You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes

Guest: Cecily Strong

Date: May 18, 2022

Overview

This episode of You Made It Weird features Cecily Strong, beloved cast member of Saturday Night Live and the star of Schmigadoon. Pete and Cecily dive into the weirdness of the human experience, the pressures and joys of live comedy, the ongoing fallout of the pandemic on mental health and creativity, personal growth, and the subtle art of finding connection and meaning in chaos. Their warm, irreverent, and honest conversation ranges from SNL war stories to family, depression, improv, creativity, and what gives life its sparkle.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Life on SNL, Sleep Issues, and the Unnatural Rhythm

• SNL's Toll on Circadian Rhythms:

  • Cecily describes running on fumes:

    "I'm a little tired. We're in our home stretch of SNL here. So I'm a little slow moving, but happy to be here." (11:11)

  • Pete jokes about how night work shortens life spans, and Cecily quips:

    "That doesn't bum me out...That's good news. What a relief." (12:13)

  • Both agree that the SNL lifestyle is a privilege but takes a strange toll on their bodies.

• The Pandemic's Lasting Mental Impact:

  • Cecily reflects on changes:

    "I'm still understanding what that has done to me. There's some days I'll go to work after a break and I'm like, I can't stop talking because I'm so excited to be around people...and then I feel like there's also a lot of scar tissue now in my brain where words and thoughts and emotions used to be." (15:15)

Balancing The “High Wire” Act of Performance and Personal Life

• The Emotional Up and Downs of “Adrenalized” Work
  • Pete compares the adrenaline of stand-up and Cecily admits:

    "I have no circadian rhythms. Is it a plural or singular? I guess it's...I don't have it." (14:01)
    "I'm always off." (14:15)

    • They joke about sleep tinctures and Ambien.
  • Cecily reveals that despite loving her work, she sometimes struggles to find joy outside "the job," especially after pandemic isolation (15:44).

Family, Upbringing, and the Root of Comedy

• Silly, Sarcastic Roots:

  • Cecily credits her family as her comedic foundation, describing silly rituals with her parents, like "nostril flutter duets":

    "My dad and I would flare our nostrils together. It's so not worth it just to say my dad and I flared our nostrils together." (21:15)

  • Her family is "so loud...and certainly sarcastic" (22:35), contrasted with Pete’s own family anecdotes.

• Neurosis and Food:

  • Cecily candidly shares her relationship with comfort food and how, rather than “untangling” it, she’s “embraced it more,” especially cooking during hard weeks:

    "That'll be the joy. That's like, the one joy this awful week—I’m gonna make a great dinner." (25:45)

Relationships & Living with a Partner for the First Time

• Late-Bloomer Cohabitation:

  • Cecily on living with a partner for the first time at 38:

    "It's my first time living with someone that I'm dating and only that person...and we are sharing a space, really, so. Yeah." (27:08)

  • The daily challenge is “arguing every day, but it's okay. We're good arguers, though.” (28:15)

• Messiness & Creativity:

  • Cecily confesses to being messy, relating this to the “jazz” of creative life:

    "If I walk into a room, if there's not three things new on the floor, I've done something wrong...I'm just very messy." (29:46)

  • Pete connects this to the comedian mentality—valuing what’s in front of you (creative chaos) over tidiness.

Performing Live, Stress, and Coping Mechanisms

• Managing Stage Nerves:

  • Cecily on pressure and "blinders" for the job:

    "I think because I grew up doing theater, I really enjoy it. And I love it for being live. And I just...enjoy an audience. I don't think of it as much as the TV audience." (35:49)

  • Both discuss how breathing techniques and vocal warm-ups help manage the stress and excitement (“floods you with oxygen” - 39:05).

• Importance of Small-Scale, Playful Connection:

  • The two reminisce about silliness with friends—including group improv games and spontaneous musical moments, underlining human need for collective, vulnerable fun (“that magic and that playing”—51:41).

Mental Health, Depression, and Family

• Open Discussion of Depression and Therapy:

  • Cecily describes her high school depression and how her family’s openness (due to her brother’s mental health struggles), helped her seek support:

    "My mom was very much like, if you had a cold, I would take you to get medicine. If you're telling me you feel this way, I'm going to take you to see somebody." (72:18)

• Normalizing Struggle in Comedy:

  • Cecily is candid about ongoing therapy, medication, and being a person other castmates confide in:

    "It's okay if you feel terrible right now. And like, I know it's sketch comedy...but I know you want to cry. And I'm telling you, it's normal to cry. And everyone here has done it." (76:59)

The Meaning of Life, Loss, and Magic

• Cecily’s Take:

  • On purpose and suffering:

    "I understand everybody's...need to understand why? Because I think there's a lot of suffering, and the only way for me to understand that is to understand how to alleviate it. And...the way I fight for my army is like I entertain my side and we keep. We lift each other up and we lean on each other." (87:05)

  • She finds beauty in magical realism and small “non-harmful magical beliefs” that help process loss and grief, relating story and metaphor as tools for meaning (89:33).

• Art and Connection as Salvation:

  • Both reflect on how art, laughter, and communal experiences provide essential meaning and connection—sometimes literally saving lives. Pete:

    "The entire universe is just an excuse to hang out. It's all...a reason to be together.” (94:05)

Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Adapting to Pandemic Life:

  "I feel like there's also a lot of scar tissue now in my brain where words and thoughts and emotions used to be."
  — Cecily Strong (15:20)

• On Silliness and Childhood:

  "My dad and I would flare our nostrils together... it's less funny now than it was when I was 12."
  — Cecily Strong (21:32)

• On Being Messy and Creative:

  "We make jazz. You know. Yes, I make a lot of jazz in my physical spaces too."
  — Cecily Strong (31:36)

• On Performance Anxiety:

  "Anytime I can sound great in a room by myself, and then I get nervous... and if I'm nervous, then I'm not breathing well."
  — Cecily Strong (37:36)

• On Magical Realism and Loss:

  "Finding these little things that felt like this is a story or like these bits of magic are helping me to understand this... they're really just whatever makes you, helps you go through it and gives you little bits of magic."
  — Cecily Strong (89:33)

• On Why We Create:

  "The entire universe is just an excuse to hang out."
  — Pete Holmes (94:05)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• SNL Lifestyle/Sleep and Pandemic Effects: 11:00–16:00
• Family, Early Comedy, Comfort Food: 20:50–26:30
• Living with a Partner, Messiness, Arguing: 27:04–31:18
• Creativity, Blind Spots, and Performance: 31:35–37:32
• Breathing, Vocal Techniques, Nerves: 37:34–40:07
• Meaning of Live Theater Post-pandemic: 41:45–47:34
• Mental Health, Depression, Family Handling: 72:16–75:36
• Discussing Meaning, Suffering, and Community ("Army" Metaphor): 87:05–94:05
• Hardest Laughter Story (Cecily): 96:24–98:14

Tone & Style

The tone is candid, silly, warm, and confessional, with both Pete and Cecily riffing, dropping f-bombs, and switching from irreverent bits to serious conversation seamlessly. The episode is filled with “yes, and” energy, story-swapping, and deep curiosity for each other's weirdness.

Takeaways for New Listeners

• This episode is a real, unpolished conversation about living through weird, stressful, and joyful times.
• If you’re into comedy, mental health, or being a creative person in a chaotic world, there are real gems about surviving (and thriving in) that chaos.
• Cecily Strong brings both deep humor and vulnerability, making for moments that are both hysterically funny and moving.
• It’s a great showcase for Pete’s signature “let’s go deep and keep it light” podcast style. -Final thought:

  "Let's all have it."
  — Cecily Strong (98:11)