Ellie Kemper on 'Sex Tape' and Her Own Memorable Firsts

Hi. Hi. Good to see you.

Good to see you. We called each other last night. Yeah, we talked. We're twinsies. Oh, yeah. We decided to match. We do match. I decided, though, I'm going to be much paler than you. But we decided on a similar color pal.

Well, we also decided that I'm very spray tanned. You're all natural.

Yeah, all natural pale.

I got to talk about, is it Ben Dugan?

Yes.

Okay. I'm going to set this up. You're on Letterman and he you're you're throwing a bachelorette party for your sister.

Yes.

And you mention the the fiance's name, Ben Dugan, and David Letterman went off and said his name like 20 times. How much did he love that name? And I want to know, how did Ben Dugan react when he saw it? Is he is he so famous now wherever he works and?

Okay. First of all, I'm so, like, honored that you brought this up because that was one of the best moments of my life. I that's what I was thinking. I was thinking Ben Dugan must be flipping out right now. That's right. When he when David Letterman started repeating his name, I was like, I'm having a dream right now. This is. And so, I after the show, I thought, okay, I want Ben Dugan to watch, but I also want him to tell his friends, but I also want it to be a surprise. So you didn't tell him? I said, Ben, anyone who might enjoy shoutouts for you might want to be told to tune in to David Letterman. Oh, my gosh. So, it wasn't specifically what it was, and his dad called him crying, laughing. Like he was on the East Coast so he saw it before Ben did. He's like, you've got to watch. Because this is insane. It's insane. Ben Dugan is an equally huge fan of David Letterman. So, he just went and ran with that.

Okay, so let's talk about sex tape.

Okay, yeah. So funny. It's so fun. It's

Thank you, but it is. It's such I mean, obviously, an amazing cast.

Yes.

You got to have your own little sex scene in the movie. Was that you in the car?

It was. It was not a stunt double. Okay. Um, we got our little moment. I there was no nudity for me. Um, that is a lucky thing. But, yeah, we had a little mini, um, mini explosive moment, I guess you would call it in in we're inspired by their

I'll use the word inspired by their sex.

Inspired by the Yeah, yes.

You you're friends with Jason Segel's character.

Yes. Exactly. And you see your friends' tape. Yes. And it lights a spark. It lights a spark. It does happen to be our anniversary. So, romance is already sort of in the air and then, um, we take it to new heights. Maybe it was sort of like a suppressed urge to do this. I don't even know if the urge had occurred to them. But in any case, it's not a bad thing. They're a married couple. Yeah. And, um, they should indulge in some fun.

Absolutely. What we used to have fun doing when we were younger is kind of not, you know, it's kind of strange now.

Exactly. Because you become an adult, there's more responsibilities associated.

Okay, so what's the balance between retaining that sort of youthful pleasures and being an adult? Punny moments that were embarrassing to you?

I I feel like I didn't have that

You didn't have as much

I certainly didn't have as much as Cameron Jason, like, in terms of exposure. Um, but the general vibe of the set was so casual. I'm sure everyone will tell you the same thing. It was so, uh, low-key. Everyone's ideas were welcome and there was no sense of like, you know, ego or we have to do it this way. It was fun. It felt like camp. I can't.

I wanted to play a little mini game with you.

Oh. Okay.

Um, it's called Share or Delete. I'm going to give you a scenario of things that have happened in your life because this is what happens, they share their sex tape and accidentally inadvertently, right? So, if I'm going to bring up something and you'll say whether it was a moment in your life that you it was a shareable moment or something you wish you could have deleted.

Oh, great. And even if you want to delete it, we might ask you to share anyway. Of course.

Ready? Share or Delete your first kiss.

Share.

How was it? I feel like any maybe I'm wrong. I feel like first kiss are always horrible. They're it's not there's nothing romantic about it. It's all like mechanics and like there were teeth clinking and I

Didn't have braces. Teeth clinking and saliva. I felt like it was more a, um, okay, I got that done. It was not enjoyable.

Your first audition tape. Was it a shareable moment, you think, or one of those moments?

Delete. I think. I mean, sorry, it's delete, right? That's what we're going for. We're still getting the game. Delete. Delete. Yes.

Was it one of those?

I made a tape for Saturday Night Live that was like an audition tape.

Oh, dude, those are extensive, aren't they?

They're extensive and I and I went home and watched it. I mean, it's weird watching yourself, of course, but this was like unequivocally bad. It was just like, oh, this yeah, how did you ever submit that? And I showed my manager at the time, I said, here's the tape I made. He's like, maybe we hold off. Like, we sort of refine the characters.

Your prom. Share or delete moment. Or your prom photo, let's say.

Oh, delete. Not good. Charlie's Angels. Like, was it? But that's good. Oh, I like that. Oh, you see, no. I I I I I it's I want something more original. Even at the time, I was like, let's just do something else. And I don't know. Everyone

I think you're wrong. There was a red head. There was perfect.

Oh, I know. Why do I regret it? Why would I delete it? I don't know. I think it's great. You need to want to share it. I'll share it.

Okay. What you wore to bed? Oh, what you wore to bed.

I guess delete.

I don't even want to ask you. I think that's it. It was so good to have you here.

Thank you for having me.

Should we go out? Should we give a shout out to Ben Dugan? I think it's time for the Ben Dugan shout out. Ben Dugan! Love you.

Yep.