It was a very late bloomer our guest Nick created this series and plays Nick one of the kids he also plays the. Creature personifying the kid's new emotions and sexual urges Nick's best friend is voiced by our other guest John a my character is. There's a lot of body here there's a lot of compulsion. Have been a comic duo for many years the host the Independent Spirit Awards on i.f.c. Saturday honoring the year's best independent films and David Edelstein reviews red sparrow starring Jennifer Lawrence. First news. Live from n.p.r. News in Washington I'm Winsor Johnston Republican lawmakers say presidential support is needed for Congress to pass legislation addressing gun violence speaking on c.b.s. This morning Senator Jeff Flake says President Trump needs to take the lead on any effort to strengthen the nation's gun laws that gives Republicans in Congress cover if the president is on their side they don't have to worry so much about activist groups or the n.r.a. Or grassroots organizations that may think differently so it's extremely important for the president to lead your President Trump has Back to send a proposal to withstand background checks on gun purchases he's also signaled his support for raising the minimum age for gun sales and removing guns from people declared mentally ill Russian President Vladimir Putin is warning the u.s. That the use of any kind of nuclear weapon against Russia or its allies will be met with an immediate response N.P.R.'s listening in Kim reports Putin used his annual State of the Nation speech to showcase new super weapons that can overcome America's most sophisticated defenses the foreign policy part of Putin's speech focused on how the United States had ignored Russia's strategic interests long enough Putin spoke to government officials in Moscow in a nationally televised midday address nothing new do you feel. Free to suggest. Nobody listens what's said Now listen. During his speech showed multiple videos of cutting edge rockets and torpedoes that snake their way to their targets with a presidential election less than 3 weeks away put is eager to highlight Russia's military might which resonates with voters despite the country's economic problems listen Kim n.p.r. News Moscow Exxon Mobil is planning to withdraw all from a joint venture with Russian state controlled oil company Rosneft N.P.R.'s Jeff Brady reports the company made that decision after the u.s. Government expanded sanctions against Russia. Exxon Mobil struck a deal with Rosneft in 2011 that included drilling in Russia's Arctic region back then u.s. Secretary of state Rex Tillerson was Exxon c.e.o. a Few years later the u.s. Sanctioned Russia because of its invasion of Ukraine in the Crimean peninsula last year the u.s. Find Exxon for doing business with Rosneft c.e.o. The company challenge that fine Also last year sanctions on Russia were expanded for allegedly interfering in the u.s. Presidential election now Exxon plans to withdraw from the Rosneft deal says doing so will result in an after tax loss of $200000000.00 Jeff Brady n.p.r. News stocks are trading on lower on Wall Street at this hour the Dow is down 53 points at 24979 The Nasdaq down 5 points the s. And p. Down 4 are listening to n.p.r. News from Washington. This bird. Like a jazz player beating out a drum roll a woodpecker uses its bill to wrap out a brisk series of notes. Early spring resounds with the percussive hammering of. Their rhythmic drumming works like many birds songs it broadcasts to other woodpeckers over a long distance a clear assertion of territorial and mating rights. We also hear woodpeckers knocking on wood when they're carving holes in trees to create nest cavities or extract insect prey but these whacks are more methodical. Woodpeckers offer a fascinating cast of drummers a hefty pileated woodpecker lets go it resenting tattoo against a hollow trunk. A yellow bellied sapsucker seems to be signaling in Morse code as it snaps its bill against a stub of dead branch. And the little downy woodpeckers drum roll seems rather modest rather short and not too fast. For any woodpecker it's all about proclaiming a sound signal as far and as loud as possible and as it searches for the most resonant drum it might just find that your metal rain gutter makes the best music. For a bird note I'm Michael Stipe. Me for California speaks it's a partnership between stations around the state we ask you a question each week and on Tuesday as we share the answers we receive Here's this week's question Donald Trump is in his 2nd year as president what have you liked and what have you not liked about what he's done in office so far share your thoughts by calling 1833 speak Ca We want to hear your voice. This is Fresh Air I'm Terry Gross My guests are Nick role and John Mulaney 2 comics and actors who often work as a duo their latest project together is the Netflix animated comedy series big mouth about a group of kids going through puberty figuring out how to deal with all the related body changes sexual urges embarrassment confusion and frustration. Voiced the characters of 2 kids who were best friends also co-created the series. Also wrote and performed the show oh hello on Broadway Lenny was a writer on Saturday Night Live and co-created and co-wrote Bill haters character Stefan host of The Comedy Central series The Crow show in the movie loving Croll played the young a.c.l.u. Lawyer Croll and Laney met in an improv group while they were in college they're now preparing to host the Independent Spirit Awards which are the Oscars of the independent film world the ceremony will be shown live Saturday on the i.f.c. Channel call maligning hosted at last year 2 Here's a clip from that opening for us to host this is not it's not an honor to lateral move it's a lateral move and so loud but this is a great event we like to think of these awards as the ones without Mel Gibson. You know people wondered how long would it take Hollywood to forgive someone for anti semitic racist hate speech the answer 8 years here seem to look out for the 2024 Oscars when the genie Herschel to humanitarian award goes to Mr Steve bad and yeah it's Nicole John Maloney welcome to Fresh Air It's a pleasure to have you on the show so since women at award shows have been addressing sexual harassment and sexual assault in Hollywood and other places is this an awkward time to be 2 guys who is doing the ceremony. That's an excellent question. I don't want to get awkward No I would say it's awkward I think it's it's an incredibly interesting time to be trying to navigate how to be funny and ultimately were hosts trying to. Have a show that everybody has a good time out while simultaneously aware of what they. Wildly crazy time it is to be existing in our culture we want to be respectful of what everyone has gone through and however not avoid it and act like we're not on planet Earth. Ok well let's talk about your animated series Big Mouth an animated series about a group of friends going through puberty having a difficult time dealing with the physical and emotional changes and Nick you co-created co-wrote and star in it and John you're one of the stars in it you play best friends. Nick you created the series with a longtime friend how did you decide to do a series about the changes of puberty. Well my my friend Andrew Goldberg who I've known since 1st grade and we became best friends in middle school he also came out to Los Angeles and became a writer for Family Guy and he came to me with 2 friends he worked with Mark Levin and Jennifer flack it and they came to me one day with an idea about an animated show about the Andrew and I in that sort of middle school period and it immediately resonated with me as a as a really interesting area for a show especially animation and so we kept talking and built it into this thing that really became about kids going through puberty or in my particular case not going through puberty because. I was a very late bloomer. Whereas Andrew hit puberty very young very hard he had a full He had a mustache by like 6th 7th grade which is father made his mother wax off. And there were many years where he could grow a full beard except on his upper lip like a little spot right in the middle of his lip which we ventured jokingly called a reverse Hitler mustache. And so it was really about these 2 boys who could be best friends but be incredibly different places physically and the challenges of both of those things so your character is based on you John Maloney you play Andrew the aforementioned friend of Nick's describe your character on the show a my character Andrew is in rapid puberty mode. As as the real mazing writer and you're Goldberg went through there's a lot of body here appearing there's a lot of compulsion is appearing And what's great about big mouth is these are echoed always by the character of the hormone monster voiced by Nick who was sort of lives in Ender's brain and next to him as a as a creature just kind of symbolizing all of the very mixed weird feelings young injury is having and a lot of the physical manifestations Yeah I think we when we were discussing the show Andrew and Mark and Jen were originally talking like about the idea that you know there's this guy who sort of essence that's around Andrew you know like a kind of like a hormone monster and then they approach me about and they're like We think there should be sort of like a hormone monster and I mediately just said to yourself and. And that became sort of the that it was a Ok great and this is why you can do something like this animated is because you can then begin to personify these feelings and emotions that are kind of destroying and helping to form all these kids you're a 13 year old and you're going through life looking like a 13 year old and inside you you know the Burning Man festival is. And the hormone monsters personified this is like dragon like creature that that Nick you boys yes you know and it's always kind of like egging everybody egging the 2 guys on to like go ahead in cancer or like go ahead watch more porn and too much and occasionally I mention. On the radio Yeah yes yes and but then occasionally critiquing Andrew which I've always liked you know because it's an id that has it's an. I don't know enough about Freud in language it's an it also has a super ego it's an it has a conscience I'll say yes sometimes goes like well. I think it's how you feel in puberty you're like This is natural I should do this is this natural should you. So I want to play a clip this is from the 1st episode of Big mouth which is by the way on Netflix and so your 2 characters are talking about like who knows how to kiss who's actually already kissing girl so you're talking about kissing and here's the clap hasn't even kissed a girl I guarantee it none of us have not you know one tongue anyway of course because when you do kiss a girl to make it official there's got to be tongue major time you want to flick your tongue around dealy you really want to get your tongue underneath her yeah you want to get in there like a cleric tend to just dissolve Yeah yeah we know what we're talking about it's nice to talk like men yeah. Who had allergies as a kid you know. She's always Yeah I think both of us I didn't have many allergies at that age I've always had Exuma and I've only realised in later years that I can attribute it to allergies I always had acne and I took an antibiotic for it and. My wife was asking me recently like how long did you take that I was like I think 3 years ago was it every day for 3 years like yeah I think so yeah it didn't work do you remember your 1st kiss. I do yes my 1st kiss was a Truth or Dare and so I don't even know if that counts but I was on the back of a bus on a way back from a bar mitzvah and it was with my friend Lizzie Gould who. Actually did the character of Jesse voiced by Jessi Klein is based on loosely and and it was I didn't know what I was doing and I just jammed my tongue down her throat. And she felt very strongly made it very clear that I was not doing it right and I in later years would have been like yeah that's very fair that's a very fair critique. John yours oh yes I kissed a girl named Mary who I had a huge crush on and when I had a crush it was you know like Stop the presses crush everyone had to know. I had to tell her and everyone around her and everyone in school and put billboards of up about it they were exhausting and she was my great crush and I did get to kiss her once and that was the only time. I was really on her I did not I was not able to ever play anything cool so I might have been like thank you for just going to love you so much. But you know we you know so we and I think in the 1st episode I have my 1st kiss and it sort of reenact that sort of just just throwing my tongue into her mouth and but but we then in the 2nd episode is a it is actually based on our friend Liz She told us after we had created the show she's like you know I actually got my period for the 1st time on a class trip to the Statue of Liberty and we thought that would make a great 2nd episode because I think our goal was to British obit what it's like for boys going through puberty because we were boys and we understand that but also taken. Equal look at what what it's like for girls and women in the process of going through puberty which I think has not been quite as explored in most like popular culture so in this episode where. The class is on a class trip to the Statue of Liberty and Jesse gets her 1st period while wearing white shorts because Yasser made her wear white shorts to school that say it's a horrible experience for her. And on the bus ride home. The school bus ride home. It's animated so you can do this you have a temp on walking down the aisle of the bus singing in the manner of our Everybody needs to the melody of everybody hurts and I want to play a clean verse from that good luck we go on here we go. What do you want your minds get back on the bus. That last phrase you heard was Nick role as the clueless coach who is overseeing the bus sorry that weird moment is actually Fred Armisen doing the bus driver in that. Particular the bus driver Ok I'm yes Meminger is the coach Ok yes no but I do like a couple things one if someone just turned on like was like when I get in my car and it's just on n.p.r. And fresh air comes up when they hear that song I think that's the incidental music yeah. But that is by the way the gentleman who sings that song and who wrote the music and who writes almost all the music on big mouth is Mark Rivers who I've worked with for a long time he did a bunch of music on Croll show and he was unbelievably talented part of this episode is about how upsetting the idea of menstruation is for boys who are just learning about it and John your character is just kind of traumatized by that and trying to be trying to help but yes yes very shaken up interest what was it upsetting for you when you learned about. I didn't say it was a setting to learn about menstruation I will admit I fainted during the miracle of life video during the actual reveal the reveal that's a medical term. When a baby came out I was like whoa what is happening there and then I hit the floor and that didn't happen once Terry that happened 3 times. 3 separate years a separate years did they make you watch than yours if you fail the 1st time and they kept showing it to you subsequent years when they should have because you know what one must see and know but I was not prepared at that moment we're just happily watching this video. That was I think made in 1902. With era appropriate clothing and. The 1st time I was like what's that and I hit the Florida 2nd time was like I think they're going to show that video again got to play it cool don't thing and then then man offended and then the 3rd year everyone was looking at me being like he's going to faint as soon as the baby comes out and the pressure of all of that I think gave me a panic attack and I collapsed. My guests are comics and actors John McClane and Nick Kroll they voiced the characters of 2 best friends in the Netflix animated comedy series big mouth which crawl co-created will be back after a break this is Fresh Air. This is Fresh Air Let's get back to our interview with comics and actors Nick role and John Mulaney they voice the characters of 2 best friends in the Netflix animated comedy series big mouth about a group of kids going through puberty co-created the series so John told us a little bit about his experience learning the facts of life in school and fainting Yes What was your experience I could tell you Nic. Well I had 2 older sisters and an older brother and so I definitely got some really good information from my so I mean I remember seeing one of my older sisters getting her period I mean not seeing it but I remember her crying in the bathroom and I was probably like 7 or 8 at the time but I remember I have weird flashes of you know how you have like screen grabs of moments and so I remember that I definitely learned I would feel very grateful for having older sisters because I feel like they were very helpful to older sisters are incredibly helpful to younger brothers and explaining how things are happening and what women are thinking and I was very grateful for that in school I don't I don't remember a ton of information from school I mean I remember remember watching a video called like am I normal and there was a I remember a couple boys walking along and then they see a I think like a janitor at their school and the there's 2 animals having sex in the janitor points out the animals having sex which now seems like a sex crime runs. But at the time was I So I think was supposed to sort of explain what was happening in a very indirect way so Nick since you had older sisters did they kind of warn you about being crude or condescending or. Harassing to girls. Yeah and I think you know as much as they older sisters can help younger brothers in that way and then younger brothers have to figure out their way through it and we we actually there's another I'll point to another episode in season I think it's episode 7 called the head pusher and it was it's all about the idea of like of truly about consent and my older sister in the show Leah played by Kat Dennings. Has a boy that she likes and they start making out and then he pushes her head down to do something that she doesn't want to do and she sort of says I don't want to do that he tries it again and then she ends it and then there's a discussion amongst all of the kids about you know how do you get someone to do that thing you want to do and and Leah says Well you ask and the younger boys are in this conversation too and they're like That seems very uncomfortable it's like well then you don't get that and it's like well fair enough I'd rather just not have a conversation you know and I think in that episode that conversation happens in a Seinfeld diner Yes it can be good turns into us yes Seinfeld thing about the head push you know not a fan of the head. But it was I think it was it was emblematic of a bunch of stuff and this was before everything that sort of happened in or in recent or all the the revelations of the last year but we wrote it before that and I'm incredibly grateful that I had older sisters to help me navigate that stuff that you have older sisters I have an older sister in an older brother and a younger sister and. I think while we didn't talk about sex much at home ever. Except during like if we were watching working girl in our parents when I get out of the room right now. That would come up but as much in my development as a human they were absolutely essential even if we might have been a little uptight just how much was your idea of manhood or you know like a teenage hood based on like gross out teen movies that were so popular when you were coming I think oh not much I didn't relate to those or the the sort of outward hormone monster ness of them are you talking about movies in like the seventy's or the ninety's I guess they were there so I guess I'm just going to interrupt and help clarify John a little bit he was less formed by the gross movies of like the late eighty's and ninety's and I think more like me and why I think we've ended up working together we were 4 more by the movies like all that jazz. Yeah we bit off way more than we could chew in a sense it was a little more sophisticated this sort of let's party party party and. The Enforcer also to have sex with us yes yes those were like Yeah those are like what you know . No I did not relate to that I think Nora Ephron movies also rang true to me from a very young as well this is yeah that's what it's like if you just talk and talk and talk and you like them and you never say it well I just have some very sexy dancing and yes it's Oh yes I will and it's a again it's there's a version of Roy Scheider in that movie as Bob Fossey who's hormone monster is very much in control of his actions and so there's stuff about that that we loved and then things looking back and that's that's a complicated bad dude you know. My guests are Nick roll and John Maloney who voice the characters of 2 best friends in the Netflix animated comedy series Big Mouth We'll talk more after a break and film critic David Edelstein will review the new thriller Red sparrow starring Jennifer Lawrence as a ballerina turned spy I'm Terry Gross and this is Fresh Air. With. The Mubarak family foundation supports w.h.y. Wise fresh air and its commitment to sharing ideas and encouraging meaningful conversation support for n.p.r. Comes from this station and from t.i.a. For investing advice banking and retirement working to help customers achieve financial wellbeing so they can give back to the world t.i.a.a. Calls this the new success story t.i.a.a. Dot org. And from the Alfred p. Sloan Foundation developing and supporting science in film at the Sundance film festival including the thriller search in the war drama the catcher was a spy more at Sloan dot org Coming up in a half hour here on Calle w. It's your call with Rosario Rose's studio tell us what's coming up good morning or good morning haven't. Day we are going to talk about how police departments across the country deal with the white supremacists both inside the police force and outside the police force local law enforcement do not vet personnel for potential ties to racist groups and according to a classified f.b.i. Guide from April 25th teen white supremacists maintain an active presence in police departments and other law enforcement agencies recent reports also show that police ignore or even work with white supremacists at political rallies so prepare to be outraged. Every day on your call. And prepare to do something that would be armed with the information Rose thanks mate thank you. This is Fresh Air I'm Terry Gross back with comics and actors Nick roll and John Maloney who often work together as a duo on Saturday the host the Independent Spirit Awards which are like the Oscars of the independent film world you can watch it live on i.f.c. They're also working together on the Netflix animated comedy series big mouth which Croll co-created It's about a group of kids going through puberty dealing with their related body changes sexual urges confusion and embarrassment. Voice the characters of 2 kids who are best friends you know one of things I was thinking about one of the serious things I was thinking about watching episodes of Big Mouth is that yes we were talking about like that there's the hormone monster this like dragon like personification of the hormones running through the Boys and the girls' bodies who are telling them all these like crazy things to do and I was thinking about how like it's if like some of the public personalities who we now know have been sexual harassers a sexual assault hers it's as if they have this like hormone monster on their shoulder and they never stop listening to the hormone monster we you know we in the show and as we build the world out have oftentimes talked about when when to people's people's hormone monsters they come on it puberty that but and do they stick around or they go away and it's sort of as we continue to build the world were sort of we're constantly navigating what that means and I think in a certain way I think the philosophy of the show is you have this horrible monster that comes out during puberty and then slowly that that monster becomes. A part of you ness and I think depending on how you evolve it either becomes a part of you that helps you be a sexual person and figure out who and what you like and then sometimes that hormone Monsour doesn't quite get tamed and becomes a. A much bigger part of you and isn't incorporated in the most. You know equitable fashion with the rest of the person that you are becoming I think just doing anger week to week I'm always like this is just someone who's figuring out impulse control Yeah. And it's a little guy wrestling with it you know from script to script. So Jon there's an episode in which you think you might be gay cause you've watched a video with the rock and. If you feel aroused by it you think that our guy was the rock yeah like Ok maybe maybe I'm gay so you don't know how to tell if you're gay or not so you go to your friend from school who is gay who's voiced by Andrew Rannells and ask him for advice so I want to play that scene. Ok Matthew Oh look the lost and found the camera person I was wondering if you don't mind how did you know that you were. Gay Sorry you're the only gay person I know I'm the only gay person you know you know why we talking about this. Oh you think you're gay but no no well yeah I'm not sure I can see it I mean you suck at being straight Hi Andrea I just wanted to preemptively let you know that I'm not interested in you and may I say that I fully understand and I thank you for your candor You're welcome that that to your weirdly formal like the kind of gay guy who was in the Air Force and then became middle management many of my condo and there's like a sad gem in the bell that that sounds like a nice little life I've made for myself let's face it Andrew if you're asking you're probably gay probably gay Well what does that even mean not my job I have morning announcements and you have like passé. Seen from big mouth which you heard the voice of my guest from Laney and her Rannells Also with us is Nick Kroll who co-created this here is and plays one of the leads in it so John in your stand up comedy you've talked about how people assumed that you were gay when you were coming of age why did they assume that and what was that experience like for you I think maybe due to very surface level things that are stereotypical and not nuanced they're very sophisticated just I wasn't athletic maybe didn't seem as masculine as they thought I'm not sure but obviously those are things that I guess maybe as a teenager people would would pick up on and go like you're bad at basketball but nothing nothing of substance. I had good self-esteem and I would be abs. And this to say I was not bullied in any way for that and. It was I think one thing people would joke about occasionally and I what I was weirdly formal as Andrew is you know on the show do you think maybe I am gay. Yeah of course Yeah I think that was yeah I think yeah Ok yeah I think that's the truth is is a lot of people. As especially in that when you're all the sudden thrust into sort of sexuality and desire I think it would be untrue for most people to be like at some point like where am I on this journey where my actually going to be following Why am I not like him why am I not yeah yeah like why am I not purely just going after this one thing or what does this all mean and I think people are kids are struggling with that at that age and truthfully as you see people going through your life like people are figuring it out throughout the rest of their lives. And I think we wanted to sort of address that that concept that that sexuality I don't I don't think we're trying to formally say sexuality on a spectrum but I think that like you know like I mean I have I've had those questions where I'm like well geez I've been best friends with John for a long time I love hanging out with them I don't know if I want to sleep with them but I really love spending time with them what does that mean about me and I I hope John's wife is listening to this and I don't get the 2nd by why wouldn't why you unclear on. How did you both meet. We met my freshman year of college in my senior year of college I auditioned for the college improv group called the Georgetown players improv group I wanted to do comedy but strangely I didn't want to audition that day my guy down the hall was going to audition and was I come along to this and I I guess I don't know just 18 year old lethargy I was like now I went and my friend did not get in and I did get it and I met Nick at that audition Yeah I was the I don't want to brag Terry but I was the director of the George some players improv group when I was a senior in college and. It was that was I think the 1st time that I held auditions for anything when I was sort of in charge of something and there are a bunch of talented folks who came through including our friend Jacqueline Nowak who's a really funny stand up who was cast the same years John and we'd been cast by and I had my character yes dear friend and yeah I mean yes Mike Birbiglia cast me in the group or you had to do a sketch show my freshman year and. But I saw John audition and I just immediately was like wow this kid is funny and we then did improv for that whole year in college and then we just clicked and immediately enjoyed working together and and simultaneously becoming very good friends and and then I graduated and moved to New York and John started coming to New York I started coming to visit uninvited and would sleep on next couch and just kind of followed you around and he was doing like open mikes and I did not know that world at all and so we started kind of doing that and started writing things together pretty soon after it was one of the 1st bits you did together. We did a thing the 1st thing we wrote together when I moved to New York and John was still in school we wrote a piece together a video. Cavalcade of personalities it was like a newsreel that you'd see in a movie theater from the thirty's about a Big Society gathering cavalcade of personalities and there's you know there's chuckles find the toast of Omphale watch out ladies Hill variably abuse you. And j.p. Morgan are the worst man in America so we kind of wrote that together and then and then I assembled a bunch of people from who I'd started to meet around comedy and John was still in school and flew up and for the weekend we shot it and and I flew up I took a bus he did so. And then we you know I was before You Tube and that's when we submitted around to festivals and it was a very early piece for me to sort of begin to show whatever are comedic voices would be witches things that people were deeply not interested Yeah lightly anachronistic things that some people like and it won the e.c. And why the emerging comics of New York award for best short film and I was in college and I consider dropping out because that's such a big. Let me reintroduce you here if you're just joining us my guests are comics and actors Nick role and John Maloney and they are hosting the Independent Spirit Awards this Saturday and you can see it on i.f.c. And here basically like the indie Oscars. And then they also you can hear them both in the animated series Big Mouth a series about kids going through puberty Nick created this series and John and Nick play the 2 leads in it so want to take a short break and then be right back this is Fresh Air. Support for n.p.r. Comes from this station and from early college offering students the epic Advantage program of funded internships or research experiences open to all students learn more at her alum dot edu slash always and from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting This is Fresh Air and if you're just joining us my guests are comics and actors John Maloney and Nick role and they've been a comic duel together for many years in addition to doing independent things for instance John Mulaney wrote for years for Saturday Night Live and co-created the character of Stefan and you know Nick roll had his own t.v. Series and also was in the movie loving as the a.c.l.u. Lawyer and is in a forthcoming movie about hunting Eichmann so I can yes correct Ok you know and they're both in the animated series big mouth which is about kids going through puberty and Nicole co-created the animated series Nikki you're Jewish I went to a Jewish day school and John you're Irish and went to Catholic school was having gone to some form of a religious school something that was bonding are something that was really different between the 2 of you because there were different religions. I think will one even though John is an Irish Catholic kid from Chicago I think he has the soul of unlike an elderly Jewish man on the Upper West Side thank you truly thank you thank you that means a lot. So I but I think I guess there's something to having Gonda versions of parochial schools that you know they're not public school they're not a regular like your run of the mill private school that I think. Either give you a specificity into I maybe I'm literally formulating this as we speak but maybe there's something to the idea that you know you're not only going to a regular school but you're also learning Bible studies you're learning these old stories that aren't necessarily things that everybody knows about but they're but they're end up being whether you take them as as rote or they just become interesting stories of analogies or metaphors for life and you learn extremes Yeah I feel like comedy comes from a lot of extremes extreme behavior and extreme circumstances and I think being a parochial schools too you kind of are like green with this Yes And so you end up began to be beginning to look at things from an outsider's point of view like we were uniforms so I never had to worry about what to wear as a kid but it was like you know how do you how do you stand out while wearing a uniform right and I had a comedy question we had to wear a yarmulke as to school and if we didn't we had to go to the office and buy them and house like I don't want to be an anti-Semite so early but I. But I just was like this seems I just remember getting in arguments about the Arab Israeli conflict and like 7th grade and being like I don't know if I exactly fit in this mold here did either of you practice the religion when you got out of school. No Yeah a little like a sometimes it be like maybe that be comforting Yeah I am not an active church goer but it still it made it in before the garage door closed in my brain you know it's in there you know we've talked about how you were both friends in college and started working together in improv in college and have stayed friends and and comedy partners ever since. If I understand correctly you both auditioned for Saturday Night Live on the same day and John you got a job on Saturday Night Live as a writer as a result of that in addition to nick you walked away not I chose not to be cast. Nic I'm wondering what that was like for you to have somebody who you had been a comedy partner with who was a dear friend and he was getting this job that every comic dreams of and you weren't I mean that's that's painful it was you know it I wouldn't describe it as painful I would describe it as hard and challenging and it's the truth is being incredibly close with John and being comedy partners with him on various projects I am incredibly envious of his believable talents. And yet I simultaneously couldn't be happier for anything that happens to him because I believe he's so towns and he works so hard that he deserves everything that he's gotten. So John when you are on Saturday Night Live you co-created the character stuff on that Bill Hader played Weekend Update and it was a character that would always come on and talk about like the night life scene was like This club has everything and you'd like and Stefan would list all these absolutely ludicrous things that the club had. Had you yes this was during the time in New York where Mayor Bloomberg. Was trying to shut down a lot of. Pop up clubs and things these were just a party would just be like a space to remember that on the website I would have been abandoned ship and to be apart yeah yeah and there's a program called silent nights trying to stop a lot of this and yes it was a vocative of that. 20000 What were some of the more ludicrous things that you included in the stuff on character that you actually heard about for real. I believe the only real jumping off point was grown men dressed as babies. I heard about you and from there and you know from there we extrapolated a few years such as. Such as you've heard of black yellow the black Dracula but we have a Jewish Dracula and sat that's what's his name and Bill said Sidney Applebaum. You've also you know in addition to your successes you've had failures you both had t.v. Shows that failed Nick for you it was caveman what which was a series based on the Geico insurance ad caveman character a flawless concept Asli I confess I never saw the series but I couldn't figure out like why would somebody create a series based on like a main character Terry think it was the canary in the minds of network television just like people being like What are we going to do. Payback that's the thing John you're experience was more personal in the sense that like Nick wasn't his concept to do the show for your show is called Maloney. And he played a version of yourself. I think that that must have been like a real personal rejection when when the show failed after about 3 months. Oh yes from the time it aired it was 3 weeks but oh well you can work out for a while. Yes it was more personal indeed when when your biggest fear is seeing the words millennia isn't funny printed in many many publications and sometimes in stronger language you have to confront that So yes it was more personal but you both recover from that I. It took a little time I mean man it was like just being all shot out of this guy or being given a Corvette and crashing it immediately but I found within a few months that. I just was like wow this is failure is interesting and. Kind of a blessing I mean failure is you can learn so much from it and I think I did. And then I guess also just timing wise I went on tour and did that special the comeback kid and then Nick and I were simultaneously working on oh hello off Broadway those were 2 things that had no other larger entities dictating and we were doing what we liked. And so I got very lucky that that happened then so when this interview ends are you going to go and write more jokes for the Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday yes we exactly what we're going to do Terry we're going to spend the rest of this week writing jokes and running them at night hopefully finding. Finding the funniest one of us will drive and one of us will have the dome light on reading a sheet of joe. Yeah and there's no better way to spend a week there is not isn't so much fun to talk with you both thank you so much thank you Terry Terry we love listening to fresh air both of us and to be on it is like a true true milestone for both of us thank you for having us. And John Laney voiced the characters of 2 best friends in the Netflix animated comedy series big mouth the host the Independent Spirit Awards the Oscars of the independent film world on Saturday you can watch the ceremony on i.f.c. After we take a short break film critic David Edelstein will review the new thriller Red sparrow starring Jennifer Lawrence as a ballerina turned spy This is Fresh Air. Thanks . It's. Our. Thanks. This is Fresh Air Film critic David Edelstein has a review of the new thriller Red sparrow starring Jennifer Lawrence as a Russian prima ballerina turned spy It's directed by Francis Lawrence who worked with the actress in the last 3 films in The Hunger Games series. Jennifer Lawrence is a wonderful dramatic and comic actress but she can't pass for the star of the Bolshoi Ballet the so-called pride of Russia in the espionage thriller Red sparrow her general gawky miss the kind that's bred out of Russian dancers is central to or charm and though it's fun to watch her stretch and hold her neck like a prima ballerina for the 1st time on screen she's a stiff it doesn't help that her character becomes a spy which forces Lawrence to muzzle the openness that made her a star and it really doesn't help that the script is a bloody mess red Sparrow is a long slog almost 2 and a half hours but it is interesting as another in a line of female centric spy thrillers that began in 1990 with Luke disowns La Femme Nikita The idea is that a woman's power is double edged as a sparrow a spy recruited based on her attractiveness Laurence's Dominique is trained to use her body and feminine wiles as a weapon to entrap men but that training for the most part overseen by men in slaves or both physically and psychologically that idea isn't just the subtext of red sparrow it's explicit in every scene her leering uncle a Russian intelligence higher up played by Mathias shown Art's essentially pimps are out after a career ending injury she goes along to pay her fragile mother's medical bills another higher up lectures her your body belongs to the state given the amount of nudity Lawrence does it belongs to the studio too though she was obviously better paid than her character. The minimal suspense comes from whether Dominic will be able to take back ownership of her body and what will happen if she falls in love with the target of her mission as agents in these sorts of movies tend to do he's Nate Nash an American CIA operative played by Joel Edgerton and Dominique is assignment is to ascertain the name of a mall way up in the ranks of Russian intelligence she travels to Vienna where she puts on a bathing suit to catch his eye they meet again at a reception I don't want to go to. You know my name. You told me. Take. Care. That's a fascinating scene she's there in cognito but since he knows who or uncle is he's been on to her from the get go which means he knows she's a sparrow and she knows he knows but she goes on with the mission as if he doesn't which means she could pretend to go over to his side to get the name of the mall which means he might guess she's only pretending and play her which means she might guess what he's. Doing and play him back you see the problem here figuring out whether someone is a double or triple agent isn't a brain teaser it's a brain irritant especially when the script is so murky and convoluted the novel by Jason Matthews is cleaner without so much jumping around I don't know why there are so few sparks between Lawrence and Joel Edgerton it feels as if scenes were cut though I wouldn't want red Sparrow to be any longer. The movie has its good points Lawrence's Russian accent is actually respectable materia shown arts makes the uncle whose nickname is Vanya unnervingly slippery and as a Russian general Jeremy Irons does his amusing impersonation of Boris Karloff after him bombing I liked the sly lesbian subtext Charlotte Rampling gives to dominate as I see trainer there's a graphically violent scene near the end that the director Francis Lawrence stages well but the movie isn't involving So you have nothing to do but grimace at one bad note after another and think the Russians could have devised a better plot and maybe they have David Edelstein is film critic for New York magazine if you'd like to catch up on fresh air interviews you missed like our interview with psychologist and journalist Lauren Slater about drugs that treat depression and bipolar disorder and about research into the use of psychedelic drugs to treat certain problems related to anxiety check out our podcast you'll find lots of our interviews. Fresh Air's executive producer is Danny Miller our interviews and reviews are produced in edited by any Salat for this Meyers Sam Briger Lauren Krenzel. Challenger and said Kelly our engineer today is Adam Standish asking I'm Terry Gross. You. See a. Few. Support for n.p.r. . And from Cancer Treatment Centers of America. Personalized treatment options to address patients' individual needs more about precision cancer treatment Cancer Center dot com from the Jacob and Valeria Lang foundation supporting the health and wellbeing of under-served populations Lang loft dot org. Spoken at the Jewish community center of San Francisco on. The scientific secrets to good timing. Work. On the next open air you'll hear about wax poets the Oakland based arts and performance collective from artistic director choreographer Heather Stockton the spring will talk about the premiere of her dance installation of this weekend plus will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Bay Area symphony with a visit from music director Dawn harms and special guest Soprano Patricia I'm David Latulippe it's open air Thursday afternoon at one. Tonight on work with Marty Nemko should a woman who's kinetically predisposed to breast cancer have a prophylactic mastectomy should a severely mentally ill person father a child as we learn more about where genes control genetic counselors help ever more I'll talk with Kimberly Barr about what it's really like to be a genetic counselor Plus you can call in for work over on work with morning Emco tonight every Thursday from 78 pm Here are 91.7 f.m. K o w San Francisco. White supremacist maintain an active presence and us police departments and other law enforcement agencies that's according to a classified f.b.i. Counterterrorism policy guide from April 2015 which was obtained by the enter Sept how widespread is this and what is being done about it well not much according to reports local law enforcement do not vet personnel for potential ties to racist groups also Recent reports show that police ignore or even work with white supremacists at political rallies and today's your call we are discussing how law enforcement is dealing with the white supremacists inside and outside of police departments join us after the news. Hello I'm Marion Marshall with the b.b.c. News President Donald Trump has said he plans to impose winching tariffs on imported steel and aluminum imports which is blamed for harming us producers Mr Trump said he was going to rebuild the American steel and aluminum industries which had been treated unfairly by other countries the decades by economics correspondent Andrew Walker reports the Commerce Department offered President Trump a number of options tariffs or quotas on how to restrict steel and aluminum imports he said there will be tariffs of 25 percent for steel and 10 percent for Aluminum the options proposed were either tariffs on imports from all countries or just from specified nations at a higher rate it's not immediately clear which he has chosen but it is clear that China the target of some of his strongest criticism on trade will be affected Chinese and European officials had already said they would respond to any imposition of new barriers the American government has said it's fully prepared after President Putin revealed that Russia was creating a new arsenal of nuclear weapons and he.
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