Let's Walk (with Halli)

Andy Richter: Finding Joy Beyond the Spotlight

• Haraldur Thorleifsson

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What happens when success doesn't deliver the happiness you expected? Comedy legend Andy Richter takes us on a thoughtful stroll through Los Angeles, unpacking this question with surprising candor and characteristic wit.

Beyond his famous role as Conan O'Brien's sidekick, Andy reveals himself as a deeply reflective artist who's discovered that creative fulfillment often comes from unexpected sources. "I just want to make things," he shares, explaining how directing commercials can bring him as much joy as working on prestigious comedy projects. This refreshing perspective cuts through Hollywood's status hierarchy with a wisdom that can only come from decades in the entertainment trenches.

The conversation takes particularly poignant turns when Andy discusses the current state of the entertainment industry. Still reeling from COVID, strikes, and recent wildfires, he describes a landscape where many creatives find themselves questioning their professional identities. "We all just don't even know quite what we do anymore," he confesses, a sentiment that resonates beyond just Hollywood.

Throughout our walk, Andy's fundamental sweetness – the quality that makes his comedic characters so endearing – shines through consistently. Whether discussing his happy second marriage, his approach to parenting, or his genuine enthusiasm for creative collaboration, he demonstrates a self-awareness that's both rare and inspiring. As he puts it, he's "stopped putting my hand on the stove to see if it's hot" – a beautiful metaphor for learning to avoid self-destructive patterns.

For anyone navigating a creative career or simply seeking greater fulfillment, this conversation offers valuable perspective that goes far beyond comedy. Join us for this unexpectedly profound walk with one of comedy's most beloved figures.

Halli:

Okay, well, good to see you, DD.

DD:

Wonderful to see you, Halli.

Halli:

And we're going to talk about Andy Richter today, who I'm going to go on a walk with. Andy is, I think, one of the sweetest looking persons in the world, so I'm really looking forward to chatting with him. I think he is obviously very funny, he's very quick and he has been in so many of my favorite shows and movies, so I'm really excited for this one.

DD:

Me too. He's truly like. You know, all of these late night shows have always had, like you know, the famous sidekicks you had, like Ed McMahon for Johnny Carson. You had Paul Schaeffer for David Letterman, kevin Eubanks and a bunch of other people for Jay Leno, questlove and the Roots. We all know this. For you know Jimmy Fallon and Guillermo, with Jimmy Kimmel like his. Maybe most people know Andy Richter from being Conan O'Brien's you know, second in command and banter buddy, you know, because the whole thing doesn't really work if Conan doesn't have something to joke around with but also him in himself so crazy, funny, so talented, so witty. It's unbelievable. And what a career.

Halli:

Yeah, I mean every movie that I see him in he's always funny and TV show I mean he was on 30 Rock as the brother. He was amazing in Arrested Development where he played, I think, four versions of himself, and then he's Mort in Penguins of Madagascar. He's all over the place.

DD:

Cabin Boy. You know Talladega Nights, all that. You know Blades of Glory, all those things that are just so, so funny. He's like he truly has put himself in the pantheon of comedy for a generation and you know, just so dry, so funny. And his podcast podcast too, is fabulous. You know the three questions with.

Halli:

Andy Richter. Yeah, it's fabulous podcast. It's really good. He also has another one. He is, he's very prolific. He's also very smart. As I was doing the research on him, I found out he has the all-time highest one-day score on celebrity Debrity mm-hmm. Well, I have a theory. You can't be that smart and witty. No, you can't be funny and witty if, as the all-time highest one-day score on Celebrity Debrity.

DD:

Really Well, I have a theory. You can't be that smart and witty. No, you can't be funny and witty if you're not smart. It's like an instant barometer of smarts to be quick and funny. If you're not, you're not. You know, it's a quick intelligence test to see if you're smart.

Halli:

I think so too. That's why we're not funny, and that's why we're not funny, we'll see.

Halli:

I'm really excited to talk to Andy because I want to see, obviously, what he's up to now, but I also want to understand how he got into comedy, what it's like working in Hollywood today, because, as you know, it's weird and so there is just so much to talk about His podcast, his relationships. You know, when I go out to talk to him, I'm probably going to forget a lot of these questions because I don't have them written down, I don't have anything script in front of me. But yeah, what do you want to know about Andy? What should I ask him?

DD:

Like, why, what else? Was there ever a path where Andy just did he want to be an accountant? Like what did he want to be a plumber? Did he just naturally gravitate? I mean, he's obviously, as you know, we know and everybody knows now so witty, funny and it seems to be doing with so much ease which we all know. I mean I'm a big comedy fan myself. It's not easy, like it's, it's, it's a craft you work on and you study, study, study. So I mean I know he went to some fancy schools I think he was in Illinois, right In Chicago. I think he cut his teeth in Chicago, did a live version of the Brady Bunch things where he met a bunch of people, and I think that's where he met some people who were working on SNL and that's how, like it's all kind of happenstance. But like, was there a different path for Andy? Did he really want to be a marine biologist? I don't know what's going on with Andy.

Halli:

But since this is our first episode, maybe we should introduce ourselves. My name is Halle. I'm the person that goes on walks with the people, and you are.

DD:

I'm Trafnarsps Noratohtir, also known as Didi Rosas, also known as Didi Yunit, the preeminent Icelandic voice of celebrity and Hollywood reporting, and I live in Los Angeles and just deeply, deeply, deeply invested and forever ferociously curious about people funny people, kind people, smart people in any shape or form they come. I'm here for all of it, so I'm excited to listen to Andy Richter and you talking.

Halli:

Yeah, me too, and I'm excited for this first episode. So let's give it a go, woo hoo.

Andy:

Do you want to get a coffee or something? Yeah, I definitely need one.

Halli:

Yeah, I'll watch you drink a coffee

Andy:

, ok, and there's also I know Iceland isn't Sweden, but there's a bakery down here that has all kinds of Swedish, you know, the Kanda Bula. They have cardamom and cinnamon.

Halli:

I'm trying to avoid certain things.

Andy:

Oh, are you Well?

Andy:

then I won't do that,

Halli:

but again, I'm happy to watch you eat anything you want,

Andy:

okay, no, no, I'll just get a coffee.

Halli:

I'm not triggered in any way.

Andy:

No, my wife is the same way. I'm a feeder and lately she's been trying, she's been begging with me to stop feeding her, and it's hard to stop.

Halli:

There's two versions of feeders. One is the one that just enjoys giving joy yes. The other one, which I found out of recently, is the one that tries to turn their partner so unattractive that they won't leave.

Andy:

That's not me. Okay, that's not me.

Halli:

You're the first part.

Andy:

Yes, I'm more the first part. I probably am. I don't know if it's intimidated or just made uncomfortable by people who are very, very fit, because it just makes me. It makes me feel self-conscious and unfit. Okay, and my wife? But my wife is very fit, she exercises all the time. But she did.

Andy:

When we got together, she, she told me in about six months she gained about 15 pounds, just because happy happy and and also because, two, she's she's only nine years younger than me, she's 48 and you know she was like all these, she was dating all these men that were very image conscious. So she was, and you know, and she's a normal 48 year old mother of a five-year-old now, and so it's like eight-year-old mother of a five-year-old now, and so it's like she was. I think you know, and men, especially LA men, are just gross, have unrealistic expectations. So she was just used to men that she felt like, oh, I have to be super skinny. And then she met me and I'm like, no, you don't have to do that at all.

Halli:

I don't, you know. I mean, it's not surprising necessarily when you're here. I haven't spent a lot of time in LA, yeah, but there are places you go and you feel like you're meeting a different species of people.

Andy:

Oh, definitely

Halli:

, where it's not. Yeah, it's like going and watching gazelles or something. Yes, and you're sort of a fat guy in the corner. And looking at them and thinking how? Because some of them look like they're actually in a movie, Like the light works on them differently somehow.

Halli:

Like they're just lit better and it's unnerving

Andy:

$12,000 of casual clothes.

Andy:

Usually, too, there is something about really expensive clothes do look really good. Yes, you know, your body lives in them. It's not just like they sit on your body, you know.

Halli:

No, but it is. It is unnerving, it's very unnerving, and here too, I find. So I can imagine what that does for a woman growing up.

Andy:

Oh yes

Halli:

, Especially in this if I don't know what she does, but if she's in the music business, okay, music videos yeah, so yeah, definitely.

DD:

I mean in its ageist you know it's.

Andy:

It's a just like other other entertainment industries too. So that's the thing too is if somebody you're with wants to die and wants to be fit, they don't want to hear. You say you don't need to do that for me because it's not about you. You know, so I, I just I do that too yeah and I'm you know, but I think it's annoying.

Halli:

Yes, when I do it, uh, you know, I catch myself saying something like that it's like okay, yeah yeah he just made it about you right exactly exactly, and she's just, you know, my wife, similar age as yours a couple of years younger and the most amazing woman I've ever met. Yeah, um, so you want to be nice? Yeah, you know, but I don't think that's my place. Yeah, to stop her from being fit if?

Andy:

she wants to. No, no, exactly.

Halli:

But how's your life?

Andy:

My life is pretty good. It's a struggle right now because there's not a lot of work, and the only sort of solace that I can take is that I'm not the only one.

Halli:

Is that industry-wide? Yes, okay, and is that fire-related or strike-related?

Andy:

It's an addition. I mean, the fire is just the latest shit on the pile, you know, right. But well, it started, you know well, A sort of vertical integration of things, and and the fact that there's only four people own everything. Now, that's the beginning of it, yeah, and and then they put the emphasis just on shareholder value, as opposed to making things that people want to consume or enjoy. Um, that begins it.

Andy:

And then there were the two strikes that gutted everything, and those three things, just kind of working together, made all these people say well you know, we could spend some more money and make some new stuff, or we could just sit on what we got, which makes the possibility of making more isn't as great. If we just sort of contract and withdraw, Then again we'll still make enough. We won't be spending more. And also, too, nobody still knows how anything works anymore.

Andy:

They don't know how, because the basics of storytelling and Well, no, I mean the business angle of there used to be television and movies and television had ratings and you would base things on the money, would be based on the ratings. Now the major networks nobody gives a shit, nobody watches things when they air. Everything's on demand. They had Netflix come along and seemingly change things, but they still don't know how they pour money into things but they don't know how to get it back out, because Netflix, for instance. Netflix makes money by people subscribing. If you have something on there that is well-respected, that's popular and that does well, just having it continue to slowly build an audience within subscribers, there's no money in that for them. They need to get new poppy things, new things that really explode and that make people go. Oh, I have to subscribe to Netflix, but at a certain point everyone subscribes to Netflix and it's just.

Andy:

There's a limit you know, and they're just going to go back to. They talk about it all the time, because then they they did the same thing with other streaming services and they talk about it all the time. Well, we may go back to an ad structure. So what they basically done somebody pointed this out online is they restructured the entertainment industry to go back to the same model that it had before, but with all of the protections for the workers destroyed. Everyone's a subcontractor now, so there's no. You know, the unions are kind of been gutted, although you know, supposedly we did better on the last the contract. You know the strike. Supposedly we did well and it came out to our favor. But I don't even you know, I don't know, I don't know. That's all grown-up stuff.

Halli:

Is your happiness like? How much of your happiness is baked in having interesting work.

Andy:

A fair amount, but not a huge amount. I wouldn't say a huge amount. I can and I found this out during COVID that if I'm happily married and I'm happy with my family, I don't need a lot more. I can get a creative charge from making something for dinner, um, or just working on the house in some way, um. And also, too, I I've always been more of a collaborator than a than a creator or a solo creator. That's why I did improv, um, that was always just sort of more up my alley.

Halli:

There's something I don't work alone particularly well, you don't go into your house and create something amazing and come out and look at what I made.

Andy:

No, usually that I do because I think I'm supposed to. Okay, you know, because it's good for it's good, you know, I have to make money, so it's good, for I'm going to go in here and grab a coffee Do you want anything Water? Okay.

Halli:

Hi, hi, hi, there, what's your name?

Andy:

Fred Fred.

Halli:

Fred. Yeah, nice to meet you, fred. What's your name? Khalid? Oh, khalid, yes.

Andy:

Next time you saw me, don't expect me to remember no same. Okay, yeah, same thing A friendly fellow Very friendly and very.

Halli:

I don't know if you noticed he has a nice little chuckle. Yes, and it was constant, constant yes. And I asked him about it and he said, yeah, it was a few years ago. He decided to change his worldview, oh wow, and started to try to be more happy with what he has. And it's about how you feel about things.

Andy:

No to laugh is. There's a story I mean it's like a tabloid story about in England some guy had surgery and has been giggling ever since and it makes his wife crazy, it drives her crazy. And then I saw interviews with him and she was saying stuff and he's laughing and she's saying it's not funny.

Halli:

And so it wasn't an audit change.

Andy:

It was like a hip surgery or something. It was like nothing. It wasn't even like a hip surgery or something, it was like nothing, it wasn't even like a, and he became brain surgery or something. It just some weird shift that happened. You know, I don't know. Anyway, back to what we were talking about yeah, in terms of, yeah, life, life is good, I, I could be working more which you want to work more. Yes, absolutely, I definitely would, because I.

Halli:

Is that?

Andy:

financially or Financially is absolutely a part of it, because you know I worked on the Conan show this last run of it for 11 years. Better hit him then. Why? Sure, conan? I'll tell you the titles of all 18 of my memoirs Confessions of a Talk Show, sidekick Fake Laughter, real Tears, a Sidekick's Journey Okay, okay, andy, I think we get the idea. There's 11 more and then and it ended kind of during covid, and it's just really never been very. I have never had like a real steady thing since then. So it's all been kind of dribs and drabs and, you know, guest spots and game show things and podcasting, which is not. I mean, I'm sure you know it's yeah, it's not incredibly lucrative um no.

Andy:

So I've been keeping busy and I've been keeping productive, but it also, you know. But also too, it's as I say, I work best in a collaborative environment. I'm not someone that always has a thousand ideas for myself to promote myself and get myself out there. So after the Conan show ended, I was doing a lot of development, thinking like, oh, I could do this animated show, or I could do this game show, or I could do this thing, and I was pushing it and pushing it. And it was the same sort of thing where everybody's like, nobody's buying anything, Nobody wants anything. So I kind of just stopped that because I just it just ended up like I was. I felt like I was signing myself up for a bunch of tests that I was destined to fail. So why should I feel bad about myself? So now I'm just kind of in a more reactive mode, which is where I live best anyway. But I do find the thing that I miss and this is also too with age.

Andy:

Um, with age, when you start in show business, well, first of all, there's a, there is a central egotism to show business, because you're going to get in front of people and expect them to all be quiet and focus on you like you don't do that unless you think you have something worth saying or worth you know, worth looking at. So there, so there's an ego to it and when you're young, that ego makes you want to go big, makes you want to be whether it's be famous, be rich, but whatever, especially when you start having little bits of success, it's intoxicating, yeah and well. And also too, as you start and this is something you start and you realize like, oh my gosh, I'm on a you know say I've, like, climbed three rungs of a ladder and conceivably, at the other end of that ladder is all the money I could ever want travel, you know, beautiful homes, my children never having to worry about anything for their lifetimes. So it can be very intoxicating.

Halli:

And the implied promise of absolute happiness.

Andy:

Yes, of course doesn't come, but absolutely. But it is kind.

Halli:

Of you know that, but I think like, yeah, this is like that's where I need to go, and then I will be complete and my dad will love me yes, yes yes, yes.

Andy:

And even if you think, even if you know, even if you're, the rational part of you know is like that's not you, because everybody knows money doesn't buy happiness, it's a cliche, but they're still in your mind. You're like, yeah, but it'll be a lot easier. And the access to it will be a lot easier. I mean it definitely is. Yeah, yeah.

Halli:

And this is a very strange thing to complain about.

Halli:

But the more successful I became, the unhappier I became, really.

Halli:

And I think it was because, yes, I knew that I wouldn't be complete, yeah, but feeling it happening and not, you know, getting more and more successful, getting more and more something, and realizing that the problem wasn't that was never the like, the actual problem with how I was feeling. I mean, obviously, yes, there were times when I didn't have money for rent and food, and that's a very different thing. Yes, but after a while it becomes very, very diminishing returns. But for me it also laid on the expectation of like, oh, you're here, so you should be this level of happy, or you should be this level of happy, or you should be this level of, you know, complete as a human. Yes, and I think it exposed me much more than it actually, that I realized because every time I reached a benchmark and felt the sort of the emptiness, yeah, inside I realized, oh, I have to do the hard work. Like this is like doing the work outside of, like you know, the money work, that's hard, but going inside, that's excruciating, it's the worst.

Andy:

It's so hard.

Halli:

But it is like the. I mean it's the only way through, but it is the only way through. Yeah, but I mean I went through a terrible year doing that. Yeah, and happy now, but it was awful. And now I have a few things and I'm kind of just like let's just put those things on the back burner for a while. I can't deal with everything.

Andy:

Oh, you mean personal? Yeah, just personal Development, psychological Things, that.

Halli:

I know that if I go through them, I will come out a better person. Yes, but I'm just exhausted.

Andy:

Yeah, no, there's only so much time in the day and so much energy in a person, and I do think I mean. One thing you're saying too is I think even at the beginning, when you start out and you try and keep a level head and you think you're like, oh no, I know that financial and material success won't make me happy, you think like, well, it might be easier. But then too you meet them and you realize you're confirmed, it's confirmed. It's like no, it really doesn't like, because I think somewhere in there you're thinking like, well, maybe it does, you know yeah, maybe there's a chance and then it's like oh shit, it really doesn't.

Andy:

I really am kind of and it's, it's impossible to tell anyone.

Halli:

Yeah, because the obvious answer then is let's give me your money yeah, I'll be happy with it, right, right, and he's like no, I, I'd rather keep it, yes, yes, it is fascinating how we attach. You know, we pursue things in our life that are not the things that actually fulfill us yes, and sometimes for decades, and and it's a hard realization.

Andy:

When it happens, it's a hard realization, but it's like it's pretty necessary and I do. I I don't want to say that like I get impatient with people that don't do that, but I feel bad for them, but I do get impatient with people and this is not fair. I've been to therapy for a million years and I believe in it strongly and it has taken the place that I think religion takes for most people.

Andy:

Just in terms, not that I believe it's some magical thing, but just that it gives me a placement, it gives me a sense of progress, it gives me a sense of hope. Like that things can get better. Like I don't think I'm going to heaven, but I definitely do think I do have the potential to become happier and happier and happier, until I just lay down and die, die. And I do get frustrated with people not so much strangers, but people in my life that just seem to be hitting their head against the same low doorway and then they back up and try and go through again.

Halli:

I look at myself and realize I do it yeah and I'm like you're right I should give them, cut them the slack because, from the outside. Other people's problems are so easy to solve yes, oh, absolutely, it's like yeah absolutely three things. Yeah, and it's here's what you should do. Yeah, you know, and then you sort of someone does it to you. It's like don't be an asshole. Yeah, yeah, you know. Yeah, that's not helpful. Yeah I know that already.

Andy:

The problem is I don't want to do it or I can't do it for some reason, until I fix some other shit my older kids my son, who's 24 now, and his sister's 19 and he is very much like me in terms of like just a terrible procrastinator, has trouble getting homework done, you know just, and I've been that way my whole life, and his sister is not. His sister she's sits down and, like I, have homework to do, and she one time told me because he was getting ready to go to college and it was a very stressful time for him, and she said to me once in the car she said why doesn't he just take a big project and do a little bit every night over the series of nights, and then it wouldn't creep up on him? And I said, honey, that's't an out. Why doesn't an alcoholic just stop drinking? Yeah, and I was like it's just drinking moderation yeah, it doesn't work that way.

Halli:

You know, it's like if it was so easy, everyone would be perfect, you know but I'm the same way, my, my solution to it not more like your son as he's describing him um, my solution to it has always been just to set some deadline, yeah, and set something in motion, yes, and then almost every time, I regret it, and then, almost every time, once it's done, I'm happy again.

Andy:

I'm happy again. Yeah, yeah, I need to have other people involved. Yeah, which is not a healthy thing.

Halli:

It is actually similar to me, like I had a creative agency we were doing a lot of work with, and so I got to build my little pod of little creative minions and it was amazing, yeah, and what I'm missing most now actually is that feeling of being in a group of people that each have like a thing to contribute to make something very good.

Andy:

Yes, and it's exhausting to be, you know having to be the person that does the whole circle of the project, the thing that I, that I started to talk about. You know that with time I realized I just want to make things. Yeah, I just want to, and it doesn't have to be. You know, I have high standards for comedy. Like I don't want to do shitty work, yeah, but that doesn't mean that I have to do, you know, a criterion collection film, because I direct television commercials and I'm as happy making a television commercial as I am making, you know, one of the really sort of cool comedies that I've worked on, because it's the same thing.

Andy:

I went to film school. I got used to working on a film set when I was a student. I've been on film sets since I was, you know, 20 years old and it's a, it's a an environment that I understand, that I thrive on and that I love and that there's, you know, there's different departments and I still get completely, uh, thrilled by the circus aspect of it, where you pack everything up in trucks and then show up and you know, and you turn up somebody's house into a haunted house and then you pack up and leave. It's all very magical to me and and that's really all I kind of want to do and I don't.

Andy:

The sad thing these days is like I just don't know how much that's going to happen, because I don't know. So much of that is dependent upon people giving me work Right. Much of that is dependent upon people giving me work right, because there are yes, I could possibly create things, but I just don't really think I've lived in this skin long enough to know like, yeah, that's a possibility, but it's a long shot. Yeah, I'm, I'm much more likely to do that when somebody else started something, built it, and because there's a lot of that too. I don't quite even know how to do that. I've been along for the ride on those things, but it has never been like what you're dealing with. Why?

Halli:

don't we start a big project and break it down in little nuggets and do one piece at a time, every day?

Andy:

I'm kind of doing that right now. I'm actually working on a book that was brought to me, which is very thrilling to me because it's perfect for me, because I've always wanted to write more. I have a terrible time writing more, so someone's given me an assignment, so I'm going to have to do it, because I made a promise to someone for all the years that I've been to the gym, I had to have a trainer.

Andy:

If it's just up to me to go to the gym, fuck that, I'll sleep in. But I made a promise to someone that I'm going to be there, so I have to be there. So I'm working on this book and I'm working with a co-writer, which is wonderful too, because there's an ego part of me that's like I can do it myself. But then there's another part of me that's like why don, why don't you shut up? Right, I can do it myself. Why don't you just sit down and enjoy having company along this experience. And also somebody that also has to shoulder the burden too.

Halli:

And the stress of it, and that is a professional writer. It's a professional writer, so it can help move things along and shape them and understand the format and all that.

Andy:

It's a publisher, an agent that I did a previous book book, a sort of a collective group effort on a book. This agent that I worked with on that was having lunch with a, with a editor, at a big, you know, at harper collins, and uh, she said I had this idea for a book and I would like andy richter. She doesn't know me. She said, like andy richter for a book and I would like Andy Richter.

Andy:

She doesn't know me. She said I'd like Andy Richter to write it, and so he came to me and I said yes, and you like the concept?

Andy:

Oh, yeah, yeah it's going to be really fun. This project is like I say, it's really good for me because it will force me to do this and if I can get a book written and then I can just start writing on my own, that will be very good for me, just for in the future as an outlet. If, if I'm not going to get that much acting work and I'm and I don't there's a, on one hand, I think, well, of course I'll get more acting work. I do a good job. I'm well regarded. I, you know I can do it. Well-regarded I, you know I can do it. I don't I don't think I'm the best person in the world, but I do think that, like, if you hire me, I will shoulder my load, you know.

Halli:

Yeah, I mean when you show up in a TV show or in a movie, you know it's going to be good. Thank you.

Andy:

That's my point. No, but I but I don't know what the I don't know what the future holds, everything seems so. I talk to friends of mine that are sort of my peers, age-wise and career-wise, and we all, just I was talking to a friend of mine the other day and we were both saying we don't even know quite what we do anymore, we're not even quite sure what our place in the world work-wise is anymore, because it's just such a strange fallow time, you know, there just isn't really that much going on. And then the fires just made it even worse, you know.

Andy:

And the other thing I really have been trying to do and I'm really proud of myself for is and it's ironic to me because when I started as a young person, trying to undo all of the depressive tendencies and all the bad wiring that had been installed in me from an early age, I started to realize you can't compartmentalize, you can't be a different person in one part of your life and then and then another person in a different part of your life. And now that I'm old and seasoned I realize, oh yes, you can. Yes, and in fact it's quite important.

Halli:

yeah, I was gonna say I was hoping you would actually end up with like some key to unlock, like I'm the same person in every room I walk into. Yes, because that's not me at all. Yes, I grew up and I have to. I have to be able to shut off part of my emotions, part of myself, to function. Yes, in some situations it becomes a habit and I used to think it was a huge problem, but I actually think it's a big strength to be able to do that.

Andy:

Yes, because I don't know how else I would get out of bed, the stress that I could feel just in terms of the different things going on, different things going on in my life. I could curl up into a ball and just spend six hours a day curled up in a ball, just as a therapeutic sort of break from everything. But I am not. I'm in a. I did it.

Halli:

I tried that for a year. It doesn't work. It doesn't work, no, it actually makes it worse.

Andy:

Yes, it makes it worse. And I also have found too I got divorced after 25 years of being married and got remarried and in many ways and I do not mean this in any way to diminish my first marriage, but I'm just happier than I've ever been in my life and and it's not, it's not anybody's fault, it's not to anybody's credit, but mine because I just have, I've stopped putting my hand on the stove to see if it's hot.

Andy:

Yeah, you know, yeah, I just, I just am not doing those destructive things. And you know, the challenge for me right now, as I've kind of said, is to figure out the balance of passive and active. You know, like the most wonderfully interesting thing happened.

Halli:

The most wonderfully interesting thing happened. What's that? There was a flyer on the wall. Yeah, there was adopt a cat, uh-huh.

Andy:

And it had like one of those, like the little tear-off things. Yeah, tear-off things.

Halli:

And there was a guy. That guy he just walked past, he took it down and threw it out and I thought, okay, he must be the store owner. But I think he's just a pass passerby.

Andy:

Maybe he's either anti-Cat or maybe he adopted the Cat.

Halli:

Maybe, he actually took it home.

Andy:

Yeah.

Halli:

Yeah, I went to a Cat cafe yesterday, oh really In West Hollywood.

Andy:

Oh, there's one here.

Halli:

I didn't know that oh wow, the way that works there though, which is different to other Cat cafes I've been to. You basically charge an entrance fee, yeah, you say like 30 minutes an hour or whatever. You have one in iceland and it's basically there, it's, you know. They just charge you a lot for the stuff in there.

Andy:

The cats are kind of free yeah, they're built into the cost of the coffee and the cake.

Halli:

Yeah, uh, but there was. You know, there was almost no other service available. Just cats Just cats and a lemonade. They had lemonade, yeah, but it was still. I don't know how you feel about animals, but the only annoying thing about it was the people that worked there kept coming up to me and asking me if I wanted something. Yeah yeah. The thing I was trying to do was I wanted peace.

Andy:

To just be with the animals. No, I love animals and I didn't even realize there was one here, but I definitely I have my five-year-old. I'll take her there because my son lives with us and he's deathly allergic. So we would have a cat. If I mean I'm a little allergic and I would just put up with it, I mean I would have a menagerie. You know, if I could, I would have goats, I would have a little bit of everything. Do you live in a house?

Halli:

I live in a house but I couldn't.

Andy:

Yeah, we have two dogs right now. I mean I have a big dog and then we have a foster that is in a trial period right now. My wife had a dog that died of cancer in September and we've been trying to replace, not replace, her. We've been looking for another dog and it's been very difficult for my wife because this dog and I I told her earlier in our relationship I said I'm getting the sense that the dog is one, our daughter is two and I'm three and she's like yeah, yeah, absolutely yeah, um, but the dog was more important than our daughter. I mean, not, you know, yeah, I get it, um, but so that was a huge blow and she's still kind of, I think, not recovered from it.

Andy:

So, but we have two dogs and where we live, I mean we could probably have chickens, except for the fact that we have coyotes. There's coyotes. I just talked to one of my neighbors this morning. His dog he has a little little dog got attacked by a coyote on the streets of Pasadena. It was, you know, it's just, they're suburban streets and there was a coyote hiding between two cars at 11 o'clock at night, jumped out, grabbed his dog and he got him away from it, but the dog has got 12 stitches. Had to have a drain in one of the you know, it's coyotes.

Andy:

It's crazy. Our neighborhood. It's crazy how many coyotes are in our neighborhood. There's something about it that I sort of like. I like the. You know the infusion and the insistence of nature to be there regardless of our hubris.

Halli:

But Humans.

Andy:

They can, but they usually don't, and that's the only way that they can be removed. They can eat dogs all day and nobody from the county will take care of them, but if they bite a human, they're gone, and I don't know if they're destroyed or if they're relocated. I don't understand why they can't just catch them and take them somewhere else, way out into the woods or you know up into the hills, but but it is. It's pretty scary. I mean, we have our big dog, um, and so I don't worry about them, but now that we have this new little one, it is like a concern, because they can hop fences and get in your backyard and yeah, they're very clever. Um, wiley, yeah, exactly, famously, exactly famously wiley. So anyway, well, what are you doing here, like work-wise?

Halli:

I'm um. I lived in the us for a long time and then I moved to iceland in 2020 and it there's a lot of great things about Iceland, but I feel very claustrophobic there after a while. It's a very, very small country.

Andy:

It's small, yeah sure.

Halli:

And so you kind of run out of things to do, yeah, after not you know, after a few weeks even, and people, do you run out of people A little bit, yeah, yeah, I mean I'm particular, yeah, and so it just narrows a field of people that I want to talk to. Absolutely, I get it, yeah, I get it, you know. And after a while you've talked to them all and you start repeating the stories. Yeah, and then it's like I don't know.

Halli:

Yeah, you know you go to a great museum once and then again, and then a third time. It's like that's it. Yeah, you know. I'll have to give this a break for a few years. Yeah, yeah, no matter how great it is, yeah.

Andy:

No it's. I mean, I grew up in a small town and I miserable, and then I realized like, oh, it's because I shouldn't live in a small town, yeah. And I imagine it's similar. It's a small country, it's just, you know.

Halli:

Yeah, and I always felt out of place. Yeah, I always felt like an outsider, even as a kid, and so it and still, and so it did feel very isolating. So moving to the US felt very different. America is kind of the best and the worst of everything.

Halli:

Yeah, and more and more of the worst. But it is also fascinating to be able to go to. I'm staying close to the Comedy Store and I can go to, like on a Tuesday, go to see just amazing people perform for I don't know 20 bucks or something on a Tuesday night and it's always there.

Andy:

Yeah, yeah.

Halli:

And that you know that is pretty special, I think, and there's multiple places like that, yeah, where you feel like this it's hard to replicate a lot of this in another. I don't speak fluently multiple languages, so I need to be in an English speaking. Yeah, I tried England, it was just a little too much. So, yeah, I'm drawn to America.

Andy:

Yeah.

Halli:

And because of all the shiny, like little things that you can find. Yes, little diamonds you can go and find along the way, but you don't have to go huge.

Andy:

It's massive. It's so massive and there is a lot of room and there and there is too like I think there is a casualness depending on where you go. We don't put on airs the way a lot of other places in the world do.

Andy:

Certainly you can go to Beverly Hills and be judged, but, as we spoke of before, there are people there that I think are just misshapen by money. The weirdest part of this town is Beverly Hills. I go there and I, just like you said, I don't even feel sort of species kinship with a lot of people there. But generally speaking it's pretty humble. I mean, you watch, like British comedies and you see caricatures of Americans who are too casual and too familiar, but I certainly prefer that.

Halli:

It is nice and you know, icelanders, scandinavians in general obviously famously also don't really open up very hard to sort of melt. Yes, and Americans are. Yeah, you meet someone, it feels like I mean, there's a shallowness to it as well. Oh, absolutely, it does feel nice just to be going on a walk and people are like howdy, yeah, and you know, and you can run into a person and talk to them and they have an interesting story and it's I don't run into a person and talk to them and they have an interesting story and it's I don't know, there's something different to America.

Halli:

Yeah, that I really enjoy and obviously the language is a big part of it for me, because I you can speak it.

Andy:

Yeah, there is, though here, as I said, I grew up in a small town, and there is the supposed friendliness of small town people, yeah, but that is also coupled with a small mindedness and the prejudicial aspect of them, and I mean, I have seen it in family members, people that are, I mean, old family members, not anybody currently, but like actively racist, but yet will go out of their way to help someone of color. Very friendly.

Halli:

You know what I mean, yeah.

Andy:

Like this is a person that needs my help, so I'm going to help them, but if you were to ask me, I would say no, no, that's not a good person you know, because of whatever type of person they are, which is, I guess there's a certain extent that that happens in humans generally, but it does get a little bit hard to stomach, and especially now especially now, you know so you grew up in a small town yeah and and and I'm assuming you had you didn't have a lot of opportunities to express who you wanted to become no, no, I mean my um, my family's well-educated.

Andy:

They're like my father's a college professor and we had a fair amount I'd say more so than most people just culture. Like we knew a little bit more about literature and geography probably than the average person in my small town. So there was kind of this so you than the average person in my small town.

Andy:

so there was kind of this so you were the fancy people we were a little bit that way and also too and I didn't realize this until later um, my grandfather, my maternal grandfather, was his sweetheart. Everyone loved him and he had. He grew up and he was born in this town. He was born in the house I grew up in, and actually on our dining room table on the dining room table that we had all our Thanksgivings and Christmases.

Andy:

He was born on that table and he was just a kind person and he ended up sort of selling insurance and sort of selling real estate, but also in politics. He was involved in politics and it was Republican politics, which was a different thing. Back then it was Eisenhower, pro-business kind of stuff, I mean, certainly racist, but the Democrats were of that era and of that area, were racist too. But because he was important in politics, he was the chairman of the Republican Party, he was in a governor's cabinet.

Andy:

We I did not know this until later we were the elite of our county, which is hilarious. It's like saying someone's you know, the elite, the highest class, hillbilly, you know, the highest class, hillbilly, you know. But and I would, and I would sort of then notice it, like in my aunts and uncles sometimes this air of you know, here I am, you know, which is, again, it's ludicrous, but it did kind of install in me this feeling of a little bit special, like a little bit like I'm not just normal person and that I do deserve to go do things and that I do, it is worth it to pay attention to culture and stuff. But yeah, there was no say just acting to be an actor.

Andy:

Our high school plays were the dumbest thing. They were like just. There was one that was our fall play called Boys and Ghouls Together and it was like a 50s, like a Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis comedy that they passed on, just the dumbest, and you were in it. I was in one, yeah, I was in a couple, and then I stopped doing them because they were so bad and so stupid and also too, because and how old this was when I was in a couple and then I stopped doing them because they were so bad and so stupid and also too because how old.

Andy:

This was when I was a sophomore. I actually, well, I started doing the plays and I wanted to do the plays and I knew like I wanted to be an actor. I mean not like I didn't say this is what I'm going to do for a living, but I definitely knew it was something I wanted to do with my time and I was in the first couple plays and you have to earn your way in, you know, because it's all four years of school ninth through 12th grade get in the plays together, and then the bigger parts are usually the older kids and I just, I knew I was pretty good, yeah, and there was, I think it was in my sophomore year Was that?

Andy:

self-confidence or training, or both Natural ability and and and then, and then just a sense of self-awareness. Yeah, like I could just tell, like uh, and also, and also input people going like you're really good at this, you know, um, but I was in, I was in the plays, I had small parts in the plays and then there was this, this play that I went out and there was a big character-y part that had an accent, some sort of Eastern European accent, and I knew and everybody, all the other kids are like you should do that. And I did not get that part. And I went to the guy that was the director of the play and I had enough composure to go and say, hey, why didn't I get this part?

Andy:

You and I both know. And he said to me he said Andy, he said I have to tell you that of all the years I've been directing plays here, you are by far the most talented actor I have ever worked with. And I was like, well, and why didn't? He said because the previous play director from the because they traded off seasonally. He told me that you and this other young woman who you know, that you were a disruptive influence backstage, which means we were theater kids being, theater kids having fun yeah.

Andy:

And he gave me a smaller part and I told him I don't want the smaller part and I just never did another play you know which. In thinking about it, like I don't think, like that's like an amazing amount of composure for me to have when I'm I don't know 14, 15. Very confident going. But, that's not me Like. That story should not be indicative of my general my place.

Halli:

My default in a rejection setting is oh, of course, yeah, Of course.

Andy:

Well, in most settings I think it would be, but in this one I did enough information and I wanted it. I also kind of wanted it and I felt enough encouragement from my parents to say, hey, wait a minute. And so I just didn't do it. So I didn't have a lot of outlets for that kind of thing.

Halli:

So you went into improv at some point.

Andy:

Yeah, I went away to college and then I went to film school and all of those things were sort of breakdowns of compromises, like I did want to definitely work in the film business and in Chicago. At that point there were movies that were being made in Chicago and it was very exciting and seemed real. It seemed like, oh, if people are making these big feature films.

Halli:

Right, because a lot of the what's his name Movies were made in Chicago. John Landis, yeah.

Andy:

There were those. There was one. There's a James Caan movie, a Michael Mann-directed, called the Thief, which is a Chicago movie. Yeah, it's very good that was, which is a Chicago movie. Yeah, it's very good it was.

Halli:

That was very formative to me and you got to be on set.

Andy:

No, no, I just I saw the movie and I recognized everywhere they were. I was like this, I could be in this, because I know all of this, you know, and, and it was just so great and it's such a great it's one of my favorite movies it is so that was very, very much made me think I can. You know, the film business is a business, you know. I mean, it's a there's got to be a place in there somewhere for me. And then, and then I started taking improv classes, which was the real sort of but it wasn't always.

Halli:

I'm going to be the funny guy.

Andy:

Yeah, pretty much. Okay, pretty much because you realized, because it was what it's. Just the water, my, you know where my water settles, the level that it settles at.

Halli:

And what is that? Because you are extremely quick. You're very quick in getting to a place. Yeah, you know, it seems like you jump through a few different hurdles. You know, I imagine watching you. You're thinking no, no, no, yes, this is the one that I'm going to go with. Yeah, so you probably have like a few lines set up or thought about like in the moment, and then you like pick one or direction, and then it then it's like oh, this is the funniest one that I can come up with.

Andy:

That's actually a specific improv lesson taught by del close. Who is the sort of chicago improbable but it happens in it's, it's.

Andy:

Don't say that don't say the first thing. Don't say this I think it's the third thing, okay, I think I don't remember exactly, but there definitely is a thing don't say the first thing, because that's what everybody says. Don't say the second thing because that's just in reaction to the first thing. Say the third thing because that's where you are, you know, and that's where the surprise is, and um, so yeah, that I mean, yes, you're, you've noted something and was that?

Halli:

did you learn that quick? Or was that something you were born with?

Andy:

I was. I, like I said my father, father is one of the quickest wits I have ever known in my life, so you had to get in fast before him.

Andy:

I grew up around some funny funny people yeah, and then their funny funny friends, yeah, and then yeah, and then also just being young and in many ways I was fairly mature at an early age, I had a good understanding of people. In some ways that was to my detriment, because in many ways I got drawn into too much adult things you know, marriages falling apart, dysfunctional family situations Because I think people were like like, oh, he knows what he's talking about, like he's got a good perspective on this, um which, after I had children, I realized, oh no, you don't do that. You, you leave the children out, even if they're good at it, you drive them out and so that also we're exposed to too many adult too many adult things.

Andy:

But it also kind of made it, also kind of gave me a smart mouth. When people, when especially you know, the teachers, that you know you're smarter than start to right, you know, start to sort of try and knuckle down on you and you just, you know, I mean there's this general sort of like I can't say fuck you, but I can also, but I can make fun of you and make the class laugh at you and in some ways that's better. Yeah, you know, because I was very familiar with the con, with the, the phenomenon of a teacher being mad at me and me saying something to them and them being so fucking pissed but laughing, like, having like, like the. The reaction is to laugh and then to be like, god damn it, you know you got me and then, and then I'm even more trouble yeah, and so you defeat the situation.

Halli:

Yeah, and how much is a defense mechanism? Do you know, did you feel, or is it?

Andy:

um, is it I? It's definitely a defensive thing to do, but it's a sensitivity. It's like I do not like being told what to do. I never have and I am not a troublemaker. I don't like to break rules. I'm not someone that ever was. You know, the notion of like getting in trouble was terrifying and mortifying to me when I was a kid, of like getting in trouble was terrifying and mortifying to me when I was a kid, but, um, but I certainly did not like being told what to do, especially because I think there was just this part of me that's like I work so hard to try and be good and to try and keep all these plates spinning at once and you're going to criticize me for this? Nothing, little piece of shit. Then I'd be like you know there's that and that still exists in me. I have to undo it.

Halli:

We should start scrolling back. Does it come? Is any of it rage-fueled Like is it?

Andy:

do you feel these moments? It used to be much more than it is now.

Halli:

Because humor is such a powerful Hi.

Andy:

I ruined a big picture earlier. Thank you yeah powerful. Hi, Thank you. Yeah, really quick if you got it ready. I have one with Connor here too. Oh cool, Alright, See you later. There used to be a lot more anger in it. There still is some, but it's.

Halli:

I was a disabled kid and I was terrified of bullies and everything.

Andy:

Yeah.

Halli:

But I did find that I was often able to humiliate them, yes, and when I you know, in a way that didn't necessarily get me beat up, right. And so there is a part of me that still has that. Whenever I feel under attack in some way, yeah, yeah, that I will go like get nasty to sort of, you know, put people down. Yeah, just, you know something I'm working on, but it's still it's there because it is like a primal response that I learned just to sort of not get beat up all the time. Yeah, yeah.

Andy:

I am, I'm capable of that, but I think that I am very judicious and always kind of have been. Because, not out of some great kindness, it's because if I feel like I've hurt someone's feelings, it just I just am. It's corrosive, yeah, I'm, I'm upset about it. And even if somebody is a complete dick to me, it takes a lot for me to just hurt their feelings and walk away scot-free without punishing myself. But yeah, in professional situations and in getting some notoriety and some leverage and some power, to say no to things is something that I had to learn how to do. Hey there.

Speaker 4:

How are you, Caroline? How are you? We're like. I know the voice so well. Yeah, how are you Good to see, are?

Andy:

you. I'm good. We're like. I know the voice so well. Yeah, how are you Good to see you? This is Holly. This is Caroline.

Halli:

Hi, I saw you a few nights ago at the Comedy Store oh yeah, yeah, oh, thank you. Oh, I saw you. Yeah, I was right next to you.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, in the original room, I think he left when we left Was Jeff Ross.

Halli:

Yeah, jeff Ross was there, Mark Maron, some other guys, my friend Charlene Hi Charlene, I'm Andy. How are you, that's all right.

Andy:

All right, we're good, we're podcasting, are you all right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, like right now, oh sorry, that's all right. No, it's all going to be edited. That's right, it's his.

Halli:

We've got two listeners now. It's probably going to be called let's Go for a Walk. Oh, I love it. Yeah, see ya, thank you. And so you went into improv Because you are again. It is very interesting to watch very quick people especially with humor.

Halli:

When it's done well, it feels effortless. Yes, but you know it isn't, and so it is. You know I really enjoy watching that, but there's always maybe to your previous point, especially in, I think, maybe the parts you get there's always a sweetness to the characters. Oh, thank you. They feel I love. For example, 30 Rock is one of my favorite shows and you know, as Liz's brother, you know he's very, very sweet. Yeah, obviously it's a funny situation he's in, but for me it works because of the way you play it, which is just this pure innocence, pure joy. Yeah, everything is new and it feels like, yeah, you're 17 or whatever.

Andy:

Yeah, how old are you supposed to be Trapped? Yeah?

Halli:

So it does. I think that's not what you get all the time, like there's a lot of very quick people, but it comes from nastiness. Yes, and it comes probably from the place that I was describing before, which is, you know, self-preservation, mm-hmm. But yeah, you, yeah, this was supposed to be a compliment.

Andy:

No, it is, it is Well, and I think what you're seeing too is that, especially with, you know, improv comedy or sketch comedy and kind of comedy generally, it's hard for the well, it's not always hard. I think it's more difficult for the performer to hide their true self in a comedic role than it is in a dramatic role. Yeah, and so I think if you watch a particular performer's career, you probably have a pretty good idea of who Will Ferrell is Right and of who you know Zach Galifianakis is, Because they're making choices that are comedic choices, that are work choices, that are art choices, but they're also personal choices. They're also like saying this is the story I want to tell. You know, this is the, this is the person I want to portray, yeah and uh. So yeah, it does. You know it's hard to hide yourself over and over and over um it is.

Halli:

Yeah, I went. I went to the Kermit's store. I actually went four nights in a row. There we go oh really To see the same comics in the original room Because I wanted to see them develop what they were working on.

Andy:

Was there a lot of development? Because I often find with stand-ups, like the problem with having friends that are stand-ups is you go see them and then you go see them two weeks later and you see the same thing yeah, I mean it was nuanced, because that's what I want to see, like the nuanced changes.

Halli:

It wasn't like here's a whole new bit, here's a whole new show, yeah, yeah, uh, but it was changing a word here and there, yeah, figuring out, oh, maybe this should come after this, adjusting based on audience reaction.

Andy:

Yeah, yeah.

Halli:

And then again you know seeing some of these very, very capable people taking whatever energy is in the room and running with that too and incorporating that.

DD:

Right.

Halli:

Like that's the danger that is so fun to watch as an audience member, Although I don't fully understand the people that sit in the front. But I Especially the ones that don't fully understand the people that sit in the front, but I Especially the ones that don't laugh when somebody makes fun of them, because it's the whole show.

Andy:

I can't even imagine sitting in the front. I don't like to sit in front of the play. You know Like I want to be anonymous.

Halli:

There are people that definitely sit there and you think, yeah, they're there because they want to be part of the show, yes, but then there's people that are just offended at everything.

Andy:

Oh, yeah, sit in the front and be pissed off the whole time.

Halli:

Yeah, and that's also fascinating to watch. Yeah, there was a guy one time there. He was sitting to the side of the stage with his pal and and they were in their 50s and they were. You know, they looked like assholes. There was something about them before they said anything and they were constantly picked on. They were just constantly picked on and they never laughed about anything.

Andy:

Do you think that the comedians were like keying off their energy?

Halli:

I don't know.

Andy:

Yeah.

Halli:

You know again, I don't know why, but the interesting thing was, like towards the end of the night they were kind of fed up with this. Instead of just moving because it wasn't a full room, right, they could have just moved somewhere else they actually selected to stay in the situation. They were getting madder and madder, but internally because they weren't quick or funny or anything, yeah, yeah. So they couldn't respond to the moments when it happened. So it started to be like a George Costanza thing of like. I'll come back tomorrow and reply to your pun from yesterday.

Andy:

Well, they probably didn't move, because that would have been a sign of capitulation you know Sure yeah, that would be surrender.

Halli:

But there was a point where one of the comedians was interacting with him and the guy was so mad and he just said he said his full name and he said Google me. And then he said remember my name in the most threatening way possible to the comic, who was a black woman, and I just thought this is so interesting. Are they here to pick a fight? Their ego is clearly hurt because I didn't Google him. I'm sure he's done something amazing.

Andy:

He's probably just a lawyer or something you know.

Halli:

Yeah, or like an executive somewhere, or something. But, you know, had that kind of aura around him like you don't fuck with me. Anyway, I thought that was a fascinating experiment in just watching humanity. How was your? Do you like stand-up, doing stand-up, or are you more just being in the moment?

Andy:

no, I you know what I started to kind of do it because, well, it was available to me and people would ask me to do, friends would ask me to do their show at a comedy festival and I would think that they had some sketch for me to do or something, and it would turn out. No, no, they just expected me to do 10 minutes. So, right, I had this, I sort of you know, which is again a wonderful way to get me to do something, to put me on the spot, and then I go, all right, well, I got to do it, um, but uh, I did. I tried for a while and I also thought because it I'll be completely frank that I have a number of friends who are improv performers, who second city SNL, and they get, you know, they get on in their careers, and it's a good way to go and make some money. Sure, you know, you just go out for three weeks and you know, and it's money in your pocket, you know it's, it's easy, you know, I mean easy in air quotes, yeah. So I thought, oh, maybe I should try that and investigate that.

Andy:

And I just realized I don't like being on stage by myself. I don't. What about do a lot? Um, well, I like doing that kind of thing, but I don't and I and I'm not saying that I would never like figure out a way to adapt, um, to adapt, uh, some kind of act that I could do, like that.

Andy:

I've tried to think of podcasts that I could do that would lend themselves to performance, because the one that I do three questions is kind of meant to be more of an intimate conversation, right? So it's not really. It doesn't play live that great, but I've tried to think of other ones. But I had one for a while that my friend, andy Daly and I were trying to work into something that we could do live, and then it just didn't pan out and it was like too much work for not enough money and and you know, and if you make a, if you make a podcast and you're just going to do it yourself and you're going to put it out there, that's fine. But if you go to a company and try and get them to pay you money for it, right, the expectations are so, yeah, high and about in terms of, like this, many live shows, yeah, and how?

Andy:

many and how many listeners you need to guarantee them, and which. To me, it's like no, that's not my job your job is to get the listeners I'm supposed to.

Andy:

You know I make the sausage, you sell it. You know you put it in the cart. I don't, um, so I, I just I just like being on stage with people, um, but honestly, I don't even need to be on stage that much. There are people that I know that live for an audience. That just you know have to have an audience. I don't. I like, as I said before, working on a set and having that sort of like little band of of weirdos that goes around doing things. I like to make them laugh, I like to entertain them, I like to. You know, it's like entertaining your family. And when I used to do um, like, and I said I've said this for years like on late night, if I could make the cameraman laugh, that was when I was happiest, because they've seen every you know, they've seen a few times seen me a million times so if I can make them laugh, then I know like, okay, that was a good one.

Andy:

Yeah, um, even if the audience isn't laughing, I feel like that's the kind of laugh that I want to get yeah but yeah, I stand up. This is too lonely for my taste and also the sometimes the atmosphere of them of the club.

Halli:

You can feel like again going to the same club four nights in a row. It's different yeah night. And yeah, I can see. You know I wouldn't be. Yeah, I'm comfortable going on stage in different scenarios, but, right, I would never go in front of that crowd you know everyone is there. They're also there. A lot of them are there to pick a fight. It's just the weird energies it's transactional too.

Andy:

Yeah, it's like I'm gonna. You know well, the drinking never helps, but it's like give me a laugh. Yes, that's not a laugh, that's not a laugh.

Halli:

That's not a laugh. All right, that's my favorite guy is the guy that goes that's not funny when everyone is laughing, that's that's my favorite yeah yeah, but this has been wonderful well, thank you so much this was beautiful. Thank you so much. It was a pleasure to meet you yeah, you too, so thank you so much. A long time coming, I know yes, yes, definitely yeah so but uh that was, that was that um.

DD:

What an absolute delight. I just want to put two of you in a little bag and adopt you and keep you and just move in with you guys and just hang out with you forever. You're so sweet human beings. What a lovely way to listen to two men. You know, and it's kind of you know the climate today. We're not going to make it political, but you know, it's just lovely to hear men of different ages and different experiences, different backgrounds. He from a small town. Both of us are from Iceland. Uh, so many things I connected to there. I no notes really. I just have a bunch of things that I just thought were so wonderful and, and, if anything, because I've always had much respect for Andy Richter, if anything, I just like deeply fell in love with him even more. He seems like such a well-crafted human. He's amazing.

DD:

Very balanced, very balanced. And you know not to insert myself into this podcast, but I work in Hollywood and have for over 10, 15 years you know I deal with what he, I connect to what he's. So many things that he said about, like working in the circus and having the group of people and having those people, like talking about his cameraman laughing when he's telling the joke and not wanting to be a stand up and loves to be rather a part of a thing. I deeply connect to that and it just seems so, so sweet and well crafted and both of you together are just like. Can I remember when we ran into kittens in Iceland, where we're running around as kids, and you brought them home and you ask your mom if you want to keep him.

DD:

I want to keep both of you guys.

Halli:

I would definitely want to keep Andy.

DD:

Yes.

Halli:

Maybe I might return myself, but yes, he is sweet, he's funny, he's thoughtful. It was just a real pleasure meeting him, talking to him, and one of the things that he said, I think, which is true, is with a comedian, you get. You get what they're actually like.

DD:

I think it's very hard to hide yourself and I think he was exactly what I was expecting to be, which was just, but maybe in an even better way, he was just the sweetest, nicest, humblest person which I have seen the other side of people, when I'm working with these people, when they have their facades out too and we will not be naming names unless we want that later I have seen the compartmentalization I can't, I can never say that word compartmentalization of how people like I'm this person here and I'm this person here, and then I'm this person there, but him and D talking about the $12,000 worth of casual wear in Los Angeles.

DD:

I thought it was the funniest thing and, ooh, I did write this one thing that I'm like. I never heard anybody speak this in such a way, because I'm exactly like him in this way. He said he doesn't like to be told what to do, but he's not a troublemaker, and I, there it is. I've never been able to say this because I'm not a troublemaker myself. I don't like to be, I don't want to cause waves, but I don't like to be told what to do.

DD:

I don't, yeah, and I like that he mentioned that it was very articulate of him how to he got it out there.

Halli:

Yeah, I think, yeah, that same thing resonated with me. I don't consider myself a troublemaker, but if someone is very yeah I mean, there was so many things that he mentioned just the fact that he is a collaborator, not a creator. Yes, yes.

Halli:

You know, even though I'm sometimes a creator, but it's so nice to be a collaborator and I love being part of a team that is doing something, and that's clearly what he enjoys as well. I also just love his approach to creativity. Like he said, you know, it can be as easy as what he makes for dinner. Yes yes, and this was surprising to me, he directs commercials.

DD:

I did not know that either. That's my field, yeah.

Halli:

So yeah, he just, you know, he just likes to make things whatever it is.

DD:

He likes to make a collab. He likes to, and I love that. He likes to just be a part of a thing. He doesn't have to be the primus motor, he doesn't have to be the one. He doesn't like the stand-up, he doesn't. That's what I do.

DD:

I'm an art department and that's in a department, we collectively, we make something together and it's so rewarding and to hear somebody who's this successful, been doing it this long, talking about, I mean, and it's kind of him and Conan, because, like that's you know, his parents also very highly educated and, like you said, he was like the smartest of the hillbillies and that was so funny and like and like you know, and and um, so many cute, very insightful things that he was talking about and and I love that he got a selfie while you were talking yeah, it was yeah uh, and it was great about that and we also we, we ran into.

Halli:

This is funny. We ran into carol andrea, uh yeah, uh, just who I had just seen at the comedy club, and so that was funny. It's such a small town, even though it's huge.

DD:

That's true.

Halli:

My note to myself. I feel like I ramble on too much. I want to talk less. It's hard to listen to yourself talk, but I love listening to him talk.

DD:

I get hard on myself with stuff like that too, but as somebody who listened to both of you, I think you had a perfect balance. You actually sounded like you've known each other for a very long time and it felt like a really cute natural conversation between buddies. And he's so open with his information, and so are you and and um man, absolute delight cutie pies both of you he's definitely.

Halli:

I love you guys. He's done the work. He's been in therapy.

DD:

Yes.

Halli:

He understands himself really well.

DD:

I think he understands people really well, and then, on top of everything else he's hilarious About that the one thing that he said about, like because he just talked about that he was in a marriage for a very long time and then he got divorced and now he's this, and then he kind of in a miraculous Andy Richter way, was able to say that he's never been happier. And he said that's not a knock on my previous marriage, that marriage was what it was. It's just, it's me, you know, and I that's a person that has a lot of self-work, understands himself, like he said, he's judicious, you know, and that's a big word that you know, just has. Like you have a sense of kindness coming up to whatever, like both of you, like every asshole we are always faced up with in life, we can either kill him with kindness, or or or lose, or I sometimes say, you know, once you raise your voice, you've lost the, the, the battle.

DD:

So, sometimes it's better to have a witty joke and just murder them with some wit. And uh, you both, uh, you both. That was that. That was awesome.

Halli:

Can't wait to listen to our next guest before we wrap, there's one thing, uh that he mentioned, that, uh, that we've talked about, which is just the state of the industry uh, in general and um, you know I was uh, this was recorded in la right after the fires and I I felt this very, very strongly and you and I know you work in the industry. What is it like right now?

DD:

So now, as this is recorded, it's May 2025, not to date, or do anything, or make this about myself. It is scary. We spoke briefly before we recorded about the state and it is quite scary. Me, my close community. We're fortunate enough to be unemployed at the moment but, you know, compounded, like Andrew said, with with COVID, with the strikes, with the fires, with the political climate, with this, that and the other, and also the streaming, like he mentioned, it's very smart, like it's just like a race to the bottom with.

DD:

You know, everybody bought into the industry to be the shareholders and shareholders and shareholders. And what was these shareholders buying into? It's like people lost their minds, but what they were buying was the value of work that was made by people. That happened with X, y and Z, and now the barometers of that are all gone and the only thing that matters is like shareholder growth every quarter, and to what end? Because they're just really really shoving us into a smaller and smaller. The boat feels bigger, but the hole in the boat is also bigger, and then my bucket, getting the water out of it, gets smaller and smaller. So it is scary.

DD:

I'm not going to lie, it is, it is and I am people that know me and as they know you, hale, I'm an optimistic person and I've always been like I will claw myself out of any situation. I'm spooked. It's bad, I mean, if we don't get like some tax incentives and stuff like that, for California not to get into that. But it's going to be kind of rough, rough path forging ahead. But we will always be shooting, we will always be doing stuff. It's just way less and like he said. He said, what are we now? Remember when?

DD:

he said that he's like what are we as entertainers? Like what? I don't even know what we are anymore. As like, am I a writer? Am I a comic? Am I an actor? Because what are the things? Because he's just sitting by the phone. He said I'm dependent on being employed. So so are we. We just get the call to make a commercial for X, y and Z, and then we just have to sit Because I don't work in an office, I don't have a steady job, I'm a freelance person Right.

DD:

So I just have to sit and wait for that phone to ring, and if it gets quiet then I'm going to have to consider doing other things.

Halli:

Yeah, I mean, if someone who is as talented, as funny, as nice as him isn't working, that to me is a strong signal that there is something wrong.

DD:

Canary, in the mines, I mean, there's a lot of talented people who are just sitting on the shelves just waiting for stuff to happen. You know, because it's yeah, I'm trying to keep this a positive pod and make us all happy, but reality is, I mean, the industry in Hollywood, I think, globally, globally is a little depressed right now, that is for sure yeah you know, and he voiced it really eloquently but, wrapping up, I I just feel so happy to have spent that time with him.

Halli:

I'm uh. I went back after I, after I talked with him which I probably should have done before and looked at a lot of his performances again and he is just, he's solid in everything he does. He's always good, he. He plays a very good sweet guy. He also plays a very good asshole. Um, he, he is, he's funny, he can.

DD:

He just has a lot of range and I yeah, I can't he's the perfect straight man, like straight man to the, to the wackadoodle, other guys. He's like he's just like he can do it all and like he's basically like the Meryl Streep of his lane, because the script and the show that he might be might be not that great. Andy Richter will always be, great. He will always nail it. He's such an asset. He's just lovely. What a lovely, lovely guy. Yeah, I want to go meet him now you lovely lovely guy.

DD:

Yeah, I want to go meet him now, yeah. You need to give me his phone number. I'm going to go hang Well.

Halli:

Thank you, and that's a wrap on our first episode.

DD:

Woohoo Thank you, buddy.

Halli:

Thank you and we'll see you again next week. Bye, thank you for listening to let's Walk.

Speaker 4:

This episode was produced by Haraldur Thollersson, edited by Gunnar Hansson, with audio support from Ulf Hildur A Steinstotter. Our theme song is by Alpni Lunar Hlauversson.