- 4/23/2025
Jay Mohr talks getting sober, tattoos in your 50's, and that time he made up a child to get out of an awkward situation with RZA.
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00:00And my roommate, Armando, and you had to roll the R's or he corrected you.
00:05Because I remember the first morning, I'm like, good morning, Armando.
00:08He goes, they get it right, fool.
00:09Because that's not my name.
00:10My name's Armando.
00:12And I said, sorry.
00:16I didn't realize you were an a-hole.
00:21Forgive me, Armando.
00:22Armando.
00:22You know, I've contended, and a lot of people feel this.
00:32And I saw you actually acknowledge this during an interview.
00:36You finally realized this.
00:37You're one of the absolute best.
00:39You are like a Swiss army knife of talent.
00:42And it became a revelation to you, I think.
00:45Obviously, you're sober and you went through the whole program and all that stuff.
00:49And you finally realized that while you thought people were reacting like, oh, you know, this is a train wreck.
00:56They were really pulling for you.
00:57Once you realize people love your talent, love what you can do, and you realize that it was the converse.
01:01That people were like, yeah, we want you back.
01:04Yeah, for sure.
01:05You know, everybody, you know, I was at my own intervention at 50 years old.
01:08Yeah.
01:09And it's, oh, how could you guys do this to me?
01:12Bah, bah, bah.
01:12And then you realize, like, everybody in your life, as you, well, you kind of said it all.
01:16Well, you know, everybody's really rooting for you and they want you to do well.
01:20And it's, you know, addiction's a disease of perception.
01:23I was amazed in early recovery how little everyone else was actually spending time thinking about me.
01:29Right.
01:29Like, I was just obsessed with, like, how do, I'm obsessed, how do you perceive me?
01:35How am I perceiving you perceiving me?
01:36It's like a Russian stacking doll of nonsense.
01:39Yeah.
01:39It's like when you go on a dance floor, you're worried, oh, I look like an idiot.
01:42Everyone's looking at me like I'm dancing like an idiot.
01:45But everyone else is out there thinking they look like an idiot.
01:47So put your hands over your head, do a white guy 360, and get going.
01:51It is narcissistic.
01:53And so much of it is rooted in narcissism.
01:55Oh, it's total self-centered fear.
01:55Yeah.
01:56Yeah.
01:56I love the, you've described that intervention, the one that took, and it involves the Wu-Tang clan.
02:04Can you, that story is for you?
02:05Yeah, that's how they got me.
02:06They told me from my podcast, they said the next morning I was going to interview Wu-Tang clan.
02:11So I, that's, so, and I believe them.
02:13I was so high.
02:14I actually thought Wu-Tang clan was coming to my house at eight o'clock in the morning.
02:20I don't know if you listen to Wu-Tang clan, but they're not morning people, Steve.
02:24Yes.
02:24I was already just, it caught me, yeah.
02:26I thought the eight blackest men alive were going to get up early to walk into my cracker
02:30cracker house.
02:31Right.
02:32So I could help them with their career and put them over the top.
02:34Right.
02:35Like, you know, maybe I could help them sell merch.
02:37Maybe, maybe get it into a target or something.
02:40What a dope.
02:43RZA was not there.
02:44No, I wish.
02:45You know, I met RZA.
02:47I was at the Santa Monica Pier with my son.
02:49He was about three.
02:50And I see RZA from Wu-Tang clan staying there.
02:53And he's like six, six.
02:54He's way taller than you think.
02:55And I'm like, oh, oh my God.
02:57And he's with this beautiful baby, another three-year-old.
02:59And I'm like, wow, I'm going to be, I'm going to talk to him and be cool.
03:03Our kids are going to start playing.
03:05Next thing you know, guess who's the new guy in Wu-Tang?
03:08The Wu-Tang member.
03:09Yeah.
03:10Yeah.
03:10White guy.
03:10Yeah.
03:11So I go up.
03:12I'm like, hey, RZA, I'm just, I'm a huge fan.
03:14He's like, oh, thanks, Lord.
03:15That's peace.
03:16That's peace.
03:16Thank you, man.
03:18I go, and I got to tell you, your daughter is beautiful.
03:21He goes, yo, that's my freaking son, dude.
03:23Oh.
03:25Dude.
03:26He got heated.
03:26And then I started, I started acting like I had a second child that I couldn't find.
03:35Oh, that's good.
03:36That's good.
03:37I grabbed my three-year-old's hand.
03:39I go, where's Donald?
03:40Donald!
03:42Donald!
03:42Oh, my God.
03:43I'll be right back, RZA.
03:44All right.
03:45And I just frantically, like, I'm looking around the boardwalk, like, where the hell is he?
03:49Donald!
03:50That's great improv.
03:51That's genius.
03:54What, what?
03:54No matter how dicey the conversation it got, you'd have to connect to a parent who's just
03:59lost a child.
04:00Yeah, nobody.
04:01Donald!
04:02Nobody's going to jump.
04:03Yeah.
04:04A parent looking for their baby.
04:06Where's your brother?
04:07The dude lost Donald.
04:08You got to.
04:09And I'm like, as I'm walking away, I'm like, Donald?
04:13I'm glad I named my son Donald.
04:15I love it.
04:16I love it.
04:18That's great.
04:20So, yeah.
04:20Weston, do you talk on this show?
04:22Occasionally.
04:23Occasionally, when I find room.
04:25Good career move.
04:25Get on radio and zip it.
04:26I'm very ADD.
04:28I jump in all the time.
04:29I want to ask you about your time at SNL.
04:31Who the hell is this guy now?
04:32I'm on the show, Jay.
04:33How many people are on this show?
04:34We've got microphones, Jay.
04:36You can say we're two.
04:37Eight is enough right here.
04:39Timely reference.
04:40Well, speaking of timely references, Saturday Night Live and your time there.
04:45I saw Conan O'Brien talking about the energy there and how competitive it was.
04:49Because every week, you're competing to get your skits on, get a bit that you wrote on or be in a part of the show.
04:56When you left SNL or during your time there, what was the energy like for you?
05:00Was it joyous?
05:01Was it work?
05:02Was it a pain in the ass?
05:03You know, good question.
05:06It's competitive for Conan O'Brien because he ran the risk of actually getting sketches on the air every week.
05:12So for a guy like floundering, I didn't have a computer.
05:16I was writing my sketches by hand.
05:18Me and Dave Attell shared an office.
05:20And we were just, we had yellow legal pads and pencils.
05:22And then you write your sketch at four in the morning.
05:26Now, what do I do with it?
05:27How do I get it to where everybody else gets it?
05:29Because they're just typing a button on their computer and it's going to this magic print the sketch and distribute it to 400 people land.
05:36And they're like, well, you got to give it to me.
05:38All the conversations at SNL are like on a highway.
05:41It's like, yeah, yeah.
05:43Like everybody's walking by doing stuff.
05:45So it wasn't competitive.
05:47It was just, it's like, you just want to break the water level and breathe air.
05:52So you're not even anticipating that you're going to get anything to break through.
05:55So you're trying.
05:57And at this time, every once in a while, though, you're like, ah, like this.
06:02And then if it doesn't get on the air, you want to throw yourself out a window.
06:05Right.
06:05But I got lucky.
06:06Like, what was your first sketch that made it through?
06:08Barkley versus Godzilla.
06:10It was the season, season premiere opening.
06:13Wow.
06:14Yeah.
06:14Because they had the Barkley versus Godzilla.
06:17Oh, no.
06:18It was Barkley versus Barney the Dinosaur.
06:19Right, right.
06:20Yeah.
06:20Based on Barkley versus Godzilla.
06:22Right, right.
06:23So, so you were suffering panic attacks at this time.
06:26Oh, yeah.
06:27So, I can not think of a worse environment to be in.
06:30Sure.
06:31What was that like?
06:32Well, your insides want to be on your outsides.
06:34Yeah, yeah.
06:35Yeah.
06:35It just, it doesn't make any sense.
06:37It just doesn't compute.
06:38It's just, you're dying.
06:39You are dying.
06:40You know, you're not, you don't think you're dying.
06:42You know you're dying.
06:43Otherwise, why is my heart rate 200 when I'm just sitting in this chair?
06:47Why do I have to, you know, go out of both ends of my body?
06:50Yeah.
06:50So, it's, yeah, it's brutal.
06:52I remember in the, we did a scared straight sketch with Farley and the motivational speaker.
06:57Yeah.
06:58And I was like, oh, my God.
06:59And at that point, I was prescribed Klonopin, the only drug I didn't abuse, by the way.
07:03Really?
07:04I guess because it saved my life.
07:05It was like, I had like this respect for it.
07:08Right.
07:08This awe.
07:09So, and I had, when I put my wardrobe on for the sketch, the pants they gave me didn't have any pockets.
07:16And I always had that little, that little jeans pocket above the big pocket.
07:19That's my, that was my pill pocket.
07:21Pill pocket.
07:21For Adderall, it became my, my, my shelf.
07:24Yeah.
07:24And then, so I was like, oh, my God, what am I, how am I going to have Klonopin on hand in case I have a panic attack if there's no pockets?
07:30So, I took four of them and I put them in my hand, but then my hand started sweating.
07:34So, I spent the entire sketch worrying that either, A, they were going to dissolve in the palm of my hand and rendering them useless.
07:41Or, so I spread my fingers out a little bit so air could get into the palm of my hand.
07:46But I didn't want them to fall out of my hand and roll onto television on, on live TV, roll out onto the floor.
07:52So, I just spent this entire magical sketch with Chris Farley, young fella, just worrying whether, and then the sketch is over and you're like, oh, there it is.
08:02I was like, I wasn't even present just that whole time.
08:04I'm just freaking out.
08:06It's got, it's got to, it's got to blow your mind.
08:08Real quick, you want to hear like the greatest blooper of all time is Farley when Martin Lawrence and Farley keep selling us to each other for a pack of cigarettes.
08:18And then he sells them to Chris and Chris is supposed to take the cigarette and go, sold, seven bitches to the homie in the cornrows.
08:26But instead he goes, sold, seven bitches to the cornie in the homerows.
08:30And then he looks directly into camera and goes, oops.
08:37Seven bitches to the cornie in the homerows.
08:40Oops.
08:40And in that sketch, he tells a joke that bombs and David Spade off camera, you hear, crickets.
08:49You're with the crew of like legendary, you know, with Norm MacDonald, your Norm MacDonald stories are just hilarious.
08:57And you do it spot on, Norm.
08:59I appreciate that.
09:00I think when he said that, you know, he wanted me to do it, you know.
09:04So, uh, this punchline, nobody knows where it is, you know.
09:10We were at a dinner last night.
09:12They go, hey, where are you playing, you know.
09:13And they said, ah, punchline.
09:15They go, ah, I never heard of that.
09:17No, uh, where is the punchline, by the way?
09:20I don't know.
09:20You described a story about you guys working on a skit.
09:23No, seriously, where is the punchline?
09:25It is.
09:25It's just off of Columbus Boulevard.
09:27It's close.
09:28Yeah, you're fine.
09:28You're in downtown.
09:30I'm not being pranked.
09:31No, no, you're fine.
09:32Dude, I, and it's a great club, by the way.
09:34Completely misunderstood what you were asking.
09:36The club, punchline.
09:37The club, punchline, Philly.
09:38Okay.
09:39Yeah, that's where he's playing.
09:39You forget that the punchline is also a joke.
09:43Well, it was appropriate.
09:44Well, in a norm, soliloquy, yeah.
09:46There might not be a punchline.
09:47Yeah, you know.
09:48Yeah.
09:49What was the story that, uh, we were talking to David Spade a little while ago, and he was
09:53talking about, uh, Norm would occasionally go out and, and you'd get one kind of Norm when
09:58he'd perform and you'd get another when he was doing stand-up.
10:00And, and he, he followed him and said, he goes, well, that's the Norm you got tonight.
10:05Saying basically, he would sometimes engage and sometimes he'd go off into Norm world and
10:10do his own things.
10:10But he was, he's just one of the best.
10:13We, I watched Norm knock a guy out.
10:15Really?
10:15Yeah.
10:16He would get physical?
10:17Well, they're, uh, they just passed in like New York City, you can't smoke in the building
10:22law.
10:23Oh.
10:24So, but it was, it took a while to enforce.
10:26Right, yeah, yeah.
10:27It was like 40 floors at GE Building, 30 Rock.
10:30And like one guy in one office struggling to write a sketch, maybe he wants a cigarette.
10:34So we're in the writer's room and Norm is sitting on a couch with a cigarette and this
10:39six foot eight, no joke guy, real skinny guy.
10:42Yeah.
10:42Looked like Niedermeyer from, uh.
10:44No, I don't know.
10:45Yeah, just like him.
10:47Looked just like him, but six, eight and skinny.
10:49He walks into the writer's room and he's got a, he's holding a cup of water and he
10:53looks down and Norm's smoking and he just, he just pours the water on Norm's cigarette
10:57and on his lap.
10:58And Norm just gets up.
11:00Wow.
11:01Like one shot.
11:02Without hesitation.
11:03And you go, oh yeah, you grew up on a farm in Canada.
11:06That's what you guys do.
11:07Wow.
11:07That you forget.
11:08Yeah.
11:09Like, oh, you grew up like working the land.
11:11Yeah.
11:12Yeah.
11:12And it was a nice one.
11:13Like came up from like the big toe, like.
11:15Wow.
11:16Oh my Jesus.
11:17You know what I mean?
11:18Yeah.
11:18That's a side of Norm I didn't realize.
11:21Well, that's a knocker guy out.
11:23Because you can't let it go to the scorecards, you know, Steve.
11:26Because some of those judges are crooked.
11:30Love it.
11:31Love it.
11:31By the way, I want to thank Casey for telling me how microphones worked before we started.
11:35Oh, no, he let.
11:36Speak here.
11:36I'm going to just talk in defense of him.
11:38He wanted to let you know a lot of people will speak dead onto the mic this way.
11:41He comes in from the side.
11:42You're a pro though.
11:43Yeah.
11:44Yeah, so I mean, especially for comedians who talk into a microphone for a living, it's
11:49not the same.
11:50But also, I have to do it.
11:51Fair enough.
11:51You know what?
11:52Withdrawn.
11:53If I don't do it and you talk it to the wrong side of the microphone, then I get the death
11:57stare.
11:58From Prince?
11:59Mm-hmm.
11:59He gets in trouble.
12:00Yeah, from Kathy.
12:01Yeah.
12:02No!
12:02She is the.
12:03She'll withhold sex.
12:04She is the silent underlord of the show.
12:07Wait, what did I miss here?
12:07No, you didn't miss S.
12:0920 years of sexual tension.
12:11I hate everyone.
12:12Are you guys together?
12:13No.
12:13Ew.
12:13Not anymore.
12:14Ew.
12:15Did you see him?
12:16Dude, have you seen you?
12:18I don't know how many times a week.
12:19How do you know?
12:19What do you think?
12:20You're like.
12:22Listen, this guy picks his nose, farts, and has smelly feet.
12:26That's why I'm ill.
12:27Kathy, I would bet my house you've been caught picking your nose in your car.
12:33Listen, maybe, but I'm not going to sit here and dig in my nose in front of everyone.
12:36Show us.
12:39Come on.
12:40Come on, baby.
12:41No, I think you're both attractive.
12:44And also, we've been working together for 20 years.
12:46We could say ill to each other.
12:47She's like my older sister.
12:49That's even hotter.
12:51Oh, Casey.
12:52Wait, hold on.
12:53That was hard.
12:54Now, now, now.
12:56Below the belt, man.
12:58By the way, you.
12:59I didn't even hear older.
12:59I just heard sister.
13:00It's always hot.
13:01My older sister.
13:03As you're gesturing, I see some tattoos on your face.
13:06Your wrists.
13:07Do they have to do with your recovery?
13:08No, no, no.
13:09Okay.
13:11Getting tattoos at a certain age is the dumbest thing in the world.
13:14What age?
13:16It's different for everybody.
13:17Okay.
13:18Because I thought about, you know what?
13:19This is the big tattoo idea I had in rehab.
13:22Like, I'm going to get the outline of New Jersey on the back of my right tricep.
13:28Okay.
13:29And the outline of California on my left.
13:33Because it'll look like parentheses.
13:34Yeah, yeah.
13:34The way they're shaped.
13:35Okay.
13:36Or, I won't sit in a chair for three hours.
13:39And I'll go about my life.
13:41Right.
13:41And that keeps winning.
13:44Like, hey, I could play golf.
13:47Or, I could take a nap every day between two and three.
13:52I choose nap.
13:53You choose nap.
13:54It's all about decision.
13:55How about this?
13:56This is the new one I've noticed.
13:57All my friends, like, now that we're all married and we're all older, every guy eventually
14:02goes like, hey, let's get the wives together.
14:04Let's all, it's like, what?
14:06No!
14:07We speak in British accent.
14:09We keep hitting each other in the nuts.
14:11You want to bring a wife?
14:12Like, I've touched your wang through your jeans as a joke.
14:16Every elevator we've ever been in, I've tapped you in the balls.
14:19Right, right.
14:20You want our wives?
14:21Like, what?
14:22Yeah.
14:22Like, what?
14:23There's a dynamic.
14:24You know you've got friends that have said that to you.
14:26Like, no, let's all get together with the wives.
14:27You're like, what?
14:28It's like, I get panic-stricken.
14:30Like, what?
14:30You want to bring my accuser here?
14:33Your accuser.
14:34What?
14:35You're a master of impressions, and one of the most obscure ones you've ever had was
14:38the Barefoot Contessa, Hannah Garner.
14:41I just found out she was, that she worked for the White House for several years.
14:45Were you aware of that?
14:46Yeah, and her husband worked for, like, Nixon.
14:48Yeah.
14:49Don't tell Jeffrey.
14:50Don't tell Jeffrey.
14:51Don't get me started on my omelet party.
14:52How bad could that be?
14:54Don't have fun without me.
14:56She was a fox back in the day.
14:58Yes!
14:59Yeah.
15:00And I like to cook, so she's phenomenal.
15:02Her recipes are excellent.
15:03Ever see her house in the Hamptons?
15:05No.
15:06My God.
15:07Yeah.
15:07She's rolling in it.
15:08Oh, yeah.
15:09Yeah.
15:09Flower.
15:10You ever met her?
15:11Flower.
15:12Right now she is.
15:14Dude, now she is.
15:15Hey.
15:17Hey.
15:20Kat, did you get that?
15:21Yeah.
15:22You're not for sure.
15:23It's for the wet spot.
15:24Oh, my God.
15:26I haven't heard that in ages.
15:27I think you were mad at yourself when you told that joke.
15:29No, I'm very happy with you.
15:30You alright?
15:31Yeah.
15:31We'll see you next time.
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