Mar 24, 2026 · 1:15:40
Steve Carell on Good Hang with Amy Poehler
The Hang, in Short
Amy sits down with Steve Carell to talk Second City, Anchorman, The Office, and his new HBO show Rooster, but first she gets the dirt from Stephen Colbert, Steve's old roommate and Second City scene partner. The best story: Colbert had to understudy for Carell in the touring company with six days' notice, which meant learning baritone horn from scratch. He bought the instrument for $250 (a month's salary at Second City), got Carell to write out the fingering since he couldn't read music, then spent his entire romantic weekend with his girlfriend Evie in her New York apartment practicing Anchors Away and Taps. The whole conversation captures that Second City era perfectly, the rivalry between improv schools on different Chicago streets, working the box office for free classes, and Colbert's realization that comedy's "joy in failure" meant he'd found his calling. That viral Dana Carvey root beer ad clip comes up too.
Listen or Watch
Transcript Preview
Click any timestamp to jump to that moment in the video.- 0:05
Hello everyone. Welcome to another
- 0:06
episode of Good Hang. We have a comedy
- 0:08
legend on today, a hilarious leading
- 0:11
man, box office giant and um sketch
- 0:16
comedian who I first saw on the stage at
- 0:19
Second City and you know wanted to be
- 0:22
like ever since. Steve Carell joining
- 0:24
us. Steve and I are going to talk about
- 0:26
a lot of things. We're going to talk
- 0:27
about Second City. We're going to talk
- 0:28
about Anchor Man. We're going to talk
- 0:29
about The Office. We're going to talk
- 0:31
about the smooth tones of the baritone
- 0:33
horn. And we are going to talk about his
- 0:36
new HBO show Rooster out now. So, we get
- 0:40
into a lot of fun stuff. And before we
- 0:42
talk to Steve, we talk to someone who
- 0:44
knows Steve so we can speak well behind
- 0:46
his back and get a question from me. And
- 0:48
we are joined by his old second city
- 0:52
buddy, his um old roommate, a person who
- 0:56
was there from the beginning and who is
- 0:58
also another hilarious and famous Steve.
- 1:01
And that Steve is Steven Coar. Hello
- 1:04
Steven Coar. Bonjour.
