T. Sean Shannon (comedian. SNL writer 1998 - 2006)

T. Sean Shannon joined me to discuss his YouTube series "Baseball Card Theatre"; his favorite cards; going to the Astrodome with his six brothers and sisters for a whole day in the '70's; O-Pee Chee; his idol, his brother Charlie; having a funny mom; doing standup at 18; starting in club that Kinison, Hicks, and Andy Huggins started at; being influenced by Jack Douglas and Charles Bukowski; getting his first writing job on Paul Provenza's Comics Only; writing with Fred Wolf and others; writing for Comic Strip Live and In Living Color; sharing an office with Colin Quinn and Nick Bakay; writing the Dirty Dozens; going to all the baseball stadiums; not getting a scalped ticket to a game in the Tokyo Dome; heckling Gary Carter before he died; writing for MTV's Loveline before Adam Carolla; writing on Jay Leno allows him to cast Fred Willard in sketches; becoming friends with him and his wife; going to Italy with the Willards and portraying ugly Americans; Magic Hour; submitting to SNL and getting hired by Adam McKay; originally thought less than for being a Leno writer; writing a phone commercial wins respect of McKay and staff; Colin Quinn is his rabbi; writing topical cold opens with McKay; Lorne's rule to SNL's writers: you'll never be truly happy; Bill Paxton, Lucy Lawless; Monday pitch meetings ruined his Sunday football; JB Smoove funniest pitcher; Gwynneth Paltrow talks faster on a sketch to make sure all jokes get in; Tobey Maguire episode; Trampus was his wife's yoga teacher; naming an Ellen DeGeneres character his wife's name; Wade Blasingame; John McCain sings Streisand; Mccain real cool backstage; Derek Jeter; my packet; Bill Murray; asking about Chevy fight; Norm MacDonald, George Carlin, Jerry Seinfeld, Britney Spears, Dana Carvey & Queen Latifah; in audience for Paul Reiser; his dad came to dress and could not believe what was cut; Hugh Jackman making sure Christmas Kangaroo isn't cut; Barenaked Ladies have performance of "One Week" cut; watching the show at 11 and working their twenty years later; Tom Davis, Jim Downey, and Drake Sather