Maya Rudolph (Live)

Summary

Good Hang with Amy Poehler

Episode: Maya Rudolph (Live)
Podcast: Good Hang with Amy Poehler (The Ringer)
Date: December 11, 2025
Location: Fonda Theater, Los Angeles

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Episode Overview

This lively, packed live show features Amy Poehler in conversation with her longtime friend and collaborator Maya Rudolph, with a warm-up Q&A from comedian Ron Funches (who co-stars with Maya in "Lute"). The night is a deep, joyful dive into Maya’s comedy life – from her creative beginnings in Los Angeles, her formative friendship with Jack Black, her legendary SNL run, her love for music, family, and what makes her tick. There’s plenty of playful banter, behind-the-scenes SNL stories, and reflections on finding balance between work, motherhood, and fun. The conversation is irreverent, honest, and full of love.

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Key Segments & Topics

1. Opening and Theme Song [01:14–05:32]

• Setting: Amy Poehler welcomes a full house to the Fonda Theater, thanks sponsors, and sets the easygoing, “be in the moment” vibe for the night.
• Theme Performance: Amy Miles, with Craig Wedwin and David Wayne, performs the whimsical "Good Hang" theme live, setting a celebratory and relaxed tone.

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2. Ron Funches Joins to Talk About Maya Rudolph [09:25–22:13]

• Introduction: Amy brings out Ron Funches, who plays Maya's cousin Howard on "Lute," to talk about their friendship, working relationship, and give Amy questions to ask Maya.

Highlights

• On Touring and Home Comforts:
  • Ron Funches: “I always want to be home. And so I try to make the road as much like home as possible. … I bring my Steam Deck, my video game thing. But that's really it.” [13:59]
  • On Pilates: “How am I sweating so much while exclusively laying down?” [13:18]
• First Impressions & SNL Fandom:
  • Ron Funches on Maya:
    • “To me, I'm like, this is the—like, I'm in the presence of a true legend.” [17:53]
    • “She never makes you feel separate, you know. She never makes you feel like you don't belong or you're smaller than, you know.”
• Amy on Maya:
  • “She makes it look so easy when she's doing stuff. … She's one of those people, to me, that feels like was born to do what she's doing.” [17:57]
• Ron’s Questions for Maya:
  1. Is "Lute" coming back? (“Because I need a job.”) [19:33]
  2. What was it like playing Kamala Harris on SNL during such a pressurized political moment?
  3. How does she choose projects and balance them with family? (“I have my son... it's a balance because. But I don't know how to do it. I want to know how to do it better.”) [20:34]
• Quip: Amy on burnout and balance: “We’re all hanging on by a thread. That's the secret. Nobody knows how to do it.” [21:22]

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3. Maya Rudolph Takes the Stage [24:58–25:23]

• First Impressions:
  • Amy and Maya riff on the crowd’s energy.
  • Maya does a brief, funny, half-hearted national anthem as a mic check (“I want someone to ask me to do that again. Wouldn’t that be fun?”) [25:18–26:15]

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4. Maya’s Musical Roots, High School Years, and Jack Black [30:12–34:07]

• California Upbringing: Amy notes Maya’s deep roots in L.A. creative circles.
• Jack Black Story:
  • Amy: “Jack Black said you were the coolest person he knew in high school.” [30:34]
  • Maya: “He changed my life for the better. You find people and you both speak the same language.” [31:03]
• Groundlings Shift:
  • Jack introduced Maya to improv at Groundlings, which led to SNL and lifelong collaborations.
• Fun Fact: Maya and Gwyneth Paltrow went to elementary school together. Their fathers were also friends. [33:34]

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5. Early SNL Memories: Groundlings, No Audition, Finding Her People [34:09–46:06]

• Discovering SNL:
  • Maya snuck into her parents’ room as a child to watch the original SNL: “I think I saw the land shark is what I remember.” [34:20]
• Groundlings Classmates:
  • Names include Emily Spivey, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash, Rachel Harris, Cheryl Hines, Melissa McCarthy, Ben Falcone, Will Forte.
• Finding “Her People”:
  • Maya: “I like to be with my friends and have fun. … It makes me feel like I’m actually funny or funnier.” [36:18]
• Amy on Maya’s Natural Talent:
  • “You’re the most natural, best person at SNL that’s ever been on the show, Amy. … One of the things you do that is so important in live television— is we are never nervous when Maya's performing.” [37:02]
• Maya’s SNL Entry:
  • She didn’t audition for SNL – sent sketches on VHS to Lorne Michaels, joined for last three episodes of season 25. “If I had auditioned, I probably wouldn't have been on the show.” [41:39]

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6. Office Life at SNL: Community, Coping, and Friendship [46:06–54:05]

• Safe Spaces:
  • Amy and Maya reminisce about their office shares, cracking backs, finding refuge, and sharing meltdowns.
• The Value of Women’s Community:
  • “We were like, you know, good daughters, good students... we had some kind of similar shared sensibility, a common thread.” (Maya) [49:09]
• Laughter and Isolation:
  • The “don’t cry, sexy” story: A cleaning lady named Rosa comforting Emily Spivey with “Don’t cry, sexy.” [52:33]

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7. Meeting Obama, Iconic SNL Characters, & Representation [53:12–63:00]

• Meeting Barack Obama:
  • Maya first met him dressed as Shirley MacLaine; the second time, while wearing a Barack Obama mask (while he was also there). [53:17]
  • On Obama’s sartorial critique: “I don't wear a three button suit.” [56:05]
• On SNL Political Impact:
  • Amy: “One of the best things... is that more and more women we were—we got to play because more and more women were candidates.” [57:11]
  • Maya on Representation: “To play someone that looks like me running for president of the United States was wild. … I played so many different kinds of people on the show because I just believe I can be anyone.” [61:20]
  • On playing Kamala Harris: “Knowing that I can still be hopeful, even when I’m scared, actually was really incredible. … Being hopeful is for you.” [59:20]

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8. SNL Character Work, Musicality, and Comedic Rhythm [64:34–73:17]

• Favorites and Style:
  • Amy: “You did so many... Also so many small dumb people with weird names and just... Those are my favorites. And you and I both share a love for dumb, dumb dumbs.” [64:53–64:57]
  • Maya’s recurring wig stories, character improvisation, and auditory memory.
• Comedy and Music – "Cousins":
  • Maya: “I can't really truly define why. I think there is a language to both of them ... musicians want to be comedians and comedians want to be musicians. And sometimes they're both.” [68:16]
  • On Prince’s (the musician) humor: “He did tell me a joke once, but I didn’t understand it.” [70:53]
  • Amy on Maya’s timing: “You have the rhythm that everybody... you are the song everybody wants to hear.” [72:58]

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9. Speed Round: Personal Tastes, Coyotes, and Parenting [73:17–81:19]

Fun and fast answers and tangents:

• Scary movies: No [73:22]
• Favorite thing to cook: Silver dollar pancakes [73:28]
• Finger injury: Sliced on Thanksgiving making stuffing [73:35]
• Disneyland: Loves it; Florida roots [73:48, 74:01]
• Big pants: Still in fashion [74:38]
• Best Hanukkah food: Latkes with “sour cream and applesauce” [74:56–75:05]
• Dogs: Maya discusses her two rescue dogs, Leroy and Daisy (the latter recently survived a coyote attack) and her feelings about “dick” coyotes [75:09–77:05]
• Astrological Sign: Leo; Enneagram 7 (“I like to have fun with you. There's plenty of people I do not have fun with.”) [77:39–78:06]

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10. Work-Life Balance, Motherhood, and Choosing Projects [79:25–83:02]

• Ron’s Final Question Revisited: How does Maya balance work and family, and how does she choose what to do?
  • Maya: “After I had Pearl and I didn’t know whether I’d come back to the show ... thank God it taught me to let go of things that I really needed to let go of. ... I learned the lesson of if I’m doing something I love, then that’s a good reason to say goodnight to her and go to work …” [81:19]
  • “I tend to be someone who can get caught up in the minutiae ... I always felt like I was a very good student ... if I had to do it all over again, I’d wanna be a slutty rebel.” [81:47]
• Amy on Maya as a mother: “Being in your presence as you mother is pretty amazing. You're a fantastic mother ... I know that's a really, really important thing for you to accomplish in this time around." [80:33]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Exchanges

• On Being a Natural Performer:
  Amy Poehler to Maya Rudolph:
  “You’re the most natural, best person at SNL that’s ever been on the show, Amy. … We are never nervous when Maya's performing.” [37:02]

• On Work-Life Balance:
  Maya Rudolph:
  “Everything that wasn’t important just fell away. There was no time. You have to keep a human being alive and ... a human being that you’re so in love with. And it just really helped me.” [81:19]

• On Representation:
  Maya Rudolph on playing Kamala Harris:
  “To play someone that looks like me running for president of the United States was wild. ... I just believe I can be anyone.” [61:20]

• On Collaboration and Fun:
  Maya Rudolph:
  “I like to be with my friends and have fun. … When there’s a group of people I really like, it makes me so happy. And then it makes me feel like I’m actually funny or funnier. And it fuels me.” [36:18]

• On Hope and Disappointment:
  Maya Rudolph:
  “Knowing that I can still be hopeful, even when I’m scared, actually was really incredible. ... Being hopeful is for you.” [59:20]

• Ron Funches on Maya:
  “To me, I'm like, this is the—like, I'm in the presence of a true legend.” [17:53]

• Classic Maya/Amy Banter:
  On flirting at SNL:
  Maya: “Can we talk about flirting more? I didn’t get to, like, sleep with anybody at snl.”
  Amy: “Anybody got a time machine?” [66:24–66:37]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

| Segment | Timestamp | |-------------------------------------------|:-------------:| | Theme Song Performance | 02:15–05:10 | | Ron Funches on Maya (Q&A/warm-up) | 09:25–22:13 | | Maya Rudolph National Anthem bit | 25:16–25:46 | | Jack Black high school years, Groundlings | 30:12–34:07 | | SNL entry and office stories | 34:09–54:05 | | Barack Obama, SNL Political Impressions | 53:12–63:00 | | Comedy and Music, Prince, Impressions | 64:34–73:17 | | Speed Round—Fun Questions | 73:17–78:06 | | Work-Life Balance, Motherhood | 79:25–83:28 | | Closing, tribute to Maya Rudolph | 83:28–84:05 |

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Recurring Themes & Takeaways

• Celebrate Friendship & Collaboration: Maya’s happiest (and funniest) moments come from sharing creative energy with friends she trusts and loves.
• Art as Life, Life as Art: Being present and fully in the moment—whether onstage, in a writers’ room, or at home with kids—is the key to Maya’s artistry and joy.
• Balance is a Moving Target: Neither she, nor anyone, ever truly figures out the balance—but loving what you do and who you’re with softens the chaos.
• Representation Matters: Maya’s Biden/Kamala storyline underscored the seismic importance of seeing oneself in the most visible places, and she doesn’t take that for granted.
• Fun as a Philosophy: Amy and Maya agree: seeking fun and joy isn’t trivial—it’s the core of sustaining creative and happy lives.

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Final Words

Amy:
“Everything you do is just fucking delight. ... Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Maya Rudolph.” [83:28–84:05]

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This episode is the essence of old friends sharing laughs, wisdom, and heartfelt memories. Whether or not you’re an SNL buff, you’ll come away appreciating the joy, skill, and humanity Maya brings to every room she enters.

Transcript

[A]

This episode is brought to you by Allstate. You know what's smart? Checking Allstate first for a quote that could save you hundreds on your car insurance. You know what's not smart? Not checking that your sunroof is closed before going through the car wash. Or not checking that you sent the meeting invite to a guest's friend. Yikes. Don't want to forget that. Yeah, checking first is smart. So check Allstate first for a quote that could save you hundreds. You're in good hands with Allstate. Potential savings vary, subject to terms, conditions and availability. All Allstate North American Insurance Company and affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois.

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Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Good Hang.

[B]

Hello.

[A]

Welcome to the Fonda Theater. I am Amy Poehler. We are so excited that you're here tonight. How's everybody feeling?

All right, just want to remind everybody to please turn off your cell phones and refrain from taking any photos or videos during the show. We want you to enjoy yourself and be in the moment, which I know is difficult to do in these trying times. We are very, very happy that you're here with us. Thank you so much for coming and to kick off the show and get us started. Give it up, ladies and gentlemen, for my dear friend, incredible musician and the singer of the Good Hang theme song, an incredible artist, Amy Miles, everybody.

[B]

Amy Miles.

Thanks so much.

[A]

Let's get this going.

[B]

My name is Amy Miles.

[A]

I'm so happy to be here. I am so honored to be here.

[B]

And I'm here with my beautiful friends.

[A]

Mr. Craig Wedwin.

And Mr. David Wayne on the drums.

[B]

Okay, you guys, without further ado, we are going to play the theme. Two Good Hank.

[A]

And I like it and I like it. And I will not mess this up.

[B]

1, 2, 3, clap.

Boy, yeah.

Low consequences and low offenses when my arm break a bone Coming back to city in late summer Everybody, everybody Everybody's gone Everybody, everybody Everybody's gone Everybody, everybody Everybody's gone Everybody, everybody, everybody Everybody's gone Everybody's gone Woohoo hoo. Go in for the hug go with a bang what's up? What do you say?

All I ever wanted was a really good hay hold my see if I'm breathing Tilt to the right and start believing Money's got a dress that the party started Money's got a party that starts tonight Money's got a chance that party started what you say?

Money's gotta just let the party started.

[A]

It starts tonight.

[B]

Party you broke my heart.

When I see you I turn.

[A]

And go home.

Woohoo.

[B]

Go in for the go out with a band what's up? What do you say?

All I ever wanted was a really good hanger what do you say? I ever want? It was a really good hang.

Ladies and gentlemen, the host.

My friend, your friend, Ms. Amy Poehler.

Amy Miles, everybody. Amy Miles.

Yay.

Hello, hello, hello.

[A]

Thank you, Amy. Thank you, David. Thank you, Craig. Hello, everyone. Please have a seat. This is a podcast. We're sitting down.

[B]

Hello. Welcome.

[A]

Welcome to Good Hang Live. Thank you so much for coming. It is a thrill to be here. I just want to start by saying I apologize for the late start. I did not know this show was gonna be an 8pm show. I truly didn't. And I'm so sorry. I'm telling you right now, you're not getting home before 11 and it's upsetting and I won't do that to you again. Welcome. We are very, very excited to do our show tonight. We have. We have a few people to thank before we get started, and the first is Spotify. Thank you for everything. Everyone here who works on Good Hang, they're just amazing, an amazing group of people, and we've had a pretty awesome year. We started this podcast this year. Yeah. And it's going great.

So thank you to everybody working on the show and I will thank you all personally and Jenna most of all.

And also thank you to PayPal for sponsoring this evening. And I know there's some PayPal peeps in the crowd. You're my pal. PayPal. Have you guys thought of that as a slogan? PayPal is my pal. But thank you so much for making tonight happen. So we're going to get started and.

I think, you know, without further ado, I think it's important for you guys to know who you're getting to see tonight because we like to keep these guests secret up until a point, but you are eventually going to hear us talk to each other. So I have to say, ladies and gentlemen, you have a really good, good hang guest this evening because it is the one, the only, Maya Rudolph y.

[B]

Maya.

Yes.

[A]

You wanted her. You wanted her, you got her. How exciting is that? Maya?

[B]

Woo.

[A]

That was exciting.

But yes, yes. And we have. I have my lip balm and my laptop. And my glasses. And my glasses. So excited.

But we always like to start our podcast by talking well behind our guest's back. Right. So I'm going to introduce the guest who's going to do that. As I move this microphone over. This is what we practice in blocking. And then Amy is gonna play me over to the desk.

This podcast is sponsored by PayPal. Okay, let's talk holiday shopping. Make the most of your money with PayPal. They give you the flexibility to pay in four no fees, no interest. So whether it's the must have toy or a tiered cheese board, PayPal helps you make the most of your this holiday. Subject to approval. Learn [e-mail] payin4paypal inc.nmls910457.

All right.

[C]

Now.

[A]

I'm comfortable sitting down. Okay. We are very excited to introduce our guest who's going to be talking to us about Maya and giving me a question to ask Maya. We always like to do that on good hang to talk to somebody who knows our guest really well. We're thrilled to have this person joining us tonight. He is an incredible actor. Stand up and sweet, tender hearted person. And he plays Maya's cousin Howard on the show Lute. Give it up for Ron Funches, everybody.

[B]

Ron Funches.

Woohoo hoo.

Hi, Ron.

[D]

Hi.

[B]

Hi.

[A]

Now people should know we were trying to keep you a secret. But then you and Maya just saw each other backstage.

[D]

You didn't do a good job at all.

[C]

Nope.

[D]

It felt like no one even tried to keep us apart.

[A]

No. All we literally needed to do was close your door.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

And we forgot to do that.

And I think Maya said that she just went, hey, Ron, what are you doing here?

Like you live here.

[D]

Yeah, sometimes I just pop up places.

[A]

Thank you so much for coming.

[C]

Leia.

[A]

Let's take a water break.

[D]

It's so nice to be here.

[A]

And I have some lip balm if you need.

[D]

I can't believe you got so many people here.

[A]

Really nice. Very exciting, very nice.

[D]

Don't they know podcasts are free?

They are severely overpaying.

[A]

That's a good point.

[D]

I think it's an excellent point.

[A]

Yeah. You can go home and listen to.

[D]

This for free, but they don't seem like they make good financial decisions.

They wooed for PayPal.

Yeah.

[A]

Ron, are you a Cal? You're not a California kid, are You?

[D]

I was actually born in Los Angeles, in Gardena.

[A]

What's it like being a California kid?

[D]

I mean, I'm just proud to be from here, especially this year with the wildfires and everything. I feel like you get just this sense of community and loyalty to the place. But I moved around a bunch. I lived in Chicago, I lived in Oregon. So I kind of just learned to just carry my home and my space with me.

[A]

Mostly. I like to ask people when they've moved around a lot, what's the coldest you've ever been?

[D]

Definitely south side of Chicago, shoveling snow in the winter. It's terrible.

[A]

And what's the hottest you've ever been?

[D]

Mmm, probably when I was like £212, real cut.

[A]

Just every day. Yeah. You tour a lot? What is your tour? What do you like to do on tour? How do you prepare for your show and what do you do after?

[D]

Thank you for asking. No one asked me that.

[A]

I'm really fascinated by a person on the road. It's hard work.

[D]

No, it is, because you just hate being away from home. I used to, when you first start, sometimes the hotel, much better than my home. But as the years have progressed, that has switched.

And I always want to be home. And so I try to make the road as much like home as possible. I travel with my best friend, Gabe Dinger. He's a great comedian. He's here with me tonight. We bring our video games with us all the time, and I usually do a Pilates class wherever I go.

[A]

Oh, nice.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

What video game do you play when you're on the road? Usually any of them or all of them.

[D]

Anything. Anything you got I will play if you could.

[A]

And Pilates, which I enjoy doing. What do you like about Pilates?

[D]

I like that it's so difficult. Yeah, I like that I could be like, how am I sweating so much while exclusively laying down.

Oh, this is a good audience for this joke.

[A]

Yeah, this is a Pilates audience. Are you kidding me?

[D]

Your audience. Like a goop store every.

[A]

Everybody gets a reformer on the way out.

You have a reformer.

Do you bring anything with you on the road? You know how, like, people bring a pillowcase or a carbon monoxide detector?

[D]

No, I just usually bring, like, the same pair of pajamas that I want to wear. I bring my Steam deck, which is like my little video game thing. But, like, it makes me feel like I'm at home and then. But that's really it. I think that. And the Pilates keep me feeling like I'm focused at home. Because with the traveling, I always feel stiff and just kind of off balance. And once I feel like I land at a place and I sweat in a place, I feel more grounded.

[A]

Yeah, I hear you. And last question. Are you a person that likes to talk to people on the plane?

[D]

No, not at all. Not at all. I got my headphones on all the time. It is actually an. It's probably okay being name droppy here, but it's how Bill Hader and I connected. One time we were working on a movie together, and we were both on a plane, and we saw each other, and so. But we were, like, separated by aisle, so the lady I was sitting with was like, do you want to sit with your friends so you guys could talk? And we both looked up and immediately were like, no.

[A]

That'S a nice friend.

[C]

Oh, okay.

[D]

I respect you.

[A]

Now, you and Maya have a real chemistry on your show, and I know you also have a real friendship in life. Can you tell me where you first met? Was it working together on Lute or did you meet?

[D]

Yeah, I met her first. Drew. I mean, obviously been a big, big fan of hers for a long time. Similar to you as well, you know, So I just remember watching her on Saturday Night Live. I don't remember how many times I would rewind and rewatch the scene of her just shitting in the and Bridesmaids. You know, like, to me, that was beautiful.

[A]

It's like a beautiful opera.

[D]

It's the highest form of art you could ever find.

[A]

Agree.

[D]

And so I've always been such a big fan. And then when Luke came up as an opportunity, I was actually in the process of pitching my own show and was seeing if that was gonna go across the line. So I originally turned down the audition, and then Maya sent me a nice email, which was just more like, hey, I know you probably think this is just, like, some random call and you just a one of 20, 30 people, but I like your work. I'm a fan of your work. I know who you are. I just wanted to just send you a quick email to see if you would reconsider and do this audition. And just getting a direct email from her like that, I was like, oh, I should probably do this.

And then luckily, in the next two weeks, they passed on my show, so I was like, I really need to do this.

[A]

And what is it like to work with her?

[D]

It's amazing. It is. Like, I tell her. I've told her in person and nice to tell her on this podcast. I'm a big, big comedy fan. I have been my whole life. One of my favorite shows is I Love Lucy. Big fan of just Lucille Ball in general. And I always say that working with her, to me, must feel like it was like to be like William Frawley and to be Vivian Vance working with Lucille Ball. To see the level of dedication and the level of skill and the craftsmanship that she can do in multiple areas, that she can be funny, that she's a great singer, a great dancer, that she can be a dramatic actor when she wants to be. To have that full skill set and to put that on display while still being a kind person is something that I don't see often. So to me, I'm like, this is the. Like, I'm in the presence of a true legend. So it's a. But she never makes you feel separate, you know, she never makes you feel like you don't belong or you're smaller than, you know. Sometimes she'll be like. She'll turn to me, she'll go, like, is this funny? And I'm like, why the fuck are you asking me?

If you say it, it probably will be.

[A]

I mean, I don't usually talk behind the guests back when they're off stage right there. But I want to. What I want to talk about tonight is that Maya is, like, a natural. Like, she's like one of a kind natural. Like, she's. She's one of those people, to me, that feels like was born to do what she's doing. Like, it's almost like she makes it look so easy when she's doing stuff. It's because she's so naturally good at it, I think. And, you know, I think they should remake the Natural and they should put Maya in there instead.

[D]

She was born to do it, you know, she's true Hollywood royalty. And a lot of times people look at that and they just think about, like, nepotism or people who don't do anything. But in a lot of cases, it's the opposite, where it's like, she's been born into this world and she's spent a lifetime crafting these, like, abilities. And it shows in everything that she does. And then the fact that she's still. Is spend so much time with her family and so much time balancing everything. That, to me, is the wildest part is, like, to accomplish so many things and to still be driven to get up and come do this show and still spend time with your family like that. I mean, I know it's hard for me, and I just, you know, I'm doing Standup four days a week. So to do all the stuff that she does is amazing to me.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. Women are amazing.

They are. And you too, Ram.

[D]

Thank you.

[A]

And YouTube. So what question do you have for Maya? What do you think we should ask her today?

[D]

I have three questions.

[A]

Okay. I need a pen.

[D]

There you go. Okay. Okay.

[A]

I'll remember it.

[D]

You'll be fine. Okay. One, is Luke coming back? Because I need a job.

[C]

Great.

[D]

So if you could confirm that onto a microphone.

[A]

Great. Is Luke coming back?

[D]

That would be helpful.

Number two is one that I really do wonder personally. But I don't know if she'd want to answer in pot. So I'm just going to ask, and she doesn't have to answer, but just when. The time that she spent on Saturday Night Live playing Kamala Harris to me is a thing that I'd be very interested to know more about. To go through all of that, to live in her skin while she's going through the most, like, pressurized time in her life, to have things not turn out the way that she nor me or most of us.

Would have preferred. I just wanted to know, like, what that would feel like. Cause I imagine there'd just be a lot of symbiotic pain from doing that. But maybe she don't want to answer that. So my third one would just be about how does she choose, like, what projects are worth spending time away from her family? What makes her choose a thing that, like, is it, like, about providing more for her family or just something that she finds fun for herself or challenging for herself? Just. Cause again, like, I have my son, and I'm on the road four days a week, and then I immediately come back home to my son, and it's like a balance because. But I don't know how to do it. I want to know how to do it better.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, I know what you mean. Me too. We all want to know how to do it. We're all hanging on by a thread.

[D]

Yeah. Yeah. That's the secret.

[A]

Yeah. Nobody knows. That's the secret. Nobody knows how to do it.

[D]

People think. But if you have a microphone, they'll go. Maybe they know.

[A]

Yeah.

Yeah. I'm gonna sell a course talking about it.

Okay. So just because I'm.

Menopausal. So you've got. Is Lute coming back?

Kamala, how do you do it, babe? Yeah, how do you do it? Right on. Those are awesome questions. Thank you, Ron Funches, thank you for doing this. You're a total delight. I'm going to take the take the mug. That mug is yours, everybody. Ron Funches. Thank you so much, Ron.

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I don't know if you saw the back of Ron's shirt, but it said, I only want to work with friends. What a great shirt. Wow, Ron, thank you so much. That was a pleasure. I could have talked to you all evening, but it's literally already 8:33.

Horrifying.

Okay. Very excited to introduce our guest this evening. You know her from a backup singer for the Rentals.

She was.

A Crossroads coolest student, California's own biggest comedy hit, MVP of SNL till the end of time. Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Maya Rudolph.

[B]

Hi, Maya. Hi, Amy. Hi.

[A]

How's it going? Is this a nice crowd?

[C]

This is very nice.

So many nice people.

[A]

Nice people. You can tell they're nice people.

[C]

I can.

[A]

I can feel it.

[C]

I can smell it.

[A]

Maya, we're doing a little mic check.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And let's. Will you sing the national anthem for us?

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay. Little mic check. Go ahead.

[C]

I'm not kidding. I want someone to ask me to do that again. Wouldn't that be fun. Someone did say for the 50th, hey, we want you to sing Open the show with the national anthem. And I was like, okay. And then it just went away. Wouldn't that have been fun?

Oh, you want me to do it? Just one.

[A]

Just a little bit.

[C]

I haven't even. I don't. I don't really, like, think I've even ever done it since then.

That's enough, right?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Beautiful.

Beautiful.

[C]

Thank you.

[A]

It's the faces. Yeah, it's the faces. And it's the amount of time it takes.

[C]

Yeah. You know what?

[A]

Can we talk about that for a second?

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Talk about how that came to be. You singing the national anthem.

[C]

There was a character, my character, Pamela Bell. Let's be clear. You know what? I rarely. All the time that we were at snl, I rarely had good ideas.

[A]

That's not true.

[C]

Like, you know when you have an idea and you're like, this is gonna be fun to do, or maybe I should be more clear. I always have ideas for characters, but I never really had clear ideas for sketches. And this one was like beginning, middle, and end. And it's because in the writer's room on.

At some point, someone was watching. I think it was like a rewrite night. And.

American Idol was on and they do these wrap ups and I think it was like, base, I don't know, World Series. I don't know, something with a baseball. And they had people singing Take me out to the ball game. And this one girl said, buy me some enuts and apple jacks. That was it. I was like, here we go.

Enuts and apple jacks.

[A]

Oh, God damn.

[C]

But it was honestly like.

I know.

[A]

Enuts and apple jacks and herple jerks.

[C]

I just. It's just. It was such a moment to be. I've never been like. Other than when we did Bronx Beat. That was the only other time where I've like done something that wasn't completely on the cards.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Cause Bronx Beat's the only time I really feel like we were. I ever did anything loose.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. That's what she said.

[C]

That's what she said.

[A]

Maya, I don't know if you heard Ron and I talking about you, but.

[B]

What?

[C]

No.

[A]

Did you know Ron was gonna be here?

[C]

I actually didn't until I walked in.

[D]

The room and he was.

[C]

Was sitting there.

[A]

Literally all we needed to do was close the door and couldn't get that done. Couldn't get that done.

[C]

How dumb am I? I was like, hey, Ron, what are you doing here? I just thought he was hanging out.

[A]

He lives here at the Fonda.

[C]

You.

[A]

Have you. Have you performed here or been here at the Fonda recently?

[C]

I've been here. I was here recently for the geese show. Oh, yeah.

[A]

Oh, Cameron Winter.

[C]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

What if he's here?

[C]

He's still here.

[B]

Oh, my God.

[C]

Can't run.

[A]

Was that. Did you feel cool when you were in music home?

[C]

So cool. I did bring earplugs. Yeah. Because I'm 53, but.

That was a huge laugh.

But I love them a lot, and it was really hard to make myself go out. I know.

[A]

What time did you have to go out?

[C]

I don't know.

[A]

What time did they go on?

[C]

I don't know.

[A]

You don't. You really don't Remember? Was it 10pm who knows? It literally, like.

[C]

What time is it?

[A]

You had a sleeping cap on and a candle, and you were like, I.

[C]

Had my nightgown on.

Jacob Marley, is that you?

[B]

You.

[C]

I hear your chain. I am at a gee show. It was very late, but it was totally worth it because they're so good and they're so exciting, and as you know, I get really grumpy when music is bad and they're so good and they're so talented at making music and writing music, performing music, that I was happy to leave my house.

[A]

Oh, that's great. I mean, it is hard to leave your house. It's hard to go out. And I appreciate that you're here, period.

[C]

Yes.

[A]

And I really do. And I want to talk to you about music because in your relationship to it. And I want to start with the fact that you are, as I asked Ron, he's a California boy, you're a California girl. And we had a great interview with the great Jack Black, who said that you were the coolest person he knew in high school.

[C]

He said that?

[A]

Yes. Do you not listen to my podcast?

[C]

I do, but I didn't listen to his episode yet. You didn't?

[A]

We glazed you so hard.

[C]

Wait, what? Glaze Bone tonight.

Maya. Maya.

It's funny, I almost said his name when we were talking about the national anthem, because when I was singing it on.

First of all, there's so much to talk about when it comes to Jack, because I've known him since I was 14. I met him in school, and he changed my life for the better. And, you know when you find people and you both speak the same language? And he was new. He was a couple years older, and he had transferred to the school. And I think my drama teacher was Was like, you guys should hang out. He coached me in an improv competition. Me and a couple girlfriends, and we just, like, spoke music the same way right away. We both, like, had a love for Bobby McFerrin, and I didn't know any 14 year olds that liked Bobby McFerrin.

But when I was doing the national anthem, especially when I go, I always think about Jack.

He brought me to my first Groundlings show when I was a kid and showed me this whole world. I didn't even imagine I'd end up being there. And that would lead me to you, really, honestly. I mean, he changed my life, but there's just so few people.

That you can. You feel so lucky when you have those moments where you had no idea you were gonna meet someone that was gonna be such a positive influence on your life. And he's such a great goof.

[A]

Did you guys ever kiss?

[C]

No. I wanted to.

There's still time.

[A]

Act three, baby.

[C]

I wonder if we did maybe in like, a. Like a short film. Well, I played as girlfriend and like, Brett Morgan, who ended up becoming an incredible documentary filmmaker. He went to our school. I know everyone's like, Crossroads. It's like private school. Like, it was such a fucking great, creative, cool school. It was so punk and weird and artistic. And I took film classes and improv. Jack got me into the improv class early when I was in eighth grade. You're supposed to be in ninth. And he got me in eighth grade. And you were like, hey, you guys, hey, I got something to improv about.

[A]

And you're like, improvising. You're like, honey, I'm home from work with your little briefcase.

[C]

Isn't candy stupid?

[A]

Tough day at the toy factory?

[D]

Oh, boy.

[C]

I don't remember.

[A]

He played his girlfriend. Okay. And you also went to school with Gwyneth.

[C]

Yes, elementary school.

[A]

Elementary school with Gwyneth Paltrow.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

And did you guys kiss?

[C]

We kiss.

[A]

No, I'm just kidding. You guys did kiss?

[C]

Yeah, we did.

[A]

Okay, good. That's what I thought.

[C]

Yep. We went to St. Augustine together, which was the elementary of Crossroads, before Crossroads really had an elementary. Was in this church called St. Augustine by the Sea. And. Yeah, and we were very close. And weirdly, our dads went to college together, so we had kind of like a family bond. And then after sixth grade, she went to New York.

[B]

But.

[C]

And do you childhood.

[A]

Do you remember your first time in that. That time period with, like, your wonderful, artistic, beautifully groovy parents? You remember when you first saw snl?

[C]

I really do remember.

Sneaking into my parents room and faking like a stomachache or just like, I can't go to I can't sleep or something. That's how I talked when I was a kid. I can't sleep. And I. My parents were young. I mean, they were probably in their twenties. And they were. Yeah, they were watching the show and I think I saw the land shark is what I remember.

[A]

But for those of you Chevy Chase put on. There was a man named Chevy Chase.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

And he was on Update.

[C]

That's all you need to know.

[A]

And the shark would come in. Yeah. Grab him and get him. Yeah, yeah. Groundlings. You mentioned Groundlings when you were at the Groundlings premiere improv sketch comedy theater. Who was in your freshman class? Who were you with at the time?

[C]

I had the most unbelievable group of people.

So our beloved dear friend Emily Spivey, who we wrote with for many, many years at snl. I met Emily there.

My friend Nat Faxon, who's on Lute. My friend Jim Rash. Cheryl Hines. Melissa McCarthy. Ben Falcone.

Oh, my God, who am I forgetting? Jordan Black. Will Forte. Will was in our group.

Who else? This is gonna sound really bad when I can't remember people.

[A]

No, that's great. That's perfect.

[C]

Is that good?

[A]

Yeah, that's good.

[C]

Rachel Harris. Oh, my God. I'm still talking. We had an un. We. We had an unbelievable group of people.

[A]

And what did you like now with a lot of perspective, Right? What. What was the biggest takeaway, the best thing about being in that space, making that kind of art at that time?

[C]

Absolutely. Knowing that I listened to myself and found my people and that I liked.

And you've said this about me and I know it to be true, especially because you're so good at reading people. I like to be with my friends and have fun. And I know that sounds stupid, but it's such a great way to do improv and sketch it. I like to like. I like to come in the room when people are hanging. When there's a group of people that I really like, it makes me so happy. And then it makes me feel like I'm actually funny or funnier. And it. It fuels me. I. I like to be in the mix of it.

[A]

Yeah. Maya, if I may speak for you. Maya, please. And about you. Thank you. The word fun feels like.

Not a complex word, but it is because it's really about this idea of a shared communal sense of energy. And you love that.

[C]

I do.

[A]

And I will say, I said to Ron that I think you're one of the most naturally gifted performers I've ever met. And I think you're the most naturally best person at SNL that's ever been on the show, Amy. It's true, babe. You have to have a lot of skills to be on that show. You gotta have a lot of skills to pay the bills on that show. And one of the things that you do that is so important in live television especially, is we are never nervous when Maya's performing. Like, we're never worried about you when our mirror neurons aren't firing, that you're like. Because you're. Like. When you perform, you're having a lot of fun.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

It's almost like you're the most relaxed and the least nervous. Or at least it seems that way.

[C]

It seems that way.

[A]

So is that not true?

[C]

I definitely get nervous, but I think it's interesting how I get nervous and that I realized it coming back to SNL during COVID The first time I came to play Kamala, which was. Which worked the first time.

[A]

Oh, brother.

[C]

Oh, Broder.

[A]

Oh, brother.

[C]

I lost my train of thought. What were we talking about?

[A]

Nervous? How are you, like when you're nervous?

[C]

My nerves are different when I'm there specifically because I want to. To be there. And I like how present it is. And I do get an adrenaline rush from being in that room and knowing that it's, like, happening in that very moment and the history of the room, like, all of it. And over the years, knowing so many of the people, so many of the crew in that room. But my armpit sweat is, like, how I know my body's reacting. I don't tremble. I do get nervous about fucking up or stumbling words. And that has happened. And that's the thing that sticks with.

[A]

You, is when you fuck up, you, like, look at, you know, whoever you're with. And me being sometimes being like. Which is like, even the joy of the electricity of that.

[C]

But, like, even, you know how you. You know how there's moments where you really. You're like, I can't wait to say this line.

[A]

Oh, no.

[C]

And even back to the national anthem, Remember, there was one line that I used to say, and it would tickle Keenan, and I was singing it kind of like Whitney Houston. And instead of saying, like, gave proof to the night, I was saying, like.

[B]

Give a little bit of proof.

[C]

And every time I sang it, he would, like, go.

And I love that he was tickled by it. And I was so excited to do it that I didn't do it.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[C]

And those Little slip up helps even most. One of the most recent. Can't remember which one it was. But one of the most recent commas. We did I stumble. You know, you just stumble sometimes.

[A]

Your tongue, your adrenaline, like your adrenaline gets you all twisty. Yeah.

[C]

So I hate that. And then. And then Sunday morning you're like, oh, God. You just hear it again and again and you can't fix it.

[A]

Well, but no one ever knows.

[C]

Like, no one knows. Nobody cares.

[A]

Nobody cares. I mean, no one's paying attention to anything except themselves. And I mean, it's almost quarter to nine.

[C]

I know. We're almost in bed.

[A]

It's ridiculous.

[C]

I agree.

[A]

So you came into SNL for like the final three shows.

[C]

Oh. Of the 25th season. Yeah.

[A]

So you came in at the very end.

[C]

Isn't that weird? Yeah.

[A]

What was your audition like and what do you remember of your audition?

[C]

I didn't audition.

[A]

That's right.

[B]

Oh.

[A]

I knew it.

[C]

I don't love.

My water.

[A]

Oh, my God, I spilled my water in my lap.

[C]

Guys, we're gonna get electrocuted. I don't love that I did an audition, but I said to Lauren very recently, if I had auditioned, I probably wouldn't have been on the show. I didn't have a very good audition. Ready to go?

[A]

I'm good. Ha.

[C]

Do you need a napkin?

[A]

These are the Seth Meyers Good hang tissues. The Seth Meyers memorial tissues when I made him cry.

Really? You think you would have blown it if you auditioned?

[C]

Yeah, I do.

I had never.

Might wanna. You don't need those questions.

[A]

No.

You know, we know how to clean a table though, don't we?

[C]

I mean, this is.

[A]

Do you like cleaning tables?

[C]

I do.

[A]

I love them. I love em.

[C]

I like a nice smelling spray.

[A]

Do you use Windex?

[C]

Oh, you know what? I don't. Do you love Windex? You fucking love Windex, don't you?

[A]

And not the new stuff that doesn't have the chemicals.

[C]

I like the stuff that doesn't have the chemicals in it.

[A]

I know. You're so California.

[C]

I'm fucking California. I know.

[A]

Well, that was the thing. When Maya arrived to snl, there was like, East Coast, west coast people.

[C]

East coast was like, hey.

You from the Groundlings. Cool. Little bit.

[A]

Well, when I arrived, you were. You had already been there. But I didn't know at the time. For only three shows.

[C]

Yeah. Isn't that crazy?

[A]

Like, it was. So what was it like to come at the end of a season?

[C]

It was very strange and it was a trial period. I had sent. I I had sent some VHS tape of some of my sketches to. To. To Lauren. I. Directly to his house, directly to Lauren's house. And I was like, did you watch? It was like a. Like a trial period. Trial by fire. They came to. They did come to the Groundlings. I believe it was Tina and perhaps Mike Shoemaker and God, I don't remember probably Steve Higgins who had seen me there before, who I credit, giving me my job. Amen. Hallelujah. Changed my life forever.

[A]

Do you remember where you were when you got the call that you were gonna be on the show?

[C]

I was at my house. I used to live near Larchmont Village.

Around the corner from the yoga place in the Larchmont. Wine and. And spirits.

Yeah, great sandwiches. Am I right?

When I was pregnant with my oldest daughter, I used to go to that yoga place just so I could eat the sandwiches after. They're really good. Have you ever had them? I'm gonna get you one.

[A]

I haven't. I would love one. Although sandwiches, I'm not really into them anymore.

[C]

You don't like sandwiches?

[A]

I'm not really into.

[C]

Have you grown out?

[A]

Not as a restrictive thing. I just like. Like in general, it's a lot of work when I see sandwich, I'm like, oh, God, the sandwich. Like, how are we going to get through this? How are. How am I going to do this?

[C]

Do you talk to it? I go, you like negotiate.

[A]

But you know what I do love? I love a fake felt.

[C]

Yeah, you do.

[A]

Sorry. We can cut this part out. Can we cut. Cut things out? Probably not. Look at this felt sandwich. I love it. This is fake tomato.

[C]

I want you to do ASMR a little bit. Okay.

[A]

You know you're in California, cuz. We got an avocado coming over here.

[C]

Yep. Lettuce.

[A]

Sorry, it's only six more things. Cheese and bread. Okay. I love you.

[C]

I love that.

[A]

Yeah, me too.

[C]

I like pretend. I like pretend food.

[A]

Pretend food. I love pretend things. Okay.

[C]

God, what were we talking about?

[A]

Okay. It doesn't matter.

[C]

So we were talking about coming. Oh, yes. And I came out and I had nowhere to live. I was in the Sunday company at the Groundlings. And I think I had to come out there like in the next week or two or something. So I lived at the Palace Hotel down the street. And I think I, you know, pitched. Oh. I came on a Tuesday because there was no. There was no pitch on Monday for some reason. And I didn't know anybody. I knew Chris Parnell a little. And I said, what do we do? Tonight. He said, we write. And I said, till then? He said, till about 8 o' clock in the morning. And then all the doors started closing and I was like. And I was sharing an office with another temporary.

Actor, whatever you would call us there, I guess. Were we featured? I don't even know. Named Zach Galifianakis. Isn't that wild?

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

And then we'd walk back to the palace going like, what are we doing here? I was like, I don't know.

[A]

Yeah, we've talked about it before, but there wasn't a lot of onboarding. There was no, like, no one told you any.

[C]

Really.

[A]

Shoemaker did.

[C]

I will say, when you and Seth started the following year, I saw him making an extreme. I watched the process of him onboarding you and Seth in a way that made me so proud and so happy that.

People were given a chance to understand the mechanics of how a show like that works. It was really. And it helped educate me. I still felt so new and I didn't know what I was doing. And it's one of those things where you don't want to tell people, like, I've never been swimming, but I'm going to try. Like, I didn't want to say, like, yeah, I've never been swimming before, but I just. I tried. But you didn't want to say how scared you were. No.

[A]

Fake it till you make it.

[C]

Fake it till you make it, baby. We did a lot of faking it and we did a lot of making it.

[A]

We did. And so Maya and I were. My office was across the hall from you and Emily Spivey. And Maya and Emily had a great office. It had a window and it looked out over the Empire State Building. And this is in the 2000s, so you could fully open the window, no bars, nothing, and lean out and smoke a cigarette.

[C]

17Th floor.

[A]

17Th floor.

[C]

And when we were writing on Tuesday nights, we could tell it was time to go home because we could hear people lining up for the Today show outside and look down below. And we used to get visitors from a friend who would hang out of the window. He was made of cardboard.

[A]

Harper Steele used to. A writer on snl. She used to.

Draw a picture of a weird, creepy, creepy dude. Creepy dude. And stick. Stick it out the window. Into our window.

[C]

That's right. And then we'd go, who did this?

[A]

And then we'd run over and she would just be like, closing her window.

[C]

Her office would be freezing cold.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

But also, I have memories, lots of tears, like laughter and tears in that office. I Have a lot of memories of your office.

[C]

Our office. I felt like you were one of the first people that really made me feel good about coming in and recognizing it as a safe space. You'd come in, you'd crack your back, your little backy crackies, and sometimes you'd lay on the floor. And it was just a place for us to say, this is really hard, or, I'm really sad or I'm stressed out or this fucking sucks or whatever it was. It was such a safe space. And, I mean, I could spend so, as, you know, I could spend so much time talking about how fortunate I feel about being there with the company that I was with.

[A]

Same.

[C]

And I don't know how the stars aligned in that way, but I think because we had so many of us, that even though we didn't grow up in the same town and go to the same schools, we kind of had a similar.

I don't know, life ethic. And I always say it's like, well, we were like, you know, good daughters, good students.

[A]

I heard you talking about this on Kylie Kelsey's podcast. Great podcast. Love her. And you made such a good point about that. Maya, you were like, saying, like, why, you know, all the women at the time at snl, Rachel and Tina and Ana and Kristen, like, we all felt like we were different, certainly, but we had some kind of similar shared sensibility, a common thread.

[C]

And I also feel like, you know, in those days, like, even, you know, at the Groundlings now, it's all, I think you have to wait a long time to get to the next level or, you know, we were just kind of, like, walking right in. We had something in common that we just knew was our thing. And I can't even. I can't describe it, but it was that generation, that time. We had the same shows growing up. We had the same influences. And I don't know, for me, it was like my older brother was the funniest person I knew. And so I was trying to emulate people that I looked up to, like my heroes. That's why I wanted to be funny. I wanted to be funny because he and his friends were so funny.

[A]

What were they listening to and who were they?

[C]

Who did they? My brother was really into, like, Parliament and Funkadelic, which is actually. Which has such a huge sense of humor. I mean, it's just like the funkiest funk. Funkity funk, funk funk. Like the Mothership Connection and. And Motor Booty Affair is one of the albums, and the album artwork is insane. George Clinton is Just like a freak. And clearly has such an amazing sense of humor. My brother and I used to watch the Gong show and make me laugh. Did you ever watch Make Me Laugh?

[A]

Yes.

[C]

And we used to play Make Me Laugh in our house all the time. Make Me Laugh was basically it was just a guest with. Was sitting in a chair. And then I guess it was standups or comedians were supposed to make them laugh. They had 60 seconds on the clock and the person had to like not break. That was it.

[A]

And there were a lot of young comics that started. They were like, could it have been Gallagher? Gallagher there maybe. And like, I don't know.

[C]

I was doing so much acid then I don't remember anything. But I have a feeling if we looked back, we'd probably recognize a lot of people. Same with the Gong show for sure.

[A]

Yeah. Do you. One, one thing I wanted to bring up in that office was there was a cleaning lady, Rosa. Rosa that worked in the. In the. On the 17th floor. Teeny, tiny lady, very teeny. And she had been there for a very long time. She had seen some shit.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

And there was a moment. When would you tell the moment when we were in that office and Rosa came in.

[C]

I think it was probably usually if we were in that office during the day. Cause we were there so much at night, you know, we weren't keeping regular office hours. So there weren't great times for people to come in and clean and change the trash cans out and stuff. And so it was probably a read through day, maybe like a Wednesday. And we were in there waiting for table read to start. And someone was definitely crying. I think Emily might have been crying. Cause her desk in that office was close to the door and so she had her back to the door and she was talking to us about something that was really hard. And we were also sleep deprived. And I just remember Rosa coming in and she didn't speak very much English.

But she saw what she always saw, which was she came in and she saw a few of us just sitting around talking to each other, deep in conversation. And Emily was crying. And she put her hand on Emily's shoulder and she goes, aw, don't cry, Sarah. Sexy.

Do you remember that?

I love it so much. It was like it was yesterday.

[A]

Don't cry sexy.

[C]

Don't cry sexy.

[A]

And highly recommend you say that to your friend when they're sad.

[C]

It's really just a little.

[A]

Don't cry sexy.

[C]

Don't cry sexy.

[A]

Do you want to tell everyone first time you met Barack Obama and who you Were dressed as.

[C]

Yes, I would love to. The first time I met Barack Obama, when he was running for office, I was dressed as Shirley MacLaine.

And.

[A]

And then the second time you saw him, you were dressed as Barack Obama.

[C]

Yeah, it was a sketch that you were. You and Darren were Hillary and Bill Clinton at Halloween party. Halloween party. And it was one of. And I remember.

Barack was new on the scene, looking smooth.

And at that time, I think like Barack Obama masks were popular, you know, because it was like the new candidate. And so the joke was going to be that I come in like, womp, womp, I'm Barack Obama. And then he taps me on the shoulder with his mask and takes mask off and goes, oh, my God, it's the real Barack Obama. So we did that at dress and that was it.

[A]

Yeah, he didn't do it.

[C]

We did not do it at air. Thank God.

[A]

Why? Do we know why?

[C]

I do. I mean, I did not have a take on Barack Obama at all. I didn't have.

[A]

I just remember you were the way I was dressed. You were a teeny, tiny.

[C]

He's a tiny tall man. Very tall.

[A]

It's very fun and stressful to be dressed exactly like the person you're standing with.

[C]

It is so much fun. And I remember the first time we saw each other was when we were about to walk out on stage. So at dress rehearsal, there was like a little flag there and door that's supposed to open. And I'm there waiting in my little Brooks Brothers suit. And I think we like bound my boobs. And I had. I used to play Scott Joplin and so I had my Scott Joplin wig on.

And I was standing there and.

[A]

Then people don't know Maya has the cutest little, tiniest little legs from knee down.

[C]

Just the knee down.

[A]

Knee down. It's like a little toothpick. Teeny tiny toothpick. Look at those little legs. From knee down. So cute.

[C]

Stretch.

[A]

Teeny tiny, teeny tiny.

[C]

Just from the knee down.

They're like, like breakable, I think.

[A]

I know. They're so little. So you had your little suit on?

[C]

My little suit on. And it was teeny tiny. And then he came over and here's the thing. I didn't. It was written then. I didn't have a good impression. Like I was sort of like, I'm Barack Obama. And.

So I was standing there and then he came over and I said, well, what do you think? And all he said to me was, I don't wear a three button suit.

[A]

Damn.

[C]

I still don't know what that means.

That's like a guy knowledge thing.

[A]

Sounds like flirting to me.

Just kidding.

[C]

No, I'm not. I will take that. I've gotten two tonight, and I'm taking them home with me. I'm taking them into the spank bank tonight.

[A]

Speaking of spank bank, Ron funches. So great.

[C]

So spank bankable.

[A]

So spank bankable.

[C]

The best.

[A]

And he has three questions for you. Let me give you the first one, which is speaking of standing next to someone that you play, you were so incredible when you were playing Kamala Harris, and it was such an exciting time to watch you play.

[C]

It was exciting.

[A]

And for Dana Carvey to be playing Joe, but it was just very exciting. The world was watching. There was this feeling of like, here we go again. And that's SNL at its best. I think when the world is on the same vibe as the show and the political.

Impersonations, we. I mean, it's one of the best things about, you know, our tenure there is that more and more women we were. We got to play because more and more women were candidates at the time. And Kamala was such an incredible. You did an great take on her. You were so good, and you got to do stuff with her. Ron's question is a good one, which is like, how what do you do with all of that energy and feeling when it goes away when she doesn't win?

[C]

There was definitely, especially after the first election.

I remember even talking about it with our friends, saying.

When we heard this was happening again, I'm scared to be hopeful. We were nervous about opening that vulnerability and opening up our hearts to, could something good happen? Cause it's been such a shitstorm.

And a rat fuck of a.

Of a time.

I chose to, especially because she came to the show, and that electricity alone just propelled this. This idea of.

I'm going to allow myself to be hopeful. I hadn't felt hope in a very long time when it came to this. This subject. And she made me feel hopeful, even if it was a dream. Even though I got to be honest, it didn't feel like it. It felt real. But she's really good at what she does, and she makes you feel like it's gonna be okay. Truly. She was saying things like, this country really needs to heal, which, I mean, now we really need, like, a fucking. We need some sage.

I mean, it's so bad. Amy.

[A]

Yeah. We don't have to go.

[C]

What I was gonna say, what do.

[A]

You do with the feeling?

[C]

Okay, so. And I, by the way, I haven't let go of it either, is that knowing that I can still be hopeful, even when I'm scared, actually was really incredible. And it was something that I shared with quite a few people the night before the election. After the election is being hopeful is a good thing. Even if you lose, Being hopeful is for you. That I was really surprised. I allowed myself to feel because I felt. I felt like. And in case anyone's wondering, yes, I wanted her to win, but what I'm.

But I.

God. You know, listen, just to rewind a little bit. All the time that we worked at the show, I never expected to play anyone that was running for president ever.

[A]

Right.

[C]

You know, and this was such a big natural path, which is the best kind. And especially when you're no longer working on the show and they say. And you hear people saying, like, they should call you, and then Lauren calls you.

[A]

It feels very like avengers assembled.

[C]

Right.

[A]

It's such a cool. It's like, maya, we need you.

Like, pulling on your pants.

[B]

Oh.

[A]

Trying on all of your wigs.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And it's exciting to be. And I think it helped me filter all my rage, my anxiety about the, like, all of it. It was so great to have something to do. Yeah.

[A]

To be of service.

[C]

Yeah. And it felt like being of service. And then sometimes I'd say, like, I mean, it doesn't really affect the election. And I was like, why doesn't it? I like being part of the conversation.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Especially some of the relief, because we needed some relief.

[A]

And also, Maya, you bring up a beautiful, obvious, but yet not often discussed point, which is you looked like the candidate and candidates didn't look like you.

[C]

Yeah. And that was, for me, like, the biggest part of it is that all the years that we worked on the show, it wasn't like, when are they gonna call me? I was like, there's not gonna be anyone that looks like me running for president in my time at this show, ever. I couldn't imagine. And to play someone that looks like me running for president of the United States was wild. Wild.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And I'm like, you. I'm like, you know, we're those people that can do anything on the show. And we're like, put me in, coach. I want to do that. I want to do that. I want to do that. I just didn't. There are some things, naturally, that you don't get the opportunity because you don't resemble the person. And that's just the way that it is. I mean, you have to understand, like, and you know this about me. I played so many different kinds of people on the show, and I think it's because I just believe I can be anyone. And I don't even know. Like, I don't know. That's more just me and how I've always just been in the world and something that probably came out of me from being a kid, and.

I don't even know. I don't even know if that's allowed anymore, you know, in a lot of ways, but in the best way possible. Like, it was just more like I just do what feels natural or funny or right, which is why it was always fine. But I don't know. I don't know how I got so lucky. It was a really exciting thing to be a part of. And then the other part of it was the Dana Carvey part of it because.

[A]

Because I think, for us, anyway, our generation, Dana Carvey was. That was the era that I started watching snl.

[C]

And they say, like, you're, you know, a lot of people. One of the theories is, like, your favorite cast is when you were in high school. And that cast was the dream. I mean, I fell in love with so many of the casts, but him and Mike Myers and Jan Hooks and Phil Hartman. I really.

Realize how much of them that I took with me. And when we came off stage after that first time and Dana did something and he. He turned on a little sauce, like, on the air, and was being a little goofy and having fun. He said, I just like to do that. I like to. I like to make the other person part of it, and I like to have fun, and it's infectious. And I realized while he was saying in that moment is, that's why I. That's what I like to do. And I think I got it from him. I couldn't believe it.

[A]

Very cool.

[C]

It was really cool.

[A]

That's very cool.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

And, you know, I feel like we shared a similar feeling when we did Bronx Beat with Mike Myers for the SNL 50th.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Because we were huge fans of Linda Richmond and Coffee Talk.

[C]

Oh, my.

[A]

And we did a little. What the kids would call a mash up.

[C]

Yep.

[A]

And we smushed everybody together.

[C]

I mean, that's. That was also, like, the most exciting dream is, like, SNL 50th. I was like, I want to be with my heroes. And. And that was truly the mashup. That was really exciting.

[A]

That was cool.

[C]

It really was.

[A]

And. And. And I'll finish the. And there's so. I mean, I could talk to you forever about all your characters. You know, you don't have to. Beyonce and Whitney Houston and Donatella Versace and I mean, you just did so many. And just so. Also so many small dumb people with weird names and just.

[C]

Those are my favorites. And you and I both share a love for dumb, dumb dumbs.

[D]

God.

[C]

Dumb, dumb, dumb dumbs.

[A]

What was the favorite wig you ever wore?

[C]

Oh, my God. There was a wig that really like. It made the rounds. I think my Leilani wig became a pet psychic. Became.

Who was the lady? She was a fake charro. She was a red headed charo.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[C]

Fiesta politico.

[A]

Fiesta politico.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

And she was like. She kind of had like, Amy, she had your color hair. Yeah, she had like a beautiful red. A vibrant red.

[C]

A vibrant red. Perhaps a little bit of a strawberry blonde. Her name was Rebecca. Her name was Rebecca.

[A]

Good job, Maya.

[C]

Thank you.

Yes, I remembered something. Yes. I remember that. Because I remember. I'm not going to tell this story. Can you cut it?

[A]

Can we cut it? Probably not. Whisper. What?

You cannot tell that story.

Absolutely not. God, I'm sweating. Just you and you.

Oh, my God, I'm sweating. I'm sweating.

Sorry, guys.

[C]

Can we talk about flirting more? I didn't get to like, sleep with anybody at snl.

[A]

I know. I'm sorry.

[C]

Poor me.

[A]

Anybody got a time machine?

[B]

I know.

[C]

Why didn't I like, flirt with people? I'm bad at flirting. That I'm bad at it.

[A]

I agree.

[C]

Yeah. I can't read it.

[A]

You don't read it.

[C]

And I'm saying everyone was in love with you.

[A]

Every. Yes.

[C]

I didn't have that experience. But that's why I'm bringing it up. Because the way you said it earlier, I knew that's what you were saying was like, you.

[A]

You.

[C]

You didn't know, dummy. Yeah, I didn't.

[A]

You could.

[B]

He's like.

[C]

Woe is me. Nobody likes me.

[A]

And there was like 10, like howling dogs outside your window every night.

[C]

Not one.

[B]

Where are you going? Home.

[A]

I need a hell. Need a help on my.

[C]

That didn't happen. I did go on one date when I was there with somebody that, you know, and he took me to see a show called Puppetry of the Penis.

[A]

Sure.

So can't tell that story either.

I should try to ask a question.

And we're. And we're. And.

Okay. I'll just say that in the. In the vein of you being a natural and you being musically gifted in every way. Like, you know, Maya was. You know, we would have musical guests Come on. And then Maya would sing in a sketch and we'd be like, like, Maya's better than the.

Than the multi platinum singer.

But do you think that there's some rhythm that's important to have for both comedy and music? And like, what do you think? Why do you think you need both? Like, why do you think they're such, like, loving cousins?

[C]

They're cousins. I love this topic so much because I can't really truly define why. I think there is a language to both of them. I think that there's an incredible inherent.

Ability to them. Some people are just musically gifted. Those people are musically gifted. I know that for a fact.

And that's why you always hear about musicians quoting Spinal Tap on their tour bus. They want to be, in some way, musicians want to be comedians and comedians want to be musicians. And sometimes they're both.

But they live together and it's such a mutual appreciation, admiration society.

But they're also an incredible skill. And when you're good at it, you can't fake it. You know, great musicians don't. I mean, I also, like, had this funny. I don't know what. Growing up, because I was so surrounded by music, because my parents were musicians that. And we saw a lot of music too, or we had friends that were musicians and music was just very. Music was very normal in my house. Like, that's just the best way to describe it. Like, it was. It was normal. And.

Sometimes I'd watch people on stage and I'd think, that's what I want to do. Like, I could see, like, I could just imagine doing it and then I'd see somebody funny and I was like, that's what I want to do. And I'd sort of like vacillate between the two, but.

Here I go. I can't remember what I was saying.

I think it's a fascinating.

Love story, comedy and music, and I think that. But when I think about some of the best people, I do think it's something that you really. When people are naturally good at it, there's nothing better.

[A]

And I think I like to. We all know Maya, you know, in another life, is married to Prince in another life. And you're. You're in the band Princess, you know? Yes. And Prince, you know, you had the pleasure to meet him and. And.

You love him and.

You like to talk about how funny Prince was.

[C]

So funny. Oh, my God. So funny.

[A]

Can you tell us a joke that Prince told you or something funny or a funny moment with Prince?

[C]

He did tell me a joke once, but I didn't understand it.

[A]

You're not supposed to.

I'm thinking about when Fred Armisen and you would do Beyonce and Prince, and Prince would hide the whole time.

[C]

Oh, my God. Prince was always hiding. That was, again, like, the best thing about that sketch was the fact that we loved Prince so much that we understood it. And so it was just, like, getting to do it wasn't like, isn't this funny? Yeah, he's short.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

I hate that so much.

[A]

And you felt that about Beyonce. Like, the same with Beyonce. Like, such reverence for her.

[C]

Well, yeah, because the other thing is, like, I never. I don't know how you feel about doing impressions of people, but I'm not an impressionist. And we've talked so many times about different personalities. There's so many different types of people that work at Saturday Night Live specifically. Some people are impressionists, some people are standup, some people are sketch performers, and some impressionists. They can be very specific personalities. I'm not an impressionist, but I feel like when I do an impression, it comes from watching someone. And I'm watching them because I'm fascinated, I'm interested, I'm excited by them. So I think I'm picking up in the same way that, like, you tell a story and you use the person's voice, like, whatever. But, like. But all joking aside, like, when I tell a story, I usually imitate the person, but I think it's because I'm interested. I'm. I don't know. I can hear it.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

I also think I'm a little bit of a parrot to go back to the. The comedy music thing.

[A]

Well, that's what I would just say is that I feel like you have a sense of time. Like, we. You know, when we started with you singing the national anthem, you took. You take your time with that. You know when to go fast and be like Whitney talking to Bobby Brown really fast, and you know how to go really slow, and it's like, you know, the rhythm, the in between of stuff. Like, that's part of. Of the magic of you. I think Maya is the way in which you can.

Change the. The tempo of the stuff that you do really naturally. And everybody's just like, you just. You have the rhythm that everybody. You like. You are the song everybody wants to hear. It's like, we love your song. Like, you are. You have that. Okay, so we're going to the speed round.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

Okay.

Here we go.

[C]

Here we go.

[A]

Do you like scary movies?

[C]

Nope.

[A]

Great.

Favorite thing to cook.

[C]

Oh, pancakes. Silver dollar pancakes.

[A]

What happened to your finger?

[C]

I fucking cut it on Thanksgiving. Making stuffing I sliced the shit out of.

Really hurts.

[A]

Do you like going to Disneyland?

[C]

Yep, I do.

[A]

What's your favorite part? What kind of Disney adult are you?

[C]

And by the way, I know you love me cause you're asking me this question because you do not like Disneyland.

[A]

Oopsie.

[C]

And I was born in Gainesville, Florida, even though I've lived here since I was one, other than the time that I spent in New York, Gainesville got a whoop. Is somebody from Gainesville? You're from Gainesville? Wow.

[A]

Wow.

[C]

Hi. You, me, Tom Petty and Joaquin Phoenix.

[A]

What if we looked out in the audience and it was just a crocodile?

[B]

Woo.

[C]

I actually have not been back to Gainesville. Do you want to go with me after the show?

[A]

My speed round?

[C]

Okay. Sorry. I probably have add, but I was never tested.

[A]

That's okay. Our big pants still in?

[C]

What do you mean by big pants? You tell me. I mean. Yeah, whatever. I feel like these are big pants.

[A]

Yeah, big pants are still in. I go to Maya for all my fashion.

[C]

I love fashion.

[A]

You love fashion?

[C]

I love it.

[A]

You love fashion?

[C]

I've always loved it.

[A]

Best thing about Hanukkah?

[C]

Latkes.

[A]

Latkes. This episode's gonna be coming out close to Hanukkah.

[C]

I love sour cream and applesauce on my latkes.

[A]

And how's your dog, Leroy?

[C]

He's great. Thank you for asking.

[A]

What kind of dog is he?

[C]

He's probably a goldendoodle. We were told he was a standard poodle when we rescued him.

[A]

For those listening, Maya did that in quotes.

With a bandaged finger.

[C]

I mean, I think he's a rescue. He was. He and his siblings and his mom and dad were all living in a, you know, what do you call it? A crate or whatever.

[A]

You think he's faking being a rescuer?

[C]

Well, he was like, oh, my leg.

[A]

He showed up at your door, ding dong.

[C]

Hey.

Me and my family are kind of homeless.

[A]

Our car broke down on the side of the road.

[C]

You got jumper cables? No, it's just that we got him from a rescue place. There's a lot of rescue places in.

[A]

Our set of aircraft.

[C]

Yeah. So I mean, whatever you pay like. But you gotta pay to make sure they're healthy and whatever. It's the best fucking money I've spent. I fucking love that dog.

I have another dog named Daisy and.

[A]

Tell us about Daisy.

[C]

Daisy just got attacked by two coyotes and now she's okay. I know.

[A]

In Your yard.

[C]

In my yard.

[A]

Did you see it?

[C]

No, but my daughter did. It was really bad.

[A]

Daisy.

[C]

Daisy is a fucking warrior.

[A]

Yeah, Daisy. Daisy survived.

[C]

Daisy survived.

[A]

Fuck those coyotes.

[C]

Fuck those coyotes. I know. And they have. They're kind of dicks. Like, when I see.

[A]

Coyotes are dicks.

[C]

Don't you agree? I feel like when I look at them, they're like, sup? But they do. They just stand there like.

[B]

Like.

[C]

What'S up, old lady? I'm like, no, get the fuck out of here, man.

I mean, I don't know, I. Right.

[A]

Coyotes, they're so rude. Oh, rude. And they're really. They just.

[C]

They're like the Lost Boys. They're like, damn. They are so. You got any bread?

[D]

You guys have cereal?

[C]

Get the fuck out of here, man. Nobody invited you into my yard. Get out of my yard, Dicks.

[A]

Oh, my God, the Lost Boys.

[C]

I don't know why that was my reference.

[A]

And then the last thing I wanna ask you about is.

[C]

I love fast questions. I'm sorry I didn't think of some more. Okay. This is fun.

[A]

Your astrological sign, Leo. Yeah.

[C]

And I don't remember my enneagram.

[A]

Yeah, it's a seven. I've told you so many times.

That's so many times I've told you.

[C]

And you told me that I'm a seven. Cause I don't remember that I'm a seven.

[A]

Well, it's about fun. Sevens. Love to have fun.

[C]

Uh. Oh.

I mean, let's be clear. I like to have fun with you. There's. There's plenty of people I do not have fun with.

[A]

Yeah, for sure. I mean, we have a lot of fun. We had a lot of fun.

[D]

We have fun.

[A]

We have fun.

And then Ron brought this question up, but I think it's a beautiful. Well, first of all, he'd like to know if Lute is coming back. And congratulations on another season.

[C]

Thank you. Thank you. It was a fun season. And. And I love working with Ron so much. And I love that he wants to come back to his job. Isn't that a nice thing? When people are like, I want to come back to my job and.

[A]

Yeah, what's great about working with Ron?

[C]

Oh, my God. I always say Ron is like human mochi. He's like. Well, the sound of his voice. But like, he's a genuinely good human being. And it's very. I was in love with Ron's work, and I just wanted him to be on my show. I didn't know him. I just wanted to work with him. Him and there's nobody like him. And he's sensitive and kind and he cares. He cares about where he is and who he's with. And he is so singularly himself and so funny. I just. I love. I love who he is. I just love him.

[A]

But Ron asks you how. How do you do it, Maya? How do you balance it? How do you. And what I think. Think is lovely about that question, and behind it is what we were talking about earlier, which is.

The idea of kind of like, figuring out the art, you know, being an architect of your own life, trying to figure out, like, what's important to you, how to have a full life where, you know, all of us are lucky enough now to have been friends for 20, 30 years. And, like, we're, you know, some of us are blessed with children and lives and figuring out how to work and be a good mom and good partner. And.

I just. I have to say that, like, being in your presence as you mother is pretty amazing. You're a fantastic mother and you have wonderful kids. And, I mean, I know it's so important to you. Like, I knew that was a really, really important thing for you to accomplish in this time around is being a mother.

What is. What is it? How has it changed your life?

[C]

I remember so, you know, I became a mother while we were still working on the show, when we were still at Saturday Night Live, and none of my friends there had kids. That was wild because you go from one lifestyle and you're watching all your friends go out and have fun, and you're over here like, I gotta get up with my baby. But thank God it taught me to let go of things that I really needed to let go of. And I called it, you know, my bullshit meter. And just. It just. Everything that wasn't important just fell away. There was no time. You have to keep a human being alive and.

A human being that you're so in love with. And it just really helped me. I tend to be someone who can get caught up in the minutiae, and I worry too much about pleasing people, making sure I'm polite, doing the right thing. I always felt like I was a very good student when it came to being a at snl. And if I had to do it all over again, I'd wanna be a slutty rebel.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

But I wasn't, you know, and I wanted to do it right, which got in my way a lot, to be honest. And then after I had Pearl and I didn't know whether I'd come back to the show or Not. I wanted to be with you guys so much. And it's also so fascinating that such a hard job is actually a welcome thing after having a baby. I really just was like. Because you say to yourself, like, oh, I know how to do that. And even though you're juggling something else, I learned the lesson of if I'm doing something I love, then that's a good reason to say goodnight to her and go to work, or give her a bath and say, I can't be here for bedtime or whatever and go to work because I loved what I was doing. And sometimes, as you know, when you're traveling for work and your kids are little and you have to leave, and knowing that you're going somewhere that you love or doing something you love makes it more worthwhile. Not to say I've never worked on things I don't love. I have. You know, we all have to make a living, and that can be really tough, too. But it made me make a mental note of what works for me.

And so I try to seek those moments out when I can, as often as I can. And we don't always have the opportunities, but it definitely changed how I viewed work. And I think it's why I did the national anthem. I think I, like, loosened up a little bit. And that was when I came back to work after Pearl was born.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Well, we're very lucky that we got to see you work in real time. And I think I can speak for all of us that, like, we know there's so much stuff always ahead with you. Like, Maya, everything you do is just fucking delight. Sorry, I swore. I don't know why I swore.

[C]

I liked it.

[A]

Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Maya Rudolph.

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.

This episode is brought to you by Hotels.com make your next trip work for you. Hotels.com's new save your way feature lets you choose between instant savings now or banking rewards for later. It's a flexible rewards program that puts you in control, turning every stay into an opportunity. No confusing math, no blackout dates. Use your rewards however you choose, [e-mail] Save youe Way is available to loyalty members in the US and UK on hotels with member prices. Other terms apply. See site for details. This episode is brought to you by Hotels.com make your next trip work for you. Hotels.com's new save your Way feature lets you choose between Instant savings now and or Banking rewards for later. It's a flexible rewards program that puts you in control, turning every stay into an opportunity. No confusing math, no blackout dates. Use your rewards however you choose, [e-mail] Save your way is available to loyalty members in the US and UK on hotels with member prices. Other terms apply. See site for details.