Panel Discussion / The Atlantic Presents a Screening of Documentary Now!

okay now for some real fun let me we're gonna have someone we're gonna have a conversation with all of you and I you know for those of you were good as PJ have a have a kind bar there so again i'm steve clemons I'm Washington editor-at-large of the Atlantic and we're so pleased to be with us tonight now we're gonna have one of those deep dives into a highly editorially consequential discussion about humor and we're gonna try so please welcome to stage my first my my co-host co-moderator Alex Wagner you'll all know her from MSNBC great great French so smart and then we have a Fred Armisen Bill Hader Seth Meyers and Rhys Thomas Hey I'm so glad you found me yeah you know I am I tweeted out I didn't know Seth Meyer I had met him before right so I did tweet out to the team said if you didn't see me and I sent myself out of a picture of myself at the game of Thrones so have you started the vodka [ __ ] show then we always said we'd bought two vodka dick after the premiere yeah I guess we have to use that part of the party later there's gonna be a big party later right so it's seriously you know when I was sort of looking at that you know thinking about how to start a show about a discussion about mockumentaries and you know Alex and I are very serious people where do you start Alex where do you start well I mean I guess one of the things that I wonder is particularly in this moment it feels like parity of information and news apparently the obsessive/compulsive yeah well he's a really good filmmaker and that was my first question it was about aspect I wanted to stop well I'm sure if you want to do a rear people debate I guess my question is it feels like you I'm gonna be the monologue sitting down on a crane crane hand he'll baby let me ask you a question yeah - I just saw all of this sitting in the back little vivvy sit down little vivvy we haven't really incredible all of you are incredible we have some particularly incredible incredible people here tonight Rick Hertzberg of pop of the town is here tonight Lorne Michaels we're hanging out he's somewhere out there Lauren hey Lauren they're right there in the middle he said definitely don't point him out tonight we have David Rothkopf worth David he's got like David's here he publishes foreign-policy magnet he's like a walking documentary his whole life right Bob Kerrey so there are people here many of you mean I thought about this all of us in the serious world think of ourselves as documentary worthy right and so we're all very self serious and hey and you're taking us on but I saw you all sitting in the back laughing at yourselves and I'm interested in what you saw so funny about yourselves I just did you not seen the show before together together which is nice and it is a lot like laughing because you wanted to be confident express comments yeah I'm the Atlantic man I'm the Atlantic terrible about cutting Alex off there's like so many waters backstage no we know we'd never seen it together we had never seen it together we were just enjoy each other's company and I like watch it Fred let me ask you a political fight let me ask you an Alex Wagner type question no no you ass this is the deal what Isis is doing care that for some people Grey Gardens we we all everything we made everything we used is jumping-off point was something we loved and we wanted to take very seriously and and Rhys and Alex like took them very seriously and made sure they use the right lenses and the art direction was right and so we always wanted these things to be companions to nothing would make us happier than if people saw sandy passage and it made them if they hadn't seen it would make them go when you do watch it it makes Grey Gardens seem sort of absurd well can you go back to grit is there going can you go home go I'm gay so I can ask this question you know I'm a failed gay man and you see that I didn't know that sir but I didn't know what manner so we're putting on here gays love Grey Gardens yes yes yes showed the clip to a bunch of gay folk yeah and how did the gay folk take to Bill yeah Alex I went to the first time out fast in LA and how did it go it was the best did you get to do the dance with and I'll tell you this gays would not let it be in the wrong aspect ratio they don't right away on the detail the dance you did I mean with the flag in there you said it was the first thing that you did in the production but there was an intense amount of production for all of this I mean just the oil paintings a mug the mug draw the mug shots the amazing the production for each one of these things I mean recent Alex I mean there was the thing we said we really wanted to be authentic to those films and and we are amazing just Department has been an amazing crew or production designer are you know costumes everybody whose names I immediately forgot I don't talk to them I don't look at them but they are great people Casey Byron and Mary I mean I would assume making a documentary you actually have more footage than you can use even a mockumentary you know if you're making a mockumentary yeah and what happens to that footage well it doesn't funny well some of its pretty song it's funny but there's I mean the funny thing is like so many mockumentaries you you know if you go okay we're gonna do something in the Maysles brothers style that we would do is we would go okay well there's cutaway to Fred doing this you go oh no they wouldn't they would only have one the only one camera so you would have to figure out in there I'm motivating the camera or do that you know what I mean stuffing because yeah your instinct in comedy is always to you you know you cover everything just in case you need to tell me ask and Alex Wagner type MSNBC questions you know with with with when you see performances like Donald Trump and Ted Cruz and and Mike Huckabee the other day does that threaten your business because mockumentary czar becoming real life more like it's like we just wondered this framework how these stories so it's not really a direct there's more like a celebration of those styles when they yeah a big I got a big film fans so there's kind of like a chance to like I get excited when they say we actually got the lenses they shot you know thin blue line on to do this thin blue line Perry and we're like very hard for all of them to have beginnings middles and ends like that was a thing we did this you know we had obviously spent so much time in the framework of SNL sketches and and those kind of sketches were what led us to this but it was nice to have I guess when you look at Vice in particular it really skewers what we think of or what some people in the media think of as hipster Brooklyn culture and we're all sitting here in New York City some of us live here and I just I think with Grey Gardens is obviously hilarious parody but there's like a slight it's more but I think it take down I wouldn't say at all yeah because that's just their style that's just the way that they are I do think that yeah it's out in the audience is vice thing yeah that's just it was edgy it's the edgiest because I would think the advice would even say like their style is the that's the only way the only way to do so involved they really like it cuz it was about them they're actually really helping us a lot yeah cuz it's about that I guess I wonder if you could tell us a little bit more for people who don't aren't familiar with what else is coming up in this series sort of how you figured out what you wanted to choose yeah well you learn tomorrow more we are whether congratulate you because it may not be out to just announce today that you've been renewed for new series with IFC yeah thanks to all of you yeah before the premiere they've been renewed so you had a big deal yeah we're very excited I'm happy to get out now like oh yeah but but so back to how it's this question which I interrupted and I'm sorry Alex oh we were surprised how did what Alec Geoff pay me back in deference go ahead thin blue line tyranny yeah thin blue line parody which is very funny john mulaney wrote that yeah there's a the Eagles documentary sort of inspiring thing called gentle and soft the story of the blue jean committee which is a band that Fred and I are in these kind of Chicago band and you did this last night yeah yeah there's a Chicago band that decided they wanted to be a California band yeah it's a specialty posture as well it's and that's too far yeah and then Fred this is the most Fred idea for a documentary Fred wanted to do a that that small town in Iceland every year has an Al Capone festival I want to see that I will say we shot two episodes in Iceland yeah and there's Nanook of the north one that wrote Fred they shot that in Iceland I wasn't there I was like I'm not [ __ ] fantastic it's like Fred 80 Brian from SNL and then all Icelandic actors and they're fantastic also I was also on point I've been saying sandy passages you guys watch that Seth wrote that and there's no improv in that there's zero improv in Sandy pass Wow that's not a good to go off script I want to point out that's what a good writers F is there's not a single piece of improv in that entire episode they're not gonna Northview except is a great writer I did notice you're not performing or acting any yeah so what are these two guys have that you don't skilled charm range documentary about a man who sits behind a desk guide they I have the inside edge on that amount of prep work for each one of these you could spend months just figuring out big Edie and Little Edie or or you know this you play multiple vice reporters who get slaughtered in the course of you know 22 minutes yeah how long did this take in what well the actual production executing it was like a month and she has a month like 20 or something yeah I mean what Reese and Alex by the way Alex can you stand up please Alec the other director here is amazing Alex these guys really work hard at making sure that I mean it's a mate I mean how long did it take to shoot sandy passage like threes like three days every day is to shoot that but it's so you know when you write and this is something you learned at SNL when you have this incredible career you write something and then you just hand it over and you don't have to solve any of the problems and I remember we were doing a walkthrough of the sandy passage house and Bill said oh I can do this thing where I can just drop out of frame and it'll look like I fell through the floor and I said oh that's great and I just like typed it and I'm done I did then I said Theresa so he has to fall through the floor it was like they just walk out point you can see the first ad and only feel like we're gonna fall through the what and you guys had any real documentarians hang out with you or talk to you or do they hate you guys I try to get out to give me to come tonight he's on an island somewhere and Alex and me you know opening title sequence we feature all those lamb documentaries and they feel honored by that or threatened we like Micah Gardner did the opening title sequence builder but by the way just I think like a sentence description or like you know something like this and he nailed it immediately but yeah we had all those clips in there and it was like this wish list of I other amazing we did that and then we slowly started reaching out to these filmmakers to see if they'd be cool with it and I don't think we got a single no and right no I invited them I didn't hear from them I didn't hear ya or nay so I just thought maybe they don't like you guys but yeah that everybody seemed excited and you know I mean again I think what we're trying to do is sort of I think hopefully you know this will encourage people if they haven't seen some these dog owners to go out and see them yeah and you know so I think again anytime you shining light how did you Helen Mirren yeah it's a queen host yeah the Alex Wagner yes I'm assuming you said that yeah everyone kept us in a red dress windows when you were pitching this to people like Helen Mirren who were very serious besties yes I mean wizard an immediate like yes I love it and and then also so from that from that level to the I don't know who your extras were in Ciudad Juarez or the fake Ciudad Juarez like people who maybe haven't seen Vice yeah that was all Helen Mirren as well as Helen Mirren bands like Polar Express Polar Express she played all the people there all CG people as how I'm here she Helen hosted SNL when we were all there and I ran in her somewhere and she was just couldn't stop talking about how much she liked Portlandia and ran into her at Equinox there's a special equinox for British people yeah droll machine the weather report today the BBC Helen love Portlandia and this also being an IFC show I immediately oh yeah we're gonna call you and ask you to do something and and I said it's a very and we're gonna need a whole day but no it was so insane I remember that email to Andrews singer producer Andrew singer and Eric n-word and but yeah I remember him I got an email and it was like we couldn't clear this song for blue jean committee Helen Mirren's hosting your wardrobe and singing bad way way back out back out what but so then with people would never seen this stuff yeah I mean I guess to be in it I mean yeah we mean just like I mean extras you know I I don't know how to break this to you you can get him for most would but I'd like to see script yeah I haven't seen the film can I have a reel of some of your other words in a sandwich you should have said that two girls in a sandwich well I can take the I'll be on a bus right now let me ask an Atlantic style serious question we're being filmed and this is gonna what's that we didn't sign off yeah yeah but what is the life of a comedian lies it just sounds alright are you worried that every time you succeed it's a fluke we do we were lucky enough to come from an ensemble world of SNL right so we we got to uh I think we have one of the reasons we have still have fun as we surround ourselves with people we laugh oh yeah yes we are the question are you guys all work okay where do we have audience runners we have people who want to make comment I want to make sure that David Crane gets in here this is the this is a guy who you make it he's it he's the CEO of NRG Energy the big energy company he started life as a pizza salesman in Hong Kong so there it's a true story it's like I want him to be like I don't want people to know that I don't want people knowing about the pizza very well right now you were very nice with the ladies in the screen it was very funny I don't know what you want me to say there we go where's Bob Kerry senator why aren't you running for president what's wrong all right we have a question yeah oh yeah thank you thank you Robert Jordan thanks the question that immediately jumped to the kick came to my mind looking at sandy passages was who directed all those animals and then someone get to keep the record boy now should we answer him seriously it's just freaked out well yeah they were scripted by step yeah everyone everyone has to do it the way road there's some down here Sam right here I just wanted to start by saying that I work in media so I'm down for two dollars in the sandwich if you ever need someone extra okay we don't get paid right I was just thinkin working in comedy how many takes you have to do for each scene and if you ever feel less funny doing it over and over and Sandy passage the scene where I'm yelling at remember when you're in bed I'm the only like I could have been married and I'm really close to camera that was a later take and Reese was saying me she'd get like really angry and get emotional remember that and that like was good cuz initially he was like you try to go for the laugh and stuff and was going for the laugh it didn't feel right but Reese was you going don't make it feel real and I got really worked up and kind of start crying it was it's all in there a little bit I got really mad Wow and so the 16th to take how many takes do you normally take I do one yeah okay ready sounds like that and only then a Reese can't say cut till Fred does somebody go to Lloyd Grove void where are you boy yeah you guys Laurie can write about himself in his car you know everybody boy boy boy boy boy boy boy boy boy boy boy boy I have to think of a question no so him envisioning this whole series were there any so-called mockumentaries that you really admired I mean what I love this but one of my favorites was this is spinal tap I'd say the Rutles the rattle rattle yeah that's one that was definitely a big influence yeah the red oh yeah thank you boy boy boy boy Lord would either questions we have one to hear right now oh boy this is that carrabelle he's a dangerous uh Sam we need a mark again did you got that I won't repeat your question yeah daddy I I you know this is David he works at the bodega but I'm making I'm making up their name he didn't he didn't have a pizza shop in Hong Kong and his son is climbing them na mono again back inside a mentalist show in your wallets his son was sad his son is the first openly gay young man to climb the Seven Summits of the world as a fundraiser for the you [ __ ] you know why dinner with you without you getting up on a [ __ ] stage I've never seen Clemens and Alex Wagner more overwhelmed so kudos for that what what what were the ideas that you rejected when you were thinking about topics we there are a few things reduced to laugh like an Atlantic style question right like the staircase was something we mess around with but like I don't never seen that but it's because it's so the staircase oh yeah the staircase just things were too long and there was another great we love I love Frederick Weitzman documentaries so we had the high school that's not coming her high school we were gonna try to do that it's a big ensemble thing but it got a little too unwieldy and then we had another one that we actually started writing and we just in the middle like they were casting it and building sets and we realized it wasn't working and we scrapped it and did the Thin Blue Line one instead and again that goes that SNL training where we were pretty much the only ones not freaking out I think the producers are freaking out a little bit sandy passages was actually filmed on the west coast tell us a little bit about how like put this you know where are you film and how you figured out where you're gonna film oh well the West I mean we're it's right if you pan the camera they did such a good job when I'm looking for like my garden if you just pan a camera to the right you would have seen like a bunch of student yes I'm like this is like USC that asset it's all inside was just a house it was a I know is just a little streets in West out yeah see I've got three more minutes man we did such a phenomenal job playing for murderous old cat ladies but there's a lack of the female voice never consider doing like a mockumentary on women are funny I'm on the documentary movement you know yeah i'm i don't think so i mean mostly because like we didn't want to use any source material that was already comic like yeah michael moore is a style because he's comic wouldn't be yeah and then mess around with so that is kind of one of the dads kind of harder thing had to be kind of more serious yeah or dry and yet just dry and important so let me ask another atlantic type question what is yeah yeah what is the line for human know me because you know i talked to Alex back on her show about Isis I'm the ISIS guy right I'm I'm you know one of the Isis videos I mean you used to summer in the hand there is a there is a line there's a line you escaped yeah yeah no before we knew it and we had nothing to do with I asked me I can't point it is I should say I see had some very inventive marketing yes but they had nothing chapo chapo is gonna come to Portland to find friends oh yeah he's gonna stop there he's gonna go Alice Alice t-ball is going to do a reading tenders but he ran out he always to wrap it up would you ever consider do anything along this line with with sort of real like Sasha Baron Cohen does or Ali G style where you would go to say the White House Correspondents Dinner go hang out with Joe Biden you know you would you it has to be it all has to be written in scripted yeah you have done that so much you have a lie it's hard to get tense yeah the kinds of things that Alex does where she's got to invent the whole show on the moment it's it's to you know that's like hidden cameras we're trying to do anything that somebody had nailed before you know like you know someone as funny as Sasha Baron Cohen get done yeah we just like the films I think the idea of you know someone flipping through the channels and be like oh there's great Gardens and they waste promising on them you know that was the goal you know and I think Reese and Alex I can't even remember the original actresses now I can just see your faces I mean there's a great picture of you out on the hall people are taking selfies with right there was an original and then there was young more version right but we I should say like we're are you guys and this was a filmmaker show yeah well you guys did such an incredible job and that's where we're so happy to turn it over to their hands and I think when you watch them you'll just be blown away by the times yeah it really is like Reese and Alex the filmmaking so in the foreground and I love it that you can make a show that's funny but also really cinematic as a film lover and so are you in Fred signed up for season 2 nope we're playing hardball Maui Maui Maui you know I want to have like whatever you like I'm not gonna see like mary j blige or the big guy right here yes sir here one yeah right here real quick we gotta get to a mic cuz we're not really taping it but we but yeah you gotta get you gotta wait in the mic no no fries the Atlantic always speaks through a microphone my series did you guys reached out to any of the correspondents who inspired you and did you have a relationship with Vice with Vice yeah yeah I'm friends with change and some of the camera guys have worked on Portlandia and stuff so and they really like fires huh yeah how do you know I make the light show you make them so yeah yeah TG work on the I knew right away immediately correspondent yeah inspired you the most okay my biggest inspiration would be would be shame yeah the center of it that you seem disturbed by that you can accept that's okay that's okay that's great yeah right here so you said that you wouldn't want to do something that had already been done but I was I'm curious I'm sure you guys saw that the onion did the whole place parody yeah and I did you guys know that they were gonna do that out know how do you feel about it are you fan have you seen it I mean I think you know the onion mocking them know the onion has this like video series mocking basically the place HBO show just like oh yeah I think it's bound to happen yeah I think that you know events I mean that's the most I think that's the most modern of the six we did and so we're not surprised that yeah and again like I think we I saw the trailer for the onion one two weeks ago when we shot this you know six months ago so um we're gonna take Sena Sena Sena Fitzmaurice Ennis fitzmorris I think from Comcast grace everybody yeah right here and then we gotta have a drink scent of it she's my sure I'm really sorry that I've been but I'm not gonna ask corporate question um except how are you gonna defy the true detective season 2 that's a good question yeah keep I don't know I mean yeah wait what is how are we gonna how are we not gonna true detective our second season always treated tech to second season bad well I don't know no television like what is that like I don't CVI Moke and I just read my magazine with three children you don't have a tell I have three children I don't have a TV I'm like let them do whatever they want I'm always tired no I wear it it's gonna work really hard and it's all down to Reese really yes it's on your shoulders buddy Reese before before this evening is over maybe you can tell people who aren't familiar with your work kind of how you came to this project slavery I know I work to these guys I've been at SNL fair before yeah yeah and Reese direct has directed so many of the great he and Alex they've directed all these amazing shorts that you've seen they did the Wes Anderson thing which I thought was unreal to us and then they directed when Stefan and Seth got married they directed to that but they sorry oh they I mean they really started nailing styles I think with the West Anderson and they did a Louie CK is Lincoln thing yeah and the don't go running around oh don't go running around reroute which is one of my there's my favorite thing I ever did on SNL which was I don't know if you spotted this thing that video is British movie where you can't understand what people are saying yeah as I and don't you go running around reroute mm-hmm again for the process of people who are interested in the process of this I mean it's not BIM Acree but you actually have it you're following something and if you could just give us a little bit insight into how you sort of take something apart to recreate it just a lot of an investigation as much as we can like these guys are saying you know we've started and Alex who I worked with he and who's also DP on the show you know we reach out to filmmakers if they're around you know let whatever research we could do to find out what lenses they shot it on what film starts me I mean you couldn't see it because the aspect ratio is wrong but but we even you know take it off it's actually we've got a very accurate sort of film grain applied to it so we really sort of try to pay attention every little detail and nuance of the originals and again you can't it's hard to look at it and and you know you don't immediately know by looking at what it's so again you have to delve a little deeper and yeah a similar line we got the same exact lenses are they shot the similar line on and and even the Nanook of the north one sort of tracked down some old glass from the 20s they've been rehoused you know it's a long way to get it to look like I mean again I think for someone enjoys film it's it's a little bits it's getting it and again each time we so tried to delve into the logic who like like Bill was saying with Grey Gardens you know again well we can't put a you know the impossible for Canada be here so yeah except to sort of live with it whatever it is but you know alright so yeah it was it's again it's just part of the fun of doing this show you clearly want to just talk to Reese cuz he'll give you a reason try to ask that question for a wrap it up imagine Lauren Michaels was not here yeah and you were to share with us the most important thing you learned from him oh don't overthink it don't overthink it you all agree with that yeah well that's me I don't want to speak speak for you I he said to me like check Fred make check Fred's work because I told him not to overthink it yeah does everything he turns any might it might be like focus I do overthink yeah I live in a world of stress yeah and so what if you teach you my most of us met Lauren hours ago yeah yeah there are a few people that work for SNL who are here tonight who told me that that Lauren didn't know them they worked there for eight ten twelve years my fourth season he came up to me and said I have fun this is my job I have a forget my you asked me a question I make stuff up that's worth it we need to drink we need everybody Thomas thank you Alex drinks now

Channel: AtlanticLIVE

Views: 73,465

Rating: 4.6183987 out of 5

Keywords: Documentary Now!, The Atlantic (Magazine), Documentary (TV Genre), Bill Hader, Seth Meyers, Fred Armisen, Rhys Thomas, Alex Wagner, Steve Clemons, Comedy (Theater Genre)

Id: d7egSQLAS9Y

Length: 42min 0sec (2520 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 20 2015