Aubrey Plaza Explores ASMR with Whispers, Peacock Feathers, and Cornflakes

Transcript

00:00

How about we send a text to Jerry himself?

00:05

I'm doing a video about how much Jerry sucks.

00:10

Let's see what he says.

00:13

Hi.

00:15

It's me.

00:17

Aubrey.

00:19

Plaza.

00:22

And today I'm going to...

00:28

Tell you about my career

00:33

and let you in on some ASMR stuff that I really like,

00:41

because I really like AMSR too.

00:46

Yay.

00:48

So one thing I really like to do to put myself to sleep

00:57

is something with my hair.

01:01

I take my hair.

01:08

I mess with my hair a lot,

01:10

so this is just one thing I like to do.

01:14

But I do this all the time when I'm anxious

01:18

or really uncomfortable.

01:24

I take a strand of my hair,

01:28

like a medium, a medium section,

01:34

and I make a loop like this.

01:39

And then I put in my ear.

01:44

And I listen to it, it talks to me.

01:49

I'll do the sound into the mic so you can hear it.

01:54

[hair rustling]

02:09

I'll do a bigger piece so you can hear the different kinds.

02:17

[hair rustling]

02:24

Now I'll do two,

02:25

because sometimes when I'm really freaked out

02:29

I do two strands in both of my ears like this.

02:40

[hair rustling]

02:56

Sorry, I should do this for you, not me.

03:00

[hair rustling]

03:04

You should know that this is really unhealthy for my hair.

03:08

I'm basically destroying it,

03:09

but it's worth it and you know why.

03:16

So before I talk about myself,

03:20

I just want to dedicate this entire video

03:26

to Molly Shannon,

03:31

because when we were in Italy

03:35

she told me that she's affected by ASMR,

03:39

specifically this.

03:42

So Molly, this is for you.

03:51

I brought my own toys for Molly.

03:56

This is my makeup bag.

04:00

That's really loud.

04:01

[zipper unzipping]

04:05

Molly Shannon really likes

04:08

when people rifle through their makeup bags,

04:10

so I'm gonna do that for her and for you.

04:13

But mostly for Molly.

04:16

[makeup rustling]

04:21

This is my actual makeup bag.

04:34

It's mostly brushes like this.

04:46

[makeup rustling]

04:56

One thing in my bag that I think Molly really likes is this,

05:03

my blotting papers.

05:07

[papers rustling]

05:35

You're welcome, Molly.

05:41

Okay.

05:42

Let's start talking about me.

05:47

The Upright Citizens Brigade Theater.

05:52

I started UCB when I was 19 years old.

05:57

And I really wanted to be on a Harold Team,

06:02

which is a longform improv team.

06:08

And you have to audition for it,

06:10

so I auditioned a couple times and got rejected.

06:18

I like being rejected.

06:20

It makes me feel alive.

06:24

And I finally got on a team after a couple tries.

06:30

It was called Twelve Thousand Dollars,

06:34

which was named after the amount of money that it costs

06:38

to go through the UCB training program.

06:42

It's muy expensive,

06:46

so we made a joke about it.

06:50

Hee hee hee, ha ha ha, comedy.

06:57

I learned a lot of things at UCB.

07:01

It was a wild time in my life.

07:05

I had many teachers that I loved.

07:08

Chris Gethard was one of my teachers.

07:12

I have so many memories there.

07:16

One of my favorite memories was...

07:22

We used to do a show where,

07:27

I don't think they legally can do this anymore.

07:32

This was a long time ago,

07:34

but we did a show

07:35

where you had to be legally drunk to perform.

07:39

In fact, they would breathalyze you on stage.

07:44

And if you weren't legally drunk,

07:48

you had to leave the stage.

07:51

This is why UCB is the best and always will be.

07:55

I don't remember what happened that night,

07:58

but I'm pretty sure it involved me holding a mic stand

08:03

just like this.

08:06

But there was no microphone

08:09

and I was really drunk, screaming into the mic stand.

08:15

But no one could hear me

08:16

because there wasn't this fuzzy friend

08:19

amplifying my voice to the audience.

08:25

And I'm pretty sure that Ellie Kemper and I

08:27

made out on stage.

08:30

You heard it here first.

08:32

Ask her, it happened.

08:37

One of the most famous shows at UCB is called Asssscat.

08:44

So I'd like to represent the Asssscat ASMR for you

08:50

with some soothing cat sounds.

08:52

Meow.

09:01

This is my furry friend.

09:05

I would like to remind the audience, though,

09:07

that I do the voice of Grumpy Cat,

09:10

which is far better than this cat.

09:16

Meow, meow.

09:23

I think this cat is full of beans.

09:27

[beans rustling]

09:34

Psst, meow, meow.

09:38

Meow.

09:40

Was that too loud for you, darlings?

09:44

Meow.

09:52

Meow.

09:54

Meow.

09:59

What do you think about Grumpy Cat?

10:04

Meow.

10:11

Grumpy Cat forever.

10:14

This cat sucks.

10:23

The NBC Page program, ping ping ping.

10:34

When I graduated from college,

10:39

I really wanted to work at Saturday Night Live.

10:45

But the closest I could get

10:49

was to audition for the Page program.

10:53

I just really liked the uniform, I guess.

10:56

I wanted to wear that disgusting polyester skirt suit

11:03

and lead studio tours,

11:08

which I did for a couple months.

11:14

It didn't work out for me in the Page program

11:17

because people thought I was a witch.

11:22

I had one friend in the Page program

11:25

and her name was Meg Ryan.

11:31

For real, that was her name, Meg Ryan.

11:35

It's not the Meg Ryan that you all know.

11:41

It's a different Meg Ryan.

11:44

She had long dark hair,

11:46

and her and I were friends.

11:50

And we were like, the dark witch Pages of the program.

11:55

I believe that we both got in trouble many times

12:00

because I would take groups of people on the studio tours

12:08

and I would lie to them over and over again.

12:11

I would tell them facts that weren't true about NBC

12:16

as a game.

12:19

Meg Ryan and I would come up with a game

12:22

where she would say, "On your next studio tour,

12:27

"you have to use the word."

12:28

And then we would pick a random word like colonoscopy.

12:36

And she would say, "You have to insert this word

12:40

"into your speech, even if it doesn't make any sense."

12:44

So I would say, "Welcome to Studio 8H,

12:50

"where Chris Farley had a colonoscopy

12:55

"live in front of an audience."

12:59

And people would go, "Wow, did that really happen?"

13:04

And I would go, "No, you're stupid."

13:11

I'm pretty sure I got fired early on,

13:16

but I kept my uniform.

13:19

And I'll never let it go.

13:23

To represent my time at the Page program,

13:28

I have some peacock feathers for you, my darlings.

13:37

If you remember, the NBC peacock is a thing.

13:45

[feathers rustling]

13:53

Can you hear the history of NBC in these feathers?

13:59

Mustsee TV.

14:01

[feathers rustling]

14:17

I wonder if I can do my little hair trick to these feathers.

14:20

Let's see.

14:22

[feathers rustling]

14:28

I can't.

14:30

Go figure.

14:32

[feathers rustling]

14:38

That sounds really nice.

14:39

I like when it combines with my hair.

14:43

[feathers rustling]

14:50

This is getting really weird,

14:54

just like NBC got really weird in the early 2000s.

14:59

Let's not forget.

15:01

[feathers rustling]

15:11

Will & Grace.

15:18

Mad About You.

15:22

There's nothing Paul Reiser can't do.

15:28

The movie Funny People.

15:36

Funny People was pretty much my breakout film.

15:42

Before that, I was waitressing in New York City,

15:48

living in Queens.

15:50

I auditioned for Funny People,

15:53

and Judd Apatow changed my life.

15:57

It was pretty crazy how I got cast in Funny People,

16:01

because Judd Apatow wanted to cast a standup comedian.

16:08

And I auditioned with the scenes and sent in a tape,

16:14

but I wasn't a standup comedian.

16:17

But I pretended to be.

16:21

I took the mic, just like this mic,

16:26

and I got up on stage

16:29

and I did five minutes of jokes that I made up.

16:35

And I had my friend tape it, sent it in,

16:40

and then Judd cast me.

16:42

Two weeks later, I was in Los Angeles.

16:47

I wasn't old enough to rent a car and I was poor,

16:52

so I lived in the Days Inn on Hollywood Boulevard

16:56

for two weeks with a bunch of Swedish tourists.

17:02

And I rented a car from RentaWreck,

17:07

which was the only place that would let me rent a car.

17:11

And I would drive to Sony Studios

17:15

and park next to Adam Sandler's Maserati.

17:22

I don't know if he had a Maserati,

17:24

but I just parked next to really expensive cars.

17:30

And I could barely pay my rent,

17:34

but I just pretended like it was cool.

17:40

It was wild.

17:41

I had never really been in LA

17:44

and I didn't know what I was doing,

17:47

but I just pretended to be a standup comedian.

17:52

And then all of a sudden, I was a standup comedian

17:54

because no one knew who I was.

17:58

So they just assumed that I was a standup.

18:02

And I started getting booked

18:03

at The Laugh Factory and The Comedy Store,

18:08

and going up in front of live audiences doing comedy,

18:12

even though I had no idea what I was doing.

18:17

I tricked them all.

18:19

Now to represent my time as a standup comedian

18:25

when I was on Funny People,

18:27

I'm going to give you the sounds of a standup microphone.

18:37

I remember this.

18:42

They're much colder than these ones.

18:46

I like the sound of my rings tapping against the mic.

18:52

[metal tapping]

18:57

That's a really good one.

18:59

[metal tapping]

19:13

I remember one of my early jokes as a standup comedian.

19:22

I'll try a different ring.

19:25

[metal tapping]

19:29

One of my early bits as a standup comedian

19:31

was to just name celebrities

19:34

and name what kind of tail they would have

19:38

if they were an animal.

19:41

For example,

19:45

Bill Clinton would have a polar bear's nub.

19:53

Lindsay Lohan would have a bushy squirrel's tail

20:00

that's long.

20:02

[metal tapping]

20:19

Oh wow.

20:22

In all my years as a standup comedian,

20:25

I've never seen the inside of a mic before.

20:30

It's really boring.

20:33

It's just a bunch of wires.

20:37

[microphone rustling]

20:58

Julia Roberts would have a show pony's tail,

21:03

beautiful, thick, lustrous tail,

21:08

bouncing in the wind.

21:11

[metal tapping]

21:17

The TV show Parks & Recreation.

21:25

The funny thing about Parks & Recreation is...

21:33

That I didn't audition for that show.

21:36

I had a meeting with the creators of the show,

21:41

and I guess in that meeting I was so weird

21:48

that they decided to create the character for me.

21:53

So in the original pilot episode of Parks & Recreation,

21:57

the character of April's actually named Aubrey.

22:03

Aubrey.

22:05

Aubrey.

22:07

Aubrey.

22:09

But of course they had to change it

22:12

when it went on television to April.

22:16

April.

22:17

April.

22:19

April.

22:24

And um...

22:28

I don't know what to say about it.

22:32

I definitely feel like that character is a big part of me.

22:39

I am April and April is me.

22:43

But it's a heightened version of me,

22:48

so it feels very close to my heart.

22:55

But also I'm much more than that.

23:02

I was on that show for seven seasons.

23:06

I don't know why, but that show has a kind of psychic,

23:14

beautiful love energy radiating out of it,

23:18

because we all loved each other so much

23:22

and you can tell when you watch it.

23:24

And I think that the show kind of reminds audiences

23:28

that comedy doesn't have to be meanspirited.

23:34

It can come from love,

23:37

except we can all still hate Jerry

23:41

because Jerry sucks.

23:45

Jerry deserves to die.

23:50

To represent April Ludgate,

23:53

I will now use the sounds of texting on my phone,

23:59

my personal phone.

24:02

I'd just like to first show you

24:04

that I have two stickers on my phone.

24:09

One says Hot Old Guy.

24:16

And one's a picture of a fox because I like foxes.

24:22

Okay, now we text.

24:26

I'll send a text to...

24:34

How about we send a text to Jerry himself?

24:42

I'm typing in Jim, Jim O'Heir.

24:50

[tapping on screen]

24:52

Hi Jim.

24:55

This is youknowwho.

24:59

[tapping on screen]

25:05

I'm doing a video

25:09

for W Magazine

25:15

about how much Jerry sucks.

25:18

[tapping on screen]

25:25

What do you think of that?

25:30

Question mark, question mark, exclamation point.

25:33

Send.

25:36

Let's see what he says.

25:47

Sometimes I like to turn the vibration on and off.

25:51

[phone clicking]

25:57

[tapping on screen]

26:02

Now we wait to see if he responds.

26:06

[tapping on screen]

26:09

Say something, Jim.

26:13

We're all waiting.

26:16

[tapping on screen]

26:31

He's typing right now.

26:32

I can't wait to see what he says.

26:36

[tapping on screen]

26:43

He's really thinking this text over.

26:47

[gasping]

26:52

LOL, I don't believe you'll be able

26:54

to come up with anything negative to say about Jerry.

26:58

If you can, go for it.

27:02

Smiley face.

27:05

What a dumbass.

27:08

He really sucks.

27:13

I'm deleting him from my phone.

27:18

Ha ha ha.

27:20

You suck.

27:22

[tapping on screen]

27:29

The TV show Legion.

27:34

My character on Legion is called Lenny Cornflakes Busker.

27:42

And it was a very strange process for me to be on this show

27:50

because the character was originally written for a man.

27:55

And when I first met with Noah Hawley,

28:00

he looked at me.

28:06

I was on crutches at the time

28:08

because I had torn my ACL playing basketball.

28:13

And he just said, "What about the role of Lenny?"

28:18

And I said, "The drug addict,

28:21

"middleaged man in the mental institution?"

28:26

And he said, "Yes."

28:31

And I said, "I don't know.

28:32

"That seems weird."

28:35

But then he told me that Lenny,

28:40

by the end of the first season, becomes the Shadow King,

28:44

which is the villain of the show.

28:47

And I said, "Sign me up.

28:51

"That sounds fun."

28:53

So that's what I did.

28:56

I became a powerful, evil mutant psychic villain

29:02

named the Shadow King.

29:04

However, in the second season,

29:08

my character took a very sharp left turn.

29:13

The Shadow King has relinquished Lenny's body

29:20

and moved on, so what happens to Lenny?

29:26

I don't know.

29:30

It's a very complicated character,

29:33

but ultimately I think that wherever Lenny is,

29:43

floating on the astral plane

29:46

in all the different dimensions of David Haller's memories,

29:53

she's optimistic and is always hoping for the best.

30:01

She's a tragic character and I like playing her,

30:07

but it's emotionally draining sometimes

30:11

and physically exhausting,

30:13

because I'm being tortured a lot

30:17

and used by this evil villain mutant.

30:23

Sometimes I forget that I'm in the Marvel Universe,

30:28

but I really like being on a Marvel show

30:35

because the audience really cares about the characters

30:42

and they're really invested in the characters.

30:45

And that's really nice.

30:48

And it's really fun to have powers.

30:50

Sometimes in the first season,

30:53

all I would do would be like, something like this.

30:59

[snapping fingers]

31:00

And someone would die.

31:04

To represent my character on Legion,

31:07

Lenny Cornflakes Busker,

31:11

I give to you the sound of Corn Flakes.

31:22

Wow, this is great.

31:26

I have a little bowl.

31:31

Why don't I just pour you guys a bowl of Corn Flakes?

31:37

I'm just gonna open it first.

31:39

[opening cereal box]

31:52

[bag rustling]

32:05

There's a lot of Corn Flakes in there.

32:08

[bag rustling]

32:17

I'll pour them out first.

32:21

[pouring cereal]

32:40

Now I have a bowl of Corn Flakes.

32:43

[rustling cereal]

32:51

They smell like...

32:55

Sugar and corn.

32:57

I'm gonna put one in my mouth.

33:00

[crunching cereal]

33:30

Is that gross?

33:33

[crunching cereal]

33:40

I wish I had some milk.

33:51

It kind of sounds like my hair.

33:56

[crunching cereal]

34:04

Is that really gross?

34:07

[crunching cereal]

34:18

Am I doing this for me or you?

34:20

I don't know.

34:23

I think me and you.

34:29

I don't like Corn Flakes,

34:32

but I like the way it sounds.

34:45

Before I say goodbye to you, my darlings,

34:47

I'm just gonna clean off the table.

34:49

There's some little Corn Flakes bits on the table.

34:53

[wiping table]

35:01

All clean.

35:03

Well, I just wanna say thank you to W Magazine

35:07

for making my dreams come true.

35:10

I am triggered by ASMR,

35:13

and I am sorry I had to talk about myself

35:17

and not just make sounds.

35:19

But this is the start of my new career.

35:23

I quit acting and now I'm only here for you, darlings.

35:29

I love you.

35:31

[smooching lips]

35:33

I'll leave you with my hair.

35:35

Don't ever forget this.

35:42

[rustling hair]

ASMR