Episode 1636 - Liza Treyger

Summary

WTF with Marc Maron Podcast Episode 1636: Liza Treyger Release Date: April 21, 2025

In Episode 1636 of the WTF with Marc Maron podcast, Marc sits down with comedian Liza Treyger for an in-depth and revealing conversation. The episode delves into Liza's personal history, her journey in comedy, challenges with mental health, and experiences navigating the entertainment industry. Here's a detailed summary of their discussion:

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1. Early Life and Family Background

Liza Treyger begins by sharing her early life experiences, moving from the former Soviet Union (present-day Ukraine) to the United States at the age of three. Growing up in Skokie, Illinois, she recounts facing anti-Semitism and the presence of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) in the community.

[18:35] Liza Treyger: "They hated. Both of them. Hated us."

Skokie, known for having one of the largest Jewish populations outside of Israel post-World War II, was a place where Liza and her family had to navigate cultural tensions and prejudice.

2. Family Dynamics and Sibling Relationships

Liza discusses her relationships with her parents and her sister. Her father, an immigrant from the Soviet Union, worked as a school bus driver, while her mother served as an accountant. Her sister, ten years older, married young and faced her own life challenges.

[22:03] Liza Treyger: "She had to be mature real fast when we moved here. So she had a lot of responsibility and we were also poorer."

3. Educational Journey and Early Career Struggles

Liza attended North Park University, where she pursued a degree in Sociology. During her college years, she balanced academics with burgeoning interests in comedy and performing arts. Her initial foray into stand-up comedy was rocky; after bombing her first open mic, she persevered and eventually found her comedic voice.

[62:16] Liza Treyger: "I went out bombed. Like, couldn't even finish the time I turned red, I was like shaking. And then I came back the next week. No, I was just sitting there to watch. I didn't even know what stand up was like in my head."

4. Personal Challenges and Mental Health

Liza is candid about her struggles with mental health, particularly obsessional anxiety and patterns of toxic relationships. She reflects on how these challenges have impacted her friendships and professional life, leading her to seek therapy and work on personal growth.

[40:31] Liza Treyger: "I think somebody does. I don't even know anymore time limits of it all."

[42:28] Marc Maron: "You were hanging out with toxic people?"

[42:32] Liza Treyger: "We were toxic together."

5. Navigating the Comedy Scene

Liza details her journey through the competitive world of comedy, from open mics in Chicago to larger stages in New York and Los Angeles. She shares anecdotes about performing at venues like The Cellar and her interactions with established comedians, which have both shaped her career and tested her resilience.

[57:17] Liza Treyger: "I did good at JFL. So it was like, right as I got new faces, I moved to New York."

Her first stand-up special, "Night Owl," is a testament to her growth and determination in the field.

6. Experiences with Online Harassment and Gender Bias

As a female comedian, Liza has faced her share of online negativity and harassment. She discusses the disparities in how male and female comedians are treated in comment sections and the emotional toll it takes.

[29:20] Liza Treyger: "I was like, what could I have done? Like, I was just like, damn. So like, human pit stain. Geez."

Marc echoes these sentiments, highlighting the broader issue of online toxicity, especially towards women.

[29:57] Liza Treyger: "What pisses me off is like, fine, then say it to me. Say it."

7. Relationships and Interactions within the Entertainment Industry

Liza shares her interactions with various personalities in the entertainment world, including moments with John Waters and Jessica Lange. These experiences underscore the humbling and often surreal nature of celebrity encounters.

[86:24] Liza Treyger: "I remember that was a moment. I got a lot of messages from people."

Marc recounts a personal encounter with Greg from White Lotus, illustrating the fleeting and sometimes superficial nature of such meetings.

[49:53] Marc Maron: "And then he walked away. And I... I had to fight the idea. Like, let it go, dude."

8. Family Updates and Personal Reflections

Towards the end of the episode, Liza provides updates on her family, including her aging parents and her sister's current life stage. These reflections offer a deeper understanding of the personal pressures and motivations that drive her comedic endeavors.

[83:00] Liza Treyger: "So. But I was just in Los Angeles for the pandemic. I booked a pilot and after I filmed the pilot, it didn't go."

9. Current Projects and Future Endeavors

Liza discusses her ongoing projects, including her podcast "That's Messed Up," which delves into true crime episodes of Law & Order: SVU, and her aspirations for future comedy specials and collaborations.

[75:47] Liza Treyger: "We do a deep dive in the true crime it's based on, and then we interview an actor from the episode."

10. Conclusion and Final Thoughts

The episode wraps up with Marc promoting Liza's Netflix special "Night Owl" and her series "Survival of the Thickest." Both projects showcase Liza's unique comedic voice and her ability to blend personal anecdotes with sharp societal observations.

Marc Maron: "You can watch both seasons of Survival of the Thickest and her comedy special Night Owl on Netflix."

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Notable Quotes

• Liza Treyger at [21:14]: "I have William's 'Red Wheelbarrow' because it's succinct."
• Liza Treyger at [31:05]: "I have to stop having these intense friendships and fights and fallouts."
• Liza Treyger at [38:48]: "I would blow dry my hair in the morning... play songs that would be like, she's a bitch."

Final Thoughts

Marc Maron and Liza Treyger engage in a heartfelt and honest conversation that traverses the complexities of growing up as an immigrant in America, the challenges of breaking into the comedy industry, and the personal battles one faces while striving for success. Liza's resilience and candidness provide listeners with an intimate glimpse into the life of a comedian navigating fame, mental health, and personal growth.

For those interested in exploring Liza Treyger's work further, her Netflix special "Night Owl" and series "Survival of the Thickest" are highly recommended.

Transcript

[Marc Maron]

Hey, folks, it's time to grow your business, enhance your online presence, and build your perfect website with Squarespace. Start with Blueprint AI, Squarespace's AI Enhanced website builder to get a fully custom website in just a few steps. Then choose whatever features you want to get the most out of your site, just like we do with wtfpod.com check out squarespace.com wtf for a free trial. And then when you're ready to go live, use offer code WTF to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. That's squarespace.com WTF? Offer code WTF. Yes, Squarespace. Let's do the show. All right, let's do this. How are you? What the fuckers? What the Buddies. What the Nicks. How you doing? I'm Mark Marin. This is my podcast, wtf. Welcome to it. How's it going? Today on the show, I talked to Liza Trager, who is great. So great. I've met her a long time ago. I didn't really register her for a long time, but I knew she was around and then I just saw her. It's one of these things that happens to me with young comics. I watched some of her special and I was like, holy fuck, why am I not talking to this person? She's hilarious. She has a special on Netflix called Lisa Traeger Night Owl. She's also on the Netflix series Survival of the Thickest. But it's funny that I've done a couple of these interviews lately with these kind of bombastic Jewish female comedians and they just kill me. Actually, Jessica Curson will be on Thursday show. So it's a big week of fucking hilarious. Women on this show could not stop laughing. Los Angeles. I'm back at Largo tomorrow, April 22, for an 8pm show. Then I'm at Dynasty Typewriter this Saturday, April 26, and again on Tuesday, April 29. Toronto. I'm at the Winter Garden on Saturday, May 3 for two shows. Burlington, Vermont. I'm at the Vermont Comedy Club for two shows on Monday, May 5, and one show on Tuesday, May 6. Portsmouth, New Hampshire. I'll be at the Music hall on Wednesday, May 7, and then I'm in Brooklyn for my HBO special taping at the Bam Harvey Theater on May 10th. Two shows there. Go to wtfpod.com tour for all my dates and links to tickets. Had something odd happen to me the other day. Kinda odd and retro at the same time. You know, we do this bonus material and we did an Ask Mark anything and you know, people Send in questions, and I answer them. And somebody asked me, what are my favorite Lynyrd Skynyrd deep cuts. Someone's been listening. You know, I have this weird thing where I guess I have a fairly broad personality in some ways. I mean, you can pigeonhole me. Cranky guy or neurotic guy or angry guy, you know, whatever. Whatever you want. Whatever box you want to put me in, you can put me in there. But those of you who listen to this know that it's not. It's a pretty big fucking box, and there's not much of a lid on it. And, you know, there are periods in my life that were kind of. Is it. Do I want the word anachronistic? But I don't think they're unlike some other people. You know, because of my proximity to the college, when I was growing up and working at a restaurant across from the college, and because of my fundamentally kind of New Mexico townie upbringing, you know, I've got many worlds in me. You know, I've got Lynyrd Skynyrd and I've got Brian Eno, and they both exist, and they both bring me a tremendous amount of joy. I can go from Brian Eno to Lynyrd Skynyrd pronounced just in the flick of a switch and be just as excited. I can go from Mingus right into AC DC Power Ridge, no problem. No problem. Doesn't require a big shift for me. I just have many. I. I have multitudes. What is it? See, I got Whitman in me, too. Somewhere someone asked me also about my favorite poem. I should have thrown this one in there. I chose William Carlos Williams, the Red Wheelbarrow, because that one's succinct. That's the one I go back to in my head. But Song of Myself. Come on, Whitman. Here's the line. Do I contradict myself? Very well, then, I contradict myself. I am large. I contain multitudes. That's right, man. I can do it. Skynyrd and Eno, equal space. Equal space. But anyway, my point was being that we had another one of these horrendous school shootings and. And actually, a fan of mine's daughter was. Was there, and I got a DM through Instagram, and it's fucking horrendous that they continue to happen. And the only reaction from the political forces in control is that, yeah, these things happen. People kill people, not guns. And it. The logic of it is ridiculous and disturbing, that. But this argument's been going on. She shouldn't even be an argument but this position has been going on forever, no matter how many kids die. And it's fucking heinous. And it's like. It's like a. A perfect example of the disease that is killing America. But the odd thing is, so I'm listening to. Someone sent me a song list of the Skynyrd songs that I chose. And one of them was Saturday Night Special. And it's on the album Nothing Fancy. And it's about a.38 special. It's about a gun, and it's really an anti gun song. It's about a handgun, the.38 Special. And there's several stories within it about people getting shot with them. And the chorus is, Mr. Saturday Night Special. Got a barrel that's blue and cold that ain't good for nothing but putting men six feet in a hole. So good lyrics. But I would consider that an anti gun position by one of the seminal southern rock bands. And you kind of associate the south with, you know, the sort of cold dead hands thing. Can't take my gun away. So I was having this moment where everything came together for me and I hadn't listened to the song in a while. Even when I chose it, I didn't think of it as an anti gun anthem, you know, But I listened to it again. I'm like, holy shit. You know, this is an anti gun song by some real rebel southern rock guys. And you know, I. I was kind of like, wow, well, that was ballsy. You know, back then maybe, right? I. You would think so that these guys of that ilk would do an anti gun anthem. But what's very interesting is that at the end of the song, it kind of. So the last couple verses. Handguns are made for killing, they ain't no good for nothing else. And if you like to drink your whiskey, you might even shoot yourself. Heavy, right? But true. And then the last verse is before the chorus is, so why don't we dump people? Oh. Oh, wow, I misread it. Oh, good. Well, that makes me feel better. Oh my God. I had this big point and it doesn't even matter. The last verse is, so why don't we dump them people to the bottom of the sea before some old fool come around here and want to shoot either you or me. It's anti gun all the way through. But I thought the last verse was, why don't we dump all people to the bottom of the sea? And I was like, holy shit, that's how deep that amendment runs. Is that the solution on the level of this band of these representatives of the American south is that why don't we get rid of all the people so the guns can live free of us? But I misread it. I don't know. Should I even leave this in here? Oh, my God. You know, sometimes song lyrics, you know, you think you hear one thing and it's not. Do you find yourself eating the same thing over and over again? You probably don't want to do that, but I get it. Life is a lot. And you get done with a long day of work and you don't have time to search for new meals or pick out ingredients or learn how to cook something new. Well, Home Chef gets it too. Delivering fresh ingredients and chef design recipes conveniently to your doorstep to simplify your cooking experience. Users of leading meal kits have rated Home Chef number one in quality, convenience, value and taste and recipe ease. You get more than 30 options each week with lots of choices for different dietary needs. Check out this week's menu for some of the featured dishes like orange teriyaki pork and rice or Chesapeake peak style salmon cakes. Last time I got the garlic ginger tofu tacos. There's definitely something for everyone, folks. For a limited time, Home chef is offering WTF listeners 50% off and free shipping for your first box, plus free dessert for life. Free dessert for life. Go to homechef.com WTF that's homechef.com WTF for 50% off your first box and free dessert for life. Homechef.com WTF you must be an active subscriber to receive the free dessert. You hear me? All right, well, that was a tremendously funny misread of a anti gun anthem, which turns out it was here I thought it was, but there was a caveat that at the end, you don't mess with the Constitution, you just get rid of all humans. My brain worked with that for a while. I thought it was very telling, but it was also very wrong having read their lyrics right here in front of you. All right, so I'll give you an update on Charles. You know, I think it also should be noted if you'd like to note it. I noted it that one of the things that made me realize that I was okay at this, at being on these kind of microphones was at Air America. This was, you know, that was put together to try to stop a second Bush two term, a second W term. And the politics of that time were dire as well. Not as dire as now, but seemingly they were because they were as dire as they could have gotten. But we didn't anticipate they'd get more dire, but that's besides the point. But the truth is that during that time, we were doing a political comedy, and we were doing political news and political talk, but I was also sort of developing my own voice on these microphones. And so much of it was built on cats, really. So much of it was built on cats, I'd say. Rescued five feral cats, kittens from my back alley in Queens. And the narrative of that is what really kind of gave me a voice, these cats. So. And also, it was a nice reprieve for people during that time, the story of these cats. So here we are with another episode of where's Charlie At? With where's. What's Charlie doing? What the is wrong with Charlie? Well, I can't answer that question, but the struggle for me around medicating Charlie has sort of resolved itself. He's been off the Prozac now for almost a week, and he's back to himself. And I couldn't be happier. Yes, he's still running around, beating up on Buster and sometimes on Sammy. But I will accept that. It's the behavior that I'm worried about when I'm away. But I'm gonna try something different with that, something less permanent. You know, maybe some gabapentin or this other stuff. You know, some people recommend cbd, other people recommend fellow Aromata. I got them all over the house, the Felways. And despite how they work for your cats, they don't work for mine. I didn't think they would, but I've had them on for, you know, over a week, two weeks here and cbd. I don't know. I might go gabapentin. But the point is, what a relief in my heart and mind and for Charlie as well, that I took him off this Prozac. Because whether I was projecting or not, what I sensed in Charlie on the Prozac was he had all his impulses to be himself, but he couldn't get to him. And I sensed a frustration there that might have been projecting, but. But who cares, you know? You know, your cats. I know mine. Some people think I anthropomorphize too much and that I'm reading into it. But he seemed frustrated that he could not be himself. And it was making a sad. It was making me sad. So I took him off, and he's back. He's just the same guy. He was very engaged, very excited, very intrusive, a little bit crazy, maybe a lot crazy, but he's not even three yet. That was the other factor. Like, what am I doing to this guy? So I'm thrilled to have him back and I try to get in the way of him fucking with the other cats. And I've decided to get him more enrichments. More enrichment. I didn't know that word, enrichments until I went to the North Carolina Tiger Rescue. They have enrichments for the, for the, for the tigers in the form of tires. I didn't get, I didn't get Charlie. A tire hanging from a rope. Not quite big enough for that. But looking at cat trees, people, you know, people who have a nice house or enjoy the decoration or the decor of their house, eventually, if you have cats, you let go of a couch, you let go of some chairs, you. You'll put up with some stink, you'll put up with some things, some vomit. You know, you'll, you'll, you'll sacrifice furniture, you'll make exceptions. But the step to cat tree is a big one because then you're just giving your house to the cats. They have it anyway. But if it's a big enough house or there's enough space, you can, you know, spread it out a little bit. But once you dump one of those big ugly cat trees, and there's. There may be nice looking ones, but let's be honest, it is what it is. Once you dump one of those giant cat trees into a room. Not your house anymore, pal. Nope. You've given in. And that's that. It's their house. And that's where I'm at. I'm on the precipice of buying a hideous cat tree because maybe Charlie, with a little more enrichment, will settle the fuck down and stop beating up on Buster. But that might just go on for a while. Anyway, that is what's going on. That is what's going on right now. Looking at Catri's Charlie's Charlie again. I guess I should give you the update of my parents. They're both hanging in. Thought I'd give you an update, talk to my dad. Still knows who I am. We have conversations that are limited to the several hours of memory that he has or memory of the several hours before I talk to him. But it's okay. My mom's okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. The conversations with my mom are like, how you doing? How you doing, Mom? All right. How are you? I'm good. What's going on? Well, nothing. What about you, Mark? Well, I'm doing this, I'm doing that. Okay. Yeah. So nothing. You do you're not doing anything fun? I don't know. Not really. Okay, well, I guess that's it. I love you, but that's fine. Maybe I should call her after I do this. Just have that conversation again this week. All right, so look, Lisa Traeger. This was great. It was a great comic talk. It was a great funny talk. I love her. Her Netflix series Survival of the Thickest is now streaming. She's got a special on Netflix called Night Owl. This is me talking to Liza Trager, folks. We're only a few months into the year, and I've already been all over the country in 2025 doing my stand updates. I've been up to Napa and Sacramento, then back down to Santa Barbara and Monterey. I was in Colorado and back in my hometown of Albuquerque, then the Midwest. And it's odd even when I've been to a town that I'm always surprised and I always do new things. There are certain things I like to do that I always do. But I'd never driven over the Black Mountains of Kentucky. I'd never done all that. You know, when you get out there and you get out in the world and you get off the interstate, you know, you get to really take it in. And I've got plenty more travel to come as I build up to taping my standup special. Traveling is a big part of my life. And if you do even a fraction of the traveling that I do, you might start thinking about hosting your place on Airbnb while you're away. And now you can get a co host to handle all the hosting duties for you. These are high quality local co hosts who take care of your home and your guests. Find a co [e-mail] host. Your cat died. Seventeen.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. That's about the age where they start dying. Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

Had a good life?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Did you have it since it was a kitten?

[Liza Trager]

Two. Since she was two.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, really?

[Liza Trager]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

In New York?

[Liza Trager]

No, Chicago suburbs. Skokie.

[Marc Maron]

I was just in Skokie.

[Liza Trager]

I know Ally was texting me. But you guys were staying in the city. Like, I was sending her all my wrecks. But why would you stay in Skokie, you know?

[Marc Maron]

No, we didn't.

[Liza Trager]

That's what I mean.

[Marc Maron]

Like, is there Rex in Skokie?

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. PETA Inn is like a famous lunch special. It's a Middle Eastern spot.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, really? Well, what's the story in Skokie? I have no idea. Like, we were just at that. What she.

[Liza Trager]

The North Shore center for Performing Arts. Well, Old Orchard Mall. How incredible. Outdoor mall. Gorgeous. But what Skokie is known for is having the biggest population of Jews after World War II outside of Israel. So the Nazis would come march when I knew that. And then when the kids, When I was a kid, the KKK would come.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, really?

[Liza Trager]

And then there was also a crime killer.

[Marc Maron]

Was there a family outing when the kkk.

[Liza Trager]

No, but we talked about it a lot in school and like, you know, freedom of speech. I just, we had to talk about it all the time. Cause the KKK would come.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

And then the Northwest, just.

[Marc Maron]

Cause of the Jews.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. But it was also really diverse. Like a lot of Pacific Islanders, Indian people, Assyrians. Like, it was really a diverse place, but I'm assuming it was still for the Jews.

[Marc Maron]

I, I wonder, like, because when you go into a place for a night, I had no sense of anything there.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. Cause it's just like a suburb.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Is it just a suburb?

[Liza Trager]

Well, it's the biggest village in the world.

[Marc Maron]

The biggest village.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. And we had an amazing award winning library. I hope it's still doing well.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

You know, I, I, I have nostalgia for there, obviously. I grew up. It's like so suburban to me.

[Marc Maron]

I love taking walks there now when you're like. But your parents are not from here.

[Liza Trager]

No, I was born in the former Soviet Union, present day Ukraine, and then we came over when I was three.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. So were they part of that kind of like the Jews. Jews go like, Eugene Mirman's parents are from that.

[Liza Trager]

Well, so I was hanging out in the Hyatt lobby of JFL once, and we had mutuals. And so we were at the same, like, little lounging area, and I was like, oh, my God, you I know about. And he goes, oh, we're not gonna do this right now. And I went, for sure, for sure. My bad. And so he didn't care.

[Marc Maron]

He didn't want to connect on the Jewish expulsion from Russia. Parents.

[Liza Trager]

No, he didn't.

[Marc Maron]

But how did that work? Do you know how it worked?

[Liza Trager]

Yeah, it was like the Jewish United Fund and the government. Cause in Fran Leibowitz's documentary, Public Speaking, she talks about how there was like a giant meat, like, protest in Washington and everyone talking and people like, bring, bring us here.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

And so I'm not, I don't know, but we had like a volunteer family in Chicago and they would teach us how to be American. Got my mom a job, like, really babysit for them. And then my sister would go to, like, she went to private Jewish school for free. Like, it Was the community and then the government.

[Marc Maron]

Uh huh. But were they being like suppressed and treated badly in Russia?

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. Like you couldn't do certain jobs or go to certain schools as a Jew. Yeah, real. But I don't know how because my mom, when the, the conflict now happened with Russia and Ukraine, my. We were talking about it because I only speak Russian. I'm for Ukraine. But Ukrainians don't want to speak Russian anymore, which is fair.

[Marc Maron]

But is there a Ukrainian language?

[Liza Trager]

Yeah, that was like forced out because that was the whole thing. Like everyone had to speak Russian.

[Marc Maron]

Is it its own thing or is it more like Polish or is it more like it's.

[Liza Trager]

It's its own thing. But they all sound similar. But I don't understand Ukrainian or anything like that. But I had a Ukrainian tattoo artist, he's like, I'll never speak Russian again. There was like, we know a Russian speaking doctor. She goes, a lot of my patients don't want to speak Russian anymore.

[Marc Maron]

Can they speak English?

[Liza Trager]

Barely. You know, that's why the doctor's like, I don't know what you want. We came here before. Yeah, the. But. So when my mom and I talked, she goes, Russian, Ukrainian. We were Jewish. They hated. Both of them. Hated us.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

So I don't know. My parents are older. They were born in 1938 and 1945.

[Marc Maron]

That's like my parents.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

So what, Your dad's like 86.

[Liza Trager]

He's 87. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. My dad's 86.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

It's crazy.

[Liza Trager]

My dad was 50 when I was born.

[Marc Maron]

That's crazy. Do you have other siblings?

[Liza Trager]

My sister's 10 years older than me.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, so he was 40, which is. No. Youngster.

[Liza Trager]

No.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. And did they still speak Russian?

[Liza Trager]

Only.

[Marc Maron]

Really?

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. My dad's. It's broken English. And then my mom, when she worked, was in an office, but now they.

[Marc Maron]

Like, they just speak Russian.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. They go to Costco. They'll like, they could talk. They can go to Home Goods.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, but. But they never learned it.

[Liza Trager]

No, not really.

[Marc Maron]

And you're. You're good with Russian?

[Liza Trager]

Yeah, I actually sometimes feel insecure about it.

[Marc Maron]

About your Russian?

[Liza Trager]

Yeah, like, because I can, I can do an English word here and there. I can like around. My parents know me really well, but last time I was home, my best. One of my best friends from high school came and she's a Russian Jew too, and we were talking about Survivor TV show. My dad goes in rush, I want to know. And I explained all of Survivor, like the psychological intricacies of it. And I was like, oh, I guess I'm pretty good.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Yeah. The nuances.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. I'm like. I was proud of it. But my driver here, my Uber driver spoke. I. I could tell by his music, and I started speaking some in Russian.

[Marc Maron]

He's Russian?

[Liza Trager]

No, but you could be, like, from Turbekistan, from all these different places.

[Marc Maron]

And they kind of speak Russian.

[Liza Trager]

Mongolians. Yeah. Like, you know, you never know previous.

[Marc Maron]

Parts of the Soviet Republic.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And you knew he was.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah, but he was more darker skit, so I assumed he was, like, from the other parts, you know, from a.

[Marc Maron]

Did you speak Russian with him?

[Liza Trager]

Yeah, but he wasn't that chat. He didn't care.

[Marc Maron]

You were excited.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah, I go with what they want. And so. But sometimes they'll have drivers that are excited or some want to learn English and so they want to speak English.

[Marc Maron]

Right.

[Liza Trager]

And so I'll do that too.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. It's a wild. I can't even wrap my brain around another language.

[Liza Trager]

That's what I mean. When people, like, if I moved somewhere now, if I moved to France, would I learn French? No, I doubt it.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, but you just grew up with it. But your English is so good.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. And my sister doesn't have an accent either, which is pretty wild.

[Marc Maron]

Did you ever.

[Liza Trager]

Mm. Mm.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, my God, no.

[Liza Trager]

Cause I learned English watching, like, Baywatch.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah.

[Liza Trager]

TV movies, but.

[Marc Maron]

So Skokie, that's. When did you leave Skokie?

[Liza Trager]

Well, I went to college, came back. I lived with my parents while I went to college and did a lot of my standup and shit. Where?

[Marc Maron]

In Chicago?

[Liza Trager]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

So it's all Chicago for you. You started there?

[Liza Trager]

I started in 2009 in Chicago, and then I went to New York 2014, then LA 2019, and then I went back to New York. Last year. Yeah, last February.

[Marc Maron]

So you've been doing. So you haven't. You've been at it a pretty long time. I feel bad because I used to see at the store, but I never registered.

[Liza Trager]

No. We would sometimes say hi. You know, I kind of go up. You know, I know who you are. You know what actually happened recently? You were at the Cellar.

[Marc Maron]

Okay.

[Liza Trager]

And I think we said, hi. But the next day, someone mentioned a comedian who annoys me. And I was like, ugh. And I talk shit.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

And they go, you won't believe it. Mark was here yesterday saying the exact same thing as you. And I was like, oh, fucking A. That's fun. So I got excited.

[Marc Maron]

Now I gotta guess who it is.

[Liza Trager]

I know.

[Marc Maron]

Is it Mike? Birbiglia. Yeah. He just texted me, like, I've been like that with that guy for so many years.

[Liza Trager]

I don't even know him. I just don't like when men talk like babies.

[Marc Maron]

No shit.

[Liza Trager]

It's. Oh. And it's like, you're a grown man. Like, why are you acting like. You can't say. Like, I just. I don't get it.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. And I've always kind of. I've said that. But, like, look, he's. You know, his craft is in place. I mean, he can do it, but he's just sort of like, oh, I'm just a dumb, doughy guy.

[Liza Trager]

But I don't think that's what he. I don't think it's authentic.

[Marc Maron]

No.

[Liza Trager]

I think that's my thing. And so I get like, stop talking like a baby.

[Marc Maron]

Well, it's a shtick.

[Liza Trager]

Fuck your wife, you have a kid. Like, you're a grown man.

[Marc Maron]

I never understood comics that somehow land on a character. I imagine we all have a stage Persona, but you're pretty much yourself. I'm pretty much myself. I think people that somehow figure out some kind of functional clown's mask for themselves might do better. But I've spent all these years just trying to be me.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

But just the idea that, like, you have this thing and everything's so deliberate when you're a weirdo. On purpose.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. I don't like to write set lists. I just want to be in the moment. I don't want you to write a set list. No. Unless I'm, like, working on stuff. I try to just be in the moment. Oh.

[Marc Maron]

I mean, like. Right. But not jokes. But you got. You write your ideas down.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. Right. But I don't like. For my special. I didn't write a set list for it. I was really deliberate about that.

[Marc Maron]

But had you been doing hours?

[Liza Trager]

Yeah, but I knew I was gonna end and start. But then I like to just do the chunks as they come.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. No, it was funny. It was funny. Special.

[Liza Trager]

Thank you.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

And I wanted to. Cause I've taped two half hours, and it was like the teleprompter with the set list.

[Marc Maron]

Oh.

[Liza Trager]

And I'm like. But I don't perform like that. Why am I doing that?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

And so was it distracting? It's just. I don't like being. It makes me not. Damn. It makes me feel like I'm putting on a pageant verse. Like, this is how I do my show.

[Marc Maron]

I'm worried about that now, too.

[Liza Trager]

What do you mean?

[Marc Maron]

Because, like, the. More like, for me, as I'm doing a special in May for hbo. And you know, I work these sets because you only get, I only get a certain amount of time. So it's 60 minutes or 70 minutes. And you know, I, I, as I got older, I used to do it more like you like on Thinkypane. That was like an hour and a half. I had notebooks around, I didn't know where the I was going. And people love that special.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

But then I got mad at people like Birbigli and stuff. Like, I got mad because they structured these and they have these callbacks and I'm like, everyone thinks a callback's fucking genius. Well, I can do that, you know. So then I started to like, you know, what's the callback? So everyone goes like, oh my God, it's from the other joke. And then I got into this structure zone and then by the time you get to the special, you just fucking hate it.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. But also you're at a place where people want like you're more time. Like in a year they want another one.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, I guess somebody does. I don't even know anymore time limits of it all. But did you do yours for a place or did you do it on YouTube?

[Liza Trager]

It was for Netflix and it was. Yeah, it was one hour. Netflix.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Cause I can't, like, I don't have a YouTube presence. I'm not gonna just self produce. I'm old school. Like, pay me for the thing.

[Liza Trager]

No. In my head I wasn't hearing back from and I got a lot of no's and no one really wanted it. And I was like, that's fine. Then I won't do it. It's not like I'm not gonna not do standup. Who cares? And then a week later I got the call. But I don't want. People are mean to me. I can't be on YouTube. I can't have people like call me fat all day. Like, I can't. Yeah, it's just not.

[Marc Maron]

You can't not look at it.

[Liza Trager]

It's just, but that's not. I should be able to look at comment, you know, like it bothers me. Like I don't have that fan base that it would get the numbers right away. And I think that would fuck with me.

[Marc Maron]

That would fuck with me.

[Liza Trager]

And I didn't want mean comments.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

I just real like Netflix, like. Yeah, I don't know what people think.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, I don't. I'm still pretty thin skinned, but I try. I pretend to suck it Up. But it always goes in.

[Liza Trager]

Sometimes it's like, for a while it's fine. It's fine. But it's always the same with stuff. And it's like it has nothing to do with what's happening. What is up.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Yeah. Why? It's just women get it worse though.

[Liza Trager]

For sure.

[Marc Maron]

It's like we used to have, there's.

[Liza Trager]

A lot of weird looking men and their YouTube comments are spic and span.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. We used to have a comment component on our site and we took it down because any woman that would come on, it was just sort of like they come out on purpose.

[Liza Trager]

I was just on little Esther Povitsky's podcast.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

And we were just talking about Ty Beau. The clip is truly about Billy Blanks and Ty Bo. And someone commented, Liza Trager is the human version of a pit stain. I go, what? Like, what could I have done? Like, I was just like, damn. So like, human pit stain. Geez.

[Marc Maron]

I don't, I don't. I. As I get older, I just don't. I don't understand people. I think the best. And it's just not true. It's not true. People are shitty and they're stupid and they're.

[Liza Trager]

And it's pri. What pisses me off is like, fine, then say it to me. Say it. But you have no follower. This is a burner account. This isn't real. And it's like, oh, how lucky you are that nothing you say ever gets heard. No one cares. You're just living this secluded life saying fucked up things to people. I don't know. Yeah, I definitely fight in the. In the comments.

[Marc Maron]

You do?

[Liza Trager]

Yeah, like about TV shows. Like, I follow a lot of Bravo accounts, so if, like, something's happening, I'll be like, oh, I'm on this person's side. That's what. Like, a couple broke up. So I was like, on an account.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

Watched a clip, wrote, like, I think he said something, blah, blah. And someone wrote, whatever humanity. And I was like, jesus Christ. Like, this is even real. What the fuck? But yeah. And it was just like me talking about a TV show. And I understand going back and forth like, no, I actually think she sucks or this.

[Marc Maron]

But like, okay, well, you got to make it personal.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. And the things that I'm in. Obviously insecure about, you know, it's like, well, that's what's. I can only be so strong.

[Marc Maron]

But then you respond to that.

[Liza Trager]

No, see that?

[Marc Maron]

Because that's where they get you.

[Liza Trager]

No, I don't respond to like, that.

[Marc Maron]

Kind of stuff and stuff that, like, it's directly about you. Like on YouTube. You don't respond to it.

[Liza Trager]

No. Or some. I try. I don't even look at the user. I remember I did. This is not happening. And I liked my set a lot.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

But I got. Someone wrote to me going, loved her. This is not happening. Who cares what the comments say? But I'd never looked at that.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

And I talked to Ari. He goes, yeah, they hate you. And I go, but why? Like, what the fuck?

[Marc Maron]

Because, like, he's.

[Liza Trager]

And I feel if I was a dude, they would love my bad. My personality. Because I'm like, brash. I say what I mean. All these things that they admire and these male comedians, I really don't like about me. I'm just like an annoying person that bitches a lot.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Well, I just don't. I don't think they really like women.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And it's. It's fucking monstrous.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Like, I don't. I never understand who sits there and makes a decision, even if it's to fucking just tweet like, eh. It's like, what the fuck? Why is that an impulse?

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. This is terrible. You know? Yeah. I don't know.

[Marc Maron]

So when you're growing up, like, are you. Are you living in a funny world? I mean, the stuff you talk about in your special. About your dad seems crazy.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah, but not.

[Marc Maron]

But not like, you know, like dangerous crazy. Just sort of.

[Liza Trager]

Just immigrant stuff. Not understanding the world around you, but also not caring about the world around you.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

He doesn't get embarrassed.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, that's a. That's a problem.

[Liza Trager]

He just doesn't. He.

[Marc Maron]

So that's. Well, that's why you. Probably one of the reasons you became a comedian is because when you have embarrassing parents, it's like, what? You just have to learn how to suck it up and.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah, you have to translate. And no matter what they're asking you to ask the bank employee or the store employer, wherever we are, I don't have the authority not to do it.

[Marc Maron]

Right.

[Liza Trager]

So no matter what. Or he was guilty of always being like, stand in line. I'm gonna get one more thing. That anxiety. Like, he just had no care for me. He would come to my sports, like, practice.

[Marc Maron]

What'd you play?

[Liza Trager]

I mean, the worst. Okay, I played basketball for eight years.

[Marc Maron]

Really?

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. But from like, fourth grade. And then I swam throughout high school. That was my big thing. Then I just swam all year round. But I played football on an all boys team for one year in eighth grade.

[Marc Maron]

Really? Do you have bits about that?

[Liza Trager]

I had one old joke about it. It was truly, like, the worst time of my life, I would say. But I didn't want to quit because it was, like, for feminism. I did it for feminism.

[Marc Maron]

What position?

[Liza Trager]

I was an offensive lineman on the lightweight team.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

So I didn't understand football. Never watched it, didn't care.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

And they would just give me a number, and I'd push the other guy in the direction that they told me to, and that was it.

[Marc Maron]

Were you, like. Were you in the game a lot?

[Liza Trager]

Not very often, but they would put me in there. We weren't good anyways, but they would also. They would terrorize me in practice.

[Marc Maron]

Like what?

[Liza Trager]

I was just black and blue. Or headbutt me. Or there was a game where, you know, one person starts in the middle, we're all standing, and then everyone tries to run across, and everyone that person tackles then is in the middle.

[Marc Maron]

Right.

[Liza Trager]

And then you keep going back and forth. And it's a fun game. That would purposely leave me to the end.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

So then they can all just beat the shit out of me. Or it would be like the play would be over. We're all, like, walking back to whatever and someone would grab me and just throw me on the fucking ground or headbutt my chin.

[Marc Maron]

These are the same guys that are doing comments.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

It's just a different form of what's happening on the comment board.

[Liza Trager]

And they wanted to talk different. They didn't want me there.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

Like, I remember the coach once was like, get these motherfucking pussies. And then truly turned to me and goes, sorry, Liza. You know, like shit like that. Like, they didn't want me there.

[Marc Maron]

And now you've got a dirtier mouth than any of them.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. Always. I don't. Yeah, that's another.

[Marc Maron]

So you're wearing shoulder pads and the whole thing.

[Liza Trager]

Everything. And white paint. All of it.

[Marc Maron]

But why did you seek that out?

[Liza Trager]

Because we were all the girls. We were in homeroom.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

And we. There were flyers. And we're like, we should do it. We should fucking do it. And then I was the only one that went. And then because of whatever I had in me, personality wise, I was like, I have to. To see this through.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. And so I saw through for how many?

[Liza Trager]

Just one season.

[Marc Maron]

But you did. You hung in there the whole time.

[Liza Trager]

I hung in there. And then my dad would come and embarrass me during practice and take photos and get involved. And one time I wore a new shirt and he Would be like, why are you wearing the new T shirt? To practice. Like, truly, no care. He worked at the community pool. Yes, he worked at the pool. He would sneak me in. Everyone would see, and I would be embarrassed that I was snuck in. We would sneak into the aquarium. Like, he didn't want to pay for shit. And I was just always kind of being dragged along. I mean, he spent time with me, but it was always just, like, shadiness or, go steal this or take another one or we're getting a rain check.

[Marc Maron]

And you think that was primarily because of how he lived in Russia? Just trying to hustle, get away with stuff, maybe.

[Liza Trager]

And my mom's this, like, honest woman, and I don't know how she ended up with this man. It's, like, such a nightmare.

[Marc Maron]

Well, what, do they bicker?

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. Oh, yeah. They've never. Cause now after doing therapy and growing up, you know, you go home and you kind of see where your flaws come from.

[Marc Maron]

What'd you figure out?

[Liza Trager]

The defensiveness. Like, when I lived with people, I had to figure this out. But, hey, will you wash the dishes? Yeah. Well, you said, like. And it's like, who cares? Like, say, oh, of course. Like, it doesn't. They're not insulting me as a person. They just want me to do this thing. But everything is a personal attack in my home.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, it was.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. Can you turn it down? Why are. Like, everything was a fight and a.

[Marc Maron]

Defense and a personal attack with everyone in the family.

[Liza Trager]

My sister fucking left. She's 10 years older than me, so she left early. But with them, it's like, oh, where is this? I didn't. I didn't touch it. Yeah, I didn't say you touched it. I just can't find it. And it happens now. Cause I have a sound thing. Like, if people itch denim or, like, material, I get uncomfortable. Like, it just. I don't know what it is.

[Marc Maron]

That's the thing. Usually it's like, you know, loud environments or.

[Liza Trager]

I don't like loud music either. The eating doesn't bother. But, like, material. So when I play backgammon with my father, sometimes his nails will, like, hit the little felt.

[Marc Maron]

The fork.

[Liza Trager]

The felt. Yeah. And I just was like, hey, the noise, really? And he's like, you and your mom never. You always find something wrong with me. I can't do anything right. And I'm like, it's not you. It's like, Truly, I just. So I. Yeah. That was, like, a long journey for me of, like, not jumping to defense on things that could Be a discussion. We also never apologized in my house. It's screaming silent treatment and pretend nothing happened. And so when I started living with people or making friends in adulthood, I fell into a lot of problems because I had absolutely no conflict resolution.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. And you would avoid it.

[Liza Trager]

Avoid it or scre. Or like I wrote, quiet resentment.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

I wouldn't say anything. I wouldn't say anything. And then I would explode in psychotic ways someone didn't deserve.

[Marc Maron]

So are there a lot of people out there that are like, we had this fucking lunatic as a roommate.

[Liza Trager]

Beyond. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I've ended friendships, I've lived with comics and on. Even caught my college freshman year roommate ended up moving out. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Because why.

[Liza Trager]

So this actually wasn't my fault, I don't think. But still on the fence about it.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

I left for class early in the morning. I leave. I have. I leave the class. I have all these missed calls from her and texts.

[Marc Maron]

Right.

[Liza Trager]

So I call her and basically I locked the door, but she was in the shower.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

So she couldn't get back into our room. And so she had to go downstairs and get the key. But it's like such an honest mistake.

[Marc Maron]

Right.

[Liza Trager]

But she refused to talk to me. Would not forgive me. Would not see past it.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

And I was like, I'm not living in this uncomfortable space. So my goal was like, I'm going to ruin her life until she moves out.

[Marc Maron]

How'd you do that?

[Liza Trager]

I would blow dry my hair in the morning. I moved the TV so she couldn't watch it. She said I was like self centered. I put photos of myself everywhere. I would play songs that would be like, she's a bitch. Like, I would just play like loud music. And then when she moved out, she like ripped down my white socks posters and like also, you know, did something on the way out.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, my God.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Has she reached out?

[Liza Trager]

No. I would love it. I wonder. I wonder, were you willing to apologize? Oh, for sure. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I wonder she. I wonder what she. Where she is. I should try to find her. She had a pretty distinct name that rhymed.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. I can't believe you haven't tried to find her.

[Liza Trager]

No, I haven't. I should.

[Marc Maron]

What? Were there moments where these things. Was there any sort of. Was it a buildup of these moments that caused you to seek help or was there one significant one where you were like, oh, boy.

[Liza Trager]

No. I had a lot of toxic friendships and both ways, me and the person. And then my. I had a really breakup that fucked me up and I was too depressed for too long, and my friend was like, you need help? And then I started going to her therapist.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

And that she made me realize a lot of. But she was like, kind of a witch, too, so I need to.

[Marc Maron]

The therapist?

[Liza Trager]

Yeah, she was like a witchy woman.

[Marc Maron]

Like crystals and stuff around.

[Liza Trager]

Not crystals, but we would, like. I would hit stuff to get physically move. Like, she just. She's not a PhD, I guess.

[Marc Maron]

Not even a PhD. No, just someone like a. Like a hobbyist.

[Liza Trager]

I don't know what she was, but she. She did help me with a lot. But now I need. I need a new therapist to, like, pick up where she left off.

[Marc Maron]

Have you been diagnosed with something?

[Liza Trager]

No. No. There could be something. I don't know.

[Marc Maron]

I went and got an evaluation recently, and. And I haven't had one in. I don't know if I ever had one. Obsessional anxiety. I like it.

[Liza Trager]

What does that mean?

[Marc Maron]

I. I'm full of dread most of the time. That, like, the jokes I'm doing about it on stage. Where is. Like, people talk about having any sort of resting mind. I'm not capable of it, because if my mind has any moment of rest, it's just sort of like, should we open up the worry folder? So, like. And it's not even things that are rational. I mean, sure, they could happen, but it's just my brain's constantly occupied with possibilities that cause me, you know, dread and anxiety and all kinds of shitty stuff. Catastrophic thinking. It's very intrusive. And it's. And it's gotten worse. I've always been that way, but I always thought it was practical, you know, why not think of the worst thing? But. But the whole day.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And just turning around in your head. It's fucking nuts. I mean, I've got other problems, you know, Intimacy, trust. I get a little. I don't know. Do you have. Do you have that thing where if you have a friend, they're like, your friend, you're the only one?

[Liza Trager]

Yeah, that was a pattern for me.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, that's. That's a. That's a bad one.

[Liza Trager]

That is a bad one. Because. Well, what my friend said to me once, she goes, you're having too many fights with people you're not fucking, and that's embarrassing. And I. That really stuck with me where I'm like, I have to stop having these intense friendships and fights and fallouts. I'm like, I'm sick of it. But another thing that therapist said to me that changed a lot of the Way I live. And I'm still working on it. Yeah, but she said, not everyone's crazy. She goes, let's say all these toxic people, quote unquote, are using you. You have to figure out what you're using them for. Cause it's a two way street. And you really need to find what you're lacking in yourself that you're finding in these people.

[Marc Maron]

So you were hanging out with toxic people?

[Liza Trager]

No, I wouldn't say that. Together we were toxic.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, right, right, right.

[Liza Trager]

I think like us connected. I would get these deep, like, kind of what movies are made of. Like, these deep. Because I wasn't dating. So it's like I would befriend another girl and we'd become best friends and then let's live together and let's do everything together and let's write a show together and let. And then it explodes.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

And I was. I don't like that because I'm in the center of it. So I can't deny that I'm a big part of that. And I didn't. I don't want to. I didn't want to do that anymore.

[Marc Maron]

I just had to shut it down. Like, if I get like one good friend, like, I have to. I have to sort of like hide all of my sensitivity. That's irrational. Like, okay. Do you know what I mean?

[Liza Trager]

No.

[Marc Maron]

Like, if I'm in a friendship that's too intense and I know that I'm like, dude, it's not their job to parent you properly.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

So. So if I. My feelings are hurt or I'm like, so why didn't she call me back? Or whatever. I just had to. I had to go through two thoughts. I have the feeling. And I'd be like, it's a little unreasonable and I just have to like sit with it till it goes away.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. When I feel like maybe it was just my friend group here, but I felt that more in LA than New York. Well, yeah, because I feel here it's like, who's invited? Whose party? What dinner, what's happening? And in New York it feels like, oh, cute. Oh, I was at this. Like, I feel. Yes.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Because you can just re enter. You can leave your apartment or a bar or whatever, and you're just part of this huge social fucking shit show here. Everything happens in these isolated things. So it becomes very apparent.

[Liza Trager]

Oh, you went to dinner with her. Why didn't you call me? And it's because we didn't want you there. Like, what are we doing? Like, you're we're adults. You're allowed to. But it got really. And with the pandemic.

[Marc Maron]

We're adults. You say that in your special too. You just said it about Mike, too. Like, are we. Are we adults? Is that something you have to tell yourself?

[Liza Trager]

You're right. No, we're never adults. Because I do. I do suffer from the same kinds of thought. That's like, the saddest I get is when I realize I've been really dealing with the same problems.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, my God, how many decades? I'm six decades in.

[Liza Trager]

I'm 37.

[Marc Maron]

It's a fucking ridiculous.

[Liza Trager]

To have the same insecurities or behaviors that I had at 12 over and over is so upsetting to me. Like, why can't I break free?

[Marc Maron]

Because they're so deeply wired. Yeah, right?

[Liza Trager]

Yeah, it sucks.

[Marc Maron]

I know. I start to notice it in my jokes. Like when all of a sudden you do these jokes and you're like, I'm just rephrasing.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. But this is actually amazing because this my special now. And I look back at my half hour, I talk about the same shit. It's weed. It's like my lack of dating. It's family. It's the same. And I recently went to see a friend at a theater and I went, yeah, we all just talk about the same shit for decades. I'm like, it's different. I mean, I loved the show, but I was like, damn, we really are just talking about the same five things over and over again.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

Nothing new has entered my psyche.

[Marc Maron]

I think some things have for me, I think. I don't know, man. It just. It's. It's annoying because, like, I feel like I'm running out of time. And it's like, am I gonna resolve this? Is this gonna, like, am I going to figure out how to have a grown up, relatively emotionally healthy relationship?

[Liza Trager]

Do you have the same sensitivities with relationship, romantic and friendship of like, I don't know?

[Marc Maron]

Well, I've gotten a little more isolated. I. I realize that I'm not included in almost anything anymore. Nobody, no, nobody invites me to a Seder. I don't have a bunch of comic peers that are like, hey, let's call Marin. No one ever says that in a group situation.

[Liza Trager]

Really?

[Marc Maron]

Let's call Marin. It's. I almost think they're sort of like, someone goes, should we call Marin? And the other everyone else goes, I don't know. You know, he's a little intense.

[Liza Trager]

And the only time I don't want someone around me when I'm with other comics is someone that I can't talk shit with.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

When we were like, can we bring that person? I go, no, they're not to be trusted. And I would like to talk shit tonight.

[Marc Maron]

But I have talked so much shit, I've gotten myself into trouble. Talking shit.

[Liza Trager]

Me too.

[Marc Maron]

You have?

[Liza Trager]

Yeah, of course.

[Marc Maron]

Because, like, then it's like, you talk shit. Someone hears you talk shit about them or someone you know who likes the person. They. It just becomes. And then you have these. You don't know who is looking at you. Like, you talk some shit about them. Like, it was like. It's fucking crazy.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. I'm really shocked that you're not invited to group events.

[Marc Maron]

Occasionally millennial invite me to things.

[Liza Trager]

Okay.

[Marc Maron]

But I really am starting to believe that I've become this kind of, like, old eccentric of some sort, with these particular. The particular social vibe that certain people understand. I mean, there are people that know me and get me. Some people think, well, he's like a smug asshole or he's angry or, you know, he's kind of intimidating or whatever. But people who really know me are like, no, he's kind of like a hypersensitive nut job. And that's better. And those people, the few of them, they're like, yeah, let's have the hypersensitive nut job.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. I'm friends with a lot of people who say they were intimidated or, like, scared of me at first. And it is so funny when people then know you and are like, that's embarrassing. I was ever intimidated. I'm like, yeah, for sure.

[Marc Maron]

Well, I mean, you're intimidating just because we're loud and emotional and, you know, we say what's on our mind.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And most people don't. But then also, now I'm thinking about it. Like, I don't always do that in relationships. Sometimes I just shut up, shut up and take it.

[Liza Trager]

That's what's bad. It's like, I. The closer you are to me, the harder time I have speaking the truth.

[Marc Maron]

Well, yeah. Well, I mean, because you have to deal. You have to navigate it. You have to, like, at some point, you have to realize, like, I don't want to be unintentionally or intentionally hurtful.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Right.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Because, like, sometimes you have to make compromises.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. For me, I'm just working on not being as obsessed, having bound. Like, having the friends I have not have it be all encompassing and not feeling ownership over. Like, that's what I'm really like. I'm meeting. Cause I'M meeting new people when I move to LA that I really like. And I was like, don't. You don't need everything from this person. Like, chill out, have fun. And I've had richer friendships for it.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

I mean, I'm excited by that. Also, I love having friends where I can cancel and no one's mad.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

You could be lit. You could just be honest. Like, just real friends. Like, I'm really actually not in the mood to do that. And I used to have such fear. Fear and, like, the dread of doing something you don't want to do. And I really love my people right now of being like, I'm not going to make it.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

And no one's. Even if they're annoyed, they're not mad at you. They're not going to hold it against you. They don't see it as disrespect, you know?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. I was just at the vet today, and, you know, the guy from White Lotus came in.

[Liza Trager]

Which one?

[Marc Maron]

Greg.

[Liza Trager]

Oh, cool. Okay.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. And he's, like, an interesting guy.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And like, some days I feel like, well, I'm enough of a known entity in show business on some level.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

I've talked to several people on that show. Have there been several? Yeah, two. At least three. I talked to Mike White, I've talked to Parker. I've talked to Carrie. I've talked to Walton. You know, like, whatever. It doesn't matter. I have. I don't. I certainly don't have an inflated sense of myself in the business, but, you know, I'm not nobody.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And this guy walks into the vet and I see him, I'm like, hey, great job on that show. And he's like, thanks. He walks by me and I'm like, all right. And I walk up to him and I did the thing like, I'm Marc Maron. And he goes, yeah, John. I think his name's John. And that was it. And then he walked away. And I. There was part of me that's like, what the fuck? And, like, I had to fight the idea. Like, I had. The thoughts that went through my head were like, I can tell him like, oh, I have a podcast. I've talked to Carrie and everything else. And I'm like, everyone has one now. Why don't you just suck it up? Maybe his dog's.

[Liza Trager]

You were in the forefront. You were in the forefront of podcast. Did you bring that up a lot or. No. What, that you were one of the first podcasts?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, not too much, but it was just sort of Like, I get upset when someone doesn't know me, and I'm not mad at him, but I have to. It wasn't even dismissive. His dog could have been dying. I don't know why the fuck, why he was at the vet. Do you know what I mean? But I'm sitting here going, like, the fuck? I mean, like, you know how. You know what I mean? I, I, he should know me or whatever. And I have to go through this whole thing in my head. It's like, let it go, dude. But it's a process. It's not natural to what to, to get to that point where I'm like, he wasn't sliding me. It's like, it's almost like learned empathy. Like, you don't know what he's going through. You don't know why he's at the vet. You don't know, like, why should he know you? He seems like an odd guy. He might not even listen to pod. Who gives a fuck?

[Liza Trager]

Yeah, I know. He's like a hippie ish guy, I guess.

[Marc Maron]

I hadn't seen, I hadn't seen him since Napoleon Dynamite.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

I hadn't seen him in, like, decades. And he showed up in White Lotus, and he's good.

[Liza Trager]

I saw Leslie Bibb at SoulCycle and wildly, I was gonna do watch what happens live that night, which has, like, been my goal for ever. And she's a big Bravo person. And I was like, this is. I see her at class all the time. I go, this is finally my moment.

[Marc Maron]

She's in where? New York.

[Liza Trager]

I've seen her in class and her husband here and in la. But this was in New York.

[Marc Maron]

Like, I know Sam.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah, Sam goes to SoulCycle, too.

[Marc Maron]

Good for him.

[Liza Trager]

But I leave everyone alone. But at this moment, I was like, this is my inn. And when I went, leslie, you could tell the look of fear. Like, I was. And I went, oh, I'm doing watch. And then we just talked about Bravo. And it was like a norm interaction, and it felt, like, so good. But I could see the sense of worry of her, of her at first.

[Marc Maron]

What is this?

[Liza Trager]

Like, great. I don't want to talk about White Lotus or, like, what does she want? But I was, I just wanted to talk about Bravo. So.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Well, how do they not. It seems like all they want to talk about is White Lotus right now.

[Liza Trager]

I. And I love, I like it.

[Marc Maron]

I do, too.

[Liza Trager]

I'm into it. I like reading all the recaps. I'm a Big Mike White person.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

Big vulture recap person.

[Marc Maron]

Jason. Jason Isaacs, very.

[Liza Trager]

I only know him from Friends with Money, which is one of my favorite.

[Marc Maron]

That that performance was kind of stunning. There's a lot of good performances in there.

[Liza Trager]

A lot of good facial stuff.

[Marc Maron]

All right, so how many times have you left cities because you made such a mess?

[Liza Trager]

Oh, like I caused so much trouble. I had to leave just Iowa State. I would say just college. I got arrested twice in like a month.

[Marc Maron]

For what?

[Liza Trager]

Being a drunk, like, lunatic. Like being a true maniac.

[Marc Maron]

Really?

[Liza Trager]

Yeah, yeah.

[Marc Maron]

You spent the night in jail?

[Liza Trager]

I spent the night in jail twice. My sister then with her husband drove through a blizzard from the Chicago suburbs to get me. And then my parents were like, maybe it's a good idea for you not to go back. You keep getting arrested. And thank God I didn't stay in Iowa and finish, but I had to take a Greyhound back and serve two days.

[Marc Maron]

Serve.

[Liza Trager]

I had to go to like jail for two days.

[Marc Maron]

Really? What the did you do?

[Liza Trager]

Well, the first one was drinking and driving.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, yeah.

[Liza Trager]

And then the second one was an interference charge, but if I was black, I would be like, I don't know what I would do. I truly fought the cops. Really fought the cops. And then when they handcuffed me, I went numb. They had to drag me. Like my friend and I were going to have a sober night in cuz we were so like she had had some issues and I had that arrest and drunk driving. That's embarrassing. And then we downed a bottle of Parrot Bay in her dorm. We were just supposed to go to the gymnastics meet.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

And then she punched through a fire extinguisher glass.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

Blood everywhere.

[Marc Maron]

Right.

[Liza Trager]

The cops come and I'm just blacked out and I fought them. Slam the door. Like, push, like truly physically assaulted officers.

[Marc Maron]

Is there video?

[Liza Trager]

I wish. I haven't even found my mugshot. I want to find my mugshot.

[Marc Maron]

Did you try?

[Liza Trager]

I've tried, but I should try harder now that I have all this like crime research under my belt. I gotta try to find it.

[Marc Maron]

So did you finish college?

[Liza Trager]

Yeah, but I went to. So then I went to Columbia College for one semester. In Chicago?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

And then I ended up graduating from North Park University, which is an evangelical Christian college. But it was by my parents house.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

So I went to it as a commuter school. Like, oh, it's by my parents house. I have to graduate for them. They really want this. But it was like a weird Christian college.

[Marc Maron]

What'd you graduate with?

[Liza Trager]

Sociology.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, yeah. You talked about that.

[Liza Trager]

Love it.

[Marc Maron]

You do?

[Liza Trager]

I Do I think it. I think for a comic it's like, that's a good major to have.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Did you tangibly learn things?

[Liza Trager]

I think I just learned more about, like, people. It's basic and I probably say this, but it's like people are made up of where they come from. And so you can't expect people to do things when that's not even a reality to them or they've never seen that or they come from places. It's just like understanding people, I guess.

[Marc Maron]

So it's helpful at home.

[Liza Trager]

At. At home.

[Marc Maron]

But just like, I think it's like it rounds out your empathy certainly a.

[Liza Trager]

Hundred percent when you're at places and you're. Yeah, just learning of like, there are some people who don't see a life past age 20 because everyone dies around them. And so you're telling them, like, you should care about your future. They don't even know what that is. You know, things like that.

[Marc Maron]

Right. So when you get arrested twice and you're sent home from college, like your parents did, they was.

[Liza Trager]

They were happy. They wanted me home anyways.

[Marc Maron]

But they weren't like, we should get you help or anything.

[Liza Trager]

I had to go to alcohol class.

[Marc Maron]

Because of alcohol class.

[Liza Trager]

They forced you to. But we just watched like Leaving Las Vegas, which makes you want to party. It's like it. We watch just videos.

[Marc Maron]

That was alcohol class.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

For the state of Ohio.

[Liza Trager]

No, I had to go back to Illinois. So I was living with my parents doing alcohol class. Got my license suspended, and then started being a receptionist at a hair salon.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, that must have been great.

[Liza Trager]

Oh, yeah. I receptioned at like multiple hair salons for years. That was my job. That was like a day job I had.

[Marc Maron]

They must love you.

[Liza Trager]

I loved it. I was so good to, like, if you were a good client, I would go above and beyond for you. I would squeeze you in, I would get you the appointment. Appointment you needed.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

But if you weren't kind like, yeah, they're not available, you know. And then I was also shocked by the stylists that would be rude to me because I'm like, I control your money, I can control your day. I control these walk ins. Like, what are you doing? And then the smart people were like, do you want an updo before you go out? Like, should I do your makeup? Oh, let me do your eyebrows real quick. And it's like, I learned about that.

[Marc Maron]

Too, but it just seems like as far as like a template for the things you're interested in, it seems like a hair Salon.

[Liza Trager]

Oh, gossip.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

Drama.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

Also is amazing as a young girl to see young women making money, making real money owning condos. Like. Like being businesswomen.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, for sure. You should do a TV show of hair salon based.

[Liza Trager]

I know, right? It's just so many. So it's hard to make tv.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, I know.

[Liza Trager]

So easy to have ideas and then so hard to write a TV show.

[Marc Maron]

It's so funny when you have an idea, you're this, you're like, this is amazing idea. And then they're like, well, what are the episodes going to be like? You know, it's just.

[Liza Trager]

That's how I feel all the time. I finally met these two writers where I'm like, I think maybe we can make something. And I'm so excited, but I don't want to get overexcited and obsessive.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

But I finally met people. I'm like, okay, you guys, this might work, but it's been year. It's so hard.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. So, okay, so you, you, you. You're a felon.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. Oh, I got arrested one more time in Chicago. So I moved back home. I learned nothing. And I got drunk at a White Sox game and got arrested. Didn't make it to the third inning home opener.

[Marc Maron]

What would you do? What? You don't know?

[Liza Trager]

No. No idea. I was blacked out. I have no idea. I just was let out on my own recognizance on the south side of Chicago with a bag with my shoelaces and that was that.

[Marc Maron]

No recollection?

[Liza Trager]

No. And then they dismissed it when I went to court.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, my God. Do you still drink?

[Liza Trager]

I do, but once I found this was all pre stand up. And I think I found such purpose in stand up.

[Marc Maron]

Well, when does that happen? So you get 21, but. So after you. After you finish college?

[Liza Trager]

No, I was in college still. I mean, like, embarrassed. I was avoiding it. No, I went to north park to be a gym teacher and then.

[Marc Maron]

Gym teacher?

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. I just thought like, all right, I. I keep getting arrested. Yeah, I'll go be a gym teacher. You don't have to work that hard. Summer's off. I like sports enough.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. And then were you a good swimmer?

[Liza Trager]

I was, I was. But then I started smoking pot. But I had a JV record.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

For the hundred butterfly. But I was.

[Marc Maron]

That's a hard one.

[Liza Trager]

But I was never the best. But I always worked really hard. That was.

[Marc Maron]

That's butterfly's hard one.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

For 100. It's pretty good.

[Liza Trager]

And I did it in the relays and stuff.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, it was that. You need a good butterfly.

[Liza Trager]

You do it so hard.

[Marc Maron]

The ones that can get their hands up out of the water, they're not just so hard. No, you really gotta get it. I swam when I was a kid.

[Liza Trager]

Oh, you did?

[Marc Maron]

Competitively? Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

What was your stroke?

[Marc Maron]

I think I was pretty good at breaststroke. You know, I think that, like, my feet wouldn't flex. Oh. For the weird frog kick.

[Liza Trager]

I couldn't. I cannot do it.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. But I wasn't great, you know, it was just something my parents. My mom could dump us at after school.

[Liza Trager]

Oh. I was like, morning practice and afternoon practice.

[Marc Maron]

You're swimming for school?

[Liza Trager]

For school. We were in, like, summer. I Swam at, like, 5:45 in the morning in the outdoor local pool.

[Marc Maron]

Now we were, like, in, like, this. The kind of independent swim club circuits.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Like, for, like. I think we were on the Elks Club team. And then, like, one summer, and then we were on the University swim club. It was. It was.

[Liza Trager]

What? What else did you do? Did you like it?

[Marc Maron]

I don't think I liked it. Because it was just. It's just so long and so boring, and everyone's running around in bathing suits. I think the best time. The best moment in swimming for me was one time we were at the University swim club, and it was during practice, and in the sort of shallow pool, there was, like, a special needs situation going on.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And, like, at some point during practice, a guy with down syndrome came out of the men's locker room just totally naked. And there was a little kind of like, what do we do? Then they just had to bring him back in. I thought that was the best thing.

[Liza Trager]

That was the best thing.

[Marc Maron]

I never won much. I didn't. You know what I mean? I kind of fucked up. I couldn't backstroke. I couldn't do it. And I'd always turn over to see if the wall was coming. It was bad.

[Liza Trager]

It was bad. I liked it. I did like it. But I also did theater. I was just finding my way. But that's why it's.

[Marc Maron]

So, what'd you do in theater?

[Liza Trager]

I. You know, me and little Esther went to high school together.

[Marc Maron]

No, that makes sense.

[Liza Trager]

We were in Godspell together.

[Marc Maron]

Really?

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. Yeah. And I was in a kabuki play.

[Marc Maron]

Are you guys the same age?

[Liza Trager]

She's one year younger than me.

[Marc Maron]

Is she from Russians?

[Liza Trager]

No, she's like Finland. But she's Jew. She's Jewish? Yeah, but I don't.

[Marc Maron]

However, she's to open for me sometimes. Yeah, she's the best. So you were. Oh, that's so funny. That makes sense. You guys should do a team thing together.

[Liza Trager]

We. I just finally did her pod. But it is so nice because there's no one else that knows me. This new life and old life. Yeah, but our parents live a mile apart.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, really?

[Liza Trager]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And so did you go to the same temple or something?

[Liza Trager]

No.

[Marc Maron]

Did you go to temple?

[Liza Trager]

Not really. No. Only like through my sister's husband's family. So for my holidays would go. My dad started going once he hit like elderly age.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, really?

[Liza Trager]

So now he goes every Saturday. He steals the cream cheeses. He steals shit. He takes the little juices. Like, he's just cannot stop stealing.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. So when you start doing comedy, what made you think you could do that?

[Liza Trager]

Oh, so. But that's when I switched to sociology, when I was like, oh, I'm not gonna be a gym teacher. I'm doing comedy. I saw Superbad. I wanted to write a movie like Superbad. I was like, oh, maybe I can write a girl movie like this.

[Marc Maron]

Right?

[Liza Trager]

And so I signed up for Second City. And then someone invited me to an open mic. And when I went, I went, I think I could do that. And I went out bombed. Like, couldn't. I couldn't even finish the time I turned red, I was like shaking. And then I came back the next week. No, I was just sitting there to watch. I didn't even know what stand up was like in my head. I didn't even think it was a thing. And so then I spent all week writing jokes. Came back and, like, killed.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

And these guys were like, did you write all those? I'm like, yeah. And then I never stopped. And then I never went back to Second City either. Cause once I found comics, that was like, I finally felt like I found my people.

[Marc Maron]

All right, so you mean Second City, the improv situation?

[Liza Trager]

Yeah, Like, I stopped going to class. I didn't want to write.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, you went to. You went to class?

[Liza Trager]

When I wanted to write a super bad movie, I took like a writing class.

[Marc Maron]

How were you with the improv?

[Liza Trager]

I honestly didn't even finish because once I found open mics, I like, never went back.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. And who was around? Like, do you have a class?

[Liza Trager]

No.

[Marc Maron]

Of people who is still in Chicago?

[Liza Trager]

Oh, Chicago.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

I'm friends with a lot of the people that I remember and that. Because that was like, my first open mic was poetry, music. It was like random. And then a week later that Sunday, I went to Shuba's open mic and I met so many people.

[Marc Maron]

But, like, who were the pros that were around them?

[Liza Trager]

Well, Hannibal was our hero. He had just left New York.

[Marc Maron]

And Holmes and them.

[Liza Trager]

I didn't know they would come back because then there was a JFL Chicago, or they would come back and do the.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Liza Trager]

It was a huge deal. Well, I saw you at the Lakeshore Theater. Oh, yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Wait, Lakeshore Theater?

[Liza Trager]

It's now where Laugh Factory Chicago is.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, the old movie theater. Oh, yeah. With Janine.

[Liza Trager]

No, it was just you. It was after one. A divorce. It was like your divorce hour.

[Marc Maron]

That was a heavy one.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah, that's. I went because the Lake Shore let comics come for free.

[Marc Maron]

Chris. What's his name? Who's the guy that ran that place? Chris Ritter.

[Liza Trager]

No. Yes, Ritter.

[Marc Maron]

Chris Ritter. Because then he booked the main stage for a while in Rogers park. Or like.

[Liza Trager]

Oh, that's why. Cause I remember seeing a tell there.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

So that makes sense.

[Marc Maron]

Yes. Yeah. The Lakeshore was. Okay. Was that funny or just. Yes.

[Liza Trager]

No. I had a lot of pivotal moments there. I'm so glad they let comics go up there. We could watch from the sound booth. It was. I'm so glad I got to see so many people.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Because it was sort of a venue, a lot of alt comics.

[Liza Trager]

And then regular saw Judy Tenuta there. Like, really? Yeah, it was. And I remember. See, I think I. The reason I like to do comedy, how I do it is cause I went to all four of Attell's shows. I was 21, and all of them were different. And I liked that. I was like, cool.

[Marc Maron]

But he's also like. He's like a compulsive joke writer.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. Well, that's when I knew, like, I was like a cool girl. When I started getting the Attel, like, texts or calls from him. Yeah. And I was like, have you heard this? And I was like, oh, I'm finally getting these. Like, that was a big moment.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, I. I used to get them for very specific things. Like, do you like. He text? Like, do you do anything about masturbating in the Bible? No.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah, I. The lake. I remember that special.

[Marc Maron]

Did you open?

[Liza Trager]

I saw Bobby. I did like, years, years, years later. I have at Caroline's. I used to open for him. And we went up to Long island once together.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

And that was cool.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

Where else?

[Marc Maron]

How's he doing?

[Liza Trager]

Thank God. I mean, I only see him late night at the Cellar, and he's always bringing candy and being thoughtful and sweet. I don't know. Yeah, he's sweet guy, but and then if I get extra attention from him, I'm excited. And sometimes he kind of just walks away from me. And that's fine, too.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. See, that's one of those things you learn. Like, you know that that's a. That's growth on your part.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

That you get to know a tal. Like, I've known him for, what, fuck, 40 years or whatever, 35 years.

[Liza Trager]

See, that's what I think is so cool about comedy, too, is I hope that, like, I know a lot of these people for decades. You know, it's like, so cool to.

[Marc Maron]

And he does that to me. Like, you'll see a tell after, like, five years and be like, what?

[Liza Trager]

Yeah, like, yeah, sometimes I want more from him, sometimes less. But any. Any attel is right.

[Marc Maron]

So, okay, so then you're in Chicago and you're figuring it out.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah, I'm just like, I'm going to college. I'm taking tons of credits. I'm doing standup. I'm waitressing at this point. And then I started running a weekly show at this restaurant, this Chicago Joe's that I waitressed at. And it was the hip show.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, really?

[Liza Trager]

Three girls ran it, like me and two girls. And it was just where everyone came every week to hang out and eat and drink for free. And it was just like a hip show.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. So when did you move to New York? How much time did you have? Were you working?

[Liza Trager]

I wasn't, but I had done Chelsea lately and Adam Devine's house party. I think I did, and I got comics to watch for the New York Comedy Festival.

[Marc Maron]

Well, before you went to New York.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. Those are my big.

[Marc Maron]

So how'd you get booked on Chelsea lately? They came.

[Liza Trager]

So there was, like, a showcase for comedy, the New York Comedy Festival, for comics to watch, and then a manager who wasn't a real manager, like, I'm going to manage you. And I went, okay.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

And he got it for me.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. And so that was the end of it.

[Liza Trager]

And, well, I had to let him go because someone came up to me at a party and goes, why'd you pass on this thing? I go, I didn't know about that. And I go, why'd you pass on this? He goes, I didn't think you should do it. I go, but you. You gotta. You gotta tell me, even if it's not the thing for me, why not take a meeting? Like, for me? I'm like, I'll always audition, I'll always take a meeting. Or I don't.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, so you're not at the place where they can just speak for you.

[Liza Trager]

So even that young, I was like, I don't. I can't trust you.

[Marc Maron]

Like, you.

[Liza Trager]

It was for Last Comic Standing, which I knew I wouldn't do. I'm a pretty dirty comic. But, like, why not meet a bunch of comics and get flown to LA and meet Wanda Sykes? Like, who cares?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

So. But he got me that, and I met Michael Cox there, and that was fun. And then from the New York Comedy Festival, they booked me on Adam Devine's house party, and that was like, my first TV set. And then I timed New York perfectly. Me and Megan Gailey moved out together, and I got JFL that year unwrapped.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

So I did good at jfl. So it was like, right as I got new faces, I moved to New York. And it. And then I booked When Chelsea happened. I would say, like, 2012, 2013.

[Marc Maron]

But you were out here. Was that out here?

[Liza Trager]

No, I would fly out.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, did you do it a lot?

[Liza Trager]

I tried to do it four times.

[Marc Maron]

How'd it go?

[Liza Trager]

It was fun. I mean, it was so intense, so I was so happy. It was my first experience. Cause she doesn't. Like, at the time, she didn't come say hi to you. She didn't prep. Like, it was just very intense. And Michael Cox would be like, you only have seven minutes. You have to interrupt. Finish your thought. Don't let anyone get in the way. She needs to like you. Like, he just would. He just got me.

[Marc Maron]

Who's he?

[Liza Trager]

Michael Cox.

[Marc Maron]

He.

[Liza Trager]

He. He works that. He picks the Tonight show sets now. He works at the Tonight show, but at the time, he was like, the talent guy there.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

And so he, like, I know that guy.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

So intense.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. I did it a couple of times. Not for me.

[Liza Trager]

That since then, every other show I've ever done, they're like, oh, check your notes. We can edit. Talk to the crowd. So it was like a crash course of, like, you have seven minutes.

[Marc Maron]

Survival.

[Liza Trager]

There's people that are older than I got to do with Margaret Cho. Like, people I couldn't believe.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

And so having him be like, you better fight your way and say your jokes. Don't let anyone talk over you. Like, it was a good first experience because everything since then has been really relaxed.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. So. So you moved to New York on that after JFL and everything. So you had a little juice.

[Liza Trager]

Well, because that festival was so fun. When I did New York Comedy Festival was so fun. And I did Match List, which was a bar show that Michael Che ran with Nimesh Patel.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

And he's funny. Yeah. And I remember Che was like, you should move here. And then everyone was drinking and having fun, and it reminded me of Chicago. And I was like, I need to come here.

[Marc Maron]

Have fun.

[Liza Trager]

Have fun. And we did. And then me and my friend, we shared a bed in a one bedroom. How'd that go? Well, it's in the spa. We caught our building super on the ladder spying in our bedroom window.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, that was what happened.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. We were also sharing the bed. No sink. Like, it was class, though. We wanted to be in Manhattan, you know, like Carrie Bradshaw.

[Marc Maron]

Where was the apartment?

[Liza Trager]

Hell's kitchen.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, 44th or something.

[Liza Trager]

No, it was 50th or 51st. Between 10 and 11.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. And you got this. And so you left that apartment and.

[Liza Trager]

We went to Williamsburg and then in Brooklyn. I lived there for three and a half years. And other comics would come in and out, so the other two bedrooms, people would shift. And I stayed there for a while.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, yeah, you were the.

[Liza Trager]

The anchor.

[Marc Maron]

It was. It was the lease in your name.

[Liza Trager]

I guess, at that point, maybe. And then I made some money from, like, my Netflix half hour, and I went and lived alone in Crown Heights. And that ruined my life.

[Marc Maron]

It did.

[Liza Trager]

Boy, I got carbon monoxide poisoned a bunch.

[Marc Maron]

What?

[Liza Trager]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

How does that happen? I hear about that more and more. What the fuck is that?

[Liza Trager]

People, like, make sure your detector is our batteried up. The alarm would go off. The fire department didn't care. No one cared about me. Everyone thought I was like a Karen, so no one cared. But basically our neighbors set up generators in the basement.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

And that is what the fumes.

[Marc Maron]

And how did you. You can die from that.

[Liza Trager]

I can. So I slept with the windows fully open for months in the winter. I was just, like, shivering in my bed.

[Marc Maron]

What happened when you got the poisoning?

[Liza Trager]

Well, I didn't. So the alarm would go off. The fire department would come, they would air it out the detector, and they'd be like, yeah, there's monoxide. And they wouldn't solve it. I called. What is it? National Grid would, like. No one wanted to help me. And then my landlord would be like, you fucking bitch, don't you call 91 1. Don't do this. This is my apartment. I'm like, no, this is really like a poison that can kill you. And the alarm would keep going off. The fire department would cut. Like, no one helped me.

[Marc Maron]

Did anyone die in the building?

[Liza Trager]

No one died in the building, thank God. And then There was this one night and I was with my friend Joelle and she's over and I go, I don't really feel safe. I have a flight tomorrow, but can I just sleep over at your house?

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

And I slept at her house. Got my luggage, flew. And then I had a voicemail on my flight to la. And it was my third floor neighbor that said, the fire department finally came. The alarm went up at our house, in our apartment. We have a gas leak. And also they broke down your door. They broke a bunch of my art, my framed stuff. Like the fire department finally did something about it. It when I wasn't there. After months and months of like pleading for help.

[Marc Maron]

Wow.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

So.

[Liza Trager]

But I'm glad I'm alive.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. I know. Someone just died. They die in your sleep.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. It's the silent killer from heaters. Yeah. Generators, heaters, like all of that stuff. It's really.

[Marc Maron]

Is that when you left New York?

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. I was like, I need to get the out of here. But that was July. I didn't move till December. I did. I went from JFL that year to Ireland. I did Edinburgh. This is 2019.

[Marc Maron]

For a month.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. I did the full month and then I did like a UK Euro tour.

[Marc Maron]

That was a month in Edinburgh.

[Liza Trager]

I loved it. I know people hate it. I had the best time.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. I lived with Emmy Blotnick. If you know her, she's so funny and she's just a great person. But I love doing standup, so it's like fun to do it an hour. I saw 30 plus shows. I went to plays, circus, musicals, stand up. I party till five.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

I love socializing.

[Marc Maron]

So it was perfect for you. Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

I would go to spin class. Like I've. I kind of thrive at a festival because you don't have to make plans. People are there. It's like social. But you can go to your. It's like work. It's everything I love. Like, I really thrive at a festival.

[Marc Maron]

Maybe you should find some year long festival.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Well, that's kind of what New York is.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

And then I. And then that year I like, then lived with my best friend for two months in between and then moved to la.

[Marc Maron]

And what was that transition like? Because you didn't stay.

[Liza Trager]

I didn't. I didn't love it. But I was also here for Pandemic. I booked a pilot and after I filmed the pilot, it didn't go. But I was like, this is the life.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

Are you kidding? Like in my dream, I'm like, I Gotta be a sidekick on a sitcom and I can work forever. That was kind of my. So I go. So my agents were like, why don't you go to LA and, like, really work on auditioning in person and stuff. And then the pandemic happened. Nothing mattered. But I was just. It was a ABC pilot, so.

[Marc Maron]

And you got it.

[Liza Trager]

I got the pilot. We filmed it. It just didn't get picked up. But you see how much money you're gonna make.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

And then, not only that, but, like, they got me a hotel, they got me a car, a per diem. They paid for valet. You know, it's people bringing you breakfast and complimenting you. And it's not like I'm a lead. I don't have to work that hard. I had three scenes I'm fully memorized at this point. And so then it was just, like, cool. And my outfit was a sweatsuit. I played a girl, a woman named Orange, who was a pothead. So I had him, like, I gotta book one of these, like, Patton Oswald on the King of Queens parts. Like, that was my goal, in a way. And then I finally booked a kooky roommate part, but it was filmed in New York. I was like, I need to get out of here.

[Marc Maron]

And then. But that was the plan and that. And now it doesn't even work like that anymore.

[Liza Trager]

It doesn't matter. Yeah, you just send in tapes. Like, truly doesn't matter. I also. My podcast co host lives here, so it was nice in the beginning of our podcast to be near each other. Kara Klank.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. What's the podcast called?

[Liza Trager]

That's Messed Up. An SVU podcast. We recap an episode of svu. We do a deep dive in the true crime it's based on, and then we interview an actor from the episode.

[Marc Maron]

How's it go? Good.

[Liza Trager]

It's going good. Yeah. It's a lot of work. And it's dark. You know, we're, like, researching really horrific crimes.

[Marc Maron]

Sure.

[Liza Trager]

But. So it's made me a more paranoid, intense person, I would say.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Ally opens for me all the time. She seems to be obsessed with it, too.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. Like, I won't turn the lights. Like, I'm always waving to cameras at bodegas for evidence. Yeah. So people can, like, trace me for sure. I'm more suspicious of everything. Yeah. But no, the pot is really good. And it was good to be close to her, but my social circle here was mostly married people with children. Those are my close friends. A lot of comics from Chicago that moved here, and that's Just not the life. I'm child free. I was single. I'm single. Like, and I just love doing standup and I love my. When I'm in New York and my Saturday and Friday. Saturday are like five spots a night. Like, I really.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

And I like getting cash in hand.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. At the end of the night, just throw the wad.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. And like, I just love the train and the walking and like the city life. I enjoy that more.

[Marc Maron]

Are you friends with Maddie Weiner? Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. I mean, she's a little wonder kid. Everyone loves Maddie.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. You two on a show together would be crazy.

[Liza Trager]

We did do a show together at the Cipriani Club for the ultra wealthy.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

We went back to back. My friend called it diabolical. She's like, you guys going back to back is diabolical.

[Marc Maron]

That'd be a great. A great double bill.

[Liza Trager]

It's like so great. I haven't met anyone who doesn't like her.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, she's very. You're both very strong, so. And it's a. It's a very specific type of female energy.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah, she's good. I like a lot of the younger people. I feel like a vet, you know, I'm still young too, but there is like a new crop and it's tough. Like I've hung out with some 28 year olds. 29. And it's like I get so hungover. Like I have to remember I can't hang.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

But a lot of my older friends aren't partying like that. So then I'll like go out with a 28 year old and then be like, spent for 48 hours. I went clubbing a few weeks ago with some youngsters. Some famous youngster.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

It was just crazy.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. And it fucked you up for days.

[Liza Trager]

For days. Yeah. I stayed out till 6am but I wanted that life. I was like, yeah, I'll go clubbing.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

It was just a seller spot that turned into clubbing.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

So I was in a sweater. I was in Birkenstocks. Like, I wasn't ready. Planning to go club.

[Marc Maron]

You weren't in the mindset.

[Liza Trager]

No, but I like to say yes.

[Marc Maron]

So this is an abstract question in terms of like, watching your special. What do you think about the. You know, what do you think's gonna happen with the Devil Wears Prada sequel?

[Liza Trager]

Oh, that's fun. I thought you were gonna go a way different direction. That's so funny. I can't wait.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, I love that movie.

[Liza Trager]

Oh, yeah, it's so good. I actually, this was When I first moved to New York in, like, 2014. Henry Kapersky is the composer, and he made. We did the Devil Wears Prada with the music from Wicked, and Matteo Lane was Anne Hathaway. Bowen Yang was in it. Matt Rogers, like all these people. And I was Adrian Grenier. And we. Yeah, we sang this music from Wicked into Devil Wears Prada. It was so fun.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. It's one of those movies where, I don't know, I talk. It's like a. I don't even know why I think it's a guilty pleasure. I don't think I seem like the kind of person that will like that movie, but I watch it all the time.

[Liza Trager]

What do you mean? You wouldn't see a person that, like.

[Marc Maron]

I don't seem like the kind of person that would like that movie.

[Liza Trager]

That's just like. Because it seems like a chick flick or whatever that is, but it's like a real. Like a movie with substance.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, yeah.

[Liza Trager]

It's good characters and it's funny and quotable and comforting and it's long. It's nice for flights.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. What did I watch? I watch. Yeah, I rewatch movies on flights all the time. I watch Burning Man. Man on Fire. Is that it?

[Liza Trager]

Or after reading or. Man on Fire. Man on Fire with Denzel.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

Okay.

[Marc Maron]

I've never seen it.

[Liza Trager]

Okay.

[Marc Maron]

It was pretty good. Pretty satisfying.

[Liza Trager]

Maybe I'll do that. I did track yesterday.

[Marc Maron]

What's that?

[Liza Trager]

It's Josh Hartnett. It's the latest M. Night show. It was really bad.

[Marc Maron]

It was bad.

[Liza Trager]

It was. But I'll watch it again.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, what. What did I end up. Oh, I watched the Equalizer. The first Equalizer.

[Liza Trager]

Okay, you're in. You're in a Denzel moment.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, a little bit. A little bit.

[Liza Trager]

I want to go see Othello.

[Marc Maron]

Do you?

[Liza Trager]

I do if it's. Yeah. Well, a Real Housewife of Atlanta producing it.

[Marc Maron]

Is that true?

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. Candy Bures.

[Marc Maron]

I wonder how it is. I. I don't know if I've heard good things, but I don't think I've heard anything. But I've. The vibe is not.

[Liza Trager]

I want to see him on the stage because, you know, he's very much like, I'm a theater actor that does movies. I'm not a movie star. That's like a big thing, he says. So I want to see him on the stage. Stage.

[Marc Maron]

Have you. How are you with Shakespeare in.

[Liza Trager]

Oh, like, watching.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, watching it.

[Liza Trager]

It's like, I haven't done it in forever.

[Marc Maron]

I can't follow it.

[Liza Trager]

That would be hard.

[Marc Maron]

And I get like so unnerved.

[Liza Trager]

But our theater department in high school is good. We did every other summer and I got to do it. It's a one week stage combat Shakespeare intensive.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

So it was like eight, ten hours a day. And we would learn how to fight with swords and then we would do scenes with the fighting.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, that's good.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. So fun.

[Marc Maron]

And how do your parents feel about your career?

[Liza Trager]

They're pumped. They're pumped. Like I have freedom, which is cool. You know, I'm living this like special life. And my mom loved Hollywood and she loved the movie Some Like It Hot and like, you know, she was so poor in the Soviet Union, but like, she would go to the movies and the front row was always cheaper and her and her friend would go and she just. Even as a kid, we'd go to the movies every week. We watch the Oscars. We love it. We got People magazine. And so it's like I like giving her tidbits or like how being on set is. Or anytime I meet a celebrity, we get to bond over that. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

And she loves it.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. And it's kind of me living out her dream that she could have never done.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, yeah.

[Liza Trager]

Ever.

[Marc Maron]

What does she do now?

[Liza Trager]

She's retired, but she was an accountant, like a bookkeeper for a company that did nursing home books. So it's like whatever, you know. But it was the first job she had in America and then she kept it. My dad was a school bus driver.

[Marc Maron]

And what. What about your sis?

[Liza Trager]

She was. She is a teacher, but she quit her job after. From this one school after 15 years, basically with my sister. She had to be mature real fast, you know, when she was a teen when we moved here. So she had a lot of responsibility and we were also poorer. So she had to like really find her own way and pay for a lot of her own stuff. And our parents were clueless.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

And so she got married at 22 to her high school sweetheart, who's one of the best men I've ever met in my life. Shout out to Elon. And then first kid at 25 and then she had three kids by the time she was 30 something. So right now she's going through a little bit of a second adolescence.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, really?

[Liza Trager]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Having a good time.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. So she quit her job and then her and her husband are like, he's working, but she. They're there. They rented a house in Mexico. They're like staying in Mexico. They got. They are going to imagine Dragon concerts They're doing mushrooms. They're like, you know, she got a tattoo. Like, she's just kind of doing all this stuff that she couldn't do that she couldn't do. So she's sending photos of her, like, eating oysters in the day with a cocktail, like, stuff like that. And her kids are late teens, early 20s, and she deserves it, so she's, like, in a different spot right now, but she was a teacher and head of technology at a school for a while.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, that's cute and good.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. She, like, started smoking weed, and we bonded over that during the pandemic, but she just, you know, got married so young.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's good that she's. It's okay. It's not a dark story.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. But it's, you know, it's a little midlife crisis, but not a crisis. She's. She says it's not a crisis. It's a. Something she, like. She doesn't like it.

[Marc Maron]

She's got a good spin on it.

[Liza Trager]

She has a really good spin on it, but she's always been in charge of her family, so it's good.

[Marc Maron]

Good, then. What are you doing when you're out here? Anything?

[Liza Trager]

No, just. I came here to do the pods.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. The fun part, to push a special.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. I mean, they're not going to promote it. I mean, I paid for PR for four months.

[Marc Maron]

What was the deal? Was it one of those sort of like, we'll give you this thing. Okay.

[Liza Trager]

But I spent all my money on the production.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, but you broke even.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. Probably not when you incorporate, like.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Liza Trager]

The stylist you hire for all the press that, you know, all these things. But, yeah, pretty much.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. And how long has it been up there for?

[Liza Trager]

It came out January 28th.

[Marc Maron]

And, you know, we have no idea how it's doing.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah, we had. I had a couple phone calls that first month, but now it's.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, go find it.

[Liza Trager]

So for me, I'm like, I'm gonna keep promoting it because I'm proud of it, and it's like, yeah, it's really fun. It's my life's work, you know?

[Marc Maron]

Sure.

[Liza Trager]

So I want people to watch it.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Well, good job.

[Liza Trager]

Thanks. I don't want it to be. Is this over?

[Marc Maron]

Almost. Why?

[Liza Trager]

Give me a warning. Give me a heads. Yeah. Now that I know that's ending, it'll be okay.

[Marc Maron]

Do you have some way of landing?

[Liza Trager]

Not at all. I just never want things to, like, stop abruptly.

[Marc Maron]

Oh. Because I thought you're, like, what am I going to do now? Where am I going?

[Liza Trager]

This feels like a big milestone. Yeah. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Well, I'm glad you did it.

[Liza Trager]

What's it called?

[Marc Maron]

Not a rite of passage.

[Liza Trager]

Yes, that's the saying. I was looking.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. That's what I am now. It's like, you know, I don't know how many people listen anymore, but, you know, you should go over there.

[Liza Trager]

I know. I was telling Ally. It's like, put in a word for me. I want to come in.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, yeah, no, I'm in the garage. We still got, like, all our audience. Everything is all good people. Like, when I talk to comics, I think it was fun. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Liza Trager]

I've. I remember the first.

[Marc Maron]

Well, you missed the original.

[Liza Trager]

K said my name on here once.

[Marc Maron]

Oh, really?

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. Cause I was in Horace and Pete, and so people. I remember that was, like, a moment. I got a lot of messages from people.

[Marc Maron]

Oh. With the big Louie episodes.

[Liza Trager]

And that was exciting.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah. That show. I mean, I had lines, like, I had scenes with Jessica Lange and, like, Alan Alda. Like, I couldn't. It's still the best thing that's ever happened to me, I would say. Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

It's so trippy, too. It's weird.

[Liza Trager]

I was just sitting next to Steven Wright.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

It really was. That was cool.

[Marc Maron]

Where did Louis find you?

[Liza Trager]

At the cellar. I knew he was in the room, and I was like, oh, I have to rip it. I'm like, I really have to rip it. And he was like, I think I have something for you. And I was like, oh, yeah. In my head, when I was invited to the house, I was like, I wonder what's going to happen? But then Edie Falco walked up the stairs, as I did, and I was like, wait, is this, like, what the. And I know they were all in his house, and I couldn't believe it.

[Marc Maron]

And they were doing a reading.

[Liza Trager]

Yeah.

[Marc Maron]

Wow.

[Liza Trager]

And then I got, like. Some people couldn't make the reading, so I got to read scenes as other characters with Steve Buscemi, with everyone. I mean, it was wild. And I learned such a huge lesson during that because I saw Jessica Lang napping on a couch in a hallway.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah.

[Liza Trager]

And I went, if she's doing that for SAG minimums, who the fuck? Like, the people that are diva. Like, I don't know. It just. Sometimes people get really, like, successful or on a job, and they're annoying or rude or mean. And then you see this legend napping on a couch for no money, and it's like, okay, that's what actually great people do.

[Marc Maron]

Right.

[Liza Trager]

And that was like a beautiful early lesson. What's your next show?

[Marc Maron]

Dynasty in two hours.

[Liza Trager]

No, I mean on television. Are you filming something? Are you in a movie? What's.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, I've got. I've got this Apple series I did with Owen Wilson that comes out in June. We did 10 of those. It's about golf.

[Liza Trager]

Okay.

[Marc Maron]

Which I know nothing about. I got a movie. I did. I played the lead in this indie that I guess they're finishing up editing and stuff. They're gonna try to get it into Toronto. I did a small, small part in that Bruce Springsteen movie with the two Jeremys.

[Liza Trager]

Okay.

[Marc Maron]

Jeremy Allen White and Jeremy Strong.

[Liza Trager]

Nice.

[Marc Maron]

Did a little part in that.

[Liza Trager]

Did that come out now? Right?

[Marc Maron]

Not yet. Okay. Nope. I'm in the Bad Guys too.

[Liza Trager]

Stop.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, I was in the first one. I'm the snake.

[Liza Trager]

Wait, do you have merch and stuff? No, there's no toys or.

[Marc Maron]

Yeah, there are, but I don't have any.

[Liza Trager]

You gotta get them all.

[Marc Maron]

Right.

[Liza Trager]

Being a cartoon's the coolest.

[Marc Maron]

All right, I'll get a snake. I'll get one. All right. Good talking to you.

[Liza Trager]

Thanks. Yay.

[Marc Maron]

There you go. Fun, right? You can watch both seasons of Survival of the Thickest and her comedy special Night Owl on Netflix. Hang out for a second, folks. One thing that's not going to surprise you if you're a regular listener. We love la. Why wouldn't we? It's been the home of the show for 16 years and I've lived here for longer than that. And when you come to visit Los Angeles, no matter how long you're here, here, you'll be able to take in a lot of stuff I love about this place. Like there's the food. There are seemingly endless options from all sorts of cuisines and dining styles. Yeah, you got B. Wally Vegan AF out here in Eagle Rock. You got Crossroads for the high end, vegan food, a lot of stuff. Shopping here you go to Gimme Gimme Records if you want some records, or Amoeba Records or Permanent Records. And of course, there's no substitute for LA when it comes to the best entertainment. Get over to Hollywood Boulevard and see a star ceremony on the Walk of Fame. Or come see me and dozens of other comedians at the Comedy Store, which has world class comedy every night. LA. It's like 10 cities in one. If you come visit, I guarantee you'll love LA as much as I do. Find more ways to love [e-mail]. hey, four years ago, this week, Covid was still keeping us from having guests in the garage. But I wouldn't let it stop me from talking to the one and only John Waters. You quit smoking? Oh, yeah. I haven't had cigarette in. I write it down every single day of my life. I have not had a cigarette in 6,616 days. Wow. So. But it's. And it seems like you must make yourself think about it every day. No, I just don't want to ever write one again. No. I see people smoking now in the corner and think, oh, it's the only thing in my life I regret. I used to smoke five packs a day. I know. I was talking to my producer. He pulled up that ad that you did to not smoke in the theater. I don't regret that. No. It's funny, but I regret smoking that cigarette. I know I smoked a lot because when I was young, they said that smoking menthol doctors recommended it when you had a cold. Why aren't they in prison? Yeah, that's a good question about a lot of people that did those things. That's episode 1220 with John Waters, and you can listen to that for free on whatever podcast platform you're using right now. To get every episode of WTF ad free, sign up for WTF Plus. Just go to the link in the episode description or go to wtfpod.com and click on WTF Plus. And a reminder before we go, this podcast is hosted by Acast. Here's some guitar. Yes, just, you know, the things I play. Boomer Lives Monkey and La Fonda Cat Angels everywhere.