Dan Pashman: Hey there, Dan here. Today’s Reheat is my conversation with Andy Richter. When I spoke with him back in 2017, he was best known as Conan O’Brien’s late night sidekick. Now, he hosts the podcast The 3 Questions, and he'll also be hosting a new show  The Andy Richter Call-in Show, on SiriusXM’s Conan O’Brien Radio. The show premieres on Wednesday June 26th. And before we get into this Reheat, I do want to give you a heads up, this episode contains discussions of dieting, weight loss, and body image.

Dan Pashman: Now, this past spring, Andy and I reunited in L.A., where he moderated my book tour event. If you want to hear the best bits from that show, and my other book tour events, we are releasing a two-part series from the book tour. The first part's out now. The second part comes out on Monday, and there are a lot of hot takes about pasta, food, and so much more from Andy, me, and many others. Don’t forget to subscribe to or follow our show, so you don’t miss an episode. You can do it in your podcast app right now. And finally, as always, if there’s an episode from the deep freezer that you want us to reheat, please send me a note at hello@sporkful.com! Thanks.

[DINING AMBIANCE]

Dan Pashman: Did I read that you were the prom king?

Andy Richter: Yes, I was. My senior year, I was the prom king at Yorkville, of Yorkville High School ... Yeah.

Dan Pashman: Did you get a crown?

Andy Richter: There was a crown that you don't get to keep. It looked sort of like a classic cartoon crown. It had fake white fur, that I think is supposed to be ermine, with jewels and kind of tufted velvet around the top of it. But when they put it on me, I could see from the inside that the base was, actually, a ricotta cheese tub [DAN PASHMAN LAUGHS] that they had probably gotten from the cafeteria ...

Dan Pashman: Wait, and did you say that you don't get to keep the crown?

Andy Richter: No, it's a ... No, it's a prop that then they take from you and they give ...

Dan Pashman: So this ricotta cheese tub was passed down for generations.

Andy Richter: It's been set — for all I knew, it could still be ...

Dan Pashman: [LAUGHS] Right.

Andy Richter: Going on the heads of prom kings today in Yorkville, Illinois.

Dan Pashman: [LAUGHS] When you buy ricotta cheese, do you think of that crown today?

Andy Richter: [LAUGHS] I rarely buy it and cause, I mean, this was probably like a gallon tub of it.

Dan Pashman: Okay. [LAUGHS]

Andy Richter: I rarely buy it in such quantities, so I don't think so.

MUSIC

Dan Pashman: This week on The Sporkful, I go out for brunch with Conan O’Brien’s longtime sidekick, Andy Richter. How many of life’s problems can be solved by a really nice refrigerator? Andy is trying to find out. Plus, the conversation will get more serious when we talk about Andy’s lifelong struggles with his weight. 

CLIP (ANDY RICHTER): You know, when you feel bad eating something that tastes good, it feels like you’re fighting and staving off the feeling bad.

MUSIC

Dan Pashman: This is The Sporkful, it’s not for foodies, it’s for eaters. I’m Dan Pashman. Each week on our show we obsess about food to learn more about people. Andy Richter is a comic, actor and writer. He’s starred in several network sitcoms. And he just launched his own podcast earlier this month. It’s called The Three Questions with Andy Richter. It’s a conversation show where Andy asks each guest the same three questions: Where do you come from? Where are you going? And what have you learned?

Dan Pashman: When Natasha Lyonne from Russian Doll came on the show, things got kinda personal:

CLIP (NATASHA LYONNE): I was so jealous of them. 

CLIP (ANDY RICHTER): I have taken though, lately, to plucking because ...

CLIP (NATASHA LYONNE):  Really?

CLIP (ANDY RICHTER): I'm 52-years-old and you know, there's a difference between eyebrow hair and whiskers. I'm getting [BLEEP] whiskers ...

CLIP (NATASHA LYONNE):  Yeah.

CLIP (ANDY RICHTER): Growing out of, like, thick, coarse, boar bristle hairs growing out of my eyebrows. And then also too, just like appearing in a couple of days, like a three-inch long whitey.

CLIP (NATASHA LYONNE): Okay. Upshot, however ...

CLIP (ANDY RICHTER):Yeah?

CLIP (NATASHA LYONNE):  Pretty soon, eyes don't work as well.

CLIP (ANDY RICHTER): [LAUGHS]

CLIP (NATASHA LYONNE):  You think it's the right prescription ...

CLIP (ANDY RICHTER): Right, exactly.

CLIP (NATASHA LYONNE): But you don't know!

CLIP (ANDY RICHTER): Exactly!

CLIP (NATASHA LYONNE):  That's the life of a woman, you'll see.

CLIP (ANDY RICHTER): [LAUGHS] I know, I know.

CLIP (NATASHA LYONNE):  And especially, your hair …

Dan Pashman: Andy is best known as Conan O’Brien’s longtime sidekick, and I have loved him on that show forever. His persona there alternates between dopey and darkly funny. You hear that dark humor in this comedy bit, where Andy recounts the titles of the 18 memoirs he claims to have written.

CLIP (ANDY RICHTER): Then we've got Side Kicked to the Curb: The Andy Richter Story.

[AUDIENCE LAUGHS]

CLIP (ANDY RICHTER): Good one boss! My Life as a TV Toady.

[AUDIENCE LAUGHS]

CLIP (ANDY RICHTER): Fake Laughter, Real Tears: A Sidekick's Journey.

CLIP (CONAN O'BRIEN): Okay, okay. Andy, I think we get the idea.

CLIP (ANDY RICHTER): There's 11 more!

[LAUGHTER]

CLIP (ANDY RICHTER): Forcing the Laugh, Hiding the Gin Bottle.

[LAUGHTER]

Dan Pashman: So that’s Andy on Conan. But off the show, he’s also thoughtful and smart. In fact, he holds the record for the highest one-day score on Celebrity Jeopardy. And he did very well in the food category … 

CLIP (ALEX TREBECK): The name of this pasta, similar to penne, means little mustaches. Andy?

CLIP (ANDY RICHTER): What is mostaccioli?

CLIP (ALEX TREBECK): Correct.

CLIP (ANDY RICHTER): “Wolf It Down” for $2000, please.

CLIP (ALEX TREBECK): Try some the chicken cooked in this charcoal fired oven that's used throughout India. Andy?

CLIP (ANDY RICHTER): What is a tandoor.

CLIP (ALEX TREBECK): Tandoor oven, yes.

Dan Pashman: Andy and I met up at Paty's Restaurant in Burbank. It’s a classic L.A. diner, it's been around since 1960. It was Andy’s choice.

Dan Pashman: We should order some food.

Andy Richter: Yes, we should.

Dan Pashman: Yeah.

Andy Richter: If we ... If you get a ...

Dan Pashman: Yeah, yeah ...

Andy Richter: We're ordering on mic here.

Waiter: Let's do it.

Dan Pashman: Andy, lead the way.

Andy Richter: I'm gonna have a scramble with turkey meat, scallions, and mushrooms.

Waiter: Sliced turkey?

Andy Richter: No, no. Ground turkey, I'm sorry.

Waiter: Ground turkey.

Andy Richter: Eggs cooked soft. Tomatoes instead of potatoes ...

Waiter: Mm-hmm.

Andy Richter: And corn tortillas.

Dan Pashman: Could I please have a mushroom omelet with American cheese. For the toast, could I please get an English muffin?

Waiter: Sure.

Dan Pashman: And maybe ... Well, let's get a second toasted English muffin.

Waiter: Okay.

Dan Pashman: On the side, please.

Waiter: And it also comes with a side. You can do hash browns, home fries, fruit, or cottage cheese. 

Dan Pashman: Hm. Hash browns or home fries? That's a tough one. I will say hashbrowns, please.

Waiter: Okay. Okay, that's it.

Dan Pashman: Yes, thank you.

Andy Richter: Thank you. Thanks.

Waiter: Some more coffee?

Andy Richter: Yes, please.

Waiter: You got it.

Dan Pashman: I figured hash browns, higher surface area to volume ratio ... More crisp.

Andy Richter: I get the hash browns and I say, "Burn Em."

Dan Pashman: Yeah.

Andy Richter: And if you say, "Well done," it usually is not well done enough for me. I'm like, "Burn'em," you know?

Dan Pashman: That's funny. I got an email from a Sporkful listener, who said he's having a real issue with his grandfather cause every time they go to a diner, his grandfather always orders bacon, and he always says, "I want it crispy." But what he means by crispy is virtually burnt.

Andy Richter: Yeah, yeah.

Dan Pashman: But like as stiff as a bacon as stiff as a board.

Andy Richter: Right, right.

Dan Pashman: So that you bite into it and it crumbles.

Andy Richter: Right.

Dan Pashman: Which is beyond crisp.

Andy Richter: Yes.

Dan Pashman: And so he always says crispy, and then it never comes out the way he wants it ...

Andy Richter: Yes.

Dan Pashman: And he always has to send it back.

Andy Richter: He's complained, yeah.

Dan Pashman: Right, and it becomes ... And this ... And so he wrote — this guy wrote to me asking for advice on what word ...

Andy Richter: Burnt.

Dan Pashman: That's what his grandfather should say?

Andy Richter: That is in diner lexicon, cause they won't burn it.

Dan Pashman: So shout out to Matt in Portland, Oregon, who wrote in with that question, Andy Richter has addressed your issue, Matt. Thank you.

Andy Richter: Order it burnt, Matt.

Dan Pashman: I read that your mom was a kitchen cabinet designer?

Andy Richter: Yes.

Dan Pashman: Did that affect your own thoughts about kitchen cabinets?

Andy Richter: Yes.

Dan Pashman: Can you tell me about a few of the details that you think are crucial to making your kitchen great?

Andy Richter: Oh, well, it could be better.

[LAUGHING]

Andy Richter: It could be better cause it — we didn't have that much room. We have a very nice refrigerator. That's the main thing. The refrigerator we have, it's a sub-zero refrigerator, that I think it's sort of meant to be, like, a prosumer.

Dan Pashman: Right.

Andy Richter: But what I like about it is that it's all metal and glass, so there's no, like, plastic shelves to crack. And our accountant, when I bought it, really was completely — he's like, "How much is this refrigerator cost?

[LAUGHING]

Andy Richter: And I told him at the time, I said, "Look, I am never gonna buy a Porsche. I promise you, this — if I have a mid-life crisis, it is this refrigerator, which will last us forever, so just let me have this."

Dan Pashman: [LAUGHS] Right.

Andy Richter: "Let me have this nice refrigerator.

Dan Pashman: And so you've had this fridge for a couple of years. 

Andy Richter: Yes. 

Dan Pashman: Has it brought you all the joy you anticipated?

Andy Richter: Absolutely. Yes, it has ... And it has glass doors so you can see inside.

Dan Pashman: Ohh.

Andy Richter: Which is, you know, kind of — so, like I say, it's kind of like a commercial refrigerator ...

Dan Pashman: And the idea is that, you, like .... When you're in the mood to stand and stare blankly into your refrigerator, when you're at a point in life, when you don't know what you want from life ...

Andy Richter: It is ... The idea is ... Well, the idea is it has a commercial aesthetic. But the idea of the commercial aesthetic is that, rather than standing there with the door open, looking for what you want, you can look for what you want in a energy saving way.

Dan Pashman: [LAUGHS]

Andy Richter: So you're not letting all the cold out, while you're going, "Where is that G. D. mustard," you know?

Dan Pashman: Right, right. But, like, have you ever had one of those days where you're just kind of — you just don't really know what you want from your refrigerator or life?

Andy Richter: Oh, of course. Absolutely. 

Dan Pashman: And you kind of, like, you're wandering ... You're shuffling around the house ... 

Andy Richter: Yeah. 

Dan Pashman: You open the refrigerator and you stare into it and then you close it ...

Andy Richter: Yes ...

Dan Pashman: And you walk away ...

Andy Richter: It's a contemplative kind of ... Yeah.

Dan Pashman: Right. How does having a refrigerator that you don't have to open the door to see inside — how does it change those contemplative refrigerator moments?

Andy Richter: It doesn't.

Dan Pashman: [LAUGHS] 

Andy Richter: We end up standing there with the door open, wasting energy just like any other — you know? You gotta — you know, you can't have a barrier between you and your unmet needs. 

Dan Pashman: [LAUGHS] 

Andy Richter: Even if it's glass. 

Dan Pashman: Right. I know you've talked about some of your own battles with depression. 

Andy Richter: Yes. 

Dan Pashman: I'm curious how food plays into that. I mean, when you're having an especially rough time, does that tend to mean that you eat more or less or are there signals ... 

Andy Richter: Oh, more. More, definitely. 

Dan Pashman: Yeah. 

Andy Richter: Yeah. No, there's — the way that my depression hit throughout my life has manifested itself, and it's fairly under control now through medication and therapy and just time, I guess, but it would manifest itself as food would definitely be a — almost like a kind of self-medication of comfort. You know, when you feel bad, eating something that tastes good, it feels like you're fighting and staving off the feeling bad. So it was a — you know, it set up a pattern, certainly, of overeating and of eating, you know, really serving some kind of psychological need. So, yeah. No, I wasn't — oh my god, I would have killed for, like, "I'm so depressed, I can't eat."

[LAUGHING] 

Andy Richter: I mean, if I could've bought that ... 

Dan Pashman: [LAUGHS] 

Andy Richter: If I bought that now, I could ... 

Dan Pashman: Right. 

Andy Richter: I'd get off the medication right now and just waste away to nothing, leave a beautiful corpse. 

Dan Pashman: [LAUGHS] 

MUSIC

Dan Pashman: Coming up, Andy and I talk more about his lifelong issues with his weight, and whether he thinks the people who raised him are at all to blame. Stick around.

MUSIC

 

+++BREAK+++

 

MUSIC

Dan Pashman: Welcome back to another Sporkful Reheat. I'm Dan Pashman. Hey, if you want to hear what I'm eating and reading every week, you should sign up for the Sporkful newsletter. I'll give you my weekly recommendations, and so do our producers and the whole rest of our team. We also share announcements about exciting things happening with the show, when there's special discounts on my pastas, and on top of all that, if you subscribe to the newsletter, you're automatically entered into giveaways for cookbooks featured on the show — as long as you live in the U.S. or Canada. There's literally no downside. Sign up right now at sporkful.com/newsletter. I promise we won't spam you. We're only gonna send you really good stuff. Again, that's sporkful.com/newletter. Thanks. Now, back to this week's Reheat. 

Dan Pashman: Now, let’s get back to Patys Restaurant in L.A., where I was having brunch with Andy Richter.

Dan Pashman: Our food's here. 

Dan Pashman: He got his egg scramble. He put some of the eggs into the corn tortillas, which was a pro move. I went with my classic diner maneuver. I got the omelet, cut it in half the short way, and put each half into a toasted English muffin — two egg sandwiches. Sometimes if I’m feeling really ambitious, I’ll flip the omelet inside out, so the cheese is on the outside and that fuses it to the top and bottom bread, and it also brings cheese down to the bottom layer, closer to your tongue to accentuate cheesy goodness — as longtime listeners well know. I didn’t do that this time because I was focused on the conversation with Andy, but, you know, I just thought I’d mention that for the children.

Dan Pashman: Anyway, as we ate, Andy talked about struggling with his weight. On Conan, he sometimes pokes fun at himself. Like he’ll gesture to his stomach and say, “My six-pack is insulated to keep it cold.” And his weight can add an unspoken component to some comedy bits, like one where he walked around in skinny jeans for a day. But you can tell it’s a sensitive subject for him. In this clip, Conan’s talking with comedian Chelsea Handler. After she asks Conan a question, she turns to Andy ... 

CLIP (CHELSEA HANDLER): Do you go in the water or the ocean a lot? Are you ... 

CLIP (ANDY RICHTER): Yes. 

CLIP (CHELSEA HANDLER): Cause some people hate the ocean. 

CLIP (ANDY RICHTER): No, I like the ocean. 

CLIP (CHELSEA HANDLER): You ... 

CLIP (ANDY RICHTER): I do. I like the ocean very much. 

CLIP (CHELSEA HANDLER): Yeah. 

[LAUGHTER] 

CLIP (CHELSEA HANDLER): That's great. 

CLIP (ANDY RICHTER): Yeah. 

CLIP (CHELSEA HANDLER): You must — do you float a lot in the ocean?

[LAUGHTER] 

CLIP (ANDY RICHTER): Sure. What? Do you sink? It might be that cast iron heart?

[LAUGHTER] 

[DINER AMBIENCE]

Andy Richter: I try to be good. I mean, I'm — need to lose weight, and I try to be good. Especially, like after — well, the night time is really the killer for me and I think for so many people it's just — I think I'm just looking for a — for me, it's, like a cookie. It's something crunchy and sweet and I know I shouldn't — you know, I usually settle — I'll try to settle for an apple, if I had learned ... [LAUGHS] You know, learned better self-control and learned better nutritional information when I was younger, you know, or learned to, like, you know, have a better attitude about exercise. My grandmother, one time, we went out. We were shopping at Marshall Field's and we stopped for kind of like an old lady tea. She had tea and something, a sandwich or something, and I had a little hot fudge sundae. And when we were done, she said, "Does it taste like more?", like basically giving me permission to order a second hot fudge sundae, which I did. And even at the time, I had this feeling, and I was probably maybe seven, maybe six. You know, at the time I felt like, "Uhh, I don't know about this. This doesn't seem right."

Dan Pashman: [LAUGHS] 

Andy Richter: [LAUGHS] I think this is not what she should be doing or what I should be doing. To me, it was really indicative of throwing caution to the wind and just saying, like, I deserve this comfort that actually will potentially harm me. You know? 

Dan Pashman: Right. 

Andy Richter: That is really, truly, an overindulgence and just not healthy. At a certain point, I got to take some responsibility for myself. I mean, there's all the programming in the world, but when you're a grown-up, you can do whatever you want.

Dan Pashman: Yeah. It's funny, I remember when I was kid going out one time with a friend's family for Chinese food. It was like a friend of mine, and his parents — I was a chubby kid and I ate a bunch at that meal. I remember getting to a point in the meal where, like, every — pretty much everyone had eaten what they wanted to eat, and there was ... There was still some food on the table, and I loved moo shu pork. At the time, that was my favorite food in the world. The mother said, like, "Is everyone done? Like Dan, are you done?", and I just said, "Uh, maybe I'll have one more moo shu pork roll," and I wasn't really hungry but I just, like, wanted to keep eating. And I remember in that moment that the mother looked at the father, and they gave each other a look like, woah ...

Andy Richter: Yeah. 

Dan Pashman: This kid eats a lot. 

Andy Richter: Yeah, yeah. 

Dan Pashman: I can't believe he's gonna have another one. 

Andy Richter: Right. 

Dan Pashman: And I remember feeling really bad seeing them have that look between each other. But then I also remember thinking, well, now, if I bail on eating that moo shu pork roll then it's like ...

Andy Richter: You might make them feel bad for making you feel bad. 

Dan Pashman: Well, maybe? Or maybe more the thought process was I don't want to admit that there's something wrong with me eating this. 

Andy Richter: I see, yeah, yeah. 

Dan Pashman: So if I just plow ahead like everything's okay ...

Andy Richter: Right, you won't be agreeing with them [Dan Pashman: Right.] at their alarm. I know. 

Dan Pashman: Yeah. 

Andy Richter: Yeah. 

Dan Pashman: Right, right. And now, it's hard because I have kids and sometimes, you know, I don't know if you find this with your kids, it's like, sometimes your kids — well, I mean, sometimes kids eat a lot or, you know, you wanna indulge your kids and give them a treat. 

Andy Richter: Right. 

Dan Pashman: But now, you know, it's like you're conflicted between not wanting to make too big  deal of it, of eating food, but then also not wanting to teach them bad habits. 

Andy Richter: Right. 

Dan Pashman: Is that something you struggle with?

Andy Richter: Absolutely. Absolutely. And it's something that I think there's much more of an awareness about in our household than the household I grew up in. And we do try — we talk a lot about healthy eating habits. I will sometimes say — you know, I will express the regret that I feel for not having practiced healthier eating habits throughout my life. Like you said, you're trying to find a balance. You don't want to make things too heavy. You always have to — you're always searching for the kind of perfect light touch. You know, because you want to tell — you don't want to tell your kids, "If you eat too much of that, you'll get fat and no one will want to love you," you know?

Dan Pashman: Right. [LAUGHS] 

Andy Richter: But you do ... 

Dan Pashman: Wait, wait. Hang on. Let's make a note. 

Andy Richter: [LAUGHS] 

Dan Pashman: Don't say that. Okay, got it. Okay. [LAUGHS] Has being a parent and having to steer your kids on some of these issues changed the way you feel about your grandmother letting you order that second sundae?

Andy Richter: No. I was aware well before I had children, [LAUGHS] that that was not such a great idea. 

Dan Pashman: [LAUGHS] 

Andy Richter: That was not such a great M.O. 

Dan Pashman: Right. But it hasn't given you any more, like, empathy for her? You know, when you love somebody a lot and you just want — like get carried away with a moment and you just want them to have whatever they want. 

Andy Richter: Yeah, but that's what — that's not what taking care of a child is. That's not — you know, that's  — you can't be all accelerator when you're taking care of a child. You're — when you drive, you use accelerator and brake. And when you're loving a child and raising a child and teaching a child how to be a good human being and a good citizen, you're gonna use accelerator and brake. And there wasn't a lot of brakes, you know ...

[LAUGHING] 

Andy Richter: There wasn't a lot of brakes — and when there were brakes, a lot of them were kind of like more bible related ... 

[LAUGHING] 

Andy Richter: Which, you know, then that's a different podcast. 

Dan Pashman: Right. [LAUGHS] Yeah, maybe in the sequel. 

Andy Richter: Yeah, yeah. 

Dan Pashman: I get the perspective of like, I'm an adult. I need to take responsibility.

Andy Richter: Yeah. 

Dan Pashman: You know, but also there's, you know, to some degree you're fighting D.N.A. 

Andy Richter: Yes, and no. Yes and no. And I don't — and I certainly don't — I don't loathe myself. I'm not in, like, a constant state of self-hatred. I'm pretty comfortable with myself. I like myself, but I do know what's healthy and what's not healthy. And like I say, it doesn't torment me. I don't — you know, Kate Moss saying, "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels," is — I have no way to relate to that. 

Dan Pashman: Right. [LAUGHS] 

Andy Richter: I mean, and at one point in my life ... At one point in my life, shortly after I got married, my wife and I both went on a really strict diet plan and lost a lot of weight. Like, that was me at my skinniest and I still had no idea what Kate Moss is talking about.

Dan Pashman: [LAUGHING] 

Andy Richter: The notion that that somehow — and I mean, I liked being as thin as I could be, but I certainly ... I still knew, like, how good cheeseburger was. 

Dan Pashman: Right. [LAUGHS] 

Andy Richter: And thought, like, it was a toss up. And obviously, over time, the cheeseburger won. 

Dan Pashman: Right. [LAUGHS] 

MUSIC

Dan Pashman: That’s Andy Richter, catch him on Conan on TBS Monday through Thursday nights at 11 / 10 central. And be sure to check out Andy’s new podcast, The Three Questions with Andy Richter. 

MUSIC