Cecily Strong

Summary

You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes

Guest: Cecily Strong

Date: May 18, 2022

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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.

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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)

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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)

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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

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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.

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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)

Transcript

[Cecily Strong]

You made it weird. You made it with.

[Pete Holmes]

You made it with. Oh, yeah, you made it weird.

[Cecily Strong]

Made it weird. Yes, you did.

[Pete Holmes]

Made it weird. You made it weird with Pete Holmes.

[Val]

What's happening, weirdos? That hit it.

[Cecily Strong]

What's happening, weirdos?

[Pete Holmes]

That's right.

[Val]

Val's in the intro.

[Cecily Strong]

Miss me?

[Val]

Okay, Val's in the intro, but she's not in the episode. Frowny face.

[Cecily Strong]

How rude.

[Val]

But this is Cecily Strong. Val and I totally binged Schmigadoon, which she's incredible on. She's also on snl. You can catch the finale of SNL this Saturday with host Natasha Leone and musical guest Japanese Breakfast.

[Cecily Strong]

Oh, I love Japanese breakfast too.

[Val]

Do you know Japanese Breakfast was on this podcast?

[Cecily Strong]

I do know that. Another one I wasn't on.

[Val]

Okay, a lot of tension here in the holmes Chaney household. JK, what do we have to plug May 20th. That's this Friday. I'm gonna be at Largo. Go to largo-la.com to see me and friends do stand up. It's gonna be awesome. It always is awesome. In the past month, we've had Mulaney and Amy Schumer and Rory Scoville and Megan Stalter and incredible music acts as well. It's always a highlight of our month. Please, please, please watch the pop. Please come out. And if you want to see some live standing up comedy, this is usually where we plug how we roll too. Sad news, sad news, sad news.

[Cecily Strong]

Why'd you bring it up?

[Val]

Okay, well, I brought it up because I still am plugging how we roll, but we did just find out that we're not coming back for a second season, which you can hear more about on Friday. Let's save it. Let's put a pin in it.

[Cecily Strong]

We're put a pin in it.

[Val]

We're going to put a pin in our thoughts and feelings for for now. But listen to this Friday's We Made It Weird.

[Cecily Strong]

Yeah.

[Val]

If you will unpack it all. But still, it's on Paramount plus and the finale. Both episodes, including the finale, are this week. Thursday at 9:00 o', clock, I believe on CBS. The finale is really special. I'm so proud of the show. And please watch it.

[Cecily Strong]

I mean, yeah, you won't regret it.

[Pete Holmes]

I didn't think you were gonna say that.

[Val]

I really liked it. Also, if you like this show and want to support this, this show, why not try a Pete's pick? Pete's Picks are the ads, the things that we love, like My Cold Plunge. They were just on Shark Tank.

[Cecily Strong]

They Were.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Val]

Robert Herjavec got in the cold plunge on the air. Of course, I knew it would be Robert.

[Cecily Strong]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And he loved it.

[Val]

And he gave them a deal or he offered them a deal.

[Cecily Strong]

I. I can't believe that those guys aren't already cold plunging.

[Val]

I absolutely agree with you.

[Cecily Strong]

Right.

[Val]

People functioning at that high level that want to. Cause here's how I tell people about cold plunge. Specifically the cold plunge, meaning the one you [e-mail] using promo code weird for a discount. I say it's nine hours of sleep in three minutes.

[Cecily Strong]

And you do say that almost every time you get out of it.

[Val]

Oh, I thought you were gonna make fun of me and be like. You say that almost every day, and it's a real snooze.

[Cecily Strong]

Well, I.

[Val]

Cause I am always saying it.

[Cecily Strong]

I almost said that. Well, you do. You get in every day and you say that almost every time you get out.

[Val]

Wow. Well, what is. What could be better? That's all you really need to know. It's nine hours of sleep in three minutes. I started easing into cold therapy, which is incredible for your immune system, incredible for your overall health, your outlook in life, your energy, your creativity, your sleep. It's great for shocking the system into vital, amazing health. We always joke that I get in and I sing. I. I feel so alive.

[Cecily Strong]

Because this was my bit, by the way.

[Pete Holmes]

Of course it's your bit.

[Val]

I said we all.

[Pete Holmes]

Okay.

[Val]

A lot of tension in the Holmes Janie household today, but this episode, this Cecily Strong episode, we were coming back from Bakersfield. It was our beautiful. My. What do I call him? I always wonder if it's, like, in law, like my nephew in law.

[Cecily Strong]

No, it's. I mean, if you're. If you're really nitpicking your nephew by marriage, but nobody says that.

[Val]

My nephew Wyatt. The wonderful Wyatt. It was his birthday, and we went up to Bakersfield, and then it was real hot and we drove back, and I was super tired. Like, we got up early, we drove. We were playing in, like, a bouncy house with kids all day, and then drove another two hours back, and I was beat. And I had. And I was. This podcast was on the schedule.

[Pete Holmes]

What do you do? Boom.

[Val]

I only had, like, 15 minutes before we were recording. I jumped in, the cold plunge got out. And you'll hear it in this episode. My energy level is through the roof. My clarity is through the roof. Also, just like it helps with mood. So many of the Pete's picks have to do with mood. Elevation. And the cold plunge is absolutely no exception. It is the best part of my day. It has literally improved every area of my life. For those of you that don't know what we're talking about, it's a cold plunge. It's an outdoor. Mine's outdoors. You could have it inside. But it's an outdoor, modern, sleek tub, which I love because so many cold plunges that you buy, first of all, are way more expensive and. And second of all, often look like coffins. They look like. Like military equipment or something. This looks like a modern. Like something you'd see in a Four Seasons hotel. It's beautiful, it's sleek, it's clean, it's bright, and it keeps the water 39 degrees. Now, I always like mentioning this in the ad. We started at 60, which will still give you the benefit, the neurogenesis, all meaning building new connections and activity in your brain, revitalizing your immune system, all these things. You can get that at 60, but you start to love it. And you lower that, that more and more. The first time I got in at 60 degrees, I was gasping for air. It was really uncomfortable for me. The second day I got in at 60 degrees, I was fine. I was shocked at how quickly you improve at this. And now I have it at its lowest setting, which is 39 degrees, which I absolutely love. I also love to point in the. Point out that it only takes.

[Pete Holmes]

Okay, not right now.

[Val]

Phone call. It only takes three minutes, which I absolutely love. I'm six foot six and I fit easily in the tub. Helps my health, my mood, my creativity, my sleep. It can turn a day around so, so consistently wonderful for stress, wonderful for your metabolism. And it's like a forced meditation. You get in. It's one of my favorite things about it. When water is that cold, your body goes into a state where you are the present, you become the present, and that state stays with you after you get out. It's the perfect way to start the day. Sometimes I even do it at night. It has a beautiful light inside that keeps the water, like, glowing blue, which is awesome. Helps me wind down and clear my mind. Let your body solve what the mind can't. That's what Val always says. And a cold plunge is absolutely the best way, I found, to let your body solve problems that your mind just can't. You can't crack. So if you're into Wim HOF or you just want a shortcut to a happier, healthier, you go to TheColdPlunge.com and use promo code WEIRD for your discount of 150 bucks off and show your support of the podcast. That's TheColdPlunge.com Speaking of things that have improved my life, our friends at the Perfect Gene. One of my absolute favorite Pete's Picks. I'm we're in New Mexico. We're on a little trip. I'm looking at my perfect jeans slumped on the chair over there in the hotel. They are the most comfortable and best looking pants I've ever owned in my life. As you guys know. Maybe by watching my stand up. I hate a hard pant. I don't know why we're not wearing comfortable, soft pants that have a little bit of give, but frankly, the answer was because they don't look good. I would try and wear yoga pants or like linen pants. I just couldn't pull it off because I'm not Bono or Sting or Seal or any of the one Namers. I'm not that guy. But I am a jean guy. So enter the perfect jean. The best pants I've ever owned. I literally have them in gray, dark gray. I have them in blue, dark blue. I have them in black. I'm pretty much consistently and constantly wearing my perfect jeans. They look incredible. They fit incredible.

[Pete Holmes]

They're soft.

[Val]

But no one needs to know.

[Pete Holmes]

It's your secret.

[Val]

It's your soft Secret. It's 2% spandex, 2.5% rayon for extra comfort and your and movement that your man parts frankly require. The jean stretches so you're not saying crushed everybody, thereby providing the only true home for your bone. They're super soft. Specialized washing so your jeans literally feel as soft as a baby's butt. You may even forget you're wearing pants. And they're also constructed utilizing the highest quality materials and sewing techniques to provide you with a product that is built to last. And best of all, they're not khakis.

[Pete Holmes]

Fuck your khakis.

[Val]

Spare your nuts. Wear some perfect jeans and and show your support of the show. The Perfect Gene for the imperfectly imperfect men. Just 60 bucks when you use Code Weirdo at checkout. That's weird. O liberate your lower limbs with the one and only Perfect gene. Whether you're working with lemons or lentils, a three leaf clover or a big old honkin eggplant, the perfect gene has you covered. Take a peek at www.theperfectgene.nyc. that's theperfectgene.nyc. code weirdo for 25% off at checkout.

[Pete Holmes]

Thanks to zero we were laughing about.

[Val]

That great moment in Good Will Hunting earlier. All right, everybody, this was such a great chat. Hope to see you@largo May 20th. Please watch the path. Please watch how we roll and enjoy this chat with Cecily Strong. This is one of the best you're going to hear. You're going to hear. It's such a delight. It was delight from start to finish, but both of us were going in and our energies weren't exactly there. We weren't sure. You can see, like, we're sniffing it out. And then as we go, man, it's like, did we just become best friends?

[Cecily Strong]

Yeah.

[Val]

It's super fun to watch people kind of put together. This isn't like press. This is like a chat.

[Cecily Strong]

This is.

[Val]

This is going to be fun. And it was really fun having that wonderful chat with one of the best.

[Pete Holmes]

Yes.

[Val]

Anders in the biz and so funny and talented. Cecily Strong. Val, you want to do it?

[Cecily Strong]

Get into it.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Cecily Strong]

Hi.

[Pete Holmes]

How are you?

[Cecily Strong]

I'm here.

[Pete Holmes]

What's wrong? Are you filled with fury?

[Cecily Strong]

I'm filled with fury.

[Pete Holmes]

You're totally upset.

[Cecily Strong]

Very upset. I've been crying all day. Not today.

[Pete Holmes]

What's been going on? That's actually, first of all, I'm so happy to meet you. We've never met irl, but I'm thrilled that you agreed to come on. But usually. Thank you so much. I'm such a huge fan. Just to start here, I'm going to open the Spin Drift. Yeah. Delicious. I loved schmig. I call it Schmig. And after we watched the whole season, I was like, I got to talk to Cecilia. I'm such a huge fan, obviously from the Snell as well. Um, but my first question is, is usually, how are you doing right now? So how are you doing right now? How am I finding you today?

[Cecily Strong]

You are finding me. I'm a little tired. We're in our home stretch of SNL here.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Cecily Strong]

So. And it's Sunday, so I was there last night.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Cecily Strong]

And so I'm a little slow moving, but happy to be here. This is a nice thing to do.

[Pete Holmes]

Yes.

[Cecily Strong]

Of all the things going on, this is a nice thing.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah. This is a friendly and safe and nice and easy. Easy thing. I can't. I mean, I'd love to talk about it. We've had so many people from snl, obviously, on the show, but I'm curious about your experience. And not to presume, but like, as a stand up, when I'm dealing with the adrenaline spike, you know, of like a late night thing. Thing and what that does to your, like, circadian rhythm. And like, any sort of, like, I don't want to bum you out, but, like, people that work night jobs, like, live like, 30% less long.

[Cecily Strong]

Oh, for sure. Like, that doesn't bum me out.

[Pete Holmes]

I mean, I know you're not grinding today.

[Cecily Strong]

That's good news. What a relief.

[Pete Holmes]

The piece of the grave is coming sooner than you thought. But, like, also people that work underground, like the subway workers and stuff like that parking attendant, like the underground parking structures. So I always think about that after the. After what? If I said plan Demic, after the Plan Demic and just see what you do after the pandemic.

[Cecily Strong]

Then I'd wonder, whose plans? What have you been up to?

[Pete Holmes]

There was a big. I don't even want to promote it, but some conspiracy people. Plan Demic. Yeah, like, it was the plan. Anyway.

[Cecily Strong]

You know what? I haven't even heard that. I'm glad I haven't.

[Pete Holmes]

That's why I was like, it made.

[Cecily Strong]

Its way to me.

[Pete Holmes]

That's. Immediately I backed away. I was like, I don't want to get this out on the airwaves, that that's even a googleable thing or give it to your brain, but what I was going to say was, during the pandemic, one of the things that I noticed was just how hard it was just on my body. And by the way, it's a privilege. Your job is a privilege. My job is, yes. That being said, if we can enter a safe bubble and say all that gratitude. Let's take that as assuming.

[Cecily Strong]

Thank you. Yes. We're starting there.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, we're going to. And that's true. And I'd love to talk about that, too. But, like, have you noticed you. You probably had a break. Things were not doable for a while. Then you went back. Were you like me? Did you go like, oh, my God, all of this like. Like, maybe it's tension, maybe it's stress, maybe it's energy, maybe it's excitement. And then these crashes come back into your life and you realize just. Just how hard and. And when I say unnatural, I don't mean evil. I just mean, like, it's not normal to spend your Saturdays doing live television. Like, that's not a normal thing to the human animal. Would you talk about that?

[Cecily Strong]

Yes, I think that's absolutely true. I have no circadian rhythms. Is it a plural or singular? I guess it's. I don't have it.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, I'm so white, I don't even have circadian rhythm.

[Cecily Strong]

No, exactly. Yeah, I'm off. I'm always off.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, I clap on the 1 and 3 in my circadian rhythm. That's how corny I am.

[Cecily Strong]

I sleep at 1 and 3 if I'm lucky.

[Pete Holmes]

That was fantastic.

[Cecily Strong]

I mean, I'm full of those, so those are my only jokes. But yeah, I'm. I've. No, I don't sleep well. I have so many different sleep tinctures and Ambien.

[Pete Holmes]

Yes.

[Cecily Strong]

So it's all Michael Jackson's doctor.

[Pete Holmes]

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

[Cecily Strong]

He's on my speed dial.

[Pete Holmes]

Give it a Google.

[Cecily Strong]

I know I sound pretty dark today. It's. I'm just tired, but yes, and also I think the pandemic did. I'm still understanding what that has done to me. And I feel like 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 I'm like, gotta make every joke I could see.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Cecily Strong]

I'm just like. And then. 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. It's now just like the scars of spending two years going between fear and anger and.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Cecily Strong]

Tragedy. Yeah. So I'm. I just feel like I'm. I'm like, I need a vacation and that even that sounds funny because I have such a great job with people that I love, but I haven't. I'm not finding it as easily in my outside life right now.

[Pete Holmes]

Well, that's what I was wondering as you were speaking. I was like, what. What does the balance look like? Not to be too therapy, but these are the things I like to talk about. And I think no matter what people's job is, they can relate to finding some sort of balance to the adrenalized moments and the big moments. And then what are you going to do when you're off? And is it like what it was in high school? I used to love the first week of summer vacation. And then I was like, what are we doing? Like, I got to get a job or something.

[Cecily Strong]

People must be at a party.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I don't want to go. I just want to be invited.

[Cecily Strong]

Yeah. I had FOMO all summer, every summer, wondering where the party was that I wasn't at. Yeah, I guess because I think I'm going to go work pretty immediately. I can't say what, but schmigatoon. I don't wanna jinx It. But hopefully I'll be working on something that I like.

[Pete Holmes]

But.

[Cecily Strong]

So I don't feel like I'm getting my. I sound so terrible. But there it is. There's the truth. I'm not getting my summer vacation yet. And I think I'll have to find a way to make myself. To trick myself into that.

[Pete Holmes]

I mean, I think you just said something pretty right on, which is I find even when I'm working, it's not really the work. It's whether or not I have the energy to reframe my perspective. And sometimes you don't like real. It sounds like. I'm telling you to think positive. I'm telling you I've been in dream situations and as low as I can go because, like, the first energy that I burn off is the energy that I use to make myself happy. And that once that's gone, okay, now I'll be low. I'll still be doing my job, but I'm low, so I understand it. And then whatever you're swinging to next, what vine you're swinging to next, like, we can hope that you can make that job kind of a vacation while you're doing it. Does that sound right at least, you know?

[Cecily Strong]

Yes. And even just the. The fact that it's something different and in a different location are things that I'm like, maybe that'll be enough.

[Pete Holmes]

Are you like me that. That you get? I get excited when I'm around. Like, I'm excited talking to you right now. I like when there's new people, new funny people, I sort of come to life.

[Cecily Strong]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And if I'm with the same old, same olds, and these are my friends, I don't say that putting them down, but I'm not as jazzed. I get jazzed. You must get jazzed with the host, though. There's a new element there.

[Cecily Strong]

Yeah. And I mean, I get jazzed getting to see people, but it's still just, you know, I think with, like, you know, cases being up again, what kind. What a fucking drag to talk about COVID all the time. I'm such a. Like a drag of a person.

[Pete Holmes]

I said to Val, I was like, this just needs to stop. It just needs to stop.

[Cecily Strong]

Yeah, it's like 50% of my day talking about it, but it's. So we're not going out as much, and it's. I would have fun hanging out with Mike castmates. And I'm looking forward to next week. The just even go. Because I haven't even been to after parties, you know, because Of Coco. Because of the co. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And is that. Is that a C strong or is that Toto's?

[Cecily Strong]

I think that's Toto's dodos. Toto's. About Coco.

[Pete Holmes]

You are just. I just love chatting with improvisers and silly improvisers. And I really think that that sort of training that you've had. You're a Chicago person.

[Cecily Strong]

Yes. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I don't know if, you know, I moved to. I'm just trying to relate, not. Not compete. Obviously, you know, I did it, too.

[Cecily Strong]

Pizza. You like pizza. That's how you relate to Chicago.

[Pete Holmes]

I actually hate deep dish pizza. It is. It is. Like, how much do you love cheese? You really, really love cheese? Yeah. Yeah. But I don't love cheese that much. It turns. Like, I like more of a combo of the sauce and the cheese and the bread. And Chicago's like, no, I want to like cheese should seem like a problem. Like a. Like a. Like a situation. Like, that should be the conundrum that I have to dig my way out with a fork and knife. That's.

[Cecily Strong]

We like bad weather in every way. We want our cheese to feel like bad weather.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah. You want to be snowed in with cheese. You are just a tremendous listener and. Yes, Andrew, and that's what we were saying. You got. How did you find this sounds like such a generic question, but I'm really interested. How did you find the outlet of comedy? Like, when. When was your first kind of like, was it camp or school? Who told you that making shit up was, like, a thing you could do?

[Cecily Strong]

Well, I didn't start improv really, until after college, but I think my family is pretty funny.

[Pete Holmes]

They're silly Billies.

[Cecily Strong]

They're silly. We were like a silly family before the divorce.

[Pete Holmes]

When was that? When was that?

[Cecily Strong]

We were silly after, too. That was my fifth grade, I think, when I was 11.

[Pete Holmes]

Okay.

[Cecily Strong]

But my. Yeah, My, my. They're all. We enjoy being silly. 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. Sorry, let me finish this. You're gonna die when I tell you what we did.

[Pete Holmes]

No, you need to tell me. What, you mean like. Like in inappropriate situations?

[Cecily Strong]

Like, I gave. I bailed on it. No, it was like a, you know, a character y thing. We would do the nostril flutter duet.

[Pete Holmes]

Okay.

[Cecily Strong]

It's less funny now than it was when I was 12. I feel like as I'm saying it, I'm not laughing as much.

[Pete Holmes]

I have a daughter And I know our bits are going. They won't age well, not in the bad way. In the kind of. They're just too simple. Like, she loves a good raspberry on her belly, for example. And that's not gonna work when she's older. And so I'm enjoying it now. It might. You never know. So what kind of silly was the family? Were they. I'll give you some options. Were they the loud silly? Like at a dinner party, they're loud and they're telling people to lighten up, and they're having cocktails, telling stories, center of attention silly. Were they more back of the room whispering, check out this guy's toupee. Silly. Were they sarcastic? Were they mean?

[Cecily Strong]

So loud.

[Pete Holmes]

Tell me again.

[Cecily Strong]

I wouldn't say not mean. Yeah, certainly sarcastic. But, I mean, my dad's very loud, and I feel like everyone in Chicago knows Bill Strong, and he's like. He's loud on the phone. He's like, hey, Jim, it's Bill. What's going on? And, like, he would. I mean, some of the most I've laughed at my dad is, like, hearing him sneeze in the house. You'd just be, like, in the kitchen, and he's a floor up, and you just hear, like, such a pain. Yeah. That's my favorite of all my dad's jokes.

[Pete Holmes]

Is it Sneeze? He's got a killer sneeze. My mom actually has a sneeze that you almost wonder if it's a cry for attention. It's a scream. It's like the Wilhelm scream. It's like the classic horror scream. And I think there was some rumbles in my house that we were like, we don't. She doesn't have to sneeze that way. Like, she's. She's, like, fucking with us.

[Cecily Strong]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

So I'm with you and your mom loud.

[Cecily Strong]

My mom is less loud, but still loud. And I feel like they both were. I get a. Like, a corny sense of humor from them.

[Pete Holmes]

Yes.

[Cecily Strong]

You know, my mom was a real, like, oh, made him a snake. Anything that was like, a stupid word.

[Pete Holmes]

She's anokichoki.

[Cecily Strong]

Artichoke.

[Pete Holmes]

Doki. Artichoke.

[Cecily Strong]

Yes. Yes.

[Pete Holmes]

And you're definitely.

[Cecily Strong]

What can I do you for? I forget all that shit. Yeah. Pardon my swearing today.

[Pete Holmes]

You're allowed to. I've been swearing more than you, sis. Can I call you sis? Oh, yeah. I said shit earlier because I was thinking about what a wholesome anecdote we were telling, and then I said shit, and I was like, Petey, why do you have to. Why? Because I was like, oh, my mom would. I.

[Cecily Strong]

Actually, that's how I just felt. Right.

[Pete Holmes]

It's like my superego goes like, your mom would enjoy this riff about her sneeze. And then I have to be like, I think it was passive aggressive and she's full of shits or something. And I'm like, why? Why ruin it? Are you close with them now? You're made a mistake and you're. And your pop.

[Cecily Strong]

Yeah. I mean, I don't see them as often, but I try to talk to them a bit and I'm not great talking on the phone, but I'm getting better. I just had a great talk with my dad the other day, and he's sort of going through his pandemic blues too. And he was like, you know, I just. I mean, I don't want to stop drinking and eating. It's like, I hear you, dad. I'm with you.

[Pete Holmes]

Wait, why would you have to stop eating? Oh, going out, you mean?

[Cecily Strong]

No, no. Drinking and eating a lot. Oh, to like, you don't have a family of excess.

[Pete Holmes]

Yes, no, no, I do. I do.

[Cecily Strong]

We are a big family. Big people. We're lounge. Just big in that way.

[Pete Holmes]

Look, I don't mean to steer this. I just can't talk about this enough, so I hope this isn't too serious. Have you had to, like, untangle comfort and food as. I have, like, that kind of feeling of like, this is love, like, I really relate to.

[Cecily Strong]

Yes, but I don't think I have untangled it. I think I've embraced it more, in fact, during this. This time only because it was like. Some days it was kind of. That'll be the joy. That's like, the one joy this awful week is. I'm gonna make a great dinner.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, you.

[Cecily Strong]

But I enjoy cooking. Yeah, it's less. Like, I don't think I eat to punish myself, though. So there. There's that.

[Pete Holmes]

Or you're not binging. You're not just eating like 28 Oreos.

[Cecily Strong]

I'm enjoying, like, I'm cooking. I'm trying new things and hopefully eating some of the things I'm supposed to.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah. And is this with. I'm not trying to pry. We can even edit this out. I'm just wondering if you're with somebody, like, is this cooking for one or you. Do you have. Do you share your life with anyone?

[Cecily Strong]

I share my life now. I do.

[Pete Holmes]

Good.

[Cecily Strong]

Well, I didn't always, so it's not a weird question. I just moved into where I am now in March.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah. And what's your address? What is your address?

[Cecily Strong]

So my address is. Funny, I just did a mute bit. They couldn't see it.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, you made a mistake.

[Cecily Strong]

I made a little mistake. Whoops. Yeah, but. So I'm living with somebody.

[Pete Holmes]

You're living with someone.

[Cecily Strong]

Okay. I'm living and dating the same person.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Cecily Strong]

And I.

[Pete Holmes]

That's good. That's how you should do it.

[Cecily Strong]

I have to say, I feel like I should have practiced before. 38.

[Pete Holmes]

Is this your first time?

[Cecily Strong]

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.

[Pete Holmes]

Am I hearing you right? Before, it would be more casual, like, less. Like, you said, only one person.

[Cecily Strong]

Yeah. Well, I feel like I've had a boyfriend, like, live with me, sort of. But not like both of our names are on the lease.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Cecily Strong]

This is a real thing.

[Pete Holmes]

It was more like just a drug dealer you got cozy with named Skeez who just kept sleeping on your couch.

[Cecily Strong]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Like, okay, I guess you kind of live here, but now it's hot. It's on. It's on the lease. How. How's it going? Like, because that.38, once you get those neural grooves going and you're not like, you know what you like. So this is not shit talk on your partner. I'm just curious. What was that like a little bit later, doing that for the first time? I mean, it's got to be.

[Cecily Strong]

Oh, it's an adjustment, but I feel, like, understated. Yeah. My friends who know me well, who had also just are a little bit further along in their relationship. Developmental skills, and we're kind of like, how's that going? How do you. How are you finding that? I was like, well, I think we've argued every day, but it's okay. We're good arguers, though.

[Pete Holmes]

And let me ask you. This is like, Val, my wife and I are so sweet. We're so. Sweetie. We come from families that, like, so we think, like, not fighting is really good, but then we have other friends that are like, you need to fight. Let it out. And as you just said, get good at it. So it's not, like, malicious. It's, like, zesty. Is that what you would say?

[Cecily Strong]

No. I mean, I wouldn't say. I wouldn't sell it as my lifestyle brand to anyone. It's my. I feel like John, who is my boyfriend, is like my penance for being so difficult my whole life. He is so much more difficult than I. I mean, he's. He loves to argue, and I'm. It's. But it's teaching me. And I'm like, you know, I have to, like, let you win here. I just have to say, no, no, John, we're not gonna have that fight. And I can.

[Pete Holmes]

What is one that old, old Johnny boy would. Would bring up that you had to let go? Or. Or just like a. A little example of a Tiffany.

[Cecily Strong]

Well, so, I mean, a big one is. And I'll say this one because it's. I think I'm the really. The bad one here is he's much neater than I. I'm not a clean person. I can't possibly. I've never been able to. If I walk into a room, if there's not three things new on the floor, I've done something wrong or I'm sick or something, I'm just very messy.

[Pete Holmes]

I'm the same way.

[Cecily Strong]

Well, John, I'm trying to respect your space and be better at it, but he'll always, you know, he'll always go, hey, Cecily, where does. Where do we think this goes? Or something? And I'm always like, nope. That's condescending.

[Pete Holmes]

Yes.

[Cecily Strong]

Don't ask me what I think. Where the buns want to go. Just put them away if you don't want them where they are. So that's the big one.

[Pete Holmes]

I'm curious if you're like me in. That's a little bit how your brain works. Like, I know a lot of comedians and stuff.

[Cecily Strong]

Oh, it's a lot of it. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

That you just want things where you can see them and when they're in front of you. And don't let me lead you to this. Like, live tv. I haven't done live tv, but I've done, like, a standup taping. And if you think about it too much, it's overwhelming if you think the camera represents all these people too much. But if you just think about the joke you're doing or the sketch you're doing or whatever, that is not a clean person. Like. But you know what I mean? That person might put the buns not back.

[Cecily Strong]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Because we're focused on something else. Does that feel right now?

[Cecily Strong]

I would say. I don't know that I've ever thought of it like that, but I definitely am shocked when there are people who are neat in comedy. It's like, how do you have time? How do you. How are you ever funny? You know, we're kind of.

[Pete Holmes]

It takes all your effort.

[Cecily Strong]

We make jazz. You know. Yes, I make a lot of jazz in my physical spaces too. Hahaha.

[Pete Holmes]

You're jazzing in two areas.

[Cecily Strong]

Yeah, there's a lot of jazz. He's away for the weekend and I really. In like three hours I've jazzed up this place so much. It's unbelievable what I'm capable of.

[Pete Holmes]

But that's a little, you know, don't get me wrong, I go through phases usually when not much is going on where I'll get real clean. But like I sort of like. Like this is my space and you can see it's dirty. It's just got stuff all around. I clean up. If you came here in person, I would have cleaned up. But right now what I'm working on is in front of me and there's post it notes with jokes and little things and script ideas or whatever it might be. And that's where I want it. And Val, and this is not shit talk, she'll move something. Like I'm trying to think of an example. Like let's say I'm trying to floss. I'm trying to start like flossing, which I have.

[Cecily Strong]

I wish I could do it.

[Pete Holmes]

My whole life I've been trying. Are you a flosser?

[Cecily Strong]

I use it. I have to use the, the water pick.

[Pete Holmes]

The water pick. Okay.

[Cecily Strong]

That's how I floss.

[Pete Holmes]

I've never tried a water pick. That sounds worse.

[Cecily Strong]

Love it. Life changing. No, it's great.

[Pete Holmes]

A laser of water between my teeth.

[Cecily Strong]

Well, I don't think of it as a laser. It's just you're already brushing and then you're. It takes the guesswork out. I don't know.

[Pete Holmes]

So it. But it is just like a fire hose of pin prick size that goes between your teeth.

[Cecily Strong]

Well, it comes out of the brush. I have one that's the toothbrush and the water. So you brush first and then. Or you floss first if you want.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, okay.

[Cecily Strong]

But I think it's really changed it up. It's changed the game for me.

[Pete Holmes]

Okay. So this is helpful because I am somebody who's always trying to start flossing. There's a great Mitch Hedberg joke. People say, you don't know how hard it is to quit smoking. I say, yes, I do. I've tried to start flossing. So you really helped me out today. But what I'll do is I will leave a bag of the floss picks just on my sink. Just on my sink. It's my sink. This is my sink. That's your sink. We don't get in fights, but she will clean it up. And guess what? We'll never discuss it. But I will not floss for a month. And then I'll go. Something was here.

[Cecily Strong]

I started a project.

[Pete Holmes]

It was. Yes. And that's. Is that how. Is that how it is when you're trying to break a story or. I don't know if you've ever tackled those types of things that need all the like Beautiful Mind, post its or anything like that. Do you need it?

[Cecily Strong]

I need it in front of me. I mean, it's sort of like if things are put away too much, it's like I've don't have them, they may as well not be there. And I'll say, I'll never, I'll never see that ruler again.

[Pete Holmes]

And I. Do you think my leading assumption was maybe true in that, like, that's helpful that. So what we're talking about is blinders, right? So like a horse. And if you're about to go live and you're so great on the show. I'm sorry, you're just, you're a real standout and just a delight. Do you think the blind. Well, yeah. What do you say to that? Do you think you just go, thank you. Play that.

[Cecily Strong]

Thank you. I'm getting good at that.

[Pete Holmes]

Do you think the blinders. You mean taking compliments? We're going to get back to that then. Do you think the Blinders help with the pressure of live performance in every way that you've done it, including the. Seems like the calculated pressure of snl. It doesn't have to be live, like, nope. You know what I mean? Like, that seems to be an. Like, forgive me. I feel like I'm buttering Lauren's bread. But I think he's a person who knows that things are better when knives keep, like almost cutting your neck.

[Cecily Strong]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

So he's like, let's do it. Because it's a high wire act and it makes the show funnier and better. But he doesn't need it. But it's. Do you think the blinders help you relax into it? Or maybe you're not relaxed?

[Cecily Strong]

I mean, I'm not. I think I'm semi relaxed depending on what I'm doing. If I'm, you know, if I have to do a specific thing, like if I'm trying to sing on the show or if there's something I don't quite know, well, then I'll get nervous or wearing a heel. But normally I think because I grew up doing theater, I really enjoy it. And I. I love it for being live. And I just. I enjoy an audience. I don't think of it as much as the TV audience.

[Pete Holmes]

It's sort of great.

[Cecily Strong]

The audience that's there live with us.

[Pete Holmes]

Just control what you can control. You don't know what the people through the camera are doing, by the way, even if they're like a billion people are watching. Sometimes I think about that. I'm like, yes, some of them are taking a shit. Some of them are second screening on Instagram. You know, just play to the room. I love that. So just focus on what's going on.

[Cecily Strong]

I'm doing surgery. Right. I'm just telling a fart joke or, you know.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, okay. Yeah. I wonder, is there more? You mentioned singing. I completely get that. If you do so many wonderful impressions. I find that if I'm doing an impression, some days. You asked me to do John C. Reilly, it just sounds like John C. Reilly's in the room. Usually if I didn't prep it, like, it was just. It just came up in conversation. Totally. And I just do it.

[Val]

Cause I'm comfortable.

[Pete Holmes]

We're just talking. But then if you go, like, in 10 seconds, John C. Reilly gets a haircut. 10. Not like, when it starts, it might be like, oh, yeah, yeah. You know, like, it's off. Like, I can hear the pitches off because the stress literally constricts my vocal cords or something, and everything's a little off pitch.

[Cecily Strong]

Would you talk a little bit about breathing as well?

[Pete Holmes]

You're not breathing. That's it. Yes. Yes.

[Cecily Strong]

And so you are. You are restricting it. It is. I mean, anytime I can sound great at. In a room by myself, and then I just. I get nervous. That's when I get nervous. And if I'm nervous, then I'm not breathing well.

[Pete Holmes]

Well, go ahead.

[Cecily Strong]

No, no, I. I don't. What were you gonna say? But it's fine.

[Pete Holmes]

You flare your nostrils. I was wondering, has anyone given you advice that. That helped you with that? Because, like, for real, just in life, I'm looking for ways to slow my heart down sometimes or to just be in the moment and let my body relax into what I'm doing. Is. Are there techniques that you found?

[Cecily Strong]

I mean, I went to school for it and paid a lot of money, so I feel like I eventually just have to start doing what I was trained to do, which is helpful. Like, you know, voice training and voice classes. This. Which was so embarrassing. I mean, it's not embarrassing, but it's like the first year, because I did this One woman show this play. And I was speaking for 90 minutes straight every night. And then in, like, higher registers, too, which was tougher on my. And I was starting to lose my voice in the winter, so I finally started doing vocal warmups, which is I probably should have been doing the whole time, but I find, like, those are really helpful. And you're like, oh. And I guess this wakes me up a little too. Breathing.

[Pete Holmes]

Well, floods you with oxygen and all that good stuff. Have you ever done. Yeah, the steam, too? Have you ever done a.

[Cecily Strong]

Love the steam.

[Pete Holmes]

A steam machine?

[Cecily Strong]

I have two of them, yeah. Oh, shit.

[Pete Holmes]

Because it also. It doesn't. Oh, did I break up?

[Cecily Strong]

I lost. Just for a second. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Just for the name brand. The people at Mabus are really mad that you didn't hear me say, is it a Mabus brand vocal steamer. But mine is. But I'll be doing stand up, you know, talking for an hour. And if I'm doing a lot of shows, I'm just back there. So it is the seam, but everyone thinks it's a bong, by the way. But it's also just. I have to take like 15 deep breaths, but. And then I have to imagine there's also like a. It just is what it is. Like you're gonna be excited and you just have to acclimate to that. Is that. Does that sound true?

[Cecily Strong]

Oh, I mean, I would hope I'm a little bit nervous just. Just for the energy of it.

[Pete Holmes]

Yes, yes, yes.

[Cecily Strong]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Have you ever had a show where you weren't nervous and that made you nervous?

[Cecily Strong]

Oh, definitely. And I. Yeah. And I'm like, well, I do. I know what I'm doing? Do I know how to do this? Am I going to suck? I feel like. And I just, you know, it's a nice thing, people showing up for you to perform. And so I want to at least. At least be excited that they're there or fake it.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah. Well, that is. I. I've heard. I think it was Seinfeld say that's your job is to pretend like you're enjoying it.

[Cecily Strong]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And then maybe you'll actually start enjoying it. Tell me a little bit about that one woman show or the play. You said that it was just you. What was it called? What production?

[Cecily Strong]

It's. Lily Tomlin's wife. Jane Wagner wrote it for her, like, in. I think it was 1985 is when they first started doing it. And so it was that show. We just did it, and I think we're doing it again in la. It's Called the Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe.

[Pete Holmes]

Yes.

[Cecily Strong]

And it's 12 characters. Well, I'll give them the note, but yeah, 100% JK.

[Pete Holmes]

It just kept going longer than I thought.

[Cecily Strong]

It's a long title.

[Pete Holmes]

12 characters. You do. So you're doing. Oh, this is perfect for you. You know, I have.

[Cecily Strong]

It's so much fun. I love it.

[Pete Holmes]

Is that it's not the show that. Because I just quoted Lily to somebody. It was actually my Uber driver, and I think I made him cry because I said, forgiveness is letting go of the hope of a better past. Have you ever heard that?

[Cecily Strong]

No.

[Pete Holmes]

Based on your face, I'm guessing it's not in that show. But that is. That's something I think Lily told me.

[Cecily Strong]

Beautiful. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Isn't that great?

[Cecily Strong]

That feels in the. The show is also. I mean, it's a beautiful show, and it's the most generous show I think I've ever been a part of. And the end of the show, it's like going through that experience with an audience, and then it really thanks the audience for being there. And it's very much about the reason my director Lee wanted to do it now, after, I guess, sort of during Pandemic, is because it's about that human connection and strangers sitting in a dark room together, laughing and crying about the same thing.

[Pete Holmes]

And wow.

[Cecily Strong]

But. And how that is really what makes us human. You know, it's. The conceit is there's a woman who's homeless, but we sort of now, because there are real homeless problems, that she's more without home, without time or space home. Who's teaching her space chums about. They're collecting data on what it is to be human, on humanity.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, wow.

[Cecily Strong]

But the big conclusion at the end is really us tonight. All of us in this theater together is sort of. And those connections.

[Pete Holmes]

Wow, that sounds really beautiful. And life affirming. If I'm hearing it.

[Cecily Strong]

It's so life affirming. I think it got me. I think I miss it so much. I'm probably feeling a slump from not doing it. I'm really excited to do it again. And especially doing it during, like, you know, when Omicron hit was our first week of tech, I think we were. You know, our dress rehearsal was the next Monday, and it was terrifying. Like, are we gonna stay watching everybody I know get sick and not knowing if they'll be okay and will theater survive? Will Broadway? You know, and it was just sort of like, will New York have to go back inside? It was just like, we can't. We can't go back inside. And people showed up, which was also very moving, that it was like we had everybody scared. And I remember there's, you know, seeing one of the handicap accessible vans and it's like that person made this trip tonight, even with, I'm sure, some kind of pre existing conditions in this height of omicron. Because it's that important for all of us right now. And just it was so special.

[Pete Holmes]

I think that's another thing that we'd learned during the pandemic, which is that this stuff that feels elective, just kind of like it's the bonus stuff, including laughter. I just did a show and I have better shows when I remind myself of things like the handicap van or of people being nervous still. We're hopefully stabilizing, I don't know, but we're still nervous, right? But we figured out during this time that it's not candy. You know what I mean? Especially you just describing your show made me realize those magical nights. Or maybe it's just a magical pit stop in an airport in Tennessee, like where somebody's playing music and you're just like, oh, shit. Like, we need this and we need the human heat of other people around us. Like, we forget that, like. Or I forget that we're pack animals, like male. Like the human animal was designed to be in packs of 50, telling stories, moving around, completely relying on one another. There was no, these people are rich, these people are poor. It was all collective sharing. And those people were making art together. I mean, once the sun goes down, that's kind of all there is to do. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, that's a long time before you go into bed. So this stuff is in our DNA. It's just nice to hear you saying that. I have to imagine you need it too, or tell me anything.

[Cecily Strong]

Oh, I absolutely did. And every day I would drive to the theater. It was at this theater, the Shed. It's a newer place in Hudson Yards. And we had a great HEPA filters, which I talked about every time I brought up brag about those. Yes, Audrey, hepa.

[Pete Holmes]

Keep going.

[Cecily Strong]

Well, now I. Okay, pretend we didn't just make a joke so that I don't sound so insensitive, but. So we would drive by. There's a structure in Hudson Yards that was just built and it's sort of, you know, it's an art piece, an interactive art piece. It sort of looks like a parking lot, but it's open and people would walk up it. But they wound up having to shut it down during the pandemic because people were killing themselves. And every day it was like, I'm driving to do this show, and there's a reminder of the consequences of having to be inside and that kind of isolation. And it was just like, this is why we're doing this. Even though it's scary, we're all making. We've all gotten over anxieties to show up in the theater tonight. And so this is like, let's be here with each other, and hopefully I can make you laugh. And there were days, you know, where I would. Someone close to me would have just tested positive. And then I'm scared. My little stupid test. I'm like, is that a blue line? Is that a light blue line? And I'm performing in five minutes. And so it was really good for me, I think. And hopefully, I think, good for the audience, too. And even just watching, like, theater people go see it and watching them look around and see, like, there's audiences. People are coming to shows they want. They're still wanting to do that.

[Pete Holmes]

They need it. Yeah, we need it.

[Cecily Strong]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

They say that isolation, like, extreme isolation is worse than smoking. It's worse than obesity. It has super, super dire consequences to your.

[Cecily Strong]

I mean. Yeah, they're trying to get rid of it in prisons. You know, it's like, it's torture. And.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Cecily Strong]

And I think it's like. I think it's. Our humanity's taken a hit by being isolated. And, I mean, I think that's not. I'm not at all trying to sound cliche and stupid or. But it's sort of like when everybody is online all the time, that people are crueler, they are less human, and we. We see each other as less human, and we're worse to each other.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, my God. I just. I have a couple of things I want to ask you, but I just did a game show that I had done before where I used to be with the other contestants. And then this time, because of COVID I was just talking to them, like a Zoom. But I was in the studio, but I was talking to them at Zoom. And, like, I'm not saying I was cruel or anything, but because it's like Pyramid. It's sort of like you're trying to get them to guess things, but I'm just talking to a screen, but I can still see them. And they wouldn't get it. And I'd just be like, ah, come on. Like, way. If they were in the room. I know, because about a Month later, I did Pyramid with In Person. And I was nicer, like, but you just put them on a zoom screen. And suddenly I felt like it was okay to be like, we played bad guys. We played bad. Like, that's just how technology is, not human heat. It's not the same thing. And it's easy to forget that it's a person.

[Cecily Strong]

Oh. And it's like, we're not even in the same time zones because of the lag. So it's like, I'm responding to you. You're already in the future of what I'm responding to. You can't speak at the same time.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, I miss.

[Cecily Strong]

No, it's like, you can't be collaborative because. I'm sorry, what did you say?

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, go ahead.

[Cecily Strong]

You know when. Sort of, like, I love interrupting. All conversations should involve interruption. I hate it on a movie set when you're supposed. When they go like, okay, but don't talk over each other. And it's like, well, then it's not real conversation.

[Pete Holmes]

I completely agree. I love the movie. The Meyerowitz Reports. It's a Noah Baumbach movie, and the whole movie must be written in, like, quadruple dialogue.

[Cecily Strong]

And.

[Pete Holmes]

But it was the first time I went. This is what my family's like. But when you're watching a movie and everybody's like, what do you think? What do you mean, what do I think? What do you. I can't. You can't put me on the spot like that. Well, we need to make a decision.

[Val]

You know what I mean?

[Pete Holmes]

Like, just, like, it's fake. It's not how. It's not how it is. And you're so right. Doing this podcast again. If you were here, we would talk over each other and interrupt each other. When Fred Armisen did it, we did the, like, the sing at the same time. Like, one of us will lead and we'll say that game, by the way. One of us will lead and the other will try and sing at the same time. Is the most. It's the cleanest example of what we need from each other when it comes to, like, silly, funny art.

[Cecily Strong]

Yes.

[Pete Holmes]

Like, you're gonna listen to me. I'm gonna follow you and everybody. Like, it's greater than the sum of its parts. You feel, like, healed by the end of that?

[Cecily Strong]

Absolutely. Oh, my God. Definitely. And Fred is a really fun person. I was just talking about it today. Cause I miss my friends so much, and I think it's, like. Because I miss that. It's like, I think of it as like playing. We're playing, you know, and it's like, Fred is so good at that. And when I was. I missed my friends in LA and I was thinking about one of the last times I was there. We were. Had people over and I always have wigs. I have a wig drawer. So everybody put on wigs. And then we wound up, like, somehow making our own Peter Pan musical. But just so stupid.

[Pete Holmes]

Yes.

[Cecily Strong]

And it wasn't even like, they're not even. I'm the only one who's in comedy. So it's like artists. And it was just. They're all so funny. My friend, Mr. Singing Mary Martin as Peter Pan, doing anything, it was just so insane. But it made me laugh so much. And it was like, I miss that magic in that playing.

[Pete Holmes]

But that. I think that's. We're saying the same thing. That magic and that playing, which from like, if you showed it to a computer, the computer would be like, this is illogical. This serves no purpose. No food or shelter is gained from this. But, like, the heart knows. I was just at my friend's house. They were also musicians. I was the only comedy person. But we did. So there's probably six of us around a table. And we did. Everybody goes one at a time, but everyone sings what that person is singing. And we jokingly called the game. So. Because after everybody's verse, you'd go, so. And that's how you knew it was the next person's turn. I'm telling you, you start getting to a spot where it feels like there's only one of you. You know what I mean? It's like one thing was making this stupid song. And, like, their daughter came in, she's about 11, she's doing it. It wasn't to be good or to be, like, clever. I actually think people would have looked down if you were, like, really clever. It was just about being like. When I was.

[Cecily Strong]

It'd be like, well, you were working on this ahead of time.

[Pete Holmes]

Exactly. No.

[Cecily Strong]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

That wasn't the point. It's just like that bohemian. There's a. I don't know why we don't do more stuff like this. Like the candle in the bottle of Chianti feeling activities. Because it's right there. I was just at another birthday party and it was. It was my wife's family and they're great people, but, like, there wasn't much silliness happening. And I was like, but it's free and all we have to do is make it safe for all of us to Be like, I just want to take a bubble bath with a parakeet. Is that so bad? You know what I mean? And like, just go, just go, just go, just go, just go. But we're all like, sorry to be on a rant here, but it's like, I feel like so many of us walk around going, I'll have fun later. I'll have fun at the designated fun time. And there's this.

[Cecily Strong]

When I'm done with my work today.

[Pete Holmes]

Yes.

[Cecily Strong]

I'll go to the place where I have fun. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

It sounds like maybe you're. You learn that lesson. Like now I'm the cliche one. No time like the present. But it's like this is it. Like, it's not promised. The later moment isn't promised because I caught myself doing it. I was like, this. This meal is a little tense. Like, I can see there's some family dynamics here. I'll just wait till I'm in the car with Val and Leila and then we'll be silly. And I was like, no, I should just be silly now. You know what I mean? Like, because, Alan, I always say a plane engine might fall on you and then, boy, you should have cash those happy checks.

[Cecily Strong]

You didn't when you had make it to the silly place. Exactly.

[Pete Holmes]

Yes. Because you believed the lie that that event isn't supposed to be fun. Right?

[Cecily Strong]

Yes.

[Pete Holmes]

I hear it's.

[Cecily Strong]

It's like not even that you believe it, but that you don't feel. You don't try. At least for me, it's like, I'm not going to try to do this.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Cecily Strong]

It's like a little bit of extra effort. Not worth it for this moment. Instead of, it's like, just like, you know, it takes effort to show up anywhere. That's a simple thing to say, but you know what I mean. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

To actually be where you are and see the infinite potential. Like, this could be silly. This could be fun. That's what we were talking about at the beginning of this conversation is sometimes the first energy to go is your joy seeking energy. And then you are just eating crab dip or you're, you know, you're medicating in whatever way. Maybe you take an edible or get drunk or whatever it is. I'm saying that with compassion. I'm not like, you idiot. I'm saying like, because it's hard. Like you run out of steam.

[Cecily Strong]

Yeah. Scraping the barrel.

[Pete Holmes]

I want to talk. You can you again. This is your interview. I'm only going to say once. No, I just mean like it's not like a gotcha show. Sometimes I watch other interviews and you can tell they're trying to. Anyway, now you're going to be surprised.

[Cecily Strong]

Oh, I have not felt that way at all.

[Pete Holmes]

Okay, good. But I just wanted to bring up the subject because I'm very interested in it when we're talking about live tv, that the knife being close to your neck, that like, like tension can make us funnier. And I've asked almost every guest that's on this podcast, like, where did it come from? You mentioned that your parents divorce, for example. But I'm wondering, I could tell you mine, but I've said it a billion times. It's like, where did you kind of learn? Like one of the ways to deal with this feeling is by being funny or by being fabulous or by being sparkly, twinkly. What did you have like feelings of inadequacy? Anxiety? Was it your parents split, like you mentioned in high school, wanting to be at the party and not getting invited. Did you feel excluded? Do you feel non neurotypical? Like the world is confusing to you? Just tell me everything because I couldn't be more interested.

[Cecily Strong]

Oh, I mean, I think it's so many of those things.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, me too. By the way, that was my, that was my list.

[Cecily Strong]

That's why that's a really great list.

[Pete Holmes]

I'm confused. I am excluded. Feel it? Yeah, absolutely.

[Cecily Strong]

I don't know. Like, I know it's harder to say why I enjoyed it at like 3 years old, but much easier to understand it as I got older. It was like. Yeah, I mean, I think a lot there was some attention. Like my brother is one of my favorite people, but he was definitely took more of my parents focus growing up and he's got Asperger's. So I've always felt like the world of comedy too. There's always people like, everybody's spectrumy around the world of comedy. And I just, I will watch every documentary and series on Asperger's. I guess it's not called Asperger's anymore though. But just the spectrum. I just find that that kind of honesty and like that that observation is part of comedy too. You know, it's just someone being like, do you like not worried about the emotional preciousness of the situation, just being like, you know, your shoes off or something? Yeah, my. I always think about. I went to. My grandfather is Colonel Cecil Strong and I never met him. He died when my dad was 17 and we went to see his grave at Arlington Cemetery. And my grandma's there too. And it was the first time I been with my dad to his parents grave and he had just had back surgery so he was like walking with a cane, which was also weird to see. That was the first time seeing my dad just like, you're getting old, that's weird. And he, we stood by my grandparents graves and he sort of like he kissed his hand and touched my grandmother's stone and then he put his arms around us and he said, they would have been so proud of you. And this was also the weekend I was doing the, the correspondence dinner and meeting the, the president with my dad and my brother. And we just, we hugged when he said that and my dad and I are crying and then my brother went, ow, you're choking me. And it was like, thank God, because I don't know how we ever would have stopped crying.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, I thought he was going to say something about why would you kiss a stone? Or like, you know, that's not her or something.

[Cecily Strong]

No, you were, you were actually choking me. Your hand was there, was choking me. I couldn't breathe.

[Pete Holmes]

I, I, it's all undiagnosed, but I feel like there's spectrum everywhere in my family, including in me. I know I'm always worried. It sounds like I'm sidling up to like something and being like I'm special too. I'm just saying like I have like a hyper literal side and for some days more than others, I just seem to calcify a little bit more and get drier and more blunt like that. Like I get really bored quite easily when people aren't just saying the thing like, you're choking me. And I get delighted when someone, when I know I'm safe with them because they'll tell me how they're feeling. Right. I mean like that in that moment you didn't have to worry if it was a bit like he's telling you, definitely.

[Cecily Strong]

And I, and yeah, I have social anxieties and I think I feel like I've gone back to zero because losing these two years of socialization and it's like I feel like that's part of it too. I'm like, who can remember all the rules? Like, what am I supposed to do now when presented with this.

[Pete Holmes]

You're killing me.

[Cecily Strong]

So it's like so to have somebody who goes, you're choking me. It's like, it's so freeing and so refreshing and sort of like I just want to be, I can't wait to be like 75 years old, looking like a Witch and give a fuck and.

[Pete Holmes]

Just saying exactly what you're feeling. I sometimes do it. Like, I'll just be like, well, I don't know why, but I'm really uncomfortable, so I'm gonna walk away. Like, that's a good one. You know what I mean? Like, that is there. That seems to be on menu.

[Cecily Strong]

That's a good one.

[Pete Holmes]

It doesn't offend anybody. You can just be completely honest. Like, I might be misreading this, but for some reason, this is really making me tense. So I'm gonna go. I have that with Val for sure. I can be like, I don't know why, but, like, this guy is freaking me out and I need to leave.

[Cecily Strong]

I think that's, like, it's. I think that's so respectful.

[Pete Holmes]

And yes, it's honest.

[Cecily Strong]

Yeah. And it's. But it's not like there's. I don't enjoy people just using that as, like, a way to be mean to people. And like, sorry, of course. That's just how I feel. Sorry.

[Pete Holmes]

I have a bit about that. I don't have a filter. And it's like, you should have a filter. That's what being a grown up is.

[Cecily Strong]

You don't have a friend is what. You don't have a filter burn.

[Pete Holmes]

Let me ask you this. That sounded like I was making fun of you. I thought it was a great burn in relationships.

[Cecily Strong]

I was defending because I knew that was a good burn.

[Pete Holmes]

That was a great burn. You don't need me to tell you it was a great burn in relationships. I wonder if the rules were confusing to you. I went through a lot of my earlier relationships going, like, what is the protocol? Especially, like, breakups. I just didn't know how to break up with people. I thought you had to hate them. I've said this a million times, but I really just want to get it out there. You don't have to hate somebody to break up with them. But I couldn't find the nuance. It's like, I'm giving this person chocolate. Not literally, but, you know, like flowers and chocolate and love and attention, and we're having sex, and then the next Tuesday, I'm like, I don't see us together the rest of my life like that. And that was really. I just wouldn't break up with people because it was too overwhelming. And then like, what if they say this? And then. And my therapist, sorry, I'm almost done with this little rant. I really want to hear your thoughts.

[Cecily Strong]

No, I enjoy. I'm glad you're Part of the conversation.

[Pete Holmes]

Okay, good. Yeah, yeah. How'd you get snl? Like, suddenly I'm Jiminy. Like, but my therapist had to explain to me. It was like, if they say you're going to regret this, right? You can say, this is. This sounds aspie. I know we're not supposed to say that, but you can say, you're right, I might. Like, that's okay. Like, he trained me because I was dating somebody that I was very scared of. If they say, you don't know how hard it is to find a good person in la, you're going to come crawling back. What do you say to that? He says, you're right, I might. And boy, will I be humiliated. Of course, in my mind I'm like, that's never going to happen. But you just have to concede the point. Tell them that it's not that you hate them. It doesn't have to be this fiery thing. You just go like, this isn't what I want. But he. Dr. Gary Penn, my therapist always used to say, like, I'm gonna bounce. Which I used to love because it just sounds so casual. It's like, look, I think you're great. It's just not for me. I'm gonna bounce. Like, I never said that. But I liked how he was trying to make it so casual. Does that make you. Does that resonate with you? Like, like friendships or relationships? Like, what are the rules?

[Cecily Strong]

Oh, definitely. Although I will say, relationships wise, I feel like I'm the one who scares someone into saying I'm going to bounce. And I'll be like, why? I've given you all the chocolate.

[Pete Holmes]

That is hilarious. So you've been caught off guard by some breakups?

[Cecily Strong]

Oh, yes.

[Pete Holmes]

Every, every time.

[Cecily Strong]

Like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Well, you're. Yes. You're in good company.

[Cecily Strong]

Then I'm like, I feel like friendships, though. There are times when I'm like, this just isn't. I'm much more level headed when it comes to friendships and understanding. Like, you know what? I just think we're not meant to be great friends. And I don't hate you, but I'm just like, I don't think we, like, hit it right, you know, but with.

[Pete Holmes]

Romantic ones, correct me if I'm wrong. It seems like things are going fine and then they're like, I'm gonna bounce. And you're like, why? Like, maybe, maybe we weren't like, in my first marriage, my wife left me. I'm like, I look back and I'm like, I don't think I had learned how to tune into the clues. It's like 500 days of summer when he's. When he's looking back and he realizes, wait, she wasn't that into me. But he was filling in the gaps in his favor. I think I do that. I go like, well, she probably thinks it's great that I. Whatever. People always think it's. That I did comedy. It wasn't that. I promise. It didn't help. It wasn't, like, enriching the relationship, but it wasn't the problem.

[Cecily Strong]

Yeah, I would. I bet.

[Pete Holmes]

Tell me.

[Cecily Strong]

Yes, I. I think that's part of it. And I had a great therapist going through a tough breakup who had. Was like, write down 10 things. You know, it's very easy to romanticize somebody. And she was like, no matter how great you think he is, he left. Like, do you want someone who leaves? And it was just sort of like, that's great. And then it was. I had to carry around a list for a while of like, what are 10 failings of this person? What are like, 10 things that have let me down so that I'm not romanticizing to hurt myself.

[Pete Holmes]

I completely get it. And I have to be on the lookout. It sounds like a joke. Not with Val. I think she's dyed in the wool. Wonderful. But, like, I do tend to put people on pedestals, but there's a manipulation to that. And there's a. It seems kind, but it's actually. Can be unkind because it's what was done to me as a child. Everybody, look, I love my parents. They did their best, and they're great. But, like, people kept telling me, you're the golden boy. You're the special. You're mama's special little boy. And when. And they still say that sort of stuff. And I'm like, this doesn't. Now I say, this doesn't give me three dimensions to be. Sometimes I'm jealous, sometimes I'm angry, sometimes I'm petty. So I wouldn't say this to my parents, but inside, you're like, I'm sexual. I'm alive. Sometimes I'm risky. Like, I want to gamble or I'm making up stuff. But, like, golden boys don't. They don't have sex. They don't take risks. They're not, you know, whatever. They. They don't get angry. They certainly don't.

[Cecily Strong]

Right. You certainly aren't allowed most of your emotions, I would say, because relate a lot of times what you're feeling. You're not, you know, you shouldn't be.

[Pete Holmes]

Yes.

[Cecily Strong]

So you can cognitively understand that, but it doesn't make you not feel it.

[Pete Holmes]

Yes. Do you. Did you do that in relationships? Ever put people on pedestals just to kind of, like, smooth out the edges? And then I'm also curious if you relate to that as a child.

[Cecily Strong]

I definitely do as a child again, because it was sort of. I was the kid who was like, I'll be the easier one. I'm going to do theater. I'm going to get straight A's. I'll do this, you know, and then. It was very hard. The pressure just then. I felt like I had a lot of pressure on me around high school. I wound up. I had bad depression in high school and was just sort of like, if I can't. I just. There was just a couple times I just wanted to die. It was just. And it was a very, like, simple thought and not a dramatic thought. It was just like, I'll go drive home tonight and just fall asleep in the car in the garage, and I won't have to wake up. And it was just. And all. It was a lot of that was just like, the pressure of not, why can't I get. Do everything I was just doing last week? Am I. And it's sort of like my whole identity is wrapped up in that. And then what do I have if not that identity? But. And I will. Let me go back to something else that made me think of, which I think is really nice. And I think, like, the sweetest. My love language. And the thing I like to give to people and get from people is like, somebody acknowledging the. The specifics of you and your. I hate when people be like, oh, you know, like, you have friends that'll give you a gift or tell you something like, well, you'll like this because.

[Pete Holmes]

Stop.

[Cecily Strong]

And I'm like, what?

[Pete Holmes]

Or they tell you a movie is your sense of humor.

[Cecily Strong]

Yeah. How many times are you gonna ask if I eat red meat?

[Pete Holmes]

Yes.

[Cecily Strong]

I don't.

[Pete Holmes]

Yes.

[Cecily Strong]

Will you know that about me at some point? Will you learn my specifics? Because it's like. It's just the sweetest. And the minute you say something to somebody like, you know what you do that I noticed that's really funny. They're just like, you know, it's the most loving thing you can give somebody.

[Pete Holmes]

This goes back to why we both love the mirroring, singing, exercise and improv in general and comedy in general, by the way. This, like, evidence, the sound that people make that they saw you, that they heard you, and that they Noticed the special way that you did it. Sorry to bake this in, but Shmika Dune had so many moments. Val and I sometimes pause it and we go, let's do that moment. Let's see how we would do.

[Cecily Strong]

I love that.

[Pete Holmes]

But it's not to compete. It's to actually appreciate how special the performance was. You're like, did you see what Cecily did? There's like an eye roll. But, like, you kind of look to the. And we try and mimic it. It's like this deep appreciation.

[Cecily Strong]

That's the nicest thing I've. That's my favorite thing I've heard someone say about the show.

[Pete Holmes]

I'm glad.

[Cecily Strong]

I love that.

[Pete Holmes]

It's completely true. We really loved it. But you and I are the same. And that's why. So not to be name droppy, but Jon Hamm just did the podcast and we were talking about how my dad can't hear. So when I FaceTime with him, and I kept going, it's a 45 minute appointment. Just go get a thing. But we're FaceTiming and I think he's just trying to read my lips. So I'm just like, smiling and giving him thumbs up because I know he can't hear. And then I said to John, I was like, I'll start saying nonsense, like, not mean nonsense. But he'll be like, so what's. What's going on with the thing? And I'll be like, well, you know, life is a mystery, dad. And we're all swirling in a tornado. It's not to fuck with him. And then Jon Hamm goes like, yeah, because it's better that than to say something real and have it be unheard. And I was like, ham. I was already ham for you, but now I'm double ham for you. You know, you relate to that, right?

[Cecily Strong]

It's like, oh, absolutely.

[Pete Holmes]

Not being seen, not being heard. Like, hurts. Like, I actually think it reads in my animal body is not safe. Like, I am not safe here. Don't. Don't let down your guard here. Right?

[Cecily Strong]

Yeah, well. And I think also, I mean that at some of my lowest points, there's something. It's like you feeling invisible and being like, does anybody, you know, like, does anybody. Is anybody thinking about me today? Are people. Do they know I'm here? Do they. You know, and so I think that's sort of what you're saying too.

[Pete Holmes]

And it seems like you're the same. It's a little sonar, especially comedy. It's like, I'm here, you Heard me, I'm here. Tell me, like again, I'm not Barbara Walters. I'm not trying for that heart wrenching moment, but like depression in high school. So this is the 90s. I just feel like we weren't even where we are now. And I'm wondering how equipped they were and what it was like and also to not to give it some hope for people. I'm wondering how you got out of it and what helped.

[Cecily Strong]

Sure.

[Pete Holmes]

Well, how you're continuing to, you know.

[Cecily Strong]

I mean, luckily my family was very well versed because again, my brother had been dealing with it and this is all out there, so I don't mind talking about it. And again, he's such a lovely, amazing favorite person in my life. But he, he attempted suicide in eighth grade and like had been to the psych ward at Rush Hospital. So it was sort of. It wasn't taboo in my family to talk about it. It was, and it was treated as something like, you, you go get help if you feel that. You know, 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. So we had. There was no stigma in my family and there certainly was when I dropped out of high school and I was down to like four periods a day and I was doing the play and it was like, I loved theater and that was sort of the one thing I had. And then during tech week, right before the show was gonna open, the show I was doing, the head of the theater department was like, we think it's best if you drop out because of how much you're missing, but we'll put a thing in the program about teen depression or something. And I was just like, I remember my mom putting her hand on my leg and being like, don't run out of this room right now. We got it.

[Pete Holmes]

You know, wow.

[Cecily Strong]

But yeah, I think just my family being, I mean, it's. Having a family with a lot of different mental illness is not only just a bad thing.

[Pete Holmes]

Right?

[Cecily Strong]

Well, that's why you put its own way.

[Pete Holmes]

People can't see you, but you put luckily in quotes, which is, which is really interesting, but I actually think that's pretty profound. When I'm low, broken, sad, despondent, One of the things I tell myself, it doesn't always, in fact, it doesn't work in the sense that it pulls me out of it. But I try to remember I'm not much good to people if I don't go through the same things we all go through. Not even. I don't even mean as an artist. Like, certainly when I'm writing something, it's helpful to remember, like, okay, remember what it feels like those days when you're so frustrated you hate the back of somebody's head on the Metro North. Right. Like, okay, that. That can happen. So that keeps me relatable, but just as a human being, as a friend, as a person, as a father, as a husband, if I'm just good, it's not very good. It's not much good to people. Right?

[Cecily Strong]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Pete Holmes]

Your brother's experience, while you never would have wished for it, ended up sort of opening doors. That helped you. And I think that's what. That's why I wanted you to talk about it. There are people listening that are depressed. They might not even. They might be their normal state. They don't even recognize that they're depressed.

[Cecily Strong]

Yeah. I mean, especially right now.

[Pete Holmes]

Exactly.

[Cecily Strong]

I think everybody's dealing with a lot more mental health crises than they know of. But, yeah, I'm always open about my anxiety and depression, and I take Wellbutrin, and I go to therapy off and on when I feel like I need it. And it's sort of like I'm. I've always been proud of myself.

[Pete Holmes]

Keenan with a fake beard.

[Cecily Strong]

Yes.

[Pete Holmes]

They tell you it's therapy.

[Cecily Strong]

He does a different accent sometimes. So if I think I'm seeing a different doctor today. And Lauren listens in on all of it, of course, but he cares.

[Pete Holmes]

And then there's all these sketch pitches in the meeting. It's like, wait, wait a minute.

[Cecily Strong]

I just told my doctor that. I told Dr. Bananas that. Well, the name should have been a giveaway.

[Pete Holmes]

Doctor. I love that. So, yes, Wellbutrin helped, and therapy helps when you can.

[Cecily Strong]

And I think. Yes. And I love what you said about. I think being empathetic is having compassion. It's just sort of. And again, I may not know all those social rules, but it's easy if you just go, like, what would I feel like in this moment if I. What would I feel like I need it, because I have been there. And just being like, I don't. I'm someone that's sort of like, do you need. I like being on the show and being the one who can tell people, like, you know, it's okay if you feel terrible right now. And, like, I know it's sketch comedy, so we're all supposed to. It's nothing, but I know you want to Cry. And I'm telling you, it's normal to cry. And everyone here has done it. And so. Which I think is, like, a very important thing to hear there and everywhere.

[Pete Holmes]

That's your brother. This is, like, when it gets really helpful to have however our brains work, that the way that our brains work can be really useful to people who have brains that don't work. Like, our brains, is what I'm trying to say. And when you're the person, that is a gift. And Val is that way. For me, the show that I've been doing just got canceled, and I'm such a dingus. I'm good at feeling my feelings, and I try to stay embodied, but I am very positive, too. That's my defense. As I go to the Silver Lining, I go to the next project, I go to this. And then later in the afternoon, I was like, kind of feels like, why.

[Cecily Strong]

Am I feeling bad right now?

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, why am I feeling bad right now? And she comes in like you, and she goes, pete, you wouldn't shut up about what a dream that job was. And it just went away. Like, mourn it. Like, mourning doesn't have to be such a dirty word. Or like, what we did at the beginning of this podcast when I said, look, our jobs are privileges, but your shit is your shit. And if you want to tell me about how hard it is, that's okay. And if somebody on the set is having a breakdown, it's not helpful for you to be like, it's just sketch comedy. Like, what good is that?

[Cecily Strong]

Right, Right.

[Pete Holmes]

That's like. That's too literal. Like, it doesn't help me when someone goes like, you can't win them all. Which is what my dad said. It's like, yeah, no, I know, but my body doesn't know that. You know what I mean? My body is just processing a little grief, and that's okay.

[Cecily Strong]

And that's how you get rid of it, you know?

[Pete Holmes]

Otherwise it goes in and becomes a mushroom at best and a disease at worst. You know what I mean?

[Cecily Strong]

Right. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Bodies grow mushrooms. That's where they come from, right?

[Cecily Strong]

Yeah, I got some.

[Pete Holmes]

Okay, we're gonna.

[Cecily Strong]

Well, I also. I just want to. In that spirit, I just. I'm sorry about your show.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, thank you very much, Cess. I appreciate.

[Cecily Strong]

And I Obviously, I think all the rosy things, too. And, of course, you'll be great when. I'm sorry you're going through that today.

[Pete Holmes]

I think that's really kind, and I think that might be part of why people in our culture don't want to share in the sadness because I think unconsciously, or maybe consciously, they think if I mope with him or say, sorry, the subtitles on say, this probably is the last time you'll ever work, you know, so you want to just be chipper. But I think what you and I are saying is, like, I can believe in you and allow your feeling.

[Cecily Strong]

Yes. And again, you're a positive person. I'd like to think that I am on my good days. And it's similar where it's like, yeah, I'm always. There'll be something else. No one is going to end our career or define our career for us. And it'll open up space for you to think of something else you love. Well, I want to grieve it that day.

[Pete Holmes]

Let me put this to you then, because Val and I have been talking about it constantly. I go, there's an energy that you can't get any other way except from no. The last time I got a no, I wrote a pilot in two days.

[Cecily Strong]

Wow.

[Pete Holmes]

And then I go around thinking, I can write a pilot in two days. And by the way, we sold it. It was a good pilot. It came out. One of the tricks to writing real fast is you just use names of people you like. Don't waste the time going, Dan Bananas. Dr. Dan Bananas. Like, don't do that. Just put in all the names from high school and college and just go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go. That was one of the ways I did it. Anyway, not that you asked, but, like, then I realized, no, not. Not usually you can write a script in two days if you have, like, Lauren, in the live tv, you have these knives getting a little too close to your neck. And, like, nobody is bored when there's a gun pointed at them. And not that there's a gun pointed at me. I'm just saying when there's urgency and that's what live TV is, and that's what a no is, I've been, like, thriving with all this stuff, and I kid myself, I say, I don't need suffering, I don't need disappointment. It turns out actually, you kind of do. Right? It's like when. I don't know if you watch Winning Time. Did you watch Winning Time?

[Cecily Strong]

What is that?

[Pete Holmes]

You don't have time to watch Winning Time? It's the John C. Reilly second mention.

[Cecily Strong]

I know what it is.

[Pete Holmes]

Did you watch the Michael Jordan docu series by any.

[Cecily Strong]

Oh, I sure did, a couple of times.

[Pete Holmes]

Chicago Girl, of course. Well, remember, he would get himself mad. That was his way of manufacturing the power of no. Like someone thinks you're not. And I'll go so far as I have Brian Cox from Succession in my mind going like, oh, your show got canceled. Fuck the fuck up and get right and open final draft. And like I get all juiced and jazzed and that's something I can't fake. It's a good thing that you only. And by the way, this sounds like I'm just sugarcoating it and it's a bummer. It can be both. It can be both.

[Cecily Strong]

Yes, absolutely. And it should.

[Pete Holmes]

Yes.

[Cecily Strong]

You care about it. If you.

[Pete Holmes]

Well, it's also.

[Cecily Strong]

Yeah, if you didn't, it would be bad. If you didn't care about it, then it's. It's wasted on you. Someone else should have it then.

[Pete Holmes]

That's right. You're fucking A right. That's absolutely right. Speaking of, is there going to be a schmigatoon?

[Cecily Strong]

I mean, I hope so.

[Pete Holmes]

Lip sealed.

[Cecily Strong]

I truly am. Like, you know how it is. I don't believe anything's real until it's like, it's been released. It's out. It's been out for 30 days. They haven't exploded it.

[Pete Holmes]

This is what we call the Eric Stoltz back to the future contingency. Have you heard that story?

[Cecily Strong]

No.

[Pete Holmes]

Well, welcome to a new reason to believe what you believe. Back to the future was Eric Stoltz. They shot for six weeks and then it wasn't working. So it's not you. You can't sink your teeth into anything in show business until it's the whole seasons, the whole movie, whatever. It's already been done. Like, and that's another way to manufacture the. No is never to coast is to go. Like, they could tap you on the shoulder and you look and it's Michael J. Fox.

[Cecily Strong]

My mother will be the one that's like, whatever happened with that? Oh, that's too bad. You're like, mom, I don't need you to say it. If you think anyone wasn't feeling it. I don't know what world you're in.

[Pete Holmes]

Can I just tell you? That's one of the reasons why it's so hard to tell my parents what I'm up to. Sometimes I experiment and they say, what are you up to? And I'm like, okay, I'll just tell them and then for the rest of.

[Cecily Strong]

My life, whatever happened with that?

[Pete Holmes]

And every time they say it, you know, it's like a nine hour story that. That plays in one second. In your brain. And now you're a little bit angry and nervous or whatever you might feel. And you're like, this is why. This is why we can't have nice things like conversations.

[Cecily Strong]

Right. Like, you think I wouldn't have told you? Oh, yeah. You know what I did? I went to Japan and I shot that movie. I forgot to tell you. I didn't tell you. There's a reason.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Cecily Strong]

At some point it went away about how hard social cues are, but it's like, read the room.

[Pete Holmes]

Read the room, Mom. I would have.

[Cecily Strong]

Especially in this business. Yeah. My job is to not get jobs.

[Pete Holmes]

And move on the jobs that you get.

[Cecily Strong]

Her job is to Google me and ask about it. Remind me that I was like, I was feeling okay. My mom just reminded me of a failure.

[Pete Holmes]

Wasn't that supposed to be you in Lost in Translation? Why say that? That was a fake example for your like it.

[Cecily Strong]

But yeah, very penny strip. Oh, I think I'm being helpful. I don't know. It's just because I care.

[Pete Holmes]

That's every heckler at every comedy show, by the way.

[Cecily Strong]

Well, really, I don't do. I don't have. I don't do comedy shows, so I don't know.

[Pete Holmes]

You sure do. But I would imagine that nobody goes to looking for intelligent life and goes, like, I'm going to give this lady a piece of my mind.

[Cecily Strong]

I would kick them out. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah. Of course. In a full Lily Tomlin impression. Well, I hope there's a smig. A tune, and I hope you call it Smigotoon.

[Cecily Strong]

I'll take this suggestion along with shortening the title or lengthening.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah. Adding the word to. To schmigatune. I don't think it works, but I think you should stick to it. I want it so badly. I've spent.

[Cecily Strong]

I'm gonna call it that for sure from now on.

[Pete Holmes]

I actually like it. Knowing the little. Just this conversation. I actually believe you might. Because you've been such a great listener and great. Yes, Ander. Well, let me get you out of here. But we always talk about. Just in 10 minutes. The meaning of life. But don't. Don't even get overwhelmed. I'm just curious if you have any. Let's call them what they are. Any framework, any story, any symbol, any tradition, including atheism. That's also a story that. I'm not saying story. Not true. I'm just saying that's a container that we put our beliefs in and that feels right. Do you have any. This is my favorite part of the show. I always remind the guests and myself that we are aware. We're, like, aware we are alive. We are on a rock in outer space. Something big appeared to have exploded billions of years ago. We can measure the radiation, but, like, what. We don't have to figure it out. But, like, what is going on? Like, what is. What is the story of this? If you have any stab at it.

[Cecily Strong]

I. I definitely don't have a stab at. At a. Yeah, I enjoy scientists stabs at how. And I understand everybody's. I understand that we have a 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 it's like the balance that exists. The reason we're still here and we haven't been killed off is as a species, is because of, like, what I think of as, like, my army. And it's sort of my. 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, and that's. That's all I've got.

[Pete Holmes]

I. That's not all you got. That was beautiful. There's actually quite, quite a lot of worldview in there. 1. You're not concerned with the why? People have heard me say this a million times. It's very Buddhist. Somebody said to Buddha, what's going on? What is the meaning of all this? And Buddha said, you're like a person with an arrow in his leg. And you're saying, who shot the arrow? And he's like, just get the arrow out of your leg, meaning just end suffering. And that is the Buddhist approach. Of course, they don't just mean feed people. They do. But they also mean, like, figure out who you really are, become realized, or whatever you want to call that. But it's not about going, why was there an arrow in the first place? You've been hit with an arrow. You and I woke up in reality. So figure out how to make. Rupert Spire also says this is God's dream, and it's our job to make it the nicest dream we can, which is kindness, compassion. Also, the other thing you said. Go ahead.

[Cecily Strong]

Oh, I was just. I want to say I do enjoy, though I love magical realism, too. And I do. I find it very helpful myself going through this, grieving my cousin who I lost. That was like finding these little things that felt like this is a story or like these bits of magic are helping me to understand this. And those felt like little gifts. And so I guess what I mean is, like, I can't answer for the why of all of it, but I hope that there are. We get enough little answers. But they're really just whatever makes you, helps you go through it and gives you little bits of magic.

[Pete Holmes]

Is that what magic. I've never heard that on the show. Is that magical realism is the belief that unharmful magical beliefs can be helpful? Is that.

[Cecily Strong]

No. I mean, I think that's what it has been for me, sort of. But it was like, I read 100 Years of Solitude a bunch in high school and always loved. And it was sort of. You know, it's easier to tell stories if we remember people. It's like in that day, she just floated up. Like, she just went up, then she floated away. As opposed to, like, you don't need to hear the story of how she died or whatever may have happened or that girl was taken. That. It's just sort of like, that's the way you tell stories. That's how certain families pass down. And I even think, I'm not necessarily religious, but I love that part of people's religion is. And some of my Jewish friends going to seders and being like, I love that you just. You're passing down stories. That makes sense to me, and that's how I understand anything. I need science to be presented to me in a story form, and then it makes sense.

[Pete Holmes]

Boy, I just love that so much. And I think we run into problems when things that are told in a Semitic style, which includes the New Testament, by the way, you know, we've got Jewish people writing it. That is not literal. When we start looking at a text like the Bible as a. As a textbook or a science, that's. You either get people not believing in God, I would say, for sort of the wrong reasons. I would say, like, missing the point. Totally valid to not believe in God. I'm just saying you're not believing in God because of the old. You think a snake talk. I'm like, no, no.

[Cecily Strong]

Right.

[Pete Holmes]

And a lot of people don't think a snake literally talked to two naked people in the same way that you're saying. Sometimes it's better to use a metaphor or a symbol to talk about the way somebody left your life, not just emotionally, and to be compassionate to yourself. But sometimes something that's not true is more true than just literal truth.

[Cecily Strong]

Absolutely. You can confront it easier. You can digest it, you can engage with it.

[Pete Holmes]

It's not just a fact. If I say it's totally 73 degrees a day, there's only so much you can do. But if I say today feels like a painting, you can step inside and. And the paint's going to get over your body and turn you the different colors like that, that, that's a feeling. That's how human beings are. I unfortunately got too fundamentalist and started believing all that stuff. Now it seems like a non issue, but like when you say like all energy in the universe is recycled and there was a man who embodied that. And we call that death and resurrection. That's great. When it starts getting like, let's find the shroud of Turin and see if we can clone Jesus, I'm like, you're really missing, you're missing the point.

[Cecily Strong]

And what a bummer for all of us.

[Pete Holmes]

What a bummer. Because even if you do clone him, what then of you? Where is your transformation? Because you think he's going to say something to you, you're trying to avoid the inner work of. When I say conversion, I don't mean conversion to a religion. I mean converting the. The fundamental way you interact with reality. Is it with awe and openness and curiosity and engagement or is it tight and hard and broken and shattered and fear based? You know, and stories can get you open way faster than facts can get you open.

[Cecily Strong]

Totally. And it's again and then. And it's not overwhelming mentally, spiritually, you know, it's a thing you can start to understand. It's accessible.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah. Yep. Absolutely. Love it, need it. You also said something your army, I thought that was beautiful. And somebody mentioned on the show.

[Val]

I think it was on the show.

[Pete Holmes]

They were talking about. No, it was in real life. I'm remembering. But they were saying this is real life too. But you know.

[Cecily Strong]

Yeah, this is also real life.

[Pete Holmes]

But they were saying that art is actually one of the reasons. I'm not trying to be funny. People don't kill themselves. It adds meaning.

[Cecily Strong]

I think I said that.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, you said that so many times.

[Cecily Strong]

You know, passing by that structure to go do the play. People weren't killing themselves. We're doing this.

[Pete Holmes]

And that's the extreme. That's a way to say it. That's sort of like catchy or, you know, shocking, but it also just imbues life with everyday meaning. Even though it seems so silly that I wanted to watch Smigadoon with Val, that is just to the soft animal of me knowing I will watch that tonight and I will enjoy it. And this other thing, I think all the time, this podcast, watching that show for you, making that show I would say the entire universe is just an excuse to hang out. It's all, we just want to make a reason to be together. Whether it's summer camp or high school or a play or for USNL or. One of the reasons I was bummed about the show is it was this great excuse to be together. That's really the first thing I was mourning was like, oh, we all. When 300. I keep saying human animals, but when 300 people are pointed in the same direction, like you're on the set, all the writers, all the producers, all the guests, everybody, even the audience, you're all pointed in the same direction. I think that's sort of the meaning of life is like, to find reasons to be together, then be together because we can elevate ourselves to higher levels of openness and love and togetherness than we can by ourselves. And if you think that God used to be the one thing and then it split into all these billions of things, then that actually makes sense again, metaphorically speaking. That it would want to split so it could reconnect and then forget and then reconnect and then forget. And that sine wave, that fluctuation is the pulse that we feel even in our bodies, but in every living thing.

[Cecily Strong]

Beautiful. Yes.

[Pete Holmes]

The mics aren't on. This won't be released.

[Cecily Strong]

It's truly beautiful. I think that's a nice thing to envision and share.

[Pete Holmes]

I'm taking a cue from you. We just took our literal hats off. And look at how I feel a little bit more at home just having this conversation with you.

[Cecily Strong]

I absolutely feel nicer now than I did two hours ago.

[Pete Holmes]

I love that. Well, there's one last question. We're right on the dot for time. Just because you are tired and working so hard, we're just going to keep it to the 90. But, like, because we talk about a serious thing. Can you tell me about a time in your life when you laughed so hard you were crying and your belly hurt? Just doesn't have to be a great story, but maybe you were a kid, maybe somebody fell down or farted. It's usually stuff like that.

[Cecily Strong]

I mean, none of it. Yeah, I feel like what's wild is all the times I've laughed the hardest are never good stories.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, I agree.

[Cecily Strong]

One of the, like, what just jumped in my head right now, there's so many things that I've cried, laughed at. The one I just thought of was I had to. This is like a mean something. Mean. But I was had to watch auditions for something in My high school. And it was just like watching people who can't sing, but you have to like sitting very close to them and you have to look them in the eye. And just having to go like. And knowing the people next to you also have to nod.

[Pete Holmes]

Yes, yes.

[Cecily Strong]

It's like laughing in church. When am I not supposed to laugh? And someone is so sincerely singing poorly at me.

[Pete Holmes]

And don't you dare look to your left or right because it'll break the facade. Like, you'll have to laugh, right?

[Cecily Strong]

And I normally do. And then I go like. Well, you don't do that, you know. Oh, that. Did you scrape your foot or something?

[Pete Holmes]

That is brilliant. Look, I'm doing it. What you did just there reminding me that when you're laughing and you're not supposed to, you often start trying to draw attention to someone else. Wait, wait. You said you weren't gonna have lunch today. And what's that? You farted.

[Cecily Strong]

You farted. I think whatever you need to do. I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing because this idiot.

[Pete Holmes]

And then the person singing poorly chooses to believe it because it's too much.

[Cecily Strong]

Like, give it to them, give it to them. Let's all have it.

[Pete Holmes]

I'm going to say that that is because you've just introduced a theory of what happens when you're church. Laughing is one of the best answers of all time. And I really appreciate it. And it reminds me of when Val and I went and saw Swan Lake and we made. I think we got stoned and we were like in the first row. I think we thought that was a good idea. And they wear cups to hide their bulges. And if you notice that, forget it. You can't enjoy. You're not gonna watch the show. And we left at intermission because it was too much. Cecily, thank you so much. I really appreciate you taking the time.

[Cecily Strong]

This was truly delightful.

[Pete Holmes]

I'm really glad. I'm such a fan. And I hope if it's not Schmegatoon, I can't wait to see what you do next. And.

[Cecily Strong]

Well, likewise.

[Pete Holmes]

Thank you very much.

[Cecily Strong]

Good luck to you with your two day pilot.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, well, I couldn't write today. I thought I had another two dayer in me, but we had to go to a birthday party. It was fine.

[Cecily Strong]

Do it tomorrow.

[Pete Holmes]

We'll do it tomorrow. Exactly. We have the guests say the sign off. It doesn't really mean anything. I promise it's not a trick. We just have the guests say, keep it crispy. It's just so you can have the fun of saying, hey, keep it crispy. So if you would bless us with a keep it crispy, we'll go, hey.

[Cecily Strong]

Gang, keep it crispy.

[Pete Holmes]

I don't know why it delights me every single time. It's the yes of it. It's that you did it. I'm tickled that everyone does it. Thank you very much. I hope to meet you in real life one day.

[Cecily Strong]

Yes, that'd be great.

[Pete Holmes]

This was a pleasure.

[Cecily Strong]

Lovely Crispy.