Yelling it out the window of a passing car. Happy mothers day okay, drive, drive former president obama held a call on friday for thousands of alumni of his administration and said, quote, its after 5 00, people, you should be drinking. Um, does he think we still wait until 5 00 these days . I had a gin and tonic for breakfast and thats only because my kid couldnt finish it President Trump attended a ceremony at the world war ii memorial in washington on friday with veterans, but did not wear a face mask. And i am surprised that hes comfortable showing his face to people who actually served yeah, almost did. Bone spurs the last second you guys are lucky to never to never have the spurs. In a new interview, a white house Senior Adviser said it was, quote, scary to go to work after two fellow staffers tested positive last week for the coronavirus. Said the adviser, before this, it was just embarrassing. The white house announced yesterday that despite one of Vice President mike pences senior staff testing positive for the coronavirus, pence will not isolate himself. But in his defense, you cant catch it if you never breathe. No, no thank you. Oxygen is the devils gas. Apple has announced that it will begin reopening its American Retail Stores this week. So dont even bother getting covid19, because theyre just about to come out with the 20. And finally, this week is National Etiquette week. Im sorry, may it be National Etiquette week what a dumb one to close on, mike scollins. All right. Thats the monologue lets move on. Weve got a great show for you tonight. Well be talking to my friend tina fey about the the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt interactive special thats on netflix. And well also talk about, you know, whatever else she wants to talk about ive learned to not tell tina fey what to do. And well have author c pam zhang. Her book is how much of these hills is gold. Its her first novel and its getting incredible reviews i cant wait to talk to her. But first, a closer look. Seth welcome back to late night, everybody. Its been two months since we first left the studio. And we have heard some of your criticisms about our attic shows and want you to know that we are taking it to heart so as of today there will be no more reference to the copy of the thorn birds that is on my side table its just going to be there but im not going to talk about it and the number of books is certainly not going to change throughout the segment also, i will no longer be mentioning the wasps in my attic. But thats only because we caught the last two wasps this morning, and we have trapped them in that door behind me. Now, those are two real wasps and not my sons dressed in homemade wasp costumes who are going to bust out when this segment is over. So if youre sticking around for that kind of adorable content, youre wasting your time, because it is not going to happen two real wasps, not i repeat, not my two boys in wasp costumes that i basically spent the entire weekend making because i have lost my mind. Speaking of lost minds, segue, the president is reeling off fantasies about the coronavirus just going away after two west wing aides tested positive, and unemployment soared to its highest level since the Great Depression but dont worry, hes also trying to distract from the pandemic by obsessing over the russia investigation for more on this, its time for a closer look. Seth its rarely the case that someone as erratic as donald trump is able to boil all the venality, corruption, and sociopathic incompetence of his presidency down into a single tweet. And yet over the weekend he came pretty close although in fairness, he had a lot of chances, given that on sunday alone he posted 126 tweets and retweets, including over 50 messages before 8 30 a. M. Sounds like it was a great mothers day what did he have for breakfast, pancakes covered in adderall and 10,000 diet cokes . Just like mom used to make. The president should not have enough time to tweet that much, even on a normal day, let alone during a crisis as nightmarish as this one. Its not reassuring. Its like scrolling through your phone on a flight thats going through turbulence and seeing your pilot dancing on tik tok. On sunday alone trump lashed out at everyone from the media to celebrities to democrats, retweeted random conspiracy theorists and tried to fabricate a totally madeup scandal called obamagate even for trump this was an especially demented weekend on twitter, and thats saying a lot for a guy whose tweets, generally speaking, would make more sense written backwards on the door of a hotel room shining style. And as the u. S. Death toll from the coronavirus climbed to nearly 80,000, with unemployment at its worst since the Great Depression, trump chose to take time out of his day to tweet about his own golf club and use it as an excuse to both advertise his personal business and parrot his message that the economy is ready to reopen trumps golf course in l. A. Announced that they were reopening with a tweet that said, game on were thrilled to announce the reopening of trump golf l. A. Beginning saturday may 9th. We look forward to welcoming you back book your tee time now. And then trump retweeted it and wrote, so great to see our country starting to open up again. Cool im sure the 20 million americans who lost their job in april are stoked to hit the links. Honey, good news, the unemployment check came, now i can afford to play 3 1 2 holes at trumps golf course. So trump actually found a way to use a pandemic to advertise his luxury golf resort reminds me of that time during the Great Depression when fdr advertised his bindlemaking business are you a hobo looking for a sack to carry your can of beans as you ride the rails in search of work . Well, come on down to fdrs house of bindles the only thing we have to fear is these crazy low prices. No Research Went into figuring out if he sounds like that anywhere between 1 and 2,000 americans are dying every day from the coronavirus and yet, rather than confront that reality, trump is doing the only thing he knows, and thats lying his way through it hes trying to deadeye mind trick americans into thinking coronavirus will simply go away. On friday he told reporters that the coronavirus would soon disappear even without a vaccine. This is going to go away without a vaccine. Its going to go away. And its were not going to see it again, hopefully, after a period of time you may have some some flare ups and i guess, you know, i would expect that. Sometime in the fall youll have flare ups, maybe uh, maybe not. But according to what a lot of people say, you probably will. Well be able to put them out. You may have some flare ups next year but eventually its going to be gone its going to be gone. You know, there are some viruses and flus that came and they went for a vaccine, they never found the vaccine, and they disappeared. Theyve never shown up again they die too, like Everything Else they die too seth holy [ bleep ]. Your strategy for dealing with coronavirus is eventually everything dies are you responding to a pandemic or narrating a Werner Herzog movie . Weapon the clock is an assassin silently stalking us to the grave with his sinister laugh. Ticktock, ticktock. I guarantee you, werner is crushing stay at home. No one thinks coronavirus will just go away, let alone without a vaccine. You already tried this bull[ bleep ] before the pandemic started and it didnt work back then either. The virus theyre working hard looks like by april, you know, in theory when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away i hope thats true now, the virus that were talking about having to do you know, a lot of people think that goes away in april with the heat, as the heat comes in typically that will go away in april. Seth nailed it again, dr. Science. Not only is the virus still here, it didnt even get warm yet. On that note, [ bleep ] off, april. What was that . This year of all years who told you coronavirus goes away in april . Are you confusing it with march madness . The madness spreads to basketball courts and College Campuses across the country, but dont worry, it goes away in april, when either duke or villanova beats it. Trump is selling yet another unhinged fantasy to try to coax people out of their homes and back into the economy after two west wing aides tested positive for coronavirus. And the Washington Post reported that all white house staffers received a memo from the White House Management Office on friday which encouraged employees to practice maximum telework and to work remotely if at all possible. Well, thats easy for trump since hes already spent the last three years teleworking from his home office on the 18th green at maralago every time you see him in the oval office, thats just his zoom background. Think about that the president is telling people to get back into the workforce while his own white house tells employees to stay home one day hes going to call a press conference to reassure us that murder hornets are fake news while a dozen of them carry him back to their nest you live with us now, donald. And dont let mention of the murder hornets get you to thinking that my kids are in that door back there dressed like wasps because theyre not and theyre not going to just barge out at the end of this closer ill prove it. Ill prove theyre not there who wants ice cream . Theyre not there, guys. Theyre not there. And by the way, youll never guess how trump reacted to the news that one of his staffers had tested positive for the virus he failed to contain after learning that one of his valets was infected, trump became lava level mad at his staff and said he doesnt feel its doing all it can to protect him. First of all, look at him, hes always lava level something. If hes not lava level mad, hes lava level happy, or more often than not, lava level indifferent. Second, trump is actually upset that the people who are supposed to protect him are doing a good job. Oh, the irony. If we were living in a story or a fable, this would be the moment where the mean old miser finally has a change of heart and throws money at some kid to go buy a goose for the festival or something but this is donald trump theres no change of heart theres no learning curve. If this was a choose your own adventure story, the bottom of every page would say, just go to the next page. The president is just profoundly incapable of thinking about anyone other than himself. That much has been clear from day one of this crisis and it was on full display when he called in for his latest teletherapy session with fox friends on friday this was the day the government announced truly catastrophic unemployment numbers and the coronavirus death toll climbed toward 80,000. And yet the president rambled for 20 minutes about god knows what before he even talked about coronavirus and that was only because the fox friends finally asked him about it mr. President , good morning to you. Hi, steve they know it was just a total hoax it was a madeup story, a disgrace to our nation these are dirty politicians and and dirty cops. So schiff is a crooked politician, crooked as can be, and probably one of the worst ive ever seen, ive seen some beauties it was like they just sat there. They sat in an office, hello, goodbye. That would be a meeting, hello, goodbye. If you look at mueller, that was purely corrupt can you imagine with all the corruption having to do with mueller you dont have clapper and brennan, who is sleaze, and a guy like comey who is a sick man, i mean, comeys a sick man hes just a stupid guy well hes dumb as a rock and hes a sick guy theres something wrong with him. Weve rebuilt our military this is not what they love to hear Jeff Sessions was a disaster kislyak had dinner with nancy pelosi and schumer, all these guys, they all everybody in washington knew kislyak. But i learned a lot from richard nixon. Dont fire people. I learned a lot. I study history. If you did a poll there, i would do very well in the fbi. But the top was crooked. They were dirty cops seth someone get grandpa off the phone. Every time trump calls in for one of these, we can only see the fox friends sitting there, blinking like a family who accidentally bought tickets to the wrong movie does this whole thing have subtitles . Is this a subtitled movie . Because i dont wheres vin diesel i thought this was vin diesel. Theyre like a family of tourists at art basel staring at a banana duct taped to the wall. Is it supposed to represent life no, i think the message is that bananas die too, like Everything Else seth trump is just deeply clinically incapable of summoning even the bare minimum amount of empathy required for the job. For example in that same interview he was also asked if he had a message for americas mothers on mothers day. Now, this was an especially difficult mothers day for so Many Americans separated from loved ones, and struggling amid an historic Unemployment Crisis and Public Health emergency. And yet the president reeled off an answer so deranged, its actually hard to fully appreciate just by listening so instead of playing his answer, were going to read the full transcript. First, here is the question. Mr. President , this sunday is mothers day what are your plans . What are you going to do for melania . And do you have a message for all the moms that are watching this morning seth easy, right that should be a gimme answering that question is like getting 200 points for writing your name on the s. A. T. S for an impeached, historically unpopular president in the midst of a catastrophic Public Health crisis and soaring unemployment, getting a softball lobbed at you like that is like going 10,000 points in the red on jeopardy and getting the category food that comes in buckets. Finally, something this is my wheelhouse. All right. This is a question any president or any mammal should be able to knock out of the park. Even a dolphin could whistle and click their way through this one. Instead our drooling, potatobrained caligula had this to say in response to a question about mothers day and just for some ambiance, lets throw a frame around the screen while i read this here it is [ clears throat well, well be together. Im going to camp david meeting. A big meeting with the joint chiefs of staff and camp david is this very special place that nobody ever gets to see but its a great Work Environment and were going to have meetings on Different Things and our military has never looked better. Its never been better weve never had the kind of equipment that we have now and, you know, we had planes that were 50 years old and more. Fighter jets now we have the best in the world. The f35 and the f18. And, you know, what we have is incredible the equipment and the people we have are great but, you know, they have to have equipment. And weve spent 1. 5 trillion, really more than that. And weve totally rebuilt our military which you have to do you know, im a very budget conscious person its what you have to do the nice thing, it was all built in the usa, and plenty of equipment coming, a lot of this equipment is coming. So its very important that we have the best military and we have the our military has never been in condition like it is now and soon will be. Wow. Im pretty sure even an f35 pilot can write his mom a card without mentioning the f35. Seriously, that answer was more revealing than a c. A. T. Scan based on that answer alone, a doctor could diagnose like five different strokes. Sometimes i like to imagine what would happen if trump were, lets say, one of the 100 people interviewed for an episode of family feud. Like if the category was things you do for your wife on mothers day. Both teams would strike out. And then the host would say, top five answers were, brunch. A card flowers. Chocolate. Fighter jets, fighter jets, the jets are coming, joint chiefs, the military, the greatest military youve ever seen, equipment, equipment, we have so much equipment, the equipment is coming, military, military, the best military, the military, i love the military. Were currently in the middle of a deadly pandemic that has been made worse by the sociopathic incompetence of an impeached president who is fundamentally incapable of grasping the responsibilities of his office and now hes trying to distract from that by trying to undo the russia investigation last week his attorney general and mafiathemed bobblehead william barr announced that in an unprecedented move, the Justice Department would withdraw charges against michael flynn, trumps First National security adviser, who twice pled guilty in court to lying about his contacts with russias ambassador to the u. S attorney general William Barrs doj is dropping charges against the president s former National Security adviser michael flynn. This comes after flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi about conversations he had with the Russian Ambassador and cooperating with investigators and it comes on the same day that one of the lead doj prosecutors trying flynn took his name off the case. And weve seen this before, its something we saw happen in the case of another trump ally who also got favorable treatment from the department, roger stone. When that time, the doj stepped in and reduced his sentencing recommendations against the recommendations of their own line prosecutors seth the department of justice is basically just an arm of the Trump Campaign now. The Trump Campaign store is going to start selling pardons, commutations, and sentence reductions alongside these very real items maga pet leash, maga dog collar, and usa camo dog bandanna by the way, if you see a dog in maga pet leash, call the aspca Sarah Mclachlan will come get the dog and it will be taken away in the hands of an angel just the best like this part of the acoustics just makes, i think, my voice come alive in a way you dont get in the studio. Trump always wanted a loyal attorney general and now hes got one in bill barr the president is rage tweeting about exacting revenge against his political enemies as a pandemic craters the economy and touches his own white house. And on top of Everything Else, hes incapable of summoning even the bare minimum level of empathy for the people affected by the crisis. We dont need a test to tell us hes sick guy. Theres something wrong with him. Seth this has been a clo oh, no oh, the wasps are out oh, the thing we wanted to happen least, happened these are real wasps these are not children in wasp costumes oh, no oh, no, hes stinging me oh, god, this is a nightmare oh, everything has gone from bad to worse [ light laughter ] oh, no oh, no [ laughter ] who are you . Are you a wasp i fly away i fly seth this has been a closer look. Can you say this has been a closer look . What seth city harvest needs your help now more than ever. New yorkers who have never imagined asking for help are now turning to them to keep food on their tables theres a website on your screen well be right back with tina fey announcer for more of seths closer looks, be sure to subscribe to late night on youtube. vo we might be apart out there. girl but, in here were still figuring things out. chef still cooking up. little girl still caring. gardener 1 still growing. gardener 2 and watering, a lot spanish vo huy huy huy, que buena maniobra, haciendo un bonito snap aqui. family vo were camping, im fishing oop female 1 im still designing female 2 drafting. female 3 inventing. female 4 adapting. animated vo doodling and scribbling around. [dog barking] collage face still watching out for paper cuts, ouch kid dad, what are you doing . skateboard mum mamas still shredding only roomba uses 2 multisurface rubber brushes to clean all your floors. And with patented dirt detect technology, roomba finds dirt throughout your home. 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Com seth our next guest is an emmywinning and tonynominated writer, performer, and comedian. Her new project, the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt interactive, is on netflix. Please welcome back to the show tina fey how are you . Hi, old friend, how are you seth i mean, im hanging in there. Are you hanging in there yeah. So far, so good. Thats all you can say seth you were on snl this weekend, it was lovely to see you. Its been lovely to watch the snl remote shows did you enjoy doing it yeah, i mean ive also yeah, ive really enjoyed them being on i feel like its so it means so much to people to be able to stay up together and watch that live. Yeah, it was weird, we taped its not all the way live, its not live anymore, guys but we taped on thursday night, and so it was usually on a thursday night at snl, youre like, ill just figure this out like a day and a half from now. Then i was like, oh, this counts now . Seth uhhuh. That was a weird feeling, but it was nice to see che it was nice to see everybody seth its funny because i think in the recent years, the last 10, 15 years, the filmed elements of the show keep Getting Better and better. One of the nice things of these last three shows is its been great to see everybody, but it also really makes you miss the live sketches and watch people interact and i think that will be one of the glorious things when snl comes back in the studio, people will have an even a higher appreciation for the live sketches yes, theres just so much it just connects you to people, in a way but its been also really cool to see how the cast, especially i feel like the youngest of the cast, were like, what oh, yeah, got it so just do it like my instagram . Got it. Seth yeah, immediately they adapted the form so quickly. Seth how was your mothers day on sunday . It was very nice, thank you it was it was they cooked dinner for me. My 8yearold gave me 53 cash lll out of her life savings. And i was like, okay. Im keeping it. Seth how did she come up with the number . Was there any meaning to it . I dont know. Its not my age. I should have asked more i was like thats what i earned thats what i was worth . Seth you do have a birthday coming up thats not quite 53. But, youre getting closer no, its my Sally Omalley birthday seth sally, you can kick and stretch. I can kick, stretch, and kick and now that im about to be that age, i realize how incredibly insulting that character is shes acting like shes 100. Like, yeah, youre 50. You can kick your legs seth yeah, its really funny, because obviously im getting a lot closer, too, and i just laughed along with Sally Omalley, thinking that 50 was some very, very advanced age, and its really not yeah. Now i think i understand why lorne was laughing so hard, cause he was in his 50s and he knew that that was an insane portrayal of a 50yearold seth would you i mean, obviously, like a lot of people, youre hamstrung by this in regards to birthday plans. Did you have plans because it was 50 yes i had such good plans. I was supposed to go to a spa in arizona with amy poehler, maya rudolph, rachel dratch, ana gasteyer, emily spivey and paula pell so that was the good plan. We were going to have a whole house. It was going to be like the sequel to the movie wine country, i hope seth yeah. Well still do it seth and there were going to be no children and no spouses. No children, no spouses seth i know that you guys have been staying in touch as the women of snl of your era and we were talking to maya about it on the show you guys had a talent show, your children had a talent show that you guys organized we did, which the kids very sweetly named i think archie or nat named it the fots, the first online talent show so we need to start organizing e. E sots, because we havent but it was great bk when everyo still learning how to use zoom like now we all know how to use it and so we realized about a half hour before, that we could invite the grandparents. And so it was super cute the kids worked really hard. It definitely it definitely killed a good amount of time in that early part of quarantine where we would be like, yeah, well, you better go practice for the talent show. And so the kids, like my little one did contortion, which we can talk more about later. Seth yeah. Like ulysses anas son ulysses, did closeup magic. He was incredible. He had like a really, like like a jazzy purple brocade blazer as well eli dratch and abel arnett did a bicoastal comedy sketch where i think one of them played, like, Elizabeth Warren it was amazing lll it was fantastic and so we did that and oh yeah, and the first i recorded it, and the first like 45 minutes of the zoom is just like mr. Poehler, just being like, i dont know, helene, ive got to and then its the spiveys. And then my mom just like, stoically not able to hear anything but loving it seth you mentioned penelope did contortion its both impressive and very jarring if youre not expecting it yes appened is she is a fan of a young woman named sofie dossi, on youtube. And shes been on americas got talent and stuff. And from what i can see, she seems like a lovely young person and shes a very gifted contortionist. And so, penelope was like, yeah, im going to do that. And so at a time when everyones home and your main goal is to not have to go to a doctor, its just like i want to be like, could you experiment less with your spine right now . Shes like throwing herself upside down or like trying to put her foot in her mouth, like the long way around. And it was me saying, like, step away from youtube, stop watching so much youtube. Like, okay, ill put my screen down and try to break myself in half is that a good plan . Seth i imagine you have to sort of in your internal sense of yourself, know that you can do these things. Like you and i, i dont think at any point in my life that ive watched videos and sort of figured out contortionism. Was penelope always, like, stretchy you know, shes built so much like me, like our i look at her feet, and im like, i remember looking down my legs at those feet shes built and so i immediately didnt want to tell her, like, oh, you cant do this, because i cant do it. Because im wrong, she can kind of do it so, no, i wouldnt have thought she was going to be so stretchy. And i thought she would get frustrated within like an hour or so. But here we are. Seth hey, were going to be right back with more tina fey after this right now, theres over a million Walmart Associates doing their best to keep our nation going, while keeping us safe. Weve given masks to all our people and were helping our customers practice social distancing in stores. Weve implemented shorter hours, so we can sanitize our stores from top to bottom while also restocking our products. But if anything, these days have reminded us why we do what we do. Because despite everything thats changed, one thing hasnt, and thats our devotion to you and our communities. Were working together, instore and online, through pickup and delivery, to make sure you can still get the essentials you need. 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With benefits that help bring peace of mind that could mean an increase byin energy bills. You can save by using a fan to cool off. Or closing your shades during the day. Stay well and keep it golden. Seth were back with tina fey congratulations on the kimmy schmidt interactive special. What gave you the idea or the impetus to do a choose your own adventure kimmy schmidt . Yes, well, first of all, legally i think were not allowed to refer to it as choose your own adventure seth gotcha. But seth well, i think legally i can call it whatever i want. You can you can go nuts. But what happened was, we were finishing shooting the series, the body of the series, and right as we were finishing up that last part of that last season, netflix came to us and said, we have this technology that were about to do this show called bandersnatch on black mirror, which i dont know if you saw bandersnatch. It was seth i did a really cool black mirror special that was a very dark, moody, super cool version of this technology where youre watching it and then you, the viewer, with your remote, make choices of what the character does and they said they showed it to us early, which was really cool and then they said, do you think you could do this with kimmy schmidt . And we were like, 120 , because, one, it just was such exciting technology, and two, our show is kind of known for kind of having too many jokes. Seth yes and too much going on so it was a way to write as many jokes as you want, but not choke people with them all at once so if you this is an interactive special. Weve called it a movie a lot. I dont know its called interactive special. And basically kimmy is about to get married to a Royal British royal, distant British Royal named frederick. Prince frederick who is played by daniel radcliffe, who is awesome. And then in time she finds out that the reverend she makes a discovery that makes her concerned that theres another bunker somewhere that hasnt been discovered. So she has to make some choices as to how far shell go to try to find this other bunker. And you get to make these choices with her now, you also get to make choices youll appreciate this as a writer, because netflix was like, you know, so bandersnatch was one story so youll probably want to keep it to one story, because its pretty impossible to track. We were like, cool, cool, cool. So, three stories. [ laughter ] yeah, were just so used to being able to cut away to the other story, like seth sure. Momentumwise please hold, theres a colonial lady coming in yes, can i help you . [ laughter ] im sorry, youre not making sound. What im yes hello. Seth hello were taping a television program. Do you need something . Seth i did the interactive i clicked for her entry. [ laughter ] the colonial lady just called us losers. Seth wait a second were not losers this means loyalists in colonial times, so thats on you. So oh, wait so did you say you played it seth theres a joke this really speaks back to how you layer jokes on jokes on jokes. Even the theme song has a joke in it. Yes should we hmm i dont know if we should give it away. Seth you dont have to give it away but i guess the but i will say, though, theres the thing with the theme song, that if you like any netflix show, when it starts, you have the option to skip intro. And, you know, my husband jeff richmond, one of our eps on the show, also wrote that theme song, which i think is one of the greatest tv theme songs of all time seth it is one of the greatest tv theme songs of all time, i completely echo that sentiment. And yet, i imagine that if you watch a bunch in a row yes right. Seth like, you might at some point maybe go like, oh, ill skip the song. Right or if youre my older daughter, and your dad wrote that song and youve heard it a lot of times just being rerecorded around the house seth yeah. You might, because i was showing it to my older daughter early, an early copy, and the theme song came up and skip intro came up and she literally, like, looked around to make sure that her dad was not around and then hit skip intro and i knew that there was like a surprise coming theres something slightly punitive happens when you hit skip intro [ light laughter ] so well have to watch that unfold seth you are actually going to head over to 30 rock today. Yes, i think by the time me and you are talking on tv, i will have already been there were doing i guess its a telethon seth yeah. Its the rise up new york telethon tonight at 7 00 p. M and i am going down to kind of host the live portion of it from nbc. I feel really excited and privileged to get to go into nbc, you know, i think seth yeah. Im sure you feel the same way, that we just long to be the only way we remotely know how to help is to go on tv and seth yeah. Try to talk so im going to go down there today and hopefully read some impressive fundraising totals. Seth thats great. Thank you so much for doing that and we will put up the information, because that will have happened before our show. But well put it up now if people want to donate to that. And it is always such a delight to talk to you, tina thank you so much for bein do not miss kimmy schmidtwith late night. When new smartphones are expensive, the family has to share one. Step up with boost mobile and get 4 free Samsung Galaxy a20 phones when you switch or dont and prepare to lose some furniture got it step up with boost mobile and get 4 lines for 25 per line per month or dont and remodel the living room switch to boost mobile and get 4 free Samsung Galaxy a20 phones, all on our super reliable, super fast network. 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Im working too 90 of the calls, ellis thinks that shes also part of the call. Broke it. Starting next week[yelling] hey guys. Im so exhausted. [laughs] this is modern parenting. [laughing] seth weve got a killer lineup of guests this week paul giamatti, nicole richie, nick kroll, glenn close, amy schumer, and Chris Fischer and graham norton. And all new closer looks. Its going to be busy up in this attic. So keep tuning in. Well be right back with more late night. How fast does dove dry spray actually dry . Dry spray dries in an instant. Leaving these men with nothing to do in this ad. Thankfully, weve got something to fill the time, instantly putting these guys back into their comfort zone. Dove dry spray dries instantly and keeps you protected for 48 hours. Only roomba uses 2 multisurface rubber brushes to clean all your floors. And with patented dirt detect technology, roomba finds dirt throughout your home. If its not from irobot, its not a roomba. Guys guys safe drivers save 40 safe drivers save 40 safe drivers save 40 thats safe drivers save 40 . It is, thats safe drivers save 40 . Hes right there. Its him safe drivers do save 40 . Click or call for a quote today. Saf bang bang, there40 . [agoes my bang bang, i want my bang bang, i want my bang bang go bang bang there goes my bang bang, go bang bang, there goes my bazooka go bang bang, there goes my bang bang, i want my mind blown, i want my mind blown go bang bang, there goes my bazooka its just that its. Lavender, yes it is. Old spice, its for men. But i like the smell of it. [music playing] and. L music fades in . Hey hi seth our next guest is an author whose debut novel, how much of these hills is gold, is currently available. Please welcome c pam zhang thank you so much for being here hi, seth. Thank you so much for having me. Seth so where are you right now . Im living in San Francisco right now. Seth ive talked to some other authors during this time obviously its really exciting to have a book like yours come out, and usually you would be doing a book tour. You are still managing to pull it off by doing a virtual i guess you would say Virtual Events how has that been . You know, its actually been really lovely because i think i, like many authors, dont actually like being in the limelight. So know you know only half of my body has to be in the light, for one. [ laughter ] and it sort of gets rid of the thing that i least like about inperson events which is the question of, like, where do you look [ laughter ] seth yeah. Everyones, like, face down reading out of their books so its actually been nice in that way and ive had friends dial in from places where they ordinarily wouldnt have been able to see me seth is it true that this is a story that you never intended to be a novel . Oh, absolutely. So i wrote this, the first chapter of this book, as a short story first. And i really tried as hard as i could to not make it into a novel, because it who wants to write a novel its just such an arduous and backbreaking task but it was the situation where i put the story away for a few months and the characters just kept showing up in my head at last i was like, to get rid of you, to exorcise you, in a way, i suppose i just have to write the rest of your story. Seth you im always fascinated by writers processes. Yours is not to write in a specific place or to write at a specific time. But one of the things ive heard about you is you like to wait almost until the last minute like, you like to think about it a lot before you write thinking is a little bit generous its a lot more like subconscious and less like you know, less thorough than that but i think that one thing that ive been really interested in in the last few years is sort of divesting from this cult of productivity that i think we all live under and, you know, it makes sense if youre working a day job, which i do but it doesnt really sort of format that applies to art i think for art you do kind of have to wait for the inspiration to strike, you have to let all these, like, feelings sort of simmer and build up inside you seth i imagine that a lot of authors right now feel this burden of, oh, my gosh, theres this time that i can use right now to write. Do you feel a little relief that you have to promote writing youve already finished as opposed to like, even im thinking, oh, all these things ive wanted to write now that, you know, im at home, i should get it done, and of course its impossible right, there is definitely that expectation of people but yeah, i just want to push back on that i just dont think this is the time i mean everyone is sort of in some stage of grief. Everyone is worried. You have so much anxiety that isnt the place where art is going to come from. So yeah. Seth i do find it a very nice time to consume art that someone else has worked on and finished so it must be nice to have a book out now that people can turn to in these times this is a book about asianamerican immigrants. You know, obviously in general over the last few years, i feel as though weve been talking about and reconsidering exactly the plight of what immigrants go through in this country. Do you feel like your book came out at an opportune time in that peoples minds are open to sort of understanding what life immigrants in this country live . Mmhmm. You know whats really interesting is i started writing this book in early 2015. So this was not only before coronavirus, but also before the 2016 elections and i remember finishing this book and wondering, like, is it too maudlin . Is it too histrionic in its depiction of racism and naked racism against against asian people and yeah, now were living in this time, and it is, sadly, more relevant than ever. But i guess it sort of like goes along with this lifelong obsession i really had you know, i came here as an immigrant and my parents were immigrants, and it really took me 20some years to sort of realize that we are living with this myth of the american dream. And it really, really truly is a myth, this idea that anyone who works hard enough can have success in this country. And its just not true, because there are so many systemic barriers in place. And, you know, i think thats always been the sort of unfairness of that, has always been more visible to immigrants and to people of color but i think were all seeing it now, with the sort of like failures of the countrys response to the epidemic and how many peoples lives are are very fragile right now seth you also you know, this book takes place in the American American west, excuse me. Obviously that seems to be a part of the country that you have a connection to when did you first find your way out west my family moved from kentucky, which was the first place that we lived in in america, out to california, when i was about 8. So that whole journey, we took it in a car over several days. It really made an impression on me theres something just really beautiful and epic about this part of the world. Seth and i think thats really one of the lovely things about the book, is both, its very honest about parts of the american myth that arent real, but also it is a very sort of loving, beautiful book about this country and it must be nice in the writing, balancing both of those in order to tell a story yeah, yeah, i do hope that love comes through i think its interesting, that you can have this deep connection and affection for a country even as it is difficult to live here sometimes seth i want to finish because one thing that, you know, i certainly keep reading about is how independent bookstores are having a hard time, you know, when their doors are closed and people cant come in and i think that is a location more than ever that people go, actually like to walk in, and peruse and find books. Are there any ways any independent bookstores you would like to shout out now if people want to get your book . Yes, absolutely some of my favorites in San Francisco are green apple books, booksmith, and dog eared books. And theyre all really wonderful places where i think you can order online or just call them in some cases and have them shipped to you seth thats excellent. Hey, thank you so much congratulations on the book and thanks so much for making time with us today. Thank you, seth bye. Seth bye seth i want to thank my guests, tina fey and c pam zhang. I want to thank my friends, fred armisen and the 8g band stay tuned for lilly singh. Stay safe. Wash your hands. We love you. Lilly tonight on a little late with lilly singh, its april fools day i really hope nothing is about to happen thats actually written in the prompter, which makes me feel like somethings about to happen, yall then my writers are going to surprise me with a bit ive never seen before. I love you so much, but you look like joan rivers aged more poorly [ laughter ] and then, im going to sit down with a mystery guest so many ways i bring home the bacon. Lilly are you a musician [ laughter ] im personally not scared by any of this. Ill just see you in just one minute [ laughter ] yeah, not scared at all