Episode 519
with Sam Jay, Sean Patton, and Kurt Vile
Host Luke Burbank and announcer Elena Passarello share some go-to icebreakers from our listeners; comedian and Emmy Award-nominated writer Sam Jay (SNL) chats about turning a party with her friends into poignant content for her HBO show PAUSE; stand-up comedian Sean Patton pokes fun at regional airports with a tough TSA; and singer-songwriter Kurt Vile confesses to being Philadelphia's best forklift driver, before performing Flyin (Like a Fast Train) from his new album (watch my moves).
Sam Jay
Emmy-nominated TV Writer + Comedian
Sam Jay is a stand-up comedian and Emmy-nominated television writer. She was named one of Variety’s 10 Comics to Watch for 2018, and since then, Sam’s star has only risen. She debuted her first one-hour stand up special, Sam Jay: 3 in the Morning, on Netflix in 2020. Her weekly late-night HBO series PAUSE with Sam Jay earned her a 2022 WGA nomination for Comedy/Variety Sketch Series—and she was her own competition, receiving nominations for her work on SNL and That Damn Michael Che in the same category in the same year. Most recently, Sam starred in the Peacock comedy series Bust Down, executive-produced by Lorne Michaels, which she created with co-stars Chris Redd, Langston Kerman and Jak Knight. Website • Twitter
Sean Patton
Comedian
Sean Patton is “the sort of comedian who puts the ‘art’ in ‘fart’” (Chortle). Based in New York, Patton has appeared on Comedy Central’s Live at Gotham, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Conan, and Comedy Central’s The Half Hour. As an actor, he’s had roles on IFC's Maron, Comedy Central's Inside Amy Schumer and TruTV’s Those Who Can’t. His third comedy album, King Scorpio, came out in December. Website • Twitter
Kurt Vile
Singer-songwriter
Philadelphia psych-pop master Kurt Vile is undoubtedly one of his home city's most celebrated rock artists. A singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer, he is best known for his solo albums and his work as lead guitarist with The War on Drugs. He’s also collaborated with John Prine, Courtney Barnett, and Dinosaur Jr., among many others. Kurt’s ninth studio album, (watch my moves), came out in April 2022, his first release with legendary jazz label Verve Records. The creative result of two years at home with his wife and daughters after more than a decade of near-constant touring, (watch my moves) is a vibrant yet meditative album, propelled as usual by Kurt's laid-back charm and curious spirit. Listen • Twitter
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Luke Burbank Hey, Elena
Elena Passarello Hey Luke! How's it going?
Luke Burbank It's going great. I'm so excited for this week's show. We've got Kurt Vile, one of my favorite musicians. Sam Jay. It's going to be awesome. First, though, we've got to start with a little station location identification examination. This is where I tell you about a place in America where Live Wire is on the radio, you try to guess where I'm talking about. This place is at the western end of the St. Lawrence Seaway and it is home to North America's largest and farthest inland freshwater port.
Elena Passarello Duluth, Minnesota.
Luke Burbank [Bell rings.] Absolutely right. You just, I mean, you didn't skip a beat with that one. I didn't have to even tell you that. It's also the birthplace of one Robert Zimmerman, a.k.a. Bob Dylan.
Elena Passarello Not Hibbing. Duluth. Not Hibbing.
Luke Burbank That's, I've always thought it was Hibbing, but I guess Duluth is now taking the credit for being the birthplace of Bob Dylan.
Elena Passarello Yeah, well, maybe he moved.
Luke Burbank He must have. He was like a rolling stone.
Elena Passarello That's tru.. ohhhhhh!!!
Luke Burbank That was a brutal start to the show. I'm sorry for that. We should probably get to it. Take it away, Elena.
Elena Passarello From PRX, it's Live Wire! This week, comedian and Emmy-nominated writer Sam Jay.
Sam Jay A lot of people we talk to are not TV savvy, and that's on purpose because we want real people with real opinions and not people who have practiced opinions.
Elena Passarello And stand-up Sean Patton.
Sean Patton I get to every single airport early for one reason: unlimited fast food.
Elena Passarello With music from Kurt Vile.
Kurt Vile My my note to myself is literally just two words. It's: gotta yodel, you know, like.
Elena Passarello I'm your announcer, Elena Passarello. And now the host of Live Wire, Luke Burbank.
Luke Burbank Hey, thank you so much, Elena Passarello. Thanks to everyone tuning in from all over the country, including in Duluth, Minnesota. We have a great show in store for you this week. We asked the Live Wire listeners a question. We asked, What is your go to icebreaker? That's because Sam Jay's HBO show is really just kind of a rolling party. We're going to get those listener responses coming up. First, though, we've got to do the best news we heard all week.
Luke Burbank This is our little reminder to top the show: there is some good news happening out there in the world. Elena, what is the best news that you saw this week?
Elena Passarello Reunion story. I love these. It starts 20 years ago in Utah when Holly Shearer was a teenager who became pregnant and arranged for an adoption. Okay. She met and selected the parents who adopted the baby, Benjamin, shortly after his birth and then received a few letters for several years, letters and pictures from the adoption agency. But then, you know, time passed and the adoption agency closed, and Holly always wondered, you know, like, how's Ben doing? Sort of lost touch, looked for him, found him on social media when he was about 18, but didn't want to intervene in his life and his childhood. But she had no idea that he had been looking for her this whole time too. The way he was brought up, her name was always mentioned with gratitude. He knew he—.
Luke Burbank Wow.
Elena Passarello —his mom was named Holly, and they were, his parents were so grateful to her and but he didn't even know how to start looking for her. He put himself on an adoption registry. He got a DNA test, but he wasn't really sure how to make this happen once he became an adult. Well, fast forward to his 21st birthday. She sends him a text. He's at work. He drops the phone. He can't take it. He immediately texts her back and he's just like, When can we meet? When can we meet? And she, she couldn't believe that it was just immediately positive response. So his family—and her family, because she has went on to have two more kids—they all met at Red Robin. Huge, teary reunion, talked for 3 hours, rebuilt a bunch of relationships. Ben says he feels whole. You know, but the best part about this is Holly works as a medical assistant at a medical center in Salt Lake City, where Ben has been volunteering in the NICU (New Born & Intensive Care) unit for years. So they were parking in the same garage. They were passing each other in the hallway at the same time, and they never knew. And now, you know, this is one of those great stories of both people consensually wanted to know each other, and they did. He can just drop in and grab a cup of coffee with her every time he comes in for his volunteer job. Isn't that amazing?
Luke Burbank That's incredible. So you can just, like, walk down to wherever it is Holly's working and say, Hey, Mom.
Elena Passarello Yeah.
Luke Burbank Should we go down and get some of that legendary hospital coffee out of the machine?
Elena Passarello That's the only downside to this story is that a lot of their, most of their reunions don't get to take place at Red Robin. It's probably—
Luke Burbank Right.
Elena Passarello Vending machine hot cocoa kind of situations.
Luke Burbank That is incredible. I have a sort of a story of family that I saw that is the best news for me this week. It's about a family of kittens, though.
Elena Passarello Uh-oh.
Luke Burbank So this guy named Robert Brantley was driving somewhere in the back roads of northeast Louisiana. Now, let me just tell you about Robert Brantley. He is a professional shooter and I've been to his Instagram page and everything on his Instagram page is about target shooting and, you know, gear that you use. And like this is a very, let's just say sort of macho guy in the world, Robert Brantley, and he's driving to his, to the target range being Robert Brantley and then he sees a kitten on the side of the road and he pulls over his Honda and he goes to get the kitten and then 12 more kittens emerge from the brush.
Elena Passarello Oh my god.
Luke Burbank Like it was almost like they had a plan. They were like, if there's 12 of us, nobody's picking us up. You, Muffins, you go stand by the road.
Elena Passarello [Chuckling] Muffins.
Luke Burbank Get their attention—I don't know if any of the cats are named Muffins, but you get the idea. So he's trying to corral these 13 kittens into his Honda and he starts recording it on his phone because every time he has the trunk open, every time he puts one cat in, another one jumps out. They're totally not cooperating with Operation Kitten Rescue. This is what it sounds like.
Clip - Robert Brantley The tactical Honda was not prepared for the... [mewing] Ugh. Soft-hearted. This sucks.
Luke Burbank At the end, it's kind of hard to make out, but he says—first he says "the tactical Honda is not equipped for this." And then he says, "Soft hearted. This sucks." Like he's mad at himself that he's saving all these kittens. But he did. He brought them all home. As you might imagine, the Internet has gone—.
Elena Passarello Insane.
Luke Burbank Cuckoo for this. And all of the kittens, as of press time, have been adopted out, except a couple that were dealing with some medical stuff. But a vet came and looked at them and they're on the mend. And so all of these kittens are going to find a good home where they can live out their years.
Elena Passarello Was it just like a mama cat had a bunch of babies in the brush and, like a stray cat's kittens?
Luke Burbank It's unclear if, if maybe somebody had a bunch of kittens and didn't know what to do with them.
Elena Passarello Oh.
Luke Burbank I would say, don't drop them off in the wilderness. There's lots of places that will take them.
Elena Passarello Yeah.
Luke Burbank Like me. Now that I'm officially a cat person, Elena.
Elena Passarello That's right.
Luke Burbank I bought my cat a treadmill.
Elena Passarello Nice.
Luke Burbank My cat has more sophisticated exercise equipment than I do.
Elena Passarello You just have that jump rope.
Luke Burbank I'm going to start calling her Million Dollar Bubbles, because I will have spent roughly $1,000,000 on her by the time that's all said and done. But anyway, kittens being saved in Louisiana by an unlikely person. That's the best news that I saw this week. [Music plays.]
Luke Burbank All right. Let's get rolling with our first guest. She was named one of Variety's "Ten Comics to Watch" back in 2018 and it turns out a lot of people did that. They watched her and they've been watching her. She released a standup special on Netflix called 3 in the Morning, and she was hired as a writer on Saturday Night Live, where she wrote the Black Jeopardy sketches, which are kind of legendary. And now she's got a weekly late night HBO series. It's called Pause with Sam Jay and it's this really inventive take on the whole idea of what a late night talk show can be. We're very excited to get to catch up with her. Sam Jay. Welcome to Live Wire.
Elena Passarello Woohoo.
Sam Jay Hi. Thank you guys for having me.
Luke Burbank It is so hard to make a show that doesn't look like other shows because, like, almost everything has been done. But you somehow accomplished that with Pause. I mean, it's really a vibe. I'm just curious what the conversations were like when you were developing the show, like what you wanted it to kind of look and feel like.
Sam Jay We had a lot of conversations about what the show was going to be. You know, it was some trial and error of like fleshing out some ideas and then—first we definitely started with a feeling and we just wanted it to feel like how real people have conversations and, you know, not knocking any late night, it's a format, and it's a format that's worked for years, but it just doesn't ever feel to me like what people talk like for real. It just feels like this very canned conversation. And I was like, I wonder how we can just make something where it feels like how it is when you're like hanging out and talking. And also, how do we get some, like, real perspective and honesty on some of these, like, harder-to-discuss topics? And then I was just watching stuff and I was like, Oh, you know, maybe it should kind of feel like Playboy After Dark. I don't know why, why I was watching that.
Elena Passarello Yeah.
Luke Burbank Yeah.
Sam Jay So that was like an influence for sure. And then it was like, Well, what is my version of that? And I was chilling with one of the writers and we were having some drinks and talking after one of the writers rooms at my house. And most of the people who write for the show are like my friends and friends I've had in comedy for a long time. So we're just very comfortable with one another. And we were talking and arguing and yelling at each other about something which is normal. And I was like, It should feel like this. Whatever this is, this is how it needs to feel because this feels like the most me. Anyone who knows me knows that I will corner you in a party and scream at you to death about something. And so I called Prentice drunk, and I was like, I know what it is, it's like a party. And then it's like this and then it's like that. And I was like, Do you get it? And he was like, No. And I was like, fine, I will call you tomorrow when I'm sober and explain this clearer. And I called him the next day and I was like, no, like, it's a party, that you jump from the party to the interviews, because we already had the interview structure kind of there.
Luke Burbank Mm-hmm.
Elena Passarello Right.
Sam Jay And it was like, this is how you do it, because we already decided what the interviews are going to be in the world, and, like, we had already had that structure. But I was like, This is how we bridge these two things. And he was like, I'm down to see what that looks like. And I was like, Cool. And then we just tried it.
Luke Burbank We're talking to Sam Jay about her show Pause with Sam Jay on HBO. Season Two is out now. I'm curious about the, the production of the—because the thread, as you mentioned, of the show is kind of a party at your house where you're talking to your friends and, and then you go out in the world and do some reporting and interviews and sketches. But when you're talking to your friends in the party part of it, do you forget the cameras are there? Does it feel really organic or do you have producers coming around with like, you know, cue cards going, do you guys know how to get to this topic?
Sam Jay No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Because I wanted everyone to feel comfortable and like, not like they're on TV because I feel like that's how we're going to kind of get the best and most honest stuff out of people. So once we roll, we're rolling. I don't want anyone managing or touching or positioning my friends. There's no boom mikes in the room. A lot of people we talk to are not TV savvy, and that's on purpose because we want real people with real opinions and not people with practiced opinions. You know what I mean?
Luke Burbank Mm hmm.
Sam Jay We don't have a lot of cameramen in the room. It's just two dudes on roaming cams. Body, body joints, just, you know, moving around like a real party. It's okay for it to feel like you're really in a space and in a party space and definitely no cue cards. The people who come don't even know the topic.
Luke Burbank Wow.
Sam Jay They truly just show up and I know the topic.
Luke Burbank Okay.
Sam Jay I'm aware of what we need to talk about that day, but they just come to truly hang out and then I'll kind of just spark an idea. And a lot of times it just takes over the party, you know? And then this season my fiancee was very helpful in the booking of people, and so she knew everything we wanted to talk about and like she was just good at—she knows my friends and we have a lot of mutual friends and she was like, this is like a good group of people that they'll take to this conversation. So there's a little bit of manipulation in that way. Like, the jail episode, I just invited a bunch of people I know who've been to jail. We find our way into different ways, but I'm always super aware. But I don't even tell them.
Luke Burbank Right.
Sam Jay They just show up.
Luke Burbank This is Live Wire from PRX. We are talking to comedian Sam Jay about her HBO show Pause with Sam Jay. Don't go anywhere because we'll be back with much more with Sam in just a moment.
Luke Burbank Welcome back to Live Wire. I'm your host, Luke Burbank, here with Elena Passarello. We're talking to comedian Sam Jay about her HBO show Pause with Sam Jay. One of the really memorable scenes from this season. You're, you're riding a horse through a predominantly black neighborhood and you're going "the crackers are coming." I'm wondering, that's very different, performatively, from doing stand up in a club or for writing for SNL. Like, are you fully comfortable now being out in public doing stuff like that guerrilla-style kind of filming?
Sam Jay No.
Elena Passarello No.
Luke Burbank You're shaking your head, No.
Sam Jay No. This season is actually the first time we're doing stuff like this because last season, due to COVID, we couldn't. So a lot of the sketch stuff last season was super sketchy in a way that we never intended the show to be. We had always intended for it to feel very in the world. And because of COVID, we couldn't like do it that way, which is sometimes like a good thing because some of the ideas were, like, super mean. It was like, Oh, this was probably we shouldn't have done that. Like, I don't know if you saw last season, but we did a "GoJudgeMe" sketch where like I was judging people for their GoFundMes because I was like just going through this period where I was just like incised [sic] by people and their requests on GoFundMe. I just thought it was ridiculous. But that original idea was like, we were going to take real people with GoFundMes that we did not like and have them write it on a card and like sit in the street and beg.
Elena Passarello Oh my god.
Luke Burbank Oh, man.
Sam Jay In hindsight: bad. At the time we thought maybe we were making a point, but in hindsight it was like, I'm kinda glad that didn't go that way. So, but the show was always kind of intended to be that in the world.
Luke Burbank I see.
Sam Jay And like, we just had to pull things into the studio because of COVID. And so stuff became a lot more sketchy last season than we wanted. And this season we were really diligent about, like, let's try to make the show we wanted to make.
Luke Burbank Like, do you still feel kind of self-conscious or just like, ah, everybody is looking at me on this random street in Boston.
Sam Jay Yeah, dude, I was on a horse dressed like Django screaming. Yeah, self-concious about what was happening, for sure.
Elena Passarello I love all these challenges that this show is setting for you. You know, I'm assuming interviewing is the same way. It's not the same thing as doing standup.
Sam Jay Mm-hmm.
Elena Passarello It's not the same thing for, like, writing for SNL. Did you have a natural affinity for it or did you have to like go to boot camp to learn how to do it?
Sam Jay No, I just sat down and did it. And then people were like, you're, you're pretty good at that for someone who doesn't do that. And I was like, Okay! But I do have like a natural curiosity about people. And I'm just like that in my regular day. Like, I'll sit down and end up knowing how someone fully grew up. Like, issues they had with their par—because I just ask questions and I'm very curious about the makeup of people and why they think the way they think, more so than what they think. I kind of like to know, like, well, how did you get to this thinking?
Elena Passarello Yeah.
Sam Jay So that's just like a natural thing for me to just ask a bunch of stuff.
Elena Passarello What kinds of questions help you understand how someone thinks versus just their opinions? Like what kinds of things do you ask to know that?
Sam Jay Just life experience questions like what they've been through? You know what I mean? Like sometimes I'll ask someone, like, when's the first time you felt that way? You know, like what was going on? Like, what do you think sparked this initial feeling or did you always feel this way? You know, just Curious George stuff. I just be curious.
Elena Passarello Just curious, George.
Luke Burbank I'm curious about your time at SNL. I had heard that you were hesitant about taking the job, which I was surprised because for most people in comedy, that's like the dream.
Sam Jay I just didn't really, I don't want to say I was hesitant. It just wasn't really a thing that was, like, on my radar at the time. I didn't really think I'd ever end up there. I don't do sketch. I've never written sketch. Like, I just didn't see myself in that, like NBC kind of more family, middle America space. And so when it all kind of came to me, I was just like, I guess? You know, cause I just didn't know what to think of it. And then once I was kind of in the process, then I was like, I guess I really want to do this, or this could be really cool. But it just took me a while to warm up to the idea just because I never saw myself in that space.
Luke Burbank Wow.
Sam Jay I was still in this very much "I'm a standup and I do stand up and that's what I do" space. And I was looking for my next standup opportunity, you know, a special offer or something like that was what I thought was next for me. And this just kind of came like a train and like just came from the side and was like, What about this? And I was like, All right, you know.
Luke Burbank You did have a stand-up special that you released on Netflix, I think it was in 2020, "3 in the Morning". And that was—it was super funny, by the way.
Elena Passarello Yeah.
Luke Burbank But it also came out at a kind of a weird time where you weren't really touring because a lot of clubs were closed. But now, when you're out and you're performing, you're doing stand up, people obviously kind of know who you are from the HBO show and from, from the special. What's that like for you being a celebrity now? Like, how's that feel?
Sam Jay I don't feel like a celebrity yet, and I don't know that I ever will. I have to, I guess, give it up to my girl. She, she does not make me feel like a celebrity at all on any day, she treats me very bad.
Luke Burbank Your fiancee?
Sam Jay Yeah, my fiancee. She doesn't treat me like any type of a celebrity. Sometimes I'm like, I got to go, and she be like "do what?" And I'm like, make my TV show, you know, like.
Elena Passarello Right. Live the dream.
Sam Jay You know? So I think it's just, you know, always been around friends that I've known forever and stuff like that kind of keeps me in a, I don't want to say grounded headspace, but in a headspace where I don't always remember that that's going on. Doing this with my friends, too, I kind of forget, like where I'm doing, I'm just like hanging out with my friends and making fun stuff. And so I forget even that like I'm a face of anything, even at Pause, like, sometimes Langston has to, like, yell at me in the writers room because it'll be quiet and I'll be like, just chillin with everybody else. And he's like, You have to tell us what to do. And I'm like, Oh, yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah. I like that idea, or this is cool because I'm just like, hmm, I wonder what everyone else is going to say.
Luke Burbank That is like the weirdest moment of adult life, and you're having an intense version of it, but where you look around the room and you realize, Oh, wait, yeah, I'm in charge of this.
Elena Passarello Yeah.
Sam Jay Yeah, it's so weird. And then people don't really talk about it. I still don't realize, like, Oh, we're going to make this.
Elena Passarello Yeah.
Sam Jay You know, it's still just like dreaming to me. And then when we make it, it's oftentimes we're like, Oh my God, we forgot they're going to do the things we say. We're on set all the time, like, embarrassed because we'll see a joke actually in our face and be like, Why didn't someone say no? Why didn't someone—why is this like this? And then we're like, because we wrote it that way.
Luke Burbank Well, I'm curious what the kind of prime goal for you with the show is if it's being funny or being thought-provoking. And I know it can be both things. It's like a false choice. But I'm curious if there is one that's really primary in your mind, like what, what you hope people take away from the experience of watching this show.
Sam Jay I will, I will be honest, really no one's ever asked me this. So thank you for a new question. Because I don't want to seem like I don't care if it's funny. I care if it's funny. But I thought about this show and what I wanted to do with this show, and I was like, Funny can't be the priority. The priority has to be the topic and how we're going to get into the topic and what our goal is with this topic. Like, why are we talking about this? Why now? Why is this important for me to talk about? And what are we bringing to this conversation that hasn't been brought to the conversation before? So like, those are the priorities, and then, how do we make this funny? But if something doesn't feel funny immediately, we don't not explore it. We just challenge ourselves to find the funny within it.
Luke Burbank Well, you've done a great job with it. You and the whole team making the show. I mean, it is really...
Sam Jay Oh, thank you.
Luke Burbank Thought-provoking, funny. And for me, as you know, a white straight dude, it's just a view into a world that I don't live in all the time, and I just feel like it really informs me and really gives me a whole different perspective, so...
Sam Jay That's awesome.
Luke Burbank Congratulations on the show and all your success, you've got like 50 projects going and they all seem to be going really well, so...
Sam Jay Thank you so much.
Luke Burbank Sam Jay, thank you so much for coming on, Live Wire. We appreciate you.
Sam Jay Thank you for your time.
Luke Burbank That was Sam Jay right here on Live Wire. You can catch the second season of Pause with Sam Jay on HBO right now. Live Wire is brought to you in part by Alaska Airlines. Alaska Airlines offers the most nonstops from the West Coast, including destinations like Hawaii, Costa Rica and Belize. And as a member of the OneWorld alliance, Alaska Airlines can connect you to more than 1000 destinations worldwide with their global partners. Learn more at AlaskaAir.com. This is Live Wire. We, of course, ask the listeners a question each week. Considering the kind of party theme of Sam Jay's TV show, we thought we would ask listeners, What's your go to icebreaker? I think you said last week, Elena, yours is, Would you rather have, what, fangs or talons?
Elena Passarello Yeah. Would you rather have wings or a tail or. I've heard. Would you rather have fangs or a tail?
Luke Burbank Which one do you pick?
Elena Passarello I mean, wings, probably.
Luke Burbank Yes. 100%.
Elena Passarello Then tail, then fangs. I don't need fangs.
Luke Burbank Yeah. You can just fly away from anything threatening. You don't even need the fangs anymore.
Elena Passarello Although, is it a prehensile tail? That's a really important thing to think about.
Luke Burbank Oh yeah. Sometimes when I look over a very high height, I feel a pain where I think I had a prehensile tail, or my ancestors did, that they would use to grip something. Anyway, how about the listener responses to this question? What's your go to icebreaker? What are you seeing?
Elena Passarello I don't know why, but this one from Nicole just makes me laugh. Nicole's icebreaker is, Have you had COVID? What a terrible icebreaker. But maybe it's helpful I guess. It's a helpful icebreaker.
Luke Burbank Yeah. I mean, it is also kind of still mainly the thing we're talking about, right? I mean, it's ebbed to some degree in some places, but it's still very much a topic of conversation.
Elena Passarello Yeah. And everybody's got their own story now, you know? So I guess it does open up some anecdotal possibilities.
Luke Burbank Yeah, I could see that. What's another icebreaker one of our listeners likes to use?
Elena Passarello This one is a little more meta. It's from Henry. And Henry likes to say, how much does a polar bear weigh? And then the answer—it's an icebreaker with an answer—is, Enough to break the ice.
Luke Burbank Oh, that's clever.
Elena Passarello Oh, there you go.
Luke Burbank That would elicit, that would elicit a friendly groan from me. But then we'd be right into the conversation, Henry and I. What's another icebreaker one of our listeners would like to suggest?
Elena Passarello Jeff suggests the easy question, How are your kids? But if the folks don't have kids, you could say, How is your dog, cat, iguana, bird, or tortoise?
Luke Burbank Nice.
Elena Passarello Which reminds me of, like, something that people used to say when I was growing up, which is just, how's your momma and them? You know, just basically any person that you want to comment on from your kin, How's your mom and them?
Luke Burbank Oh, I love that. That's so Southern. But you're right. It's a catch all. It could be your pets. Like you said, it could be your weird Uncle Larry.
Elena Passarello Yeah.
Luke Burbank I'm going to start using that. People are going to be like, Where did you grow up? And I'm going to go, Seattle,.
Elena Passarello That's right.
Luke Burbank There going to go, Where's the accent from? All right. One more icebreaker before we move on.
Elena Passarello I love this one from Ashley. It's actually worth using, I think. What's keeping you busy these days?
Luke Burbank That is really well put, because, you know, we do have this—I certainly have this terrible habit of often asking people what their job is. And for a lot of people, their job doesn't define them or maybe they don't have a job or don't want a job. Like, that's not the best way to get at what someone's passion is necessarily.
Elena Passarello And you can pick a happy busy thing to say or a not happy busy thing to say. The person gets to choose the tone of it and it's so much more specific than How are you? Which is always mine, you know, how's it going? But I like that so much.
Luke Burbank Right. What's keeping your mama and all of them busy these days? That's going to be my new..
Elena Passarello Your momma and all of them.
Luke Burbank Busy these days. That's what I'm going to start saying.
Elena Passarello Momma now.
Luke Burbank All right. Well, thanks to everyone who wrote in those icebreakers, I'm going to use a lot of those. We've got a listener question for next week's show, which we're going to reveal at the end of this broadcast. So stick around for that. In the meantime, this is Live Wire Radio. Our next guest has appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon as well as Conan and Comedy Central. As an actor, he's had roles on Maron and Inside Amy Schumer. His third comedy album, King Scorpio, is out now. Here's Sean Patton, recorded in front of a live audience at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts in Eugene, Oregon, back in April.
Sean Patton Thank you. How are you?
Live Audience Great.
Sean Patton I don't like—do you know that moment when you're at it, when you're at the airport and your bag goes through the machine, and then, and then before it rejoins you on your journey, it zips into that other line because now they're going to search it manually. Right. That moment is bad for me because my head will jump to insane places in that moment. I'm like, Is there a pistol in my carry-on? Why do I own a pistol and why is it in my carry-on? Am I a bank robber? Why don't I remember robbing any banks? Oh, it's a bottle of water. I should have drank that water. I don't like, I don't like that moment because it messes up my timing. I get to every single airport early for one reason: unlimited fast food. I allow myself unlimited fast food in airports only. Why? Because of all the calories you burn while flying. Did you know this? When your body is above 25,000 feet for an extended period of time, it begins to burn 5 to 7 times the calories to account for the shortage of oxygen at that altitude. Did you know that?
Live Audience No.
Sean Patton That's what I tell myself. You know, who cares where the facts come from these days, as long as the source is confident? It's the era of the podcast. Like, I suppose, I fly a lot, so I suppose I appreciate the TSA, but they get on my nerves because they act like every airport follows the exact same set of rules and they don't. It's different, OK? Like I should be TSA precheck. I'm not, because I've made three appointments, missed them all, terrified to make a fourth one. OK? So, but it's like, sometimes you go to like three airports in a row, you take your shoes off, put them in the bin, but then you get to that one airport where you put them in the bin, and that's the day they're like, no, sir, sir, sir, sir, those go directly on the belt, sir. And I want to be like, Put them on the belt, then! You got two free gloved hands. I'm disassembling my CPAP for you so you don't think it's a nuclear warhead. But you can't do that. So I comply and I put them on the belt, but they still have to make that announcement that, ladies and gentlemen, your shoes go directly on the belt, like I'm the jerk. Makes me just want to respond in that same cadence. Like, then tell that to every other airport in the country, Asheville, North Carolina, Regional Airport. What do you even know about security? Your TSA is a family business. North Carolina is full of those little tiny baby airports where their TSA is like, We're tough too! We're going to get you. Like, like, there's a, Wilmington, North Carolina. Ever heard of it? Yeah, it's got the Wilmington, North Carolina, International Airport. International, Wilmington? You close at 10:30 p.m. You have two baggage claims. International? You've got Turkish Airways flights landing every week, backpackers getting off like we will begin our tour of America in its favorite city, Wilmington, home of Air Michael Jordan and five seasons Dawson's Creek. Like, they—was that a snort? Thank you. Every time an, every time someone snorts, a comedian gets a wish. So I appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you, Luke. I think that place meant to call itself the Wilmington Inner-national Airport. Like, we're inner—we fly in the nation. We're inner-national. But Bob messed up when he was making the sign, stuck a T in there, you know. I don't mind, though. Looks like a cross. Reminds me of Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. He was watching over us, even when we mucked something up. Normalize farting in public in 2022. It's about time. Let's all just grow up as a society, okay? It's something every human being has to do 3 to 15 times a day, okay? It's a necessity. Okay? And I know sometimes it smells bad, and that's the point. Wakes you up. You smell a terrible fart, like, I'm ready, I'm ready for the day. You think that's accidental? That's by design. Okay? Also, it's hilarious. It's a, it's something, it's a gift that Mother Nature gave us that we have decided was just not classy enough, but, no. Okay? If you can't laugh at a well-timed fart, walk into a body of water, short yourself out because your simulation sucks. You know what I mean? Like, I live in, I live in New York City, okay? I live where everyone thinks they're more important than everyone else all the time. Okay? And I was riding the A Train from Brooklyn to Manhattan. I like to be specific. I don't like to just say subway. Anyone can take the subway. I'm a, I'm a real New Yorker. I'm not just going to, I mean, I was riding the subway from my apartment at 377 St Mark's Avenue, apartment 2R, 11238. That's my actual, I just gave you my actual addr—that's interesting. All right. So, I was riding it to the West Fourth Street stop in Manhattan, just so you know. Now, it was an afternoon train ride, and it was a tense ride. Everyone's on their phones reading about, you know, what's going on in the Ukraine, reading about Elon Musk buying Twitter. Just everyone's stressed out about the ridiculous scape that is this reality. And a brave soul on board that car unleashed a beaut. I'm talking a perfect, just, [makes fart noise] in every way. A perfect raspberry rim shot [makes fart noise] it was the kind of fart you'd plug into a keyboard to make, like, the fart sound when you press that key [makes fart noise]. It was perfect in every way. It was a full octave. I believe it was in the key of G shart. And you could tell that person wasn't sick at all. They were in good health. It wasn't a wet, sloppy sound. It was a dry, had a nice audible walnut finish. Yeah [makes fart noise], you know, like, it was a, and you can see everyone hear it. You saw everyone hear the fart. But once again, it's New York where everyone thinks they're just the better than—no, I can't, I didn't work this hard to get here to react to a fart. I have followers on TikTok. I'm important. And we have to wear masks on the train still. And the masks hide the identity of the farter. There are little giveaways, little nuances in the face of thy who dealt it, that, you know, the flare of a nostril. You know? Right? The smirk, the prideful smirk, all of that's hidden by the mask. So if the farter doesn't just actively identify themselves, you'd never know. So no one knew it was me. This is my point. No one had a clue. Thank you all very much. You're amazing, you're a amazing crowd.
Luke Burbank Sean Patton! [Band plays.]
Luke Burbank That was Sean Patton recorded in front of a live audience at the Hult Center for Performing Arts in April. I feel really confident, Elena, saying that is the most flatulent-related content you will hear on public radio today.
Elena Passarello He goes straight to the fart.
Luke Burbank Unless maybe like Radiolab or somebody has a whole episode on why our bodies do that.
Elena Passarello Right.
Luke Burbank But as far as standup comedy goes, I think that's, that's the most you're going to hear today on your public radio station. By the way, Sean's latest album, King Scorpio, is available now.
Advertisement This episode of Live Wire is supported by aspiration, helping offset climate change by planting a tree with every swipe of the aspiration debit card. To date, aspiration has funded the planting of 75 million trees. Aspiration dot com. Aspiration Financial LLC.
Luke Burbank This is Live Wire, our musical guest this week, Kurt Vile, is a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, expert forklift driver, it turns out. He's also known for his solo work and for his time with the band The War on Drugs. He's also collaborated with basically everyone I love in the world. John Prine, Courtney Barnett, Dinosaur Jr., among lots of others. His ninth studio album, (watch my moves), came out back in April. It is the creative result of two years at home with his family. This is after more than a decade of near-constant touring for Kurt. Rolling Stone calls the album "a majestically mellow zone-out session." Very, very excited to welcome the pride of Philadelphia, PA, Kurt Vile, to Live Wire.
Elena Passarello Woohoo!
Kurt Vile Thank you.
Luke Burbank We are so excited to have you here. Big, big fans of your work over the years. I'm curious, the, one of the tracks off this new album is Mount Airy Hill (Way Gone). And I read somewhere that you said that that neighborhood, like moving to that neighborhood of Philadelphia for you, has been life changing. What is it about Mt. Airy that has changed your life?
Kurt Vile I mean, OK, I moved to Mount Airy, where I am right now, after a long tour. It's just like there's, I'm still in Philly, I'm still in the city, but there's trees everywhere and woods. And, next thing you know, you're up in the mountains. You feel like you're all of a sudden in Last of the Mohicans or something. It's, at first it's disorienting and then it's completely orienting, you know. But yeah, so like, life was hectic back in 2016 and it's since gotten hectic again, but I was always imagining being able to just stay here and like put it all, all the rest of the world, you know, keep it away and, like, just kind of work on music here because it's, because it's just the best of both worlds. It's just beautiful. And I'm still in the city, but, I got my wish. Not exactly the way I would have thought I'd get my wish, but maybe the only way I would get my wish just to stay home and be here, like two years straight.
Elena Passarello Yeah.
Kurt Vile More or less, you know?
Luke Burbank Right. You're, you're touring again, and you're going to be touring. Are you looking forward to that energy or are you kind of feeling sad about, like, leaving your, you know, your family and going back to that world of a touring musician?
Kurt Vile When I left, it was very hard. And my, my youngest, well, everybody was upset, but my youngest in particular, she was crying really hard when I left. And it was just for a press tour to go to Europe on the day the record comes out and things like that. And then I was going to go into hectic rehearsals with the band, and, it still is bittersweet, but once I was on the move again and performing, it's what I do. So it felt natural. So it's just about the balance, you know? Now I've had time to figure out, I just can't be gone all the time. I can't just tour nonstop. There's got to be breaks in between, you know?
Luke Burbank Mm-hmm.
Kurt Vile And when a record comes out, sure, you're going to go, I went on a six week tour. You just got to do it. But I'm not going to go on a one year straight tour.
Luke Burbank I've seen you perform live a lot and I've listened to your albums extensively, and in the songs you seem to be the most chill person ever. You just seem totally unperturbed. Like I always think I wish I could be as chill as Kurt Vile seems to be when he's singing. Are you really that way or is that like a, is that an act?
Kurt Vile I mean, I, that's my ideal self, you know, that's where I want to be, you know. And when I'm playing music, I usually feel that way, but I definitely get really stressed out. But I'm, I'm trying to get to a place where I am completely laid back. I like, like when I have anything to do, I like to get up two or three hours before I have to do anything so I can just take it real slow and be in the zone. And maybe that's what I'm trying to do when I'm playing my music. Except, in addition to that, my music is, if not always like hypnotic, you know, so unlike kind of just grooving to whatever repetitive chords I'm playing and that probably chills me out a little bit, too.
Luke Burbank I'm Luke Burbank, here with Elena Passarello. We are talking to the musician Kurt Vile. Got to take a quick break, but don't go anywhere, because when we come back, we will hear a song from Kurt. So stay with us.
Luke Burbank Welcome back to Live Wire from PRX. I'm Luke Burbank, here with Elena Passarello and Kurt Vile. One of the tracks off of this album, Mt. Airy Hill, Way Gone, you're yodeling in the song. Is that a first for you?
Kurt Vile It's funny you mention that because. Yeah, it's it's yodeling and the Hank Williams Jimmie Rodgers sense not yodelayheehoo you know and it's funny that you mentioned that because like right before my very first session for this record, which was a couple of years ago, at this point, it was pre-pandemic. It was November 2019 that Ken Burns country music document came out. And I was so stoked because and I was a little protective because I was like, this is like all the books I've read and all this music I've studied for so long, and now the hipsters are just getting it handed to them. But somehow I don't haven't heard many people talk about it, so
Elena Passarello No
Luke Burbank They're going to figure out what a wild man George Jones was.
Kurt Vile Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Luke Burbank When like Tammy Wynette took away his car keys and he would, like, drive his writing lawnmower to the liquor store.
Kurt Vile Exactly. But anyway, episode one, Jimmie Rodgers and. And I, like, have notes. I'm like, so inspired by my note to myself is literally just two words. It's got a yodel, you know, like. And I think it was reinforced like once episode three or whatever it was the hillbilly Shakespeare, Hank Williams, you know who I grew up on through my dad. Like, if you could pull off the yodel, you know, which I haven't fully done, but best I could in that song, I pulled it off.
Luke Burbank Yeah
Kurt Vile Best I could in that song.
Luke Burbank Speaking of of legendary musicians, you collaborated with the great John Prine on that version of "How Lucky". I'm wondering, though, like when you were working with him, are you learning stuff from him? Because, I mean, you were already an established musician in your own right. You know how to make your music. But is that a process where you actually learning things about about how to do music that you didn't have before?
Kurt Vile Of course. I mean, I'm so excited when I get to meet him. I've already learned plenty from him. I've consumed him before I met him. You know.
Elena Passarello Right
Kurt Vile That's why I want to meet him. So plenty of things through osmosis, but then, yeah, just hanging out with him. And it's funny, by the time he was in the studio to do the song "How Lucky" with me, which was a little bit a few days before New Year's 2020 in Nashville. He talked plenty, and in that moment I just couldn't believe he was in the studio. So it was like I couldn't even hear him. I'm like, uhuh uhuh, you know? But, you know, I could hear, but I couldn't process it. Like after he was gone, I heard what he said, you know, which is funny. A funny idea, but, you know. But true.
Luke Burbank Yeah. I saw somewhere I don't even remember where I saw this, but it was a quote from you talking about at some point in life when you were driving a forklift.
Kurt Vile Mmhm
Luke Burbank Did that ever happen? Am I misremembering that? Did you have a job driving a forklift at some point?
Kurt Vile Oh, yeah. I had two jobs driving a forklift, in fact. And the first one was I moved up to Boston for a couple of years while my wife was getting well. She was my wife then, but she was getting her masters and I had my reality check basically where I got a job. And I didn't know what the job was, but it was a dude in Philly who worked for the company in Philly. He got me this job. He's like, Oh yeah, you'll be packing boxes or whatever. And I showed up and it was it was just my reality check. I was working with a bunch of, you know, serious ball busters, like with the parted style accents, you know.
Luke Burbank Strong Southie energy.
Kurt Vile Yeah. Yeah. In Everett, Massachusetts, you know, driving a forklift, unloading tractor trailers. And by the time I left there in 2022, 23, I was like, I'm never driving a forklift ever again. But I did, you know, I became a master of it. And then I worked at Philadelphia Brewing Company and they had a forklift there. And I was like, Oh, I can actually drive these. And then next thing you know, I was just the best forklift driver in Philadelphia, so.
Elena Passarello Woo!
Kurt Vile They would ask me to use it all the time. You know, I might be exaggerating, but I feel like not, you know.
Elena Passarello Nah I believe you.
Kurt Vile but they, they couldn't believe how good I was that driving a forklift at that job became like I'd be doing way worse jobs in like Kurt you're you're needed on the forklift. And then I was like just it's almost like flying a plane, you know, it's it was fun.
Luke Burbank Are you writing songs in your head while you're driving the forklift?
Kurt Vile Yeah. I love those blue collar type of jobs because the repetitive tasks, I could always just write songs in my head. My favorite thing I wrote at the Brewing Company was in a black hole. I found a broken skull. Now I'm already gone, which is from my song Jesus Fever. But I don't think I was driving the forklift. I think I was completely hung over cleaning kegs. But otherwise it's still a great it was like one missing line in that song. And then I was like, Oh, that's it. Then maybe I. Maybe I threw up.
Luke Burbank That sounds like really tough. Hung over duty. Dealing with old alcohol remains in a keg. That's like the last thing you want to be doing when you're hung over.
Kurt Vile Right. But in another way, you could just take one sip of beer, and that helps a little.
Elena Passarello Hair of the dog.
Kurt Vile Hair of the dog.
Luke Burbank Yeah. Well, we're excited to hear a song off of this new album. Watch My Moves. What track are we going to hear?
Kurt Vile Oh, yeah. Okay, I'm going to play you "Flyin (like a fast train)."
Luke Burbank All right. This is Kurt Vile on Live Wire.
Kurt Vile Here we go.
Kurt Vile Yep. Flyin' like a fast train. I don't feel a thing. 'Til when I pull to my station, I just crash and burn, yeah. Playing in the music room in my underwear. Feeling fine and then my psyche crumbled pell mell stumble. I've been bamboozled. Better watch out because we got vampires lurking. Flyin' like a fast train. I don't feel a thing. 'Til when I pull into my station. Now, just crash and burn. Yeah. Alright, then. Well alright then. Flyin' acid flashback flying saucers, black coffee, pink lemonade from the faucet, sea and dragons. But they're so brilliant, baby. Come on. Let's go, tear up the city. No. I think we better slow it down. Ooh. Cooped up creature of discomfort. Can't touch a third. So I take a walk 'round the block and I come back and sing. Say what's wearing you down, kid. Well, try a little, lot of everything. Flyin' like a fast train. I don't feel fine a thing. 'Til when I pull into my station, I just crash and burn. Oh. Alright, Well alright. Alright. Well alright then. Crash and burn.
Elena Passarello Yeah! Wooo!
Luke Burbank It's Kurt Vile right here on Live Wire song off the new album, Watch My Moves.
Elena Passarello Ow Oww!
Kurt Vile Kurt. I put my lips near the foam for that. Hopefully there's not no siblings.
Luke Burbank No, that sounded great.
Elena Passarello Love it.
Kurt Vile Okay, cool. I put a yodel in there for you on purpose.
Luke Burbank Thank you.
Kurt Vile I rehearsed that yodel a little, but then because we talked about it, I was like, I better not be a wimp. I'm better. At least try and do this.
Luke Burbank Well, again, Kurt, thank you for taking the time to come on the show. Thanks for coming on, Live Wire, man.
Kurt Vile Yeah, thank you so much.
Luke Burbank That was Kurt Vile. Right here on Live Wire. His latest album, Watch My Moves, is available now. All right. Before we get out of here, a little preview of next week's show. We are going to be joined by another musical hero of mine. This. We're on a real hot streak right now. Just had Kurt Vile on. And next week, we're going to talk to Wayne Coyne from The Flaming Lips. He's going to talk about his lifelong obsession with inflatable vinyl bubbles and how that really helped out during the pandemic. Plus, we're going hear a special performance of the Flaming Lips song "Do you realize??" from inside one of those bubbles. So you don't want to miss that. We're also talk to the journalist Daisy Hernandez about her book, The Kissing Bug, which kind of sounds like a Y.A. Romance novel or something, maybe starring a young Ryan Gosling or something. But no, it's actually a rare and kind of largely misunderstood illness that often affects LatinX people in the U.S., including Daisy's own aunt. So we're going to hear about that. The book is really fascinating. And as always, we are going to be looking to get your answers to our listener question. Elena, what are we asking the Live Wire listeners for next week's show?
Elena Passarello We want to know what is the most memorable live performance you have ever seen.
Luke Burbank All right. If you've got your answer to the most memorable live performance you've seen, and it's not to just be music, it could be your kid throwing a fit. I don't know. That's a live performance of its own. Send in your response via Twitter or Facebook, where it Live Wire Radio. Pretty much everywhere. All right. That's going to do it for this week's episode. A huge thanks, as always, to our guests, Sam Jay, Shaun Patton and Kurt Vile. Live Wire is brought to you in part by Alaska Airlines.
Elena Passarello Laura Hadden is our executive producer. Heather de Michele is our executive director. Our producer and editor is Melanie Sevcenko. Our assistant editor is Trey Hester and our marketing manager is Paige Thomas. Molly Pettit is our technical director and mixer. Our house band is Ethan Fox, Tucker, Sam Tucker, Al Alves and A. Walker Spring, who also composes our music. And Viviana Castillo Serrano is our intern. Special thanks this week to everyone at the Hot Center for the Performing Arts.
Luke Burbank Additional funding provided by the James F and Marion L Miller Foundation, Live Wire was created by Robin Tenenbaum and Kate Sokoloff. This week, we'd like to thank members Gary Hersh of Portland, Oregon, and Amy Lake of Eugene, Oregon. More information about our show or how you can catch our podcast head on over to Live Wire Radio dot org. I'm Luke Burbank for Elena Passarello and the whole Live Wire crew. Thank you for listening and we will see you next week.
PRX.
