A [TEXT MESSAGE] Conversation With Writer/Director Eliza Cossio
The Daily Show, Ice Cream Trucks, Filmmaking, Airplane Mode, Conan O'Brien, and California vs New York
A [BLANK] Conversation With… is an interview series where guests engage in a three-day conversation via their preferred mode of text-based communication, with no commitments to the length or frequency of their responses.
Eliza Cossio is a talented writer, comedian, actor, and director.
She’s worked on The Daily Show --
-- has co-directed short films, including, La Bruja --
(La Bruja, 2019, directed by Hayley Kosan and Eliza Cossio, written by Eliza Cossio)
-— and We Should Get Dinner--
(We Should Get Dinner, 2022, directed by Lexi Tannenholtz and Eliza Cossio, written by Eliza Cossio)
-- and has written for Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas (HBO), One Day At A Time (PopTV/Netflix), Our Flag Means Death (MAX), and This Fool (Hulu).
I first met Eliza when we were staffed on Problem Areas. She was a writer, and I was a “web producer” (a title I’m still trying to understand the definition of). First seasons tend to be complicated. Everyone is attempting to narrow down what’s working and what isn’t; but slowly, an authentic tone and voice emerges. During that time, I discovered that many of us on staff were also trying to figure those same things out about ourselves. What was working in our careers? What wasn’t? What is the tone and voice of our “brand” and our lives? It’s like we were spiritually in our own personal versions of season one. Naturally, these topics and themes popped up in my three-day conversation with the hilarious and thoughtful Eliza Cossio via iPhone Messages.
Enjoy! (warning: there are curse words!)
Note: Eliza lives on the West Coast, and Tim lives on the East Coast. Each message is timestamped in Eastern Standard Time. However, certain reactions like “iPhone haha”s and ❤️s exist out of time. We have no way of retrospectively knowing exactly when those buttons were pressed. There have been minor adjustments of the text for clarity.
DAY 1 (Tuesday 06-06-2023)
Tim Barnes: (12:09PM) Eliza!!
Eliza Cossio: (12:16PM) Omg Tim ! Tim: (12:24PM) how are you?! I’ve been waiting until noon here on the east coast so that I (hopefully) wouldn’t wake you up. Luckily, the geniuses at apple have informed me that your notifications are silenced! Isn’t the future cool?! Eliza: (12:40PM) I was wondering about that recently, I am always worried about waking ppl up with texts, but we all silent our phones at night now right? Why can’t I shake the fear? Tim: (12:41PM) Haha, I should start doing that. I just put my phone in “airplane mode” before I fall asleep. And I must admit… I’m not totally sure what “airplane mode” does (12:44PM) So, are you officially an L.A. person now? Eliza: (12:48PM) This is interesting - so you still get notifications at night because you’re connected to wifi? Or maybe it’s not that interesting lol (12:50PM) Yes I am officially an LA person. I can’t believe I’m saying this but I am liking it too Tim: (12:52PM) No, let’s talk about it! When I press the little airplane logo my wifi automatically goes off. I really wish I didn’t rely on my phone as an alarm though. I want to bring the ones with real bells back in style. My fiancé would love that. A loud, annoying bell waking me up three hours before she does. (12:52PM) What are you liking about L.A. You’re from the west coast, right? I vaguely remember us talking about this back at Problem Areas Eliza: (1:13PM) Haha I’m picturing a school bell hanging in your doorway. I would love to disconnect from my phone at night but I need someone on the calm app to talk to me in order to sleep (1:13PM) I actually have been sleeping better since getting to LA (1:13PM) I used to have pretty regular insomnia, a couple nights a week or so. Now I only have it about once or twice a month (1:17PM) I am having a hard time pin pointing what it is about LA that I’m liking. I’m from a town called Walnut in the far end of the San Gabriel Valley. I left Southern California (ran away really lol) when I was 18 so it was weird coming back for the first time since then. But I’m finding a lot of comfort in my people who are here, and the mountains. (just looking at them i don’t want to go to them i am scared of bears and hate hiking) [Tim gives this an iPhone "❤️"] (1:18PM) I also found the correct antidepressant when I got here so maybe this is all the 300mg Wellbutrin talking (1:18PM) Where in the inland empire are you from again? Tim: (1:20PM) Well, I’m from South Central L.A. (now just called South L.A.) but my family moved to Moreno Valley during my last year of middle school. Moreno Valley is part of Riverside County which is within the Inland Empire. So much of California sounds like explaining Star Wars (1:23PM) How much of your “running from home” was genuinely running from home? Was it the normal teen urge to get away from family or something more? (1:40PM) Only ask because running away seems like a big factor of a lot of artists lives. I definitely followed a primal impulse to jump from California to Chicago with the vague idea of becoming a comedian [Eliza gives this an iPhone "❤️"] Eliza: (2:01PM) Oh wow I never thought of that correlation among artists (2:06PM) (Sorry entering a meeting brb but so much to say on this) Tim: (2:09PM) No problem! The gaps in time for these interviews are often more compelling than the words Eliza: (4:21PM) Primal impulse is really an accurate way to describe my initial pursuit of this career, and it started off vague too (4:22PM) But as a kid I always knew I was meant for New York City lol, i think it was aesthetically imprinted in my mind very early, I wanted snow and rooftops and cool buildings. I hated Southern California so deeply, and I was angsty kid and felt kind of out of place a lot (4:25PM) In my family, at school. I remember watching Conan O’brien and for the first time feeling like something I couldnt even articulate made sense to me - and when I left for New York i wasn’t really thinking, I just was blindly assuming something would work out and I would find that feeling I got watching Conan --> ELIZA DIRECTLY RESPONDS TO THIS TEXT LATER @ 4:26PM SAYING: find that feeling in the pursuit of vaguely “working in TV” [Tim gives this an iPhone "HaHa"] (4:25PM) I’ve been missing the delusion of my early 20s and trying to figure out how to tap back into that (4:31PM) Did, or do you, ever have that delusion feeling? It’s strange bc I only recognize it in retrospect. My friend just told me about this interview Orson Welles did where someone asked him how he got the confidence to make citizen Kane and he said something like “it wasn’t confidence it was sheer ignorance” Tim: (4:56PM) Oh, yeah definitely. Must be something about youth. Weird how it’s impossible to truly recognize youth until it’s in the past tense. How are you feeling about the industry right now (especially during this strike)? (5:02PM) I’m thinking a lot about age right now because I’m turning 35 next year. Every five years since 20 I’ve had some sort of crisis. I’ve also had this ridiculous sense of being aged out of what people are looking for in comedy,etc. Can’t tell what’s reasonable about that assumption or what’s all in my head (5:03PM) Oh, wait! I missed a chunk of what you wrote. Reading now, lol (5:05PM) Wow, I identify with so much of that. Specifically the Conan thing. What was it about that show?! It felt like a discovery. I loved how trapped he seemed in those monologues. And, yeah, California is a weird place. Easy to feel lost, or trapped when you’re young. (5:09PM) Part of what I used to chase--and I wonder if you identify with this--is the idea of a “grand entrance,” be it a late night set, or something like that. And a lot of the trappings of that concept just don’t exist anymore. It’s a lot of tiny entrances Eliza: (6:33PM) The big entrance i used to feel on the performance front too. I thought I had “my big entrance” when I debuted as a correspondent on the daily show, and obviously that didn’t work out. That fucked me up for a while, a long time, still kind of lol. I miss performing a lot but I have a strange relationship with it now. I guess I overthink across the board tho lol. I think about something you said to me once a lot actually - I was over thinking my tweets lol and you said something about how you should just tweet whatever weird thing you want and then not think about it after (6:39PM) Age i am now suddenly very conscious of as well. I really liked being the young one and feeling like there was open sky in front of me. And I like when people want to take care of me and give me advice lol. We are still young of course!(6:40PM) Tho I spend a lot more money to keep looking young, more than I’d like to tell people (6:42PM) Also I love that you also felt that about Conan. He’s the only celebrity that I would lose my Mind if I met him. I could genuinely sob just thinking about telling him what he means to me (6:46PM) I want to be a sillier writer than I am. I think I do silly stuff sometimes but then I always end up adding something sad or something. Lol (6:46PM) I just asked my best friend right now we are driving down sunset boulevard to go picket (6:46PM) (She is driving i am texting)(6:47PM) She said that I am not a silly writer but a whimsical writer. Sometimes I need ppl to tell me what my voice is. Omg remember when we had our brand meetings at problem areas? (8:10PM) I’m self conscious of my “lol”s in text convo (8:34PM) Also love thinking about Conan as an escape from early 2000s California youthful malaise. It definitely did feel like a discovery! Maybe it was one of the first things that felt like our own discoveries??? Idk I guess I also “discovered” flamin hot Cheetos at school on my own Tim: (8:42PM) Yes! I remember those brand meetings. I mean, I was losing my mind sitting at a desk in a giant void so moderating career advice was really fun. Thinking back, I think a lot of people on staff there were at an interesting crossroad in their lives (8:42PM) How did you end up on The Daily Show? (8:43PM) Also--we should start a podcast where all we talk about is Conan. But it shouldn’t be in his podcast network. It should be on Jimmy Kimmel’s. (8:48PM) And I think it’s time for the world to embrace “lol” as the excellent indicator of tone that it is. We should add it to lines in, like, Huckleberry Finn (8:54PM) Another perk of you not being in New York right now:
Eliza: (10:49PM) Jimmy Kimmel’s Conan O’Brien Podcast with Tim and Liz [Tim gives this an iPhone "HaHa"](10:52PM) Thinking back on problem areas if did have a college-like feel to it. It was an exciting time for a lot of us - it was my first writing job and proof to myself that I would be okay after the Daily show (10:53PM) I got there initially as an intern - I applied three times in college, my third time I finally got it. So I left college a year early to move to New York and then I was lucky to get hired as a PA afterwards. I was driving an ice cream truck at the time --> ELIZA DIRECTLY RESPONDS TO THIS TEXT LATER @ 10:58PM SAYING: *a semester early (10:53PM) I love ice cream (10:57PM) And then I kind of worked my way up. I feel like that’s where I learned how to write, just because everyone on staff was allowed to pitch and submit to be a writer (when they opened submissions), so I got a lot of practice w those things. and so many smart smart writers there were supportive and would give me feedback (10:57PM) Air pollution over fire, that’s kind of our thing (11:01PM) I was in central California when those really bad fires came during covid, San Francisco looked like it was haunted (11:02PM) It looked Orange and incorrect (11:04PM) Is everyone still thinking about the end of the world? (11:04PM) I THINK U R ON AIRPLANE MODE BC MY TEXTS CAME IN GREEN. I UNDERSTAND NOW
DAY 2 (Wednesday 06-07-2023)
Tim: (11:33AM) Hahaha, sorry about the delay. I was indeed in airplane mode. I certainly am still thinking about the end of the world. 2020 was this big collective chaotic year and I’m fascinated by everyone’s amnesia about it. (11:34AM) Wait a minute… you were driving an ice cream truck — in New York?! Eliza: (1:20PM) Yes! I would pick it up off the Graham L and drive it into chelsea. I barely had my drivers license Tim: (1:21PM) This is breaking my brain. I can’t imagine you doing this at all. How do you even get an ice cream truck job? Eliza: (1:22PM) Well (1:22PM) My college job was working at a really great ice cream shop in Berkeley called Ici (1:23PM) It was a rotating menu based off season and stuff (1:24PM) And I was looking for a job when I got to New York and I didn’t pass the burrito rolling test at Dos Toros so I went to this fancy ice cream shop in New York that was mostly just trucks at the time and they were a big fan of Ici (1:25PM) So they only had truck driving position available and I was like, I guess i can do this Tim: (1:26PM) This is incredible information. True humble beginnings. Why you aren’t constantly talking about this boggles my mind (1:26PM) Are New York drivers at least a little nicer to ice cream trucks? Eliza: (1:26PM) The driving part was so scary. And I’m only withholding the name of the place bc they made us lie and say we composted but then we’d get back to the warehouse and throw it in the garbage Tim: (1:27PM) Woah Eliza: (1:27PM) Haha ice cream is huge part of my identity actually (1:28PM) Maybe they were a little nicer, i definitely didn’t know you can’t make a right on red in the city, and I was making a lot of rights on red, so maybe I was getting respect for that Tim: (1:29PM) This is actually how I’m learning you can’t make right on red in this city. I drive so rarely here that it’s always a surprise dilemma (1:30PM) I just watched you Daily Show correspondent clip and it’s really funny but also a crazy time warp. Trevor was new, Donald Trump was just “the presumptive GOP presidential nominee”… how were you feeling in general at that time? (1:30PM) Your* Eliza: (1:30PM) Oh wow yeah that is a time warp (1:30PM) It’s nuts i mean (1:31PM) I can’t believe I was 26 so long ago Tim: (1:31PM) Hahaha (1:37PM) The Trump years felt like a decade and on top of that, quarantine seemed to make everyone's brains rapidly age. Your segment was only seven years ago but it somehow feels like it was longer ago than that Eliza: (1:37PM) In general at that time..... I was feeling really good lol. I was excited to be on the daily show, i was dating someone I really liked a lot, I was thinking trump couldn’t possibly turn into what it did. But I do remember there being a fear that it would all slip away - the job, the person I was seeing, the political future i was imagining - and when I think about 2016 I sort of remember that fear as like this cloud that would come in and out and I’d kind of try to ignore. And then all three things did kind of slip away. it’s just like - idk it feels like i had a different brain at the time (1:37PM) Yes! Totally Tim: (1:39PM) I imagine that’s why Trevor decided to leave. It was 7 years on paper but but probably felt much longer Eliza: (1:41PM) Yeah I think Jon was smart to leave before the election lol Tim: (1:42PM) Hahaha, yeah I can imagine an entire 30 minutes of him yelling into the camera. No words. Just yelling (1:42PM) I was pleased to see your emergence as a filmmaker. Right out of the gate you’ve had a remarkably clear sense of voice and the stories you want to tell (1:43PM) What was the journey that lead up to the first short film? Eliza: (1:59PM) Oh damn that’s really nice. It’s funny bc I’m just still figuring it out. I’m not sure I’m doing it right. Which is kind of my whole thing I guess lol! I was really inspired by Gary Richardson’s Places Thank You Places
(Places Thank You Places, 2018, directed by J.J. Adler, written by Gary Richardson)
Tim: (2:01PM) Ah, yes! I’ve seen that. Gary is one of the most talented people on the planet. And really nice too. We barely know each other but I went to a big birthday party he had once. It’s just great to see a talented man quietly enjoy his big birthday party (2:02PM) Do you think there’s a right way to be a filmmaker? Eliza: (2:05PM) Yes he is great! We don’t know each other that well either, but I think I wrote him gushing about how much his short inspired me to make mine. And damn - love a big birthday party, I am finally embracing the birthday as a Thing I Like Tim: (2:06PM) Sounds like a new segment for the Cossio Show! (2:09PM) Based on your two shorts, you clearly have a love for awkward scenes in restaurants. There is something about restaurants that naturally turn life into a stage. Suddenly eating and conversation is a performance. What draws you to restaurant scenes? Eliza: (2:13PM) I’m wondering about the right way to be a filmmaker. Maybe it just goes back to that feeling I’ve always had that I’m not quite fitting in. Did you ever feel that, by the way? It definitely held me hostage for a little too long, trying to impress people or be like them. (2:14PM) i ask because I’ve always admired how much, from the outside, you seem to have confidence with a really great unique voice (2:16PM) By the way I still think about Inland Empire a lot. i would love to see you make a movie! (2:22PM) and yes I love turning scenes into characters on a stage. I love good dialI am always wanting to write bottle episodes or choose wide, long takes. but then i also love whatever the fuck paul thomas Anderson did with phantom threadi love a good performance, I love when chemistry comes off the screIn. (and why Iwright, because i am always wanting to write bottle episodes or argument scenes or film wide, long takes. but then i also love stuff like, whatever the fuck paul thomas Anderson did with phantom thread (2:22PM) lolllll (2:23PM) i am writing on my computer and i dont know how that came out so fucked up [Tim gives this an iPhone "HaHa"]
(Inland Empire, 2021, directed by Zane Rubin, written by Ian Abramson and Tim Barnes)
Tim: (2:24PM) I absolutely feel like a misunderstood outsider, lol. Even with comedy—I never ended up having a core squad of peers outside of Ian (who I went to high school and made Inland Empire with). Something my fiancé brings up often is this time that she set up a surprise birthday roast for me back in Chicago. And the sentiment of most of the jokes about me were “I literally know nothing about you and I wish I knew you more.” Long story short, I was a pretty sheltered kid and either because of my personal interests or later, race--when it came to things like going to city college in Santa Barbara, I’ve never felt totally at ease. But I’m REALLY good at making other people feel at ease, and comedy has helped me create my own sense of normal Eliza: (2:26PM) I love turning scenes into characters on a stage. I love good dialogue, great performances, and chemistry that comes off the screen - that’s what I’ve taken from Nora ephron (and why I believe it’s my life’s purpose to make a perfect rom com lol). Sometimes I wonder if I secretly want to be a playwright because I’m always writing bottle episodes or argument scenes or wanting long wide takes. But then I also love stuff liked whatever the fuck Paul Thomas Anderson did with phantom thread Tim: (2:31PM) I’m trying to write more and have a few ideas for shorts, etc. But I’d say a through-line for me personally and in my work is this idea going from the abstract to the personal. Your characters seems to be really in tune with what’s happening within themselves and trying to find the abstract. Does that seem accurate? Or does it sound absolutely insane?! --> ELIZA DIRECTLY RESPONDS TO THIS TEXT LATER @ 6:18PM SAYING: "Also I’d love to hear more of what you mean here. Is it like, my approach is the personal can get weird and your approach is the weird can get personal?" Tim: (4:22PM) Also--thinking more about what I wrote about feeling like an outsider. Much of that sensation has to do with the grey areas of race and class in America. How much of that kind of stuff consumes you? Eliza: (6:02PM) I never had that core squad of peers in comedy either, and I am always craving community. Part of coming back to LA was falling back in with my college friends and some other Daily Show expats in a way that was like - ugh my people were here all along, while I was trying to be part of the cool kids somewhere else. The social part of doing comedy was one of the harder parts for me. I’ve been such a people pleaser that it’s hard to be myself sometimes because I am just trying to be amenable to someone. ugh I hate that. So I really relate to never quite feeling at ease. You are good at putting people at ease! That makes sense. I find my closest friends are able to do that, because I am historically the one putting others not at ease lol. What makes you feel at ease? --> ELIZA DIRECTLY RESPONDS TO THIS TEXT LATER @ 6:28PM SAYING: "Also I do have some of my dear dear buds still in nyc who are my people! It’s just nice to know what it feels like when ppl feel like your people - and that you shouldn’t have to try so hard to make someone like you lol" (6:03PM) I did feel unease since I was a kid - I think I was always very introspective, kind of gloomy, but always encouraged to present as very happy (and I would). i really didn’t like being mexican when I was a kid. it’s so sad to say that, because now I feel the opposite. But my parents gave me this incredible gift of teaching me Spanish before English, and once I was speaking more English than Spanish I didn’t want to go back to Spanish. I also remember wanting to be rich from a young age. We were definitely fine, but always on a budget, and I wanted to not be on a budget and I wanted a two-story house. Ugh I hate to even admit that I felt that, because my parents and grandparents worked so hard and they made such amazing choices for my sister and me. I was such a little turd, a little capitalist piglet, but that was the 90s, wasn’t it??? Economy was booming and corporations were trying to convince us we needed more and more and more and that we needed to look like this and this and this? --> ELIZA DIRECTLY RESPONDS TO THIS TEXT LATER @ 6:17PM SAYING: "So I think race and class were on my mind but of course I have light skin so I had things a lot easier. i just wasn’t always sure where I fit in. How did the grey areas consume you?" (6:05PM) I also hate when I say this because I don’t want anyone younger than me to feel this, but a lot of my social unease came from feeling like I didn’t fit the white European beauty standards. Lip gloss after lip gloss thinking it would fix everything lol, diets starting at 13. and unfortunately it really stuck in my brain that I was ugly or lesser than, and that all I had to offer was being smart and nice - so I was always trying to be smart and nice (Despite being dumb and Bitch) - now I know I’m more than this blah blah but you know, it’s fucked when these thoughts get in your head as a kid (6:06PM) Also sometimes when I talk about my childhood I’m scared I’ve gotten something totally wrong - like my memory is so bad, but I remember feelings very well, like I remember where they were in my body. Sometimes my sister brings something up from when we were kids and it’s something I’ve completely forgotten. Makes me worried that I’ve found another way to make myself the victim haha which is a habit of mine I am only recently learning out of Tim: (6:45PM) That’s great that you’re finding a community in L.A. One thing I love now—ten years into whatever doing comedy even is, is that whenever I bump into people I used to go to open mics with or from old jobs, we’re able to instantly reconnect on a deep level. There is a weird secret society vibe to the stuff we do. I was also pretty introspective. Very quiet kid. So much so that it was a shock to my family when I started doing standup. “Capitalist piglet” is a phrase I don’t think I’ll ever forget, lol. I certainly feel guilty for some of the things I felt when I was younger. I had that same idea in my head of thinking I’d be rich. I always had this urge to avoid being a stereotype. That’s the weird position America puts so many people in. Focussing on that too much can make you lose yourself. And in terms of our work— yeah, I feel like I write about worlds that are already absurd with people trying to dig inward. It seems like your work is about people who are in tune with what’s happening to them personally and are confronting the world about it… if that makes any sense (7:03PM) And the grey areas of race and class kind of became an obsession for me. The strange little things people don’t want to talk about or avoid. As far a class it’s kind of a blessing that my parents made me so unaware of it. To this day, it’s impossible for me to say things like “oh, I grew up poor” or “we were struggling” — I genuinely had no concept of that stuff. Think that made me “mentally rich” lol. I’m also constantly paranoid of how I’m perceived. Never tried to code switch so much as stay neutral in ever conceivable way. (9:59PM) I had airplane mode on for a few hours so don’t know if I missed anything—but also I will likely have airplane mode on again in a few hours so if I miss anything tonight, I look forward to THE FINAL DAY OF THIS INTERVIEW! Eliza: (10:08PM) Hahaha no you didn’t miss anything, my movie club text thread had a big tom hanks discussion today that led us all to rewatching cast away lol (10:10PM) And twister started playing right after that… another banger (10:17PM) I do love that thing now of seeing ppl from my New York days and feeling a connection. I guess it’s that enough time has passed with some of that they bring an “old friend” comfortability Tim: (10:26PM) Yeah! It’s a great feeling. What was the Tom Hanks discussion about? Eliza: (10:33PM) The things ppl don’t wanna talk about make me think of latino colorism - not everyone in my family wants to really acknowledge it ha (10:35PM) Man remember like summer days as a kid how having a flinstones push pop felt like a true million bucks?? --> TIM DIRECTLY RESPONDS TO THIS TEXT LATER @ 10:42PM SAYING: "Yeah! Are those still around? Or are we the last generation to recognize Flintstones as a flavor?" Eliza: (10:41PM) And Tom hanks discussion started with my friend saying he is too all-American guy, and that sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. My feeling is sometimes he makes similar choices from an acting standpoint but I’m usually here for it/ don’t think that’s necessarily bad. But I think he is at his best in A League of Their Own! Do you have a tom Hanks feeling? Tim: (10:47PM) Tom Hanks is definitely one of the most important people in America. Him getting Covid was the first things that made it feel like a big deal to people. Also, I would pay to hear a conversation between him and Chet. Acting wise--he represents a certain era of movies. I can’t really wrap my head around some of his recent choices. I think he directed an Apple movie about a boat captain and acted in another Apple movie about hanging out with a robot. These are just broad strokes because I haven’t seen them. I know that he loves typewriters though. He’s a prominent part of this great documentary called “California Typewriter” that also features John Mayer for some reason Eliza: (10:48PM) Hahaha this is a great take on tom hanks (10:49PM) I agree the day he got covid is the last “pre-covid” day i remember (10:50PM) I was having margaritas with my friends and we heard the news and then washed our hands and then went to Ralph’s after to get poptarts
DAY 3 (Thursday 06-08-2023)
Tim: (12:00PM) Hahaha, were these emergency Pop Tarts? (12:01PM) Also — welcome to the final day of this interview! (12:01PM) How was pandemic life for you? Eliza: (1:52PM) Final day! (1:53PM) Gob Bluth’s entrance music starts playing (1:54PM) Well I’ll say the good things about it because we all know the bad things about pandemic life (1:55PM) I started learning the piano which is something I’ve always wanted to do and now I am actually not bad at it (1:55PM) I was living at my mom’s on the central coast so it was nice to be there (1:57PM) I started learning tennis! I’m running out of good things about pandemic lol … (1:58PM) I was working on zoom still so that helped a lot. Tim: (2:10PM) Those are some great bright sides. Looking at your IMDB, you worked on three projects that came out in 2022, which means they must have been brewing for a few years. Was there something surreal to you about reaching a milestone of success while so much of the world was in crisis? Also— thanks for giving me a part in “We Should Get Dinner”!--
@ 4:19PM --> TIM BUMPS UP THE BELOW TEXT FROM WEDNESDAY JUNE 7, SAYING: "Also — not sure if you missed this response!"
--> ELIZA DIRECTLY RESPONDS TO THIS TEXT LATER @ 4:44PM SAYING: "I feel like I could spent forever talking about this, the absurd into personal vs personal into absurd. I think maybe it goes with what I was saying earlier of wishing I was a little sillier in my writing. You know it’s like how a gentle folk singer will cite like, the Ramones as an influence, but their stuff comes out sounding nothing like the Ramones. I think I am the folk singer wishing I sounded more like the Ramones. Maybe I have trouble accepting we contain MULTITUDES TIM! I do tend to write from such a personal place, I guess because I spend so much time in my head processing and being sensitive/intuitive? to my emotions and those of people around me, really contemplating their psychology and mine. I think my therapist told me i take all my thoughts so seriously lol - hm how did I get here, I guess just that it would be cool to try to start from the absurd/surreal and see where that takes me? I don’t even know what that would look like" Eliza: (4:35PM) Tim you can cut this part out if it embarrasses u but I genuinely mean it when I say it is such a delight working with you and I hope we can do it again soon! And yeah it was kind of surreal. It kind of is like those tiny entrances you were talking about. But I was so lucky to be working despite being fully depressed at the time lol. Going on the festival run with WSGD! was so fun because things were just opening up, everyone was ready to hang. Right now with the strike it feels a little like pandemic-light but this time I’m obviously not working. Been playin a looooot of piano. Also this time I’m not depressed lol [Tim gives this an iPhone "❤️"] Tim: (4:44PM) Is there a particular genre of music your focused on with the piano? Eliza: (4:48PM) Haha I only play pop songs, rock songs, country songs - because I only really understand chords and scales but not really everything you need for jazz and classical. tho my dream is to be able to play some Chopin. I’m experimenting right now with rearranging happy pop songs into sad pop songs - god that is so me lol. I’m learning Lucky by Britney Spears right now. I also started taking weekly singing lessons during pandemic. It’s a huge stress reliever for me. Tim: (4:56PM) Wow! You are a true multi-hyphenate. It seems like a lot of people are breaking down the boundaries of that old pressure to be really good at just one thing. In the arts, it feels like things get tricky when it comes to separating a creative hobby from a creative career. Do you think the separations are even necessary? I love that this WGA strike is in large part about defending writing as a trade. Something that doesn’t fall into the pit of the gig economy. But the gig element of our society vs careers also seems to parallel what’s going on in our personal lives. I was really hoping I’d figure out how to land the plane by typing all of that. But I suppose I’m asking — Have you found a sense of balance with all of your creative endeavors? Eliza: (5:36PM) agh I’m trying to not have my response be annoying here (5:36PM) Lol (5:42PM) I do think the separations are necessary sometimes but you’re right it’s tricky (5:44PM) Wow I’m kind of in a mindfuck about this (5:44PM) Hahaha ok (5:52PM) I do see writing as a job. It’s fun and invigorating, but it’s also precise and crafted. it’s taking me like fifteen minutes to write what I want to communicate here. And not that it’s the hardest job in the world or anything but writing does not come naturally to me - and this is tangential but i really reject the idea some ppl have that you have to like, live and die your art in order to be a true artist. i like writing, sometimes I love it, and I hope I can do it for a very long time, but ya sometimes it’s a math problem or a headache. It’s rarely like, a sunny day on a riverbank where a stroke of genius hits u. And when it is that, there’s still work to do (6:03PM) I’m not sure why this question broke me lol, I guess because even tho I feel it is a job I also, for my own sake, want to hold on to the part of writing that is a little magical. quincy jones said you have to leave room for god when you’re writing and I think this is what he means, that you have to allow for ideas to come in but then do the work to make it. but I feel so pretentious talking about it like this, bc sometimes it’s just riffing on dick jokes in a writers room and damn that is fun lol. so idk maybe god is dick jokes too (6:16PM) do you get ideas from dreams? (6:18PM) And I get so much out of having music as a hobby, and I have been scared to turn it into a pursuit. When I started learning piano I was thinking I would try performing comedy music, like flight of the concords but with Carole king vibes or something?? haha. but every time i write songs they turn into like, earnest Taylor Swift songs. I love what Whitmer Thomas does. Also do you remember Zach galifinakis’ stand up he’d do at the piano? I loved that lol. So idk - I think I would still like to do something with it at some point (6:19PM) do you feel balance with your creative endeavors? Tim: (6:40PM) Sorry — went airplane mode there for a bit while recording a podcast. I don’t remember a lot of my dreams but I do wake up with the mood my dreams left me in and that guides me a little. I’ve been enjoying the strange luxury of having a savings account this year after three writing jobs in a row. A ton of weird guilt associated with that but it is helping be find balance in everything. Figuring out what my genuine voice is, etc. kind of reached the point where the thesis is “I am the genre.” That’s helping me get into writing short stories and pilot scripts that don’t require me to necessarily be a comedian Eliza: (6:41PM) Whoa (6:41PM) I am the genre Tim: (6:41PM) I feel like this all ties back into the grand entrance thing. If you could talk to Daily Show Eliza now, what would you tell her? Eliza: (6:50PM) I am trying to use this time for that too, figuring out my voice exactly. wow, i just wrote I am the genre down and put it on my computer. This is huge (6:55PM) I think I’d tell daily show Eliza that leaving the show is the right move, that things don’t always fit in boxes, and that it’s okay to not like certain people or certain things (6:59PM) What would you tell problem areas tim? Tim: (7:06PM) Hahaha, oh boy. I really did learn a lot from that experience as surreal as it was. I think I’d tell him to maybe call a little less attention to himself. Not sure how accurate this is, but I’m a little embarrassed thinking back about how sort of attention seeking I was. Then again, I was sitting alone in a literal void. I’d also tell him that even though this is your first job having anything to do with real television, nothing you do here will define you — so do the best you can and enjoy the ride for what it is [Eliza gives this an iPhone "❤️"] (7:13PM) Glad the “I am a genre” thing means something!! Never put that into words until this conversation (7:34PM) And yes! Zach Galifianakis on the piano was incredible. He really defined a generation of comedy. So many comedians I started out with were telling jokes in the key of Zach Eliza: (8:59PM) Oh man - nothing you do here will define you also is so real (9:02PM) I definitely wasn’t thinking you were attention seeking. You were very chill in my memory. I remember walking by you and we’d just start laughing for no reason. lol. Maybe it was the void. But it’s funny the things we see in ourselves (9:04PM) What do we talk about before the interview ends! Tim: (9:27PM) There are so many things we could expand on but I suppose, here, at the end, I’m most interested in why you rushed to get Pop Tarts after finding out Tom Hanks had covid Eliza: (9:37PM) Hahaha (9:37PM) Right I left u hanging on that (9:38PM) Pop tarts seemed pretty resistant, food wise (9:38PM) I think I also got like Kraft macaroni and cheese (9:39PM) I had Tom hanks covid brain (9:39PM) Was not thinking too clearly (9:46PM) Man pop tarts are so good (9:46PM) I like the frosted strawberry ones and I like to only eat the edges. The middle part gets too sweet Tim: (9:47PM) They are the best. My favorite is plain strawberry (microwaved)(9:47PM) Hahaha, yeah that makes sense. That actually leads me to my final question. You often tweet the phrase “I like eggs.” Is there a common experience that inspires each of those posts?
(Eliza Cossio on Twitter)
Eliza: (9:48PM) No it’s when it hits me. It’s when i leave space for god. Hahaha (9:49PM) But it goes without saying (9:50PM) I am quoting the great Amanda Show, the sketch THE GIRLS ROOM. there was this one character who would only say “I like eggs” over and over. (9:50PM) Huge comedic influence (9:50PM) Conan O’Brien and the I Like Eggs girl Tim: (9:57PM) Incredible (9:57PM) Thanks so much for doing this!!! I learned so much and and can’t wait for your album of sad pop Eliza: (10:00PM) THANK YOU TIM! YOU’RE ONE OF THE GREATS! APPRECIATE YOU. TIME FOR ME TO SLEEPLESS AND SKEDADDLE™️ [Tim gives this an iPhone "HaHa"](10:29PM) I WANT TO MAKE SURE THE PPL KNOW “SLEEPLESS IN SKEDADDLE” is a tim barnes original
END OF INTERVIEW
Check out more text interview here! And for more back and forth conversations involving Eliza Cossio, check out her substack with Caroline Schaper,
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Craving more? Check out some of the other text interviews here or listen to episodes of my You Are The Genre podcast!
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