Bullseye with Jesse Thorn is a production of MaximumFun.org and is distributed by NPR.

It's Bullseye, I'm Jesse Thorn.

Tina Fey and Robert Karlock came up with the idea of unbreakable chemist Schmidt with

Ellie Kemper in mind.

When they did present the premise to me that I was to play a cult victim who recently escaped

and was making a new go of it.

In New York, I wasn't sure if they were serious and because they are so smart, I thought this

might be a test to see if I'm a dumb actor, if I'm like a naive actor.

I don't know if they're being honest about what the premise is because it, you know,

is going to be on NBC.

It sounded very dark.

It's Bullseye.

Coming up, I'll talk to Ellie Kemper.

She'll tell me about moving to New York to pursue a career in comedy and drawing on the

ridiculous privilege of her own college alum listserv for some of her earliest material.

I don't want to be a traitor, but the questions that would go around, it was like, this is

embarrassing and if like the government gets a hold of this, you are absolutely like fulfilling

every stereotype out there.

Later, I'll sit down with Glenn Welden.

Glenn co-hosts NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour.

In his new book, he charts the evolution of Batman through comics, TV and film and asks

what Batman for nerd culture.

...