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Youve known each other for a long time.
How and when did you first meet?
We hung out no joke for ten minutes and were best friends.
We knew everything about each other, listened to the same music, and dressed alike.
So we moved in together in the East Village.
God, this was when, 2000?
Doug Mand:No, around 1973.
Think about that for a second.This was NYU.
Paid a lot of money for that!
Some advice: Go anywhere to college because it all means nothing.
I was like, You gotta get in this group.
So Doug became sort of the first generation of Hammerkatz, and we became a sketch team.
Mand:Then we graduated, and Dan, Adam, and I lived together.
Dan moved onto our couch because he refused to go back home to Long Island.
And then Dan met Rachel, and then Rachel moved in.
Bloom:I auditioned for Hammerkatz.
But Im quite a bit younger than they are.
Much, much younger.
Pally:You dont have to keep saying that.
Bloom:Quite young.
Mand:Were all so young.
Bloom:Well, not as young as I am.
And I later became director of the group, and Dan and I started dating around that time.
Pally:Then Rachel moved onto our couch with Dan.
Mand:Thats when it got really fun.[Laughs.]
Mand:And he hada lotof notes.[Laughs.]
Pally:But the biggest note he had was, Youre really funny.
Dan kept me going for a while.
Mand:I was like, Hes notthatfunny.
Dan and Doug, since then, youve had an illustrious TV-writing career.
I dont think thats too big of a word for it, do you?
Mand:No, its perfect.
What made you want to venture into feature writing, and what inspiredMost Likely to Murder?
It has shades ofRear Window.
Its actually kind of an asshole-millennialRear Window.
Gregor:Okay, thats going on the poster!
Pally:Thank you for calling it millennial!
Mand:Were going take that and run with it.
Like,Home for the Holidays.Beautiful Girlswas also something I fucking loved.
This isnt on TV, I can curse, right?
Ive been cursing by accident in a lot of our interviews.
I got bleeped on live TV.
Mand:Youre a bad boy.
Gregor:Ooh, danger zone.
It wasnt a great draft, and we quickly realized that was not a good story line.
Youll never be the person you used to be.
How do we make that an active drive for a story?
And did you work together to write what you lovingly call the Vomit Draft?
Did you write side by side?
Did each of you take a pass?
Mand:We generally always outline pretty extensively.
It takes a long time; its pretty meticulous.
And the only rule for the Vomit Draft is to keep writing.
You have to just finish.
It doesnt have to be funny.
It just has to be what we said in the outline.
Gregor:A lot of the dialogue is often, I am going to walk to this set now.
Mand:Im angry, and this is the part of the script where Im changing my view.
Gregor:And thats okay.
Gregor:I will politely reject that premise.[Laughs.
]Obviously, there are differences between multi- and single-cam TV and film.
But the bottom line is, you write a story.
You are telling a beginning, middle, and end.
The character needs a problem and to confront that problem and change over the course of the resolution.
Pally:This is like the Q&A version of [theSaturday Night Livesketch] Schweddy Balls.
When I think Schweddy Balls, I think highly informative.
Mand:Look no one came here to hear Adam Pally and Rachel Bloom talk.
They want to talk to the two schlubby writers who no one knows.
No one cares aboutCrazy Ex-GirlfriendandHappy Endings.
Bloom:I have a request.
Could I have my coat?
Im only wearing this like Mediterranean skank schmatta dress.
Pally:You consider that Mediterranean?
Bloom:Its Mediterranean.
Im wearing silicone nipple covers so you guys dont see any party hats.
Adam, in what ways do you relate to your character, Billy?
Pally:I relate to him being frustrated, I think.
I also think Billy is a version of me that could have happened to me very easily.
I look at a lot of my characters like that.
We definitely empathize with him.
Even in like the slightest dark caverns of the movie I think theres empathy.
I was feeling very cold.
And we all say things we dont mean when were cold.
I think I Times Upd up myself!
So Rachel, this is your major feature film as an actor.
Mand:So well call this this first one.
How did it feel step away from Rebecca Bunch for a bit?
Did it feel like you cheating on her?
Gregor:The dog was the biggest part.
Bloom:Really, I was kind of incidental.
Oh, wheres the dog tonight?
Youre here to see the dog.
Thats weird.[Laughs.
I didnt drink or smoke.
And Im not just saying that because my parents are here.
But I really didnt.
And I didnt have sex.
And thats why youre a success today, by the way.
Youre such a good model for young women.
Bloom:Because I waited, kids!
Pally:Id like to be the opposite of that test theory.
And Daddy turned out okay.
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Bloom:But no, it did not feel like cheating on Rebecca.
Dan, this is also your first feature as a director.
Gregor:Actually the first day that was stressful was when we were still in preproduction and still casting.
[Silicon Valleyactor] Zach Woods was the first person we thought about.
Hed have been great.
But it would have been a very different movie.
And so, we asked for and actually got Vincent Kartheiser.
It was so shocking to us that he agreed.
That caused a panic attack for sure, like, Hes a real dramatic actor.
He was onMad Men.
Mand:And we didnt know him.
Rachel and Adam are brilliant actors, but we know them.
Vincent we did not know.
Oh God, we should probably shower.
Are we dressed properly to talk to him?
I think Im an idiot.
So, Im not going talk.
Gregor:We are not from like, acting schools.
Bloom:[In a low sultry voice.]
Well,someof us are.
Pally:Yes, speak for yourself, Daniel.
Gregor:Ok fine, thewritersfrom this movie were not from acting schools.
And so, it was a very different vibe and a new pressure Id never felt before.
But I just prepped the shit out of it.
I got really intense about making sure I really knew exactly what I wanted.
I probably fucked up the first half of the first day.
The AD was like, You are three hours behind.
Youre not going make your day.
Then very quickly I revamped my thinking.
I was like, Oh, Ive done this a billion times before.
Music videos and short films and sketches.
This is just a different format.
Were there any scenes you changed during filming that maybe werent working?
Gregor:The ending was both written and improvised from Rachels notes.
Wed left it too vague and then they were in the relationship.
And then suddenly hes inFatal Attraction.Thats what Id love to see.
Bloom:And were all eventually going die.
I think that was just calledRoom, Adam.The Roomis different movie entirely.
Bloom:But Tommy Wiseau was definitely in both movies.
Rachel, what can you tell us about the fourth and final season ofCrazy Ex-Girlfriend?
Bloom:Oh my God.
Weve only done one day of writing.
And those are what exactly?
Mand:Rebecca was dead all along![Laughs.]
I did just break some news.
Pally:Someone call Nikki Finke!
Theyve done wonderful work.
Seeing them in the context of a writers room theyre fucking amazing.
Pally:Ooh, I like this.
Also my FYI, episodic TV quote is sky-high now.
Bloom:Well, I dont think theres a role in which you cant play a Jew.
So, Ill say tentatively I feel like youd be a good son for Patti LuPone, the rabbi.
Pally:I love Patti LuPone.
Mand:you could sing, too.
Pally:I got a decent baritone.
You heard it here!
