Episode 60 — Coordinator of Falconry

[JulyDiaz 2797]

Jake’s old pal Adam McKay stops by to chat about mixing up the Second City format with “Pinata Full of Bees,” the Bill Brasky SNL sketches, and the inspiration behind Anchorman. Adam & Jake also discuss the Stavenhagen's Food Pawn Shop with Steve Buscemi, a bit they did which involved Christina Aguilera & a doll, and the upcoming Anchorman sequel. Remember to check out all the videos over at youtube.com/TheFogelnestFiles! People of Los Angeles, if you are listening to this on the day it drops come to a LIVE taping of THE FOGELNEST FILES tonight (Thursday, October 24th) with very special guests Damien Fahey, Megan Koester and more at UCB-LA! Get tickets here!

[robinsbruce 4985]

Jake. It's my birthday. I'll just assume you dropped this awesome episode for me specifically. That is all.

[DubipR 485]

A stellar episode, Jake! I do agree with you on how wigwork is vital to comedy...get that shit together!

 

 

 

Seriously, a fantastic interview with Adam McKay. It was great seeing and hearing about those Second City stories.

[Joe Lerini 7329]

I was around 11 years old when McKay joined SNL. And I loved the Brasky sketches.

 

This was a fun interview. I enjoyed it immensely.

[jakefogelnest 517]

I was around 11 years old when McKay joined SNL.

 

Holy shit.

[Kickpuncher 5012]

Jake, I don't think you had enough fun recording this episode. It's like, it's just a podcast, not a cancer research symposium. Laugh a little bit, you know?

 

BIG day for DAG on Earwolf!

[cameron_durkin 97]

I was around 11 years old when McKay joined SNL. And I loved the Brasky sketches.

 

This was a fun interview. I enjoyed it immensely.

 

 

Yup, exactly the same for me. Born in '84. My friends and I would drop Brasky quotes at the most inappropriate times. Nothing made me laugh harder at that age. People loved Goat Boy, I wanted more Brasky.

 

That being said, hey, remember the 80s?

[klemjohansen 748]

I remember sketches on the Mandrel Sisters Show. Most of them were about hair. I don't think they bothered with sets or anything. They would just put each sister on a rotating platform sitting at a vanity brushing their locks over light dialogue. I'm fairly sure one of the writers uttered this sentence at some point: "Yeah, I studied under the head writer at Hee Haw. So, I know my shit."

[Joe Lerini 7329]

 

Holy shit.

Time flies, doesn't it? *awkward laugh*

[PhillipMedoc 648]

Time flies, doesn't it? *awkward laugh*

Tom Waits for no man.

 

Jake and Adam were riffing so much, the entire show practically turned into an improv bit. I believed McKay when he said he worked for SheTV. Hilarious stuff.

[BillBrasky2620 34]

As you can tell from my screenname, this episode was right in my wheelhouse. I loved the Bill Brasky sketches when they aired (I am closer to Jake's age, I was in my twenties when they started appearing on SNL) and then when I found out that Adam McKay wrote them it all started to make sense. The show has never more embraced the UCB sensibility than when McKay was doing stuff like this and the digital shorts like the Stavenhagen Pawn Shop one.

 

That Dr. Beaman sketch is a classic, maybe the funniest sketch that's ever been on SNL (tied with the census taker one with Christopher Walken that was written by Tina Fey that was also mentioned in this episode). One of the great things about this sketch is when Rachel Dratch's character is leaving at the beginning and she says "Oh, by the way, can I have next Tuesday off for a modeling job?" Just watching the sketch by itself, you can laugh at this because of Dratch's odd appearance (as she turns away, you can see she is missing a big chunk of hair on top of her head). But this joke becomes even funnier in the context of the whole episode when you know that right before this sketch there was a sketch featuring Dratch and Cheri Oteri as two "ugly model" characters. I'm not sure whose idea it was to have this character cross over from one sketch to the next, but it was a genius move, very Pythonesque. SNL rarely does stuff like that but when they do it's always great (they did it recently with a Tim Robinson sketch about a "Z shirt" where they actually went to the trouble of building a whole funeral set just so they could continue the joke at the end of the show of Kevin Hart's character coming in and saying "IS IT A ___ SHIRT?")

 

Some of the jokes in this sketch were even reused (or attempted to be reused) in Anchorman, like when Parnell says "You vondruke!" and Ferrell says "Is that an actual curse word?" This exchange was repeated with Fred Willard with "man-nipple" substituted for "vondruke", but I think it ended up getting cut from the actual movie - but can be seen in the alternate cut "Wake Up, Ron Burgundy" movie.

[IanR 153]

Yup, exactly the same for me. Born in '84. My friends and I would drop Brasky quotes at the most inappropriate times. Nothing made me laugh harder at that age. People loved Goat Boy, I wanted more Brasky.

 

That being said, hey, remember the 80s?

I just read Brasky as Barksy get out of my head Jake

[justinmh05 1968]

I would never expect Jake to ask Adam about this since they are friends, but I'd love to hear Adam respond to Jim Bruer's claims that McKay and Steve Higgins sabotaged his time on SNL.

 

Jim's allegations have always seemed sketchy to me, since Adam seems like such a cool guy. It'd be interesting to know Adam's side of the story because I'm sure he views things quite differently.

[jakefogelnest 517]

I would never expect Jake to ask Adam about this since they are friends, but I'd love to hear Adam respond to Jim Bruer's claims that McKay and Steve Higgins sabotaged his time on SNL.

 

Jim's allegations have always seemed sketchy to me, since Adam seems like such a cool guy. It'd be interesting to know Adam's side of the story because I'm sure he views things quite differently.

 

Heh.

[skizelo 2536]

I think it would be a good idea to ask one's friends onto a comedy podcast and then when they're all loosened up spring a couple of gotcha questions at them. Pull some investigative journalism out of those files Jake!

[DanEngler 5249]

Frankly, I'm still waiting for Jake to answer the widely publicized allegations that he sabotaged Joseph Kony's career.

[justinmh05 1968]

I think my post sounded snarkier than I intended. I'm sorry for that - I wasn't trying to suggest in any way that Jake should have asked Adam about it. I know I wouldn't do that to one of my favorites.

 

I just meant that I'd love to hear Adam's side of the story about it in some forum. Bruer has generated a lot of publicity for himself in recent years by talking on Stern and plenty of other interviews about his issues with McKay, Higgins, Cheri Oteri and Chris Kattan. As an SNL nerd, I always enjoy hearing about the backstage drama at the show, as lame as that it is to admit..

[jakefogelnest 517]

I think my post sounded snarkier than I intended. I'm sorry for that - I wasn't trying to suggest in any way that Jake should have asked Adam about it. I know I wouldn't do that to one of my favorites.

 

I just meant that I'd love to hear Adam's side of the story about it in some forum. Bruer has generated a lot of publicity for himself in recent years by talking on Stern and plenty of other interviews about his issues with McKay, Higgins, Cheri Oteri and Chris Kattan. As an SNL nerd, I always enjoy hearing about the backstage drama at the show, as lame as that it is to admit..

 

Didn't come off snarky. My "heh" was snarky as if to say, "Oh, I know the story."

[justinmh05 1968]

Gotcha.

 

Can you atleast share any scoop you migh have on the Jean Doumanian/Fred Silverman blood feud?

[DanEngler 5249]

Jim's allegations have always seemed sketchy to me, since Adam seems like such a cool guy. It'd be interesting to know Adam's side of the story because I'm sure he views things quite differently.

In case you missed it, McCay discusses the Breuer situation in great detail on this week's Improv4Humans.

[justinmh05 1968]

Yeah I really enjoyed hearing his side of the story.

[Joe Lerini 7329]

This past Saturday on SNL, we got a brand new Brasky sketch!

 

It was solid!