Anne Lamott

Good Hang with Amy Poehler

Anne Lamott joins Amy Poehler for a heartfelt conversation on writing, faith, Mary, cats, and finding joy in small acts of kindness. The episode blends humor, vulnerability, and spiritual reflection.

Key takeaways

• Writing is an act of honesty and grace

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:00) The city moves fast, but your vibe, that's different. Sharper, smoother, more alive. Speaker 1 (0:12) I just a boy, a boy, habanthak you in this wild night, Speaker 2 (0:16) a pyrn to say my boy, so that's just a boy. The new Honda city isn't just made to drive, it's made to feel. The new Honda City, all new vibe. Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Good Hang. Very excited to have our guest on today. It is the great writer Anne Lamott. And I know we've had writers on before and authors, but this is an author, author. This is a writer, writer. You know what I mean? Anne Lamott is a best-selling author who has written such books as Bird by Bird and Traveling Mercies and Operating Instructions. And we're going to talk to Anne about so many. good things today. We're going to talk about Jesus, and we're also going to talk about Mary. We're going to talk about being a, you know, a sweet and tender kid in San Francisco trying to figure out life. We're going to talk about finding love with people who are allergic to cats, and you love cats, and what do you do about it? And we're going to talk about her new book that she wrote with that love, her husband, Neil Allen, and it is called Good Writing, and we're going to get into that. So lots to discuss today with Anne and thrilled that she's here. And, you know, I wanted to find somebody who loved Anne like I did and was a fan of her books. And I figured why not go back to one of my nearest and dearest friends and friend of the pod, the one, the only my favorite writer, Tina Faye. Tina? Tina Elizabeth Faye, are you there? This episode is presented by Allstate. Checking Allstate First could save you hundreds on car insurance. Not checking how long that recipe takes before you start cooking? Well, that's how you learn that Simmer for four hours is buried halfway down the page. Yeah, checking first is a good idea. So check Allstate first for an auto quote. It could save you hundreds. You're in good hands with Allstate. Potential savings vary, subjects to terms, conditions, and availability, Allstate North American Insurance Company and affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois. Speaker 1 (2:30) I said All I ever wanted was a really good hey Hi. Hi. Speaker 2 (2:39) Betty, thank you for coming on again. You are an official friend of the pod. You've been on now, I think 14, 15 times. Speaker 3 (2:47) I love it. The one time I came on and remember I was all dressed up like Gwyneth Paltrow and nobody caught on that that was me. Speaker 2 (2:56) Oh, God, you were so good. Speaker 3 (2:57) I just do a really good Gwyneth Paltrow impression. Speaker 2 (3:00) Your hair looks incredible. Speaker 3 (3:04) Thank you. Speaker 2 (3:05) Is this a blowout? Speaker 3 (3:06) This is a blowout. And I'm spending a lot, there's a lot of breakage, but we're just going to press through. We're going to press through. Speaker 2 (3:13) Are you at a point now where you're getting a blowout, even if you're not working? Speaker 3 (3:16) For my own sanity, sometimes. I go, like, once a week, like a 1950s lady. Also, because I thought of walking around my apartment with wet hair, can't take it. Speaker 2 (3:26) Oh, yeah, yeah. Speaker 3 (3:27) Because I can't do hair. like something Anne might write about because it's like exercise in hope and faith. And every time I air dry my hair, I believe it's going to come out better. And it never does. Actually, Anne Lamont, Speaker 2 (3:40) who, you know, is an amazing writer. She's written fiction. She's written memoir. She's written. She's like an essayist. She's self-revealing. She's written in all different genres that I want to talk to her about today. She has also written about hair. And like her hair, her body, like, coming to terms with our like physical selves, like, and she's really funny about it, like how she tries to reconcile like we all do, like her physical parts. Speaker 3 (4:12) I thought that was so interesting when you were talking to Carol Burnett, too, about, you know, how old do you feel? She's like, I feel 11. Didn't she say 11? Speaker 2 (4:20) 11. Speaker 3 (4:21) Yeah. And I get that. And we do forget you, there are times when you, you absolutely feel that way and you just, and you absolutely forget about the carcass that you're in and how long it's been around. Speaker 2 (4:35) I asked you to do this first part because you and I have talked about Amelmont and how much we like her and like her writing. And I think there will be people listening to this pod today that will be diehard fans of hers and then people that might be discovering her work for the first time. If you were to talk to somebody who had never read her, How would you describe her as a writer? Speaker 3 (5:00) I would describe her writing as very honest and funny. And it's like meeting a new friend when you meet a friend who you instantly go, oh, you're one of my people, you know, because she's so directed, she's so, yeah, she's just so unguarded in her memoirs. And I also... I love the book bird by bird. I give that book to people all the time. Anyone interested in writing, any kid, you know, going to college. It's just, it's such a helpful, demystifying book about writing. And, yeah, you know, Anne's books, I've turned to them many times in my adult life to take comfort. They are a comfort, you know, traveling mercies and operating instructions. some assembly require that different phases in your life, those books are all a tremendous comfort and they help you feel less insane. That's so true. And Lamott, I'm going to find out more Speaker 2 (6:08) about her today. I've been like reading her stuff in preparation for this. This is actually, this is the first writer I've ever, I mean, other than comedy writers like yourself and others, but like this is the first like writer, writer, writer. Proz writer. Yeah. Proz writer. Yes. It's a little more daunting to have, I feel like I need to work harder. Speaker 3 (6:28) No, I think it's going to be great. And I think I was thinking too, like, oh, yeah, what can I ask her? And I was torn up, like, in some ways, I was like, well, I can't ask her to like minister to us. I want to be like, Anne, why is God taking only the good people? Do you know, Anne? Why? What's happening? Speaker 2 (6:47) It's so funny you say that, Betty, because I feel like my instinct is to keep saying, and how can we help help like and can you tell me and i wonder i want to ask her like does she get that a lot does she get people saying like anne tell me how to because she does minister in her own way Speaker 3 (7:06) in her own way but it's probably it's probably tough to do on the spot um can i tell you some things that i i tried to make notes of like what you might want to ask her okay incredible tina best dude never you can cut any of this out because okay please and thank you let me see and i got some new glasses. Check them out. Speaker 2 (7:23) Let's see. Speaker 3 (7:24) They're a little more square. Speaker 2 (7:26) Oh. I love them. Speaker 3 (7:29) All right, let's see. Also, I had sort of a game that I thought maybe we could. Speaker 2 (7:33) Look at Tina, doing all the work for me yet again. Guys, I just, this is an example of Tina's love language. I just want to point out, you ask her to do, hey, can you jump on for 15 minutes? And Tina does research and also offers up a game that she's thought of. This is how she shows her love and I am forever grateful for it. Thank you. Speaker 3 (7:54) Thank you for knowing that about me. This is my love language. Like I'm not, if I had to buy like a physical gift, I would struggle. Speaker 2 (8:02) But this is all like that. Speaker 3 (8:04) As I said before, I would like her to minister to us and try to help us understand why God is only taking the good people and leaving all the turds behind. Then I started thinking like it might be because she's a creative person. and I wanted to ask her some would you rather's. Ooh. You have to say with those. So I'll just bang through these and you can edit them out as you see fit. And would you rather only be allowed to eat pasta with butter for the rest of your life? Or you can have anything you want at any time, but all of your meals will be served on a moving bus. Speaker 2 (8:40) What about that? Speaker 3 (8:44) So if you're hungry, you have to go down, get the bus. Oh, my lights are bringing in. And then you eat on the bus. would you rather only be allowed to re-read books you've already read or only be allowed to read new things and never look back? Speaker 2 (9:00) Ooh, Tina, that's deep. Speaker 3 (9:02) Okay, and then this is the sort of the game I was going to propose, which is because Anne is so open and revelatory about herself in her writing, we feel like we know her. We don't really know her. But there's a game that I like to play on road trips with my family, where you pick a person and then everyone, the way your family has to guess who, someone that you know and who they're thinking of is you have to answer these questions. Like, okay, if this person was a breakfast cereal, what would they be? If this person was whatever. And so I thought, what if you and I like to try to answer these questions to describe Ann, but then ask her and see what she says and see if we get close? Speaker 2 (9:45) Perfect. Okay. Speaker 3 (9:46) So here's the ones I had so far, which is I started with. If Anne was a color, what color would she be? I'm going to say sort of a burnt orange. Speaker 2 (9:56) I was just about to say a sunset orange. There we go. Oh, boy. Let's see what she says. I hope she gets it right. Because we're right. Speaker 3 (10:05) Look at my lights keep flickering. I'm going to pay these bills. If Anne was a breakfast food, what do you think she would be? Speaker 2 (10:14) Let's not forget she lives in California. So I'm going to say like an avocon. tomato toast. Speaker 3 (10:20) Okay. Speaker 2 (10:21) What would you say? Speaker 3 (10:22) I'm going to say, for some reason, I'm going to say sort of like a porridge with probably some kind of nuts, let's say a California almond and, you know, maybe some, maybe some fruits, but I think a lot of brown sugar, like a sneaky amount of brown sugar. Like the amount of brown sugar that renders it back to unhealthy. Speaker 2 (10:49) Perfect. Delicious. Speaker 3 (10:52) If Anne was a holiday within the year, what would she be? Speaker 2 (10:56) Oh, wow. This is a good one because it really makes you think about what holidays you consider good and bad holidays. And I'm sure we've talked about this on this pod and elsewhere, but Tina and I don't always agree about what makes a good or bad holiday. I like a lot of holidays. Well, the biggest example being Halloween. Right. Speaker 3 (11:18) I like Halloween. Amy does not like Halloween. No. It's for children. Halloween is for children. Speaker 2 (11:25) I'm going to say Thanksgiving. Yeah. That's what I were going to say that too. Speaker 3 (11:30) I wrote Thanksgiving, duh. Speaker 2 (11:33) Thanksgiving, duh. Okay, so I hope she gets that right. Speaker 3 (11:36) Because gratitude and community and yeah. Yep. Okay, what if she was a house pet? What kind of, some kind of pet? Speaker 2 (11:45) I think it's a cat. Speaker 3 (11:46) Yeah. I wrote down a cat also. And then I also wrote down kind of that maybe she's kind of like a Greek cat, the ones that kind of mostly live outside and are pretty self-sufficient. But they come around sometimes. Also a little bit of a bearded dragon in that. I feel like there's a stillness. There's a watchful eyes. And that she is able to eat cockroaches and still get nutrition out of it. Speaker 2 (12:11) Still can't believe you have a bearded dragon in your house. You know what will happen is eventually one morning you will wake up. and that will be bearded dragon will be gone Speaker 3 (12:19) it loose in the house Speaker 2 (12:20) yep and you're going to fall asleep looking for it and then it's going to be on your chest over your mouth sucking your spirit out good luck Speaker 3 (12:31) good luck finding it a day of the week what day of the week do you think anne would be Speaker 2 (12:38) well I'm going to say it might be too on the nose but I'm going to say Sunday Sunday yeah Speaker 3 (12:42) Sunday come on Ann you got to get that right because of faith and also I think of because it's a day where you kind of take it easy on yourself. Speaker 2 (12:50) So true. And you have a little bit of Sunday blues, which Anne isn't afraid of and isn't afraid of talking about. Speaker 3 (12:56) I bang my lights to that. Yes. That was all I prepared. Speaker 2 (13:01) Okay, this is a perfect game. This is so fun. Of course, Betty, you come with a fully realized written game. Oh, God bless. God bless is right. Thank you for that. I'll see you very soon. I will see you very soon. Thanks for your time. Love you. I love you too. Bye. Woo-hoo. This episode is brought to you by Visible. Folks, it's officially summer. Whether you're planning summer travels or staying home to watch all the action in the villa, you need a wireless network that keeps you connected. And you don't have to splurge. With Visible, you get unlimited 5G data and unlimited hotspot, powered by Verizon for just $25 a month. So you can save and order some extra sprits this summer. Visible is more than just a wireless plan. It's unlimited wireless, designed to always, keep you connected and there's no contract to tie you down. Switch today at visible.com. Plans start at $25 a month or get the premium visible plus pro plan and save $10 on your first month when you use promo code hang. Terms apply. See visible.com for plan features and network management details. Ann Lamont brought me a package. A care package. Oh my gosh. How are you? Speaker 1 (14:11) Good. Speaker 2 (14:12) Thank you for doing this. Are you kidding? Can I open it now? First of all, beautifully wrapped. Speaker 1 (14:18) Thank you. Did you wrap it? I had a lot of trouble with it. I want to say I had a lot of trouble. Are you a good wrapper? Could I have the ribbon back? Yeah. The ribbon's great, unless you really want it. Speaker 2 (14:28) No, the ribbon is beautiful. Speaker 1 (14:29) Yeah, it's my best ribbon. Speaker 2 (14:31) What's the present? Speaker 1 (14:32) Okay. There's a bunch of things. What is that? Okay, that's from Mexico. That's the hand of God. But it's a really special one because it not only has Mother Mary, it has a baby goat. Oh, wow. Don't you love Mary? I mean, how can you not love Mary, right? Speaker 2 (14:50) I want to talk about Mary. Speaker 1 (14:51) All right, we'll talk about Mary. I love her. I love her. That's my favorite, favorite pair of socks. I got them in Paris, but they're from Japan. I only've worn them once, but not for years. But I've always saved them because they were so incredible. They're beautiful. Yeah, you know, sometimes if you feel worried or lonely and you put on socks that someone gave you, they just can change your whole day around. Speaker 2 (15:13) Oh, Ann, I love it. Speaker 1 (15:14) I love these. Thank you for this. This is so nice. Okay. Now, this is really special. You know, I hang out with a lot of sober people. And when COVID happened, the old ladies at my favorite women's group started making miracle bracelets for the young, the newcomers, say women and girls who came in who were brand new in COVID, which made everything. So I never wear these unless I need a miracle. And that means I'm feeling very mentally ill and tweaked and clenched and clutch. Then I go get a miracle bracelet and I put it on and I think I'm going to keep my hands off the spaceship till I hear back from God or whatever she's up to today. And so then I put that on and I'm not kidding. It works 100% of the time. Speaker 2 (15:58) This is a beautiful, beaded miracle bracelet. And I will say it has a little bit of like a Taylor Swift energy too, which I. Speaker 1 (16:03) Oh, I've never heard about. You've never heard of this thing. Wait, wait, wait, wait, you have to look at the cover. Speaker 2 (16:09) Okay. Pocket blessings by blessings abound. Okay. So I'm opening up a tiny box with what looks like a little ribbon inside. And Anne, just to just let everybody know again, Anne has brought me a beautiful box of gifts. And here's one that has tiny blessings. Oh, and it's a little blessing. A little scroll. A little scroll. Oh, wow. A little scroll with a blessing in it. Yeah. I wonder what it says. Do you know? Anne knows. Oh, and it says, you are a blessing. coming in real hot, Anne Lamont, coming in with all of these gifts. I mean, you've already given me so much, and here we are with this beautiful box. Anne Lamont is with me. And I'm so thrilled. You know, when I was thinking about being with you today and thinking about what we were going to talk about or what I should talk to you about and all that stuff, I just had the moment where a moment you would remind me to have, which is like, oh, don't forget, you're just going to be in each other's company. Speaker 1 (17:11)