Carol Leifer
Appearances
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
So whenever I'd see a group of young guys walking in, I was sitting in the bar at the Improv and I'd see them, I was like, those are the guys that are gonna heckle me. And this happened over and over. I would have trouble with these guys. I really didn't know how to come back to them. It was tough. And one of the male comics took me aside. He said, I see the trouble you're having.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
And he said, I think I have the solution for it. I was like, fantastic. Lay it on me. And he was like, all you got to say to these guys is, great guys. So where are the dates tonight?
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Yeah, they're parking the car, the gals, and that would immediately shut them down. So he knew as a guy what the Achilles heel was going to be. So that's why it's good for men and women comics to talk to each other because sometimes you don't have the correct perspective not being that sex.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
I think that, and that's what I still find fascinating about standup, the audience sees so much that you don't see. And when they see you're not confident, or they're a thousand percent, they pounce on you. And I think the guys, I wasn't, my act wasn't as strong as it could be.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
And I don't think I took command of the stage enough that you need, that someone feels like, I don't want to, I don't want to get involved in this.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
No choice. No choice at all. So he told me about... He said, during the summers, I go to these nightclubs, Catch a Rising Star, and anybody can go on audition night. And I've gone on. It's a lot of fun. I was like, oh, I'd like to do that too. So... And we were watching comedians at the time, but it was like Leno on Merv Griffin, Richard Lewis.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Yeah, I think it's like when I see people heckled, they're, you know, it's the thing that in the ether that we can't, kind of put our finger on. They sense this person is weak.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
It was kind of like those were the guys that were on TV. So I was like, oh, I want to go to these audition nights.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
I don't know if you know or not, but I had kind of a big change of life sexually. You know, I was straight.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
You know, liked men. Yeah. I still like, you know, intellectually.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
What was that? I just had this kind of hankering. I was like, I really want to have sex with a woman. It really became my kind of thing. That's what I want to try to do.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
It was a curiosity. It was definitely, I just want to know what this is about.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
I was lured into it. L. Ron Hubbard. No. So I had shared this with some gay friends of mine and they said, oh, we want to. You know, we want to introduce you to our friend Lori. You know, she's gay, and she plays golf like me.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
It's de rigueur for the lesbian. So maybe you want to play golf with her sometime. So we got together to play golf, and I found myself attracted to her. And we went to have lunch afterwards, and we talk about this a lot.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
And we went to lunch afterwards, and then we were talking about me being single, and I thought this would kind of lead down this. And she was like, oh, I work with, she worked in real estate. I work with so many great guys that you would love. And I was like, oh, boy, this is just taking a bad road the other way. And so I got back to my gay friends after. I said, I really like her.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
She's great, and she's very attractive. But he and my friends talked to her and said, you know, Carol's kind of interested in you. And she was very clear. She went, I'm not going to be some experiment for some straight woman.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
I'd like to try being that funny. Robert Klein was a giant comic then. He played my college. It was like... But more than that, for me, it was like Elaine Boosler was on the cover of New York Magazine. And she was only a little bit older than me and doing a new style of comedy that wasn't Joan Rivers, that wasn't Phyllis Diller talking about Fang.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
She was. She was like, I'm not leading her into the cult. No, she's got to be down with it.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Exactly. So then she called me. about a month later. And she was like, do you want to hit some more golf balls? And we did that. And I remember I was working at Larry Sanders at the time. And she called me. She said, I have an event tonight. It was like the Beverly Hills Policeman's Ball. And her company was going. She said, you want to go with me? And so we went. And then it was very bizarre.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
There were like silent auction things. And then it was like, oh, a trip to Hawaii. Oh, that'd be fun. And I was feeling like, oh, there's something, yeah, happening here. And then afterwards, we just went back to my apartment. And we made out for like four hours.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Yeah. I mean, I had to do a little coaxing because she was reluctant with the straight woman thing. But I said to her.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
I had to burn the card right in front of her just to prove. I said to her, and I remember this, and it's a very good line for somebody who's single. I said, what would it hurt if we just made out?
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Yes. Yes. And I kind of had an aha moment kissing her of like, oh, oh, this is really good. This is really different. But it's really good. Better?
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
I think just closer. It was kind of some thing as close as I got with a man, it was different with her emotionally. It was just even deeper.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Yes, absolutely. I mean, whoever it is, you have to know, are you going to be... Is this all in or not? Yeah. Because I was always... At that stage of life, this has got to be all in. And she was like the same way. Yeah.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
That's such a great question. No, it just kind of evolved, you know?
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
It just kind of happened naturally. I was really taken with men before. Yeah.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
I mean, I had had one brief experience with a woman before, with another guy. Hello. But that wasn't an aha moment. It was fun, but it wasn't like, oh, my God, I'm a lesbian. Yeah.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Right. So talking about all in. You know, about 20 years into our relationship, Lori, my wife now, was like, I was always like, I didn't want to have kids. I used to call them, affectionately, fun killers.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
And I just didn't think I would be a great parent. But Lori really wanted to have a kid. She's seven years younger than me. So I couldn't say no. This is something really important to her. So we decided to have a kid. I mean, I'm 50 at this point. But it was important to her, so I want all in. And we decided to adopt because of obvious reasons. So we adopted our son from Guatemala.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Yes. And it's been an interesting ride, you know, not ever seeing myself as a mother and being a co-mother.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
You know, so much comes from how you were raised and your parenting handbook from you. And we come from very different backgrounds, Laurie and I. Like, I always call it the raised by wolves way with my parents. You know, great for independence, very bad for the feeling loved and tended to part.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Yes, also, but to a degree. I mean, I remember I went on a ski trip in ninth grade for three days, and a friend of mine called the house and said, hello, is Carol there? And my mother said, hold on.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Carol, where are you? Carol. So coming from that to Lori, who had very super involved parents...
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Yeah. You know, like in my house growing up, I don't know about you, but when you close the door to your room, that was like a good thing. Viewed as a good thing. It's like you're exploring something. You're practicing your flute. You're doing whatever. In her house, like closing the door meant someone was angry or someone was, you know, mad at somebody else.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Yeah. And it also wasn't like, am I right, ladies? You know, like appealing just to that. It was pure comedy.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Yes, a certain amount. But, you know, as I've found from parenting also, School is very different now, raising a kid. You know, when I was growing up, I think my parents came to school twice.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
You know, once to see me in a show, and I don't know, one time I was sick, and they were not involved. And I loved that. It was like, school is my place.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
You're in the house and work, whatever, but this is my... Now everything is involving the parents.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Yeah. Yeah. And emails from school. I'm always like, why are you emailing me? He's there.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
But you need to be involved that way with your kid these days. And I also think, you know, as people in comedy, we're also very attached to our work and it's so much of our identity. And I think that can take away from spending time, quality time, also with your kid.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
I think we did pretty good. I feel very good that he's, whenever he came back from camp or whatever, people are always like, he's very funny. And then I always feel like.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
And we have little jokes in the family. That's also like I did with my family. That's great. You know, inside jokes. So that always makes me feel very good.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Right. About dating and being a single woman in New York City, all that. So it was like, I also felt if she could do it, I can do it.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Yes. And what's gone from parenting now is, like when I went to school, I did well, partly because I wanted to, but partly because I knew my parents would kill me if I didn't do well in school.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
I think I have. But as, you know, I've come to learn you can only do so much in the environment that is happening.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
You know, Lori was downloading, I don't know how to put this, you know, it became like a project of... For you guys. Yeah, for her mostly. And it was like enormous. And I'm like, is this really?
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
See, but you can't, what I've learned is you can't really do that because I feel like in some ways he's felt like I haven't been fully present that way. And I think that's been hurtful.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Yeah. And you had to get there early in the afternoon to get a number to go on.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
And I went on fifth, and I, Neil, I killed. It was like- It was like amazing with my little material that I had thought of.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, also being two moms, it makes it different because you view moms differently than that. But, you know, she's very, it's simple to say like, oh, she stays home. You know, she's on these plans. boards of the school.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Well, we're turning that corner now as he's getting ready to hopefully go to college and start that. So it's kind of a different...
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
We didn't discuss it a whole lot. I mean, she's always known that working, being in comedy is really important to me and that that wasn't going to stop. And to keep working as long as I have in the business takes a lot of fortitude. And I think she has been aware of that, too.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
I had a minute more. Yeah. And then I thought, oh, this is great. You know, I'll be on The Tonight Show in two months. And, you know, I just, your first time out, I thought that's how it, what it's always like. It wasn't until I went back for the second time that I went on, and I didn't realize there were so many factors that go into stand-up.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Because I've been writing for 40 years. Yeah. And I just felt like, come on, you know? Yeah. I want that validation. It's just really important to me.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Wow. And I was so sure we weren't gonna win because the bear was still looming. Yeah. That I took a job writing on the Emmys because I thought, well, I don't want to sit in the audience in here, you know, and lose. That's the worst thing. So I was like, I want to work during it because we're probably not going to win.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
And then they announced Hacks and I went out there and I'm like, I'm wearing my sneakers.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Because writing has also changed in that, you know, Hacks is all... the writer's room is all on Zoom, which is great for the convenience of not having to drive and ba-ba-ba, but I miss, there's nothing like being in a room with funny people.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Yeah, that's hard. But I loved, I remember one time we were talking about stand-up that Debra Vance is really doing so well as a comic. And I said, she says to her manager, no papering the house anywhere. And they're like, papering the house? What is that? And I was like, that's a thing from the past. Yeah.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
What time you go on, if the check is being placed down, is the audience a little drunk?
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
And even to this day, I like the break of writing in terms of I have this great job. It's very creative. But I don't have to be out there like – You don't have to travel. Yeah. You don't have to travel. And I don't – it takes off the campaigning for yourself all the time, which has its good and its bad. You're not out there campaigning, which is nice and restful.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Yeah. At this point, I just feel like this is good. But I'm sure you're like me about stand-up. It's like, especially now going out, I'm doing like... You know, all new, like 12 minutes, I have 12 minutes that's completely new.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
And I totally ate it so bad that a friend of mine from college was in the audience, and I was taping my set with a cassette tape recorder, and you can actually hear my friend in the audience going, Oh. It was that bad. Dying. So then it was like, oh, this is something that you have to learn and do a lot so I could figure out why I killed the first time and ate it the second time.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
And it's kind of re-energized me to stand up because it's like, you know, when you start to do your act, the greatest hits becomes like doing Oklahoma every night, you know? So it's great that you kind of still, oh, I'm still funny.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
He left in 80 and he came back in 85 after Dick Ebersole was running the show.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
I mean, I auditioned to be a performer, but an Al Franken came to my stand-up audition with a guy named Jim Downey, who was the head writer for a long time. And they said, oh, you really love your stand-up. And then they offered me a writing job. And I jumped at it, because it's amazing. But I liked it right away. Yeah, I was happy about it.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
And there's a great documentary on Peacock now, a docuseries about SNL. But the fourth episode is called The Weird Year. And it's all about the year I was there. And they talk to me and a lot of other writers. And it's very interesting.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Something is very off. And the reviews came out right away. And Lauren called it. It was like, oh, how many Saturday night dead is there going to be? And there were. And it was horribly, you know, it was massacred by the critics. So it was bad. But I love that I got to write. I wrote a lot that year with Al Franken. And, you know, writing with someone else I think is so much fun.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Yeah, incredibly. And it was like a murderer's row of writers then. It was, you know, John Swartzwelder from... Yeah, Simpsons. Yeah, and Smigel.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Much... Their temper was much more mellow than comics. And also, you know, you've been hanging out with comics. It is a lot of me, me, me, me, me.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
smarter the Harvard contingent and everything so it I felt like a little bit also like I was in a good college yeah did you feel out of your depth or was it like oh no I know like I have a different I have an elevated vocabulary that I can tap into that I'm not I I felt very accepted much like the stand-up community because I was the only woman by the end of the season I mean
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
There was another woman earlier in the season, but she got let go.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
I do, in that I still really wanted to be a stand-up and make it as a stand-up. So I was, I feel like one foot in, one foot out. So I don't feel like I gave it 100%. Stand-up.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
So sometimes I think about, like, I wonder if I went back now, you know, I don't know if I could handle it because the schedule is so grueling. And for, I was there when I was 29. You can do it when you're 29. I don't know if you can do it at my age. But part of me feels like I didn't. do the complete experience from my end.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
And I would love to have been there a lot, but my stand-up really grew after that, and I kind of had my... Your career or your talent?
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
I think so because, you know, when you're not doing exactly what you want to do, you really give to what you want to do so much because that's like your oasis.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Not a lot because I feel like things lay out the way they're supposed to. And also I feel like, you know, I still go after things that I want. You know, I feel like a misconception of show business is like, oh, you know, you write for Seinfeld and then you, you know, you coast.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Like even the Modern Family. Yeah. episode. I ran into Steve Levitan at an event, and I love the show, and I said to him, my patented way to ask people for things, you know, I said, I love the show, would you consider me coming in and pitching some ideas? You know, would you consider, it's so much better than, can I come in? Absolutely. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
And also, if you add like, and if you can't swing it, no problem. And then all the pressure's off.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
This is part of the story because Catch Rising Star was like at that time, that's where the big names were. Yep. So Paul and I went over to the comic strip.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
And then he said, yeah, sure, come in and pitch some stuff. And then I did and it became an episode. And so that's what I mean about, I kind of see my career as still evolving because I'll make something happen if it doesn't come to me.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Yeah, I think it has to be really important to you. Look, I'm not saying if I were this age and I wasn't in a relationship, that would gut me. That would really make me feel terrible about where I'm at in my life.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
I just think that as you get older, like, who am I going to ride this out with?
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
And also, when you've been with someone, like I have been with my wife, Lori, we shared so many things that they really... They're your family. You know, you're in a relationship, but they're your family. Like, we were together when Princess Di was killed. Like, stuff like that. Like, landmarks of your life. And also, she's been with me.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
You know, when we have a bad Uber driver, we think of that French guy.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Yeah. Every tunnel, we go back. But that would make me very sad. I have friends my age that never are in a relationship, and I don't know. I feel sorry for them.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Yeah. And I always feel so funny saying this. You know, they were looking for comedians. So, you know, one answer.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
I think they would say they don't, but I think a part of them does.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
because it is so much compromise, which I think is tough for people like us.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
You just do it. You just have to, you compromise because the give and take, you know, you know that. And I think also comedians, you know, we're needy. We can be a real pain in the ass. You know, I feel like your partner shoulders a lot of that. So I'm very mindful of that as well.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Just things bending around me and what I need and want. You know, she's very good at navigating that. But I'm aware of it. So I try to give her a lot back because we can be a handful. I can be a handful. Yeah. As comics, it's built into, I think, the DNA.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Yeah. At some point, we are going to be able to talk about my new book, right?
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
For a wedding, bar mitzvah, graduation, and every other event you didn't want to go to in the first place.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
We were talking one time, and it was during the strike, about he had been to a wedding and saw someone give a horrible speech.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
And I was like, oh, my God, I've seen that a million times, too. And we started talking about it, and then we were like, why don't we write a book together about – writing a speech, writing a funny speech. You know, as comedians, we kind of do that every night anyway. But I do have a nice little sidebar of my career where I do a lot of corporate speaking.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
So I've also learned what works in those situations, what doesn't.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
I just kind of talk about being in my career for almost 50 years, and what kind of the process, the journey of that. Of course, I speak a lot to my Jewish groups.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
You know, I talk a lot about Judaism and what it's meant to me, what it means to me. So that.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Like, what are you doing, what am I doing that has made me in the business thriving for that long a time? Like, you know, a lot of people shoot up high and then nothing.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
because I know so many, I don't know if you have the same experience, I know a lot of talented people who didn't go the long run because they faced a lot of obstacles and couldn't take it anymore. I just said to one of my friends the other day who's a manager, making it in show business for the long run is taking a lot of shit.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
And you knew everybody, yeah. So we went on there, and I remember my audition night over there, because Paul and I went on, and Rich Hall.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
And you can either, you know, shoulder that and carry on and muscle through or you get like, I can't take this shit anymore.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
And they just disappear. You know, like either I have enough money or whatever, I'll find something else to do because the rejection and rejection. the no's become so overwhelming that they can't keep up the fight. And you know it's still a fight. It's always a fight.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
It's incredible. I spent time with him, too. I used to work on that show, Better Late Than Never, with the older guys. And we went to Thailand. I texted him. You want to get together? Sure. Yeah. But I quote his story to so many writers because he, I guess it's probably now at least 10 years ago,
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Yeah. He took his Writers Guild pension, and it was like, you know what? I'm moving to Thailand. Yep. And then he meets this great woman. He marries her.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Isn't she amazing? Yeah. And she had a son, and he's the dad now.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Yes. Jerry, you know, and I always talk about this, he was like already a star at the comic strip. Which doesn't surprise people now, but way back then, you know, that he put you through, that he was kind of like the top guy at the comic strip, only doing it for a year.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
I know, Neil. But you know what? I do worry about that because, like, being creative is my jam. And that people are still responding to it, that makes the jam even better. But it's going to stop at some point. And, you know, even now, you know, there are not that many people my age, women my age, who are still doing it.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
You know, I have women who come over to me who are on the cusp of 50 who are like, I'm starting to feel it.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
You know, ageist. Yeah. It's not happening. You know, and almost 20 years past that. But. I do worry about you can't do it forever.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
To be, not only to do it, but be recognized. And when it goes away, like, what will I do?
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Yeah, exactly. Because during the strike, I really had a hard time.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Like, what am I? At least Rick and I got to write the book, but not working is very bad for me. It just makes me feel empty.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Yeah. No, I wish the Judaism could help me. More with that, it's just kind of a... It helps so much with showbiz, I'm kidding. It sure does. But that's, I don't know, that's disappearing.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Yeah. Yeah, no, you know, and I had an experience a year ago, my best friend, I had two best friends since fifth grade, and one of my best friends got cancer and died. And it's been, you know, besides just being devastating, it's really rocked my head and my world, you know, thinking about
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
and could happen to her, could happen to anybody, one of us, you know, I mean, with the plane crash, we just, you know, yeah, it does make you think a lot about that. And it's not, it's not good.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Yeah, I guess if you can be okay with it, but I'm not. I mean, that you're going to die one day, it sucks.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Yeah, I know. Well, that's what's hard about it. It just makes you want to do the things that, You haven't done.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
That's funny. The thing about myself, nothing seems weird to me or undoable. I really want to write a song with somebody. I have a really good idea for a song. I know a lot of people through my... I'll find somebody who's going to say, okay, come by the studio one day. And I don't know, just like whatever... You know, nothing seems impossible to me, which I think is maybe a little Pollyanna.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
I know, isn't it? But I keep thinking about it and I keep writing on my phone. Like, you know, it wouldn't be like, it's just the lyrics. I think I have some very good lyrics to a song and it's not a far reach to someone who writes music. You know, I write for a living.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Right. No, it would be to get it to an artist and they do it and it's great.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
I think so. Yeah, because kind of what started the beginning of our conversation, I always wanted a life in comedy. I just, you know, my father was funny. He dreamed about being a comedian or a comedy writer. He was the king of joke tellers. I saw how he connected with people through humor. And I got early feedback, you know, that I was funny and I just was, I want a life in comedy.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
And I've been living that since, you know, my senior year of college. And that's so fulfilling to me. And to be with, you know, we never spent any time together. You know, it's great to spend time with you. And it's so interesting to talk to you. I love funny people.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
And my life would be so devoid if I didn't have funny people in my life.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Because that's the best. So I don't feel I have regrets that way.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Yeah. Yeah. I think so. I mean, I like to think I'm a good person.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
You know, occasionally I ask someone to make out with me, but...
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
He was very good being in charge, like I'm running auditioning. But he didn't have an ego about it. Or like the other places, he didn't lord it over you. You know, like, yeah, you're lucky to be here. And if I pass you.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
I mean, I think it's also a big reason why we adopted our son from Guatemala because I also want to feel like Doing a really good deed is going to I'm going to feel my soul will really ride on that. Did that work? Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. And we try to convey to, you know, he's a teenager in Brentwood, but.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
You do know that, you know, people from Guatemala are, you know, death defying, you know, avoiding alligators to get into this country. And we swept you up from a third world country. And here you are.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Yes, everything. Templates, things not to do, jokes people can use if they want to.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
For whatever occasion. Yeah. I mean, the thing is, when people come up to you and say, will you give a speech at something, aren't you excited? Aren't you looking forward to it?
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
But your average person is dreading it and is like, what do I do?
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
And then some people, what inspired us to write the book, go up there and they stink up the joint so badly it ruins the event.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
That's amazing. He just was very regular, but he had a good command of the place. And I think also of his material at the time. He was very diligent about writing. I always talk about how we fucked around so much in the early days of stand-up. He would set aside an hour every day where he would be in his apartment writing material, no matter what everybody was doing.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Yes. Adopting. Writing a book about speeches. You know, I'm the real deal.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Oh, my God. I got into show business really early. I was going to school at SUNY Binghamton, now called just Harper College. And I was in a theater group with my then boyfriend, Paul Reiser. And he was the funniest guy I've ever met.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
that lay people are always like i just heard sarah silverman was asked this like oh no no is amy schumer you know isn't there a competition you know among funny people and you know who has the better joke and you think if you go to dinner i don't think people understand comics love other comics we love each other do you have a good premise about something
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Well, at the beginning, and I don't know if this was your experience, I think it takes, like I remember at the improv having a very bad set in the first year or two and being at the bar and really thinking, I don't know if I want to do this and this is hard and when it goes bad, it's heartbreaking. And Stephen Wright came over to me and he said, you know, you have to do it every night.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
for like three years and not judge yourself at all, just do it every night and you'll be home free. You'll see, it'll work.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Yeah, every night. And then, you know, in New York, do Catch a Rising Star, do the comic strip. Then I passed the improv audition. And then the cellar opened later. So, you know, on a Saturday night, you could do six sets. And that's how you become bulletproof.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
No, theater didn't really have anything to do with it, I don't think. But I think that's a common thread among comedians. I had a friend who said, you know, most people's biggest fear is talking in front of large groups of people. And most comedians fear is not talking in front of large groups of people. You know, we have something in us that's like, hey, look at me.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
That's a good question. When you're just a comic in New York, it was just doing sets. And then everybody started to move out to California. So I felt like, well, that's what all the kids are doing.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Yeah. And I was like... Well, hopefully I'll get into The Tonight Show. That was the holy grail. You know, I don't think the kids understand that, like, of my generation, that was it.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
And like Freddie Prinze, you do The Tonight Show, you kill, and the next day you're a star.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Which was my first, you know, TV thing. And David Letterman saw the tape of it. And he recommended me to the Tonight Show. A guy named Jim McCauley was the talent guy. You know, the grand poobah.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Yes. Important in the story. I figured. He passed on me. But then Letterman got his show, his late night show. And I got on. in 82. I'm pretty pale, you know. I go down to the beach, people think I'm a mime.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
I was on three times in this first year. And they gave me an open door. But then I kind of became a Letterman act. So it was tough to get on The Tonight Show. But I eventually did. Because I auditioned 22 times to get on The Tonight Show.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Okay, so right at the end. Yeah, right before he came off the air. And he waved me over, you know, which was a big deal on panel. And I sat down with him. And my memory of him is, you know, he was big with the pencils.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
During the commercial break, he was tapping along to the band, but it was like in person. It was a little maniacal. It was like, Johnny, calm down. You know, it was really. And he turned to me and he said, you know, I did this joke back then. I don't have any kids, none that I know about. And he turned to me and he said, that is a good switch, good switch on that joke there.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
You know, I'm just so happy that I have a life in comedy. I mean, it's everything to me.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Like, it's in my DNA. And I'm sure you found this with stand-up. I got really good feedback right away. So that was so good for me because it was like, oh, I think I picked the right thing. So...
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Right. And as a woman, people always assumed like, oh, you know, how did you survive? Like the Boys Club has always been really nice to me.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
Yes. Well, we were in a theater group, and he was funny. But we connected because he could lip sync the 2,000-Year-Old Man album, the Mel Brooks Carl Reiner album, like I could. And it was like, this is Kismet meeting this funny guy.
Blocks w/ Neal Brennan
Carol Leifer
So I always got that kind of push from... from guys around of like, I got a great piece of advice coming up in stand-up that I'll never forget. That was amazing. I used to get heckled. The bad thing about being young and female in standup is I got hassled a lot. And also because I wasn't bulletproof or more bulletproof yet.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
But not really until you go on TV. I mean, to this day, my first appearance on Letterman is like one of my, the best days of my life.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
Because like suddenly you're not just, you know, kind of in it. You're really in it.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
It was so different that my dad bought a VCR to tape me. At the time, it was like $1,000. Wow.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
The Freddie Prince story. He did, I think like one appearance and then he got like Chico and the man the next day, got his own series.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
Well, I got my break to write on SNL. This is... What year?
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
What is affectionately or disaffectionately called the weird year. Yeah, yeah. You know, with the strange cast, Robert Downey Jr., Randy Quaid, but Al Franken... Anthony Michael Hall.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
Al Franken and Jim Downey came to the comic strip to audition comics. And they saw me and they said, would you like to, you know, we'd like you and we'd like to see if you want to write on the show. I was like, absolutely. They said, oh, you just have to meet Lauren. So I was like, all set for this meeting. And Had all my answers prepared, you know, for like a serious sit-down business meeting.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
It was literally, he was auditioning people, Lauren, at this rehearsal space. He came out for two seconds and he said to me, oh, I don't do a good Lauren. You know, Jim and I'll say you're very good. And, you know, sometimes you have to stay up late at the show. I was like, yeah. He went, okay, thanks. That was my big interview.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
I guess so, yeah. Like, if I had said, I really don't like staying up.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
Yeah, that's going to interfere with my routine. And so I wrote that year, and I really enjoyed it, but I really wanted to go back to stand-up. So I did. But then, strangely, out of the blue, in 93... Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld called me together.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
So I knew at that time there was something odd about that because I would talk to each of them separately on a landline, but calling me together seemed weird. They were in one spot.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
Yeah, and they were like, you know, do you want a ride for Seinfeld? And I was like, uh, yeah. You know, it was great because my inexperience is the thing that got me the job because they, you know, didn't want people who'd written on sitcoms before because as Larry referred to it, you know, they were poisoned by the system. What was your first writing job?
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
I remember that. Do you remember People Express? No, just that name. People Express. The airline of China.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
It was crazy because, you know, a lot of times people come up to you when you write on a hit show like that and they're like, something really funny happened to me. And you're like, oh, boy, here we go. You know, and it's like Betty's egg salad was in the fridge at work and somebody took it, you know, and it's like, oh, boy, here we go.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
But a friend of mine from high school was like, I had the funniest thing happen. This couple came over and brought a bread. We didn't put it out and they wanted to take it back. And I knew when I went in to Larry's office, Larry and Jerry, you would pitch to them one on one. If Larry liked an idea, he would get so ecstatic. You know what I mean? When I pitched that, he was like, I love it.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
I love it. We're doing that. Yeah. We're doing that. And he would be like that about certain ideas, you know, like Elaine thinks the Korean manicurist are talking about her behind her back in Korean.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
Exactly. You know, conversely, if you pitched, and this is a lot of times, ideas that he, they didn't like, he would kind of do this thing with his arm and go... Yeah, I don't know.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
He was having a heart attack. Yeah. You know, or he would, you know, the biggest put down was, I could see that on another show. Yeah. And it would be like, oh. But, and then when you have an idea like you like like that, in thinking about it, I was also thinking about Kramer and loving Costco because I loved Costco. Still do. Yeah.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
Yes, yes. And that he bought so much beefaroni that he started feeding it to his handsome cab horse, which eventually gave him a lot of flatulence.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
Yeah. The guest casting was amazing. And what was great about then, them as bosses for the writers, was you could be involved in every step of the process. You know, you're involved in casting. And, you know, now that I work on shows, people send in tapes, which is horrible. You know, it was so great when people would walk in the room and they go, hey, where's the hot seat?
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
You know, and they'd sit down and you get a vibe off of them and everything. You could also see how nervous they were in front of people instead of self-taping at home. But you'd be part of the casting. You'd be part of everything. So editing and all that. And a lot of times writers don't have that opportunity on shows. So that was really great.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
And to cast these smaller roles and people that just took off, you know. And even like the regulars, like the tennis episode I did with Morley Matlin, the lib reader.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
It's like, what are the four stories going to be? And for Kramer, for that, you have a tennis episode. Well, he's got to be a ball boy. And then you know that's going to be funny. We called him the ball man. And then he was rehearsing. Michael would rehearse these physical things over and over. People just thought he just did it automatically. He would really rehearse it.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
Exactly. Because also, you know, your ass is on the line if something goes off. So you do have that sense of responsibility with an episode, which is great. You know, the saddest thing to me is that I'm a big collector. So I took the, we couldn't use Beefaroni for some reason.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
Yes. Yeah. They made us change the name. So I had the can that the prop guy came up with for Beefarino. And I had it in my apartment on Flores in West Hollywood. And then when I moved, I forgot to take it, you know, move it away. And the guys thought it was just an empty can and they tossed it. I know.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
Crazy, crazy story. All right. So in 1989, I'm getting some gigs. Things are good. I run into this agent who's supposed to be, you know, big time at the time. He's like, you know, Carol, I think you could be doing even better. Why don't you come to my office, write down the gigs you have had and how much you got, and we'll go over it. All right. So I wrote them down. I came to his office.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
And right away, looking at the list, he was like, you got this at Sir Laugh-A-Lots? Oh, that's a joke. You know, you made this much at the Chuckle Hut? No, that's pathetic. Great names, though. So he said, why don't you, you know, sign with me? I was like, OK, great.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
So we start working together and if things are, you know, time is passing by, I'm literally working at ground round restaurants doing comedy nights there.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
Where you can't even be heard because people are, the sound of peanut shells crunching on the floor. Yeah. You could not even get over it. So I would call him and go, what's going on? Where are these big gigs? He was like, I'm working on Frank. Yeah. And at this point, I'm like, opening for, like, Frank Stallone? Who are you talking about?
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
Hi, my name is Carol Leifer. And I feel fresh about being Conan O'Brien's friend. Fresh? It's new, it's fresh.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
So then I work on a cruise ship and I get a phone call. Now, you know, if you got a phone call on a cruise ship in 1989, somebody died or your place is on fire. And it was the agent. And he said, you're going to open for Frank Sinatra at Bally's in Las Vegas for shows. And he apparently knew Jilly Rizzo.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
Yeah. And so I got the gig. And I called my friend Larry Miller because he had opened for Frank. I worked with Larry years ago.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
To get some tips because I was a little nervous. And he said, oh, they're going to love you. You know, it's a great gig. His audience is great. And it was an amazing... It's still today the top of my career showbiz experience.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
I do my set, but I learned something very important as a comedian with that gig because I was a little nervous about going out there. I went out and I said, oh, I'm so happy that Mr. Sinatra asked me to join him here at Ballet's. And then the audience was like, oh, okay, she's Frank's girl. All right, yeah, yeah. So that helped my set a lot. Yes. So I do my time, 15 minutes.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
You know, they had the clocks in Vegas on the stage floor. You got to keep it at 15. And then Sinatra would come out and he'd bring me back for a bow.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
But he said some cryptic things sometimes. Like one time he said, that was Carol Leifer. I wish my mother had been that funny. I wouldn't have had to work so hard. The summer breeze came rushing in from across the city. Yeah. And then another time he brought me out. He says, that was Carol Leifer. She's big. She'll knock you over for the phone.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
Yes, but what a gentleman. I mean, I have friends from that time who opened for people in Vegas who would not even bring them back out, you know. I would tell you the names of the acts, but I really shouldn't. But some of them are very supreme. Oh.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
Yes. Right. Exactly. Yeah. No, it's when I saw the show for the first time. So Gene is the first actor I've seen who is convincing as a stand up.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
I mean, completely, because there are so many actors who've tried it, and you can just sense something is off. But she goes out there when she does her stand-up on the show, and you totally buy that she's Deborah Vance, the comedian. Yeah.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
he is the same person the same yeah he actually just built a show around who he is exactly and he's always he's always larry david like i asked him when i got married if he would do a speech and of course he was like yeah you know i ruined my golf game that day yeah no i can't do it yeah you know it's so larry david
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
But he does have a great laugh, doesn't he? Great laugh. Yeah. When you make him laugh, there is no better feeling in the world.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
I want to bring up... That's also... Oh, sorry. Oh, go ahead. His genius, that he would take things... Like, he and Larry from Seinfeld, they always loved real-life ideas. And Larry loved it on Curb. So when I pitched to him... This true story that I had this great fold up umbrella that I loved, like it just opened perfectly and closed. And I just and then I lost it. And I thought I lost it.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
It was from the Omni Dallas Hotel. And I thought I left it at a Japanese restaurant. So, of course, I went back and the owner was like, you know, I was like, have you seen him? You know, a black fold up umbrella is like, yeah, I have 3000 of them back here. Yeah, but mine says Omni Dallas. And it was like, no, we don't have that. But the genius of Larry David is.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
He creates that he's in a fight with the owner of the Japanese restaurant so that not only can he not get the umbrella back, but then it becomes also about, well, it's really the Omni Dallas's umbrella. So why should I give it back to you? So he takes it like six steps forward, which is brilliant.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
Yeah. Exactly. And he really latches on to small things. Like the first time I went to pitch for Curb, I went in and my first idea was, when you're a funny person, a comedian, and a regular person, you tell something funny, say something funny, and someone goes ba-dum-bum to it, how much you hate that. It's so insulting. And Larry Amita was like, yes, yes, I like that. So we used that.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
Carol Burnett. Well, you know, I've written for Carol. I wrote for her 50th anniversary show, her 90th birthday special. And so I've got to know her casually. Yeah. And she's amazing.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
Oh, my God. Isn't she? Yeah. I reached out to her, and I said, you know, I have this book, and if you'd be kind enough to write the foreword. And, of course, approaching somebody like that. I'm always with, but if you can't do it, I totally understand. No problem. No harm, no foul. And she was like, yeah, send me the book. So this is on a Friday, okay? Sunday, she calls me.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
She goes, I read the book. I loved it. I'm happy to write the foreword. I mean, who does that?
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
But what you said, you know how many people get up and tell a speech, do a speech, and they don't say who they are. They just start talking about the person. And you're sitting there three minutes in going, is this his aunt? Is this a teacher? Who is this to this person? I mean... It's just important to get up there and go, hi, I'm Ann Betty, and I've known so-and-so since they were born.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
It is weird. You know, part of the advice we give in the book, you can't you don't have to memorize it. You know, just if you have a card, have some bullet points. Yes. But also, you know, practice it in front of someone who's going to be at the event that knows the person. That's a good idea, too. But reading is. Yeah, that's a big turnoff.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
Yeah, absolutely. We have a lot of jokes in there, jokes to steal for the events. But the beginning, middle, and end, it's really not all that difficult.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
Yeah. And look at it. It's handy, right? Small. It's not a giant tome.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
And you know what I wanted to say because I would be remiss if I didn't. I mean, to host the Oscars is really a tough gig. It's really, really tough. But I will tell your audience that beforehand when I went to wish you luck, you said, you know what? I just want to have fun out there.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
Absolutely. Yeah. So you really weren't all that nervous going out.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
You know what? It was actually quite the opposite because there were not many women. And I always thought that was a tremendous advantage because... I always talk about the 70s stand-up. They were looking for comedians. But it's really true. So when I started, there were like four or five women comics. You know, Rita Rudner was of my generation. And they wanted women comics.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
And I always felt I got so much support from the guy comics. Oh, good. Yeah, a lot of people thought it was a little rough and tumble and all that, but I got so much support, so I found it to be advantage. I mean, what was obnoxious was way back then, they wouldn't put on two women following each other. It was like it had to be separated.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
Like, we'll have the singer, then the ventriloquist, then a woman, then the monkey act, then maybe another woman.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
Well, I think, you know, as always wanting to be a performer, you know, like most people's greatest fear is speaking in front of large groups of people. Most performers fear is not speaking in front of people.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
I did. I did. And what I liked about stand-up was anybody can do it. You know, I was going to school at Binghamton. Paul Reiser was in my theater group. And he told me... Like one day, you know, during the summers, I go to these comedy clubs on audition night and I perform. And comedy clubs were so new then, you know. So when he was talking about clubs, I was like, this guy goes to clubs?
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
Performing at these places. He was like, anybody can go on. So I always loved that about it. And I still love that about stand-up. It's like, you want to go on. It's not like an actor where you have to...
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
Exactly. And the first time I went on, on my first audition, you know, it's also something about being young and having a lot of balls that you don't have later on in life.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
So I went on audition night. My first audition night, I like killed. It was amazing. And I thought like, oh my God, this is not only so great, it's so easy. Like I'll be on Johnny Carson next week. It's amazing. It wasn't until the second time that I went on that I completely bombed. Like, so bad that I invited friends from college to come see me because I was like, oh, you know, I'm doing great.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
And I had a tape recorder on the table, and you can actually hear my friend in the middle of my set going, oh.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
Muttering how horrible it was going over. So then I saw, like, to be a stand-up comedian, it takes some work. You have good nights. You have bad nights. There are a lot of factors that go into it, who you follow, what time of the night you go on, how inebriated the crowd is. So you have to learn to negotiate all that.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
No, no. In 1980, kids, I was in a contest called the big, the New York laugh off contest. And it was a contest, you know, of comedians. You know, that's so funny to me today. It's like, back then, that's how you got exposure. You were in contests, you know?
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
And it aired on Showtime, and Letterman saw that and recommended me to The Tonight Show for that.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
And then The Tonight Show saw my big laugh-off set, and they passed.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
So then when Dave got his show, they just reached out and said, would you like to be on?
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Carol Leifer
Yeah, I was on 25 times. And they gave me an open door. It was like, whenever you have a new set, come on, which was amazing.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Yeah, that was third year. Yeah. So was your audition in one of those chorus line rehearsal rooms like I saw them?
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
When did you audition, Spade? When was yours?
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Oh, wow. But you thought that night you hadn't done well, right?
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
You mean the set that I did for The Tonight Show?
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Well, you know, the weird year, it was like, I don't know that I want to be a part of it.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
But, you know, I feel like that year I had one foot in and one foot out because I really wanted to concentrate on my standup. So, uh, yeah, I, I don't think I, I just, on the weekend, you know, weeks off I'd be doing sets and all that. So, um, Yeah, no. Certainly, maybe if I had been on a more successful year, I would have dreamt about it.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Well, it's a bit of a saga because, you know, Letterman saw me on the big New York laugh-off.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Exactly. So I always felt like if I had to take for my act, dig away. Because if it keeps you alive at the show.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
And I just, sorry, I'm show dropping the Oscars a couple of times.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
John Lithgow was presenting this year, and I saw him, the writers hanging out in the green room, and I saw him and I said, you guest hosted the year that I wrote on SNL. And he was like, oh, you know, he like, well, he was very sweet. He was like, oh, you must have been a young child when you worked there. I said, yes, of course, child labor.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
But no, I told him that, you know, he was such a great host. He learned every writer's name that week. And he was incredible. And he remembered the sketch that we had written for him.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Yeah. Yeah, because, you know, in our day, that's how you got people to pay attention to you. You did podcasts. And he saw the Big Laugh Off. You know, that's the one where Eddie Murphy came in fifth and I came in fourth. Yes. So he had seen me on the Big Laugh Off and he recommended me to Jim McCauley, as you know, the talent booker for The Tonight Show. And then they passed.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Yeah. Yeah. So he was he was amazing and still is.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
And then this is my 11th time. I was part.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
No, Conan has his own team of people. And then there's a show team that I'm part of. Okay. I don't know if you guys know this guy, John Max. He's a head writer of many, many great. He's the guy to go to for your award shows. And yeah. And then we.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
No, no Bruce Blanch. But yeah, it's a good group and it's fun. You guys know it's fun writing.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Yes, I wrote for Billy a couple of times. Billy's great. I'm going to say on this podcast. They've all been great.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Yeah. Well, Troy Miller used to direct.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
And I loved Conan's substance parody. How funny was that?
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
but even his, I loved his, um, his musical number was a lot like, uh, it reminded me of the great Billy stuff too, like that.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Yeah. It was, uh, Look, funny is funny, but I agree that- I'm saying I'm just surprised.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Yes, I heard it. It was great. Yeah. Jerry. Jerry. Jerry, uh, he is a great guy. He made all my dreams come true a couple of weeks ago because I was in New York and, um, As you can see, I'm a big Beatles fan.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Yeah. And not only did I go with him to see McCartney at the Bowery Ballroom, but afterwards there was a little after party and he introduced me to him. that's as good as it gets yeah and he said my name he said hello Carol and kissed me on the cheek whoa he kissed you on the cheek kissed me on the cheek yeah
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
And then probably when I saw you, Dana, they saw me again and they passed. And I auditioned 22 times until I finally got the Tonight Show in 1992, right before Johnny left.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
I was introduced... No, um... You know, I have an older sister who's five years older and a brother who's 11 years older. So I heard their music a lot as a kid and remember the Ed Sullivan show, them coming on, going crazy, you know, what a happening it was. It's hard to explain to people how revolutionary their haircuts were. I mean, it was like, what?
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Yeah. My brother was home from University of Chicago. And the night of the Beatles concert, he said, because we lived on Long Island. Hey, hey, squirt. You want to go see the Beatles? And I was like, yeah. And drove to Shea. Whoa. Tickets that night. My sister, who had gotten tickets six months before, she was like four rows in front of us. And saw the Beatles at Shea Stadium.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
I kind of am very wedded to their early stuff because it reminds me of the mania and of first seeing them and all that. So, like, I saw her standing there, you know, that early, early stuff. But I'm also a Wings fan, you know? Yeah, me too. And I just worked with Lawrence Juber, who was like his guitar player in Wings. So I run the gamut, you know, with McCartney.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Yeah. But he was talking about, you know, they didn't, people couldn't have their phones that night. At the Bowery Ball.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
But it was great because they were, and to watch the show, because we were up in this little, you know, I mean, maybe has like. 300 people in the whole place. But to watch a concert now with people not having their phones, it was such a joy because it's like, oh, right, people actually experience it and not wanting it for later.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
But what was happening also was... It is that, you know, I was doing Letterman a lot during those years. So Tonight Show also saw me as a Letterman act. So that did in my way, but it just became like, I don't know, should I wear a dress the next time? Okay. Oh yeah. Like it just became a bit of like, okay, I guess I'll go out there again.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
The VIPs, like Jerry and his plus one, were up on a balcony, you know, on the top. So we were standing. But you wanted to stand. Everybody was standing.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Well, we really go so far back as to when I auditioned at the comic strip along with Paul Reiser and Rich Hall. Paul Reiser? Wow. Yeah. Jerry was the emcee and he put us through the auditions. And then when I auditioned to catch Rising Star, Larry David was the emcee and he put me through that audition. So I go back to my first days at these clubs with them.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
But what happened with Larry and Jerry was weird because I remember they I got a call from both of them and it was like, why are my friends calling me together? You know, I mean, you know, in 93, that was probably like, you know, conference call like that, you know, be on the same phone. But it's like, why are they calling me? And they were like, hey, do you want to write on Seinfeld?
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
It's like, yeah. But my advantage was and I think other writers advantage was they didn't want people who'd written for sitcoms before. because Larry hated all other sitcoms. They wanted people new to the task. So I was lucky that way. So that's how I got hired.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
You know, in a lot of ways, it was like SNL to me because you had to pitch your ideas to Larry and Jerry. You would go in and... It was set a time to go in and it was like two sentences kind of max, you know, like, um, like I went in, you know, Elaine thinks the Korean manicurist are talking about her behind her back. Um, at the nail salon, you know, and that kind of thing. Yeah. Yeah.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
We're doing that. Yeah. Yeah. That's a great idea. Yeah. Yeah. And then you'd pitch other ones and he had this habit of like rolling a shield and going, no, no, no. I can see that on another show now, you know.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Yeah, he would be like, if he liked something like that, or like Elaine thinks there are skinny mirrors at Barney's, you know, he would go, yeah, yeah, I love that. But, you know, come back with like a George, a Jerry and Kramer story, you know, that kind of thing. But it was the same thing. Like if you pitched ideas and it was a lot of, I don't know, you sort of started to get anxious about it.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
But when he liked something, he was so effusive about it, it lifted you to go off and do it.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
I do think, and let's go back to the Beatles here.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
What made the show great was the two of their sensibilities together, right? I always call it kind of like Lennon and McCartney, you know, Jerry, the more kind of pop sensibility, you know, friendly Stan and Larry being more the Lennon, you know, the curmudgeon having the edge and that together it made it a lightning in a bottle.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
And even working on Curb, I know Larry so well from Seinfeld that it was the same thing at Curb. You know, you'd go in and pitch ideas and he would love them or not like them.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
It was always Macaulay, yeah. I mean, you remember how powerful he is.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
But when he loves something, he was, he always, like, I remember the first time I pitched him Curb ideas, I said, you know, when you are with regular people, and by regular people, I mean not comedians, and you make a joke and one of them goes, ba-dum-bum.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
You know, the equivalent of saying the N word, you know, and he was like, he loved that, you know, so when he loves something and you're on a good roll, you can.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
And isn't it amazing that she's Lorraine Newman's daughter?
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Yeah. And sometimes when she delivers lines, it's like I totally forgot her name.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
And he loves all that small stuff. Like, he loved, I had a pitch about, you know, you pitch something to TV people, execs, and they go, you know, I don't love it. Yeah, I don't like it's like, no, I don't love it. And, you know, that's the kind of thing he sparks to like.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
He would totally, he would have totally made something about that. Totally.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Have you talked about the SNL 50th ad nauseum spade?
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Oh, well, I wanted to know. I was only there for the concert, so I didn't see.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Even with my shitty seats, it was amazing.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
I was like, hmm, maybe this would have a better view at home.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
You know, you have 12 years of experience, as you know. I mean, you get better every year. And at that time in New York, I mean, you guys didn't come up in the New York scene, but you could do eight sets on a Saturday night.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Well, the next night, the Saturday night, was the Writers Guild Awards.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
I do have an Emmy, but it's in the other room, but I think it needs to be on camera.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Yeah, yeah, no, it's... It's a good streak.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
You guys know as well as I do, to be in a room with other funny people is just... it's just the greatest. I mean, as much as I love standup and I saw you recently Spade at, um, there's, there's nothing better to me than being in a room with funny people. It's just the greatest thing.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
It's like, I always think it's like, you know, you go to a foreign country and say you're there for like a month, like Italy and you know, everybody's speaking Italian and nobody speaks English. And then like an American comes in and you're like, Oh my God, you know, and you just, to me, that's like with any comedian, there's always this kind of just instant bond. And yeah.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
I really have a great affection for my first letterman. which was in 1982, just because, you know, your first time, like, oh, my God, I'm on TV and people are seeing this. And what I dreamed about, to me, that's like my most precious kind of memory.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
On March 20th at Comedy and Magic Club.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Also with the great Kathy Ladman. So three funny ladies all together. I see Wendy, she's great.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
You know, with all the different comedy clubs, I mean, you'd have, you know, a seven, 10 here and eight, you know, a 15 year, it just went on and on and on. So I just was a better comedian, but wait a minute. So dating, you never did the tonight show with Johnny.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
I think they're calling it the ladies of laughter.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Right? Yeah. How much time did you have to do?
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
stop the show and do a sound check so it's difficult you think they do a show every night you think i think they know what they're doing and then you go oh they don't can i tell you a great story about joel rivers but that kind of stuff yes we would love it all right so i had a corporate gig in new york when i was coming up and uh they had booked um
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Joan Rivers to just open the show and introduce me and leave. So I get there, you know, before her, obviously. And, you know, like you guys, you know, you don't travel with your agent or manager for these times. So I show up and I see that there's no spotlight there. So I say to the guy, the tech guy, yeah, I'm the comedian. I see you have a mic, but you don't have a spotlight.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
And he looks at me like, oh, sorry, we don't have your spotlight share. You know, like I'm some diva. I was like, yeah, people need to see me. Yeah. You know, and he just like blew me off. It was so brilliant. So then Joe Rivers gets there, says hello to me. And she goes, where's the spotlight? And I go, I know. So, and the, you know, the tech guy was like hanging his head in shame.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
She literally went on stage and she was like, yeah, she did her bit, you know, cue you doing your Joan Rivers impression. But she goes, listen, I'm going to bring on the next act, but you be very nice to her, all of you, because there's no spotlight and it's very unprofessional. And it was, I mean, I mean, I love you, Joan Rivers. May you rest in peace.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
The comedy condo was the worst experience of my life ever. I did a gig. It was in Phoenix. It was a comedy condo. I was doing it with my friend Sue Kalinsky. We get there and we go to this disgusting comedy condo. And there's the other guy there. Disgusting. If you want to go, whatever. So about 7 o'clock, Sue and I get ready. We're getting ready to go to the gig.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
And we yell up to the guy, well, we're an hour away from showtime. If you want to come down now, we're going. And the guy comes down. He's like, oh, I'm not a comic. I just live here.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Yeah. Had just one of their friends living in one of the rooms. I mean, if you don't call 9-1-1 then, I really don't know what.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Before it gets too late, fellas, can I promote my new book?
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Yeah. It's called How to Write a Funny Speech for a Wedding Bar Mitzvah Graduation and Every Other Event You Didn't Want to Go to in the First Place.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
How to write a funny speech for a wedding or a mitzvah, graduation, and every other event you didn't want to go to in the first place.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Yeah, no one has. I wrote it with my comedy writer friend, Rick Mitchell. And no, no comedy writers have written a book like this. A lot of stiffs, you know, from the, you know... Corporate headquarters or whatever have written it, but no.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Right. We're tired of going to events where someone just stinks up the room with their horrible speech, and we felt like we could give them some help.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
And most comedians' greatest fear is not speaking in front of them.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Yeah, stay on Amazon. You can just click.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Oh, I wanted to ask you, Spade, because when I saw you, I loved your bit about Amber Alerts.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
It was definitely something. And I learned in many different languages. With all of the camp. But I think by 92, you know, I remember it was just, I had done the new year show with Leno before. And I just feel like they kind of felt like, Oh, we got to put her on. I mean, this is ridiculous already.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Elaine Boosler was actually not my female peer. She was before me. Yeah. And she, I got into standup because one of the big reasons was because of Elaine, you know, I'm sure people have talked about on your pod that not, not really enough. Not much.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
She was the, yeah, the top, the female standup that when I was in those early days, she was, she was on the cover of New York magazine and funny girl. And it just kind of changed everything. I was like, oh, if this woman can do it, maybe I can do it. I remember Seinfeld and I talking about that cover.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
It had an impact on him in wanting to go into stand-up because it was a new type of woman and person going into stand-up.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Yes. Joan Rivers was great. But I think what differentiated her from my generation was, you know, it was a very like, am I right, ladies?
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Rosie O'Donnell came a little after me, but you know, my peers were like Rita Rudner and Paul Stone. But I remember with Rita, because we went on a Catch a Rising Star together, you know, in those days they wouldn't put two women on after each other.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
It was like horrifying, horrifying, you know, like, okay, there's the singer, then the ventriloquist, then the monkey act, you know, it was just, how are two women on the same show?
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Yeah. She is one of the all time best.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
I have seen the documentary on what is affectionately, unaffectionately called The Weird Year of SNL. Yeah. When Lauren came back. And I remember I auditioned at the comic strip to be a performer. And Al Franken, the great Al Franken. Yeah.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
And Jim Downey, as you know, famous head writer came to first showcase and I did well. And they came over to me afterwards and they were like, would you want to think about being a writer? And I was like, what I want to be. Yeah. So I lived in California and they said, well, come in and have a meeting with Lauren. So I came into New York.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
So I'm ready for my, you know, I had it all planned, you know, an hour of what I could say to, you know, perspective, perspective questions, blah, blah, blah. And it was literally, Lauren was auditioning talent in that big kind of like studio room in Broadway. I don't know where they held the auditions.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
it always looked like where they put audition dances for like a chorus, you know, like, no, and two, three, four, you know, but, and I came and they said, okay, Lauren's going to meet with you now. He came outside and, the door of the audition room. And he said, you know, they've said very good things about you. I said, Oh, thank you. And you know, the job, I don't do a good Lauren impression.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
So somebody could do this for me, but.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Well, it was almost exactly like that. You have been told that Tuesday nights are late and you, you work very late. And I went, yeah, no. Okay. So it lasted about a minute.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Yeah. It was a crazy, I love that documentary about, uh, the year because it was crazy and it was nutty, but I still, you know, I always like to tell young people, you know, we wrote a long hand on yellow pads. Yeah.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Yeah. Um, so that was it. And then I was really the only woman writer that year, but you know, it was amazing. Uh, like murderer's row of writers, like Smigel was an apprentice.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Yeah. I always teased him. Apprentice means you need to wear goggles in the writer's room. You know, John Swartzwelder and Jack Handy and George Meyer. Meyer and Don Novello. And it was just amazing, but I've heard a lot of stuff on, I have to say, I look back and it was like, I got, you know, I wrote a lot with Franken. We did this sketch. Yeah.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
You know, a lot of people don't know, as you guys know, you can write a sketch and have it at read through. And if they pass on it, you can bring it back a few more times.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Yeah. And then Tom Hanks finally. Yeah. Put it over the finish line.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
cast well it was um dennis miller of course right yeah okay thanks for the call shout out leafer okay good um you know it was nora dunn joan sack uh denitra vance um Then the guys. Was it Terry Sweeney? It was Terry Sweeney. It was Randy Quaid.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
Anthony Michael Hall. Robert Downey Jr., who I just saw at the Oscars.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
It's like, I remember you skateboarding down the halls of the 17th floor. Yeah, no, it was, you know, they talk about in the documentary, Lauren hired actors more than comedians. And it's that sort of, oh, and Lovitz, Lovitz was a cast member and he did really well that year. I think he and Dennis were the, and Nora were the only people that were brought back after that.
Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade
Carol Leifer
I wish I remembered who wrote that. Yeah. And then do you remember when Madonna came back the next year to host? She apologized for the entire 85, 86 season.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Okay, look, Carol Leifer is here. Her new book that she co-authored with Rick Mitchell is called How to Write a Funny Speech for a Wedding Bar Mitzvah Graduation and Every Other Event You Didn't Want to Go to in the First Place. It's available now wherever you get books. And this is me and Carol talking.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
So, Kathy Ladman is opening for me. That is so great. For this special. Fantastic. And, you know, I knew her when I was a door guy at the comedy store when I was 22. I used to see her.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
I didn't know you were a door guy at the Comedy Store.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Yeah, it was a brief period. It was almost a year. I got very fucked up on drugs and I had to leave. But I was a door guy in, I guess it would be, 86, 87. Okay. So I used to see Kathy, like, you know, when she was, like, young. Yeah. And I always liked her. I never thought she liked me. But I think she has one of those personalities where, like, anyone could assume that about her.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
I don't think she likes me. She's just very, you know. But I decided, like, I'm going to have her open for me because, for one, as we were talking about before we turned the mics on, there's this Jewish thing that doesn't, you know, Jews sort of dictated what comedy was for decades. Yes. And it's just gone. I know.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
It was the sort of through line of American stand-up, American comedy, writing, everything. It was all that rhythm. It was all from that. Yes. And it's gone. The people that do it are gone. But she's still here. She is. And you're still here. Yes. And she's got a very specific... Kind of delivery that is very nostalgic for me, but also very true to what, you know, I grew up with.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
And I just thought like, well, that would be nice to have that.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
And it's progress in a mental health kind of way, I think. I've talked to you about it. I've been on that... I can't really tell if it works. I can kind of tell because something's happening. I can see the zone of my anxiety is somewhere in between who I am and the things I do to make myself crazy. Okay, some of those things are, you know, legit.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Oh, she's a great opener for you. And I've been working with her a lot. Yeah. Her and Wendy Liebman.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Yeah. Mother's Day. We're going to be at Flappers in Burbank.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Really? Yes. Do you tour with it out in the world? I do. And what do you call it? Is there a name for the tour? Is it like three Jewish ladies or something like that? Hilarious. Of course.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Why didn't I figure that out? Why didn't I guess that?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
And what do you guys do? Like 20 each? Half hour each?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
We do a half hour each. We just headline the Comedy and Magic Club. We have a great, great time.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Yeah? Yeah. I bet. And this is not an insult. Have you thought about playing Jewish things?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Of course we have. Yes. Yeah, we did Tarzana. We did a country club in Tarzana that was about 99% Jewish. And it's fantastic. But I do a lot of speaking at temples, at JCCs. You do? Oh yeah. That's very big on my docket.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Was meinst du? Das ist ein Gespräch, also du bist Schauspielerin, Komedin, Produzentin oder was auch immer. Wir diskutieren ihre Leben und Show-Business.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
So, I talk a lot about Mark, my Jewish upbringing. Yeah. You know, how it's impacted me through my life. And then people love my story in show business because I've been around for so long.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Ich weiß, dass wir das schon lange zurückgebracht haben, aber du warst im Stand-Up. Ich erinnere mich an dich, als ich jünger war. Und dann warst du für immer Schriftstellerin.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
War das das seltsame Jahr, als Lauren weg war?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Es gab eine Veranstaltung bei The Comic Strip und Al Franken sah mich mit Jim Downey, dem Hauptredakteur von Endemir's, und sofort nachdem sie mich anrufteten, sagten sie, wir würden gerne, dass du auf der Schriftstelle bist, wenn du es magst, oder ob ich es mag, du musst einfach Lauren treffen. Also, ich war bereit, aus L.A. zurück in New York zu kommen, um das zu tun.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Und ich habe mich vorbereitet, um mit Lauren zu treffen. Und ich hatte alles geplant, mein Outfit und das ganze. And I went to this rehearsal hall to meet him, where he was auditioning cast members for that season. And he came out and he said hello. And then he said, I don't do a good Lorne. He said, Jim and Alf said you'd be great for a writing job. You know that it's a lot of late nights.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
And I said, yeah. And he said, okay. And he went back to the room and that was my meeting with Lorne Michaels.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
And then he was gone though? Did he leave? Was that the year he wasn't around? No, no.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
That was the year he was around. It's just a story of, you know, my 32nd meeting with Lorne Michaels to get a writing job on SNL.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
They got rid of most of the cast and most of the writers after that season. But I was part of a murderer's row of writers that year.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Smigel, Don Novello, John Swartzlander, George Meyer, Jack Handy. Yeah. Yeah, it was... Pretty great crew.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
It's so wild, man. Because I'm just starting to feel this sort of, I'm 61, so I'm just starting to feel like, holy shit. And because of COVID, I theoretically should be 58. All of a sudden I'm like, what happened? It's like, we lost three years. But now I'm looking around and I imagine it happened for you. It just happens where all your peers were like older people. And it's bizarre.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Because you hold them in your memory like you're young people. Und jetzt schaue ich auf meine Vertreter, wie David Cross oder Todd Berry, die Leute, mit denen ich angefangen habe. Und ich denke mir, wir sind die alten Leute jetzt. Was ist passiert? Es ist verrückt.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Und das andere, was wir vorhin gesprochen haben, was ich bemerkt habe, nachdem Richard weggeflogen ist, weiß ich nicht, was genau passiert ist. Ja. Ja. Ja. Yeah, screw your act. Yeah, we solved this problem. There's meds. Exactly. But I don't really know what happened, but I guess like lately, I've been kind of nostalgic for it.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
There's no reason not to feel anxiety about certain things if they should cause anxiety. But there is reason to perhaps not make it your life's work, which my life, it kind of is on some level, part of it. But I think the Busporn has given me a little space within who I really am now and what I've become now.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Because I don't see, anytime I see somebody who is fundamentally Jewish, like have you seen Robbie Hoffman? She's on Hex's season.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Das ist verrückt. Mhm. Sie ist so lustig. Sie ist so lustig, aber sie ist orthodox in dieser Gemeinschaft, wo sie immer noch Jiddisch spricht. Also sie ist eigentlich wie modernes Comedy-Jewisch. Ja. Und sie hat dieses Delivery, das ist wahrhaftig, aber es ist wie nur post-Jiddisch. Es ist verrückt. Wow. Ja. Also was, diese öffentliche Sprache, weil ich weiß, dass du dieses Buch geschrieben hast.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Ja. And when I looked at it, I was sort of like, I'm not even sure I know how to do public speaking. Really? Well, I mean, anytime I've done it, I'll write things down. But I don't think in terms of the structure or who I'm talking to. There was a brief period where I would go out and make myself available for keynote type of things. Yeah. But eventually I just get too personal.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
It's not that I'm doing my act. I just get too honest. It doesn't fall within the expectation of what public speaking is.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Yeah, but I would think, because Rick Mitchell, who I wrote this book with, who is a comedian and wrote on Ellen's talk show for many seasons, Usually comedians, I love speaking at events and he does too. I would think that you would love, you know, not, you know, specifically keynotes for corporations or groups, but that I would think people would go to you right away for a wedding or...
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Yes, yes, absolutely, because you know what I've found, and especially at our age, going to more memorials, I really enjoy speaking at them because I find it to be very cathartic for me personally. But also in the book we talk about, you know, people are afraid to be funny at celebrations of life.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
I've seen people kill. Right? Kevin Nealon at Gary Shandling's memorial was the funniest thing I've ever seen in my life.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
But to bring up certain stories about someone, people love it. Like, I just spoke at my cousin's memorial. He passed away of cancer at 55.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
And the thing that everybody loved about him, he was a great people person. Social butterfly, just, you know, so much fun. So I told this story about how we had gone to see the Beach Boys together, him and his wife and me and my wife, at the Greek. And I said, afterwards we were invited to the little after party, and I said, I really want to go over to my glove of the Beach Boys. And
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Say hello, because I opened for them in 1982 at Harrah's in Lake Tahoe. I want to see if he remembers me. He's out of his mind though, right? Mike Love? Yeah. I don't know if he's out of his, yeah. I just know him as a beach boy.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
But anyway, so we're at the little after party and I'm trying to work my way over to Mike. I can't do it. I don't see my opportunity. I go to get a drink at the bar. I turn around. My cousin Jay is talking to Mike Love like he's known him for 40 years. So much so that when I walk over, Jay is like, oh, hey, Carol, come here. Hey, Mike, do you remember my cousin Carol?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
She opened for you a million years ago. Und die Leute liebten es. Ich liebte es, diese Geschichte zu erzählen. Und die Leute liebten es, weil es wirklich enthüllt hat, wer mein Cousin war. Also, ja, wir reden über... Er erinnert dich an ihn? No, not for a second.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
and whatever journey I've been on and the things I've overcome to make me who I am and the part of my brain that's just sort of like, nope, you're not him. And hey, how come we haven't done anything today to feel shitty about ourselves? We don't have to. I can still beat the shit out of you for no reason. You want to get hypercritical about, how about your special?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
He just kind of nodded, you know, the vague nod.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Yeah, because they don't pay attention who's the opener.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
No, and it turned out to be the worst gig of my life.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Really? Yes. It's that memorable. But you still wanted to see if he remembered you.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
What if he had said like, oh, you had a tough night that night.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
I would have appreciated that because they used to tune up while I was still on stage. And I had to go backstage. I had no manager or agent with me. And, you know, go like, Beach Boys, can you please not tune up while I'm out there? So I thought maybe, you know, he'd even maybe apologize this many years later.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
But none of that's important to the piece from the memorial. Yeah. Ja, aber ich bin ein bisschen verpisscht. That would make it about me somehow.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
But that's fine. I mean, people would, if I had added that into the story, they would have still enjoyed it, I think.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Well, that's the one thing about that audience. You know, the worst that can happen is they walk out going, it's a little weird.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
No, but I love giving speeches and that's why.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Like when you break it down, though, let's say for a memorial, what are the points?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
The points are to reminisce about qualities about the person that you remember, that people remember, stories. Stories in any speech are the gold of a speech. And also, you know, being heartfelt. It's always important. Ich fühle mich am Ende meiner Sprache, um kein Jail-Comedian zu sein. Und es zu beenden mit etwas Schmerzhaftem.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Und sicherlich mit meinem Cousin Jay war es einfach, weil sein Tod wirklich hart war. Und so eine tolle Person zu verlieren, als er so alt war, ist schwierig.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Ja. Für alle. Ja. Ja. Und erinnere dich daran. Erinnere dich an deine eigenen Gefühle über die Verletzung. Sei nicht furchtbar, um zu emotivieren. Du musst nicht witzig sein. Ja. Ich würde mir vorstellen, als Comic, und ich schreibe das mit einem Comic, du musst versuchen, Tipps zu geben, wie du das ausbalancieren kannst. Ja.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Wie ich gerade gesagt habe, du kannst es über dich selbst machen, wenn es für das Event geeignet ist. Und es ist Teil der Geschichte. Ja.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Yes, but to veer away from yourself and focus on the person.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
So there's weddings? Yeah. So that would be some more thing you focus on?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Well, look, there are basics that people don't know.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
That we could not believe. Like, keep it five minutes and under, your speech.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Oh my God, how many times have you gone to a wedding, an event...
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
You remember that one line that you don't think went that well, even though they got two shows of it from nine different cameras and maybe if you have to do ADR, you can do it, but that doesn't matter because you fucked it up. You fucked it up. You fucked Fuck. All right, let's move through that one. Let's let that go. But, you know, it's always right there for you.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Yeah, so this is important now more than ever.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Sure. Yeah. And what are the other chapters for? Like a business? I mean, I guess I could look in the table of contents.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Because, as I mentioned, a lot of people are not aware of them. Were you at Richard Lewis' memorial?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Well, it was a really, you know, nice memorial.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Oh, this just happened a couple of weeks ago.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Yeah, yeah. But, you know, people get up and they start talking about the person and they don't say who they are to the person.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
So you're up there, they're up there and you're sitting there thinking, is this a... Relatives, this is a roommate, went to camp with it, you know, it becomes like, you know, an episode of... And that's distracting your brain. Yeah, NCIS, who, what? So, for people to go up and say who they are to the person, you know, that's important too.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
But, we do go into how to make something funny with steps, but even if you're not, you don't feel like doing the work, We have a whole section at the end of what we call Jokes to Steal. Oh, good. For any occasion. Right. Take the jokes. Oh, good. Put them in your speech. No one will know. That's good.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
And templates, Mark. We have templates where you just kind of fill in the blanks.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Oh, that's good. Easy for people. It's very helpful. Because it's one of those things I would think this book would sell, because it is the most terrified, the scariest thing. It's the top of the list most of the time. Right.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Most people's greatest fear is talking in front of large groups of people. But comedians' greatest fear is not talking in front of large groups of people.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Or bombing in front of large groups of people. Yeah. Das ist der größte Angst. Ich kann von anderen Menschen sprechen, aber da ist das Moment, wo du denkst, ich weiß nicht, ob das zu weit geht. Because we know what we're there to do. Yes. And you see the challenge of it and you're like, oh, fuck.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
It's odd that no matter how long you do this, like there's that sixth sense that happens when you're backstage and you're just like listening or assessing an audience. You're like, that table. That's going to be a problem.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
You can. Yeah. It's crazy. It is really. Like there's an energy in the room. You're like, there's something wrong over stage right. Yep. What is it? And then you're like, that's that guy. Yeah.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Du kannst nicht, es ist wie ein Radar, das wir haben. Das ist verrückt. Und das nächste Set danach ist gut. Also fast garantiert.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Oh ja, ja. Findest du das auch? Ja, weil, weißt du, was auch immer du rausgibst, es passiert so, wenn du einen Spot im Comedy-Store im Hauptraum machst und dann hast du einen Original-Spot im Hauptraum, kann der Hauptraum irgendwie entweder gehen, weil es ein großer Raum ist und egal, wie viele Leute da sind, kann es weniger entspannend sein.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
There are some things that I shouldn't feel anxious about that I do. Food, my looks. It's just, there is, what I'm realizing is that there's a whole... world of my brain that is constructed a certain way because of things that happened when I was younger that just wants to generate detritus, just garbage, just kind of psychic detritus.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Und du hast vielleicht einen schwierigen Zeitraum, sich zu verbinden. Aber wenn du zwei in der Nacht machst und du hast dich bereits so rausgezogen und du musst dir das kleine Stück Armut anziehen, das du immer gemacht hast. Ja. Weißt du, die nächste Saison, du wirst sagen, fuck you. Exactly. Exactly. You're not going to do that to me. Or I'm not going to do that to myself.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Yeah, but there is that idea where you're excited to do it and you know you're good at it. And then it's just part of the job. You go out there and it wasn't good. And then you're like, oh, fuck. And then you got to go at the next one a little harder. Absolutely. You know, until you find the zone where you can let it down a little bit.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Yeah. I mean, our life is crazy. And I've gotten very... You get spoiled, too. Wenn du einen Publikum hast. Ich mache mir sicher, dass ich den Store mache, damit ich für Leute, die mich nicht kennen, performen kann. Wenn ich in die Theater gehe... Ich bin überrascht.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Ich denke, wenn du auf der Bühne gehst, werden die Leute dich kennen.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Nein, mein Profil ist nicht so groß. Ich bin nicht jedes Haus oder Name. Es werden Leute sein, die mich kennen oder nicht kennen. Aber die Leute kennen mich. Aber wenn ich meinen Publikum mache, kennen sie mich alle. Es ist fast wie Verletzungen.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Aber manchmal, wenn ich zu ... Ich habe gestern Abend auf der Bühne gesprochen. Ich hatte eine Bride-Party, eine Bachelor-Party, wenn die Komödie funktioniert. Oh, oh. Ja, aber ich wusste, dass die meisten von ihnen mein Publikum waren. Jetzt muss ich diese verdammten Idioten besitzen. Und ich war so, wie kann ich ... Es war eine lange Geschichte.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Aber ich meine, der Punkt ist, ich habe mich geforstet, die regelmäßigen Arbeit zu machen, um einfach hart zu bleiben. That's good, right. You know what I mean? Just to see if this shit works with an unsympathetic bunch in a 15-minute slot.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
And also following, I'm sure, some heavy hitters.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
I still get mad about that. Ich habe es nicht gemacht. Weil ich weiß, wenn du 15 Minuten hast und du nach jemandem bist, der ein Täter ist. Ja. Du denkst, naja, jetzt sind die ersten fünf verdammt.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Genau. Du musst deinen Weg aus dem Loch machen.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Ich habe Tricks, die ich mit bestimmten Performern machen kann, weil du einige der gleichen Leute folgst. Ah.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Oh, Pauli tötet nicht unbedingt, aber er ist Pauli. Ja. Und er ist einer dieser Jungs, es gibt eine Tradition in der Komödie, dass manche Performer die Lichter einbringen, um den Spotlight zu haben, anstatt den vollen Stagelight. Und er ist einer dieser Jungs. Er und Argus, sie machen dieses Ding. Alan Stevens hat das gemacht.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Aber sie haben eine Wahl, also bekommen sie den Spotlight, anstatt den vollen Stagelight. Ja. Also er macht sein Ding und die Leute sind gespannt. Er war ein großer Star. Und dann kommen die Lichter wieder raus. Und dann bringt er mich hoch. Und generell, um den Weg klar zu machen, sage ich, Pauly Shore, meine Damen und Herren. Und dann sage ich, ja, das ist, wie er sich jetzt sieht.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Ich benutze die gleiche Worte für Spade, auch.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Well, there you go. Now you're off to a good start.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
You're in. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. Or if I have to follow Whitney Cummings or Eliza Schlesinger, I always get up and go like, okay, let's just take it down a notch. Or I'll say, let's shift from, you know, whatever, whatever to cranky Jew. Like anything that'll get me, you know.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Yeah. See, I can't, I don't work at the store. I can't get on there.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Really? Yeah. They just changed bookers. I don't know what's going on there. Where do you work? Improv?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
I work a lot at Comedy and Magic Club. Do you live over there? No.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Well, I live on the west side. Well, that's good. Yeah. For me, that's like a different state to me. I'm like, do you ever work there?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
I'm like, I don't even know how to get there. Well, it's in Hermosa Beach.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
And I do the Laugh Factory a lot. You know what I love to do is Kevin Nealon's New Material Night. Have you done that?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
That just stacks up and then I'm like, how do I even clean this? How do we get rid of this? I've got a neural pathway full of psychic detritus in all types of forms and shapes, memories, moments, patterns. So I guess what I'm saying is. It's kind of working.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Oh, really? Where's that? At the Laugh Factory?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
At the Laugh Factory. But you have to go up and it has to be all new material. How great is that for us? That's great.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
They're great. They're great. And just, you know, normally when we have to go up and shoehorn in a new bit here, shoehorn, you know, between two... So you can bring your notebook if you want?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Absolutely. Yeah, someone does that in the belly room at the store sometimes. I think Fahim does it, where you can just work out shit.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
It's a great world we live in now because of podcasts and everything else is that people like to be part of the process. That was unheard of before.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
You know, I used to bring notebooks up and people were like, no, what the fuck is he... Is he going to school? Yeah, doesn't have this shit worked out already? We paid for a pro show. Does he do that every week? He does it once a month. Oh, he never asked me. He asked me to go on his hiking show, but he doesn't ask me to do his new material.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Well, you know what, but that's the thing. I reach out to him and say, can I come on? Do it and work it out?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Yeah. And you got a bunch of new jokes and you do it?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
And I love it, because as you know, 10 neue Stücke, vielleicht 2 oder 3 funktionieren, aber sie sind da, um sogar die klunkeren Stücke zu hören. Und du weißt, wenn du eine neue Stücke hast, funktioniert das. Es gibt kein besseres Gefühl.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Oh ja, aber ich schätze, ich denke, wir arbeiten wahrscheinlich strukturell anders. Ich gehe mit einer Idee auf und hoffe, dass die Punchline kommt. Ich schätze, und dann bin ich so wie, oh, es ist wieder passiert. Das Geschenk. But I think that you're probably more structured and you write the joke. Yes. It's good.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Whenever I come up with a well-structured joke off the cuff, I'm like, well, I know how to do that. Why don't I do it more often? But you have a new hour that you're doing.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Yeah, it's like an hour and a half. Yeah, hour and a half. So that takes a lot of working out.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Yeah, it works out, but it's all sort of oral tradition with me. Like, you know, I have premises and I have bits and pieces, and they all kind of become fluid over repetition, and it just naturally kind of forms itself. You know, it's all in my head, though, which is, you know, that can go either way. You lose a lot of stuff. Like, if you work with solid jokes, you have them.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
You're like, what was that one? Oh, I have it written down. With me, I just have, like, cats. You know, and then... Was zum Teufel? Welches? Es ist nicht der effizienteste Weg, aber es hält mich auf meinen Beinen. Ich denke, das ist ein Teil davon. Aber du hast noch nie einen Zeitraum gehabt, in dem du aufhörst, Stand-Up zu machen?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
I did a little bit during writing for Seinfeld. I stopped, but I learned my lesson the hard way. Then I went back up on stage after a couple of years of not going on stage. And then it was like, oh, holy shit, I'm losing all the experience that I had before.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
It's like a gym. Yeah, use it or lose it. Yeah.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
It's like going to the gym, just to stay in that relationship.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Yeah. And that's great. But also you're doing like a real show, you're working. Yeah. And you're still, and you wrote, I mean, I can't, you wrote that, you were on the staff of that last Oscars? Yes. With Conan? Mm-hmm. So funny.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Well, you know, I've known him forever. I was a recurring guest on his show. I used to do panel. I always wanted to be... Oh, on the NBC show? Yeah, I always wanted to be the Richard Lewis to him. I did two stand-up sets early on, 96 probably. And then from there on out, I'm like, can I just do panel? I want to be the panel guy.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
I want to be the guy that comes, sits down, and you're like, uh-oh, what's going on with Mark? So we built that relationship. So I've known him a long time. And I know... Wie er arbeitet. Und es war eine sehr lustige Sache, es zu sehen. Weil ich ihn bei Largo zwei Nächte vorher gesehen habe. Ja.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
I went to the shrink, made him get out of his house, not going to do Zoom for things that don't, that, you know, where human interaction is possible. And I made him sit across from me and he gave me this sort of anxiety test, you know, and compared it to, I guess, the first time I was there. And he said, I'm about 30% better. He'd like 50%. So, I don't know.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Wie er das alles arbeitet. Ich bin so überrascht, dass niemand es kapiert hat und es verlinkt hat.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Ja, ich weiß nicht. Es gibt nur bestimmte Leute, die das tun. Und bei Largo, das ist nicht wirklich der Publikum, der das tut. Ja, das ist wahr. No one ever does that to me. Ever. Never. Und wenn sie es gemacht haben, wird es nicht wie eine viralen Sache sein. Sie werden die Enttäuschung erreichen, die ich mache, wenn ich ein Reel auf Instagram poste.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Sie denken, sie haben ein heißes Ding mit meinem Bit, das ich noch nicht auf einem Special gemacht habe. Und es hat 200 Zuschauer. Und ich bin so, du hast mich wirklich. Ich glaube, ich kann das nicht auf dem Special machen. Also ich schaue Conan und... And I turn on the Oscars because I love the Oscars. I always have.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
I like I like I felt over the last few years there was a sense of what I grew up with in terms of the community of Hollywood showing up. It's not that it's no longer there. They're just old or they're gone.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
So, you know, you're not going to see Jack sitting up front anymore because he's 100 and I'm not sure how well he is. But I miss him. So there's this changing of the dynamic.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Exactly. But it's still the greatest show on earth.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
I love it. I love the spectacle of it. But I didn't know how Conan would do it. And I know Conan. And I'm watching it. And I watch him come out. And he does the first joke. And then he started to do that thing he does where he has a moment of insecurity and he buries the joke. Ja, genau.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Aber weißt du was, ich wusste, dass er es gut machen wird, weil ich gerade vor dem Show zurückgegangen bin, um ihm Glück zu wünschen.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Und er war, du konntest es sehen, und jemand sagte, so wie sie sind, er war cool wie eine Zucke. Und er war so, danke Carol, du weißt, ich will einfach rausgehen und Spaß haben. Und das ist es, was er gemacht hat.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Aber ich habe das Aussehen von Panik gesehen, bevor es losging.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Und er hat es zurückgebracht, ich dachte, das Set war lecker, wie es aussah. Und ich dachte, die Art, wie sie den Publikum gehalten haben, war gut. Und ich dachte, es kam, weil ich ihn gefragt habe, am Abend, als ich ihn gesehen habe, habe ich gesagt, du wirst ein Musikal-Nummer machen? Er ist so, ich weiß nicht. Und dann hat er einen gemacht. Und es war einfach, es war total sein eigenes Ding.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
einen Konan-Musikal-Nummer, aber er brachte die Art von seltsamen Feierabend der Struktur des Shows zurück. Ja, er hat es gemacht. Und es war großartig. Was waren die Gespräche darüber in der Schriftführung?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Nun, Konan hatte sein eigenes Team von Schriftführern und ich bin Teil des Teams, das den Show handelt. Okay, ja. Also sprechen wir mit den Präsentern und reden über Dinge, die nicht mit Konan verbunden sind.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Oh, so you're writing the bits for the people that present? Yes. Oh.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Yeah. And I'm usually on the show team. You know, I've worked on it. This is my 11th time.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Over a number of years. But, you know, I've written for some of the great hosts, like Billy Crystal and Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin and Whoopi.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
I don't remember that one. I missed a couple.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
I remember it because Steve Martin wanted to have a writer's session up at his house. And, you know, from when I came up, Steve Martin was like everything to me. I'm such a fan. And it was totally one of those moments of like, oh my God, I'm in Steve Martin's living room writing jokes. It was really like, yeah, if I go now... I got that moment. Completely.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
I feel like I've lost some of those moments having done this show for so long and kind of talking to people for long periods of time. I just see people as people. But there are certain people that I'm like, oh my God, what am I going to do with this guy? How am I going to keep it together? Yeah, like who? Albert Brooks. It took me years for him to finally do it.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
And of course he's like, he didn't want to do it at his house. He didn't want to come here. So he got a room at that, what's that little... Das ist ein schönes Hotel in Santa Monica. Es ist ein bisschen altartiges Deko. Es ist ein bisschen Boutique. Ich kann mir den Namen nicht erinnern. Aber er bekommt ein Zimmer dort. Und es war furchtbar. Es war einfach furchtbar, mit ihm zu sprechen.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
And I also think that I'm getting some side effects, but I'm not obsessed with them because I don't know if they're side effects from the medicine or just side effects for the fact that my life has been fucking stressful for the last year or so, every day. Three jobs, always thinking, never a free moment, you know. But I just, I wanted to explore with you Ja. Ja. Ja. Ja. Zero anxiety.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Wir waren am Memorial von Shanlings. Und ich hatte versucht, ihn seit Jahren auf dem Show zu bekommen. Ich erinnere mich, wir waren am Memorial von Shanlings. Alle wehren sich. Er kommt zu mir, setzt seine Hände auf meine Rückseite und sagt, lass uns das jetzt machen.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Und Larry war noch einer, der nie auf dem Show kam. Er kam nie auf. Und... Ja. Wie hast du ihn bekommen? Er... Er machte diese... Er machte diese Konversationen, moderierte Konversationen mit ihm. Er machte ein paar von ihnen. Und er wollte, dass ich den ersten machen würde. Ich wusste nicht, dass es eine Sache sein würde. Und er nicht. Aber... Oh mein Gott. Und du hast mit ihm viel gearbeitet.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Ja, Seinfeld und Curb. Ich muss festhalten, und ich liebe ihn, dass du nicht weißt, was passieren wird. Im Hinblick darauf, wie wir es verabschiedet haben, konnte ich es als Podcast benutzen. Es war live in D.C., ein paar Tausend Leute. And I was going to structure it, you know, like, like I do here to have a, like kind of a life arc conversation.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
And, you know, and his assistant had sent me all these, you know, this screen, this montage of him through different years. Yeah. And I'm putting together this whole interview and he goes, what are we talking about? And he's telling like. Ich sagte, ich habe das Ding von deinem Assistenten. Ich dachte, wir würden das ganze Leben durchgehen. Er sagte, was? Worüber redest du?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Ich weiß nicht, worüber du redest. Ich sagte, du bist Bar Mitzvah und alles. Er sagte, nein, nein, nein. So like by the time, you know, a few days before, he's like, I don't want to talk about any of that. I'm like, all right. So what are we going to do? Okay. He's like, I don't want to talk about politics. I want to just be entertaining. I don't want to talk about my life. Oh, fuck.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
And it was driving me crazy, you know. And then like, you know, like the night before, you know, he calls me up. He's like, do whatever you want. Und dann am Tag, als ich in D.C. für den Show war, hat er mich vor dem Tag angerufen und ich dachte, er will es nicht mehr tun. Das wäre toll. Vielleicht will er es nicht mehr tun.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Das wäre eine Erleichterung. Aber er ist so, okay, bist du bereit? Und es war toll. Ich habe eine große Lektion gelernt. Es war nicht nur um mich. Und einfach ihm die Dinge geben, mit denen er lachen wird, die ich weiß und die ich weiß, dass er darüber sprechen will. And then just shut up. And then like wait till he peters out and then do another one. Yeah. And that's it. See? Yeah.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
But when you go to Steve Martin's house, so did you, were you able to kind of keep it together to pitch jokes and stuff?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Yeah. I mean, after the initial shock of zooming out and oh my God, I'm sitting here writing jokes with my idol, Steve Martin. Yeah. Then, you know, you... So, you know how he works. Ja, besonders, weil ich bei Seinfeld gearbeitet habe und wusste, wie ich mit ihm und Jerry präsentieren kann. Es war auch ein guter Trainingspunkt, weil Larry sehr geschnitten und geschnitten ist.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Und ich denke, das ist wirklich eine seiner größten Qualitäten, weil du etwas zu ihm schicken kannst und er sagt, nein, du weißt, der größte Ausdruck bei Seinfeld war, nein, ich konnte das auf einem anderen Show sehen. Aber wenn er über eine Idee gespannt war, würde er wirklich gespannt werden.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Ja, naja. Was I can make him laugh. You know, so that is good. Yeah. You know, because it's a rare thing sometimes, especially with funny people. But like he's got a great laugh and you can get him.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Ja, das kann man. Ich kenne das von Curb, weil er sich ständig ausbreiten würde.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Ja, das war einfach. Hast du aber auch Probleme mit unkomödiellen Hosts? Ich stelle mir Vorstellungen vor. Du schreibst diese Lachen und alle sind auf der Bühne, aber du weißt nicht, ob sie sie zerstören oder nicht. Oder ob sie sie ausziehen.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Ja. You don't, but the beauty of working with people is they really do want to be good. They don't want to go, you know, it's really tough for them because they're mostly actors, so they don't know how to go out and be themselves.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Yeah, but... We really work with them to make sure that they're 100% down with what they want to do. And they give a lot of feedback. And of course we take it and come up with something. I think people also know that. als Stand-up auch. Sie wissen, wenn sie mit mir arbeiten, dass ich das Gefühl habe, da draußen zu gehen und unsicher zu sein oder nicht zu wissen, was man tun wird.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Ich denke, sie haben eine Art von Selbstvertrauen, dass ich ihnen etwas geben werde, weil die meiste von dem ist Selbstvertrauen, da draußen zu gehen.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Die einzige Sache, warum es manchmal nicht funktioniert, ist, dass Du weißt, wenn du ein Komiker bist, bist du gewohnt, lustig vor Leuten zu sein. Dein Instinkt ist es, den Publikum zu bekommen, ohne es zu sagen. Weißt du, was ich meine? Alles, was du überlegst, ist, ob das Ding landen wird. Aber du weißt, wie du es tun kannst.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Ich denke, wenn du nicht weißt, wie du es tun kannst, bist du einfach ein bisschen blind. Ja. Du hast das Ding auf dem Papier und du weißt nicht, wie du es machen kannst, um es lustig zu machen. Genau. Aber es hat funktioniert. Ich erinnere mich, dass es einige lustige Sachen gab in dieser letzten.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Und ich mag es einfach, dass es zurückgekommen ist zu einer host-orientierten Sache, anstatt zu sagen, wer der Host ist. Ja. Es hat besser funktioniert.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Ja. Und die Zeiten, ich denke, es gab ein paar Zeiten, wo es keinen Host gab. I don't like that kind of show, and I don't think the audience does, because it feels rudderless. Totally. Yeah. You want someone, and when someone does it great, like Conan did, you know, who you look to as the host. It's his party, and he's running the ship, and people like that.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Totally. So, now, you've been on Hacks all four seasons?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
No, no, I was just on the last season. Really? Yes.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Huh. Because I've been watching it. And I like it. Because I think it gets something right about stand-up. That they don't usually get right.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
And especially with Jean Smart. That's what I mean, yeah. I've never seen an actor play a stand-up comic and do it convincingly. And she does. I mean, you totally buy, don't you? 100% that she's a comic.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Ja, aber ich verkaufe das Leben mehr. Ich habe mit Paul Downes gesprochen. Das ist sein Name, oder?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Sie haben Leute aus den 80ern kennengelernt, die relativ groß waren. Sie bekommen Schüsse und enden in Vegas. Ich weiß, das ist ein Archiv. Das ist eine Trajectorie eines Komikers, der in dieser Zeit erschienen ist. Und sie waren sehr spezifisch über diese Hintergründe. So that gave it all this kind of real, you know, like it was authentic. Yes.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
And, you know, whether or not when they shoot her doing stand-up, Ja, genau.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
So I hope that I added to her authenticity as being a comic and also as someone, you know, and then she's still around.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
But then I realized that that is who I am now. That I no longer have those fears. But my brain was sort of like, yeah, but we're pretty used to, you know, kind of making it difficult for you and having fears, you know, in general. So I'm glad that you're not fearing the thing you've worked on for two years and that you're ready to go. But let's do these other ones.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
And but like, what was, what was the pitch? Why, why this season? Like, was there specific stuff that they wanted for you that they thought like, well, we need Carol to do this because we're going to be doing this?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Nein, es war nicht so spezifisch, wie... Sie haben eine Sache genannt, die Blue Sky Room, die sie vor jeder Saison machen, wo sie Leute zusammenbringen und nur Spittball-Ideen. Und ich denke, ich hatte... Yeah. Right. Yeah. Das Thema war... In der Saison, in der wir jetzt sind? Nein, in der Saison 3, das war die letzte Saison.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Das war, als sie und Ava hiken gehen und sie verlieren. Und ich habe in der Raum gesprochen, wie wenn du Debras Zeit hast, meine Zeit, und du denkst über Dinge, die du tun willst, wie ich immer noch denke, oh, ich würde gerne ein kleines Teil in einem Broadway-Show haben. Ja. And I'd love to do this. And you think one day. Well, you know, one day is now.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
If it doesn't happen soon, maybe it's never going to happen. So that also became something that she talked about in that episode. And I think that is something that only an older person, someone of our generation, thinks about. So, not necessarily someone who's 30 years younger than me on the staff is going to think about it.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
I was happy to contribute. Well, I mean, that whole world, I don't know that world, the Vegas residency world, but I know it's a real thing. And that you're afforded this lifestyle because you're overpaid and And you're given a place to live and they'll give you all the money in the world if you can bring people into the casino. Absolutely.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
And there's like so many acts, certainly people from your generation that have done those. And I know that like... Who do I think about when I think? There's just people, like every time I go to the Burbank Airport and I see the signs, I'm like, oh my God, they're going to be there for two months? Have you ever done those?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
I haven't, but you know, I have played Vegas a lot throughout my career. I never do it.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
No? It's not my thing. I don't think I'm right for it.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Well, it depends on the act that you're opening for. But I certainly know, you know, from doing those gigs, the clock and the stage. And if they tell you to do 20 minutes, do 20 minutes. Because if you go over a minute, that's a million dollars you're losing in the casino. So they're strict about that. And, you know, all these little things.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
I mean, you know that I opened for Frank Sinatra in Las Vegas.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Das ist richtig. Und Larry Miller, den ich vorher angerufen habe, um etwas Hinweise zu bekommen. Wie macht er das? Ich denke, er macht es gut. Okay.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Er war so lustig. Das Lustigste. Das Lustigste. Aber, du weißt, jeder dieser Gigs hat seinen eigenen Roadmap, den man herausfinden muss. Yeah, I just don't... Yeah, you in Vegas doesn't really seem like it.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
It doesn't. And I'm okay with that. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like the idea of just thinking about doing it. Because there's part of me that thinks like, well, I can do a casino. But it would not be good for me. Yeah. You know, necessarily.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Right. But like when I've done an opening for Seinfeld, that's a certain crowd.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Yes. You know, because like, yeah, I mean, and I never really opened for anybody. But I remember seeing Alan King in Vegas when I was there in high school or something. Oh, how great. When I met my grandparents out there. But it was weird, because it was like a smaller showroom. It looked like it could have been a banquet hall on another day.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Not in my recollection. Und er ist rausgekommen und hat sich durch 45 Minuten autopiloten. Keine Öffnung und ist weg. Und ich dachte mir, wow, das ist der Job. Es ist ein bisschen seltsam, wenn man bestimmte Comics sieht, wo sie einfach zu einem Punkt kommen, wo sie einfach einen Zeitpunkt füllen.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
There's all kinds of dread we can muster up. And I know I've talked about this before, but I think that if anything is working, it's that the medicine is giving me a little more space between who I am, where my brain's at now, in terms of I'm okay, I'm doing good work, I've learned a lot, just all this stuff.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Sie gehen nicht raus, um zu töten. Und ich meine, er war bereits ein älterer Typ, also ich weiß es nicht.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Ja, und ich denke, das ist auch die Tragweite, wenn du so lange deine Arbeiten machst, dass du keine neuen Materialien hinzufügst, weil es so wird, wie wenn du in Oklahoma bist, jede Nacht. Ja. Du fühlst dich einfach wie bei deinen Linen. Ja, ja, ja. Also das ist der Grund, warum ich denke, es ist immer wichtig, neue Materialien zu machen, weil es dich vibriert und dazu bringt.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Ja. Also was passiert jetzt? Was machst du jetzt? Oh, yeah. He's doing alright?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Ist es? Ja. Spielst du? Ja. I gotta get back into it, but yeah.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
I've got this whole set of clubs I've never taken out. Like I did a show for Apple, there's a golf show, but I just played a caddy, an old caddy, so I didn't have to golf, but like it's Owen Wilson, it's all about golf and I don't know anything about golf.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Oh, I thought they were. I didn't know they had done it already.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Yeah, yeah. No, it's going to be on in June. But I play his old caddy. So it's not on me to golf. But like they sent me, you know, one of the companies Taylor made sent me all the stuff. And I'm like, I don't know if I have the patience, man.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
No, it's a lot like stand up. You gotta really suck to get good. Yeah, but.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Yeah, I got over the stand-up hurdle. Yeah, no, thank you. No, but he's into it. He's good. But, you know, he's a sports fan. He's into like the Bills and Josh Allen. It's just very cool when you have a kid and they develop their own world.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Yeah, and he loves soccer and he drives downtown and see these games.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
I'm hearing this sort of like, I don't know how he just became this person. He became his own person.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Oh, and he's funny. Oh, good. Yeah, which is, but I knew that kind of early on. Yeah. That he was funny.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
And like, but having a teenager around, that means you're kind of privy to this other world and other language of whatever is happening on their phones and on their platforms and on everything. Like, I don't, I can't keep up with stuff. And I don't have a kid. Yeah. But you have to deal with it all the time. Like, I mean, I have somebody doing my TikTok, but I don't ever go on it.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Ja, und genau, er ist immer dabei. Und alle seine Freunde sind immer dabei. Bist du dabei?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Nein, aber ich sollte, weil ich mich jetzt darauf konzentriere, mein Buch zu verkaufen.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Und auch Stand-Up. Ja. Ich habe einen Mann, der das macht. Es gibt eine ganze Geschichte von mir in Stand-Up-Spots. Und er klopft einfach Dinge auf. Oh, wie großartig. Und er sagt, was ist mit diesem? Ich bin so, okay. Und dann gehen sie einfach da hoch.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Und ich habe nicht so viele Follower, aber ich weiß, ob Leute mich kennen oder nicht, dass es definitiv mehr Leute sind, die mich nicht kennen, als sie es tun. Und wenn diese Clips kommen, sind sie so, wer ist das? Es ist immer noch erkennbar.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
that represents the whole person, but I still got this fucking garbage factory in my head. A goddamn detritus generator. Yeah. Psychic detritus generator. Right? Huh? Today on the show I'm talking to Carol Leifer. She's been on the show a while back and I like her a lot. She was on back in 2011, so it's been a long time. That was episode 203.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Ja, ich bin so überrascht. Na, vielleicht sollte ich seinen Namen bekommen.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Ja, der Kerl? Ja, da sind einige Leute, die das machen. Warum nicht? Wir sind jetzt ein Show-Business für dich. Ist es noch ein Welt, wo du Shows und so kaufst? Oh, absolut. Oh, wirklich? Ja. Also machst du das?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Ich mache das. In der Tat, ich kreiere eine Komödie für Valerie Bertinelli.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Sie ist. Ich habe sie lange nicht gesehen, aber ich habe ihren Sohn interviewt. Und er war großartig. Wolfgang. Ich habe das gehört, ja. Es ist großartig. Ihre Beziehung ist großartig. Ich weiß. Ich würde Valerie in einem Moment interviewen. Ich weiß nicht, warum ich es nicht habe. Oh, du sollst. Weil sie war, ich meine, als ich ein Kind war, sie war großartig.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Ja. Und sie ist fantastisch. Ich hatte sie total im Kopf für diese Idee. Und dann weißt du nie, wann du die Person kennst. Fingers crossed.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Sie ist unglaublich. Sie ist so süß. Und sie wird es machen? Ja, ja. Und was ist es um? Kannst du mir erzählen?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Es ist eine ältere romantische Komödie. Es ist eine romantische Komödie über Leute in ihren 50ern, die ich noch nie gesehen habe. Und ich dachte, es wäre interessant, wenn du dich einig bist, deine Persönlichkeit. Ja.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
And falling in love with someone at that age and the challenges that go along, but still wanting, finding love.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Yeah. And I don't know if there is a show like that, is there?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
There isn't. Es ist ein bisschen interessant.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
There are these shows that are basically boomer shows. And I think that generation still watches network-driven stuff. The kids don't. They're just watching YouTube or Clips or whatever. But there's still a whole generation of people that are like, I don't even know where to watch it.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
You know, and you have stuff like the Kaminsky Method or any of the Laurie shows. Like those were all for a generation of people that grew up watching television. Yeah. And they're still there.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Exactly. But look, the Kaminsky Method was on Netflix.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
So there's still... Well, Netflix is an exception. People know about Netflix.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
I guess people, maybe I'm not giving them enough credit. They can figure out where to watch something. But it is sort of challenging. Yeah.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Yeah, and she also has such a big fan base. You know, she is very open on social media. About who?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
So what did you write? You got a pilot or you got a whole season written?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
No, we just have the pitch that we sell. But, you know, she's great. A lot of celebs that you write for don't want to come to the pitch. They're like, oh, you do it and whenever we sell it, I'll show up. She came to every pitch, participates.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
But it feels to me that she, you know, with the death of her ex-husband and bringing up the kid, it feels like she had other priorities for a while. And now she must be ready to go.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Sie ist. Und ich weiß nicht, ob du sie gesehen oder gesehen hast, hot in Cleveland. Und eines Tages ist sie ein Pro. Sie weiß, wie sie lacht. Und das ist eine andere tolle Sache, wenn du für jemanden entwickelst, der Comedy kennt. Es macht es einfach so viel einfacher.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Yeah, like TV pros. Yes. And there's not a ton of them of that generation anymore that know how to do like situation comedy.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Yeah, especially in front of a live audience.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Well, it's an interesting thing because... Ja. Ja. Ja. Ja. It's a real balance.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Absolutely. But, you know, they're looking for, I wanted to write a Multigam. Because coming up from Seinfeld and, you know, that era, I am a big lover of that format still. So they're looking for that. But, you know, it's great because, I don't know if you've seen Mid-Century Modern.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Ja, es ist so lustig. Und es ist vor einem liveen Publikum. Und ich meine, Nathan Lane, du weißt, er hat seine Lachen.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Der Beste, ja, er ist nur der König der Hähnchen.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Das ganze Ensemble ist großartig. Also, mit jemandem wie dem zu arbeiten, ist so eine Freude. Das ist großartig. Ja.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
I don't know that I've watched one. You know what I just watched? I don't even know why I avoided it for so long, but Someone Somewhere with Bridget Everett. Oh my God. Great show. It's crazy good. And she's so good. Unreal. That character, it's so fucking funny. And it's not a three-camera thing. It's like, you know, I don't know what you call that. Single camera. But it is so full of deep humor.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
But she's a stand-up of the generation of Seinfeld and Larry David and a little younger than Richard Lewis. But from that crew, she just recently won an Emmy for her writing on the show Hacks. And she's got a new book out called How to Write a Funny Speech. How to Write a Funny Speech. That's helpful for you people.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
So good. I really want to see her live show. I knew nothing about her.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Yeah. I have so many friends that have gone to see her and blown away.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Did you ever write for anybody for that stuff? Like for Bette Midler or anybody?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Because that was sort of a thing for a while.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
That kind of performing. And they're kind of funny. Yeah.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
You know, I know that Bette Midler would use Bruce the Lanch a lot to write her stuff.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Yeah, yeah. So people always have their... Kind of favorite people.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Now, what's the next step for this? Are you going to hammer out a pilot and then see what happens and then hire writers?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Are you going to work with people? You know, I think what we're going to do, the next step is selling it to one of the, through the studio, selling it to one of the outlets.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
As a pitch? Das Geld, das Entwicklungsgeld, um ein Skript zu schreiben.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Ja, also wir werden sehen, wo wir landen. Ich hoffe, dass jemand hört. Ja, vielleicht. Ja, um den besten Outlet für diese Art von Multicam-Komödie zu finden. Ja. Aber sicherlich gibt es viel Interesse.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Du findest Leute, die sie wieder machen wollen, weil sie kosteneffektiv sind.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Ja, und nicht nur das, es sind Multicams, aber auch, ich würde nicht mit einem echten Talent etwas anbieten, weil sie das auch wollen. Wenn man einfach etwas anbietet und sagt, hier ist die Multicam-Idee und wir bekommen jemanden. Ja, es ist zu hart. Also zu gehen mit einem Multicam und einem echten Talent, wie Valerie Bertinelli, das hat es sehr, sehr verkauflos gemacht.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
That's great. Congratulations. Thank you. It's great talking to you again.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
All right. Well, I hope you do well with the book and the comedy and everything.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
There you go. That was nice. I like seeing Carol. She's great. Her book, How to Write a Funny Speech, is available now. Hang out for a minute, folks. Hang out.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Hey, this week for full Marin listeners, I went even further into the behind the scenes details of my HBO special taping and heading into it. I had no stress about the material. I knew I was loaded up. I knew the shit worked. Du weißt, es gab nichts, wo ich dachte, das könnte nicht landen.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
I guess, I don't know if it's still number one, but it used to be the biggest fear people have is public speaking. But now it seems like not enough people are afraid of it. I guess public speaking, when you do it, Alone in a room with your phone and you're speaking into it is different than actually getting out there amongst the people. Putting it on the fucking line, man.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Right. But, you know, oddly, you know, maybe it's from radio experience. Maybe it's just from me, you know, because I choose, you know, to do a full hour that's loaded up You know, the last three have been, you know, very full, you know, almost too full. Like, you know, I could cut 20 minutes off of this thing and do an hour. I knew from the last week or so of shows, like the ones I did...
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
in Toronto und dann die drei im Club in Vermont, das ist ein kleiner Raum. Ich war definitiv so wie, mach einfach die Scheiße. Mach einfach das, was du mit dem Special tun wirst. Geh nicht weg, damit du dir nachher sagen kannst, ich weiß nicht, weil ich mich entschieden habe, Riff zu machen oder was auch immer. Ich war so wie, mach es einfach.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Selbst wenn die Antwort stiltert ist, weil du eingeladen bist, mach einfach das Werk und nimm den Hitz, damit du weißt, dass du in der Zeitraum bist. So I wasn't worried about that.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Where you can't fucking do another take. Delete it. Do another take. Delete it. Do another take, man. You got one shot at this fucker. Maybe two. Yeah, I'm talking about my special. Which should be out in July. I think the date is July 26th. Also... That show I did with Owen Wilson, Stick, that trailer is getting around. I guess that's premiering on June 4th, I think.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
I should be more on top of these things. I should promote myself more, at least the things I'm involved with, right? The bad guys is coming. But anyways, fear of public speaking. Not enough of that going around. I think maybe some people should just turn it off. Shut it down. I know you're charismatically engaging in whatever it is you do for 30 seconds at a time. But are you adding anything?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Or are you just some content detritus? Yeah, is that it? So look, it's time to... Ja. Stop break-ins, package theft and vandalism with live monitoring agents who can see, speak to and deter suspicious individuals outside your home before they can do anything. Get away from the box!
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
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WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
So now that I'm opening up this space in between who I am currently and all the things that have made me who I am, that I've worked hard cognitively to manifest and the detritus mill, In my mind. And in that zone where I have this space, you know, it's time to figure out what do I enjoy that isn't immediate gratification? What do I enjoy? What things would you like to be doing, Mark?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Alright, let's do this. How are you, what the fuckers, what the fuck buddies, what the fuck nicks, what's happening? I'm Marc Maron, this is my podcast, welcome to it. I'm sitting here in my studio amongst random garbage, detritus of my life, a life's worth of detritus. I'm sorry, I've only been home a few days and I've been through a lot.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Would you like to sit down and read more books? I don't think so. Would you like to maybe take in more films and art? Only if it's good and it's well referred, you know, thoroughly vetted by people I respect who can, you know, tell me that it's great. Would you like to travel more? I don't know. I don't love it. You know, pitch me some places. This is the other part of my brain, by the way.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Would you like to buy some other things, like a new car? Why? Why? Why? Just because I can? Would you like to get better at guitar? Yes, but I never seem to do it. I practice and I play, but it's still within my comfort zone. And sometimes I add new notes from new scales I learned. But I guess that's progress. Would you like to do more music in your life, maybe with other people?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Yes, yes, I would. But then you have to make plans and arrange things. Would you like to get rid of some of the books and pieces of, you know, things that you've collected over many years, either on purpose or not, and get rid of them? God damn it, yes, I would. God damn it. But would that bring you joy? Maybe. Maybe some relief. But I've got to get beyond relief and into the joy thing.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
I'm back home and I'm just doing stuff. I'm cooking. I'm trying to isolate. What do you like to do? I get up and I drink a lot of coffee. That guy, John from Lantern Coffee, Grand Rapids, Michigan, sent me some coffee and some chocolates. Fuck, dude. That shit is so good. I don't even know if you can get it online. Lantern Coffee. Nice of them to send it.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Because it's weird, because when you have an experience on the road and you're like, is this really the best I've had? Is this really amazing coffee? And you mention it on your podcast and then the guy sends you some and you're like, god damn it, it is. But anyways, so I do the coffee. I have several options of nicotine right now, which I could probably get off of. And then I exercise.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
But I like cooking. I started cooking. I like to have a full fridge of things I cook so I can have things to eat all week. But what about that? Maybe you should enjoy more food out. Why? I cook better at home. There's a lot of ways. Maybe you should spend more time with other people. But I do kind of. And do what? I gotta figure it out. Because I just made some Indian food yesterday from scratch.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
I'm just going to make some more. I look forward to it. But is that immediate gratification? Because I take time making things and I eat it really fucking fast. Look, if I can widen that zone between who I am and the psychic...
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
garbage manufacturing plant in my head maybe i can uh you know kind of stop slow the plant down you know go through the garbage a little bit and then figure out some things i like to do the problem is it's just like is this it is this it and you know what it kind of is Even if you say like, is this it? And I'm like, I'm not going to do it this way. I'm going to do it another way.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Eventually you're going to hit, is this it? You know, when, when does that sentence, when does it, when is that question answered? Is this it? Yes. And it's amazing. Is this it? I hope so. Wow. So good. Because as soon as you do that so good and then a couple of days later you're like, ah, it's okay. And then you're back to, is this it?
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
God damn it, just standing on a pile of fucking psychic detritus. Psychic detritus dump. I'm alright though. The good part, I think that the part of me that feels proud of himself, feels like he's doing good work, enjoys things. He's gonna win, man. I'm rooting for him. I'm rooting for him. Oh, I found this coconut yogurt.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
over the last couple of years kind of burning into that special that I taped on Saturday. And now right away it just picks up. Like, all right, what are we going to do for the marketing? What are we going to do for the ads? What do you like? Let's look at some pictures. What are we doing? Still coming down, man. But, you know, I don't... I'm making some progress, folks.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Look, I'm a plant-based motherfucker right now, who no longer says vegan because of annoying vegans. But Coco June Coconut Yogurt. Holy fuck. I was doing Coco Yo for a while, because I like yogurt, but you want to get that probiotic stuff, because, you know, it's supposed to be the answer to everything. Is this it? Is it probiotic? It is? Then yes, it is. But this Coco June stuff is fucking great.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
Isn't it exciting when you find something you love to fucking just stick in your fucking mouth? and eat it? Isn't it the best thing when you're like, man, I'm just going to keep eating this until I don't like it anymore? It's great. See, I know joy.
WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
Episode 1643 - Carol Leifer
It's finding something that you just want to fucking shove into your mouth and keep eating until you're just like, you're beyond full, you're beyond happy, and you're just sort of in a world of fuck. How's that for an ad for coconut yogurt? Eat until you're in a world of fuck. Coco June Yogurt. It's very good though. It's hard to do the non-dairy stuff and they just fucking nail it.