166. Questlove: The Art of Self-Sabotage

Mike Birbiglia's Working It Out

Mike Birbiglia's Working It Out podcast

Mygirlfriendsboyfriend, Interviews, Comedy Interviews, Sleepwalkwithme, Iraglass, Comedy, Thankgodforjokes, Thenewone, Mikebirbiglia, Dontthinktwice, Birbiglia

4.8 • 4K Ratings

🗓️ 14 April 2025

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week the legendary Ahmir Thompson (aka Questlove) sits down for his first appearance on Working It Out. Mike and Questlove discuss touring with his father’s band as a kid, every DJ’s worst nightmare, and how jealousy and self-sabotage can affect even a member of a band as iconic as The Roots. Plus, what it was like accepting an Oscar after The Slap and the behind-the-scenes process of Quest’s new documentaries Sly Lives! and Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Who are you jealous of?
0:03.7	Oh, God.
0:05.2	Do I have to give a proper noun?
0:08.7	I don't know.
0:10.4	The follow-up question is,
0:13.3	who are you jealous of that you thought of,
0:15.3	but you didn't say?
0:24.6	That is the voice of the great Questlove,
0:27.1	aka Amir Thompson.
0:31.9	I was so, so thrilled to talk to Questlove for the podcast.
0:35.3	We've been talking about this for years and years and years.
0:37.2	I met him many years ago.
0:39.5	He's the band leader at The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. I got to know him even better when my movie Don't Think Twice came out about nine years ago.
0:47.9	We just had a lot of long conversations about the themes of that movie and jealousy and groups of artists and that kind of thing.
0:57.3	We both are huge, huge film fans. I'm a huge fan of the documentaries. He's directed Summer of Soul,
1:06.0	which he won an Academy Award for. We talk about today. He has two new films.
1:11.0	One is called, Ladies and Gentlemen,
1:12.3	50 Years of S&L Music,
1:14.4	which is awesome.
1:15.7	It's on Peacock.
1:17.2	As well as Sly lives about Sly and the Family Stone,
1:23.1	in parentheses,
	...

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