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But theAvengers-like assemblage ofSNLalum wasnt the result of some Netflix focus group.
SoWine Countryis based on an actual trip you and yourSNLfriends took a few years ago.
How much of all of your actual personality traits and ticks are reflected in the characters on the screen?
My Jenny is exactly me, with the volume turned up on my anxieties.
No one was really nervous.
In fact, everyone really leaned into it.
Maya wanted to talk about breast cancer and that medical scare.
Everyone just sorta let loose and trusted us with that.
Weirdly, I think it worked out really well for the story.
I liked that character coming in and sorta being the truth-teller.
In addition to co-writing the movie, youre also on-camera a lot as one of the stars.
But this was your biggest acting role ever, right?Yes.
Your co-star and fellowSNLalum Paula Pelltold usshes looking to do more on-camera roles.
Do you have the acting bug now?No, no, no.
But Im just not comfortable.
I would much rather be behind the camera than in front of it.
It just wears me down to a husk.
I dont know how people do it.
Its such hard work.
When the movie was over, I was like Oh, God.
Amy really forced me to be in it.
And as per always, she was right.
Im glad she forced me to do it.
Maybe 15 years ago it could have happened but now its all about the blockbuster machine.
And even if a big studio did the movie today, theyd probably make your characters 20 years younger.
I dont think we wouldve been able to cast it the way we wanted.
I dont think the story would have been told the way we want it to.
And thats not a diss to anything.
Its just no movies are being made for me.
Now everything, like you said, it just has to be a big, whiz-bang robot superhero.
And some folks love that God bless you!
But its just not for me.
What I liked about this movie was how low stakes everything was.
Even with Hollywood comedies now, so often its about some big high concept or twist.
This movie really is just people hanging out and acting like regular people having a regular vacation.
Its notThe Hangoverwith women.We wanted to avoid that at all costs.
Like, we didnt wanna have the drug trip sequence and all those sort of tropes.
I trust in small stories.
Wine Countryis really the first movie youve written and had produced.
It sounds like you want to do more.I would love to.
So lets talk about the music in the movie.
So we knew the Pretenders were gonna for sure be in it.
But I really trusted Amy on that.
And then I tried to rewrite the line and it didnt work.
So that was disappointing, because I wanted to reference some more Prince songs in that scene.
But you know Wendy and Lisa did the score, right?
I did not know that!Yeah, Wendy and Lisa from the Revolution.
And then at the end of the movie, thats all of us singing I Would Die 4 U.
It was one of the best afternoons of my entire life.
Where is the behind-the-scenes featurette of that recording session!
?Somebody was filming!
Maya also filmed the whole time, but we had a proper film crew there.
I need to ask Poehler about that because I want all that footage.
I floated out of my body.
It was so amazing.
I enjoyed the movies take on the karaoke-musical scene so many buddy comedies have.
Thats why the minute she gets on there, she just falls off the piano.
I just love watching Maya fall into things.
I made her fall into a breakaway piano onSNLwhen she was six months pregnant.
Oh, no.It was amazing.
How do you deal with it if theres a conflict?
You know: Uh oh, were goingthisway.
Theres a lot of love and tenderness between us, so we dont really argue.
That is sort of the steam release, the tension release.
Were not talking about each other, but were game-planning some therapy strategies and things like that.
I want to talk about your career.
I knew about your work onSNL,Last Man on Earth,and my belovedUp All Night.
I was the other way around.
And I worked with Jeff Richards onMad TVbefore he went toSNL.
You knew some of the cast from the Groundlings, right?I already knew Maya.
We were writing the first night.
She was a fearless leader, where I just felt so safe with these girls.
It was just the best time in the world to be there.
Wayne is sort of a neer-do-well, super-lovable.
Hes a dreamer, so hes always sorta doing odd jobs and scheming.
And then Maya plays Betty, whos the mother [to Jenny].
Shes just like a firecracker.
Shes like Estelle Gettys character fromGolden Girls,Sophia.
She will beg, borrow and steal to get by, and shes addicted to [lottery] scratchers.
So its a little bit likeRoseannemeetsKing of the Hill, but also meetsThe Andy Griffith Show.
I also got tired of people feeling like they have to report to the internet when something happens.
And I can tell you, Joe, leaving Twitter?
It was like a weight lifted off of me.
Its just too much.
I got too much other static going on in my life.
Im on Twitter way too much, but I am happy Ive never been on Facebook.Its an unflushed toilet.
Thats what Facebook is.
Its a porta potty with a rotting squirrel corpse in it.
Was Donald Trump part of the reason you left Twitter?100 billion percent.
That was the start of it.
I would go on there and be like, Why am I doing this?
Why am I engaging in this?
Why am I sparring with this fool I dont even know?
How do comedy shows, particularlySNL, find a way to make fun of Trump now?
He almost has become beyond parody.Oh my God, I dont know.
I am like an exposed skeleton.
I cant listen to any more of it.
Even the comedy feels like youre fueling the fire because youre just fueling his Twitter rants.
Its a negativity snake eating its tail.
But Im just like, do anything but Trump.
