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- Your character, Katherine Hastings,

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is the CEO of Payne Motors
in Detroit, like I said.

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- Yeah.

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- Doesn't know anything about cars.

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- No.

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- Doesn't have a car background.

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- No, doesn't drive.

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- Doesn't drive, yes, yeah.

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How true to your life is that?

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What is your relationship with cars?

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- It's pretty urban, I would say.

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I grew up in the city.

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I find it to be a completely
functional phenomenon.

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- What was your approach as
a comedian, as a satirist,

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taking on a female CEO,
a she-EO if you will,

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who is morally gray, I should say?

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Coming out of this world of
like, girl boss, lean in.

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It's awesome women are at the top.

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And it's like, women at the top can be...

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- Yeah, it's funny that you said,

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you just nailed it actually.

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And it's been, I wish that I had

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had this interview when
I started this process.

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Because I think it's not,
I mean, her gender matters

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in the sense that there are
things that I think, again,

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she's navigating probably

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in terms of bias and things like that.

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I mean, there are, what, 8% of Fortune 500

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companies are led by women still.

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It's a really low number.

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But, I mean, she's been
powerful for a long time,

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and her status and her
power are definitely

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the far more interesting
thing to her than her gender.

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- What does some chick
like you know about cars?

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You know what, I don't
appreciate that question.

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Any woman can know just as much about cars

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and be just as good a driver as any man.

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- This season is a little
more comfortable for me

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because I feel like it's a
little bit more about all of us.

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The character Katherine
puts her head on the line

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the first episode of
season two to the board

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and basically says, give us six months

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to get the stock price
up, save everybody's jobs.

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And if we can't, then I'll go.

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As a result, it's much more

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about an ensemble feeling
of us against them.

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This kind of bunch of idiots
trying to grapple their way

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out of public relations disaster

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after public relations disaster.

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- Yeah, I was gonna say it kind of mirrors

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your past as SNL cast member,
just like the ensemble nature.

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- I like being a part of a team.

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- Cool.
- For sure.

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- That's fun.

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There, there was a great
episode this season

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that dealt with abortion rights.

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And also like a post-Dobbs decision.

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So it's like, you're like,
oh, we're current day.

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- Where the line between personal values

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and company's values intersect.

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And I think the show does
that incredibly well.

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We did an episode last year

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about making a politically
correct commercial.

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We made, I think Justin
Spitzer, our showrunner,

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he cares, he's very interested in the way

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sort of social topics
dovetail the workplace.

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And we're in a really unique
moment in American culture

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where we're asking more
of our institutions.

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- We did a round up at Jezebel

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of all the corporate, we love women.

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And then it's sort of like,
are you giving maternity leave?

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And there is like a
dissonance, but there is

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sort of this funny new
requirement of companies

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to be like, we love women.

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And you're like, okay.

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- Right.
- What does that mean?

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- Tweet a rainbow square.

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Right, exactly.
- Exactly.

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So I just think it's a
really fun show satirizing.

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- Yeah, calls everybody out

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on that stuff I think terrifically.

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And it was interesting because
the reaction on Twitter

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to the episode was interesting
to sort of watch the traffic

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because people on both sides of the issue.

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And there are definitely,

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these are passionately held beliefs.

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There's no question.

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But the fact of the
matter is the workplace

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will have everybody and
all of those beliefs.

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And so the conversation was about

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how do you best handle that

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in a place where we all have
to come and interact every day?

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- Yeah.

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And also, what I was really struck by

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was the different generational responses.

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- [Ana] 100%

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- Being like, this is a workplace issue

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because it's a life issue.

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To being like, I clock out at five,

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I don't have to tell anyone what I think.

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And I was kinda wondering
what, just because it also

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is like a multi-generational
cast, how filming that felt?

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- Awesome.

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It was so fun, to be honest,

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because it was getting
right into the middle of it.

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I mean it's fun to watch,
it's fun to not actually

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be in the middle of those moments,

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and to be satirizing them,

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and to be calling out
the worst possible way

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that each of these things can roll out.

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And yeah, definitely multi-generational.

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And then of course just
in terms of gender,

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the men putting together
the Payne Women's Committee

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to make a decision about the
post-Dobbs abortion policy

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for out-of-state abortions.

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So, I mean.
- It was great.

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- It was super, super interesting.

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And again, theoretically dangerous,

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but really not on its feet.

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I mean, that was what
was so wild about it.

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- No, I mean it was like the whole, yeah,

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how do you help folks getting
out of state abortions

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led by men, and then
that was a whole thing

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of like men with good intentions.

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Which is like wonderful, but also...

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- Not that helpful.
- Yeah, exactly.

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Thanks though, guys.

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You were on SNL at a time

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that had just such an all-star cast,

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but also such an all-star cast of women.

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- [Ana] For sure.

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- And did you realize that at the time?

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You're like, I'm with the funniest women.

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I mean, Molly Shannon, Tina Fey.

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- And you just named the span.

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So when I came in, there
were just three of us.

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It was Molly Shannon,
Cheri Oteri, and myself.

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By the time I left it
was, Tina, Maya, Amy,

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Rachel, Kristen Wigg
came in the year I left.

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So it was a pretty like
all star situation.

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And I was well aware
of the numbers growing

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while we were there.

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Because we were very
outnumbered when I started.

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I started in 1996, and
there were three of us,

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and there were three female
writers, and that was it.

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And the rest of the
staff was decidedly male.

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It was very succinctly
straight male writers

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and a couple of gals.

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- Did you find that you partnered
with the female writers?

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- Yeah, Paula Pell was my
personal Sherpa through,

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I mean many people's, to be honest,

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spiritual, and otherwise.

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Through the show she
shepherded me and kept me safe.

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