Julia Louis-Dreyfus

Summary

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Good Hang with Amy Poehler

Episode: Julia Louis-Dreyfus

Date: December 9, 2025
Podcast: The Ringer

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Episode Overview

Amy Poehler welcomes comedy icon Julia Louis-Dreyfus for a freewheeling, affectionate, and deeply funny conversation. The episode features reflections on long-running careers in comedy, competitive friendships, behind-the-scenes stories from iconic shows like Seinfeld, Veep, and SNL, and candid insights on aging, resilience, and staying joyful. Special guest Tony Hale makes a memorable appearance to ask a heartfelt question about parental influence and the power of laughter through hard times. The tone remains breezy, personal, and, above all, hilarious throughout.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Tony Hale's Visit & Relationship with Julia (02:34–12:18)

• Tony Hale and Amy Poehler’s History: They reminisce about meeting on Arrested Development and, earlier, during SNL days because Tony’s wife was a makeup artist on the show.
• Veep’s On-Screen Dynamic: Tony describes the codependency between his Gary and Julia’s Selina as “I worship. She was Jesus to me ... I just heard poetry when she was screaming at me” (05:32).
• Julia’s Leadership Experience: Tony emphasizes how Julia set a positive, respectful tone on the Veep set, making it “a gift for the next seven years ... her humanity was awesome to be around” (06:11).
• Fun with Podcasts and Bits: Amy and Tony riff on the concept of “going too deep,” imagining Tony’s future podcast: "Too Deep," and joking about favorite desserts.
• Tony’s Question for Julia: “What did your mom do right?”—prompted by admiration for Julia’s relationship with her mother (07:53).

2. Amy & Julia’s Warm-Up: Competitive Spirit & Photo Duel (13:13–15:04)

• Amy and Julia compete over who has more photos on their phone—Amy: 82,014, Julia: 56,276 (13:27–13:46).

  • Julia: “Screw you, Amy Poehler.” (13:50)

• Lighthearted tech anxiety: “Technology makes me sweat,” admits Amy (14:51); Julia adds, “That’s right, mother. It does.” (14:54)

3. Podcasting: Why So Much Effort? (15:33–18:26)

• Amy on Research: Admits she asked no men for advice before starting her podcast—“I tried not to ask men for advice.” (15:45)
• Julia’s Approach: For her show (Wiser Than Me), Julia does “a lot, baby,” of research for authentic, deep conversations (18:00).
• Shared Work Ethic: Both discuss their “good student” mentality—“I wanna do well ... the podcast was born out of my own curiosity.” (18:43)

4. SNL, Cultural Icons, & Big Sister Energy (19:10–23:50)

• Influence of Icons: Julia’s admiration for Jane Curtin and Carol Burnett, describing their work as getting “into your bloodstream without your knowing.” (20:08)
• Jane Curtin’s Sane SNL Strategy: “She made the decision that she was not gonna come to work on Monday and Tuesday... she was protecting herself.” (20:56)
• Gen-Z language lessons: Amy and Julia comically fumble through internet slang (“glaze,” “dead,” “bet”).
• Amy on Julia as Her “Big Sister” and Icon: “You are like the LeBron James of TV.” Julia: “I don’t accept it.” (23:51–23:56)

5. Winning, Award Show Comedy, and Competitive Fun (24:05–27:29)

• Competitive Women: Both stress importance of fun competition—“Fun is all caps ... there’s [also] another kind of competitive woman we don’t care for.” (25:12–25:19)
• Legendary Award Show Bits: Julia: “It’s very good to focus on what to do if you win or you lose. And Amy Poehler is very fun to come up with bits with.” (25:25)
  • Notably, the time they swapped acceptance speeches as a prank (26:31).

6. Chicago Roots, SNL Beginnings & Seinfeld’s Origin (27:34–33:10)

• Sketch Beginnings: Both started in Chicago sketch groups, often being “the only girl in the group” (27:46).
• SNL Initiation: Julia’s troupe was met “with a lot of animosity” as the new cast, recalling their “excruciating” invitation to perform for skeptical SNL writers in a fluorescent-lit room (29:31–30:12).
• Seinfeld’s Early Struggles: Started as a “four episode order,” with the network mandating a female character—thus Julia’s Elaine. “Apparently, the network told them you have to put a girl in the show.” (32:26)

7. Elaine’s Legacy, Style Regrets, and “Sexy” Sitcom Pressure (33:10–36:41)

• Elaine as an Icon: Elaine is a perennial Halloween costume, but Julia jokes, “God, I’d love to go back and fix that look.” (33:33)
• The ‘Friends’ Influence: Julia remembered thinking, “Oh, fuck, I should have been sexy.” (34:06)
• Motherhood on TV: Both discuss being really pregnant on their shows, Julia sharing Jerry Seinfeld’s suggestion: “How about Elaine just gets fat?”—which made her cry but later reflect it “might have been funny.” (36:25–37:14)

8. Family & Parenting: Heartfelt Moments (40:00–41:21)

• Julia’s Family: Amy praises Julia’s kids, and Julia expresses gratitude for Amy giving Charlie his first acting job. “I am so grateful because you’re a good person ... it was very informative to him.” (40:39–41:21)

9. “Talk Well” Behind Guests’ Backs, Friendship with Ina Garten (41:40–44:13)

• Sweetly contentious bit about semantics of “talking well” versus “asking questions.”
• Julia describes Ina taking her and Brad to Caviar Caspia in Paris; “frankly, I don’t even like caviar … and it was delicious.” (43:38–43:52)

10. Veep: Chemistry, Codependency, and Creative Joy (45:14–47:53)

• Julia’s love for Tony Hale: “He is deeply funny. He is profoundly generous. He is incredibly neurotic. He worries about everyone.” (45:28–45:47)
• Explaining Selina-Gary’s on-screen codependency with a “trellis and plant” metaphor—“That plant is not going to live without the trellis. And FYI, the trellis doesn’t give a shit about the plant.” (46:30–46:51)
• Playing Selina: “Couldn’t be more fun to play ... focus only on myself ... appalled if anyone is not focused on me and take no responsibility for anything. Never apologize.” (47:25–47:41)

11. The Legacy of Joy and Laughter Through Difficulty (53:17–58:03)

• Amy: “The incredible joy and privilege it is to just get older ... how great to be alive.” (53:25–53:35)
• Facing Grief and Illness: Julia reflects on going public about her cancer and how “there’s a lot to be said in self-soothing by soothing others.” (55:29–55:47)
• Laughter as Survival: “We need it ... it’s the way to get yourself up out of the basement. The elevator is laughing ... those are my favorite laughs—when it’s very ... like, church giggles, basically. Or like funeral laughs.” (56:02–56:25)
• Chemo camaraderie: “All of my girlfriends came and shoved into this tiny little room ... I was high as a kite ... it was a dream, dream, dream.” (56:51–57:41)

12. Now Watching, Streaming, and Snacks (58:04–64:53)

• Julia’s Current Joys: Instagram dog videos (“spud” the dog attacking food, 58:12), Survivor, Amazing Race, and especially Alone (“You’d never make it on Alone, Amy.” [61:17])
• Both fantasize about watching TV together with snacks—Julia avid for dill pickle chips, Amy, “a basic Doritos bitch.” (64:11–64:32)

13. Answering Tony Hale’s Tender Question (48:01–50:13)

• What did Julia’s mom do right?
  • Julia: “My mother is a very intellectually curious person ... has a very good sense of humor ... my memory is that she was laughing as hard as I was” (48:30–49:00).
  • They reflect on how shared laughter bonds parent and child—“it’s a binder” (50:13).

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Notable Quotes

• On Selina and Gary (Tony Hale):
  “I worship. She was Jesus to me ... I never heard it. I just heard poetry when she was screaming at me.” (05:32)
• Competitive Friendship (Amy Poehler):
  "You are like the LeBron James of TV."
  Julia: “I don’t accept it.” (23:51–23:56)
• Podcasting Philosophy (Julia Louis-Dreyfus):
  “I’m talking to older women about the wisdom they have acquired in their life ... I really need to come to the table understanding who these people are and how to have an authentic conversation.” (16:33)
• On Surviving Grief:
  “There’s a lot to be said in self-soothing by soothing others. For real. I don’t mean to sound all Pollyannish. I actually think it’s true.” (55:47)
• Amy on Joy in Aging:
  “The incredible ... joy and privilege it is to just get older. There’s so many people that aren’t here that want to be here ... how great to be alive, basically.” (53:25)
• Julia on Playing Selina:
  “Appalled if anyone is not focused on me ... and take no responsibility for anything. Never apologize. It’s always your fault, your fault and your fault.” (47:25–47:45)
• Julia on Childhood Laughter:
  “We would start … my memory is that [my mother] was laughing as hard as I was. My guess is that maybe she was laughing because I was laughing. But I remember sort of feeling like I was partnered with her in enjoying this extraordinarily funny ping pong bit.” (49:50)

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Memorable Moments & Timestamps

• [13:27] Amy & Julia’s photo-off: “82,000 photos.” Julia, mock-offended: “Screw you, Amy Poehler.”
• [25:40] Julia recounts award show bits with Amy, especially swapping speeches.
• [32:26] Julia explains how Seinfeld’s executives demanded a female character: “Network told them you have to put a girl in the show.”
• [36:25] Julia’s story about Jerry Seinfeld suggesting Elaine just gets fat instead of hiding her pregnancy.
• [45:28] Julia’s heartfelt praise of Tony Hale and their on- and off-screen rapport.
• [55:47] Julia on the unexpected comfort in helping others after sharing her cancer diagnosis.
• [61:03] Amy and Julia discuss why neither would survive Alone: “There’s no way you’re making it on Alone.”
• [64:32] Amy: “I’m a basic Doritos bitch.”

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The Heart of the Conversation

• A celebration of competitive, supportive, and deeply funny friendships among women in comedy.
• Honest, warm reflections about the challenges (and joys) of aging, grief, family, and the sometimes absurd rituals of showbiz.
• The importance of laughter—especially in the hardest moments.
• A love letter to collaboration, deep curiosity, and finding joy in both the successes and awkward misstarts.

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For First-Time Listeners

If you’re new to Good Hang, this episode encapsulates the show’s spirit: two comedy legends swapping stories, mocking themselves, being honest about anxiety and aging, joyfully riffing on pop culture, and taking a real, funny look at the art of “just hanging out.” The warmth and affection between Amy and Julia, plus the surprise depth (and silliness) from Tony Hale, makes for terrific listening, whether you’re a longtime fan or new to their world.

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Listen for:

• Inside Hollywood dirt (but with love!)
• Unexpectedly moving stories about the healing power of comedy and friendship
• A masterclass in how to tease and praise your friends at the same time

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Recommended jump-in moments:

• [13:13] Photo competition starts
• [25:40] Award show antics
• [36:25] Pregnancy on set war stories
• [45:14] Tony Hale segment and Veep codependency
• [55:47] Julia on sharing her cancer journey
• [58:04] What Julia and Amy are watching (and snacking on) now

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Highlights in Original Tone:

“Appalled if anyone is not focused on me ... Never apologize. It’s always your fault, your fault, and your fault.”
— Julia Louis-Dreyfus, [47:25]

“How about Elaine just gets fat?”
— Jerry Seinfeld suggestion, retold by Julia [36:43]

“Fun is all caps. Because there’s another kind of competitive woman ... that we don’t care for.”
— Julia Louis-Dreyfus, [25:12]

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Note: This summary skips all advertisements, intros/outros, and non-content sections.

Transcript

[Amy Poehler]

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Welcome to another episode of Good Hang. We just have such a pro. We have the queen. We have just the hilarious, incredible, inspiring Julia Louis Dreyfus joining us today. And we talk to Julia about so many fun good things. We talk about season four of her podcast Wiser than Me. We're going to talk about her Emmy domination and how she just beat me year after year. We're talking about how many photos we have on our phone. And spoiler alert, I have more. And you're going to hear her reject my idea that she is the LeBron James of television. So great episode coming up. But before we start, we always like to check in with someone who knows our guest who has a question to give me to ask our guest. And we have an incredible, sweet, super talented, hilarious Tony Hale joining us. Tony who you might know from Arrested Development, Buster Bluth. What a character he played. Gary on Veep. Incredible character. He is the voice of fear and Inside out two incredible character. We love Tony. And let's check in and see if we can hear him from his incredible studio. Tony.

This episode of Good Hang is presented by Walmart Express Delivery. Getting gifts to your doorstep in as fast as an hour. Who needs elves when Walmart Express Delivery can make Nespresso machines magically appear on your doorstep? And if you do happen to forget something, no judgment. You can even order gifts up until 5pm on December 24th. Santa, you might want to take notes, download the Walmart app or head to Walmart.com and get your gifts delivered fast, subject to availability terms and fees apply. Payments better. What do you say?

Are you in a booth? In a recording booth?

[Tony Hale]

Okay, this is a little booth I made in my house and if I really showed it to you, you'd be like, oh, that's sad. Tony needs help.

[Amy Poehler]

First of all, everyone, now you're, you're nobody if you don't have a booth in your house.

[Tony Hale]

Really, I'm ahead of the game.

[Amy Poehler]

This is like, feels like a Covid, you know, thing. You build a wall and you make it soundproof and you start a podcast.

[Tony Hale]

Soundproof. Ish. If I really showed it to you, go, oh, I get it now. He's in the Witness Protection Program.

[Amy Poehler]

Oh, it's so good to see you. We first met on the set of Arrested Development back in. Whatever that was.

[Tony Hale]

Yeah, Actually, was that. I think we might.

[Amy Poehler]

Was that the first time.

[Tony Hale]

I think we might have first met when Martel was on snl. Because my wife was a makeup artist on snl, and I think. But I was just the guy next to her that was like, oh, I'm.

[Amy Poehler]

Not gonna say anything.

[Tony Hale]

I'm not gonna say anything to Amy. No, no. And so I don't know if we actually met, but I just kind of probably stared at all you guys.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yeah.

[Amy Poehler]

Your very talented wife Martell was a makeup artist during my years at snl. And.

And then we got to know each other on the set of Arrested. And, I mean, Buster Bluth, what. We need a movie about what's on. Going on in his head.

[Tony Hale]

Yeah, there was a lot going on in his head, and. And he could barely get to the pharmacy, but he just.

[Amy Poehler]

Oh, man.

[Tony Hale]

There. Somebody was. Was asking me the other day about just the codependency, you know, that's in that show between me and Lucille Bluth, who has played, you know, wonderfully by Jessica Walter. And there is a scene in there which. So is such a beautiful picture of the codependency where she's on house arrest and she can't smoke. And so she tells me, she goes, buster, come here. Come here. And she says. She makes me inhale the smoke out of her mouth as she smokes and then blow it out on the balcony. And then she takes another drag and then blows it into my mouth. And I've got an exhale on the balcony. And I was like, just like a baby bird getting a worm out of his mom's mouth. And I was like, if that's not a picture of dysfunction, that. I mean, that is crazy.

[Amy Poehler]

Well, to me, that's a picture of a loving son taking care of their mother.

[Tony Hale]

You know what, Amy? I think this is a side conversation.

[Amy Poehler]

That's what a son should do for its mother.

[Tony Hale]

You're absolutely right. My mother would agree.

[Amy Poehler]

You have created such great codependent dysfunctional relationships in the work that you do. Because Lucille and Buster, I mean, is. And then the relationship you and Julia have on Veep is how. When you explain.

Your relationship to Selina in that, how do you relation. How do you. How do you sum up the relationship you guys had together on the show?

[Tony Hale]

Your characters.

I worship. She was Jesus to Me, I was. I don't even think I ex. I mean, she literally called me a bitchy mime on the show because she didn't really want me to speak. So she had. She gave me no value. But I just had these crazy rose colored glasses and just. I never heard it. I just heard poetry when she was screaming at me. So it was just. And she knew it. She knew it and she abused it.

[Amy Poehler]

It looked like you two had an incredible working relationship. Like, it just looked like you loved working together.

[Tony Hale]

We really did. And she. The one thing. I mean, you did the same thing on Parks and Rec, but it's.

Whoever is number one on the call sheet, which means whoever's the star of the show, they typically set the tone of the experience. And sometimes, unfortunately, that's. I haven't had this experience, but, you know, sometimes it's like everybody's walking in eggshells and there's a lot of ego and entitlement, which just sucks creative energy out of a space. And it's just not a gift to anybody. And then sometimes you have, like, you or Julia where you walk in and it's just. It's open. We're all on the same team. There's a kindness, there's a respect. And let me tell you right now, it is a gift for the next seven years that we have on that show of what she gave us. And we just loved her and we just became friends. I mean, she's also. Work is not her number one priority. Her family is. She has a life outside of it. And just the humanity of Julia was really just awesome. Awesome to be around.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah. And, you know, you. I think you. Because you're a deep thinking person. Too deep. Too deep. Some people say too deep.

[Tony Hale]

It's the rumor.

[Amy Poehler]

Tony Hill. Too deep.

[Tony Hale]

Damn it. That should be the name of my podcast.

[Amy Poehler]

Too deep. Too deep to. What would be the book? It would be Tony Hill.

Or somebody's.

[Tony Hale]

Or I'm talking to somebody and they start saying something. I go, not deep enough. You gotta go deeper.

[Amy Poehler]

Go deeper, actually, go deeper, go deeper, go deeper.

[Tony Hale]

If I'm not deep enough, I'm like, bye, bye.

[Amy Poehler]

Go deeper. And then. And then it's go deeper, comma, get back up to the surface. You've gone too deep.

[Tony Hale]

Way too deep.

[Amy Poehler]

So I ask my Zoom guests to give me a question to ask my guest, and I'm wondering if you have a question. Big, small, deep, not deep for Julia that you think would be appropriate?

[Tony Hale]

One thing that I always loved to witness with Julia was her relationship with her mom. She really loves and respects her mom and I, we never really talked about. I mean, we talked about her mom a lot, but never really talked about much. Her growing up and growing up, what she remembers, kind of how her mom cultivated that foundation, you know? Cause it's such a cool thing to watch now. And I'm like, oh, wow. Like, what did your mom do right? You know?

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah, that's a great question. What did your mom do right? That's actually a. I think that's kind of. That's kind of like the theme of your 50s and 60s, because you're. Listen, I love to generalize, so I apologize in advance. But if your 20s and 30s are like, who am I not? And I don't want to do this. And, like, what didn't go right? Then as you get older, you start to realize, what else? What did I. What. The people who raised me, what did they. You know, they're doing the best they can. What did they do right?

[Tony Hale]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you can. You can really see it with the. The fruit of that, with her. With her relationship. And, you know, both you and I are parents, and I want. I want that kind of longevity that she has with her mom. Man, what an awesome gift. Yeah, you're so right about the 50s kind of having eyes to see things, which is such a gift. That's. That's too deep. That's. That we went through.

[Amy Poehler]

We've gone to. Yeah, that's the second week of too deep, which is.

[Tony Hale]

So my favorite dessert is key lime pie.

[Amy Poehler]

Thank God. Let's get back over to the service. You know what I mean? I'm not trying to change lives here, Tony. You know what I mean? Like, we're trying to have a laugh. This is a good hang. So sorry. And look, I took you down. I put the weights on our ankles, and I brought us down.

[Tony Hale]

I was about to go into, like, dessert. The sugar does hurt my stomach, but I do. I want to keep it up.

[Amy Poehler]

Stay up, stay up.

[Tony Hale]

I'm not going to say anymore.

[Amy Poehler]

So also, maybe if I follow up the. Maybe if I asked Julia the question about her mom, I should follow up with, what's your favorite kind of pie?

[Tony Hale]

I will say, what's her favorite dessert? I want to say I think it might be a really good chocolate cake, but I don't know if that's true.

[Amy Poehler]

Well, I feel like I would trust you knowing everything about Julia after Veep.

[Tony Hale]

Yeah. I didn't know anything about politics on that show, but I knew what designer she was wearing. I knew what jewelry she was wearing. I knew who just had an affair that she was talking to. I knew all that stuff.

[Amy Poehler]

You kept tampons in your bag just in case.

[Tony Hale]

Different colors. Several.

[Amy Poehler]

That's a real man.

[Tony Hale]

Thank you.

[Amy Poehler]

That's a real man. Thank you.

[Tony Hale]

Why they haven't put me in a Marvel movie?

[Amy Poehler]

The guy has tampons in his back.

[Tony Hale]

Me. Me.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

I got it.

[Amy Poehler]

I got it. I got. I have antibacterial wipes, too.

Well, I feel like you should be in a Marvel movie. And also, you are in Toy story. Toy Story 5 is coming out, and you're in that story.

[Tony Hale]

Five's coming out. Forky. Sweet little forky man. Four key was the best.

[Amy Poehler]

That's so great. Yeah.

[Tony Hale]

4K has a lot of questions.

[Amy Poehler]

What's Forky's game? Like, what's going on with Forky?

[Tony Hale]

God, we're getting too deep again.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah, here we go. Going down. You're like, Forky is like, why are we here?

[Tony Hale]

Forky's like, why we're here. But also the fact that he, like, came into the world being like, I'm trash. I'm just trash. And Woody's like, no, you're more than trash. You're made for a purpose. Come on.

[Amy Poehler]

Oh, that Pixar man.

[Tony Hale]

That Pixar man just gets you.

[Amy Poehler]

They just get you every time.

[Tony Hale]

So I think that'll come out this summer. And this theme of this one is Toys Against Tech, which I think is a really cool. Yeah, that's.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

That's.

[Amy Poehler]

That's very cool.

[Tony Hale]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Amy Poehler]

Well, I. As long as. As long as you guys don't come after my phone.

You can say all you want about tech, but my phone is my best friend.

[Tony Hale]

So what if when the movie comes out, like, the SWAT team just goes to your house and goes, amy, give me your phone.

[Amy Poehler]

What if at the very end, tech just wins? It's like, yeah, no more toys.

[Tony Hale]

Amy is really a spokesperson for AI when everyone's concerned.

[Amy Poehler]

Big time. AI yai. We need AI.

[Tony Hale]

She's the ambassador. AI's ambassador.

[Amy Poehler]

Polar. Tony, I love you. See you later. Bye. This episode is brought to you by Visible. When your phone's plan's as good as visible, you've gotta tell your people it's the ultimate wireless hack. To save money and still get great coverage and a reliable connection, get one line wireless with unlimited data and hotspot for 25 doll a month, taxes and fees included, all on Verizon's 5G network. Plus now, for a limited time, new members can get the Visible plan for just $19 a month for the first 26 months. Use promo code, switch 26 and save beyond the season. It's a deal. So good you're going to want to tell your people. Switch [e-mail] terms apply, limited time offer subject to change. See visible.com for plan features and network management details. Julia, Louis Dreyfus is here and we've started our interview by comparing how many photos we have in our phone.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

I would call it a competition, if you don't mind.

[Amy Poehler]

Well, I want to talk about this because what I like about you is you like to win.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

I do like to win.

[Amy Poehler]

I know. I love that about you. Let's. Let's reveal the numbers of photos we have on our phone. I'll go first.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Go ahead.

[Amy Poehler]

82,000.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Oh, shit.

[Amy Poehler]

Is that winning or losing? Is it winning or losing that I. I have 82,000 photos on my phone?

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Wait, you mean it's a round number like that?

[Amy Poehler]

I know it's 82-014-82014.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

What do you have? I'm 56,276.

[Amy Poehler]

Chop chop.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Screw you, Amy Poehler.

[Amy Poehler]

Now you know what it means is that we have not asked a young person to plug in our phone and to transfer our photos somewhere else.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

We should, but I wouldn't have them on my phone.

[Amy Poehler]

Me too.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

There you go.

[Amy Poehler]

But we should be downloading them somewhere else, right?

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Don't they do that automatically in the cloud?

[Amy Poehler]

I'm literally the last person to ask.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Somebody call Bill Gates.

[Amy Poehler]

We can get him on the phone. Because now when I get a new iPhone, I hand it to my 17 year old child and I go fix it. Do it. I guess I don't even know how to do it.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

You don't know how to do it? I don't know how to do it either, but this is making me anxious. I need to take these all off of here. There are certain pictures I want to have.

[Amy Poehler]

Agree, but. And let me ask the gen zers in the room, do you guys take your photos off your phone at some point? Never.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Never. See, we're young and hip all of a sudden.

[Amy Poehler]

Okay, we're really sounding old though, because.

I feel the same way. Like I sweat. Technology makes me sweat.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

That's right, mother. It does.

[Amy Poehler]

Yes, mother.

Yes, mother.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yes, speaking.

[Amy Poehler]

Are you comfy, by the way?

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

You need anything? So comfy.

[Amy Poehler]

Okay, great.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Oh, let's move.

[Amy Poehler]

Let's turn off that phone. Julia's phone is dinging. Did you get another picture? Did you get another picture sent to you?

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

I'm up to 56,600.

[Amy Poehler]

Okay. And by the way, my phone is also on.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Oh, hang on. I just want to finish this.

[Amy Poehler]

Okay.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Anyway, now it's. Now it's silenced. Okay.

[Amy Poehler]

Yes. I want to start by asking you about podcasting, because we're both podcasting now. I know I didn't really ask a lot of people for advice before I started this podcast, and you should have.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Called me, by the way.

[Amy Poehler]

I know I didn't ask any men because I tried not to ask men for advice.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Smart.

[Amy Poehler]

But what do you think makes a good interview? You've done great interviews now. You've done many of them. What if. What do you think makes a good one?

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Well, I mean, it sort of depends on what the. The conceit is for, what the conversation's gonna be. You've done this, right? Because good hang lets you know exactly what it's gonna be. We could be talking about the photos on my phone for the next 45 minutes.

[Amy Poehler]

That's right.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

We probably will. And we might. And that's, like. That is dynamite. Because that's. There's an ease to that.

Unfortunately for me, you've made it hard.

[Amy Poehler]

Because you love hard work.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Well, I don't know about that, but I have made it. I mean, it's definitely rewarding, but it does. I'm talking to older women about the wisdom they have acquired in their life and would they share it with us. So that requires me to do a lot of research. I really need to come to the table understanding who these people are and how to have an authentic conversation that isn't just, you know, your normal. Yeah.

[Amy Poehler]

Around.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yeah. Or plug your this, that, and the other.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah. And. And I. It's why I love your show. And I've told you that, like, I love the deep dive.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

You do?

[Amy Poehler]

I do feel like I get this very, you know, big picture perspective from the women and the lives that they've led.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Oh, thanks.

[Amy Poehler]

I'm going to glaze you for a while on this. This is what the kids call a glaze.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

I'm glazing you like a sugar thing.

[Amy Poehler]

Yep. So all about sugar glazed sugar glaze is like, I'm gonna tell you how great you are, so buckle up.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Okay. There's a word. There's another word that's out now that I can't remember what it is that I was gonna respond with, but it went out of my head, and if.

[Amy Poehler]

We know it, it's out. There's no way. There's no way.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

So glaze is not Cool anymore.

[Amy Poehler]

Of course, it isn't if I'm saying it.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

So now I have to say I'm dead.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah, exactly. I'm dead.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Seriously. Bet. Bet. Julia, bet. But.

[Amy Poehler]

But you. How much research do you do for your show? Like, do you.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

A lot, baby.

[Amy Poehler]

Kate. Well, why. Why work so hard?

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

I don't know.

[Amy Poehler]

Get me out of it. Haven't you gotten the memo to work? Do you see how.

[Tony Hale]

How.

[Amy Poehler]

Why are we working so hard?

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

I don't know. Well, you say you're not working hard even to what you are. You've. You have. Yeah, you are, right? Isn't she? Yeah, she is. Everyone's shaking their head. You are. You're pretending like you're not to be cool, but you're working super hard.

[Amy Poehler]

I gotta tell you, you're. But it is. It's an indication, I think, of a bigger thing that we all are used to doing, which is being a very good student. Like, just like, working hard.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yes, that's true.

[Amy Poehler]

And has that been something you found in your life? Like you wanna do well and be a good student?

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Basically, yeah, I wanna do well. Yeah. And also for me, the. With this podcast, it was really born out of my own curiosity. In fact, I came to you and talked to you about this podcast.

[Amy Poehler]

I know. And I remember thinking, this sounds hard.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

I know. Julia passed, ladies and gentlemen.

[Amy Poehler]

Julia was like, what if we did? I was like, that sounds like a lot.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

I don't think so. You do it. That's what she said.

[Amy Poehler]

Who is coming up? The Earx. Who have you interviewed that you can plug?

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Well, I can plug the following. I can plug Jane Curtin.

[Amy Poehler]

Ah, please, please, let's talk about Jane for one second. Let's just sit here and think about Jane for a second.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Well, you know what? It was a really, first of all, obviously, an honor to talk to her, but it was a great opportunity to go back and look at her work, and particularly her work on SNL back in the day, because, of course, she was one of the original cast members and to understand the effect, speak for myself, that had on my life. Yeah, Ginormous. Yes, Ginormous.

[Amy Poehler]

Totally.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

And, you know, and I watched that first episode and Janis Ian is singing I Learned the truth at 17, and I was 14 watching the show when that premiered. And these were my people.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

And so.

Same is true of Carol Burnett. Yeah. You know, you sort of don't, to a certain extent, these people that have these cultural icons who've had proper influence, they get into your bloodstream without your knowing.

[Amy Poehler]

It totally and it's. And it's, you know, that thing like you have to see it to be it. It's not conscious. It's not like you say, oh, there's a woman on there. But you just see people filling this role and you just becomes part of your DNA that. That could exist in your life, in your world, Right? Oh, yeah.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Incredible. Yeah, Incredible. By the way, you may know this, but something I learned talking to Jane, that was kind of extraordinary because you and I are familiar with the schedule of snl, which is grueling.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Jane was not hired as a writer. And immediately she made the decision that she was not gonna come to work on Monday and Tuesday. I swear to Christ.

[Amy Poehler]

Whoa. Baller, baller. She's like, I'm not here to write, I'm here to perform. Let me know when you write.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

You're paying me as an actor. I'll be here for the table read on Wednesday.

[Amy Poehler]

Wow.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

And the great thing about that was she's a really good cold reader, according to her. And so she'd nail it and then she'd be in sketches. But she was not doing that drug filled all nighter life.

[Amy Poehler]

Wow.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

And I just. That she had the sense to realize that she was protecting herself. FYI, she was married too.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah. Jane seemed like the reasonable cast member.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Cause she was. Yeah. Yeah.

[Amy Poehler]

I told this to Martin Short, Marty Short, when he was on the show. We were Talking about the SNL 50th, which stirred up so much for everybody. I mean, it was.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

That was a lot of. There were a lot of feelings in that studio.

[Amy Poehler]

I know, and I can speak for myself, that parts of me really regressed, like back to some version of what I was like when I was there. And also the young part of me was starstruck by the people who I grew up watching. And one of my tenderest moments was I was talking to Lorraine Newman, who I don't know that well, and I worship. And her and Jane got ready together.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yeah. They're like.

[Amy Poehler]

And they got their hair and makeup together before. And it just made me feel so happy because I just wanted them to be friends forever.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

And they were.

[Amy Poehler]

I know they are. And then they held up Gilda's picture at the end.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

It was so touching.

[Amy Poehler]

I know you, Julia. Even though I consider you.

I consider you. Whether you'll accept this or not.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Like, I don't accept it.

[Amy Poehler]

Fuck. I knew it.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

I don't. I'm not gonna accept it. I'm just gonna.

[Amy Poehler]

It's good though.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

I'm gonna say something okay, go ahead.

[Amy Poehler]

Big sister energy for me, like.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Oh, really?

[Amy Poehler]

I feel like in the same way you saw Jane. I was 11, 12 when you were on SNL and you were a baby. You were like 21 or something, so you were not that much older than me, but you were definitely a new woman on the show. And, you know, I was always paying attention to who was new on the show, and you looked really young, which I loved because I was young and wanted a young person on the show. And I have to say, like, when I was getting. Preparing for this interview, there's a million ways that we can talk about all the million things that you've done in your career and your life and who you are as a person. And I've got to lucky to get to call you a friend, but you are like the LeBron James of TV.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yeah, I mean, I. Thanks, but I'm not gonna.

[Amy Poehler]

You're not accepting that.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

I'm not accepting. Accepting that, man.

[Amy Poehler]

Well, here's why I say that you're not accepting, and I think that's smart to not accept it. Actually, I take it back.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yeah, yeah. But.

[Amy Poehler]

No but the. But you have been. You're pretty good. Just say you're pretty good.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

It's fine.

[Amy Poehler]

This is. This is. I'm gonna extend the metaphor. And I'm just. I'm pleased that I came up with this from a sports perspective because.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Because you're such a sporty girl, such a sporty head.

[Amy Poehler]

I mean, this is what this podcast is about. Sports.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yeah.

[Amy Poehler]

Like, let's go deep into.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Deep into the draft. Into the draft and football and let's get in there. The Kelsey's.

[Amy Poehler]

Let's go into there. Let's get deep in. Okay, no, but. Because you're LeBron, because you have won championships for more than one team. You have been on huge legacy shows more than once. That's very unusual. It's very unusual.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yeah, that is unusual. And that's a lot of good luck, you know, really. And so great. But not really LeBron.

Okay, okay, okay, okay. But.

[Amy Poehler]

But what is your. We started talking about winning. We were comparing photos.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yeah.

[Amy Poehler]

What is your relationship to winning? Because I like that you like to win. Like, I like. I like, like fun, competitive women.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Well, first of all, fun is all caps. Because.

[Amy Poehler]

Yes.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Because there's another kind of competitive woman.

[Amy Poehler]

Totally.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

That we don't care for.

[Amy Poehler]

That's right. It has to. The fun part has. It has to be, like, in good fun.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Well, here I'm going to tell you a story about you that I like. So much. Okay, so you and I have down a couple of times done bits around award shows and when we're competing against each other.

[Amy Poehler]

That's right.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

So anyway, what I have found over the years is that it's very good to focus on what to do if you win or you lose. And Amy Poehler is very fun to come up with bits with.

[Amy Poehler]

I love a bit. Love a bit at an award show because it used to be fun. It used to be, like, goofy, and now it's so serious.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yeah. And by the way, we took speeches seriously, but from a comic point of.

[Amy Poehler]

View, if you win for a comedic role, try to be funny when you give a speech.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Or how about even if you win for a dramatic role. How about that? Great idea. Turn it on its head.

[Amy Poehler]

Flip it. Flip it.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Anytime.

[Amy Poehler]

Time anybody does, they look like a genius.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Genius. No, for real. You look like a genius.

[Amy Poehler]

That's true.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

So we did a couple of them where we. My.

[Amy Poehler]

I think my favorite one with you.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

But you tell me. Was when we. We pretended to switch acceptance speeches.

[Amy Poehler]

That was my favorite. You went up there so good. We gave each other a hug. And then we pretended to, like, oopsie. Switch speeches. And then you went up and you started thanking people from Parks and Rec. And then we had a moment of like, oh, fuck, yes. And the camera cut to me. And those were the years. I have to say, there were so many great women always in our category that came and went. Julia was always there because she always crushed us all every year. But. But. And, like, people were really game to have fun.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yeah, completely.

[Amy Poehler]

And I don't remember anything other than the fun times of those bits.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yeah, me too. I really. I was always so grateful that you were. Because there were certain people that weren't down to do those bits, and they won't be named, but we did try. We did try to finesse with other people, and they didn't think. They didn't want to do it.

[Amy Poehler]

I know. I think some of them were nervous. Like, genuinely nervous.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Okay, fine. You can say that.

[Amy Poehler]

But okay. I want to start, though. I want to go back a little bit because I feel like we talked a little bit about this in person, but we. We kind of had similar sketch. Chicago Beginnings.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yeah.

[Amy Poehler]

Like, we. We were in a group. We were the only girl in the group.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yeah.

[Amy Poehler]

And our group kind of moved to a new city to, like, make a start. And in your case, Practical Theater. Theater. Practical Theater company moved to SNL together.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yes.

[Amy Poehler]

You were on TV from Northwestern.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yes.

[Amy Poehler]

So what year was that?

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

1982.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

And we were doing a show in Chicago that was a big. In Chicago. And.

All the people in the show got hired. There were four of us. Three of us were on snl and the fourth person, Paul Barras, was hired as a writer.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah. And you all moved to New York and just started together. What was it like to have four or five of your closest friends to start that show with?

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Well, it was tricky.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Not because we didn't get along, but because we were a group of people who were met with a lot of animosity.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

And by the people.

Whose friends had just been fired.

[Amy Poehler]

Right.

Right.

And if I can imagine it. Cause I was myself the same way. There's like a pluckiness to a sketch group. Like a sketch group is like improv and sketch is like standup was cool and improv and sketch was kind of nerdy.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Nerdy for sure.

[Amy Poehler]

And you know, so it was like, hey, guys, we're here. And I'm sure everyone was like, okay, congrats.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

No, but you're gonna. I don't know if, you know, maybe you know this, but when they, they had us at the first table. Oh, God, I can't even.

[Amy Poehler]

Oh, no.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

It was just so excruciating. There's this room.

On the 17th floor with fluorescent lighting and, you know, folding tables, and that's where they do the table read. And in that same room, they had us, these new people coming in, do part of our show that we were doing in Chicago for the writers and cast.

[Amy Poehler]

Oh, wow.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yeah. In fluorescent lighting. Oh, wow. And we came out to your point.

And it didn't land. It did not land. Even saying it. My, my armpits are going bananas right now.

[Amy Poehler]

It was so bad. I've been there.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

So anyway, that's how it began.

[Amy Poehler]

It was a terrible, inauspicious start. And you were there for a couple of years.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

3.

[Amy Poehler]

And you were there during a period of transition. I mean, Lauren was not there.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Lauren was not there. Dick Ebersole was there.

[Amy Poehler]

What a strange window to be there.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Oh, baby. It was bad.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

It was not great. It was not great. But fabulous learning experience. Yeah. It was hard and.

It was a little crazy making. But I, I came away from it sort of stronger. Yeah.

[Amy Poehler]

And met Larry David, who you then worked with again on Seinfeld. And Seinfeld still similar kind of thing. Like didn't had an inauspicious start.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yeah. It was a four episode order. It was like they were just trying to sort of burn it out.

[Amy Poehler]

When I was doing research oh, look.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

At you, working hard.

[Amy Poehler]

Very hard. You are the person I worked the hardest for. Uh huh.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

That's total bullshit.

[Amy Poehler]

It is true.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yeah.

[Amy Poehler]

I've worked the hardest for Michelle Obama.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yeah, smart. Yeah, smart.

[Amy Poehler]

But. No but like Parks and Rec, Seinfeld was always close to being canceled. People weren't getting it. It was like, we don't know what we have here. Nobody.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yeah, it was until the third year it started to take off.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah. And was Elaine written as a man at first, that character? No, but wasn't it for men? And then they changed it to Elaine?

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

I don't know.

[Amy Poehler]

You don't know?

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

No, I know.

[Amy Poehler]

Is that a weird way to ask it? You know what I mean?

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

I do, but it makes me laugh. I think I'm tired. I've got Elaine.

[Amy Poehler]

Was you were playing Elaine as a man? Yes. No, correct.

But was it the character they brought you in because they were like Julia.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

And because they did a pilot. Yeah. And then apparently the network told them you have to put a girl in the show.

[Amy Poehler]

So there is a tape out there somewhere where there's another person in.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

No, not in. There is not a regular.

[Amy Poehler]

There's a women in the pilot.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Correct.

[Tony Hale]

Wow.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah, it was a different time.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

And so they said, you know what? You need a girl. And so I came in and I've never watched the pilot of Seinfeld, by the way. And so why would. I'm not in it. Why would I bother?

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah, you refuse to watch anything you're not in.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

That's right. That's right. What was the name of the show you were in, by the way?

[Amy Poehler]

Exactly.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

So yeah, so that's what happened. So they put me in. So I was in the episode two Onward.

[Amy Poehler]

And I feel like success in the comedy world, in the sitcom world is often like kind of measured by whether or not people will dress up as you for Halloween. Oh. Because I think Elaine is a popular Halloween costume.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

It is, it is.

[Amy Poehler]

And it's an easy one to get together. Like it's just. It's a dress in a blue and a curly haired wig.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

God, I'd love to go back and fix that look.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

You feel me?

[Amy Poehler]

There's some early Leslie knob styles where I'm like, didn't put enough thought into that.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yeah, but we weren't really thinking about that.

[Amy Poehler]

No, we were acting and we were in our character.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

No, but, no, no, but I actually remember cause like when Friends came out at some point when we were doing Seinfeld, not in the beginning, it was sort of. I can't remember what the years were. But. And all those girls were so sexy.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

And I remember thinking, like, oh, fuck, I should have been sexy. I think that all the time.

[Amy Poehler]

Seriously, I can't tell you how many I'm like, oh, I forgot to be sexy. No, totally.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yeah.

[Amy Poehler]

Shit.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Oh, my God.

[Amy Poehler]

This was such a missed opportunity. You're reminded of it when you see other people. You're like, oh, that's also something I could have tried to be.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Seriously. Like a midriff. Anything. Anything.

[Amy Poehler]

But that's why we love Elaine. We love her because of that. Because she feels like us. She feels like someone we would know and love. Like, she feels like our funniest friend. She feels like. You know, I mean, I think. And she's so funny. And it's. It just could. It wouldn't work. If Elaine was paying attention to that, it never would work.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

It might have worked.

[Amy Poehler]

That's true. She just went through, like, a really slutty, sexy phase.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Not so slutty. Just coming in, like, in tight jeans and, like, how they all dressed.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah, I know.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Anyway, because let's not dwell on my.

[Amy Poehler]

Regrets, but also, you had two. Two boys. Did you. Were you pregnant?

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Did you have sexy.

[Amy Poehler]

Oh, right, I forgot.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yeah, I had two babies during that time. So the sexy thing. Although, you know, look, Demi Moore did it.

[Amy Poehler]

I know, but. But I didn't even know about that.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

I didn't know about, like, you know, going like that with your big tummy and looking hot. I just, you know, I was just wearing huge, like, picnic tablecloths.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah, but that style is back now. You know, 90s are. 90s are back, babe.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Listen, if anybody in America is listening to this, please don't do the 90s again.

[Amy Poehler]

I'm gonna disagree with you.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Okay, well, you're wrong and I'm right.

[Amy Poehler]

No.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

And so just leave it at that.

[Amy Poehler]

You're being triggered. But I'm telling you, 90s like that.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

The.

[Amy Poehler]

The floral with, like, a chunky shoe and a tight and a blazer. Fucking jackpot. Like you. You and Jen Aniston. When you look at pictures, like, Rachel and. And Elaine, everybody's dressing like that now.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

And I don't know what to say.

I'm just so fucking sorry.

I really, really am.

But I will tell you one thing. And I've told this story before, but when I was pregnant with Charlie, with my second son, and I was really pregnant, and I was about five or six months, and I got pretty big. And Jerry comes up to me and he says, hey, we got an idea. In the right.

[Amy Poehler]

Oh, no.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

And he said, how about this idea? How about Elaine just gets fat?

[Amy Poehler]

Incredible. What an idea. What an idea, Jerry.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

So I burst into tears, of course.

[Amy Poehler]

And.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

I will say the following, though in retrospect, it might have been great.

[Amy Poehler]

It might have been funny.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

It's a funny idea.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah. It's a funny idea.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yeah.

[Amy Poehler]

And I think it might have been hilarious.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

And it wouldn't, because, you know, with a big tummy and then you're, like, putting a belt on it and you're pretending you're not pregnant, you're just getting fat.

[Amy Poehler]

But when you're not feeling in your own body, it's.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

It didn't work.

[Amy Poehler]

I remember on Parks and Rec, I had been pregnant twice on that show too.

Sorry. I had started when I had just given birth for my first kid, and then I got pregnant with Abel, my youngest, a few years later. And I remember my character Leslie was gonna become pregnant on the show, and I said. I did some version of bursting into tears where I said, I cannot be fake pregnant. I've just been really pregnant. On both SNL and Parks and Rec, I've been genuinely pregnant, and you can't make me now wear a fake stomach.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Oh. So it was. Oh, it was like after you gave birth to.

[Amy Poehler]

After you'd give birth, they were like, let's strap that belly right back on. And I was like, no, no, no.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Well, how about this? How about after I gave birth to Charlie and I'm picking up our.

[Amy Poehler]

Our.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

My Henry from, like, camp, and I'm picking him up, and this mom comes up to me. She goes, oh, when are you two.

Yeah.

[Amy Poehler]

No.

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You. You have the greatest kids.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Oh, thank you. Thank you.

[Amy Poehler]

And they're such talented boys and really nice. They're men.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Talented men. They're still my boys.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah. And. And I love your relationship with Brad, who's a wonderful person.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Y.

[Amy Poehler]

And you guys are like a really beautiful example of a loving, funny, supportive marriage with two very talented people. And you're.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

FYI, we're separate and getting divorced.

[Amy Poehler]

And you're gonna announce it here?

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yeah, I just thought this is the time. I mean, you brought it up. I might as well.

[Amy Poehler]

Well, you know what? Good.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Easy come, easy go.

[Amy Poehler]

And I worked with your son Charlie on Moxie, a film that I made. He was a total doll.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

You know what? I have to tell you something about that. That was the first professional job he ever had. Was you gave him that job in Moxie. And I am so grateful to you for that. Not because you gave him the job. Course, yes. But because I'm so grateful because you're a good person and he didn't have an experience with.

A jerk, of which there are so many. And it was very informative to him. So I just want you to know that for real. And this is totally me telling you thank you. And you've. No, I'm actually. I'm tearing up, but I really mean it.

[Amy Poehler]

Thanks. I love him. I love him. He's such a nice kid and talented. Okay, so we talk about Seinfeld, Adventures of Old Christine. Incredible show. Cari Lizer.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Love. She's your kind of person.

[Amy Poehler]

She is an incredible showrunner. You've worked with great showrunners.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yes, yes, I have worked with great showrunners. Yes.

[Amy Poehler]

Armando Iannucci, who is creator of Veep.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

How did.

[Amy Poehler]

Did that part, Was that part written for you?

Ish.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Ish. Yes, I would say. I mean, initially, no. I just heard about the concept that, you know, unhappy vice president and then. And I was like, Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. And then I met with him, and then he started to write it after that. Yeah. Yeah. Because I loved the idea and I loved his work.

[Amy Poehler]

I mean, Julia.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yes.

[Amy Poehler]

That show.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

That show was so much fun to do, I have to say. I still miss it.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Do you miss doing Parks?

[Amy Poehler]

I miss the people.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yeah.

[Amy Poehler]

I miss the people a lot. I mean, I have a lot of them on here because I miss them so much. Like, I miss. I miss. It felt like. And it feels that way with Veep, too. Like, the chemistry of the people, the funniness of, like, the laughing all day.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

All day.

[Amy Poehler]

So we do a thing on the. The podcast where we have people come on before our guest and talk well behind our guest's back.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Talk well? Yes.

[Amy Poehler]

You've not listened to this podcast, have you?

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Let me explain something to you. You called me to do something for Ina Garten, but you didn't say talk well, yes, I did. No, you didn't. I did, too.

[Amy Poehler]

I said no.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

You said, come up with some questions for her. That's not talking well, when I introduced.

[Amy Poehler]

You, I said that we're gonna talk well behind Ina's back. Did I not?

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

No, you didn't. I'm being gaslit by this enterprise.

[Amy Poehler]

Whatever.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

I am never talking to you again.

[Amy Poehler]

And by the way, Ina, who was on our podcast, you came on to do an incredible little, you know, segment in the front, and Ina and you are buddies.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yes.

[Amy Poehler]

And when I was talking to her, she was saying you guys were ready to go on a trip together.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yeah, we did.

[Amy Poehler]

Please tell me about it. Tell me what you ate. Tell me. Just tell me what you ate.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

We went to. She very generously took me and Brad to a restaurant in Paris called Caviar Caspia. And frankly, I don't even like caviar.

[Amy Poehler]

What?

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yeah. And it was delicious.

[Amy Poehler]

Was everything. Did everything have caviar in it? Kind of.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

It was like caviar and potato and champagne, and it was very exact, just exotic. And it was in Paris. So what else do you need to know?

[Amy Poehler]

She was so nice. She brought champagne and strawberry. She was the best.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

God, was I supposed to bring something?

[Amy Poehler]

It's just weird that you didn't, I guess. Like, I mean, if it is weird that you didn't.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

If. My assistant Will is listening to this right now in the green room. Could you say.

[Amy Poehler]

Could you put some more photos on my phone, please, while Julia's getting it?

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Could I put more photos on my phone right now? And also, can you go and get some chocolates and Quickly, get some chips.

[Amy Poehler]

Could you rip up the thank you note I was about to send to Julia?

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Also, could you please send flowers to myself, because I'm clearly not going to be getting anything from Amy Poehler.

[Amy Poehler]

I distinctly said that polka dots were only for me.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Another thing is that how could it have been that I came out here wearing this blouse and you did not see what she had on? Okay.

[Amy Poehler]

Anyway, so I spoke to someone who knows you really well, and that is Tony Hale.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Oh, my. Tony.

[Amy Poehler]

I know. Tell me about. Tell me how much you love Tony.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

I love Tony.

[Amy Poehler]

He's the best.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

He is the greatest guy.

[Amy Poehler]

What do you love about him? What's so great about Tony?

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

He is deeply funny. Yeah. Like, deeply funny. He is.

Profoundly generous. He is incredibly neurotic.

[Amy Poehler]

Perfect.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

He worries about everyone.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

So if there's a group of people and somebody is off or not fitting in or having a hard time, he can only focus on that.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Which speaks to his kindness.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

And I just would do anything to work with him again. I want to find a way to work with him again.

[Amy Poehler]

You guys were so great together on that show, and everyone on Veep was great, but Selena and Gary's relationship was very special.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Very special.

[Amy Poehler]

How would you sum it up when you explain it?

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Have you ever seen a.

Like.

A trellis with a plant growing throughout it? That's their relationship codependency to the max. Max.

[Amy Poehler]

Enmeshment times a thousand.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yeah. That plant is not going to live without the trellis. And FYI, the trellis doesn't give a shit about the plant.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah. Like, the trellis actually is like, could somebody off me?

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yeah.

[Amy Poehler]

Like, this plant might do that.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

But also it makes me look better. So it can stay.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah. I mean, the way.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

It's a good metaphor. It's really good because you're.

[Amy Poehler]

I mean, Selena was, like, ultimate narcissist.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yes. And which, by the way.

Couldn'T be more fun to play. Oh, I bet.

[Amy Poehler]

What was fun to play? Why was that fun?

What did it allow. What? What did it allow you to play around with and do that you don't get to do in your real life?

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Playing her focus only on myself.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

And.

Appalled that if anyone is not focused on me.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

And take no responsibility for anything.

[Amy Poehler]

Yes. Never apologize.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Never apologize. It's always your fault, your fault and your fault.

[Amy Poehler]

Ooh. She just never, ever looked inward.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Right. Ever.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

She didn't know what that meant. Yeah. Yeah. So that was fun.

[Amy Poehler]

Well, Tony had a great, sweet, of course, loving question. He loves you and Adores you. And.

His question was, like, very tender, just like Tony. But he was saying, like, what he loved about you as a parent. He watched you be the kind of parent that you are, and it really inspired him as a parent. And also he was very moved and is very moved by your relationship with your mom. And his question was, what do you think your mom.

Did right? What did she give you? What are you, like, happy that you got from your mom? It's such a sweet, tender, such a tender question.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

I know. I mean, there are obviously many things that I got from my mother, including this wide jaw of mine.

[Amy Poehler]

It's gorgeous.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

But I would say that my mother is a very intellectually curious person, and I think some of that has rubbed off on me.

[Amy Poehler]

And.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Also, my mother has a very good sense of humor.

[Amy Poehler]

When you were growing up, was she watching stuff that influenced you? I know a lot of my comedy came from my mom, like, what my mom was watching.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

What did your mom watch?

[Amy Poehler]

Well, Carol Burnett, Monty Python, snl. My parents had that on in the house. Did your mom watch that kind of stuff growing up?

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yeah, well, yes. And I mean, I vivid. There was a show on when I was little, like really little, like maybe two.

And it was a show called Soupy Sales.

[Amy Poehler]

Oh, yeah.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

And also Captain Kangaroo.

[Amy Poehler]

Yes.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

And we used to watch that and howl. There was something. And I think it was on Soupy Sales, or maybe it was Captain Kangaroo where ping pong balls would fall down. And, you know, when you're two, that's like, drop dead funny. Yeah, no, you know what I mean? It's kind of the Jack in the box kind of a joke.

[Amy Poehler]

Yes.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

And we would start. My memory is that she was laughing as hard as I was. My guess is that maybe she was laughing because I was laughing. Yeah, But. But I remember sort of feeling like I was partnered with her in enjoying this extraordinarily funny ping pong bit.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah, laughing does do that with our families. Like it.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

I mean, it's a. Yeah, it's a binder.

[Amy Poehler]

Binder. And also you learn a lot about somebody by what they laugh at that.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Totally.

[Amy Poehler]

Like, I know. I learned. I learned. You know, I got. I. I don't think it was the first time we met, but when you came back to host, SNL was a big deal for all of us who were on the cast at the time that you were there. Very excited. And we got to, like, spend some time together. And I remember being so pleased that we would laugh at the same thing. Like, it felt like, oh, I just felt.

Excited that we were enjoying the same things in the same way. Totally.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yeah. There was real immediate simpatico. I remember that very well, because when we were. We were in the. We were. Must have been rehearsal day or something, and we were in 8H, and I was at the Page Station thing, and you came up to me. You just went like this. You went, okay, run. And so I just ran, and we just went running down the hall. It was just some dumb bit, but I thought, oh, I like this girl so much. We were just, you know, fucking around.

[Amy Poehler]

Tell me if I'm wrong, but I think when you came back to host that year, you had a really good time.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

I had a ball. I had a ball. And by the way, if you can believe this, speaking of male, female things, I was the first female cast member to ever come back and host.

[Amy Poehler]

Wow. Oopsie Daisy.

[Tony Hale]

Yeah.

[Amy Poehler]

And that was 2006 or something, correct?

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Amy Poehler]

And you were coming into a cast that was like, there was a lot of really strong, talented women performing together, and it was a good vibe.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

At least that's what I was picking up on. It was the first time I really had fun doing the show.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

I mean, what was so nice about hosting back then with you guys was to feel the female power that was evident.

And long overdue. And so that is a good feeling.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

And that's why I like talking to these older women, too. Anyway, I think it's pretty critical to have these conversations and to hear from these really interesting people.

[Amy Poehler]

Well, I mean, Julia, you do that to me. You inspire me. Every time I see you engaging, like, I feel very inspired by you. Like, I feel very like you. You turn on a switch for me often where I see you doing something and I'm like, right, right. That's the kind of engagement I'm supposed to be doing. Or, like, being reminded that I'm doing. Like, you definitely do that for me. And you do that for me professionally, too. I see the. The moves that you make professionally. I'm like, damn. So smart, so interesting. Like, you're. You are. I'm always looking to you.

[Tony Hale]

Oh, wow.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

That's so nice of you to say. That really makes me feel good.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah, I really feel that way.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

I really appreciate that. Thanks, Amy.

[Amy Poehler]

You're welcome.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

What a good hang this has been.

[Amy Poehler]

It is. Okay. And then my last. I have two questions. One that's fun and one that's a little bit more serious. But, like.

What I take away from your show and what I take away from knowing you is like, the incredible.

Total joy and privilege it is to just get older. Like, there's so many people that aren't here that want to be here. Like, how. How great to be alive, basically.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Like, so great.

[Amy Poehler]

And as we get older, it feels like adulting this. This term adulting, like, it just gets hard because, you know, the parts of life are the juiciest parts. Like, the challenge parts that we have to get through are the. That's the meat on the bone.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

It's just getting through can be rough.

[Amy Poehler]

I know. And you've had a tough couple. You've had to get through illness.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yes.

[Amy Poehler]

Loss of your house, like, loss of people in your life. Like, it's not easy. And we all go through this. Like, everybody listening knows what this feels like. They have versions of it in their life.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Grief.

[Amy Poehler]

Grief. What is the thing that on the other side of certain types of grief, you've, like, learned about yourself? What has it made you? Because is it just as simple as, like, I'm happy, I'm alive.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

No. Yeah.

[Amy Poehler]

I know. Like, you.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

You've shared.

[Amy Poehler]

You shared with the world when you were going. When you were treating your cancer, your breast cancer, and it was very helpful for a lot of people. It isn't something you needed to share. You did well.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

I had. You know, I was kind of backed into a corner on that one because we had to shut our show down. It's funny how that worked out. Cause normally I would not have done that, and very private.

But because we had to shut the show down, Veep. At the time, for a year, I had to say, you know, 250 people weren't gonna be working or whatever it is.

[Amy Poehler]

So.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

So I had to make a public thing about it. But the good thing about doing that was that.

I did have this incredible experience of people reaching out to me, asking me for. You know, asking me about my experience going through the breast cancer, you know, for advice.

And.

And I was able to help. And there was something unbelievably comforting about being able to do that on the other side of this trauma.

[Amy Poehler]

Right.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

There is a lot to be said in self soothing by soothing others.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

You know, for real. I mean, it's a. That's a. I don't mean to sound all Pollyannish. I actually think it's true.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah. I agree. That, like, to be of service to others is the way to get yourself up out of the basement. Yeah. It's so true.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yeah.

[Amy Poehler]

And we need. It's like we're in such short supply of it right now, and the other way that I think that. And I think you're the same that takes me up from the basement, the elevator is laughing.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Well.

A hundred percent. Without it, you're dead.

[Amy Poehler]

It's so true. Like, you have to laugh.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

You have to laugh. When it's the worst, you have to laugh.

[Amy Poehler]

And those are my favorite laughs. When it's very. When everyone is, you know, it's like church giggles, basically. Or like funeral laughs where, like, you have someone who loves you enough to know they're gonna take a swing here to get you up, out. And you have so many funny friends.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yeah.

[Amy Poehler]

You must have had so many moments where things were dark for you and someone kind of scoops you up with a laugh.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Oh, totally. Well, when I was actually, when I was going through chemo and.

I had a lot of girlfriends come and shove into this tiny little room, you know, I mean, like the size of this table. And everybody was there, and I was high as a kite.

And I was doing this thing called a cold cap.

[Amy Poehler]

Oh, yeah.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

So it's a thing that they do that you can do if you're getting chemo if you choose. And it's this ice cold thing you put on your head and. And it's supposed to help you not lose your hair. So I did that. So I had this huge, like, weirdly shaped turban on my head. And, you know, I'm kind of like that. And everybody's around me making fun. And it was a dream, dream, dream.

[Amy Poehler]

That is a dream.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

And at one point, I remember I sent a bunch of my girlfriends out. Cause I was. I lost so much weight. None of my clothes fit. And so I was like, I need, you know, hi, I need new jeans. And so I sent everybody out. I don't know where they went. And then it's on FaceTime and I'm telling them which ones to get. It was fun. It was hilarious.

[Amy Poehler]

So fun.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yeah, it really was.

[Amy Poehler]

And what are you. And I ask all my guests this. What are you watching, listening, reading? What are you laughing at right now?

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Well, there is nothing I love more than those videos of either dogs. Like that one dog who keeps attacking an apple slice.

[Amy Poehler]

Don't know it. Hold on.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

It's.

[Amy Poehler]

It is attacking an apple slice.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yeah, he's just going bananas on top of a bed. How do we find that?

[Amy Poehler]

You know how we find it? We type in dog attacking apple slice.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

I think it's his name is.

[Amy Poehler]

It starts. Our phones are off. Remember? We're gonna have to turn him back on.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

No, mine isn't. Off.

[Amy Poehler]

You never turned your phone off. Puppy shares apple slice. Now, if that seems too nice.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Oh, here we go. Spud on Instagram.

[Amy Poehler]

Okay.

This dog is just attacking this piece of celery.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

This one is celery.

[Amy Poehler]

This dog is a maniac.

The dog is growling. It is the size of a rat.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

It looks.

[Amy Poehler]

And it is furious at this piece of food and is baring its teeth. I mean, it's scary.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

It's scary.

[Amy Poehler]

And. But it's. It's not gonna hurt anybody.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Oh, this is.

[Amy Poehler]

Oh, this is a strawberry.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

It's war. Anyway, that makes me very happy.

[Amy Poehler]

But do you. Do you watch a lot of videos, YouTube videos and, like.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

And I think what. I. I'm.

I love Survivor, but let me just.

[Amy Poehler]

Ask you something about Survivor.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

I also like Amazing Race.

[Amy Poehler]

Okay. Survivor and Amazing Race, those kinds of shows. Do you think you could do well on them?

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

No.

[Amy Poehler]

No.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Really?

[Amy Poehler]

Is there a part. When you watch it, is there a part of you that you think, like, I, this is what I would do, but you don't.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yes. Okay. What I would do is pretend to break my leg and get Air Vac'd out.

[Amy Poehler]

Have you watched Alone?

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yes.

[Amy Poehler]

Incredible.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Incredible.

[Amy Poehler]

Okay, let's talk about alone. So for people that don't know, I think it's on the National Geographic Channel, maybe History Channel, and now it's on Netflix. I mean, there's a 45,000 seasons of it and.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

45,000. And I think we watch every episode during COVID Yeah.

[Amy Poehler]

Fantastic Covid show. And for those who don't know the premise, 10 or 11 people are dropped somewhere. It always feels like Canada, but somewhere. And they have to survive the elements and survive being alone. And the psychology of how people figure out how to not only find food and shelter and outlast their competitors, but the psychology of what happens when people are alone is fascinating.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

I'm for sure would go crazy. Oh, but don't you think you would do on Alone? Are you out of your mind?

[Amy Poehler]

Better than. Really? You don't think you would do better than some of the other. Yeah, no, I. I wouldn't be able to get any food. I wouldn't be able to kill any of them.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

So that would be one problem. And then the other problem would be I don't think you'd be able to sleep because, you know, they got bears up there, man.

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

It's. I mean, I don't know what headspace you're in right now, but there's no way you're making it on a loan.

[Amy Poehler]

No way. I'm not saying I'm making it. I'm just saying.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

I'm not saying. I'm saying you're not making it. One night.

[Amy Poehler]

Not even one night.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

You're gonna be too cold. You have to make a shit.

[Amy Poehler]

My pride would do one night. I would.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Okay, one night. Not really. But I love alone. I love alone.

[Amy Poehler]

Why do you love it?

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Because I think it's an extraordinary challenge. I think it's a legit, you know, and it's. And as a, you know, survivor, it's got all of these things and these games and so on, which is gobs of fun, but it's all fabricated. In this case, you've really gotta stay alive. And you don't know when other people have peeled off. They don't die, but they tap out.

[Amy Poehler]

Yes.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

How much do they win?

[Amy Poehler]

A million dollars.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

A million dollars.

[Amy Poehler]

And what I love about the psychology of that show is the way. Cause I relate. Is the way people start to give up before giving up.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Oh, wait, talk about that. I forgot.

[Amy Poehler]

Because they start to talk and I just. I. I love it because I recognize it. Right. Which is when you start to talk yourself out of something, but you're not talking yourself out of it yet. But you're just playing around with the idea because it's such a mental game. You have to just take the highs and lows and like.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Right.

[Amy Poehler]

But when people are like, yeah, it's just, you know, my family, you know, I'm sure my family's missing me a lot.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Amy Poehler]

It's always men, you know, being like, my wife is probably struggling. And you're like, oh, here he goes. Like just a little day or two before. Just thinking about.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

That's right.

[Amy Poehler]

I mean, I do want the money, but will my kid ever be. Ever have their third birthday again? You know? And you're like, here he goes. He's getting ready. A couple days from now, he's gonna tap out. Like that kind of bubbly stuff. I love human behavior and, like, it's so good. I want to watch alone with you, and I want to watch the new Jerry duty with you and.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Oh, wait a minute. That would be fun.

[Amy Poehler]

That would be fun. I would like to watch TV with you.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Okay.

[Amy Poehler]

Amy.

Is that weird? I want to come over and I feel like get into some kind of comfy situation with you and Brad. Get under some kind of. Not that way.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Just you get blankets and get blankets.

[Amy Poehler]

I feel like there'd be a good snack. Like a chip. Like a delicious, salty chip.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yeah, but we need Some yummy. We need some desserts happening.

[Amy Poehler]

Are you sweet over savory?

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

I like it all. Yeah, but I love sweets. Okay.

[Amy Poehler]

I'm more savory. So we can have sweet and some kind of chip.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Okay.

[Amy Poehler]

And we watch one of these shows and we. I'm picturing it now.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Have you ever had dill pickle chips?

[Amy Poehler]

Yeah.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Doesn't do it for you.

[Amy Poehler]

Doesn't do it for me. But I love the idea of them.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Oh, God, it's making my mouth water just talking about it.

[Amy Poehler]

Let's get some of those.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

We'll get some of those. But you don't like them, so we'll find something else. Do you like salt and vinegar?

[Amy Poehler]

I enjoy salt and vinegar.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Me too. Yeah.

[Amy Poehler]

Love that.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Love it.

[Amy Poehler]

And also, I'm a basic Doritos bitch.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Really?

[Amy Poehler]

I know. Not a sponsor is now.

Not after what you. The face you just made.

That's the. That's the slogan. I'm a Doritos. Basic Doritos.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Really?

[Amy Poehler]

That's it. That's the commercial.

I love you, Julia.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Thank you for doing this. Thank you for having so happy to hang out. I knew it would be fun. I didn't know it would be this much fun.

[Amy Poehler]

I can't wait till I reach 70 so I can come on your show.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

Yeah.

[Amy Poehler]

Thank you so much, Julia. That was so fun. It's always so fun to get to be around you and laugh with you and do bits and for this polar plunge, I just want to mention one of the guests on Julia's podcast, wiser than me, who I just love, and that is the author, Anne Lamott. Anne, if you're listening, I love you. And if you don't know Anne lamotte's work, she is a very prolific and successful author who has written books like Operating in Instructions and Bird by Bird and Tender Mercies, many, many works of fiction. Her latest book, Somehow Thoughts on Love, is out. And she's just a really candid, funny, deeply funny, tender, big thinker and I don't know, I just love her and hope I get to have her on this pod someday. Check out her podcast with Julia. Check out Julia's podcast. Listen to podcasts. Podcasts are great. We love podcasts. Ok, thanks. Bye.

You've been listening to Good Hang. The executive producers for this show are Bill Simmons, Jenna Weiss Berman and me, Amy Poehler. The show is produced by the Ringer and Paper Kite for the Ringer, production by Jack Wilson, cat Spillane, Kaia McMullen and Alaya Zaneris. For Paper Kite, production by Sam Green, Joel Lovell and Jenna Weiss Berman Original music by Amy Miles and I am the one who was.

This episode is brought to you by Amazon. Say hello to the all new Alexa plus and see how Alexa can do so much more for you. Need help organizing your kids schedules? Finding a travel destination that checks everyone's boxes? Some hands free cooking advice when your pantry sabotages you mid whisk, just relax and talk naturally. Alexa's on it. Alexa is Amazon's smartest, most proactive AI assistant yet. Learn more at Amazon.com newalexa.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]

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[Tony Hale]

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[Amy Poehler]

Limu is that guy with the banana binoculars watching us.

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