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What Now? With Trevor NoahWelcome To The Julia Louis-Dreyfus Brain Museum | What Now? with Trevor Noah Podcast
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WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT
Julia Louis-Dreyfus on Failure, Grief, Comedy and Tuesday
- Louis-Dreyfus describes a career driven by ambition, luck and a search for work that excites her, and says she has no regrets, including about her hard time on SNL.
- They discuss her film Tuesday, a magical-realism fairy tale about a mother, her daughter and Death in the form of a macaw, which Louis-Dreyfus calls more dramatic than comedic.
- Both reflect on loss and grief; Louis-Dreyfus says relationships with lost loved ones shift rather than end, and Noah describes the strange mix of crying and smiling after his grandmother died.
- They explore what makes physical comedy funny, using her Veep almond scene as an example, and Louis-Dreyfus explains why she started Wiser Than Me out of curiosity about older women's invisibility.
- They discuss comedy evolving with society, balancing audience reaction with staying true to yourself, and the idea that laughter can bridge political divides.
IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING
5 ideasFailure doesn't have to mean regret
Louis-Dreyfus says she stunk on SNL but learned a great deal and met many people there. She bounces back by walking away from a setback completely and focusing on something else.
She seeks excitement, not novelty
Rather than deliberately breaking molds, she says she looks for work that gets her going, comparing it to fishing because you don't know what will bite.
Grief shifts a relationship rather than ending it
Louis-Dreyfus says she still feels a mysterious, spiritual relationship with her late father. Noah adds that what we fear losing is the part of ourselves the other person holds.
Physical comedy can come from an unintended, ludicrous action
Noah argues that falling is funny because nobody intends a joke, and Louis-Dreyfus recounts her scream knocking Tony Hale out of frame on Veep, an idea she added in rehearsal.
Create from within while acknowledging others
Louis-Dreyfus says caring too much about reception paralyzes you, so work should come from what appeals to you. Noah compares this to driving toward your goal while acknowledging other people on the road.
WORDS WORTH SAVING
5 quotesI would say wear sunscreen. I'm not kidding you. Wear sunscreen.
— Julia Louis-Dreyfus
It's not like the relationship with the person that you've lost has ended. It's just shifted.
— Julia Louis-Dreyfus
If you start to care too much about how it's received, you will be paralyzed by that.
— Julia Louis-Dreyfus
I think what's happened in the world is we are, in many ways we've become so insulated from each other that we no longer believe that other people are actually moving in a direction that is similar to us.
— Trevor Noah
If you're always performing, when are you absorbing what you're gonna put into the performance?
— Trevor Noah
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SPEAKERS
Trevor Noah
hostComedian and podcast host of "What Now? with Trevor Noah."
Julia Louis-Dreyfus
guestActor and comedian, known for roles including "Veep," and host of the podcast "Wiser Than Me."
High quality AI-generated summary created from speaker-labeled transcript.
