Rachel Saya Jacobson (writer / producer Desus & Mero)

Rachel Saya Jacobson joined me to discuss her tweets, early influences including Laurel & Hardy, Charlie Chaplin, and vaudeville; always performing and creating; Kurt Vonnegut; going to The Tonight Show offices and seeing that's what she wants to do; the immediacy of late night; having a Jewish comedy writer dad and a Japanese mom; her father's always doing bits; going to Emerson; writing for the Hyena, its satirical newspaper; writers room vs. the isolation of writing alone; her duties as an associate producer; advice from the head writer; her first sketch, a parody of Last Week Tonight; not getting an internship at Samantha Bee; her dream dinner with Eleanor Roosevelt and O.J. Simpsons; not speaking Japanese; working overseas; Benny Hill Show and Yakkety Sax; podcasts; younger generation knowing Buster Keaton; working in copywriting during the strike; the days of a writer making a living on one show are over; picketing; Bill Maher; writing for the Independent Spirit Awards and having a joe go viral; her favorite shows now - Succession, Severance and Beef; working on animated series like Big Mouth; meeting hero Mike Drucker on the picket line and Joe Mande doing stand up; working with Josh Gondelman and Opus Moreschi; buying "too much tuna" for Nick Kroll; Chelsea Perretti; Adam Sandler; Alice Ju; Jews in Hollywood; Zach Effron; Adam Sandler's bat Mitzvah movie and "80 for Brady"; her dad is semi-retired but still writing; replacing a late night show with a game show; not thinking she would accept