Overview of We Might Be Drunk Podcast
In this episode, Sam Morril and Mark Normand sit down with Thomas Lennon for a fast, joke-heavy conversation that moves from Hollywood war stories to Broadway, sketch-comedy history, and wildly specific celebrity gossip. Lennon talks about his long career across TV, film, and writing, including his work on a musical adaptation of Trading Places, his time with The State, Reno 911!, and his many oddball acting credits. The episode is mostly a loose, high-energy hang with lots of riffing, but it still surfaces a few clear themes: comedy careers are built on rejection, the entertainment business has changed a lot, and Lennon has somehow kept working across every medium.
Main Topics Discussed
Eddie Murphy stories and Hollywood meetings
- Lennon shares a memorable trip to Eddie Murphy’s house, describing the huge gated property, multiple layers of security, and even Arsenio Hall being there.
- He explains that he and others were pitching a version of The Incredible Shrinking Man for Eddie, imagining Murphy as a Vegas magician who has been cursed to shrink.
- The hosts and Lennon trade stories about how enormous Eddie Murphy’s fame was in the 1980s and how impossible that level of cultural dominance seems now.
Trading Places as a musical
- Lennon says he has been working on a musical version of Trading Places for years.
- He explains that Broadway projects move very slowly, with endless rewrites and staged readings before anything gets made.
- The project was reportedly tested in Atlanta and then rewritten again.
The State, sketch comedy, and alternative 90s TV
- Lennon talks about The State and how the group saw itself as more punk and anti-mainstream than traditional sketch comedy.
- He reflects on the 1990s sketch boom, comparing The State to Kids in the Hall, Mr. Show, The Ben Stiller Show, and In Living Color.
- He credits that era with a willingness to be absurd rather than repetitive or safe.
Acting credits, TV, and career randomness
- Lennon jokes about his resume looking like a “charades game,” with everything from prestige projects to silly comedies.
- He mentions:
- Animal Control
- The Odd Couple
- Friends
- Night at the Museum
- Boat Trip
- Hancock
- Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich
- He says the variety is part of what keeps him interested in the business.
Comedy, fame, and audition heartbreak
- Lennon says he never did an SNL audition, despite knowing Lorne Michaels.
- He talks about how most auditions are heartbreak and how often actors never get a satisfying explanation for a pass.
- The hosts and Lennon discuss the modern culture of ghosting in Hollywood and how much more common it is now.
Broadway, movies, and how the business has changed
- Lennon argues that there’s still room for optimism because every medium has faced disruption before.
- He says the current entertainment landscape is more fragmented, with audiences spread across YouTube, streaming, TV, and theaters.
- He and the hosts discuss how difficult it is to get projects made now and how much success depends on having multiple things in motion at once.
Notable Recurring Bits and Running Jokes
Bob Fosse obsession
- The conversation repeatedly turns to Bob Fosse, with Lennon and the hosts joking that they’ve spent half the episode talking about him.
- They riff on Fosse’s style, his influence on dance and performance, and the idea that lots of modern performers borrowed from him.
- Lennon leans into his “theater straight” persona, and the group jokes about what kind of straight man he is.
Eddie Murphy callback humor
- The episode includes a lot of Eddie Murphy references and callbacks to classic films like:
- Trading Places
- Coming to America
- Delirious
- Raw
- They admire how Murphy used to reference his own material and earlier movies in later work.
Sports and 90s nostalgia
- The hosts and Lennon talk about:
- The Knicks vs. Bulls rivalry
- Patrick Ewing
- Scottie Pippen
- Dennis Rodman
- Michael Jordan’s ad empire
- The sports talk is mostly used as a launchpad for jokes about fame, eccentricity, and 90s New York.
The show’s freewheeling rumor mill
- The episode goes deep into old celebrity myths and tabloid-style stories, including:
- the Eddie Murphy elevator rumor
- the Phil Collins “In the Air Tonight” myth
- various absurd stories about famous people’s alleged fetishes
- The running gag is that these stories are probably false, but they’re funnier because they sound possible.
Key Takeaways
- Thomas Lennon is still building things across multiple formats: film, TV, novels, and Broadway.
- Comedy careers are a long game: the episode repeatedly stresses that rejection is normal and output matters more than instant approval.
- The 90s alternative-comedy scene was unusually rich: The State and its peers helped shape a more absurd, less conventional style of comedy.
- The entertainment business is more fragmented now: no single platform dominates the way a few TV networks or movie stars once did.
- The podcast thrives on chemistry and improvisation: the conversation is less an interview than a rapid-fire hangout full of callbacks, impressions, and digressions.
Projects and Mentions
- Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Tape
Lennon plugs the film, describing it as a David Wain/Ken Marino project tied to the Wet Hot American Summer comedy universe. - Thomas Lennon’s musical adaptation of Trading Places
A long-developing Broadway project that’s been through rewrites and workshop stages. - Animal Control, The Odd Couple, Reno 911!, and The State
Referenced as key parts of Lennon’s comedy career.
Bottom Line
This episode is classic We Might Be Drunk: two comics and a guest trading sharp one-liners, industry war stories, and ridiculous celebrity lore. The core of the conversation is Thomas Lennon’s unusually broad career and the long, winding path from cult sketch comedy to mainstream film and TV work, with a healthy amount of Eddie Murphy reverence and Bob Fosse worship along the way.