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Actor Taran Killam joins Sam to talk about childhood decisions that changed his life—like deciding to go to the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts in order to get one more month of summer vacation. The two talk about the magic of live theater, being decisive but not in order to make good decisions, visiting the White House and seeing president Biden’s moon rock, and the ethics of singing in movie theaters.

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Transcript

SPEAKERS

Taran Killam, Samantha Bee

Samantha Bee  00:01

From Leon Moriarty, author of Big Little Lies, comes the number one bestseller here one moment, an ordinary flight, a routine trip until something extraordinary happens. Each passenger learns how and when they’ll die. The story unfolds in a powerful exploration of destiny, love and control in an unpredictable world, perfect for book clubs. Here one moment will leave you asking, What would you do if you knew don’t miss here, one moment by Leon Moriarty, available now wherever books and audio books are sold, lemonade. Oka, not to sound like the coastal liberal elitist that I am, but I really love the arts, and not just podcasting, but like the real arts, theater, music, film, painting, I don’t know you name it. I like it. It nourishes the soul. I actually really believe that, which is why I have some serious choice words for people who perennially try to gut arts funding at the federal level, and who this coming January, will once again have the power to do so. Look, I understand that the arts can’t pay for your medication or turn into food to feed your family or gas to fuel the car. But that doesn’t mean that they are not important. The National Endowment of the Arts tends to receive about $200 million yearly, and it helps fund educational arts programs all over the country for people of all ages. It helps fund museums state run art projects and grants for amazing people doing, like, amazing things, or how Elon Musk’s Doge department would put it, a bunch of total crap, my words, but I’m sure he’ll say something similar, or worse, I don’t know, just take my advice and go to the Smithsonian while you can.

 

Samantha Bee  02:51

This is Choice Words, I’m Samantha Bee, my guest today is the incredibly funny and thoughtful, Taran Killam. You know Taran from SNL, single parents and the new show High Potential. What you might not have known is that Taryn went to the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, which incredibly is a public school that helps students of all backgrounds prepare for a career in the creative arts. I can’t imagine being that young and knowing exactly what I wanted to do, but we are so lucky that Taran did, and I hope the arts continue to exist for generations to come. So take a listen and make good choices.

 

Samantha Bee  03:32

Oh, my God, it’s really nice to see your face.

 

Taran Killam  03:40

It’s great to see you. Yeah, it’s been I was genuinely thinking of you within the last month because I just finished doing some musical theater in DC, which is the last place we were together in person.

 

Samantha Bee  03:52

That’s right, I know, and I feel like I probably should apologize. I think I did on the day. I should apologize again for my dad his behavior toward you and your beautiful wife, just unconscionable.

 

Taran Killam  04:09

No, apologizing for dads is like, hey, literally, I learned to do that before I could walk.

 

Samantha Bee  04:15

I was just telling my producers before we joined together that yesterday recorded a podcast in like a rented studio in Times Square, lovely, and I was a little late getting there because of traffic and whatnot. But just before I arrived, Jordan Peterson and Dr Oz had been recording a podcast in the room right next to where I was gonna be. So good vibes, good vibe they left behind. Such an aura.

 

Taran Killam  04:49

Wait, don’t go.

 

Samantha Bee  04:51

Don’t go, yell at you, feminist things to both of you.

 

Taran Killam  04:55

Let’s wait up until Frisco grill after this.

 

Samantha Bee  04:59

Oh my god.

 

Taran Killam  05:00

That was the first time square restaurant I could think of that, like, would make them happy.

 

Samantha Bee  05:04

They love it there.

 

Taran Killam  05:06

The Olive Garden is to, like, low shelf probably.

 

Samantha Bee  05:10

They get a lot of free apps at Del Frisco. Like, people bring out dancing shrimp or whatever. They’re just, like, you know what?

 

Taran Killam  05:17

It’s the new dancing shrimp from Del Frisco grill.

 

Samantha Bee  05:20

Like, here’s just, like, a family style known as garlic bread, bunch of appies.

 

Taran Killam  05:26

This is why I love coming here. Just, I love arguing against vaccines.

 

Samantha Bee  05:32

Listen, I we’re going to talk about choice, we’re going to talk about all those, these things. We’re going to, like, launch all of that. But I do think it’s, I think it’s pretty funny that when we work together in DC, it was like for my big special event, and you played a conservative comedian, and I just want to thank you for setting the stage for all the conservative comedians to take over. Sure, change our way for the better.

 

Taran Killam  06:00

Again, I was like, Yeah, Hinchcliffe, watch this.

 

Samantha Bee  06:06

This is how you do it, Alexandra, Ocasio Cortez feet.

 

Taran Killam  06:11

Yeah exactly, no. I unfortunately have been cursed in this, in this era I live in with, like, bland, white, conservative man face. So, oh, now at least it’s topical.

 

Samantha Bee  06:26

It is very topical. Okay, so you were just doing, what was the show that you were doing in doing spam, a lot.

 

Taran Killam  06:33

Spam a lot. No, that was in New York. This was Putnam Spelling Bee, which was equally joyful, joyful. It was so fun. It was really a great show, great cast, great facility, love the Kennedy Center. Had never performed there before. So yeah, it was good vibes. It was good vibes. And was very honored and privileged to do two White House tours, which felt significant. And now I like blame myself.

 

Samantha Bee  07:06

Just we’re just like, just hadn’t put.

 

Taran Killam  07:08

My stink inside of that building. Maybe it all worked out. No, it was nice.

 

Samantha Bee  07:14

Did they show you cool, cool things inside that.

 

Taran Killam  07:18

They did we saw me and my youngest child really loved Joe Biden’s moon rock. He has a piece of moon rock in the Oval Office, and that felt that’s special, really special, really cool, like that was in space, and now it’s here, and now we’re here. I got to see the bowling alley that Richard Nixon put in. That was cool. That’s cool. And I love the movie theater, mostly just because I love going to movies like that’s one of my favorite things to do in the world. And the movie theater chairs that they have in the White House sort of screening theater are some of the most comfortable chairs I’ve ever sat in in my life.

 

Samantha Bee  07:56

I’ve never been in that room. How many chair is it like for a large groups.

 

Taran Killam  08:01

Say, I’m gonna say, let’s see, I’m gonna say that there was probably 10 per row. I’m gonna say, 100 chairs. Oh, it’s long, it’s it’s narrow, but it’s long. And what was, what blew my mind, and this is where the podcast gets really exciting. Yes, is I talk about the mechanics of the chair in that? No, I want to hear it good, then buckle up. Because, believe it or not, yeah, the White House movie theater chairs are just simple, straight, like, like, spring mechanics, like, there’s nothing, it’s just like coiled iron that holds your weight so there’s a little bounce, but really strong, solid support. Mm, hmm. And I just, you know, I just, that was by far the most impressive thing.

 

Samantha Bee  08:44

You know what? No, I like it. I like it because you want to feel held, but you don’t want people falling asleep during your your screenings.

 

Taran Killam  08:54

This is right. So bounce them back up, hey, focus wicked on the screen.

 

Samantha Bee  08:59

Like we’re watching wicked you can’t follow the Presidents here. Do not fall asleep.

 

Taran Killam  09:04

Arriva deserves your respect.

 

Samantha Bee  09:06

She does. It’s a very long movie, and you need to keep those eyes snapped.

 

Taran Killam  09:12

Have you seen it yet?

 

Samantha Bee  09:14

I have not seen it yet. Have

 

Taran Killam  09:15

you seen it? We’re going tonight.

 

Samantha Bee  09:17

Oh, you’re going tonight, okay. You have two daughters that I have this.

 

Taran Killam  09:21

This is correct, and my oldest is attending a sweet 16 slumber party, so she’s missing out on the family viewing of wicked and she’s not happy about it, to be honest.

 

Samantha Bee  09:31

No, I could understand that.

 

Taran Killam  09:33

There was an extra scoff. There’s an extra you’re still gonna go.

 

Samantha Bee  09:38

You can’t, but I’m not, doesn’t.

 

Taran Killam  09:41

Yeah, we’re gonna go, sorry.

 

Samantha Bee  09:45

Okay, and your youngest is, like, all in.

 

Taran Killam  09:48

Yeah, very excited.

 

Samantha Bee  09:49

I did read an article this morning about how, like, everyone’s singing along during the screenings, and people are really curious,

 

Taran Killam  09:56

Yeah, because for every. Musical Theater prodigy. There is infinity, bad singers.,

 

Samantha Bee  10:04

Infinity bad. but trying so reaching for it.

 

Taran Killam  10:08

and feeling it. Yeah, I mean, obviously, I’m, I’m a, I’m a big musical theater nerd, and it’s my first love. And so I do understand. It’s that thing where, like, I understand and I love a big movie musical, and I understand that soundtrack, and like what it means to people and being motivated. And part of what I love about musical theater is that singing is such a vulnerable thing. Yes, it’s such a like and and not everybody can. Can do it inherently, but it accesses something that that just just feelings. Can’t, you know, singing gets to a deeper feeling sometimes. So it does, I understand.

 

Samantha Bee  10:49

I do think it’s maybe like everybody could just give it like three weeks of just regular people, just a moot treating it like a movie. And then they go like, okay, wicked unleashed. You can just bring your whole heart.

 

Taran Killam  11:05

That is 100% the right move. And if universal was smart, they would advertise that. But I don’t know if they’re spending any money on wicked advertising.

 

Samantha Bee  11:13

So, yeah, I don’t know. They seem to have a really low but it’s a kind of a low budget picture. I haven’t heard much about having an appetite, right? I don’t know. I’m just over here eating green cake pops and green, literally everything. It’s this, and it’s gladiator too, and that’s my whole life for the next.

 

Taran Killam  11:30

That’s it, and that’s the world we live in, either or never, never the twain shall meet. They are mutually exclusive.

 

Samantha Bee  11:40

They are I’ll be singing along during gladiator too, to the soundtrack of my life, to the music in my head. Everyone enjoys it.

 

Taran Killam  11:51

And oh so far away. Are you not entertained?

 

Samantha Bee  11:57

Listen, I think people are gonna really respond to my offering this.  What joy I’m gonna bring this holiday season.

 

Taran Killam  12:07

Bringing worlds together.

 

Samantha Bee  12:08

Oh, okay, so we’ve already attacked for 100 minutes. I don’t wanna talk about any of the things I was supposed to talk to you about are all out my fault. So we do talk about big choices on the show, because I like to, I do like to kind of know about, like, choices big and small that have just, like impacted you in ways you might not. I wouldn’t know about, are you good at making big decisions for yourself? Like, I have such a look on my face that’s like, uh.

 

Taran Killam  12:40

Are you one of those? Are you a Chooser?

 

Samantha Bee  12:43

Decisive person who chooses smartly? Oh, are you?

 

Taran Killam  12:49

I am decisive, certainly good decisions. No, that’s very questionable, okay, but I would say like into my 40s. Now, some of the work we’re doing is like, take a moment pause, reflect, think about how your assuredness of this situation might not be the best objective choice for all involved. Yeah, I’m not one to him and ha certainly, like, I never have been but, but I do not see that as, as an asset. I think, I think, as a younger man, maybe I did. I was like, No, I got it. I got this. I’m doing it the right way everybody. And the beautiful design of life has certainly humbled me to be like, Huh. Okay, all right, so it doesn’t all center around me, and I this isn’t, this isn’t the Truman Show for Taryn, where everything is designed and laid out for things to happen the way I want them to. Or, I think for sure, still, what has happened now the best, the best that I’ve evolved is like, when I feel certain about something that feels insignificant, the most decisive person in the world, like, Nope, that’s not the snack we should buy. Oh, good. That’s more significant. What feels like there’s going to be real, you know, impact for my family’s life. It’s like, I don’t know, let’s think about it. Let’s, let’s have or what do you think a lot more.

 

Samantha Bee  14:22

Very it’s different when you have kids, it’s that kind of changes the whole that alters the narcissism in a way, like, oh, wait, other other people have get a say.

 

Taran Killam  14:36

Yes, I don’t know if this is the same for you, but it feels like I like constructed two little mirrors to go like, Oh, wait, that’s what it’s like when you’re when you’re 14 years old and certain and assertive and think that you know it all, Oh,

 

Samantha Bee  14:52

okay. Oh, my kids are teaching me skin care.

 

Samantha Bee  14:57

Yes, yes. What I

 

Samantha Bee  14:59

think I. Is. So they think I’m so stupid, so

 

Taran Killam  15:02

stupid. So like, oh God, like I am a project to them,

 

Samantha Bee  15:08

yes, to be fixed, yes.

 

Taran Killam  15:14

So, for sure, the the children like it changes everything. Because, you know, obviously, you’re, you’re, I think, if you’re a healthy parent, which which, I think we both seem to be the priority shift. And you go like, I don’t matter the most they they now matter the most.

 

Samantha Bee  15:28

I don’t think we matter at all. Actually, I don’t think that we matter in walking.

 

Taran Killam  15:33

That too. I’m talking that as well.

 

Samantha Bee  15:37

If your kids ever looked at you and said and just like, looked at you really intensely and said something like, Have you ever thought about trying moisturizer? Like, do you? Has that ever occurred to you and you’re just like, um.

 

Taran Killam  15:54

I wonder. I don’t think my kids are as forward with me that way, like, I would almost appreciate real information. I’m I’m left in this sort of, like, nebulous, like, oh dad, or like, that’s cute.

 

Samantha Bee  16:11

Oh, you thought that that looked good, huh? That’s sweet.

 

Taran Killam  16:15

For you, yeah, for you. That happens a lot, because my wife is the best person I know, stunning. I love. I’m so lucky that she’s the thing I’m luckiest in life for with at and she’s quite fashionable, and so, like, dress up. I never feel more dismissed than having to go to some sort of, like, fancy work function where COVID comes down and in a stunning dress, and like, I have hired, I have hired a stylist to help guide me in a direction where it’s like, Yep, we’re both equally as fancy. And my two girls are just like, dad.

 

Samantha Bee  16:53

Oh, this is so fun. It’s so funny.

 

Taran Killam  16:56

Oh yeah, you’re the funny one. Dad, yeah, I get it.  Oh, I guess the joke.

 

Samantha Bee  17:03

Good joke, brown shoes. That’s funny, that’s really funny.

 

Taran Killam  17:08

Exactly a bow tie, that’s funny.

 

Samantha Bee  17:14

There’s more choice words in just a moment.

 

Samantha Bee  17:26

Is there a big, like, a big swing, like, a big choice you think of when you think about a big one that caused you?

 

Taran Killam  19:32

Yeah, I kind of do I have, like, the one which was early on in life, which was in high school. It was, it was the summer before my sophomore year of high school, and I mean speaking of like going back to child musical theater performers like I was a unsuccessful kid actor from from a pretty young age, but my mom encouraged me to audition for the. High School here in in LA called locksa, which is the acronym for LA County High School the arts. And it wasn’t something that I necessarily sought out, but my mom was like, I think, I think this would serve you well. So I auditioned and put it out of my mind. And that summer, summer of freshman year, we were living in Big Bear, California, beautiful. I was taking summer school for my driver’s permit, which my child is now doing. And that is, yes, it’s Ooh, way mo can’t develop fast enough. Yeah. You know what? That is, self driving, yeah. But yeah, so, so, like life was bubbling and changing. And the weird thing about the Big Bear public school system at that point, which I’ve never really heard of anywhere else, but they were on what was called a year round schedule where there wasn’t a big summer break. Oh my god, like vacation time was spread out, because I think of the winter season was such a big deal in a mountain resort town, we would have like, four to six weeks off in winter as well, and then, like only four to five in the summer and a bigger spring break. And so I remember coming home and my mom had like, a big envelope, and she said, this is the response from lox from your audition. And I opened it, and I had been accepted, which was very an exciting thing, and with time and perspective, very significant for my life. In the moment, my mom was like, so you have a choice to make if you choose to go to loxa, it’s going to be really tricky. You’re going to have to, like, commute with your father. My dad was a contractor and worked in Los Angeles, so he’d drive down early Monday morning, work all week and drive back up to Big Bear on the weekends. Like you’d have to do that with him to go to school, because it’s in Los Angeles, and if you choose not to Big Bear High School, your sophomore year starts next week, like you’re back to school on Monday. If you choose to go to loxi, you have a whole additional month off. And I think before she finished that sentence, I was like, I want to go to loxah.

 

Samantha Bee  22:17

I just want three more weeks off. You’re like, I have no idea what the implications of this are.

 

Taran Killam  22:24

Yes.

 

Samantha Bee  22:25

I love.

 

Taran Killam  22:27

Ulcer, and it Sam it literally thrusted me in a different like the sliding doors, moment of what is, what is Big Bear high school graduate Terran versus what it like, like, the biggest fork in the road, like, and and made so impulsively, so immaturely.

 

Samantha Bee  22:50

Was your mom, like, are you just choosing this so that you don’t have to go to school for three weeks? And you were like, correct?

 

Taran Killam  22:57

She was certainly hip to it. She definitely could, like, see, but because she also was nurturing and encouraging of that she, she’s like, we’ll let him have this like, little victory. Because I think in the long run, it’ll really, it’ll really help him where I think he could, you know, could go, could achieve which, which has, has worked out fortunately, but, yeah, I constantly think of just dumb little 15 year old Taryn going like, I don’t want to go back to school yet. And it’s completely changing my life.

 

Samantha Bee  23:33

That is, that’s just a beautiful it’s just a beautiful confluence of, like, talent and luck and your mom’s foresight and just like a greedy snatching of a little more vacation, like your higher self, kind of, just like making the right decision despite you.

 

Taran Killam  23:53

Correct, I’m so lucky that I was so petulant.

 

Samantha Bee  23:59

Did your mom? Like, what did you what kind of kid were you that your mom would have seen because you were, like, performing or just like, kind of joining, but what did that look like?

 

Taran Killam  24:09

I think, I was always sort of like a decent singer, like I had a decent ear for holding a tune, and music is very important to my mom. She herself is a musician, and she’s, she came from a showbiz family. Her uncle was Robert Stack, okay, so, like, you know, she was two degrees away from from that, that sort of Hollywood, what, what it takes to make it kind of thing. And at a pretty young age, took me and and two of my siblings into, like, a commercial agent when we were, like, like, when I was like, five or six years old, like little, and even in those settings, of, like, going into a room with a bunch of corporate like, you know, marketing people, and being like, I love milkshakes. And so I think it was that I think, she just. Saw that there is certainly a natural, performative, even showbody energy, to me, certainly.

 

Samantha Bee  25:07

Right, and did you when you got, like, your first week of high school where you’re like, oh, god damn it, or were you like, this is actually, I like this?

 

Taran Killam  25:17

It was, yeah, it was more the latter. It was more exciting. It was certainly overwhelming, like, it was a little scary. It was, it was like, I, it’s like, I’d left for college three years early, is what again, and it the high school is literally on a college campus. It’s on the campus of Cal State, LA, and Big Bear is a small mountain town, you know, and it’s and it’s safe and it’s idyllic in terms of, like, it’s seasonal, and you play outside, and you’re on your bike, and everybody knows it, and you your parents know your teacher’s first name, but it’s also quite cut off. It was, it was very, and I think still is very conservative, and so showing up to get my school schedule at the locksa front office, and seeing you know a 16 year old male student in a dress, and that feeling so foreign and so alien and so like, oh boy, what have I signed up For? And then getting to know Daniel and learning almost immediately they’re one of the funniest, loveliest, most creative people in the world. That is probably more than anything. What I am most grateful for from that decision is my exposure to a bigger world, to a more diverse world, to a deeper understanding of human existence. And I was, I came in so ignorant and so afraid and so and still haven’t, haven’t figured it out, but that gave me a real head start.

 

Samantha Bee  26:53

I feel that’s amazing. That’s a great story. It’s wild when you like your head just just like, everything opens, like everything goes, it’s so, like, risky and fun and cool and like, yes, what a wild experience.

 

Taran Killam  27:11

At a time, at that age, too, where I wasn’t so fully set in my ways of right, What things should be, what is normal? You know, I’m so grateful. I’m so so truly grateful. And locks is such a special school, and remains a special place. And they’re doing very well. They’ve continued to grow. But the quality of study for, like, your focus, for theater, for music, for it’s like it literally is a conservatory level education, but it’s more the safe place for someone who might feel like an outcast or different than or it’s where you go to thrive, right? And, and that was truly a an honor to be around as a as just a dumb 15 year old who wanted less school.

 

Samantha Bee  28:02

Right, did you consume? What did you consume? Like, artistically at that well, if you were, you had a lot of exposure to, like, music and that world, so what were your leanings? Like, what did you love?

 

Taran Killam  28:17

I’ve always loved Like, I’ve always loved a big blockbuster. I’ve always loved a summer tent pole movie event, you know, so the superhero movies, the Steven Spielberg movies, Star Wars, so, so important to me, and because and what that came from, which was like now, now I kind of not that I’m dismissive of it, but I I like to think my tastes and sensibilities have become slightly more refined, and yet what was so important about those kinds of events is the gathering of it Like we’re talking about wicked like to bring P, anything that brings people together in those kinds of numbers, to have a shared experience, right? Felt, always felt special to me. Always felt significant to like the weekend that Batman came out, and you go back to school and you’re like, did you see it?

 

Samantha Bee  29:16

Did you see it, right.

 

Taran Killam  29:18

That was the way that I would like bond socially, that was the way I could I built my sort of my friend circle. But it was also the artistry of it, of making something so fantastical. So to me, what felt magical, feel more real, feel like no this is really happening. That’s always been a big motivator for me professionally.

 

Samantha Bee  29:44

I love that feeling of being lost in something, think it’s like a little more rare now, you can see something, but really give yourself over to it.

 

Taran Killam  29:55

I think you’re right. Part of it that is just attention span, right?

 

Samantha Bee  29:59

Yeah, for sure.

 

Taran Killam  30:00

Yeah, it’s, it’s everything’s becoming so fractured, everything, like you can find exactly what you want right in front of you right now.

 

Samantha Bee  30:10

Yes, and you can watch it as many times, cut up in as many like, the way that my husband, I grew up is is different. But we were like those big tent poles, like you’re the star wars, like Indiana Jones is, like mythical in our brains. So we exposed our kids to a lot of movies, like, really, really challenging movies, because we just gave up on, like, just watching kid stuff. We were like, I’m sorry. We’re watching the wire. You’re welcome to watch it with us. Cool. I don’t know what to say, just I can’t watch, yeah, can’t watch frozen again. We’re watching the wire. You’d like to join in. You are more than welcome. Cool. Things that were so scary to me that we would let them watch are not scary to them at all. Because, like, the early exposure of it, yeah, and the knowing, like, kind of like the movie making, like, a little bit of just kind of like how it works, yeah, a little bit, yeah. If you can rewind a movie and watch it, like, watch the scene where the shark comes, like, like, swallows, totally watch it like 40 times.

 

Taran Killam  31:23

Look at this. Insert mom. They clearly use the shark here. And then I wonder if they were shooting on a split day.

 

Samantha Bee  31:31

I feel like that was an overnight shoot that seems really like everybody seems pretty dire.

 

Taran Killam  31:36

That’s a tough shot. They definitely went into golden hour.

 

Samantha Bee  31:40

This is supposed to seem continuous, but I see the cut point. Yeah, I see the cut point. There it is. Got it.

 

Taran Killam  31:47

It’s great when the technical limitations lead itself to something creatively more fulfilling. Don’t you think, can I have cereal?

 

Samantha Bee  31:53

Do we have orange juice? Do you do you see like when you observe what your kids are consuming, is it weird for you? Do you like it? Are you like, Oh, this is so different. I can’t bend my brain around it.

 

Taran Killam  32:12

No, my kids are pretty hip. And my teenager, she’s, like, growing up, and so she’s like, you know, let’s watch. Let’s watch, let’s watch Downton Abbey, you know, like, She’s really cool.

 

Samantha Bee  32:25

She’s cool.

 

Taran Killam  32:26

Yeah, she’s super cool. Both my kids are cool, and my younger one actually doesn’t love watching stuff, which I’m, yeah, proud of. Like, it’s really, really cool. She’s like, I’m gonna go, I’m gonna go draw. Oh yeah, what? Yes, I know it’s, she’s an alien. They’re certainly like, at a younger age, yeah, the repeat watching of frozen. We have had those phases and like, Thank goodness for things like Bluey, where the creators became a little hipper, a little sharper, even though my girls are are have kind of aged out of that now.

 

Samantha Bee  33:03

Do they watch your stuff? No, they watch the stuff that you.

 

Taran Killam  33:06

Your and Shay, my oldest, she’s, she’s in 10th grade, and a lot of her friends watch SNL now, and so she’s like, becoming a fan, which is really cool. And I got to take her to the show last season when Jason Momoa hosted. That is cool. That’s fun. But I, you know the eagle, the ego is fragile, so she’ll be like, I was watching old SNL sketches, and I was like, What, uh, what, what, uh, what is old? What does old mean? And did you see anything you like, anything familiar, any how old? And what do you? And old to her is literally, like, three years ago, right? Like, like, I think, yeah, I think it was Sarah Sherman’s first season, which is cool, which is totally fine. Shay, interestingly enough, like in her education, we are finding that she’s her rebellion because she’s a great kid, really good kid. Her rebellion is against our not art all the way, but certainly showbiz, where we’re starting to have college conversations, and she’s like, I think I’m gonna, I think I’m gonna major in business. Our suspicion is that she sees her parents like, feast or famine, job to job, waiting by the phone, and she’s like, huh, yeah, I’m gonna go for a little more corporate security. I think I want it in writing.

 

Samantha Bee  34:34

Very familiar. Our kids are the same way. The people are always like, do you want to do what your parents do, and our kids are like, what they seem miserable?

 

Taran Killam  34:45

Yeah, no, I won’t be happy.

 

Samantha Bee  34:47

No, I’d rather. What do you mean? They’re just always loafing around the house all day, going like, what should we do? Should we should we go see a movie in the afternoon?  I’m not interested.

 

Taran Killam  35:02

Who wants to go to 11:30am screening of the heretic?

 

Samantha Bee  35:07

Oh, my God, I would 100% do that.

 

Taran Killam  35:10

That’s literally my joy. That’s my joy. No, and so like, yeah, Shay is just like, I’m I just want structure. I want structure and security. I want to plan. And I want to plan.

 

Samantha Bee  35:22

Know what my job is?

 

Taran Killam  35:24

Yes, which I respect to finish. I got it same kid.

 

Samantha Bee  35:29

Would you think you would ever will you work with your wife again? Do you keep like, church and state separate, or do you seek projects together, or just sort of like, whatever happens?

 

Taran Killam  35:38

We’re not like, we’re not a developing couple, so to speak, but we don’t have, like, a hard, fast rule of we’re fluid in our in our professional marriage. Yeah, no, we love each other. We love being around each other. And they think that there’s a very genuine respect for each other’s talent. I don’t think we’ll ever try to, like, reign each other into something that worked for us creatively or professionally.

 

Samantha Bee  36:08

When you were okay, so when you were at the performing arts high school, did you know that you wanted to do comedy? Like, did you you were like, did you what kind of performer did you want to be.

 

Taran Killam  36:20

Yeah, I think I was split between music. I loved musical theater and I loved that. I loved that style of performance. I love that storytelling and the connectivity of emotion to music was has always been important to me. But I was also like, I think I could be like, I think it could be on Dawson’s Creek. I think it could be like, like a at that time, WB, actor, you know, and that was a lot of the stuff I was auditioning for. And always loved comedy, always like, was an adoration of it, and studied it and obsessed with it for whatever reason, like the idea of of doing it professionally, as a career, it wasn’t on the radar until, until this random audition for Mad TV came up, and they’re like, they’re seeing a bunch of people, I don’t know you’re funny. Like my managers were like, you’re always funny when you visit the office, when you come in and ask and are begging for an audition or like for us to do something, it makes us laugh, right when you’re really earnest about your career in a desperate place, it’s so hilarious to us. So funny. Do you want to audition for sketch comedy.

 

Samantha Bee  37:36

When you’re at your most serious and you really are trying to smolder on camera. It is hilarious. It looks so off correct. And the more you try, the funnier it gets.

 

Taran Killam  37:48

Yeah. So, yeah again, like that wasn’t even as much of a choice. Like that was, that was, you know, beggars can’t be choosers, like full beggar.

 

Samantha Bee  38:00

Oh, my.

 

Taran Killam  38:01

Anything that pays yes, anything.

 

Samantha Bee  38:04

That but like mad, TV is legendary.

 

Taran Killam  38:08

Yeah, it was cool it was, I mean, you said the the universe. It was definitely like, only in hindsight that I see like, Oh, I do love this. And now I need to learn how to do it now. I need to study. And so I did. I did like half a season of Mad TV, and everybody, not everybody, but a vast majority of the people that I loved working with there had come from the Groundlings. So after mad TV, I started taking classes at Groundlings, going, right, maybe I could. Maybe comedy is an option, and that right turned out to be very true.

 

Samantha Bee  38:45

Do you still have like from my from I did sketch comedy in Toronto as a as an adult too, and I still have one single bin with my wigs in it, one single tickle trunk.

 

Taran Killam  38:59

Mine is my father’s toy chest. It’s this big, heavy oak toy chat, and I’ve got old man beards and a wizard’s robe and.

 

Samantha Bee  39:10

Very that’s precious.

 

Taran Killam  39:11

Yes, those are priceless. Can’t replace those. You can’t replace those. And what if you get a wizard just anywhere? Yeah, exactly.

 

Samantha Bee  39:18

Get it my wig collection. Come on. These are good. These are

 

Taran Killam  39:22

Phone rings and I don’t have my sweeping bangs wig. I’m screwed. It’s self sabotage.

 

Samantha Bee  39:28

I think that’s such a funny story. I feel looking very similar that people were like, the more you try to play Lady Macbeth, the stupider you look.

 

Taran Killam  39:36

Yes, please don’t It makes us laugh.

 

Samantha Bee  39:40

There’s more Choice Words in just a moment.

 

Samantha Bee  42:11

Do you feel like, once you figured out what you were kind of like, the path you were kind of meant to be on, that everything else sort of opened up to like, because you do do musical theater and you do all of that.

 

Taran Killam  42:56

Yeah, I’ve been, that feels like luck. You know that feels like earned luck. Not that it’s all random, because I’ve certainly worked very hard to develop skill, but it’s as you know, it’s just circumstance. Shoal of like, is the right thing going to be available when? When I got SNL, which then became like after Matt TV, falling in love with improv and sketch comedy, specifically at the Groundlings, and meeting some of my to this day, favorite people, funniest people, best people. The singular focus became SNL for me for, oh yeah, close to a decade. And then when that happened, I couldn’t believe I couldn’t believe it. I was it was so surreal. And then being in New York, almost immediately, I was like, and if there’s any musical theater stuff too, I’d love to do that too so.

 

Samantha Bee  43:49

Okay, so you were just in the place you’re in the right place correct to physically do that. Do you live bicoastally? Do you keep a place in New York or anything like.

 

Taran Killam  43:59

We don’t anymore. We moved back in 2017 and now we’re pretty la because COVID is from Vancouver. I’m from here. All of our extended family is Pacific Standard Time. We’re all West. However, in the last year, I’ve done shows in New York and DC. I go back end of January to do you’re in town at City Center New York has been very good to me.

 

Samantha Bee  44:26

Yeah,  I’m excited for you’re in town.

 

Taran Killam  44:29

Yeah, me too.

 

Samantha Bee  44:30

Cindy’s, that’s so good, such a good I love that show.

 

Taran Killam  44:33

I love that show. And the cast is really very strong.

 

Samantha Bee  44:37

What is there anything, just like theater wise, that you’ve seen recently that you haven’t loved, because I love going to shows.

 

Taran Killam  44:44

Yes, did you see job?

 

Samantha Bee  44:47

No, I didn’t. Oh no.

 

Taran Killam  44:50

Sam, it, well, it, I will say like it was divisive, and I’ve also loved the conversations I’ve had about it since seeing it. I went and. Saw it, and as the show’s happening, I’m like, this is maybe one of my favorite pieces of theater. It’s just two people on stage. It’s this scene. It, you know, it takes place in a therapist’s office. It’s very tense, it’s very high stakes. It’s brilliantly acted. It is brilliantly written. I just loved it. And then it takes this sort of very dark turn in the last 2015, 20 minutes of it, okay? The three people I saw it with, we all walked out of the theater going like, I feel like I’ve been poisoned. I feel great. I’m so sick to my stomach. And we talked about it for two hours, and I was just like, This is so fascinating. I bought a ticket two days later to go back.

 

Samantha Bee  45:43

That’s special.

 

Taran Killam  45:44

I’ve never done that. I’ve never done that for a single Broadway show. And so, yeah, that one that will stick with me for forever.

 

Samantha Bee  45:55

That’s good okay, I wrote it down

 

Taran Killam  45:57

Job, yeah.

 

Samantha Bee  45:58

Is it still closed?

 

Taran Killam  46:02

They’re doing a production in Australia. I believe. Okay. Is that convenient?

 

Samantha Bee  46:07

Excuse me, I have to Expedia a flight. It is very special. I do think that, like, it is such a unique, I don’t know, just a live performance situation. Yes, I love when you walk out of the theater and you’re like, I need to, we have to walk because we have to talk about this, yes, for an extended period of time, and then we can all go home.

 

Taran Killam  46:31

Nothing like it.

 

Samantha Bee  46:32

Oh, it’s magic.

 

Taran Killam  46:33

It’s the best. What have you seen recently? What was the last one that made an impression for you?

 

Samantha Bee  46:38

What did I see recently? Saw I really liked it the hills of California. Loved, and that was another one where I just went i i gotta talk. We gotta walk and talk. And I had been told mixed things going in, and I was like, don’t tell me anything I know. I don’t want to know anything. I don’t want to hear your impressions. If I don’t want to know anything? Yeah. So I went in totally blank, which is, and I just was like, this is every note is perfect in this play, yes. And this, the music is the story. It just hit me. It checked every box.

 

Taran Killam  47:15

Yes, I agree. The performance, the set, is one of the most stunning. Yeah, but the lead actress, who’s shame on me, the name is escaping her, playing both roles, like, just out of this world as world, are you easily swayed? Like, I feel like we are similar in our sensibilities, that, like, if it’s someone I trust, I can kind of be swayed before I see something.

 

Samantha Bee  47:41

Yes.

 

Taran Killam  47:42

Are you the same?

 

Samantha Bee  47:43

I that’s why I think I try. That’s why I actually try to be really vigilant, about not knowing too much going in. Like to have the surprise. I like to have the surprise of the experience. Like I want the whole enchilada. Yes, I really do. But then I kind of also sometimes look because, well, I will say this theater is so expensive, it’s crazy. It is. And I understand the cost, I really do. But when you go, it is an investment. It is like, multiple hundreds of dollars for two people to go to the theater. So you kind of, I will definitely look at, kind of like the team, and go, oh, do I this feels right, Oh, you know what else I saw? I loved Illinois. Did you see?

 

Taran Killam  48:32

I love that album. So, like, That album was significant for me in my early 20s, that and I heard it was just beautiful.

 

Samantha Bee  48:39

My God, it was beautiful. It really has felt like, I look it’s not like theater ever went away, but there has been just like a renaissance, I think, like post COVID renaissance of great theater so it’s like, I’m actually, like, actually started to sweat a little bit thinking about Illinois, because I did not know the album. I went in clean and I walked out going, my life is different. I’m actually different now, yeah, different person.

 

Taran Killam  49:14

Oh, that’s awesome. And through dance to like, that is so special, because that’s a that’s an art form that I can only Revere, like you can’t just naturally be a great ballet dancer? No, it’s such a hard earned talent. Such a hard earned like I am just truly, like in just pure adoration and wonderment. Yes, when through dance, you can convey story emotion like It blows my mind.

 

Samantha Bee  49:42

Yeah, me too. I’m just like, well, I know I can’t even remotely do this, so please take me with you and just like, look at their expression, like their micro movements are conveying, I just don’t know how they do that. That’s magical, too. It’s. Beautiful. Oh, my gosh. Well, okay, oh, we have to talk about high potential.

 

Taran Killam  50:06

Oh, great.

 

Samantha Bee  50:07

We have to, because it’s so good.

 

Taran Killam  50:09

Oh, you’re the nicest. I’m so glad you like it. I’m I can’t believe how much people are liking it, like, like, I enjoy working on it. I really like my character. I love Caitlyn. I love, like, being on a show where she’s the lead, because she leads with grace and and in good instinct and good sensibilities and like, it’s just like, truly a great scenario, but that doesn’t always lead to a good product, right? And people are loving it, which makes me so happy.

 

Samantha Bee  50:38

Yeah, it’s great. She’s great. You’re great. It’s like, did you do you do know each other before? Did you know each other.

 

Taran Killam  50:45

A little bit, no. So she was slightly before me in the Groundlings process. But we knew each other because our kids go, went to the same school. They’ve both moving on new high schools. But so we knew each other socially, which was nice, and then that’s nice in the craziness of strikes and COVID and pauses and stuff, we shot the pilot in March of 23 and then didn’t start shooting new episodes until, like, a Full year later, after everything had been figured out, union health, world wise. So, so it’s also fun that it’s finally out in the world. Because, as you know, the television process is like you do a pilot, and then that by that fall, people know that you still work, right? And this was for sure, like, I think they’re saying that there will be a job. They’re saying that our show will air, and.

 

Samantha Bee  51:46

So, yeah, might have health insurance.

 

Taran Killam  51:49

Exactly, I think I clocked enough points.

 

Samantha Bee  51:52

Yeah, it’s really good. And I was just saying to my producers before I came on, that I’ve never heard of a high potential intellect before, and I was like, well, says something. Never heard those words.

 

Taran Killam  52:07

Why hasn’t anybody said these words to me?

 

Samantha Bee  52:11

Guys should have mentioned that this is something, wouldn’t I want to know. I’m that exists.

 

Taran Killam  52:16

I’m that that’s so funny, yeah, because it’s based off of a French show, and that, that was the title. And I had never heard those words either. But then fun, like, I don’t know if I think it’s funny, when I was doing Spelling Bee, Mary Lou Henner came to the show. Oh, and I think she actually has eight, like, HPI, I think because she can recall every day of her life. And that was so funny. She’s like, you have to have me on that show. That’s my life. Oh, my, that’s so funny. And she said, What day? What’s your birthday? And I was like, April 1, 1982 I was getting out of a taxi in New York. I had just begun, like, recalled her full day. To me, it was a Thursday. You were born on a Thursday. I was getting out of the taxi, and I went into and it blew I watched it happen. Itwas amazing. She’s amazing.

 

Samantha Bee  53:09

I have heard her talk about that before. Oh, I didn’t realize that that was the exact same thing. It is wild. Listening to her talk about, like, what the weather was. Yes, in 1968 you’re like, What are you talking of? How is that you’re making? This is make ’em ops, and they’re not. It does feel like a bit of a curse.

 

Taran Killam  53:31

Yeah, interesting. It feels like there’s a Pixar movie coming for like, oh, the person who can recall, if you could recall every day.

 

Samantha Bee  53:38

Perfect recall.

 

Taran Killam  53:39

Yeah, perfect recall of new Pixar film is 100% coming.

 

Samantha Bee  53:43

Oh, my God, amazing. Okay, so tell me about oh my we’ve been talking for so long it has felt like two seconds. I fully agree. Oh, so much fun. Did you? How are you doing in the world? So crazy? Are you just like, let me make art. I don’t know what else to do?

 

Taran Killam  54:02

Yeah, make art. I’m, I’ll be honest. I’m not finding peace in that. I’m right. I’ve sort of, I feel I’m gonna be just fully honest. I feel defeated. I feel like a loser, like in a new way, I feel like a loser, and I’m trying to hug my child, you know, like, what? Okay, what’s real, what’s real? Like, I, I don’t want to catastrophize, like, I’m hearing that word so much, and that’s very helpful. I also, you know, am as much as I’m feeling grieving, I’m feeling gratitude, and I’m finding the gratitude and I’m finding the what is the how can I make something a little better? Right now, in front of me, right? My wife’s from Canada, and.

 

Samantha Bee  54:52

I know me too. Hey guys, we did get citizenship for our kids years and years ago. Oh, there’s we’re all dual citizens. And I was like, should we get our passports in January? Like, should we just get Canadian passports? Just for fun, just for funsies, because we don’t have them. Here’s a goof. Here’s a goof. Guys, should we go to Brampton for two days? Let’s go to sport photos.

 

Taran Killam  55:15

And then see a screening of Shawshank Redemption at the arrow theater afterwards.

 

Samantha Bee  55:21

Yeah, it’s scary. It’s it is really scary and.

 

Taran Killam  55:25

But you know what it is? Because, like, I do want to clarify, like, the I’m leaving this country, like I don’t feel that, I don’t feel that, and I don’t feel that that’s helpful. Like I don’t subscribe to that. What I am feeling now in my life more than ever, and it could be just age too, but it’s certainly the circumstance and climate of the world. I just want to go away, just, I don’t I just want to go like, away, like we go up to Canada and we and we go to the we have a like, a little we have a log cabin three hours North Vancouver. Great. And when I go there, the way my brain and heart is at peace, and the this feeling of accomplishment that I feel waking up in a log cabin knowing I need more firewood today, and going and chopping and making that firewood, and Seeing the accomplishment of the day and going today, I have earned my existence.

 

Samantha Bee  56:25

Now I’m hungry. My hunger is real food time, belly full.

 

Taran Killam  56:33

And the tasks, the daily tasks, are so satisfying, so satisfying. I’m in pursuit of that feeling more and more especially because I’m like, I’m basically five years out from being an empty nester. So that’s a whole.

 

Samantha Bee  56:48

Rright, yeah, oh, it’s like, finding purpose is always I’m like, Okay, it’s purpose time. What does that mean?

 

Taran Killam  56:58

Is that going to be my general zoom with peacock, or?

 

Samantha Bee  57:06

Just got a bunch of ideas rattling around my head, I love to put them out into the into a large zoom full of people order, ordering their Turkey clubs. On the side, exactly, yeah. Oh my god, this was such a damn pleasure. Same, same. Thank you so much for hopping on and you more me laugh so much. Yeah, maybe this is your purpose of this is the purpose of today.

 

Taran Killam  57:33

This is good. This is I’m leaving with a sense of accomplishment from this, from the zoom, yes.

 

Samantha Bee  57:39

Me too.

 

Samantha Bee  57:44

That was Taran Killam, and I had no choice but to look up one thing he was gushing about, how much he loved the movie theater at the White House. And I had to know how long it has been around. What the hell turns out, Franklin Roosevelt built it in 1942 Oh, my God, I so don’t even want to think about what the next president plans on watching in there. Barf, okay. Thanks for joining us. I am Samantha Bee. See you next week for some more Choice Words.

 

CREDITS  58:28

Thank you for listening to Choice Words, which was created by and is hosted by me. The show is produced by […], with editing and additional producing by Josh Richmond. We are distributed by Lemonada Media, and you can find me @realsambee on X and Instagram, follow Choice Words wherever you get your podcasts or listen ad free on Amazon music with your Prime membership.