Zach Looks for a New Assistant

The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast

The episode begins with Seth Meyers resolving a two-year Zoom naming error before diving into a nostalgic discussion about 90s movie parodie

Key takeaways

• Seth Meyers discovered he had been signed into the wrong Zoom account, causing his name to appear as his assistant's for two years.
• The hosts discussed a parody titled 'Silence of the Hams' featuring Billy Zane and Dom DeLuise.

Main topics

• 90s movie parodies
• SNL sketch evolution

Notable quotes

I was signed into the wrong account.

Conclusion

A nostalgic and conversational deep dive into the mechanics of comedy

Transcript preview

Speaker 4 (0:00) And go. Hey guys, how's it going? Well, I have huge news. Oh, this is exciting. Speaker 3 (0:05) Notice anything different about my Zoom name? Oh, you switched it to A-S? Yeah, it's been my assistant's name for the last two years. Yeah, we Speaker 4 (0:13) know. Speaker 3 (0:13) And I had to manually fix it every time, over and over for two years. Endured a lot of jokes about it, you know, from random pitch meetings and edit sessions. What do you think, not your name? You know what I mean? Yeah. Right, right, right. Speaker 4 (0:29) And so what do you think finally got you out of your chair to fix it? But you would change it, but now you figure out how to permanently Speaker 8 (0:34) change it. Is that the difference? Speaker 3 (0:36) It Speaker 4 (0:36) was, I was signed into the wrong account. Oh, so this wasn't something for you to go and fix. Speaker 5 (0:42) You just had to sign in correctly. Speaker 3 (0:44) It took about 30 seconds. I was like, hey, can we actually try and fix that? We were together in person. Yeah. And I had my computer. And she was like, oh, yeah, yeah, I see. And then it was fixed. And now it's Speaker 4 (0:55) fixed. Speaker 3 (0:55) Wow. This is huge. This is Speaker 4 (0:57) really. And Speaker 3 (0:58) it's going to Speaker 4 (0:58) change the whole tenor of the podcast, I think. Yeah, maybe this is why you've been a little grumpy. from the very beginning. That's why? Well, also for the three of Speaker 8 (1:07) us, we've been having some sort of mental dissonance because we'd be looking at your face but seeing her name. And finally, when I look at you, I feel peace. Speaker 3 (1:15) Right. Yeah. Well, I mean, look, it's the best thing that happened to me all week. So... Feeling pretty stoked. I'm really happy for you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know. Speaker 8 (1:24) Now, Speaker 3 (1:24) Yorm Speaker 8 (1:25) isn't here, but we're going to do a two-parter today. This one episode will be in two sessions. That's Speaker 5 (1:30) the plan. The first half hour will be me and Andy and Akiva. And then later in the day when Andy's unavailable and Yorm is available, he will swap in for Andy. Yeah. Speaker 5 (1:51) We were hopeful that Jorm was going to join us once we decided this window worked, but he hasn't responded to any of us for the last 90 minutes. Yeah. Which Speaker 8 (2:00) on a Sunday Speaker 3 (2:00) is Speaker 4 (2:01) his right. Yes. Speaker 8 (2:03) It's a careful balance. I was just discussing it with my parents who are here and who I confide in all of our scheduling issues. But I was like, Sunday afternoon, putting down your phone to be with your family is actually commendable. And it's actually something my family would love it if I did. That's why I'm always Speaker 3 (2:18) anti-weekend. But it's very difficult Speaker 4 (2:20) with four adults, with kids and careers. Speaker 8 (2:22) Yeah. Speaker 4 (2:23) Sometimes my wife, I'll be like, hey, you didn't write me back. She'll be like, um, I didn't Speaker 5 (2:27) have my phone with me. And the amount I want to be like, show it to me. Show me you haven't texted anyone else in the last two hours. Speaker 5 (2:38) You guys caught me listening because it was a real, you know, that real quiet Yoram. We need to come up with a word for when Yoram just drops a little one in. We're going over the best movies from 1994. And he very quietly said, Silence of the Hams. Right. Which is a Silence of the Speaker 4 (2:54) Lambs parody. With MacGruber, the television series' own Billy Zane. I listened back to that episode and I still didn't hear him say that. That's, again, time codes. Thank God for time codes, as I've often said. Speaker 8 (3:07) Now, this is a cartoon that came out that year? No, it's Speaker 5 (3:10) like a parody movie with Billy Zane. He plays a character named Speaker 4 (3:14) Joe, J-O-D-E-E Foster. So he's a character named Jody Foster. So it's like a scary movie. Dom DeLuise plays Dr. Hannibal Cannibal Pizza. We gotta check this out. Hell Speaker 8 (3:29) to the yes. Hold on. I'm bringing up the trailer. Hannibal Speaker 5 (3:33) Cannibal Pizza? Martin Balsam, who played the detective in Psycho, plays Detective Martin Balsam. So he plays himself, I guess. It was real fun. Seth, Speaker 4 (3:43) I Speaker 3 (3:43) know a lot of people, like a go-to kind of play joke at this point is like, whoa, that's a great name for a band. But Hannibal Cannibal Pizza actually is like a fucking dope name for a band. I would go see that band. Speaker 5 (3:55) Hannibal Cannibal Pizza. Speaker 3 (3:57) Yeah, dude. Hannibal Cannibal Pizza plays hard. Speaker 5 (3:59) So there's a lot of, I mean, so maybe, by the way, in our What Are We Gonna Do We Run Out of Shorts, a bunch of people recommended they would love a Silence to the Speaker 4 (4:07) Hams rewatch. Speaker 5 (4:08) Silence of the Hams. Excuse me. Speaker 4 (4:11) Insane you got that wrong. I'm just learning about it. Speaker 5 (4:15) Obviously. Speaker 4 (4:16) Obviously, Yorm knew about it well. Speaker 5 (4:18) Real quick, we forgot to say, last week was the episode of Japan, and we forgot to say at the beginning that we did record that in Japan. We did fly over there with our podcast equipment. What? Speaker 8 (4:28) Yeah. Speaker 5 (4:28) And do it in Japan. How Speaker 4 (4:29) did we forget that? It seems so important. I wasn't there. How did I get left out? Oh, we didn't. We had enough money for three. A couple Speaker 5 (4:37) of new ones real quick. Are you ready, Andy? People want it. They don't want to give up on coming up with a way for words for you complaining. Oh, Speaker 4 (4:45) I'm all about it. Yeah. Andy's can't sees. I mean, you know, whatever. Speaker 5 (4:50) Sam slams. S-A-M-B's. I mean, it's just the problem is you don't hear the B. For Sam's slams. Sam's Speaker 4 (4:58) slams. Quibby's quibbles. Quibbles is not bad on its own. Yeah, yeah. Quibbles. When he's not Quibby's, he's Quibbles. Like Speaker 3 (5:08) if the film studio Universal was naming this in the early aughts, it would have just been Quibbles. Yeah. Like a one word clean, you know? Yeah. Nice Speaker 5 (5:16) and neat. Speaker 5 (5:17) And then this one hit home for me. I finally figured out the name for the part where Andy complains. Call it the Lonely Island and Seth Meyers podcast. That's so funny. Did not register. Speaker 3 (5:27) It registered all right. I just find it so funny, Seth. Let's just give this one a little. Speaker 6 (5:33) What could be worse than a psychopathic serial killer with an overactive appetite for destruction? Speaker 6 (5:43) Introducing Special Agent Jody Foster. Jody Foster? Happy friend? I thought you were Joe. He's FBI. FBI. FBI. Speaker 6 (5:54) Morning, George. Gone to the dead, is it? Speaker 4 (5:58) Where's the president? He's right here. I only see her husband. Smoking a cigar in a non-smoking restaurant is a federal offense. Speaker 7 (6:05) You'll Speaker 4 (6:05) pay Speaker 7 (6:05) for Speaker 4 (6:05) this. Speaker 8 (6:06) I mean, there's a million things to pause for Speaker 4 (6:07) this that I'm not going to, but was that John Landis? I think it was. Was it Hillary Clinton there? I mean, is somebody doing a Hillary Clinton? Somebody doing a George Bush. But they got the real Hillary. He's a good guy with some Speaker 6 (6:19) bad habits. Speaker 6 (6:23) And a sixth sense for sniffing out the criminally offensive. Thank you, smelly thing. Nothing is safe. Can't we all just get along? Nothing is sacred. What's his long tail high, son? You know he doesn't inhale. Nothing makes sense. I'm sorry, boss, I couldn't understand you with your cigar in your mouth there. Crazy. Cabin Fever Entertainment is proud to present A killer comedy with cutting-edge commentary and stabbing satire. Speaker 2 (6:57) Never like this. Speaker 6 (6:58) Hold on to your hernias for a spoof of epic proportions. The silence Speaker 3 (7:07) of the hams. Anyways, the silence of the hams, which seems even though it's spoofing silence of the lambs, like it's mostly a psycho parody. A Speaker 4 (7:16) lot of psycho. It Speaker 5 (7:17) definitely Speaker 4 (7:17) seemed Speaker 5 (7:18) like some basic instinct was in there. Dracula. Speaker 4 (7:21) Bram Stoker's Dracula was in there. Bram Stoker's? Oh, no, I've never purchased a movie with that parody title. Bram Stoker's Dracula. It's already so sexy. I think it was Bram Stoker's Watch Me Do Me. I'm a Freudian, you slipped. Speaker 3 (7:40) I'm a Freud, you had to slip. What's the pun there, Seth? Help me out, dude. Help me humiliate you. I don't want to do that. Speaker 5 (7:49) Oh, hey, we talked about Dratch stepping in it with her special. Oh, yeah. Did she respond? She did. She sent in a voice note I haven't listened to. She had a lot of caveats that the voice note was too long Speaker 4 (7:59) and not good. Oh, no. Let's rock it. But should we just listen? Yeah. Yeah, we got to listen to it in its entirety, obviously. Speaker 3 (8:05) Yeah, of course. Strap in, Quades. Speaker 7 (8:08) Hello, this is Rachel Dratch, and I was asked to make a statement by Seth about the controversy surrounding my New York Times crossword puzzle. Seth. I have to say, you're the only person that brought this up to me. Speaker 3 (8:21) Bullshit. Speaker 7 (8:21) Until you talked to me, I thought I'd done a good job. Oh, Speaker 3 (8:26) no. But I Speaker 7 (8:26) understand that in crosswords, you have to be a real stickler about all the facts. Yeah. You can't give a possibility of two different answers for a clue. Well, I don't know, something like that. Anyway, I don't have a very entertaining story, a defense, if you will, to... go into here. But no, I think it's just something as simple as I think of sketches by their character names. It's just that's how I think of it in my head. So I think when I was constructing this with Christina Iverson, the mastermind of all crosswords, I was kind of along for the ride. And I was we were deciding, well, should we say characters? Should we say sketches? And we decided to say the sketches. And I think I just think of those sketches as church lady. But yes, technically speaking, yes, it's called Church Chat. Yeah. But that, I'm going to be honest, did not even cross my mind. Because she's one of my most beloved characters from SNL. Right. And I just always refer to that as Church Lady Sketch. Oh my gosh, did you see? They did Church Lady. I wouldn't say, oh, did you see? They did Church Chat. Speaker 5 (9:36) This is crazy. Speaker 7 (9:37) Anyway, that's just how I think of the church lady. It's not a very entertaining story. Technically, yes, Seth, I messed up, okay? Are you happy, Seth? I messed up. I think that's all. There will be no further. I will be taking no further questions on this Speaker 3 (9:55) highly Speaker 7 (9:56) controversial topic. Speaker 3 (9:58) Line in the Speaker 7 (9:59) sand. Of the SNL crossword puzzle. But, sidebar. I would like to do more crosswords. I'm going to be very careful next time. But I really only came up with the actual S-L clues. I'd like to do one where I get to do more of the other clues and all that. All right. That's it, guys. Carry on. I'll try to do better next time. Okay. Bye. Thank you for that, Josh. We love you. Thank Speaker 8 (10:23) you, Josh. I have something. This is sort of in her defense or in my wife's. What's the offense? What's the opposite of defense? Oh, interesting. Which is that I was talking about this in the car with my wife and I gave her the clue. And I said, so what would you put? Like, this is obvious. And she went, church lady. Right. And I went, no, it said, let me read it to you again. Read it again being like the sketch where, you know, the person says isn't that special. And she went, yeah, church lady. And I'm like. That's not the sketch. It's Church Chat. It says it in huge words up on the screen. Yeah. Opening title card. And she says, Speaker 4 (10:59) welcome to Church Chat every time. Yeah. Speaker 5 (11:02) That's the opening. I will say in Dratch's defense, I do call it Debbie Downer, even though the sketch's full name is Deborah Downer Ruins Yet Another Family Get Together. Speaker 8 (11:13) Oh, wow. That's Speaker 5 (11:14) the technical name of the sketch. Shots fired. Does it say Speaker 8 (11:16) that? Does the Higgins voiceover say? Monotone shots fired. Wait, does Debbie, I know you're joking, but does Debbie Downer have a title card? Speaker 4 (11:24) No, it just starts. No title cards. It Speaker 8 (11:26) doesn't have Speaker 4 (11:27) a Speaker 3 (11:27) theme song? It Speaker 8 (11:28) goes, and along comes Debbie Speaker 4 (11:30) Downer, but then it might just say Debbie Downer, right? I think it's Debbie Downer. Doesn't it have a cold open, then a theme, Speaker 3 (11:37) then Speaker 5 (11:37) a Speaker 3 (11:37) sketch? Yeah, it's like classic 80s SNL format. Speaker 8 (11:41) Right. Yeah, yeah. But for all I knew, I knew it wasn't what Seth said, but that it would say something else. You're Speaker 3 (11:45) enjoying your day, something, Speaker 8 (11:47) something Speaker 3 (11:47) or ain't, and Speaker 4 (11:48) a Speaker 3 (11:48) long come to be down, right? Speaker 4 (11:50) Yeah, Speaker 8 (11:50) great. That's actually exactly right. Speaker 4 (11:52) It would be amazing if it wasn't that, and you just fucking Speaker 5 (11:54) cracked. Speaker 4 (11:56) I was like, good melody and everything. No, Speaker 5 (11:57) dude, it Speaker 4 (11:57) wasn't that. Speaker 5 (11:58) That Speaker 4 (11:59) is like 20 Speaker 5 (12:00) times better than what Speaker 3 (12:01) it was. Okay, Akiva, for all the money, improvise the next few lines of the theme song. Speaker 8 (12:07) Oh, but using the same melody? Yeah. Got some poop in your way. She knows what to say. She's got a horn and she knows Speaker 3 (12:17) how to honk it. You do not win the money. I love you, and I love your moxie. She's pooping your way. You do not win the Speaker 4 (12:27) money. Speaker 3 (12:27) She Speaker 8 (12:27) knows just what to Speaker 3 (12:28) say. She's Speaker 8 (12:29) got a horn, and she knows how to honk it. That's all she's doing. I mean, I Speaker 4 (12:32) guess technically she's not honking the horn. Didn't Speaker 8 (12:34) Ryan was Speaker 4 (12:34) down her? I think it's more Speaker 5 (12:35) like if you're enjoying your day, she'll put some poop in your way. Ultimately, what she does is she brings you down. If you got some poop in your way, you're already down. I Speaker 3 (12:44) would move it doesn't need poop in there at all. But again, this is just if you're trying to win the money, not just if you're following your muse, which clearly Keeve was. Speaker 4 (12:52) Listen, it's Speaker 3 (12:53) a Speaker 4 (12:53) Sunday morning. What are you going to do? Hey, this is just a question from, Speaker 5 (12:59) hold on, I swear to God, I got this fucking shit. Fucking Jeff sent me fucking garbage somewhere. I got to fucking find it. Speaker 8 (13:06) Where were you flying in from, Seth? Speaker 5 (13:08) I had my fantasy football draft weekend in South. Bend, Indiana. Are Speaker 3 (13:14) you recording the Steelers game? Speaker 5 (13:17) Yes. Speaker 3 (13:17) Okay. I won't say anything. Speaker 5 (13:19) Okay, great. Speaker 3 (13:19) I figured you would be. I was like, he can't be recording a podcast right now. His beloved Steelers. I Speaker 5 (13:24) know. I'm a very good Speaker 3 (13:25) person. Or Speaker 4 (13:26) I'm a good podcaster. I don't know if I'm a good person. I'd say you're just like a good worker. They're one in the same. Ask Speaker 8 (13:32) Yorm. That's true. Speaker 5 (13:34) Hey, this is one. Wait, did the hire know? Somebody said, did you guys help write the colon blow sketch with Phil Hartman? That was years before we were there. I don't know if I was even born. Just Speaker 3 (13:44) kidding. Speaker 5 (13:44) I watched it. But Speaker 4 (13:44) somebody said, how did they do those special effects? Oh, there is a Speaker 3 (13:48) behind Speaker 4 (13:48) the scenes on that somewhere. Oh, well, that'd be great. Somebody should check it out. Speaker 3 (13:52) Yeah. Obviously, Colon Blow is like an all-time classic. I feel like that's Speaker 4 (13:56) a Speaker 3 (13:56) Jim Downey. Am I wrong? Certainly seems like a Jim Downey. And I believe Speaker 5 (14:00) first time I maybe even heard colon. Yeah, Speaker 8 (14:03) I had to learn Speaker 3 (14:03) what that was. I did not know anything about fiber in cereal or breakfast or any of that stuff until that commercial parody. But it still made me laugh so hard. Speaker 5 (14:13) Yorm, somebody was very angry because Yorm said there's nothing more American that screams freedom than Yellow Edition Red Bull. Now I think he was probably being a little sarcastic. Speaker 3 (14:24) It's possible. Speaker 5 (14:26) But this member of Quaid Army wanted to set the record straight. Red Bull is an Austrian company, not an American company. I know this because I work for Red Bull, a company headquarters in Salzburg, Austria, where the locals are still traumatized by Richie Inez Jr.'s offset antics. Incredible callback to... Fred's character in The Sound of Music, which, of course, took place there. Speaker 3 (14:47) It makes sense that that's where it's from because their commercials are so weird. That's Speaker 8 (14:51) exactly it. So those commercials get dubbed into English, and that's why they're fucking bizarre? The Speaker 4 (14:56) first time I saw a Red Bull commercial was in Amsterdam. They would, Speaker 5 (14:59) like, show them before movies. Yeah. Speaker 3 (15:02) And by the way, you can have weird commercials, and I'll still use your product. Yeah. There was a span of three or four years when we were drinking them Red Bull and vodkas every night to try and not pass out. Yeah. Let's see where... a little on edge. A Speaker 5 (15:13) little on edge. Also, this Red Bull employee said that they think of us often because the Munich train station has a store called Jorma spelled with a Y. What do Speaker 8 (15:24) they sell there? Speaker 5 (15:25) I don't know. Probably Red Bull. I hope Speaker 3 (15:26) so. And Akiva, you think of them often because Munich is your favorite movie. Yeah, I talk about it all the time. I'm being told by Kevin that Colon Blow was written by Al Franken per the internet. Speaker 5 (15:38) Oh, great. Speaker 3 (15:39) That's good Speaker 5 (15:39) to know. Speaker 4 (15:39) So if that's the case, hats off, Mr. Franken. Hats off, sir. This is just, we were talking about 90s movies and we're going to Speaker 5 (15:47) go back and talk more about 90s movies, but someone reached out. What do you guys think about what changed in the SNL sketches to movie pipeline that existed in the 90s that no longer seems like a replicable business model today? So many sketches became movies in the 90s. Seems like there hasn't been one since MacGruber. I think just like what we were talking about, which is just there's just no comedy movie business anymore. That's the main reason. Speaker 4 (16:09) It's a Speaker 3 (16:09) straightforward answer. But you will notice that tons of SNL cast members, sometimes even during their time on the show now, have another show. Right. That's the new model. That is correct. Speaker 8 (16:20) Right. No cast member of SNL back then ever would have had another TV show. Speaker 3 (16:25) Yes. Hell no. That would have been insane. It started with Fred, right? Portlandia was the first. Yeah, that it was happening concurrently. Yeah. And produced by Lorne is the other way that it is able to happen. Right. And Speaker 4 (16:37) then Doc Now. Doc Now. Shrill with 80. Right. Kenan. Kenan had his own television show Speaker 5 (16:45) while he was doing SNL. I'm sure there's more that we're not remembering. Speaker 8 (16:47) There was always the occasional cast member that would get a great movie offer. Schmigadoon. Yeah, and get to go make that movie, a non-SNL movie, during... the show weeks, if they were senior enough and Lorne would let them like skid out on like Sunday through Wednesday and then show up for the last couple of days. Like I remember Sudeikis did that for Hall Pass. I know Bowen just did it for Wicked. That is sometimes double duty that could happen at the same time. Speaker 3 (17:16) As mentioned, we were editing Hot Rod all during the season. Speaker 8 (17:19) But I think Seth's answer is the really big main answer, which is just from last week, looking at those 90s ones where there was 20. studio comedies. That's how much of a business and hunger there was. So the moment something would pop at SNL with the success of Wayne's World, it was like, oh, that could be one. And even if you think of them as not successful, every one of them was profitable. The secondary markets with DVDs or VHS and then selling it to cable made every single one of these comedies profitable. So it was a no-brainer. They could greenlight them so easily. Because they knew they were going to make money. Speaker 5 (17:56) They also were not expensive compared to any other type of movie. I'm Speaker 3 (18:01) looking at comedy movies released over the last year or two. And there's like, a lot of them are very funny and attempting to be funny, but they are hybrid genre. You know what I mean? Right. Like, there's Naked Gun. Shout out, Keeve. Speaker 3 (18:20) Happy Gilmore 2. Speaker 8 (18:21) But Speaker 3 (18:21) that wasn't Speaker 8 (18:22) even theaters, but yeah. Speaker 3 (18:23) Yeah. But, you know, there's SNL people in it and it's a comedy. Speaker 8 (18:27) The Kiki Palmer SZA one that I'm blanking the name. I would put that as a real comedy in theaters. Speaker 3 (18:32) Yeah. And it felt like a bygone era comedy. But without saying the names of things I don't consider comedies, The Dink is a comedy. Right. Speaker 8 (18:40) Again, straight to Apple. Speaker 3 (18:41) Do we Speaker 4 (18:42) count Anaconda? We do. Okay. Metacomedy, but comedy. Yeah. One of them Speaker 3 (18:47) days, Kevin reminds me. Yeah, one of them days. So pretty much like we got Netflix is still making some comedy movies. And then outside of that, it's mostly hybrid stuff. I think that's about right. And a lot of really fun, interesting movies. I'm not saying anything is bad about them. I'm just saying they're not how we would traditionally think of a pure comedy. I Speaker 5