Paul W. Downs
Appearances
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
Well, that is so funny. It's true. I mean, our first job job was on Broad City. And at Comedy Central, it was a low budget show. You know, we didn't know if it would break through. We didn't know if people would watch. And we kind of, it was like, I was almost kids in a candy store. You know, it was just us figuring out how to make TV because we had never done it.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
Yeah, totally. And we kind of showcase that in a way in episode four of this season, when Deborah just looks at one person and looks at Ava. Because I remember doing solo shows at UCB, several, which is embarrassing to say. I did several solo shows. And sometimes no one would be laughing except Lucia. Yeah. And I was like, okay, it's good.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
But yeah, we try. I mean, and that's, I think, the secret of this show's success is also that we continue to try and make each other laugh. I mean, that's what we do. When the three of us are writing together, oftentimes we all write the same scene separately. and then switch and just highlight things we like. And then we combine them. So it's almost like a third draft.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
And all I'm trying to do is make these two women laugh. So it is for each other as much as it is for everybody. And that was very true on Broad City. And it's still true on Hacks. And Lucia always talks about following the fun. You have to follow the fun. And we try and do that on set. And it's so hard when there's time and budgets and actors and crew and 300 people making something.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
To balance all of that and still have the freedom to figure something out or to follow the fun of something is a real challenge. But we are there for each other to remind each other to do it.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
Yeah, I know. She is so good. I think you're right. We often talk about the music of jokes and the sound and the rhythm. Mm-hmm. You know, sometimes you have to adjust an actor and help them make the sound you want. She always knocks it out of the park and then gives us more. And we're like, oh my God, she hit a note we didn't even know.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
And it's so true that she also is so gifted as an actress that she plays those emotional beats in a way that... We cry at monitor a lot, which is crazy, you know, still. Because she can break your heart and she... Yeah, she has been the funniest thing in so many things. I remember her on Frasier being so funny. Or in the Brady Bunch movie, I was like, the horny neighbor is the funniest part.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
I love the horny neighbor. It's so cool to have her show her range in the show.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
Well, so my dad is a comedy fan and I remember watching Young Frankenstein as a kid and loving it. And of course I loved Gene Wilder in it and wanted to be Gene Wilder. But I was really, my first, like my foray into doing comedy was to do Cloris Leachman's lines. Or Valtine, you know, and just like, stay close to the candles, the stairs can be treacherous. Like she was so funny in that movie.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
And Terry Garr is so funny in the movie. And Madeline Kahn is so funny in that movie. And so I always was like, well, I think the girls are funnier than the guys.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
Yeah. Yeah. 100%. And it's true. I mean, Gene Wilder in that movie is so good because it's so grounded and yet so screwball and so crazy. He's just incredible in it. But I felt that way also, I was a Nick at Night kid, so I watched a lot of Nick at Night and watching I Love Lucy or Mary Tyler Moore. It was always, it was always, it was oftentimes a female story that I liked.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
I also, you know, I was never a jock. I was never, you know what I mean? I never, yeah, I know. Can you believe it? Yeah.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
Unbelievably funny, unbelievably sharp. Wanted to... had things to add, was like, you know, I can do a Carol Channing impression. There was so much that she did.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
Yeah, I mean, honestly, it was really amazing. And we shot that at Television City, steps away from her stage, where she shot the Carol Burnett show, which we had, you know, asked permission to feature last season when we shot there, just to show it, because she's such an inspiration for us.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
And we needed somebody in this season that Debra Vance could get sage wisdom from and look up to, and like, who better than Carol Burnett? And the fact that she... responded to the show and wanted to do it. I mean, it was a goosebump moment for all of us. It was really crazy.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
That's good. That's good. I mean, you know, obviously like we, we talk about you and your shows a lot and we did a lot this season making it and, um, we tried to get it right, you know? And just writing the show about making the show was so stressful and so hard. I'm like, I didn't do five shows a week and have to do monologue jokes. And yet I, I, I viscerally, I felt the pressure of that.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
Oh, no, don't say that. We definitely want you on the show.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
I have to give him credit because, you know, that was a Jimmy Kimmel improv line.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
So you're very much alive in our universe. Oh, well, thank you. And I do mean it. I want to say it here. We would love to have you on the show.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
Thank you. I mean, a lot of that credit goes to Gene and Hannah as well for making these characters so real. I feel that way too. I mean, I know we write the show, but they feel so real to all of us. And I think they do now to them as well. There are some scenes this season when I think both Gene and Hannah do some of their best work in the show and we're like, God, that was good after.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
And they're like, I just said it because I feel, you know, I mean, now it's like so in their bones. They feel these characters are so real.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
She's incredible. Yeah, she is incredible. And she does like you're saying so much sometimes with no dialogue. You know, she's so funny and she's such a good stand up herself. But yeah, she's so incredibly good. And it's hard, I think, to be that good. I mean, obviously, your scene partner does a lot of the lifting and helps you out. But to do what she does with Jean is really incredible.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
It's called drag when you have cinder blocks as a swimmer. I was a swimmer, even though I wasn't a jog. Oh, okay.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
Yes. Yeah. She's somebody who, well, Megan is so funny and so, so good in everything she does. But when we, this is one character we kind of...
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
ripped from real life this is based on a couple of assistants that um people that we've worked with have had and that we've experienced right sometimes who are nepo and have entitlement but also a little bit of insecurity like having this extreme confidence and yet nerves is a really funny dynamic and that is a a duality that meg plays in some of her original characters so
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
We were like, she would be great for this. And yeah, we thought it was really funny to have somebody who is, in the beginning at least, both his assistant and his boss, kind of, because her dad owns the management firm that they work for.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
Yeah, that's the thing. I do think that's true in the entertainment business and in management. You have to sometimes think outside the box and be insane. And Jimmy is not insane. He's very by the book. He's very earnest. And sometimes those crazy ideas actually work. So weirdly, she is a better manager than she is assistant.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
She's terrible at being an assistant, but she has some out of the box ideas that, especially this season, that really do work.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
Well, we started, we were on an improv team together and we started doing sketch videos before we were ever dating. And it was in making those things because she's so smart and funny that attracted us to each other. And so we started dating kind of after we were already working together a bit. And, but she's my, she's the best audience.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
You know, she's the person that I want to make, that it feels the best to make her laugh. She has such a good laugh and I love making her laugh. So- And it's been a real cheat for us to work together, not just because we have each other as an audience and as cheerleaders, but also, you know, in this business, you don't see your spouse if you're working as hard as we're working.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
You know, we get to be together. I think it's different for different people, but I mean, you know, your wife being smart and funny, you know what it's like to make that person laugh.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
I hadn't until now. But you know what? She is a very good improviser.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
Yeah. Well, you know, funnily enough, we weren't we were not planning to get married. We were like, oh, well, we'll just won't get married. And, you know, we don't need to do that. And then there was a point in time when I was like, well, I want to I want to get her a ring and I'll and I'll I'll float it. I'll float it. Thinking that she'd be like, we've talked about this.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
We've talked about this. We're not going to get married. And she said yes. Because we had been together at that point for 15 years. So we had been together for a really long time. But we weren't going to have children. And so we did end up getting married. We thought it would be a nice way to celebrate our time together with our friends. I'm telling you, it's all improv. Yes, Andy. No kidding.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
Actually, no, it's crazy. We didn't find out. We, we had been traveling and she had missed one of her periods. And basically we found out when she was two and a half months pregnant. So the next day we saw a heartbeat and that was two weeks before our wedding. Oh my God. So we got married, came home, started season. That was season two. We were, we were shooting season two.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
And then he came early. Again, this is like, again, sperm and egg doing their own thing. He came early on his own time and it was while we were shooting. And so she did direct between contractions because she was directing that day. I know, I know, which is mentally unwell. I mean, it's really, it's badass and so cool.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
Yeah. I know we think about that a lot. We actually, you know, we talk about the show, like our first child in a way, because it is like, it is like raising a child in a way. Um, and then he came and now has a sibling, you know, and he visits that sometimes. And there's so much now there, now we have a lot of And they fight. And they do fight. Yeah.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
Well, he really wants to, he just really wants to go to Crafty. That's all he cares about. But now we have a lot of footage of, because Gene is also, Gene is similar to Tina. Gene really wants Luca whenever he's on set. And they have a great relationship and she threw my wife's baby shower.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
And so we have all these photos and videos of him on set with Gene and, you know, sitting at Debra Vance's desk as like an infant. And it is really cool that we'll have that.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
and it's just fascinating to me because that was a show business relationship in real life but also they were doing a show about that and then you saw all the ways in which it was intertwined and you know we go by Polyloo that's our moniker which is a nod to Desilu we don't have a show about our life but we have a show that is our life you play the bongos I wish Jimmy could pick up the bongos that would actually be good
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
He starts smoking a lot of weed and does the bongos because Kayla just drives him off the deep end. That might be actually a good, we need something new. We need something new for Jimmy.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
She is perfect. And I tell you what, we, you know, we've now, whether it's at South by or at screenings at the Pally Fest, we've, we've shown now a bunch of episodes to a live audience. She is. She always knocks it out of the park. It's crazy.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
You know, she comes on for one pop and always knocks it out of the park.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
Yeah. She's been doing it for a long time and she is so good. I'm really glad that she's a part of the family. And she named the character. It was a different name. And we said, she said, I'm going to base this on my aunt and my mom. And we said, okay, do you want to choose a name? And she said, Josefina. She was like, I have it ready. Yeah.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
I'm glad you feel that way because we admire you and your work so much. And, you know, Jen, my co-creator, interned for you and has amazing stories about that. Covered your assistant's desk and was very nervous and said that you were not only funny but kind. What? Yeah. Cuts on his mic. Depends on who. She's a very good assistant, I think.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
Well, now I can retire. You know, I mean, this is, I actually, you know, I always wanted to be on your show. Oh. And, oh, it was a dream. And so this is a dream. But, you know, I saw you once and I said to my wife, I'm going to go up and introduce myself and just tell them that I'm a fan. Everyone likes to hear that they have fans.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
And she was like, so you can, you can edit this out if you want, if you want to keep privacy and anonymity. All right. But it was at the Hotel du Cap. Yeah. Okay. So I'm at the Hotel du Cap and,
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
Hi, my name is Paul W. Downs, and I feel thrilled about being Conan O'Brien's friend.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
So no, because I, so we were actually, we weren't even staying in the main hotel. They have like a little annex that's less money. And so, and because I wasn't flown, I paid for it. And, but we were on a budget. So at dinner, I said to Lucia, I'm going to take all of the baguette in the basket. And I put baguettes in my pocket. I love this. And so we get back to the hotel.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
We had had some French wine and I said, oh my God, there's Conan. I have to go say hello. And she said, babe, you have baguettes in your pocket.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
your pockets are stuffed with baguettes you're gonna look like you're gonna look like jean valjean you look like you've stolen food just wait till maybe you meet him you meet him properly one day no i know i want to say no he's got baguettes in his pocket still honestly i would i love bread first of all she was wrong okay she's lucia again
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
I should have done it then. That would have been huge for me.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
Yes. I thought you were waiting for me to say which of the two I was married to.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
Hey, you're not alone if you read the tweets. You know, I don't. I don't, but I've heard. I write the tweets. Okay.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
It was just for myself, yeah. There was no social media. There was no YouTube, thank goodness, I think. You're 77 years old.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
That's what it says here. There wasn't even cellular, actually. Wow. Yeah, I had the stick and hoop, and I was entertaining myself with a stick and hoop.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
100%. 100%. And what an honor for you to say that. But yeah, I would entertain myself in the mirror. I wish my son did that because now I have a toddler who needs a lot of attention. And I was like, I entertain myself for hours, you know?
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
You know, I did, I always, I did sketch in high school. I did sketch and improv in college. And then when I moved to New York, I was like, you know, I want to be a, I want to be an actor. I'm going to just audition for things and I'll do standup. I'll try my hand at that because I idolized standups and always loved watching standup.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
I watched like, you know, Premium Blend on Comedy Central growing up where there was a lot of female standups who I admire a lot. And so I tried it and I found it really lonely. I found it really hard. Yes. I was also doing a lot of characters, and at the time, you know, I think there are, like, phases that stand-up goes through, and at the time, I would say, hey, I have a couple sound cues.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
Do you guys have tech? And they were like, what? They were like, tech? I was like, yeah, do you mind if I bring out a wig and a rattle? And they were like, all right.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
And now it's so funny because now I see stand up and a lot of people have PowerPoints and they have tons of tech and a lot of sound, you know, so it's different now. But when I was doing it, I for a minute and I mean a minute, I was probably four or five months after graduating that I didn't do improv and I did stand up, found it very hard.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
And then I went to the Upright Citizens Brigade and did improv and sketch because I missed it.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
It, it was, it was, it saved me, I think, you know, especially moving to New York and I don't know, you moved to New York, you have survival jobs. It's really hard. Living there is hard.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
And, um, finding people that were like-minded, had a similar sense of humor, um, was huge for all of us, I feel like, you know, and it really, we found our people and started to make things and the rest is kind of history.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
Yes. I mean, I I think about that a lot that I mean, we still do it. I'm so lucky to still do it with my best friend and my wife. But us doing shows and going exactly to a diner and talking about the show or talking about something we'd watched or talking about a sketch we'd seen, you know? And it's weird.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Paul W. Downs
It is like a special language that people share, I think, when they have a similar sense of humor. And that's not just comedians. Of course, it's a deeper level in a way for people that try and do it professionally, but...
Fresh Air
'Hacks' Returns! With Jean Smart, Hannah Einbinder, Paul W. Downs
Debra, perfect timing. How are you, my favorite client?
Fresh Air
'Hacks' Returns! With Jean Smart, Hannah Einbinder, Paul W. Downs
Marty, yes, but I have a pitch. What if you hire a writer? I actually represent a very in-demand young woman. She wrote for a hit show, nominated for an Emmy.
Fresh Air
'Hacks' Returns! With Jean Smart, Hannah Einbinder, Paul W. Downs
Oh, 2015. If you can believe it. Yeah. So we were Jen Statsky, Lucia and Yellow and myself. We're driving from Boston to Portland, Maine. They were with me, helping me and writing jokes for the special episode.
Fresh Air
'Hacks' Returns! With Jean Smart, Hannah Einbinder, Paul W. Downs
And as we drove up, we were talking about our favorite comedians, most of whom are women, and how so many of those women just never had the same opportunities and just didn't get the same respect that a lot of their male counterparts did. And so we were just talking about that phenomenon. And the three of us also started comedy at the UCB Theater in New York, which is sort of an alt-comedy scene.
Fresh Air
'Hacks' Returns! With Jean Smart, Hannah Einbinder, Paul W. Downs
And we were also talking about this phenomenon of Cool comedy versus, you know, what young, cool comedians might consider hacky comedy. And so we just started talking about this phenomenon and thought, well, you know what would be a cool show is a show about sort of an icon of comedy who is misunderstood by someone of a younger generation.
Fresh Air
'Hacks' Returns! With Jean Smart, Hannah Einbinder, Paul W. Downs
And so we just, yeah, emailed each other the idea for the show and kept talking about it for four or five years before we pitched it.
Fresh Air
'Hacks' Returns! With Jean Smart, Hannah Einbinder, Paul W. Downs
Yeah, I mean, it's funny because we pitched this episode where Debra goes back to her alma mater for an honorary degree, but then some of her older material comes back to haunt her. We pitched that when we pitched the show. And we didn't have exactly the right moment for it.
Fresh Air
'Hacks' Returns! With Jean Smart, Hannah Einbinder, Paul W. Downs
I think this season, because she's on the precipice of a really big job and sort of the stakes of her career are more heightened than they have been, it was the perfect moment to do it. But also it's a scary thing because... I don't think we've ever wanted the show to be a show about, quote, cancel culture, you know, and also it's such a it's such a sort of minefield.
Fresh Air
'Hacks' Returns! With Jean Smart, Hannah Einbinder, Paul W. Downs
And, you know, to wrap your arms around it is tricky. And I think if we ever you know, we want to make a show that first makes people laugh. It's a comedy. But we also want to make a show that makes people think.
Fresh Air
'Hacks' Returns! With Jean Smart, Hannah Einbinder, Paul W. Downs
Because if we have the, honestly, if we have the opportunity to do that, we have this platform, it's like, why not make something that makes you talk with the people you've watched it with or makes you think about something and reframe something you've thought about in the past? Thank you very much.
Fresh Air
'Hacks' Returns! With Jean Smart, Hannah Einbinder, Paul W. Downs
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.