Speaker 1: And if you, like me, are a child of the eighties,
Speaker 1: you remember what I like to think of as the
Speaker 1: golden years of Saturday Night Live.
Speaker 2: And you will.
Speaker 1: Remember the work of my next guest as one of
Speaker 1: the perfect deadpan delivers of the Weekend Update. He is
Speaker 1: appearing this weekend at Comedy Works. You should go see him.
Speaker 1: I am going to go see him. And now he's
Speaker 1: going to join us for just a little bit. Kevin Nealin,
Speaker 1: Welcome to the show.
Speaker 3: Hi, Andy, that's my dead pan impression right there. Well, Mandy, I.
Speaker 1: Mean, dead pan is like a little over the top,
Speaker 1: but you gave great snark in Weekend Update. And I
Speaker 1: loved that period of Saturday Night Live. And I can't
Speaker 1: say I am a lover of all the periods of
Speaker 1: Saturday Night Live, but you really were part of a
Speaker 1: golden era. When you look back at that now, do
Speaker 1: you see it that way?
Speaker 3: I do see it that way, But like you said,
Speaker 3: there's a lot of golden eras I think on that show.
Speaker 3: But it was particularly special for me, of course, and
Speaker 3: to this day I hear people say that that was
Speaker 3: our favorite you know, cast and generation of SML.
Speaker 1: Well, I think part of it was a function of
Speaker 1: my age because I was kind of in the sweet
Speaker 1: spot of the demographic for that, and culturally it spoke
Speaker 1: to me really really strongly. But also so much talent
Speaker 1: came out of those years. I mean, so many people
Speaker 1: that are still famous and still doing amazing things came
Speaker 1: out of those casts. Tell me the truth, who's your
Speaker 1: favorite cast member that you worked with? No one's listening.
Speaker 1: It's fine, no one will ever find out the answer.
Speaker 3: It's a tie. I hate to pick. You know people
Speaker 3: I would say Dana Carveing, Adam Taylor.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I mean come on, I mean they're practically
Speaker 1: my favorites and I don't even work with them, So
Speaker 1: that's fine.
Speaker 2: So now, yeah, you're back on the stand up stage.
Speaker 1: I know you've been doing stand up the entire time,
Speaker 1: but this weekend people are going to be able to
Speaker 1: come see you at Comedy works at the Landmark. Is
Speaker 1: the what is the appeal or the difference between those
Speaker 1: two things, between working with a team and doing sketch
Speaker 1: comedy and standing on stage and having that immediate feedback
Speaker 1: from the audience.
Speaker 3: Well, that's part of it, is immediate feedback. I'm really
Speaker 3: kind of I'm about the top of my game now,
Speaker 3: because I just got an off tour with that I'm
Speaker 3: Sandler where we're playing till like, you know, twelve thousand people,
Speaker 3: fifteen thousand people a night, and that was kind of
Speaker 3: a whole different ballgame than you know, the Comedy Works.
Speaker 3: And I got to tell you, I prefer a smaller room.
Speaker 3: Like my best my most preferable audience, as at dinner
Speaker 3: party was to call.
Speaker 2: People when you can really hold court, right, I mean I.
Speaker 3: I just yeah, yeah, yeah. So you know, it's a
Speaker 3: little disconcerting because I put my microphone with me.
Speaker 2: Do we need to make it big?
Speaker 1: Do we need to respond like I have fifteen thousand
Speaker 1: person crowd on Friday and Saturday night at Comedy Works
Speaker 1: just so you feel, you know, like you're at home again.
Speaker 3: No, I prefer not that. I would prefer just just
Speaker 3: a tone that I'm used to, which is about three hundred.
Speaker 2: I say, yeah, it's a great venue. What is your act?
Speaker 2: What are you focusing on now? On your act?
Speaker 3: Well, that's a good point. I just finished taking a
Speaker 3: special call loose in the crotch, and so I'm trying
Speaker 3: to shove out the old storage stuff and bring in
Speaker 3: new stuff. So it's boy, it's a confluence of, you know,
Speaker 3: some of my older kind of thoughts about things and
Speaker 3: kind of newer, you know, in relationship to the stage
Speaker 3: I'm at in my life now. I'm always been on
Speaker 3: the dark side. I kind of like the dark comedy.
Speaker 3: But it's just conversational sort of and just kind of
Speaker 3: my thoughts on things, my opinions on different things, not
Speaker 3: political or anything, but just kind of the life around me.
Speaker 2: Do you feel like as you've gotten older?
Speaker 1: And I'm fifty six, so I'm kind of at that
Speaker 1: space where I realize I look back at my younger
Speaker 1: self and I think, God, you are so stupid. And
Speaker 1: now I look at I have a better able. I
Speaker 1: have the better ability rather to kind of look at
Speaker 1: the big picture. Whereas before I was focused on the trees,
Speaker 1: now I can see the forest a little better. What
Speaker 1: do you think about your your vision, your view of
Speaker 1: the stuff you're commenting on. Has has it changed and
Speaker 1: evolved in a in a similar different way?
Speaker 3: I think I have. I listen to some past tapes
Speaker 3: of myself, which is very difficult. My voice even sounded different.
Speaker 3: It's a little a little bit higher and a little
Speaker 3: faster paced, you know, but I mean it's not like
Speaker 3: huge changes, but it's less silly and a little more
Speaker 3: observant now and still absurd though. I like the absurdity,
Speaker 3: but I like to do the stuff that people can
Speaker 3: relate to as well, So I'm trying to be inclusive
Speaker 3: and a lot of those things.
Speaker 1: Well, somebody just hit my common spirit heals text line
Speaker 1: and said Kevin Nieling in Weeds, he was brilliant, great guest, Mandy,
Speaker 1: and that's part of your and you were the perfect
Speaker 1: every man. In my opinion, I think you were just
Speaker 1: so perfectly cast because it's a crazy show anyway, about
Speaker 1: a suburban housewife that rose weed and sells it.
Speaker 2: But what was that role like for you and was
Speaker 2: it did you view that as.
Speaker 1: More serious or more comedy or what was that balance there?
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: The strangest thing is during the awards season, our show
Speaker 3: was always up in a comedy category and I could
Speaker 3: never understand that because it's more drama with a touch
Speaker 3: of comedy as well. So yeah, that was always interesting
Speaker 3: to me. But my character was basically I got to
Speaker 3: tell you, when I auditioned for that part, it was
Speaker 3: like hey wanted me right away because I was like
Speaker 3: dead on or what Jenji Cohen, who created the show, wanted.
Speaker 3: But it was really kind of a self a selfish
Speaker 3: person who just wanted to have what he wanted at
Speaker 3: any moment. And Kevin, he was.
Speaker 1: So so likable, that's the thing, you know what I mean, Like, ultimately,
Speaker 1: you kind of thought, if you really analyze the character,
Speaker 1: you're like, guy's kind of an a hole, right, I mean,
Speaker 1: he's he, but he was likable at the same time.
Speaker 1: And I think being able to thread that that's kind
Speaker 1: of a gift.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean there's even dictators that are likable. I
Speaker 3: got some different places. Yeah, I mean, everybody's got their
Speaker 3: everybody's got their good days and they're bad days. But yeah,
Speaker 3: he was likable for his nuances and those sorts of things.
Speaker 3: But I sure did like playing that character. It was
Speaker 3: a lot of fun and people seem to like it now,
Speaker 3: And you know, it's funny as people look back on
Speaker 3: that show, I seem to be one of the characters
Speaker 3: that stands out. You know. It's like, you know, Norm
Speaker 3: McDonald was a good friend, of course, and he was
Speaker 3: on SNL and a lot of his stuff is surfacing
Speaker 3: now that I never really saw before. And I'm thinking, Wow,
Speaker 3: he's a lot funnier than I thought he was.
Speaker 1: So you weren't in the Norm MacDonald fan club, you
Speaker 1: weren't presidenting for him being the funniest man.
Speaker 2: O very I mean, obviously to your point.
Speaker 1: I heard something yesterday from his version of Comedians and
Speaker 1: Cars with Jerry Seinfeld where he was sort of talking
Speaker 1: about the outrage industry in our country, and it was.
Speaker 2: Very prescient, you know, it was.
Speaker 1: It was very forward looking that that Now it's kind
Speaker 1: of like, holy crap. I mean, he was smarter than
Speaker 1: all of us in a way.
Speaker 3: Yeah. At his memorial, I was one of the speakers
Speaker 3: and I said to a lot of a lot of people,
Speaker 3: you know, compliment Norm as being very brave comedian and
Speaker 3: very uh you know, courageous. And I said, I think
Speaker 3: of it more as just you know, what did I say?
Speaker 3: It was? It was oh poor judgment.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: And now he's turnings he's turning out to be right, Kevin,
Speaker 1: I got a question for you.
Speaker 2: We had a guy on yesterday.
Speaker 1: He's a neuro psychiatrist who studies like how to be
Speaker 1: happy as you age, and one of his big things
Speaker 1: is having a bucket list and how important that can be.
Speaker 1: And do you have a bucket list, and if so,
Speaker 1: what's on it?
Speaker 3: By if I could just find a bucket to push
Speaker 3: that list in, I don't think we have a bucket
Speaker 3: around the house. Gosh, I'm kind of doing all my
Speaker 3: bucket list stuff right now. I'm really content with life.
Speaker 3: Travel would be. In fact, just before when I was
Speaker 3: on a hold here, I was listening to the weather
Speaker 3: and they're saying that the northern lights of the Aurora
Speaker 3: about what do you call it?
Speaker 2: Aur Aurora borealist.
Speaker 3: Yes, it's happening in Colorado for tonight and tomorrow night,
Speaker 3: so I might be able to see it.
Speaker 1: Well, I hope so, because I missed it last night
Speaker 1: and last night apparently it was spectacular, but no one
Speaker 1: called me to let me know what the weather was
Speaker 1: going to be. Kevin Nealin is going to be at
Speaker 1: the Landmark Theater this weekend. Comedy Works excellent, excellent. Go
Speaker 1: to Comedyworks dot com and buy your tickets. Kevin, I'm
Speaker 1: super excited that you're here in Denver and looking forward
Speaker 1: to this weekend.
Speaker 3: Also, yeah, me too, And also like to plug one
Speaker 3: on this. My wife and I were executive producers on
Speaker 3: a documentary that's coming out on Friday on Apple TV.
Speaker 3: It's all Come See Me in the Good Light at
Speaker 3: one Sundance festival this year and all the tons of
Speaker 3: festivals were really excited about it, so I hope people can.
Speaker 2: What is it about? What is it about?
Speaker 3: Well, it's about these It's a it's a love story
Speaker 3: really about these this couple who actually live in Boulder
Speaker 3: around that area there. It's the poet laureate Andrea Gibson
Speaker 3: and her and their partner Megan Folly, and it's about
Speaker 3: kind of their journey and poetry and also her being
Speaker 3: diagnosed with the terminal disease and uh and getting to
Speaker 3: do her poetry one more time. But it's not it's
Speaker 3: not one of those stories about cancer where you know
Speaker 3: it's kind of sad. This is surprisingly funny and it
Speaker 3: will change your life, It really will.
Speaker 2: What's the name of that on Apple TV, Kevin.
Speaker 3: It's called Come See Me in the Good Light?
Speaker 2: All right, Kevin Nealon.
Speaker 1: I appreciate you and lots of success with your documentary.
Speaker 2: Will see you this weekend.
Speaker 3: Thank you.