Rob Riggle

looking at me and they were baffled. They were absolutely baffled, like what is this guy has a major malfunction? How do you can you not say wald In Paul Pack? And I can't explain it. It's just one of those moments where you're like, I'm so sorry. I wanted to die. I wanted to go crawl. I wanted to dive off that boat and die. Hey everybody, I'm Rob Riggle. You may know me. The office is Captain Jack or the Hangover step brothers are. The other guys are dub Dubbert

two or st I'm sorry. Also, I love Karate. Hello, everybody, and welcome to a brand new episode of Off the Beat. I am your host, Brian Baumgartner, and as you just heard, I am sitting down today with the comedic genius that is Rob Riggle. Now, Rob, I don't know if many of you know this, Robin's led a double life, and I mean that, of course, in a non traitorous way. In fact, quite the opposite. Rob served as a US Marine for over twenty years, and during that time he

actually asked to be stationed in New York City. Why because, as he was a marine, he wanted to begin his career in comedy. You've seen him in tons of your favorite shows, from Modern Family to New Girl, Arrested Development, He's been on SNL, He's been on The Daily Show. But his most iconic role, well, it has to be right the skipper to Michael Scott's Gilligan, the captain of the Booze Cruise, Captain Jack. So if you'd like to feel a little bit like an underachiever, but in the

best of ways, you are in luck, my friend. You can't help feeling that way after this here. He is the incredibly hard working and disciplined and hilarious I love him. He's a golfer. Rob Wriggle. Everyone, Bubble and Squeak. I love it. Bubble squig, Bubble and squeaker. Cookie every month left over from the nut people. Hello, Hello, Ryan, Ambassador Wriggle, p x G Ambassador Wriggle. That's shrat. I mean, it's not a state department title, but it's up there. It's close,

this close. How's it going, good, Bud? How are you nice to see you? I know it's good to see you. It's been a few months here now, I know, I know, I do. I do run into mutual friends though quite a bit. Oh you in uh in Phoenix? Yeah? Out of Phoenix. I think I mentioned where's Brian? Why did't he had out here? Where's it? What's going on? So? I know I was a little busy last week, but I would have loved Did you hit the green on sixteen? Briefly? I did my my shot with a lot of penash

and a lot of flair. We had two shots, right, you had the one when you're actually playing in the program, and then the other one was for charity. So on the program portion, I hit it and it starts leaking out to the right uh h it's getting worse. It's getting way worse. It hits the grandstand, hits it and shoots like a hundred miles an hour across the green, almost all the way over to the other side. Uh so, no, I mean it rolled across the green, So I did

have there was time on the green. Did you get booed? No? I didn't because there was so much flare around because it was such a shocking shot. I actually got laughs, So I'll take the laughs over the booze. But then when I went back for charity, I put it like fifteen ft away, So well, there you go. There's nothing like that scene, yes, but but sixteen sixteen of Phoenix, the whole Phoenix thing is probably one of the most electric environments, not only in golf, it's just sports. Right.

Are we becoming the like Bob Hope and I don't know who else of like the celebrity golf circuit now? Yes, I hope. I hope there's a generation of rat pack esque wandering nomad golfer cock tailors in this world. And I hope we're part of it. I hope we're part of it too. How good was Bob? Was Bob really good or did he just love the game? He loved the game. I think, you know, he was probably like tenor twelve handicapped, I'm guessing perfect, but but he loved

the game and was dedicated to it for sure. I know he's always going between Palm Springs and l A and that's right. Yeah, he loved it. All right. Thank you for coming on and talking to me. I want to start by going way back. I understand what you were born in Kentucky, the birthplace of my father as well, but early on moved to Kansas, and Kansas was really important to you growing up. What was your experience growing up there in Kansas. I couldn't ask for about a childhood.

I don't think. I was blessed with two loving parents and a wonderful sister, so I wouldn't trade a minute of it. I lived in suburbia, you know, Overland Park, Kansas, which is a nice suburb just outside of Kansas City, and uh, football in the fall and basketball in the winter, and baseball in spring and going to the pool and hanging out with your friends down to the creek in the summer. You know, I mean, it was a pretty idyllic childhood. So yeah, I loved it. I wouldn't I

wouldn't trade it for anything. Were you more interested in in sports or the arts growing up? Where where was your focus as a kid? I was a terrible student. Okay, I was a great listener, but I just I got bored very easily. So it's self entertained, which probably why what we ended up in life in the arts. But athletics, though, kind of grounded me and gave me some discipline and kind of gave me a little something to hang my

hat on, to have a little self esteem about. You know, when you're not great in the classroom, you want somebody to say something nice about you or have something that you shine at. And so athletics were a big part of my life because I got kudos that way. I got recognition, positive recognition, and you know, in the classroom, I didn't tell you know I was. I was a C and B student. And it wasn't until probably my junior senior year in high school that I started to

kind of apply myself a little more. Takes some of the discipline I had in sports and apply it to the classroom, and I got a little bit better and I got a little more confidence you know. It's one of those things too, where somebody tells you when you're young that you're no good is something, and that's just it. You're labeled that you believe it kind of just say

well that's the way that is. You don't know any better, You don't you don't have the tools to overcome it, or say well, actually I challenged that, or I don't believe that, or so you go, oh yeah, they say I'm a slow reader. That's me. I was a low reader, you know. And then I'll go out and try to be better at basketball or better at football or whatever it was. You know. So athletics was was definitely a part of my self esteem, self worth, um and discipline.

But I also my junior and senior year, I started to come out of my shell Moore. I started to get more confidence, and so I was on the high school radio and television station. We had a thing called forensics in my high school, which was like acting and improvised acting, and I liked it because you didn't have to commit to doing you know, my fair Lady for the entire spring or whatever for the big spring production.

And I couldn't sing to save my life. I still I only really nail it when I've had too much to drink in it scaraoke night, and then I'm pretty and I'm pretty awesome, at least I think so. I think I'm pretty awesome, but I could never sing. So but the forensics allowed me to try acting and try little scene work, and I loved it. I absolutely loved it. And then when I got to college, I started again

to look into theater and film. I ended up becoming a theater and film major at the University Kansas, and I loved it. I mean, our stories are somewhat similar. I was very sports focused early on. I would say there was for me a seminal moment between junior and senior year of high school where I was, you know, sort of dabbling in theater or acting or you know, doing shows, where for me there was a real shift where I went, oh, no, this is what I want

to do. I want to be an actor. Did you have that moment when you were in Kansas or making the decision to study. Was it still just fun or a way to to pass college, or or were you like, oh, this is what I want. That's so interesting. I thought about it, but I haven't really drilled down on it. I think it was always there. It was a passion that I just didn't believe in. I didn't trust it. I didn't think it was possible. So I thought it's a waste of time. White Honestly, this is late eighties,

early nineties in Kansas. You know, there's a whole lifetime of conditioning, not from my parents necessarily, but from them as well, but from coaches and teachers and peer group and other people's parents, and you know, all these people that I respected that we're like, oh, you know, we love acting. Acting is great, but what are you really gonna do? You know, you're gonna obviously have something else, and you're not putting all your eggs in the acting basket.

That's not a plan. It's it's cute, but it's not a plan. So what are you really gonna do? It's you know, And so I would be like, oh, well, yeah, no, of course, yeah, of course I'm not going to just do that. I've got other big plans. And but the truth was, you know, I was a fan of comedy and acting my whole life. I just didn't think it

was in the cards. You know, I thought the odds, I'm I gamble, I know the odds on things right, and the odds were like, yeah, chances are the most acting I was gonna do is probably be right here in Lawrence's Lawrence, Kansas is not gonna go beyond this. Uh So, what do I really got to do? Because I am going to have to leave the house. Back then, you were expected to leave the house at twenty two. There was no grace period, you know, once you graduated.

You know, my dad had the plate breaking ceremony, Break the plate and you're on your own, boy, good luck. You know. I was expected to start my life and so so act. I just never believed it was possible. Not because for a little boy from Kansas, none of that stuff. I'm just saying. I didn't like the odds. I didn't like the odds of it actually happening. So I didn't necessarily commit heart and soul to it, which I learned that's required, that's required for your dreams at

a certain points. Yeah, at some point, you're gonna have to commit heart and soul. You're gonna have to take the leap of faith, You're gonna have to risk it. You're gonna have to be so uncomfortable you're gonna have to go through a lot of fear and a lot of pain and a lot of failure. And nobody wants those things. Nobody wants to fear the pain or the failure. But that's you know, all the cliches are true. That's where your dreams are on the other side of all

of that stuff. And if you can get through all of that stuff, chances are you got a good shot at getting your dream. So I didn't believe it. So I actually got my pilot's license when I was in college, and I got a guaranteed flight contract with the Marine Corps, and I was like, all right, I've always wanted to serve, So I was like, yeah, this will be great. I'll go do some my my time. I'll serve, I'll fly planes. You know, I'm twenty two years old, with my hair

on fire. I got my pilots licesnse, this will be great. You know, I'm living my top gun fantasy. This is whoo uh. Well, as I got into flight school and it was great, it was fun, but the passion wasn't there. I didn't have the passion like I go out to the bar with guys in my flight class, and they'd be talking with their hands. We're like, oh, man, I did a breakup with Rendezvousdadana is about thirty seconds off and I lost him in the cloud and I must

to drop two thousand three delevation. And I'm saying, going, yeah, okay, that's awesome, but that you know, do we have to talk out it now? Because the girls over there, let's go talk to them, you know. And so I realized, you know, they were passionate, like that's what they're calling was they wanted? And I could tell I don't know if my passion is where it needs to be. So then I actually started doing some very interesting soul searching at a very young age. I still didn't asking questions.

I was like, what do I want? What do I really want? What am I passionate about? What I what would get me out of bed every day and make me run to the door and put up with things I wouldn't already put up with? Just what would I do? What is it? About? That time I get a call from a friend I went to KU with and he was up in Chicago doing improv Olympic and Second City and all these improv things, and he said, um, hey, real well, I'm doing this long form improv up here.

It's what we did in college, but it has a name. It's called improv because we used to do bits. We used to do characters, we said, you know, and and we would just sit there and riff in the car, in our room at a bar where we were. We'd actually fall into these root scenes and routines and we call them bits or whatever. But we didn't know. We just thought we were being funny. We just thought we were super funny. He goes, no, it's there's actually structure

to it and it's a real thing. And he goes, personally, I think you would do very very well up here. I think you're better than some of the people that are up here and they're getting success. And that seed planted very firmly in my mind, and it was all coming at the right time. When he said that, something inside me lit and it made me believe and I was willing to bet on myself for the first time, I think maybe in my entire life. I mean, I

bet on our team. And you know, I was always good as a team work, but for me to be the you know, that never happened. So that was the turning point for me where I said, Okay, well I looked at my contract and it's like, oh yeah, eight years after you pin on your wings and on this I was like, oh god, So I had to stop flight school become a ground officer because if I didn't do that, I would have been a twenty year active

duty marine flying planes. And that was fine. I would had a great life, but it wouldn't I would have never tried acting in comedy. And I can live with the failure more than I can live without knowing. So I switched to the ground side. Shortened my commitment and uh. And then then I started finding my way to New York City. That was my whole, my path New York. So you you were on the path. I never realized that would have been twenty years in active military. Yeah,

and I ended up doing twenty three. Yeah. I did plan on that at all. Yeah. I mean, and you served overseas. This was the first nine years, right, Liberia, Kosovo, Albania, Afghanistan, yep. Yeah, and did several non military tours USO tours as well to Iraq and Afghanistan and places like that. That's so incredible. We truly owe you so much and I thank you as always for your service. I just respect the hell

out of you for that. Well, you're very kind. While you're doing this, you you clearly have already gotten bit by the bug and have these plans. Are you doing anything while you're in active service in terms of improv or shows? Are you what are you doing during that time to potentially help prepare you? Yeah, it was very true. It was tricky. So when I when I quit flying, I was down in um Corpus Christie, Texas, and I was about to be shipped back to Pensacola. And that's

when I made my switch to the ground side. So when I switched the ground side, they said, okay, fine. They looked at the fact that I had done all this radio and television and theater and film stuff and in college, so they said, all right, well now you're a public affairs officer. So they sent me to Defense Information School in Indiana for about four months, and then from there they sent me to North Carolina Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina, second Maarin Air Wing,

So I joined. I lived on that base for the next three years. And while I was there, I was fulfilling my my you know, my contract. There's not much to do in eastern North Carolina when you're you know, seven years old. So I went to night school. I got a master's in public administration, because you know, just idle hands with the Devil's workshop. So I just I

tried to stay busy, you know. I tried to stay kept my nights full, trying to prepare myself so that when when I was freed up from my service, I would be able to go do go do things. So the I remember the chief of staff for the second Ary in aarrowing I saw that I was, I was getting out and I just gotten promoted to captain, and he was like, why are you leaving? Why you leave with the court, Why are you leaving all this glory? You know, why I leave it, all this good stuff.

I'm like, well, you know, and I didn't. I didn't talk much about, well, I'm gonna go be a comedian, you know, I want to go be an actor, you know, because it was generally frowned upon or laughed at or teased. It's all because they just nobody gets it, and I don't have time to explain it to everybody. So I just didn't talk about I just didn't talk about it very much, but I I my intent was to go

from North Carolina to Chicago. Um, and I was going to wait tables and bartend and take classes at Second City and improv Olympic. That was that was my That was my plan. And uh the chief of staff came in and said, and he's like, what would it take for you to stay in the Marines? And I said, well, you know, so I think I want to try some things and I want to go Chicago to do what what are you doing? What do you? What are you? What are you doing such a secret? I think I

want to be an actor comedian. He's like, oh god, you know, Okay, here we go. So um he said, uh, well, what if I can get your orders to New York City or Los Angeles. And I said, well, if you can give it a new orders to New York Los Angeles, I'll I'll extend on active duty. I'll give you three more years. And uh he called my bluff. The next day, I had orders to New York City, so I said okay,

So I signed on for three more years. I moved to New York City and I was the deputy director up there for Public affairs in New York and I did Marine Corps stuff from seven to five every day. Uh, And then in the evenings, like every other body, I went home from work, but instead I went to try to do comedy. And when I first got there, I didn't know anything. I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't know where to start. I didn't have any connections.

I didn't know anything. Wow. So you you really just arrived to New York City on a wing and a prayer. How did you get started then in the comedy scene? What was your in? So? I remember there was a stand up club up in my neighborhood. I lived on the Upper east Side, the Comic Strip Live. I think Comic Strip Live on eighty three and Second Avenue. I walked by it one day because, like I said, I didn't know anybody. So literally, when I got to my neighborhood,

I just started walking in these ever expanding concentric circles. Right. I was like, Oh, there's my grocery store. There's a very dirty gristiis, I'll shop there, here's my here's a law dream Matt. That's where I'll take my clothes because I don't have washer and dryer and I found a sports bar. I was like, ah, this is a really cool sports bar. This is where I watched my sports you know, maybe me, maybe meet friends. I mean I knew, I knew no one. And I sat down started talking

to the bartender. He was English. He's, uh, you look like you big man, big man. You haven't play any rugby. I was like, no, no, you know, I saw played. I played American football. This is not all right, Well show up here next week and uh, you know, And so I started playing rugby. It turns out that sports bar was the the rugby bar for the New York Rugby Football Club, which is the oldest one in New

York whever. So is this all of a sudden. I found myself on the weekends bartending at this bar, and I didn't have a car, so I would show up and there's always a couple of guys and everybody just dog piling the cars. And we go underneath the tribe of Bridge and we practice rugby and I, you know, I'm getting smashed and the hell beat out of me, and I don't know what I'm doing. I'm tackling with my head instead of my shoulders, and so I'm getting

my bell rung every day. And but I instantly, within you know, two weeks of living there, I had all these friends and people. They were really nice, and people are like, hey, hang out with us, or what are you doing tonight? Do you want to have a beer,

and hey there's a Halloween party. And I was like this is amazing, you know, And I was having a blast, but I was getting the hell beat out of me and I you know, so after about six months of that, I realized, Okay, I quit flight school and I moved to New York for a reason, and that reason was comedy. So let's get to work. And I said that after I got my face stepped on one day and I was like, this is not good, you know, like I need to focus on comedy. So let's get to that.

Let's get to the comedy. You're in New York, You've asked to be stationed there to do comedy. How how did you art? So I stopped kind of doing the rugby thing, and I found this comedy club which is right next door to the rugby bar. That's why I found it. And I went in and they said, yeah, we teach stand up classes, and the nice guy, you know, professional comedian for years, kind of salty, grizzled, you know,

just over it, over life, over everything. But he's like, yeah, sign up, kid, you know, as he slid made a clipboard and I went in and I'm thinking my idol was Eddie Murphy. And when it comes to stand up, Eddie Murphy delirious. I just thought that was the best stand up I've ever seen. And his style was storytelling. He was a great storyteller. He would tell the story, he'd played the characters in the story. He would you know, great, he would use sound effects. He he was the most

dynamic storyteller. I remember being enthralled with him. So I thought, that's the kind of stand up I want to do. Well. Not at the comic strip Live, my friend. That's not what they teach. They teach three jokes per minute. Set up punch, set up punch, set up punch, That's how we do it. And I was so scared. I'd never done any really any public speaking, and I wasn't that good at it. And I was I was so afraid. I wasn't afraid to fly planes, I wasn't afraid to

fire machine guns and rocket lawsuits and whatever. But I was afraid to speak in front of people or tell a joke in front of people, terrified, trembling, pulse out my neck. And I remember, like I get up and I pitch an idea in class, or he goes, regally, you got a joke lest here, and I'd stand up and I'd say it, and I would bail on the joke because I was so embarrassed that, like, I wouldn't even get to the punch, I wouldn't commit to it.

I would just kind of start talking about it. And it's it's almost like Will for All and Stepbrothers and he doesn't want to sing, you know, He's like, but you know, it's just not right. It's not right. You know. The South's the lights off come with that, because it was pathetic. It was pathetic. I was so afraid all

the time. And then finally it was that it's that, okay, at the end of the class, you have to do your five minutes set oh and all the you also need to bring your friends right to buy drinks, which I was like, good god, you know, I didn't have any friends, and I definitely didn't really want me to see me, So I don't think I invited anybody, and I think I'm in trouble for it. But I went up on stage. I did five minutes. I came off the stage. I felt like I had been in some

sort of trauma, no joke. I felt like it had been in a car crash or a fist fight because my adrenaline was I've never felt it like that. It affected me in such a way that I felt like things were delayed, like people were talking to me but I wasn't hearing them. It was almost like a state of shock. It was that dramatic, which is shocking too. But they gave me a videotape and said, oh yeah, hey, regol, here's a videotape they tossed to me, and it's like, huh.

I remember. I took it home and I watched it and I started to calm down and I watched myself. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was. Uh, you know, the crowd reaction, but what to me. I couldn't hear them, I couldn't see them. I didn't listen to if they were laughing or not. I just powered through my three jokes per minute that I hated to me. None of them were funny. I hated all my material. I hated it. So I got done with that whole experience, and I was depressed because I was like, I can't

believe I gave up flying planes for this. This I made the biggest mistake of my life. I mean the biggest mistake of my life. And I was so depressed, and I remember thinking, why did I do this? What was I thinking? And I was really down on myself. And a friend of mine suggested, Hey, you know, I got a friend who does comedy. He was on Saturday Night Live. He's a really nice guy. So I call the guy and it's Dave Keckner, who is a wonderful,

wonderful human being, very gracious. His enthusiasm for life is still it's still amazing even today. Yeah. So I called up and said, hey, Dave, you don't know me. I'm sorry you know this person? Oh yeah, yeah, they told me you might be calling. What's going on, big man? I was like, well, I think I made a big mistake. I tell him my whole story is like, oh, hell, you should be doing stand up man, you gotta do it. Prov I was like, they don't have it here in

New York at that time. They didn't all there. It was Chicago City limits in New York, which is like short form improv, like improv sports games. Yeah, well here's an idea from the audience or whatever. Yeah, And so I was like, I don't want to do short form. I've gone to see their shows and it's just that that's even that seems even more stressful than do a

stand up. And He's like, no, no, no, no, I've got some good friends who just moved out here from New York from Chicago and they're starting a long form improv scene here in New York City. They're the best. You're gonna love them. You gotta go see they do a Sunday night show. It was the Upright Citizens Brigade. It was Amy Poehler, Matt Walsh, Matt Besser, and Ian Roberts with their friends Andy Richter, Horatio Sans Rachel Draft, Tina Fey, uh My, Brian Stack, you know, Miriam Toland,

all these, you know, amazing performers and amazing writers. So I went down to this rickety little black box theater on thirty six West eighteenth Street, I think or whatever. It was a nightmare. The stairs should have been condemned getting up there was a death trap anyway you go in. And I sat down. I had no idea what to expect, and I saw the asscat show that they do, and I was so shocked that I was like, they're making this up as they go along, like it's too funny,

it's too good. The characters are so specific. My head was spinning. So immediately afterward, I went up to Matt Walsh and I said, hey, I'm friends with Dave. He was, what do you think I go? Where do I sign up? Where do I want? I want to do this? This is what I want to do. So he's like, okay, great man is basically sign right here and I'll take the check. I was like, you got it, and so that's that's where it started. I started taking classes with the u c B. At that time, Amy Walsh, Bester

and Ian Roberts were the only teachers. There were four of them, and they only had three levels. And I took all three levels twice so I could have all four teachers because they were all so good and they all taught different things. And you know, a level was only eight weeks, you know, once a week, and so I took all those levels. Then I they started doing

house teams. I got on a house team, and I started playing with so many great, wonderful people Owen Burke, Paul Sheer, Rob Hubill, Chad Carter, uh Seth Morris, Brian Husky, Rob Cordrey. I mean, you know, people that are just truly still in the business and still kicking so much. But and so I feel so blessed that we all kind of came up together. I mean, we we did it all, and we did that. I did that for seven years. You know, I was teaching classes down there

on the weekends. I was whatever I had to do to be around the theater. I would do lights and tech for other people's shows just so I could watch their show, so I could get to meet them, because I thought they were so awesome or whatever. And I felt like I got a masters in sketch writing and improv and comedy in general. And you've got the most important things stage time. I got a lot of stage time down there, which allowed me to make all those

mistakes that we all make when you're starting out. And then so many things happened. I had to go away to Kosovo. Then eleven happened, and then I had to go away for a year. Then so when two thousand four came here because I moved there in to New York, and I got on Saturday Live in two thousand four and my my Oprah moment, which I'll share with you because I'm not gonna ever probably be on Oprah. But I when I quit flight school, I was down in

Corpus Christie, Texas. I wrote in a book, if I do this, because I hadn't quit anything in my life up to that point, if I do this, uh, it's got to count, it's got to matter. So what am I going to accomplish? And I wrote down, I'm gonna get on Saturday Night Live in Corpus Christie. In Corpus Christie. Now, ten years later, almost to the day, I get a call from Lawren Michaels asking me to join the cast.

So it took ten years, but it happened. Well, you know, it's so crazy because I recently talked to Dave Keckner and he was there in Missouri and that was his very specific dream as well, to get on us. And yeah, I do you know, when you if you experience it, it's hard to deny it. And when I say that, I mean the law of attraction and what you focus on you tend to get. It's not given. Just because you think about it doesn't mean it's gonna happen. You

gotta meet it halfway. You gotta work, you gotta drive, you gotta push, you gotta stay focused. If you experience it, you really believe in it. So I do believe that it's possible. I do believe it's real. It's so crazy to me hearing you talk, because I mean, it's obviously it's a part of your makeup, right, I mean, but hearing you your dedication, I mean, the part of that has to come from your childhood, from your time in

the Marines. That it's about working hard and staying committed, and that is so rare, particularly in our business, or at least in the entertainment business, if you will. It's also flip and people expect things to be given to them because of this thing or that thing, and that you showed such amazing resolve and commitment and essentially said, I don't even I don't even know what this thing is. I hear there's a couple of places in Chicago that

are good but that you persevered that is amazing. Thanks. Thanks, that's very nice. But I think you probably have a very similar journey, uh in some in some respect. I mean, I think anybody who searches for a life unique or different, or especially in the arts, they're going to meet resistance for a long time before they even get their opportunity.

So from UCB, obviously you audition, right, you audition for Lauren, You went through that process at that point, did you feel confident, had the feeling of of of leaving your body had that kind of dissipated and were you more confident on stage? Yes, I I didn't have the adrilline rush. It wasn't like I just got out of a car accident.

But the adrenaline was still very intense because after seven years of grinding every night every weekend, now this this dream that you had had kind of done everything in your power to put yourself in a position to happen. Well, now it's happening, and it's up to me. Like I I could look around the room, but there's only one

person up here auditioning. So these are these great moments in life, These are these wonderful opportunities in life where you get to have a gut check, and you get to have a conversation with yourself, you know, saying are you gonna do it? 're not gonna do it? Why did you come here? I have had so many conversations with myself out loud that if anybody was filming them, I wouldn't look like a crazy person because I do

it out loud. I actually do it out loud. Usually I do it in the privacy of my car, or you know, in in in the bathroom or something, or the golf course when I'm off in a sandtrap screaming at myself. But I remember, this is the summer of two thousand four. I had just taught a class at the u c B. It was a seven to ten pm class. I had worked all day and I got done, and all I wanted to do was go home and go to bed because I was tired. I was a

little piste. So I came out of that class and I stood on thirty feet and seventh Avenue, and I knew SNL auditions were coming up, and I knew I was behind. I didn't have it done, but I was tired, and I was afraid of you know, all these and So I'm literally standing on the corner yelling at myself, saying things like what the fun are you doing? People walking by me, and I'm going, what the funk are you doing? Are you telling me you quit flight school?

You moved up here, You've been grinding your fucking ass off for seven years, and you're just gonna go home and go take a nappy nap because you're tired. Be motherfucker fucking Marina. Get your ass down to the damp theater. Work on a motherfucking character. Literally screaming at myself to get the funk down to the theater and do it. And I had to have those kinds of conversations and it sounds hilarious, but I had to be my own

drill sergeant. I had to be my own coach. I had to be my own kick me in the ask guy because nobody was doing that. So I'm literally barking at myself to get down there. And the reason I didn't want to go down because I was not prepared. I did not have any material. So I got down there, I signed up. I'm in the green room. So I started like throwing out a few thoughts on this character, and it was an old characters. It was a far too old Jim teacher that is still teaching sex heade

classes U and has no business doing it right. And that's but that was the premise. But that's all I had. So then I said, okay, well maybe i'll try. So I get out there and I kind of walk out there with like a walker or whatever, and I started talking about penises and vaginas and it was working because I was getting last but I'm improvising the whole thing.

But I'm trying to remember that work. That worked, and it went so well that I went back into the green room and there was still time and there weren't enough people signed up. So I said, I'm gonna go back and doing another character. So I went back out and I did a recruiter who wouldn't take no for an answer. So I tried to recruit a guy in the audience. You know. I was like, hey, young man, how are you paying for college? And he's like, I don't know, my parents are really you can put the

burden on your parents. How about your man up? How about you don't? It didn't matter. I could come here and said, you know, he could say anything to me. He said, I'm a double anpt A. That's great. We got that all day. We can do that all day. I gotta wait with And I went home that night like a sucking one thirty or whatever. By the time I got home, I was so proud of myself that I had gone down there and made progress. So that was that was a good moment. But it required me

being my own coach for sure. That's amazing. Was your dream of getting on SNL? Was it everything that you had hoped that it would be? Yes, unequivocally yes, it was a total dream come true. And I wouldn't trade a minute of it. Would I do things differently knowing now, Yes, absolutely I would. I I was so green. That was the first job I had to show business. I didn't

know shipped from Shinola. I didn't know anything. I remember Amy Poehler was on the show at the time, and she's very wise and very very smart and very savvy. All I knew was the Marines and work ethic. That's really all I brought to the table. And I remember Amy pulled me aside, maybe my first or second day, and she goes congratulation. She was so happy for me because she was one of my teachers. You know, she's very happy, and I think I was the first UCB

student to actually get on the show. So she was happy that had gone through all of the classes yea, and she was super happy for me, and I was, you know, it was my dream come true. And she kind of leaned over and said, hey, don't give this place too much power. And I remember going, yeah, good,

got it. I didn't know what that meant, and instead of asking for clarity, like what do you mean, I just went yeah, yeah, good, good, good call it, good call, good call, and yeah, hindsight, now I realized I did. I did just that. I got there, and I gave that place so much power that I forgot how I even got there. I forgot. I looked around. I was like, well, I need to write with all the writers so they all get to know me. So that's what I did. I'd go knock on doors and hey, would you like

to write a sketch? Would you like to write a sketch? Would you like to drisking? So I ended up trying to please twenty masters and I please none. And again, these are all lessons you learn as you go and as you grow. So I'm not beating myself up, and I'm not judging myself. I would just do I would have done it differently. And you gotta remember too, I was the only guy hired that year. You were the only new guy. Only new guy. So I talked to Will Ferrell about it and he said, uh, well you're

kind of fucked. Go. I go, what I I don't want to hear that. What do you mean? He goes, Listen, he goes when I When I came on, the cast was only twelve, and I think they hired six of us that year. They had to use us. We were being we were gonna be in every scene no matter what. You're on a cast of fifteen and you're the only new guy. And he goes, so you know you're gonna have to do your best to try to find a way to be seen and heard. And I was like, yeah, yeah,

you know what I mean. And so it's a matter of how do I find a way? And the thing was, by anybody's standards, I had a great first year. I did you know, I made every show. I had characters get on the air. I had sketches that I co wrote get on the air. I had I did okay for a first year guy flying by himself. People thought I had a good year. I thought, I did, Okay,

you're a great year. It's just making me think of It's making me think of squid Game though, right when squid Dame says like, okay, everybody find a partner, and you look around and you're like, wait, a second fifteen is an odd number. Guy, Where am I going? Now? Yeah? No, I get it. That's really it is challenging. It's super tricky.

And so I remember we all left in high spirits that season, and I thought, okay, well when I come back next year, I'm gonna lose some weight because the costume department was very mean to me and they said, I would, you know, you gotta lose weight, stop eating? They would. I mean they were brutal, you know. So

I'm trying to lose weight. I'm out there running every day and working out over the summer, and I'm doing character work and I was trying to grab stage time and I was just doing everything I could to come back stronger than ever. And I got a call say they didn't they didn't want to send me send my contracts. So I'm remember I being devastated by that, and I gave myself about a fifteen minute pity party. I remember just I was scared, I was hurt, I was embarrassed,

I was all those negative emotions. I wanted to change it. Can I call somebody? Is there anything I can do? What can we do to undo this? You know, how can I fix this? And I think I went through all five stages of grief in about fifteen minutes, and I accepted the fact that this is, this is what it is, and there's it is. It's over. So I said, Okay, well, I gotta make a living. So I got back on the phone. I called my manager and I said, okay, what do we do next? And then Rob Huwill and

I ended up selling a pilot script NBC. And so that's what I worked on that fall of two thousand five, and then shortly after that two thousand six, I got on The Daily Show. Yeah, but yeah, it was. It was a sad, sad, harsh feeling. Did did you ever get any closure with SNL or was it just like thanks but no thanks. I did talk to one of the producer is ken Among, who was really the only one who reached out. It's very cold, very cold business. I learned a little bit about show business. Again. I

was so naive. I thought there would be some you know, heartfelt handshake and pad on the back from Lauren as I exited the building. You know, no, no, it's nothing like that. It's it's it's served up very cold. Um. But Ken said, listen, Rob, you know you did a great job. It wasn't anything you did. You didn't upset anybody. You didn't. It was two thousand four, it was carry Verse Bush election year, and an election years, SNL gets a huge spike in the ratings and for whatever reason,

people hated that election. No spike in the ratings, and so NBC didn't like it, and they demanded that Lauren shake up the cast. And so I was last one in, first one out. And he said, that's what happened. You just got caught up in a bad timing situation. But that's okay because the people they did go get I love all of them, So congrats. Uh. And then I was I was blessed to have John Stewart picked me

up and make me a correspondent on his show. I whish I did for three years and and we won the Emmy all three years sn L. Now I'm glad you brought up The Daily Show because I wanted to

talk about that. As you may know, UH, my good friend and yours Steve Carrell was on The Daily Show, Stephen Colbert, so many incredible comedians, and around the time you were on it, it really took off and it really became musty TV or in some ways America's news source, because even with all the jokes and and stuff, it also gave at least an amount of real information and insights. Uh. I'm such a huge fan of that show. What was that a good experience for you? It was the best? Um.

I learned so much. And John Stewart is such an amazing leader, uh and and very smart man. He really sees through a lot of stuff. And he was very very gracious with me. He knew I was still great. He knew I didn't have much experience in front of a camera. I never worked off a teleprompter. That was hilarious because I started reading off a telepropter and I'd be like I was, I can only get anything out

because I would get so scared. It's a tense and then I would read faster and it would move faster. It was like, I can't keep up, and then would just explode right, and it's it's they'll read it your pace. I'm like, yeah, but they're not. Like I start reading and it starts moving and I can't keep up, and they're like, don't speed up. Like so quite literally, on my lunch breaks, I would get the teleprompter lady because she could eat her lunch at her desk and do it,

and I would get the floor director. We would go into the studio and I would throw up old scripts and I would just practice and practice and practice on that teleprompter. So I got comfortable, you know, looking and seeing the font and and letting the words drift by and not panicking that I wasn't gonna catch them or whatever. And somehow I think John found out about it, and I think he liked He appreciated that. He appreciated that I cared enough to get better at it because he

knew I wasn't good at it. And you know the way it works over there is you're hired for six months. It's not a job, it's it's an audition. Still, it's an extended audition. So then I got I passed the first six months, so I got myself another six months, but that was it, just another six months. So I'm like, ah, you know, so I still I can't commit to moving a family across the country. I can't commit to because it's also basic cable. It's not paying me anything. You know.

I could barely afford to live in the Craigslist studio apartment, which is what I was living in. And then after that second six months, I got picked up for one year, so I was like whoo, and then I got one year extensions after that, you know, but it was never any hardcore commitment. However, that time on that show I'll be so grateful for because John allowed me to make mistakes, to get better, to get stronger, to contribute in the

writing room. I just learned so much from him, and he was so gracious, so I'm all always be a fan of his. And then you know, John Oliver and I ended up was shared in office and and you know what a treat that was because he was a geographic he was a bachelor, and I was a geographical bachelor. So when I got done with work, I would either go back to my studio and grab it Chipotle on the way back and then play PlayStation. That's what That's how I spend my evenings because it keeps you out

of trouble and saves money. Anytime you leave your apartment in New York City, you're spending money. So I just saved money by in that. And and John Oliver same boat pretty much. So when we get done with work, he'd say, Okay, we're gonna jump in a cab right after work and we're gonna hit five mikes tonight and go, I don't do stand up, man. I I suck at it. I tried it when I got up here. It sucks. He goes, no, no, no, we're gonna do it different. And so we built a set and in one night

he helped me build like three solid minutes. I was like, okay, so I got three. He goes, all right, we're just gonna keep doing this until you have forty five minutes. And so we did wow, and then eventually I had a stand up set and was able to do stand up for about four years, touring around and all because John, I think, was bored and was like, you're coming with me. I needed someone to I need someone to split cab fare with because we're going all over Manhattan and doing

stand ups. Well, you can thank John, but it's again perseverance and hard work. And you know the story of you during your lunch hour practicing to get better because you knew you had to get better. That's about perseverance and hard work. And that's that is something truly well to respect the hell out of you for. I mean, come on, and now during all of this time, you're

also you know, starting to do straight acting work. And of course I can't not mention Captain jack Uh your role of the office coming out to film what was, without a doubt, the most difficult film we that we had in ten years. There's no question, there's no question working from seven pm to like seven am out on the water, it was. It was were you aware of the office when you got that job? What was your okay? So I was. I was very aware of the BBC

version while I was on snl Uh. You know, we're on the writers are on seventeen and the studios down on eight and on sixteen. They have a casting directors and stuff. I actually auditioned for Michael Scott. I knew this, and I auditioned for Dwight and Keckner's role. I forget

his name, packer. They made the right choice, obviously, but I was fresh in their minds because I think I did the episode that I did the Booze Cruise before I got the Daily Gap between S and L. And when I got the Daily Show, that's when I got the office role, which I was so happy to get and so honored. And for me it was super cool because one I love the show is Your Guys second season. I think the show's a hit. Everybody knows and everybody's

loving it, and I was one of them. I was like more and more and I get to be part of it, which was great. But I'm still so green as an actor and as a performer. Being on cameras still made me nervous. I'm nervous as hell. And when we got out on the water, remember whenna we floated out. Okay, between between setups, normally everybody goes back to the trailer, they go back to crafty kind of everybody separates against their space. There was nowhere to go on that boat.

When they say, okay, we're setting up for it, moving on, it's time for a new shot, they'd go to set up. We all just go sit on the dance floor or sit in those boots and hang out, yeah, those booths, And I remember thinking this is awesome. I just remember enjoying the hell out of it, and not even dawning on me that we were dust till dawn, um and it was draining, and I think, if I'm not mistaken, Correll was shooting Evan Almighty and he would literally leave.

We'd pull back to the to the dock, he would get out, get into sedan and drive to film all day. And I remember thinking, when's this guy getting his sleep? This is insane. And and yet his performance on the boat, and I'm sure his performance in the movie fantastic, but it was totally fun. One thing about that episode that bumps me out to this day. Okay, for whatever reason, I don't know, Maybe it was the Devil, maybe evil demon angel. Somebody would not let me get the words

wall in Paul Pack out of my mouth. I couldn't say it. I couldn't say it. We're supposed to be on Lake waldon Paul Pack. I can say it now as if it's nothing. I can say it with ease. That night I maybe got it out once or twice correctly, and the rest I just couldn't do it. And I remember they were looking at me and they were baffled. They were absolutely baffled, like what is this guy has a major malfunction? How do you can you not say

wald In Paul Pack? And I can't explain it. It's just one of those moments where you're like, I'm so sorry. I wanted to die. I wanted to go crawl. I wanted to dive off that boat and die. Well, first of all, everyone has been there. I have not thought about that in years, and you and I see each other, I don't know ten times a year after are you think I have not ever once I thought of that moment until right now. And the second you said it I was like, oh, that's right. He couldn't say it.

I couldn't say it. I couldn't say it right. And I know it was so simple, and they were literally they were looking at me, go Wall and Paul Pack. I go, well, it's just Wall and well while Papa Pack, I mean really, there was some synapsis in my brain that would not connected. And you know, you know Brian as an actor. To drive home, I said every line perfectly. I said every word perfectly. I mean, I couldn't have been more spot on to drive home. Yeah, Oh that's

so funny. That is Oh that is amazing. Do you get recognized? Do people yelled Captain Jack at you every now and then? Yes, yes they do. I was probably no joke, probably pounds heavier, so I looked a little different then. Interesting that episode, by the way, it was, was shared with me or reminded by Kevin Riley actually, who was the head of NBC at the time, that he would call about the ratings after every night, and obviously the Office became a big show for him and

he kind of staked his reputation on it. And after Booze Cruise, the Office didn't just retain the number from my Name is Earl, which came before, but actually beat it in the ratings. And he said, he said, I may have cried. It was like that kind of moment for him. Like that episode so significantly the only thing that brought other than not being able to say well in Paul Pack, which still haunts me. I mean, I

still feel so bad about that. I was bummed out because I knew that once my episode was over, you wouldn't see Captain Jack again, and I was like, and they're not going to bring me back as some other character because I was wanting to be reoccurring on on the Office, just because it's such an iconic, legendary show. But I won't be greedy. I was very grateful for

the opportunity that to be Captain Jack. Well, look, I mean during that time and just setting the Office aside, you were really on had the opportunity to appear on every great show during that time with you know, all due respect to the ones you weren't on, but I mean Arrested Development and thirty Rock and Modern Family and just amazing all of the shows that that that you were on during that time and obviously recurred on a lot of them. Yeah, I was very happy about that,

very blessed. But the Office is definitely special. Well, yes it is for me to absolutely it should be. I don't want to take up too much more of your time, but you and I share obviously a love of football. I know you worked at Fox as one of their I don't know what do you call it contributors prognosticate Yes, some the end and a huge Kansas City Chiefs fan. I'm sorry, did you did you watch the Super Bowl or did you say screw it? I watched it. I

watched it. I'm I'm a fan of the game. I'm glad they give us a week off from the a f C and NFC championships to the Super Bowl. Allowed me to cool down a little bit. A loved me to walk it off, as they say, you know, this year's playoffs were the greatest playoffs I've seen, maybe in my lifetime. The game before that against Buffalo was probably the single greatest game I've ever seen. And so this

playoffs seas were fullest high highs and low lows. And but that's why they play the games, you know, That's what makes it exciting, you know. And and uh, it was it was fun to see such great competition. But yeah, of course, I'm I'll never forgive Cincinnati Cincinnati. Yeah, yeah. Did you root for Cincinnati because they beat you? Or

did you root against them because they beat you? You know, it was That's a tough call because there's a couple of schools of thought, because if they go on to win the Super Bowl, they become a team of destiny and it was preordained. So we can live with the loss a little better. You know, they were a team of destiny or do I want vengeance? Um? Tough call because I wanted both, to be honest with you. UM. But I also like, since I'm a cancer, I'm die

hard Kansa City, Kansas City top never in question. However, I live in l A. So I don't feel bad about rooting for the Rams because their NFC and it's where I live. So and the same thing with the Dodgers their n L National League and uh, it's where I live. So I can root for those guys as long as you're not playing the Royals or the Chiefs. Now, if you play the roles the Chiefs, obviously they get

your trumped. So I don't know. Yeah, I you know, because I as a Packers fan, generally for me, it's vengeance like Seattle or the Niners, I can't root for them. I just I mean, it's just it's an impossibility. I think similarly to you the l A thing. I find the Rams fairly likable, Like I like all of those guys. I think the Stafford story is just a great story. And Cooper Cup and you know you talk about perseverance and determination, I mean that guy, I mean it's just unbelievable.

But my dad was from Cincinnati, and no joke robbed. This morning, my sister sent me a photograph my grandmother, who by the way, lived and I always remember her as like dressed impeccably, didn't have a lot of means like, wasn't rich by anything, but just always looked her best.

And my sister this morning sent me a photograph and she said this has to have been from because it was my grandmother and my grandfather standing on their porch in Cincinnati, Ohio, and my grandmother is wearing a Cincinnati Bengals sweatshirt. And it must have been that Super Bowl run back that I would have been the only thing that would have made her where a sweatshirt. So I did. I'd like the Rams. I was rooting for the Bengals, have to admit it. I was reading I Love the

I love the good game. I liked a good game, and then I think we got a good game. So that's all you can ask for. Well, speaking of good games, first of all, thank you so much for talking to me and sharing so much about your career and your work ethic, which now it'll probably be a problem for me trying to take money from you on the golf course. But I look forward. I look forward to our competition. I will tell you Rob was Rob was a straight underdog.

I mean, let's just be honest. Last year in Tahoe, the odds, I don't know what they would have been. He kicked my ass last year and it's so well, and his caddy is teaching me. I'm like where, I how? I mean, this is unbelievable. Put with energy? Put with energy. Next year, I'm gonna come. I'm gonna get you because I'm gonna think about putting with energy. We gotta line up some side action. We did we say we did. We were gonna do it last we didn't get it done.

So let's let's figure it out and we'll get the usual cast of characters. Well, now you're the favorite. Now you're the favorite, and I get odds because you you did it to me last year. Oh my god, you played so great last year. Let's let's try to play before that. That's not until absolutely let's do Yeah. Yeah, we got time. Rob. Thank you so much. I really appreciate you coming on and talking to me. I'm so glad you invited me. Thank you. I appreciate. It's good

talking to you always. You too, and I'm telling you that persever and stuff. I just I'm so happy for you and proud of you. Sounds weird, but like yeah, I mean you just fucking stuck with it. It's awesome. Well, thanks, buddy, I'm with you. Yeah, same with you. Yeah, Rob Wriggle, Ladies and gentlemen. What a pleasure. Oh, I enjoyed that. Thank you so much for stopping by. Rob. I'll see you very very soon, and thank you to everyone out

there listening. Head over to at Off the Beat on Instagram to stay in the know about this podcast and to keep us up to speed on who you would like to hear from. Who should I sit down with next? Well, next week we've already got another spectacular guest. Who could it be? Will he tell us no? Until then, everybody, have a fantastic week. Off the Beat is hosted an executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner, alongside our executive producer Langley.

Our producers are Diego Tapia, Liz Hayes, Emily Carr, and Hannah Harris. Our talent producer is Ryan Papa Zachary. Our theme song Bubble and Squeak performed by my great friend Creed Bratton, and the episode was mixed by seth Olandski.