LIVE BONUS EPISODE: 'The ’Burbs' Cast Spills Set Secrets

(audience cheering) - Hello. What is happening New York? Welcome to Baby, this is Kiki Palmer. We are live at nine two in Y, talking about my new show on Peacock the Burbs, which is a modern take on the cult classic film that comes with some unexpected twists. So we've got an incredible group of comedy legends, sitcom, icons, and brilliant writers here today. Well, a brilliant showrunner, writer, creator, love her down. Please welcome Jack Whitehall, Paula Pell, Julia Duffy, Kapil Tall Walker, and creator of the Burbs, Celeste Huey. (audience cheering) ♪ No matter what it is ♪ ♪ In the culture, children, couple, Amazon music ♪ ♪ Sit back and listen, hey ♪ ♪ Life loves sex, science, hovering at all ♪ ♪ Especially the back is money, y'all ♪ ♪ We're too long ♪ ♪ No matter what it is ♪ ♪ We're making big sense ♪ ♪ There's nothing else to do but kick it ♪ ♪ With the homies and kids ♪ ♪ So grab you a drink and a snack you enjoy ♪ ♪ And get into the vibe that only goes ♪ ♪ You know it's your greatest ♪ ♪ This is Kiki ♪ ♪ Baby, this is Kiki Palmer, yeah ♪ - You guys, it seems like we were just filming the show. I'm so happy to be here with you guys in New York, how you feeling? - Oh my God, cold, but great. - So, yeah, what's up with this weather, y'all? - Cold, yes. - Very cold. Cold, but warm inside, because we're so glad to be here. - Yes! - I'm less warm inside because I turned up tonight thinking I had a really cool look and walked into the room and he's dressing famous me. - No, no, just like my worst nightmare. - No! - I genuinely would rather be naked right now. - Each item is like literally just, oh, it was just like, yes, a homage. - This is so you guys. - It's so them, well let's dive into this because I'm so excited you guys, watch the show. What did you think? (audience cheering) Okay. So I'm posing this to all of you. Like obviously this show builds a suburban world that feels familiar, but it's slightly like, you know, something's off, you know, with some comedy and mystery. They live side by side and everyone's hiding something, even if they don't really know it yet. So how did you guys kind of approach this world where everyone has a secret and no one really trusts their neighbors, you know? - I particularly enjoyed it because we would get scripts kind of rolled out. We didn't read all of them at once. So none of us knew what our secrets were. - Yes! - And we would be like, I'd be laying in bed at night reading the next episode of going, holy (beep) are you kidding me? Like, you know, finding out other people's secrets and that's what I really enjoyed about having the secrets. - Yeah, I couldn't wait for the scripts because I wasn't told everything, but it was great that way. I don't even know if you, I don't know. Did you introduce plot points after we started working? - Some of them are watching us. - Yeah, once we had to know you and what you guys were bringing to the table, we would start to weave a little bit of you guys in there. - Yeah. - We would corner her and be like, what's gonna happen? (laughing) - Yeah. - My bad. - I'm the worst year of television 'cause I just full fill out every red herring going. I feel like I'm so thick and when I read these scripts, I was like, every time I was like, oh my God, they're the killer, they're the killer. And then suddenly reading a script like, I think I might be the killer. I like, I fall for every single twist and turn. I'm still not 100% sure who the killer is and we filmed it. (laughing) - I would love when you would run up to me at the beginning of a day be like, is it us, is it me, did I die? Will you just go and help me? (laughing) - That is scary. Wake up and be like, and that's it. I made it to season one only. (laughing) So, so let's have got to ask why this remake? Why, I mean, obviously it's a cult classic. So what made you say, I should do this, I wanna do this and how to make it your own? - Yeah, there were so many things that merely popped up when I was approached to work on this show. And the first was, the movie, if you've seen it, which is a classic, incredible movie, is about the community picking on these outsiders. But I wanted to take a look at what the outsider felt like coming in. So I really wanted to center it around a black woman in a very white suburban neighborhood, being a new mother, being a new wife, and experiencing this world, isolated, and trying to figure out her way, as she figured out her identity. And Kiki was very immediately the only person I wanted on this show. (laughing) Gosh, I wrote it with her voice in mind, and I still can't believe that you did it. But also, it was coming out of COVID as well, and we all sat at home looking at our neighbors and being suspicious, and I think so. So, one of my neighbors shot one of my other neighbors at one point, which is crazy. You said they shot him. They shot him. Oh my gosh. Crazy Alex. Old Monty shot Crazy Alex in the leg. Old Monty, that's the name. Played by John Void. (laughing) Doesn't that sound like something he would do? Old Monty. Well, I mean, have you guys seen the original Tom Hanks movie The Verbs? Okay, so obviously built around paranoia, some boredom. What did you want the center of the modern version to be? Obviously, I know you mentioned some of it now. You know, it's Samira, her being black. This is a fish out of water. There's some racial stuff going on. But what really, you know, did you have in mind for people to take in from the show? I think what we found, especially in working all with you guys is found family and community, can be found in the audacity places, and I think it's something important very much now of take care of your neighbors and band together and be a community. Yeah. So guys, this is for all of you. When you first read the script, you know, the pilot, what instantly clicked? Like, I know for me, when I read it, I just wanted to know what was gonna happen next. Like, I immediately felt this energy from the first page to the last where I was like, I think I kind of, well, this is good. I guess I got to watch the next one. I had that kind of vibe about it. So what told you, like, okay, this isn't just a remake, it's its own thing? Well, I was just like you, I was dying to figure out what happened next. I was, you know, sitting in bed with my girlfriend and I was like, "Avery, oh my God, I need more pages." And I called my Asian, they're like, "They're no more pages, you'll have to get cast." And so I worked really damn hard and they're no great, so. I loved the feeling of how we are all in this mundane world and then we get really courageous in it in every episode and then we're kind of terrified also. Like, we'll get in a place and we can't go in there. We can't go in there. And it's just such a specific kind of neighborhood where people are really very much cowards, but they also, when needed, and she's the most courageous one. She's like, "Let's go in there now." And she should know better. Sameer is a lawyer, breaking all the laws. Yeah, yeah, crazy. But you also knew, Sameer knows the legal, like, little way, she's like, "Yes, but we're doing it this way "so we're not gonna get busted," you know, so. - Well, the rest of us, we're all kind of bored, I think, in the cul-de-sac, I'm an empty nester and I'm always peeking out at things. You just want something to happen. And I thought that that was such a great thing that we're very excited about anything that happened, no matter how bad it was. - It's like, when you move to the country and you've always wanted to be quiet and be away from the city, I did it myself. And then you move somewhere where it's really quiet and you turn into Jack and Nicholson. You're just like, finding yourself staring off, like wanting some excitement. - With someone these just shoot Monty already. (audience laughing) - I love a callback. (audience laughing) - So what real-life suburban quirks did you exaggerate in some of the characters to make the neighborhood feel like its own character? Celeste. - That's a really great question. I always think about the image of Todd Van who was not here at Mark, Mark Prost, who was, as you saw, incredible in the show. I was spilling out the group and I needed a man. So it was Todd Van, who won, do you two ends? And I just wanted everyone to have a being on ball and we were all weirdos and bringing our own quirks to the show and everyone having a secret and being, we all have a nosing neighbor, we all have a Lynn, mine's Betty, who is the best and she knows every gardener's name and everything that's happening on the street. But yeah, we all have these neighbors and I feel like it's universal but also specific. - Mark isn't here 'cause he said he'd come by recombin bicycle and he's only made it to Arizona so far. He will be here eventually but it may take some time. - That's such a thing to do, biking everywhere. So Jack, give me one thing that surprised you on the discovery of your character during the filming of this show. Like what, and also let's just ask the real thing, what was it like being married to me? (laughing) - Absolutely. - It was delightful. It was delightful. I'm about to get married myself and it was like a wonderful trial run. - And we had to talk about it. - We had a wedding ring for the first time and we, yeah, we were nesting together but it was great. You were a wonderful TV wife. - Thank you. - I enjoyed our TV marriage. - Thank you so much. - We made it three months ago. That's good going in LA. (laughing) - Okay. Have you on the LA? (laughing) So yeah, what were things about your character do you find out? I mean, I love that you stayed British. - Yes. - That gave me life. - So did I. - It's so cute. - Yeah. - Somebody said yes. (laughing) They like you out there. Well, no, I thought it was also felt it was quite good for everyone else because it gave Everyone else a bit of fodder like what like no one could stop doing my accent on set and then that started is just like It went you know in between the scenes and I would be talking and all of a sudden you'd start doing your bridge to Nixon and it goes Jamaican Yeah always I don't know why that it's like I'll be talking and it's like at the end of the day like it goes to the dozen Like I don't know why it does that but they're a lot of Jamaicans in London, so maybe I know something You was at a covering all bases, but yeah, it started off as just in in real life and then by the end of the series It was in every other scene Kapil was doing my accent oh my gosh speaking of Kapil. I mean just all of us I'm saying Kapil because you'll know when I saved the rest of what I'm about to ask but guys We were up to like 2 a.m. Together drinking coffee tea to make sure we were alert We had so many moments together What are the funniest moments you can think of and this is why I'm going into what I'm saying about you Kapil it was me you Randy and Jack at that table scene We almost didn't make it That was the funniest day We could not get through that scene any of our three scenes together We were just like was constantly breaking and I was like I would just have to say a line and then I could not look at Jack I was like if I look at him this whole take is ruined and Or at you and you would just say something off the cuff and I'm like Olded together stay in character. We improvised a lot on this show all of us. Oh yeah, you would And Martin was so good, but it you guys were better It had little breathing areas where they would let us really just and the more we learned who we were as characters And Mark playing Todd. Oh, I mean he was in character which meant Saying something really odd sometimes. I would love you Paula and Todd And Mark when people would run back to video village to hear what you guys were ad-libbing Always let it roll to see what you remember you sprinting in bad one. Yeah, I was sprinting because I'm like I was in the scene And then I leave the scene right and then they have like some sort of ad-lib and I'm like running video There's someone give me a headphone When the trailer came out I texted Celeste with just the white ladies love salad Because I had never seen that line and then she sent me back all of the ults that you'd done And then months later we were having a text conversation and then I used one of your ults But realized that with no context at all just out of the bloom He sent me your message saying to lesbians like utility belts Maybe needed to be housed in a little bit of context. The answer is many do Many do Gear you know what I think is so randomly funny is that our hometowns Paula are like 27 minutes from each other and Illinois We both made western girls So what kind of suburb like did you grow up in like a cul-de-sac type suburb I didn't I don't know if I was in an actual cul-de-sac I feel like that was the little bit fancier houses we we lived in a little very cute midwestern house We had one dog it was very The little basement with the shag carpeting I used to watch SNL on my sharp shag carpeting an audio tape it with a big Panasonic tape recorder and then I'd memorize all the sketches and I was just a little comedy geek And um and I had a memory the other day about we were talking about neighborhoods And I had a memory of when I was in my 20s in florida. I looked out of my window I was probably deathly hungover It was some morning Saturday morning and I looked out of my apartment In Orlando after I'd moved there and and there was a guy in a car and I just sat there and I just started getting when you feel like you're in I mean, maybe it was pot. I don't know But you know when you you know when you're really paranoid and hungry and oh, yeah, that's right I was Completely blasted on some weed But I was looking out and everything he was doing was suspicious It was like every single thing this guy did was insanely suspicious And then it kept getting bigger and bigger and I was like am I being pranked like he started taking those anti-bacterial wipes and wiping all the The the seat belts and all the seat and just like and doing all this and cleaning stuff out and then he took a leather jacket out and walked down the street and threw it in a dumpster Oh my and so I called then one one and I was just shaking and I just like There's this guy and he sat here and no one was in the neighborhood. Everyone is at work. It was terrifying And then they said okay, we're gonna and I'm like he walked away from the car and then I'm like he's walking back and and then And then I'm like he's a traffic cop. No, he wasn't a traffic guy and then they said okay We're gonna come down the street real quietly you stay in your house And I watched this whole thing and this show always reminds me of that because I was watching it And then they came and got him and it was a stolen car. Oh my gosh It was so justified like in this show we have so many times where we each have a theory You know as this series goes on now that's when Karenine goes right. Yeah She got that guy But that's what I remember in a neighborhood where it was like creepy and Weird and of course growing up when you're in those suburbs that they are creepy Everyone's got the perfect yard and the best guy doesn't listen to this podcast Could you imagine who busted him? I married him Yeah, yeah, I mean growing up we had this guy in our on our street that didn't like leave his house at all at all And my dad was like convinced he was a murderer Turns out he just like worked from home And he came out one day like putting it like the artificial turf on his line and then and then my dad Indian dad going how much am I gonna save if I put an artificial turf And then he's like son. I'm gonna go talk to him and then it was a long animated heated conversation and he goes We're buying artificial turf And this man knows where to source it You never know who's gonna be your friend. You know what I mean. I mean Celeste This show doesn't shy away from racial tensions You know especially with my character Was it intentional to just let that exist and trust the audience and then also like how did you balance the? I don't want to say cliche, but the the obvious turn of expectations Yeah, no, it was important for me to put that on the show I grew up as a next kid in a very white neighborhood shout out to Brookline. I Have some have some shouted friends here I'm about to say I've never heard of Brookline The way they screamed it was like Please Hey y'all But that's the it's the authentic experience you don't know who to trust You don't know who is looking at you with with this suspicious eye and and whether or not you belong and whether You are choosing to belong or people are letting you belong But there are elements of this show that I wanted to include like for example the bonnet We have you very early on wearing a bonnet in the show and crucial it was crucial It was important for me to put that in and Yeah, those were little details that like the Howard sweatshirt all that stuff I wanted to make sure we're included and the storytelling was authentic. I mean I think it's important Obviously a big part of the show is like everybody is different from a different world But it's not this thing where we are superficially beating on that as a gimmick for the show It's just the reality that these characters are different and we play into it with humor of This is what you think and this is where it could be going But then also it unravels in a really great way where it's like I want to be in this town I want the murders go But I kind of want to be in the town with these with this group of people, you know hang out with everybody And I think you know I I'm mostly right comedy and I don't ever want to treat I love Hitting dramatic themes, but always there's a little levity. There's a little laugh at whether there's a wing with everything Yeah, we never go too too hard into it I mean and you also I mean you've done this really well with Dead To Me right another show that you worked on that has big heavy topics Great show. I don't know if you guys it's so good. Oh god You know, were you done the same thing were you talk about heavy topics, but you find a way to make them I guess Maybe to be metabolized. I don't know if that's the right word, but yeah What I learned in the I call it the Liz Feldman who's the amazing showrunner of the show at this school The Dead To Me school of twists and turns you can get away With doing all the heightened fun stuff if you've grounded in real emotion and real characters who have absolute real drives Towards something and and that I think all of these characters have that heart have that drive and are people you want to hang out with and know And then we can do all the hijinks around it because it's my favorite kind of show that has both I just love there to be the depths of all those moments of despair where everyone is in despair in this at some moment And then the other people around them are like I got you. I'm gonna pull you up, you know, it's just like a real Connected about connection which I love found family. I love that Even like every character characters you haven't seen yet, but you will they all have Something that they aren't comfortable with officer Danny Daniels is underneath So insecure and his mother-in-law Is agnus my mortal enemy who runs the HOA and The terror in the neighborhood and it should be HOW hell on wheels. Yes, that's what she is It's so funny and it's just great that everybody has this they have this thing that they don't want people to really see Officer Daniels wants to be in charge. It's very embarrassing that his mother-in-law is the one everybody hates and it's that with every single character and characters that you will see coming up. Every single one is I don't know just really different and funny and they all have a problem of some sort. We were doing it into earlier and we were talking about a scene that we couldn't get through because there was a line that we kept fluffing every single time and it just came back to me in that moment. You had to say the line, "Offer, Officer Danny Daniels is dead." And you actually take 100 Officer Danny Daniels is dead. That was the line. "Offer Danny Daniels is dead." "Tantaniel seniors Danny Daniels is dead." I love and you love putting that stuff in it like you Jay-Z. Like she was always right in the line. She loves that stuff. I'm like, "Girl, here we go again." Put my b-box on. I love what you just said Julie. I want to take a moment because obviously I mean you're an icon. I have to bring up the fact that I did get it to work with you once. I think if you remember True Jackson VP. She was 15 years old and more poised and a professional that almost any adult I had ever worked with. It was intimidating that she was that far along at 15 years old. Oh my gosh, Julia. Thank you so much. I never knew you felt that way. Oh God, yes. I'm so glad you're sitting in front of all these people. Remember that guys. But I want to ask you because you have done so much work. You've seen so many things. So what made you say yes to this project and what do you look at when you're deciding to do something? Well, I would say to work with Celeste again, we'd work together on Palm Royale. And this was a. Thank you. I didn't write it or anything. But it was so different from that. And also I had to be like glamorous all the time on Palm Royale, which is really a drag. And I got to be a whole different person who was just normal and wore normal clothes. Well, she's not that normal. As you find out, but I just absolutely loved it. I loved the whole idea of it and that it was so different from that. And I wouldn't have to try to wear all of those fancy outfits that never really worked on me in Palm Royale, that I can dress normally. And I can work with Celeste, who was, of course, working with and influenced by the showrunner of Palm Royale, who was. I mean, it was amazing. You can't get any better than that, except I think I now have. I just love your timing, your delivery. I always think about that scene when she comes up to the winter. She's like, "Oh, yeah, they told me, you guys, they told me you were back." I love every time it's just so perfect. I did some takes where I got into the. Be part of the word, but I didn't want to. I wanted to let the audience, you know, there was one time where you said, "I heard you were black." And it was amazing. And the way you say Samara is just genius. Samara I couldn't pronounce. Just excellent. But it's so exciting, of course, to have anything different in the cul-de-sac. I mean, it was. I think it was more that than racism. At least, that's how I played it in my head. Genius choices, genius choices. I mean, guys, back in the day, it was watching your neighbors out the window. Obviously, people still do that, you know, but now we can get even more technology driven with it, where it's like, you got the ring, camera. You could stalk somebody on socials. We got group chats. I mean, how does suspicion and noisiness play out in your own lives? I do stalk online. My friend literally last night was like, "Here's a first name. Here's where he went to college." And the general area where he lives. And within three minutes, I had his LinkedIn profile. And yeah, she's going on to date with him next week. Oh, Mike, you see what I'm saying? You see what I'm saying? What about you, Jack? I'm not. I'm not that into online sleep. Oh, so you just don't snoo? No, I don't. Snoo? Oh, you just morally dignified. No, you're just incompetent. I don't know. Maybe, yeah, no, I don't think I've done much online sleep snooping. Not for a while, anyway. Okay, all right, all right. I'm good at old timey snooping. Like, if somebody's had a boyfriend do them wrong, I'll go on Facebook. Like, I know how to get onto social media in a way that's very old school of like finding out what their last name is in their family. Then I look at all, do they have siblings? Then I look at the siblings. Who did they follow? Oh, they followed. And they posted something with him, perhaps with a girl. No, I know why. If I move down that hole and you can just find so much. If I mention anyone who's even close to the world of show business, she has the whole story and now I see why. Kapil, I feel like you would be good at snooping. Yeah, I'm doing a digital detox right now. But when I was on the digital, that was like 99% of what I would be doing. So I think I was just like, I need to like just breathe a little bit, you know what I'm saying? Let me go touch grabs. Yeah. Yeah. It's good to do that from time to time. I think I will start snooping now. I think I'm going to go online and I'm going to try and find Kapil's stylist and snoop him so that I know what look he's putting you in for the premiere on Thursday. Oh, okay. I kind of want a Simon and Garfunkel musical group. It's my favourite thing that's ever happened. Stop sitting like me as well. On cross your legs. These guys became besties. They played pickleball like three times a week. We played pickleball like three to four times a week. Even though Jack was like, no, we played tennis. Can you tell people we played tennis? No, tell people we play pickleball. That's more embarrassing than dressing the same. Jack had a coach. Kiki, do you need to on this podcast? I know we have a visual element, but do you need to tell people listening what these two are? Guys, she made the most iconic idea right now. You guys have to understand they're wearing the exact same outfit. So they got slacks on. One is light gray. The other is like dark gray. They've got these little boots on. Same shape. Same shape. The same cut tapered down the exact vibe. One's a little butterscotch. Okay. The other one's shiny black. Paula Anki, you're both wearing the chapel row and dress from the Grammys. If you're listening, they both turned up in the same outfit. Except I'm just pulling the other way. They're both on to each other's nipples. It's like a lifting pack. There's a weight on my back on a string. Weight on my back. It's crazy. Paula, you are so insanely funny. I have to go back to you talking about you, watching as the NL as a kid on the Shag Carpet. Please a Shag Carpet. Shag Carpet. That means something very different in England. Papa, do you shag on? Sure. Do you see me in cuck jeans? That's a Shag Carpet. No, I'm kidding. Well, that did happen at basement. Basements that had Shag Carpet. Shag Carpet. That did happen. Very long pile as they call it here in the night. It gets disgusting after a while. In you'd have a rake, you had a rake that you would rake all the Shag Carpet. So I want to know what it was like for you working on SNL, how that came into your life. I mean, you being a fan since being a kid and then being one of the most iconic people to have ever worked on the show. Thank you. I don't know about that, but thank you. Yes, absolutely. Yeah, I just, I was always an actor and a comedy person and everything and I got my degree in theater and then after college, I went home to Orlando and I worked at the theme parks and I met all these people that did this improv group and I never did improv, but I would go to their theater in Orlando and do nights of sketch comedy and I would just come on as a character. They'd say, "Can you write five minutes as a character?" And I'd come on with a wig and I'd do some bad character each time and they decided to do a pilot and they did this pilot and then that pilot found its way to SNL and then I got a call in the green room of the theme park and my agent at the time, it was all corded phones. That's all I am. And they were like, "Are you sitting down?" They said, "Loren Michaels saw this, they saw this pilot and they want you to come meet them." It was 1995 and I flew up there absolutely like diarrhea, terrified and they didn't say it was an audition. They said, "It's not an audition, but just in case I put like funny glasses in my purse." And I got there and he said, "We're completely rebooting the whole show." You know, it's when they read, like, got rid of almost everyone and they started to knew and he said, "We want, we need one more writer and a female writer and we want you to write." And I said, "I don't know how to use the computer, I don't know how to write for other people, I've never, because I'd never called myself a writer, even though I wrote short stories and different things my whole life." And he was like, "You'll learn because that's the way that place is. If they want you to do it, they'll teach you the other parts, but they just want your funny." And so I had five days to give my mom my dogs and fly up and be terrified. And then I never left and it was almost 20 years of my life. It was incredible. I mean, it's really not easy there. It's not. I hosted and it was hard as a host, but like to see how the writers have yet constantly having to come up with this material and it's like you wanted to get, you got to do four or five and then maybe one of them get picked for the show. It's a big thing. I know you created Debbie Downer with Rachel Dhratch. Now what was the inspiration for that character? I think Rachel, Had an inspiration for that character she went on a vacation and there was a Debbie downer type woman on the vacation And they were in this cruise and like this little tour and they were getting you know looking at some Place they were getting information about her whatever in this woman just kept going like sadly due to climate You know and and everyone was like oh god Carolyn shut the And so it just became and we also had occasionally people that worked for the show that would come in Just when you're at that table trying to you're really exhausted and you're trying to make a sketch funnier And you're really trying to get it up for it and then somebody comes in as like did you guys see the news? It's just like somebody that's always wanting to be the breaking news like to come out and tell you the grim thing And it's just like just hold it. Please press pause So but it resonated because everyone apparently works with a Debbie downer. They would always say like I work with a Debbie downer I mean, I feel like we all come from such different backgrounds, but obviously comedy is a common language for us And I remember that being one of the main things that when I found my groove with Jack very early on Was just like the romance and the intimacy it comes from the joy in the laughter that they can share together like I think that's such a beautiful thing I always we need body. I'm around. They got to have a sense of humor because that's how I process life So I mean when you think about comedy do you source your inspiration from your experiences? Yeah, I think a hundred percent. Yeah, that's that that's why as well as a comedian It's so important that you have like breaks from it So you go and you have real life because that's where you get all of your inspiration from and I find it's like so hard Because you just burn through so much stuff So you need to take these gaps where you just go away and you sort of live your life and then you can return to it And you've you've accumulated all of this like life experience, which is then your sort of inspiration So yeah, that's that's how I always approach comedy those breaks are vital especially with comedy is do you have to go meet people and you have to have Experiences you have to go have a holiday with family you have to go be it sitting in a weird diner You have to just have be in a beauty shop. I let a weird diner. You just have to know What humans are and how funny and weird they are and then you go? I'm gonna put that in a movie or I'm gonna put that in a show. Yeah, stand around your dad wait for me to say something about Jack I don't know if everybody here watches as much British TV as I do I Really should just be given a passport I've watched so much I have seen you as you know on all of the panel shows that I watch when you were I don't know 12 How old were you when you started? He was so young and he's with these Experienced awesome comedians on a panel show where there's no script and he was incredible from the beginning I think I saw some of your earliest. Yeah, you remembered some panel show appearances that I'd forgotten I'd even done when we first spoke It was amazing. Yeah, you well we rewatched them when there's nothing else Yeah, oh that's a great deal of confidence and it's great to see you're really able to be bold I imagine that's something that you you have to have in order to get in front of folks and do stand up I'm curious have you ever gotten in trouble with your fiance by bringing some of y'all's life to the stage? Oh, yeah, constantly In the end, I've sort of now I sort of ask for forgiveness rather than permission because the worst thing is having the difficult Conversation where you're gonna do a routine about something quite personal and you have the difficult Conversation and you sort of rip the band-aid off and then you go to a comedy club and you try it for the first time and it doesn't land That was a complete waste of an argument So now I always just rode test it once just to make sure there's some promise there and then I'll have the difficult Conversation, but yeah, I mean it's it's terrible being like married to a comedian because nothing is sacred and whenever you say anything It's likely to end up in your stand up roots. So now that you guys are getting ready to get married soon I feel like we're gonna get a lot of material from this wedding. There's gonna be a lot of material from the wedding I'm sort of waiting for my my daughter to start like giving me material as well It's obviously that's one of the great things about having kids is then that you've got this whole new lease of Of life and this whole new lease of comedy. Yes, all my son says you the bad mama. Oh You the bad get get back from me And it's like what is this baby language that you do get back from me? What it's all it is the kids are crazy. Yeah, they definitely give some good material Now Kapil you said that your grandfather taught you a joke that you used to tell like at with house guests all the time What did that moment unlock for you with comedy and do you remember the joke? Oh, you know what? Um, I didn't realize at the time that it was a dirty joke Um, and I just knew that everybody I was like nine and everyone was laughing and I was like this is fun And I just say these words in this order and then people laugh And I think he was like really cute and my grandfather who was he was an actor in in India and a very funny man and he kind of just I don't know. I think he just inspired me a lot to sort of just go out there and be myself. We're not gonna hear the dirty joke exactly How dirty is it? Man to be honest like I it's like I have to translate it. It's just it's not in English. It's not in English Yeah, I get it now. Yeah, but you were saying that okay, but it was all ladies have the same part even if it's in it To say the word Must be hard to translate. I totally get it um well How has your relationship changed with comedy guys because I feel definitely that the mind has over time You know, I mean starting out doing sitcom comedy to getting into sketch and digital and then getting into it as math as you put it Like just seeing the timing and the rhythm of things which I also look at with with drama as well But just how had your relationship changed over the years of how you understand comedy as is a part of your life? I was going to grow up to be a dramatic actress like Julie Harris. I hope that isn't A really old you know who she is alright Incredible dramatic actress when I was growing up and that's what I was going to be and I was very serious about it And yet and yet I never missed Carol Burnett on the Gary Moore show and I said And I had the opportunity to tell Carol this like this far from the TV To watch her and my mother would say, you know, I think you're going to do comedy Mother's know she didn't know anything about show business But somehow she got that and I was insulted because I was going to be a great dramatic actress and I went to acting school I did the whole thing. I've done lots of drama But and I was an entrepreneur forever and as I said the other nights the last my role on Palm Royale is my Final Anjaneu role. I have decided that it's time It's past time that I stopped playing Anjaneu but Somehow when I play a dramatic role when I was an Anjaneu which I was forever I could always see why it could also be funny. I mean I just thought Anjaneu's could always be funny and I absolutely adored watching people like Bob Newhart And wished I could work with them someday because I got it like I got what they did I got their kind of comedy. I would watch Sid Caesar on I would get video tapes of your show of shows and all of it mattered to me so much And finally I realized there was a difference between comedy and drama But it kind of became the same thing for me. It's hard to explain But it was very important to me and to me it was almost when you're playing a comedic character Had deeper than a dramatic character They had to be so upset or so this that I don't know how it's to say it But it was an extreme version of drama to me. You said it perfectly In a way that I don't know that people always understand comedy to be I really don't know and it's okay that they don't But the way that I look at it is exactly how you look the places that you can go the things that you can make people feel The way that you can communicate urgency. It's like a magic trick and it does require you to go very deep within yourself You know, I love it. I have a journal Diary that I wrote at 13 that actually inspired the movie sisters And I wrote in it so dramatically that I would say I shall never forget this day I got confirmed by Bishop Vanish at church. What a lovely man. I shall never and I would say all the And then I'd say I'd say depression hasn't been frequent in weeks And then and then I would say I have a very strong sense of humor And unfortunately a heavy build like I would say the craziest and yet I was always doing stick like then at the end I'd go like I have to pounce on the posture pedic and and like I was always doing ponds and bits But it was that wounded. It's like the tears of a clown. Yeah, there was a song back in the day the tears of a clown Is that you said it perfectly comedy characters have so much so many layers of pain and when you work with comedy people You know they all have these deep Wounds that go down down down and a dramatic character is just kind of You know they're shallow That's where shallow and self-involved. Yeah, not all like the best dramatic actors can't necessarily be funny But that was what was so fun about casting all of you is you're all brilliant Communic actors and we're able to bring such pace those to all these characters And make real moments where I was crying on set and then their moments where you guys make each other laugh so hard And that's why like you guys were such a perfect pair I remember one time I went in to check on it was a creepy holding room in the back lot that everyone would hang out in And I went in to kind of check on you guys and the big room where everyone sat it was empty I was like where the fuck is everybody we've lost the actors and I heard a giggle and they were all they had all pulled their chairs into the little room on the side and we're all playing shadow puppets and making each other laugh and it was like the most amazing thing you could just beautiful It's a real ensemble like we when you watch the show you can tell that we really enjoyed each other Oh yeah I enjoyed everyone except maybe one Wow See if you can guess I actually genuinely enjoyed watching this and I don't enjoy watching a lot of the things that I'm in Because I'm in them and this was so great because it was an ensemble show So I got to actually watch it as an audience member and enjoy all of the other stuff Oh my god there were so many scenes I had to see I wasn't in there and then so lovely Like we weren't in each other scene sometimes so you got to see it as like an audience I know we all said this to each other we were texting like mad after we got the first episodes that we could watch and it's like I had no idea I thought all along I thought the writing was great But somehow I just never got what the whole tone was until I watched it And I just and it was my daughter and her boyfriend were sitting there Millennials and I didn't know who you know they're very particular and They loved it and it was Thanksgiving I mean we were tired we'd had the dinner that I made I was exhausted We watched the three they sent to us all in a row they kept saying no I've got to see the next one and I thought oh this is gonna be a hit I just knew Did the millennials integrate? Millennials Millennial we sure This is a quick one I just want to know because this is something I think is entertained We always have to ask ourselves, but what is the difference you think being funny for a paycheck and being funny for joy? Y'all like that I mean in our house, you know you get props if you if the timing is good it if you deliver the thing the right way so I'd never thought of it as being it matters to me all the time that the comedy is good I will correct my husband if he if he could have had a slightly better wording for the job Because I just say it's funnier this way if you say it that way. I never thought about it being more satisfying Yeah, sure if you make money doing that. Yeah, that's better That's not a hard question to answer Oh, but I totally relate to what you're saying because what you're saying is like I'm just being me I'm just being quote-a-quote I'm just doing the thing and that it's become something that I can make money off of But I would be that even if I didn't so it kind of does right because when you love comedy the joke is king Nothing is more important than the joke I mean you should try working with Bob Newhart and Tom Poston Nothing mattered but the joke it didn't matter if it hurt anyone nothing mattered But the joke was everything the joke was worshiped above the person making the joke the joke was the important thing not the person who made it Anybody else I Feel like I'm at an age now where I have a no policy like very strict Yeah, and so I it's for making an exception though. I really appreciate it But I'm 3% straight so it's like once a year I Feel like I have gotten to a beautiful era of knowing before I get into any Comedy project or anything where it's gonna be comedy that I will have joy because I don't allow the other part to get it I've had things that I've gotten very low paychecks on that are some of the most glorious Comedy things I've ever done in my life, but it's nice to pay your bills Yeah, and it's nice to treat other people and and put money out in the community and So cough it up Hollywood I Mean I feel like I've done a fair amount of comedy for the paycheck in my in my past I've got a lot of gigs and corporate events and award shows and just horrendous environments in which to do comedy where it's felt pretty Soul-destroying and it's felt like yeah, you're doing a job and you sort of have to Almost go to a fugue state and just get through the 30 minutes and just get out of there and Yeah, it doesn't feel great, but what feels so wonderful about this and also so wonderful about this compared to like any form of like Stand-up comedy is sort of stepping into this this this world of being part of an ensemble and being part of a group and it being a shared Experience which I love so much. It's so wonderful when so much of my career has been so solitary and you go on and you do the gig And it's your own experience and you can't relate to anyone when you step off the stage with this We were all in it together. We were all there like you know really generous performers working with each other You know, it just felt like the camaraderie of it is just you can't you know when you have that first night where you're all laughing together Really hard and you go home and you're just like this is going to be such a fun project Can I last can I give a little praise to Kiki though? Well, you would you would show up every day a hundred and ten percent and everyone could be tired of we would do such late-night shoots And you would just bring it immediately and everyone would rise to your And with a two-year-old yeah with a two-year-old you were the star of the show and you set the whole tone as well You like the energy that you brought to it and how kind and generous you were to everyone on set from the Act to all of the cast and all of the crew. It does you know, yeah, it trickles down and it and it sat an amazing tone for everything and the way the way you work is Amazing Kiki would be getting her hair and makeup done in the trailer while doing up like a interview like this while scheduling her music Video that she's got choreography. She's got to learn for saturday when we're all gonna sit on her asses and have a day off She's incredible and an incredible mother guys. That really is so kind of you. We are so lucky I honestly just feel so happy like I've been in the industry for so many years And it's just so good when you have something like this where you go to work with people that you love and join that doesn't that's not about Everybody else was terrible, but it's just this is special. You know, we're better. You better Yeah, you are something. I mean, I'm with Bella Paula when she's right and she's right You guys are amazing and it was so joyful to come there and just be a human and talk and hang out and get into it and create something that we loved and enjoyed and That's why I'm so happy to be out here with you guys again and rehash it all and go back down memory lane because it really it marked a different Tone of my life for sure. This is like this is the tone. I'm with you. No more holes. No more bull, right. I'm done with it And this is way too short for that. You know, Keke with all you have going I Hear you on the phone with your agent. I mean first of all the way she Conducts business. It's so impressive. I've talked to you about this before when you would take a phone call. It's like You better do what Keke says because clearly she knows the best way to do whatever it is she's talking about with her agent It's impressive. I mean you're you're still so young, but It didn't matter if it was two in the morning. You were just somehow at a level that we all had to be at as if none of this was bothering you at all The other things you had to do and how late it was and all of that And there's a baby in your trailer and you know, it was very impressive. Yeah, just an unbelievable amount of experience Showing up to set in the small things, you know that add up small things of like what is this person? I'm acting with need Does he need to get opened up a little bit? Let me give some of the fire of Keke in here or you know Should I just shut a little bit and lean back and look at this person's face all these little things add up and We see it and we notice it and we really love you you make it look so easy. We love you And if you think she's good in the burbs as well wait till you see her remake of Apollo 13 Whole Tom hanks cannon now and that's the next one advocate. It's Amazing complete reimagining on the moon. She lands on the moon. She lands on the moon in heels. It's incredible Guys, you are amazing. Can we get a round of applause for the burbs cast? I mean they told me I'm out of time. I'm just gonna try to do this game. Okay, I play games with all my guests And I really want to be able to do with bring out the shot carpet. We're now gonna really bond But guys where where where all my I only have one of my pointers if any of my team knows okay Great you all got your pointers. Oh, yes, baby. It's time. All right now. We spent a lot of time together guys Anger when I put it. It's like this though. So we got to get into how we actually how well we actually know our neighbors Okay, this game is called who done it on the block and here's how it goes down I'll read a scenario and you'll use one of these pointers to call out who's most likely to do it get ready And don't be afraid to throw a little shade Okay Who's most likely to hang up please leave by nine Banner at the wine night a please leave by nine wine banner Definitely do it. You should say get out my house. Okay, bring Tupperware to take home leftovers from sad We got a lot of it. It's just a lot of us here is all of us actually Oh, I mean who wants to waste good food? Can we talk about how good? Man spa water - crafty was eating crafty was amazing eating up catering catering He had nothing on crafty. Okay, who's most likely to get inside the kids bouncy house at a party? I mean is that all of it? It's a fun. Yeah, y'all know I'm in there with the kids Died in a bounce house once I'm not doing that We actually had a day where we had the big pink picnic outside kind of a moral day situation I literally brought my son was like I have fun, boo It's on the set Okay, who is most likely to accidentally reveal a plot twist? Definitely could be a while you're playing yeah, I almost did it like three times today Do it fast yeah to be fair. I think I did it during this show you did Danny Daniels is dad. He may not be dead. He may not be dead. Oh you watch it. He could be alive day Daniels Don't even have a dad. Yeah Okay, last one last one because I know I got to go who's most likely to pretend they didn't see you wave to avoid talking I'm gonna reveal something Whoa, oh my god. I didn't see you girl. How you been? Well, I'll remember that when you try it on me. Oh My god, sometimes it gets awkward Okay, guys, I hate to go but I thank you so much to our New York City audience Tonight such a special experience make sure you guys check out the burbs on peacock if you want to see more of this and Don't miss an episode of baby this is kiki Palmer wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube, of course Thank you again to this incredible incredible cast and the entire creative team for bringing this world to life So we thank you now. I know something else. You're brilliant ads Hosting hosting You're amazing. Thanks Julia I love you guys and we love you guys. Thank you again Baby