrow [48:17]: "Being married to someone outside the industry helps keep things balanced."

• David Spade [49:03]: "They'll call it out then."

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8. Current Projects and Future Endeavors

Towards the end of the episode, Lisa touches upon her ongoing projects, including her new Netflix series. She emphasizes her commitment to diverse roles and continues to showcase her adaptability as an actress.

• Lisa Kudrow [33:33]: "Playing your husband, Ray Romano—that's been a dream come true."

• Dana Carvey [35:56]: "It's on Netflix right now. You can binge it tonight if you want."

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Notable Quotes

• Dana Carvey [05:26]: "Explain John then to John now just as a personality."

• Lisa Kudrow [08:29]: "You have to audition, then you have to keep graduating."

• David Spade [16:00]: "If something happened to anyone that I knew, you need financial support."

• Lisa Kudrow [20:37]: "I scared Gary. I know that."

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Conclusion

The episode wraps up with Lisa expressing her gratitude for the opportunity to share her journey with Dana and David. The hosts reciprocate the appreciation, highlighting the smooth and enjoyable nature of their conversation.

• Dana Carvey [66:07]: "Thanks."

• Lisa Kudrow [66:12]: "Have a long chat with you."

"Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade" successfully offers listeners an intimate look into Lisa Kudrow's life, blending humor with heartfelt discussions. Whether you're a long-time fan or new to Lisa's work, this episode provides valuable insights and plenty of laughs.

Transcript

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[David Spade]

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[Dana Carvey]

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[David Spade]

She's In a show called no Good Deed. It's on Netflix and it's kind of funny. It's very interesting. I'll tell you. That's got Ray Romano in it. It's got a great cast. Linda Cardellini, who I don't see much, and she's great.

[Dana Carvey]

It's a great cast. And it's from the people who brought you dead to me.

[David Spade]

That's right.

[Dana Carvey]

Which was another great show on Netflix, and so looking forward to it. She's a really funny, talented actress, super down to earth, nice to talk to. And we talk about friends and different relationships, and we talk about how she grew up with Jon Lovitz and she knew John when John was, like, a little kid. And that's. That's very interesting.

[David Spade]

Yeah, very. I. It was way back, more than I thought. Farther back, she did the show the Comeback. We talk about that. Romy and Michelle, of course. It's a classic.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah.

[David Spade]

And, you know, she was in Analyze this. She was in Boss Baby Book smart. She's. She pops up here and there, always working, always funny. We had a great time chatting, so please welcome Lisa Kudrow. We are Dana and David. You can figure out which one is which whenever you.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Dana and David. Okay.

[David Spade]

You got it.

[Dana Carvey]

It's kind of weird. I'm his older brother from another mother. Do you have any doppelangers in show business? Like, you know, you look like. Or someone saying, you know, people tell me I look like you?

[Lisa Kudrow]

No. Well, yeah, people that come up and say, oh, okay, but wait, listen to this. Years ago, I was at a restaurant waiting for someone, and the hostess came over and said, are you famous? I'm not doing the accent.

[Dana Carvey]

I said, no, it's funny.

[Lisa Kudrow]

She said, are you Dionne Warwick?

[David Spade]

Are you a kid a lot?

[Dana Carvey]

I used to get. David would get me, I would get David. And then I aged out of that. And then they say, do you know David Spade is my latest date? Did you know him?

[Lisa Kudrow]

Oh, no.

[Dana Carvey]

What do you mean? I go, yeah, did you? You're like. Are you like everybody's kid sister in a way? Kind of. You look a little like my sister a little bit.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Oh, really? Well, I mean, you. You know Levitz, both of you. John Lovett.

[Dana Carvey]

Yes, of course. The one and only.

[Lisa Kudrow]

I grew up with John. He and my brother are best friends.

[Dana Carvey]

David.

[Lisa Kudrow]

David, yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

Yes. I've heard so much about this. It'd be interesting to hear it from your point of view.

[David Spade]

Yes. The real point of view.

[Dana Carvey]

John's, let's say, eccentric dad, you know, who I met a few times and David's encouragement to him. Yeah. And then you being the kid sister, coming out of, out of the blue, going into show business. So go ahead, go. You have, you have 30 minutes.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah, that all sounds right. Yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

Explain John then to John now just as a personality.

[Lisa Kudrow]

There's no difference.

[Dana Carvey]

That's hilarious.

[Lisa Kudrow]

There's absolutely no difference.

[Dana Carvey]

10 year old John, did you meet him at 10?

[Lisa Kudrow]

They're six years older than me. If I was three, they were nine.

[Dana Carvey]

So you met.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah. Oh, I thought you meant like at our house all the time. I mean, so at home he could just walk in, go to the kitchen, cookie drawer, grab stuff, you know, and.

[David Spade]

He have any brownies?

[Lisa Kudrow]

Oh, you don't have the other cookies. Yeah.

[David Spade]

Lisa, sorry about your attitude.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yes.

[Dana Carvey]

When, when did this guy come in? I mean, the 40s guy, was that there when he was like 10 or something? Hello?

[Lisa Kudrow]

Well, I don't remember when I was three, but later on he was 14. Yes, because he would call up and we shared. The kids shared a phone and it would be. And like. Hello? Oh, hello, is this Lisa? Yeah, hi, John. Do you want to talk to David? Wait. And he would do some very long bit. I kept saying, love it. I just get David. Can I just get David for you?

[David Spade]

Yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

That's hysterical.

[David Spade]

Always funny, always has a spin on a joke. And then, wait, you get older? Didn't you go, but was he.

[Lisa Kudrow]

I didn't.

[David Spade]

You didn't get older?

[Lisa Kudrow]

I'm kidding.

[Dana Carvey]

That was John Lovett.

[David Spade]

So you were like, didn't you go to improv same place he did or. No.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Well, yeah, because then when I graduated college, I told him, yeah, I think I'm going to try acting now. And he said, oh, okay, listen, okay, the. Because look, you know, I studied in college and everywhere, but the place I learned the most was the Groundlings. That's where I learned the most. You have to learn improv. It's listening and responding. It's the most important thing in acting. And he was right. And, and they wouldn't let me take classes because I hadn't performed or done anything since junior high school.

[David Spade]

Do you have to have a res a little bit to get in there?

[Lisa Kudrow]

I don't know. This was like 1985, 86.

[Dana Carvey]

You have a beginner's class. Right. And that's kind of you.

[Lisa Kudrow]

You have to audition, then you have to keep graduating.

[David Spade]

What? Yeah, I know. Our viewers are freaking out right now.

[Dana Carvey]

Geez.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah, I thought they were just sort of screening, you know, but they wouldn't Even let me audition for the ground.

[Dana Carvey]

Did you have. As a little kid, did you have any kind of whimsy in your head? Like, maybe. Maybe I'm funny or maybe I could do this? Was it a secret? Or did you tell your parents? You tell David? Or was it just.

[Lisa Kudrow]

No. I mean, yeah, as a kid, I did want to act. I thought. Yeah, I did. And my family, everyone was funny, and I was the youngest, so I was the least funny.

[Dana Carvey]

With how many kids?

[Lisa Kudrow]

Three.

[Dana Carvey]

Okay. Yeah, five and five in arms. I had three older brothers and a younger sister.

[David Spade]

Funny parents.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Were you the funny one or was there were other.

[Dana Carvey]

Everybody. Everybody was funny, but that was more my specialty because I was doing little impressions.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Oh, yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

In the early 60s.

[David Spade]

Attention seeker.

[Dana Carvey]

I was an introverted extroverter. An extroverted introvert. I see you as a kindred spirit. I don't think you're. You're on, or I don't see you as always on.

[Lisa Kudrow]

No, no, no, no, no. I'm not always on, but when you're.

[Dana Carvey]

On, you're funny as hell.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Oh, thanks.

[Dana Carvey]

Well, there's evidence on time.

[David Spade]

We've got some evidence. Let's look at a clip.

[Dana Carvey]

Let's go to the tape season five of Friends.

[David Spade]

Let's go to the phones.

[Dana Carvey]

You've lost your bicycle. The exit is breathtaking.

[Lisa Kudrow]

No, But I also would imitate Lily Tomlin doing Edith Ann.

[David Spade]

Oh, my gosh. Of course.

[Lisa Kudrow]

You know, like, I would offer my entertainment services at school. I offered to go from class to class. I worked out with, like, scarves to do, like, the Dream. Tevye's Dream from Fiddler on the Rocks.

[David Spade]

Oh, yikes.

[Lisa Kudrow]

And I offered gracious.

[Dana Carvey]

You pitch this to a teacher classrooms and do sketches.

[Lisa Kudrow]

I put together this thing. Should I just do it for the class? And she went, sure. And I did. And I said, now I could do this for all the other classes. I've got my bag and I can go like, what was wrong with me?

[David Spade]

Yeah, something's wrong.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Or how wonderful.

[David Spade]

How wonderful. That's how I look at it.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Like, be so confident, you know? And she went, sure.

[David Spade]

Go to. She's like, kill five minutes of class. I don't care.

[Dana Carvey]

Like, were you consistently confident throughout the grades? Did you have years where you're the star and other years you're a little down? Or was it just consistently. You were, like, one of the most popular little kids.

[Lisa Kudrow]

I don't think I was one of the most popular. I mean, in grade school, I was confident and, yeah, I had friends and I was Like, I'm going to start a David Cassidy fan club. The ones invited and the moms would come. Everyone talked to me like I was an adult. I didn't understand, but everyone treated me like I was a little older. And I think it's because of my brother and sister and being older and I had their. I stole their sense of humor and their jokes.

[David Spade]

And, you know, I was going to say that because I was going to say I'm three boys in our family. And I have to say there's. Everyone's a little bit funny. And I'm more like a research paper, like a compilation. Because you can always borrow, like, from your life. So this happened with Chris Farley. Like, his brothers would go, that. That thing he does is mine. It's like, well, he got on TV and he's reaching for straws. At a certain point, he's like, that thing was funny. And, you know.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah.

[Lisa Kudrow]

He had the guts to take it public.

[David Spade]

Yeah. Most people aren't using it actively. So let's go. I can borrow what my mom says. You know, it's like. It's funny to me. But. So you're like, yeah, you got little things here and your parents were funny, is that you said?

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah, my dad was very funny. Yeah, he was really funny.

[David Spade]

And that makes it fun to be fun or try to make him laugh when you're little.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah. Well, I mean, I didn't make anyone laugh.

[David Spade]

Oh. But, you know, sadly, I thought you were killing it at school with the.

[Lisa Kudrow]

At school. Yeah, at school.

[David Spade]

Oh, at school. Tougher crowd.

[Dana Carvey]

Your brother ever put you in a sleeping bag and then tossed tie it off and leave them there?

[Lisa Kudrow]

No.

[Dana Carvey]

Oh, well, that happened to my wife, so I was just curious.

[Lisa Kudrow]

No, no. David's. No, My. They were good to me. I mean, unless everyone was fighting, you know, but for the most. Because, I mean, didn't siblings always try to kill each other? It felt like, yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

Most of my childhood with three older brothers was, cut it out, cut it out, stop.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

But. But mostly it was rough and tumble fun. I mean, we had movies that were touchstones. Cause There was no VCRs or anything. You know, if. What was your. Like, my sister was obsessed with Splendor in the Grass with Warren Beatty and Natalie Wood.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Oh.

[Dana Carvey]

And it came on once a year and she commandeered the television. Did you have stuff in your formative years that was just mind blowing, besides your crush on David Cassidy, which my wife also had a mad crush. Yeah, I did.

[David Spade]

I think I did.

[Lisa Kudrow]

I did.

[Dana Carvey]

I played David Cassidy on an SNL stream.

[David Spade]

Oh, that's right.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Oh, wow. You played everything on an SNL sketch very well, by the way.

[Dana Carvey]

So much fun.

[Lisa Kudrow]

But my sister, you know, she's the oldest, she's eight years older than me, and we would watch Father Knows Best and Leave it to Beaver reruns, and she had to sneak Leave it to Beaver because my father, when she was younger, wouldn't let her watch it, because that's bullshit. That's not what people are like. That's not what a family is. Stop it.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah, that's pretty advanced.

[David Spade]

Because they were too nice to each other.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah, they were too, like, formal and nice. Well, gee. Well, gee whiz. Like that infuriated him.

[Dana Carvey]

Well, golly Wally. Yeah. That guy was the original Garth, I just figured out. And I have the same birthday as Jerry Mathers, but.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Oh, really?

[Dana Carvey]

Kind of talked like Garth, didn't he? Hey, golly Wally. I don't know what you're doing, by the way.

[Lisa Kudrow]

And the Mathers lived in our neighborhood, and Sean Mathers was in my class.

[Dana Carvey]

Whoa.

[Lisa Kudrow]

The younger. Younger brother of Jerry.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah.

[David Spade]

I always just sort of. You seem a little more. You just always seem very together to me. That's why people feel like you're older when you're younger, because something about you seem like you're very together and suffer no fools, so.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Oh, I. Yeah. I don't know.

[David Spade]

But you've suffered some fools along the way.

[Lisa Kudrow]

I think. I'm generous with fools right here.

[Dana Carvey]

Well, you've been generous to me so far. I won't connect the dots.

[Lisa Kudrow]

No. I've been nervous to do this because you guys are. Are legends.

[Dana Carvey]

Crazy.

[David Spade]

Oh, good.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

Has anyone called you a legend yet? When does the legend thing come in? No, nobody. Not even John?

[Lisa Kudrow]

Not to my face, no.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah.

[Lisa Kudrow]

No, John certainly hasn't. But John's been very sweet and generous and good. I have to say, I think he's proud of that.

[Dana Carvey]

He loves to tell the story.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

And I said, do this and do this, and then she went there. You know, he loves to be the person.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

Advising. Yeah. So a role that he really enjoys. So he loves that story. I've heard so much. You definitely talked to your brother David on the phone a few times where John has put him on. Say hello to David. He's a doctor. It's mae West. It's 1940s. I mean, it's both. But anyway, it's just nice to have.

[David Spade]

Someone that's in the business that you could ask questions to. Like, Saturday Live is a Huge deal. You're just auditioning and then you. You're like, what's it like just doing this or just auditions and readings and, you know, I don't know how to cold read. Like, when I started, I had no one really to go to. It's good to have someone that's been there.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah. Well, I mean, the good thing John said was groundlings. Listen, respond, don't take them personally, because some of them are kind of unhappy. And that was true. I saw that. I saw it because then he got on Saturday Night Live and there were one or two groundlings. Because I thought, you know, it's okay to say, like, so what brought you here? I said, oh, well, I grew up with John Levitz. And they went, oh, so bitter that he got on Saturday Night Live.

[Dana Carvey]

Oh, bitter and envious. You know, that is the thing about show business. No matter what except Eddie Murphy or something, most of us needed a break or hadn't. Something had to happen.

[David Spade]

Yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

And there's whimsy to that. And, you know, people. I know so many standups, great standups, not famous. Had good careers in the clubs, but just didn't get did. Some pilots went on the Tonight show but didn't get that little turn. So it breeds weirdness.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Right. Then why not me? Or that wasn't deserved. If someone else got it and I didn't, which is that always has that always mystified me. It's like, what do you mean? I mean, even if you think it's all luck, then, you know, why not them and not you this time? How about you just think, this time.

[David Spade]

I used to go on showcases at the improv, like Dana did. Like, they'd say, we're going to bring a cat. They're doing a sitcom. Whatever they're going to look at, they want to look at 10 comics. And this is sort of the look. Female, male, whatever. And we do it. And someone would get it, and I'd always be practicing going, why them? Just in case I didn't get it. And then. But it's true. Like, it's like, it's hard to complain when it's an even playing field. Like, you all went on in front of them.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah.

[David Spade]

And they go, that one. And you go, right. Wait, how do I figure out how? I'm the victim here. I'll figure it out, though.

[Dana Carvey]

And all you can control is trying to get better. It sounds like a Hallmark movie, but all you can control is just try to get better yourself.

[David Spade]

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[Dana Carvey]

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[David Spade]

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[Dana Carvey]

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[David Spade]

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[Dana Carvey]

Wow.

[David Spade]

Can your free [e-mail] fly?

[Dana Carvey]

That's e h o s.com fly. Did you have nightmare auditions before friends that humiliated you and made you think maybe it's not going to happen?

[Lisa Kudrow]

No, not the auditions. Didn't make me think it's not going to happen.

[Dana Carvey]

But.

[Lisa Kudrow]

But I had one nightmare audition. I finally, I was so excited because I got to audition for Larry Sanders with Garry Shandling.

[David Spade]

Great. Awesome.

[Lisa Kudrow]

And then whoever else was in the room and I thought, okay, great, I'll improvise a little too. And I think. And I don't remember exactly what I did, but I scared Gary. I know that.

[Dana Carvey]

What was there sides or did he just do his thing of I'll say something like this and you say something like that.

[Lisa Kudrow]

I don't. I'm trying to remember because I was just sort of. The character was Janine Garofalo ultimately did it, which is Right.

[David Spade]

Oh, that worked there for a full time character.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah. And I remember cause I knew how to audition. I had a great cold reading class and audition class, which was just, you're not there to make friends. You're not there to chit chat. You're there to do the audition, be polite and everything, and then just get going. And so it's sort of. I said something and he. Gary made sort of like a joke, and I played along as an improviser with sort of like, oh, now we're in a fight. You know what I mean?

[David Spade]

Something.

[Dana Carvey]

I see. Yeah.

[Lisa Kudrow]

And he just went, okay, should we read it? And I said, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, we did it. And he said, okay, well, thank you. And we'll, We'll. We'll be in touch. And I went, all right, thank you very much. And I walked out. I'm walking down the hall, I heard the door open and I turned around and he was there going, okay, bye. Bye. We will be in touch. We really will. And I went. I thought, what? Did I scare him? What happened? What did I do? I was playing. Oh, they didn't know I was playing.

[David Spade]

Is that what I was?

[Dana Carvey]

Did you ever run into Gary after Friends and everything? And he. Does he remember? Did he ever remember that?

[Lisa Kudrow]

I forgot to ask him. But I did run into him. I ran into him after we had our first day of auditions for this HBO show I did called the Comeback.

[David Spade]

Comeback?

[Dana Carvey]

Oh, yes.

[Lisa Kudrow]

And HBO and Chris Albrecht and Carolyn Strauss, they had no idea what we were pitching. Just write it. We wrote it. And they said, we still don't get it. Why don't we just shoot it? Because back when you're Michael Pancher King, who I was working with, did Sex in the City, we'll just shoot a pilot.

[David Spade]

Okay, great.

[Lisa Kudrow]

So when we had the auditions for the pilot, that's the first time they saw me as the character because it didn't read right on the page, like it was hilarious. But then they saw me doing it. And so after that, I went to something. I can't remember what, and Gary Shandling. Was there anyone. Oh, I talked to Chris Albrecht today. He says. He said, you're brilliant. That's good to know. That's really good. And I thought, oh, good. So, yeah, I didn't feel like bringing up. I think I scared you.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah, I think that was smart. I mean, Gary was really complicated and he was. He was harder on himself than anybody else. And I was doing Larry Sanders once. I did it a few times, and he just writes on a piece of paper and just hands it to me, you know, between takes, and it just says, I hate myself. Funny. But it was just.

[David Spade]

Yeah, Comeback was also like. It was sort of Like a curb type. That was. Type. That type. Right.

[Lisa Kudrow]

It wasn't improvised at all.

[David Spade]

Oh, it wasn't. It seemed like that's because of the camera stuff, maybe. It was like that. It was sort of like handheld or.

[Dana Carvey]

Something, like Cinema Verte. The Office did it kind of.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah, it was right after the British off the Office.

[Dana Carvey]

Oh, right. But just before there was one before the American.

[David Spade]

What's going on?

[Dana Carvey]

You know nothing. You are nothing. Sorry. You can't get. You can't ever get him out of his last Golden Globes. You cannot get that out of your mind. It's one of the great moments in television when he says, you know nothing. You are nothing. Thank your God. And off. And now the show.

[David Spade]

Anyway, when you do the Comeback, do you. So that is. It looks like it's right after Friends, so.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah, it was right after Friends.

[David Spade]

And it's. With. You said Sexton City, Patrick King. Is that what it is?

[Lisa Kudrow]

Michael Patrick King. Yeah.

[David Spade]

And so you. You get through that must. It must have felt fun, a to do something new and to do something sort of a little looser and a little rougher around the edges.

[Dana Carvey]

Right.

[David Spade]

Maybe.

[Lisa Kudrow]

And it was something no one had seen before. It was meant to just be raw footage from a reality show so that you can see just the folly of this woman thinking she's going to control it. It's her show. And, you know, just throwing herself into a meat grinder for. To stay in the spotlight.

[David Spade]

Yes. Yeah.

[Lisa Kudrow]

And not really understanding what a reality show actually is. And that was before Housewives. There was just Anna Nicole and the Osbournes.

[Dana Carvey]

The Osbournes seemed like the first one, I remember. That went huge. Yeah.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

That was an inspired idea at the time.

[David Spade]

It was. It was very interesting. I think people would talk a lot about it because it was just. It's always great when you get idea a little bit out of the blue that everyone goes, oh, okay.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah, yeah. No, that was very. It was. That was very, very rewarding, I have to say.

[Dana Carvey]

I mean, because you've done this six, season seven, whatever. You did all that with the live audience, which brings its. Its rock and roll and all its pressure. And then you do this whole new thing. It must have felt really good. Like, oh, yeah, I can also do this. Just.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah, no, it was a different tone. Yeah.

[David Spade]

Yeah.

[Lisa Kudrow]

And luckily, while I was doing Friends, I was doing independent films a lot, which was fun, because there are no stakes at all.

[David Spade]

Yeah.

[Lisa Kudrow]

And.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah. You know, especially in your day job as Friends.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

Oh, darn. I hope it does well.

[David Spade]

We have one to go back in.

[Dana Carvey]

26 weeks, in fact.

[Lisa Kudrow]

I thought, and when I'm done with Friends, I mean, I'll just do independent films. And then they went away because.

[Dana Carvey]

And now it's all lives. Live streaming. In a sense.

[Lisa Kudrow]

That's streaming. Yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

You're might as well bring it up. No good deed.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Oh, yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

Ray Romano.

[David Spade]

Yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

Was on this podcast. Oh, yeah, we love Ray Romano. That must have been fun. Yeah, He. He's a gentle giant. Like, I was surprised how self deprecating he is and how open he is because he's a big guy, you know.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

And he does not wear that on his sleeve at all. He's just very real.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah. He claims to be insecure and, you know. Well, and he. He might be, but we were talking once and I said, but you're not mean to anybody. Like, most insecure performers. Find someone or something to blame everything on. Right.

[Dana Carvey]

Oh, yeah.

[Lisa Kudrow]

We didn't give me the right wines or, you know.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah.

[Lisa Kudrow]

That stuff.

[Dana Carvey]

Or some stooge to shit on occasionally and just little put downs.

[David Spade]

Yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

You leverage their power over, you know, that. That character.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Right. He.

[Dana Carvey]

That's not.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Ray doesn't do that. And he said, oh, no, that's because I. I think I'm to blame for everything.

[Dana Carvey]

He's.

[Lisa Kudrow]

I just blame myself.

[David Spade]

I think he really sinks into these things. He's not just doing it to kill time like we were doing the Mirage. Dana knows we were doing, like, both of us were not sort of residency doing stand up. But he gets into like these indie movies and like this thing. It's just good little things. And he really puts a lot of heart and soul into them, it feels like to me, and wants them all really to do well, like really into it. Instead of just like, I'll do this. I'll do a week on this if you pay me. It's more like, let's get into it. Nail it.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah, yeah. No, no. I think he has a reason for everything he chooses to do.

[David Spade]

Yeah. You had a Luke on there. I was just watching it in the other room because I hadn't seen it. And I go, oh, shoot, let's go check it out. And I was. There's Luke and there's everywhere you turn. I was like, oh, good. Oh, Dennis Leary. I saw.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Oh, yeah.

[David Spade]

And. And how fun he used to be. I used to know him a little more in the old days, but. So how fun is. That's. That's a fun thing to do. And you did it for. And it's on right Now Because I'm watching it right now.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah.

[David Spade]

On Netflix.

[Lisa Kudrow]

It's on Netflix right now.

[Dana Carvey]

Will you introduce the premise? I. I research premise of the show which is very interesting.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Me?

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah, yeah, you.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Oh, yeah. Okay.

[Dana Carvey]

I could do it, but I think.

[Lisa Kudrow]

It'S tough to explain. There's a couple who's empty nesters. They're selling their house and right. So far seems, I know there seems.

[Dana Carvey]

To be the details we can get into later.

[Lisa Kudrow]

There's some secrets.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Surrounding the house and their life there. And then you have the people who come to the open house and desperately want this house and whatever's going on in their life that somehow intersects each story. Couple. Yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

And the producer of Dead to Me, which had its own. I love that show.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah, I did too.

[Dana Carvey]

And I thought whoever is the mind behind that. And also Christine Applegate and the name of her partner was so good. It was also on the show.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Linda Cardellini.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah. Yes.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Is always phenomenally good.

[Dana Carvey]

Always phenomenal.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Always.

[Dana Carvey]

And so I'm assuming the sensibility overlap. Different storyline, different everything. But I did see one of the clips where you're in the kitchen and you're kind of waving the knife around and he goes, put the knife down. And it was just very smart. Dry, weird but real kind of dialogue.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

Like just put the knife down. Well, I'm not going to stab you.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

I saw kind of the tone in that moment, you know.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah, yeah. I think we kind of played with that one, Rhea and I.

[David Spade]

Sure.

[Dana Carvey]

Oh, good. They're taking advantage of that.

[David Spade]

You can sort of know what you're doing.

[Dana Carvey]

Let's make it real and surprise ourselves in the moment.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Well, it's nice if they, they trust you to let you, you know, and aren't too like. But no, the script.

[David Spade]

Yeah. You know, I don't think people listening know that it's not always the case to have the gift of running with something. Sometimes it's script, script, script, move on and you go, do you want me to try something? They're like, nope, we're good.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah.

[David Spade]

And so when you see it, it always feels looser if you just feel a little more into it.

[Dana Carvey]

If you take it advantage of the digital cameras. I mean, going back for just a second on Shanling, he had three 16 millimeter cameras on shoulders. So there was a single on me, single on him, and a two shot. So every take was its own take. Every take could be improvised, overlapped. It was all there every time. And so I just wondered, did they have a camera on Ray and a Camera on you or was it. They go, well, that was a good improv. Can you repeat it? We'll come around on you. Or they manage the shooting. So it was just.

[Lisa Kudrow]

I think there were two cameras and we may have done it more than once. Because we did it. Probably did it once and then it was, yeah, do that thing again. I think, yeah, I don't have a good memory for that stuff because once I'm done, I move on.

[David Spade]

No, none. You know, when you, when this thing comes about, do you. Does it perk up your ears because of the Dead? To me, part of it, like though this is. This person did this, so you're already sort of intrigued and then you want to read it and then you're more intrigued. Is that sort of the way it goes?

[Lisa Kudrow]

It should have been, but actually it was. It was. So this is something exciting, we think, said the agents. It's. They said a limited series on Netflix and it's Liz Feldman who did. I said, dead to me. I know who that is. I love that show. Yes. And playing your husband would be Ray Romano. And I went, he wanted to work with Ray Romano. Oh my God, that's been like a dream. It's like, well, dreams come true. And so far Linda Cardellini is in it. And I went, what, that? Yeah, work with Linda. So I said, I guess I should read it, but do I have to? Because it's. Yes, do I have to?

[Dana Carvey]

And did you have to?

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah, no. It's a good thing I read it because I read the first episode and then I had a meal with Liz where I had a lot of questions and I went, I'm basically saying yes to what has my character done?

[Dana Carvey]

I'm not sure we leave it. You have a read through. Did you get everyone. When everyone got together, did you read the pilot in a room? Yeah, I always find that, and I haven't done that much of it, very nerve wracking because, like, you know, Lisa, she's gonna bring it, man. Are you kidding me? We got the A team here.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Oh, God.

[Dana Carvey]

You're thinking, what's the puzzle? How am I going to say these lines?

[Lisa Kudrow]

Well, that's. That's how I felt. That is exactly.

[Dana Carvey]

Everyone usually is nervous at that thing.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Everyone's nervous. Yeah. Well, because also, I mean, young people get nervous too because they weren't around in the days when you would do a read through at a pilot and then get fired based on the poor performance in the read through.

[David Spade]

I've been in a pilot. They don't even do that many read throughs anymore and what should I do? But when I was. I read for this pilot. It's like basic abc, whatever. And then they go, read through is great. And the next day like, hey, where's this guy? Oh, they got fired. There's a new person playing them. I'm like, from yesterday. What happened?

[Lisa Kudrow]

Read through.

[David Spade]

Yeah, like, oh, they bombed. I'm like, they did. Like, you don't even notice. You're like, what are they looking at? I don't even know. That's what scares me.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Like, how about a rehearsal and a run through?

[David Spade]

Yeah.

[Lisa Kudrow]

To see if they bombed.

[David Spade]

Yeah. Let's see. Give them one more goddamn swing at it. Like, it's terrifying.

[Lisa Kudrow]

You hired them.

[David Spade]

Yeah. From Quick Decisions. It's all.

[Dana Carvey]

And then what was your first day of shooting with Ray? Did you have your scripts in your hand? Let's, let's get it on its feet. People are quiet. Everybody.

[David Spade]

Number one.

[Dana Carvey]

Number two, we're going to run lines. All right, Go ahead. Anytime.

[David Spade]

Mark this one.

[Dana Carvey]

And then you do it five times in a row. And there's little titters from the crew. And then less and less. And then finally just dead silence. All right, ready to shoot it? Your confidence is we beat it to death.

[David Spade]

Let's shoot it.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah. Beat it to Death will be the sequel to no Good Deed.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Beat it to Death. Dead to Me. No Good Deed. Beat it to Death. That's so good.

[David Spade]

That's funny.

[Lisa Kudrow]

I wanted to make it clear for your listening audience.

[David Spade]

Yeah, well, we won't give too much.

[Dana Carvey]

More away of that, but titles are tough. But it's on Netflix right now.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

And all eight shows are available. You can binge it tonight if you want.

[Lisa Kudrow]

And it is good. I mean, it is bingeable.

[David Spade]

Someone was talking about it the other.

[Dana Carvey]

Night and it's got like a 89% on rotten tomato.

[David Spade]

Yeah, it got 102% rotten tomatoes.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah, it's, it's, it's fabulous.

[David Spade]

Extra tomatoes came in. This episode is brought to you by Ring Cameras and Doorbells. A lot happens while you're away from home. That's why Ring makes it easy to check in from anywhere. Whether you're saying hi to an unexpected guest, making sure those packages are safe, or keeping your pets company while you're out grabbing groceries. It's all a few taps away right from your phone. Be there with Ring Explore cameras, doorbells, alarm kits, and more. Right [e-mail], we know all about LinkedIn.

[Dana Carvey]

Oh, we know.

[David Spade]

I know LinkedIn. It's a very well known Brand. I think that's one of the few that you just say and people know, you know. And as a small business owner, you don't always have the luxury of clocking out early. It's very busy. You know, your business is on your mind all day, all night. When you're hiring, you need a partner that grinds as hard as you do. And the hiring partner is LinkedIn jobs for when you clock out. LinkedIn clocks in. LinkedIn makes it easy to post your jobs for free, share it with your network and get qualified candidates that you can manage all in one place. You know this is exactly what you need because you want it easy. No one in a small business has time. They're always busy. There's always something else to do. So you get this team on your side and they're working for you. They do their job well. You know, they got even got a new feature where they can help you write job descriptions and they get your job in front of the right people with deep candidate insights.

[Dana Carvey]

It's also true you either post your job for free or pay to promote promoted jobs. Get three times more qualified applicants.

[David Spade]

Get qualified candidates. At the end of the day, the most important thing to your small business is that quality of candidates. And with LinkedIn you can feel confident that you're getting the best. You know you can let let your network know you're hiring. You can even add a hiring frame to your profile picture, hashtag hiring. And then that gets two times more qualified candidates. They got all the tricks.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah. Find out why more than 2.5 million small businesses use LinkedIn for hiring today. Find your next great hire on LinkedIn.

[David Spade]

Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com candidates that's LinkedIn.com candidates to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. I want to ask you a little bit about Romy and Michelle because I know you get it a lot, but it's such a. Such a big one. Especially when it came out and you must still hear about it all the time. It was such a cool one. You still have Halloween costumes. Girl, I love it when you do something that's a Halloween. Halloween costume. It's so fun.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah. Yeah, that is fun.

[David Spade]

And when was that? What was that was 97 is what I said.

[Lisa Kudrow]

97. Yeah, maybe 96.

[David Spade]

Movie heyday. That's right around when movies were like such.

[Lisa Kudrow]

It's so fun how to do opening weekend. Wow. It was number two.

[David Spade]

It was in Variety. Even my mom like it was number one.

[Lisa Kudrow]

I don't know.

[David Spade]

Yeah.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Something with A car chase in it, I think. I don't know.

[David Spade]

Fast and the Furious one.

[Lisa Kudrow]

That was before Titanic.

[Dana Carvey]

The Vin Diesel story. It was a doc.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah, but I remember doing talk shows for that and it was like, you know what I like about this? Jay Leno, actually, who's very nice. Well, I'll say it and then you can.

[David Spade]

Hilder Jaylen.

[Lisa Kudrow]

And he said, you know what I like about this? That it's. It's two women. But it's not. You're not man bashing. You know, it's just. It's two women and you're funny and it's fun and it's not against men.

[Dana Carvey]

You know, I like about this, you know, you're not man banishing. You know, it's just two women having fun. You're not bashing the men. And it's just a great little movie, you know, I mean, I thought it was tremendous. I thought it was tremendous. There was no man banishing at all. I'll say it one more time and then I'll let you talk. No man bashing in the whole thing. You know, you gotta be careful with the man badger, because you don't know what you're gonna do. Sorry, I got a little silly.

[Lisa Kudrow]

That's so funny. But I mean. Yeah, but it wasn't about men.

[David Spade]

It's a big victory. That was, though. That's. That was your victory. Listen, we didn't.

[Dana Carvey]

Louise, man.

[Lisa Kudrow]

There were abusive men and predatory men and.

[David Spade]

Oh, yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

Oh, in that way. So Thelma and Louise had Brad Pitt seducing Sarah Susan Saran or something, but.

[Lisa Kudrow]

They were escaping a bad husband, another bad guy.

[Dana Carvey]

Okay.

[Lisa Kudrow]

It's as if, like. Right, that's not fair. Because that never happens. Wait, no, it happens a lot. I mean, if a woman.

[Dana Carvey]

Quite a bit where the estranged husband is not happy and he has a weapon, right?

[Lisa Kudrow]

I mean, if slamming with the enemy, who's her husband, who's her boyfriend, you know, that's the first place you look. But yeah, but it was just funny to me that it still needed to be contextualized. Like, is it for. In relation to men? Yeah.

[David Spade]

Yes. Yeah. And it was very. You know what I get about most of my comedies is you know what I like. It's so fucking dumb.

[Lisa Kudrow]

That's what we need. Yeah, but we do.

[David Spade]

I know. I love it. Believe me, I'm doing one right now. It's hard.

[Lisa Kudrow]

But, Roman, I say thank you.

[David Spade]

Was clever, is good fun and a smart little comedy that, you know, and then I don't know. So you do It. And you don't. I don't. You might not expect a lot. You don't know what to expect. It does well, right?

[Lisa Kudrow]

Expect a lot. It did fine. It could have done better if it weren't rated R. Oh, was it rated R?

[Dana Carvey]

Oh, PG13 is the way to go.

[Lisa Kudrow]

I thought that was a huge mistake.

[David Spade]

It was for that movie. I don't remember one thing R about it.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Jean Garofalo said off, I think two times or three times or something and.

[David Spade]

You get an R, I think.

[Lisa Kudrow]

And the big stand was, I'm not changing Janine Garofalo's buck offs. And I went, I don't think she'd mind. I think she wouldn't care if it's.

[David Spade]

Holding back another 50 million.

[Dana Carvey]

It's like 40% of the net profit. What are you going to do? Unless it's just a cause. Make a movie called off, you know, and do that.

[Lisa Kudrow]

But I. 14 year old girls would have gone maybe more than once to. By themselves.

[David Spade]

I mean those would come over and.

[Dana Carvey]

Over again because they all wanted to be those characters.

[Lisa Kudrow]

I watched it and when I heard R, I went, okay. Who do you think this movie's for though?

[David Spade]

Yeah, a hundred percent. I can't. I would.

[Lisa Kudrow]

30 year old men, right?

[David Spade]

Who goes over and over. You get lucky, they go over and over. And that's. Young women would have gone to see that.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah, I thought that was a mistake, personally.

[David Spade]

Thousand percent. My God.

[Dana Carvey]

PG 13 is the move. Remember? Greece is the move. PG 13 is the move. But I don't, I don't know.

[David Spade]

Greece is the word.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Grace is the word.

[Dana Carvey]

Have you like. So you, you grew up in the 90s as a star.

[Lisa Kudrow]

I'm sorry. Greece is the move. It's the move. Okay.

[David Spade]

Yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

John Travolta was an incredible businessman. I think he got, he got, he got some publishing on that and also on. Because he, he came around and hung out. He's a super nice guy.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Oh my God.

[Dana Carvey]

Nicest guy in show business potentially I've ever met. I mean we all went to, we all went to Bruce. No, Tom Hanks's birthday party up at, in, up on whatever. The planetarium in oh, Griffith Park Observatory. And everyone was there and you'd say hello to someone, you could tell, they're like, oh my God, I'm talking to you right now. But Springsteen's over there. They were panicked, trying, you know, so. And Travolta just wanted to hang out with us and talk about airplanes because I have a fear of flying because, you know an airplane's only as safe as its maintenance, you know? But anyway, he was just a great. He is a great guy.

[Lisa Kudrow]

He is one of his guys.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah.

[David Spade]

I always see that picture of his house with a 747 in the driveway. I made it big. Because he pulls out. He goes. Going to work on.

[Lisa Kudrow]

747.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah, 707.

[David Spade]

From an inch longer, but yes.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah. I flew on his plane.

[Dana Carvey]

You did?

[Lisa Kudrow]

And he was flying it. I did a movie with him.

[David Spade]

What was it?

[Dana Carvey]

What was the name of the movie?

[David Spade]

Fever.

[Lisa Kudrow]

No. Yeah. Yes. You don't remember me, Michael.

[Dana Carvey]

The Angel. The angel movie?

[Lisa Kudrow]

No, no, no, no, no. But Nora Efren directed. It was called Lucky Numbers, I think. What was it called? I. I'm looking to see if I have anything. But anyway, it didn't do well. The one Nora Ephron, John Travolta movie.

[David Spade]

God dang. Nora Ephron, too.

[Lisa Kudrow]

It didn't do well, but I got to work with him, and he is the nicest.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah, it's something about him.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Because it's. It's not about him.

[David Spade]

Yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

And he didn't like how big he was. I've always found it was interesting that Tarantino, because he. He did the talking dog movies with Kirsty Allen, but he was like.

[David Spade]

He was baby.

[Lisa Kudrow]

The talking baby.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah, talking baby. And he was so huge with Urban Cowboy and all Tarantino, you know, the studio is like, you know, you want Travolta, really? You know, and he said he knew because he would walk around LA with Travolta and it was still stop traffic and people would swarm.

[David Spade]

Good looking tall. But what about Sirenite Fever and Greece Almost back to back. And you go, yes, I think it was back to back. And the hugest hit. And then another monster hit, both with music, both crazy, right?

[Lisa Kudrow]

And then Urban Cowboy and then. And then Face off and then. I love that Face off and Michael Cage. Everything. Lucas talking. Everything. I mean.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah. And then Pulp Fiction kind of put him in this other kind of lane and then he went from there. But anyway, yeah, John, if you're listening, you're always welcome to come on and we'll just talk about ye. A Deborah Winger. We'll say, what. What was. What was that all about? That's Urban Cowboy. Yeah.

[David Spade]

I saw your. On stupid Instagram. I saw your Urban Cowboy with Deborah Winger sketch and you played Travel to, like, two days ago. And that was. I'm talking to Dana and then Lisa.

[Dana Carvey]

I even forgot that I did. Oh, with Deborah Winger.

[David Spade]

Yeah, yeah.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Friends.

[David Spade]

Friends is so big. I saw a Instagram today about you guys splitting a check, and I saw it an hour before this.

[Lisa Kudrow]

I'm like, splitting a check.

[David Spade]

Well, you were like, in the. In the real show.

[Dana Carvey]

Oh.

[David Spade]

Oh, you're deciding. It was show 10869.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Oh, yes. 10869.

[David Spade]

Yes, that one. It was a great one.

[Lisa Kudrow]

That was one of the good ones.

[David Spade]

Yeah. And you're deciding what to pay. And I'm like, it's still. I mean, you don't have to talk about it too much, but it still keeps going and going. We don't.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah, it does. It does.

[David Spade]

The gift that keeps giving.

[Dana Carvey]

Did you ever wear a disguise? Like at Peak Friends of Mania.

[David Spade]

Too Famous too.

[Dana Carvey]

Did you ever. Did any of the cast ever wear a disguise?

[Lisa Kudrow]

Not that I know of.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Okay. No, I don't think so. I mean, also, it wasn't so bad for me because I'm. I'm married to a person who's not in this business, so there's no sort of interest in. There wasn't any interest in. How's that couple doing?

[David Spade]

Oh, out there with the tabloids.

[Dana Carvey]

So you're not on Daily Mail a lot, I've noticed. And is that a disappointment at all?

[Lisa Kudrow]

No, I don't follow you.

[Dana Carvey]

We all. You kind of think everyone's out in the tabloids, but it's really kind of similar character actors a lot. And then he realized, oh, so many people are not pursuing that path of celebrity within their career. And you forget about them. You forget they even exist. Yeah, just their work, you know.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah, that's okay, too.

[David Spade]

Yeah, some lean into it and some. You can't totally avoid it, but some really lean into it and some tip off. More people tip off than regular people know because really, are they at the bowling alley and there's five photographers there, like, why.

[Lisa Kudrow]

And also there are certain restaurants, if you go to them. No, there will be paparazzi there.

[David Spade]

Yeah, they'll call it out then.

[Lisa Kudrow]

To be fair, there are some people and, you know, if something's going on in your life, you know, they just stalk you.

[David Spade]

Yeah. They wait in front of the house to.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah. See where you're going to go and what you're going to do.

[David Spade]

That's definitely legit.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah, that, that, that does happen, I think, to a lot of people, for sure.

[Dana Carvey]

That's horror. Horrible. You know, the. To be nice to people who don't know what show business is. And they're. You're at some school function and they sidle up and, hey, how do you. How do you make that Friends type show? You know, what do you. What do you. You know, those kind of nice, sweet people are really just interested in wanting to say the right thing. Yeah, they just, you know. Well, we rehearse a lot.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah, I didn't get a lot of that, but you know what I get a lot of? Oh, yeah. I don't know. I didn't watch that show.

[Dana Carvey]

Why did they always say, I really.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Want to let you know? And I always say, oh, sure, yeah. No, a lot of people. There are plenty of people who, you know, didn't watch tv, or it's like, no, I mean, I watched. Okay, I liked Seinfeld a lot, but. And one time it was. And it's a good friend, too, who said. But that was. That was more of a. That was more of a girls show, wasn't it Friends? I don't think so. Was it. You know, I asked my husband. He's like, no, it was small. Guys, too.

[David Spade]

Three of us were guys. Yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

Some people liked Wayne's World. It wasn't my cup of tea a day of that.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Who. No. Has anyone ever.

[Dana Carvey]

Oh, yeah, you just get all.

[Lisa Kudrow]

I guess you get all kinds. Oh, yeah, no, I don't watch those kinds of movies.

[Dana Carvey]

We go to our senses, you know, But I guess. I guess some people really did like it. Are you from Canada? I think so. I have to have to check my driver's license, but, yeah, it's. Showbiz is just a funny thing, and when you get inside of it, you just see all the. How the gears move and the insecurity and, you know, you're on the soundstage somewhere and it looks all greasy and ugly and stupid, and then you see it later in the film. It's all shiny and color corrected. And so it's a show.

[Lisa Kudrow]

I think there are people who just want to let you know, like, I'm not a fan, so you can trust me.

[David Spade]

Yeah, that's true. I'm not like the cattle.

[Dana Carvey]

Right. I don't want anything.

[Lisa Kudrow]

I don't want anything. I'm not a fan.

[Dana Carvey]

I couldn't care less that you were famous and on tv. I just like you.

[David Spade]

I don't care about celebrities. Is the number one person that cares about celebrities. That's the first telltale.

[Dana Carvey]

And do you host fundraisers? Do you do that kind of stuff?

[Lisa Kudrow]

I have. For things I'm involved in, you know?

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

Do you have. Do you have stick. Do you have. Like, you don't always let them from grade school.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah. Tavia's dream Everybody.

[David Spade]

Dana. When I was on Just Shoot Me, it was right around the time of Friends. And. Yeah, when I heard they were getting favored nations, I was hoping it meant all sitcoms so we'd all get the same whatever they got. Turns out it was not.

[Lisa Kudrow]

No, that was hard to get.

[David Spade]

Oh, yeah.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Well, I mean, they wanted nothing more than for us to split up and divide and conquer.

[David Spade]

Yeah.

[Dana Carvey]

Whoever. Whoever thought of that was. Was smart. Keep. Keep the team. Yeah.

[Lisa Kudrow]

You know, it was Courtney or Schwimmer, depending on.

[Dana Carvey]

I'm thinking who you're talking to. Yeah.

[Lisa Kudrow]

But Squad's pretty smart.

[David Spade]

Yeah.

[Lisa Kudrow]

About stuff.

[Dana Carvey]

She'd worked a little. She. I don't know her trajectory exactly. I remember from the Springsteen videos when she rocketed out, you know. Right, right. She probably may had a little more experience.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Oh, she was on Family Ties and then she was. But I think the first minute she made any money, she bought a house and then was flipping houses and I think made more doing that.

[David Spade]

If I had her money, I'd throw mine away.

[Dana Carvey]

I love when show business people leverage their income and make money. Yeah. And take care of themselves.

[Lisa Kudrow]

She's so smart. I mean, also, just like with blocking, we would block scenes and you'd be stuck. And Courtney would say, well, you should just stand over there and you do that. And that way it's easier. And she was always right.

[David Spade]

You need somebody.

[Lisa Kudrow]

She was also the one. When we were first, like, shooting the pilot or I don't know if it was then or got picked up, she said, listen, y'all, I did Seinfeld. They help each other all the time. Like, if you think I could be doing something funnier, tell me. You gotta tell me. And we need to help each other out. So that set a tone that I think carried through the whole 10 years for us.

[Dana Carvey]

That's really cool.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah. Otherwise, it can get, you know, I mean, David, you've been on shows where it can get tense amongst casts, don't normally love each other.

[David Spade]

Also, if things happen or someone gets more money or someone gets more jokes or something, there's always trouble. Even photo shoots are weird sometimes.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah.

[David Spade]

So many little things you don't see coming, and you go, itchy, itchy.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah, but you're all snl. It was. It was different. Sorry, go ahead.

[David Spade]

I was saying, like, I just shoot me. Even though it wasn't obviously Friends show, but we did about seven years and. And George Siegel, Wendy Mellon. We had all done stuff.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah.

[David Spade]

And also had good and bad things. And so everyone was, like, at a point where like, we're really lucky.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah.

[David Spade]

So it was a little easier to get through it all because we appreciated it. We were like, hey, this is going to go away tomorrow. And so I think it might be harder for you guys because when you're one of your first things, if not your first thing, is so monstrous.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah.

[David Spade]

I don't know how you think nothing else could be like this. It's too good. You go, and then I'll do this and it'll be it. And then it just. It just seems weird. Weird world to. To deal with.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah. I mean, we did all fully appreciate. That was the other rare thing because we. We would check in and check each other all the time, you know, and we had to answer to each other if we were going to create a disturbance. You know, like, I got to do this. Is that all right with you guys? If I leave early and my stand in does that? You know, it was. It was. It was great to be accountable. Everyone was accountable to everybody else. And then we'd all go off and like, they'd let us, which was really nice. Go do a movie. And, you know, you come back and shoot your pickups of stuff and. And everyone would say, well, I'll tell you one thing. Movie makings for the birds. Because no one's running up offering me a sandwich there. Here.

[Dana Carvey]

Break.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Craft service. And sure. You know, we rehearse most of the time. The more you do it.

[David Spade]

Unreal. Yeah.

[Lisa Kudrow]

It's like the more you do it, the more you get paid and the fewer hours.

[Dana Carvey]

I think it was either David Spade or Tony Danza that told me that he got it down to 17 hours. I don't know.

[David Spade]

It was not a week.

[Dana Carvey]

A week. You know, just for the read through, the thing, the blocking just Will and.

[David Spade]

Grace got pretty tight. They were across from us and.

[Dana Carvey]

And they got very.

[David Spade]

I was jealous. I'm going to lunch. They're all driving away in their Porsches. I'm like, guys, this is a half day. Like, no, this is their whole day. And I'm like, you're joking.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Wow. Well, I think also they had Jim Burroughs, just most of them. Right. So, yeah, I mean, they knew what they were doing. And then they probably had early run throughs.

[David Spade]

Yeah, early run through.

[Dana Carvey]

Yeah. The writers like it. Right. They write a draft, you run it through, and then they don't really need you for a while. Like, okay, now we're just gonna go.

[David Spade]

It falls on them.

[Lisa Kudrow]

But at first they would have us do the run throughs at like 5, because they wanted to Be in the writer's room most of the day and then come see it. But then they'd have to do all the rewrites that night. So then they'd go be up really late.

[Dana Carvey]

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[David Spade]

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[Dana Carvey]

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[David Spade]

To Fly on the Wall at Double Speed or regular speed, you'd probably love to know how you can get more cash back on your credit card. Either way, we'll slow things down a bit so you don't miss anything.

[Dana Carvey]

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[David Spade]

It pays to Discover see [e-mail] credit card. We got ours down at 1:00 on like a Wednesday to shoot on Friday. And then so you come in, rehearse, go through everything once run through, and you split. But did you do a Monday read through or a first day read through whenever you shot?

[Lisa Kudrow]

We did. We did the first seven years, I think.

[David Spade]

And then they had.

[Lisa Kudrow]

We also would shoot. They'd have us start at like six or seven at night on a Friday. I'll let you go till like 2 in the morning.

[David Spade]

Oh, really?

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah. And it took six hours to shoot our show. They did a lot of rewrites because the audience, I guess, would get tired of a joke. So. Oh, okay. Well, maybe, I don't know. They just wanted it to be as good as it could be. We'd have hair and makeup changes that.

[David Spade]

Sometimes, you know, I don't know of youth prisoners in the audience. They would go, hey, they didn't like it. I'm like, well, we liked it all week. We can't Totally go by that.

[Lisa Kudrow]

I know. I would think it's a. There. This is for a television audience, though.

[David Spade]

Yeah. Not the people that would come here. Yeah. And also, you guys had more pressure because it's a bigger. It's probably a little more overthought because it's a big deal. How does this fit in? Will people like this joke? I could see that going a little longer.

[Lisa Kudrow]

It took. I mean, it was sort of notorious for taking a lot of time to.

[David Spade]

Would you get fidgety?

[Lisa Kudrow]

No, no. And luckily we were all, you know, young, so.

[David Spade]

And you knew it was your hard night. You knew ahead of time, this is going to be the one.

[Lisa Kudrow]

And we knew. But to. It got to me when I was pregnant and felt like I had a flu for seven months. And then to be there at 2 in the morning, it was. That was a little too tough. My husband had to come drive me home a couple times.

[David Spade]

Sure. I get it.

[Lisa Kudrow]

And then I think we just said, how about we start earlier? Someone got that.

[David Spade]

Where was Courtney earlier?

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah, yeah. And. And we were told, yeah, I don't know if we can get the audience. And for Friends, really, People can get off work if they have tickets to the show. And people fly here on vacation to see the show.

[David Spade]

For sure.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Pretty sure. So we would. We started earlier and then we'd have two audiences.

[David Spade]

Oh, you. Oh, wow.

[Lisa Kudrow]

No one can sit for that long hours.

[David Spade]

Jelly beans.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Pizza.

[David Spade]

Pizza is the stock thing that goes out.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah, yeah.

[David Spade]

The audience warm up.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Guy.

[David Spade]

That guy gets burned out.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Can you imagine? Six hours he had to keep everybody.

[David Spade]

I would hear it. They'd go, hey, and there's David Spade. Come say hi. And I'm like, don't make me come home. I'm running my line.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Really?

[David Spade]

Yeah. But ABBA do. And then they say, hey, do this. And then. But, you know, you feel for the crowd.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Would you.

[David Spade]

I'd go over. Yeah. Yeah. Because they're there. They're super tired. I don't even know if we gave him pizza. I don't know what happened.

[Lisa Kudrow]

This guy had a million trips, six hours.

[David Spade]

Oh, yeah.

[Lisa Kudrow]

We had to give him pizza.

[David Spade]

Give him something. Let them live.

[Lisa Kudrow]

A hard candy. A butterscotch wasn't going to be enough, I don't think.

[David Spade]

Anyway, we got a bowl of Skittles. Don't forget. It's at the bottom of the stairs.

[Dana Carvey]

Skittles.

[David Spade]

Don't go crazy, though.

[Dana Carvey]

When did peak TV end? I mean, was Big Bang Theory the last water cooler show or was it Friends or. I think Big Bang Theory maybe Was the last kind of big, big, big network sitcom.

[Lisa Kudrow]

I think.

[David Spade]

So now you get like maybe 8.

[Dana Carvey]

800 people or whatever it is. They've best been renewed with a 1.1 0.8. Yeah, amazing.

[Lisa Kudrow]

But I think they want more to try to make multi cameras work again. Just because, you know, it's on a stage, it's not as expensive to shoot and it travels really well.

[David Spade]

Something about it works. It's been working for 50 years. So 60, 70, like it can.

[Lisa Kudrow]

But you know what? It always seemed to me things that didn't work were usually missing funny people and good jokes. Right. Good joke writers, you know, pretty basic. Good.

[David Spade]

It works.

[Lisa Kudrow]

You know, it is basic.

[David Spade]

But you know, family was a good big one too. That was one of the.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah, but it wasn't in front of an audience. It wasn't.

[David Spade]

Oh, that's right.

[Dana Carvey]

That's right.

[Lisa Kudrow]

And it also had the docusette.

[David Spade]

You're like. And also that's not really what we're talking about right now. And I'm like, yep, I just can't.

[Lisa Kudrow]

What documentary is this?

[David Spade]

Yeah, who's watching this 10 year documentary about this dumb family?

[Dana Carvey]

I've been in situations on a movie where the, the, the brain trust is around the camera and there's a take and they're beside, they're bent over like it's the funniest thing. And I go, we're so it's over. The brain or dailies they used to have. The brain trust is like, oh my God. You're like, no, this is death.

[David Spade]

You can tell it's over. Bombing bomb.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Although I have to say I'm not a great judge. Like when I see something and I think, ugh, that's too broad or I don't know if that's very good. And then it's, you know, the audience's favorite thing that's ever happened.

[Dana Carvey]

There is that element of comedy where you're like, really? That was the one that killed. Yeah.

[David Spade]

Or you do a show like a movie and you go, I remember some movies I did where I go, this was the scene that tested the highest. Just because it's like one shot. But when people watch it for 10 years, like a Roman Michel type movie. Some of my movies, they go, these are my favorite things. And I'm like, it's not what it was the first time when it came out, it switches. Like they see it so many times now. They like this and like that.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah, yeah.

[David Spade]

The real throwaway jokes and that kind of stuff.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Yeah.

[David Spade]

But initially the big jokes are like, the easiest ones to. To get. Yeah. After the movie, they go, did you like that one? And everyone goes, sure. And they're like, okay, that's your favorite scene.

[Dana Carvey]

All right, we're gonna fill out our cards today. It's a scale of 1 to 5. And just, you know, remember what we talked about. Remember what we talked about earlier. And thanks for participating, and we sure are. Appreciate it.

[David Spade]

What's a word of David Spade's character? Stupid. Okay, well, that's not one of the choices we're gonna have. You just write them down on your card and hand them in to the front.

[Dana Carvey]

If you thought the dog was cute, we have another special card to put it on.

[David Spade]

Exactly. That's all. That's exactly what those test screenings are.

[Dana Carvey]

I know.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Who would you want to see more of?

[David Spade]

Yeah. Who should we cut out of the movie and fire immediately? Lisa, thank you for talking to us. We'll let you go. It's very, very nice. Have a long chat with you.

[Dana Carvey]

No good deed.

[David Spade]

No good deed.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Thanks.

[Dana Carvey]

Netflix now. We enjoyed it. Lisa. Around campus.

[Lisa Kudrow]

Okay.

[Dana Carvey]

As they say. All right, bye.

[David Spade]

This has been a presentation of Odyssey. Please follow, 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 Holtz.