Mentally Oddcast Transcript: Jarrett Lennon Kaufman
Find more from our guest here.
Find an audio of this ep here.
00:00:01.36
Wednesday Lee Friday
You are listening to the Mentally Oddcast. My name is Wednesday, Lee Friday, and we are brought to you by Sometimes Hilarious Horror Magazine. Do find us on Ko-Fi, that's K-O-hyphen-F-I slash Sometimes Hilarious Horror.
00:00:15.93
Wednesday Lee Friday
This week, we are speaking with Jarrett Lennon-Kaufman, who is an improviser, an actor, and an IT manager who lives in Los Angeles.
00:00:26.99
Wednesday Lee Friday
He is the co-creator, executive producer, editor, and sometimes host of the Super Legit Podcast. His acting credits include Freaks and Geeks, Gilmore Girls, Cheers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the Robert Altman film Shortcuts, which I love.
00:00:46.21
Wednesday Lee Friday
ah These days, he can be found performing monthly on stage in North Hollywood at the Super Legit Spectacular. Wow. Welcome, Jarrett. Thanks for being here.
00:00:56.49
Jarrett Lennon
Oh, thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here.
00:00:59.58
Wednesday Lee Friday
Right on. Well, we always start by asking guests to tell us about the first horror movie that they remember seeing. So I will be fascinated to hear yours.
00:01:09.20
Jarrett Lennon
Oh, I bet. And I'm fascinated to to come up with the answer. i Recall on these types of things is always tricky for me, which I bet we'll talk about later. um And it's also funny because I bet my answer is going to be really unusual just because of my background.
00:01:25.07
Jarrett Lennon
There's a very good chance that the first horror film I saw was something I was in. Because I was, you know, growing up, I started acting very young. And also my mother was like very protective of violence and things like that.
00:01:37.89
Jarrett Lennon
And so there's a very good chance she kept me away from any horror movies for a while. ah And so it's very likely that probably I'm guessing the movie Highway to Hell. which was a somewhat comedic, uh, if not full on comedic, uh, horror film with a ton of cameos, uh, was the, the first horror film I would have watched. Um, it wasn't a good movie, even though it was supposed to be, it was, uh, it was written by Brian Helglund who went on to do LA confidential and like a lot of major stuff.
00:02:07.01
Jarrett Lennon
Um, but it, uh, it literally, I'm, I'm not kidding.
00:02:07.26
Wednesday Lee Friday
Wow.
00:02:10.54
Jarrett Lennon
It, it, it was, it fell apart so badly that by the time it was released, it was, I think it was unrated. No one would put it in the theater. We literally had to go to what turned out to be a porn theater in Los Angeles to be able to see it.
00:02:23.09
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh my gosh.
00:02:23.81
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. yeah the The guy at the theater was really side-eyeing this like six or seven year old kid coming into his establishment, but he knew it wasn't a movie. So it's like, all right, come on in. Yeah.
00:02:37.47
Wednesday Lee Friday
Now, if I could make your answer all about me for a moment, um I've been asking guests this question since I think late in season one.
00:02:41.05
Jarrett Lennon
Ooh, please do.
00:02:46.77
Jarrett Lennon
Mm-hmm.
00:02:46.84
Wednesday Lee Friday
And this is the first time someone has named a movie that I have not seen. and I don't think I was even familiar with this its existence. So...
00:02:56.03
Jarrett Lennon
it's It's pretty incredible because it has it has a combination of people who weren't quite someone yet. like this This had Chad Lowe back when only his big brother Rob was known.
00:03:06.72
Jarrett Lennon
ah It had Christy Swanson.
00:03:07.03
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay.
00:03:08.57
Jarrett Lennon
This would be pre-Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
00:03:11.20
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh, wow.
00:03:11.35
Jarrett Lennon
um And then also had like Patrick Bergen, who was a big deal British actor who went on to some major things.
00:03:11.83
Wednesday Lee Friday
Uh-huh.
00:03:17.82
Jarrett Lennon
And had tons of cameos. Like, Stiller and Mira were in it, along with their son, Ben. um it had all of these, like, comedians and in in cameo roles.
00:03:23.88
Wednesday Lee Friday
Aw.
00:03:27.39
Jarrett Lennon
It had, like, Gilbert Gottfried playing Hitler. um It was the craziest thing. I mean, it should have been brilliant, and it was, the script was, but the producers just kind of screwed it up as they went. And then, yeah, it was it was sad. But it's available on the for streaming online, and it's probably worth seeing to some degree. It was it was fun.
00:03:45.42
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah.
00:03:46.72
Wednesday Lee Friday
Wow. That is amazing.
00:03:50.55
Jarrett Lennon
But yeah, around that same time, I also did a ah Dean R.
00:03:50.96
Wednesday Lee Friday
So you...
00:03:54.37
Jarrett Lennon
Kuntz's Servants of Twilight. But that was even harder to see. It took years to eventually find that on Cinemax. So I know that wasn't the first one I saw.
00:04:03.58
Wednesday Lee Friday
Wow. Okay. so So, right. So you're an actor. And you you are AUDHD.
00:04:09.62
Jarrett Lennon
Yes! Yep.
00:04:13.83
Wednesday Lee Friday
So that's autism with ADHD. Now, I'm fascinated by that because it seems like that's something that is would would make it much more difficult to do the things that actors need to do.
00:04:17.04
Jarrett Lennon
Yep.
00:04:28.74
Wednesday Lee Friday
Things like staying focused, hitting your marks, memorizing things.
00:04:31.45
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah.
00:04:33.04
Wednesday Lee Friday
um So I want to get right into that. So when were you initially diagnosed with ADHD?
00:04:38.16
Jarrett Lennon
ah That was, I think, right about 10 years ago, maybe slightly over 10 years ago. um So well into my adulthood, I was in my 30s at that point.
00:04:43.45
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh, wow.
00:04:46.83
Jarrett Lennon
um So yeah, very late, very late for me. Yeah.
00:04:51.57
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay. And so you had that diagnosis. Did you also find out about the autism then or did that come later?
00:04:56.91
Jarrett Lennon
No, that was that was much more recent. So the the the ADHD thing, as I said, yeah, about a little over 10 years ago, ah autism was this year. Yeah, or beginning of this year.
00:05:08.74
Jarrett Lennon
So...
00:05:08.85
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yeah, i I just found out about my own as well and i was a little taken aback by it.
00:05:09.12
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah.
00:05:13.84
Wednesday Lee Friday
um
00:05:15.08
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah.
00:05:15.30
Wednesday Lee Friday
ah So... So you were old enough to have an informed opinion on whether or not your diagnosis was accurate, um unlike kids who just kind of have to go with what they're told.
00:05:25.20
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah.
00:05:28.08
Jarrett Lennon
Yes, yes, no, absolutely. I mean, in both cases, it was it was ah the ability to self-reflect. I mean, on the ADHD side, that one was probably, i guess, the most the most surprising or shocking just because it it really did come out of nowhere for me to even consider it. In that in that case,
00:05:45.93
Jarrett Lennon
I had plenty of people online, friends, memes, you name it, with all sorts of references to ADHD behavior. And ah just it's a repeat thing I hear with other people too. In every case, it was like, oh, love that's silly because we all do that.
00:06:02.03
Jarrett Lennon
and you Whatever it is that you're seeing the the joke about, it's like, well, I do that.
00:06:02.38
Wednesday Lee Friday
Right. Right.
00:06:05.67
Jarrett Lennon
That's not just an ADHD thing. And I think it just it was a slow build of me, and I don't know what the tipping point was, but of me realizing, wait, if I do all of those things and all of these people are saying that's ADHD, is it possible?
00:06:20.60
Jarrett Lennon
is it pass Um, and, and plus with the various problems I was having in life with, ah with focus and memory and, and, uh, executive function and everything. Yeah. Whatever it was, was the tipping point where it's like, okay, uh, I'm, I'm gonna, I'm gonna see someone about this and and check this out.
00:06:40.07
Jarrett Lennon
And, and so I went through the, went through the process with my, um, my, my, uh, I think it was with Kaiser at the time and like they their mental health program. Not the best in the world, but this part of it actually went very smoothly and was really well handled.
00:06:53.00
Jarrett Lennon
um And I remember going through all the forums because they put a bunch of us in a room and you have to fill out all these forms and answer all these questions. And it's like pages and page and like i was I was laughing at it because like, is this the test whether I can even finish this?
00:07:02.11
Wednesday Lee Friday
Mm-hmm. huh
00:07:07.63
Jarrett Lennon
um and then And at some point they came in and explained, okay, you know what, we're going to take all of these from you and and review them. And then we're going to bring you in one by one. And just just so you're clear, we won't diagnose you here on the spot. That's going to come later. you're Your yeah psychiatrist is going to reach out to you and review the results with you. We're just going to go over things and explain what the process is.
00:07:26.98
Jarrett Lennon
And then when they brought me into the room, they were like, yeah, we don't even have to bother with all that. You're off the chart. Yeah. And like, they showed me the chart and literally like, you know, it's like a ah audio waveform, just capping out and flattening at the top.
00:07:32.11
Wednesday Lee Friday
Ha ha ha ha
00:07:39.14
Jarrett Lennon
i was like, okay, yep. Yep. This all, this is all starting to make sense. ah So I think the, the autism one was interesting just because much more recent, I had a, I have a very good friend who went through this, this whole thing um on their side and was, was really blindsided by it. They, they've had a traumatic event and,
00:07:59.27
Jarrett Lennon
And the way they handled the event started and giving them some questions. And they're their partner finally was like, you realize you're autistic, right? And they're like, well, what do you mean?
00:08:07.68
Wednesday Lee Friday
Mm-hmm.
00:08:08.79
Jarrett Lennon
and So they so they they then ah you know built ah many spreadsheets full of all of the facts and information and history and so on of it. And all of their research and everything is like, well, that's kind of evidence too.
00:08:20.85
Jarrett Lennon
ah But yeah, anyway, they they shared all of that with me and their whole journey and their whole shocking results. And I went through it and I went through some of the the online self-tests that they had verified were actually well well considered online by spike yeah psychiatrists. And um I did those and like they were all pretty pretty conclusively high numbers. was like, okay, okay.
00:08:43.62
Jarrett Lennon
um I'm starting to track some patterns here. And so then I finally did a, had myself a professionally evaluated and yeah, level one. um You asked a question though, and look at that. I actually remember the question you asked about how it affects, ah you know acting and performing.
00:09:03.03
Jarrett Lennon
um And I think, I think what helps with that is I've been an actor since I was the age of four. Right. So it was formative for me. um Doing the work I do, memorizing dialogue, performing, knowing exactly what i'm supposed to do ah was all there from very early on from the beginning.
00:09:23.31
Jarrett Lennon
And also, since I enjoy it, I assume my hyper focus kicks in. um It becomes strategic. It becomes, again, it's it's what I love doing.
00:09:35.49
Jarrett Lennon
And so it kicks in the brain that's like, no, I need to very carefully know exactly what I'm doing. And then I think also the ah rejection sensitivity that we often deal with, that also kicks in.
00:09:46.55
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yeah.
00:09:48.62
Jarrett Lennon
Because the last thing I want to do is disappoint anyone. um which is incredibly difficult to succeed at. But if it's something like that where I'm already good at it and everything else, it becomes like that hyper, again, the hyper focus and the hyper obsession of I need to get this right and I need to be the least difficult person on this set.
00:09:57.90
Wednesday Lee Friday
Sure.
00:10:12.13
Wednesday Lee Friday
Right. It's okay if they're problems, but I never want to be the one causing the problem.
00:10:13.85
Jarrett Lennon
so
00:10:17.10
Wednesday Lee Friday
As long as I didn't cause it.
00:10:17.33
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah, yeah. And that was ah that was a thing for a long time was like i was I was famously the only one who definitely knew all of my lines.
00:10:19.59
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yeah, I get that.
00:10:26.86
Jarrett Lennon
I mean, there there are definitely some some you know some funny moments in history with ah with ah lines being forgotten and very, we might get to that later actually. But yeah, like I was always the guy who knew his stuff, and whether I was six years old or or hopefully now still.
00:10:43.44
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah.
00:10:45.75
Wednesday Lee Friday
Cool. Now, I wonder, one of the things that I talk about a lot with creators on the show is that once they get an accurate diagnosis, sometimes they amend or or pivot in how they do their work.
00:11:02.42
Jarrett Lennon
Yes.
00:11:02.43
Wednesday Lee Friday
um Like when I was diagnosed, I realized why I was having such difficulty with long-form work, and I largely pivoted to short stories and novellas.
00:11:14.01
Wednesday Lee Friday
Now, I'm aware that
00:11:14.05
Jarrett Lennon
Oh.
00:11:15.20
Wednesday Lee Friday
you are making a pivot like you do a lot more improv, which involves less memorization, um less, ah you know, finicky things and more using the force to to present a performance.
00:11:19.86
Jarrett Lennon
Yes.
00:11:22.33
Jarrett Lennon
Mm-hmm.
00:11:30.10
Wednesday Lee Friday
um do Do you do you think those things are connected for you?
00:11:30.59
Jarrett Lennon
Right.
00:11:33.26
Jarrett Lennon
I absolutely do. And yes, i think I think the ADHD, of the two diagnoses, the ADHD one was the biggest impact to me because it it it explained so many behaviors and so many ways preferred to handle things. I mean, all of the ah the reliance on deadlines to get anything done, the reliance on external pressure, um the the the fact that, I mean, I spent all that time convinced that I didn't know how to do improv because I i i knew people in improv. I knew i knew improvisers who were incredibly talented at it.
00:12:06.28
Jarrett Lennon
And I spent like the first 30 years of my life going, man, i i wish i could was I wish I had those skills, but I don't. completely oblivious to the fact that improv was actually how I solved everything.
00:12:18.29
Jarrett Lennon
like I was never the person to prepare um because I wasn't capable of it.
00:12:19.13
Wednesday Lee Friday
Mm-hmm.
00:12:24.01
Jarrett Lennon
I was the person who could wing it and wing it incredibly well to the point where most people thought I was prepared. And so when I did get into improv, which was right around the time of the diagnosis, I think it was shortly after it, I did initially strongly believe that the ADHD was going to make improv and incredibly difficult for me.
00:12:45.02
Jarrett Lennon
And what I quickly found was A, everybody I met had it. and And B, while, yeah, some some of it is some of it absolutely gets in the way of skills I wish I had in improv, other parts of it are, you know,
00:13:00.99
Jarrett Lennon
ah i hesitate always with using the the superpower analogy because people do like to to frame ADHD as a superpower. um And I'll never take that away from anybody who wants to turn into a positive for them.
00:13:10.46
Wednesday Lee Friday
Mm-hmm.
00:13:13.99
Jarrett Lennon
But I also hesitate to use it because I also feel like it can kind of ah um it it can kind of counter somebody who is is struggling and and wants to acknowledge their struggle. as like We all talk about, oh, it's a superpower. It's like, okay, but But that person having trouble and having pain with it is valid too.
00:13:31.22
Jarrett Lennon
ah But parts of improv absolutely benefit from my brain you know bouncing off of eight eight walls and connecting dots that other people aren't connecting off of what I heard.
00:13:43.80
Jarrett Lennon
And so combining those things where the hyper focus makes it so like I'm playing chess on stage, where I'm I'm tracking the conversation. I'm tracking the details and my nitpicky nature like that. That part of me that gets distracted by the thing somebody said that was wrong. Well, it turns out in real life where I have to tamp that down and not correct people on stage. It's the most fun thing because you get to notice the mistakes and then correct them in real time and justify them.
00:14:13.39
Jarrett Lennon
And the best improv is built out of mistakes. And so if if I'm the one getting distracted by the mistake, that's actually oftentimes valuable.
00:14:18.21
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh, wow. Wow.
00:14:23.20
Jarrett Lennon
I'm the one going, hold on, I heard you say that one weird thing. And half the audience also heard the one weird thing. And so now that I'm building off the one weird thing, the audience is so happy because they they got they had their own minds reinforced of, yes, I did hear that thing. You're right. And now we're going to go down this crazy tangent off of the one weird thing that everybody else would have ignored.
00:14:44.98
Jarrett Lennon
um So that that for me is a big part of where it's super fun is is the the squirrels.
00:14:46.38
Wednesday Lee Friday
wow
00:14:50.98
Jarrett Lennon
All those squirrel moments are powerful in improv.
00:14:54.59
Wednesday Lee Friday
Which, I mean, you hear a lot of actors talk about why, like, that's one of the reasons that they prefer stage acting to film. And then why so many huge actors go back to the stage because of the immediacy and the ephemerality and just, yeah, that that idea that you can make a little change because, I mean, i'm I'm a theater person, so I've gone to shows where you see the same show as an audience member, you see it three nights in a row, and it's different every time.
00:15:02.73
Jarrett Lennon
Oh, yeah.
00:15:08.71
Jarrett Lennon
Yes.
00:15:18.71
Jarrett Lennon
Yes.
00:15:22.81
Wednesday Lee Friday
And every time
00:15:22.88
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah.
00:15:24.13
Wednesday Lee Friday
you're so glad that you went again to see that other nuance, especially when it's, you know, something like Shakespeare, where you know the work well and you know that the people who are performing it are super, super into it.
00:15:31.83
Jarrett Lennon
Sure.
00:15:38.91
Jarrett Lennon
Mm-hmm.
00:15:39.14
Wednesday Lee Friday
So when you when you're doing improv, like thematically, what what goes on there?
00:15:39.43
Jarrett Lennon
Mm-hmm.
00:15:44.79
Wednesday Lee Friday
Is there like a huge variance or are there certain notes that you want to hit every time? Like I know very little about that.
00:15:50.98
Jarrett Lennon
Sure. ah No, that that's ah that's a great question. and And there's a lot of range to it because I think there's you know there's a great ah quote ah from one of my my improv teachers. um And it's not even it's not even his own quote. he's He borrowed it from someone else. um So i'm i'm i'm since I can't remember who it's attributed to, I'll leave the attribution out. But it was ah the worst thing that ever happened to improv was putting the word comedy after it.
00:16:16.37
Jarrett Lennon
um And and it's it is it's funny because that's you know it that' that's an oversimplification. Improv comedy is what most people expect and love, and it's it's the funniness of it, and it's the absurdity of it, and it's the laughter and so on.
00:16:29.08
Jarrett Lennon
But you can absolutely do dramatic improv, and some of it is incredible. um And also... Good improv, at least in my opinion, is so often just rooted in truth and honesty and and real human, recognizable human nature.
00:16:46.07
Jarrett Lennon
And so that's when I think people are the most engaged is when the characters on stage, even if they're aliens or lobsters or robots or, you know, a dinosaur traveling into the future or like whatever absurd thing might come up.
00:16:59.33
Jarrett Lennon
It's when you recognize yourself or your brother or your mother or your next door neighbor in that character. It's like, okay, as absurd as this is, i know who i know i know that person and I recognize their behavior as something that makes sense to me. And now I'm connected and engaged with it, um which I think that that is something it shares with a lot of good ah written narrative work is I'm the least engaged when I have i can't comprehend the motivations of the characters.
00:17:29.47
Jarrett Lennon
but when they're making, yeah.
00:17:29.82
Wednesday Lee Friday
Well, the the the truth inside the lie. That's what Stephen King calls it.
00:17:33.90
Jarrett Lennon
Yes. Nice. Nice. Yes. Well, well, yes, absolutely. I gotta, I gotta look into that guy. He sounds smart.
00:17:42.56
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yeah, he's written a couple of things, I think.
00:17:44.71
Jarrett Lennon
Really?
00:17:44.96
Wednesday Lee Friday
like
00:17:45.07
Jarrett Lennon
Oh gosh.
00:17:45.44
Wednesday Lee Friday
Like, more than one, yeah.
00:17:46.43
Jarrett Lennon
Oh wow.
00:17:46.78
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yeah.
00:17:47.63
Jarrett Lennon
Oh, overachiever there.
00:17:48.55
Wednesday Lee Friday
yeah is he He's a real up-and-comer, that one.
00:17:49.39
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah. Yeah.
00:17:51.20
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yeah.
00:17:52.22
Jarrett Lennon
um But yeah, yeah, I think i think that's that's core to it is finding the humanity in it. And so you can absolutely thematically, you can go all over the place. I mean, there's obviously you can get it some really dark humor where you're you're hitting really sensitive issues. Obviously, politics is huge in it. And you're you're you're going to land there whether or not you want to. Sometimes you land there very lightly. And it's just that little nod to the audience of whatever is going on right now.
00:18:16.70
Jarrett Lennon
Sometimes you're going into deep political analogy because that's just that's where you are. Not to mention, It's therapy for us. Like when we're performing on stage or in the podcast, this is how we get our thoughts and feelings and emotions out.
00:18:24.70
Wednesday Lee Friday
Mm-hmm.
00:18:30.41
Jarrett Lennon
And sometimes and frequently that's going to be whatever is is hurting us in that moment, which is going to be something big in the world. So yeah, but it's all over the place. As I said, you know comedy is probably what we're aiming for most.
00:18:44.67
Jarrett Lennon
And yeah, when you talk about beats you're aiming for, there's quote unquote rules in improv. ah The first one being there are no rules in improv.
00:18:55.65
Jarrett Lennon
Um, but, but you absolutely get taught things early on that then once you're good at, you can throw those away. But a lot of those little things are, are, they're useful, useful tools to follow, to help you have a successful show.
00:19:09.74
Jarrett Lennon
since so that you can get good and enough, ah good enough at performing that you can then ignore those rules and still have a successful show. Cause it's really hard to get on stage. If you know, you're going to suck and you hate sucking at it.
00:19:23.43
Wednesday Lee Friday
Sure, sure. now Now, as an improv guy, I have to ask you kind of a weird question.
00:19:25.65
Jarrett Lennon
So yeah.
00:19:29.06
Wednesday Lee Friday
This was not on our list.
00:19:30.64
Jarrett Lennon
Ooh.
00:19:30.71
Wednesday Lee Friday
um Now, the the movie Ted 2 has two scenes that I think are some of the most brilliant comedic scenes ever. One is the the F. Scott Fitzgerald scene, but the other one is the comedy club where people are are yelling things out. Are you familiar with the scene that I'm i'm referring to?
00:19:49.59
Jarrett Lennon
Unfortunately, I'm not. But but i can I can feel out where you're going here.
00:19:50.97
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh, dude.
00:19:53.21
Jarrett Lennon
So let's let's see
00:19:54.99
Wednesday Lee Friday
Well, it's it's ah the the two main characters, so Marky Mark and and Ted the Bear.
00:20:00.42
Jarrett Lennon
Right. Yeah.
00:20:01.61
Wednesday Lee Friday
And they're at the improv show, and what is fun to them is to yell out the most depressing things they can think of.
00:20:03.50
Jarrett Lennon
Mm-hmm.
00:20:09.13
Wednesday Lee Friday
So at the in the time frame, you know, like, we need a place, 9-11, you know, or or no, no, give us a different place.
00:20:09.31
Jarrett Lennon
Oh, God.
00:20:13.44
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah. Oh, yes.
00:20:16.89
Wednesday Lee Friday
And they yelled, ah the offices of Charlie Hebdo.
00:20:18.02
Jarrett Lennon
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
00:20:20.01
Wednesday Lee Friday
And yeah, so then the like the improv people were just ah horrified and disgusted.
00:20:22.86
Jarrett Lennon
Yes.
00:20:27.13
Wednesday Lee Friday
So you you must get a lot of wise asses and they are not all well intentioned.
00:20:27.58
Jarrett Lennon
Yes.
00:20:32.75
Wednesday Lee Friday
How does how do you deal with that?
00:20:32.95
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah. I mean, it it is a very common it is a such a common joke that the most obvious answer you always get when you ask for a suggestion is dildo.
00:20:43.56
Jarrett Lennon
And you'll yeah. And you'll hear this in like at any improviser. Famous people like Amy Poehler will make that like will reference that everyone references that because it's just the thing. Also, for some reason, for some reason, pineapple.
00:20:55.09
Jarrett Lennon
That's just an incredibly common answer. So there's there's a few tricks. i mean, for one thing, oftentimes when you're asking for a suggestion from the audience, you will intentionally burn some of the things you don't want to hear because you'll say something like, you know, we want a suggestion, you know, like dildo or pineapple.
00:21:11.74
Jarrett Lennon
ah So yeah that's one thing is like you'll throw out something you don't want to hear from them. So they immediately know it's not it.
00:21:18.02
Wednesday Lee Friday
Like, oh, that was mine.
00:21:18.13
Jarrett Lennon
Sometimes it's... Right, exactly.
00:21:20.70
Wednesday Lee Friday
right
00:21:21.06
Jarrett Lennon
Sometimes you'll you'll you aim for something a lot more interesting. Like that um my first team that we i was on for three and a half years, we did over 250 shows. We asked for song lyric. um and And you'd be surprised how often we didn't get repeats. They occasionally happen, but we even used to put together playlists online of all of the songs that we got suggestions for from the audience, which was fun.
00:21:44.49
Jarrett Lennon
um But you'll absolutely get people who are determined to be jerks about it and say something dumb. And different people have different philosophies. I think one philosophy is you always take the suggestion, whatever it is. and sometimes you get to cleverly turn it back on that person. you can You can take jabs at them in the scene by making comments about, you know, you know maybe so some character wants to be the center of attention and is says, you know, the most, you know, ah the rudest things possible. And now you build a character out of that audience member and everyone around them knows what it is.
00:22:17.00
Jarrett Lennon
That person might even know what it is. But at that point, it's like, okay, we're all being playful with one another. um And then another another tactic, which, you know, some people dislike, but I think it's perfectly reasonable from a self preservation standpoint is you can, you can reject a suggestion. You absolutely can.
00:22:35.12
Jarrett Lennon
And I have heard some, some people reject them usually in a funny, playful way where the rest of the audience is with them and laughs at it. And like, yeah, we all agree. That was a terrible suggestion.
00:22:45.52
Wednesday Lee Friday
Does anyone have a a a suggestion that doesn't suck?
00:22:49.08
Jarrett Lennon
Right, right.
00:22:49.72
Wednesday Lee Friday
Like, because...
00:22:49.88
Jarrett Lennon
You could absolutely do that. Yes. Or someone could say, I heard and something completely different and people laugh at that or whatever it is. So there's definitely tactics there and you'll get you'll get bad audience members. But if you've got if you've got, you know, a good supportive team on stage, they'll get around it and they'll they'll end up weaving that into what they do masterfully, which I've seen so many times. And it's so much fun to watch a bad experience turned into a good one.
00:23:18.66
Wednesday Lee Friday
Now, something like that must be impacted by ah having ah ah an increased understanding of your diagnosis. Like I would imagine that after shows, anytime you have to have those kinds of interactions, if they get unpleasant, if you find yourself having to maneuver, you know, in in a particular way that you're going to go over that in your head a lot.
00:23:28.12
Jarrett Lennon
Yes.
00:23:42.15
Wednesday Lee Friday
So how does that break down for you?
00:23:45.31
Jarrett Lennon
Yes, obsessing over the show afterwards is a time-honored tradition in improv, to the point where like there's there there's advice given out in the community. I think one of the best things I ever heard is you're only allowed to discuss your show for no longer than the length of the show.
00:24:04.02
Jarrett Lennon
ah So like you it used to be this classic thing where you have this note session afterwards.
00:24:04.27
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay.
00:24:07.98
Jarrett Lennon
You get together in the alley next to the theater and then you tear tear yourselves apart for all the mistakes you made and all the things your team could have done better and blah, blah, blah. yeah the whole time you're standing there grumbling about how bad your show was, there's people walking past you and tapping you on the shoulder and saying, hey, great show. Yeah.
00:24:24.71
Jarrett Lennon
And we're all like, oh, thank you so much. And then we go back to beating ourselves up over how bad the show was. um But yeah, that's that's one thing is like, okay, we had a 20-minute set. We can talk about this for 20 minutes. And then we're never allowed to think about it again.
00:24:37.48
Jarrett Lennon
Obviously, it doesn't really work that way. I still think about my class shows from 10 years ago and the things I could have done better. But those do also fuel the decisions I make going forward.
00:24:47.79
Jarrett Lennon
And I'm much better at now at just letting it go because – I know I'll have another show in a month or a week or whatever, and that one will be better or it'll be worse and I'll forget it too.
00:25:01.35
Jarrett Lennon
um i mean, half the time I get off the stage and I don't remember what happened on it other than the audience laughed a lot and I had a great time. Yes.
00:25:10.26
Wednesday Lee Friday
Well, that's just it. I mean, the expectation between like what the performers do and what the audience expects are so disparate because you are going to judge success as the distance between what you were trying to do and what you actually did.
00:25:19.04
Jarrett Lennon
Yes.
00:25:27.79
Jarrett Lennon
yes yes
00:25:28.33
Wednesday Lee Friday
But an audience member has no idea what you were trying to do. Their objective was to laugh. And if they've done that, then it's a success for them.
00:25:33.72
Jarrett Lennon
right and that's where the audience is so valuable for me and and i used to get this back in the days with sitcoms too is like the live audience is fuel for me and i i'll perform in ways that i never did in any rehearsal ah when i'm getting the reactions because they drive They steer me in real time. And that happens on stage all the time where I can say a thing that was a throwaway thing that did not matter to me. It meant nothing. It was it was a comment that I will forget two seconds after I say it, except the audience pops on it.
00:26:09.21
Jarrett Lennon
And now I know I found something they like and care about. And so I had no idea until that moment that that line, that the the words coming out of my mouth were meaningful. And now suddenly I know, oh, I can build something off of this. And maybe it's early in the scene. And now ah my character's entire point of view is built off of that one line I said that got the reaction.
00:26:32.07
Jarrett Lennon
And then that snowballs and... You get all of these new mu characters and scenes and ideas and locations and everything built purely off of the fact that the audience liked a thing I didn't expect them to like.
00:26:47.72
Wednesday Lee Friday
Wow.
00:26:48.83
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah.
00:26:50.75
Wednesday Lee Friday
That's huge.
00:26:52.17
Jarrett Lennon
It It really, really is. So they're, I mean, that's, that's the thing is they're part of it.
00:26:55.96
Wednesday Lee Friday
Now.
00:26:57.27
Jarrett Lennon
Like the, and that's the beauty. and You talked about theater. It comes up there too, but yeah, the audience is a cast member in a way. And it's really, really powerful.
00:27:07.79
Wednesday Lee Friday
Wow. wow that that's blowing my mind actually so um I need just a minute with that um because I actually i want very much to explore like the connection between your late in life diagnosis and how that's impacting your career um i wonder like i personally i have a lot of bitterness about not having been diagnosed earlier because I struggled a lot and was very much like judged and blamed for like
00:27:32.57
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah.
00:27:35.01
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah.
00:27:38.24
Wednesday Lee Friday
you know, not trying hard enough or, oh, you're so smart.
00:27:40.00
Jarrett Lennon
yeah
00:27:41.18
Wednesday Lee Friday
Why isn't this working for you? um has Is that your experience as well? I mean, it seems like if you're a child actor, feel success that adults don't achieve at an early age.
00:27:47.41
Jarrett Lennon
Absolutely.
00:27:54.12
Wednesday Lee Friday
I don't know how that that plays into it.
00:27:56.22
Jarrett Lennon
ah Yes, you do. And it it creates the same dynamic that I'm sure you've heard a lot with ah with people with ADHD and neurotypical in general, which is we tend to be the gifted kids.
00:28:08.95
Jarrett Lennon
And the gifted kids are the most likely to turn out to grow up to be having all of these challenges as adults because um we we weren't used to having to work for it the same way other people do.
00:28:09.08
Wednesday Lee Friday
Right.
00:28:22.73
Jarrett Lennon
And so for me, it's the same thing is I grew up acting and getting all these compliments about, oh, what a great actor I was and how natural I was. And, bla bla you know, ah you know don't don't take acting classes because it'll ruin your natural delivery. Like, you you you know, you you do all that.
00:28:40.85
Jarrett Lennon
And so all of that gets in your head of, oh, I'm just really good at things. And none of those things I had to work to be good at because it's just where I started, which for being a four-year-old, I was much better than any typical four-year-old at acting.
00:28:57.73
Jarrett Lennon
ah
00:28:57.81
Wednesday Lee Friday
and Okay.
00:28:58.31
Jarrett Lennon
But that doesn't necessarily translate upward into being that good as an adult. ah Being a child prodigy oftentimes levels you off as you become an adult to being just as good as any adult who worked for it.
00:29:13.53
Jarrett Lennon
And on top of that, all of the other people were working for it. And I didn't have to because work just came to me. You know, when you're an actor, you have an agent who's bringing you auditions.
00:29:23.34
Wednesday Lee Friday
Right.
00:29:27.08
Jarrett Lennon
You're going out on the audition. You're getting callbacks. You're eventually getting the job. You're doing the job. And you're waiting for the next job to be handed to you on a silver platter. I mean, it's it's, you know, I'm exaggerating that because, of course, the reality is most actors aren't working at all. It's like,
00:29:42.42
Jarrett Lennon
There's no silver platter.
00:29:42.55
Wednesday Lee Friday
Mm-hmm.
00:29:43.42
Jarrett Lennon
There isn't even a paper plate. um But that's, you know, my career was relatively good for my entire childhood because I was, ah you know, I was at that level of doing well enough that people liked my work and I was getting it easily.
00:29:59.47
Jarrett Lennon
But as i as I hit transition age um into adulthood, that's probably the time I should have been putting work in, like my peers were.
00:30:11.17
Jarrett Lennon
That's the time I should have been studying the craft. That's the time I probably should have been creating my own things, searching out so opportunities of my own. I mean, again, tons of people are successful who literally don't do any of that. I know there's you know so many of those found off the street kind of things.
00:30:27.50
Jarrett Lennon
But a lot of the people I respect were putting in all of the work. And i i didn't know how to do that. I never had to do that. I didn't have to be searching and fighting for it. And so um i think that is the very first place that I can now look back historically and go, my lack of a diagnosis and my lack of understanding of my limitations hurt me here because I stopped acting professionally 2005.
00:30:57.80
Jarrett Lennon
in two thousand five um Work had dried up a lot. I was no longer or qualifying for for health insurance through Screen Actors Guild on a regular basis.
00:31:07.90
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh dang.
00:31:08.37
Jarrett Lennon
it would Yeah, yeah i had I had never lapsed in my life. And in that year or the year before was the first time i I hadn't worked enough to qualify. And it would come in fits and spurts.
00:31:18.74
Jarrett Lennon
Like I'd get it back for three months and it was gone again. And I had ah i had a baby and I was married ah someone else at that time. And ah it was i had responsibilities and the work wasn't there and I had to i had to pivot away from it.
00:31:35.79
Jarrett Lennon
But on top of that, i I know i was not doing what I was supposed to be doing. I didn't get new headshots when I should have gotten new headshots to represent who I was at that time.
00:31:48.69
Jarrett Lennon
I had my agent at the time sent me the kind you know my renewed contract ah with them to sign. And it sat on my table for, I can't tell you how long, because it sat there long enough for them to send me a replacement one.
00:32:06.43
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh, wow
00:32:07.19
Jarrett Lennon
And that also sat there, and i i didn't sign it. And of course, then eventually I didn't have an agent anymore. And that I had no clue what was going on in my head that would keep me from doing as something as simple as opening a manila envelope and going through 10 pages and signing five signatures and you know 10 initials and putting it back in and mailing it out. But that seemed so overwhelmingly difficult to me.
00:32:39.90
Jarrett Lennon
And now I know what executive function is. And now I know why that's hard.
00:32:44.41
Wednesday Lee Friday
Right, right.
00:32:46.49
Jarrett Lennon
And now I know things like do it now and other coping mechanisms I have to just get things done while my brain lets me and reminders and all these other tricks. But I didn't have that then. So I just...
00:32:59.46
Jarrett Lennon
floundered and then questioned who I was as a person and and how deserving I was of anything. Yeah.
00:33:05.86
Wednesday Lee Friday
Wow.
00:33:07.65
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah.
00:33:07.78
Wednesday Lee Friday
Now, if if I may, um I would like to ask about ah your parents' ah role in your childhood acting career, much has been said about stage parents and the varying degrees of meddlesomeness and even abuse.
00:33:21.07
Jarrett Lennon
yeah
00:33:26.58
Wednesday Lee Friday
I mean, we we know stories, you know, Danny Bonaduce and Wil Wheaton and and people like that.
00:33:30.09
Jarrett Lennon
Sure. Yeah.
00:33:32.60
Wednesday Lee Friday
And some have come through that beautifully. and And I certainly don't want to imply anything about your parents. I know nothing about them.
00:33:38.16
Jarrett Lennon
yeah
00:33:39.46
Wednesday Lee Friday
But what...
00:33:40.91
Jarrett Lennon
um So, yeah, I was essentially raised just by my mother. My father was loosely in the picture, but um um and he's he's long long since passed away. um But he he was ah he was an every other weekend dad. um the there's There's some complicated history to what what my parentage situation was that I'm um i'm not going to get into depth on.
00:34:01.71
Jarrett Lennon
um
00:34:01.94
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay.
00:34:02.49
Jarrett Lennon
But i was I was raised by my mother, um and ah she made a very big deal out of the fact that she definitely didn't want to be a stage mother. um And to to, I think, to to some degree, to a heavy degree, i don't think she was a typical stage mother by any stretch.
00:34:18.72
Jarrett Lennon
um i You know, she was fairly protective of me. There's definitely a lot of situations that I ah successfully evaded and avoided where I know...
00:34:29.14
Jarrett Lennon
people I worked with at the time went down the the dark paths. um You know, most are are doing great now, but they absolutely went through like the drugs and alcohol and all sorts of scary things. And she very carefully steered me away and around all of that. um So i'm I'm grateful for that in retrospect.
00:34:47.56
Jarrett Lennon
It definitely made some things harder, though, because I definitely didn't have a lot of the connections and bonding that other actors were having at the time with one another. Some of which honestly helped their careers, um but also you know gave them like really good human connections with other people in it too.
00:35:03.57
Jarrett Lennon
um So it was saying know it was a double-edged sword there, but she definitely avoided a lot of the the dangers. um It was tricky. my you know i i I strongly, now that I understand everything about this, I strongly believe um ah that that she has probably some of the same undiagnosed issues I have.
00:35:22.35
Jarrett Lennon
um And so definitely made some places harder. There were definitely times where feathers were ruffled in my career by her reactions to things that I think lost me opportunities or work and so on. And I'm like, yeah.
00:35:35.84
Jarrett Lennon
ah it was, it was, there were definitely challenges there, but I would say overall when it came to the career, you know, I i didn't suffer um any of the types of horror stories you, you hear about all the time now. And I'm pretty grateful for, for getting through that unscathed.
00:35:54.64
Wednesday Lee Friday
Wow. Yeah. Sounds like my goodness. Um, cause yeah, I mean, I was reading your, your IMDB biography and, uh, it does kind of look like your mom.
00:36:01.61
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah.
00:36:06.79
Wednesday Lee Friday
I don't want to say she was resistive to it necessarily, but it seems like it, it took a lot of people, including Ed Asner, which, oh my God, that blows my mind.
00:36:15.89
Jarrett Lennon
Yes. Yep.
00:36:16.92
Wednesday Lee Friday
um
00:36:16.98
Jarrett Lennon
Mm-hmm.
00:36:18.12
Wednesday Lee Friday
So I have a couple of questions about that. Like, first of all, it sounds like you grew up around Hollywood people. So how did how did that come to pass?
00:36:26.02
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah, I mean, in that case, i my mother was working on a ah charity project um for, um i think I think it was called Africa Tomorrow was the name of it. you know She used to tell the story a lot, so I pick up the details second or third hand. But she was working on a charity project that Ed Asner was also involved in. So she in that case, she step knew him ah through that.
00:36:48.70
Jarrett Lennon
And in general, i just I had a very outgoing personality. I was definitely raised to have a good vocabulary. and enunciated fairly well for a kid of my age.
00:36:59.79
Jarrett Lennon
And so ah to hear her tell it, I had a lot of people basically on a regular basis saying that he should be an actor. And at least the way the way she always told it is like, no, I don't want to do that to him. I don't want to put him in the limelight. And she had been in the music industry before that. So she definitely had a sense of how bad things can be.
00:37:16.14
Jarrett Lennon
Um, and i had also had, i had had a pneumonia and i had, I had, uh, been diagnosed with a growth disorder, which we had heavy, uh, heavy medical bills built around that and so on.
00:37:30.30
Jarrett Lennon
And it finally, it was, it was like, it was his encouragement of saying, listen, you keep he gets some work and it'll pay for his medical bills just that alone's worth it um and i think that was probably that that's supposedly was the like the the the moment that it kind of clicked of okay i guess we'll try it uh and so i i'm not sure how she necessarily found an agent in those days there were far fewer of them and far fewer of me so it was easier but she you know we we met with an agent they're like oh you know cute kids, yeah know good personality, whatever. We'll send them out on an audition.
00:38:02.56
Jarrett Lennon
And it was for a commercial for my first Transformers, which were like the you know the kindergarten version of Transformers toys.
00:38:08.40
Wednesday Lee Friday
right
00:38:09.83
Jarrett Lennon
ah And I booked the i booked the commercial. And they're like, oh, well, Good, good. That's great. But, you know, beginners left. Let's let's try something else. And so then they sent me on an audition for a mini series that filmed in New York.
00:38:22.12
Jarrett Lennon
It was called ah Nutcracker about like ah a Mormon.
00:38:25.59
Wednesday Lee Friday
The
00:38:25.84
Jarrett Lennon
ah I think it was a Mormon wife who had her husband killed or something like that.
00:38:30.03
Wednesday Lee Friday
Collective &
00:38:30.13
Jarrett Lennon
ah Yeah. Yeah. so This big deal thing at the time. um And I booked that job, too, and flew to New York to film that. So like my very first two auditions, I booked out of the gate.
00:38:41.36
Jarrett Lennon
And so there was clearly something there.
00:38:41.59
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh wow
00:38:43.31
Jarrett Lennon
And so it just kind of, it steamrolled from there. And I, you know, grew a good reputation with people and, you know, casting directors knew me, producers knew me, and it just kept building from there until it, until it petered out.
00:38:56.59
Wednesday Lee Friday
That's so scary though.
00:38:57.53
Jarrett Lennon
Uh-huh.
00:38:57.88
Wednesday Lee Friday
Cause, cause the thing is, as a ah person who, who tells stories, when you hear something like that, like somebody tried something new and there was a success and then there was another success.
00:39:08.10
Wednesday Lee Friday
There was so much success as a, as a viewer or a reader, you know, you feel like you're getting set up like, Oh, they a this ain't, this ain't going to go right.
00:39:11.55
Jarrett Lennon
Uh-huh. Yep. Yes, you're waiting for that cliff dive.
00:39:17.11
Wednesday Lee Friday
This all right. You know, you're and you're just waiting for the thing to happen.
00:39:17.95
Jarrett Lennon
Yes.
00:39:20.55
Wednesday Lee Friday
The other shoe, you know, i would think,
00:39:21.08
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah. Yep. Yep. Yep.
00:39:24.45
Wednesday Lee Friday
That might be ah less as a kid. you know You'd feel that a little less. But maybe not, though. Because sensitive kids, man... They be sensitive.
00:39:33.12
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah, i definitely I definitely didn't have that sense.
00:39:34.74
Wednesday Lee Friday
So...
00:39:36.62
Jarrett Lennon
It just it was all so it was all normal and just the way my life was structured. And and so it it's not perspective I had to even question it, um which I guess is is a good thing.
00:39:48.76
Jarrett Lennon
you know It's certainly one of the one the only times in my life i was I was truly confident in anything. And it wasn't like ah it wasn't a false confidence or anything. It's just i i I was good at something and I knew I was good at it.
00:39:59.52
Jarrett Lennon
And people regularly also told me I was good at it. and um i can't take compliments for anything now but at the time ah i i guess they all so sank in because i really didn't question my skills
00:40:15.39
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay. All right. So I looked through your IMDb because I was really hoping that you had done something that I would remember. And you did!
00:40:26.30
Jarrett Lennon
yay of course
00:40:26.32
Wednesday Lee Friday
Because, well, everybody watched Cheers. I was ah great fan of of Cheers. And because I was raised by conservatives who did not especially value reading and education,
00:40:38.33
Wednesday Lee Friday
I was very drawn to the whole like Frasier and Lilith thing. I didn't like as ah as a teenager, I didn't necessarily understand that they were also sort of poking fun at the people that they were because Kelsey Grammer was just so funny.
00:40:42.22
Jarrett Lennon
ah
00:40:49.64
Jarrett Lennon
Sure.
00:40:52.10
Wednesday Lee Friday
and And, you know, that that like dry wit that was articulate.
00:40:54.94
Jarrett Lennon
oh yeah.
00:40:56.05
Wednesday Lee Friday
And I'd find myself like looking up French words to see like what he was actually joking about.
00:41:01.17
Jarrett Lennon
Yes.
00:41:01.72
Wednesday Lee Friday
um And so you you were on Cheers and you played Carla's son.
00:41:04.35
Jarrett Lennon
Yes.
00:41:06.67
Wednesday Lee Friday
whose dad was like a snooty academic who knew Frasier and Lilith.
00:41:06.67
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah, well.
00:41:10.31
Wednesday Lee Friday
And that was like ah a two or three episode arc, right?
00:41:13.25
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah, so I did three episodes that spread out across several seasons. So they they basically brought me back a couple different times. the The original, the origination of that is that, yeah, my my my mother, Carla, had an affair with Dr. Bennett Ludlow, um a a psychologist who I believe was someone who was not not only just a friend, but maybe even someone that Frasier specifically looked up to.
00:41:29.33
Wednesday Lee Friday
Hmm.
00:41:38.51
Jarrett Lennon
Um, and that was a, that was a one-off situation that happened, I think in the first season of the show. ah and it was somebody's brilliant idea because Carla famously had eight kids.
00:41:51.35
Jarrett Lennon
And so someone so you know, six seasons in five, six seasons in was like, well, maybe something happened there that we could look into. And so they wrote this character, ah Ludlow, um named after obviously the father, who was her her genius kid.
00:42:07.45
Jarrett Lennon
like She had all these kids with all sorts of problems, like in and out of jail and juvenile hall and everything.
00:42:11.41
Wednesday Lee Friday
Right, right.
00:42:13.34
Jarrett Lennon
was like, what if she had to deal with the awkwardness of her being like this wise, cracking, street smart kind of person? How does she raise ah a genius who loves opera?
00:42:24.05
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah.
00:42:25.42
Wednesday Lee Friday
Right.
00:42:25.87
Jarrett Lennon
And so that was that was the care. But what what was what was fun with that one was i auditioned for that. um And i the audition went so well. i I don't remember why. I don't remember the producer asked me to tell them a joke or if I i wanted to tell them a joke or whatever.
00:42:43.67
Jarrett Lennon
But I told a joke in the audition and the producer literally fell off of his chair laughing. And I was six at the time. i assume like it wasn't even a good, ah an amazing joke. But I imagine my delivery coming from a six year old. Just that that alone must be hilarious.
00:42:58.51
Jarrett Lennon
And so, yeah, he he loved it. I booked the job. And the Friday before.
00:43:04.52
Wednesday Lee Friday
Wait, I'm sorry. I'm just thinking of the funniest thing.
00:43:06.34
Jarrett Lennon
Yes.
00:43:08.13
Wednesday Lee Friday
Did the joke end with the aristocrats? it...
00:43:13.35
Jarrett Lennon
Oh, that really would have gotten one. No. If I remember correctly, and this I think I remember what what joke it was, which just, it again, this just kid kid humor, but it was, what's black and white and black and white and black and white and black and white?
00:43:19.97
Wednesday Lee Friday
but
00:43:30.72
Jarrett Lennon
A nun falling down the stairs.
00:43:30.97
Wednesday Lee Friday
is it You know, i I kind of thought that's what you were going to say.
00:43:35.65
Jarrett Lennon
yeah Yep. Yep. Yep. But that, that just caught him by surprise coming out of this, this six year old in front of him. And it was like, that's all it took. um So yeah. ah and So the the week before we were supposed to film, cause sitcoms are filmed over a five day period. Sometimes it straddles the weekend, whatever. But ah normally the process is day one. You have a table read where everybody just gets around, reads their, their lines, and then they start doing rewrites off of how well that went. And then.
00:44:02.43
Jarrett Lennon
Over the course of the week, it's slowly rehearsed on stage as the sets are are built and and figured out. And they keep tweaking it until finally the last day is is is shoot day where you do have a dress rehearsal and then you film in front the live audience.
00:44:14.53
Jarrett Lennon
And so the week before we were supposed to go in and we get a call from my agents going ah sort of bad news. They need to delay filming your episode. um Originally, my character was supposed to be the the the B plot of the episode.
00:44:30.12
Jarrett Lennon
And they had enjoyed my read so much that they decided to rewrite the episode to make it the A plot of the episode.
00:44:36.48
Wednesday Lee Friday
Wow. Yeah.
00:44:37.46
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah, it was that like, again, there's an example of why as a kid, I never had to question putting effort in because it was all happening to me. So yeah, another another thing there was like, oh, you know, i'm i'm I'm good enough at this that people are just handing me opportunities.
00:44:56.08
Jarrett Lennon
No effort on my part other than like doing the job well.
00:45:00.91
Wednesday Lee Friday
wow
00:45:01.67
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah, so and and and speaking to doing the job well, actually, that was one where somewhere on a blooper reel in on a German blooper show, because I had to to sign off on permission on this, was a take of,
00:45:02.33
Wednesday Lee Friday
yeah but
00:45:14.11
Jarrett Lennon
On shoot night, ah Kelsey Grammer has this big speech he delivers to me where he's telling me how I you know i can't let them diminish my inner fires, you know over, over, you dealing standing up to bullies and whatnot.
00:45:26.71
Jarrett Lennon
And he's got this really nice speech and we're filming it and he gets halfway through the speech and he he forgets the line, which happens to everybody. ah And I proceeded to to give him the rest of his line.
00:45:39.14
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh, no way.
00:45:41.29
Jarrett Lennon
And of course the audience erupts over it it's it. It was, you know, and I had no perspective on just how insane that was that that i I did that, but like he handled it well.
00:45:49.87
Wednesday Lee Friday
Well, did he take it well?
00:45:51.33
Jarrett Lennon
Everyone handled it well.
00:45:52.22
Wednesday Lee Friday
I was gonna say, because, you know, there's there's a lot of things people say about Kelsey Grammer's behavior on set.
00:45:52.81
Jarrett Lennon
He did.
00:45:57.05
Jarrett Lennon
Yes, they certainly do. I can say my personal experience with him on that set was nothing but but kindness and he was he was great to work with.
00:45:59.40
Wednesday Lee Friday
But, uh...
00:46:05.81
Jarrett Lennon
So I will not take away anyone else's experiences, but my own were quite positive.
00:46:06.62
Wednesday Lee Friday
That is wonderful.
00:46:11.64
Wednesday Lee Friday
Do you have a sense when you're sitting in a room and like B.B. New Earth is there or or Ted Danson or, know, I mean, do you have a sense of that you're or I mean, you know, Ed Esner, you know him as a kid.
00:46:24.55
Wednesday Lee Friday
Like, does that occur to you how huge those people are?
00:46:24.54
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah, I mean, so so
00:46:28.38
Jarrett Lennon
it's a mix because frequently, no. um That set was a little more complicated because i was i was i was I watched Cheers on a weekly basis. I know I was only six, so obviously I didn't fully grasp everything, but Cheers was a show we always watched.
00:46:41.83
Jarrett Lennon
So I did go in recognizing these people and knowing who they were. So that was kind of a big deal, but it very quickly just... became people I was working with, but I'd also frequently work with or meet people who I had no idea who they were. Even that even happened on that set on, I think the, the third episode I did, um at some point during rehearsal, I walked out and, Kirstie Alley was supposed to be sitting at the table, but instead she was sitting on some guy's lap and that guy was some, somebody named like a
00:47:13.67
Jarrett Lennon
John Travolta or something.
00:47:15.90
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh my goodness!
00:47:15.91
Jarrett Lennon
i don't know yet. I had no idea who it was.
00:47:17.86
Wednesday Lee Friday
Wow!
00:47:18.75
Jarrett Lennon
I just knew there's some guy sitting in this chair and she's in his lap and like, okay. It's like, so it was frequently a case of, I worked with people who I only knew they were a big deal because people told me they were a big deal.
00:47:30.16
Wednesday Lee Friday
Well, Kirstie Alley had fantastic taste in men. My god, she was married she was married to Parker Stevenson, man!
00:47:36.65
Jarrett Lennon
Sure. Yes. yes
00:47:38.21
Wednesday Lee Friday
The hot, hearty boy, contrary to what you might have heard.
00:47:43.84
Jarrett Lennon
a
00:47:45.27
Wednesday Lee Friday
so So you were also in Shortcuts, and I love that movie.
00:47:48.24
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah.
00:47:49.11
Wednesday Lee Friday
And it occurs to me just now, you weren't the kid who gets hit by a car, were you?
00:47:53.29
Jarrett Lennon
No, no. um
00:47:54.51
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh, thank goodness.
00:47:55.82
Jarrett Lennon
Thankfully, for multiple reasons, including the fact that that kid didn't get much screen time.
00:47:59.74
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yeah, he he sure didn't.
00:48:01.25
Jarrett Lennon
No, yes.
00:48:01.60
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yeah, it had like four lines. Yeah.
00:48:03.94
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah. I.
00:48:06.03
Wednesday Lee Friday
But that movie is insane.
00:48:06.23
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah.
00:48:07.71
Wednesday Lee Friday
And like when that movie came out, I actually had been doing pro phone sex for a little while.
00:48:08.14
Jarrett Lennon
Oh, yes.
00:48:12.87
Wednesday Lee Friday
So ah because that was a plot point in the film, I had some some feelings about it because I'm going to just go ahead and and drop a couple of spoilers.
00:48:13.91
Jarrett Lennon
So, yeah, that had to be big for you. Yes.
00:48:18.59
Jarrett Lennon
That was.
00:48:21.16
Wednesday Lee Friday
um That movie has a bunch of different stories that are woven together. And one of them has Jennifer Jason Lee as a mom and also a phone sex operator.
00:48:29.82
Jarrett Lennon
Yes.
00:48:33.24
Wednesday Lee Friday
And it is driving her husband insane. And he is in fact the serial killer.
00:48:35.91
Jarrett Lennon
Mm-hmm.
00:48:37.40
Wednesday Lee Friday
And that's, is like it's Chris Penn, isn't it?
00:48:40.45
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah, I forgot that that was the relationship. But but yes, that is Chris Penn. Yes.
00:48:44.62
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yeah. And then there's also ah a story where like Lily Tomlin hits a boy with her car and she wants to take him to the hospital.
00:48:45.28
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah.
00:48:50.94
Jarrett Lennon
Yep.
00:48:52.06
Wednesday Lee Friday
And he's like, no, no, I'll just go home. And That is doesn't go well either, because then there's the whole thing with the birthday cake, where the boy is...
00:48:58.02
Jarrett Lennon
Yep. Right, right.
00:49:01.07
Wednesday Lee Friday
is Yeah.
00:49:02.60
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah.
00:49:03.12
Wednesday Lee Friday
See shortcuts.
00:49:03.14
Jarrett Lennon
And then the...
00:49:03.95
Wednesday Lee Friday
if If y'all have not seen Altman's shortcuts, oh my god, it's insane. Even with those spoilers, it's still...
00:49:07.44
Jarrett Lennon
yeah it's It's an incredible film that ah it to this day, directors use as as one of their influences in filmmaking um because it it absolutely...
00:49:18.95
Jarrett Lennon
it It changed expectations in countless ways. And it was an incredible it was an incredible filmmaking process because Robert Altman was a director unlike any other director.
00:49:30.65
Jarrett Lennon
And this is another example of when i I talk about how I spent my whole career thinking I couldn't do improv, ah which is absurd because i was in this Robert Altman film and I was not allowed to read the script for the film.
00:49:46.77
Wednesday Lee Friday
I would think not. My goodness, that is not a family film.
00:49:48.25
Jarrett Lennon
Right. Well, ah not by my mother, by him. And the reason wasn't that he had concerns about the content, but it was because he did not want the script to affect my performance.
00:50:00.75
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay.
00:50:00.92
Jarrett Lennon
He wanted me to show up in a scene and be me and be a real child of, I think I was, I would have been 10 or 11 when that was, yeah, I would have been 10 because it came out in 92, I believe, or maybe 93. Anyway, 10 or 11 years old.
00:50:18.30
Jarrett Lennon
He wanted me to be a real, believable 10 or 11 year old kid who would react to things that were happening around me and said to me with sure an understanding of where the scenes expected to end up and and and so on. But other than that, ah no planned dialogue.
00:50:36.64
Jarrett Lennon
um which isn't massively different from what he had going on for all the other actors because he only hired people he could trust to improvise and ad lib and be natural.
00:50:48.63
Jarrett Lennon
And then as a director, his absolute favorite thing was to intentionally fuck with his actors and make them uncomfortable, not in an awful way, not in a dickish way. And I want to make that that clear, but to put them in a position
00:51:01.19
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh, no, that's that's an old school theater concept.
00:51:03.40
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:51:04.07
Wednesday Lee Friday
That's Stanislavski, man.
00:51:04.48
Jarrett Lennon
But ah yeah there's certainly... We've also all worked with directors who do that and are like, God, I hate that guy, but it gets great work out of me. Everyone loved Robert Altman, and he got great work out of them. But he would purposefully create situations where at the last moment, the actors no longer know what what's going on and what's expected of them.
00:51:22.64
Jarrett Lennon
I went to his memorial service years ago, and everybody had a story like that. I mean, I think it was ah was matt Malcolm McDowell talked about... um He did a ah play, um a movie of his about the about the ballet. And he is, he's there there their coach.
00:51:40.71
Jarrett Lennon
And like the first day on stage, they're on like one of the famous music halls. And, you know, they get him set up on stage and he doesn't know what scene he's filming. No one's told him what scene he's filming. All he has is all these ballet dancers around him and and they're they're setting lighting and everything.
00:51:56.63
Jarrett Lennon
And Robert walks up to him and says, when I call action, I want you to inspire them. and then just walks off and calls action.
00:52:05.11
Wednesday Lee Friday
wow
00:52:07.90
Jarrett Lennon
He hired people who he could trust to do that. And even if that went poorly, well, then I guess it's a character who handled it poorly. but he would react in real time to whatever was happening and craft a story out of it. And so that script for shortcuts was a loose framework. I mean, he and and Frank Barheit put a ton of work into it and it was lovely, but it's not the film that he actually made. He just used it as a starting point to then make whatever he found in the moment and then edit it together into and into the the beauty he ended up with.
00:52:40.34
Jarrett Lennon
But yeah, it was was based off of, I believe, seven short stories that he then fleshed out and made it so that all of the stories interconnected with one another. So like you talk about the kid getting hit by the car.
00:52:51.46
Jarrett Lennon
Well, the kid is the kid of another family that's in that that that movie. And then that family might, you know, but their their grandmother is one of the other characters and their grandmother's ex is one of the other characters.
00:52:56.00
Wednesday Lee Friday
Right.
00:53:02.02
Jarrett Lennon
And so everybody's interconnected in ways, but it's still seven separate stories, but all being spread out through this entire three hour and nine minute film.
00:53:10.83
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yeah, because, I mean, you think of it as being like an anthology, but it just isn't because everything is so interconnected.
00:53:15.99
Jarrett Lennon
Right. Yeah. And it's very Los Angeles.
00:53:18.24
Wednesday Lee Friday
And, yeah. Yeah.
00:53:19.50
Jarrett Lennon
It's it's constantly, constantly they if people frequently consider Los Angeles to be one of the characters in the film, um it's very personal to to the area.
00:53:21.31
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yeah.
00:53:27.84
Wednesday Lee Friday
that that That makes sense. Yeah.
00:53:29.93
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah.
00:53:30.16
Wednesday Lee Friday
i See, now like I gotta watch it again, because it's it's been a while.
00:53:33.32
Jarrett Lennon
Me too. It's been a very long time for me too.
00:53:34.23
Wednesday Lee Friday
Because it's one of those movies like Happiness, where you see it and it impacts you so much that you don't need to see it for, a you know, 15 more years.
00:53:35.37
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah.
00:53:40.72
Jarrett Lennon
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:53:44.12
Jarrett Lennon
This is true.
00:53:45.24
Wednesday Lee Friday
Like, no, no, I'm i'm good. I'm good with that.
00:53:47.08
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah, yeah. I'm but umm burned out for a minute.
00:53:50.67
Wednesday Lee Friday
um So do you think that you could nutshell the thing in your career that you're most proud of so far?
00:54:00.32
Jarrett Lennon
Oh my gosh. um
00:54:01.94
Wednesday Lee Friday
I know that's that's a huge question to just drop on you because that that was not on your list.
00:54:06.85
Jarrett Lennon
Yes, no, that is that is a great question. And that's that's hard for a few reasons. And I think... I'm almost going to give a little bit of a cop-out answer in that.
00:54:18.01
Jarrett Lennon
And it's it's a little bit of a, I don't know, um maybe a little bit of hopefulness. um I kind of like to hope that it hasn't happened yet.
00:54:29.05
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay.
00:54:29.11
Jarrett Lennon
um and And again, i that seems like such a cop out. But part of that is because I'm i'm incredibly enamored with now, especially because i I didn't grow up with this because I was in it. And so it was hard to see it from the inside out.
00:54:43.96
Jarrett Lennon
But now I'm incredibly enamored with the filmmaking process to the point where I've reached a point where when I watch a film, I i get weepy during films, not because something sad happened in the film or not because, you know, happy tears or whatever. I mean, all of those happened too.
00:55:04.58
Jarrett Lennon
But I now get weepy watching oh film that was well made. And i'm I'm so incredibly aware of the work that went into it and the how hard it is to ever get it complete.
00:55:19.76
Jarrett Lennon
And you know you know you're coming from a writing standpoint. Writers are my superheroes. I'm i'm so in love with with writers.
00:55:25.03
Wednesday Lee Friday
Mm-hmm.
00:55:27.30
Jarrett Lennon
And I always, people people would refer to me as a creator, as an actor. And it's like, I was confused by that. I was like, no, the writer created it. I'm just, I'm i'm i'm ah an action figure.
00:55:38.64
Jarrett Lennon
um I there's more to it now as I've evolved as an actor and I watch other actors and I realize how much of a a proper amalgam it is. But that starting point of the writer, i I'm so in love with that. I now fully grasp what what incredible work directors do or don't do. I can stop, see a movie that doesn't work and I can recognize where where it was the the director that was probably responsible for some of the decisions that didn't work.
00:56:07.26
Jarrett Lennon
which is why I'm so happy when it does work. I love good editing. I now track editing like I never could before. And I'm so impressed by well done editing and how it changes.
00:56:18.15
Jarrett Lennon
It can change everything um and score and, and, and, and casting. Casting is an incredible skill that gets overlooked because people just look at the cast and they don't realize what went into putting them together.
00:56:26.31
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yep, yep. ye
00:56:28.99
Jarrett Lennon
And you can, you can take, know, You can take a quote-unquote bad script, and I don't even want to say that, but like ah a script that's nothing special. You read it and go, okay, this this has the base components necessary.
00:56:40.25
Jarrett Lennon
But you cast the right people in those roles, and all of the chemistry and performance comes out, and the dialogue suddenly sings that that on the on the page just sat there.
00:56:52.56
Jarrett Lennon
And you get the right director to put the right moments and the right tone and the right feel with the right cinematography, and then you edit the pacing so it's just... sharp and and clean. And suddenly you have something incredible. And so that to me is where I am right now, where it's the first time I'm at a point in my life where I'm watching all of this and tracking it all.
00:57:12.77
Jarrett Lennon
And I'm starting to get back in. I have, i have a theatrical agent again for the first time in 20 years. I've got a voiceover agent now too. I'm going on on auditions and I'm also now, you know,
00:57:25.56
Jarrett Lennon
but creating my own podcast and other things that I do. And I'm on a creator side too. And I'm seeing the bigger picture. And I'm really excited about potentially at some point being involved in something where I can see from the ground up where it's heading. And I can feel like I am a part of creating a result that I'm incredibly proud of.
00:57:44.52
Jarrett Lennon
And so as much as I've been parts of amazing things like shortcuts, like Freaks and Geeks, one of one of the greatest ah failed shows of all time. um All these things i am incredibly proud of, but I also think they were someone else's creation.
00:58:00.79
Jarrett Lennon
And I'm hoping at some point I'm going to be a part of something where I feel like I was a bigger part of its a result.
00:58:08.72
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay. That is huge.
00:58:11.66
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah, I'm putting a lot on myself there.
00:58:14.64
Wednesday Lee Friday
You really are. Well, you also hit on something that I think is is worth discussing, and that is that when you... yeah ah Watch, you know, movies and TV when you intake that media, you don't really get to experience it on a visceral level anymore because you're noticing things like, like I just watched The Long Walk, which is a movie that I'd been very much looking forward to.
00:58:34.45
Jarrett Lennon
Uh-huh.
00:58:37.68
Wednesday Lee Friday
I was told it was the greatest Stephen King adaptation of all time.
00:58:41.43
Jarrett Lennon
Uh-huh.
00:58:41.58
Wednesday Lee Friday
and But while I'm watching it, I am also thinking about the casting decisions. And, oh, look, they got this during Magic Hour.
00:58:46.72
Jarrett Lennon
Sure.
00:58:49.45
Wednesday Lee Friday
And the way the shots are set up. And why in the hell they would choose Mark Hamill for that role. and just you know
00:58:55.77
Jarrett Lennon
Right, yeah.
00:58:57.17
Wednesday Lee Friday
but But I get taken out of the movie so much because I'm thinking of those aspects of it. And that is why, personally, I... personally i never learned to play an instrument with any proficiency.
00:59:10.28
Wednesday Lee Friday
I don't read music very well.
00:59:10.74
Jarrett Lennon
ah
00:59:12.36
Wednesday Lee Friday
I just know the basics because I wanted there to be one of the humanities that I can still experience viscerally without ripping it all apart in my head and looking at all the different facets of it.
00:59:21.32
Jarrett Lennon
wow
00:59:25.30
Wednesday Lee Friday
Do you have one of those? Is it is it writing?
00:59:29.00
Jarrett Lennon
That's interesting. um Oh, gosh. I don't know. i think... And I love the idea of avoiding something because you don't want the mystery lost, um you know the like you know the the how the sausage is made thought process.
00:59:44.40
Wednesday Lee Friday
Mm-hmm.
00:59:45.10
Jarrett Lennon
um
00:59:45.18
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yep.
00:59:45.76
Jarrett Lennon
I don't think I have that because I think I'm still like jealous of all of that, generally speaking, when I see those skills. Envious is a nicer word. ah But ah because again, i'm i just I'm enthralled by people who have these skills.
00:59:54.18
Wednesday Lee Friday
Sure.
00:59:58.94
Jarrett Lennon
um Music is definitely one of those that I love and I don't have, although i'm I've just started recently learning the guitar thanks to a ah dear friend of mine. I will name a name because he's he he's my co-executive producer the podcast and a good friend, Josh Spence. He bought me a guitar.
01:00:14.77
Jarrett Lennon
Actually, he bought me two guitars. he good He gives people guitars.
01:00:17.53
Wednesday Lee Friday
Nice.
01:00:18.78
Jarrett Lennon
he's what he just He loves guitars so much, and it's just it's a running joke of ours of giving out guitars. But I'm learning that for the first time in my life because it was one of those those' things behind the veil. um i I do kind of like knowing how the sausage is made, um so I don't think that's in my way. But...
01:00:37.12
Jarrett Lennon
but Yeah, I think I veered a little bit off of your your your question there. um No, i I don't think there's anything. i i i think it more comes down to knowing where my limits are and knowing what there's no reason for me to pursue and could just um happily let someone else handle.
01:00:58.10
Jarrett Lennon
um And that's mostly write writing. I've definitely, I've delved into a little bit of creative writing on the side and, you know, I've got a buried pseudonym out there somewhere that I've had some fun with. um But it's definitely not one of my, ah it's not something that I i am incredibly skilled at or driven enough to to fix the gap on, at least right now.
01:01:19.11
Jarrett Lennon
um But I've got a screenplay or two that I've been kicking around and I'm working on finding the right people to work on it with.
01:01:20.11
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay.
01:01:25.20
Jarrett Lennon
So maybe, maybe one day.
01:01:28.06
Wednesday Lee Friday
Right on. um Now, when we talked earlier, you indicated a willingness to discuss a time when you felt in legitimate fear for your life.
01:01:38.74
Wednesday Lee Friday
And there's a reason that we ask this question, and we never drop this on people. We always get permission for this because you might not want to think about that on a nice sunny day.
01:01:48.65
Jarrett Lennon
Sure.
01:01:49.34
Wednesday Lee Friday
Or a pleasant fall evening like tonight. um But you indicated that you do have something you want to say about this, so we would like to hear it.
01:01:58.71
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah, yeah. it's you know i i I think I'm privileged enough to have not had one of the like the the truly unambiguous examples of this that that and so many people have gone through and can really speak to.
01:02:12.50
Jarrett Lennon
um I can say much more recently, I'm i'm in i'm in my 40s now, and I'm definitely becoming vastly more aware of every single thing that's going wrong in my my aging body.
01:02:26.17
Jarrett Lennon
um and And, you know, I've got history with my my my father definitely died from complications from a heart attack. My grandmother on my mother's side also had like multiple heart attacks and bypasses and so on.
01:02:39.34
Jarrett Lennon
um And i recently on a couple of different occasions have had scenarios and one was more dramatic than than most where I was getting like serious, serious chest pains, like really sharp electrical pains. And they were coming and going constantly. you know,
01:02:56.41
Jarrett Lennon
it was it was It was some of the most scared I've been in a while. And I mostly kept that to you know myself emotionally because I have to process that way.
01:03:07.78
Jarrett Lennon
or at least that's how I process. Maybe it's not how I have to. um But i eventually went through like multiple CT scans and whatnot, and everything everything eventually checked out fine. like Nobody has an answer for anything of being wrong.
01:03:24.18
Jarrett Lennon
But yeah those those moments for me... were absolutely where I was convinced that something was about to legitimately happen and this could be it.
01:03:36.88
Jarrett Lennon
This could absolutely be it. And I i know people I've, you know, I used to have a ah friend who like his his wife just found him um dead on the kitchen floor one morning, um you um a cardiac incident of of some sort.
01:03:48.12
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh no.
01:03:50.44
Jarrett Lennon
And it's like all of those things are in the back of my head, especially since there's some of it in my family. um So it's nothing incredibly precise. It's not one of those, you know, the moment where you see the car coming at you or any of those things that are clear.
01:04:04.46
Jarrett Lennon
But it was just that that moment where I felt intensely mortal and like I could see the equivalent of the car coming at me. And yeah, it... scared the hell out of me.
01:04:15.54
Jarrett Lennon
You know, and I've got, I've got kids, I've got a wife, they all, for some reason, still like me. You know, and I, I'm a pretty damn fond of them. And it it just, it was a scary moment of like, oh, this, this could be it.
01:04:29.43
Jarrett Lennon
And I'm not ready.
01:04:30.05
Wednesday Lee Friday
So what what happens as a result of that? are you Do you get your affairs in order? Do you think about paperwork? Because I'll tell you, I had heart surgery earlier this year, which is something that doctors considered very minor, the kind the kind of surgery it was.
01:04:40.62
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah. Oof. Yeah.
01:04:45.57
Jarrett Lennon
Uh-huh.
01:04:45.60
Wednesday Lee Friday
But when you tell me that some random man is going to be stabbing around in my heart, like I don't let main men play with my heart like that anymore.
01:04:46.24
Jarrett Lennon
Not to you.
01:04:52.94
Jarrett Lennon
Right.
01:04:53.52
Wednesday Lee Friday
I'm too old for it.
01:04:53.54
Jarrett Lennon
Exactly. Okay.
01:04:54.59
Wednesday Lee Friday
So... So, um but i i was, and you could probably argue that this was melodramatic, but I called all my best friends. I made sure that everyone that I wanted to know, like, that I had something to say to them about our, you know, i made all the like, just so you know, I've always loved you for this, this and that.
01:05:09.30
Jarrett Lennon
of
01:05:15.02
Wednesday Lee Friday
ah You know, I had people come out and visit me whenever possible.
01:05:15.84
Jarrett Lennon
Mm-hmm.
01:05:17.98
Wednesday Lee Friday
i got, you know, I wanted to make sure to check in with my favorite people and, you know, get the will together and the creative will. So somebody gets control over all my IP just in case that turns out to be important.
01:05:31.19
Wednesday Lee Friday
um So, yeah, I sort of combated those feelings with like planning and preparedness. Like, what did you do?
01:05:38.77
Jarrett Lennon
um Oh, that's a great question. um Definitely some wallowing. um Definitely did some of that. um But outside of that, I mean, i I definitely started thinking about what are the impacts? How are things going to work for people?
01:05:52.64
Jarrett Lennon
um Trying to make sure that i I could work through the ways that the people in my life would be safe. I'm pretty sure I... ah checked dependencies on life insurance and things like that.
01:06:04.90
Jarrett Lennon
um But yeah, I don't think I did. i don't think I did much more than that other than um just try to work through my life and cope in that time period.
01:06:17.57
Jarrett Lennon
And i you know maybe there'd be more if there was something more clear and precise. But um while I wouldn't say I was i went into like a ah panic mode or anything, i definitely do think i was I was numbed by the situation more than I was driven into action, which isn't isn't the best of her.
01:06:36.78
Jarrett Lennon
the best response, both to your question and to the situation. ah But yeah, I think but i'm go to be that' that's my honest reality. I'd i'd love to give you ah and example of the 10-point plan I put together for everybody and all the of all the problems I solved in that time period. But no, it wasn't there.
01:06:53.88
Jarrett Lennon
um It was mostly just a lot of um fear and and and and doubt. And I imagine um it certainly was the the backward gazing at the the the all of the usual mistakes that keep you up at 1 AM in the morning.
01:07:10.56
Jarrett Lennon
But yeah, and it's in more stark reality.
01:07:11.43
Wednesday Lee Friday
Sure, sure.
01:07:15.18
Wednesday Lee Friday
Well, you know, the purpose of the question isn't so much to provide actionable advice for people, but but really just...
01:07:21.34
Jarrett Lennon
I hope not. Not for me.
01:07:23.14
Wednesday Lee Friday
ah But it is about sharing perspectives because one of the things that I think we do much better as a society now, even though we still have a ways to go, is that honesty about our experiences and what we go through.
01:07:26.72
Jarrett Lennon
hu
01:07:36.54
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah.
01:07:39.07
Wednesday Lee Friday
You know, when women started talking to each other and saying like, hey, your husband beats you too. Yeah, he does.
01:07:44.68
Jarrett Lennon
Mm-hmm.
01:07:45.03
Wednesday Lee Friday
I don't really like that. You know, and and just that little bit of of thing that snowballs.
01:07:47.52
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah.
01:07:52.42
Jarrett Lennon
Right.
01:07:52.47
Wednesday Lee Friday
So when we all talk about our situations, our fears, our... our ah You know, our our shortcomings, the way that we express regret and what we do about it. Like, all those things are so important because this show is small.
01:08:08.05
Wednesday Lee Friday
I don't have a huge listening audience.
01:08:08.37
Jarrett Lennon
and know
01:08:11.07
Wednesday Lee Friday
I hear from somebody at least weekly about something that was said that helped them understand something about themselves or helped them feel less bad about something.
01:08:18.90
Jarrett Lennon
That's great.
01:08:20.16
Wednesday Lee Friday
Or, i mean, but but that's the point. That's why we get people in here to talk about these things. not just because we want to explore, you know, the, the creativity neurodivergence connection, but the whole idea of like, you have this thing going on, you might not even have known about it until you were a full ass adult.
01:08:41.57
Jarrett Lennon
Mm-hmm.
01:08:41.60
Wednesday Lee Friday
And now you got to figure out what to do with that.
01:08:41.81
Jarrett Lennon
Mm-hmm.
01:08:44.14
Wednesday Lee Friday
That's the kind of thing that could make a person feel completely alone and misunderstood.
01:08:49.76
Jarrett Lennon
yeah
01:08:50.09
Wednesday Lee Friday
And yet there are all these people of disparate experiences, that have had these things happen or they know someone who has, or they, you know, that sharing and of information is so helpful, especially now that, I mean, we're living in a country that's being taken over by fascists.
01:09:08.93
Wednesday Lee Friday
And one of their main points is to shut everybody up.
01:09:13.16
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:09:13.20
Wednesday Lee Friday
So I'm not particularly athletic. I'm not rich, but one power that I do have is the power to not shut up.
01:09:22.09
Jarrett Lennon
Yes, yes. Yeah, isolation is is one of the the best tools the the enemy has. so who Whoever the enemy may be at any one moment, but it's absolutely, the more isolated people feel, the less less ah powerful they are.
01:09:29.22
Wednesday Lee Friday
Mm-hmm.
01:09:36.41
Jarrett Lennon
um And also, i think feeling alone in whatever your your feelings are, whatever your pain is, whatever your emotions are, whatever... uh and it doesn't even have to be anything that major i mean i'll i'll give the example because i talked about this with the uh learning guitar ah you know i'm taking i'm using various online methods and um one i i went through a few different things i went through an app that uh just wasn't quite getting me there it wasn't getting me um what i needed i went through a couple different ones and i landed on
01:10:08.95
Jarrett Lennon
on one guy online. um you know And i'll I'll say the name because I feel like, ah again, this is like this is something that's that's wonderful for me and it's a public figure too. ah Justin Guitar. um that's that That's what he goes by.
01:10:18.96
Wednesday Lee Friday
Mm-hmm.
01:10:20.42
Jarrett Lennon
um So if anyone's learning guitar, I'll talk through why this worked so well for me. The early stuff is like, okay, i had an app that could listen to me playing and recognize whether I played the right notes and show me a board and had some videos that would explain the chords and so on. But like,
01:10:35.14
Jarrett Lennon
I was having various problems with it. you know The finger pain was really rough rough, and I had to ask people about that and get reassured, and the position of my hand and and how much trouble I was having changing cords.
01:10:40.20
Wednesday Lee Friday
h
01:10:46.85
Jarrett Lennon
All these things were really difficult. And my my mental snap, especially with ADHD and just the massive number of hobbies that we start and then put down, is, I'm not good at this, therefore I shouldn't do this.
01:11:03.22
Jarrett Lennon
Um, it's just ah partially because if I'm not good at it, I'm not enjoying it.
01:11:03.64
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yeah. yeah
01:11:07.75
Jarrett Lennon
It's not fun to suck at something. um most of the time. Um, but on top of that, it's a case of maybe I'm wasting my time because I'm clearly bad at this. Um, maybe I wouldn't, we'll never be good at this.
01:11:19.89
Jarrett Lennon
And it wasn't until i landed on his, uh, course where he was laying out right away, instantly, all of the problems that I was going to have at that stage in the course. Um,
01:11:30.94
Jarrett Lennon
And he talked about the finger pain and he talked about how long that would last. And he talked about ah how how the hardest thing at that moment was going to be getting the chord changes. Right. And like he was ahead of me on all of the problems I was having and telling me right off the bat, your problems are valid and real and normal.
01:11:49.41
Jarrett Lennon
And everybody has this problem at this point. And it immediately, it gave me permission to be bad at that moment. It made me permission, it gave me permission to know this thing that I'm not doing well about, that's normal for the stage I'm at.
01:12:04.37
Jarrett Lennon
ah That honesty and that openness and that sharing of the experience is vital to me to feel like I'm where I need to be. And so I'm i'm with you 100% on that idea of the more we share of the difficulties we're facing and the more people know, oh, you're having that too, the less they feel alien and alone and wrong and abnormal for it.
01:12:29.66
Jarrett Lennon
And the more the easier it is to get past it because it's like, okay, this is just a part of life. It's not just me.
01:12:37.81
Wednesday Lee Friday
Right, and it lays this foundation because once you have that, then that's when you start sharing the information and coming up with like actionable solutions to problems that you're all facing together.
01:12:40.33
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah.
01:12:44.63
Jarrett Lennon
Mm-hmm.
01:12:50.06
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah, yeah, yep.
01:12:52.88
Wednesday Lee Friday
Right on. Well, yeah, i think I think we are in agreement here. um Well, it's funny because we actually met on threads because you were talking about, ah you were expressing ah frustration
01:12:57.29
Jarrett Lennon
Good.
01:13:06.97
Wednesday Lee Friday
that you do customer service in IT and people don't know their damn passwords.
01:13:09.65
Jarrett Lennon
Mm-hmm.
01:13:11.67
Wednesday Lee Friday
And when I saw that, i was like, well, yeah, I mean, it's like phone numbers. We used to know phone numbers and now we don't have to. I couldn't tell you my husband's phone number if my life depended on it. I i just don't know.
01:13:21.43
Jarrett Lennon
Right.
01:13:23.15
Wednesday Lee Friday
So.
01:13:23.40
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah, the only reason I have my wife's phone number memorized is it's because the one we use for all of the grocery store rewards programs.
01:13:28.89
Wednesday Lee Friday
yeah Right, right. So you have to know it. Yeah.
01:13:32.84
Jarrett Lennon
Mm-hmm.
01:13:33.98
Wednesday Lee Friday
so So why is it a problem to not know your passwords?
01:13:37.97
Jarrett Lennon
I mean, in there is there's...
01:13:40.24
Wednesday Lee Friday
My computer saves them.
01:13:40.58
Jarrett Lennon
just
01:13:41.48
Wednesday Lee Friday
They're they're just saved. If they can see my face, they tell me my password.
01:13:42.81
Jarrett Lennon
And that's, and I actually, where I started from on this is that's fine. If not only is that fine, it's good. Having a password manager, as opposed to memorizing all of your passwords, gives you the opportunity to have actually secure passwords, because most of the time, if you can remember it, it's probably not that secure.
01:14:02.57
Jarrett Lennon
ah There's a big asterisk on that because there's ways to make memorable passwords that are secure.
01:14:02.97
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yep.
01:14:07.58
Jarrett Lennon
But for the most part, you're supposed to have a different password for every single website. And that's impossible if you don't make them easy and unless you have a password manager. So completely 100% support having a password manager in cybersecurity. We all agree that is the right thing to do.
01:14:24.95
Jarrett Lennon
But you do have to know some password. ah For instance, you definitely have to know the password to the password manager. um Otherwise, you're really screwed.
01:14:34.05
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yep.
01:14:36.27
Jarrett Lennon
And then the other one, and and even then I say this, you don't necessarily have to have this memorized, but you do have to have it somewhere. is you have to have the password to your whatever your main account is. And in in most of these cases, the main account is whatever account drives the device that you use everything for. So if you're on Windows and you're logged in with a Microsoft account, then it's the password to the Microsoft account that your Windows is running off of. If you're on any Apple device whatsoever, it's your Apple ID. and everything, especially Apple, is is very known for everything being tied together and cohesive.
01:15:13.45
Jarrett Lennon
Well, that that ah what used to be called an iTunes account, the Apple ID, that account ties all of your stuff together.
01:15:17.23
Wednesday Lee Friday
Mm-hmm.
01:15:19.48
Jarrett Lennon
And all of your apps are purchased through it. And you're syncing to iCloud and everything like that is on it. I'm personally and mixture of a Windows user and an Android user. So Google is my main account. And my my Google account is used for everything. and i have it It's how I you know sign into a ton of sites as I hit that sign in with Google button, everything on my email flows through it and my Android phone is connected to it and all of that.
01:15:43.27
Jarrett Lennon
And if I change devices, if I have to do something major that relates to my accounts, if I have to set up a new one, so on and so forth, I'm going to need that password at some point.
01:15:55.15
Jarrett Lennon
um what what stuns me is how many people don't have, and I use the shorthand of don't know that password, but what I mean by that is don't have any idea where that password would be.
01:16:07.79
Jarrett Lennon
It's not merely that they don't have it memorized, but it's like, I don't even know what that password is. I set up that device yeah two years ago. I don't know what that password is. and And my reaction that is, well, did do you have it saved somewhere?
01:16:20.18
Jarrett Lennon
Like a password manager or even gulp a post-it note?
01:16:24.63
Wednesday Lee Friday
Right.
01:16:24.69
Jarrett Lennon
And it's stunning to me how many people are just deer in the headlights at that moment. And they do not know. They don't have any way of knowing what the password is. And theyll they'll go through the password reset process on it. And I see people who have to go through their password reset process like every month or so for a major, major account like this. and That to me is just it mentally stunning because for me, it's like that password is the the most important one.
01:16:54.15
Jarrett Lennon
And whether again, whether I have it memorized or I have it saved somewhere safe, I have to be able to get to that password.
01:17:01.02
Wednesday Lee Friday
Well, and honestly, when I have to know a password and I'm trying to remember what it is, what would help me is to know what the requirements are for the password.
01:17:12.86
Wednesday Lee Friday
Like, did you make me put a number in this? Did I have to put a special character? Did I have to put more than one?
01:17:16.81
Jarrett Lennon
Uh huh.
01:17:18.91
Wednesday Lee Friday
Because all of that will help.
01:17:20.49
Jarrett Lennon
Sure.
01:17:20.60
Wednesday Lee Friday
Because, I mean, yeah, I'm not going to forget my mother's middle name or maiden name, but I still, you know, because, uh,
01:17:24.92
Jarrett Lennon
Right.
01:17:27.33
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah, yeah.
01:17:29.10
Wednesday Lee Friday
Because I'm bad with it. But at the same time, I could tell you the phone number that my family had when I was a kid.
01:17:34.29
Jarrett Lennon
Sure, same.
01:17:34.67
Wednesday Lee Friday
You know? Like, my my third grade phone number.
01:17:35.36
Jarrett Lennon
Yep, yep. Those things are stuck there forever.
01:17:37.63
Wednesday Lee Friday
so So, it... So, it is a weird thing. It's weird because internet security is weird.
01:17:45.90
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah.
01:17:46.05
Wednesday Lee Friday
Like, if you apply for a job, you are giving people information that can let them steal your identity. My PayPal got hacked while I was looking for a job.
01:17:52.40
Jarrett Lennon
Oh, yeah.
01:17:55.05
Jarrett Lennon
ah
01:17:55.35
Wednesday Lee Friday
Because... You know, and it was very annoying because I had to give them, like, I didn't give them my password, but I had to give them, you know, my social and my, you know, various informations that you give an employer, except that I'm disabled and I do work from home jobs.
01:18:04.77
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah.
01:18:09.01
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah.
01:18:12.01
Wednesday Lee Friday
And so, you know, I'm giving this information to like a company in Switzerland that may or may not, you know, like, Maybe these people are on the level.
01:18:22.87
Wednesday Lee Friday
Maybe they're just a Bratva gang. I have no idea. There's no way to know.
01:18:26.89
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah, it it is
01:18:28.35
Wednesday Lee Friday
But if you need to work, then you gotta take those chances.
01:18:29.84
Jarrett Lennon
It's insane. It's insane to me how much of our lives, you this is a very American centric, but how much of our lives are tied to a single unchanging nine digit code that were assigned at birth.
01:18:42.06
Jarrett Lennon
And you can do so.
01:18:42.64
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yep.
01:18:43.46
Jarrett Lennon
And it's like there's no security. It's literally just it's nine numbers. And we give them out out of necessity.
01:18:47.80
Wednesday Lee Friday
Mm-hmm.
01:18:50.28
Jarrett Lennon
But also we're supposed to protect them. And if someone has them and they get out there, then, you know, you're just screwed. It's like this. This is an incredibly archaic system that we're still using.
01:19:02.41
Wednesday Lee Friday
And by the way, it's to it's illegal to laminate your card. So, you know, don't let anything happen to it.
01:19:06.16
Jarrett Lennon
yeah that's right yes uh
01:19:13.18
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay, so you have something called the Super Legit Podcast, and I need to know everything about it.
01:19:18.04
Jarrett Lennon
yes all right so it is it is an improv comedy podcast um bi-weekly we're just coming out of a hiatus this year as we go back into production on it after our our third season um and
01:19:19.83
Wednesday Lee Friday
Go.
01:19:33.13
Jarrett Lennon
it is It's built out of a combination of a desperate desire to have some some talented people that we all worked together with on a stage show back when the world shut down for the pandemic ah together doing something. And we wanted to do a podcast forever, so we put together a way for us to still see each other every week online and perform together.
01:19:54.60
Jarrett Lennon
um and now And now that the world is is but opened up again, that we can physically be and in space together, we also have a stage show version of of what we do.
01:19:55.20
Wednesday Lee Friday
Cool.
01:20:04.00
Jarrett Lennon
But ah the format is is fairly simple. I ask I or whoever we have hosting that week, because recently I gave up the solo hosting duties and now we trade out hosting.
01:20:15.04
Jarrett Lennon
But the host asks one big question at the top of it. um Sometimes it's deeply philosophical. somethings Sometimes it's it's like something fun and frivolous, like, you know, what candy bar would you be or would be something silly.
01:20:26.49
Jarrett Lennon
But usually it's like something designed to get a personal life story out of people.
01:20:28.97
Wednesday Lee Friday
A watchamacallit? What kind of question is that? Wouldn't everyone be a watchamacallit? That's the greatest candy bar ever.
01:20:33.30
Jarrett Lennon
That's a perfect answer. Yes.
01:20:36.73
Wednesday Lee Friday
But you want to do it like pre-1986, before they put in that caramel on the top, when it was just the the peanut butter crunchy.
01:20:36.95
Jarrett Lennon
Oh.
01:20:41.21
Jarrett Lennon
oh
01:20:44.01
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yeah, okay, sorry.
01:20:44.94
Jarrett Lennon
yeah i only note I only know the post ah the post version of it.
01:20:45.12
Wednesday Lee Friday
Sorry.
01:20:48.66
Jarrett Lennon
oh Okay. See, this is like the talla the beef tallow and McDonald's french fries situation all over again. ah But yeah, so we ask a big question that's designed to get you know get personal stories out of people. And then you know whoever's feeling at that moment will well we'll answer that question. We have guests. Maybe it's the guest first. Maybe it's a member of our team.
01:21:08.19
Jarrett Lennon
And then there's you know this conversation and banter and and questions. And like we're all friends. So it's it's It's personal, but these are all very funny people too. So it's it's entertaining. And then the moment any of us is feeling it and and has something that theyve they're there that's tickling the back of their brain, we'll cut into an improvised scene.
01:21:27.39
Jarrett Lennon
And just just right there on the spot, we'll start ah a fully improvised scene that maybe it's it segues off into multiple scenes, a run of scenes and so on. And then when it hits its proper moment, we...
01:21:40.29
Jarrett Lennon
end those, we call legit, and we're out of the scenes, and we're just back to the conversation. And then meanwhile, i'm I'm editing the show to give all of those scenes a fully produced feel. So we're doing ambiance, maybe some some music, some sound effects, and I'll do some Foley work for them sometimes and just make it sound like a fully produced, um you know, radio play almost.
01:22:05.72
Jarrett Lennon
um And and then we just, we put that together. it's It's highly edited to like make it sound like we're all physically in a room together, even if though we're doing it all over the internet. And it's about an hour long each show.
01:22:17.39
Jarrett Lennon
And it's it's it's incredibly fun and talk about therapy. This is absolutely for us. It's our social hour. um It's our our opportunity to get things off of our chests and and open up about ourselves.
01:22:29.53
Jarrett Lennon
And like we've been doing this for several years now. And while we occasionally get repeat stories, it's amazing how many new things we constantly learn about our friends. um it's it's It's incredibly engaging. and know And I'll talk to people in real life who listen to the show. And I just met one this week. it was like it's He's like, i I know you personally and you've never met me.
01:22:49.79
Jarrett Lennon
it's like, yep, there's that parasocial relationship oh we have with podcasters.
01:22:52.74
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yep.
01:22:54.01
Jarrett Lennon
It's crazy.
01:22:54.22
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yep.
01:22:55.59
Jarrett Lennon
um But yeah, it's it's a beautiful show. I think we're about... somewhere around 150 episodes into it. um And it's just, it's fun.
01:23:01.96
Wednesday Lee Friday
Damn.
01:23:03.35
Jarrett Lennon
And we don't have advertisers on it. we Well, now let me correct that. We definitely have an advertisement every week and it's totally a real product and not completely improvised and silly.
01:23:15.37
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay. See, I love that. And I actually think that... when we look at the history of comedy, some of the best comedy that we've ever had was made by ah group of friends who decided to dick around and make some comedy.
01:23:29.63
Jarrett Lennon
ah
01:23:32.27
Wednesday Lee Friday
I mean, you know, Monty Python, the young ones, uh, you know, ah kids in the hall, I think were, were a little more cast.
01:23:32.69
Jarrett Lennon
100%. Yes. Yep. yep Yeah,
01:23:40.83
Wednesday Lee Friday
They weren't necessarily a ragtag group of friends, but like, you know,
01:23:45.10
Jarrett Lennon
yeah, but yeah, you know look at it.
01:23:47.39
Wednesday Lee Friday
Well, even like Judd Apatow and those guys that get together to do Anchorman and 40-Year-Old Virgin and stuff.
01:23:51.56
Jarrett Lennon
Absolutely. Well, and they they all have improv background. I mean, you know, David Koechner from Anchorman's performed with us at our our stage shows. He's on an improv team that that we've we've we've had play with us many times.
01:24:02.20
Wednesday Lee Friday
He's such a dick on The Office.
01:24:03.87
Jarrett Lennon
Yes.
01:24:04.13
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh my god.
01:24:05.08
Jarrett Lennon
and and And I will assure you in the real life, the totally cool person. Very, very not that character. But he's so good at those characters.
01:24:12.50
Wednesday Lee Friday
That's good to know.
01:24:13.65
Jarrett Lennon
He's exceptional at it. So like these people all came from improv backgrounds and and that's It shows in what they do because they can trust one another or in the moment to just fully live in it. And they might have a brilliant script, but then they'll also go, now what else can we say and do and build off of? And some of the most iconic lines you'll ever hear in films were the ad lib ones. so
01:24:36.81
Wednesday Lee Friday
Now, telling me that Koechner is a really good guy makes me wonder. No, I have a theory that a lot of actors, not all, because I'm sure it's not universal, but that they're better at playing people that are the opposite of themselves.
01:24:52.88
Jarrett Lennon
Yes.
01:24:53.50
Wednesday Lee Friday
Like like ah James Gandolfini is was renowned as being just a ah cuddly teddy bear type that was just warm and wonderful to everyone.
01:24:53.77
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah.
01:25:03.04
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah. You will have.
01:25:03.44
Wednesday Lee Friday
And yet you hate him as Tony Soprano so goddamn much.
01:25:05.51
Jarrett Lennon
Yes. Especially when it comes to just utter jerks like the the the the the people you love to hate more often than not.
01:25:07.08
Wednesday Lee Friday
Um,
01:25:15.06
Jarrett Lennon
That's the nicest person in real life. It's just it's it's incredibly fun.
01:25:17.12
Wednesday Lee Friday
Because if they're not like that, they're they're better able to see that and to see how that comes together.
01:25:22.12
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Yep.
01:25:24.82
Wednesday Lee Friday
You know, that's why everybody, that's why like most good comedians do such a good Trump. Because it's so easy.
01:25:29.55
Jarrett Lennon
Yes. Yeah.
01:25:31.35
Wednesday Lee Friday
Actually, you don't even have to be a good person to see how ridiculous Trump is. And to just, to to hone in on like, yeah, see, there's the the rampant insecurity and how that morphs into the bravado.
01:25:35.54
Jarrett Lennon
Right. Right. Right.
01:25:41.43
Jarrett Lennon
Mm-hmm.
01:25:43.29
Wednesday Lee Friday
And, you know, you you see it.
01:25:44.39
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah, it's very easy to find those quirks to to play off of. I mean, impersonation is is ah its own set of skills that I barely have. I you know i did Gilbert Gottfried on my show back in the day and things like that, RIP.
01:25:56.75
Jarrett Lennon
But um for the most part, it's not a skill I've i've got. and I'm impressed with it. But there's also certain people who's like, oh, you can easily... you know i I certainly can parody Trump easily in text because he we all know what he he writes like, and it's it's it's so obvious that
01:26:11.38
Wednesday Lee Friday
Although not as well as Gavin Newsom's team. Oh my goodness.
01:26:14.39
Jarrett Lennon
ah
01:26:15.58
Wednesday Lee Friday
They are nailing it.
01:26:16.10
Jarrett Lennon
Oh, exceptional.
01:26:17.17
Wednesday Lee Friday
I don't even think that highly of Gavin Newsom, but I love, love those posts.
01:26:19.88
Jarrett Lennon
Right, right, right. i will take i will take the win where I can get it.
01:26:26.85
Jarrett Lennon
oh
01:26:27.50
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay. So you're a dad. You have a couple of kids.
01:26:29.88
Jarrett Lennon
I am, yes.
01:26:31.16
Wednesday Lee Friday
um So would you support them if they wanted to act professionally? Would you be into that or would you try to steer them away?
01:26:37.33
Jarrett Lennon
um i mean, i would want, I definitely would want to make sure they have a realistic expectation of the, the, what it's like, the work that's put in make sure they understand all of the ways they can be taken advantage of and, and ah make sure that they have the, the self-worth and, and, and self-esteem that they need and, and understand how easy it is to get chewed up in the industry.
01:27:01.42
Jarrett Lennon
um But sure, i would, I would support them if I, if I, um,
01:27:07.50
Jarrett Lennon
I'm throwing a qualifier on there, but I don't want to throw a qualifier on them. If that's what they want to do, then yes, I will support them. I just would also want to make sure that they have every understanding of ah what it takes to do that and make sure that they're going in informed.
01:27:22.49
Jarrett Lennon
um But I also, you know, I know, especially when it comes to kids to to yeah raising children, it's like they have to experience something for themselves ah to know ah to know for for themselves what the pitfalls are. There's only so much you can tell a person before they have to experience it to believe it.
01:27:44.02
Jarrett Lennon
um So, yeah.
01:27:44.66
Wednesday Lee Friday
That's really interesting because Bill Mooney says pretty much the same things, you know, because he has a daughter and and she acted for a little while.
01:27:50.30
Jarrett Lennon
ah Yeah. Yeah.
01:27:54.05
Wednesday Lee Friday
Turned out she wasn't really into it. And he noticed that, you know, it was time to go to an audition or a rehearsal and she wanted to play baseball or hang out with her friends or whatever.
01:28:01.81
Jarrett Lennon
There you go. Right.
01:28:02.78
Wednesday Lee Friday
So, yeah. And and I love that because, again, child actors... ah a lot of them that you hear about had a real rough time of it. And some of that was them not being protected by people.
01:28:11.88
Jarrett Lennon
hu
01:28:14.87
Wednesday Lee Friday
There's predators out there that people didn't even know they were supposed to be watching for.
01:28:18.74
Jarrett Lennon
Yes.
01:28:19.85
Wednesday Lee Friday
So it's, it's great that that is something that people in the industry recognize and are, are doing better about it for the most part.
01:28:30.30
Jarrett Lennon
I
01:28:30.34
Wednesday Lee Friday
Like you don't, you don't hear as much about, you know, like Brooke Shields mom style moms that are, you know,
01:28:37.33
Jarrett Lennon
i mean, there are there are more protections and regulations in place than there used to be. but you know, that's that's union and laws.
01:28:42.66
Wednesday Lee Friday
Well, not just the Coogan laws, but like more. Cause I, I mean, I, I learned about the Coogan laws because I was an Adams family fan.
01:28:48.31
Jarrett Lennon
Sure.
01:28:50.13
Wednesday Lee Friday
So you learn for, for those reasons, but, uh,
01:28:50.32
Jarrett Lennon
yeah Yes, yes.
01:28:53.91
Jarrett Lennon
But yeah there there's there are more people looking out. I mean, there's definitely, you you still always hear the stories about it, and there's still, unfortunately, there's no end of of women speaking out about the experiences, that the awful experiences they've had that are still recent.
01:29:09.51
Jarrett Lennon
Um, but at least we're being, as we talked about earlier, open about these things. And there's more and more empowerment for people to just outright say what's going on.
01:29:22.12
Jarrett Lennon
Uh, but it's hard because for the most part, you can only do that if you're successful enough that people will listen to you and not just immediately kill your career.
01:29:30.31
Wednesday Lee Friday
Well, even the kids are speaking out.
01:29:30.33
Jarrett Lennon
So yes.
01:29:32.11
Wednesday Lee Friday
Like, I know Finn Wolfhard dropped some, I don't want to bring up any other names, but he did definitely stand up to shenanigans and was, like you you mentioned, famous enough that that didn't hurt him.
01:29:33.96
Jarrett Lennon
Mm hmm. Mm hmm.
01:29:39.76
Jarrett Lennon
Sure. Yep.
01:29:43.48
Jarrett Lennon
Yes. Right. and that's And that's the thing is is, yeah, you have to get there, which sucks. you you You absolutely have the risk of running through all of the awfulness.
01:29:53.87
Jarrett Lennon
And only if you reach the successful stage where your career can survive ah calling people out, do you get that privilege to do so.
01:30:00.97
Wednesday Lee Friday
Which is such a drag, man, because you work so hard for this career and then you get there and it's like, well, guess what?
01:30:03.11
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah.
01:30:07.74
Wednesday Lee Friday
Now you have a responsibility to involve yourself in anything like this once you know about it.
01:30:13.98
Jarrett Lennon
yeah yeah yep yeah no it is it is ah it is constantly for many people a battle of uh uh
01:30:14.16
Wednesday Lee Friday
You know, that's that's rough, man.
01:30:23.21
Jarrett Lennon
or even just self-respect of going, okay, i got i got I got to deal with this until I reach the point where I don't have to. And in fairness, that's unfortunately the case in a ton of workplaces and work environments and and jobs where people have to put up with dangers and and disrespect and yeah all sorts of ways they're exploited. So it's not unique to this industry. It's just it's one that's kind of famous for how bad it can be.
01:30:52.20
Wednesday Lee Friday
Well, and it's it's more extreme.
01:30:54.42
Jarrett Lennon
Yes.
01:30:54.48
Wednesday Lee Friday
You know, like, the money is more extreme, the events and the the coverage and everything, it it's all just amplified.
01:30:55.07
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah.
01:30:57.72
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah.
01:31:01.61
Jarrett Lennon
The risk reward structure is is way bigger. Absolutely.
01:31:04.46
Wednesday Lee Friday
Sure, sure. Well, that's the thing, like, I did all kind of jackass-y things when I was a kid, but there was no internet and most people weren't filming me. So there are no records of that.
01:31:13.16
Jarrett Lennon
Right. Right.
01:31:14.71
Wednesday Lee Friday
But like, I would think being an adult who used to be a child star, particularly if you get recognized, like, I mean, when's the last time Scott Baio was in a good mood?
01:31:21.26
Jarrett Lennon
and huh
01:31:24.78
Wednesday Lee Friday
He's not because everyone calls him Chachi and he fucking hates it. So, I mean, it turns out he's a flaming asshole, so that doesn't matter.
01:31:28.32
Jarrett Lennon
Yes. Yes. Oh, sure.
01:31:32.52
Wednesday Lee Friday
But like, if he was a good person, that would be terrible.
01:31:35.35
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah, no, and we we see that, and it's it's it always sucks when someone gets trapped in the one the one role.
01:31:35.54
Wednesday Lee Friday
That would really be a drag.
01:31:42.32
Jarrett Lennon
ah you you know And some people handle it well. i yeah When I saw mom my kid and I saw um Peter Pan Goes Wrong, and it was ah it was Neil Patrick Harris as the as the narrator, um who is spectacular.
01:31:56.26
Jarrett Lennon
um I love He was great in that.
01:31:57.16
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh, I'll bet.
01:31:58.14
Jarrett Lennon
I love him in general. I guessed it on Doogie Howser when I was a kid, but I didn't get to work with him on it.
01:32:03.88
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh, aww.
01:32:04.66
Jarrett Lennon
um well like he walks out on stage at the very beginning of it and someone in the audience shouts out doogie was like oh god are we still doing this he has had so many countless iconic roles since then and this is still what we're doing it's like you will not let him move on in his life um
01:32:23.68
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yeah, it's like Darius Rucker Syndrome.
01:32:26.19
Jarrett Lennon
Right, right.
01:32:26.66
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay, Hootie!
01:32:27.82
Jarrett Lennon
yeah Yes, exactly. But you know at least he actually has done incredibly well for himself and he can let that roll off his back. um Yeah, so, yeah.
01:32:37.47
Wednesday Lee Friday
But yeah, i can't I can't even imagine what that, like, because, you know, i have little things about my life that make me stick out like a sore thumb, and as a kid, I was just like, yes, I realize my name is stupid, can we please move on?
01:32:45.93
Jarrett Lennon
yeah
01:32:51.43
Jarrett Lennon
ah Right. Right. Yeah, my my my internet handle, which is old since I was you know a teenager and for dumb reasons, is TurboFool.
01:33:01.82
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yep. yep
01:33:02.09
Jarrett Lennon
It's a dumb name and I hold on to it because it's literally the name I have everywhere on the internet. So I can't really move on from it because it's just, it's there. And there will always be somebody in some argument who thinks it's a brilliant trump card of theirs to call out my name and go, yeah, see, you know,
01:33:15.83
Jarrett Lennon
your name is accurate or something like that. it's like, and I, I have no problem blocking those people now, not. And I've said, I've even post about this, not so much because I'm insulted or offended. Like I, I don't care, but it's such lazy humor.
01:33:31.74
Jarrett Lennon
And that offends me.
01:33:31.80
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yeah.
01:33:33.02
Jarrett Lennon
Lazy humor offends me.
01:33:33.79
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yep. Yep. No, no, I'm with you. I'm with you. And ah because because, you know, I get a lot of MAGA boys that I talk to, and the first thing that they want to say when they want to insult me is that I'm not pretty or I'm too fat.
01:33:47.76
Wednesday Lee Friday
Which, like, A, I got over those kinds of insults when I was in seventh grade. But also, I mean... like, dude, you're a rape apologist.
01:33:58.35
Wednesday Lee Friday
I don't want you to find me attractive.
01:33:58.54
Jarrett Lennon
Right. Right.
01:34:00.75
Wednesday Lee Friday
Please do not find me attractive.
01:34:01.26
Jarrett Lennon
Mm-hmm.
01:34:03.07
Wednesday Lee Friday
This is not a thing that, it like, I don't know what you think you're denying me, but it isn't anything I want.
01:34:07.99
Jarrett Lennon
Mm-hmm. I do not exist for your gaze. Yeah. Yep.
01:34:13.54
Wednesday Lee Friday
For sure.
01:34:14.27
Jarrett Lennon
ah
01:34:14.38
Wednesday Lee Friday
so So you mentioned earlier, we we talked about what you're most proud of, and you had said maybe it hasn't happened yet.
01:34:17.37
Jarrett Lennon
Mm-hmm.
01:34:21.58
Wednesday Lee Friday
So...
01:34:21.74
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah, yeah.
01:34:22.84
Wednesday Lee Friday
Let's let's ah talk about that just a little. So what what is your endgame? what What's the top of the mountain for you?
01:34:30.52
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah, I mean, at this point, um so i'm i'm I'm actively auditioning for things again for the first time of after a 20-year break, which is absurd. um like i i And also it's absurd because I cannot fathom that I existed long enough to have had a career that I had and then also have 20 years of not doing that career after it.
01:34:50.19
Wednesday Lee Friday
Right?
01:34:50.72
Jarrett Lennon
ah Yeah, yeah did if that math doesn't math.
01:34:50.92
Wednesday Lee Friday
Right?
01:34:53.78
Jarrett Lennon
um So a part is. part of what happened when I i started getting back in is I had this 10 years of improv experience, which completely, it did completely change my outlook on performing and what, what I was capable of and what I wanted to do and what I was enjoying.
01:35:09.73
Jarrett Lennon
Uh, and one of the coolest things going back in is like, you know, I, I work full time and I have a job that, that thankfully pays my bills and I'm, I'm, I'm safe. Like the, the most exciting thing i feel like I can say about a job is it, it makes me feel safe.
01:35:24.19
Jarrett Lennon
Um, But it's great because the last time I was acting professionally, ah acting was my job and it wasn't safe. Like, it as we discussed, it was not successfully regularly paying my bills and I had to supplement that.
01:35:32.61
Wednesday Lee Friday
Right, sure.
01:35:37.83
Jarrett Lennon
and It was scary. So now doing auditions again, i get to go in and with a completely different attitude, which is ah get a script and I get to do a self tape and I get to do it more for fun.
01:35:51.43
Jarrett Lennon
um I get to build a character that I enjoy playing And I get to go perform once on my own little miniature camera stage. Obviously record it several times and pick the best one, but I get to do that one performance.
01:36:05.52
Jarrett Lennon
And in a way I get to go, this is for me. um Instead of the, like the heavy strategizing that I might use to do on like, what do they want? And what do they want from me? And how do i optimize this for exactly what's going to get me this job? Because God, I need this job.
01:36:22.24
Jarrett Lennon
Now it can be like, what's What's the version of this that leaves me feeling like I entertained myself? And I've got a good friend who who frequently helps me as as my reader. So they'll read the other side of the the script behind the camera for me.
01:36:37.68
Jarrett Lennon
um Very talented person. And then it's super fun because I get to do this with a friend. I get to perform with them in that moment. So it's a group thing. And I get their feedback in the moment. And I get ideas off of them. And I get the reactions.
01:36:51.73
Jarrett Lennon
ah And so that was the biggest thing I wanted when I started doing these again was I wanted to enjoy the process instead of have have it be stressful. And so far, um I'm I'm I'm being successful in that i'm I am having fun.
01:37:01.09
Wednesday Lee Friday
Sure.
01:37:05.22
Jarrett Lennon
I had one recently that I read for was like, I actually did put work into it because I was, I was kind of excited by the opportunity and you I can't say details about it. Um, but like, that was one where he's like, oh, I did research. Like I watched the director's reel and I looked up their other work and I looked up the reference points and other things like that. was like, okay, now I know what they want. And luckily it happened to be something that was exciting to me to try to do.
01:37:29.41
Jarrett Lennon
um So that's that's that's step one for me is I want to have fun this time. um Step two is I want to do something that ah when I see it and when I see other people see it, I can have that same sense of awe from the other side of it where I go, yeah, we created something.
01:37:37.65
Wednesday Lee Friday
Cool.
01:37:52.37
Jarrett Lennon
And it's pretty damn good. um And I don't know what that's going to look like and if I'm going to get there, but I want to get there. And I you know i did say earlier that you I have a little of some screenplay ideas I'm kicking around. So maybe I'll eventually succeed at putting those together and maybe it'll be something I create myself.
01:38:12.41
Jarrett Lennon
I don't even have to necessarily act in it. At this point, creating things is beautiful to me. And sometimes creating things that I see other brilliant people put together and perform.
01:38:23.39
Jarrett Lennon
And I just know that I was a part of that. That's plenty for me. um But one way or the other, i want ah my my goal, regardless of my whether my career stays with IT, t which is, again, sustaining me, or i'm I able to pivot back in, is i want to I want to create something that I can answer your earlier question about and say that's the thing that I'm most proud of.
01:38:49.20
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay, cool. Yeah, that makes so much sense. So much sense. Because, you know, it's it's a weird thing in the creative arts because it can be difficult to parse.
01:39:01.70
Wednesday Lee Friday
Like when you get turned down for things, it's like, did I get turned down for something?
01:39:03.92
Jarrett Lennon
Uh-huh. Yeah.
01:39:05.78
Wednesday Lee Friday
Did I get rejected because I'm not good or because I'm not what was needed at the moment?
01:39:08.62
Jarrett Lennon
Right.
01:39:11.81
Jarrett Lennon
Yes.
01:39:12.50
Wednesday Lee Friday
Like, you know, we run the magazine and there are stories
01:39:12.55
Jarrett Lennon
Yes.
01:39:15.90
Wednesday Lee Friday
that are really freaking good, but they're not right for us.
01:39:18.43
Jarrett Lennon
Mm-hmm.
01:39:19.92
Wednesday Lee Friday
They're not right for our audience, or we have something similar in the issues that we don't want to have something that's like that.
01:39:20.11
Jarrett Lennon
Right.
01:39:26.14
Wednesday Lee Friday
But then you have to tell someone no.
01:39:28.98
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah.
01:39:29.05
Wednesday Lee Friday
And I always want to take the time to say, I'm not telling you this isn't good. I'm telling you this is not like when I say this doesn't meet our needs at the present time.
01:39:34.84
Jarrett Lennon
and Right.
01:39:39.66
Wednesday Lee Friday
I'm not saying that to be, you know, ah businessy asshole. I'm saying it because honestly, even though this is great, it's not what we need right now. And i I want to always impress that on people.
01:39:49.61
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah. I, I,
01:39:52.39
Jarrett Lennon
I think one of the things that always helped me is when I would eventually see the TV show or movie or whatever it is that I'd auditioned for and I'd see who they cast and whoever they cast was completely different from what I did.
01:40:05.49
Jarrett Lennon
that That was definitely the the the moment where I was like, cool.
01:40:05.58
Wednesday Lee Friday
Mm-hmm.
01:40:08.91
Jarrett Lennon
They wanted something else. I gave them what I had.
01:40:10.80
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yep. Yep.
01:40:11.96
Jarrett Lennon
They wanted something completely different, and that's fine. It would only sting if it was someone who was like, that's that that's the same thing I gave them. what What was the difference? And then I could get nitpicky. But I can't tell you how many times I'd see the result and go, oh, wow, there's a wild card that came out of nowhere.
01:40:22.05
Wednesday Lee Friday
Mm-hmm.
01:40:27.32
Jarrett Lennon
I i can't blame them for that choice. Yeah. It's like, you it might have been something i I loved and thought I was perfect for.
01:40:30.70
Wednesday Lee Friday
Mm-hmm.
01:40:34.11
Jarrett Lennon
And there's there are a bunch of times where I knew i was informed that I was their second choice for something. And then I'd see their first choice. I go, yeah, yep. I didn't do that. And that is that is more compelling. I got you.
01:40:46.30
Wednesday Lee Friday
See, that's interesting because acting, and that hadn't occurred to me, is one of those things where if you don't get a job, you still may know who got the job that you wanted.
01:40:53.38
Jarrett Lennon
you Yeah, yeah.
01:40:56.86
Wednesday Lee Friday
You know?
01:40:56.98
Jarrett Lennon
And sometimes it's someone you literally know, too.
01:40:57.61
Wednesday Lee Friday
but i got invited to do a panel because I had written a review. This is when Breaking Bad was going on.
01:41:05.98
Jarrett Lennon
ah
01:41:06.58
Wednesday Lee Friday
And I wrote an article about why I hate Skylar White. Which...
01:41:10.22
Jarrett Lennon
Okay, sure.
01:41:11.14
Wednesday Lee Friday
and And so I got a call from ah a major outlet, you know, but i won't say, but it was a major one. And they said, come be on the panel. And I was like, oh my God, that sounds amazing.
01:41:20.90
Jarrett Lennon
huh
01:41:21.17
Wednesday Lee Friday
I'm so excited to be on this panel.
01:41:21.42
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah.
01:41:23.26
Wednesday Lee Friday
And then like an hour before they were like, well, you know, we we decided not to use you, someone else became available, and I was like, oh, goddammit, wait, who became available, you know, who who did they replace me with?
01:41:32.30
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah.
01:41:35.03
Jarrett Lennon
Right.
01:41:35.43
Wednesday Lee Friday
And i I go listen to the roundtable, and it was Anna Gunn. Anna Gunn had become available, so so they bumped me for the actress who played Skylar White instead of me, who is Jack Spratt, nobody, and that's the thing, is I was like, oh, well, if it was another movie reviewer that I hated, then that wouldn't have been good, but
01:41:41.13
Jarrett Lennon
Oh, wow.
01:41:46.08
Jarrett Lennon
Ah, okay. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
01:41:53.06
Jarrett Lennon
Right. But I can see why the choice was more relevant.
01:41:55.07
Wednesday Lee Friday
being bumped for the actress makes perfect sense.
01:41:57.23
Jarrett Lennon
All right.
01:41:58.00
Wednesday Lee Friday
Exactly.
01:41:58.11
Jarrett Lennon
Yes. Yeah, those are absolutely the times that it happens. I mean, I can't count how many times I read for something and then they cast an incredibly famous person in the role instead. It's like, well, OK, I can definitely see why you did that. Although also, I feel like you knew you wanted to do that anyway. Why did you waste my time?
01:42:14.15
Wednesday Lee Friday
Well, I don't even know who Haley Joel Osment is, so whatever, man.
01:42:18.34
Jarrett Lennon
He and I used to have the same agent. ah
01:42:21.78
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh, wow, really?
01:42:22.67
Jarrett Lennon
Yes. Yep. Yep.
01:42:23.98
Wednesday Lee Friday
That's wild.
01:42:24.32
Jarrett Lennon
Yep. but Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean, there were, there were countless times where it was like, yeah I read for ah Austin, pat one of the Austin Powers movies, and then they cast. ah yeah
01:42:34.23
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh, you could have been Scott Evil? ah dang!
01:42:36.60
Jarrett Lennon
Oh God. oh that would have been amazing.
01:42:37.62
Wednesday Lee Friday
Dang!
01:42:38.08
Jarrett Lennon
Yes. They cast Fred Savage instead. It's like, that's Fred Savage.
01:42:41.13
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh, okay.
01:42:43.52
Jarrett Lennon
Why did I go to this audition?
01:42:44.26
Wednesday Lee Friday
but
01:42:47.46
Wednesday Lee Friday
Like, I wouldn't have bothered coming if I'd known Fred Savage was going to be here, right?
01:42:49.22
Jarrett Lennon
and Right? Why waste my time?
01:42:54.77
Wednesday Lee Friday
So, we're actually getting to the end of our time, and I want to make sure that we covered everything that you wanted to talk about.
01:42:57.45
Jarrett Lennon
All right.
01:43:00.97
Wednesday Lee Friday
Did we miss anything that was important to you that you wanted to say?
01:43:04.13
Jarrett Lennon
ah Not that I remember. No, I think we we we we covered a lot of really nice ground.
01:43:06.87
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay. Well, we covered a lot of great ground, I think.
01:43:09.21
Jarrett Lennon
Yes.
01:43:09.35
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yeah.
01:43:10.46
Jarrett Lennon
Agreed.
01:43:11.60
Wednesday Lee Friday
All right. Cool. I do also like to give guests an opportunity to ask me a question if they have one. So if you do, now is the time.
01:43:18.88
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah, it's a vague one, but it just crossed my mind. You're an incredibly open person. Were you always this way? Or if not, was there was there an inciting incident or whatever that was your moment of going, I'm i'm going to stop hiding things and I'm going to wear everything on my sleeve?
01:43:36.36
Wednesday Lee Friday
um You know, I grew up in an abusive household, both physically and and emotionally.
01:43:39.97
Jarrett Lennon
Mm-hmm.
01:43:42.15
Wednesday Lee Friday
um My mom is untreated, manic depressive, and and probably also autistic, i would I would have to think.
01:43:46.55
Jarrett Lennon
Mm-hmm.
01:43:47.35
Wednesday Lee Friday
But um I was ah performative kid, and I'm sure that it was a cry for help.
01:43:52.99
Jarrett Lennon
yeah
01:43:54.99
Wednesday Lee Friday
I always wanted to be funny. I wanted to prove to people that I was witty and smart, like even from like kindergarten. And I was also the little performance kid that they would You know, I watched an appalling amount of TV so I could recite commercials and stuff.
01:44:09.87
Wednesday Lee Friday
I was that kid. But I think because of the way that I was raised by by like conservative types who had a lot of, like, you know, cross your legs, don't sit Indian style because, you know, slot, you know, all all that kind of crazy stuff that...
01:44:21.49
Jarrett Lennon
Right.
01:44:27.76
Wednesday Lee Friday
and And I guess now because of the autism, i realize that i get super, super angry about things being fake. I can't stand lies, deceit, gaslighting.
01:44:37.74
Jarrett Lennon
oh Oh, yes.
01:44:41.51
Wednesday Lee Friday
So that is where my openness comes from. i would rather talk to the most obnoxious, mean-spirited even. If someone is really sincerely honest, I would rather hear that than coddling bullshit.
01:44:56.45
Jarrett Lennon
ah i i love that you I love that complaint because it it is one I have too. And it's also a place where I feel like it's probably a place that's hurt me in my career is the failure to network properly, which includes all the bullshitting.
01:45:11.48
Jarrett Lennon
um
01:45:11.99
Wednesday Lee Friday
Well, it doesn't occur to me that people are going to lie if they're being kind to me.
01:45:12.08
Jarrett Lennon
But there's... Right. Right.
01:45:17.57
Wednesday Lee Friday
So I forget to consider that.
01:45:19.89
Jarrett Lennon
Oh, see, that's that's interesting. And i I think I think I'm a mixture there. But like I am. And maybe it's because I grew up in an industry full of people who, you know, I think i think it's overblown when everyone complains that cal Los Angeles is fake and the movie industry is fake.
01:45:34.27
Jarrett Lennon
A lot of these people are incredibly genuine, but there is also a ton of fakery in it. And so I think it's one reason like I distrust compliments and I distrust all of these ways that people blow smoke up each other's butts.
01:45:42.94
Wednesday Lee Friday
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
01:45:46.72
Jarrett Lennon
um and And it also, therefore, is what makes me really reticent to talk to people that I ah respect or admire or compliment them or whatever because I'm terrified as of coming across as fake.
01:46:01.65
Jarrett Lennon
I'm terrified that they're going to think that I hang out with them or I'm talking to them because of who they are or what their influences are or whatever.
01:46:09.10
Wednesday Lee Friday
hu
01:46:09.83
Jarrett Lennon
And so I just don't. Instead, I don't talk to them or I don't hang out with them or whatever it is. and it's And I recognize what a problem that is because other people talk to them and hang out with them and they don't have a problem with that. And some of those people compliment them and all of those people know that that person is whomever.
01:46:28.19
Jarrett Lennon
It's like i I overthink it, but it is it it it does bother me so much when people um are using one another that I avoid it to the point of probably holding myself back.
01:46:43.19
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yeah, that that makes a lot of sense. That's that's highly relatable.
01:46:46.52
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah.
01:46:47.82
Wednesday Lee Friday
Well, my dude, it is time for the Mad Lib. Are you ready for this?
01:46:50.84
Jarrett Lennon
Ooh, I hope so. see if I remember all of my my my word methods and types. Here's the test.
01:46:58.96
Wednesday Lee Friday
Well, you know, you'll you'll probably, being an improv guy, I imagine you'll have an easier time with this. I think writers often get very flummoxed because they feel a lot of pressure to pick interesting words.
01:47:07.99
Jarrett Lennon
Yes. Watch me whiff it instantly.
01:47:09.59
Wednesday Lee Friday
Whereas I think with a background in improv, I think, yeah, that'll be a little different.
01:47:14.45
Jarrett Lennon
Let's have some fun.
01:47:15.09
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh, well, this is fun.
01:47:15.33
Jarrett Lennon
Let's see.
01:47:16.71
Wednesday Lee Friday
The first one is a celebrity. So I need you to give me a celebrity.
01:47:19.77
Jarrett Lennon
Ooh, a celebrity. Keira Knightley.
01:47:25.07
Wednesday Lee Friday
And thanks for making me spell nightly.
01:47:27.15
Jarrett Lennon
yeah
01:47:27.98
Wednesday Lee Friday
I'm just going to guess.
01:47:29.31
Jarrett Lennon
I thought about that instantly. It's like, good luck. I think it starts with K.
01:47:32.57
Wednesday Lee Friday
All right. ah place.
01:47:35.65
Jarrett Lennon
ah Amherst. Yeah, Amherst.
01:47:40.73
Wednesday Lee Friday
All right, an adjective. Actually, I'm going to need one, two, three, four adjectives.
01:47:47.54
Jarrett Lennon
OK, um slippery, um
01:47:53.61
Jarrett Lennon
warm, uncomfortable. That's an adjective, right? Yes.
01:48:00.85
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yes.
01:48:01.98
Jarrett Lennon
You said one more?
01:48:03.50
Wednesday Lee Friday
Yep, one more.
01:48:04.29
Jarrett Lennon
um Classic.
01:48:09.68
Wednesday Lee Friday
All right. And we need a part of the body.
01:48:13.99
Jarrett Lennon
ah Tibia.
01:48:19.39
Wednesday Lee Friday
And a verb.
01:48:21.64
Jarrett Lennon
um Let's go with Scoot.
01:48:27.96
Wednesday Lee Friday
All right. I need another verb.
01:48:32.23
Jarrett Lennon
Shimmy.
01:48:33.88
Wednesday Lee Friday
And it looks like I missed an adjective. So I need one more.
01:48:38.37
Jarrett Lennon
Oh, okay. All right. Quirky. Quirky.
01:48:44.54
Wednesday Lee Friday
And I need, um so a person in room, so that's always the guest. So we have that. And I need a singular noun.
01:48:51.39
Jarrett Lennon
OK.
01:48:54.98
Jarrett Lennon
Singular noun. OK, let's go ah Ming vase. And when it's Ming, you have to pronounce it vase, not vase.
01:49:05.40
Wednesday Lee Friday
You sure do. All right.
01:49:06.72
Jarrett Lennon
Yes.
01:49:07.04
Wednesday Lee Friday
And then put the little short A symbol there. um I need plural nouns, I need one, two, three of them.
01:49:11.24
Jarrett Lennon
thank you
01:49:16.03
Jarrett Lennon
OK, let's go Caterpillars, Tamagotchi, which I think is also plural, um and um
01:49:28.50
Jarrett Lennon
Wine Bottles.
01:49:32.33
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay, I need another place.
01:49:35.70
Jarrett Lennon
OK, Ice Cream Parlor.
01:49:42.69
Wednesday Lee Friday
lower And then another part of the body.
01:49:47.09
Jarrett Lennon
ah Let's go belly button. It's always a fun one.
01:49:54.56
Wednesday Lee Friday
Okay, so this is from the sports section of the Mad Lib book, and this is called Three Cheers for the Underdog.
01:49:58.54
Jarrett Lennon
All right.
01:50:04.13
Wednesday Lee Friday
Few people gave...
01:50:04.48
Jarrett Lennon
I'm excited.
01:50:06.72
Wednesday Lee Friday
Few people gave Keira Knightley High School any chance of advancing the Amherst Championships because of all the obstacles they face through this slippery season.
01:50:17.01
Jarrett Lennon
Hmm.
01:50:18.18
Wednesday Lee Friday
Their best hitter broke his tibia in the first week.
01:50:21.56
Jarrett Lennon
Hmm.
01:50:21.77
Wednesday Lee Friday
Their star catcher quit the team in order to scoot in the school's stage projection school stage production of Romeo and Jared. and Steve. Um...
01:50:31.98
Jarrett Lennon
Hmm. classic
01:50:34.45
Wednesday Lee Friday
but that
01:50:34.64
Jarrett Lennon
i must add
01:50:35.11
Wednesday Lee Friday
well at least it's not adam and steve
01:50:39.34
Wednesday Lee Friday
On top of that, a warm flood ruined the school's practice field, forcing the team to shimmy inside the Ming Vos for three weeks.
01:50:44.17
Jarrett Lennon
ah
01:50:49.37
Wednesday Lee Friday
But with uncomfortable ah uncomfortable work and determination, these young caterpillars found a way to win the quirky regional playoff and bring home a classic trophy.
01:51:01.82
Wednesday Lee Friday
How does Coach Wedness think they'll do in the state championship against the ice cream parlor Tamagotchis next week? Or Tamagotchi. I don't know.
01:51:10.32
Jarrett Lennon
Yeah. yeah
01:51:11.13
Wednesday Lee Friday
i think I think you're right. I think it is still singular.
01:51:13.82
Jarrett Lennon
I think so. Yes.
01:51:15.55
Wednesday Lee Friday
Oh, we'll give them a run for their wine bottles, that's for sure. This team has a lot of belly button.
01:51:24.90
Jarrett Lennon
Oh, that's, that's a catch.
01:51:25.67
Wednesday Lee Friday
Irreverent.
01:51:26.70
Jarrett Lennon
That's a new catchphrase. This team has a lot of belly button. I'm going to to remember that one.
01:51:32.82
Wednesday Lee Friday
irreverent So, Jarrett, I am so glad that you could be here to do this. I love when it's a guest that I don't know very well personally, and then we just totally hit it off and have a great conversation.
01:51:44.18
Wednesday Lee Friday
So that's that's like so fun for me.
01:51:44.20
Jarrett Lennon
Me too. Me too. Ah, yes.
01:51:47.31
Wednesday Lee Friday
um So we want to remind all of our listeners that we'll be back next week and that the best way to support the podcast is to support the the magazine. So you can do that at Ko-Fi, that's K-O-F-I, where we are sometimes hilarious horror.
01:52:04.47
Wednesday Lee Friday
And once again, thanks to Jarrett for being here. And we will see everybody next week
01:52:12.14
Jarrett Lennon
Bye-bye.
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