Documentary Now! | Emmy Panel | IFC

well I don't know how this works I just got stressed we only did eight years thank you guys all for coming out tonight perfect but me Oh are we lies did they put the live thing on bread money is buried look this is where I put all my money all right this is between us all right I just wanted to interview welcome you guys all here how are we good are we gonna grow how are we gonna cut set it's that medicine huh oh man I thought amount of season three we gotta cut mic sir huh wake sir huh all right I am CEA's documentary now premiere last number were you I'm just gonna kinda pretending they're not there premiere last summer to widespread critical acclaim I don't want to get what's wrong so what you'll like this you'll like this the series has been called exceptionally clever I'm silenced interesting dazzlingly smart pitch perfect and so wonderfully silly it may take viewers a moment to recognize just how smart it is oh that that's accomplished I'm done and with that we're gonna show you a quick trailer and then we will invite these three clowns we're never gonna get another moderator ever gonna get Helen Mirren and it's my pleasure to host documentary now experience extraordinary storytelling it's almost Shakespearean in the size of the story we're the only ones out here it can sing pretty act I just kind of bear down I get up there it's like sweatpants and I wrap them around my head York Times isn't doing this I'm a sausage man that's a glamorous job I think New York Times did do a piece out here they did yeah well cut that out hold on to this moment this is magic these guys could change history documentary now the films that helped shape and innovate the world of documentary would you like to see me games bingo all right that's enough all right so fred armisen welcome to the stage EP writer and star bill hader also a creator writer ECM star and seth meyers creator vp and alright we're gonna start at the beginning the sort of genesis of this project obviously you guys have worked together for years in SNL how did you sort of come to deciding this is what you guys want to do together next over those sort of conversations well like all our projects we do them to make tons of money yeah baby we thought uh we thought a hyper specific show about documentaries yes they started throwing money at us we're like Grey Gardens anything from The Criterion Collection well not all at once so let me get a wheelbarrow oh we had a we had done a sketch together at SNL called the history of punk where Fred played a character named Ian rubbish and we it was directed by a resaw announce bono who were the directors of this series and they did an incredible job making everything look archival and of the era and then at the party that night bill said that we should do a show like this and that was really it was yeah I said it to you at the party and then I came in Monday and I was like I was serious about that I wanted yeah and then because historically things said it an SNL app yeah you aren't taken I love you we should be we should write together next week but it was real I remember you standing in my door saying hey that wasn't a lie I wasn't around usually I around I talk to you from Seth but that was where was the punty oh the party was at this beautiful house was it social I it was not socially yeah Lauren said everyone come over and then he had such shitty food terrible food nice way eatos yeah I was like Popeyes Chicken Cheetos do you want Suzie Q's that was it and then we pretty much a week after their last SNL we went and and pitched it I see and in terms of choosing I mean this is a wider cross-section of things yeah what were the how did you sort of come up with what we were going to tackle for the first season it was a little bit like I think because we all come from SNL you just wait for it people to have sketch ideas yeah and this is the same thing people sort of all pitched them as they came up with them we had a nice lead time from when IFC said yes to when we had to do our first yeah well a lot of time we have like little writers retreat where I think we came up with drones and blue-jean came out of the first writers we're gonna do the staircase and then we couldn't be didn't like that cuz it was like dumb except assad's know many people ask us a lot about the jinx or making order like it something is already 10 episodes week it's hard sometimes boiling down a chair documentary a funny man it was weird that we were like oh we're just doing the staircase remember that was yeah thing where we're like oh we're just kind of doing it be for beating there wasn't like a different thing to it or something and so yeah and and so we kind of came to each of them sort of uniquely I mean we knew we wanted to do something music with Fred or have Fred do it like we didn't help yeah we didn't do Yeah right Fred why are you write a bunch of music all right all right what do you wanna but you saw afraid earlier why Freddie do like the bridge that station the bridge that kind of music oh I know what you mean yeah yeah yeah dummy yeah yeah yeah knucklehead keep it like I welcome and while you're at it go get us some milkshakes don't get me in session milkshake hey how many - yeah that's what it's like riding it pretty much got it I like it you guys you guys decide who's going to star in which ones and how do those who conversations come up that's also a little bit like wrestling yeah now usually a I don't know yeah I mean like whoo um you said Grey Gardens and then it just was kind of like you just cast it I mean I think he doesn't cast it we did have what the craziest one was the I doesn't lie one we so we had another episode and we decided on a Wednesday it wasn't like working and then I see her is nice and who were like can we like not do this one and they were like I think sets were being built and all this stuff and so Seth Meyers and John Mulaney wrote this over the weekend and we started shooting on like Monday yeah yeah that I doesn't lie one extra time yeah I actually time and I cause like I'm ever going and having dinner with Reese and Alex and on a Friday going so we just shot the concert footage from blue jean committee then we went had dinner like so what are we gonna do on Monday you know we've been to Errol Morris I said let's do thin blue line and called you guys and you want I guess I'll go watch them blue line and but it was it was a mess where the SNL education is really helpful which is we're kind of used to like two days you're like two days fantastic I thought we don't have a wine yeah I only thought we had 30 minutes this is fantastic it's all time war and peace again the most impressive thing and we've talked about it you were talking about today like the we have this incredible crew on the show and they their ability to adapt to the dumb schedule that we sort of held them to and she's like hey so we're gonna do a thin blue line on Monday and the fact that they could scramble and make it and they're like great and then not only like oh but like awesome yeah you're like god you're so young and naive love it I love it you're so hungry I love it in the selection process I mean there are certain cases where you've reached out to the subject of subjects family what is that process like what are those conversations and and and how involved do they become if at all well that's I mean it really is Alex and Rhys are directors now they I know they sat down with one of the Maysles they got the actual lenses for from great gardens as the actual lenses yeah and the actual lenses from them blue line and the actual court a sketch artist from thin blue line but by accident they got a sketch artist and the guy who's doing any goes oh you know I did them blue look it was like this is amazing you've mimicked this style and he's like no my Anna from Dallas I did this yes god this is me I did it right here is you're such an amazing mimic no you ain't listening to me ah did them little Oh laughs yeah bastard when I'm in the court and I gotta work real we know but we got fast yes you know wrong a pictures the expressions are the guilty guy you didn't show the finished product whether it's a Shane Smith for drones whether it's Shane it's alright oh yeah he was very supportive about it and one of the camera people from Portlandia worked on Vice so it was it was people that we knew and so yeah they were very supportive did he give his suggestions his sort of notes and on how you guys know notes really um it was only sort of afterwards that he just kind of became part of the promotion for it so um yeah I feel like we're like they're both productions kind of happened at the same time so we're friends I like it yeah and Helen Mirren yeah she as you saw introduces each of these in in the most hilarious way possible how did that no nose no joke except that she says balls-to-the-wall she does yeah this is that in life yeah that's true her catchphrase yeah she does that is her catchphrase Dame Helen Mirren yes I posed to the wall that's how she's signed her SNL yeah that is how she signs pictures that's her JK living yeah that's her day now is she saying she's like so let's do a pose to the world how did that come to be and will she be back why she's back yes yeah I was walking I was at an event in New York I was walking down the hallway and we all knew her from hosting SNL yeah and I was talking to her as we were walking and she started talking about how much he loved Portlandia and which hurt my feelings because I also have a show and every night every night I wear sport landed she didn't know that my kid knows you know and she's over your set she was just like oh my god Fred and I mean but that's all right you'll bounce back it was like I but uh she said she loved Portlandia and I said oh we have Fred has another show and I see there would be a part you'd be great for and she was like oh yeah senator I'll do it and she was doing Broadway at the time and we just found like two hours on a Monday and she came and shot it she did totally straight yeah it's so funny by the way everybody watches nothing like what is happening it is so hard to do that somebody to agree to do a totally straight it's impossible SNL the amount of people up and they're like I feel like I'm just doing it straight I came here to be like rat rat man but like she knew like me as Helen Mirren like you know what I mean you know be like that is funny enough straight it adds all this importance to the stupid dumb thing uh-huh and it's a terrific tone perfect tone you're like oh thank you yeah a lot of people are like I'll do it straight and they're like oh yeah but I would like I'm gonna do one I'm gonna play one I like it's glass yeah all right worth we're gonna show a clip next and then we're gonna go through some of the episodes some of our favorites the first is sandy passages and one of you is gonna tell us a little bit about what what we're about to say well Accession well oh is this one ago as a yes oh yeah so what happened was was okay first off I always say Seth Meyers wrote this episode and there's not as any improv in this episode we're all saying what Seth wrote so I think that's real testament to him as a writer cuz we did not a lot of times people go oh so you got in there and you wrister with her alts and stuff and we were like no the chef is just an amazing writer and we just did what he said um but so we were blocking this - what Seth was talking about earlier and I said I wouldn't be funny if I fell through the floor and and you guys in recent a Latrice Thomas was like oh yeah we could do that yeah no problem and everyone else flip freaked out cuz they're like how you gonna fall through the floor I'm like no no TZ will do and so this is that my laptop and just started typing in a fall through the floor scene yeah you started doing these like night falls through the floor in the land and then you say oh I got for my lima beans or whatever right and then you have this then we're like yeah great well guess we'll just do it you know and and threw it together and this is it let me show you my favorite rooms in the house look at this we have our own stage isn't it beautiful this is where I first learned to dance I have a memories of yeah Fibby oh my god yes sir all the way through what happened I fell to the floor again oh because you stop I don't stop always telling you you got floor all of my lima beans the whole house is gonna come down I'm alright you okay yeah okay it's because you stop I don't stop look at that so that is where I learned to dance my knees what about the floor I'll get to the floor um alright so again I could I took one out like feels very kind about the script but that was really bill said I do this funny thing where I could just follow that yes go uh this thing yeah you walk and you just like if the camera was here you just go and then a guy shot dust up in the air and I laid like this and the camera walked away and then they cut and then they picked it up again it we went downstairs uh there was there's a cot there's it take that is so that's the right take to use but there was a take we're going Fred and I can get through it cuz uh cuz Theresa Ruiz Thomas said Bill act like you really got a concussion and Fred could we could not get through it I was like huh oh my god like he was act like she really hurt I really heard so and like the boom guy was laughing like everybody's like no no no no it's just too much we can it was too real it was like mom like I was gonna throw up oh my god how many takes this entail it was like three takes oh yeah all right so why Grey Gardens I mean you sort of mentioned this is not the most commercial idea in the world it was one of the last ones we came up with but I think we knew uh we could write it pretty quickly and it was one it was a had a nice thing of like it would just be in this one house mm-hmm and I was it was I watching it I had this idea of Bill wearing sweatpants on his head and sometimes it only takes one idea like that we say this is gonna be okay this'll work out it was like Instagram like a Halloween like little kids yeah I mean what addressed it with sweat and our costume department of the Maysles number here tonight they're unbelievable unreal and our production designers yeah Katie oh my god but I think bill how many costume changes do you have about 33 or 34 it would be like I would shoot something and run back put on a new insane costume run back out go back it was a really tough day at work but we're right by the USC campus that's a reach out of it well that's the great there's like if you turn the camera and we might have a garden and you went like this would be USC and my tons of traffic and maybe I'll remember the guys who had the animal people oh yeah they're really freaked out and we had to be real quiet when a raccoon came on set and it was like we all had to be in place and then wait for a lay for the right moment so right - like - no - like the raccoon was coming in and we all had to just sit there and my head we just couldn't move for it felt like ever and this woman was like he's coming in now right like I'm in like a gang a raccoon we were just like and I little anything if I was like one of the great things one of my favorite things about season one was very serious emails saying along lines of like how important is the raccoon because the raccoon is not cheap yeah good would you would you be okay with a possum yeah we're like it has to be a raccoon embodied or Asian is raccoon please no more emails but how important is it to have subject you have material that people have seen or is there some creative freedom and being able to sort of explode so many people who saw this and then saw Grey Gardens I've had two kids be like hey man I watched that movie and like they don't turn into monsters like little kids are like this is the real move already cheap you go ladies turn into monsters whoa what happened man it's just about some substantial crying it's just about the shallowness of celebrity I do we did like the idea that people would watch hopefully like yeah I would seeing them without them because they've seen him in people who loved them would want to see them to understand yeah and then maybe that happened how many would you sit together and watch the original when we got a little time together yeah that is a thing this whole show is basically written over email basically yeah cuz we got lucky or we're all over the place Portland New York like we can all find the time to work on it but the possible thing is finding time to be unique yes and they're only andrew singer or producer I think's here and our producer our whole production staff here and when we're together they it's like a like a holiday yeah it's a miracle it's like they're all in the same room so even if you're watching okay so separately are you watching I mean you did you find yourself constantly sort of consulting the original material or do you do that once put it out of your mind and explain this thing I watched it once just to kind of think about the voice then my wife pointed out that she's like oh he sees she's primping herself in the reflection of the lens you know she's constantly doing this cuz she could see their fight and I was like oh that's good you know there's little stuff like that you know but nothing so much of it is you you kind of think about that stuff and then you kind of throw it away and you use it you don't but so much of it is just being with Fred and these guys and you get caught up we're just doing bit we're like this a-hole it's we're just like we're just seeing crew how the crews are so annoyed with us we're just doing bits the entire time yeah there's like action and then we'll do our characters and cut and then we're back to the I mean I want to do them now cuz we don't want to annoy you but this is one thing we're obsessed with that I want know yeah you have to do now you got to do it we we just keep having this fantasy of like when Obama comes to LA and all the places he visits so we spend hours it's going like today yeah I went to a me but record yeah yeah we make it like ah this is a set of two Broke Girls I was like I went down to Venice Beach or a band in the 60s taught us that if we if we wanted to we can break on through to the other side and now it's cute but think about that like a year yeah one of the jaws rider your verse to do like long pause yeah and then just like one of us really saw cat power and me went to the table read yeah the table dream Pizza jokes pitching jokes for dad hey Dan is him at the base of the Capitol Records building I'm just talking for app words about all things like why why did he tell a kowai what do you live in LA yeah come on they're just sitting there while you look are ya what the Pink's hot dog yeah no we saw the picture no he saw no yeah you met a guy used to work on grace under fire mr. president what are we gonna do about this new yeah yeah sorry alright we're gonna do we're gonna now see another one we are on so we are which will look familiar if you guys watch vice who wants bread you want to tell us a little bit about this one I'm very shy and private person I I'm aware and XM gotta watch that half I have to I have to know um this one we wanted to do something that was more contemporary because everything was from different decades so this felt a little bit more got a photo so narrow pole or aluminum I guess given a case a Camaro a full van and we had you know support from Vice they were great visible above so caught up your bike the feel is saying is that he doesn't understand Fred's English needs him to talk slower see you shot some of it in Mexico yeah Vikas on door yeah Mexico the only word I understood in that was Mexico in Tijuana Tijuana and we shot it over about it over Sam 707 here Elena's a seven-year shoot roll it kidnappings murder a broken system Mexicans - dog Juarez the city most closely associated with the Mexican drug wars the happiest once beautiful city becomes a drug calf roll the world time for a little geography lesson Mexico is directly south of America which means it shares a border with the United States and what goes over that border drugs that sinking India and America this is happening in your backyard warez the drug game is headed by the Salvas cartel which is run by this man el chingon kill thousands and made millions but he left a big mess in the process we decided to hit the streets and ask the locals would make it tell us about this martyred a Mexican Scarface you guys see the ho chi gong videos I say it's dangerous to have a camera all right thank you very shy whatever brought is not so funny cool only for us most were too paralyzed by fear to speak up she's clearly afraid of something and tell us your story are you afraid try to be asleep it's one of my favorite mustaches ever I'm bill because it looks like someone banged it up yeah he asked for it to look thick so you and I have like a fake look at mustache the last one you noted that you guys stayed very much to script with something like this how much your dad living is in there versus oh yeah this one let's just one has a little bit less scripted yeah um yeah this one was written actually Rob Klein me and then my friend Duffy Boudreau who's a guy I grew up with and do a lot about Vice mm-hmm and they this one shot in Mexico yeah I shot it and into you want every seven years Julia to the other episodes we shot in Iceland so we did three countries I didn't go to Iceland Oh Bank um I've decided instead of going to Iceland I would sit in the makeup chair for six six 56 hours because our makeup artists right then yeah as long as it did it so this wasn't you mentioned this was a departure of sorts obviously this was a contemporary piece it's also not a single documentary it's based on a series um how does that term change your process laughing um hard to do I'd say it's the hardest because we had to make it look like they just shot it in a second you know they run into places the advice does with one microphone and one camera and we had all these setups and then we had to sort of try to make it look like we we did it like in just a moment the light you know we had the lighting has to look like it's not being lit which is very frustrating my life it's just very difficult just because to wait for a lighting guy you know and this doesn't come up with the elections this doesn't come up with candidates no nobody cares about how long we have to wait for lighting changes and and one of these days someone's gonna you know she's leaving she's heard me she's heard me say this before that's what that's what we have to it's a look at that she's like what's going to the lighters guild yeah cross the street what was it talking about us fellas will you tell him will you go back there you tell him you know we don't want no writers over here why Mike well what was it about what they were doing what what chain does that made this it's something about bells town whenever he does that so we're in Mexico so I went to Mexico and everyone else it was it's pretty cool everyone else went our way yeah I just thought it was like they're much better now but when I went we're watching Vice it was always kind of like I would watch that show just to be like are these guys gonna get killed or not you know what I mean like that was kind of why you watched it it was like and they would actually go to like these crazy places that you're like wow that's amazing they went there but then they would just be like Oh check that out dude that's crazy right I think I might blow up dude I don't know maybe one I love it's like yeah so we're totally being shot at right now and it was like yeah and I was like uh but it's gotten better this is kind of making fun of there earlier and this also I think more than any of them which is what I loved about it this had like this really fun sketch game in it yeah them playing three pairs of guys because the first two pairs of guys just kept killed yeah and so it was like it was really nice like sort of rule of three structure but stretched out with that came from that first that first time we all met yeah yeah we were like oh they should be you know vice reporters we just keep getting killed and that that made us laugh you mentioned that you guys were doing this as the jinks being you know hit the captured the zeitgeist in a major way um you didn't want to do that because it was it did run sort of over over the course of more time you're gonna music in your head where's that nothing having having done this and having realized you could do this I'm just gonna keep talking oh is it something it is something like a jinx or making a murder something you would explore I don't know I mean what was the question I'm sorry I really feel like to grasp what those what made those so interesting is spending enough time and like really stretching it out like if we ever I think if you did it you'd have to like give us a really try yet to like kind of truncated or something in a way that wouldn't help it like respectfully I will say we're lucky to have been doing this at a time where I feel like documentary is so interesting totally at 34 30s or the you know what you were talking about with the jinx and making a murder and I so I think that like using documentary techniques is probably more interesting to people or easier more accessible than it it has been in past yeah the idea of making comedy cinematic was always something I found really interesting you know I think there is this kind of weird rule that not a rule or whatever that's that the comedy shouldn't look good you know and I really like it when it looks nice so the best piece of faith craziest or best piece of feedback you got from this one of this one yeah I don't know I don't really I didn't really meet any of those guys from any from fans I mean oh oh people on the street yeah oh wise dude oh my god you love that I love that guy you emailed all of it oh yeah I was like I just met my new roommate cup of ice man but this note this is the one more than anything where I feel like people were knew the source yes because of ice jams are certainly more popular than people going back yeah people the line that people like I remember the quote of this room is their dogs a chicken yeah people keep coming but I go I'll do their dogs a chicken I remember I've asked how people say that to me in front of my children I go a dogs not a chicken honey all right we're gonna do one more oh my god we're gonna keep going all right my god blue everybody settle in we're gonna do blue jean committee which takes on this famous get all the fame for music docks that we all love who wants to tell this is you bill this is yeah this was based on the history of the Eagles um which have you guys seen that documentary history evil and if you haven't you've got it you have to see it it's great it makes us the three of us so happy yeah on so many levels uh Detroit they're from Michigan based these tough guys like and they're so tough all the way through but they moved to California and made really soft music just seeing you know them being like you don't hit you know getting mad at Randy if you don't hit high note I'll take it to the limit I'm putting your head through that walls it's good you're like what anyway yeah Don Henley and all those guys are so tough and your than I did is for Ron it's the most music my god mr. Felder John John John Mulaney point had a great thing he's like went on Emily gets lit like Easter you could tell like when he sued somebody because they go from being their first name to like well when mr. Felder and mr. Geffen yeah decided you you miss hours so yes and I'm like oh Jesus so anyway we sat around talking about tough guys playing music and then came up with this the songs just started coming I was like Jeanie flip the switch walking shoes she's going to Hollywood Montecito memories you got hibiscus it Oh funny feeling satin symphony gentle and soft gentle I mean all career making songs and I needed something that distinguishes me from everybody else not just to be JC but everybody else in the game so we were laying down vocal harmonies you know a standard issued way is a singer sings of fifty sings of seven fitness it sounds like everybody else nothing unique in there yeah and then Clark found his own thing it was magical it was like a signature sound I don't know I just I just kind of bear down I get up there I can sing pretty I you know it seemed as if it was being sung by a woman or maybe not even a woman like a really young very waifish small girl it will let Clark hear that oh you don't let him hear that you'd have a boot up your ass real fast well Seto is very phallic formas singing just very he's very manly it's very dad all that confidence got a lot of strength we've got a savage musically that's really you guys in the vocals there now no that is true Haden Petra Haden my opponent and but Fred and John spurn II wrote all the music and Fred always plays fake he will do these bands on us no and he'll let me play bass and it's the highlight of my wife yeah Thank You Fred oh my part you're a great bass player there you go you're Fred Rose Fred wrote an album worth of songs yeah we did a blue jean committee album and we have a we're gonna do a musical one uh this year and weight working with Fred one of the great gifts is every now and then he'll just email you a song and they're the best song it's just sit back you just spend the next like five minutes just kidding mama you're a dancer and just that as a headline play just in the subject mama you're a dancer it's any fun I'm like man you it's so funny this one ended up being a two-parter how do you sort of make that decision why does this one become that and another all my stuff and I don't think it was designed that way yeah there was just so much and it was okay he'll just be about a band and then it was like well is it about a Chicago man that wants to be a California band that was the story and then and then getting all that once like Cameron Crowe and all these people so they're started doing it we just started getting tons of stuff and that was a I want to give credit to IFC cuz we didn't know till we shot it yeah I wanted to be two parts and so we then went to them and they were when I they were cool enough to let us do to a two-parter which was nice and also which is what the Eagles documentary is so it's really too hard blow your brains town and do you start with this idea of you wanted to do a musical one or did you start with you love the Eagles doc what's that oh is it coming yeah but French I mean just an amazing musician and like he said we're gonna have a musical one in the new ones yeah I mean I think that would be the plan is every time we do this we want to I mean it would just be dumb not to let Fred go write an album worth of songs for a fake band for their other musical dots that you guys explored or considered in that process yeah we've got one for the season already well let's we say no save it okay you did it I like that yeah when I can bring us to uh-huh why tell you now we can get another press release out of it yeah why do you now and you know another hit hit on your on your email oh all right so listen we can tell you now or wait for a couple months they'll go oh that's it the series has been greenlit for a season 2 and a season 3 um very cutting pizu to will be back this fall I'm just gonna run through so so you don't make this mistake of what you what what people do know about and if people don't I'm gonna tell you the bunker yeah which parodies the war room uh Juan likes rice and chicken yeah yeah which is no Maj did you a dreams of sushi of course yeah yeah um globes min which is parodies 1969 salesman yeah and then finally Robert Evans is the kid stays in the picture be Perry and that and yeah a kid stays in the picture one it's kind of it's not it is based on that one in a big way it's more specific and toned but I'm kind of doing a character what kind of doing Robert Evans Bob so kind of mostly doing this character that I did on the James Franco Rose called a president of Hollywood he's kind of like this like real guy so it's a little bit like that guy his story but John Mulaney wrote that one yeah so it's very funny I just read it and I was its Fanta I could I was trying to do the vo for just a scratch vo so they could start building it like two days ago and I could not get to him I was laughing so hard a good time so what did you learn from season one in terms of what worked and what didn't work what was challenging if Fred didn't work okay that's a good that's good to know it did not work it did not work right there's that but what did you learn that you apply been to no styles like we sat down yeah I've had a writers room it was we had the directors with us and there was that like they wanted in a really good way they would sort of say we'd love to shoot a food documentary be it something like chef's table or yeah hero like that sort of like food porn II kind of documentary that exists now yeah and then they you know we want to do something in black and white it would be like the style of Salesman so they're like oh we'd love to shoot something in that and then war room is just I was just fun yeah you know it's a political one and timely timely and uh yeah what are the things that you say you know this is too hard too crazy too ambitious well I always find the thing that we always keep hitting up against is things that are already kind of funny yeah I think like I'm Michael Michael Moore or Morgan Spurlock people is asked about those and you watch when you're like well yeah it's kind of it's already kind of funny they have a comic voice you have a comic voice yeah so it's a little tougher to do it but things that are a little bit more kind of serious and that we can weave in a story or a point of view on you know it's nice when they're serious but I like serious about something small and specific is yeah like some awful world event those we try to stay away from yeah that that's always a bummer her funny that's is you show uh no we uh we're not this don't don't don't count it out yeah Jesus Christ you imagine him Shelley came up there everybody just started why we had him Oh that'd be the worst thing on earth well weights a CR take did the creative process change at all yeah what did the creative process change at all the way that you approach these given to me what you had learned not really the same kind of same I mean they all it is this weird thing of um there's not a dress rehearsal yeah so we kind of have to write the scripts and we do one read-through really yeah and then like rewrite it based on that read-through and then we kind of have to send it out it's you know it's it's strangely like an SNL process for filmmaking yeah and so we've been lucky so far this workout yeah you kind of show up and you oh my god they built all this stuff yeah then Fred went to a Fred when shot in Columbia for one and dreams and dreams of jiggin all right not go no no wait someone someone on set that bit by scorpion yes yeah oh are you gonna try scorpion yeah yeah wait totally worth it yeah is there anything else she's fine she pees behind her shoe Oh an ouch yeah and she said it was the worst pain ever right it was just like this black scorpion so I it doesn't matter what color this scorpions a scorpion I'm not sitting here knowing how what I meant oh it's a black one everybody who's buddy relax it just came from the wrong side of town and on the scorpion came from the wrong side town well you know what I mean was black show ovens actual I'm gonna watch the second series in there I think they will um yeah these guys did not go to Columbia no I didn't go to Columbia yeah I was like bed if there's a back lot for a reason are there any roads you went down and in the way that you do with the jig post-season well I'm sure there are many of those Alice and I Alice was there shooting with us one of the producers and in Columbia we shot way up in the mountains and then at night we got driven back to our hotel way down and our driver kept falling asleep so glad I didn't go he was in a in a cartoon way he was yawning he was yawning like usually Donnie's roads like this that's already I'm like a little that's a literal I'm not I'm not kidding that is inside yes I made shots in their necks like me dynamic smile then a question I'd ask so this is great oh oh the gloves Minh Clips if you guys a little bit of gloves man so salesman which is fantastic and everyone should see is about Bible salesman yeah made by the Maysles brothers who also did great Gardens and they and in this instead of selling Bibles there uh well you get it they're selling globes naturally we and that's when I started throwing money at it so this is uh globe you got all these different countries in it and then continents they did blue for the oceans the globe is tilted up so when you face a is a natural at this see I think he likes it when guests come over you know they see a globe they're gonna know you're in the presence of somebody who's worldly you know we don't really have guests over well I promise you that if you have a globe in the home you're gonna find reasons to invite them over you're gonna want them to come on I just don't feel comfortable um buying something without discussing it with my husband what if your your husband comes home after a long day's work visas what are you smiling about and then you point to the middle of the room and his face lights up and he says is that a globe I think it's a No just can't afford it right now well I respect a woman who you know is careful with the money and whatnot but I think that you're gonna did this dis globe is gonna last you the rest of your life you know and I think your husband would agree with my husband is in the hospital fella cream I'm not sure if he's gonna walk again that's all that's truly awful very sorry about it's very awful I think what would make him feel better though is maybe if you showed up with a goal we can't even cover the medical I'm working two jobs as it is it just turned out the heat and I think was untimely death which ones time yeah Tommy Tommy Tommy Tommy oh there he is she's looking at me I think you would very much regret it if you did not buy this globe all right we're gonna talk briefly about what we just saw but we're also gonna you know a minute or two open it up to questions so start thinking if you have any um I tell us about well I mean I'm mostly I mean again every time I watch anything these guys do I'm blown away but I'm still blown away by our directors Alex in recent yeah yeah Alex and Reese are unreal I mean they're they cares so much about how much how it how authentic it is and I mean yeah when we first saw that we just want wow you guys how did you do that you know and and and so yeah their whole team is amazing are there any stories you can tell us back stories about oh my god driving from Minneapolis a woman Alison and the guy white kept falling asleep on the way to the airport we shot we went and more Fred went to shoot in Minneapolis for snow yeah they went to Minnie no no no no right they had like bringing us no me we actually we had to add snow yes and uh you know I worked in Long Beach for like two days but uh they it's not a good time for I can tell you Globes Minh it's a tough time because they're up against uh an atlas an atlas Minh yeah sure a a German a German man who sells atlases and it becomes very clear that everyone is in all the Americans in it are served World War two and that he was yeah it might have been a Nazi there was a think I tell a joke that we cut from it that's not in it the day to make thing about when the guy was a singing happy birthday - do you guys remember that I doesn't lie won one of the it was like one of the is older John Mulaney pitched this it was like an older guy Murr it was his birthday and we were singing happy birthday to him and he realized it was his 30th birthday all right long lead up for a very bad joke yeah sorry cuz we were just saying like you watch when you watch salesmen they all look so old and then you realize they're all like 30 - yeah they're all three - it's a just guys who likes my I just I just got out of college that my sweetheart on that note I think we're gonna open it up to questions and guys they have to be good in like like right should go over there yeah no I think not good oh yeah my father come in doing good we really appreciate it thank ad thanks for coming out here hey guys thank you my name is Pierre I'm an agent with the Emmys and the Grammys well my question is do you guys everybody knows me here so that's what's so funny I know and I don't know what you did man but can I guess can I got you you ask the first question a lot did you hear that my name is Pierre and they're like mother you gotta wake up pretty early Austin before Pierre yeah you just got here hello I'm Pierre and before my question I'd say oh yeah I did it again I am at the front of a line leave here I will be across the street to Starbucks before you even got your question out Pierre don't catch me like a shoe Jose okay so now question hands obviously you guys touch very controversial subject and I was wondering if I have see ever comes up to you and says well maybe this is all too much you can't really do this plus we live in such a weird political time right now which also I think would be a very interesting subject for you guys to touch on but you have anything back from people who say well or controversial well I don't know I don't know if I'm I I don't think it's that controversial oh right no yeah I mean I will say this they've got it I've been sitting on that question regarding contributions I would put all my guys came up I came up with a question then I watch documentary now okay and I stuck on division yeah I can traverse you and then I got ahead big Finnell controversial this one I'm getting it those up at the VA I will say up here we I will say IFC has been nothing nothing but supportive yeah we took on controversial subjects like 70s soft rock yeah alright alright let's look at the guy lay off the guy hey I'm Pierre's manager later off visual merci thank here hand them Michael to ask a question yeah yeah you have to get up pretty early in the morning to BBS is this alarm went off at like 4:00 in the morning but any like pee-wee's big adventure street sweepers the Sun isn't up yet like what is he running to oh there must be a WGA panel that goes Pierre yeah it's 4 a.m. I wonder oh I got it I got it I get it I got it garbagemen oh geez looks like ray Donovan's over at the WGA anyone else going to dare to a hospitai stood first i just want to say thank you dance yeah well from now on whenever he says that I'm gonna remember you guys he's great we like the question is have you maybe first season three thought about any Michael Apted like 56 up we did they talked about that and with them the same problem is like the jinx which is you know the 7up series is so what's so interesting about it is being able to do the series of it so we have to make a whole season worth of that so that the other thing that we'd have to think about but now they have that aging makeup they use or that technology with it yet maybe we can throw Downey jr. young but no but we love those in but that was the one of the greatest documentaries ever made so that would be so much fun she survives what are they oh courtesy Jojo short beautiful thank you you guys are awesome um what about like doing something athletic like did you guys see Iverson about Allen Iverson or what about iris iris is the best documentary ever okay cool alright cool alright jester suggestions so let it know moving on I will say um one of the reasons we haven't a sports documentaries we've already thought of that oh go ahead well I what I think like we never want to do anything we're even in movies sometimes it's like we're gonna go to the big basketball game and they only shoot one side of the stadium and you can tell there wasn't full yeah and like so much of the authenticity of this is we'd rather take on something like here's life in a restaurant where we can make it look like a restaurant documentary we look as opposed to faking it yeah right also you know Andy Samberg and smoke people do that tennis one and there and 30 for 30 but iris is up for grabs that would be really funny you guys alright well do I do alright so an iris yes thank you also like she didn't even have iris till the mic got you know she was like wow I really I don't like all of it I was thinking of iris for am okay yeah okay she's like I don't want to go to Chinese we're gonna go to Chinese food hi hi um I was wondering just because there's so many different characters um and obviously with us and all you're always playing different characters how you're able to breathe life into them and make them sustain throughout one episode and do you take mental notes or is it how do you guard a character or some really uh we don't even think about it that much to be honest I mean honestly don't think about it it's kind of a good thing don't to not think about it that much you kind of do the preparation and then you kind of think about like I'll watch like the sandy passage sing or I'll listen to those vice guys for like four minutes going like oh we want to you know I can get that thing I go and a lot of it comes from SNL too where you're about to walk on they go you're willing to phone this you know and you go oh okay um and and I I think we've all learned is just because you know you just don't yeah just don't don't overthink it you know those are my least favorite performances where I could tell like oh really guys they're really um that I find that it as a part that's kind of like a there's like an insecurity in that you know what I mean and it's like if your security yeah just like relax and then suddenly that's the best feeling is when you're doing it's not like sandy passage there was a moment where I'm getting mad at him and I got like legitimately emotional I did I and I gets in it I go like this I go away cuz I'm like mad yeah well that was caught and expect to have to have because you're open and right and I've I will say being lucky enough to write with and for these guys for a long time and that's Nell they were the kind of people you could do that thing like right beforehand and tell them and you never wanted to give them your take of how you thought they should do it because their understanding of how they would do it is so much better than what you would come up with give me I don't want give me someone anybody anybody do it human anybody any any famous person any famous person right now forgive me but Margaret for Margaret Hatcher yes she proposes a lot when she spoke but with authority was it sort of in here well yeah from Donald Donald Trump but it's a bit too many impress ready Spears hey y'all know I wish I could do it uh yeah I mean bills kind of like in here then Fred Fred does this feds like oh my god Oh Kerry and I we were in Portland and then I flew back to New York and it's okay okay then I got in my car employment and Terry was with me and then we saw this guy he was the keyboard player from like the score man zippers know both both do me OK he's great he does it you know cameras here Pyramus here that's fat when we were SNL I would come out here set okay here's that's when he was pissed off if he was in the booth and we were blocking something he had written and he was pissed off he'd walked in like this he would just suddenly come and go okay I got angry a lot yeah yeah yeah right so right testing testing when y'all ride do you think tonight right that's right DJ here right afterwards with Egyptian tutu sibilance sibilance question DJ Pierre y'all there still give me huh you check check I'm going to get out next week I'm gonna be there okay cool uh so I'm just wondering what do you tell the network who has heard the same joke or read the same joke the same amount of times and no longer thinks it's funny but you know it's funny I know an audience will think it's funny but they don't think the audience will find it funny anymore cuz they've heard it ten times but you know they will find it funny the first time what do you say to them well we we actually it's like kind of the revert we yeah we hear it more we hear it a lot and then we have convinced herself that it's still funny I would do that it has snow all the time I'm like I'll cut this and Seth was really good be like no no that's funny we just we've heard it a billion times but no no to keep that it's funny but we haven't our relationship with IFC I don't think has been what people consider a classic not later their relationship I mean they signed up for an idea that was bat yeah and they liked it and they've supported it and yeah 100% again one of our episodes is black and white one of our episodes is in Spanish yeah and they're like great love it yeah like really super commercial community is not an or it's pretty amazing we're very lucky we are they coming up with there's no video no sound what it is is just your TV is off hey say it's a documentary about what would happen if the power was out yeah we're shooting that yeah and when Miren goes no - no fuel sets in three two one pair is like and then about a thousand think pieces will be written about it in the Atlantic well that's season two coming this fall thank you guys

Channel: IFC

Views: 513,619

Rating: 4.8799052 out of 5

Keywords: documentary now!, for your consideration, Bill Hader, Helen Mirren, season, 5 ways, documentary, mini series, promo, Documentary Now!, filmmaking, documentary filmmaking, documentarian, tv show, thin blue line, thursday, ifc tv, documentary now, amc networks, Seth Meyers, episode, Fred Armisen, Emmy, full, panel, interview

Id: QU-btERDBpE

Length: 59min 18sec (3558 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 13 2016