-Our next guest is a very funny
writer and actress whose work has appeared in
"Vanity Fair" and "Vogue" and who created and starred in the acclaimed web series
"Eighty-Sixed." Her book "No One Asked For This"
goes on sale tomorrow. Please welcome to the show
my friend Cazzie David. How are you, Cazzie?
-Hey, I'm hanging in there. How are you?
-I'm wonderful. I'm very honored. This is your
first talk show appearance. And I'm wondering if you think
you would be more nervous if you were here in person or if you're preferring doing it
on Zoom? -There's just no world where I
could have done this in person considering how I feel right
now. But the bad part about this is
that I don't think there's anything sadder than
a woman being fully dressed and in makeup on Zoom in her
living room. So, yeah. You know,
there's bad sides to both. -Now, one of the reasons you
were worried about this, you were telling me, is that
you're afraid that people will be judgmental based how you
execute this interview. But that comes from a place
of it's something that you do to other people.
-Yeah. I'm under the impression that
what most people do, especially me, is when
they don't know if they like or hate a celebrity yet, is that
they go online and look up a "Late Night" clip, and then
they decide from there. And then, whenever that person
is brought up in the future and they say,
"Why don't you like them?" You just say, "Oh, I just saw
them on 'Seth Meyers' and they were so annoying."
-[ Laughs ] -For some reason, that's like
a valid reason. So, I'm getting karma right now. And, also yeah, they could be
already deciding. -[ Chuckles ]
You yourself described in the book, as being someone
who is neurotic. And taking on writing about
yourself in a book seemed to be something that
would maybe spiral you out. Did you find that was the case? Or did you enjoy
taking that journey? -Well, you know, they say to
write what you know. And I didn't have
much of a choice because I don't know anything
else, Seth. But really, the only reason
I was able to get so personal was because I just pretended
that no one would ever read it. So I did reveal all
of my deepest insecurities. And then time came where
obviously I had to put it out
in the world. And now everyone knows
I'm insane. So... [ Both laugh ] -Well, I want to ask about this
because your father, Larry David, obviously,
over his career, he has written about his own
neurosis. He has played a character named
Larry. There's this sense that maybe
he is telling us a lot about himself in his writing
and his performance. I am also lucky enough to know
your mom, Laurie. How did they feel when you
started writing a book that was about yourself,
and therefore, was going to also have a bit about them? -You know, my mom is really used
to being written about by my dad. And also, I wrote about
my sister, who had the experience of living
with my mom and seeing how she handled it. But I would describe my mom's
reaction actually can be really well-described in
a tweet she wrote to "support" me to her couple
thousand followers, which she likes to brag about. But she tweeted, like, "Daughter's book is coming out. Remember, kids exaggerate." First of all, way to discredit
me before it even comes out and also, publicly,
call me a kid. -[ Laughs ]
-She offered to delete it, which I find myself doing a lot. She's like, "Fine, if you don't
want me to support you, then I won't."
-[ Laughs ] -How did your sister, Romy,
was she supportive through the process of writing
it? -Yeah. I think she was
reluctantly supportive. But, yeah, she's --
They're great. So I'm really thankful
that they're okay with it. -A lot of people through these
times have lived with parents, have lived with in-laws. I know you have done
a bit of both. You lived with your mom, you lived with your dad through
this. How has that been?
Because, of course, one of the hardest things
I think about families living with each other is
different levels of comfort/fear
about the pandemic. -Right. We agree on everything, especially in terms of avoiding
sickness at all cost. The problem isn't really
agreeing. It's more like forgetting
that we're in a pandemic. My dad and me will discuss --
you know, we go over the rules, like no one can come over
because of COVID. And then, two hours later,
I'll come downstairs and he'll have a friend over.
And I'm like, "Dad, it's COVID." -[ As Larry ]
Right, right, right, I forgot. He'll be like,
"Yeah, let's go to dinner." And I'm like, "Dad, it's COVID." So, he's like -- So, yeah. That's been an issue, for sure. -I'm wondering if writing about
yourself and you talk about writing about what you know,
like, was it cathartic for you? And is there something
that you want a reader to take away from the book? -It might be presumptuous for me to think that anyone could take
anything away. I hope they enjoy it or relate
to it. We're the most anxious
generation of all-time. And thanks to social media,
we love to over share. So I would say anxiety and over
sharing kind of sums up my book. So, yeah, I hope people can
connect to it at least because of that.
-You've also pointed out you recently put up a post about
the fact that how embarrassing it is to self-promote a book
like this. -If you were to observe me for
just 24 hours at all this week, you would think an immediate
member of my family had died. I'm just going around like
weeping, being like, "How can any of this be okay?" You do all this stuff, you know,
so people buy the book. But if you're annoying
while you are doing it, no one will buy the book. So I don't really know
why I'm doing it. -[ Laughs ] How do you think, based on what you've told us,
and how you would watch a couple of minutes
of an interview to decide if you like somebody,
how do you think people will react to this based on how
you've done so far? -I haven't really been
in my body for this experience, so I can't really tell you.
I blacked out a few minutes ago. -I do want -- it's very funny
that you point out that thing of like getting
dressed up to shoot in your living room.
And one, you know, shows like ours appreciate
when people put the effort in. But I want everybody to think
about the moment right after we end, when you're just going
to be sitting in front of a computer like
all dressed up. And there's not going to be a TV
show anymore. -It's pretty humiliating.
I am in jeans to make it more casual,
but I realize that doesn't matter at all. And I could look like
I'm in a ball gown. So I will be changing
immediately after this. -I'm going to picture you --
I'm a little bummed you told me jeans 'cause I'm
going to picture you standing up in very uncomfortable high heels to walk over
to shut your laptop. -I really look like
a real housewife for the virtual reunion
right now. -Thank you so much, Cazzie. It
is always a delight to see you. Congrats on the book.
And hopefully, I will see you soon in person.
-Thank you so much. I agree.
-"No One Asked For This" is on sale tomorrow
wherever books are sold. But please support local
and independent bookstores.
