How often do people scream LANAAAAA at you in public?

Also, if you stare into Colin Mochrie's head long enough, can you see into the future?

so much that it turns into white noise, after which I hear birds tweeting and the soft murmurings of my mother's voice.

and then I black out.

Colin Mochrie's head IS THE FUTURE

Hi Aisha -

I've met you a couple times (and you always remember my name - how?!) and every single time I turn into a tounge-tied shitshow of awkward but you seem to handle it with grace and kindness. That leads me to wonder...

What's been your most awkward encounter with a fan? Did that encounter alter the way you approach meet and greets after that?

Hey Erik! Well, I love my fans so I just try to be open and kind. I know how much I jibber and melt when I meet people I admire (I almost fainted meeting Doug Liman and I think he has a restraining order against me now) so I try to be chill. Most awkward has been the guy who takes your hand and won't release it for many sweaty minutes until you have to pry your cold, deadening fingers from his grip. And then you feel like an asshole because you dashed the guy with the kung-fu grip's dreams.

I just spend my time trying not to be an asshole.

hi big fan of your work! what advice can you give to a fella who's in his mid twenties and feels like a complete fuck up in life?

This is going to sound simplistic but I really believe this. I'm serious.

EVERYBODY FEELS LIKE A COMPLETE FUCK UP AT SOME POINT.

We all feel like frauds most of the time. Someone who goes around thinking they're awesome all the time is an asshole and their last name is probably Trump.

Just get up tomorrow and take a mulligan. The past is the past. You're a new you today, with new goals and a new approach and you are going to start kicking ass starting now. Blow it? Start over. And keep starting over, every day, until you feel like you're making some headway. I wrote an entire book, Self-Inflicted Wounds, about all the ways in which I have fucked up. Seriously. A book. And it wasn't even a comprehensive accounting.

I'm kickstarting my first feature right now. 10-plus years ago, I directed my first short. It was TERRIBLE. It will never see the light of day. Did I give up? No. I just kept making stuff and making stuff until I got better. The next six shorts were better. And now I'm about to make a movie.

Quentin Tarantino will admit that his first efforts were complete crap. Now he's one of the greatest directors of all time.

Success is not the absence of failure. Success is persistence through failure.

Get out there.

Right after you have some cheetos or whatever. Cheetos are delicious.

Have you ever entered the Danger Zone and met Kenny Loggins?

He won't return my calls.

How much of Lana Kane is based on you? In the "Meet the Kane's" episode they flashback to the science fair and it looks just like your own science fair pic in your book:)

Yep they definitely took the likeness of baby Lana from my own 8th grade science fair photo. But in the beginning she looked nothing like me and was based on a waitress at a Hooter's in Atlanta, because classy. Since then, she has morphed into me slowly.

She is now haunting my dreams.

We've made out a couple of times.

What show do you enjoy doing the most? And why is it Archer?

Because Archer is awesome. But YOU KNEW THAT

Hey Aisha.

1) What have you been playing lately?

2) What does Jeff Davis smell like?

I am so fucking behind on my gaming it's not even cute. I am carrying around a lot of shame behind this. I have a pristine unopened PipBoy edition of Fallout 4 staring me in the face, just a plastic box of unplayed judgment. And I haven't even dug into The Division or R6: Siege. Those are on my list. After I direct the movie I'm prepping now. Blargh! All of the things!

Oh, and Jeff Davis smells like bourbon and mystery. And a really old 20-sided die.

Hi Aisha!

I listened to your interview with Janet Varney and you mentioned how you're an avid reader. Are you reading anything right now, and what are some of the best books you've read in the last year?

Also, are you still a home brewer? If so, how's that going?

Stay awesome!

PS - You're taking all the jobs!

Hey! So I love books but right now I am not reading anything but comments and posts haha. I really loved Neal Gaiman's American Gods as well as Lev Grossman's the Magicians and they are both being made into series so along with TWD pretty soon I will be reduced to blubbering on my couch with a fistful of soylent green to keep me nourished.

Nothing wrong with that.

Hello Aisha, what was your favorite moment back when you were on the set of FRIENDS?

Just the sweet, quiet moments backstage with the cast where I tried to act normal and not creep them the fuck out

have you figured out whose line it is yet ?

Much like the Grand Unified Theory, this cannot be solved for until we are able to observe recordable evidence of additional dimensions of space.

Ryan thinks it's his, though.

With the death of the legendary George Coe, is Woodhouse gone for good or is he coming back? As you may be able to tell, I have a decent amount of love for the character.

We all do! He was so incredible and lovely and talented. I don't know that we'll replace him. How can we?

EGGS WOODHOUSE FOR ME AND ALL MY MEN

Back in 2013, a Redditor asked if there was anything you don't do on your first AMA.

So my question is, would you like to join me for some pineappletinis?

DAD?!?!?

Hey Aisha, really big fan. Let me start by saying that at first I was a little worried about Drew not coming back for the Whose Line revival series, but you jumped right in there and have been doing an amazing job since.

My questions are as follows:

Do you and the Whose Line cast hang out outside of work hours? If so, is there lots of banter back and forth like on the show between games?

Between Ryan, Colin, and Wayne who is the craziest (the good crazy, not the crazy crazy) outside of work?

Lastly, what ever happened to the "Yes, the points are like...." analogies? I know it was Drew's thing but every time you say "The show where the points don't matter" I get an intense longing for an analogy to follow. (plus you know you would be totally amazing at them)

Thanks for doing this AMA, you rock!

You are super lovely and thanks for the kind words! I love Drew too and I was in for a shitstorm of judgment (as the internet is ones and zeroes of judgement) so I was even more worried than you! Hah

we do hang out outside of work hours, drinking in somber silence until we fall asleep on each other like a basket of sleepy puppies.

ryan colin and wayne are delightful and quite normal. I, however, ride to work on a pony blaring Fetty Wap and drink an entire bottle of Boone's Farm for breakfast. through a funnel.

they have cut the points analogies out of the show. I tape them but they never use them, mainly because we have like 3-4 minutes less in this iteration of the show than they had on ABC, and so they save them for games. And I guess... commercials.

mainly commercials.

I love a good french fry, and I'm pretty sure I know the location of the best french fries on the planet. My question: what is your condiment of choice OR do you prefer them naked?

my preferred condiment for fries is the salty, salty tears of my tablemates as I fuck up their orders of fries in moments

Who was your favorite actor to work with?

Christopher Walken. Hands down. The entire time we were shooting Balls of Fury his nails were polished and he told filthy stories and he tricked me into buying him birthday cake.

He's the best.

Do you have a preference on bourbon?

copious is my preference. copious.

Hey Aisha!

You have been very vocal and even defensive about your love of Batman vs Superman on Twitter, to the point where many have asked you if you had been paid to promote it.

I personally think everyone is free to enjoy what they want to enjoy, but I was wondering if you could explain why you went to such lengths to (seemingly) convince people it was a good film?

It's okay to enjoy something and accept that it's objectively not great, and similarly it's okay to enjoy something and argue that you consider it great... I was wondering if you could clarify which of these camps you fit in more?

Blah blah blah... big fan of your work on Archer, WLIA, etc.

haha thanks for the kind words.

I guess why I've been so vocal and defensive is because the detractors have been so virulent and dismissive. I genuinely liked that movie. This is true and full disclosure: I don't work for anyone associated with making or promoting that film in any way. I moderated the Warner Brothers panel for the DCEU movies this past summer for no compensation whatsoever, because when I was a little kid I collected Dark Knight and Watchmen GN and because I love Zack Snyder and David Ayer (I loved End of Watch and I have seen DOTD 2004 like 30 times). I was and am genuinely excited about those films and that universe and if I wasn't I wouldn't have participated (I have PLENTY of shit to do). I went to the BVS premiere on my own dime, because I was stoked to see it.

So. Maybe I'm vocal out of love. I thought BVS was clever, I thought it was funny (maybe not as funny as Avengers but that's not Zack's thing) I loved the introduction of WW and I am SUPER stoked for Aquaman and Cyborg, and I felt like the criticisms were petty and even some of the canonical criticisms disregarded the fact that DC canon, and indeed comic book canon, is constantly morphing and changing (how many times have X-Men died? How many times has the world ended and then all of a sudden we're back on earth and people are grabbing Starbucks? Just look at the new 52).

So for me, this was Zack's take on this world, and I liked the meditation on ultimate power and it's nature, and whether one can be a hero and still maintain one's humanity, and whether violence is required to keep peace. I don't know why people kept whining that "Batman and Superman are supposed to be FRIENDS" when it's made very clear in BvS that Batman and Superman are meeting for the VERY FIRST TIME and in this version of the DCU Batman has been Batman for a while, but the world is JUST MEETING SUPERMAN. And Batman has fundamental issues with what he represents, and what he could accomplish if he were evil. That aspect of it, to me, both served canon and extended and explored it. And I liked the big ideas at the center about the fight against terror and what it might cost us to win.

Anyway. As you can see, I loved it. I've seen it twice and I'll probably go a third time. I even liked Jesse Eisenberg's Zuckerberg-off-his-meds LL.

But hell. I'm just one woman.

Hey Aisha,

Big Fan. Do you have big hands in real life? I hope you do. Whats your favorite Stone Brew!?

Thanks,

Dan

THEY ARE DELICATE AND FEMININE

The "enjoy by" IPAs are fun but of course my favorite Stone Brews are the ones I've brewed myself: w00tstout 2.0, last year's Stone Cold Fox black IPA, and the super secret one I may or may not be brewing this year for hopCon. can neither confirm nor deny

How did you first get involved with Criminal Minds and how different is that from other shows you've done?

Well, the producers came to me and asked me if I'd like to join for six episodes because AJ Cook was on maternity leave. It was just supposed to be a short stint while I was on hiatus from the Talk. And I just loved it there — loved the cast and writers and crew and my trailer that smelled like other actors' feet — and they seemed to like me so they kept writing me into the show. I've done a lot of procedural/CIA/FBI dramas: CSI, 24, XIII — so mainly how it's different is that I like exploring this world and I feel a bit more confident playing someone in this field than I ever have before.

That and I have my name on my parking space. Which is baller.

I know you have been to Comic Con, do think you might attend DragonCon one year?

I would love to! I never ever have enough free time during the year to do all the cons but I will one day for sure.

Not cosplaying Lana, though I will gladly hand out stickers to the winners.

Which celebrity would cause the biggest shock by being named in the Panama Papers?

Also the question I ask all celebrities and never get an answer to:

Does it get lonely being famous? How can you tell who are your friends and who aren't?

Your first Q was hella obscure, dude. I need to do some reading.

second one is yes. It does. it is very hard to tell who might be interested in you for who you are versus what you do. i guess it's like anyone anywhere in the world: you have to make a decision to trust people, knowing full well that there is a possibility you will have your heart broken terribly.. and then either you decide the possible upside of the friendship is worth it, or you go back to eating ramen noodles and watching Jessica Jones in your underpants.

maybe that's just me.

You have about a billion jobs already, why did you decide to add director to the list? Are you just a glutton for punishment? :)

I am! I seriously am a workaholic. It's a problem.

My main life philosophy is that if there is something i am curious about, I do it. We can always come up with a million reasons why "it's never going to work!" I just jump in with both feet and learn as much as I can and train as hard as I can and see how far that gets me.

I talk more about it in the video & page for my Kickstarter campaign, but essentially when I thought I wanted to be a director, I didn't go to "Hollywood" and ask for someone to give me a job directing (because they wouldn't have done it anyway that is definitely NOT how it works here LMBAOALLTHEWAYDOWNTHESTAIRS). I visited every set i could, and made a bunch of shorts all by myself with a Canon 5D, and asked everyone I knew who was in a band to let me make them a free music video, that I shot and edited and colored conformed all on my own. And now, that I've done all that, I still believe that Kickstarter is the best way to make the movie I want to make because if I wait to do it with a studio, they're going to tell me why my creative choices aren't going to make money in China and that's why I should hire some dude who was popular in movies 25 years ago and wants millions of dollars and can only come out of his trailer on alternate Tuesdays.

I'm a GDI and I always have been, and I guess that goes hand in hand with having a billion jobs. Eventually, I'd like to be working for myself in some capacity. Doing stuff that I create.

So, that's why director.

Plus I fucking love movies so much man oh man I love movies.

Lana...LAna....LANAAAAAA!!! Thanks for all your work on Archer, looking forward to the next season. Are you as badass in real life as you are in the show?

No. I am curled up in the damp coolness of the space under my dining room table, alternately weeping uncontrollably and trying to keep tears out of my keyboard. After this I will spend a few hours running from my own shadow, and then climbing the walls.

Which is how I stay so fit.

What is a job you don't have that you wish you did?

Ooh! Good one. Well, director but I am moving into that now. Race car driver? Fully-clothed person on the other end of a person making it rain? Booze tester? Panda bear cuddler?

Drunk panda-bear cuddler with a pocket fulla ones

1. Did your RA David at Dartmouth have any impact on your career by helping you to start your a cappella group? I date his daughter and they always watch Whose Line together as a family.
2. Are you ever able to contribute to the writing of Archer?

Oh that's sweet! He was a lovely guy. I can't remember that he had any connection with the Rockapellas, but I can't remember what I ate for lunch. SO. Tell him I said what's up!

The writing of Archer is perfect in every way. Sometimes we pitch little lines here and there but you can't mess with god's work.

Greetings from Austin. I love my town! What's your favorite city?

OOH! I love Austin. I was just there in December for Who Do You Think You Are!

San Francisco (my hometown) is probably my favorite, followed by Paris, NYC, London, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Toronto.

I need to go to a lot more places though. I feel like all my favorite places are only my favorite places because I drank there.

Of course, I drink everywhere so...

your house.

Hi!! Such a huge fan! Couple of questions. 1) Can you tell me about your experience on Friends? I'm such a huge fan and I was wondering if you could tell me how it was working on the show and any secrets haha ;) 2) Why did you decide to do Whose Line Is It Anyway? Favorite part of working on the show? 3) Best advice you've ever gotten? Thank you SO much!! Love you xoxo

It was great! They were all so sweet to me and it was the biggest job I had ever had to date and I was just trying not to pee a little the entire time. No real secrets other than that they really were as lovely to each other as they seemed on camera. I was sweating balls the entire time.

I decided to do WLIIA because I loved the show and I loved the guys and I love improv. Favorite part of the show is pressing that buzzer like milk is going to come out

Best advice I've ever gotten is don't quit. I know it's an after school special but no one wins a race by dropping out. unless there are burritos on the sidelines.

Any favorite fighting game a la Tekken, Mortal Kombat, etc.? I remember you saying you can bust ass on Halo from the Aisha Tyler is Lit special, but wondering if other genres fit in to your video game playing.

I tend to love fantasy combat, but stayed away from Skyrim as the general consensus was that it was a life eater. Top three are Fallout, Gears, and Halo. I really love combo shooter/RPGs, (thus Fallout) and loved The Last of Us as well. I'm not a big fighting game person. Metal Gear Solid is always a winner, as is any Rainbow 6 title. And I loved TWD for the iPad and cried at the end like a poopy infant.

I can never think of a question for these things. If you were me, what would you ask you?

Why I'm still typing this shit myself

Hi, Aisha. When are you coming back on the Stephanie Miller show, next? I loved your old regular Tuesday segment!

I was just on this morning! Sadly with the four jobs and the new booze company and the film I'm directing in June I have no time to pee. I have to save up all my urine for the weekend.

Sunday Funday just got a whole lot splashier!

I love Archer, your podcast and everything you do. When can I see you at comic con this year?

Hey! Come follow me on the things for updates on my SDCC schedule. Will definitely be doing HopCon 4.0 this year at Stone Brewing (concocting another limited edition beer for them this year) as well as Archer stuff and also drunken wandering around the gaslight district in the wee hours. For that last one you'll just have to hang out and se what develops.

Will also hopefully do another fan event/live podcast, and something VERY special for Kickstarter supporters of my film this year. Haven't concocted it yet. MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAAAAAA

thanks for teaching me about newcastle disease. how do you know everything?

INTERNETS

How difficult is conveying your comedic art via animation?

Well, all I have to do is jump around like an idiot yelling at the top of my lungs in a sound booth, and then other people convey my comedic art via animation, at which point I am already home with a pocket full of granola bars I stole from the sound studio.

so, easy.

Hello from New Zealand! You're my fave Profiler on Criminal Minds! If you had to be stranded on an island with one of the Criminal Minds cast members (past or present) who would it be?

Hm! They're all so excellent. Kirsten because she's always well supplied, or AJ because she's from the country and probably has serious survivalist skills.

Matthew would just tell awesome stories and wander around in his smoking jacket. So I'd be hungry but entertained.

Thomas is practical enough to never, ever get stranded on an island.

Although probably Joe because he'd get one of his military buddies to come chopper us out.

Hi Aisha!

I'm a big fan of yours and listen to your podcast all the time!

Knowing that you do the Podcast for fun, my Fiance and I have full-time careers but always want to do something outside of work to either fulfill us more like volunteer or have a side project. My question is, knowing that you are always busy with different projects, how do you find the time/energy to do them all? Thank you

If you're stoked to do something, the energy will magically appear. Just choose something for yourself that you're really excited and passionate about. It will be fulfilling just by it's very nature, and you'll leap out of bed to do it.

The way that I find time/energy to do it all is that I am a highly-developed pathological workaholic who could drop dead at anytime.

I'm going to go out like a champ though.

Hi Aisha! First off, have you seen man from U.N.C.L.E.?

Followup: What do you think of Henry Cavill as a live-action archer?

Much love from Mexico!

I haven't seen the entire thing because I work too much and I am getting ready to direct my own first feature so I have been like halfway through Spotlight since January. However, I think Henry Cavill is aces and I would eat the crusts of his bread.

That is NOT a metaphor for sex. I would seriously eat the part of his PBJ that he cut off and discarded.

I loved #BvS and I will take ALL COMERS on that front. That is how much I love Henry Cavill.

Hey Aisha,

What music do you listen to the most these days? any favourite artists?

OOH favorites right now are:

Kendrick Lamar Florence + the Machine The Weeknd Clutch Silversun Pickups

(I directed videos for the last two above which you can see on my Kickstarter page)

Classic shit like Metallica, System of a Down and Linkin Park when I am working out.

And Bon Iver because anyone who says they don't like Bon Iver is just trying to be cool or something and I can't handle cool people

Going to see Black Sabbath live this year. So, things are awesome.

Hi Aisha, love your work. What's your strangest fan encounter?

EDIT: d'oh, someone already asked this. So a twist.. Strangest/most awkward fan encounter where YOU were the strange fan.

haha meeting Doug Liman: I literally froze and all that came out of my mouth were frail sounds of personal failure. This was post Bourne Identity and I was really unhinged.

You know how you think something went terrible and then later other people go "oh, it wasn't so bad?"

later other people were like, "what the fuck, dude."

Aisha, I know you guys love inviting celebrity guests on Whose Line nowadays, but I don't know if the producers can some around doing it, but could you find a way to convince Drew Carey and Chip Esten (Mister Frickin Popular Nashville superstar Deacon) to be a guest on Whose Line? How long will I have to beg in order to make this happen? o_o

We all think that would be awesome! It's truly up to them. Drew and I are good friends and I would just sit on his lap and watch him push that buzzer for an episode if he wanted. He's ACES.

You can hear us talk a lot about stuff on my podcast Girl on Guy, were you so inclined. I've actually interviewed the entire Whose Line gang, even Ryan, who hates technology and things and going places and being.

Do you have a stylist? I watched you on WDYTYA and all your outfits were dope, like runway comfy!! I hate business casual as I've been in Corp America for 14 years but I'd rock everything you wore on that show!! Who made the "Heaven" sweater?? And can I bite your style for work? :)

Thank you!

Each show has it's own staff stylist. We kind of work together to figure out something that's comfortable and fits my style.

"Heaven" sweater came from a cool company here in LA called Free People!

Bite all my shit lady! Go nuts!

That sounded weirder than I imagined.

Will we ever see pop! funko character of Lana?

I thought this happened already

Think you'll cry when Ubisoft (HOPEFULLY) announces Splinter Cell at this year's E3? Or do you have no soul...

I am always holding back tears during the Ubi presser. When they announced Siege I nearly shit myself.

A big poop made of tears of joy.

Hello Aisha! What you like the most of working on Criminal Minds and what you don't like about it? Laura PS: thank you for doing this :3

I LOVE everything about it. I'm getting a lot less sleep but it's worth it! I've made a group of new friends I absolutely love. I'm actually going for drinks later with Kirsten and Paget.

That was super name-droppy. But the town needs to get ready for some drunk Ladies of the BAU up in this piece.

As a comedian in jobs all over the spectrum how do you feel about the current state of "political correctness"? (however people mean it these days) Do you ever feel like you need be careful about what you say now?

Thanks, huge fan!

I dunno. As a comedian in a club I think you have a lot more leeway than you do on TV. People are drunk and trying to get laid so they're not too focused on being offended. The internet just STAYS offended so you can't win there. Mainly I think the issue is intent. I try not to be a dick. If I keep that in mind I can pretty much say anything.

I try not to make fun of babies though.

Unless they're being assholes.

Hi Aisha! Huge fan here. Love Girl on Guy. Can you tell us more about when and where Courage+Stone will be available?

Hey! Yes! first off come follow/like etc. for more news about Courage+Stone as we move forward:

twitter.com/courageandstone facebook.com/courageandstone courageandstone.com

We are hard at work putting finishing touches on and if you visit the C+S Facebook page or my own you can see some photos of me bartending at our very first event! We hope to be in stores by midsummer but a big aspect of this process is government approvals and you know how speedy THAT can be. But we are hopeful and I can't wait to bring it to you! You could probably use a drink.

I know I could.

What's the next game you'd like to beat?

Shit. I'm so behind on my gameplay. The most recent game that I beat was showering more frequently than every three days.

personalhygeineachievementunlocked

1. Which Whose Line game are you itching to Play?
2. What's the most memorable moment so far taping the newest Whose Line season?

I've been getting in on more games but the two I'd love to play are Doo Wop and one we've struck, Sideways Scene. First season Ryan and I would sit on stage watching Sideways Scene and just be mouthing to each other silently, "this is so funny. Oh my god do you see how funny this is?" The producers struck that game but I really miss it. Seeing Colin do fake Kung Fu while lying on his side in a dress shirt really warms the cockles.

And for some reason Doo Wop is always a lovely series of ridiculous dick jokes. I'm dying to jump into that Double Dutch.

Is Harry fun to work with?

Harry.... Bring?

why do you yell so much on whose line?

Because it's loud as fucking blazes in that studio. People are screaming at the top of their lungs, three hundred variations of the words "please do hoedown."

Are you not watching the same show?

Hi Aisha! This is awesome you're doing this.

Any plans on doing your own TV projects?

Well right now I just launched a kickstarter for my own movie, so I'm focusing the seventeen minutes of spare time i have available on that for now. Haha. But YES! I want to do all the things for sure. I am always trying to challenge myself. And my loved ones.

Hi Aisha! Big fan of Whose Line Is It Anyway! and loved you in Friends. Will the classic games such as Superheroes be back in Whose Line? And whose the funniest Whose Line member? Thank you for doing this!

I think we've done Superheroes a few times since I've been there but I never know the games until the day we tape them so I can't help you there.

The Whose Line guys are all my babies. I can't pick a favorite. I have to work with these people!

Remakes are all the rage at the moment...

So, any chance we can get a 5th Wheel reboot, please?

(or maybe Pop Up video? I'm easy.)

SUPER hahahahahhahahahhahha

god bless you. can we find a younger sexier me who is dying to get condyloma from sitting on that bus to take over?

Aishaaaa! Big fan. What's your favorite video game of all time?

3 way tie Halo Gears Fallout 3

Hi Aisha! How did you meet that amazing guy Shane West?

When I was shooting the series XIII in Toronto with Stuart Townsend, he was shooting Nikita there with Maggie Q, who is a good friend of mine. We all hung out together a lot -- we were all living away from home and clung together like kittens.

KITTENS WHO DRINK BEER.

Anyway I love Shane. He's tits.

First off Aisha, I want to tell you thanks for doing Archer. You have a great voice and do a fantastic job of keeping Lana interesting!

1. What's your favorite line/convo you've done on Archer?
2. Were you surprised a show like Archer could become so successful and develop such a large fanbase?
3. What's your favorite food?

Thanks!

1. I'm a purist but making Cyrill go get the interracial porn in season one was a fave.

2. yes. Didn't even think it was going to get on the air, let alone go 7 seasons. I have since stopped betting on the horses.

3. French fried potatoes

If you could have one superpower, what would it be and why?

I would like to fly so fast I turn back time and jump through the fabric of space at a speed that renders me invisible and yet makes me smell like the center of our galaxy (raspberry)