Tim Meadows: SNL, ‘The Ladies Man,’ and ‘DMV’

Obsessed: The Podcast

The Daily Beast

Tv & Film

4.5 • 686 Ratings

🗓️ 3 December 2025

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Tim Meadows was once the longest-serving cast member on ‘Saturday Night Live.’ These days, he’s subtly stealing scenes as the third lead on a CBS sitcom, ‘DMV.’ But despite plenty of ups and downs over the course of his nearly 40-year career, Meadows seems to be at peace with his particular level of fame. In this episode, Meadows traces the arc of his career, from his unusual path to Lorne Michaels’ office to the disastrous attempt to turn his most popular recurring character into a full-length feature film. He reveals why he really didn’t want the actual Monica Lewinsky to make a cameo as herself with The Ladies Man Leon Phelps—and what changed his mind. Meadows also explains why he ultimately decided to leave ‘SNL’ after 10 seasons, the late-night TV gig he now regrets turning down, and how he found creative fulfillment playing supporting roles in films like ‘Mean Girls’ and ‘Walk Hard.’ Follow Tim Meadows on Instagram @real_timmeadows Follow Matt Wilstein on Bluesky @mattwilstein Follow The Last Laugh on Instagram @lastlaughpod Watch full episodes of The Last Laugh podcast on the Daily Beast’s Obsessed YouTube channel Highlights from this episode and others at TheDailyBeast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is The Last Laugh. I'm Matt Wilstein from The Daily Beast, and today on the show, we have a comedian, actor, and writer who I grew up watching during his 10 seasons as a cast member on Saturday Night Live. He can currently be seen on the CBS sitcom DMV. Tim Meadows. Welcome to the Last
0:21.8	Laugh. Thank you for having me, Matt. Yeah, it's so great to have you here. I figure we can
0:26.6	start with DMV because it's the new thing. And I've got to see a couple episodes and really enjoyed it.
0:33.1	It's on CBS. It's a sitcom. They're sort of back in that world. What's the story behind getting cast in this show?
0:40.8	The story behind getting cast in this show.
0:43.8	Basically, they got in touch with me through my manager and agent.
0:48.9	They had a script they wanted me to read.
0:51.8	It was written by Dana Klein Klein who I knew through friends
0:55.9	Robert Carlock
0:57.7	as a friend of mine
0:59.3	and they worked together in the past
1:01.1	so he highly
1:02.3	he highly recommended
1:05.5	I read the script
1:07.3	and I read it and liked it a lot
1:10.7	and then I met with Dana and Matt who are showrunners read the script. And I read it and liked it a lot.
1:14.9	And then I met with Dana and Matt, who are showrunners.
1:18.2	And that was basically it.
1:20.2	They explained to me what they were trying to do.
1:21.8	I really liked the character.
1:30.0	And I was happy that it was a former teacher because I played a lot of teachers in my career.
1:33.4	Yeah, did you end up being, was that Mean Girls that sort of put you in teacher principal world, do you think?
	...

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