♪ announcer: from our studios in new york city, this is "charlie rose." charlie: billy eichner is here. he is the creator and star of the pop-culture game show "billy on the street." tina fey, will ferrell, and michelle obama have all made appearances on the show. the fourth season is currently airing on tru tv. the guardian calls eichner "a cyclone of snarkiness, pop-culture rips and unbounded energy." here is a look. [video clip] billy: hey guys, i'm billy eichner. sir, for a dollar, spin in a circle if you are excited for the new james bond movie. keep spinning, keeps hitting.

keep spinning, keeps spinning, keeps spinning. there you go, take it, bye. sir, rob lowe is back. hello. >> who is he? billy: you don't know rob lowe? >> is he gay? billy: no! name three clintons. >> kennedy? billy: get out of here! put yourself in demi lovato's shoes. >> i don't want to. billy: is this on brand? we're going to play a game i like to call, kate blanchet or curious george? gay, part black, or cokehead? if you need help asking a question, you can ask an uncircumcised man. or you can whisper a tweet to an elderly person. who is this? >> chris pratt. billy: yes, you win! sarah jessica parker. >> hi!

billy: bill cosby -- i mean bill hader. julianne moore, how are you? what on earth are you doing on this show? it is tina fey! don't drop the airbrush. we are on tru tv we cannot afford a second one. miss, emma stone seems down-to-earth. oh my god. [end video clip] charlie: how did this come into being? billy: oh my goodness. i am an actor first. i went to northwestern. theater major. stephen colbert, julia louis-dreyfus. seth meyers, a lot of people. i was primarily a traditional actor. when i got back to new york, because i grew up there, i started dabbling in improv and comedy. i started to do a live stage show called creation nation, which was my version of what fallon would do, but i did it on a stage for 50 people because no one was hiring me. so, i did my version of a late-night talk show. in it, i took on this persona of someone who was just

irrationally passionate about pop culture. who brings this crazy urgency and anger to these most superficial matters, that i was genuinely interested in at the same time. at the same i said what if we take the persona onto the street? i would rant and rave on stage, and the audience would eat it up. charlie: you would play with the audience on stage? billy: it is more like theater. i was at theater kid. i was not a traditional standup comedian. charlie: do you still think of yourself like that. billy: i do. when people started to say, comedian billy eichner? i said, who are they talking about? i went to northwestern. but sounds so pretentious, i always loved comedy, i was in comedies, but in plays. i wasn't someone who grew up saying i have to go to a standup comedy club and try out 15 minutes. i loved theater. i grew up in new york. i went to broadway, i worshiped

nathan lane and martin short. at the same time -- i love steve martin. i like people who have an over-the-top persona. i was really drawn to that. charlie: it was natural for you to fall into that. billy: i think so. charlie: you grew up in queens? billy: yes, i was a real city kid. charlie: after going to northwestern, you came back here. thinking you would be a theater actor? billy: trying to be an actor, theater, film, tv, or a sitcom. you just want a job. i was doing telemarketing for the united jewish appeal federation, so it wasn't exactly what i was planning on. [laughter] charlie: when did you know, do you say this will morph right into "billy on the street?" billy: we would show those videos during my live show. it was a segment in my live show. from the first time we showed one, the audience loved it. and then the videos kept getting tighter. i got more confidence.

strangely enough, i'm normal to shy, offstage, if i don't know you. but people loved the act. they love the energy. i think the real savvy, new york, l.a. audience, who i was performing for at the time -- this was before youtube -- really appreciated getting insanely worked up about entertainment. when the videos did well in my live show, and then eventually youtube came along, i put them up on youtube and they went viral, as they say. die," the website came to me. the president of production e-mailed me out of the blue one night and said, i like what you are doing. if you are ever in l.a., come and see me, maybe we will work together. i was broke and poor, no health insurance, nothing. i said to my dad, i'm not telling this guy i'm going to l.a. just to see him. i'm going to make up an excuse, but i'm going to l.a. to talk to

"funny or die." because this could really be something. and i did. i went and talked to mike, i told him i had an idea to turn these videos that you like into a half-hour tv show, with a very loose game show element. charlie: outside. billy: outside, all outside. i will give out, not big prizes. not big cash, like most game shows new. i will be about a dollar. or terrible prize that i bought at the supermarket. charlie: was it an immediate hit outside? billy: yeah. sometimes people walk away, sometimes they don't. charlie: a number of people who you contacted, how many of them end up a really good -- they give you usable material? half of them? billy: less. you have to shoot and shoot them until you want to die. [laughter] i'm close to death, but at least i'm popular. charlie: how does it work? you know what you're going to say, you have a dollar, and then you get people like david letterman?

-- we as the show evolved started with smaller tv network fuse, then recently moved to trutv and tbs. as the show got more popular it developed a following among celebrities, and amongst comedians in particular. i did the david letterman show and i grew up worshiping dave et al.: 30. i am not as young as i look, charlie. i would stay up after carson and watch letterman by myself when he was on at 12:30. charlie: what was it about david that you loved? the antic quality? he was doing something no one else had done? billy: it felt fresh. and it still felt fresh years and years later when he had been doing it for a while, but particularly late 1980's and early 1990's and i was coming into my own as a person. i was connected to what dave was doing. years and years, literally decades later, dave became a fan

of mine, which was a huge honor for me, and joined me on the street one day. charlie: did you initiate the call to him? billy: i did a segment on the emmys with seth meyers when he hosted. and i believe letterman's people at his show saw that, and they were a fan, and they called shortly after that had me on the show. charlie: you went on his show and then he came on your show. billy: correct. charlie: what makes elena so funny? billy: elena has the attitude of the quintessential acerbic, does not give a damn gal, even though she is from oklahoma. perfect for me. she gives it back to me as much as i give it to her. i ran into her spontaneously on the street, she became an audience favorite. and we bring her back. we brought her back to play against the first lady. charlie: how did michelle come on? billy: funny or die had worked with the president.

zach galifianakis had done a video with president. the first lady wanted to do a video to promote the "eat right" campaign, when she was working on it with sesame street. they like the idea of a "billy on the street" segment. mr, the first lady, big bird, and elena. [video clip] billy: for a dollar, you are going to push me around in a shopping cart while i read gwyneth paltrow's acceptance speech for the oscar for "shakespeare in love." let's go. big bird, you stay here. flotus, follow me. okay, flotus,:, let me get in the cart. this must be the highlight of your career, flotus. michelle: this is it. billy: you're going to push me while i read the acceptance speech. away we go. i would like to thank the academy from the bottom of my heart. i would like to thank our miraculous cast and crew. [screaming] stop! stop! i did not get to thank her earthly guardian angel -- stop!

[end video clip] charlie: great to have you. billy: thank you, honor to be here. ♪

charlie: improvisation has become one of the most popular forms of comedy in recent years. this unique style of comedy was pioneered by del close, a chicago-based actor and comedian. he taught some of the biggest names in comedy from bill murray and john belushi to stephen colbert and tina fey. in the early 1990's, close worked with a group of comedians

known as the upright citizens brigade. in 1996, the comedy troop moved to new york where they established a theater and a school. the new york times calls the upright citizens brigade the most influential name and improv today. here are the four founders. amy poehler, matt besser, ian roberts and matt walsh. i am pleased to have each of them here on this friday afternoon. welcome. all: thank you charlie. charlie: well else should we say about the brigade? amy: good question. first of all, it is nice to hear our names said from your mouth. [laughter] it is kind of a thrill. charlie: your greatness is confirmed. ian: we should be described as a disreputable punch of -- bunch of ner do wells. we are like the little rascals who have cobbled together a successful school.

>> we had a sketch show at come essential when we first got here. charlie: what is key about it? amy: the name started as the name of our comedy troop but now the name is a bigger thing. it is a large community of comedies and writers. it is almost a philosophy in many ways. it is a community, and it is made up of the people that inhabit it. there are many members. the matt: a lot of comedy theaters have a top ensemble. second city has the main stage. that is, what 8 people? but we did not build our comedy theater that way. ours is like a 600 person ensemble. we have three to four shows a night, different cast for every show. in a week we could have 300 performers onstage. like what amy is saying, now represents a bunch of people. charlie: were you inspired by second city? ian: we fell into it, honestly.

having a theater and a school. it was a need. we were doing our show. we came out to new york and started doing and improv show along with our sketch shows, there were these people who had some interest in and privation and we started teaching classes. we started coaching. eventually at one point we were at a theater and we are renting so much space we were paying their rent. at that point, we said we should have our own theater. charlie: i mentioned del close. tell me how he was. matt besser: he kind of rejected second city. he said, we just do sketch, improvisation is just a tool for coming up with sketches. he always said no, improv can be its own art form. he had a funny contentious relationship with them

through the years when he would direct for them and leave. but eventually he joined something called the improv olympic in chicago. they developed this form called the herald. it has been developed years earlier, but he really took it to fruition. he took it to the improv olympic, and that is when we started taking classes from him. he developed this thing with other people. we feel he is the one that took it to the next level which is longform improvisation. charlie: what is that? >> short form, thinking you get a suggestion, we need to remind the scene we need a new film , genre so we would do what he -- woody allen type. longform is sprung from one word suggestions, you usually do 30 to 45 minutes off of one word. amy: it hopefully moves seamlessly so the best thing you get after an improvised show, you have people, coming up to you asking did you plan that? matt besser: the ultimate goal

is at the end of the show, that improvised scene was good enough to be written up. generating sketches on stage. ian: it is not just the length, we also describe it by a longform scene. as opposed to the short form seen. charlie: is there a sense that improv is coming up? it is ascendant. matt walsh: when we were in chicago, when started there was maybe 120 in the community. now there's probably a million improvisers worldwide. matt besser: it was not in new york. but in a less advanced form. but when we came here it was like bringing silk to america. they were like, what are you doing? they had seen sketch but this improv was unique outside of chicago. it was wild. now we have this marathon where we are getting people from finland and japan.

from all over the world. it is fascinating to see them taking these lessons and interpreting them through their own culture. doing longform improvisation but in their own way. charlie: explain to me this. the concept of "yes, and?" amy: it is a simple idea that when you are doing a scene, you instead of shutting down someone you addwn right away, something to it and agree to it. it is a way of how you create together with another improviser. you work together to figure out what the scene is going to be. for example, if i came in and said the doctor will see you now, and you say i don't know what you're talking about, i came to get my tire changed. what you're saying to the person on stages, i just listened to you and i decide where we are. matt besser: the reality of the scene goes away and it is hard to keep going forward.

matt walsh: a big part of improv is you listen and build off together. listening is huge. charlie: here is what you said. you told the av club that the hardest part of being in a improviser is you get to the point we can live life on stage. remember that? amy: del used to talk about, we are having a natural conversation here. nothing is exaggerated. you want to transfer that going when you get on stage. you do not want to try to be funny. when people try to be funny, they disassociate from what life is sometimes. it is trying to stay grounded in real so that the first unusual thing and a scene is what you catch. you explore that. charlie: take a look at this. a 1990's upright citizens brigade show. >> you're going to be so young

looking. [laughter] >> cape canaveral. we are showing a breach in the portal. confirm? we are now going to activate the arm. we are going to do a complete diagnostic. >> last-minute addition. >> ok, i see it now. it seems to be working without me. >> is affirmative. >> the arm is fully automated. >> that is what the gravity deprivation chart turning was for, right? >> is telling me to get out? >> that is a minor technical glitch. that is nothing to worry about.

>> its knocking on the window to tell me to get the hell out. >> this is houston, there's nothing to worry about. in sending the ramsey arm to fix the other arm. [laughter] >> we were not informed here of the ramsay arm. the russell arm does not need to know the ramsay arm. >> we are under the impression as well. [laughter] looks like they are wrestling, specifically arm wrestling. >> the ramsay arm will be stronger and quickly defeat it. [laughter] intou just got me rammed the russell arm. looks like the ramsay arm was taken by over the titan booster.

is flipping me off. matt walsh: you discovered a nugget. amy: that was me, guys. those robotic arms. that was real. [laughter] matt walsh: that was your audition for snl, wasn't it? [laughter] i can't believe the robot arms did not get on snl. matt besser: that was in new york when we moved here to showcase our sketch for comedy central, and they eventually bought it. that was at a scene after the show working out a new scene. , amy: what that scene shows is a good example of tightening a game. the scene starts with an astronaut ready to take off in the first unusual thing you notice is is there is a robotic arm in the cockpit with him.

slowly but surely, the two start fighting. slowly grows. that probably came out of improv, and somebody wrote it up maybe? ian: we used to take the shows in comb through them for ideas we could then turn into sketches. sometimes you get one you transcribe. that is how you know you improvised well that night. amy: we were before the internet generation so you cannot film , them and show them on youtube. you had to go to the shows. what is very sweet about that video is that we recognize the laughs of the people in the audience because was probably two sets of parents. charlie: in all terms of alternative entertainment today, netflix and things, but television goes in terms of a great period for drama, then it will slow down, then you will see the rise of comedy.

where are we now? if there is a kind of life to all this? matt besser: i think right now we're at a boom in content in general. charlie: clearly. matt besser: like this seeso place, also commissioned a variety show where we shoot the best material from our theater. now everywhere in the country you can see it. that is like an ultimate goal of ours. back in the 1990's in chicago we used to joke we would have our own television station one day, and kind of, we do. you do not have to appeal to 30 million people anymore. ian: you see stuff like it happens on stage, which is radical, crazy, experimental. matt besser: you could do the exact comedy you want to do and only appeal to one million but still be considered successful. charlie: one more note about del close.

this is sitting in front of me. aykroyd, chris farley, stephen colbert, boko incurred, odenkirk, amy sedaris -- this is an equitable history of comedy he is part of. amy: he is probably the most famous person comedy that people don't know about. he was a very successful and hilarious teacher and mentor. charlie: beyond being funny, he was also a teacher. amy: he was. i know that we were in chicago at a time when chris farley had just left to go on to success. i arrived at second city with steve carell and astephen colbert at the main stage there, and these guys were already performing in a successful team in chicago. there was just a feeling that something was happening there.

there was a hope, frankly, that you could put in your time on stage, get better, take risks, and get a job. we think that that feeling is still the same at ucb. matt besser: people always ask us, you cannot train someone to be funny. no doubt. chris farley was hilarious when he's showed up on del close's door, but he is also a force of nature who needs some direction. he had techniques that you do not see as an audience member. ian: the same rules you see your other ones you go to the keyboard. the rules of scenic comedy there , are those patterns. charlie: thank you for being here. back in a moment. stay with us. ♪

charlie: samantha bee is here. she served as a correspondant on the daily show with jon stewart for 12 years. this year, she became the host of her own late-night series on tbs, it is called "full frontal with samantha bee." emily nussbaum writes that the show has a slash and burn slightly gonzo approch to political satire. she is also the cocreator and executive producer of a tbs sitcom, "the detour," which employs her husband, jason jones. i am pleased to have samantha bee at this table. samantha: i am so excited to be here. charlie: the title first -- "full frontal." i love the idea. samantha: thank you. when we were developing the show, we definitely wanted the show to feel audacious. we wanted it to have that spirit. and one of my best friends who i did comedy with came up with the title. she just floated it to me via

text, and as soon she did i knew it was the title. "full frontal." it is about being open and being audacious, being -- having a point of view that is obvious. being naked in a way, figuratively, not literally. charlie: late night has changed -- an example you have gone from , carson to letterman and leno, which was mainly stand up on and some sketches, to fallon and what others are doing and you are doing and oliver is doing. it somehow feels different. samantha: there is a diversity of style within a certain kind of format. people have their own, people have their own unique take on that. that is for sure. charlie: does everyone on "the daily show" think they will have their own show? samantha: i don't think so.

[laughter] i do not think that myself for the most part. so many have and do in a great at it. i do not think everyone thinks that. towards the end -- it was really a grind. you could feel the weight of all those years. it is not like you would think, it is pure glory. charlie: it is also said he was very nurturing, the first guy in, they must guy out. samantha: completely dedicated to it. not a moment of the show did not pass through his editorial voice. he was very much in the nuts and bolts of the show for a good reason. he was nurturing. he always encouraged me to dig deeper into my own point of view , and i think that was very important. dig deep into your uniqueness and find ways to push the humor that are unexpected. charlie: where do comics and comedians and comic actors come from?

samantha: there's no question that there is no chance in hell to anyone that has me for my school or the early years of college would think, oh, you are a natural born comedian you are , going to go entertain, you're going to stand on a stage in front of millions of people and shout. [laughter] i think i was always a quiet and i'm also know a child. we spend much time entertaining ourselves. charlie: your imagination grows.

and being comfortable with yourself. samantha: there is no one else to entertain. you stick your head out your attic window and you read your heavy books and listen to your disco records. charlie: it is one day a week. how hard can that be? samantha: it is a breeze. what time do we tape the show, 6:00 on monday? charlie: colbert is five nights a week. samantha: it is all by design. we only wanted to do one show a week. charlie: is it different because you are doing it one day away? samantha: it is a full-time experience. charlie: it is harder because you have one time each week to make it happen. where we can be a little bit not as good today as we were yesterday and perhaps tomorrow. samantha: you have a little bit of immediacy about following the new cycle closely. will we have to do is sit back from the daily news and focus more on -- it is more of an analysis of the week that has passed and what we think is coming in the future. so, it is actually freeing. we thought it will be a hindrance when we were first putting the show together and we found out that we have nothing

to do with the scheduling of the show, so when we learned we were scheduled for mondays, we thought this is a tragedy, how are we going to -- how can you do a show at the beginning of the week, nothing has happened yet. it gives you the freedom to sit back and watch the patterns, watch the stories that are emerging in a more long-term way. so what we thought was a huge handicap is an asset. the week progresses, you can see the turn of events. we do not have to do hot takes, we can sit back and reject stories that actually are not fruitful or for us -- fruitful for us, stories that have emerged and disappear quickly. you can see those and those are helpful. doing the show once a week gives me the freedom to do field pieces. i do like to shoot out in the world. charlie: it has been a great year for county. samantha: either a gift from god or get from satan. we keep trying to figure out who

it is from. charlie: the characters are interesting and they are drawn out in an interesting way. samantha: we could not ask for, when we were pitching the show and we have all the documents about how you want the show to look like we could never have anticipated that the field would be what it was and that it is honed her down to -- charlie: you are the executive producer of "the detour." samantha: we bring two different things to the table. he is a very big picture person. he is great at figuring out the overall arc, and arc to an episode. i am very surgical. i like to come in and poke holes in all of his storylines. i am the most appalling -- i'm the most annoying person in the world. the person who comes in and slashes and burns. people do not speak like this. a woman would never say that. the two -- he is kind of a great birdseye-view person and i am

more surgical. the two halves of the whole work well together. creating "the detour" was one of the most fun things. i do not know what it is. i think mindset. as i recall my earlier years in theater school, as i reflect, because i did not go to theater school at one point, i was always really good at making a performance that was a pastiche of a bunch of different things.

that was a strength i had, and that continues. i think that making shows that i would want to watch is definitely something. charlie: do people watch "the daily show" and say, i know her. well comes away from -- what comes away from the way is insight into who she is and her mindset. samantha: you can know me more from "full frontal." i think the attitude, the passion is totally authentic to who i am. some people interpret it as anger or slash and burn, which is not a reflection of who i am as a person. i am actually a really low-key person but i do achieve total catharsis. i have 21 minutes to get it right and to get it on air. charlie: the search for some -- samantha: just meaning and point of view. we are all about stating our

point of view so firmly and forcefully. we wanted to make a show that was vigorous and visceral and satisfying. we wanted to make a show that we wanted to watch, and i think we have done that. charlie: it seems to me that is a mistake people make. they do not satisfy themselves. they try to satisfy the audience, somebody other than you. samantha: when you work in television, for the most part there are a lot of masters. there are a lot of people wrestling for control of your end product. lots and lots of voices. we have the advantage -- to be honest, our network has given us the power and control.

they understood that this is not the type of show they ever made before. and so they wanted to trust us -- they trusted us to bring in a product that was strong and had that point of view. charlie: did you see the show changing or evolving? samantha: i like doing what we were doing. -- are doing. we will work through the presidential election and next year we'll have a president in place that we know will have for four years. i think it will evolve naturally. we do not have an agenda for ourselves. we enjoy doing what we are doing. we are so new at it, we would like to enjoy it for a little while. charlie: every article i read about you -- and there were a lot of articles about you when you decided to do the show -- they all asked this question, did she want and should she have been considered for "the daily show"?

samantha: right, right, right. i am much happier doing this. i'm so happy to -- in the moment, i mean, i do not have any regrets. it did not feel realistic to me, to be honest, and then tbs was there, really wanting me to do a show. and nobody -- who can resist someone who really wants you? [laughter] samantha: that is an awfully delicious place to be. very compelling. charlie: people who do not appreciate that really need that lesson. when you really want to make somebody happy, you explain to them how much you want them and how happy they make you. samantha: to have been courted by tbs in the way that they courted me, it really was unique, it really felt like a special thing. charlie: i did not care, i did not want it or need it, i did not care about it. samantha: if tbs hadn't been there it would have been another

conversation. i cannot speak to what was going on in their minds. i so prefer to do my own thing. i so prefer. it is so much better for me. i would not be able to do the show -- i do not believe i would be able to do the show i wanted to do if i was still there because the operation is immense. it is a behemoth. i do not think it would have worked for me to blow apart that institution and do it exactly my way. you do not want to sit in someone else's mold. the shows i like have a strong presence and they have a strong show runner and they create a world for you. they are just not wishy-washy. i need to feel the presence of a strong creator in the show. this is a show i like. charlie: do you want to have a sharper edge that anyone out there? samantha: i would not say

consciously. charlie: is that the reality? samantha: i do think it is happening. but we do not come to work and say, how do we be more sharp? charlie: how can we find ourselves in the most precise way. that is the goal. but it has become, as you said, sharper and more of an edge that almost anybody out there because you have been true to yourself. samantha: i think we have a real edge to us. it comes out really naturally. there is a flow to that. i don't -- i don't invite comparison to any other show. you cannot do it that way, we just have our heads down and our eyes forward, we are always looking in the purest, clearest way to what would amuse and thrill us to do on the show. we do not care what anyone else is doing or what anybody else --

i do not really read anything, i've only read a couple -- charlie: it is good. samantha: i have read a couple of reviews of the show, really just two or three maybe. i try to stay out of it. "the new york times" i read because we get it delivered and the entertainment section was on the outside. charlie: you were somebody who everyone was interested in. you had the role that you had on "the daily show," people were interested. when you are on, we wanted to see more of you. i think it is the truth. and all of a sudden you're are getting a show. so people who wanted to find out more of you are finding more about you. that is what happens. samantha: it is great. it is great. i try to stay out of it. it is easy for me to stay out of it. i have three kids. charlie: you have a husband. samantha: when i leave work and go home i am off duty. full-scale parenting.

charlie: are you a sports fan? samantha: i am not a sports fan. charlie: is jason? samantha: he watches football, he's more a football person. we will watch the olympics. we will watch the olympics. we will watch simone biles for sure. charlie: thank you for coming. great to have you. samantha: this was so much fun. i love it. i want to live here. charlie: there's a place over there. a refrigerator over there. samantha: i will be fine. charlie: samantha bee, "full frontal," back in a moment. ♪

♪ charlie: seth meyers is here. he ended his run on "saturday night live" after 13 years on that program. he took over as host of "late-night" in february 2014. he is the fourth person to helm the show following david letterman, conan o'brien, and jimmy fallon. amps these two have seth meyers back at the table. however the show changed since you began -- how has the show changed since you began? seth: to start a show from behind the desk. that was one of the bigger cosmetic changes we made.

charlie: was that producers instinct? seth: i learned a lot of producers skills. even though these are year-round shows, we were wondering if there was a way we could shake up how we present ourselves. one thing i was felt doing my show was i was felt like i was doing a monologue i was the warm-up comedian for my own show. now the show starts when it starts, which i really like. charlie: d.c. the audience -- do you see the audience before the show? seth: more than anything else, to make them feel more comfortable, that is when i get a sense of what the house is like. it varies from night tonight. if it is a cold today, people are in a bad mood, a warm day people are in a good mood. charlie: i assume you could have influence with the crowd. if they are loud or enthusiastic, the crowd will be more enthusiastic than normal. seth: of course.

an enthusiastic crowd gives you a little bit more license to have fun in those moments between the jokes. if you have a long tail of laughter, that is when you can go a bit off script. if they are laughing come you can get a sense of let's keep this thing moving. charlie: any regrets leaving snl? you followed a remarkable group of people. seth: during week and i followed remarkable people as well. i at least knew it was possible and what of the ways it is possible as you try to think not too hard about the footsteps you are following. i was really sad to leave snl, but i was also reaching the point where i was the oldest guy in the room as far as the writing staff in the cast. i don't think you can do both. it is full-time. if anything, i wish i had more time to work on my show.

as opposed to a wish i was splitting it. charlie: would you do with the more time? seth: you always want two or three more hours. especially if you are doing something the day of. whether it is a story that is breaking that day, just the logistics of pulling together the clips. charlie: you understand standup comedy, you understand sketch comedy. you understand jokes. is that a learned the skill or something mostly your funny or not funny? seth: you are funny or not funny, but like any count you have to refine it. i do not think anybody is born and has the equal opportunity to be an nfl quarterback. the funny thing about comedy

know, i haveyou been writing my entire professional life and we are into the second decade of doing it appeared to some degree, you are constantly blown away by how little you still know. by how wrong you can be with a piece of comedy or a comedy choice. your bring on a joke you are sure will work and it can strike out. to some degree it happens every week. charlie: it is most likely something you thought would work does not work as opposed to something you do not think was good goes through the roof. seth: it is the other way. that is the flame that draws us as comedy writers as moths to it. the idea is -- you never crack it completely. you always try to get better and better. charlie: and you get better and better by doing it? seth: again, at some point, you cannot be influenced by things as much as you were when you were young. i was very lucky that my parents

introduce me to monty python, snl, to richard prior. charlie: they like those groups? seth: they love them. they did not wait until it was age-appropriate to introduce it to us. charlie: because they enjoy comedy? seth: they enjoy comedy. i have said this before, but my mother is a very beautiful woman. and my dad is a very funny man. my brother and i learned at an early age. charlie: a beautiful woman is attracted to a funny man. seth: you cannot get more handsomely can try to be funnier. charlie: you will be less handsome as you get older but you will not get less funny. seth: exactly. old guys can be very funny. they are probably the funniest. charlie: did you go to amsterdam after college? seth: i did. charlie: this is amsterdam, new york? seth: no. the original amsterdam. some guys from chicago went over to amsterdam. they were a few years older than me. they started a second city of amsterdam called boom chicago. they were chicago guys. they would have auditions in

chicago. so, right after i graduated from college, we saw an audition notice. and i did not even have a passport and i lived in holland for two years. charlie: do you think the audience is smarter than we think they are? seth: audiences are savvier than they ever have been before. in a very good way. they can tell us something is not genuine. the host does not believe in. so, you really have to be true to your own sense of humor. charlie: be authentic. seth: you have to be authentic. i think that will continue to be the case. people are really hip to stuff that is authentic versus inauthentic. and i do. i think the audience is very smart now. also because it is amazing to me when i run into the younger generation and you realize they are not just coming up on the comedy being made today. they are self-educating

themselves on the internet. they are watching the stuff i grew up with. whereas, when i was going up, other than comedy albums, i could not go watch your show of shows. charlie: lorne michaels has meeant what to you? seth: he brought me into show business. he sort of plucked me out of relative anonymity. then he was patient with me, because was not -- i am willing to be the first to admit i was not a great cast member on snl. i really only started adding value commensurate with my pay when lorne made me a writer. when lorne let me do weekend update. i think if he had been less patient he could have moved on from me in two years and the show would not have been worse for it. when i think back to the doubts and fears that i feel like are consistent with the other doubts and fears people have their first years on snl. from where i was there to lorne calling me up and saying, i think you would be good as a late-night host. charlie: when you see a politician -- reasonably good of

having done a good round of humor or comedy in a speech, it used to be thought that obama, for example, would reach out to "the daily show" or to "saturday night live." does that happen a lot? that politicians and people with a -- can reach out and get you and others when you are a writer only to do comedy for them? seth: you know, i think when you are president you can reach out and get jokes. but beyond that, i think we are too busy to overcommit to those other things. but i think famously, obama has had some very high end talent write jokes for him. i get it. charlie: what is your day like, before we go? you are in there about 9:00, 9:30. seth: 9:00. the first thing is just, you know, some writers and i will

e-mail the night before to try to -- charlie: like categories? seth: is there anything going on that is going to be something that will be better tomorrow than any other day? something really timely. because timely is important to the show. because the shows do not age particularly well. i do not think anybody goes back and binges. oh, i missed june. charlie: it does not work. seth: so, we try to do that. then over the course of the two hours it is talking to the writers. around 11:00, we start reading through written pieces, both for that days show and the rest of the week. charlie: and begin blocking at what time? seth: we go down to the studio around 4:00 in the afternoon. charlie: you run through it once? whole show? seth: yeah, but ultimately so much of the show is interviews. we just run through the comedy. that takes about 30 to 40

minutes. charlie: and you're still cutting? seth: you are always tweaking. to be honest, we always, like, add three jokes right before the show because the writers, the monologue writers are taking one last pass. it is kind of fun, to be honest, to walk out to be -- the first time you say them are going to be in front of an audience. charlie: this is a stupid question but i am genuinely interested. is there a secret to writing great monologue jokes? seth: i think there is. but if there is, i don't know what it is. the one person i poached from snl -- when lorne gave me this job he said you cannot take alex. he had run weekend update for years. so, i went to alex and said, i would love for you to come with me on this. i believe he is the best joke writer working today. charlie: what is his name? seth: alex baze. b-a-z-e. he just was an incredibly good joke writer on weekend update. he is a great joke writer now. charlie: he's great because he can write funny jokes, but what was it about his -- seth: there is a real economy. you could always tell his page,

because he uses less words than everybody else. there is something, you know -- jerry seinfeld has talked about he is drawn to sports cars because there is not wasted inch on a sports car. you have to move as fast as possible with as little engineering. you know how baze writes jokes. there is a real sleekness to them. when i was doing weekend update, i got jokes now and then when i was a far better sketch writer. i needed the space of a sketch and the value of characters and performance. charlie: congratulations. thank you for joining us. see you next time. ♪

mark: i'm mark crumpton. you're watching "bloomberg west." elite civil protection