(upbeat music) - Hi and welcome to Close Up With The Hollywood Reporter Comedy Actors. I'm Lacey Rose, and I'd like to welcome Dan levy, Kumail Nanjiani, Ramy Youssef, Ricky Gervais. Kenan Thompson. Let's get started. We're living through a unique time, both with the global pandemic
and the social unrest. What have you all learned about yourselves during this period? (Kenan laughs) - I prefer it and I want it to go on forever. (Rick laughing) Not the social unrest, the lockdown. I'm enjoying the lockdown I mean, it suits me. I don't like people coming to the house. I'm glad I'm not there in person. I like it. - I don't know. I've been relying on myself a lot to get things like this done. I built full technological equipment type things and satellite media interfaces, all this time so, I'm feeling pretty smart, even though that didn't sound very smart. (Kenan laughs) (Ricky laughs) - I found that I had a lot
of things I didn't realize that were very important to me that were like, I would do for sanity, over, you know, many decades of my life. And when they're taken away, (sighs heavily) it's challenging to figure out like new stuff that makes
you feel like a person. - And what have you found? (Lacey laughing) How are you feeling like a person? - Well, I'm still working on it. I'm sill working on it. - I mean, technologically speaking, I've realized that if the
apocalypse are coming in, technology was all that I had, I would be not good. So I'm shocked I'm here today. I'm shocked that my computer worked and you know, that's that. But, you know, I do feel like-
(Ricky laughing loudly) - I do feel like you know, we're in a time where, I think technology and
I think social media have become an unbelievable
resource for change and for information to be shared readily to people in ways that I think has never been available before. And I think that I'm very thankful for that and for the fact that information and that resources and that places to donate during
all of this can be shared. So that, the kind of awareness that should have been
happening a long long time ago, can finally kind of hit people, granted, you know, it should have happened a long time ago, but I do feel like, fortunately because of the
internet and where we're at and I think the fact
that people are at home, there's almost a captive
audience for people to really learn in ways that
they were not learning before. You can never not be learning now. And you should never have
not been learning before. - I wanna change my answer to whatever to Dan's answer.
(Dan laughing) - I wanna change it to that so please just credit me with that. Thank you. - Ramy, what about you? Have you learned anything
about yourself in this period? - I agree with it I mean, definitely, what Dan said was great.
- Just say no. - I really haven't learned much, it's like you think you learned something and then you don't and then you're like, no, that wasn't, I was just losing my mind. I was just losing my damn mind. And, I did find out that my mom gets her news from the internet, mostly from WhatsApp. She sent me a movie called "Plandemic" She said I have to watch it.
(Lacey laughing) - This was all planned. So, I learned a little bit of that. (Kenan laughing) (panelists laughing) - What would you do with a gig right now? Can you find humor in this moment? - Yeah, I'd have to. You've got a rewrite it. I was half way through my tour so, I mean, the annoying thing
about this pandemic is that I've got change a few
lines here and there. I mean, that's what, I think the world would take away. I mean, but the good thing as you said, the good thing about the internet is, this will allow, like those nurses that
are doing 14 hour shifts, some of them dying, it allow them to see
us talk about our shows that might get nominated for an Emmy. (panelists laughing) - So there's that. - So there's that. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it swings in roundabouts its always. - Ramy, what about you? - Yeah, I mean you could but I don't know that that's
really what's on my mind. I mean I think even speaking
to some of what Dan was saying, I think there's value in some ways and there not being a ton of distractions
right now as we gonna figure out what's going on in our country. And you kinda look at the positives that are coming out of it. So, I mean, yeah, I could do some standup, but it's not really like what
what's on my mind right now. - Kenan, I'm curious, are you sort of thinking, thank God we don't have to do an episode of SNL right now, or are you thinking conversely, too bad we're dark 'cause we could really lift
people up in this moment. - Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of the
responsibility of doing comedy is to make people try to
feel good through bad times, but it is definitely, very tiptoe ish at the moment so, it might be a little
harder than, you know, it would be funny. So I don't even know if
the point of doing it would be worth it you know, if it's not gonna be funny because everybody's so sensitive
about everything right now. - That's the best time, when everyone's on edge and everyone's sensitive. That's the best time to be insensitive. My show was packed with jokes about AIDS, cancer, famine, the Holocaust. This is just gonna top it up. - I'm glad this helps Ricky's brand. - Exactly it's helping, this is Ricky's prime time right now. (panelists laughing) - Do you ever get nervous, Ricky? - I don't know. I have some anxiety dreams, but I don't know if
they're nervous or not. - What are your anxiety dreams? - Well, I'm on a train and I'm going in and out of a tunnel and my dad spills milk all over my face. - (laughs) You sure that's milk? - That's not true (laughs) That's not (laughs) true. I just made that up (laughs)
- Who wants to dissect that? - You just lied to us about a dream you had? - I'm anxious right now if I'm being honest. - Are you? What are you anxious about Dan? (Ricky laughing hilariously) - Ramy I wanna go back to Golden Globe night, which you had a look of sort
of genuine shock on your face as you were winning this award. You've since said, that you knew as Jennifer
Anderson was opening that envelope that you had won, is that right? - Yeah, I could see, she was like, what is this name? Like she very much had no idea how to pronounce what was happening. And, it was like, she had the substitute teacher
look where she was like, what is this? And so that was very exciting. And actually, Ricky was a
big part of it for me too. 'cause he said get up and thank your God. And I was like, actually I will. I feel like that was our first
time working together, man. It was very fun. - So by calling your show, "Ramy" you get as you've put it quote, "the brunt of everything, "the praise, the death threats, "the condemnations to hell." So first, what's the breakdown? What's the split between those? - You don't know. It's kind of like one of those
things that could happen, like the likelihood of an Emmy
or a Fatwa is pretty equal and you're kinda like, maybe I'm in the running, maybe I'm not. You just kinda like wait
and see what happens, but we definitely hear, all sides of things with something that's
talking about, you know, God and talking about
Muslims in a way that gets, you know, they're emotional topics. But we try and go at them, the best way that we can. - What's been the response
you sort of least expected? - Just people who, don't fit the exact
specifications of the family feeling really connected. Like I got an email
from a guy who was like, I'm an evangelical Christian
father of three and I'm Ramy. And that you get something like that then that feels really, as a dad I didn't know that you were. And, it's really cool to
just see it connecting with different people. - Sure. What about the rest of you guys? What are the sort of responses, that come at you with the shows that you guys are making, that you perhaps don't expect at all? - Mine was the emotional response. I was surprised people
would come up to me, they'd tell me their story of grief. And nearly everyone, that came up to me said, oh, I lost my sister, three weeks before I watched the show or I lost my wife last year. And it was amazing, that they would say that to a stranger because they sort of
used the show as an end, and they said, oh, and I was Tony, that was me for a year. So that was quite a shock. It affects you 'cause, it made me wanna treat that
responsibly in series two. So I didn't make him get better because you don't, you don't snap out of depression. It's almost interactive 'cause I'm on Twitter and Facebook and it's on Netflix. So it's there all the time. There's a lot more
feedback than ever before. So, it does sort of affect you and the things that affect you is when a real person comes
up to you and tells you, it affected their actual life. - Has any of that
happened after season two? When and now as you're
thinking about a season three? - Yeah. Well season two, it was the same really, you get feedback from social workers and people saying they're
using the show in grief. And again, it's sort of scary
to have a responsibility as a comedian. 'Cause it's not good. It's not good to have a responsibility as a comedian, but as a person, you do, you know, you do worry. It's good and bad. It's good and bad. You can't detach yourself from the world as much as I'd like to. So you just try and make, you try and make bad things funny. That's all. - Yeah, I mean, you know, I think any time you tell stories that are not part of the
mainstream narrative, you're going to affect people. In my case to really
make an active choice, to tell a gay love story that felt authentic to my own experience in a way that I hadn't seen depicted in television before. I think as anybody whose
stories are kind of not at the forefront, you end up as an actor or, you know, as a viewer, you ended up watching yourself in a way kind of distilled into a version of what people want you to be or what the network
executives consider to be kind of a palatable
version of who you are. And so for me, I think I was given an opportunity and I was given the freedom, by both our networks in Canada and the US to tell whatever stories I wanted to tell. It was a conscious effort on my part to make sure that all the intricacies, of the relationship that
I was writing felt real. And that, you know when I walked
into the store that I owned with my boyfriend, that we kissed as straight
couples would kiss. And you realize in those moments that that isn't represented a lot on TV, you don't see casual intimacy between two men on television. And, you know at first, it obviously kind of strikes you as like, I wonder how people are gonna take this? I wonder how kind of middle America is going to perceive this? But the surprising thing, was that I can probably
count and maybe I'm not, scouring the internet for negativity (laughs)
(Lacey laughing) - But I do feel like, you know, the positive
outcome of this is that I could probably count on two hands, the negative things
that have been written, but the volume of letters
and notes from people, be it kids who have seen
themselves reflected in our story or kids who have come out of the closet by using, you know, certain
dialogue from our show or parents who have accepted
their children in ways, because they had been able
to learn through the show. I think television is an
incredibly powerful medium and I think in comedy, in particular, people don't expect to necessarily be caught
off guard by sentimentality or love. The freedom that a lot of new creators in TV have been allowed, is the capacity to be funny, and to also be emotional and to also tell stories
that we don't get to see. So, it's very exciting and, you know, I have to say that it's quite thrilling
to be in the company of everyone here, because I do feel like the work that everyone has done has helped, you know, move the dial, for voices and for stories that we don't get to see all the time. - Damn, that was very well said, Dan, my goodness! (Dan laughing) - I think it's true. I think people second
guess the public too often. I think, as you say, the
networks, they do say, can the public take this when it's a taboo subject for someone? And the answer is yes. Real life is much scarier
than anything in fiction. And I deal purposely in
taboo subject for that reason that I do want people to
feel slightly uncomfortable when I start talking about it. That no harm can come from
discussing taboo subjects that, you know, that's what
stops them being taboo. And it takes the audience to
a place it hasn't been before. And that's exciting in fiction we create our own heroes and villains as sort of role play to the soul. So they go through those emotions and they really cry and they get angry and they laugh and no one really gets hurt if you can't do it in fiction, I mean, that should always
be the first point really trying stuff out. So I think that's exactly right that people embrace them, that they haven't seen before, particularly if it's their story and they identify with it in some way. - Yeah, I will say though
with taboo subjects you know, it's obviously some of you guys talk about that stuff more than I do, but I think it's also important what the point of viewer perspective on the taboo subject is. I think sometimes people just do shock to do shock. And I do think that that
stuff can cause actual harm in the world, I really do. I think there are jokes against
certain marginalized groups that can actually hurt. So, I think talking about
taboo subjects is extremely, extremely beneficial, but I do think that the point
of view you take on them is also important. - Of course, I always say, is there anything you wouldn't joke about? I say, no, it depends on the joke. And offense often comes when people mistake the subject of a joke with the actual target and that's really important, and that's a really important
distinction to make. You wanna do it, intelligently and inclusively. But, I think some people
are just terrified of a taboo subject. I often ask on Twitter, is there something I shouldn't talk about and I get a hundred answers, and I can find a counterexample where there isn't a subject you can't talk about or joke about. - I think it speaks to the team, you know, I think to tell inclusive
stories requires, you know, a writer's room that is filled with people who have different stories to tell. So I think it really starts
with how things are made, and, you know, being quite
young in this industry and I have learned tremendously, you know, over the past six years, and we'll definitely be bringing a lot of the successes and the failures, of how to create that into whatever I do next. And that to me is what's really exciting. And I think that's what this whole kind of
conversation that we're in now, is going to, I hope have such a positive effect on the content that is
made from here on out, because I think it is become, necessary to make sure that voices are heard and that people are employed
in positions of power, where things don't slip
through the cracks anymore, because that's how we've
gotten to be where we are is one too many things have
slipped through the cracks and, you know, apologies have happened kind of after the fact. And to be honest, it doesn't make that much of a difference because whatever was
presented, was presented. And that was the impact. - My problem is, this is my writer's room here and it is full. (panelists laughing) - I am very, very diverse inside so. (Lacey laughing) Diversity of thought, Ricky. Alright, we were talking
about the response of fans, Kenan in your role at SNL, you are impersonating a whole
slew of different people. How often do you hear from the people who you are impersonating? - I mean, it depends on the person and how often I've done it. You know, like I heard from
Steve Harvey and stuff like that and Big Papi, but it's always usually, pretty positive. I mean, Steve wasn't
overly excited about it in the beginning. He grew to love it I guess because you know like I don't
do it out of any malice. It's all out of love pretty much, I know him. So he told me, you know, in different ways or, you know he would
say it on his radio show and then people would call me and be like, hey, Steve Harvey talk about
you this morning on the radio. And I'd be like all right well, I'm sure he'll settle
down once he realizes that I'm not attacking him. But, I remember we were
kinda attacking Star Jones a little bit back in the day and she was not feeling that shit so. - What are you doing in those scenarios? - I lay low, man. I lay, I mean, I don't know. I don't feel like I was run
into Star Jones anywhere, so I just lay low for stuff like that. But, people like Steve, you know, I'm probably gonna run into him somewhere so I had to smooth that out. I went to Chicago and
(panelists laughing) did his talk show and stuff like that so, we're good. - As the longest tenure, cast member on SNL, when did you get comfortable with the idea that you would decide when you're ready to move on versus Lorne Michaels deciding for you? So put another way, when in your tenure did you stop being nervous about getting fired? - Yeah, I mean, I guess I
wasn't worried about being fired after a couple of seasons just because, you have to let that go and just kinda do the job, you know, if you're so
focused on getting fired, every single show, you can't focus on entertaining people. - You've gotta try and get fired. That's my advice. Try and get fired. - Right, right. - And then you'll probably be, you'll be probably-- - Ricky that is terrible advice. - You go the other way.
- Yeah, exactly. (panelists laughing) - That's not good advice Ricky. Try and get fired? You can do that, if you're Ricky Gervais, but, somebody else gets their first job, they take your advice, they try and get fired. Guess what? They get fired. - They got fucking fired.
(Lacey laughing) That's how that ends. - They get over it. They'll get over it. They'll thank me later. - I mean, I just also have to say, Kenan, you are so good on SNL. You're just so effortless. And there is so much stress
that goes into that job. I mean, it was, I've been to a couple tapings and just as an audience member (laughs) I'm stressed out. You just make it look so easy and the character work
that you do is so joyful. It kinda speaks for itself in terms, of why you have not been fired. It is a skillset that just
is magnificent to watch. - Thank you, man. You know, I don't take praise well, but I really appreciate that.
(Dan laughing) - I've been very blessed, is all I could say. And just try to stay focused, and really try to figure
out the formula of comedy. That's what I was telling Ricky earlier that I loved his special so much because he spent so much time talking about how to talk about like going back to taboo subjects, but just showing the fact that
anything can be talked about if you do it smartly, that's how I approach, you know, sketches or trying to push forward how, you know, black comedy I guess, is perceived or progressing. So always just being very serious about the approach basically. And one way to keep me calm and that is to make it joyful for me, you know what I mean? So that's why my energy is always big or I do big eyes and things like that. I just like a lot of big energy to kinda make it obvious that we're supposed to be having fun. - One of your roles at SNL
is also if I'm not mistaken, you're still the warmup guy, which feels like it would be the job that you sort of haze the new guy with. How did that become your role, and what is the sort of power in that? - I mean, it's a team effort, basically. There's two stages of the warmup. There's a standup portion
to welcome the audience. And then we sing a song and it's been this traditional thing since I've been there, you know, like somebody goes
up and does the welcoming and tells everybody
where the fire exits are. And then the cast will like
sing a song with the band or whatever to get them in the mood. And it just landed on me because I was so excited
to like jump into it. And I first did it with Fred
Armisen and Taran Killam and we were all doing a song together. And then they both left the
show. And then I was like left singing kind of by myself for
like the last eight years. - And you will still be there eight years from now I suspect. - Yeah, that's right. It's all about the (whistles) (Dan laughing) - Kumail I wanna turn to you, you know, over the course of
the run of Silicon Valley, your career, I think it's fair to say has exploded. But I wanna sort of talk
about so this moment in time and the pressures that come with, the choices that you make. - I think, you know, I'm very, very aware of the window. I think a lot of people in comedy, there's like a little
bit of a window you get where you have your shot, right. And that goes away for a lot of people. So, I think the best you can do is just go with your gut and do stuff that you can be proud of. But trying to just sort
of do stuff that I like, 'cause you know when you try and guess what the audience wants to see, that's a losing game. There's no way to do that. If you look at someone
like Ricky, you know, who's had such a long career going from sort of a successful thing to successful
thing to successful thing. And what I think he's
done a great job of is having a point of view
with everything he does, everything he does feels like it comes from Ricky Gervais. So try and do that, you know, figure out a
little bit what your voice is and try and do stuff that excites you. - One of those things
was being a superhero, being a part of the
Marvel superhero family. And there is a first in that, how significant was that for you and what kind of sort
of weight comes with it? - Well it was very significant for me 'cause it was something I really, really personally wanted to do. I'm a big like fan of sci-fi, big fan of superheroes, big fan of Marvel movies. So I really, really wanted to do that. Now on top of that, there's this other pressure
that comes in that I'm the first South Asian superhero in a major Hollywood movie, in a Marvel movie. I'm the first Pakistani superhero, but then that stuff, it's a little harder to negotiate because I can only represent myself. I can't represent the millions
and millions of people so. So, I do feel that pressure, but, I think the only way to relieve that pressure is just to have more people
have these opportunities. You know, it's not, one person cannot represent
a whole group of people because you know, there's just, all our experiences and backgrounds are completely different. That said, for me, when I got that part, I wanna look like someone, who could take on sort of the traditional
Hollywood looking super heroes. So I wanted to look like
someone who could take on Thor, who could take on Captain America, to me, that was an important part because I was the first
Pakistani superhero. - So you had to get
jacked for your culture. Like you did it, you did it for Islam.
- Yeah, I did it for all my people you know? - And for Pakistan, yeah.
(panelists laughing) - Yeah, I'm doing reps for Pakistan. - You have to get repped for it, that's the newest ice bucket challenge. (Lacey laughing)
- Repped for Pakistan. - Yeah, all of Pakistan can now eat cake and sit on a couch because I'm out here doing pull ups. - It's obviously quite a leap from your character on "Silicon Valley", which is one that alongside
all of these different moves, you've gone back to each season. What is that sort of tonal shift? - I would say, I sort of obviously you
know the movie's not out, so nobody knows this character yet, but I approached him really as the opposite of the
opportunities that I had gotten and the opposite of the opportunities that I've seen a lot of other Brown men get traditionally in Hollywood, you know. So I feel like, we're this group of we can be, the model minority. So we can be like the smart nerds or, the exact opposite, we could be terrorists, you know depending on what the project 'cause I think those are like,
(Lacey laughing) Those are the two buckets.
- sort of two ends of the spectrum that we occupy and very little in between. So I wanted him to be in
opposition to everything. So, you know, I've gotten to play a nerd. I wanted this guy to be cool. I've played weaklings, I wanted this guy to be strong. You know people, brown men have to play terrorist sometimes I wanted him to be the opposite. I wanted him to be full of joy. So really, this character for me, was defined by, what I didn't want him to be and that was based on a lot of the things that I'd seen brown men playing on TV and movies. - We're gonna touch very quickly on the photo (laughs) that broke the internet. I guess
the first place to start is what surprised you most about the sort of response to it? - Just that my aunt saying
they were really proud of me did not expect that.
(Lacey laughing) - It's not something I'd expect. Listen, it got so much bigger than I thought it was going to get. I had no idea that it was gonna, that it was gonna be like that. If I had known it was gonna be like that, I'd probably wouldn't have done it because I'll tell ya I've come
to hate that picture. - You have, why? - You know, it's weird. You sort of get a weird body dysmorphia, when the whole world is
concentrating on how you look and listen I'm very, very grateful. And I put those pictures
up for a reason, right? I did that because I wanted
that reaction obviously. But then when you get that reaction, it's a little weird where you're like, people are really judging little bits of your physical being. And I know a lot of people
have it a lot worse than me, but it sort of makes
you feel kind of naked. I became shallow. I got obsessed with how I looked and then all I would see, are sort of what I perceive as flaws. - That happened to me. People judge me 'cause of my body a lot. And I'm trying to turn that around, - I probably haven't been
- How's it going? (laughs) - to the gym in 35 years just to try and, yeah, I'm just trying to, I want people to love me for my mind. - You got in shape, didn't you Ricky? Yeah, you did. - Yeah, he did. - Did I? - I remember the first
time I heard about Ricky actually Ricky with the original "Office" Everyone said this really hot guy who works at an office. That's all I kept hearing. (panelists laughing) - That was the word I
was hearing I love it. - Yeah. - I've had liposuction, but only liposuction, but only in my testicles (laughs) because it's where I put all my fat. So I just had enormous balls and I've had them leaked. - That picture would break
the internet for sure. - That's not where I
anticipated that going. - I did. - You did, oh good. (panelists laughing) Shame on me! - Yeah I was like, when is Ricky gonna talk
about is fat balls again. (panelists laughing) - What would the rest of
you guys be willing to make that kind of sacrifice for, is there a role that you would
sort of put yourself through? What Kumail did? - I probably like, it's funny I like joked about being James Bond and then like, I can't really say anything, but like it's weird. It's kinda become a thing and so I've been thinking about it yeah. I can't say much but yeah.
(Kenan laughing) - What do you mean you can't say much? what does that mean? - (laughs) my agent will
get really frustrated, but yeah I know like, yeah. - I need to say more things I think about things that I want. (panelists laughing)
- And then they will arrive at your door? - Yeah, put it out there,
man. Put it in the universe. - I'll put it out there. I remember first getting to Los Angeles and going and doing a general at CW. (laughs) and you know, you're walking down the halls and it's just six packs and six packs and six packs and like models. And you get finally
get to the end (laughs) And I was like, fresh from Toronto, like had no experience and walked into the room and had, I think the meeting was about
two and a half minutes long. She just was like, okay, thanks. Thanks for coming in, great to meet you bye bye. Never, never got a CW audition after that. Yeah, I don't think that's my hit. Like I don't think
that's my (laughs) niche. I don't think that's (laughs)
- That's not your lane. - what I was intended to do. - Ricky what's the sort
of part you love to play if only it were being offered? - Astronauts, astronauts, just lying down, floating around you can't see it's me. So I could have a double
there most of the time. You urinate in your suit. - For you, urinating in your clothes is one of the positives
of being an astronaut? - [Lacey] Dream.
(Ricky laughing hard) Yeah! I don't have to get, yeah. I'd love that. I'm looking forward to that. - Ricky, you don't have to go
to space to pee your pants. - No, it's not, it's just--
- No I know. But I'd be getting paid
for it, wouldn't I? - Why do you think, I'd do this? To make money.
- It's the only outfit that can carry his balls. - Yeah, if I could, if a role could be, remember that thing "Phone Booth" when it was, what was his name? Was it Keifer Sutherland just sat on the bottom of a phone booth for the entire shoot? I thought I was jealous. I thought what a great shoot that was, just sitting in the
bottom of a phone booth. So yeah, well the first
time I filmed something, I didn't know about filming but if you're sitting down and the doorbell goes and you have to get up open the door, you should realize that that
takes all day to shoot that. So now I changed the line I just go, I'll say, come in. Anything that I don't wanna do anything that I don't wanna...
(panelists laughing) Hair and makeup, wigs, anything that... I make sure my characters wear all the clothes I've got anyway. Just comfort, sitting down, anything sitting down, comfortable. "Ironside". Oh, "Ironside" would be good. I'd also make sure that chair
was a toilet, obviously. So I'll do that. Remake (laughs) of "Ironside" (laughs) - Kumail, I wanna go back to you. You just talked about the, sort of the two buckets of jobs, the sort of terrorist job, which I know is one that
you sort of resisted. The other one was, the bucket in which, you know, Dinesh your
character from "Silicon Valley" fell into. What was the sort of thought process, in taking that role all those years ago? And did you worry about
the sort of tight casting that could come with it? - Not really for that specific show, because even though I'm a nerd, everybody's a nerd. That's the show about nerds, right? If I was the only brown guy on the show and I was the only nerd, that would be one thing, but that is a show about nerds. And I was just such a fan of Mike Judge. I mean, everything he does is so, so good that for me I knew that that character was gonna be specific enough that it wasn't gonna fall into the stereotypical roles that I've been talking about. So no, for me, easiest job I've ever said
yes to is "Silicon Valley." - Ramy one of the things
you've talked about, with your show, is that you hoped it would
sort of start conversations. What kinds of conversations
has it started for you and your family, and your sort of close circle? - I think so much of what, we've looked at in the show is, kind of a conversation of a millennial who has faith, which just feels like a thing
that's super contradictory. I think in general religions, basically just like a punchline in comedy. And I think for us to kind of
find what's funny within it while it's still being a genuine thing, as it is to a lot of people
who are trying to figure out the nooks and crannies of like, well, how do I hold on
to what I believe in, and also, react to what I'm feeling and seeing
in the present moment. And so I think on a community level, it's really interesting just for the various Muslim communities to not only look at, this story and feel relate-ability, but also be challenged on certain things. I mean one of the things we looked at in season two, we were really lucky we got Mahershala Ali to play my Sheik. And it was an exciting thing for the show because you have this Arab Muslim family. And then suddenly as a show, we get to look at anti-blackness within the Arab community. We get to look at what I think is a type of racism that we don't really talk about, which is there's this umbrella of people of color, but underneath it, there's still a lot of anti-blackness. And so to be able to break that down on a show like ours, while also looking at things
that people care about, I make my show for people who resonate with it to watch. Like, I don't think, like sometimes people think like, oh man, you put a Muslim family on TV and now the South are
gonna understand Muslims. And I'm like, (Kenan laughing) - the South isn't watching Hulu. Like I don't think they care, this isn't about that. This isn't about swing voters. It's not about bringing people over. This is about people who
are invested in these themes also need to be challenged
on what they think they think they know. And so that's what's interesting to me, it's not about bringing in other people. It's really about we're
all in the same room, but we can't just be echoing
the same conversations. We need to dig into them in a more meaningful way. - I was just gonna say what Ramy brings up is a very good point. Sometimes I feel like, there's these two buckets, right? There's like white people and then everyone else is people of color. There's this idea that there's
like a monolithic thought in there, but as he was saying about sort of the anti-black sentiment among some of the other people of color, it's something that's not
talked about that much. And it's--
- Yeah and what exactly is this anti-black sentiment? (panelists laughing) - We saw this Kenan, on my show we actually, so it's all, it was a thing,
- Oh y'all fixed it. - and now it's not.
- Okay cool long as it fixed, you know what I'm saying? - Yeah, I wanna make sure
it was fixed before we met. 'Cause I was like, we're
about to be on a Zoom and I just wanna make sure
we can take care of it. And before, you know,
- We should, we should pick up sides, shouldn't we? Sort of like divide--
- Right, three on three. (panelists laughing) - I had a question Ramy. I get kind of similar
questions in terms of the impact that some of the
stories that you tell will have on kind of middle America. I mean, I certainly never thought about the impact of the show. That wasn't my intention when we sat down to tell these stories. So, I guess like my question to you is, was there anything, in the early stages of
putting your show together that you had to push back against? Because of what I would imagine a studio or something would
see as kinda marketability. - You're constantly
fighting for specificity. Like you're constantly
fighting for the ability to not over explain. And I think my whole argument was always, look this is a show called "Ramy" half the people don't know
how to pronounce my name, 99% of them don't know who I am. We're talking about Arab Muslims on Hulu. You're not getting the middle. This isn't like a middle
America poll per se. It'll only be that, if the show is really good, not based on anything else. And the only way for it to be really good is to be really specific. But I really bump against this idea that comedy is changing things. I think it can emotionally put people in a little bit of a place where they can be a little more open, but we're seeing the real change in the way people are
out there doing things. That's amazing. You see the people who hit the streets, you see Black Lives Matter. You see these infrastructures
that have been put in place Black Lives Matter started
seven, eight years ago. It's just now becoming a thing, right? These are real things have changed. I think thinking that comedy changes stuff is just delusional with
the media landscape 'cause people curate their own experience. People can watch whatever videos they want that convinced them Corona
Virus isn't even real. So why like it's not Cosby, there's not five, six
channels and you have to learn and Meet the Cosby's like, no, you pick whatever you want and you believe that. And so it's our job that, I have to look at my
show being like, okay, who's gonna naturally be
inclined to watch this? And how do I challenge
that person's thought? Because there's still a lack
of diversity of thought, regardless of what side you're on. - I think we all aspire to being like Bill Cosby, but I think that's a very good, very good point. It doesn't really change anything. And I think people fear that they really do think that an attitude, laughing at a joke. What really annoys me is that, people think that a joke is the window to the comedian's true soul. And it's just not true. A big part of my comedy is
saying things I do not mean. I say the wrong thing, 'cause I know the audience knows the right thing and that's why they laugh. It's ludicrous. I'll change the joke halfway through, I'll pretend to be right
wing, left wing, no wing, if it makes the joke funnier. And that, I think your point is great. The people that think, people are sitting at home thinking I'm gonna change the world with this gag are really (laughs) they're really delusional. - Well Ricky can I ask you something about something you just touched on? I think it's interesting, you said sometimes you say jokes that obviously are not what you mean. How do you feel about
audiences that might watch it and think, oh, that's how, that is how Ricky feels. That is his true point of view. - Well, it's an occupational hazard because there's only so much you can wink and let you know the audience know that you don't mean it and you ruin the satire and the irony. That's what satire and irony is. And to a certain extent, you've gotta aim at people who get it and sometimes they're clever people. The fact that, if I play to 15,000 people, there are gonna be, rapists, pedophiles, murderers that I'm not gonna, you know (laughs) - Who's coming to see your show Ricky? (Ricky laughing hilariously) - What is your demo? (Ricky laughing hilariously) - But, do you know what
I mean to think that someone might not get that joke, I think that's a worrying state of mind because someone somewhere
is not gonna get your joke because some people are stupid. There comes to a point where you go, listen, the joke's there, the jokes gettable, most people get it. If there's one person that doesn't get it, I can live with that. In character comedy, that's the other thing
that people don't realize is that even in standup, there's a bit of character, there's a bit of persona. I often play the person
who's saying the wrong thing. And then I say the right thing and the audience we hope, are clever enough to know when I'm being serious and when I'm not, that's the exciting bit, that they feel clever when they get it. That someone might take you at face value, doing an ironic joke, or satirical joke. Well, yeah, some people will try to
inject themselves with bleach, but you know, I don't know what to say really, there are stupid people in the world. There's no one ever that was in court and the judge said, and why did you rape this person? And they say, I heard a joke about it and I assumed it was legal. That's never happened, right? That person's already a maniac. No one is going away not getting jokes and doing terrible things. I don't buy it. - No, but I mean specifically
you use rape as an example, but there are other examples, like, you know, for instance, if there's a joke about another
marginalized group of people and I'm not talking
specifically about you, I'm just having this conversation. - Sure.
- If you're, making some sort of joke where obviously you don't believe it, but the point of view of the joke is that it's good that these
people are marginalized. Well, I do think that that can affect, it can normalize ideas that were otherwise societaly
be considered harmful. - Now we're assuming we've established that it depends on the joke and it depends on the target. And, I think that's right. I tell jokes about race without them being racist. Now, some people, will think if they haven't
heard the joke right or understood it or didn't get the irony, they may well think that's a racist joke, but it's not. And there's nothing more I can say really. The experience I've had
is when you talk about issues and marginalized groups, that is a way forward. I don't think you're allowed to say, we want to be treated
just like everyone else except in jokes. But apart from that, we wanna be treated exactly like, we don't wanna be the subject of humor. That's what as I was saying
about taboo subjects, you know, but I still come back to, it depends on the joke. You know, there's no carte blanche. I'm not one of these people that thinks comedy is your conscience
taking a day off. My conscience never takes a day off. I can justify every joke I've done. Whether people believe me or care or agree with me, that's not my problem once it's out there, but I never let my
conscience take a day off. It's just that some people don't get it. Don't like it, don't agree with it. That's life. - Dan, I'm gonna turn back to you. The question you were
asking Ramy was interesting and I'm curious, one of the choices that
you made on "Schitts Creek" was to sort of show a widespread
acceptance on the show. There is not a whiff of homophobia on your show. Why was that so important to you? - For us it was making sure that the town of Schitts Creek, which I think traditionally speaking, small towns in comedies have always kind of been
the butt of the joke. They've been reduced to kind of, you know, cartoon characters. And it was really important
for us that this town be the kind of epicenter for
growth for our family. And it's ultimately a satire
on wealth and indulgence. And what love kind of means. So having the ability to say, I am not going to have
bigotry or homophobia ever discussed on our show. It's a way of kind of projecting a world that I felt was kind of gentler and more accepting and saying, here (laughs) this is
making people feel good, and this is bringing
out the best in people. Wouldn't it be nice if this was, if we kind of reflected on this? It wasn't even that
intellectual at the time, but it was just kind of a reaction to, if I were to include homophobia or bigotry of any kind in the show it's giving power to those
people who see themselves on TV. That's just for the case
of my particular show. I think particularly for gay characters, we have come to expect any time we fall in love on camera to end in death or end in something terrible or tragic, or to never be given like
happiness completely. But for us, I wanted to take the space to create a love story where you didn't have to fear for the safety and security of these two
people who were falling in love. And that inherently, the support of this community is what made them fall in love and what actually lifted the whole sort of group as a whole. - What are the other things that you've talked about, but that you sort of struggled with this idea of being
the son of a legend when you were sort of coming up and you would do school plays and he would say, can I help you? And your response was no. Curious sort of what was that? The root of that? And how ultimately did
you come to a place where it was, hey dad, let's go create and co star in a show together? - I think we can all sort of admit family members of successful
actors or producers or directors are kind of
viewed through a lens of the snap judgment I
think generally speaking is nepotism or that they've
been allowed some sort of in. I think for me being young and just like, you know, being raised in socially where people knew who my dad was and, you know, going to camp and having people sort
of write letters saying the only reason people
are friends with you is because you have a famous father. It kind of conditions you to want to create something on your own because you are so aware of the connection and you are so aware of
the fact that people, are going to initially write you off as being someone who has
been afforded a luxury that other people haven't
you know had access to just by, you know, who you are. My dad doesn't care about
the entertainment industry. (laughs) He doesn't
watch entertainment news. He doesn't care about celebrity. He likes eating bagels
and that's his vibe. But for me growing up, I wanted to create something
for my own peace of mind and to really distance myself on all areas of the entertainment kind of
inklings that I was getting, just so that I could see for myself, do I even have something that is worthy of taking
it to the next level? And do I have a skill set
that I feel confident enough to move forward with? I could only do that without his help, because if he did help, then I would always be questioning was it something that he helped me with or was it something that I did on my own? And I think being a host
on MTV for eight years and the majority of those years, I didn't tell people who my father was. I was able to carve a space for myself where I could experiment and I could write sketches and I could do, you know, interviews, and really explore what I had to offer in a way that was unobstructed
by the presumption that I had gotten a job through my dad. And then when I moved out to Los Angeles, I brought an idea to him that I felt confident and comfortable enough to say, I know that I'm going to bring
something to the table here. And I know that I have something to say, and I thought his warmth and his kind of comedic softness in a way could really lend itself to making a special tone to what this show could be. So, I only came to him
many, many, many years later with the confidence that
I didn't have before. - Kenan I wanna turn to you, this is obviously a world
that you've been a part of since you were a child. What has been the sort
of navigation process? Is there a career that you look at that is a sort of a role model and that you are taking cues from? - Yeah, Bill Cosby right? (Lacey laughing) - Rick was pointing at himself (laughs) (Rick laughing hilariously) - Imagine Kenan grew up just looking at Ricky's career. That's wild. (panelists laughing) - Up until recently it
was, you know, Bill Cosby, you know, up until like
all the allegations and things we learned about him. I admired, you know, his sense of humor. I watched Bill Cosby himself,
you know, a million times. He was my first window
into comedy basically because he was the clean one at first. And then I got to look back on, you know, Eddie, as I grew up and Richard as I grew up and George Carlin and then Jim Carey came along
and all these people and like, you know, I just modeled, I watched everybody who, you know, was a great standup and
then got their chance. I was already like 15 when I got my first job. So it wasn't like a kid, kid, kid I kind of you know was already
- It's pretty young. established as yeah, but, you know, I had my morals and things like that and you know, my family close and then
that's how I kept it. - You brought up Cosby, but I imagine was it
sort of hard to reconcile when all of a sudden he wasn't
allowed to be your hero? - Not at all. I mean, it was, you know, definitely like a bummer, but I couldn't imagine
how much of a bummer it is for his actual victims. You know what I'm saying? So it was a harsh wake
up call into the reality that everybody is human
at the end of the day. Like even your heroes that you assume couldn't possibly be, you know a certain kind of way, but that was incredibly shocking and disappointing and all of that so. - All right, we're going to end on a more of a sort of lightening round, the first one. What's your favorite comedic
performance of all time? - I'll start Jim Carrey, "Cable Guy" - Jim Carrey "Cable Guy" I like it. - I'm out. - I'll go with either Bill
Murray in "Ghostbusters" or Bill Murray in "Groundhog Day" - That's a good one. - Ghostbusters, because
there's all these stakes. It's really scary, but he's really funny. And without puncturing the stakes and to me that's like
the ultimate challenge of all action comedy is how do you be funny
without making it feel like you're making fun of what's happening? And he really, I mean, he really treads
that line so well. - I'm gonna go with Ricky
Gervais on this Zoom chat, just like the levity and just there were times
where he was serious and he like really
brought it into the heart. But then there were times
that he's just funny, he's just riffing and he's loose and just, yeah, it was just like, there's a level of nuance that yeah. - We gotta switch it up. That's three for the whites. We gotta switch it up. Come on, Dan, come on, Ricky.
- They're gonna cut all that. You're gonna look stupid. 'Cause they're gonna cut all my stuff. - For me one of the highlights was his dad spilling milk on his face when he's in and out of--
- Right, it's surreal. - It was such a roller
coaster, I was like oh wow, it was a stress dream. And then that was a lie, so he was lying about a dream. So he's already lying about something that we knew wasn't real so, I would say for me that
really brought it home. - I'd say it was probably
me in the "Office". No.
(Dan laughing) - Probably Laurel and Hardy in "County Hospital". - To me it's like scenes, - Okay give me one scene. Okay, so I'll give a few. Lucille Ball with the chocolates. I know I'm switching the rules here. I would say Eddie Murphy
crossing a highway is one of the funniest
things I've ever seen. - "Bowfinger"
- And then I would say, Catherine, O'Hara in
"For Your Consideration." One of the most underrated,
comedic performances I've seen in a very, very long time. - With the fake-- - And Ricky, and Ricky in the film. - [Ricky] Yeah.
(Lacey laughing) - But when she did that, she did a full face of cosmetic surgery. That was just her face,
- Amazing. - there was no prosthetics. That was just her holding a face of toit plastic surgery for an entire third of a film. It was quite extraordinary but yeah. - I'd like to mention
someone who isn't here who's very, very current. And that's Larry David in
the last series of "Curb." I think it's amazing for modern times the last, he's one of the greatest
writer, performers, I think of the last 25 years. So I think we should give him a mention. Christopher Guest in "Spinal Tap". Oh, play it again Sam, Woody Allen, play it again Sam c'mon. - Richard Pryor. Richard Pryor "Long Beach". - Richard Pryor. - There you go.
- Patrice O' Neil. Louis C K "Chewed Up" come on. No he can't it's impossible. - Louis C K in Woody. - And Bill Cosby, Bill Cosby. (panelists laughing) - Bill Cosby it all
comes back to Bill Cosby. - "Leonard the Sixth". Bill Cosby in "Leonard the Sixth" - Kevin Spacey. Are we forgetting Kevin Spacey? - Oh God! - Come on, come on. - I can't leave Kevin Spacey-- - Harvey Weinstein (laughs)
- Okay. - No. (Ricky laughing hilariously) (Lacey laughing) Oh gosh all right. If you could have complete
and utter anonymity back for a day, what's the first thing you'd do? - That's assuming that I'm not kind of anonymous
walking down the street. I think that question
- [Ramy] Dan and I are good. - is geared toward very
famous people (laughs) - Dan and I just stand
on corners trying to get some sort of, we're fine. - Yeah, that's for Kenan. That question's for Kenan. - No I mean I live pretty normal, people like, people say hi and everything, but nobody's trying to like rip my clothes off, you know what I'm saying? Like it's always just like hey and bye. So I live pretty, like every day. So I'm trying to think like nobody even really bothers
me like that (laughs) I don't know. - Yeah people tell me they
really liked the last season of "Patriot Act." (Lacey laughing)
- You know what I'm saying. - (laughs) How do you respond? - Thank you I worked really hard. (panelists laughing) - That's, amazing and sad. All right last one if
you could switch careers with anyone else in Hollywood for a day, who would you choose? - Well just in one day, David Geffen. (Kumail laughing) - This is a pretty tricky question because tomorrow that person could be just dragged to hell so. - I know. - Could I just say guys, if you wanna choose me, I've never assaulted anyone. I'm not a pedophile. I've never assaulted anyone. So I'm safe. You could choose me and you won't be disappointed. - For me it'd be Oprah. Just for the influence, but also the ability to
like legitimately act. But then also do the talk show thing. Just true versatility and power. - Can I also say Oprah or is that an answer stale at this point? - No, you should. You should. - Do you say Gayle. Say Gayle.
- Okay I'm gonna go with Oprah as well. That Montecito house is, that farmland that she is, - It's one of many.
- those baskets of just produce. - All right Ricky, who are you choosing? - Oh, I don't know. I don't wanna do anything, who sits around and just eating all day? - Guy Fieri eats a lot all day, diners, drives in, drive ins and dives. You can put a little blonde wig on and be Guy Fieri. (Ricky laughing) - But if you're already Guy Fieri, you would also need to
put a blonde wig on, the thing is that we
become that person, right? - Is it like quantum leap? When we look in the mirror and we're suddenly Tom cruise, and then we act weird. We've still got, we remember all day we were asked, I'm taking this very seriously. Who would I choose then? This is tricky. - Just take your time. - You know, we got nothing
but time here Ricky. - This isn't real. - I would just hate for you
to rush and say something that you feel uncomfortable with later. The kind of regret you would feel. - America's waiting for your answer. - Oh, I dunno, do I? - Who's the fattest person
in the world over here? - All right, thank you guys
all for (laughs) being part of this conversation. I appreciate you, all being here, albeit, virtually, and hopefully we'll all get to be together at an actual table sometime soon. - Oh, it's our pleasure. Good luck editors. (panelists laughing)
I think Kumail might genuinely hate Ricky
That was a really good interview! I thoroughly enjoyed it :)