Laugh along with us as the incomparable Kylie Brakeman swings by to mark the three-year milestone of My Pop Five with her signature wit and wisdom. Imagine a world where pop culture isn't splintered by internet niches, but instead, a shared experience like the unforgettable "Barbenhiemer" Kylie shares her adventures and the journey that is the transition from improv to digital skits and characters.
As we stroll down memory lane, and her Pop Five, Kylie and I unpack the timeless influence of "The Simpsons" on her comedic roots and our collective psyche. From her early ambitions to the improv stages that honed her craft, we uncover the laughter-laden path that pop culture carves in our lives. The chat navigates through the evolution of storytelling in shows like "30 Rock" and movies such as "Legally Blonde," reveling in the balance of humor and heart through cherished characters that defy stereotypes and echo empowerment.
Ending on a blend of reflection and rapid-fire fun, Kylie candidly discusses the hurdles of writing for television in Hollywood's pressure cooker, and how a strike isn’t only about picket lines but also the unexpected creative freedoms it ushers in. We're serenaded by memories of Lorde's music, a soundtrack to our personal growth, and finally, Kylie dishes on her dream SNL era and her blooming love for plants. Tune in for an episode brimming with laughter, nostalgia, and the unfiltered truth about carving a niche in the ever-surprising world of comedy.
Follow Kylie @deadeyebrakeman on all platforms.
Laugh along with us as the incomparable Kylie Brakeman swings by to mark the three-year milestone of My Pop Five with her signature wit and wisdom. Imagine a world where pop culture isn't splintered by internet niches, but instead, a shared experience like the unforgettable "Barbenhiemer" Kylie shares her adventures and the journey that is the transition from improv to digital skits and characters.
As we stroll down memory lane, and her Pop Five, Kylie and I unpack the timeless influence of "The Simpsons" on her comedic roots and our collective psyche. From her early ambitions to the improv stages that honed her craft, we uncover the laughter-laden path that pop culture carves in our lives. The chat navigates through the evolution of storytelling in shows like "30 Rock" and movies such as "Legally Blonde," reveling in the balance of humor and heart through cherished characters that defy stereotypes and echo empowerment.
Ending on a blend of reflection and rapid-fire fun, Kylie candidly discusses the hurdles of writing for television in Hollywood's pressure cooker, and how a strike isn’t only about picket lines but also the unexpected creative freedoms it ushers in. We're serenaded by memories of Lorde's music, a soundtrack to our personal growth, and finally, Kylie dishes on her dream SNL era and her blooming love for plants. Tune in for an episode brimming with laughter, nostalgia, and the unfiltered truth about carving a niche in the ever-surprising world of comedy.
Follow Kylie @deadeyebrakeman on all platforms.
Hello and welcome back to a surprise mini-season of MyPop5. We've missed you. It's been a while since we last had an episode. In fact, since we last released an episode, a lot of life has happened I got married, changed jobs, dealt with some family health issues, and the rest of the crew has had a lot on their plates too. Putting out a new season just hasn't quite been in the cards just yet, but today is a three-year anniversary of the show and it didn't feel quite right not to celebrate. So we put together a few episodes that we've recorded over the last year and we're going to release them over the course of the next few weeks.
Speaker 1:So today we have the privilege of chatting with Kylie Brakeman. Kylie's a phenomenal comedian, actress and writer, and it was just so fun to chat with her. We hope you love her as much as we do. So let's get into it. Here's our conversation with Kylie Breachman. Today we have such an incredible guest, someone that I've been a fan of for a very long time Kylie Brakeman. Kylie is a comedian, writer, actor You've probably seen her all over your social media, does incredible videos, but also as a writer, most recently on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. And so, kylie, this is such an honor. Thank you so much for joining the show.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me, kylie, this is such an honor.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for joining the show. Thank you for having me. It's such a cool experience. I remember, you know, coming across your videos multiple times, but having a very like crazy moment where I remember I'm sitting at Silver Lake Lounge here in LA getting ready to watch an improv show and I'm just going on your phone actually watching one of your videos and then you come out with the holy shit improv group and I didn't even know you were performing and I'm just like, oh my god that's so funny and that, and you probably saw me perform improv for like the first time in two or three years, if that's what you saw.
Speaker 2:It was so wild. It was so wild to be there because was like the videos were my only form of comedy that I was doing for a long time and then to be getting back to what I was doing and feeling totally out of body with it was crazy. But that's such a funny coincidence.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I have to imagine too that it was. We weren't like directly out of the pandemic at that point, but it was still kind of early on when that show was kind of happening. I think we're still doing maybe masks and stuff at that point, but yeah, just a complete life shift. I imagine too, in terms of just some of the stuff that had happened in that timeframe for you as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it definitely was coming out into like new world going into the pandemic, having nobody know who you are, and then coming out of like new, uh, new world going into the pandemic, having nobody know who you are, and then, uh, coming out of it with like some people knowing who you are this online stuff is like it doesn't always translate into real life, like it does but it doesn't, and like some people will like the way that people will mob youtubers that I've never heard of, or like just completely geek out over, like this Twitch streamer or something like.
Speaker 2:It's like there's so many different like genres to be known in and there's it's not like the universal, like okay, here are the three TV networks and if you're on one of them then you're famous, but so it's wild sort of fracturing of all that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think it's both beautiful and such a weird experience, because a lot of people can be so much more interested into their niche and their interests and they're not just force fed anything and able to kind of find more and more content and for creators, you're able to find your people a lot easier than you could have 20 years ago. But at the same time it is a little difficult sometimes too in terms of just having like a what is a collective shared interest and how can we kind of all potentially have a wider view of some of the really great stuff, so that way more people can have exposure of it too, because you kind of?
Speaker 1:get stuck in your own silos and not choose to branch out and watch videos that you actually would potentially have found interesting in the previous model.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and Barbieheimer seemed to be the only recent collective shared. I believe the word is monoculture, that's a new word I learned.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because even like Star Wars and stuff like that, it's like those new shows that come out are not, I don't think, like universally shared, I don't know them very well, like they're not events anymore huge affinity for Star Wars or Harry Potter or anything for for those movies, but still having people line up outside the theaters wrapping all the way around and we saw that a bit with Barbenheimer, like you're saying. So it yeah.
Speaker 2:Did you do it?
Speaker 1:I did it, I didn't do the back to back. I didn't do the back to back. Sorry, but I did. I did see them both really quick in succession like I did see them both really quick in succession like a couple days apart from each other. Okay, yeah, yeah. But we did the whole dressing up. My wife and I wore all the pink and we, you know, saw it in the right mindset, right Everything.
Speaker 2:So yeah, yeah, I did back-to-back Times Square and it was we just wanted the most maximalist experience possible and it really delivered.
Speaker 1:Yeah, kudos to that fucking marketing for these people who were willing to just buy into it because it was it was a cool experience for sure yeah yeah, well, cool, let's go ahead and get into it. Kylie, um, we like to ask all of our guests uh, at the start of this, so with no context, no comment k, what is your pop five?
Speaker 2:My pop five is the Simpsons. Legally Blonde, lucille Bluth from Arrested Development, 30 Rock and Lorde.
Speaker 1:Awesome, awesome. I always love doing this because I mean it kind of plays into what we were just talking about, about people finding their own niche and the things that they love, and in so many ways that helps shape who you are and become in the way you create and just experience the world in some ways. And one of my favorite things to do is I'm generally fans, or you know, at least aware of the people who come on the show and I like to try and see what kind of things I can tie into like the stuff that's on here and towards of like how I've seen it come into your work at all and so. But I'm more excited to kind of hear your perspective on it. But before we get into anything super specific, I'm curious can you tell me how you feel you kind of got into comedy and interest in comedy in the first place?
Speaker 2:I grew up around it a little bit because my parents were like general, like my mom works in production and my dad works on commercials, but he used to do improv and stand up before that, so I had like an awareness of what it was. All their friends were like pretty funny. They encouraged me to audition for the improv team in high school and that became like where all of my best friends just sort of clicked and it just kind of unlocked something. I hosted this male beauty pageant with my friend and so we did a very hokey opening, sort of Oscars monologue type thing, where we're roasting everything and we were seniors and we were trying to say edgy things about the teachers. We submitted an approved script and then we went off the script.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I don't want to see what that script looks like. There's no way that two 17 year olds trying to be edgy is ever going to be good and I don't think we said anything like malicious or like bad in, like a in like a cancelable way, I hope, but I think a lot of the tone of it must have been just absolutely fucked um yeah, there's no way it aged well no, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 2:That kind of sparked like oh, and I can write and perform and do this, but I I didn't like fully see it as a path because I think I was like hell-bent on I. I like I wanted to be like a serious actor, like all the other people in my theater class were like moving on to these acting programs and I just simply didn't get into any of them. Like I, I auditioned for a few, but also financial aid was like a whole thing. But then I so I went to college and I did improv there and I was kind of just bored there. I went to Occidental in Eagle Rock and it's a great school, it's a lovely school, but I felt my world shrink because I grew up in LA and then I suddenly didn't have a car and I was in college just stuck on this like tiny campus in the middle of Eagle Rock.
Speaker 2:So, it felt like my world actually collapsed a little bit and so I started looking for other things. And then that's how I got into UCB. I started taking classes concurrently. I was just like get up, go to class, go to work, go to UCB, and it was like this 16-hour day that I would sort of run for a couple of years and I loved it a lot. Then after college I got on house teams at UCB and it kind of just grew from there and so I had like a year at UCB and then the pandemic happened, and then my priority at the time was like well, I have to find an agent. I have to find an agent during this time. And so I just started posting videos as like a resume. And then it just grew out from there.
Speaker 1:Wow, yeah, that's awesome, what a cool story. And I think it's awesome how things can find you. You're not even actively searching, and I guess you did have to take active steps to go to UCB, but I mean even the story that you're talking about with the high school and just a dad kind of saying, hey, try this. And it's just like hey, something hooks you and you can kind of find where your skills are.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, you never know.
Speaker 1:You mentioned your parents being you know, in the business super into it, and I think I don't know if this is the correlation but I was interested to see the Simpsons on here Cause well, it has been something that's been going on for decades now and you can kind of catch it at any point. It's also something that I know has was like the show for generations before, and so walk me through your interest in the Simpsons how did it enter your life and why do you find it so impactful?
Speaker 2:Well, I watched the Simpsons from probably like two or three years old on every single night for like years and years and years, because my parents would just put it on. It was just something that was always on in our house and I think I thought that it was children's programming and they animated yeah because it's animated and it was funny and so I just kind of assumed that this is what every other kid was watching.
Speaker 2:But it would be every night 7.30 at our house and I think a lot of the jokes I definitely didn't understand. Until re-watching things 10 years later I still got a surprising amount. I figured out what sex was through context clues of the Simpsons. I didn't realize how much of my internal programming was just from early and constant exposure to that show. I use the word bitch in a fifth grade presentation. I mean I was a director of like a little skit for class and I made this shy kid I wrote this script and I made this kid say swab the deck, you bitch. Because it was something I heard on the Simpsons and I was like oh, if you say it on TV it's okay, because I I didn't, like they didn't bleep it out, like I know my parents say there's a lot you can't say on TV, but you could say that on the Simpsons. So I just assume like and I think I heard it on the Simpsons, I don't know.
Speaker 2:They were pretty liberal with what I saw. But I just wrote it into the script and he was like I think this is a bad word. And I'm like no, it's fine. Like I've heard it on TV, it's fine, you're being dramatic, like whatever. And so he says it in the skit and the whole room just gasps. And then I ran to the bathroom and cried because I I never felt embarrassment like that. But looking back I'm like no, that's pretty metal. I think that's really cool no, that's sick.
Speaker 1:I think that's awesome yeah, but yeah, I guess I just loved the show I guess all you needed was a pg-13 disclaimer before the skit started, or something.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then I would have been fine legally.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's so cool. I think one of the things that's also crazy to me is, I think I mean you can see it with some other actual children's programming, but there's some stuff in there that's kind of like could be scary for kids, like the Bart and Sideshow Bob relationship or any of the Treehouse of Horror stuff, and I'm wondering.
Speaker 2:Sideshow Bob was so scary.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I hated every Sideshow Bob episode and I don't even know if I. I don't know if I like them now.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I think it was so. So scary Treehouse of Horror. I think they were a little bit more fun. You know, they are straight up parodying, not even really parodying. They're kind of just hitting the beats of a lot of stories that they're referencing, Like the Raven, the Edgar Allen Poe poem, the Raven Like they're kind of just doing it.
Speaker 1:Like Bart is the crow.
Speaker 2:But like they're not, like there's not a crazy spin on it. It was so interesting to move through life thinking that those were the base episodes and then seeing the actual thing it was based on later and going, oh, they were just doing that. I didn't realize.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's so cool. Yeah, I rewatched last night one of the treehouse of horrors Homer sells his soul to the devil for like a donut or something like that.
Speaker 1:And in that one I was just kind of like there's some moments that I'm like dang, it's kind of even a little scary now and so like even imagining, like I also like had an uncle who's obsessed with the show and I think I just like loved that relationship so much that I was like I want to try and watch this. But yeah, I had to check out sometimes, especially the slideshow, bob stuff, even myself.
Speaker 2:But yeah, it's freaky, and like the the selling yourself for a donut. Like it gets scarier as you enter adulthood.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:You realize the actual ramifications.
Speaker 1:I also like had a chance to. Just I. I was just skimming some episodes, trying to remember some old favorites and the and Maggie Makes Three episode was one of my favorites as well and just going back and watching it, I think what was so cool about that show is there's the dopey humor that comes with Homer and stuff like that. But there's also like moments of just like real heart. You know, I think especially in that Homer character you can kind of see like well, and it's changed over the years too I mean after 30 years or plus of making the show, there's some no character has a true characteristics, but I like when they can explore the heart with the characters too, yeah, and I think it's like a relic of a genre of TV that we don't really have anymore, Like a sort of like 90s and I'm not super well versed in this era, but like the full house sort of here, sit on my knee and I'll tell you about.
Speaker 2:Here's a lesson that you can learn, take with you. Like we don't really have, I guess we do. I guess there's Disney Channel. I guess there's maybe multicam sitcoms that I'm not watching, but have it seemed like you was. Part of the deal of having a TV show that started in that era was like you got to have something that ascribes to like quote unquote family values, even though that's a tainted, horrible term, Even though he strangles his son.
Speaker 1:Most episodes yeah, yeah, no, yeah, absolutely. I think that's one of the things that like with like shows like Family Guy and things like that that have come on later. It's almost all slapstick, you know, and I think that the getting some of the realness that comes with the Simpsons I think is is really, really awesome and why I think it continues to just stand and be so good. And even watching the animation of that, a couple of those episodes we were watching were within the first few years of the show coming out and it still holds up animation-wise. I didn't feel taken out to be like gosh. This feels so dated. It's such a good show. So, yeah, I love it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I remember being surprised to learn that the era of Simpsons I was watching was when people consider it getting not as good, because I just loved it and I liked how fast paced it was and I liked how clean the animation looked. And then I would go back and watch the old episodes and go these, I don't like these. But then rewatching it again as an adult, I'm like oh no, there are great jokes in here. I just wasn't clicking because they weren't in that precise 2001, sort of that cutting edge 2001 comedy. But like that, you know, like how they, how you update the pace and things speed up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, even like you said, just being more adult, like understanding the actual struggle of having to go to work kind of a thing, like those experiences, some of those jokes, even in a workplace or whatever, can be just hit a little bit easier. But yeah, one of the things I was curious about was there a specific character or anything that you resonated with most? Was it just like I love this whole world and I like it a lot, or you're just like Lisa's my girl or Bart's my guy, or how did you feel about the characters?
Speaker 2:I think I loved and this is gonna be a common theme, I think in everything that I responded to is like I love side characters. I love the world that gets to pop in, say something so broad that it can't be explored for a long period of time and then pop out. I loved like Disco Stu and Chief Wiggum and just those people whose character game is so off the wall that you can't follow them.
Speaker 1:It's unsustainable? No, absolutely. That show is riddled with all these excellent characters reading about it as well. They had no intention of doing anything more with these characters. Sometimes they thought they were going to be one-offs, but then taking the time to explore some of these side characters too can build them out a little bit more and make them even more funny and, I think, stick with you even longer. Because who knows, if that chief character only shows up once, that could have been it. Because it's there, it's also just more and more memorable because you can kind of build that that same one liner approach and like get familiar and excited to see them come on screen, to be like cool, what's what's coming now, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like I love that we get mostly crusty one linersers and then every once in a while we have just like a full crusty track like yeah we have a full like we are following this, and I, I think it's, I think it's really fun um, I also think it's just so cool to just see how that show has been such a part of so many different people's careers. I know conan's the famous one, but I know just so many writers have gone out to do such cool things. And I think, think, that the last thing I think is just like one of my favorite things about that show and it's just so iconic is that opening sequence is unmatched. I think it's just one of my favorite things is.
Speaker 1:I hear the Simpsons and get so excited and can visualize it always and even like Universal has like the experience and the ride with opening sequence and it's just like, yeah, that's forever just ingrained in my brain yeah, it's very nostalgic.
Speaker 2:Appreciated that they found enough couch gags for I don't know are 30 years 30 plus seasons.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think it's at 36 or something like that now it's like almost as long running as SNL Like.
Speaker 2:is it number two? I don't know.
Speaker 1:There's probably definitely have to be more episodes, because I think I don't think SNL puts out that much per season.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, like in sheer quantity yeah.
Speaker 1:And then animation too. The work that just goes into creating all this, too is unreal Awesome. Well, let's go ahead and move on to your next one here, which I think was also just exciting for me to see. I had never seen this movie up until a couple months ago, so it's good timing Legally Blonde. Tell me about Legally Blonde and why you love it.
Speaker 2:Legally Blonde In the way that Simpsons, I think, was more. This is a comedy that I'm watching with my parents. It was very their influence. Legally blonde kind of came out of friends and it was like a big sleepover movie. It sort of like was in line with mean girls and a couple other ones like miss congeniality and house bunny. They were movies that I would repeat watch at sleepovers it's so. I'm re rewatching a lot of early 2000s college comedies right now and the way that women are portrayed in them is so funny. I just watched Accepted last night with Justin Long Justin.
Speaker 2:Long and Blake Lively. And Blake Lively's character straight up has a lobotomy this entire movie. She wanders in and out of rooms just giggling and she is featured so much and says so little content. It's unreal and I just love it like that, where it's like, not only like featuring women, the character decisions are made by and like shaped by a girl's aesthetic like, and some of it maybe doesn't age. Well, I haven't seen it in a long time. I'm guessing all of these have problems.
Speaker 2:It was just like to see that sort of like pink quote, unquote bimbo aesthetic that now, like TikTok, is, I think, reclaiming, celebrated. It wasn't like looked down upon, it was like this is like a positive trait that she has and we're going to make jokes about it early on and she's going to grow and she's going to change or whatever. But it's like that's not the butt of the joke, it's like we are playing with that and we're playing that up and it's like, lovingly, we're making fun of it. And I think it was.
Speaker 2:It was just so nice to see and the movie is just funny, like the Jennifer Coolidge scene, the, the end scene, which I don't know how well, uh, who, who knows, but the like gay or european, like the, her speech at the end with the with the shower, knowing the, the shampoo and conditioner she used, like it's like, yeah, it has just such high rewatch value, I think because it's it's just fun and knowing all the beats before they happen, I don don't know. I just really resonated with it and I think I thought that most movies were this way and I didn't realize, like what was missing. If that makes sense, because I'm like these are just and I'm grateful for it, because I'm like me and my friends get to watch this on as kids and we got to see that and it's, it was sort of like an optimistic view of how the world worked.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. I was so surprised at this movie. My wife and I were coming back from a trip on a plane and we were scrolling through the movie options. She's like what do you mean? You've never seen Legally Blonde. And so we threw it on and I didn't know what to expect. Loved it, loved it.
Speaker 1:I think I was open to it a bit because I had also, in a similar way, recently watched Clueless and I think they kind of have some similar elements of it. I think at that time the way women were portrayed, especially blonde women, it was all just the stereotypical dumb blonde kind of thing and so people would go in expecting that and they give so much nuance to these characters to be like she's able to get into Harvard, like she's like smart and capable. And same thing with Sharon Clueless. It's like all kind of the same thing where it's just like twisting that ideal of what you expect these characters to be to say like no, they are capable, smart people and have a lot of really good qualities and they're not just dumb blondes, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and like their personalities aren't one dimensional. It's like there's so many ways to be dumb. And like we're not like movies, did not get specific about it, they were just like okay, well, obviously this girl's dumb.
Speaker 2:And that was and I'm like there is no nuance to this joke, there's no specificity to it. Like these girls were like fully formed, like you seen them in real life, maybe like they. It's just so interesting how little effort people put into creating like specific dumb female characters and not that not that these two characters are dumb, but just like as an example where it's like it's like nailing down that super specific type of person really well, and a lot of movies just didn't bother to do that and yeah yeah, that's why I really appreciated them yeah, no, absolutely.
Speaker 1:And I I think one of the things that's really cool I, having watched it more recently is I think anytime you throw on a movie that's more than even five years old, sometimes you're like there's gonna be something that's probably not so great in here. But I think there's some things that were like empowering for its time. They really kind of like have the moment that's almost like a me too experience in the movie that she kind of right through.
Speaker 1:And like I think I was like Whoa, I didn't know or expect this, and it goes back to, I guess, what you're saying peak 2001 comedy and creations coming. But yeah, I think they were tackling on some stuff that I don't believe was was being touched on at that level, especially in a comedy really just showing the nuance of what it's like to be yes, it in a comedy really just showing the nuance of what it's like to be yes, it is a comedy, but just the female experience and what it means for the odds being stacked against women and how you can overcome that, and what community means and what what all of it means in terms of moving through the world, you know it's like the classic thing of just like like when women writers are allowed to write, like you get these more specific, more authentic characters, like I feel like I have a pretty strong radar of like when I watch something, I can tell if it's written by a man or not, like most of the time like it.
Speaker 2:It just and there's nothing wrong with a lot of my favorite scripts are written by men, but like it's like that that they're like there's just something to it where it's like there's just such a level of understanding and it's a lot of like show, not tell to like the classic, like whatever writing advice, where they they show the, the bad situations that happen to her and they change our perspective of like what it means to be a dumb blonde.
Speaker 2:And they show us this without telling us this. And I think that, with the internet, a lot of movies have had to do a lot of explicit telling what side that they're on, because I think that audiences are not watching in the same way, and so you get movies like I mean, I loved the Barbie movie, but they had to do a lot of explaining of what a woman is. They had to do a lot of like and we face these problems, which are X, y, z, and I think that Legally Blonde was able to show that and, granted, not making a movie that 300 million people were going to see in a weekend or whatever the crazy stat is I understand why the Barbie movie has to do that and why it's good for them to do that, but to see these stories, that didn't have to talk things out so explicitly and to like spoon feed things to the audience was nice.
Speaker 2:I kind of didn't realize that that was what's happening.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think what I've learned, even from the Barbie experience, is that spoon feeding almost did nothing, like the people who would have gotten the message got the message and the people who didn't still had something completely missed the point when they left, you know. Yeah, did, and still had something, completely missed the point when they left, you know. And so maybe the show not tell approach is probably better in the long run, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, who knows? I think it would be great in the current time that we're in, how we've kind of swung backwards a little bit in like a lot of ways. I'm like I understand how maybe there's like a girl out there who like really needs to hear that message delivered in an explicit way, Like yeah, I fully get that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think one of the things that is really great about film and story in general is that a lot of learning comes from just trying to understand other people's experiences and hearing stories right and it's like seeing seeing your friend or family member or stranger go through something that you're like.
Speaker 1:I never knew that that perspective could exist and now I've seen it, so I am forever at least have that in my mind as I'm operating through the world, like that's almost more powerful than someone telling me here's something that you need to know. That's important.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like seeing it At the end of the day. We're visual and we're storytelling oriented and I think seeing those events unfold in front of you might give you a different perspective. Not everybody's wired that way, maybe. I don't know. I just went to the South for the first time and I was like whoa, this is different. This is a whole ingrained ass thing that I did not, that I just haven't really experienced. But it's like these small towns you don't get a lot of those perspectives because you just simply don't know people who don't look like you a lot of the time. Or maybe you do, and maybe it's just like a, maybe it's just bad.
Speaker 1:I don't know, I don't know how to fix it. Yeah, I really think it is just exposure to other people and other experiences and, granted, there's no, probably one solution to everything. I'm not trying to say this is all you need to do Just watch the Barbie movie, it'll fix it all.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, but I really think that, like a lot of my growth has come from just understanding someone's experiences, hearing from someone share something that's a completely different experience or perspective than my own, and learning gosh. I didn't realize how different the world can be with just something slightly different, and now that informs just how I can think about someone else who might be in a similar position, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's like being in major areas like LA and New York. I think we get the opportunity to see a lot more of like oh, I had no idea that this was this person's perspective and like this ultra specific art that is so like authentic to you could come out of it and I bring me into something that I don't experience.
Speaker 1:Well, hey, let's, let's go ahead and move on, but before we do just want to ask is there any specific one shot or moment or joke in Legally Blonde that you would say just is your favorite?
Speaker 2:I don't know if it's my favorite, but it is what I remember most, which is the bend and snap. And my friends would do the bend and snap all the time. It's great for a movie to have, like a, an actionable catchphrase. I think that's so smart.
Speaker 1:Yeah absolutely All right. Well, this next one was my probably the one I'm I was most excited to talk to you about, and that is that performance and the writing of that character is just like so good and it's an incredible performance.
Speaker 2:I think I just love seeing female characters who are awful too is like a fun dynamic, yeah and who are like specifically awful in the way that, like Legally Blonde was like maybe specifically fun, like this is the opposite of that, and I just those are the characters that I find myself replicating the most. If I am doing improv and I am trying to like find a voice of some sort, I feel I often slip into like rich 60 year old woman.
Speaker 2:And I think that lucille bluth had a lot to do with that and I'm really awful at remembering like specific lines from things, but I think that she just like had the, she had the button of every scene, like she was really like driving, so much of it and I, I just like, I just love that no, she is so phenomenal and it's like you hear all the time about characters that it's like that could have never been played by anybody else, and I truly feel that way about like Jessica Walters performance in this.
Speaker 1:And yeah, it's just for the audience, if you've never seen Arrested Development, it's about a. It's a, it's a comedy show about a family of people who come from a lot of means and she is the matriarch, an alcoholic matriarch who just always says the most outlandish things, like the one that goes over social media all the time Like what's one banana costs $10? Yeah, like just completely, completely out of touch with the world. But, yeah, definitely has all these hits and moments that just like it are just the best buttons and totally leans into that rich like you, your like six-year-old divorcee or the uh linda hollywood character like there's so much of, I think lucille bluth in these uh characters that I think is just like so good. I think you, you also play it very well yeah, I think it's.
Speaker 2:It's like such an influence, for sure, and we all have those like little, not crutches, but like the thing that we feel most comfortable in, and I think it's like being so out of touch and like out of touch and fabulous I I should have put sex in the city in here too.
Speaker 2:But, like samantha, it's like these, like older, fabulous women who are just completely like they don't care if you relate to them. They don't, they don't give a shit and it's, I think, money. I think money is so funny. I think that the way people have money is so funny, the way that they behave when they have it. I went to high school with a lot of kids who were astronomically wealthy in a way that like what? And to meet their parents. I'm like this is a type of person I am shocked to meet. I don't know how you exist and like there's like a little bit of not conservative in the context of politically, but like old school, like these are. This is what I expect and this is what I get, type thing. Yeah, performance of a lifetime yeah, always morally bankrupt always with a martini in hand.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, and I feel I feel that sense of like.
Speaker 2:Oh, I feel evil when I drink a martini and I love it. Yeah.
Speaker 1:One thing that I also think is great is what they did with that character as well. It's like she is all of those things, but I also love her just like in equal responses to either normal things she has like an outlandish response to, or things that are like so crazy, and it's just like so cavalier in how she'll respond to it. And I think the choice that they made with that character. I remember like one thing that stuck with me forever because I think I just would like quote it whenever I was really in watching Arrested Development. It's like Anyan or whatever like is taking his shoes off on the couch or whatever, and he has his shoes on and she goes. He has his shoes on, he's out of control you know, he's just like little things like the unreasonable responses to something like so minor yeah
Speaker 2:just like also something perfect, just the utter contempt she has for her sons is is just it's so funny. It's just dripping with it like a a mom who is bad at it is. Uh, it's great.
Speaker 1:Yeah, when did you come across Arrested Development and like where was that in your timeline?
Speaker 2:I think I must have been, because my parents were watching it, I think, when it came out, but that I don't think I was like fully. I don't think I fully got it at that point, because that must have been like 2004. I think it must. It was just like passively watching, yeah, so I. So I think I was like eight or nine. I think I must have rewatched it at the end of high school or beginning of college, because this I have no specific memory of when I encountered it, but it definitely was something brewing under the surface and I didn't fully clock like, oh, lucille Bluth, I want to go out and do that, I want to be that. I think it was just just like it's sort of like an underlying foundational layer to it all yeah, I, I wonder too.
Speaker 1:I don't. I don't know this to be true, but I know that, like your, your parents were in the industry and and did, had been around like just these players and this scene so much that, like, I'm also thinking about like when I've listened to you on your improv podcast artists on artists on artists, like the just the concept of playing people in the industry and the outlandish approach to playing these different people and characters, like I know, like you said, that might be like sometimes your go to is just that, that, that approach, but I also hear it there too and I'm curious like, how of it do you think is also like just the exposure to the industry also playing, playing a role in your decision-making for character choices as well?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think well, I'll probably get into this when we talk about 30 rock but like, I think I just find Hollywood so funny in general and it's like my parents were working in in specific corners, like my mom is in award show production and my dad is a commercial sound mixer, so it's like it's not like executives were coming to our house and going like, oh well, that's what an executive is like, because he's here for dinner, like it's I think yeah, I think being around it and I think it's just like the cadence of how they talk, even though they're not like, they're very normal people and I don't think that the characters I play on the podcast or or Linda Hollywood or anything, is really like them. But every once in a while I would come to, I would like visit my mom at work, like on a rehearsal day for the SAG Awards or something, and you would just encounter these people who they were always so friendly in like a way that's just like sort of dripping with. I have other stuff to do.
Speaker 1:I have other stuff to do but I'm chill about it.
Speaker 2:Everything's going to be chill, like we should get lunch type energy that is.
Speaker 2:I think so specific to this industry and I think it is like sort of the I'm just living life. It's like a. It's like there is an element of Samantha to Hollywood, there is an element of Lucille Bluth. There is like I think I find that like out of touch vibe so funny. I met a lot of people throughout, like acting classes, throughout life, throughout theater, and then, finally, you know, getting representation, having meetings, like seeing it firsthand how people behave in these situations, and I I think the out of touch thing I was a quality that I found so funny.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Well, yeah, let's get into it then. I think 30 Rock touches a lot on that, especially both the corporate elements and the inside the writer's room and the talent types of conversations. But yeah, 30 Rock, tell me what you love about the show, how did you come across it and why was it so impactful for you?
Speaker 2:This is another show that my parents were watching because you know they understood the jokes and the humor and like it.
Speaker 2:I think it was more relatable to them and I was watching this. I feel like I got a whole world that I should not have related to, but I found it so funny and everyone in that cast has such a specific ironed out character philosophy and so much of the jokes were driven by character and I think I loved the joke per page ratio, the sheer amount of it, like they weren't afraid to go so unbelievably broad, and I think I really appreciated that. I'm like oh, I don't really need any of the sentimental shit in other shows. I don't like I don't really respond to that. I just want to see people have fun with care, like Kenneth and Jenna, really all of them. They're all insane in very specific ways, which I appreciate, and it was just something that my parents had on another show that I would talk to kids on the playground about, and they didn't know what I was talking about. Yeah, I was just completely unrelatable from a very young age.
Speaker 1:You're like you ever seen the Simpsons? Yeah, you guys know this Like what are you talking about?
Speaker 2:I didn't know. Like you ever seen the Simpsons yeah, you guys know this. Like. What are you talking about? I didn't know, like any popular songs. I was so out of touch until, like truly high school.
Speaker 1:One of the takeaways I had with 30 Rock as well is, just, it is so driven by performances and similar to what we were talking about, like the Lucille Bluth character. It's like if they didn't have these people playing these roles, like it's hard for me to imagine how this show could have existed and be as successful as it was, because, like, yeah, tracy Morgan is like always Tracy Morgan a little bit, but like his character in the show is just like so funny, and I rewatched the pilot last night his performance of like doing the, like live reads and getting ready to do like the, the cutaway scenes and like just gives it a plus. Every single take, even like the takes within the show, and it's just like so good. I think that they do such a good job with, with character performances Like you mentioned.
Speaker 1:One of the things that I was curious about as well, though, is like there's also so many like writer's room, like moments, and you actually had the experience of being in a writer's room. How has that? What is that experience been like for you, having, like, looked at it from the outside and like what are the ways that it correlates with real life and not? And?
Speaker 2:yeah, curious about that. Well, this can't be written this way, because this person has to sit in a specific spot on the couch and if you mention their mom, they're going to explode. Like it's like these. Like it's like the management of people who are so famous is so funny because I've written on.
Speaker 2:I basically have written on the kids tonight show, which is the tonight show hosted by children, and the actual tonight show, and then a couple other things, but like those were the main things I've worked on, and so it's like a lot of celebrities are coming in and they have to promote this thing and so people have to bend over backwards to promote their thing in a way that feels authentic and not completely rigged. Getting these notes from. There are so many outside forces that make a TV show and I would say people always talk about oh well, the writing on this show is so bad. The writing is so bad, it's like it is almost never the writers doing that responsible for those decisions.
Speaker 2:There is always somebody up here who has like a crazy request and like I don't even know, like I'm not even talking about specific people, like I'm not talking about showrunners I've worked for, like it's like it's like things that come from networks, things that come from guests.
Speaker 2:There's so many reasons why a decision is made or why you see something crazy on screen, and a lot of it is just writers trying to juggle that, and I think that that was an element in the show that I found funny. I mean, I've been in male dominated spaces but I haven't experienced the early 2000s era of all those guys acting like total shitheads, uh, so that that's something that I luckily haven't really experienced, but I I think it's like it's like the insane things that you have to juggle when you make a tv show.
Speaker 1:I think I found like relatable no, that that's funny because I I think like it's fresh in my mind because, like I said, before we talked, I went and re-watched the pilot again. Yeah, tracy morgan walks into the writer's room for the first time and is just throwing things like I got a character named this, write something about that. And you're just like, okay, taking notes, you know.
Speaker 2:It is truly somebody coming into the room saying I need like a sketch about shoes and Barney has to be in it, Like it's like saying these things and just deciphering those and making them something.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's awesome. I was thinking about you and in the sense that like this was relatively recent, like getting up to the B on the on the tonight show, and then now we're here in a writer's strike, and so I'm just curious, like what are your thoughts and feelings at the moment? I think, like, did it feel like something came and then was like stolen? Just like where are you at with, just kind of how that's feeling at the moment?
Speaker 2:I hope that we get everything we want and I do enjoy like the solidarity of being in the picket lines, not everything that we want. I'm going to retract that Everything that we need, because I was lucky enough to work on a network show that had protections that were fought for, so we were paid adequately, and like I'm getting residuals that reflect the value of the show, and so to hear about people who starred in Netflix shows getting like a hundred bucks in residuals is so nuts and it's like sort of getting those benefits of other people's hard work in the past and like what labor unions have fought for really illustrates like how uneven and how unbalanced it is. Like you can't make a living as like a writer or an actor in the same way that you used to, I think, across the board in nearly every industry. Like my parents bought a house off of what I would say are middle class Hollywood jobs. Like they're not executives, and like the thought of me owning a home is like just completely it does not seem feasible. I would have to work for so long before I'm even close to doing that.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, I don't know, I haven't been doing this very long, but the strike is really. There is the other side of it, which is like it's a little nice to not have quite as much pressure. It's sort of like early COVID, where things have sort of stopped and so it's like, oh, I think I'll go to the park today. I think I don't have this like insane motor running in my brain. That's like you have to keep going, you have to keep doing stuff, you have to be like you have to be writing 24-7. Like it's kind of nice to take a pause a little bit, even though that pause is costing everybody a lot of money across the board.
Speaker 1:Yeah and yeah, not to be too bright-sighted, but like it also can give you more opportunity to live more actual life and experiences to help create the creative flow too, so that when you are back in it it's not just like I'm only here in this writing space every single day that I haven't had a chance to go get inspiration from real life stuff, like so exactly.
Speaker 2:It's like there there is so much that is such a struggle. Oh, I need inspiration to write, but all I see is comedy which is other people's observations about real life, it and so sometimes I find myself like writing these characters or doing these people who are completely unrelatable to anybody, because it's like unless you are at this specific brooklyn comedy space, you wouldn't know this type of person. You don't know who I'm talking about. Yeah, so it is nice to experience other things. I went to Nashville just to have the time take a pause. I'm glad we're fighting for these things because it's really necessary and I think we'll win, because a lot of people have nothing to lose. We cannot continue this lifestyle in this way. It's not sustainable and it's not a career. So I am optimistic on that end, even though that optimism comes from like a deeply fucked situation.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Yeah, like I said, I've been thinking about you and like I was just like it has to be, like, yeah, this is so exciting to kind of get to this stage and then, when it does hit pause, you know, like I hope the studios get their shit together and you can get back to doing this stuff that you enjoy doing. Well, cool, we got one last one here. This is the one that I think on almost everyone's pop five, I'll have a couple that I'm like how that's Lorde? I am such a huge fucking fan of Lorde. Melodrama is probably one of my favorite records of all time. But talk to me, what do you love about Lorde?
Speaker 2:and why is she here on your Popeye? I had to give some recognition to the pop culture that I was consuming and loving in late high school, early college and hearing Royals and driving up and down Pasadena is such a burned in memory.
Speaker 2:for me it's so the feeling of freedom and being young and like this city's, mine, I can do anything and like being around friends and like getting to grow up in california with friends and driving around and seeing like different, like driving up the mountain one day, driving to the beach one day. Like it. There was just such a sense of freedom and possibility and whenever I listen to lord I just think about that time and I think it it like gave me like a sense of fun, even though a lot of her songs are very sad, but like it. It gave me this sort of like oh my god, I'm young and I'm lucky and it was just really fun. I love her.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a lot of the songs off of that first record Pure Heroine, like Team and Royals, like you mentioned, like Buzzcut Season they all just have this like life that comes through them. I think you talked about it earlier, but like the luxe, rich sounds and things that she's talking about on that record too, that it does feel like just elevated status, but from a sense of just I'm young and excited. Uh, yeah, I think she was only 16 when she made that record.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because I think like I was like either the same age as her or a little bit older than her and so to see her music age in the exact stage of life that I was like to then like her next album and like there was just like a little bit more of a refined sound and like even like green light and perfect places, like they're still fun songs but they have like a little bit more life and like a little bit more experience in them. And I loved her and I saw her like really early on in la. She did a show right as royals was hitting and she was just so new and you could tell by the way she was on stage like this was not, didn't have a lot of experience, and so to see her like become this phenomenon was was really cool. I think she's so cool because she's weird too. I think that's what I appreciate. She like seems like a total weirdo.
Speaker 1:Are you on her mailing list at all? I'm not, oh my gosh, If you do, she she's very sporadic, but sometimes she'll just send these like long updates and, like you know, it'll be three paragraphs on like some bagel and lox that she had somewhere and she's just like you've never tasted pleasure like this and just has these like long diet.
Speaker 2:I'm signing up for that right now. I need that in my life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm going to forward you some previous examples, because it's just like yes, please.
Speaker 2:I'd love to see that.
Speaker 1:I'd love to see my girl doing well yeah, no, but I, I like I said, I think melodrama is probably one of my favorite records of all time. I think ribs off of that first record is like a perfect song and like there's just yeah, she's, she's incredible. Uh, how did you feel about the most recent record? I think that was like her biggest. Uh, just move away from what I think she once did yeah, I think it.
Speaker 2:You know she's in her colby collet era and I gotta respect it and and I I don't know what I was expecting. I think I think I expect it a little less than it's like we can't live in this. Aging with Lorde, I feel like I'm really connecting with her in a way. That's like I don't know her but I'm like, look, I get it, she's settling. Now she's in an age where maybe she has some sense of security, she probably has some money, she's probably doing good Like and you probably create the kind of music that reflects that experience. And I, you know, I I got to support her. I can't say I've listened to the album more than once.
Speaker 1:Agreed, agreed. Yeah, there is like a couple of songs that I'm like, oh, I hear something here, but the rest I'm like back to melodrama or pure heroin.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean Stone at the Nail Salon. Maybe I've heard more times. That's the one I was thinking of, and Solar Power Like it's like they're fun and if you're driving to the beach it's awesome.
Speaker 1:Oh, that yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Makes sense, but have not heard the rest. I got to say also like another oh, I listened to that a million times when I was having a bad time in college and I was really like this is me. No one's experienced being 19 before.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, that's perfect, I totally get it. Yeah, that is such a heartbreak record too where you can just like sit in sadness Cool. Well, kylie, we'll get you out of here, but before we do, we ask everyone five rapid fire questions before we go.
Speaker 2:Okay, incredible.
Speaker 1:So first one here. If you had to be on a reality TV show, which one would you choose?
Speaker 2:90 Day Fiance.
Speaker 1:Beautiful. I want to be one of the friends.
Speaker 2:I want to be one of the friends of the people on 90 Day Fiance.
Speaker 1:Got it. I'm like she's looking for love. No, but if people have never consumed any of your pop five, what's the one you'd want them to go experience right now?
Speaker 2:I think 30 Rock.
Speaker 1:If you could go back in time to any of the sketch shows or night shows and be a part of any of them, which one would you choose?
Speaker 2:I think I'd go back to what is probably everyone's favorite season of SNL, which is the season of SNL in which you were in high school. So I would go back to the Kristen Wiig, fred Armisen, the Californians era most likely.
Speaker 1:Love it Beautiful. What's one piece of advice that you'd give to people wanting to get into comedy?
Speaker 2:I think perform live and see what works, but also put out videos, because there's a completely other path and you can get paid for it. Now on TikTok, you can make a living. Don't be afraid, just do what you do. Write what you think is funny. Just be yourself.
Speaker 1:And last one here what's something you learned about yourself, either now, in this moment of pause with the writer's strike, or during the pandemic? What's something you learned about yourself?
Speaker 2:Oh my God, I love gardening and.
Speaker 1:I never expected that.
Speaker 2:I never expected that, but I love propagating plants and taking pictures of them. I have an Instagram account called really shitty plant content. And it's it's low, it's not. It's not big yet, but I'm going to get better about updating it.
Speaker 1:It will be Awesome. Well, hey, Kylie, I want people to go out and just show you love everywhere, Anything you want to promote or anything. Where can people follow you?
Speaker 2:Follow me on Deadeye Brakeman on all platforms, and Artists on Artists on Artists on Artists is my podcast and we just launched a Patreon and we're having such a blast, so yeah.
Speaker 1:Awesome. I love that show, especially when you guys get into like really specific things like around holidays and things like that, and I think all four of you do like such a really incredible job and it's. It's such a fun listen and I'm forever a fan. Kylie, thank you so much for joining the show. Yeah, just keep doing what you're doing. It's so exciting and everything you put out I'm such a huge fan of.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Thank you, it was. It was so fun to chat.
Speaker 1:All right, see ya.
Speaker 2:Okay, bye.
Speaker 1:That'll do it for today's show. Thank you so much for listening. It's been so fun to get back and do this again, and we have a few more episodes for you throughout the rest of the month, including one where Daniel and I are going to get together and bring on some special surprises. So we'll see you next time, but until then, what's your pot five?