Listener Q&A Episode 10

Pop-ups (35 · 6 fan picks from YouTube comments)

1. Seth's teeth Spider-Man pitch

   3:00

   Seth pitches himself as the Spider-Man who shows his teeth, joking that a smiling Spider-Man would be the scariest thing in those films. It is a playful nod to the fan ideas the hosts toss around about Spider-Verse.

   Seth should play the Spider-Man with teeth.

2. Fans point here

   6:02

   1 YouTube comment timestamps this moment, 8 likes.

   It's so big. Jeff likes my mugs. Hey, somebody said, I will throw myself off a ladder in Yorm's honor if he creates a full 12-track Normal Guy album. I know you like a challenge. Can I tell you a fun Normal Guy story?

3. Normal Guy and the Ice Cube album interlude

   6:41

   Jorma describes replacing Ice Cube in the electric chair interlude of an Ice Cube album with Normal Guy. The fan request was a 12-track Normal Guy album.

   I was somehow able to remove Ice Cube entirely from it and put Normal Guy in it.

4. The burrito brain winter soldier shirt

   7:37

   A fan named Vandal suggested a shirt reading burrito brain to winter soldier. Jorma says he sent a rough design to Jeff, who would make the shirt.

   everybody agreed to burrito brain to winter soldier is the shirt we need.
   burrito brainwinter soldier

5. Fans point here

   8:55

   1 YouTube comment timestamps this moment, 33 likes.

   And I was like, man, I gotta do something with her. And I was like, kind of kicking around. And Jeff was like, nah, we good. Nah, that's good. Fucking burn. You're too burrito brain to host, is what. Oh, yeah. I think…

6. Lorne ending callback and Arnold's closing line

   10:03

   The hosts discuss the podcast ending where Arnold delivers the closing line. Seth says he likes it when Arnold closes the show, and Jorma pushes back.

   I always like it when Arnold closes it out.
   later, Quaids

7. Buck private and bucking for promotion

   10:48

   The hosts joke about challenge coin ranks, with Seth as a general and Jorm and Andy as lower ranks. The bit ties to Jorm calling himself a Buck Private and the phrase bucking for promotion.

   Buck private is informal slang for a soldier at the absolute lowest rank.

8. The Squeaky Queen joke

   12:00

   The hosts joke about 'Queen Bee clean' in the NYT Spelling Bee and fans suggest 'squeaky clean' instead. A fan comment then turns it into the squeaky queen, which Seth calls the andiest thing Andy didn't say.

   a squeaky queen is the andiest thing Andy didn't say.
   cleansqueaky cleanQueen Bee

9. Fans point here

   12:26

   3 YouTube comments timestamp this moment, 1 likes.

   And just know me and Akiva took it down a notch because we were like, you can't fucking understand even what you're talking about because it's so detailed. But, you know, I love the guy. I love the guy. People are… — Jorma

10. First voice note: Greg Chun from the Quaid Army

    13:39

    Greg Chun composes the podcast's theme songs and sent the first listener voice note of this episode. He confesses several past work mishaps he's sure have given the hosts reasons never to work with him again.

    Hey fellas, it's Greg Chun here, your jingle writing guy.
    Quaid Army

11. Greg Chun's Awesome Town connection

    17:53

    The hosts have worked with Greg Chun for over 20 years, dating back to Awesome Town. They trace the start of the collaboration to a group of people the trio kept collecting over time.

    That means we've been working with him for over 20 years.

12. Fans point here

    19:20

    2 YouTube comments timestamp this moment, 1 likes.

    Anybody who meets him, he does all of the visual effects for Loot now. He just told me recently for Loot, I think he said, I have 1,400 shots to get through. And I was like, holy fuck. Like, they're destroying his… — Jorma

13. Fans point here

    23:30

    1 YouTube comment timestamps this moment, 4 likes.

    Hey, yeah. Jack, I can't do that thing. You're making macaroni, Jack? I'm Andy. What you cooking, Jack? What you cooking, Jack? wait hold on i want to talk about uh cool music hipster because of rally kylie when my son…

14. Jorm's son and the Glass Animals hipster moment

    24:04

    Jorma recalls his son asking for 'Mama's Gun' by Glass Animals when he was four. The band later had a massive hit with 'Heat Waves,' which Jorma says made him look ahead of the game.

    Mama's gun is a song by glass animals who then had this massive hit

15. Popstar soundtrack re-release question

    24:47

    A listener asked whether the Popstar soundtrack, turning 10, might get a re-release since CDs are hard to find. Jorma suggests pressing vinyl and jokes that a music exec who listens to the pod could make it happen.

    is there a possibility of the soundtrack getting a re-release?

16. SNL spouses and the 'SNL widows' label

    26:29

    Jorma recalls that during a writers' room week, a spouse told his wife she was now one of the SNL widows. The hosts describe show weeks as leaving people largely unreachable.

    you're part of the SNL widows.

17. Jorm's missed call with Mari and Natalie Portman

    26:58

    Jorma recalls taking a call from his wife while shooting with Natalie Portman in her apartment, where she had fallen on the stairs. He calls it a lasting failure of their marriage.

    this is the most distinct memory I have of being a failure as a husband

18. Seth on SNL-era taxi rides and show-week adrenaline

    28:00

    Seth describes how the show week adrenaline meant he never felt tired at 11 p.m. on a Saturday, even when heading into Times Square traffic. He ties this to his wife's perspective on the routine.

    I never felt tired at 11 on a Saturday

19. Sleeping at SNL on shitty couches

    29:35

    Jorma describes the grind of sleeping over at the studio almost twice a week, including Tuesday-to-Wednesday stays on the couches while working through the night on sketches that never get picked.

    sleeping again at the show on shitty couches.

20. Sleeping on Forte's couch in the East Village

    29:38

    Seth and Jorma recall how they slept on Will Forte's dumpy couch in their early New York days, and how this contrasted with the lives of their more established peers.

    Like we should have invested in cots or something. But like sleeping on Forte's couch, which was a dumpy, like picture the dumpiest couch ever.

21. Seth's failure: don't run from it

    32:33

    A listener asked how to recenter after failure. Seth frames it as a fight-or-flight reaction, and says the only real alternative to pushing through is walking away from something you want to do.

    it's just kind of this like fight or flight thing with failure, you know, and ultimately, if you just want to do what we're doing more than anything else, you just keep trying

22. Groups insulate you from failure

    34:38

    Jorma explains that working in a trio like The Lonely Island meant that no single person carried the blame for a failed sketch, which is a big part of why the group was able to take risks.

    It's three. And that's been the case with me working with, you know, John Solomon and Will Forte, too.
    cheat code

23. Amy and Shoemaker kept believing in Seth

    35:34

    Seth credits Amy Poehler and Mike Shoemaker with continuing to believe in his early SNL writing, and says he doesn't think he would have survived without that support.

    the fact that her and Shoemaker kind of continued to believe that they had not made a terrible mistake hiring me, I don't think I would have survived without that.
    bad hang

24. Love what you do

    36:30

    Seth closes the failure discussion by stressing how important it is to love the work itself, as a foundation for getting through hard stretches.

    But I think the most important thing is it sounds like you love what you do. And I cannot stress how important that is.

25. Cherry Battle and laser cats mix-up

    36:49

    A parent showed their child Lonely Island songs. They steered around the explicit ones and kept Laser Cat, forgetting the first Laser Cat joke about Lindsay Lohan.

    Somebody showed their kid Cherry Battle.

26. Long time goose, first time gonk

    38:12

    Listener Michael's opening line becomes a fan favorite. The gonk reference connects to the 'not agonk' goose phrase used in earlier episodes.

    Long time goose, first time gonk.
    not agonk

27. Winter soldier and burrito brain confusion

    39:02

    A listener who missed an episode was confused by the show's running language. Seth says even Shoemaker found the jokes impenetrable.

    was it too burrito brain to winter soldier? He's like, yeah, that was what it was.
    burrito brainwinter soldier

28. Jorma's ladder accident jokes

    42:34

    After Jorma's fall, he and his wife Mari joked about his brain and whether he could get a vasectomy while surgery was happening. Jorma says the jokes did not land with others.

    He did get a vasectomy with the doctor. He was upside down, so the doctor took out a part of his brain.
    jawb

29. Brian Tucker's 'I fucked Akiva' rap origin

    43:08

    Cameron asks how Brian Tucker's YouTube rap video came to be. Jorma says it began when Tucker came into the office and performed it, and they filmed it as a music video.

    And then Tucker's song came about by Tucker coming into our office and just doing that.

30. Brian Tucker in person

    43:40

    Seth says the video's humor lands harder when you see Brian Tucker in person, describing him as the whitest white man he has ever seen.

    He's like the whitest white man I've ever seen in my life.

31. Andy declines Connor's gift request

    44:45

    Seth reports that Andy turned down a gift request from a deployed listener, Connor, whose girlfriend loves Hot Rod. The hosts joke about the 'hard no' response.

    Connor, we reached out to Andy and it was a no.

32. Defamer blog bit with Bill Hader

    45:16

    Jorma recalls a fake Defamer blog about Brian Tucker moving to New York to become a firefighter, a bit he made with Bill Hader in the early days.

    And there was this website called Defamer back in the day that was like a gossip shit for celebrities.

33. Jeff's update desk question

    48:24

    Jeff asks whether the update desk moves or stays put during SNL. The hosts say it rolls in and out, and sits at home base for sketches that play straight to the audience.

    It's a great question. They roll it in and out.

34. Home base for presentational sketches

    48:40

    Seth explains that the spot in front of the monologue is home base because it gives the audience a direct line of sight. Talk show sketches and testimonial-style commercials play best there.

    So anything that plays out where you don't have to cross shoot anybody. So anytime it's a talk show sketch, you're going to be at home base.

35. Shit Can Alley

    49:28

    Dratch's name for the back left corner of the SNL set, as seen from home base, where sketches like Cowbell ended up. Anyone who complained risked landing there.

    the back left corner, if you're facing home base, was what Dratch called Shit Can Alley.

36. Family top five Hot Rod

    49:44

    A listener's family ranks Hot Rod among their top five movies, alongside Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Fantastic Mr. Fox, WALL-E and A Knight's Tale.

    I wanted to share that Hot Rod actually makes it into my family's top five movies of all time.

37. Hit me in the titty

    50:24

    A listener's question ended with 'hit me in the titty,' a play on the show's 'hit us in the titties' comment-request phrasing. Another coined phrase traced to the pod.

    Another phrase coined only because of the pod. Somebody asked a question and then said, hit me in the titty.
    hit us in the tittus

38. How the table read prep works

    51:11

    Jorma and Seth describe how hosts get a stack of roughly 40 sketches, and writers can give only brief guidance because there is no time for rehearsal. The table read is often the only run-through a writer hears.

    there's like 40 sketches and the host is already overwhelmed. So you can give them a little bit of guidance.

39. Table reads: 38 to 40 sketches

    52:05

    Jorma confirms the table read usually covers about 38 to 40 sketches, a huge stack for hosts to get through. He says young writers found pre-read direction nerve-wracking.

    There are almost exactly like 40 sketches, 38, 40.

40. Music rehearsals and Catrice Barnes

    54:03

    Songs in sketches got extra rehearsal time. Catrice Barnes composed much of the show's music, including Dick in a Box, and Jorma says she could turn any written lyric into a melody.

    She did every bit of music at the show with us in the early days, except for one or two little things here and there.

41. Fans point here

    55:32

    1 YouTube comment timestamps this moment, 6 likes.

    Dinner and a vasectomy. You know what it is. New York City, baby. You were a great Alvin today, buddy. Thank you. Thank you. Well, you know what? Although, you know what? You were very thoughtful with your answers. You…