Tim Baltz

Summary

What's Our Podcast? with Beck Bennett & Kyle Mooney – Ep. "Tim Baltz" (Sept 3, 2025): Detailed Summary

Overview

In this episode of What's Our Podcast?, hosts Beck Bennett and Kyle Mooney invite comedian and actor Tim Baltz (The Righteous Gemstones, Shrink) for an improvised conversation about their ongoing quest: to figure out what their podcast is actually about. Tim suggests “study abroad” as a potential theme, which sparks a series of hilarious, reflective, and sometimes heartfelt exchanges about improv, comedy origins, and personal growth.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Meta-Reflections on Podcasting & Identity (00:20–18:00)

• Self-Assessment & Recapping: The episode begins with Beck and Kyle reflecting on their previous episodes, their self-critical tendencies, and how “finding their footing” on the podcast continues to be a journey.
  • “Sometimes it can be a little nerve wracking. What if you don't get the information out right?...What if people think you don’t look as good as you used to?” – Kyle (01:40)
• Adjusting Style & Energy: Kyle proposes being more open to change, with Beck joking about shifting personalities (05:55–07:02).
• Improvisation-as-Wrestling Match: Beck frames conversation as a “wrestling match,” encouraging Kyle to jump in more assertively (05:35–05:48).

2. Setting Up & Welcoming Tim Baltz (18:36–19:48)

• Introduce Tim’s career with highlights from The Righteous Gemstones, Shrink, and his connections to Chicago’s Second City and improv scenes.
  • “So funny. Came up through Second City...I can’t wait to talk about that CISO series, Shrink. Very funny. Appeared on Better Call Saul, Veep, Drunk History, Parks and Rec, and Superstore. Let’s give it up for Tim Baltz.” – Kyle (18:42–18:58)
• Running Bit: The hosts poke fun at “Wet Dream Brothers,” a fake video game involving dream logic and sibling rivalry (20:02–22:00).

3. “Wet Dream Brothers” Bit & Tim’s Philosophy on Going with the Flow (20:02–24:00)

• Extended Absurd Bit: The trio riff on a fictional video game “Wet Dream Brothers,” with surreal, escalating improv reminiscent of classic UCB sensibilities.
• Life Philosophy: Kyle shares his goal of embracing unpredictability in life and podcasting; Tim and Beck riff on controlling vs. “driving the bus” metaphors.
  • “The journey can still be as awesome and special if things aren’t exactly the way you imagine them.” – Kyle (22:31–22:48)
  • “My junior English teacher used to say this all the time: ‘I’m not driving the bus’.” – Tim (23:36)

4. Tim’s Chicago Roots & Comedy Origin Story (26:29–35:36)

• Growing Up in Joliet: Tim describes his hometown’s character, economic struggles (shift from steel to prison economy), and unique architecture (28:05–28:47).
• Finding Improv in Chicago: He discusses being inspired by SNL’s Chicago connections, seeing landmark shows at iO and Second City, and the scene’s shift after SNL started hiring more Chicago talent.
  • “Chicago...was very much like an art scene. Then they got hired and managers and agents started to descend on Chicago and everyone focused on showcases and five minutes...It was totally different.” – Tim (35:04–35:14)
• Community & Oral Tradition: Tim underscores how improv’s longform legacy is passed orally, with each generation learning from elders and peer trends (38:17–39:05).

5. The Craft and Value of Improv (39:07–43:34)

• Tim explains how improv is both a creative end in itself and a tool, valuable for performance, writing, and solving practical problems in entertainment.
  • “It’s about listening. It’s about trying to be in the moment. It’s about co-creating with someone...you always have to come back to it.” – Tim (41:16)
  • “Practice is a great word to describe it.” – Tim (42:28)
• Making “Shrink” for CISO: He details how the show originated as entirely improvised, which led to a creative epiphany about combining improvisation with TV storytelling (42:48–43:04).

6. Mutual Admiration & YouTube Comedy Nostalgia (44:04–47:15)

• Tim praises Beck and Kyle’s show, Good Neighbor, for capturing the “roughness” and authenticity of early YouTube culture, comparing their form-breaking sketches to other classic sketch groups.
  • “You guys were doing such smart, cutting-edge stuff...It just felt very form breaking.” – Tim (44:36)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Podcasting & Vulnerability:
  • “I believe that conversation is kind of like a wrestling match...you’re gonna have to just start wrestling with me.” – Beck (05:35)
• On Janet’s Teaching Philosophy:
  • “My junior English teacher used to say...‘I’m not driving the bus.’...The word just becomes like a full drop of responsibility.” – Tim/Kyle (23:36–24:00)
• Origin Story, Community & Legacy:
  • “Long form improv, especially in Chicago, is an oral tradition. It gets passed along like a language...When we lose elders, for whatever reason...You lose part of the language.” – Tim (38:17–38:34)
• On “Shrink” and Improvised TV:
  • “The original pilot was 100% improvised...Once it was cut together and we screened it and people liked it, I was like, oh, my god, I gotta rethink my whole life.” – Tim (42:48–43:00)
• On Embracing Podcast Change:
  • “I want to be open to everything and anything. I don’t want to be so set as to like, this is the way things should go.” – Kyle (15:22–15:38)

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[49:05]–[50:58] – The “Study Abroad” Pitch Segment

• Tim's Pitch: When asked what the podcast should be about, Tim chooses “Study Abroad,” playfully suggesting that Beck and Kyle seem like guys who would truly try to blend in, not tourists.
  • “You guys seem like guys that would really kind of blend in. Disappear…You’re like, you know, I’m not gonna be that guy who’s wearing, like, an American flag bandana around Athens…” – Tim (49:20–49:34)
• Transition: Beck jumps on the theme, noting he studied abroad and teases stories for the segment.

“Study Abroad” Mini-Episode Recap (Approx. 51:01–65:10)

Opening Bits

• They restart, do multiple mock intros, and lampoon their inability to “hear the song” for their new podcast segment (51:00–52:34).

Tim’s Experience

• Tim studied abroad at a poly sci school in Aix-en-Provence, France, which “kicked my ass” but left him fluent in French and allowed him to play on the basketball team. (53:58–54:33)
• Extended bits resurface about “wiping up” the competition and cultural differences around hygiene (54:33–55:19).
• The hosts ask about local foods; Tim names kebab sandwiches and fries as a post-club ritual (63:51–64:13).
  • “Kebab sandwiches…or merguez, which is like…beef or lamb. Get the fries, two in the morning before leaving the club.” – Tim (63:54–64:13)

Language & Family

• Tim’s mother is French; he grew up bilingual, but now his French “sounds like an old guy from the ‘50s” due to learning from grandparents in Northern France (61:06–61:43).

Coincidences & Connections

• Tim and Beck discover Beck’s brother also studied in Aix-en-Provence; both share intense nostalgia for signature cultural crossovers like early-2000s headbands and pop songs (58:01–58:28).

Other Segments

• “Favorite Food While Studying Abroad” becomes an informal, but fun, segment for quick stories (63:25–65:01).
• Brief tangent into collecting sports cards during the pandemic (56:48–57:12).

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Final Reflections & Wrap-up (71:04–74:28)

• Host Takeaways: Both Beck and Kyle express that the “study abroad” theme unexpectedly produced the right mix of genuine conversation and comedic bits.
  • “We had some great bits in there—like ‘Wet Dreams’—but also some genuine moments where I learned about you…” – Kyle (73:14–73:52)
• Guest Feedback: Tim praises Kyle’s questioning and the ability to mix depth and comedy.
  • “It was perfect. Thank you. It’s rare to have a conversation like that, you know. Felt like old friends. We got a little deep but we got some good bits in there.” – Tim (73:54–74:04)

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Notable Timestamps

• 00:20 – Opening vibe-setting and meta-podcast reflections
• 18:36 – Introduction of Tim Baltz
• 20:02 – Launch of the “Wet Dream Brothers” running bit
• 26:29–31:01 – Tim’s Joliet backstory and Chicago connections
• 33:45 – Tim’s path from SNL fandom to Second City
• 38:17–41:16 – The philosophy and evolution of Chicago improv
• 42:48 – “Shrink” was originally fully improvised
• 44:04 – Tim lauds Beck & Kyle’s old sketches and YouTube culture
• 49:05 – Tim pitches “Study Abroad” as a theme
• 51:01 – Episode “restarts” as the meta-study abroad show
• 53:58–54:33 – Tim details his study abroad and playing basketball in France
• 63:51–64:13 – Tim’s favorite kebab sandwiches in France
• 71:04 – Wrap-up and mutual appreciation

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Tone & Language

The episode reflects the playful absurdity, warmth, and improvisational spirit all three comedians are renowned for. Tim’s thoughtful responses about performance and creativity are balanced with running jokes, self-deprecating bits, and an easy rapport that feels as much like reunion as interview. The overall tone is loose but sincere—moments of earnestness are immediately undercut (or enriched) by surreal humor or affectionate ribbing.

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In Summary

This episode is a prime example of What's Our Podcast? at its best: confident in not-knowing, mixing off-the-cuff absurdity (Wet Dream Brothers, meta-podcasting) with unusually candid, insightful conversations about comedy, life, and growing up. Tim Baltz is both a sounding board and fountain of stories, and his “study abroad” premise (taken seriously and not) gives the hosts a perfect sandbox to riff, reminisce, and reveal more of themselves as both artists and friends.

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Essential for fans of improv, comedy nerds, or anyone who enjoys watching comedians figure out what they’re even trying to do—while making each other laugh along the way.

Transcript

[A]

This is a Headgum podcast.

[B]

Quick. Time to choose a meal deal with McValue.

[A]

The $5 McChicken meal deal, the $6.

[B]

McDouble meal deal, or the new $7 Daily Double meal deal, each with its.

[A]

Own small fries, drink, and Four Piece McNuggets. There's actually no rush.

[B]

I'm just excited for McDonald's. Price and participation may vary.

[A]

Hi, Dee Ho, neighbor. I'm Kyle.

[B]

Hey, I'm Homer. Sorry.

[A]

That's fine.

[B]

That was not a good Homer impression, was it?

[A]

No, I. I thought it.

[B]

I'm Homer.

[A]

I thought it sounded a lot like Homer.

[B]

Yeah. And you. And you were Ned Flanders. Yeah. Yeah. Well, so what are we doing here, Kyle? This is like not. This is not like a normal little get together. What are we doing here?

[A]

I know I'm all tingly inside.

[B]

Yeah, well, me every. Yeah, that's you. Every time you're near me, every time.

[A]

A butterfly walks by. I have never. I've not seen the wing. Those wings are doing something to me. What? I'm Kyle. And that's Beck.

[B]

And I'm Beck.

[A]

This is what's our podcast. And you're about to listen to episode three of our show. What's our podcast? But this was actually the second episode we recorded. If you've been listening in sequence. We most recently had Marc Maron on the show and he was incredible. And we kind of. We nudged him a little earlier, but this is. This was actually the episode we are the second podcast episode we ever recorded.

[B]

I think you did a great job by telling the audience what's going on, where we've been, where we're going and all that.

[A]

Dude, thanks for saying that. Because. Because sometimes it can be a little nerve wracking. What if you don't get the information out right? And what if people. What if people think that you. That you don't look as good as you used to?

[B]

Exactly. And people will have that thought.

[A]

This is Tim Bolt coming up. Also, one more quick note.

[B]

If you're.

[A]

If you're just tuning in right now.

[B]

You'Re just tuning in right now, you might recognize my little. Or not recognize, but you might be able to see that I have a little shiner on my face, a little black eye, and that way that came from me and Kyle had a disagreement for all you.

[A]

All you. What's our podcast, Sleuths. If you listen. If you watch and listen for a few episodes from now, you might figure out what. How he arrived with this black eye.

[B]

So keep listening and maybe you'll find out Why? I have a black eye. See you later, our little Rockos.

[A]

Rocco's unite.

[B]

What's our podcast? What's it gonna be all about? Tell us what's our podcast? Yeah. What should we talk about with Beck and Kyle? Yes, we're back. Okay.

[A]

Episode two.

[B]

That was taking this off. Episode two. It's been a while.

[A]

Yeah. Should we.

[B]

We should be fully honest about real with everybody here.

[A]

It's. We. We recorded our first episode months ago, and this is our second episode.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Are you nervous? I'm very nervous.

[B]

I'm not too nervous this time. I think I was more nervous last time. I think I had more nervous, excited energy last time. Yeah. But, yeah, we're going to do one podcast every, like, four months and put it out and then, like, record for a couple years.

[A]

If you think he's telling the truth. He's not, folks.

[B]

Dude, I know. I'm messing around. Yeah. No, I would never do something like that. That would be insane.

[A]

What a start to episode two.

[B]

Yeah. They're still kind of getting to know us, aren't they? A little bit. Yeah. Who are these guys? What are we listening to? What's their vibe here on the podcast? Right. Kind of like, who are these guys and, like, what are they doing and how do they do it? Because, like, we don't actually even know and Kyle's checking his imaginary watch. Folks. No, but it's okay. We're having fun.

[A]

I have a moment.

[B]

Yes, please.

[A]

What would you like? Please welcome our show.

[B]

Welcome. Welcome to our show called what's our Podcast? Yeah. Where, you know, we stated it last time.

[A]

Figure out what our podcast we. I feel like. I feel bad that I got these notes. I'm staring at them.

[B]

No, we were kind of saying before, this is a podcast where you can do no wrong. So you can do no wrong. You know what I mean? Anything. Everything is good. As Nora Ephron said, everything is copy. Did you know that she said that, Kyle? And do you know what that even means? You're looking at me like you're just lost, you know? Nor Efron.

[A]

Incredibly talented filmmaker, writer, director. Yeah, no. When do you think she said that?

[B]

When she was around, like, you know, when she was still alive.

[A]

That would have been a decent span of several years.

[B]

Yeah, I don't. I don't know how old she was when she passed.

[A]

So you think she said it went right before she passed?

[B]

Maybe.

[C]

I don't.

[B]

Yeah, maybe like, right as she was going. Because she probably started.

[A]

I bet. I think she. Maybe she started advertising or Something like that.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Is that right? Well, that would make sense if it's about copy. Yes, that's right.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

And the great thing is we. We can edit stuff out so you won't be hearing anything about what I thought. What I thought Nora Efron actually did.

[B]

Yeah. And then. And also your reaction. You were like. You were like, oh, okay.

[A]

I was a little spooked.

[B]

No. But, yeah, we're here at the podcast, and, you know, it's. We're just flowing. We're gonna be honest with our guests today and our guests that we're finding our footing.

[A]

Can I get one. Can I get one in or no?

[B]

Well, no, I mean, you just. I mean, you. Honestly, like, I. I believe that conversation is like. Is like a. Kind of like a wrestling match. And so if you want to get in there, you're gonna have to just start wrestling with me. Otherwise.

[A]

And I'm respecting them.

[B]

You're right.

[A]

You're the new. The Episode two Beck is a little more alpha in a way that I. Oh, really? That I admire.

[B]

Oh, I'm sorry. I could pull it back. I did. After watching and listening to the first episode, I did talk about wanting to change my personality.

[C]

Really?

[B]

Yeah. I mean, I don't have a mustache.

[A]

Anymore in this one.

[B]

I think this is kind of, like, noble, cool, sexy. I don't know if that's coming across, but really, like, no, not even noble, but nobility.

[A]

How many of these do I have to do, by the way? I do have something.

[B]

No, I. Okay.

[A]

Unless you want to. Unless you want to.

[B]

Well, I just want to say I don't think I'm being noble and sexy.

[A]

Okay. I don't.

[B]

But I do. I don't have a mustache anymore, and I do think that does change things a little bit. And just to be clear, I did want to change my personality after first watching the first episode, but then I watched it recently, and I was okay with my personality. So I'm not trying to change anything. I'm just feeling the flow. So I will let you talk right now, and I just want you to just jump in whenever you're ready. So just feel free to jump on in there. I'm going to.

[A]

If you'd wait for one moment.

[B]

I'm trying to give you the stage, brother. I love you and support you. I think you have incredible things to say. I love to hear you talk.

[A]

Here are the things I want to get towards.

[B]

Yeah, get it out. Just say it, brother. It's a wrestling match.

[A]

I think we should, to some degree, One, we should recognize the fact that we've already sort of made some changes to how we want episode two to go versus how episode one went. So we should talk about those changes. Yeah, hopefully improvements.

[B]

Great. Okay, cool.

[A]

And we should, I think, do a very brief review and you sort of did it on how we feel about episode one now that we've had some time. And I'll give my briefest thought.

[B]

Yeah. I love it. And you can, you can make it long too.

[A]

Okay. I. In the moment. And you know, I watched. I rewatched it yesterday and today. Not twice, but I split it. I don't have the patience that I think that hopefully some of our audience members.

[B]

Yeah, no, and honestly, if you guys only have the patience for five minutes of our podcast, that's cool.

[A]

I made it 45 minutes.

[B]

That's good. That's. That's a good shot.

[A]

Yeah. And then I went to bed.

[B]

But you just just.

[A]

I know.

[B]

I know where you just, just, just whenever you're ready. I. I don't want to take the stage. I just. I know.

[A]

Give me a moment. Let me gather my thoughts. Give me a moment.

[B]

All right.

[A]

Here's what I feel when we did it. Y. I feel like I was self critical about my, about my performance.

[B]

Yeah. Cuz you get. You graded well. And I actually feel like I was over congratulated.

[A]

I gave myself a 7:2. You gave yourself a 95.

[B]

But I was just trying to be, you know, I. I think I said in the moment I had fun. So that's what my score is about, not about my performance.

[A]

And that is incredible though. Like if you can feel that good. But that's really cool. I think that I, if anything, I think it speaks to, you know, some sort of internal criticism or like my own negativity or something like that.

[B]

Right.

[A]

That I would score myself lower. Whereas like, I feel like I think you were amazing. I really appreciate it. And here's what I'll say. I don't. I won't not going to say I was amazing. I definitely saw flaws in. In myself as a podcaster, but I did re watching the episode, enjoy it, and now I got to be honest, with all this time, I feel like I don't know if we'll be able to do as good as that episode now. It's like a new pressure. I actually liked that episode quite a bit.

[B]

I did too. And there was like that fun energy. We were popping now. We've had a long time to think about it. We're different people.

[A]

We might try to, like, recreate the moments we did in episode one.

[B]

But you got to remember, we've known each other a long time, and there's a real nice infrastructure.

[C]

Exactly.

[A]

Wait, what? You remember when you first met me?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

It was at the. It was at the comedian workshop. Hey, if you're like, that's not how I sound.

[B]

That's not how I sound. But, yeah, we. We know each other a long time, so we've got a real nice 1203. We don't even have to try to do anything. It just happens. But, dude, I will say. Just because I'm thinking it.

[A]

Please.

[B]

In the first episode, I loved when you said cock. I love that. It was very funny.

[A]

Blue. A few times.

[B]

Yeah. And we're gonna get blue.

[C]

Don't bother me.

[B]

No, not me. Me neither. I think blue is back, and I think we're on.

[A]

That was actually one. A moment. I didn't like that. I did. I said something about how I thought we were talking about pads, right?

[B]

Yeah. For. For women.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And they're.

[A]

And I asked, like, are there for. There for p or something? I didn't like when I said that. Oh, that was, like, actually probably the one moment I was like, ooh, I really didn't like that.

[B]

Now, did you think it made you look bad?

[A]

Like, it looks like I'm taking a swing, and, like, we just move past it very quickly in a way that.

[B]

Like, that's gonna happen a lot.

[A]

Yeah, I know. And that's the nice thing, I think about doing this show, I hope, is that if we do several of them, those sort of mistakes maybe won't bother me as much. You know, it'll just be part of the experience. We'll have so many Reps. Yeah.

[B]

Yeah, 1,000%. I couldn't agree more. And who knows? Maybe we'll stop talking about how we did as much and we'll just start, you know, talking about what we saw walking down the street.

[A]

Oh, that's right. Yeah. We haven't even, like, caught up with one another.

[B]

Yeah, we're still talking about the podcast. So what's up with you?

[A]

Well, I do want to tell you, but can we at least inform the audience members that. Did we sit like this last time?

[B]

No. Yes. Yeah.

[A]

Okay, so we're starting.

[B]

I was joking.

[A]

All right. And we had our guest. We had our guest over there.

[B]

We sat here at the beginning, and then I moved over and France at. Here in the middle. But I thought. Yeah, I thought that was, like, put her in a spot where she had to, like, have her head on a swivel a little bit. So this time you're gonna. I'm gonna scoot over.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And you're gonna pop over.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

To the old guest spot. And the. The guest will now be in your spot. Yes. And we'll see how that affects them.

[A]

Are we. We haven't even talked about this. Are we doing this? We. We've talked about the podcast that's gonna be pitched to us. Moving. Are we doing that in a. We're doing that in a separate studio.

[B]

If we want. If we want, we might move to a separate studio. So.

[A]

So that's a whole. I mean, like, there's going to be a lot of. This is.

[B]

We'll see if Tim's down for that. You know, maybe he'll be like, if.

[A]

We want to ask, I think.

[B]

Oh, yeah. We're in control. We're the guys.

[A]

I feel like we want to come off as confident.

[B]

Yeah. We want to make him feel comfortable. So we're not going to be like, do you, like. Do you want to, like, go to, like, a different studio for your podcast within the podcast? Like, we don't want to ask it like that and make him feel like.

[A]

Kind of like you were considering asking it like this.

[B]

Yeah, just kind of trying to be sensitive and vulnerable. Think about, would you want to go to, like, like, a different studio?

[A]

Well, you could. You could also ask that in a normal way.

[B]

Yeah, okay. Like, kind of like, just like, cool, Comfortable.

[A]

Yeah, cool.

[B]

No, let me. Hey, man, would you want to go to, like, a different studio for the podcast within a podcast? Is that, like, too cold?

[A]

How about.

[B]

How about this?

[A]

Like, yeah, let me hear some more options.

[B]

Hey, man, would you want to go to, like, a different studio for the podcast within a podcast?

[A]

I'm trying to think of what that sounds like. I don't know if that's like, do you want to, like, smoke a joint with me or, like, go on a date with me?

[B]

It's a little creepy, but it's kind of like, hey, man. Yeah, I can't. It's.

[A]

It's sort of like.

[B]

It's like, hey, man, would you want to go volunteer with me over at the shelter?

[A]

That's funny. I was thinking more like, hey, man, so I heard you're doing really well on those algebra tests. You mind if I sneak a few peeks?

[B]

Yeah, yeah. It's a little after school or like the sort of dare commercial. Like, hey, man, little favor for me.

[A]

I noticed that. I really like your shoes.

[B]

Hey, man, I noticed that I really liked your shoes. Would you do a favor for me? Maybe you want to help me tighten my pants a little bit?

[A]

Do you mind accidentally slipping those off and maybe putting them on my feet?

[B]

We could ask him like that. We could go like, hey, I noticed your shoes. Hey, Tim, by the way, I noticed your shoes.

[A]

Would you want to record another student? Okay. How are you?

[B]

I'm good. I'm great.

[A]

That's pretty much. Is that. Do we cover most of the big changes?

[B]

And we're 12. Yeah. 13 minutes in, so I think, yeah.

[A]

We got to start.

[B]

We'll catch up.

[A]

Do we know if our guest is here?

[B]

He is here.

[A]

Okay. Well, I do want to. You don't want to catch up at all? We can take a moment.

[B]

I'm good. I am. I'm good. I'm about to go to the Philippines for six weeks on Sunday, so that's a little daunting.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And my family is coming out to visit me.

[A]

That's nice of them.

[B]

For two weeks. Yeah. But it's a long way away, so I'm a little bit nervous about all the moving parts and hoping that they. It all works out, but I'm excited, too. How are you doing?

[A]

I think. Yeah, I think pretty well. Yeah. Work stuff, life stuff.

[B]

That's awesome.

[A]

You know, I actually do have sort of. I don't know if, like, mantra is the right word, but, like, I do have, like, a way I'm sort of trying to go about moving forward in my life.

[B]

Okay. This is huge. This is.

[A]

And I hope I can articulate it well.

[B]

Yeah, we'll see.

[A]

Okay. I want to. And I've been trying to do this. I want to be open to. To everything and anything. I don't want to be so set as to, like, this is the way things should go.

[B]

I feel like it's a great idea and being.

[A]

Allowing myself to, like, oh, maybe that's actually not what's happening. We're going in this direction, and. And we're gonna be. Instead, we're gonna be moving that way, and that's okay. And there's actually some really awesome, you know, things to discover in. In this. In this new route.

[B]

And, dude, the podcast is the perfect way for you to exercise.

[A]

That is one of the things I do not want to make a part of my journey.

[B]

Oh, okay.

[A]

Dude, I'm fucking with you.

[B]

Thank God. So you will be able to practice it during the podcast?

[A]

I hope so.

[B]

And that reminds me, Kevin Nealon, feel the flow. Ride the pony. Feel the flow. And then be like, water Bruce Lee says, be like water, my friend. Water can crash and water can flow. And so that's kind of like reminds. That's what I think of when you tell me what you just said. So it's kind of remind you what.

[A]

You'Re saying is that like I'm reminding you of a quote that you can't recall from the movie Happy Gilmore.

[B]

Yeah. Ride the pony. Feel the flow. Flow. I think, I think, Kevin. Feel the pony. Ride the flow.

[A]

I was just trying to be earnest with you about the way that I'm really trying to live my life.

[B]

No, no. And I was just trying to. I was just trying to be goof. But yeah, all good. I know. But I do want to drop.

[A]

Funny. It's actually really funny.

[B]

It is. I. I want to get more into it. And maybe we will on the podcast. I. I think this is a great. I think this is great for you. Yeah. I think because you have. Because you do have a set way of doing things specifically that I think very much works for you. But also you could also benefit from opening it up a little bit. Yeah.

[A]

Last thing I'll say before we. If I can, which is such an insignificant thing to say. Our guest.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But after my very first episode of Saturday Night Live.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

One of my dad's friends texted me and he was like, funny.

[B]

So that's what you wanted to get in before our guest?

[A]

Yeah, well, I just said that phrase and then I was like, where did that come from?

[B]

Funny.

[A]

It's just like, I don't. I don't know why. Coming from, like, at the time, probably a, you know, 60 something year old man. This is a funny thing.

[B]

It was like, dude, you're judging me.

[A]

But you're also trying to sound like a snowboarder or something.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. And he's like, I can talk to him. Cool. Now, because he's doing that. He's SNL funny, dude. That's great. Okay, well, hopefully, should we introduce the.

[A]

Guest from these positions or from our, our new position?

[B]

I think, I think we do these positions and we kind of shuffle.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Kind of like shake. Shake their hand when they come in. Shake, shake, shake, shake.

[A]

What is the. What is the thing on copyrighted music on lyrics?

[B]

You can't say that, man. We're gonna have to bleep that out. Shake, shake, shake, Senora.

[A]

No, I think if you sing it a little bit at times.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Really low volume.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. Shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, Senora Shakes. Work, work, work in your ass. All right, all right.

[A]

We got, we got A great guest. Very funny guy. You know him from the Righteous Gemstones.

[B]

So funny. Came up through second cd. I can't wait to talk about that CISO series, Shrink. Very funny.

[A]

Appeared on Better Call Saul, Veep, Drunk History, Parks and Rec, and Superstore. Let's give it up for Tim Baltz.

[B]

Yes. Here he comes into the studio. I'm Shuffle Over.

[A]

Oh, is this. Is this happening already or is it not happening?

[B]

Are we rolling? Yeah.

[A]

Do what?

[C]

I mean, yes. I'm very familiar.

[A]

Do you have a preference on any of that?

[C]

Like, if should I know that it's rolling? I think you should just always be rolling.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Really?

[C]

And hopefully something bad can be good.

[B]

Yes. Yeah.

[A]

I think that I. I'd like to think that we've created a vehicle for ourselves where it. The bad stuff is. Okay.

[C]

Oh, that's great.

[B]

That's great. You can't do. I said this earlier in the podcast. There's. You can't do any wrong. If you can't do any wrong, you can't do any wrong. That's kind of like my new life.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah.

[B]

But anyway, a little bit, I feel.

[A]

Like you're using that as, like, a life thing where it's like, that allows you to get away with anything if you're just like, well, you can't do anything wrong.

[B]

Yeah. I have no morals, and I kind of do whatever I feel like in the moment to anybody.

[C]

That's the Wet Dream, dude.

[B]

That's. That's. What's that video game, Wet Dream.

[A]

The Wet Dream Brothers. Wet Dream Brothers. Right, right, right, right.

[B]

I love that game, Wet Dream Brothers. I love to play it. And it's kind of like you get to do whatever you've always wanted to do to your brother.

[A]

This podcast just became something I was not expecting.

[B]

I was thinking of. Is it gta? Is that what it's called? Yeah, yeah.

[A]

Grand Theft Auto.

[C]

Because Wet Dream Brothers is a spin off of gta, which was, like, a secret thing that you could unlock, and then you're like, I can do anything to my brother. Yeah.

[B]

And it's just a room. It's not a whole city, but it's really intricate. And there was, like, the closet. There's under the bed.

[A]

Oh, this is a. You guys have really played this game?

[B]

Oh, yeah. We play online. We've never met in person, but we played Wet Dream Brothers online a lot.

[C]

I've done so much. So much to this guy as my brother.

[B]

Yes. Yeah. And for me, and I was always the. The passive one. It was always his Wet dream. And so I'm just like, not even doing anything with the controls.

[C]

You didn't know you were in the room? You were like, trying to get out. Cuz you were always in the corner kind of running into the wall.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[C]

And. And I was there like, oh, my God, my brother's a sitting duck right now.

[A]

You're trying to. So I understand you're trying to make your brother have wet dreams.

[C]

No, my wet dream is that I can do anything to my bro.

[A]

Oh, you're. So you're. You get to play. You're playing within your wet dream.

[C]

Yeah, the room is. Is just a physical metaphor of like, oh, boy.

[A]

The whole thing is your wet dream.

[C]

Yeah, I'm constructing this wet dream, which is why nothing that happens like you. The second you leave, people are always like, what did you do? And your character is like, I can't remember. It's a dream.

[B]

Yeah, Right.

[C]

Logically, you're like, oh, I didn't really do all that stuff to my brother.

[B]

Right.

[A]

It's just a game.

[C]

Yeah, it's just a game.

[B]

Yeah. Wow.

[A]

And what system is this for?

[B]

Which one? It's called, like.

[A]

I think it's computer.

[B]

I think it's. I think it's an old. The floppy.

[C]

Yeah, it's a big floppy. Like a Blu ray.

[B]

It's a Blu Ray station.

[C]

One of those RE releases, like.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

It might be under Neog.

[A]

It was never released. It's one of those, like, RE releases.

[B]

Only me and Tim have one.

[A]

Yeah, right.

[B]

You can only play it if you play with us, which I didn't know.

[C]

I was always like this. This brother again.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

I figured I had more than one brother.

[B]

I was like, this has got to be the most popular game. But it was just us. We'll let you play, man.

[A]

No, no, no. It's great. And this kind of goes back to what I was before you got here, Tim. I was talking about, like, in life. I'm trying to.

[B]

Here we go.

[A]

Don't say. Don't do that. I'm trying not to have like, trying.

[C]

To ease into it. But now I know.

[A]

I'm trying to be okay with like, you know, if I have a set idea of how things go, if they don't go that way, that's okay. And that, like, I can reroute and that there's. The journey can still be as awesome and special if, like, things aren't exactly the way you imagine them. Does that make sense?

[C]

It does.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

I mean, yeah. How could we not all have control issues without that and need to let that go.

[A]

But is it fair to say that some people probably have more. There's a spectrum of like, oh, I'm really affected by like I have a, A specific, I have a preconceived notion of how this should go. There are probably other people that are like a little more free flowing about it.

[C]

I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like the further you go, the less of those people that you run into.

[A]

Hopefully within the industry or within life.

[C]

I mean I guess if you're self curating your own vibe and crew, then probably life too, but definitely the industry. Like early on I feel like I had a lot more people that were white knuckling stuff and had control issues. And the further you go, you're like, well, you can't continue doing that.

[A]

That's great.

[C]

You're not in control. My junior, my junior English teacher used to say this all the time. He'd be like, I'm not driving the bus.

[A]

See, but that, that is where it gets too.

[B]

He would just see just being class. Be like, I'm not driving the bus. Like as far as like the, the class and everything.

[C]

I got a C on this. How do I get an A? I'm not driving the bus.

[A]

That is the thing. Like there's a line of just the word just becomes like a full drop of responsibility. Right?

[C]

There's sure and.

[B]

But I bet he was living a great life.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You know, he's like, he's not up there being like, I'm trying to drive the bus. No, he's like, I'm not driving this thing. And he's just like, whatever. You might be stressed out, but.

[A]

Sorry, can I. The reason I brought up the metaphor. Forgive me for trying to wiggle it. Yeah, drive. Drive this thing.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But like I didn't know that we would be spending the bus.

[B]

So you're driving the bus.

[A]

We feel great. We're.

[B]

Wet dream.

[A]

That's what I was going to say. I'm going for the ride.

[B]

But do whatever you want to. Just wiggle us.

[A]

I didn't expect, you know, I had no idea we were going to. We didn't. We haven't even got to really talk about you.

[B]

Really.

[A]

We've spent a lot of time on the wet dreams stuff. I was like, I didn't see it going down like that. But that's cool and that's awesome.

[B]

I think it's great.

[C]

Yeah, it for sure went down like.

[B]

It for sure went down like that. And do you want to Ask. I mean, like, so much I want.

[A]

To ask you because. Well, one, we.

[B]

You.

[A]

You know, you know what the show is about. Ultimately, we want you to reveal what you think our podcast should be about, but let's. Let's wait on that. Okay. If that's cool.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And we're still figuring this out, so certainly, if you have any ideas or. Or notes, you're welcome.

[B]

Put. Yeah.

[C]

I gave you a topic. Right.

[A]

You've not given it.

[B]

We've not heard it yet. Don't tell us.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

We don't know what it is.

[C]

Great, great, great.

[A]

But can we talk a little bit about you generally, because.

[B]

Sure, that would be great if we could.

[C]

Is that part of what the podcast is?

[B]

I think that's fine, if you're comfortable with it.

[A]

That's one of our, I think, in theory segments is, like, we bring the guest on, we talk with them a bit, get to know them, maybe video games they like.

[C]

And I'm not even a gamer.

[A]

Me neither. You just like that specific game played.

[C]

Like, the meme is my face. Right. And then the half. The meme is the room of Wet Dream Brothers, and then the other half is my face like this. And it just says, plays GTA once. And then it's like me entering Wet Dream Brothers room.

[B]

That is. That's.

[A]

That's the meme that's going around.

[B]

Oh, yes. Somebody generated that meme for Tim. Because that's your life, is what you're saying. That's like you in a nutshell. Yeah, man. Right.

[C]

And I ended up there because you.

[B]

In a nutting show.

[A]

I'm not.

[C]

Yeah, for sure.

[B]

I mean, the shell, that's what we call the room, the nutting shell.

[C]

You gotta pop the shell off. Like, if you play the game the.

[B]

Right way, all the walls fall. Yeah. The world opens up to you.

[C]

World opens up.

[B]

But what did you wanna ask him about his life?

[A]

No, no, no, no. Let's talk about the nut and shell. I wanna know. Okay, I got. Okay, here's my first big question. You're from Illinois. What's the name of the city?

[C]

Joliet.

[B]

Joliet.

[C]

It's where Blues Brothers starts.

[B]

That's right.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

And I'm from Wilmette.

[C]

Oh, you are?

[B]

Yes.

[C]

What High school?

[B]

New Trier.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

Trevians.

[B]

What?

[C]

Trevians.

[B]

Yeah, Trevians.

[C]

Trevians.

[B]

Like Trevia. Like Trevor. Trevor. Yeah. Trevor. Like Trevor. Trevorians travel. What was your mascot in Joliet?

[C]

The Steelman.

[B]

The Steelman. Yeah. That sounds like.

[C]

I don't know if it's one of a kind or not. But the.

[B]

The.

[C]

I talked about. I've talked about my hometown a lot. My hometown has a ton of character. My grade school was two blocks away from that prison. At the beginning of Blues Brothers is this.

[A]

Do they. Does everyone talk about, like, we're the beginning of Blues Brothers? No, no, that's fine, too.

[B]

That's cool.

[C]

I think they got over it.

[A]

I think. Yeah.

[C]

Something about Jim Belushi.

[B]

I did. I did. Always speaking of SNL and Illinois cities, I always imagined that people in Aurora were like. Like, embarrassed that, you know, in Wayne's World, they're from Aurora. Or he's like, aurora sucks or whatever. Like, I forget what the line is.

[A]

But I heard that, you know Allen. The song Allentown by Billy Joel?

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

It's about. It's all about a town right next to Allentown that's like a steel working town. But Allentown is not that.

[C]

Oh, interesting.

[A]

But so I feel like. Okay, you were. Did you have more to say about.

[C]

Well, it was. Yeah, it was a steel mill town, but the steel mill closed in the late 70s. So I was born in the early 80s, like, full economic depression. The town had shrunk a little bit and.

[B]

Damn. Damn.

[C]

I didn't know, you know, it was normal to me.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

But turns out, like, it was kind of a bummer of a town, a bummer of a time in the town's history. But I loved it. And my high school was built at the turn of the 20th century in, like, 1901 or 1904. And it's gorgeous. It's an architectural masterpiece.

[B]

Cool.

[C]

But people also think it looks like Stateville, which is the maximum security prison just outside of town. There were five prisons in my town.

[B]

Oh, wow.

[C]

So it went from steel mill economy to prison economy.

[B]

Did anybody ever show up to the school and be like, oh, I'm supposed to be at prison? Like, it kind of got a little shady. Or like, people showed up at the.

[C]

School that belonged in prison.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Yeah, for sure. Name names. Yeah.

[A]

Who? Rocco.

[B]

Outside of school, Rocco.

[C]

Rocco would have been charming. There were no cartoonish Rocco guys in my.

[B]

Did you. Did you ever see, like, going to and from school, did you ever see people like, you know, that sort of, like, classic scene in a movie, like, getting let out of prison, the gates opening and like, like a lady in a car, like, sitting on the hood, a big kiss.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

You've been for 18 months.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And like a, you know, big, little. They dance a little. She's got a big Box of donuts or.

[C]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

You ever seen something like that?

[C]

They were usually. They were usually filming the last scene of a redemption movie as our bus was like pulling out. You know, it's always like, I served the time.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah. Wow.

[C]

I'm a changed man, baby.

[B]

That's incredible. That's beautiful.

[C]

Yeah, it was a fun city. I mean, it felt very 90s.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

It still kind of does. Do you Kind of weird. And. And I like. I mean, I love my hometown, but to the Chicagoland area, it has a bad reputation. Interesting.

[A]

And you can see you weren't that aware of it.

[B]

I knew Juliet and I knew it through Blues Brothers.

[A]

Okay, well, on the right over here, you just tell me they doesn't really know that much about it.

[B]

Well, I don't know much about it, but I knew of it. I know, Joe. Yeah, yeah, but. And I knew about the Blues Brothers thing, but, like, I don't know anything beyond that. You wouldn't go there. Yeah, right.

[A]

Do you. Do you now.

[B]

Do you go back? Yeah. Okay. Your parents still there?

[A]

Yeah, I still have a lot of time. Do you feel like. Do you.

[B]

You.

[A]

You're such an incredible performer and you're now prominent actor. Are people aware of you? Is there some pride in. In you and. And you representing the city or how.

[C]

Is an awareness maybe my family's neighbors.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

But it's not really a town that has a lot of HBO subscriptions.

[A]

Sure, sure.

[C]

And it's definitely not a town that had a lot of CISO subscriptions.

[B]

Which town. Do you know which town did have a lot of CISO subscriptions? New York, maybe? I guess.

[A]

Yeah, probably like just specifically the UCB Sunset.

[B]

Yeah. Like a certain area of New York or LA.

[C]

Like three or four square blocks around UC. Wherever UCB was.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[C]

And then maybe like, you know, 2% subscribers somewhere in Chicago. You know, it only. It only costs the price of a cup of coffee per month.

[B]

Is that what they used to say?

[C]

It is.

[B]

That's which.

[C]

And it was. I don't want to get into it.

[B]

Don't even give me.

[A]

Dad.

[B]

I wasn't going to get started on. See so on the podcast, but here we go.

[C]

It's so quaint in hindsight, you know, like Shudder exists for horror movies.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Shutters.

[A]

Great.

[C]

If you like horror movies. Shutter. Is this Godsend.

[B]

And it's still going.

[C]

It's an anomaly in the streaming platform space. There should be an all comedy one.

[B]

I should be.

[C]

I get that licensing is tough for all that, but the fact that it Was mocked. And people at the time were like, I'm spend. I'm supposed to give another 499 out of my pocket for this. And now every single streaming platform is like 1299.

[B]

Or like people. Or people are subscribed to like 10 patreons that are $10 a month or whatever. Yeah, yeah, it is.

[C]

So in hindsight, it's kind of quaint that it was just the beginning of like this. This phase or this period that we don't really understand. We're like a small indie TV window open and then closed really fast.

[B]

I heard that something similar thing happened with Quibi. Like Quibi bombed and it was a joke. But now, like one of the biggest things is like these like 10 minute clips. I don't even know what the website is, but it's like telenovela, like, like melodramatic, like soap opera things. And people love that. I remember more watch than anything online.

[A]

You had a really. Didn't you have a. Did you have a quippy thing? Like, were you. Were you like, approached for something?

[B]

Oh, well, no, that was. Jeffrey Katzenberg wanted me to host a YouTube show. It was YouTube, a daily morning YouTube show wrapping up all the best hits on YouTube. And he sat me down in his office and really wanted me to do it after I did those AT&T commercial.

[A]

That's awesome.

[B]

Yeah, pretty cool.

[C]

Hey, we have that in common.

[A]

You had that same experience. It wasn't a YouTube show. Oh, that was an episode. That was.

[B]

That was. That was just. That was with Dream.

[C]

It's My Dream Brothers. I was doing.

[B]

Yeah, that was an episode. Episode of that.

[C]

I was auditioning for AT&T commercials in the Wet Dream Brothers and my brother. Well, I don't want to get into.

[B]

That part, but yeah.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

And Katzenberg was there.

[B]

Oh, he's always there.

[A]

Sort of. Yeah. Brought on the Disney renaissance, so to speak. Oh, I was gonna ask, how so were you. Did you go to Chicago? Like, was Chicago. How far is Chicago? And then, like, when did you first see a Second City show? And. Yeah, when did you get. How did you get involved in comedy in Chicago?

[C]

How I got involved, I knew. I mean, you know, I used to watch like the Farley Meadow SNL casts on tv. On tv?

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And I would sneak downstairs after my parents went to bed and I would watch that. And I knew that they had gone through Chicago, so I knew that they were Second City and, you know, other, like, alums at the time because some had Chicago connections. And there were two people from Joliet before me, that had gone to Second City, that had done like main Stage. So I kind of knew of them, but they were. They were like 20 years older than me. So I feel like my. One of my best friends, his stepbrother was on a herald team at Improv Olympic, which is now I.O. chicago. And we went up, we would take the train and go see shows at IO before Second City. So I was a hardcore IO. And then I think on my 18th birthday, I saw a tour co show in Aurora.

[B]

Really? Okay.

[C]

For Second City. And yeah, I think the first IO show had like Jack McBrayer and TJ Jagadowski.

[A]

Oh, wow.

[C]

And I was. I mean, from the second I saw it, I was like, oh, man, this is so cool.

[B]

Yeah. Hooked.

[C]

And it. Chicago at the time, up until probably like 08 09, up until Paul and Vanessa got hired for SNL, it was very much like an art scene in hindsight.

[B]

Sure. Yeah. Yeah.

[C]

Then they got hired and managers and agents started to descend on Chicago and everyone started to focus on like showcases in five minutes.

[B]

Interesting.

[C]

And then it was totally different. Not totally different. It's still.

[B]

But that was the goal. It wasn't like, let's, let's. Like, it wasn't as much. Glenn.

[C]

Wait, Glengarry.

[B]

No. What's Dell? Del Close. Not Glenn Close. Glenn Close. Glenn Close was not. Not a huge part of the Chicago improv scene.

[C]

Her own contributions to long form improv.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. But. But Del Close, he was more artist, you know, kind of like bending the. The limits. Right. Or whatever. Of improv and what you can do on stage and kind of like what Kyle's talking about. Go with the flow.

[A]

Yeah. I feel bad that I brought that stuff up. You should.

[B]

It was kind of like kind of we felt attacked.

[C]

That's a nice way of making. Turning his mistake into like gold.

[B]

Yes. Being like, yeah, like that's kind of maybe the. The podcast. Kyle like vomits trash and I turn it into gold. Yeah. Okay.

[A]

If that's the way everybody's feeling.

[C]

Like one of those, like, look what you did. Like, if I say look what you did neutrally, you don't know if I'm saying, like, look what you did or.

[B]

Look what you look.

[A]

Yeah. I actually feel fine about it. I was being a little bitty, but I am a little self conscious of it.

[B]

Well, you really shouldn't be. You're absolutely crushing at this, the second episode and you're nailing it.

[A]

Thanks, brother.

[B]

Yeah. Now.

[A]

Sorry if I brought that up.

[B]

For the listeners out there. Do you want to give Tim one?

[A]

Absolutely. So I have that. Yeah, we don't need. We should. We should get into your subject.

[B]

Yeah, I want to talk, but I.

[A]

But I'm. I'm so fascinated by Chicago improv because I never got to, like. I've never seen an improv or sketch show in Chicago. We. We did Good Neighbor, did some shows there. But, like. And it's fascinating that you say that you felt like there was a shift once, like SNL sort of became, I guess, a goal for people.

[B]

Well.

[C]

But the pathway to do it kind of got demystified. Right. So then it became, like, not a formula, but you worked on your five minutes instead of dedicating all your time to, like, perfecting the Herald.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Which is a kind of esoteric. You know, it's really difficult.

[A]

Right.

[C]

You're always chasing the white whale, whereas with five minutes, you're like, well, I get my five minutes and then I get seen.

[B]

And then you see other, like, leads to other.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. Because that's the reputation as somebody who did not come up through there. I feel like I've always heard of it as, like, oh, yeah, there are some people. There are people in Chicago who take improv very seriously.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

Do you think that's still true, or do you think that sort of ended in this shift that you're referring to?

[C]

It's still true. I could have a bit response, but the real response is like, when you lose certain people from the community, whether they're performers or they pass away, I think it just changes. Like, it's an long form. Improv, especially in Chicago, is an oral tradition. It gets passed along like a language. And when you lose elders, for whatever reason, career or. Or, you know, unfortunately, death.

[B]

It.

[C]

You lose part of the language, you lose, like, these. This wisdom that goes along with it. These people that can say, not necessarily what's good work or bad work, but here's what's possible. Like, all the possibilities, all the things that they've seen in their mind go. They vanish when they live.

[B]

Wow.

[C]

And so the community doesn't have that to learn from, and they learn from whatever the high bar is at the time, both in the breadth of possibility and also how much they care about it. Like, you could you. What was interesting about that scene is you could watch based on who was popular, what the trends were. And the trends mean nothing. They come and go.

[B]

Right.

[C]

But sometimes people would be really pro community, and you'd be like, oh, it's a good thing that that's Popular because it helps everyone. And then other people would be kind of selfish and anti community.

[A]

Right.

[C]

And you could see it hurt the whole community.

[B]

Yeah, that was fascinating. Yeah.

[A]

How. How important this. I won't articulate this well. How. How important is. Is improv to you generally? Like, do you. Do you hold it in some sort of stature? Like, I want this to be incredible. Is it. Is it a hobby? Is it, like, something that you feel like? I really want this to be, artistically the best it can be. Where does it fall for you, if that makes any sense?

[C]

It's changed a lot when I first started doing it, because I didn't really have designs on anything beyond it. Like, I never thought I'd leave Chicago. The mountaintop was like Second City or being on the best Herald team possible, just because that's what I'd seen. And I was slow to kind of develop these other dreams beyond it. And a couple projects kind of, like, tricked me into having that and making me believe, like, oh, I should do other stuff.

[B]

Right.

[C]

Because I come from theater and then I got to improv. So it was very much. I love the idea of being able to create this, like, kind of perfect thing that only exists in, like, people's minds once it's done in their memories. And. And then I started to understand, like, how improv was also not just this, like, you know, theoretical approach or, you know, like a psychological mindset. It was also this tool that you could apply to different things. You know, like, if you're on a commercial and they're like, this isn't working, you're like, oh, well, I can throw this at it. And then all of a sudden, it works and it solves this problem. So if the conditions are right, I still like taking the stage in an improv show and being like, it could be something really special. People walk away and just be like, how the fuck did they do that without a script? But I. I think so many people come from so many different ways that I just like to use it however it's applicable in whatever context we're in, you know?

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

If it's like, you need to alt this line in this script using improv.

[B]

Cool.

[C]

Do that. You need to, like, get loose and be in character so that this person feels more connected to you. Cool. Do that.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

So to me, I look at it more like a. A mindset that you kind of always have to come back to.

[A]

Yep.

[C]

And you always have to be like, it's about listening. It's about trying to be in the moment. It's about trying to figure out something else that someone has and co create it with them. Unless the vibe is them saying, like, please make a choice for me. And they're like, it. Okay, I gotta lead.

[B]

Right, right, right. That. That makes improv a lot more appealing to me. It sounds. I mean, I like watching it, but actually doing it. Because to me, doing improv is like, be funny. Like, come up with something funny. Me and Kyle, I mean, I. I did Second City in high school. Their classes, I took, like, the train down on the weekends.

[C]

Oh, nice.

[B]

Yeah. And me and Kyle were in an improv and sketch group in college, and we did short form. And that short form is very much more like, you know, new choice. Yeah. Come up with something. Say something funny. Come up with, like, a pop cultural. Pop culture reference. And we started doing Harold, like, classes at ucb. But I think by that time we were just. We used improv to create a lot of our sketches, and then we would have, like, something to show, you know, and put out there. And I feel like, at least for me, that was a more comfortable way to use improv. But the way you talk about it, I'm like, oh, I would. I want to do that. You know what I mean? It sounds a lot more rewarding and, like, more of a practice than like a get on stage and show how funny you can be.

[C]

Practice is a great word to describe it. It was just. It was practicing the things that kind of drew you to it in the first place. But then honestly, by like, shrink. That show that we made originally on ciso, that's on Peacock now. That was originally completely improvised. We just had, like, characters and the idea of a story.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And so the original pilot was 100% improvised. And once it was cut together and we saw it and we screened it and people liked it, I was like, oh, my God, I gotta rethink my whole life.

[B]

Right, Right. I can use this. Yeah. To make stuff and. Yeah. Yeah.

[C]

And it. It the kind of not being in control and just making choices and understanding that that could then get pieced together and put into something and then a few conscious choices could polish it up.

[B]

Yeah. I mean, it's such a great setup for improv. I've only seen a little bit of it now that it's on Peacock. Yeah. I want to keep watching it, but it's like. And you have, like, such great improvisers. I, like, my first thought was, like, oh, wait, how much is script? I can't. I can't tell. But you get to have that looseness and that fun of it. It's great.

[C]

Yeah. Which is, you know, it's tough improv on camera.

[A]

You speak very eloquently about. About it all.

[C]

It only comes from stumbling through it for years.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[C]

You know, well, hitting a ton of obstacles and trying. Fucking up.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

[A]

Trying to play the role of host. Co host here for a moment.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I should also say that you're a tremendous improviser, but like, you're a tremendous actor. Like, it's. I don't want to pigeonholed you to just this one world of comedy or something like that.

[C]

I get to like blow you guys up and throw you some flowers too, at some point, right?

[B]

Yeah, whenever you want. Yeah, yeah. Glow me up.

[C]

No, I'm a huge fan. I think that like the. When I first started seeing your sketches on YouTube, I was, I. To me, that completely changed everything. So I'm a massive, like sketch comedy nerd and I would always try to find like the, you know, the hidden stuff. You know, like, I remember when that Mitchell and Webb look got on Netflix and I'm like, oh, yeah, people don't know about this.

[A]

I don't know about that. I hate.

[C]

So fun.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

You guys were doing such smart, cutting edge stuff and also it just felt very form breaking.

[A]

I was very sweet.

[C]

I would get so much because it looked like. It looked like some of like the early YouTube viral stuff, but it was intentional. And you guys were able to do sketches that felt very much like, you know, the SNL sketches that you would later go on to do the, you know, the filmed video shorts. But also things that mimicked YouTube. Unintentional viral moments that I think really, it's odd. Brian Eno has this quote that's like the thing that we celebrate about a medium is like the roughness that people initially are like, oh, I don't like that. Like when YouTube started, you know, the roughness of just like uploading some random thing that happened and then it goes viral. People are like, this isn't journalistic, this is blah, blah, blah. But then that becomes its signature.

[B]

Yes.

[C]

And you guys, I felt really tapped into, found those signatures and were able to like recreate them in an organic way. But it was scripted or maybe it was just improvised or is improvised.

[B]

We had a setup and we. It was loose enough where we were able to just like whip the camera on. I mean, that was part. I mean, all of us. But Kyle was so tuned into the Internet and knows the Internet so well. And then Dave, our director, He. We basically just had a camera with a shotgun mic. So it was like our limitations of production also allowed us to be like, we only have one option here to make this look like a basic sort of video that you'd find on the Internet and then would pull people in. But like, if we had like money somehow for lights and sound and everything, we might have spent it on that and like totally missed that opportunity to, you know, create sketches in that form.

[C]

So you would have thought about it in a different way and never come up with those ideas.

[A]

It was such an awesome. Thank you. It was such an awesome aesthetic. And I think, and I will say I feel fortunate that like, what you're saying, which I think resonates with me is that like you. We attempted to capture it and it was a specific thing and hopefully we did a decent job doing it. But yeah, I really did love that stuff, those videos. And what was so great in that moment in time of YouTube in like circa 2006 to 2008 was like, there wasn't a ton of stuff out there so you could readily find, you know, 13 year old kids in wherever in the country talking directly to the camera. And you know what I mean, it was like you got to immediately see all these characters that you wouldn't be able to sort of find within your own community or whatever, you know what I mean? And, and we were definitely ripping, ripping off a lot of that stuff because like we were so obsessed with. Yeah, just watching that stuff.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Internet rules.

[C]

But it's so different now because now you talk about 13 year olds. My brain goes to like those four 13 year olds that talk about snacks.

[A]

I like the MD Foodie Boys.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. But I know the form that you're talking about. I mean like, just like guys in their cars being like, I'm going to review this.

[A]

But these guys are. Yeah, they have like a round. It'll. They'll be like, they like. Yeah, I don't really like raisins. That's like, that'll be like a full clip, essentially.

[B]

That's. That's good material.

[C]

Seems like such a big.

[B]

Speaking of raisins.

[A]

Yeah, speaking of raisins, we gotta know, what do you think our podcast should be about? How do you. How are you? How are we doing? How are you doing? How are you feeling?

[C]

Yeah, I feel great.

[A]

This is great.

[C]

Like we kind of sat into it and maybe we haven't been recording the whole time.

[B]

Yeah, I don't even know because I'm not the recording.

[A]

Yeah, we're not.

[C]

It started so casually.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

And I had a little bit of, like. But then it kind of naturally hit this groove. Maybe because of what you said, of how do you feel about things, just kind of finding their groove or however you put it. You gotta give it up.

[B]

Dude, dude, dude. Right here. Over here.

[A]

Oh, is that. To me.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I didn't even know at that moment.

[B]

I was sneaky about it. And for the listener, I just slowly put. Put up my fist. And Kyle wasn't looking. He was looking at Tim. And then he didn't know my fist was there for a bump. Sorry, dude.

[A]

I didn't. I didn't mean, like. No, I didn't mean. I wasn't trying to come up. Like. I wasn't trying to be an. To you or anything like that. I was. I didn't even realize his fist was out.

[C]

Now that's. But now that's our thing.

[B]

That's.

[C]

If one person has a fist bump, two people have to. ET First.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And then ET first.

[B]

And then.

[A]

And don't. And. And of course, we'll play Wet Dreams.

[B]

I thought you were gonna say, and don't forget to like. And subscribe.

[A]

No, that's not what I was about to say. What do you think? Are.

[C]

I'm feeling great. Here's what I think the podcast should be about.

[B]

Yeah. Because we don't know.

[C]

You don't know. I think it should be about study abroad.

[A]

Okay, great.

[B]

Study abroad. Great. Well, lucky for you. Lucky for us, I studied abroad. Why do you think it should be about study abroad?

[C]

You guys seem like guys that would really kind of blend in. Disappear.

[B]

Blend in abroad and disappear.

[C]

No, like, to the. To the experience.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

You're like, you know, I'm not gonna be that guy who's wearing, like, an American flag bandana around Athens or something like that.

[B]

Instead, something I did. I got. I think you should.

[A]

I think you should. I think we should save it. I think we should. We're gonna.

[B]

It has to do with Athens.

[A]

Okay. Say the Athens thing.

[B]

I got. I got prayer beads in Athens during Greek Orthodox Easter.

[C]

Oh, you did?

[B]

And I was just. I was flipping those things around. I wasn't counting my prayers. I was just kind of, like, flipping.

[A]

I don't know if it was really worthy.

[C]

You got the dude.

[B]

He brought up Athens, and when I was studying abroad, I went to Athens and got prayer beads instead of wearing the American flag all over my.

[C]

You mean a rosary? A rosary or the combo. Yeah, they have, like, six beads on it. You. So it's three and three. And you.

[B]

Crap. I think they were prayer beads. They were brown.

[A]

I don't know.

[B]

They were. They were freaking roasted. Welcome to.

[A]

Welcome to Beads Hour with Arnie and, And, And, And.

[B]

And Rink. Rinky. I can be Rinky.

[C]

It's not your name. No, you can't pick your own nickname, Rinky.

[A]

Okay, we got a. We got a brand new show called It's All About Studying Abroad. And we're going to be right back and can't wait to. Can't wait to.

[B]

Can't wait to check it out and maybe we'll switch studios, which we didn't do last time. We'll see. Okay, we'll see. I don't know. All right. And here. And then we switch.

[A]

Hey, everybody, Kyle Mooney Here.

[B]

Beck Bennett over here.

[A]

Beck Bennett over here, my good pal. Good to see you, buddy.

[B]

Nice. Good to see you.

[A]

We got a great show for you today. I'm going to introduce our guest in a moment. It's Studying Abroad.

[B]

Studying Abroad. Studying Abroad. Wait. Wait for it. The song.

[A]

Is the song playing?

[B]

Because we don't hear it. I can't hear it. It's all good.

[A]

Is the audience gonna be hearing it? We're actually fucked.

[B]

We're totally fucked.

[A]

We're actually embarrassing ourselves.

[B]

Oh, my God.

[A]

Dude, this is actually going off the rails. Okay, everybody, if you saw that, pretend like you didn't see it. Here we go. It's good because I could use a second take.

[B]

Yeah, okay. We'll see if we use the first taker.

[A]

Now what's. Everybody, Kyle Mooney here, along with my.

[B]

Good old pal Beck Bennett. What's up?

[A]

How you been, brother?

[B]

Been good, dude. Good. Been. Everything's been good. We don't have to. What?

[A]

Well, now let me. Can you. Can you please let me do it?

[C]

I gotta start from the top.

[A]

Is everybody good? Is everybody set? I'm really liking doing just.

[B]

Yeah, you like that a lot.

[A]

Hey, everybody, Kyle Mooney here. And of course with my good pal Beck Bennett.

[B]

What's going on?

[A]

And we got another great episode of Studying Abroad.

[B]

Studying Abroad. That's what it's all about. You told us. Study Abroad podcast. That's. That's what we'll talk about with Beck and Kyle.

[A]

With Beck and Kyle.

[B]

That's right.

[A]

We have such an amazing guest here today. You know him from the Righteous Gemstones, you know, from Shrink, you know from Comedy Bang Bang.

[B]

You know him from Juliet, Illinois.

[A]

It's Tim, home of Jim Downey and.

[B]

Home of Blues Brothers.

[A]

And the prison. Steelman Prison and the Steel Man. Tim Bolts.

[B]

Tim Balls. Give it up. All right. Thank you for. Yes.

[A]

He's raising the. He's a crazy preacher or something.

[B]

I love that dude. Thank you for coming on. Talk about studying abroad.

[C]

My pleasure.

[A]

Can I cut? You got it. I. I want to cut right to the chase, but you have a thought?

[B]

Well, yeah, I. Well, I studied abroad. Yeah.

[A]

This is our show.

[B]

We're out.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

I studied abroad and thanks for listening. No, please, go. Go right into your thought, dude.

[A]

I've got to know, did you. Did you study abroad?

[C]

I did.

[B]

Cool.

[A]

All right, well, that's perfect for our show.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

So peace.

[B]

Where did you study abroad?

[C]

I studied abroad in example. Provence in France.

[B]

My brother did, too.

[C]

No way.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Holy.

[B]

That's crazy.

[A]

Your mother is French?

[B]

Yes. What was.

[C]

I cheated. I went to. I. I could have gone to, like, an American school there, but instead I was like, I really want to, like. Like, I want something that's going to kick my ass. I went to a poly sci school there. That was a French poly sci school.

[B]

Wow.

[C]

And it kicked my ass. It was really hard, but it was so worth it. I came out, like, the most fluent I'd ever been. And I. I walked onto the basketball team while I was there.

[B]

No way. Yeah.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

And did you school those French guys? They were just actually. Wipe them up off the floor.

[C]

I wiped these guys up like we were in a wet dream room.

[B]

Wipe these guys asses after practice in the locker room.

[C]

Guys, what are you doing?

[B]

Let me wipe your ass. I'll show you how to do this. Man, that was a tough practice.

[A]

But wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I want to know what's going on.

[B]

With the wiping ass stuff.

[C]

We just kind of slid into it.

[A]

What? He said you were wiping your ass with the skies. Oh, yeah.

[B]

Because in France, they don't know. They're just kind of like.

[C]

They don't do it as much, but it's cultural. It doesn't translate. Wiping the floor. They're like, what? Why would you wipe the floor with me? Like, you would wipe my ass?

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[C]

They have a bidet, so if someone needs their ass wiped, it's like, whoa, you did something wrong.

[B]

So was that one of the biggest culture shocks for you when you got there and you had to wipe everybody's ass or.

[C]

Well, I wasn't wiping ass. And then they were like, you know, this guy's up over here. It's your job to go wipe their ass. I'm like, that's.

[B]

That is wild. That's I wish I had.

[A]

I. I forgot that one of the last one of the. We've not interacted a ton of times.

[C]

Twice.

[A]

Once was at the Dynasty Typewriter.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

What was the other time?

[C]

Wasn't it, oh, I saw Masterpiece or.

[A]

Oh, did we do it together?

[C]

Maybe not. Or we saw each other.

[A]

I saw you at it. I think was Derek Waters. Remember he did that like pilot presentation?

[C]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[A]

I saw you get in your makeup.

[C]

Yeah, yeah. Who did you. I played Steve Kerr.

[B]

Oh, balls.

[A]

Remember? But I was gonna say I remember that when we spoke at the Dynasty Typewriter. That you were. And forgive me for going off topic for a moment, but it's a podcast. Sometimes we riff a little bit.

[B]

Yeah, but try to keep it to studying abroad.

[A]

Okay. All right, never mind. No, no, no, but say what you're.

[B]

Gonna say, but just try not to do it again.

[C]

No, it's like. It's like you're studying abroad in the podcast.

[B]

You're going. Oh, yeah, let's go abroad in the podcast to the LA comedy scene.

[A]

Don't worry about it. You don't need to do it.

[B]

You need a little rub down.

[A]

I would like to be down. Wait, but you. I remember I was. We were talking about. I was talking to you about basketball cards. I collect baseball cards. Do you collect basketball cards? Oh, wow.

[C]

I did. And then I got back into it when covet hit because I needed something.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Do you now? Do you want them PSA graded?

[C]

I've never psa graded something, but I have like three cards that I need to PSA grade because they're so insane.

[A]

Which one?

[C]

Wemby Rookie autograph.

[B]

Wow. Okay. What year is that?

[C]

I. It's 2024. 23. 24.

[B]

As far as I. I'm concerned, we're still talking about poli sci and we're speaking French because I didn't know what the freak you guys are talking about.

[A]

That's my co host back in the City of Ron show and he is going off like he always does. Dude.

[C]

What?

[B]

Polycarbonated.

[A]

Polycarbonated what? Wipe my ass. I did not know. What is happen.

[B]

I love studying abroad. No, but that's cool. That.

[A]

Oh, that's cool. Okay.

[C]

When I was studying abroad, I was not collecting cards.

[A]

Yeah, but you were.

[B]

You were playing basketball. So you setting the scene for you to collect cards later maybe. Yes.

[C]

And my hair was down to here.

[B]

Really?

[A]

Really?

[B]

Yeah. I would love to see a photo.

[C]

I used to wear a. A headband in my games and all the French guys called me Bjorn Berg.

[B]

Oh, yeah. Bjorn Berg. Theon Berg.

[A]

Yeah. What? Can I. May I ask what year Ish. This was?

[C]

This was 02.

[A]

Okay. I feel like you were a little bit ahead of the headband curve because, like, I feel those, like, had a moment in prob. When I. When we were like mid college, which was like 0405.

[B]

Royal Tannenbaum's brother, Richie Tannenbaum. I was him for Halloween my freshman year.

[C]

You were Richie?

[B]

I was Richie. Richie was the tennis player.

[C]

Yeah, I was him for Halloween senior year. So that would have been.

[B]

Are you kidding me?

[A]

Dude, you're a cool kid.

[C]

You're a cool kid.

[B]

Tannen bomb, basketball, freaking collecting cards. Exxon Provence. This is an insane episode of Studying Abroad Now.

[C]

This is actually one of my nuts. Like, I never expected. When you guys hear. When you asked me to do study Abroad podcast, I was like, okay, I could tell it one story. There's no way that there will be coincidences.

[B]

No way. Yeah, you're going to be isolated. Cuz you're. You're isolated. You're over there by yourself, away from surprised.

[C]

I don't know anybody. I didn't know anybody. Now you say that. Now you say that. I'm like, yeah, in hindsight, I would be surprised. Yes, well, in the moment, I'm surprised. In hindsight, I should have known.

[A]

You wouldn't. You'd be surprised. This actually happens quite a bit. I was gonna ask you.

[C]

I wouldn't know. It's my first time on the podcast.

[A]

Dude, by the way, you're actually killing it. Thanks. I wanted to know.

[C]

The engineers are going wild.

[A]

I guess I am killing.

[B]

I know.

[A]

It's like old school toxic.

[B]

You're basically sort of like on the court, sinking pointers. Old school talk.

[C]

Old school Talk soup. Are you kidding? What does Condoleezza Rice have to say about this? Wait, what is who Condoleezza Rice about? Oh, just talk soup.

[B]

Oh, okay.

[C]

I figured talk soup would be like. Yeah, I don't know. Well, let's see who kind of.

[B]

Lisa Rice.

[C]

And she'd be like, cut to a clip. And she'd be like, well, actually.

[B]

And you'd be like, yeah.

[A]

Your mother's French. Did you grow up knowing the French language?

[C]

Yes. Yeah, I spoke French with her, English with my dad.

[A]

How is your French currently?

[B]

Good.

[A]

Can I. Can you. Can you translate some sentence for us?

[B]

Sure, yeah. Can you say, man, studying Abroad. Studying Abroad podcast is just so fun to do and listen to. Hey, he doesn't know French.

[A]

Well, that podcast is a newer word, so maybe that right but so.

[B]

But that's fun. But that's fun when you speak another language language and you hear like a English in there, like, called Mustang, and does the whole thing like.

[C]

Okay, yeah. So podcast the co host. You see.

[A]

Oh, that's the clip. That's the clip.

[B]

That's the clip that we're going out with for the.

[A]

We'll talk about what the clip is. Dude.

[B]

What?

[A]

We could still get a better clip than that.

[B]

That sounded.

[A]

You're setting your. No. You know what's so cool?

[B]

To have the sound that's like. It's really in you buff. Yeah.

[C]

I mean, they're also like. The weird thing is that I, like, we would go visit my grandparents in the north, which is kind of the Midwest of France, in my opinion.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And they were born in, like, the 1910s and 1920. So I. I learned a lot of French from them. So it's not just like colloquial Northernisms, but it's also like World War II era.

[B]

Oh, wow.

[C]

And when I first started going to Paris and as an adult and getting friends that were actually French, they would. They would howl because every three sentences I would say something that made me sound like a person from the 50s.

[B]

Right. Right.

[C]

Unironically.

[B]

Right. That's how wild.

[C]

And I don't know. I don't really know because I, you know, it's just.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Here's a thought I had that I feel so basic as. Talk about how I perceive way somebody speaking a language that's not English. Not to say that English is the language of our country. I don't know.

[B]

I would say so.

[A]

Okay. I mean, you know how like, people. People say, like, oh, British people sound so smart or something like that. When you were speaking in that accent, it's like, it was so. It really felt like you were very thoughtful in a way. And I don't know how much of that philosophical Tim the performer or if that's the French language, but it's like I really am considering, like, how I feel about being on the studying abroad podcast. Like, I'm being like, really? I really want to tell you how I feel and how I'm emoting. It sounded really cool.

[B]

I think it sounded.

[A]

Does that make sense?

[B]

I don't know if I'm noble.

[A]

I don't know if I. It did sound noble. Did I articulate? Does that make any sense?

[C]

Yeah. Before I spoke like that, it was all bits. And then all of a sudden it didn't grind things to a halt. But there's been a vibe Shift.

[B]

It was like, holy shit, who is this guy? Because I'm thinking he's just some guy from Joliet, right?

[A]

How many times have you done. Sorry.

[B]

And I can. He's just. He's another regular guy, just like me. And then all of a sudden I'm transported to an old guy in France. An old guy.

[A]

Well, I think we got. I think we got to do one of our. Our favorite segments of. From studying abroad.

[B]

All right, let's see.

[A]

Anja, why don't you just go ahead and hit us?

[B]

Tim, I can't hear it.

[A]

Favorite food, studying abroad.

[B]

Nice. Okay, so there was like a little sting. There was like some music and it's like, this is a state. A little segment we're gonna do.

[A]

Did you have any favorite.

[C]

I never listened to the podcast that I guessed on. I'm gonna have to listen to this for the stand. The stuff that you didn't let me listen to in studio.

[B]

And it's gonna be very interesting.

[A]

Was there, Was there. Was there a food you were introduced to that you hadn't tried before when you were. When you were studying abroad?

[C]

I would say like kebab sandwiches.

[A]

Like.

[C]

Yeah, kebabs.

[B]

Or.

[C]

Or marguez, which is like, oh yeah.

[A]

What is the typical protein in a kebab sandwich over there?

[C]

Like probably beef or lamb. Yeah, yeah, they're shaving it. Get the fries two in the morning before leaving the club.

[A]

Well, now I gotta know about that club.

[B]

You're playing basketball, going to the club, eating kebabs. This is like you're living the dream, dude.

[C]

And that summer, whenever, Wherever by Shakira was hot and we would just go. We would go to pub Manoir and just be like whenever. Come on, women to be together. I'll be there and you'll be near.

[A]

We don't see too many of the lyrics cuz we. We don't know what we can get away with.8 seconds. Also, you can sing it. A low volume.

[C]

Huge kebab.

[A]

Well, he's. Now. He said he was eating the kebabs after the club.

[B]

Right, Right.

[C]

But the music, the music's still in you.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

The club.

[C]

You're like, tattoo was hot. That's that summer too.

[A]

What year were you in?

[B]

You can transform.

[A]

You were in college.

[C]

What year was I in college? Yeah, like when did I graduate?

[A]

No. And when you were studying abroad, junior, were you single? Is it also. Let. Let me know if I'm overstepping a boundary.

[C]

No, I wasn't.

[A]

Was that difficult? Was your significant other.

[C]

She cared to Visit. She was. Yeah, she was back in the Midwest. She came out to visit. And then my good friend Keith, who introduced me to IO, who I mentioned earlier.

[B]

Oh, yes, yes.

[C]

He also came out. And he came out for two and a half weeks.

[B]

Wow. That's a long time. Did he, like, sleep on your couch or something? Yeah. Wow.

[C]

And. And at. And my. I remember talking to, like, my mom. She's like. Two and a half weeks, huh? How's. How's that gonna go? And it ended up being fucking amazing.

[B]

Oh, that's awesome.

[C]

We were already. We were already best buds, but that. That, like, solidified.

[A]

You're still boys?

[C]

Oh, hell, yeah.

[A]

That's right.

[C]

I text them all the time.

[B]

See, for me, it was the eggs.

[A]

Eggs, dude, that.

[B]

Bring it way back in France. In France, the eggs, like, blew my mind. Wow. The omelets and everything.

[A]

But you, you know, you studied at. You were at bada. The British Academy of Dramatic Arts, as they were called.

[B]

And.

[A]

Let me. Can I see. Let me guess how much I know about your experience.

[B]

Okay, let's do it.

[A]

All this must have been. Okay. What year in school was this for you? It was freshman year, I would imagine either junior or senior. Give me a moment. I want to see if I can do the math, because I remember he. He was out of. He was. He wasn't on the. We didn't have him in the improv sketch group for that semester.

[B]

I couldn't do the improv sketch group while I was in London.

[C]

They didn't have Zoom.

[A]

Was that all of junior year?

[B]

Bring of junior.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And fall of junior year, I was in Dead end. Oh, yeah. So I was kind of.

[A]

Beck was in a professional play, Amundsen Theater.

[B]

I understudied Raviv Allman for the lead part, and I also played hello, the.

[A]

Future from Disney Channel. Yes, a friend of ours.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

What school did you go to?

[B]

Usc. Oh, and they had. They did, like, a partnership with the Amundsen, where, like, they basically got us for a reduced cost because it was such a big cast. But, like, it was awesome.

[C]

Teen labor.

[B]

Yeah. But, yeah, I studied abroad that year, and I guess I had nothing else to say about that, but I do have.

[A]

But you were. You were studying. You were studying acting.

[B]

Yes, I was studying acting at bottom.

[A]

And what's the. What's. What did you. What were your classes?

[B]

It was like. It was mostly Shakespeare, which I didn't love, but USC didn't do a lot of.

[A]

Do you remember it? Do you remember any Shakespearean lines?

[C]

Were you just studying or did you. Were you at. Were you in productions of it?

[B]

We had a production. I was Edmund in King Lear at the end and my parents came out to see it and to travel a little bit. We went to Italy for a week after. But my favorite class was the clowning class with Ed Barnfather. I think that was his name. Barnfather Sounds made up with Ed. Orange pillow.

[A]

You just looked at the pillow and came with the name.

[B]

I swear to God.

[A]

Yeah, right.

[B]

I've seen this funky orange pillow.

[C]

Just off camera, there's a barn and a guy with. Holding a kid.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Who's nursing it, like, his breasts and keeps pushing the mouth off, like.

[B]

No, it's named Headgum after that guy. Guy. Yeah, yeah, because. Because there's. That's slang for what he's doing.

[C]

Well, he keeps trying to pull the hat off his head. There's gum on, it falls back down.

[B]

That's what everybody can't see in these podcasts. But we're talking about studying abroad.

[A]

I did not study abroad, by the way.

[C]

But it seems like you gained a lot from his stuff.

[B]

I've gained a lot from me studying.

[A]

I'm. Well, I'm gaining a lot just in right now from both of you. And you did it. So, like, I'm already getting. I mean, I've learned something. I didn't know kebabs.

[C]

Kebab sandwiches were a thing with fries inside.

[A]

Well, okay.

[B]

So good. It's like. Kyle, come on.

[A]

It's like the California burrito in San Diego, which he introduced me to. Carne asada, pico de gallo.

[B]

Another classic moment.

[A]

Sour cream cheese, guacamole. I mean, it depends. It sort of depends on where you.

[C]

No sour cream for me.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, that's. Are you just non dairy or you don't like sour cream?

[C]

Just don't like it.

[A]

Yeah, that's fair. A lot of places don't have. It's all good. It's all good.

[B]

Peace.

[A]

You told me once. No, you don't need to leave about. Okay, we're live. All of a sudden, I'm. The voices are coming. That's the clip.

[B]

That's the clip. That's the clip. That's the clip.

[A]

We're coming to the end of studying abroad and we always end each episode with. With our. Our lightning round. Lightning speed. Lightning round Topic.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Quick hits.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Our quick hit.

[B]

Got it. Yeah. I don't know what's going on.

[A]

Yeah. Play this song. My biggest regret. And this doesn't have to be about studying abroad.

[B]

Wait, we're Going to talk about our biggest regret right now. Nah, man. Nah, man. I want to do that.

[A]

Okay. Well, this has been a great episode.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Anything else, Tim? You got anything you want to promote?

[C]

Oh, yeah. Well, Righteous Gemstone Season 4. Whenever this airs, I know you guys have a bit of a delayed production. You've got incredible movies, Deli Boys on Hulu.

[A]

Great.

[C]

I want to check that out. I love being part of that.

[A]

That. That's awesome.

[B]

Right on. Well, thanks for being here.

[A]

It's been so fun. Tim, thank you so much for everything.

[C]

Dude, raise the roof one more time.

[B]

And as we say, maybe someday we'll all travel abroad together.

[A]

That's how we end every episode. Okay, so we're. This is our sort of wrap up.

[C]

We're coming back.

[B]

We're coming back.

[A]

You were just telling a story, a pretty dramatic story of playing basketball.

[B]

Your own basketball.

[A]

A question I have for you is do you. Do you regret that we didn't have time for that over there. Were you. Were you planning on talking about that?

[C]

No.

[B]

How sad are you right now?

[C]

One to ten.

[A]

Yeah. Would that have landed on your biggest regrets?

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Yeah. One to ten.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

I guess I'm a seven of sad.

[B]

Okay, cool.

[A]

Because it.

[C]

It is kind of a big regret.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And I can't tell that story now.

[B]

Right. I can't do it.

[C]

I told her perfectly right before.

[B]

We're not there.

[A]

We might have caught some.

[B]

But I.

[A]

Some of it.

[B]

I do have to say. This is the wrap up. I think that that is a great candidate for our podcast and studying abroad. Studying abroad. It was very fun. I think a lot of people can relate.

[A]

It was really. I. You know, if I'm thinking about the podcast as a whole, we're supposed to just be talking about the podcast within a podcast.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I thought everything. I've learned so much about you. But prior to us doing our podcast, our studying abroad deep dive. No, no. Just in this moment.

[C]

Oh, yeah, yeah. 100.

[A]

Really? I really enjoyed. And I got a.

[C]

So I put you up right now because you asked a lot of questions. I didn't know you had a question master inside you.

[B]

Oh, yeah. Kyle is a question master.

[C]

But you really were like. I didn't feel like anyone was driving the bus, you know, but whenever I thought, I don't know where this is going next, Kyle. You did.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And I learned a lot about you.

[B]

Thank you.

[C]

So now I still have a lot to learn about you.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Because you were so generous with your questions.

[A]

Okay. So that. I like that. Because that's A. That. That is. I did something helpful, but also, like, maybe I could. I should share more about myself, too.

[C]

Cut people off and just tell some facts about yourself.

[B]

Just railroad them. Just. Just drive right through and start talking. Talking about eggs or something.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

You need to attack those people like they're your brother in wet dream room.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. That was. Yeah, it was. I learned a lot about you, too. And now I feel I learned how much we have in common, and I see you as a brother.

[C]

Likewise.

[A]

I also really.

[B]

It's a really fun opportunity.

[C]

Illinois boys.

[A]

I don't even. I almost, like, don't even want to say this out loud because, like, I don't know if it's, like. It's not fair to say that it's, like, pulling back the curtain or something like that, but one thing I did really genuinely enjoy about our conversation is that we did. We were able. We. We got a lot. Some great bits in there, like, wet dreams. And I don't. I'm not trying to say that egocentrically. I don't want, like, to say, like, oh, that was the best, you know, Like, I'm not trying to brag about what we did or something like that, but I like that. Like, we had really fun moments, but we also got genuine moments, and I got to learn about you, but we also got to, like, be wacky. You know what I mean? I think that's cool.

[C]

Yeah. Likewise.

[B]

It was perfect. Yeah.

[C]

Thank you. It's rare to have a conversation like that, you know. Boy, I felt like old friends. Yeah, we got a little deep, but we got some good bits in there.

[B]

Yeah, we did.

[C]

And, hey, it's okay for you to say that they were the best.

[A]

I mean, they were definitely the best. I think. Yes. I think you'd be acting. Say they were the best in the show.

[B]

They were the best in the show that we've had. And so, yeah, thank you so much for coming. This was so fun.

[A]

This was so fun.

[B]

And maybe we'll get to do, you know, study abroad again.

[C]

Good luck with all the rest of your episodes of study abroad.

[B]

Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Thank you for bringing that in and helping us out.

[C]

Peace.

[B]

Peace out. What's Our Podcast is a Headgum podcast created and hosted by Beck Bennett and Kyle Mooney. The show is produced and engineered by Casey Donahue and Anya Konobskaya, with production support from Marika Brownlee, Rachelle Chen, and Ally Khan. Our executive producer is Anya Kenovskaya. Katie Moose is our VP of content at Headgum. Our theme music is made by us. For more podcasts by headgum, visit headgum.com or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

[A]

That was a Headgum podcast.