From The Comic's Comic

Episode #388

Addie Weyrich got an early jump on her comedy career, dropping out of NYU when the teenager’s work with the likes of the Upright Citizens Brigade, Improv Everywhere and BuzzFeed were taking off. She scored roles on episodes of Crashing on HBO, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Amazon, and Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell on Adult Swim, and she began appearing in national TV commercials. That jumpstart gave her the juice to go Hollywood, where she co-hosts a live comedy showcase, “Everything’s Great,” with Nick Kocher and Demi Adejuyigbe every month at Dynasty Typewriter. In 2022, Addie plays a wiccan high-schooler in the Hulu romcom, Crush, and co-stars in the film, Mack & Rita, starring Diane Keaton. She sat down with me in Los Angeles to talk about her career, sharing her life on social media via Instagram Stories, hosting an impromptu election party in a gas station parking lot, martial arts and more.

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Last I saw you was on my computer grinding on Jes Tom at a high-school party.

That’s right. Absolutely. Yeah, in the movie Crush. We’re loving it. And everyone else is loving it, which is really fun. It’s really really cool.

Yes, you’re a very supernatural wiccan lesbian in the film.

Yes, absolutely. It’s not a spoiler. It’s immediately in the trailer. And it also is all over my Instagram, for pictures and images of that. Twitter is loving her and that’s who I did it for. Chantal is for Twitter.

When you were in high school, would you have asked for a spell to be put on you to be able to play high-school characters well into adulthood?

No because I guess I would have used that wish on something else, because I have a chubby face. I’ve got cheeks. I’ve got youthful cheeks.

I can identify!

There we go. Absolutely. So I knew that these will probably let me play high school for a little bit, I guess, but I would like to not play high school as much in general. But I have another movie coming out this summer, and I think I played 30. I think my character was supposed to be 30. So I have range, Sean. I have range.

That’s Mack & Rita, starring Diane Keaton?

Yes, Miss Diane Keaton. And I play another crazy character, which is really fun.

So it’s an exciting time for you.

Yeah, it’s really exciting!

For our less casual listeners: Addie, you and I met thanks to…

Mindy Tucker. The one and only Mindy Tucker. That’s right. At SXSW.

I mean, there are many people who photograph live comedy in the year 2022. But back in 2018, and in fact, when I met Mindy a decade before that, there weren’t.

No she was the only one. She’s like, the one. It’s still a thing in the comedy community that like, you’re not a comedian until you get your Mindy. That’s like a big deal. Even Demi knows it. And he has never performed in New York. He’s barely ever performed in New York, and Mindy’s shooting our show on Saturday (May 7), and he’s like, ‘I get to finally get my Mindy!’ Oh, yes, absolutely.

But we met at SXSW in 2018 because you were working with Mindy.

Yeah, that’s right. Where I was not performing. I was just photo assisting. So yeah, this was maybe — sometimes I look back on things that I did when I was younger. And I’m like, You dog! I have to remind myself to maybe keep — maybe it’s because I got broken up with this week that I’m feeling like I’m tired and jaded. But…

I’m really just here to remind you of all the great things you’ve done.

Thank you Sean! But there’s a sense of I think like impostor syndrome gets harder as you get older…I started doing comedy when I was 14, like 13-14, doing improv. And then I started doing UCB when I was 16. And I was traveling from Philly to New York on a MegaBus every week. And I also was performing on a Philly Improv Theater house team. So I was like, in hindsight, I just was like, I love improv. I’m gonna do improv. I love comedy. So I’m gonna do comedy, and I met Mindy. Mindy took my headshots when I was 21. And she was telling me about this festival that was coming up, South by Southwest. She was like it’s coming up in like about a month. ‘Oh, Addie’ because she’s from the South. And she was like, it’s a lot of work. And I have to carry so many things. And it’s, you know, it’s really fun, but it is a lot of work. And it’s not like I’m getting paid like a TON TON TON of money because it’s not like we have a budget or whatever. And I was like, hmm, interesting, interesting, interesting. And then I went home and I emailed her being like, hi, Mindy, if you want someone who can be strong and sober and just carry your shit around, I would love to assist you and she was like, I can’t ask you to do that. And I was like, please ask me to do that. And so I just went to SXBW with Mindy. She was like, OK. We met in Austin, and we stayed at La Quinta Inn. And I had some of the best couple days I had ever had in Austin. And that’s where I met Nick Thune. And Nick Thune one night was like, ‘You’re so funny. Do you stand-up?’ and I was like, Yeah! And like I didn’t. Really. He did not know this, but like, I didn’t really. I did a lot of improv and sketch and I was a host on a interactive tour bus and I had done a couple open mics, but I did not like stand-up because I just didn’t. It was more fun to be a young single woman on an improv team that it was in an open mic space. But I was like, yeah, and he was like, when I come to New York, I want you to open for me and I was like, OK?! And then he came and I opened I did my first like 10 minutes ever, or 10-12 minutes ever opening for him and it did really well and honestly, I have Nick to thank for a lot of my solo stand-up performance, because I just said yes.

I’m not surprised, because I met you that same week. And I was like, who is this young woman? And how is she so confident and funny and I don’t know who she is?

Oh, my gosh, thank you. That’s a lovely impression I gave. That’s wonderful.

One in person. You’re very charming. And also, so then I looked you up online and I started following you on Instagram. Because this was 2018. So this is pre Tik Tok. And watching your your use of stories even then.

Oh, thank you.

She has such a mastery of whatever this form is. I didn’t know whether you did improv or sketch or improv, but you know how to interact with the audience as the camera.

Oh, fun. Oh, amazing. Thank you. So that’s one of the best compliments I’ve ever gotten about my social media presence, so that’s incredible. That’s amazing.

Well, you still have that today.

Thank you. Thank you. I do get a little overwhelmed on Instagram these days. I think I used to have a lot more fun on Instagram. I remember saying I love this app, what a fun app. Before there were like Reels and IGTV and like different things to do. I prefer doing Stories over everything because Stories to me feel like the most like improv, where it’s like if I start then I have to try to find an ending, and I don’t edit the Stories. So they’re just going. Which is fun, too. I do subtitle them. And that is because I had a crush on someone who watched my Stories all the time. And then one day, I was watching him watch Stories and I was like, ‘You don’t watch with the sound on it?’ He was like, ‘Oh no, I never watch with the sound on’ and I was like, oh, and in my head. I thought like oh, he’s listening to all of the awesome amazing things I have to say I talked about poop so much, like all amazing things I have to say. And so I started subtitling just for him. I want him to know, I want him to know. And I was like, Man, I’m making some really great content that he probably thinks is awesome. He probably thinks I’m so funny and so cool. And then I was like, wait, he’s doesn’t even know that? OK, I have to change my game up. He doesn’t know that I’m singing a song with very good lyrics that I’m making up.

So so what was your profile? What was your game plan for comedy when you accompanied Mindy in Austin?

My game plan for comedy has been the same I think since I was a teenager. Since I was like doing UCB. I told everybody this. I said, write, star and then produce my own TV and movies and have a production company just like Amy Poehler, Tina Fey. and that was like what I said when I was in high school, and I was like, I’ll probably go to NYU and then drop out after two years, because I’ll be working, and then I’ll go to Los Angeles by 2018-2019. That is exactly what I did. Which is hilarious. And I kind of forgot that part. And then my friend Colleen, when I got out here, she was like, ‘You know that you said that,’ because I met her when I was 17. I was in like a web series with her when she was in college and I was in high school. And she was like, ‘You know that you did exactly what you told me you’re going to do?’ And I was like, ‘What did I say?’ And she repeated that plan and I was like, oh my God. I have been Chantal this whole time I’ve manifested, put a spell, dropped out of NYU because I was working and then came out here in 2019 and it’s been great.

You mentioned Tina and Amy but they both came out of Chicago first.

OK, so…I also went through some traumatic stuff when I was 13, which I think is a big reason why I started comedy so young because I felt really comfortable around adults. And I think because of that, I felt like oh, since my childhood has kind of been taken away, I will just become so successful career wise, that it doesn’t matter that I didn’t really have a childhood. This is my teen angst. It really doesn’t matter that much of my childhood was ruined. But I will just, and it doesn’t matter that I don’t feel close to any of my friends. It doesn’t matter that I don’t feel like I can relate to anybody because one day I will, and by that day, I also will be very successful, career wise, and I’ll just employ all my friends and that’ll make up for me not being their friend right now, because I’m going through hardship. And so I was like, OK, but then my age became very important of like, well, I’m going to be the youngest UCB House team member. I’m going to be the youngest UCB teacher. I’m going to be the youngest to win this award because it felt like if I wasn’t, then why was I in this sexually abusive relationship when I’m so young? Sorry. TMI. I’m sorry to everybody. I’m doing great. I’m doing very well. I’m very happy and successful in Los Angeles. I did it. But it was this thing where I did think at first it’s gonna be UCB. And then like, what’s awesome and frustrating about life, but again, awesome, is that you never know how it’s going to happen. It just surprises you. Yeah, and I went to Mindy, That was a really cool step that I just followed my foot and followed what was fun. I think there’s a big thing of just following where it’s warm. Just going where it’s warm. And Mindy is just like the warmest sun to me. So I was like, OK, well, I can’t lose. I can never make a bad decision from going where it’s warm.

So you said a few things there.

Yes, go ahead.

One thing you didn’t say. But I noticed. Your parents are journalists/writers. And so I immediately identify as a journalist, but I don’t have kids. So I’m curious. How much did that game plan depended upon them enabling or supporting you?

They’re such enablers. It’s their fault. OK, so I was in a sexually mentally physically abusive relationship when I was 13. But like a boy. Yeah. That’s another thing I said. With a boy who was in the high school. It was not OK. We had to get the police involved. There was a restraining order. And my parents fucking crushed that shit. However, well, I don’t know how. You cannot pay me to be in that situation. I do not know what it is like to be the parent and have this thing happen and they were really scared. There’s all this stuff. And they just were so supportive and loving. They were like, You need a therapist, and I was like, I don’t want a therapist! And then I was like, OK, I fucking love my therapist! This is awesome! And I’ve been in therapy since because it’s fucking great. I’ve always been someone I do think that knows what they want to do, like knows what they want or like, I think I’m pretty quick to be like, I like that. I don’t like that. I only get indecisive with like choice paralysis with like food. Like what do you want for dinner? Because I’m like, food?! I don’t know. But my parents who are incredibly supportive, incredibly loving, incredibly stupid. They do dumb character voices. My parents, we all do characters. I didn’t know that other people’s parents don’t do characters. My dad literally has an old Italian grandma (impersonates her dad doing Italian grandma).

We do these voices just hanging out with no one watching and my parents will sometimes stop themselves and they’re like, oh, Addie, you had no choice but to do this, didn’t you? Because although they are journalists, they are very funny and they’re very good writers. And I think I think though, I’m answering your question a long way. I hope it’s OK. But it showed me that you could make money off of writing, off of something creative. Even if it’s journalism, it’s still felt like my parents are writers. And then also they, I think in turn, supported and felt more comfortable with something in the arts and then I think also really, I think they also thought I was funny. Like it does help that my parents are like, our daughter’s funny. This is enjoyable for us. And my parents have said that like, you know, if our daughter had done water polo, we would have supported her and watched water polo games, but thank God we don’t have to be in a sweaty gymnasium, and instead we can support our daughter by going to a really fun comedy show in New York? What? They love watching comedy. My dad, literally in the shower this morning was listening to Comedy Bang! Bang! Every Marc Maron podcast, so I don’t have to. I can say stay up to date. No offense, Marc. My dad loves you. But yeah, but like my dad, you know, has a huge friend crush on Paul Scheer and Anthony Atamanuik and all that, and he goes to watch improv shows in Largo by himself. And he’s out here now. He loves it. It’s not tough to get him to come.

I know you also have some, in addition to being able to portray a Wiccan I know in real life you have some martial arts skills.

Yeah, yeah yeah. I’m dying for people to let me do them. Either on them for real, in a fight. I would love to be in a fight. Just kidding. Please, do not hurt my face. But in a movie or in an action setting is that’s like, that’s a big dream goal. Getting action comedy.

Did you get into martial arts because of the abusive relationship?

Oh, no. Oh, no, no, I just got into karate because I was a five-year-old girl who hated wearing shoes and love to play a game called karate girl and would just jump on the bed and just kick and punch the shit out of my dad. And then there happened to be a karate studio called Martial Posture, which is amazing in Philadelphia, around the corner from my elementary school, and so they would pick us up after school. So it was also daycare, and I just started when I was like five. Got my black belt by 13. And started teaching kids and I still go and train in boxing and Jeet Kune Do.

Why would you do daycare or child care when you can do something specialized and learn a skill?

That definitely was one of the things, I mean, that’s interesting about the abusive relationship is like, you know, I think that was the thing that I also felt weird, you know, not weird, but shame or like embarrassment, because that’s the thing I think when people — just to talk about abuse real quick. That’s the thing I think people misconstrue about abusive relationships or whatever, is like, there’s also I feel like there’s love there, which is one of the hardest dangerous parts, so you don’t want to hurt the other person or like, I didn’t. I would have never like hit him. Even though he hit me. But I would never. The last time he was at my place, I did slap the shit out of him and it felt great, and my mom walked into the kitchen like what’s going on? This is. OK, I am understanding that this story is maybe like very upsetting and I’m like, this is funny thing that happened to me?! I’ve been so removed from it that I’ve written a pilot about it. Honestly at this point, it’s less about the abuse of it and more about how proud I am of my family of how we’ve dealt with it, and how I have, and it’s awesome

Because no matter what you’ve gone through in your life, it’s like, how do you deal with it? How do you react to it? Do you let that weigh you down for the rest of your life? Or do you use that experience to learn and grow?

Yeah. And then also, you know, other stuff has happened in my life where I’m like, Oh, now this is what I’m learning on, you know, and so it’s like I’m gonna, it’s nice to be able to let go and turn it over.

I don’t know how jaded it makes me that when you initially brought up the subject, I thought, Oh, it must be an improv teacher.

Oh, yeah, for sure. I mean, there’s a dark humor joke in my mind of being like, Oh, thank God it happened to me at 13, because it definitely would have happened when I was in college. Oh, this is what this behavior looks like. But no, no improv teacher. I guess I unfortunately wasn’t of age.

Comedy, much like the world as we’re learning this week. I mean, we learn every week. We think we’re making progress. And then we take a couple steps back where we realize that as much as we feel like, for lack of a better word, that we’ve woken up to what’s really going on, and that we’re all enlightened. And we’re moving. We’re moving forward. Society slaps us in the face and goes, Oh, no, there’s still people who like it the way it used to be.

I was telling my dad this morning, I feel so grateful that I do comedy. For me personally, just because I think it helps process so much stuff that helps keep it light and I think even like, you know, not not that I’m like, abuse happens, but I’m like what it does and there are ways that it’s progressing and stuff but like, for me to be able to laugh at that. For me to be able to talk to friends, or make jokes or like, I have a joke that I really like doing. We’ll see. I think audiences sometimes like it too. But I’ll essentially be like, I’ve been dating for a very long time. The first time I had sex, I was 13. And everyone kind of gets quiet and I go, I know. It was really hard because everyone in my class were fucking virgins! And then I give high fives. I give high fives for like a minute. Just I whoop and holler and like, I think it’s really funny. And it makes me laugh and it’s made other people. But it’s that thing of like, is it are we so glad that we have humor because even if we’ve woken and enlightened and it’s like, OK, well everything is not that serious. You can be empathetic for people. You can laugh at things. I think that’s really where the actual progress gets made.

Is that why secretly, or not so secretly, why your show with Demi and Nick is called Everything’s Great?

I think we get a kick out of smiling while saying shitty things, or saying everything’s great, when really the world’s on fire. But actually, it pretty warm. Kind of nice to tan when the world’s on fire. I don’t know, I think the three of us together have a little bit of like satirical joy. Does that make sense?

Like that dog meme in the fire.

I think our tagline used to be like: A positive comedy show that if you don’t like you can fuck yourself to hell, loser. Or something like that. Some kind of insult.

I would have asked how you knew when it was time to go Hollywood, but you already told us your game plan.

I did, and I will say to anybody who’s like, Do I move to LA? I visited for a week for the two years leading up to moving. So I visited for a week. I did the UCB Spank show out here. And I did another week where I just kind of came out to visit with a friend. And then in 2019 I had gone through some changes in New York where I was kind of feeling like I needed a break or you know, a mental change. Oh, I just opened for Nick Thune for five shows at Caroline’s and then I had done my first JFL Characters callback, and I hated everything I did, Sean. I hated every single joke I told. I hated every single character I told. I felt like I was doing things that I thought I was supposed to do, like jokes that I was supposed to tell, but not actually things that made me laugh. And people were always like, you know, you gotta find your voice and that felt like the most, I haven’t found it yet. How with superhero stuff, where people say you got to try to unlock your power. I don’t know, it’s just gonna happen one day and you’re so frustrated. And I remember hating my JFL set so much that I banged my head hard on this bar table, a couple times, with my dad right after it. He said, Jesus! Addie stop! Because he was there to help me pack because I’ve had to go to LA for two months. And it was this great feeling of, I got to be like, OK, I’m gonna go to LA and I’m just gonna try something new. Just restart real fast just from a two months visit. And then after I was here for a couple weeks I was like, Oh, I love it. I want to move here. And then my friend Nick Kocher was like, if you’re gonna stay, do you want to co host a comedy show? And I was like, yes! And he’s like, do you want to meet Demi? And then we met and I was like, Oh. So in LA it’s sunshine. And this really cool monthly show at Dynasty Typewriter was 200 seats in this beautiful theater with two people who I really admire comedy wise and really like. Um. Yeah! I’m not gonna say it was really moving for a job. I will say that I had a remote job. I was working at Simple Contacts, God bless them. And they let me work remote for a year so I could move out here with a job. And then I had booked a different acne commercial and that money also helped me move so it was like a lot of stuff working to be like this makes sense. I like Homer Simpson’ed into the bushes into LA. A lot of people were like, when did you move?

So you’d already done Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell before moving to LA?

Yes, I shot that while I was living in New York. In I think 2017 is when we shot it. And I sobbed when we wrapped because I had so much fun. It was the most fun onset experience I’ve ever had. It was incredible. In Atlanta, Georgia getting painted everyone’s a goofball. When I left they were making aborted fetuses holding machine guns as a prop for like the next episode and I was like, I fucking love these people. It was amazing. Yeah.

And you had a job and you had you had a national commercial.

I had booked a national commercial directed by Ali Pankiw. That’s how I met her and that was in December 2018. So I remember I was like sitting outside Semi-Tropic and I got a check for like the most of my money I’d ever gotten in one check. And I had maybe $900 in my bank account. And I was really check to check and then I got a big check and ran out of the bar crying. I was a day job working, at the bar, it was like 4 p.m., crying, call my parents being like ‘We’re gonna be OK!’ Which was really nice.

Because I’d been commercial auditioning from 2015 to 2018. So I got three solid years of like, building up my team. And then I think for like, from 2017-2018, I was doing like three to four to five auditions a week. And getting so close to a big national commercial. Still hadn’t booked a national commercial. I had booked like some like non-union or industrial stuff, then finally got SAG and I booked like a regional, but like hadn’t booked a national yet. And then it happened and I lost my goddamn mind. Commercials are so incredibly important for comedians. At least for me. It’s like how I make my money. It’s incredible. It’s amazing. If I win an Oscar, I will be thanking Differin acne gel. Absolutely.

That’s not something they taught at UCB, though, right?

I mean, I did. I actually my my first commercial agent, Phil Cassese, he was at Stewart Talent in New York. Him and Stacy Gallo, who is a casting director. They did a casting class, a commercial acting casting class at UCB. It’s also something, that, isn’t taught but everyone at UCB, when you see them in commercials you’re like, Andy Bustillos, how did you book that commercial? How do you do that? How are you making money? If there’s an improviser who doesn’t have a day job? Because they’re making money off of commercials, where you get to be an idiot for four days and then eat for the rest of the year? Everyone’s like, how do I do that? Yeah, yeah, we’re the best people for commercials. It’s very fun.

And now you’ve been in a Super Bowl commercial.

I’ve been in a Super Bowl commercial. I just shot a Tostito’s one with Dan Levy. That was gonna be really fun. And Yoni Lotan, who’s also a friend from New York a UCB guy. I did an AT&T one last year. I’d like to do obviously, would love to do more.

Oh, right, you were in one of the March Madness ads with Milana Vayntrub.

Yeah, yeah, with Milana.

And she was directing all those.

Yeah, she’s incredible. She Milana is maybe one of the most amazing people I know.

She has been on my podcast.

Yeah, fantastic. I lived near her for the beginning of pandemic and we met because I saw her dog throwing up grass, and she had this big sun hat on. So I didn’t see her and I was like, Excuse me. It’s COVID. We have masks on, so I’m like a distance away. And I’m like is your dog OK? And she was like, oh, yeah, he just ate a lot of grass. And then she looked up at me and then we both made eye contact. And we’re like, Do we know each other? Because she’d been in a lot of Nick’s, and in a couple sketches that she had written with Akilah Hughes, Nick Kocher and Brian McElhaney (BriTANick).

This was for Comedy Central.

Yeah, they were amazing. So we both recognized each other from having mutual friends. And then we talked on that sidewalk for two hours. Just talked for so long. I was like, do you want get phone numbers? And then, you live around this corner? Do you want to walk our dogs together? And then we just walked our dogs together every morning for about like a month, month and a half during that crazy time. And I witnessed her be like, I think I’m gonna try to shoot some AT&T commercials. I think there’s a way to do it that’s COVID safe, and then being like, I’m talking to my team. They’re also on board. And then another day, talk to Hungry Man talk to AT&T, they’re interested in this, until it was like, we’re shooting it and like she had written and found out how do it COVID safe, in her home, shooting in other people’s homes like Zoom and stuff. She just created a ton of jobs for people at a time where people weren’t working. It was amazing. Like the first new commercials out.

It’s also amazing because I don’t know if I’ve ever heard of another comedian who became a company spokesperson, and then owned their own product in a way.

Yeah, well, because then Lily kind of got retired, or they stopped using Lily for AT&T for a little bit. And then it was her being like, what if we brought Lily back? That maybe this is a nice time for her to come back. I think Milana, I think those commercials are really funny. And I think they’re really well-directed and written and I think she’s so funny and it’s like yeah, why not? And she is supporting the hell out of her family and future family and is like being like a fucking hashtag girl boss director. I hate this word, but like, you know.

Because she was doing most of it while pregnant. I don’t know if you know this as a woman (sarcasm alert), but sometimes you get a lot of unwanted attention, harassment or both. And both. On the internet.

No, it’s terrifying. I do not like it. I think that’s honestly why I’ve been having less fun on Instagram is like, I don’t know. The ratio of people I know who follow me versus don’t know has changed. And sometimes I don’t like the strangers.

So Milana has had to push back against that since playing Lily in those AT&T ads.

Unfortunately, that happened. But also fortunately, for the rest of us, she gave us an incredible example of how to deal with that. And honestly, if anything like that happens to me, any kind of bullying that feels really hard. I know that I can go to her and get some really fucking good experience strength and hope about that.

So you didn’t know Demi before starting Everything’s Great, your monthly show at Dynasty Typewriter. But you had known Nick. How did you meet Nick?

I knew Nick through Brian. And then I had met Brian in an Escape Room with other comedian friends. So I met Brian in an escape room, and we became friends and then…

If you’re going to network, do it in an escape room.

Right. You can’t escape, so we have to talk, and he’d be like, Addie, stop talking to me. I’m trying to solve this puzzle to get us out of the pharaoh’s tomb before you know, the spider monkeys come. But I met Brian. And we got on really fast. And we’re like, oh, we have like very similar brains. This is awesome. And we became friends and I became friends with his friends. And then those friends got engaged in Paris, and 15 of us flew out to to hang out with them. And surprise, you’re engaged in Paris. And one of them who was there was Nick, who’d come from LA and I’d heard all about him. We bonded on this Paris trip. His younger brother who has a girlfriend and we really like her and respect her. His younger brother plays Ultimate Frisbee, and so do I. So I kept joking that I was gonna marry his younger brother. And that so I was like, you’re already my older brother in law. And then we just smoked rolled cigarettes, like constantly. But it was a nice way of, all 15 of us are hanging out and then we got to kind of quiet time and talk and be like, Oh, I like you. You’re really cool. And so when I came to LA, he also was working from home a lot. And I was working remotely. So we were like, well, let’s just work together and I always thought that I was really annoying to him. I was like, I don’t know why this guy. I don’t why he wants to be my friend. It feels like we’re very different people.

So when he asked you to co-host a monthly show?

I was like, holy shit! What? I’ve heard him now say really nice things to me. He just does it in the same tone. And it is really sweet. I think to me, I’m like, Oh, if someone is so different from me, they don’t like me. And you know, sometimes it’s true. But in this case, Nick likes all of the things about me that make us different. I think that makes a really nice friendship and collaboration. So I think to him, he was like I’ve never hosted a show before and you’ve hosted shows in New York. You know, I’ve been hosting shows for a long time. I would come up with different shows in Philly. I’m gonna do my own this show my or that show. And so I know lineups and producing stuff and whatever. And we’ve got a producer Erica, who’s awesome.

Nick’s forte or background was in sketch, making videos, and he and Brian wrote on SNL.

Yeah, he’s like, I want to do more stand-up and I want to have a show. And Nick just thought Demi was really funny, and thought, Demi doesn’t have a live show, a monthly show. I don’t have a monthly show. If Addie moves to LA, does she want to do a monthly show? And I was like, Yes! And that was awesome because I immediately got to meet a bunch of comedians out here and that was a really fun way to settle in really quickly.

Do you think the three of you have distinct roles in the group show?

Yes, oh, yeah. Oh, well, I’m the girl. I’m the girl one. I’m the white gay girl. I’m the white queer like bisexual girl. Demi is black. And then Nick is white. And and so the thing is oftentimes…

So it’s all identity politics!

It’s all identity politics, but it is very funny. And then Demi and I really love punching down on Nick. Or punching up, I guess punching up on Nick. But it is very fun for us to be like, oh, so that means that you don’t like women, Nick. You don’t like black people, Nick. And Nick being no, that’s not what I meant. So a lot of our jokes are something bad happens to Nick and Demi and I smile and giggle. I’m definitely the character that I play with the three of us is I’m like, we’re all best friends, right? And then they’re like, yeah, we’re friends. So, yeah, mine is definitely the relentless optimistic character I guess.

Speaking of relentless optimism. As I was driving over here. I immediately said, Oh, that’s the gas station where Addie hosted an all day, all night election party in 2020.

Yeah, it was a 76 on Hillhurst and Los Feliz Boulevard. I only know that because I was like Oh 76. 1776. What an American gas station. In hindsight, just to see all the photos and be like, oh, it’s the 76 one, too. That’s kind of cool.

How did that end up coming about? Because you ended up on the news, going viral, that night. Not election night proper, but the Saturday after Election Day 2020 when they confirmed Joe Biden had won the Electoral College.

That was the morning, it was like 9 a.m., the results are in Joe Biden has been elected president. The next president of the United States of America. That’s 9 a.m. LA time. So I was at a park with my dog introducing her to her puppies that she had been separated with when she was rescued from a desert, and I got a bunch of texts and a call from Demi being like, ‘Are you home?’ ‘I’m outside with a bagpipe in my robe.’ Yeah, it was like this horn keyboard bagpipe thing. And he’s like everyone’s freaking out and I was like, I’ll be home in 20 minutes. I hopped in my car, drove home, dropped the dogs off, changed clothes, and I met up with Demi. Paul Scheer drove by and he poked his head out the window and he was like everyone’s going to Hillhurst and Los Feliz Boulevard. I think that’s where people, maybe it’s a parade or something, but everyone’s gonna go there. And so I was like, OK, so I told Demi that I’d just meet him there. So I went home, I changed into clothes that felt appropriate. So I had rainbow sweatbands on my wrists, and then like fun cool shoes. Drove. There was like no parking, but also it was like everyone was in that parking lot. So I was like, what if I just pulled into the parking lot? So I just pulled in and was blasting Fuck Donald Trump. And you’re about to lose your job song, on my car. And then just very quickly, I was like, well, I’m getting on top of my car. And then everyone was like, can we get up there? I was like, hell fucking yeah, you can. I own this shit. That’s the problem with making commercial money is that you don’t know that it can go away pretty fast. I ended up having to owe a lot of money in taxes and I was like, I don’t know how to spend money! Someone brought a speaker and then Demi and I just didn’t want to stop for 10 hours. Til the sun went down. It was fucking awesome. One of the best days of my life. And people called us Joe Biden supporters. We were like, Well, no, we’re not Joe Biden supporters. We are happy. We’re happy and it feels like there’s hope that maybe we as a group of people can try to enact change. I don’t know.

How do you maintain such momentum, dancing on your car for 10 hours?

Well, we both have ADHD. And I think that helps. And as I said before, I am 12. I’m young and so high energy and I don’t know I mean, Demi and I are both, we’re very extroverted in that way and like it was just too fun to not. There was never a moment. There’s always something more exciting happening in the next minute or so it was every time I was like maybe I’ll go home or like maybe I’ll go to the bathroom and all of a sudden more people showed up that I knew or just, a kid did a backflip off of a car the kid got there was a car pulled up. Family honking kid got out of the car did a backflip got back in the car. Everyone freaked out. It was awesome. We played Lady Gaga ‘Rain On Me’ and it started to rain and when she was like rain, on, me there was a fucking rainbow. It was amazing. It was a rainbow above the gas station. It was incredible. It was so Hollywood. It was just like the most fun. Why would I want go home? I just didn’t want to leave yet. I didn’t have anything to do.

Has this spurred Demi and you to do any other outlandishly public outdoorsy things?

NOTE: Addie appears at the top of Demi’s final “September 21” video, released last year.

I mean, look nothing else has inspired us. I mean, we’re doing the show. What is fun is about just with my friendship with Demi, too, is that we just are very similar. We just really love performing together, working together. And I’m really grateful that I met him and I think it’s one of those things where it’s like we weren’t trying to do anything. We’re trying to get on the news. We were just having a great time and we just love having a great time with other people, and I think that shows on the Everything’s Great stage. I think me, Demi and Nick all love to have a great time. For me, there’s nothing better than performing and just sharing something with an audience. I don’t really like online internet videos, for me very much. I love watching other people’s. And I admire them so much. I can’t do it. All the joy is gone. For me. I need to connect with at least one audience member, make eye contact, hear someone laugh immediately after I say something. Otherwise, how do I know this is funny? I don’t know. Yeah. So if that, you know, we’ll see what happens in New York. But if the right opportunity happens, we’re going to Scotland. I think we’re gonna get tattoos now at Inverness. I just texted him that he’s like hell yeah. So we’ll see.

You’ve got a movie on Hulu already. Another movie on the way in 2022.

It’s gonna have a theatrical release August 12. And then it’ll be on Hulu for December 20 for the holidays. Yeah.

So I already know you had a game plan. Is there more stuff on that list?

I’m working on a couple of exciting projects that I don’t know if I can talk, about but you know of like it’s been really fun to write. I feel really lucky with the team that I have. And I really love my agents and my manager and I talk to them frequently. And I ask them questions. I think because I got a manager an agent when I was like 18-19, I swung from a couple. I don’t think I’ll probably move from my team that I’m with right now. I don’t know, knock on wood. Maybe I’ll change my mind. But I love them. I think I just got very used to like being 18 or 19, just having questions, so texting my manager or calling or responding to emails. And then I would grow up and my friends would be like, Oh, I don’t know. I don’t really I don’t want to bother my manager and I was like, Oh, you feel that way. I bother her all the time, I guess but they like it. They’re like, we like that you talk to us.

That’s their job.

So they’ve gotten me like awesome general meetings with production places and it’s just been cool to have writing be read by people and then people be like, I want to make this. So the goal is still to write, produce and act in my own show. But also there’s some movie stuff happening. That’s cool. And stuff with casting has been going really exciting. And I think that the trick is to just find joy outside of career, because you never know what’s going to happen and like for this Mack & Rita Diane Keaton movie. I tested for the lead of that of Hulu show, Maggie. I was the lead for it. No one else tested. It was just me. So does that mean, I got it? I got to be the lead, the main lead, title lead of a show? And casting wanted me, director wanted me, marketing wanted me — this what I was told, but they did. And then studio. ABC was just like, she just looks too young. And so it was a no. The writers and the director, they were so nice. They’re like, ‘Can we Zoom with you? Because like we really loved getting to know you, we are so sad.’ And I was like, something better’s coming. I was like cool, better things are coming, because I tested for a lead the year before and I was devastated. And I was like what’s gonna happen next?!? And four days later, a global pandemic took hold. So it’s like, I don’t know what’s happening. And two weeks after I found out the news that I didn’t get Maggie. My team was like, ‘Do you remember that you auditioned for a thing called Mack & Rita?’’ ‘No.’ And they’re like, ‘Well, you booked it and it shoots in two weeks and because you didn’t book the pilot, you can do it.’ So, who knows? Who knows? I wake up every day, and I go, surprise me. You know. Surprise me.

Well, it was very nice surprise that you agreed to have me over.

Fantastic! Thank you so much for wanting to interview.

It has been a joy being your one audience member.

I love it. And it’s so much more fun to also do it not on Zoom. To be able to see you and host you in this little courtyard area in my apartment and say hi to my neighbors as they walk by with us in microphones.

Everything’s great!

Yeah, everything’s great. Yeah, thank you so much for having me.