Comedy Panel Discussion | Variety Virtual FYC TV Fest: The Nominees 2024
Comedy - Moderated by Michael Schneider
Jake Bender - Writer, Producer, "What We Do in the Shadows"
Zach Dunn - Writer, Producer, "What We Do in the Shadows"
Randall Einhorn - Director, Executive Producer, "Abbott Elementary"
Jeff Schaffer - Writer, Director and Executive Producer, "Curb Your Enthusiasm"
Jen Statsky - Co-Creator, Co-Showrunner, Executive Producer, Writer, "Hacks"
Jake Bender - Writer, Producer, "What We Do in the Shadows"
Zach Dunn - Writer, Producer, "What We Do in the Shadows"
Randall Einhorn - Director, Executive Producer, "Abbott Elementary"
Jeff Schaffer - Writer, Director and Executive Producer, "Curb Your Enthusiasm"
Jen Statsky - Co-Creator, Co-Showrunner, Executive Producer, Writer, "Hacks"
Transcript
00:00Hey everyone, welcome back to Variety's TVFYC Fest, The Nominees.
00:11Not just anyone was invited.
00:13You had to be a nominee.
00:14So, and it is the comedy portion of today.
00:17Thank you for sticking with us and welcome back to Variety Studios, located right next
00:22to the beautiful 405.
00:24We are on the 405 right now with some of the brains behind some of the biggest comedies
00:28on television at the moment.
00:30Look at this illustrious panel.
00:32So, Jeff, because of that face, I'm going to start with you.
00:36Writer, director, executive producer of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Jeff Schafer.
00:41Hi everybody.
00:42Hey everybody.
00:44Next right next to him, the writer and executive producer of Hacks, Jen Stotsky.
00:48Hi.
00:49Jen, I feel like I see you every other day.
00:51We see each other almost daily.
00:53It's great.
00:54It's part of content.
00:55I definitely see you more than I see my husband at this point.
00:58That's a concern, so I apologize.
01:00Next up, the man with the beautiful beard, perhaps the best beard in comedy television
01:06right now.
01:07Maybe just in the room.
01:08At the moment, but in general, director, executive producer of Abbott Elementary, Randall Einhorn.
01:13Hello.
01:14Randall, welcome.
01:16Next up, writer, producer of What We Do in the Shadows, Zach Dunn.
01:21And finally, also from What We Do in the Shadows, one and only Jake Bender.
01:25So guys, welcome.
01:26Thank you for joining us.
01:28So everyone, we're sort of ending seasons or series on interesting notes.
01:35So why don't we kind of kick off first by talking about what's next.
01:40Hopefully everyone at home has watched the seasons, including the final season of Curb.
01:46Maybe it's the final season.
01:47I don't know.
01:48We'll get into it.
01:49But nonetheless, now they're sort of waiting for the next season.
01:53I know some of you are busy writing.
01:54Some of you are already producing.
01:56But Randall, why don't we start with you?
01:59A lot of fan love for Jeannine and Gregory, and there's some real movement in that relationship
02:04at the end of the season.
02:05Good day to the fine teachers of Abbott Elementary.
02:10What?
02:12No comment about Gregory being F-O-I-N-F-O-I-N.
02:15No, that is highly inappropriate.
02:18What are you hearing from fans so far?
02:21And where do you think, or where do you hope the writers might take that relationship?
02:27I hope that they're going to celebrate that relationship.
02:30I mean, I think it's, you know, falling in love, that's, finding love is one of the hardest
02:35things in life.
02:36Holding onto it's even trickier.
02:38So I think there's that, there's that, there's going to be some, you know, some hard times.
02:43And I think most of all, there's going to be some really great times, I hope.
02:47Well, you've worked on several shows that have explored that sort of slow burn of relationships,
02:52and relationships that people have stand, like on The Office, like on Parks and Rec.
02:57So what have you kind of learned in sort of setting up how the vibe should be, how, like,
03:03you know, to really get people to ship these sort of relationships?
03:06I think one of the hardest things to do is keeping people apart, that you know ultimately
03:11should be together.
03:12That's, that's a lot of work.
03:14It requires a lot of great writing, and I think we've done that quite well in season
03:19four.
03:20I think there, well, we know how season three ended, so I'm just looking forward to see
03:24what happens in season four, which I think, and I hope, is going to be a celebration of
03:28the two.
03:29Yeah.
03:30Yeah.
03:31No, absolutely.
03:32Once, once you bring people together, you kind of want to, you want to celebrate that.
03:34You want to keep them together.
03:35People love the jokes and the comedy of these TV shows, but I think they keep coming back
03:38for the relationships.
03:39Yeah.
03:40And the, the feels, and, and, you know, for, for all of your shows, there's, there's a
03:43lot of, a lot of funny, but there, there occasionally is some feels, you know, for a good example,
03:48you know, Guillermo and the journey that Guillermo has experienced and what we do in The Shadows.
03:52Come on, Gizmo, let her rip.
03:56That's how we all learn.
03:57Surprise!
03:58I'm back.
03:59Do you want me?
04:00Oh, yeah.
04:01What?
04:02You know, we saw in, in the final episode of, of the last season, you know, he finally
04:13gets what he wants, uh, but then it, it doesn't last and, and sort of where do we stand now
04:19with Guillermo and, and his journey and sort of, you know, he wanted to be a vampire and
04:23it didn't quite pan out maybe the way he had expected or anyone expected.
04:28Yeah.
04:29I mean, we, we built that whole season around this idea of whether he's going to become
04:33a vampire or not.
04:34And I don't know, I think it felt funny to all of us, the idea that he would become a
04:38vampire and then immediately not be a vampire anymore.
04:42And I think it left us in an interesting position for the upcoming sixth and final season, which
04:47is what does he want now?
04:50And I think we realized part of it is like, well, he likes these vampires that he's spending
04:54time with.
04:55So he's like moved on from this goal in his life theoretically, but also he's attached
05:00to these vampires that, uh, he's obsessed with or they're kind of obsessed with him.
05:06Yeah.
05:07Or he sort of has like Stockholm syndrome and just can't really leave.
05:10Yeah.
05:11He's trying to get out and then they're kind of following him wherever he goes.
05:15Uh, so we're seeing if their dynamic, how their dynamic changes when it's no longer
05:20this thing about him wanting to be like them.
05:23Well, you know, we talk about sort of the humor and, and, you know, some of the fun
05:26absurdist humor, but then, you know, there, there are also those moments of, you know,
05:30Guillermo and his, his mom, for example, uh, where, you know, you can sort of play it a
05:35little more touching.
05:37How do you kind of balance that?
05:40Very delicately.
05:41Uh, cause we never want the show to tip into being schmaltzy or whatever.
05:44Uh, we're all very afraid of being too genuine or real.
05:49And that's in our personal lives.
05:50Let's get, let's get into that.
05:52That's why we're here.
05:53Yeah.
05:54Psychoanalyze that.
05:55Yeah.
05:56That's what this is all about really.
05:57We brought, we brought your friends together to discuss this.
05:59Yeah.
06:00Um, but no, I think, I think with Guillermo, I think we feel as though it's like we're,
06:04we're allowed to sort of get away with moments of more genuine emotion than we would allow
06:10with some of the other characters.
06:11Yeah.
06:12He's the human heart of the show.
06:14And I think we, we like to hope we earn the kind of sweeter, more emotional, we, we hope
06:19that because they're rare and because they're coming off of these jokes and stuff, they
06:22feel more surprising and interesting, um, when we do them, but we still are always nervous
06:27that it'll be cheesy.
06:28Well, I think, you know, it kind of goes back to, it's all relatable and especially with
06:34all of these shows, uh, when it comes to family and, and the relationships, uh, not only parents
06:40and children, but also the created family that, uh, you know, all of these shows have
06:45brought together.
06:50I've got all these eyes on me now.
06:52I'm finally respected.
06:55Anything I want to do, I have to do now.
06:59Full body chills.
07:01Feel goosebumps.
07:02Yeah.
07:03Jen, again, that's the same thing with, with Hacks because we have a little bit of both.
07:06We have this sort of created family, but then we also have the moments of, you know, Deborah
07:11and her daughter, uh, and, and some real, you know, depth there in addition to the funny.
07:17So, uh, you know, how would you say these days, and you're busy in the writer's room
07:22mapping out season four, um, how are you balancing that at this point?
07:28I mean, you know, we're, yeah, we're very excited going into season four because ending
07:32season three, Deborah and Ava's relationship has hit a point it's never been at before.
07:38It's like the most tense it's ever been.
07:40Ava has stepped into her power in a way that is, um, upsetting to Deborah, but also like
07:45slightly exciting.
07:48And um, so I think going into season four, we now, you know, it's a, it's very exciting
07:52to write them on the biggest stage that they've ever been on.
07:55They have this tremendous task of getting a late night show off the ground and which
07:59would be hard enough if they were completely okay.
08:03But their relationship is so fraught and tense that it makes, it makes the challenge even
08:08more difficult.
08:09So it is like, you know, there's a lot of comedy to mine there, but there's also a lot
08:14of like emotional stakes and tension.
08:16So yeah, to your point, it's like kind of combining both.
08:19You always want to be funny first and think of the comedy and think of the jokes, but
08:22like their relationship is very real, very fraught, very difficult.
08:26And that also gives us a lot to play with.
08:28Yeah.
08:29That's the finale.
08:30Uh, you know, just that moment where, you know, game meets game when Ava pulls that,
08:36that trump card.
08:37And, uh, you know, that, that's, that's a moment that when you guys in the writer's
08:41room like sort of landed on it or the three of you landed on that, uh, you know, was that
08:46just like, we got it, we got our season four, boom.
08:49We were, we were very excited to land on that.
08:52Like we, you know, we always go into a season as I'm sure you guys all do too, like figuring
08:56out your like 10 polls, like what you're, what you're hitting early.
09:01And so like that, we knew that at the start of writing season three is that's, that's
09:05what we were building towards.
09:07That's what we were going to write towards.
09:08So we were very excited because we knew that set up a season four that, that was juicy
09:13and exciting to explore.
09:15And now it's going to be the talk show season, which I'm really, really excited about.
09:18Yeah.
09:19You can mine all your experience through, uh, the years, so.
09:22Yes.
09:23Yeah.
09:24It was, it was all worth it finally.
09:25Two, two years in the late night.
09:26This is, this is why you do what you do.
09:28Yeah.
09:29Yeah.
09:30So, well, Jeff, we're, we're talking about our feels.
09:33Yeah.
09:34I've been strangely silent.
09:35Yeah.
09:36I wonder why.
09:37I don't know.
09:38It's a different kind of feels on curb, but there are still feels.
09:41And by the way, Larry feels very strongly about certain things and he's sometimes very
09:46right.
09:47Yeah.
09:48He speaks for those who have no voice.
09:49Exactly.
09:50I think this is the happiest I've ever been in my life.
09:51I don't even know who I'm looking at right now.
09:52How is something good happening to me?
09:53How did you decide on the last name ending?
09:54I assume it's your semen, right?
09:55What did you just say?
09:56I have to accept the fact that you're wired like a fucking lunatic.
09:57I don't know you're a lunatic.
09:58I don't know you're a lunatic.
09:59I don't know you're a lunatic.
10:00I don't know you're a lunatic.
10:01I don't know you're a lunatic.
10:02So, you know, there was this thing for years that Larry had this open invitation at HBO
10:15whenever he wanted to come back and do the show, he could.
10:18There was never an end date.
10:20He took several years off, and I'm sure you had constant conversations with him about
10:25that and whether or not he was feeling up to it.
10:28Why do you think he decided, now, this is it?
10:33We honestly, only reason we ended the series
10:36is because the funniest version of this season's finale
10:41was if it was the series finale.
10:42Yeah.
10:43That's it, I mean, and they're like,
10:45oh, how did you feel about ending it?
10:48I've had so much practice ending the show.
10:50I mean, the end of season five was called the end,
10:53the episode was called the end, and that was not ironic.
10:55And every season's the final season.
10:57So I've done this many times.
11:00But this one, we didn't start out
11:01thinking it was gonna be the final season.
11:03All we knew was that Larry said,
11:05hey, there's this terrible law in Georgia,
11:07you can't give water or food to someone online for voting,
11:09I wanna get arrested for that.
11:10So, okay, great, so we're gonna start with that.
11:12And we knew there was this sort of floating well,
11:15if you're gonna get arrested, there might be a trial,
11:17but we didn't really wanna go for trial
11:20because, obviously, because of the Seinfeld finale,
11:23and only when we were in the middle of the season,
11:24we were literally just talking about a story.
11:26We were talking about a story where a kid
11:29throws a ball at Larry, or does something that kicks him,
11:31or whatever, and the mom's trying to teach him a lesson.
11:33Wants Larry to be a part of the lesson.
11:35Larry doesn't wanna be a part of the lesson,
11:36I don't need to be a part of your lesson.
11:37And as we were acting it out, sort of, he said,
11:39look, I'm 76 years old, I've never learned a thing
11:41in my life, and then it sort of dawned on me,
11:44oh, okay, let's just do this.
11:47Let's just, we've been, this trial's been hovering around,
11:50let's just admit, admit that you've never learned
11:53a lesson in your life, and just steer the Titanic
11:56right back at the iceberg, and as I've said many times,
11:59I thought it, it's like, he's like, are you sure?
12:00And I'm like, no, we can't miss.
12:02It's like, it's so ambitious, and it's laziness,
12:05that we can't fail.
12:09But that's the only reason, that it only works
12:11if it's the series finale.
12:13So that's why it's the end.
12:14Yeah, it was therapeutic to some degree, do you think?
12:18In sort of doing it all over again,
12:20but in some ways, getting it right this time?
12:23Well, I will say this.
12:24Having, I was there then, you know,
12:27Larry was gone for the final two seasons of Seinfeld,
12:29and Alec Berg and I were running the show with Jerry,
12:31and Dave Vandell, and when Larry said
12:33he was coming back to do the finale,
12:34we were just over the moon,
12:36because we didn't have the energy.
12:37We were just spent.
12:39So it's really nice that, you know, 26 years later,
12:43or whatever it is, we could tell a joke that,
12:46that's what Jerry said, it was a joke 26 years in the making,
12:48and I'm very happy that Larry's happy,
12:51and he was very happy with the ending.
12:53I'm happy that Jerry was happy with the ending.
12:55So that makes me happy.
12:57How's that for feels?
12:58I think that's feels.
12:59Yeah, that goes to the point of feels.
13:01Yeah, no, I mean, and it felt very therapeutic
13:04for all of you.
13:05I love the moment where Leon just goes to Larry,
13:07and it's like, I never saw an episode of Seinfeld.
13:10I heard you fucked up that ending.
13:12Yeah, I heard you fucked that up.
13:13Fucked that up.
13:14Yeah.
13:15By the way, the most amazing thing is that
13:18when we were scripting it, it was always gonna end with,
13:20you know, that scene in the jail always ended with
13:24Jerry saying, look, let's get you out of here.
13:25Nobody wants to see this, trust me.
13:27And we sort of thought that's where it ended.
13:29It was only when Larry and Jerry and I were talking on set,
13:32on the trial set,
13:35that we were talking about the ending of Seinfeld,
13:37and we realized, oh, the problem was that
13:40they stayed in jail.
13:41And that's where that came from, that ending of like,
13:44oh my God, that's how we should have ended the finale.
13:46That was just us talking on set,
13:47and then we just went, oh my God, we should do that,
13:50walked over to the other set, and shot that final scene.
13:53And the rest is history.
13:56So at this point then, like,
13:58you can't do another season, or can you?
14:01Well, there's nothing more Larry David
14:02than having all this hoopla,
14:03and saying it's the final season,
14:05and then come slinking back.
14:06Yeah.
14:07I think that's definitely in his DNA.
14:08Yeah.
14:09But I don't know.
14:10I mean, here's the thing.
14:11The show's done for right now, and it is done, I think,
14:14but Larry's not done.
14:15I mean, documenting the misbehavior
14:17of the West Side of Los Angeles
14:19is a pretty evergreen business, you know?
14:21So until a human can walk outside of his house
14:23and not be, like, annoyed by a fellow human,
14:26we'll have things to do.
14:27And Jeff Schafer is still pretty young.
14:30You still have a lot of TV in you.
14:31I am so dead inside.
14:33But, yeah, we still share an office.
14:37We're still talking about stuff,
14:38showing our awkward cars, we'll see.
14:39You know, it's funny, because it's, as we head to fall,
14:41it's, you know, football season's coming,
14:43and I always think of Jeff Schafer,
14:44because I always think of the league,
14:46and, you know, it reminds me that all of you
14:48have, you know, interesting careers
14:50beyond even the shows that you've worked on.
14:52And so, Jeff, for example, you know, the league,
14:55but then also, you've worked a lot with Dave Bird,
14:57Little Dicky, over the years,
14:58and I'm so fascinated by Larry versus Little Dicky.
15:02Like, do they, does, how much does Larry David
15:05know about Little Dicky?
15:07Well, we did the pilot, we basically wrote the pitch
15:10and the pilot in my Curve office.
15:12So he would, Larry would walk in, sort of see Dave,
15:15and they would get into discussions about granola bars
15:17and other things that were very,
15:18very odd, neurotic Curve discussions
15:20about what he should be eating or putting in his body.
15:22So he's well aware.
15:24Yeah, yeah.
15:24So, but he hasn't appeared yet on Dave.
15:27What?
15:28No, no, Dave's taking a break anyway,
15:30but Larry, Larry's appearances are very,
15:33they're, it's like Haley's Comet,
15:35they're few and far between.
15:35Yeah, no, this is true, this is true.
15:38Randall, you know, you've got such an illustrious career
15:41doing so much, you know, scripted,
15:43like we mentioned The Office, Parks and Rec, et cetera,
15:45but I'm still fascinated by the fact
15:47that you started out in reality.
15:49And, you know, you've got Survivor,
15:52you've got Fear Factor in your history,
15:54and so all that kind of plays into some of the confessionals
15:57that you do on your shows.
15:59So what did you learn from those shows back in the day
16:03that you still maybe use when you're shooting
16:06a mockumentary like Abbott?
16:08Certainly use a lot of techniques from reality
16:11and from documentaries.
16:12You know, for instance,
16:13whenever we see Janine and Gregory together,
16:17just, we back up.
16:18We just back up and get longer on the lens.
16:20And I think what that does is it makes the scene ring truer.
16:24It kind of veneers it with this authenticity
16:27of I believe that they're not aware of the cameras.
16:30So we put a little foreground in there
16:32and we make it seem like they're not aware of us,
16:35or it's these voyeuristic moments
16:37that I think feel very rich.
16:39And I always, you know,
16:41struggle when I see a camera right next to people
16:43and that they're talking as if it's normal,
16:46because it's not.
16:47You're just very aware that you're on camera.
16:49So we certainly do a lot of that.
16:51And I think there's also, you know,
16:53just in the directing of the cameras, which is weird,
16:56because in a mockumentary,
16:57you do a lot of directing of the cameras.
17:00There is an enormous amount of choreography
17:03that goes into it,
17:04so that one, so that we don't shoot each other,
17:06and so that we're also timing it
17:08for the most comedic effect.
17:09But I'll actually instruct the,
17:12I'll give the camera operators direction
17:15like I would give an actor.
17:18You know he knows that,
17:20but you also know that she doesn't know that.
17:22And that's all you say to them.
17:24So they are autonomous in thinking,
17:26okay, I need to see,
17:27oh, she sees that.
17:29And it's just the connection that you give,
17:31the cameras have a point of view.
17:34And it's really very interesting
17:36to give direction like you would an actor.
17:39Yeah, because those camera people
17:40sometimes are characters.
17:42Like every once in a while,
17:43the characters on the show will comment to the camera.
17:47Very much so.
17:48Assuming it's the mockumentary director.
17:51That's how I started directing,
17:52is I was the DP of the office,
17:54and Greg said, you're telling jokes to the camera.
17:56I'm like, cool, I'm trying to.
17:59And he says, you should direct some.
18:00I'm like, yeah, okay.
18:02And that's really how I started directing.
18:04Do you find that actors now,
18:06like several seasons in,
18:08now sort of get it?
18:09Is there a learning process to figure out?
18:11Like when do you acknowledge the camera
18:14and when you don't?
18:15I think, yeah, for the most part,
18:17everybody gets it and we just wait
18:19and see what they do and react to that.
18:22But sometimes you just think,
18:23I wonder if there's a moment you might catch yourself,
18:25and you know what you just said
18:27in front of Brenda's camera or Jeremiah's camera.
18:30You know that you just, they caught that.
18:33So that might be a place you check in with yourself
18:36or maybe just try to hide in yourself somehow, yeah.
18:40Yeah, no, it's fascinating.
18:41And mockumentaries have become
18:43sort of a common usage in the business.
18:47I mean, there's mockumentary obviously in shadows,
18:50and what do you guys,
18:51how much does that play into your thought process
18:53and your writing process?
18:56You know, there have been some moments
19:00when we've tried, but I don't know.
19:03I feel like the whole joke of the show,
19:05of that they're filming this documentary for who,
19:08why, how long, like.
19:11We get into it a little bit in the final season,
19:14the idea about who this documentary is for
19:16and what it is, but I think that in general,
19:20I don't know, there's a very strict rules,
19:21like from what we do in the shadows movie,
19:23they were really strict about it feeling
19:25like a real documentary and not doing cheats
19:28that couldn't happen in a documentary,
19:30and that's continued, and the rules are good.
19:32Rules can be really annoying,
19:34but they also can help with comedy, I think.
19:37Like in the Pride Parade episode that we wrote,
19:40where when Nandor, the character, goes to space,
19:43and we were like, well, how do we figure out,
19:45and then they're like, oh, we can put a GoPro on his head,
19:47and it makes it funnier almost,
19:50because it's just like.
19:50He has this fisheye lens GoPro.
19:52His face looks really weird.
19:53And so that's like, you know, us not being like,
19:57okay, so the documentarian's also gonna go to space.
19:59You know, good things come out of those rules.
20:00It forces you to be a little bit more creative sometimes.
20:03I think there's a lot of opportunity in the difficulty.
20:06Yeah.
20:07You just need to figure out other ways of doing it,
20:09and that's really fun.
20:10It's great, and sometimes we won't think of it
20:13until too late, and we're like,
20:14well, how would a camera be there?
20:15And then that's anytime you see CCTV footage,
20:17you know, where it's like, okay,
20:18there was a camera in the corner of that building.
20:20Yeah, sometimes there are some workarounds.
20:22There's also always a question I know you guys
20:24get all the time is, okay, these documentarians,
20:26they've witnessed a lot of murder.
20:28You know, recently, the murder of Patton Oswalt,
20:32for example, so, you know.
20:33People should be talking about that,
20:35that he got murdered.
20:36Right, right.
20:37I guess the media cycle just moves.
20:39We've all moved on, you know.
20:40It's sad.
20:42But there's a lot of damning footage
20:44that these filmmakers have, so.
20:46I know, yeah, that's gonna be an interesting trial.
20:48Maybe we'll end with a trial, too, actually.
20:51Maybe that's the sequel series.
20:52Maybe that's the spinoff is to justice.
20:55It's a dark drama that Shadows turns into.
20:57Yeah, no, that would be a very interesting,
21:00sort of a Lou Grant type.
21:00I mean, a lot of them are victims, too, you know.
21:02A lot of them have been killed or eaten at times,
21:06so I feel kind of bad for the damn recruits.
21:08It's a cycle, it's a cycle.
21:10It's a cycle of violence, yeah.
21:11How often do you guys talk about sequels or spinoffs?
21:15I don't think it's gonna happen.
21:17I mean, the hard thing is,
21:17this already is a spinoff of a movie,
21:20and there have been other things in the world,
21:21and it is this rich world of stuff, but.
21:25I don't know.
21:25I feel like there's been discussions about the fact,
21:27since they're vampires, you could just, in 10 years,
21:31just be like, okay, the show's back.
21:32I mean, we love money,
21:34so if you wanna give us some money to make it.
21:37Totally.
21:37If anyone watching wanna give us some money.
21:38And it'll be worse.
21:39Yeah, it'll be way worse.
21:41Every season would get worse and worse, would be our goal.
21:44So that's sort of our goal, to make money.
21:44I've always felt like someday.
21:46FYC.
21:46I always felt like it could be an animated show someday.
21:52I think we write it like an animated show,
21:53just like a live-action cartoon.
21:55I could see that.
21:56By the way, I could see animated shows for all of you guys.
21:58Remember there was an era in the 70s,
21:59where every primetime show got an animated version.
22:02What about Little Hacks?
22:03Little Hacks.
22:04Yeah.
22:05That would be.
22:06Yeah, that's good.
22:07Fun to see.
22:08We've talked about a Latitude spinoff with Jimmy and Caleb,
22:12but maybe we need the animated Debra and Ava as well.
22:15Well, as you go on and head into season four,
22:18you have created all these side characters.
22:21You've got the super Debra fans.
22:24There's a lot you can do, potentially.
22:25Oh, you want the little Debbies animated series.
22:27Okay, that's pretty good.
22:29Or just more live-action in the Hacks universe.
22:31Yeah, I will say, talking about mockumentary,
22:34it is, because I started on Parks and Rec too,
22:36and when you can do cutaways straight to camera,
22:40where your characters just say what they want
22:42and what they're feeling, it's amazing.
22:44I miss that so much on Hacks.
22:46It makes it so much easier.
22:47I want them to talk to camera so bad on Hacks,
22:50and they can't.
22:51Well, have you guys ever thought about,
22:52especially as Debra is starting out her talk show,
22:55maybe there is a Hacks mockumentary as well,
22:58sort of a side thing,
22:59where someone is chronicling her talk show,
23:01and you can do some of that.
23:02She'd have so many demands about the lighting necessary
23:05to be shooting her that it would be a headache,
23:08but yeah, they could.
23:10Well, I alluded to it before about you worked
23:12on Jimmy Fallon for a couple of years,
23:15so you do have that experience,
23:16so what are you bringing to that?
23:18What do you remember from your talk show days
23:20that as Debra is gonna do her talk show on Hacks?
23:24There's a lot of repress that's coming back, yeah, for sure.
23:27It's, yeah, I started my career,
23:30my first full-time paid job was being a monologue writer
23:33on Late Night with Fallon from 2011 to 2013,
23:36and so Late Night has obviously changed in the last decade,
23:40but there's still, it's very much so.
23:42Late Night is such an institution,
23:44and there are certain things,
23:45like you have your monologue, and you have your guest bit,
23:47and you have your two guests,
23:48and there's just a lot of it
23:50that has proven useful to bring now
23:52to Debra and Ava's experience
23:54as they're getting the show off the ground,
23:56and things, just the structure
23:59and the way a show is put together,
24:00it's such a, we really wanna pay homage to it.
24:04It's so hard to do a Late Night show every day.
24:07That was, for me, there's challenges, of course,
24:10now being a narrative and a half hour,
24:11but it is such a grind to do a Late Night show
24:14every single day, and every single day
24:17you have a show at 4.30,
24:18and that does not, that weighs on you.
24:21Every night you finish a show,
24:23and you're like, that was a good one, okay, great,
24:24another one tomorrow.
24:25Yeah, I was on Conan when it started up.
24:27Yeah.
24:27When the world was very young,
24:28and it was just like, all right,
24:29that didn't really work, but you can't even.
24:31You can't dwell on it. You can't grieve,
24:32you just have to. You just have to.
24:33Feed that beast the next one.
24:34Yeah, go to the next thing, yeah, it's crazy.
24:36So in some ways, does that sort of
24:38put everything in perspective
24:39when you're working on a half hour, or?
24:43I mean, there's, the everyday thing is crazy,
24:45and then thinking, I mean, network,
24:48thinking back, how did we do 22 or 24 of these?
24:50Yeah.
24:51I just go, I would break it.
24:52No, this guy's still doing that.
24:53I know, that's what I'm saying, it's crazy.
24:54It's like, it's so hard to do 10.
24:57I mean, ours are really big and long,
24:58but it's still, that's enough.
25:00It's just, it's enough.
25:01I don't know how, we can't go back, too lazy.
25:05Well, Jen and the Hacks crew,
25:06they were gonna do eight this season,
25:08and they managed to do nine,
25:09but I'm like, why not just do 10 then?
25:11Well, so season four we are doing 10,
25:14so we listen to you, Mike.
25:16Okay, I know.
25:17But yeah, I mean, it is, we always try to,
25:20like, it is the, and this is the difference in narrative,
25:22too, of like, you're talking about this longer season arc,
25:25and we always try to say, like,
25:27let's fit the number of episodes to the story,
25:30and Max has been very accommodating of that,
25:32and letting us kind of have whatever structure
25:36we want to that, but yeah, we are doing 10.
25:39But yeah, same, when we did 22 on Parks and Rec,
25:42I'm like, how the fuck?
25:44Right, right.
25:45Like, I always love, by episode 17,
25:47it's just, well, why don't we just hang out
25:50in someone's living room the entire episode?
25:51By then, all the stories are just
25:53what was happening to you in your office.
25:55That's literally, you haven't been outside,
25:57you've had no experiences, you're just,
25:59whatever happened in the office,
26:00that's what's going on in the show.
26:01It's quite an achievement, though,
26:02when, you know, there is that diminishing return.
26:04If you do 10 episodes, 10 episodes are gonna be great.
26:07If you do 13, nine are gonna be great.
26:10If you do 22, but to keep the, you know,
26:14the quality up over 22 episodes,
26:15that's a real testament to The Room,
26:18which is, I feel like Abbott,
26:21those writers are doing great work.
26:22And also, you guys, it's a testament I find with Hacks.
26:26Like, sometimes we are like, oh, we wish we could do 13
26:28so we could follow this side character or that character.
26:30Like, we don't always have the room
26:32to explore everyone's stories, but like, with Abbott,
26:34like, you have so many characters that are so fun,
26:36and like, you can follow any one of them
26:39and give them the A story for that episode,
26:41and it's still, like, so exciting and fun to watch.
26:44And syndication, let's remember that.
26:47Well, you guys love money, so.
26:49I kind of like it, Jake loves it.
26:51Oh, I'm obsessed with it.
26:52Well, because I have all this, like, debt, too,
26:54and so the money is good to pay off the debt.
26:56Right, you're not supposed to get into that on the panel.
26:59Or just do it like Jeff and just do a show for 20 years,
27:02and eventually you'll get to that episode account.
27:05I mean, that's just like, I mean,
27:06it's like the guy who took, like,
27:07nine years to graduate from college.
27:09Like, it's just, it's not an achievement.
27:12It's just, it's just like an endurance test.
27:15So this is the comedy panel,
27:17so I want to see, like, how much you guys know your stars,
27:22and in particular, I'm going to start with you, Jeff,
27:24because you've been working with Larry for, again,
27:26like you said, several decades.
27:27Since 94, on and off.
27:28You must have an amazing Larry David impersonation.
27:32Pfft.
27:33Ah!
27:34Ha, ha, ha.
27:35Ha, ha, ha.
27:36Um, well, I can, mm-hmm.
27:38Ha, ha, ha.
27:41Larry David finding out that the guy
27:44who was supposed to be cleaning the cars at Lantana
27:48is using the bathrooms that we're all using
27:50and is not lifting the seat when he,
27:53and it has been, and then the guy comes in
27:55and it's like, you want to clean my car?
27:56And he's like, Lawrence, Lawrence,
27:59I saw you in the bathroom.
28:01It's like, what?
28:02You didn't lift, you didn't lift the seat?
28:04You didn't lift the seat?
28:05Well, I didn't want to touch it.
28:06There's things you can do.
28:07You can use your foot.
28:09You can get a napkin.
28:10There are things you can do, Lawrence.
28:11And I'm like, I'm listening to this and the other,
28:13I'm going, I'm, this is like,
28:14literally a Curb episode that's happening
28:16just in Lantana right now, like in our office.
28:19I cannot do Larry.
28:20I can do what he, I can do what he says.
28:22I know what he's gonna say, but I can't do it.
28:24That's what I would say about the show.
28:25It's like, I do all the things he doesn't want to do
28:26and he does the things I can't do.
28:28I'm realizing, by the way, that Curb hasn't ended for you.
28:31You still get to watch Curb every single day
28:33working with Larry.
28:34That's amazing.
28:35Yeah, we literally, there's still problems in the world
28:39that are, that are, we're being bedeviled.
28:41We're still, we're continuously bedeviled.
28:43So until that bedevilment ends, yeah, we're still talking.
28:47So if you have your camera phone going,
28:50you could like, on TikTok,
28:51like you would have your own series.
28:53It'd have a billion followers.
28:55There are a few barriers to entry there
28:56that just what you said.
28:58One, if I TikTok.
28:59Second, I don't even,
29:02I'm not wanting to publish anything for anyone.
29:03I just, I don't care enough about people
29:05to have them know what I ate
29:07or what restaurant I went to.
29:08But no, that's, we're still,
29:11our minds are still active.
29:12Larry is, the battery didn't fall out of his back.
29:17Jake and Zach, who does the better Matt Berry?
29:21It's gotta be neither.
29:22Yeah, I'm a hard person to impersonate.
29:25Ah, hello.
29:26That's pretty good.
29:27We like this one line,
29:29they're like, some sass from the boy.
29:30Yeah, we say that one line.
29:33All the writers really enjoy when like,
29:36Matt will just take a line
29:37that you didn't really think about
29:39and then he'll do something crazy with it.
29:41He was on Curb this year,
29:42he was so good.
29:43Yeah, he was amazing.
29:44He was so great.
29:45And so much of it was him reading that book.
29:46It was great that it was a lot of him just talking.
29:49I feel like that's what you want to hear him do.
29:50Yeah, that book,
29:51it was me getting out all of my repressed stuff
29:53and working with Thomas.
29:55And so, Larry hadn't seen it.
29:56I just wrote it all and like,
29:57Larry's supposed to be reading this book
29:58and he's laughing.
29:59I go, you're not supposed to be laughing,
30:00it's a terrible book.
30:01It's a terrible book.
30:02But getting Matt to read it,
30:03oh, it's so funny.
30:04I know, it does make our jobs a lot easier
30:06to just write something
30:07and then Matt will do a really funny voice.
30:08Yeah, he said in this,
30:10in season five,
30:10he said chilaquiles really funny.
30:13And then he said chilaquiles,
30:14then breakfast burritos.
30:16Who would think to say burritos, you know?
30:19It's, that's a very special line.
30:21Yeah, it's a very active.
30:22Yeah, this is where you're just in the writer's room,
30:24like, what do we want Matt to say?
30:25That's been a constant.
30:26It's part of it, yeah.
30:28And I will say,
30:29I won't spoil it,
30:29but in the new season there is a word
30:30that he specifically wanted to say
30:33and we managed to work that word
30:34into one of the scripts.
30:35Yes, that's true.
30:36He thought it would sound funny.
30:37He sent an email to some of the writers saying,
30:39I want to say this word.
30:42That's great, that is great.
30:45Jenna, is there a character that you identify with
30:48or sort of like to, you know,
30:50have in your mind more than others?
30:52Is it Ava?
30:53Is it one of the supporting characters?
30:55Please tell me it's not Kayla.
30:57It's not Kayla.
30:58Kayla's a very good assistant, not to brag.
31:00But, I mean, I don't think there's one character
31:03over the other.
31:04I think that there's some like,
31:05people have said to Hannah and myself
31:08that we like kind of have a similar cadence in talking
31:11and our voices sort of sound the same.
31:13I think it's just like having a voice
31:15that is a few octaves below what people expect or something.
31:19And a very, it's a millennial thing, right?
31:22Yeah, yeah, yes.
31:25Hannah is like cuss millennial Gen Z,
31:28but I love putting her in with me.
31:30Grooving around with me is great.
31:32But yeah, no character over another.
31:35I think like the hacks, no pun intended for us,
31:38are that like, if Jean yells or Jean laughs, it's good.
31:42So we're always trying to orient ourselves
31:44to a Jean smart like cackle.
31:45So that's where when you're writing the script,
31:47you're like, oh, this is going to get a cackle.
31:49Yeah, yeah, yeah.
31:50Or we're like, she hasn't yelled in a while,
31:51she should yell.
31:53Are there certain lines that you remember writing
31:58in particular that you thought,
31:59okay, this is going to get a rise out of our actors?
32:03That's so good.
32:04I mean, we like, I don't remember
32:06who specifically wrote this, but Deborah screaming,
32:09I can't be woke, I'm exhausted.
32:11We were like, that's pretty good.
32:15So Rhonda, I won't ask you to impersonate anyone,
32:17but I do want to see, do you have a mockumentary face?
32:21Do you have like, look into the camera
32:25and the camera just like,
32:27had someone say something ridiculous
32:29and you want to look at the camera as the,
32:32I'm surrounded by idiots look, what is that?
32:35That's sort of the face you've had the whole time.
32:37Yeah, I know, I know.
32:39But you know, the slow, you know, the listening, listening.
32:42Yeah.
32:44Yeah, that's good.
32:47Yeah, there we go.
32:50Yeah, thank you, thank you.
32:51That deserves a clap, that deserves a clap.
32:53So, all right, I got a prop.
32:56I've got one prop for you guys today
32:58because we have random questions now.
33:00This is my UPN hat.
33:02Let's shout out to the UPN network.
33:05This is classic.
33:06So I have random questions now.
33:09Wait, do we get to win that?
33:11Yeah, does the winner get the hat?
33:12No, this is my prize possession.
33:13This is my retirement fund.
33:14Okay, so I won't try it.
33:15I'm going to sell this hat one day.
33:17So I'm answering this.
33:18Yeah, I'm going to give you each a question.
33:20I have no idea who's getting what.
33:22And we'll see what your question is.
33:26And I'll give you a second to look and kind of formulate.
33:33All right, Jen, since I gave you yours first,
33:35what is your question?
33:37My question is,
33:38what show you worked on deserves a second chance?
33:42I feel like you've only worked on very successful shows.
33:45This question presumes failure.
33:47Exactly.
33:48One more Parks and Rec quiz.
33:50Many.
33:51I think that my first show that I was a writer assistant
33:55and then an associate producer on
33:56was when The Onion was doing TV shows.
33:59That many years ago, The Onion did a show
34:01for the IFC network, the Onion News Network.
34:04And we also did a show called Comedy Central
34:07called Onion Sports Zone.
34:08Oh yeah, the show was great.
34:09Thanks.
34:10And The Onion is such a comedic institution
34:12that I think it deserves a second chance.
34:15Also, Comedy Central kind of deserves
34:17a second chance now, too.
34:18So, both things.
34:20Yeah, obviously Broad City was a stalwart for that network.
34:24Yeah, yeah.
34:26So I would say The Onion franchise of TV shows
34:29would be my answer.
34:30All right, very good.
34:32Jake, what is your question?
34:34What's an alternate title for your show?
34:38Yeah.
34:41Probably like The Crazy Vampires or something.
34:44I feel like we wouldn't be here
34:46if the show was called The Crazy Vampires.
34:48The show would've been canceled so long ago.
34:52UPN is very interested.
34:54That's amazing.
34:55I should've added this UPN hat
34:57will make you a little dumber, so I apologize.
35:00But that's good, we'll take it.
35:03Zach, what is your question?
35:04My question is, finish this sentence.
35:06If you like blank, you'll love our show.
35:09Um, I'm gonna say if you like jokes about vampire piss,
35:15you'll love our show.
35:16There's kind of a lot of them on the show.
35:19Most of any show ever, I'm very confident.
35:21By the way, most of any Emmy nominated show ever.
35:23That's definitely true.
35:25But then we would get into logic questions
35:26where there'd be jokes about piss
35:28and then later seasons we'd be like,
35:31do the vampires piss?
35:32It actually became a big fight in the room
35:35where Paul, who's our showrunner,
35:36was saying that vampires don't piss.
35:39We've already established in this world that they do piss.
35:42The canon is kind of all confused
35:44and that is the one area of the show
35:45that I think we need to really iron out
35:47before the series ends, I'm hoping.
35:50Canon's important, continuity.
35:53So, all right.
35:55Jeff, what do you got?
35:57Come up with a premise for the spinoff.
35:59Oh, that was not planned.
36:03Oh, UPN, you stern mistress.
36:07Okay, well, there's two.
36:10One is, let's get Irma Kostroski, Tracy Ullman,
36:14and Susie Green together,
36:18working on some sort of business,
36:19probably textile related.
36:21Irma, of course, wanting it to be trade free
36:22and all this kind of stuff
36:24and Susie yelling at them going like,
36:26I don't give a shit whether you came from Bolivia or not.
36:28Like, we're on Abbot Kenney now,
36:30so faster, so fucking faster.
36:33That's, I would watch that for sure.
36:38I'll stop there.
36:39How about that?
36:39I would say Casey Boyce is already on the phone.
36:42Yeah, he is.
36:44We're not doing that.
36:45We're like, okay, I understand.
36:47I would like to see Robert Smigel's softball coach.
36:51Yuri.
36:51Yeah, I'd like to see Yuri come back.
36:53Coaching children?
36:54Yeah.
36:55That's a spinoff I wanna watch.
36:57Yeah, it'd be so funny.
36:58Oh my God, he was so good that season.
36:59I mean, there's a dozen spinoffs
37:01that you could potentially do, so.
37:03Yeah, and then I'd love to see what Leon's stuff does.
37:07Yeah, yeah.
37:08As everyone would.
37:09J.B. Smoove is gold.
37:11Yes.
37:11And whatever he says.
37:12So that's, yeah, that would be fun.
37:15Yeah.
37:16All right, Randall, what you got?
37:17I've got, if you could work on any other series on TV,
37:21what would it be?
37:22Well, that's easy.
37:23That's just a jealousy question.
37:25Barry.
37:27Barry, absolutely.
37:29Baby Reindeer.
37:29Gosh, there's so many.
37:31Did not see Baby Reindeer.
37:33Oh, Flowers.
37:34Anybody seen Flowers?
37:36Yeah.
37:37British series.
37:39What UPN series would you want to work on?
37:42That's gonna be a struggle.
37:43I think we need to, well, hang on, hang on.
37:47I guess that's it, right?
37:48Was it Mission Hill on?
37:49Maybe.
37:50Yeah.
37:51Shasta, Shasta McNasty.
37:53Do you remember Shasta McNasty?
37:54Wow.
37:55Yeah, that's a deep cut.
37:56We're all a little dumber for having been here today.
37:59That's a deep cut.
38:01All right, how well do you know your stars?
38:04It is time for, I told you there was gonna be a trivia game
38:07and now it is time.
38:10Let's see, let's see.
38:12How well do you know your stars?
38:13You guys ready?
38:14This is for all the marbles.
38:16This is for the new show on UPN.
38:17This is for a straight to series order on UPN.
38:21So, Jeff, we're gonna start with you.
38:24So, and you probably know this one
38:26because you know Larry so well.
38:27This is an easy one.
38:28It's almost a gimme.
38:29Larry David wrote an episode of It's Gary Shandling's show
38:32under what name?
38:34Oh, I don't know this.
38:37This, I don't know.
38:38I know all of you guys used to write on that,
38:40but no, I don't remember.
38:41I don't remember.
38:42Don't know it.
38:43Yeah, I'd be curious one day why he used this nom de plume,
38:46but Mack-
38:47Which one was it?
38:47Mack Brandes.
38:49Oh, that's not even one.
38:50He's got a list of them,
38:51but that's not one we even bring back.
38:53Yeah?
38:54Yeah, wow.
38:55I learned something today.
38:56There you go.
38:57This is great.
38:58I'm really glad I came here.
38:58Yeah.
39:00All right, for the Shadows guys,
39:02Mark Probst played,
39:04by the way, I don't know how to pronounce his last name.
39:05I think you did, yeah.
39:06Mark Probst, yeah.
39:07Played Nate on this series for 19 episodes.
39:10The Office.
39:11The Office, yeah.
39:12Yeah, that was probably an easy one.
39:13That was pretty easy, yeah.
39:14Randall probably drew that too, yeah.
39:17It's Nate, for God's sake.
39:20Exactly.
39:21Let's see.
39:23Also for you now, Jen.
39:26PAX wasn't the first time Jean Smart won an Emmy.
39:29What are the other two shows she received them for?
39:34Frasier and Fargo?
39:40Samantha Who?
39:41Samantha Who?
39:43Wow.
39:44Wow.
39:45She did win for Fargo, didn't she?
39:46I think maybe just nominated.
39:48Well, I'm hearing just nominated.
39:51And finally, Randall.
39:55Tyler James Williams.
39:58We all know him from Everybody Hates Chris,
40:01but what drama was he also known for?
40:07Walking Dead.
40:08All right, that was an easy one too.
40:09It's a great scene that he goes,
40:11leaves the show in a great scene.
40:13Randall knows his stuff.
40:15Well, Walking Dead used to be my favorite comedy.
40:18There you go.
40:20All right, now we turn to Larry David Gripes.
40:23Like, are there issues with Larry David?
40:25Are there issues with Larry David?
40:26There are a lot of them.
40:28I've got, and this is in honor of the end of Curb,
40:31and Jeff, you can join in too,
40:33because I've got a number of Larry David Gripes here,
40:36and I wanna see, like, raise your hands
40:37if you agree with Larry David.
40:40Okay, and these are from different seasons.
40:42From season eight, The Chatting Cut.
40:49So we raise our hand if we think that's bad.
40:50Yeah, and then.
40:52I don't think that's bad.
40:53No, I'm okay with that, yeah.
40:54All right, so justice for Larry there.
40:58Having to wait in the buffet line
40:59while you're going for seconds.
41:01Is that a gripe?
41:02Is that a worthy gripe?
41:04No, I don't think that's a worthy gripe.
41:07I don't think it's a worthy gripe.
41:08You shouldn't be rewarded for wanting seconds.
41:10Depends how much you filled your first plate, though,
41:12I think.
41:13But the gripe, if you go to the buffet
41:14and you share with people at your table,
41:17and you get charged double for that,
41:19that, I think, is a very worthy gripe.
41:21All right, from season six,
41:22People Who Take Too Many Free Samples.
41:27Yes, yes.
41:28You don't like that?
41:29You think that's a gripe?
41:30Yeah.
41:31You can't do that.
41:32Really, how many samples is too many samples?
41:34More than two, easily.
41:36More than two.
41:37I think three is.
41:37You pick one.
41:38I think three.
41:39Once you're three, then you just.
41:40I think three, I think three.
41:41It's like going to a Mexican restaurant
41:43and just wolfing down the chips as fast as possible,
41:46and then going, I'm full.
41:48It's too much.
41:49You don't need.
41:50You go to certain ice cream shops
41:50and they have so many weird flavors.
41:52The ice cream thing is too much.
41:54That's when it crosses the line.
41:55Yeah, the ice cream, you gotta stop at three, right?
41:56And that gums up the works, the line.
41:58Yeah.
41:59It does.
42:00And the more boutique the ice cream place.
42:02They've always soiled their palate by that point as well.
42:04Very good.
42:05Completely.
42:06From season 10,
42:07People Who Say Happy New Year After January 4.
42:11That is annoying.
42:12I agree with that gripe, yeah.
42:14Yeah.
42:15What's the proper cutoff date?
42:17Oh, you can't.
42:21You can't go past a week.
42:23It's just, we're not in, you cannot do it.
42:26I think that's one of the best things we've actually done
42:28for people is they do check themselves now.
42:30Because of curb.
42:31Yes, yes.
42:32Because of that.
42:33I think that's been our gift to humanity
42:36is just winnowing down the amount of time
42:40for Happy New Year.
42:43Thank you for your service.
42:45No, I'm literally telling you, thank you for your service.
42:47We have an issue with that too, but we've done that, yes.
42:50That was my little like, look at our time.
42:53There you go.
42:54But again, thank you for your service, Jeff, on that one.
42:56Okay, from season two,
42:57Trick-or-treaters Who Don't Wear Costumes.
42:59Oh, absolutely, absolutely.
43:01Yeah, for sure.
43:02Yeah, but you still gotta give them candy, right?
43:06No.
43:06Because they're gonna egg your house.
43:07Yeah, you can say no.
43:08Where are you?
43:09How old are they?
43:10Yeah, how old are they?
43:11Like 18.
43:13These are the teenagers who just show up with like a.
43:15Just level with it.
43:16These are like the teenagers from the high school kids
43:18who like have the, they have like the pillow,
43:20like the, they don't even have like a bag.
43:23They haven't filled their part of the social contract
43:27of the tricking and the treating.
43:29Yeah, they're just people that are trying to take candy.
43:32Maybe the older it gets though, like 18,
43:34I almost would feel bad.
43:35There's just another person asking me for candy.
43:37You know what I mean?
43:38Like maybe I'll just give it to them
43:38out of the kindness of my heart.
43:39It's cross the line to begging?
43:40Exactly, I think it crosses over.
43:43You're now just a panhandler.
43:44Exactly.
43:45Sticker's panhandler, I get it.
43:47Exactly, and finally from season nine, saying namaste.
43:54Definitely don't like that.
43:55Yeah, that's a worthy gripe, for sure.
43:57I guess it depends on who it's coming from.
43:59Right, who's it, yeah.
44:00It's coming from like a yogi.
44:01If it's coming from you.
44:03Ah yeah, I wouldn't like if Zach said that.
44:04Okay.
44:07Jeff, what's your favorite Larry gripe?
44:09I think the biggest, my biggest gripe
44:11is that people don't know how to say goodbye.
44:15They can't seem to say goodbye
44:16without attaching and we'll have lunch
44:18or do something like, no one's going off to war.
44:22We don't, goodbyes can just be goodbyes.
44:25Like that's one of the things
44:25that Larry's the best in the world at.
44:27Like when we're on the phone and we're done talking,
44:29he just hangs up and it's great.
44:31We don't need to, okay, we'll do this
44:32or okay, I'll see this, okay, we'll have lunch.
44:34You don't, you can, people are so worried
44:36about how to initiate contact,
44:37but I think the real problem with humanity
44:38is we don't know how to terminate contact.
44:40And that's really the best part of contact is the end.
44:44So you just snip it.
44:47And with that, I'd like to end things,
44:49but before we go, like you guys,
44:51like you doing anything, like lunch?
44:53Yes.
44:54So it's, how's your August looking?
44:56It's lunchtime.
44:57I think we should do this every week.
44:59Yeah, let's do this again.
45:00Let's really like, we'll set this up.
45:02Okay, yeah.
45:02We should, yeah, let's get in touch.
45:03Okay. For sure.
45:04We'll trade numbers, yeah, absolutely.
45:06I resemble that remark, all right.
45:08Thank you so much.
45:09Congratulations on all the nominations
45:12and everything else and looking forward to,
45:15well, new seasons for most of you
45:18and for your TikTok show coming soon.
45:21It's gonna be exceptional.
45:23Yes, thank you.
45:23The Nominees comedy right here.
45:25Stick around.
45:26We got more here at Variety's TV Fest, The Nominees.