Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Kristen Davis, and I want to know are
Speaker 1: you a Charlotte? This is very exciting, you guys. We
Speaker 1: are in the sidebar part of Are You a Charlotte,
Speaker 1: which is catching up with friends, and here we have
Speaker 1: the incredible John Benjaminicky.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Now we are a little bit past his episode. I've
Speaker 1: been trying to get him on. Okay, he's a hot ticket,
Speaker 1: you guys.
Speaker 2: I didn't realize.
Speaker 1: I was so busy. Yeah, we were much desired.
Speaker 3: Trying to figure out what I was doing that I
Speaker 3: could be so unavailable.
Speaker 2: But here I am.
Speaker 1: That's okay. It was important stuff. You told me at
Speaker 1: the premiere what you're doing, and I totally understand. Yes,
Speaker 1: it's okay, it's okay, but you're here now and that's
Speaker 1: all that matters. So John is in the first season,
Speaker 1: which really surprised both of us.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: We thought it was like later on in the run.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, I would have probably said end of the second
Speaker 3: maybe even the third third.
Speaker 1: Which I think of as our best season. If we
Speaker 1: have to pick an overall season in.
Speaker 2: My episode for your episode, that's.
Speaker 1: Why I'm saying I would put it in the bed
Speaker 1: because it's such a good episode and it was written
Speaker 1: by Michael Patrick King, which you can completely tell. Oh god, yes,
Speaker 1: John plays the Catholic Guy. He has a real name,
Speaker 1: is called Thomas John Anderson, which is kind of funny
Speaker 1: because John Benja three and he's playing Michael Patrick King
Speaker 1: basically and his own episode, and he is called the
Speaker 1: Catholic Guy. That's what we call him in the shorthand
Speaker 1: to the friends. And he's opposite Cynthia and they are incredible.
Speaker 1: This episode was directed by Matthew Harrison. We don't have
Speaker 1: a ton of memories about him. We're really sorry, I
Speaker 1: who it's apologized.
Speaker 3: If I never remember the direct vivid memories of MPK
Speaker 3: not directing me, but just he's such a brilliant, extraordinary
Speaker 3: presence on set and his writing was so great that
Speaker 3: I remember him and of course have known him all
Speaker 3: these years after. But yeah, I don't remember the directors.
Speaker 3: I know, but that's not because he didn't direct a
Speaker 3: great episode.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, because that's an episode.
Speaker 2: Good director disappears a little bit.
Speaker 1: This is a good point. And you also direct, so
Speaker 1: you know very well. You know very well, so tell
Speaker 1: us your memories and your thoughts about the new It
Speaker 1: was relatively new show.
Speaker 2: Yeah, how is this a G rated program?
Speaker 3: Okay, great, Well, what I vividly remember is being on
Speaker 3: top of Cynthia, having being in the throes of passion
Speaker 3: and having orgasm after or fake orgasm after orgasm, and
Speaker 3: getting up and sharing. And you know a lot of
Speaker 3: people have seen it in syndication and all that stuff's out,
Speaker 3: but in the I guess the DVD or box set
Speaker 3: or whatever you call it these days, you.
Speaker 2: See all of those sex scenes.
Speaker 3: So what I remember most vividly is being in bed
Speaker 3: in flagrante with Cynthia Nixon. Thank goodness, I had known her.
Speaker 3: We'd done a play together, which is the way you
Speaker 3: get very intimate, very quickly, is by being on stage together.
Speaker 3: And we had such a great time doing this play
Speaker 3: and such a great rapport and such great trust that
Speaker 3: we immediately threw ourselves into it. And you know, this
Speaker 3: was before Sex and the City was Sex and the City,
Speaker 3: So going to that set and having to do such
Speaker 3: a huge.
Speaker 2: Sex scene was really nerve racking.
Speaker 3: Nerve racking, So that's my biggest memory is just being
Speaker 3: on top of Cynthia, and you know, and then the
Speaker 3: casual after an hour or two, it becomes so casual, like,
Speaker 3: what are you gonna have for lunch? I think I'm
Speaker 3: gonna have that, you know, totally both yeah, naked, and
Speaker 3: I mean we all had We've talked about cook socks
Speaker 3: and all that stuff. Yeah, right, right right, and I
Speaker 3: guess I remember the cok sock as well.
Speaker 1: There you go. Very memorable. I mean the thing about
Speaker 1: Cynthia too, which is a theme in every guy that
Speaker 1: I've ever spoken to who was opposite hers, that she
Speaker 1: has no real fear or self consciousness about it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no she doesn't. But listen, this is the all
Speaker 3: of your reputations precede you when actors go on your show.
Speaker 3: And this was true twenty how many years ago, twenty.
Speaker 4: Five years, twenty seven or six, unbelievable, And now you
Speaker 4: get a job on that show and you're decided to
Speaker 4: go there because of the way you guys treat people.
Speaker 3: It's guesting on a show, even if you're in the
Speaker 3: first season or now, is being is like being forced
Speaker 3: to go to somebody else's office Christmas party. You know,
Speaker 3: there might be a little bit of a feeling of
Speaker 3: nobody really understands why you're there, but you're there, and
Speaker 3: so it's very important for the top of the call sheet.
Speaker 3: To treat people, you know, this very very well. To
Speaker 3: make people feel comfortable one of the biggest parts of
Speaker 3: the job. And this was a show that did that
Speaker 3: even then. And you know, Cynthia was amazing that way,
Speaker 3: because she's so free, such a great actress, and so
Speaker 3: unintimidated and unintimidating.
Speaker 1: Absolutely. I mean it's funny because she sometimes I would
Speaker 1: be so worried if she had one of these scenes
Speaker 1: because I was like, she's not going to take care
Speaker 1: of herself, and you know, not with you, because you're
Speaker 1: a season pro. But like sometimes people just grab an
Speaker 1: all crazy way and no one would say like stop,
Speaker 1: and I think, like I should go, I should go,
Speaker 1: and she'd be like delicate, delicate, you know, But she
Speaker 1: didn't care. And that's so freeing when you're watching her.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, really, she's really she's really fearless. We went
Speaker 3: on to do another series together called The Big c
Speaker 3: and had so many sex scenes. Like I think maybe
Speaker 3: as many sex scenes as Cynthia has played over the years,
Speaker 3: I might be at the top of the list of
Speaker 3: the just the quantity.
Speaker 2: I love it, and I hope the quality. But you
Speaker 2: did a lot.
Speaker 3: Together, and oh my god, by the end of our
Speaker 3: run on the Big Sea together, we were.
Speaker 1: Like amazing, like an old Mary com I know, really
Speaker 1: love that because you're so perfectly matched. You know, you
Speaker 1: are so complex as an actor, which I think you
Speaker 1: often like are more into your directing now and whatever.
Speaker 1: But to me, whenever I watch you on film, you're
Speaker 1: so complicated, and she also has so many layers, and
Speaker 1: she kind of does it so effortlessly. Wish you as well,
Speaker 1: because you've been doing it so long. It's very interesting
Speaker 1: to watch. I could see why they would cast you
Speaker 1: again opposite each other. It makes perfect sense. So way back,
Speaker 1: take yourself way back. Do you remember, like, what were
Speaker 1: you doing? You've done this play with Cynthia. You were
Speaker 1: on Broadway, you were doing yep.
Speaker 3: I want to say I done a play a playwrights
Speaker 3: rising It's called on the Bum with Cynthia, which is
Speaker 3: one of the great experiences of both of our lives.
Speaker 2: I think she would say the same.
Speaker 3: It's just an amazing group of actors, a very large
Speaker 3: cast and all of off Broadway's finest Campbell, Scott and yeah,
Speaker 3: just incredible people. And Cynthia and I really had a
Speaker 3: great bond. I do remember that her mother sent me
Speaker 3: a note. Cynthia was very and if her mom liked
Speaker 3: an actor she was playing opposite.
Speaker 2: You really rose in the ranks. You rose in her eyes.
Speaker 2: I'm still very proud of that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and so I feel like I knew going in
Speaker 3: that that I was going to be well taken care of.
Speaker 2: I don't remember. I don't think I auditioned for the part.
Speaker 3: I think I was offered the part, which so perfect, Yeah,
Speaker 3: which was very rare back then.
Speaker 2: I auditioned for everything happily.
Speaker 3: Would audition again if it was a role like what's
Speaker 3: his name, Paul Thomas Anderson.
Speaker 1: That's a director, Thomas J and N Anderson.
Speaker 2: But I don't remember auditioning for it.
Speaker 1: But would that have been Sir Jessica's relationship with you?
Speaker 3: Maybe, yes, we were. We were close back then, but
Speaker 3: we got really close. Maybe in seasons three, four and
Speaker 3: five we were. We got closer as friends then in
Speaker 3: the beginning, I don't think we were quite that close.
Speaker 3: We knew each other, but not that well. To be
Speaker 3: completely honest, I don't know. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I think it was because you were so perfect for
Speaker 1: that part.
Speaker 3: I guess uh, and and you know, but there's a
Speaker 3: there's a fear in that because if you haven't auditioned,
Speaker 3: you're going in and you're thinking, I hope they I
Speaker 3: think they've made the right decision, and I hope I
Speaker 3: don't show up and they're like, oh, that's not what
Speaker 3: we wanted, because if you have auditioned, then they've seen
Speaker 3: what you're what you're bringing. So I went in cold,
Speaker 3: and when you're having to do nude scenes, you want
Speaker 3: to be very warm. You want to be warm warmed
Speaker 3: up pretty quickly. And I think it was one day.
Speaker 3: Maybe you're kidding, Yeah, maybe, Oh my god.
Speaker 1: You're so tremendous. It's crazy to think you would have
Speaker 1: done that in one day because you're so mad. You
Speaker 1: get so angry when she tries to tell you not
Speaker 1: to shower.
Speaker 2: I'm on the rain, complete Catholic meltdown. Oh excuse me.
Speaker 3: I'm so sorry that you think I'm not going to
Speaker 3: go to hell for having sex.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that fixes it. You're like, that fixes it
Speaker 1: right away. It's so good.
Speaker 3: And I vividly remember MPK and the wonderful director saying
Speaker 3: go further, because you know, I was a theater actor
Speaker 3: and I was like, oh boy, that was probably really
Speaker 3: over the top, and Michael's like, no, get madd go further,
Speaker 3: really lose your on her and loving it and having
Speaker 3: a ball. And at that point we had simulated sex
Speaker 3: and orgasm so many times together that we could do anything.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, absolutely, so for me, when I think back on
Speaker 1: the first season, this is what's been so interesting to
Speaker 1: rewatch it. First of all, I thought the first season
Speaker 1: that we weren't together. When I watch it back, I'm like,
Speaker 1: all the pieces are there. We might not have been
Speaker 1: completely structurally together the writing, but like the acting and
Speaker 1: everything is so great, so much better. Yeah, that I remember,
Speaker 1: But we definitely did the whole first season without anything airing, right,
Speaker 1: which is kind of wonderful in a way because you're
Speaker 1: just being creative without any outside input, but also scary,
Speaker 1: kind of like not auditioning for a part because you
Speaker 1: have no idea how people are going to respond, absolutely,
Speaker 1: and I remember having a lot of anxiety about that
Speaker 1: and talking to each other like a people going to
Speaker 1: freak out, which some people did right, And then it
Speaker 1: went well and it got bigger and bigger. Like third
Speaker 1: season is when I consider us to have gotten kind
Speaker 1: of popular. That's what I felt at least, But do
Speaker 1: you remember, like what was your feeling being on the
Speaker 1: show and then having people see it.
Speaker 3: As you describe the only way I can really articulate
Speaker 3: it is very niche Like my family in Texas didn't
Speaker 3: have HBO, so and I was probably relieved because there
Speaker 3: was so much sex going on that that I probably
Speaker 3: had some relief in that. But I remember it being
Speaker 3: very blue, you know, blue as in a little more
Speaker 3: than R rated for the time, especially now it's like,
Speaker 3: you know, but it felt way out in Queen's Yes,
Speaker 3: and I mean that in the metaphoric sense as well.
Speaker 2: It seemed like to be way over there. HBO was
Speaker 2: so the wild wild West. Yeah.
Speaker 3: And I it's interesting because I'm good pals with Darren
Speaker 3: Star because my partner Jeffrey Richmond and he created this
Speaker 3: beautiful show called Uncoupled Together, and I've spent time with
Speaker 3: Darren through the years. But he talks about that first
Speaker 3: season and he's very articulate about like none of us
Speaker 3: knew really what we had or what you guys had
Speaker 3: worked together before, of course, and he and Sarah had
Speaker 3: never worked together. And then Michael coming in and doing
Speaker 3: such an amazing job kind of helping the show explode,
Speaker 3: and Darren gives him such a major props for that.
Speaker 3: Yeah so, but everybody to a person never really talked
Speaker 3: to MPK about it or like, wow, I wonder if this.
Speaker 2: Is ever going to.
Speaker 3: Catch more than just a specific population's imagination, because it
Speaker 3: was really out there. So that's that's basically my memory exact.
Speaker 3: It wasn't TV, baby, it was HBO, and TV was
Speaker 3: a completely different thing, and now, of course everything is
Speaker 3: kind of melded together, and Sex and the City was
Speaker 3: the pioneer of that.
Speaker 1: Thank you. That's so nice, really is so tell me
Speaker 1: you when I saw you at the premiere, which was
Speaker 1: so nice to see there at our crazy, crazy party
Speaker 1: that they threw for us.
Speaker 2: It's insane. I've never seen more people in my life.
Speaker 3: And let me just say too that, like I live
Speaker 3: right down the street from where the party was, so
Speaker 3: we threw on a pair of jeans, like let's just
Speaker 3: go say hi. I mean because Sex and the City
Speaker 3: and just like that have been such a part of
Speaker 3: my life, our lives of Yeah, yeah, so long, I
Speaker 3: don't think of it as a big deal. This party
Speaker 3: was so fucking packed and so packed with young people.
Speaker 3: I know, young young people who were just so happy
Speaker 3: to be there were so maybe it did my heart
Speaker 3: so good. It is so means so much to so
Speaker 3: many people, not just us old folks.
Speaker 1: Absolutely absolutely, And also we didn't this was the first
Speaker 1: time that they had thrown this type of an event,
Speaker 1: fir Us. We used to it in the olden days,
Speaker 1: which I'm sure you came yea of those huge parties
Speaker 1: with the pr and that bed in front of like
Speaker 1: Lincoln Zentner. Do you remember this, like insane level parties.
Speaker 1: But this was not a premiere exactly, so we didn't
Speaker 1: exactly know how to dress. We didn't really know what
Speaker 1: we were doing, and we didn't really know who they
Speaker 1: invent invited. And they kept talking about activations which were
Speaker 1: still just like what you tell me, you're not knowing
Speaker 1: it has to do with social media, and I don't
Speaker 1: totally understand it, but in that party was a Hot
Speaker 1: Fella's activation, and that's why those guys were their dresses
Speaker 1: hot fellas. And I believe that, yes, Mario's Bakery and
Speaker 1: just like that, and maybe there was bread there. I
Speaker 1: don't know. I never saw any bread, but maybe there
Speaker 1: was bread. I'm not sure. I'm not sure, but that
Speaker 1: was an activation and then there was maybe another activation.
Speaker 1: I don't know, but like there were just a lot
Speaker 1: of people there, and I mean very cool people were
Speaker 1: there who later texted me on Instagram that they'd been
Speaker 1: there because I couldn't find anybody. We were in that
Speaker 1: corner and we were like trapped in that corner.
Speaker 2: I mean, if you wanted to bread a hot cross
Speaker 2: bun for one of those about twenty five.
Speaker 1: But it was so nice to see amazing, It was amazing.
Speaker 3: Also you bring up, you know, the bakery, and you
Speaker 3: have such chemistry with such people who have.
Speaker 2: Been in my life.
Speaker 3: Mario and Evan, I mean have known Evan since, you know,
Speaker 3: he made this massive uh took New York by storm
Speaker 3: with his show Time under Fire, which was about his
Speaker 3: sickness and yes, and he was just always been one
Speaker 3: of my favorite actors and favorite people. And Canton, of
Speaker 3: course I've known Mario Cantone replaced Nathan Lane in Love
Speaker 3: Valor Compassion, which is the first Broadway play I did, Wow,
Speaker 3: and he and I were instant best buddies, and it
Speaker 3: remains one of my favorite people on the planet. And
Speaker 3: how hard it must be to go to work with
Speaker 3: Mario every day because he's not funny.
Speaker 2: He doesn't know how to do.
Speaker 1: It's so painful, Paul. I mean, the one challenge is
Speaker 1: that Michael loves to give him like a lot of props,
Speaker 1: and that's not really Mario's I was like, please let
Speaker 1: me sing. I just want to say, I don't really
Speaker 1: want to do you a microphone exactly, give you a microphone,
Speaker 1: not a loaf of bread. But he's he's growing and expanding,
Speaker 1: you know, every season.
Speaker 3: Credit because he's not I mean, he's a great actor,
Speaker 3: but it was he hasn't done a lot of tell it.
Speaker 1: It wasn't his thing when we hired him. He was
Speaker 1: and he was only supposed to do a few episodes,
Speaker 1: as he told us when he came on the podcast,
Speaker 1: which is also what I love. And it's amazing because
Speaker 1: as much as I know you, I don't even know
Speaker 1: all your connections. I just know that you're part of
Speaker 1: the family.
Speaker 3: Well that yeah, when you're on a show in New York,
Speaker 3: and when it's an as iconic a show as this
Speaker 3: New York show as this is, and there are very
Speaker 3: few who that are.
Speaker 2: You really do attract.
Speaker 3: That's one of the great things about shooting in New
Speaker 3: York City, man, is you get Fanny Sternhagen, Mary and
Speaker 3: Selda's you know, you get you get the greatest character
Speaker 3: actors in New York.
Speaker 1: So when John Benjaminski who plays Thomas, John Anderson many
Speaker 1: so many names in Oh Come All, Ye Faithful, Well
Speaker 1: that's the episode just to refresher, but it was maybe
Speaker 1: like three four episodes. We recapped it ago and is
Speaker 1: the one where Carrie and Miranda go to a church
Speaker 1: because Carrie wants to see Big and his mother because
Speaker 1: she wants to hang out with him on Sunday. And
Speaker 1: he says, no, I go to church every Sunday with
Speaker 1: my mother, which She's just like what, And so she
Speaker 1: wants to go. So they wear these huge hats because
Speaker 1: they're going to hide up in the balcony of a
Speaker 1: beautiful big church. I should know which one it is.
Speaker 1: And then he comes out and she's across the street
Speaker 1: and her joggers looking so cool with her cigarette, and
Speaker 1: his mom is played by this incredible woman, incredible actress
Speaker 1: and teacher named Mary and Sildas who was Hiickey's teacher
Speaker 1: at Juli are.
Speaker 3: Yes As she was so many many, Kevin Klein, Patti Lapone,
Speaker 3: from group one to I was Group eighteen to probably
Speaker 3: group thirty five. Marian there ushering us into our careers
Speaker 3: and our lives as actors. And there was no greater teacher,
Speaker 3: no greater actor, no greater person of the theater in
Speaker 3: the history of the twentieth century than Mary.
Speaker 1: Yes, her presence, I mean she doesn't have a lot
Speaker 1: to do in our episode, but just her presence standing
Speaker 1: there is so powerful.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, absolutely, it was real cool.
Speaker 3: And you were saying earlier she was so perfect as
Speaker 3: BIG's mom because she's kind of a big person herself.
Speaker 1: Big presence, Yeah, intimidating and kind of aloof to where
Speaker 1: you can't read her. It makes such perfect sense for
Speaker 1: his character that he has a mom like that that
Speaker 1: he kind of caters to. You know, it's super interesting.
Speaker 3: I did a production of The Crucible on Broadway and
Speaker 3: with his credit it was Yeah, Laurea Lenny Liams an amazing,
Speaker 3: amazing production and Brian the great actor Brian Murray was
Speaker 3: in it. Who is Marian's best friend. And Marian came
Speaker 3: to see the show and I said, oh God, I
Speaker 3: hope Marian likes it. And he said, well, if she doesn't,
Speaker 3: you're never going to know. I was like, what a
Speaker 3: great thing, because she's such a gracious, warm human being.
Speaker 3: She gives great backstage. You know, she's not there to
Speaker 3: tear anybody down. She's Yeah, she's the greatest, the greatest.
Speaker 1: So you also said when I saw you at the party,
Speaker 1: and I was I just looked at you. I didn't
Speaker 1: even say anything, I don't think, and You're like, I'm
Speaker 1: coming on the podcast. I was like, thank god, because
Speaker 1: I've just been waiting. I'd just been waiting ran you'd come.
Speaker 1: And you said, I have so many memories of Cynthia
Speaker 1: Michael and I think you said Sarah too, So even
Speaker 1: though you weren't super close, do you remember those early days,
Speaker 1: because she remembers.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I just remember how lucky I felt. She had
Speaker 3: done a play at Lincoln Center, and she, even though
Speaker 3: she doesn't remember anything, she remembers meeting me, which is
Speaker 3: a terribly flattering more than I do. She met me
Speaker 3: on the stairs of Lincoln Center, and I think it
Speaker 3: was what was what year?
Speaker 1: Was the first season we filmed? In ninety seven. I
Speaker 1: didn't come on til ninety eight.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, wow, Yeah, So we were really good pals
Speaker 3: by then. I think I remember being very glad that
Speaker 3: my stuff was with Cynthia because I had become the
Speaker 3: kind of friend with Sarah at that point that that
Speaker 3: I would have been.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 3: I think I would have been more intimidated by taking
Speaker 3: my clothes off in front.
Speaker 2: I mean, that would be weird, and she would too.
Speaker 3: I mean she has we both know, and I'm sure
Speaker 3: you've said many times she's an incredibly shy, discreet person
Speaker 3: that she is not Carrie Bradshaw, which is a testament
Speaker 3: to her just brilliant acting.
Speaker 1: Chops absolutely and in my mind just sidebar because you
Speaker 1: know her so well. I believe that that's one of
Speaker 1: the things that makes Carrie so interesting. Yeah, is Sarah's
Speaker 1: own differences from the character and that kind of internal
Speaker 1: conflict that that comes, and also that kind of friction
Speaker 1: playing a character so long. Also, she just makes her
Speaker 1: so deep.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so deep, so so deep. She's very all of you.
Speaker 3: It's like time has been so kind to those characters,
Speaker 3: and you guys have too, Like you're it's like every
Speaker 3: it's like you see it in your shoulders. Everybody is
Speaker 3: just so relaxed, even when they're playing the most fraught
Speaker 3: moments on the show. There's such a relaxation watching and
Speaker 3: the newcomers as well, Oh, I know are just it's
Speaker 3: such a lovely family now.
Speaker 2: It's really really great to say.
Speaker 3: But going back, I remember being glad it was Cynthia,
Speaker 3: not because I didn't want to work with you or
Speaker 3: with Sarah.
Speaker 2: I didn't know.
Speaker 3: You, and I knew Sarah in a way that would
Speaker 3: have been like, oh man, I don't want to have
Speaker 3: to pretend to bang her.
Speaker 1: I know that would be very weird. You know. I
Speaker 1: had to kiss Matthew in a movie wow after the
Speaker 1: show ended. So I had known him for many years
Speaker 1: and I kept saying, this is so weird, and he
Speaker 1: was like, no, it isn't. I was like, all right, Matthew,
Speaker 1: not weird at all. Okay, I didn't have to have sex,
Speaker 1: thank god, because I don't know how I would have
Speaker 1: gone through it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that would be weird to kiss Matthew. Yeah, but
Speaker 3: Matthew's got that thing. Like a couple of times I've
Speaker 3: seen Matthew nervous because I have directed him.
Speaker 2: It's weird to see Matthews.
Speaker 3: Matthew has lovely blood pressure maintenance, like he knows how
Speaker 3: to in his work be very still and very calm.
Speaker 1: That's true and scary.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's scary. It can intimidate the other person. Yes,
Speaker 2: that's yeah.
Speaker 3: I'm like trying to juggle kittens meeting and Matthew's like,
Speaker 3: why don't you just sit here and we'll do the scene.
Speaker 2: It's like that totally Okay.
Speaker 1: We got off on a Matthew tangent, which is rare
Speaker 1: because almost no one has Matthew's story.
Speaker 3: Oh my goodness, I have to you should get Matthew
Speaker 3: on this podcast.
Speaker 1: I don't think he'll do it. I mean every time
Speaker 1: I see him, I'm just like and he's like, oh God,
Speaker 1: there she comes.
Speaker 2: You'll get it, You'll get it.
Speaker 1: Maybe that would be awesome because I love to hear
Speaker 1: the memories of the beginning. And that's part of the
Speaker 1: reason I wanted to do the podcast is because everyone
Speaker 1: was in such different places, coming from such different worlds.
Speaker 1: I mean, even Cynthia and Sarah who had worked together,
Speaker 1: known each other their whole lives almost still very different experiences,
Speaker 1: and then we all came together in this kind of
Speaker 1: crazy thing that just formed a.
Speaker 3: New and yeah, and everybody has what do they call it?
Speaker 3: You know a sprie descalier, which is the French expression
Speaker 3: for spirit of the staircase, the thing you like if
Speaker 3: you and I are in a big fight and on
Speaker 3: my way home, what I should have said to her was,
Speaker 3: you know you remember the thing? So you have this
Speaker 3: odd twenty twenty hindsight with the show, like you always
Speaker 3: thought or somehow knew that it could be what it
Speaker 3: has become.
Speaker 2: And no, not at all. Yeah, never in a million years.
Speaker 1: You know who could have jumped?
Speaker 3: Okay, I know this is you interviewed, but now you
Speaker 3: signed on. Were you like gung ho?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Oh I'm the most gung home. Yeah, I'm the most
Speaker 1: gung host still to this day.
Speaker 2: Well that's fantastic.
Speaker 1: But in the beginning, because I was in La right,
Speaker 1: but I had been an out of work actor here
Speaker 1: right after I went to records right with Bill Asper
Speaker 1: and everybody.
Speaker 2: So yeah, brilliant, brilliant Bills, I know.
Speaker 1: Incredible, And I moved here like everybody did, and we
Speaker 1: were poor and you know, you waitress and you auditioned
Speaker 1: and whatnot, which is hard to be poor here, absolutely right.
Speaker 1: And then I went out to Berkeley. I did a
Speaker 1: play and it was pilot season my agent said, come
Speaker 1: down to LA on Mondays because there's so many parts
Speaker 1: you could play, because I was still playing pretty young
Speaker 1: at that point, and I was young, and I was
Speaker 1: playing even younger.
Speaker 2: Do you play you were doing?
Speaker 1: I was doing Oh my god, Oh my god, my god,
Speaker 1: I'm not.
Speaker 2: Going to Berkeley Rep. Yes, that's where I was when
Speaker 2: I couldn't do your podcast.
Speaker 3: I was doing the production of Uncle Vanya with Hugh
Speaker 3: Bonneville at Berkeley brilliant Speed of Light.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I feel like I don't.
Speaker 3: I feel like I know that play and if you
Speaker 3: gave me more time, I would know who wrote it
Speaker 3: right now.
Speaker 1: It's a it's a great playwright who I think went
Speaker 1: to records. Yeah, yeah, my god, we have to look
Speaker 1: this up. Anyway, I was there, which was incredible. It's
Speaker 1: a special, special place. I love Berkeley Rep much. It
Speaker 1: was great. It was great. But I went down to La.
Speaker 1: It was sunny. I auditioned for sitcoms. I was like, m,
Speaker 1: this seems an easier life than then the New York
Speaker 1: City as a poor person, right, it's more work than
Speaker 1: and now it's totally floating, which is so sad, But
Speaker 1: what can you do? So I went I ended up
Speaker 1: moving to la and then eventually a few years later,
Speaker 1: I mean I don't remember how many, but a lot
Speaker 1: of auditions later got Melrose. Then Darren sent me the
Speaker 1: script and I was like New York City, like walking
Speaker 1: the streets. Four lead characters that are women, unheard of
Speaker 1: HBO confused that had the boxing.
Speaker 3: But hey, yeah, not no other show pre Sopranos. You
Speaker 3: were it, right, So yeah, I've been a couple of
Speaker 3: those dream.
Speaker 1: On and also Larry Sanders, yes, which was obviously, but
Speaker 1: that's what I thought. We would be a small cult
Speaker 1: like very industry you know, loved show and which has
Speaker 1: lived on of course because it's so great, right, it's.
Speaker 3: Weirdly, it's still that what you just described. It's also
Speaker 3: just a global phenomenon as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, which is a weird. Like it's a very
Speaker 1: weird and wonderful thing that happened. But in my gut
Speaker 1: I felt the potential. I never could have dreamt two
Speaker 1: movies and another there is no precedent to that, so
Speaker 1: that wouldn't have come. But to me, I felt, yes,
Speaker 1: it's very special and I will do whatever I have
Speaker 1: to do to be on that show. Yeah, those women
Speaker 1: and then once they told me Sarah because when they
Speaker 1: Darren first sent it to me to read for Carrie,
Speaker 1: and I could the way she was on the page
Speaker 1: was much more like Candace is, you know, persona, and
Speaker 1: I couldn't pull that off, smoking and swearing and you
Speaker 1: know the girl. I was like that people are going
Speaker 1: to laugh at me, right, So I was like, Darren,
Speaker 1: please don't make me audition for that. I need to
Speaker 1: beat this other one who was kind of in the
Speaker 1: side over here that's me. And you know, thank god,
Speaker 1: he listens and you.
Speaker 3: Really recognize, like, oh, I've got a think I relate
Speaker 3: to this part. That's incredible because it's like all of
Speaker 3: you were born to play those.
Speaker 2: Parts, you know.
Speaker 3: I know, we're so lucky that we found I do
Speaker 3: remember in the early days of casting. I remember so
Speaker 3: so so Sarah and I certainly were hanging out enough
Speaker 3: to where she would talk to me about people that
Speaker 3: she was interested in for I think was probably Symanthic,
Speaker 3: because I think Cynthia was in early on.
Speaker 1: I mean, Cynthia wasn't, but she didn't feel she was in,
Speaker 1: like they kept her dangling, do you.
Speaker 2: Know what I mean?
Speaker 1: And then I remember at one point they were talking
Speaker 1: about hiring like a stand up comic or whatever from Miranda,
Speaker 1: like they didn't know what to do, you know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And now that I'm really thinking about it, your
Speaker 3: brilliant casting director Jennifer Macnami.
Speaker 1: Yes, but I don't think we had her for the pilot.
Speaker 1: I think we had Kerry Barton.
Speaker 2: Kerry Barton, Kerry carry.
Speaker 1: Jennifer when the show started, it was so great.
Speaker 3: And Jennifer's assistant, I think on that first season was
Speaker 3: my old college friend, Camille Hickman is her name, And
Speaker 3: Camille now works at Lincoln Center and she's one of
Speaker 3: the great casting directors in New York. And she and
Speaker 3: I had been best buddies at Fordham University, where I
Speaker 3: had gone some ten years before Sex in the City,
Speaker 3: and she would talk to me about this show is
Speaker 3: so exciting and it's so weird and odd.
Speaker 2: I don't know if anybody's going to see it.
Speaker 3: And I also remember very vividly Camille had a small
Speaker 3: part as one of the talking yes because did you do.
Speaker 2: Talking heads through the whole first season?
Speaker 1: Yes, And I mean we just Sarah Jessica just looks
Speaker 1: at the camera. In the last episode I watched which
Speaker 1: is in the second season, and you know she hated it.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, she hated it so much. But she looks
Speaker 1: at the camera and then she makes a face which
Speaker 1: I think was about having to talk to the camera.
Speaker 3: Of course, do you have you I'm sure you've probably
Speaker 3: talked about it on the show. When was that decision made,
Speaker 3: like we don't need.
Speaker 2: To do this.
Speaker 1: I feel like it was an ongoing thing. Michael Patrick hated.
Speaker 1: Oh he did the talking to the camera. Melfie hated
Speaker 1: the people on the.
Speaker 3: Street sidebar John Melfie who went to Ford him with
Speaker 3: me and Camille. So I knew Melfie some ten twelve years.
Speaker 3: Malfie and I'd known each other forty something years.
Speaker 1: I don't even know this incredible Malfie is the unsung
Speaker 1: hero of our whole entire world. I told him in
Speaker 1: Paris that he's got to come on the podcast. He
Speaker 1: looked a little scared, because I think he likes his
Speaker 1: secrets to remain on camera.
Speaker 3: Nobody knows more stories and knows where more bodies are buried.
Speaker 2: John Melphie.
Speaker 1: I know that's why I got to get him in
Speaker 1: that chair. You better believe, right, I know I got
Speaker 1: to loosen him up and get him in the chair.
Speaker 1: But he would tell everything about everything, which would be great.
Speaker 1: But he when he came he said his secret mission
Speaker 1: was to get rid of the talking heads, and Sarah
Speaker 1: Jessica's very open mission was to get rid of talking
Speaker 1: to the camera, because I remember in the pilot her saying,
Speaker 1: you know, do I have to talk to the camera.
Speaker 1: It's so strange to break the fourth wall. I'm in
Speaker 1: this scene. She's not wrong, I mean, it's a very
Speaker 1: weird thing as an actor to do. And then what
Speaker 1: she told me when she came on was that also
Speaker 1: she had been worried about Ferris Bueller, which I had
Speaker 1: never thought of. Oh wow, yeah, here of course is
Speaker 1: this like you know, her husband's you know, humane iconic
Speaker 1: film that he's done where he so brilliantly talks to
Speaker 1: the camera pretty much the whole time exactly. She felt
Speaker 1: like she was never going to live up to that,
Speaker 1: which is so adorable, which I don't interesting. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: she when I was sitting there, what I remember is
Speaker 1: thinking that I had never seen an actress be able
Speaker 1: to speak so clearly about what they wanted to do
Speaker 1: and what they didn't want to do without being angry
Speaker 1: or historyonic or whatever, just like very clearly articulating why
Speaker 1: it was hard for her, why she felt like she
Speaker 1: wasn't doing it well, how she felt like it was
Speaker 1: better to stay with us in the scene. And I
Speaker 1: was like, yes, yes, I agree with her, not that
Speaker 1: anyone cares what I think over her, but I was like, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's well put, that's well put. But it took her.
Speaker 1: I mean, she's still doing it in season seven, second
Speaker 1: second season, which I didn't even realize.
Speaker 3: That's amazing. I did not know it went on that long.
Speaker 3: And frankly, I don't remember her doing it. I remember
Speaker 3: more of the side people yeah doing it than which
Speaker 3: is kind.
Speaker 1: Of interesting, and I think trying to be almost like
Speaker 1: an anthology or like, you know, relating to the fact
Speaker 1: that all kind of people are having all kinds of
Speaker 1: relationship things that you don't know about, right like the
Speaker 1: people on the street, This one's going to tell you
Speaker 1: something surprising. That one's going to tell you something surprising.
Speaker 1: I get the idea of, but it was taking story
Speaker 1: time away from the bigger stories here.
Speaker 2: Well, you have twenty five minutes to pack four stories.
Speaker 1: In, right, Yeah, which is hard.
Speaker 3: Yeah, speaking of my partner, Jeff. He's a comedy writer,
Speaker 3: wrote Modern Family for all eleven years, and he's like,
Speaker 3: the hardest thing that there's eleven characters on that show
Speaker 3: and they have twenty two minutes. And that makes me
Speaker 3: think about writers like Michael Patrick and all the great writers.
Speaker 3: Jenny Bicks ran The Big Sea, so many great writers
Speaker 3: who have come into your world, and how difficult it
Speaker 3: is to pull that off for four and now, however,
Speaker 3: many you have extraordinary characters, and everybody's got to have
Speaker 3: a story, and everybody needs their time.
Speaker 1: It's true, And I mean, I don't want to spend
Speaker 1: much on this, but sometimes when you see people's criticism,
Speaker 1: you're like, oh, do they know how hard it is?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, you know they don't. Yeah, no they don't.
Speaker 3: And you know, I think back to that first season
Speaker 3: because I think we were recently overseas and sometimes you know,
Speaker 3: a show will be on like an older versions of shows,
Speaker 3: And I watched a few episodes and this was long
Speaker 3: before you and I talked about doing this. But what
Speaker 3: I remember when I was watching, it's like, Wow, not
Speaker 3: only was it good, it got more sophisticated, it got
Speaker 3: more maybe clever. It was always super smart. But before
Speaker 3: it had flash, it had such warmth. It had such
Speaker 3: warm I mean, it's the reason why it goes on.
Speaker 3: It's because it's a love story. Yeah, love story, and
Speaker 3: and and it had a confidence about that love from
Speaker 3: the very get go. Even though the show evolved, I mean,
Speaker 3: you know in that in the same way any great
Speaker 3: writing would evolve. But it even though it took a
Speaker 3: while to figure out we don't need the talking heads,
Speaker 3: we don't it knew you guys, knew who you were.
Speaker 1: It's true. That's what I'm so surprised about when I
Speaker 1: watched the first season.
Speaker 2: Were you was it were some? Was it was? It was? It?
Speaker 3: Was it first season nerve wracking? Or were you more
Speaker 3: nervous when it became so successful? Because some times, you know,
Speaker 3: it's scarier when there's a lot of responsibility, like yuah, oh,
Speaker 3: where we're let's not blow this right, you know right?
Speaker 1: I think for me, because there's a whole long story
Speaker 1: I'm not going to bore you with because all of
Speaker 1: our listeners have heard it in my first episode of
Speaker 1: the podcast, when I so I signed in my mind,
Speaker 1: Sara Jessica did not sign a big deal, a big
Speaker 1: pilot deal, which I didn't know about, And it's good
Speaker 1: that I didn't about because I would have been super
Speaker 1: nervous that she wasn't sewed up for like seven years, right,
Speaker 1: But I did sign one. But then during the pilot,
Speaker 1: which we were over budget. It was two point five
Speaker 1: million dollars, which back then was a lot of money
Speaker 1: for the pilot exactly. They were trying to cut costs,
Speaker 1: and they tried to get me to sign a new
Speaker 1: contract that would revoke my previous contract and make me
Speaker 1: a series recurring for five thousand dollars an episode. Oh
Speaker 1: my god, I know.
Speaker 2: Thank you. Heny tried to do this during all your ship.
Speaker 2: Well that that's awful, I know, thank you. Yeah, what
Speaker 2: it suggests is that you don't have the cough like that.
Speaker 1: I'm not. You're not seeing I'm.
Speaker 2: Trying to cut corners. You're like, wait a minute, Yeah,
Speaker 2: I know.
Speaker 1: So I knew this, Brandon, tell you, I'm executives. I know,
Speaker 1: and no one will take responsibility.
Speaker 2: Somebody knew.
Speaker 1: Somebody knew. I think those people aren't with us anymore. Yeah, whatever.
Speaker 1: So I haven't gotten to the absolute bottom of it,
Speaker 1: but I have. It's been very therapeutic. For me to
Speaker 1: talk about it, because I'd never realize that. I never
Speaker 1: told Sarah, I never told Cynthia. I never talked about
Speaker 1: it except to my team. Because what I did was
Speaker 1: this line producer knocked on my door, just hand me
Speaker 1: this paper and said you need to sign this. And
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, what's this and I read. I
Speaker 1: was like, oh my god. And I called my lawyer,
Speaker 1: who's still my lawyer all these many years later, and
Speaker 1: he said, don't sign the paper. Take it home and
Speaker 1: tell them that you forgot.
Speaker 2: Brilliant loves this lawyer every day.
Speaker 1: I know Jason Sloan incredible daughter Charlotte.
Speaker 4: For that.
Speaker 1: So he says, it's not going to me, but whatever,
Speaker 1: I still love it. So every day they would knock
Speaker 1: and every day I'd be like, oh, I'm sorry, I forgot.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm a good girl, like so like it
Speaker 1: took a lot from me. That's how badly I wanted
Speaker 1: to stay on that show as a series regular.
Speaker 3: I have to say, it's not an un Charlotte storyline.
Speaker 3: I know, Yeah, that's like, that's the story Michael. I
Speaker 3: would write for her totally. It's so like her and
Speaker 3: she'd be crafty. But it would seem like it was
Speaker 3: under the guise of like, oh mind, yeah.
Speaker 1: Right, I can do that. I can actually do that
Speaker 1: in life. It's kind of amazing what happened to me.
Speaker 1: And what I saw when I looked back at the
Speaker 1: first season was that inside I had the anxiety of
Speaker 1: not being good. Oh of course, I mean yeah, And
Speaker 1: it did work with Charlotte in a lot of ways.
Speaker 1: And also Michael told me when he came on, he thought, oh,
Speaker 1: I don't know how to write for that character. So
Speaker 1: I was the one who wanted to get married, right,
Speaker 1: and so it took him a while to understand me
Speaker 1: enough and the character enough. And then Jenny came and
Speaker 1: she knew how to write me, which is great because
Speaker 1: she kept on the breast side. It was perfect, brilliant.
Speaker 1: So the piece has come and you can see that
Speaker 1: in my performance. You can see it in the writing
Speaker 1: for sure. But so like when I look at myself,
Speaker 1: there's some some episodes where I'm like, I am really
Speaker 1: literally just trying to walk properly with them.
Speaker 2: You know, wow, yeah, nobody else does.
Speaker 1: I'm just trying to walk in those heels, in those
Speaker 1: outfits back in.
Speaker 3: Fall Down and look like I belong here back in
Speaker 3: La But you know, I've talked to and I'm sure
Speaker 3: Sarah Jessica would would would has probably talked about this
Speaker 3: with you on this podcast. But like every season you
Speaker 3: guys start every movie, I will talk to her in
Speaker 3: the first four days and She'll be like, I don't
Speaker 3: know what I'm doing, I can't I feel so, I
Speaker 3: don't know how to do this, and I'm not good
Speaker 3: at this.
Speaker 2: And like you, that never goes away. True, no matter
Speaker 2: how iconic you guys are, It's true.
Speaker 3: You never lose that, and you should We shouldn't of course.
Speaker 3: It's the thing that keeps us alive to act too, Like.
Speaker 1: Why else would you want to do such a crazy
Speaker 1: thing if it didn't bring all the feelings and.
Speaker 2: Challenge us totally?
Speaker 1: That's what we love.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and there's real no.
Speaker 3: Sense of security that's born out of this kind of success.
Speaker 3: In fact, sometimes the very opposite as we talked about,
Speaker 3: can happen.
Speaker 2: It can make you a little more kind of.
Speaker 1: That's true for me because I started out at the
Speaker 1: crazy place of like are they going to keep me
Speaker 1: or not? It did just get better.
Speaker 2: And you did that first season and then where you
Speaker 2: sort of.
Speaker 1: Like you had to wait and see if they were
Speaker 1: going to fire me.
Speaker 3: I'm sorry I lost that. I probably interrupted you. You
Speaker 3: really even when that first season was over how many
Speaker 3: episodes thirteen? Yeah, you were like, didn't know, maybe I'll
Speaker 3: come back, maybe I won't exactly, Holy.
Speaker 1: Crap, I know. And I didn't tell any of them,
Speaker 1: which is crazy to me that I didn't tell them,
Speaker 1: do you know what I mean? But I think that
Speaker 1: if I thought that, if they knew, they'd be like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: maybe you're not going to have which of course they
Speaker 1: wouldn't have, but like I just didn't have the security
Speaker 1: in it all yet.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, totally.
Speaker 1: So I was just on this like h exactly, didn't.
Speaker 2: Know if it was coming back much less you know,
Speaker 2: it wasn't.
Speaker 1: No, we didn't know anything. I didn't know any thing, right,
Speaker 1: So it was all good And then they were then
Speaker 1: they were like, yes, yes, we do need it.
Speaker 2: I was like, thank you God, thank you. Was it
Speaker 2: a rating success its first season?
Speaker 1: You know what? No one ever spoke about the rating?
Speaker 3: Yeah, those metrics are still to this day.
Speaker 1: I know, right, But I mean for me, I'd come
Speaker 1: from network where like Monday morning you went in and
Speaker 1: everyone was like, oh five point eight to ten point whatever.
Speaker 1: No one cared. I'd be like, does anyone know if
Speaker 1: anyone's watching it? They didn't care. You know what they
Speaker 1: cared about. They cared about press. They wanted press hits.
Speaker 1: Like we worked hard in the beginning. We talked to
Speaker 1: anyone and everyone who would talk to us, because it
Speaker 1: was the traditional press back then. Right, they didn't have
Speaker 1: all the things we have now. And they cared about awards,
Speaker 1: which took us a while to get there, but we did.
Speaker 1: But they that was what made people want to pay.
Speaker 1: You had to pay so much, right, It wasn't just
Speaker 1: how many eyeballs, It was more about the kind of likechet.
Speaker 1: So lucky for us because it did take a while.
Speaker 3: You don't, I mean, that's never gone away because it's
Speaker 3: a show about you know, about the people in New
Speaker 3: York City and the way they dress all of you,
Speaker 3: and so that's a big.
Speaker 2: Part of the show. The press is a very big
Speaker 2: part of the show.
Speaker 1: It is it is, and thank god they still write
Speaker 1: about us.
Speaker 3: Yeah, oh god, yeah, as well they should. You mentioned
Speaker 3: those big hats in that first season. I wonder if
Speaker 3: they were as big as that hat that Sarah has
Speaker 3: all nothing.
Speaker 1: Nothing is as big as that hat.
Speaker 3: Thing is god that I'm sure people are probably talking
Speaker 3: about that.
Speaker 2: They go everywhere just a blanket. It's a great, It
Speaker 2: was a great, it's beyond.
Speaker 1: She has the most incredible knack for dressing of any
Speaker 1: individual I've ever seen. And obviously she does not dress
Speaker 1: like Carrie, which I think is a big, big misconception,
Speaker 1: but her sense of how and what and when and like,
Speaker 1: it's like magic. Watching it. It's incredible.
Speaker 3: It's really, it's really amazing. I directed Sarah, Jessica and
Speaker 3: Matthew in this Broadway revival of Plaza Suite.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I'm just bringing up all of my career.
Speaker 3: I love to do it, but I it was just
Speaker 3: amazing watching them work together and how extraordinarily different they
Speaker 3: are as performers and people, and what kind of chemistry
Speaker 3: that produces. But I just wanted to bring it up
Speaker 3: because the legendary costume designer Jane Greenwood did the clothes,
Speaker 3: and she had done Sylvia with Sarah, many things with
Speaker 3: her and Matthew, and the way I went to her
Speaker 3: costume fittings and they're so great because she's got such
Speaker 3: an unbelievable uncanny sense of lines and every cut of things,
Speaker 3: and Jane, who knows so much more than Sarah, Like
Speaker 3: it was a real collaboration. Yeah, and I'm sure, and
Speaker 3: the way it was with Pat and this brilliant new person.
Speaker 1: Yet really Molly's not actually knew she's been here.
Speaker 3: Molly was the path and that's one of the reasons
Speaker 3: why she's doing such a great, great job is because
Speaker 3: she has a history.
Speaker 1: With Definitely, I mean trust her so much, but she's
Speaker 1: so Molly's also really into the details, like the two
Speaker 1: of them can just go down the rabbit hole of
Speaker 1: like how something was woven or whatever.
Speaker 3: It's very Do you spend a lot of time in
Speaker 3: wardrobe fittings before each season?
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, we all do. I mean there's there's a
Speaker 1: lead up. Yeah, there's a lead up like prep. But
Speaker 1: then also during the you know, it doesn't it's never
Speaker 1: very big part of it. And I used to kind
Speaker 1: of kick in screaming. Now I'm like, yeah, I love it, Yeah, yeah, exactly, surrender.
Speaker 1: I love it. You were so spoiled.
Speaker 3: It's such a It's as you said earlier, like you know,
Speaker 3: I would have I might have thought it could or
Speaker 3: could not be a hit, But never in a million
Speaker 3: years would I have imagined what did happen because it's
Speaker 3: unprecedented exactly because it's never happened, there's.
Speaker 1: No model for us. And that's partly what I love
Speaker 1: is well. And people can feel all different ways about
Speaker 1: the first movie, the second movie, the new show, whatever,
Speaker 1: I don't care, because to me, we are just creating
Speaker 1: and creating and creating. And I know that we're creating
Speaker 1: from such a sense of love and respect for each
Speaker 1: other and the fact that we love to be together
Speaker 1: and to make a show that people can relate to.
Speaker 1: And you know, our eye has never been on like
Speaker 1: the big success models or whatever. It has been on
Speaker 1: just making a story that.
Speaker 3: We love absolutely and and that and that you did
Speaker 3: it on this little wild, wild West furthest place in
Speaker 3: the frontier HBO that then became HBO that we know today.
Speaker 3: And and then whoever the smart people were who said, yeah,
Speaker 3: let's sell this into syndication because one of the things
Speaker 3: being my age being young ish when it all started,
Speaker 3: Sarah's age, that that it would be generational, that incredible,
Speaker 3: So like Wicked is doing that now, is a show
Speaker 3: that young women went to see when they were twelve
Speaker 3: years old twenty years ago, and now they're taking their
Speaker 3: daughters to see it.
Speaker 1: Incredible.
Speaker 3: And this show, which was so blue as and where
Speaker 3: we started, you know, was so r rated, has become
Speaker 3: this thing that people have passed down to their children
Speaker 3: and said, watch this. This is New York City, this
Speaker 3: is friendship, right, this is yeah.
Speaker 1: Right, I know, it's it's incredible, It's really well. I
Speaker 1: just want to say, I'm so happy that you're a
Speaker 1: small but brilliant part of it.
Speaker 2: I was naked in the show, so let's not use
Speaker 2: the word small.
Speaker 1: You were mighty fine behind mighty fine. But also, wouldn't
Speaker 1: it be incredible if we could bring Catholic Guy back?
Speaker 1: Oh my god, where's Kavla Guy?
Speaker 3: I really do every now and then I've said to
Speaker 3: Michael Patrick, like not even about me, Like it would
Speaker 3: be nice to see a couple more of the old timer's, but.
Speaker 1: Like what happened to them, because they're such vivid, vivid characters.
Speaker 3: Who was the brilliant I'm sorry, I wish I knew
Speaker 3: his name because I'm such a big fan of his.
Speaker 2: The guy who played Scooter in the first season.
Speaker 1: Yeah, what is that guy's name? We never. I don't
Speaker 1: know where he is. He's very good, Oh he was.
Speaker 3: He was very good, unique and odd, like a puppy.
Speaker 1: A little puppy. But that is just mean to him.
Speaker 2: Genius casting all through it. Ben Webber, web Ben Weber.
Speaker 2: But you know when you mentioned Kyle, brilliant Kyle, because
Speaker 2: you and Evan are so brilliant together. I almost feel
Speaker 2: like you've been together forever.
Speaker 1: But no, Look, we've been together a long long time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, long time.
Speaker 1: But there was Kyle before him, absolutely incredibly vivid and
Speaker 1: wonderful as well, just very very different, incredibly Yeah, I've
Speaker 1: been so incredibly lucky before that. There was so many guys.
Speaker 1: Charlotte had so many guys.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you're not going to We're not going to
Speaker 3: see Kyle show up at the end of the season.
Speaker 2: You'll never tell.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know, but we we discussed
Speaker 1: some things, but we you know, this is the thing.
Speaker 1: Harry and Charlotte are the last couple of so I
Speaker 1: don't know that we want to mess.
Speaker 2: They so know each other. That's what I love about
Speaker 2: watching them.
Speaker 3: They they people who've been together at the You know,
Speaker 3: you may may hate each other at times, you may
Speaker 3: bore this out of each other. You know the other person,
Speaker 3: warts and all. And that's what's great about the writing
Speaker 3: for those two characters. They really they really look at
Speaker 3: each other and they see each other.
Speaker 1: I agree, I agree, Hickey. I knew it would be incredible,
Speaker 1: is it?
Speaker 2: Okay?
Speaker 1: This is the catching up with friends you delivered and
Speaker 1: then so to honor a real.
Speaker 3: Thrill and an honor to be here, to have known
Speaker 3: you and admired you for so many years now and
Speaker 3: that it's still going on.
Speaker 1: I know, it's incredible. I'm so happy that you're with us.
Speaker 1: Love to see you always. Let's get Catholic guy back.
Speaker 1: Just hang out with us, doing my squats.
Speaker 2: I was doing my squats. The butt is still kind
Speaker 2: of perfect.
Speaker 4: Okay, all right, thank you so much.
Speaker 1: The Constans Disco Basias