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Speaker 1: Hi everyone, It's Sophia, Welcome to Work in Progress. Hello friends,

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Speaker 1: Today we have a guest who I am just so

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Speaker 1: thrilled to welcome to the podcast. He is funny, He

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Speaker 1: is a brilliant comedian. He is an incredible actor, producer,

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Speaker 1: and an incredible dad to two of the sweetest little

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Speaker 1: kids around. And he also happens to be a fellow

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Speaker 1: foodie guys. Our guest today is none other than Jesse

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Speaker 1: Tyler Ferguson. You likely know him from the pivotal role

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Speaker 1: of Mitchell Pritchett on the ABC sitcom Modern Family. He

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Speaker 1: just received a casual five Emmy Award nominations over the

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Speaker 1: run of the show. I've been lucky enough to see

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Speaker 1: him on stage when he takes Broadway by storm. You

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Speaker 1: might have also seen him in Taylor Swift's music video

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Speaker 1: for You Need to Calm Down Out and about raising

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Speaker 1: funds for equality with his wonderful husband, Justin Mikida. They

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Speaker 1: got married back in twenty thirteen and they have two children,

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Speaker 1: Beckett and Sullivan, who you will hear about today. I

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Speaker 1: love everything about his story, from how they met and

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Speaker 1: fell in love and became dads to all the way

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Speaker 1: back when when Jesse grew up in Albuquerque and how

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Speaker 1: he decided to go to New York. His story is inspiring, exciting,

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Speaker 1: and has led him to his latest venture, his wonderful podcast,

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Speaker 1: Dinners on Me. We're going deep, We're opening up, and

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Speaker 1: we're gonna laugh, enjoy. I'm so excited to see you.

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Speaker 1: How are you to see you?

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Speaker 2: I'm great. I talk about you a lot with Clolton

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Speaker 2: and Jordans. You do, I've been seeing a lot of them.

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Speaker 1: Oh, I love that. I want to come next time.

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Speaker 2: Okay, we'll invite you next time.

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Speaker 1: Yes, my sweeties, they're very good. They're so good. I'm

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Speaker 1: just so happy for them.

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Speaker 2: Me too, Me too?

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Speaker 1: And how are you? How is your love? How are

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Speaker 1: your little ones? Everybody good?

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Speaker 2: Everyone's great, Sullivan. Our youngest is fifteen months now, and

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Speaker 2: that gets three and a half, and you know, we're

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Speaker 2: negotiating all of that, but it's really fun and Justin's good.

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Speaker 2: Everyone's good.

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Speaker 1: I'm so glad. I feel like negotiating with a three

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Speaker 1: year old is a little bit like negotiating with a

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Speaker 1: really adorable terrorist.

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Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, and you know that the terrorist

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Speaker 2: is going to win.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah. My godson's two and a half and

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Speaker 1: he I mean he is. He just seems like a litigator.

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Speaker 1: Now he's like a professional button pusher and very like,

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Speaker 1: but Mama Auntie, why no, no, you just like I

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Speaker 1: don't have time for the two of you, and we're like,

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Speaker 1: oh my god, who are you.

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Speaker 2: It's funny because Justin's a lawyer and he's really good,

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Speaker 2: like it's hard to argue with him. He like brings

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Speaker 2: up like if I can bring in, you know, exhibit A.

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Speaker 2: When you said this, I'm like, oh my god, it's

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Speaker 2: terrible arguing with you because you are really like good

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Speaker 2: at I forget anything and now back I think has

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Speaker 2: inherited that from Justin. And Justin's like, oh wow, that's

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Speaker 2: what I do. Yeah, I love it.

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Speaker 1: I love it. Well, that is hilarious. Okay, this is

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Speaker 1: actually kind of a perfect segue because I always really

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Speaker 1: like to start with people and go way back because

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Speaker 1: you know, I sit across from people like you. You're

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Speaker 1: so well known, you're so talented, you know, as an actor,

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Speaker 1: and you're out advocating, you do all these big projects.

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Speaker 1: But in the ways that you are talking about how

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Speaker 1: you see Justin and your kid in your kids and yourself.

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Speaker 1: I'm sure. I'm wondering if you look back, like if

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Speaker 1: we rewind way before we all knew mister Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Like,

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Speaker 1: who were you as a child? Do you see traits,

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Speaker 1: you know in your adult self when you look back

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Speaker 1: at a little version of you who is like nine

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Speaker 1: or ten years old.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I do. And also it's strange because I noticed

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Speaker 2: myself talking to my kids, and then I have these

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Speaker 2: like moments where I flash back and I'm having core

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Speaker 2: memories that I didn't even realize I had, because I'm

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Speaker 2: like having deja vu, or like I'm the kid and

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Speaker 2: I'm my parents, And sometimes it's really cool and sometimes

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Speaker 2: it's terrifying. But yeah, I definitely, I definitely see a

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Speaker 2: lot of myself in Sullivan's. Sullivan's genetically mine and that

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Speaker 2: gets genetically connected to Justin. Each had an embryo that

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Speaker 2: we implanted, so we each have one that is genetically

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Speaker 2: connected to us, and it's really astonishing at how close

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Speaker 2: they are connected to us. But then also what's crazy

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Speaker 2: is seeing how Justin's traits influence Sully and Sully's and

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Speaker 2: you know, mine influence Beckett, and it's it is definitely

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Speaker 2: a case for nurture over nature. You know, you see

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Speaker 2: those those traits happening with your kids. I don't know.

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Speaker 2: I mean I I as a kid, I was very

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Speaker 2: very shy and very very emotional, and I see that

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Speaker 2: in Beckett and I still feel like that is instilled

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Speaker 2: in me, and I've just learned how to navigate it better.

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Speaker 2: I mean, as an actor, you can't be shy, you know,

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Speaker 2: that's something you just you can't do. But like if

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Speaker 2: you really, if you really went into my body in

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Speaker 2: one of those moments where I'm like one of those

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Speaker 2: Hollywood parties or like you know, in an audition or

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Speaker 2: something like, I am not as confident as I'm appearing

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Speaker 2: to be on the outside, for sure.

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Speaker 1: Oh Sam, I'm absolutely the same.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't know. I think maybe that's a trait

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Speaker 1: you have to have a little bit of to be

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Speaker 1: an artist, right as you're super.

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Speaker 2: Sensitive, right and you have to pair that with being

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Speaker 2: thick skinned as well and not letting small things, you know,

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Speaker 2: bowl you over, which is hard. It's a hard it's

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Speaker 2: a hard line to toe, and you know, to be

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Speaker 2: someone who allows their emotions to come to the top

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Speaker 2: because that's what we need to access and then still

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Speaker 2: protect it. It's like, you know, it's like being okay

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Speaker 2: with like an open mound for the day and like

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Speaker 2: nothing a band aid on it, like the like I

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Speaker 2: just need, I need to access to this, but at

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Speaker 2: the same time, I want to keep myself safe. So

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Speaker 2: it's hard. It's a hard thing to figure out, but

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Speaker 2: I definitely see I see small glimmers of that in

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Speaker 2: my kids, where they're like figuring out, you know, how

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Speaker 2: to uh negotiate with us and their friends and also

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Speaker 2: get the things that they need and express the things

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Speaker 2: that they want to express. But then also you know,

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Speaker 2: they have no they have no rule books for them,

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Speaker 2: and this is all new for them, and so everything

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Speaker 2: is on the surface and I don't know, it's kind

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Speaker 2: of me justin and I'm more open to having temper tantrums.

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Speaker 2: The Dustin and I kind of like a big fight,

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Speaker 2: and he was completely acknowledging that he was having a

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Speaker 2: temper tantrum. He's like, this is me. Nothing I'm saying

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Speaker 2: is has any logic to it. I can't defend any

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Speaker 2: of these things that I'm saying, but I am feeling them,

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Speaker 2: and I'm sorry you're the one who's happy to deal

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Speaker 2: with it, but I'm basically having a temper tantrum. I

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Speaker 2: was like, it's okay, I know how to deal with

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Speaker 2: tempertantionments now, Like you know.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's so interesting actually that seeing your kids be

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Speaker 1: freer with their feelings in a way allows you to

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Speaker 1: be because you're you're right. It's it's sort of this

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Speaker 1: emotional whiplash. Is the way I talk about being an actor.

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Speaker 1: You're supposed to be completely exposed but also completely composed

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Speaker 1: at all times and the consummate professional and like a

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Speaker 1: good soldier at work and all the things, and then

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Speaker 1: you know, in a moment's notice, open your whole chest

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Speaker 1: cavity up for everybody to look in, right, And how

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Speaker 1: kind of cool that as an adult, you're getting a

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Speaker 1: permission slip to have those less polished feelings from your children.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, well, for sure, you know, but we also just

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Speaker 2: set an example. And I was like, you know, there's

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Speaker 2: so many times where like I would normally react one way,

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Speaker 2: and I don't react that way because I don't want

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Speaker 2: to set a bad example. And that you know, I

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Speaker 2: can held my hold myself accountable at times in ways

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Speaker 2: that I wouldn't necessarily allow myself to, like, you know,

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Speaker 2: react how I wanted to react.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, it's like there's a lot of growth on

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Speaker 1: both sides of the coin. That's so cool. It's it's

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Speaker 1: interesting to hear you talk about you being shy as

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Speaker 1: a kid. I actually, when I was prepping for today,

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Speaker 1: I was reading some older articles and I was like,

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Speaker 1: oh my god, I actually didn't know. I didn't know

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Speaker 1: the story of you getting into a local theater as

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Speaker 1: a child, and you are such an embodied performer and

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Speaker 1: you're so funny. I never would have guessed that you

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Speaker 1: were a shy kid. So how how did a shy

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Speaker 1: little boy wind up wanting to sign up for theater?

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Speaker 1: Like what? I know what happened?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, my mom was so confused by that. When I

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Speaker 2: told her I wanted to join the Albagaque Children's Theater.

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Speaker 2: She you know, I was a kid who is bullied

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Speaker 2: a lot in school. I was very quiet. I kept

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Speaker 2: myself during lunch hour because you know, that was sort

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Speaker 2: of like when it was the Wild Wild West, the

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Speaker 2: playground and like you know, the teachers kind of disappeared

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Speaker 2: and it was like every man for himself. Yeah, and

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Speaker 2: so I. You know, I was just a very quiet kid.

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Speaker 2: I kind of wanted to disappear and like not not

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Speaker 2: make myself too flashy or too scene because that probably

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Speaker 2: would lead to some unwonted attention that would ultimately lead

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Speaker 2: to bullying. That was just my experience, and so I

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Speaker 2: was sort of always in protection mode. And there was

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Speaker 2: something my mom took me to go see the show

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Speaker 2: and I saw kids performing for other kids in this

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Speaker 2: company called the APPLECA Children's Theater, and I immediately wanted

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Speaker 2: to be on the other side of the footlights. I

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Speaker 2: didn't want to be sitting in the audience wow. And

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Speaker 2: I asked my mom if I could get involved, and

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Speaker 2: I think because I was so shy, she was just

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Speaker 2: like anything that any glimmer of something. And I understand

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Speaker 2: this now as a parent. You know, anytime my children

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Speaker 2: show interest in anything, I'm like, do you want to

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Speaker 2: explore more? Or that? You know, like they tapped their

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Speaker 2: foot once, so I'm like, are we going? Are we

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Speaker 2: doing tap class? So, like, my mom definitely noticed that

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Speaker 2: I was interested in something and jumped in and nurtured

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Speaker 2: that and helped me along. And it was one of

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Speaker 2: those things where I found this group of people that

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Speaker 2: understood me and that I felt at home with and

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Speaker 2: I felt comfortable with, and I was not singled out

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Speaker 2: as the weird one anymore. It's like we were all

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Speaker 2: kind of like wacky kids and you know, playing theater

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Speaker 2: games and it was all really innocent. We weren't like

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Speaker 2: diving into Chekov or Shakespeare or anything. It was just

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Speaker 2: like dumb theater games and you know, we perform alise

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Speaker 2: in Wonderland, you know, at the end of the spring,

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Speaker 2: and like that was it. It was all that that

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Speaker 2: it was. But I definitely found community in a way

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Speaker 2: that I hadn't before, and that community is what, you know,

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Speaker 2: I guess made me feel safe to become more of

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Speaker 2: who I am. And it was just also a very

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Speaker 2: early seed of me realizing that I needed to wherever

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Speaker 2: I was, I needed to continue to find those types

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Speaker 2: of people for myself because you know, my my schools

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Speaker 2: that I was growing up and didn't have a great

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Speaker 2: arts program. It was very sports centric, and it's just

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Speaker 2: it wasn't catered to someone like me. I was, you know,

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Speaker 2: not interested in sports. I was an indoor kid, and

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Speaker 2: I yeah, I liked expressing myself through other ways and

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Speaker 2: It's why, you know, I when I moved to New York,

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Speaker 2: I felt like, Okay, I'm in the right place and

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Speaker 2: I'm around right people, and but yeah, I'm glad. I

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Speaker 2: found that kernel of community at a very early age,

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Speaker 2: and I probably didn't even recognize that that's what it

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Speaker 2: was at that age. It just felt comfortable and I

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Speaker 2: felt safe, which was really lovely.

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Speaker 1: That's so special and what a cool place for you

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Speaker 1: to come out of your shell and you know, find

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Speaker 1: your confidence, literally find your voice on stage? Did once

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Speaker 1: you started? Were your parents just all in on supporting

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Speaker 1: that for you? Like, what did you becoming a young

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Speaker 1: performer sort of do in your family dynamic?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean they were. It was just like an

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Speaker 2: extracurricular thing. Like my sister would go to tap class

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Speaker 2: and my brother would have basketball, and I would do theater.

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Speaker 2: It's just you know, they they would have to come

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Speaker 2: see this thing that I was performing, you know, once

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Speaker 2: or twice a year, and it was always, you know,

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Speaker 2: let's be honest, not great. And so I think for

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Speaker 2: my entire family it was kind of like, oh, theater

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Speaker 2: is this thing that's kind of boring and not you know,

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Speaker 2: super exciting, and we sort of have to like endure

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Speaker 2: it for a certain amount of time. But I was like, well,

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Speaker 2: you know, is Ben's basketball game anymore exciting? They're just kids,

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Speaker 2: Like they barely know how to play basketball. Like I

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Speaker 2: was like, none of these events that were going to

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Speaker 2: my sister's tap classes and anything super exciting. It's not

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Speaker 2: river dance like you. So yeah, but they were very

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Speaker 2: very supportive, and you know, we were all encouraged to

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Speaker 2: support our siblings and their different you know, adventures, and

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Speaker 2: but I definitely was I felt like my sister understood

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Speaker 2: the arts a little bit because she was very involved

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Speaker 2: in dance, but definitely like my dad and my brother

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Speaker 2: and maybe sometimes my mom just like they didn't really

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Speaker 2: fully understand like where the joy in theater was.

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Speaker 1: You know, well, yeah, they weren't in rehearsals in the

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Speaker 1: circus troop.

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Speaker 2: With right exactly. You know, they were just they weren't

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Speaker 2: there for the fun stuff. But I always felt very

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Speaker 2: very supportive by them.

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Speaker 1: So cool follow that that's really special. Was it a

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Speaker 1: total culture shock for you to move from Albuquerque to

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Speaker 1: New York And did you go for theater or a

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Speaker 1: job or to find a job, like what motivated the move?

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Speaker 2: I always knew that I wanted to move to New York,

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Speaker 2: even when I didn't know what New York was. I

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Speaker 2: my exposure to New York was like from the films,

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Speaker 2: from watching you know, Broadway shows on the Tony Awards,

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Speaker 2: and you know, like just like kids' books, kids books

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Speaker 2: at New York. You know, I had this very like

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Speaker 2: idyllic like idea of what New York was. And I

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Speaker 2: went to New York for the first time on a

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Speaker 2: high school tour with my my local theater company, and

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Speaker 2: I was the youngest person on this tour by like

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Speaker 2: thirty years. It was mostly like blue Hairs and me

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Speaker 2: and I just fell in love with the city. I

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Speaker 2: saw like, you know, eight shows in five days. So

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Speaker 2: I knew that was my first exposure to New York

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Speaker 2: and I just knew I had to find my way

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Speaker 2: back there as soon as I could. And after after

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Speaker 2: high school, I went to the the American Musical and

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Speaker 2: Dramatic Academy in New York City, which I had been

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Speaker 2: accepted to, and my dad drove me there across the

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Speaker 2: country and bladed up things and you know the back

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Speaker 2: of his suburban car and uh, you know, watching a

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Speaker 2: man with the suburban from New Mexico. Drive through the

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Speaker 2: streets of New York City is terrifying. You know. We

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Speaker 2: were just a massive car from a Midwest and just

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Speaker 2: you know, he was terrified to drive and all these

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Speaker 2: one way streets was it was a mess, but he

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Speaker 2: got me there safely, and yeah, I just felt I

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Speaker 2: couldn't believe that I actually had a bed in the

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Speaker 2: city that I had always wanted to live in. It

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Speaker 2: was so I think like it was a culture shock

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Speaker 2: in ways, and that I felt like the world was

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Speaker 2: open to me, but I wasn't. It wasn't a shock

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Speaker 2: that scared me. It was a shock that was really

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Speaker 2: super excited.

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Speaker 1: Well, and especially to go into the city and go

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Speaker 1: right into an academy of the arts, I bet just

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Speaker 1: felt like the next sort of evolutionary step in that

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Speaker 1: community where you found yourself in the first place.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and it was a safety net too. I mean,

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Speaker 2: for me, it was mostly about being in New York

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Speaker 2: City and I didn't really care how I was going

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Speaker 2: to find a way to be there. But the Academy

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Speaker 2: of Dramatic Arts definitely gave me a safe landing spot.

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Speaker 2: And you know, obviously it was wonderful being in acting

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Speaker 2: classes and meeting other aspiring actors from different places. But

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Speaker 2: for me, I think I really just needed to find

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Speaker 2: a way to get to New York and that was

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Speaker 2: sort of my ticket to the city I wanted to

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Speaker 2: live in.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll be back in just a minute, but here's

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Speaker 1: a word from our sponsors. I love the image of

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Speaker 1: you and your dad and the suburban trying to naw

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Speaker 1: the gay Manhattan. It's so sweet, and that you, you know,

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Speaker 1: talk about him and your relationship. I also I've laughed

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Speaker 1: hearing you talk about how you had to come out

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Speaker 1: to your dad three times. Yeah, like, yeah, it feels

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Speaker 1: like an amazing but it feels like a movie. It

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Speaker 1: feels like a scene in a comedy that you would watch,

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Speaker 1: which I imagine it probably was much more emotional and different.

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Speaker 1: You know.

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Speaker 2: I r l right. I like that it exists because

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Speaker 2: it's it's a fun, like quirky thing to talk about

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Speaker 2: when you're talking about your coming out experience. And I

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Speaker 2: still going to sort of make fun of my dad

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Speaker 2: for it, because you know, obviously he knows now, like

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Speaker 2: he's it's all clear. He was at my wedding, He's

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Speaker 2: seen you know, he loves his he's right, but it

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Speaker 2: is fun to sort of hold that over his head

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Speaker 2: for sure.

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Speaker 1: Was that a conversation you were having when you were

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Speaker 1: still at home or did you need the buffer of

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Speaker 1: New York to feel like you could talk to him

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Speaker 1: about who you are.

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Speaker 2: I don't know if you've heard this, Sophia, but my

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Speaker 2: I sort of I feel like I came out. I

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Speaker 2: came out in my eyes officially when I was caught

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Speaker 2: stealing gay pornography from Hastings Books when I was sixteen

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Speaker 2: years old. For me, I feel like that was a

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Speaker 2: pretty clear coming out, right, you know, I was stealing

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Speaker 2: gay porn.

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Speaker 1: Write the writing's on the wall, or the magazine.

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Speaker 2: On the wall, literally magazine. Yeah, And so for me,

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Speaker 2: I was always like, okay, well, at least I don't

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Speaker 2: have to come out to my parents, like it was

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Speaker 2: awful because I was being punished for shoplifting. But I

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Speaker 2: was like, well, you know, also, I got to sort

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Speaker 2: of kill two birds with one stone. I shoplifted for

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Speaker 2: the first time and got caught doing what we I

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Speaker 2: shouldn't have done, but also like they know I'm gay now,

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Speaker 2: and then it didn't seem like that was enough. And

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Speaker 2: so my mom when I went to school. She wrote

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Speaker 2: me a letter. We still talked in person about this,

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Speaker 2: but we had sort of talked around it, but not

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Speaker 2: directly at it. And she wrote me a letter saying,

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Speaker 2: you know, I This was after she came to visit

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Speaker 2: me for a week in New York and she met

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Speaker 2: my roommate who was sort of dating at the time.

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Speaker 2: And I think, you know, anyone probably with two eyes

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Speaker 2: could have seen what was happening, right, And uh so

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Speaker 2: she's saying, I know that you're gay and probably together

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Speaker 2: with your your friend and your roommate, and I just

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Speaker 2: want to let you know that I'm here if you

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Speaker 2: want to talk about it. And so it was very sweet.

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Speaker 2: And she told my dad you know that she had

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Speaker 2: that conversation with me to a letter, and so I

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Speaker 2: was like, okay, good now, my dad actually, you know,

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Speaker 2: he really knows. And then clear then he came to

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Speaker 2: visit me in New York and he asked if I

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Speaker 2: had a girlfriend, and I was like, okay, Dad, are

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Speaker 2: not what are we not getting here? So that's when

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Speaker 2: I kind of verbally officially came out to him. But

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Speaker 2: so sweet, Yeah, yeah, it was a little bit rocky.

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Speaker 1: I wonder if I wonder if he was like, well,

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Speaker 1: if he hasn't told me, maybe I need to ask

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Speaker 1: better questions. Maybe I should pulk around and see if

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Speaker 1: he'll say it to me. He said, it does.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it totally tracks with like who my dad is,

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Speaker 2: and I love that he like kind of is. He's

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Speaker 2: a bit vulnerable at times and that can be a

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Speaker 2: bit a bit uh, what's the word I'm looking for?

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Speaker 1: Naive?

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Speaker 2: He's very in a really sweet way. So yeah, I'm

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Speaker 2: not super surprised now that I've kind of watched him

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Speaker 2: operator as an adult that that's sort of like where

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Speaker 2: he was at. Yeah, it's also you know, when we

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Speaker 2: sort of were talking about this, me and my dad,

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Speaker 2: I remember him at one point. We've had bumps even

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Speaker 2: after that where he sort of asked me questions that like,

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Speaker 2: you know, why do you play some gay roles or

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Speaker 2: you know, why is it so important for you to

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Speaker 2: you know, always talk about you know, you being out,

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Speaker 2: And a lot of times it was just him sort

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Speaker 2: of being inquisitive, but it felt like he was sort

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Speaker 2: of berating me a little bit or not like fully

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Speaker 2: he wasn't fully on board with like my my life

396
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Speaker 2: and my choices, So it caused some friction between us,

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Speaker 2: and I know that. At one point he said, you know,

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Speaker 2: this is I was raised a very different way, and

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Speaker 2: these are things that I just I have a hard

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Speaker 2: time sort of I'm programming for myself. And I can

401
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Speaker 2: totally understand that, because you know, we've all been raised

402
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Speaker 2: in certain ways, and we all have trauma and baggage

403
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Speaker 2: that we carry through from childhood and from the way

404
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Speaker 2: we were raised. And sometimes it's great and sometimes it's

405
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Speaker 2: not great. And you know, I told my dad, I

406
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Speaker 2: was like, look, you were at this time of his life.

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Speaker 2: He was probably in his early sixties, and I was like,

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Speaker 2: you know, you have so many more lives, so many

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Speaker 2: more years ahead of you. It's just such a disservice

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Speaker 2: to you as a person to say I'm done growing

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Speaker 2: and like I can't continue to see the other side

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Speaker 2: of things and I'm a fully formed, completed human being

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Speaker 2: sketched in stone, Like that doesn't make any sense to me.

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Speaker 2: Like we are all capable of change and growth, And

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Speaker 2: why just because you're over the age of fifties you

416
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Speaker 2: feel like you can't grow? Yeah, And he I think

417
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Speaker 2: he heard that, and he started going to pee flag

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Speaker 2: meetings and which is an organization that is in supportive

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Speaker 2: of parents who have gay kids. It's like he loves

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Speaker 2: the support group my dad, so you know, he sort

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00:22:12,320 --> 00:22:16,960
Speaker 2: of dove all in and was a great it was

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Speaker 2: a really great advocate. So I'm really proud of him.

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Speaker 2: And I think also that growth for me is beautiful. Like,

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Speaker 2: I love that he had that, and I love that

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Speaker 2: he experienced that with my encouragement, and I you know,

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Speaker 2: when I look at Modern Family and I look at

427
00:22:33,040 --> 00:22:36,440
Speaker 2: the relationship that they wrote for me and Ed O'Neill,

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Speaker 2: who played my dad on TV, like he also had

429
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Speaker 2: a very tricky time, you know, accepting his gay son

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Speaker 2: on the show. And I've loved that that's the story

431
00:22:46,520 --> 00:22:49,440
Speaker 2: they told us. I think it's obviously very real. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: and it's it's something I think that a lot of

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00:22:53,200 --> 00:22:55,240
Speaker 2: people can relate to. And I think that struggle is

434
00:22:55,320 --> 00:22:59,560
Speaker 2: part of you know, is also part of a beautiful thing.

435
00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:04,160
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, and what I love about the way you're

436
00:23:05,040 --> 00:23:09,280
Speaker 1: sharing this with me is that you're talking about loving

437
00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:15,440
Speaker 1: someone through their imperfections, through their fears. You know, I

438
00:23:16,720 --> 00:23:20,840
Speaker 1: know so many parents who fear anything that might make

439
00:23:20,920 --> 00:23:23,840
Speaker 1: it harder for their kid to have an easy life.

440
00:23:24,520 --> 00:23:27,080
Speaker 1: And that doesn't mean the fear is right, it doesn't

441
00:23:27,080 --> 00:23:29,960
Speaker 1: mean anyone should act out of it, but you being

442
00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:32,320
Speaker 1: willing to speak to your dad in that way where

443
00:23:32,320 --> 00:23:37,280
Speaker 1: you were clear and encouraging, but also like willing to

444
00:23:37,320 --> 00:23:40,000
Speaker 1: stand in front of him and challenge him to grow

445
00:23:40,080 --> 00:23:44,879
Speaker 1: more love more, Like I think that's how we journey together.

446
00:23:45,119 --> 00:23:48,480
Speaker 1: And what a beautiful thing you got to do in

447
00:23:48,480 --> 00:23:50,840
Speaker 1: your own life, and to your point, you got to

448
00:23:51,320 --> 00:23:54,840
Speaker 1: set an example of on screen. It wouldn't have been

449
00:23:54,880 --> 00:23:57,480
Speaker 1: as interesting to watch a story where everybody was just

450
00:23:57,560 --> 00:24:00,840
Speaker 1: perfectly on board with everybody from the beginning. Like then

451
00:24:00,880 --> 00:24:03,560
Speaker 1: there's no comedy, there's no drama, there's there's nothing to

452
00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:10,960
Speaker 1: watch but to model loving people through their friction, meeting

453
00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:15,720
Speaker 1: them where they are and helping them grow for the

454
00:24:15,800 --> 00:24:17,639
Speaker 1: days where it's good and the days where it's bad. Like,

455
00:24:18,280 --> 00:24:20,280
Speaker 1: I think that's the best of us and how ye

456
00:24:21,040 --> 00:24:22,800
Speaker 1: how beautiful that you got to do it in your

457
00:24:22,800 --> 00:24:26,000
Speaker 1: family and also like sort of sparkly, I hate to

458
00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:27,880
Speaker 1: be like feels like fate and sound like the most

459
00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:30,320
Speaker 1: la person in the world, but it feels sort of

460
00:24:30,320 --> 00:24:33,760
Speaker 1: faded that you got to represent that story on the show.

461
00:24:34,280 --> 00:24:37,679
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, for sure, And you know, I think a

462
00:24:37,720 --> 00:24:40,359
Speaker 2: lot of that was sparked from me telling stories about

463
00:24:40,359 --> 00:24:42,760
Speaker 2: my dad. And I told the writers that that I

464
00:24:42,800 --> 00:24:44,440
Speaker 2: did sort of have to come out to him three times,

465
00:24:44,480 --> 00:24:47,199
Speaker 2: and they thought that was hilarious, and so, you know,

466
00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:49,560
Speaker 2: I think a lot of you know, in the pilot episode,

467
00:24:49,560 --> 00:24:51,960
Speaker 2: they had a sort of already laid groundwork down that

468
00:24:51,960 --> 00:24:55,600
Speaker 2: that Jay is sort of, you know, cautiously. You know,

469
00:24:55,640 --> 00:24:58,199
Speaker 2: he's he's cautious around his sun and you know, he

470
00:24:58,440 --> 00:25:00,200
Speaker 2: basically knocks every time he walks into a room because

471
00:25:00,200 --> 00:25:01,880
Speaker 2: he thinks they're going to be like naked and making out.

472
00:25:02,680 --> 00:25:06,640
Speaker 2: But it was fun to sort of offer them some

473
00:25:06,680 --> 00:25:10,439
Speaker 2: sort of nuances to that idea, that trope of a

474
00:25:10,480 --> 00:25:12,320
Speaker 2: father who's still growing.

475
00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:16,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, what do you feel like? I mean, you had

476
00:25:16,240 --> 00:25:18,840
Speaker 1: so many incredible seasons, you brought us all so much

477
00:25:18,920 --> 00:25:23,000
Speaker 1: joy for so long. What do you feel like in

478
00:25:23,080 --> 00:25:26,000
Speaker 1: hindsight when you look back at it, you learned about

479
00:25:26,040 --> 00:25:29,639
Speaker 1: yourself playing Mitchell? Like, what is being part of a

480
00:25:29,680 --> 00:25:33,760
Speaker 1: show like that when you really have digested it and

481
00:25:33,800 --> 00:25:34,880
Speaker 1: sat with it On the.

482
00:25:34,840 --> 00:25:41,719
Speaker 2: Other end, Yeah, I mean it's I continue to remind

483
00:25:41,720 --> 00:25:43,880
Speaker 2: myself that when I was growing up, I didn't have

484
00:25:44,119 --> 00:25:47,360
Speaker 2: that example of someone on television. I didn't have an

485
00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:52,480
Speaker 2: aspirational pop culture figure to sort of look toward. And

486
00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:56,160
Speaker 2: I can confidently say that that exists now, and that

487
00:25:56,720 --> 00:26:00,159
Speaker 2: I'm not the only one who makes that exist. I

488
00:26:00,200 --> 00:26:02,000
Speaker 2: think a lot of people held the door open for me,

489
00:26:02,040 --> 00:26:04,080
Speaker 2: and I certainly hope, I hope that I'm holding the

490
00:26:04,119 --> 00:26:06,000
Speaker 2: door open for others. But I think there's so much

491
00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:09,520
Speaker 2: more representation on television now than there was, you know,

492
00:26:09,920 --> 00:26:12,480
Speaker 2: even just yesterday. I mean, but I think we're all

493
00:26:12,520 --> 00:26:15,160
Speaker 2: constantly getting better, and there's still so much much work

494
00:26:15,160 --> 00:26:18,560
Speaker 2: to be done. But I you know when you're when

495
00:26:18,560 --> 00:26:20,480
Speaker 2: you're in it, and you know this from just being

496
00:26:21,320 --> 00:26:25,600
Speaker 2: you know, a professional actress yourself, Like when you're in it,

497
00:26:25,600 --> 00:26:28,000
Speaker 2: it's like you have to you have to sort of

498
00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:31,680
Speaker 2: shut out the noise of like of the things that are,

499
00:26:31,720 --> 00:26:36,439
Speaker 2: you know, influencing your work, and especially if it's cultural

500
00:26:36,560 --> 00:26:39,000
Speaker 2: things Like I never wanted to feel like Eric and

501
00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:43,919
Speaker 2: I weren under pressure to represent an entire community with

502
00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:46,560
Speaker 2: these characters like I just I needed we needed just

503
00:26:46,760 --> 00:26:48,520
Speaker 2: to make them real, and we need to needed to

504
00:26:48,520 --> 00:26:52,000
Speaker 2: make them funny, and we needed to make them relatable,

505
00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:53,480
Speaker 2: and we wanted people to fall in love with them.

506
00:26:53,480 --> 00:26:55,360
Speaker 2: That was sort of what our work was. We sort

507
00:26:55,400 --> 00:26:57,360
Speaker 2: of have to shut it out, and through shutting it out,

508
00:26:57,560 --> 00:27:00,520
Speaker 2: through shutting out, like the cultural noise of the importance

509
00:27:00,560 --> 00:27:02,440
Speaker 2: of these characters are the importance of the show.

510
00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:03,159
Speaker 1: You know.

511
00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:06,360
Speaker 2: I think we sometimes weren't allowed to let ourselves really

512
00:27:06,359 --> 00:27:08,719
Speaker 2: breathe in the moment when it was happening, and I

513
00:27:08,880 --> 00:27:11,080
Speaker 2: have time myself like, we have to really enjoy this.

514
00:27:11,119 --> 00:27:12,480
Speaker 2: We have to really enjoy this because this isn't going

515
00:27:12,520 --> 00:27:15,880
Speaker 2: to last forever. But at the same time, we had

516
00:27:15,880 --> 00:27:17,600
Speaker 2: a job to do, so it was it was sort

517
00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:20,879
Speaker 2: of impossible to separate yourself too far from it. But

518
00:27:21,040 --> 00:27:25,640
Speaker 2: now there's a whole new generation of kids like discovering

519
00:27:25,800 --> 00:27:28,760
Speaker 2: modern family for the first time. And I meet these

520
00:27:28,760 --> 00:27:30,960
Speaker 2: people and I'm like, oh, you were you were not

521
00:27:31,080 --> 00:27:33,600
Speaker 2: born when the pilot air, Like you were discovering this

522
00:27:33,960 --> 00:27:38,800
Speaker 2: now on Netflix or wherever it's airing, And we have

523
00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:41,119
Speaker 2: a whole new fan base, which is really exciting. So

524
00:27:41,280 --> 00:27:45,000
Speaker 2: now when I'm meeting those people, I definitely allow myself

525
00:27:45,040 --> 00:27:50,200
Speaker 2: to get swept up into sort of how how much

526
00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:53,480
Speaker 2: of a privilege it was to be able to play

527
00:27:53,480 --> 00:27:54,080
Speaker 2: those Roles.

528
00:27:54,720 --> 00:27:58,280
Speaker 1: Yeah, sure, I love that. It's funny feel. I kind

529
00:27:58,280 --> 00:28:00,959
Speaker 1: of feel the same way about One Tree Hell now. Yeah, Like,

530
00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:05,440
Speaker 1: you know, we did it for nine years. It some

531
00:28:05,480 --> 00:28:07,720
Speaker 1: of our experiences were great and some were not so great.

532
00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:11,359
Speaker 1: And when we first finished, it was like, don't talk

533
00:28:11,400 --> 00:28:13,400
Speaker 1: to me about it. And we all felt this. All

534
00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:15,480
Speaker 1: of us were like, we're done, We're moving on. We're

535
00:28:15,520 --> 00:28:17,320
Speaker 1: going to the next thing. We don't want to talk

536
00:28:17,320 --> 00:28:20,199
Speaker 1: about it, dwell on it, whatever. And now you know,

537
00:28:20,280 --> 00:28:22,119
Speaker 1: I'll meet I meet these young girls that are in

538
00:28:22,160 --> 00:28:24,560
Speaker 1: college who've just discovered the show, and they're like, Brook

539
00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:26,879
Speaker 1: Davis taught me to never settle for a man who

540
00:28:26,960 --> 00:28:29,280
Speaker 1: doesn't deserve me, and she taught me, and they like,

541
00:28:29,320 --> 00:28:31,879
Speaker 1: they give me these life lessons from this character. And

542
00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:36,920
Speaker 1: I'm and I'm obsessed. Yeah, I am in love with it.

543
00:28:36,960 --> 00:28:39,200
Speaker 1: And I am like in love with this person that

544
00:28:39,240 --> 00:28:42,760
Speaker 1: I played in a way now that I couldn't have

545
00:28:42,840 --> 00:28:45,720
Speaker 1: been when we were doing it, nor could I even

546
00:28:45,800 --> 00:28:49,200
Speaker 1: have been I think in the immediate years after we

547
00:28:49,200 --> 00:28:51,640
Speaker 1: were done. And now I'm just like, oh, I'm obsessed

548
00:28:51,640 --> 00:28:53,320
Speaker 1: with her. Like you think you're her biggest fan, I'm

549
00:28:53,360 --> 00:28:56,080
Speaker 1: her biggest fan, you know. It's so funny.

550
00:28:56,520 --> 00:28:58,320
Speaker 2: Does it feel to you sometimes that for me, it

551
00:28:58,320 --> 00:29:01,640
Speaker 2: feels like another life, Like I don't know who that

552
00:29:01,680 --> 00:29:04,200
Speaker 2: person is. Good. I mean, when I was doing the show,

553
00:29:04,320 --> 00:29:06,840
Speaker 2: I didn't have kids, Like there was just so much

554
00:29:06,880 --> 00:29:09,840
Speaker 2: that was different then. My life was so different. I'm

555
00:29:09,880 --> 00:29:11,320
Speaker 2: living in a house that I didn't live in when

556
00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:13,120
Speaker 2: I was doing the show. Like, it just feels like

557
00:29:13,160 --> 00:29:17,040
Speaker 2: this weird, sort of alternate universe that I inhabited for

558
00:29:17,040 --> 00:29:17,680
Speaker 2: a little while.

559
00:29:18,480 --> 00:29:20,959
Speaker 1: Well way, the only way I know how to describe

560
00:29:20,960 --> 00:29:24,440
Speaker 1: it to people is that it's a very strange experience

561
00:29:24,560 --> 00:29:29,520
Speaker 1: of temporary permanence. Season to season. You have no idea

562
00:29:29,560 --> 00:29:32,320
Speaker 1: if you're going to get picked up. It takes your

563
00:29:32,360 --> 00:29:35,720
Speaker 1: whole entire life. But also you're supposed to maintain your

564
00:29:36,120 --> 00:29:39,040
Speaker 1: real life outside of the thing. I think for us

565
00:29:39,080 --> 00:29:41,479
Speaker 1: it was even trickier because we were on location, so

566
00:29:41,520 --> 00:29:43,680
Speaker 1: I would live in North Carolina for ten months out

567
00:29:43,680 --> 00:29:47,080
Speaker 1: of the year, and no matter what, I always sort

568
00:29:47,080 --> 00:29:50,400
Speaker 1: of felt like I couldn't hold everything up. I was

569
00:29:50,400 --> 00:29:55,320
Speaker 1: like spinning a few too many plates, right, And it

570
00:29:55,400 --> 00:29:57,480
Speaker 1: is really weird, it feels because it kind of feels

571
00:29:57,480 --> 00:29:59,360
Speaker 1: like a time warp. You're like, that was my whole life,

572
00:29:59,440 --> 00:30:02,520
Speaker 1: but it also wasn't my real life. And it's both,

573
00:30:02,680 --> 00:30:05,280
Speaker 1: and it's I don't know, I'm like it is is

574
00:30:05,320 --> 00:30:07,200
Speaker 1: being on a show like the shows we were on

575
00:30:07,240 --> 00:30:10,320
Speaker 1: for as long as we were Is that the Schrodinger's

576
00:30:10,360 --> 00:30:14,040
Speaker 1: cat of being an actor? Like, I don't know, is

577
00:30:14,040 --> 00:30:15,200
Speaker 1: it alive or dead? It's both?

578
00:30:15,240 --> 00:30:18,560
Speaker 2: It's nothing right right, right, right? I know, I know,

579
00:30:19,320 --> 00:30:22,200
Speaker 2: it's it's a it's a wild, wild job. I mean

580
00:30:22,360 --> 00:30:24,800
Speaker 2: tymeer Roll and I would sometimes just burst into laughter

581
00:30:24,960 --> 00:30:27,360
Speaker 2: because you couldn't believe that this was a job that

582
00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:30,840
Speaker 2: a grown person would do. Yeah, like you know, memorizing

583
00:30:30,880 --> 00:30:34,400
Speaker 2: words that you didn't write and putting pretending to be

584
00:30:34,440 --> 00:30:36,520
Speaker 2: someone else. Like we would just sometimes get the giggles

585
00:30:36,560 --> 00:30:39,360
Speaker 2: because like we would catch each other doing the doing

586
00:30:39,360 --> 00:30:41,600
Speaker 2: the job, like doing this ridiculous thing that we're supposed

587
00:30:41,600 --> 00:30:43,760
Speaker 2: to do is probably the character and then like catching

588
00:30:43,800 --> 00:30:46,280
Speaker 2: the eye one that they'd be like that, this is ridiculous, that's.

589
00:30:46,240 --> 00:30:48,200
Speaker 1: Like what are we doing me to do this?

590
00:30:48,720 --> 00:30:49,800
Speaker 2: Yeah?

591
00:30:50,080 --> 00:30:52,800
Speaker 1: No, it's so crazy. Yeah, and now a word from

592
00:30:52,840 --> 00:31:05,640
Speaker 1: our sponsors who make this show possible. It's so all

593
00:31:05,760 --> 00:31:09,840
Speaker 1: encompassing being on something like that and a schedule like that,

594
00:31:10,440 --> 00:31:14,120
Speaker 1: how did you manage to figure out how to carve

595
00:31:14,160 --> 00:31:17,120
Speaker 1: out time for your other passions? Because to your point,

596
00:31:17,320 --> 00:31:19,000
Speaker 1: you know, you didn't have kids yet when you were

597
00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:22,320
Speaker 1: on the show, but you'd met your now husband, you know,

598
00:31:22,360 --> 00:31:25,080
Speaker 1: you were building a life, and then you'd go and

599
00:31:25,120 --> 00:31:27,920
Speaker 1: do amazing theater. I mean, my god, I got to

600
00:31:27,920 --> 00:31:30,720
Speaker 1: come and see your one man show. Yeah, that like

601
00:31:31,120 --> 00:31:35,200
Speaker 1: knocked my socks off, it was so fun. How how

602
00:31:35,200 --> 00:31:38,040
Speaker 1: did you figure out how to make room for your

603
00:31:38,120 --> 00:31:41,600
Speaker 1: life inside of a project that basically took up your

604
00:31:41,600 --> 00:31:42,240
Speaker 1: whole life?

605
00:31:42,520 --> 00:31:45,760
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I started to feel a little bit

606
00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:49,120
Speaker 2: of security with with Modern Family after you know, I

607
00:31:49,160 --> 00:31:50,800
Speaker 2: mean we won an Emmy right out of the gate

608
00:31:50,840 --> 00:31:53,120
Speaker 2: for Best Comedy. But you know again, like so cooled

609
00:31:53,160 --> 00:31:55,440
Speaker 2: the rest of development, and that also was canceled after

610
00:31:55,440 --> 00:31:57,720
Speaker 2: a few seasons. So because after a few years, I

611
00:31:57,720 --> 00:31:59,760
Speaker 2: sort of felt like, Okay, this thing is definitely going

612
00:31:59,840 --> 00:32:01,480
Speaker 2: to stick around for a little while. So I was

613
00:32:01,520 --> 00:32:04,760
Speaker 2: able to relax a bit and really sort of let myself,

614
00:32:05,120 --> 00:32:07,840
Speaker 2: let myself go and fall into other projects when I

615
00:32:07,880 --> 00:32:13,000
Speaker 2: had a hiatus. But also, I mean, theater never for me,

616
00:32:13,120 --> 00:32:15,880
Speaker 2: never took a backseat to doing film and television. I

617
00:32:15,920 --> 00:32:19,840
Speaker 2: always that's where my first love is, and doing TV

618
00:32:20,040 --> 00:32:21,840
Speaker 2: was this like weird thing that I sort of fell

619
00:32:21,880 --> 00:32:25,200
Speaker 2: into and I love doing it and I love the

620
00:32:25,280 --> 00:32:27,280
Speaker 2: job and I love the job security it gave me.

621
00:32:27,760 --> 00:32:31,320
Speaker 2: But I sort of also was grateful that then it

622
00:32:31,360 --> 00:32:33,400
Speaker 2: allowed me to go do you know, Shakespeare in the

623
00:32:33,400 --> 00:32:36,440
Speaker 2: Park for you know, six weeks in the summer and

624
00:32:36,600 --> 00:32:39,600
Speaker 2: not get paid a ton, but still be okay to like,

625
00:32:40,240 --> 00:32:42,720
Speaker 2: you know, pay the bills at the end of the

626
00:32:43,040 --> 00:32:46,320
Speaker 2: summer because I was had saved enough. So it sort

627
00:32:46,360 --> 00:32:50,200
Speaker 2: of gave me freedom to do other things. And you know,

628
00:32:50,400 --> 00:32:53,280
Speaker 2: in in terms of that one man show that you saw,

629
00:32:53,320 --> 00:32:58,320
Speaker 2: I was playing forty different characters and working with silent. Yeah,

630
00:32:58,360 --> 00:32:59,080
Speaker 2: it's crazy.

631
00:32:59,120 --> 00:33:02,120
Speaker 1: Will you tell listeners at home a little bit about it?

632
00:33:02,160 --> 00:33:04,520
Speaker 1: Because I am still not over it and it's been years.

633
00:33:04,720 --> 00:33:07,360
Speaker 2: It's so funny. So it's a show called Fully Committed.

634
00:33:08,240 --> 00:33:11,240
Speaker 2: It's a one man show, and it's about a reservationist

635
00:33:11,720 --> 00:33:15,000
Speaker 2: who works at a very very high end restaurant and

636
00:33:15,040 --> 00:33:17,680
Speaker 2: his coworker has not shown up for that day's work

637
00:33:17,800 --> 00:33:20,760
Speaker 2: and so he's just slammed when the line's open for

638
00:33:20,800 --> 00:33:25,200
Speaker 2: the restaurant taking reservations. And the whole play takes place

639
00:33:25,800 --> 00:33:28,520
Speaker 2: over the phone, So he plays not only himself, but

640
00:33:28,560 --> 00:33:30,520
Speaker 2: he plays all the people trying on the other end

641
00:33:30,560 --> 00:33:33,400
Speaker 2: of the line trying to get reservations to this restaurant.

642
00:33:33,400 --> 00:33:35,320
Speaker 2: He plays the chef, he plays the maitre d, he

643
00:33:35,320 --> 00:33:39,120
Speaker 2: plays the hostess, he plays the restaurant critic who's trying

644
00:33:39,160 --> 00:33:41,600
Speaker 2: to get in. He plays his father. You know, he's

645
00:33:41,640 --> 00:33:45,600
Speaker 2: also on the phone with throughout the day. And you know,

646
00:33:45,640 --> 00:33:49,880
Speaker 2: it's a really challenging piece, and every actor who sort

647
00:33:49,880 --> 00:33:51,640
Speaker 2: of tackles it, no, it's gonna be a challenging piece.

648
00:33:51,800 --> 00:33:54,000
Speaker 2: So I knew going into it. This was the first

649
00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:56,640
Speaker 2: Broadway revival of it. It had only been off Broadway before

650
00:33:57,120 --> 00:33:59,880
Speaker 2: when I was offered this, and so I think I'd

651
00:34:00,000 --> 00:34:02,920
Speaker 2: started working on it about a year before actually started

652
00:34:02,920 --> 00:34:06,640
Speaker 2: official rehearsals, just memorizing the play and working with a

653
00:34:06,640 --> 00:34:09,000
Speaker 2: dialect coach on my own time, trying to figure out

654
00:34:09,040 --> 00:34:12,960
Speaker 2: what these different characters sound like. You know, she also

655
00:34:13,040 --> 00:34:15,920
Speaker 2: worked at Juilliard, so she would sometimes have her students

656
00:34:15,960 --> 00:34:19,400
Speaker 2: who are from different places, record them saying the lines

657
00:34:19,480 --> 00:34:22,440
Speaker 2: so that I could maybe sort of you know, imitate

658
00:34:22,520 --> 00:34:25,919
Speaker 2: them to sort of get the authenticity down. But then again,

659
00:34:25,960 --> 00:34:28,040
Speaker 2: it's a play where there are forty characters and are

660
00:34:28,040 --> 00:34:31,719
Speaker 2: snapping between, you know, between themselves really quickly, and you're

661
00:34:31,760 --> 00:34:35,239
Speaker 2: basically in dialogue with yourself. So there was also this

662
00:34:35,239 --> 00:34:38,160
Speaker 2: this job of like not being too subtle and too

663
00:34:38,239 --> 00:34:41,680
Speaker 2: real with anything, because these people need to be immediately recognizable.

664
00:34:41,760 --> 00:34:46,160
Speaker 2: So it was it was a really tough line to

665
00:34:46,160 --> 00:34:48,719
Speaker 2: to figure out when it comes to tone and just

666
00:34:48,760 --> 00:34:54,840
Speaker 2: the brevity of like not brevity levity, which is the

667
00:34:54,880 --> 00:34:58,680
Speaker 2: exact opposite the levity of like, you know, the just

668
00:34:58,719 --> 00:35:02,200
Speaker 2: having to learn a huge, you know, ninety minute play

669
00:35:02,400 --> 00:35:05,080
Speaker 2: that no one else is speaking in it always.

670
00:35:05,600 --> 00:35:11,759
Speaker 1: I mean it was breathtaking. I have rarely been so entertained.

671
00:35:11,760 --> 00:35:13,520
Speaker 1: And also at the end of the play, I was

672
00:35:13,560 --> 00:35:17,320
Speaker 1: exhausted for you. Yeah, like when you actually greeted everyone backstage,

673
00:35:17,360 --> 00:35:18,920
Speaker 1: I was like, are you okay? Why are you hunging

674
00:35:19,040 --> 00:35:21,560
Speaker 1: us go home? Like does someone have an ice bag

675
00:35:21,640 --> 00:35:22,040
Speaker 1: for you?

676
00:35:22,600 --> 00:35:23,200
Speaker 2: Yeah?

677
00:35:23,280 --> 00:35:26,160
Speaker 1: I mean it was it was really astonishing. It's so

678
00:35:26,320 --> 00:35:31,279
Speaker 1: cool to hear that you had the sort of wherewithal

679
00:35:31,440 --> 00:35:33,800
Speaker 1: to say, oh, I'm going to spend a year prepping

680
00:35:33,840 --> 00:35:37,120
Speaker 1: even before rehearsal, because this is such a big thing.

681
00:35:37,360 --> 00:35:38,960
Speaker 2: There was no way. But I did drive my Modern

682
00:35:38,960 --> 00:35:41,960
Speaker 2: Family cast members crazy because I would trust that accents.

683
00:35:42,360 --> 00:35:46,360
Speaker 2: I think actually Sophia was even like, there's an opportunity

684
00:35:46,400 --> 00:35:47,880
Speaker 2: at the end of the play for a little cameo

685
00:35:48,400 --> 00:35:50,240
Speaker 2: of someone who just picks up the phone. It's a celebrity,

686
00:35:50,239 --> 00:35:51,920
Speaker 2: and I think in the original version of like Wwyneth

687
00:35:51,920 --> 00:35:56,240
Speaker 2: paltr or something, but I did Sophia instead, so funny

688
00:35:56,360 --> 00:35:59,160
Speaker 2: a little cameo, so she even made it into the play.

689
00:36:00,080 --> 00:36:03,600
Speaker 1: It's so cuty. How I mean, you have such a

690
00:36:03,600 --> 00:36:06,640
Speaker 1: work ethic and obviously such passion for what you do.

691
00:36:07,440 --> 00:36:10,080
Speaker 1: And you're a producer and you you are, you're working

692
00:36:10,160 --> 00:36:12,920
Speaker 1: in film and television, You're doing incredible theater, You're keeping

693
00:36:12,960 --> 00:36:18,879
Speaker 1: that beautiful you know, industry going. How how do you

694
00:36:18,960 --> 00:36:22,880
Speaker 1: and Justin navigate the intensity of your work lives and

695
00:36:22,880 --> 00:36:25,239
Speaker 1: how much you both love what you do Now that

696
00:36:25,320 --> 00:36:27,480
Speaker 1: you have two little kids, do you do you sort

697
00:36:27,520 --> 00:36:30,520
Speaker 1: of have to trade off at certain times or do

698
00:36:30,560 --> 00:36:33,200
Speaker 1: you just have a village that helps when you're both

699
00:36:33,320 --> 00:36:35,880
Speaker 1: slammed A little bit of all about.

700
00:36:35,640 --> 00:36:38,600
Speaker 2: A little bit of both. I mean, it's tricky because

701
00:36:38,680 --> 00:36:41,320
Speaker 2: you know, as an actor, you you get these opportunities,

702
00:36:41,320 --> 00:36:43,080
Speaker 2: and sometimes they take you away for a few weeks

703
00:36:43,120 --> 00:36:44,960
Speaker 2: and we have to sort of rewagyh about, you know what,

704
00:36:45,200 --> 00:36:47,080
Speaker 2: before I would just do everything that I wanted to do,

705
00:36:47,120 --> 00:36:49,040
Speaker 2: and I have to really think about so I need

706
00:36:49,080 --> 00:36:54,000
Speaker 2: to be away for six weeks or two months. And

707
00:36:54,280 --> 00:36:57,200
Speaker 2: Justin's been very good about stepping in when he needs to.

708
00:36:58,880 --> 00:37:02,560
Speaker 2: But you know, when I was doing the play last

709
00:37:02,600 --> 00:37:04,400
Speaker 2: I was doing to play last year on Broadway, and

710
00:37:04,440 --> 00:37:07,759
Speaker 2: our son was born during that time, so I came

711
00:37:07,800 --> 00:37:09,640
Speaker 2: home for the birth. I was here for a few days,

712
00:37:09,680 --> 00:37:10,799
Speaker 2: and then I had to go back to New York

713
00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:13,600
Speaker 2: to finish the run, and so I would go back occasionally,

714
00:37:13,680 --> 00:37:15,680
Speaker 2: you know, for my days off. But I was home

715
00:37:15,719 --> 00:37:18,040
Speaker 2: for like maybe twenty three hours and having to turn

716
00:37:18,080 --> 00:37:20,760
Speaker 2: around go back to New York. So it was a lot,

717
00:37:20,800 --> 00:37:22,359
Speaker 2: and I know that during that time it was really

718
00:37:22,400 --> 00:37:25,560
Speaker 2: taxing on Justin. So you know, I knew that when

719
00:37:25,600 --> 00:37:27,120
Speaker 2: I came back, not only was I going to be

720
00:37:27,120 --> 00:37:29,400
Speaker 2: like hitting the ground running with the kids, but like

721
00:37:29,560 --> 00:37:31,399
Speaker 2: I needed to carve out time for him to get

722
00:37:31,400 --> 00:37:34,239
Speaker 2: away and spend time with his friends and sort of

723
00:37:34,440 --> 00:37:37,000
Speaker 2: turn off a bit because he had definitely picked up

724
00:37:37,040 --> 00:37:41,239
Speaker 2: the slack so he definitely earned, you know, that that

725
00:37:41,360 --> 00:37:47,080
Speaker 2: time alone. But I try and like be very cognizant

726
00:37:47,120 --> 00:37:51,840
Speaker 2: of the fact that when I do go away, you know,

727
00:37:52,080 --> 00:37:53,200
Speaker 2: it's a lot on him.

728
00:37:53,640 --> 00:37:53,759
Speaker 1: Right.

729
00:37:53,840 --> 00:37:57,200
Speaker 2: He's also been very good about reminding himself that when

730
00:37:57,239 --> 00:37:59,839
Speaker 2: I go away, I am working. It's not like I'm

731
00:37:59,880 --> 00:38:02,080
Speaker 2: just I love what I do so much. I'm so

732
00:38:02,200 --> 00:38:04,560
Speaker 2: lucky that like my job brings me so much joy.

733
00:38:05,040 --> 00:38:07,040
Speaker 2: But it is, you know, it's a it's a full

734
00:38:07,040 --> 00:38:09,320
Speaker 2: time thing when you're when you're in work mode, and yeah,

735
00:38:09,440 --> 00:38:11,400
Speaker 2: you have to really take care of yourself and you

736
00:38:11,400 --> 00:38:13,319
Speaker 2: have to go to betterly and like even if you

737
00:38:13,400 --> 00:38:15,600
Speaker 2: have a long day on set where there's like big

738
00:38:15,640 --> 00:38:17,799
Speaker 2: breaks in the day, like you're not just resting, you're

739
00:38:17,800 --> 00:38:19,560
Speaker 2: trying to always like be prepared for them when you're

740
00:38:19,600 --> 00:38:22,120
Speaker 2: being called to set, and so it's exhausting. And so

741
00:38:22,239 --> 00:38:25,640
Speaker 2: he's reminded that, you know, I also am not on

742
00:38:25,719 --> 00:38:29,640
Speaker 2: vacation when I'm doing this fun thing that I love doing, Right,

743
00:38:30,120 --> 00:38:32,640
Speaker 2: I just I'm lucky that I got to be enjoying

744
00:38:32,680 --> 00:38:33,120
Speaker 2: my job.

745
00:38:33,880 --> 00:38:36,719
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I mean it's so cool and the and

746
00:38:36,760 --> 00:38:40,279
Speaker 1: the things that it enables you to do. I mean,

747
00:38:40,320 --> 00:38:43,719
Speaker 1: even you guys. You know, launching Tie the Not, you know,

748
00:38:43,960 --> 00:38:49,319
Speaker 1: creating an organization that is near and dear to your

749
00:38:49,360 --> 00:38:51,239
Speaker 1: heart is something that you get to go out and

750
00:38:51,280 --> 00:38:54,359
Speaker 1: talk about because you have this great, big platform right right.

751
00:38:54,400 --> 00:38:55,960
Speaker 2: That was very important to us for sure.

752
00:38:56,120 --> 00:38:58,600
Speaker 1: Yeah. Can you can you tell our listeners a little

753
00:38:58,600 --> 00:38:59,160
Speaker 1: bit about it?

754
00:38:59,280 --> 00:39:02,560
Speaker 2: Sure? Yeah. I mean Justin's always been an activist, He's

755
00:39:02,600 --> 00:39:05,920
Speaker 2: been very politically active. When I met him, he was

756
00:39:05,960 --> 00:39:08,480
Speaker 2: graduating from law school and was working on the Proposition

757
00:39:08,560 --> 00:39:12,400
Speaker 2: eight case, which was Proposition that was that was it

758
00:39:12,440 --> 00:39:15,719
Speaker 2: took away marriage rights for saying sex couples here in

759
00:39:15,880 --> 00:39:21,160
Speaker 2: California back in like two thousand and eleven or something,

760
00:39:23,120 --> 00:39:27,080
Speaker 2: and we we formed Tie the Knot, which was an

761
00:39:27,160 --> 00:39:30,920
Speaker 2: organization that raised money for the people in the trenches

762
00:39:30,960 --> 00:39:34,000
Speaker 2: fighting for marriage equality. Specifically, we were kind of fighting

763
00:39:34,000 --> 00:39:38,600
Speaker 2: for Prop eight to get overturned and then and then

764
00:39:38,960 --> 00:39:43,120
Speaker 2: from there we were obviously looking towards full federal marriage

765
00:39:43,120 --> 00:39:47,120
Speaker 2: equality across the United States. But we are are founded.

766
00:39:47,200 --> 00:39:49,719
Speaker 2: We raised money basically by selling bow ties, which was

767
00:39:49,760 --> 00:39:53,960
Speaker 2: you know, a kind of funny, quirky, interesting, lighthearted way

768
00:39:54,000 --> 00:39:57,279
Speaker 2: of nodding to a marriage. And then you know, we've

769
00:39:57,280 --> 00:39:59,759
Speaker 2: sold a lot of other products as well. But I've

770
00:39:59,760 --> 00:40:03,680
Speaker 2: alway always been the type of activists who doesn't really

771
00:40:03,719 --> 00:40:05,440
Speaker 2: use a bullhorn, Like I don't really need to be

772
00:40:05,960 --> 00:40:08,359
Speaker 2: arrested on the steps of city hall like I like to.

773
00:40:08,800 --> 00:40:10,920
Speaker 2: I like to to definitely use my voice and make

774
00:40:11,080 --> 00:40:13,920
Speaker 2: make myself heard. But I find that doing it the

775
00:40:13,920 --> 00:40:16,160
Speaker 2: more a light hearted way, and through comedy and through

776
00:40:16,239 --> 00:40:19,759
Speaker 2: you know, just being more authentically who I am is

777
00:40:19,840 --> 00:40:23,840
Speaker 2: just a better thing for me. So this foundation really felt,

778
00:40:24,239 --> 00:40:28,520
Speaker 2: it felt it felt unique, and it felt very I

779
00:40:28,560 --> 00:40:31,439
Speaker 2: don't know, it felt personal, and it felt it felt

780
00:40:31,480 --> 00:40:34,239
Speaker 2: like it was very It came from our hearts, like

781
00:40:34,320 --> 00:40:36,799
Speaker 2: we really you know, we're able to raise money doing

782
00:40:36,880 --> 00:40:41,120
Speaker 2: something that felt like it was authentically us. So we

783
00:40:41,200 --> 00:40:44,520
Speaker 2: raised over a million dollars of the course of Type

784
00:40:44,640 --> 00:40:47,440
Speaker 2: Not and then we recent rebranded Type not to pronoun

785
00:40:47,840 --> 00:40:51,960
Speaker 2: So we're still we're still raising money for the LGBTQ community,

786
00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:54,719
Speaker 2: but it's a bit of a broader scope that we're

787
00:40:54,760 --> 00:40:56,680
Speaker 2: raising money for. It is the longer marriage e quality,

788
00:40:56,680 --> 00:41:00,040
Speaker 2: which we now have achieved, but you know, LGBTQ rights

789
00:41:00,080 --> 00:41:02,920
Speaker 2: and trans writes and all that good stuff.

790
00:41:03,000 --> 00:41:07,640
Speaker 1: So yeah, I'm a larger umbrella of equality that you

791
00:41:07,680 --> 00:41:10,279
Speaker 1: know so many people unfortunately are trying to chip away

792
00:41:10,320 --> 00:41:14,359
Speaker 1: at year after year. I can't remember did I ever

793
00:41:14,400 --> 00:41:17,279
Speaker 1: send you the picture I wore one of your bow

794
00:41:17,320 --> 00:41:20,480
Speaker 1: ties was like a sort of like a burgundy chocolate

795
00:41:20,480 --> 00:41:23,239
Speaker 1: with little owls on it. And the little owls are

796
00:41:23,280 --> 00:41:25,000
Speaker 1: like in blue and yellow and I wore it with

797
00:41:25,040 --> 00:41:28,560
Speaker 1: a navy tuxedo that I had. Okay, good, I was like, wait,

798
00:41:28,560 --> 00:41:29,440
Speaker 1: do you have that photo?

799
00:41:29,480 --> 00:41:32,200
Speaker 2: I'm obsessed, I do. You've always been such a supporter

800
00:41:32,280 --> 00:41:32,600
Speaker 2: of us.

801
00:41:32,600 --> 00:41:35,040
Speaker 1: Oh well, I just adore you guys, and you know

802
00:41:35,600 --> 00:41:40,080
Speaker 1: you've You've always just been so kind and wonderful, and

803
00:41:40,400 --> 00:41:42,040
Speaker 1: you know, I'm a I'm a fan of what you

804
00:41:42,040 --> 00:41:44,480
Speaker 1: both do. But I'm a fan of you guys as humans.

805
00:41:45,000 --> 00:41:49,200
Speaker 1: Thank you me cuty okay, And as if you don't

806
00:41:49,239 --> 00:41:51,680
Speaker 1: do enough things with all of your activism in theater

807
00:41:51,719 --> 00:41:54,120
Speaker 1: and film and television and being a dad. You have

808
00:41:54,160 --> 00:41:58,160
Speaker 1: a podcast, talk to Us about Dinners on me. I'm

809
00:41:58,200 --> 00:42:00,080
Speaker 1: obsessed with it, mostly because all I want to do

810
00:42:00,160 --> 00:42:03,560
Speaker 1: is eat, and I just I love it. I have

811
00:42:03,640 --> 00:42:06,960
Speaker 1: so many questions. Tell the people what you're up to?

812
00:42:07,920 --> 00:42:11,600
Speaker 2: Yes, So I have this podcast that I started. I

813
00:42:11,640 --> 00:42:13,840
Speaker 2: guess about a year ago. I mean, my career has

814
00:42:13,880 --> 00:42:15,920
Speaker 2: always been a series of things that I didn't expect

815
00:42:15,920 --> 00:42:17,719
Speaker 2: to do that I've been given opportunity to do and

816
00:42:17,760 --> 00:42:21,360
Speaker 2: then I ended up enjoying. So I when these jobs

817
00:42:21,400 --> 00:42:23,760
Speaker 2: come to me that I'm like, I never imagine myself

818
00:42:23,800 --> 00:42:26,280
Speaker 2: as that. I really take a beat and I think, okay,

819
00:42:26,280 --> 00:42:28,280
Speaker 2: but is it something that I might have fun doing?

820
00:42:28,560 --> 00:42:31,120
Speaker 2: And this was certainly one of those opportunities. I never

821
00:42:31,360 --> 00:42:34,000
Speaker 2: wanted to have a podcast. I had been on a

822
00:42:34,040 --> 00:42:35,520
Speaker 2: million of them. You know, it just seemed like an

823
00:42:35,520 --> 00:42:38,040
Speaker 2: extra job that I would have to do, but I

824
00:42:38,080 --> 00:42:39,400
Speaker 2: didn't know I was I was like, I'm not going

825
00:42:39,480 --> 00:42:40,960
Speaker 2: to know if I if I enjoyed doing this unless

826
00:42:40,960 --> 00:42:44,520
Speaker 2: I actually do it. So I accepted the offer to

827
00:42:45,000 --> 00:42:47,800
Speaker 2: host this podcast, and the producers knew I was a

828
00:42:47,800 --> 00:42:49,680
Speaker 2: big foodie and they had this idea of sort of

829
00:42:49,680 --> 00:42:53,080
Speaker 2: combining my love of food and eating out a restaurant

830
00:42:53,160 --> 00:42:57,080
Speaker 2: with a conversation. And you know, I feel like the

831
00:42:57,080 --> 00:43:00,400
Speaker 2: best conversations happened of a really great meal. So, uh,

832
00:43:01,400 --> 00:43:04,000
Speaker 2: the first season was a huge success, and we started

833
00:43:04,040 --> 00:43:06,720
Speaker 2: off with Julie Bowen. I took her to a restaurant

834
00:43:06,719 --> 00:43:11,160
Speaker 2: called Republic here in California. It was during during a

835
00:43:11,160 --> 00:43:15,760
Speaker 2: atmospheric river, much like we're having today. And it launched

836
00:43:15,760 --> 00:43:19,279
Speaker 2: off a really great season of episodes, and I went

837
00:43:19,320 --> 00:43:22,279
Speaker 2: to restaurants in New York and in Los Angeles and

838
00:43:22,320 --> 00:43:26,719
Speaker 2: had everyone on from Padma Lakshmi and Chelsea Clinton to

839
00:43:27,880 --> 00:43:32,799
Speaker 2: Sarah Highland and Isaac Msrahi and some great chefs were

840
00:43:32,840 --> 00:43:35,440
Speaker 2: on last season. And I just launched my second season.

841
00:43:35,440 --> 00:43:38,680
Speaker 2: And the second season starts with a really great episode

842
00:43:38,719 --> 00:43:41,040
Speaker 2: with Ed O'Neill, who played my father a Modern Family

843
00:43:41,080 --> 00:43:44,480
Speaker 2: for eleven years. We have another Modern Family cast member

844
00:43:44,520 --> 00:43:46,400
Speaker 2: coming up and I can't say who it is, but

845
00:43:46,440 --> 00:43:52,400
Speaker 2: it's the exciting we have. We have conversations with Danielle Brooks,

846
00:43:52,440 --> 00:43:55,080
Speaker 2: who's fresh off of an Oscar nomination for the color purple.

847
00:43:55,480 --> 00:43:59,239
Speaker 2: We have her color. So happy for her, couldn't I

848
00:43:59,320 --> 00:44:02,680
Speaker 2: love her so much? And she's she's I'm so happy

849
00:44:02,719 --> 00:44:05,120
Speaker 2: we got her on. Dax Shepherd, who is the host

850
00:44:05,239 --> 00:44:08,040
Speaker 2: of Armchair Expert, coming on, so it's really fun to

851
00:44:08,080 --> 00:44:11,560
Speaker 2: have him on as a guest rather than a host. Yeah. Really,

852
00:44:11,640 --> 00:44:14,880
Speaker 2: I kind of get to hear about the trajectory of

853
00:44:15,760 --> 00:44:20,279
Speaker 2: Armchair Expert. I was especially nervous for that episode because

854
00:44:20,320 --> 00:44:23,880
Speaker 2: he's such a great you know hosts himself. I was like,

855
00:44:23,920 --> 00:44:26,200
Speaker 2: oh gosh, this is going to be nerve wracking, but

856
00:44:26,280 --> 00:44:29,399
Speaker 2: it was lovely. So we have really great people coming

857
00:44:29,440 --> 00:44:29,640
Speaker 2: up to.

858
00:44:29,600 --> 00:44:32,680
Speaker 1: See it's so cool. Okay, I have a technical question

859
00:44:32,719 --> 00:44:34,920
Speaker 1: because I just think about this from the production side.

860
00:44:35,080 --> 00:44:36,200
Speaker 2: I know already know what you're going to ask.

861
00:44:36,320 --> 00:44:39,719
Speaker 1: You're going to restaurants, Yeah, like are they opening an

862
00:44:39,719 --> 00:44:41,680
Speaker 1: hour early for you? Because I feel like there's no

863
00:44:41,760 --> 00:44:43,880
Speaker 1: way you could do this in public and not be

864
00:44:44,000 --> 00:44:47,480
Speaker 1: like stopped by fans and have something clattered to the

865
00:44:47,480 --> 00:44:50,000
Speaker 1: floor and ruin the sound, Like what how are you

866
00:44:50,040 --> 00:44:50,759
Speaker 1: achieving this?

867
00:44:51,239 --> 00:44:53,880
Speaker 2: All those things actually happen. I kind of love it

868
00:44:53,920 --> 00:44:56,080
Speaker 2: because I really want people. I want the listeners to

869
00:44:56,120 --> 00:44:58,000
Speaker 2: feel like a fly on the wall. So yeah, we

870
00:44:58,120 --> 00:45:00,239
Speaker 2: keep all the ambient sounds. There are times and we

871
00:45:00,320 --> 00:45:02,600
Speaker 2: go to restaurants and they haven't been opened, they're not

872
00:45:02,640 --> 00:45:04,840
Speaker 2: opened yet, and we get the entire place for ourselves,

873
00:45:05,040 --> 00:45:07,879
Speaker 2: and those are actually I don't I don't like those

874
00:45:07,880 --> 00:45:10,640
Speaker 2: as much because I really like that ambient sound and

875
00:45:11,400 --> 00:45:15,719
Speaker 2: this feeling of like you you over overhearing a conversation,

876
00:45:16,200 --> 00:45:17,920
Speaker 2: but you hear the waiter come through the table and

877
00:45:17,920 --> 00:45:21,840
Speaker 2: tell us the specials. You hear us order, to the

878
00:45:21,920 --> 00:45:23,920
Speaker 2: chagrin of many people, you might hear us eating a

879
00:45:23,960 --> 00:45:26,279
Speaker 2: little bit, which is also some people have a really

880
00:45:26,280 --> 00:45:28,560
Speaker 2: big problem with that. I promise it's not a ton

881
00:45:28,600 --> 00:45:30,680
Speaker 2: of mouse sounds. We're pretty good about editing around it.

882
00:45:31,160 --> 00:45:32,960
Speaker 2: But I love, like, you know, when you hear the

883
00:45:33,239 --> 00:45:36,439
Speaker 2: glass crash in the background. I have a running gag

884
00:45:36,480 --> 00:45:38,719
Speaker 2: on my my podcast where anytime I hear one of

885
00:45:38,760 --> 00:45:41,160
Speaker 2: those that go, oh my hearing like I just fell off.

886
00:45:41,719 --> 00:45:44,840
Speaker 2: So I actually look forward to sounds like that. I

887
00:45:44,920 --> 00:45:47,759
Speaker 2: love to add a little comedy. But it's you know,

888
00:45:47,800 --> 00:45:51,080
Speaker 2: every restaurant is completely different. Sometimes we're there and I like,

889
00:45:51,120 --> 00:45:53,319
Speaker 2: I went with the Isaacs Rahu to Pastises on a

890
00:45:53,360 --> 00:45:57,720
Speaker 2: Sunday brunch day and that was, you know, totally packed

891
00:45:57,719 --> 00:45:59,799
Speaker 2: and crowded, and we were just at a little table

892
00:45:59,840 --> 00:46:01,560
Speaker 2: line ourselves and you can hear that we're in a

893
00:46:01,600 --> 00:46:04,239
Speaker 2: crowded restaurant, and yeah, I kind of just I love

894
00:46:04,320 --> 00:46:07,320
Speaker 2: that we can do that and achieve that, And I

895
00:46:07,360 --> 00:46:10,239
Speaker 2: think our listeners really respond to that sort of fly

896
00:46:10,360 --> 00:46:14,080
Speaker 2: on the wall verite, you know, conversation.

897
00:46:14,640 --> 00:46:18,520
Speaker 1: Yeah, I also feel like, that's so indicative of your

898
00:46:18,600 --> 00:46:21,399
Speaker 1: love of living in New York, because when you talk

899
00:46:21,480 --> 00:46:24,360
Speaker 1: about it, I'm like, yeah, like we're New York people.

900
00:46:24,719 --> 00:46:28,040
Speaker 1: The hustle bustle and the car horns honking and the sounds.

901
00:46:28,040 --> 00:46:30,240
Speaker 1: It's like it's part of what makes you feel like home.

902
00:46:30,840 --> 00:46:33,600
Speaker 1: So I love that that's really happening and it's not

903
00:46:33,640 --> 00:46:34,640
Speaker 1: a sound design thing.

904
00:46:35,120 --> 00:46:39,520
Speaker 2: I took Nissi Nash out for for for dinner for

905
00:46:39,640 --> 00:46:41,960
Speaker 2: the podcast, and we were at Beat outside and it

906
00:46:42,040 --> 00:46:44,719
Speaker 2: was during trash Day, so that really they were. They

907
00:46:44,719 --> 00:46:49,400
Speaker 2: were emptying, like you know, massive dumpsters of trash. You

908
00:46:49,400 --> 00:46:51,560
Speaker 2: could hear the trash trucks coming. I was like, this

909
00:46:51,640 --> 00:46:53,719
Speaker 2: is just what it is. We weren't we weren't sitting

910
00:46:53,760 --> 00:46:56,560
Speaker 2: amongst trash, but there were definitely the sounds of trash trucks.

911
00:46:56,920 --> 00:46:58,440
Speaker 2: Like here we are during the podcast.

912
00:46:58,719 --> 00:47:00,640
Speaker 1: Oh my god, have you seen Nisi in Origin?

913
00:47:02,480 --> 00:47:03,560
Speaker 2: Oh so good.

914
00:47:03,880 --> 00:47:08,160
Speaker 1: I'm still not over it. It's been weeks. I keep going

915
00:47:08,200 --> 00:47:11,640
Speaker 1: back to it. She is just I'm obsessed with Nisi.

916
00:47:11,719 --> 00:47:12,920
Speaker 1: She's everything.

917
00:47:13,360 --> 00:47:14,000
Speaker 2: She really is.

918
00:47:14,320 --> 00:47:16,879
Speaker 1: Did did the idea from the podcast, and I mean,

919
00:47:16,960 --> 00:47:18,920
Speaker 1: because you know, I'm also a foodie, so I just

920
00:47:18,960 --> 00:47:21,680
Speaker 1: really need to know. Did it really just come from

921
00:47:22,040 --> 00:47:24,080
Speaker 1: you thinking like, how can I do a job where

922
00:47:24,080 --> 00:47:25,719
Speaker 1: I get to eat at all my favorite restaurants?

923
00:47:26,200 --> 00:47:27,319
Speaker 2: That was definitely part of it.

924
00:47:27,440 --> 00:47:32,160
Speaker 1: Yeah, Like when you launched it, I had three different

925
00:47:32,160 --> 00:47:34,280
Speaker 1: friends text me and go the fact that you didn't

926
00:47:34,280 --> 00:47:36,160
Speaker 1: do this is so weird, And I was like, honestly,

927
00:47:36,200 --> 00:47:38,400
Speaker 1: I'm flabbergasted. I have no idea how I missed.

928
00:47:38,200 --> 00:47:42,360
Speaker 2: The mark, right right, Yeah, what you were saying is,

929
00:47:42,400 --> 00:47:45,080
Speaker 2: you know, it's definitely complicated too to record live in

930
00:47:45,080 --> 00:47:48,360
Speaker 2: a restaurant. But it's so funny because when you you

931
00:47:48,400 --> 00:47:50,840
Speaker 2: were speaking earlier about my One man show, fully committed

932
00:47:51,200 --> 00:47:54,680
Speaker 2: and my producers, Uh, they said, well, we're going to

933
00:47:54,760 --> 00:47:55,880
Speaker 2: do some research. We're going to go out to a

934
00:47:55,920 --> 00:47:57,759
Speaker 2: few of these like Michelin Star restaurants. We can like

935
00:47:57,840 --> 00:48:00,400
Speaker 2: kind of see the infrastructure and like got to go

936
00:48:00,480 --> 00:48:02,880
Speaker 2: back afterwards and like see the reservation room. But like

937
00:48:03,040 --> 00:48:05,359
Speaker 2: we ate at these restaurants. And it was the best

938
00:48:05,400 --> 00:48:06,960
Speaker 2: research I've ever done. I think they took me to

939
00:48:07,040 --> 00:48:09,400
Speaker 2: like four or five different Michelin Star restaurants and then

940
00:48:09,400 --> 00:48:12,600
Speaker 2: the producers like, okay, that's enough, We've done. Like, you know,

941
00:48:12,640 --> 00:48:15,640
Speaker 2: because it's expensive yeah, and I was like, this is great.

942
00:48:15,640 --> 00:48:16,759
Speaker 2: I was like, we just we could fit in a

943
00:48:16,800 --> 00:48:19,440
Speaker 2: few more of these before you know, the show goes up.

944
00:48:19,719 --> 00:48:20,880
Speaker 2: But I was like, I think I need to do

945
00:48:20,880 --> 00:48:22,240
Speaker 2: a little bit more, a bit more research.

946
00:48:22,920 --> 00:48:25,120
Speaker 1: But it's the same to do a little more homework.

947
00:48:25,280 --> 00:48:30,719
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, but yeah, it's so fun to go out.

948
00:48:31,120 --> 00:48:41,920
Speaker 1: And now a word from our sponsors. Is there anywhere

949
00:48:41,960 --> 00:48:44,200
Speaker 1: new you've discovered that you hadn't been and now you

950
00:48:44,200 --> 00:48:46,280
Speaker 1: want to go all the time? Uh?

951
00:48:46,360 --> 00:48:51,120
Speaker 2: Oh oh Yeah. There's a place in Brooklyn called Kafar,

952
00:48:51,840 --> 00:48:55,560
Speaker 2: which is a Mediterranean like they have barrecas and it's

953
00:48:55,600 --> 00:49:00,000
Speaker 2: it's really really delicious. It's in I guess I would

954
00:49:00,160 --> 00:49:03,640
Speaker 2: green Point, Brooklyn. I really really really love it, and

955
00:49:03,680 --> 00:49:05,319
Speaker 2: I actually last time I was in New York made

956
00:49:05,320 --> 00:49:07,839
Speaker 2: a special trip out there to get some breakfast. So

957
00:49:07,880 --> 00:49:10,600
Speaker 2: that's one of my new favorite places. And then here

958
00:49:10,600 --> 00:49:12,839
Speaker 2: in La I just recently took a Danielle to super About,

959
00:49:12,840 --> 00:49:14,920
Speaker 2: which I love. I've ever been to before.

960
00:49:15,000 --> 00:49:17,239
Speaker 1: So yeah, and it's nice that we finally got one

961
00:49:17,280 --> 00:49:21,520
Speaker 1: on our side of town. Yes, I know, Oh, I

962
00:49:21,560 --> 00:49:24,000
Speaker 1: just love it. What a fun project.

963
00:49:24,360 --> 00:49:26,399
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know, it's been really great, and but do you.

964
00:49:26,800 --> 00:49:29,320
Speaker 2: I mean, I still have a tad bit of anxiety

965
00:49:29,360 --> 00:49:32,839
Speaker 2: before every single one of my interviews because I guess

966
00:49:32,840 --> 00:49:34,600
Speaker 2: there's a bit of imposter syndrome, just because it's not

967
00:49:34,680 --> 00:49:39,359
Speaker 2: a world that I have ever, you know, anticipated being in.

968
00:49:39,640 --> 00:49:41,480
Speaker 2: It was a job that was sort of brought to

969
00:49:41,520 --> 00:49:43,640
Speaker 2: me and people are trusting me to do a good

970
00:49:43,719 --> 00:49:46,480
Speaker 2: job with this. Yeah, I definitely get like anxious before

971
00:49:46,520 --> 00:49:50,040
Speaker 2: every single you know podcast.

972
00:49:50,600 --> 00:49:53,520
Speaker 1: Oh, I totally do too, still and I'm years in.

973
00:49:54,160 --> 00:49:57,840
Speaker 1: I get anxious before every podcast, every speaking engagement, like

974
00:49:59,440 --> 00:50:01,480
Speaker 1: you know, because I look around and I just go like, well,

975
00:50:01,680 --> 00:50:03,200
Speaker 1: but what am I doing here?

976
00:50:03,440 --> 00:50:04,200
Speaker 2: Right? Right?

977
00:50:04,280 --> 00:50:06,240
Speaker 1: Like me, I'm going to be the one who asks

978
00:50:06,280 --> 00:50:10,880
Speaker 1: the questions, right, you know. And I get especially nervous,

979
00:50:11,280 --> 00:50:13,680
Speaker 1: I think because I have such a reverence for comedy,

980
00:50:13,680 --> 00:50:16,880
Speaker 1: and my favorite, like my favorite things that I've done

981
00:50:17,680 --> 00:50:21,560
Speaker 1: work wise have been the sort of more comedic things.

982
00:50:21,600 --> 00:50:24,000
Speaker 1: I just I so enjoy the energy on a set

983
00:50:24,000 --> 00:50:27,120
Speaker 1: when it's funny rather than you know, sobbing or everyone's dying.

984
00:50:27,840 --> 00:50:32,120
Speaker 1: And I always get a little nervous when I'm going

985
00:50:32,160 --> 00:50:34,080
Speaker 1: to interview a comedian that I love because I'm like,

986
00:50:34,160 --> 00:50:35,839
Speaker 1: are they going to think I'm funny. Am I going

987
00:50:35,880 --> 00:50:37,279
Speaker 1: to be funny today? Or am I going to be weird?

988
00:50:37,320 --> 00:50:39,160
Speaker 1: What if I'm weird? What if I get nervous and

989
00:50:39,160 --> 00:50:41,319
Speaker 1: then I'm tight and I don't make any jokes like

990
00:50:41,640 --> 00:50:43,480
Speaker 1: I spin in that way too?

991
00:50:43,760 --> 00:50:46,000
Speaker 2: Get it? I get it for sure.

992
00:50:46,360 --> 00:50:48,560
Speaker 1: But you know, look at us rolling along.

993
00:50:49,000 --> 00:50:52,840
Speaker 2: We're rolling along. I definitely feel like if I'm scared

994
00:50:52,840 --> 00:50:55,360
Speaker 2: of something, it's a good thing that I'm doing it.

995
00:50:55,600 --> 00:50:55,800
Speaker 1: I do.

996
00:50:56,719 --> 00:50:59,799
Speaker 2: I find the stuff that I'm not super intimidated by

997
00:51:00,080 --> 00:51:03,480
Speaker 2: is stuff that doesn't actually ultimately being doesn't ultimately end

998
00:51:03,560 --> 00:51:08,200
Speaker 2: up being very gratifying. Yeah, so you know, yeah, I

999
00:51:08,200 --> 00:51:11,400
Speaker 2: guess the fear, that feeling of needing to poop and

1000
00:51:11,400 --> 00:51:14,479
Speaker 2: make diarrhea and throw up is a good It's good.

1001
00:51:14,640 --> 00:51:15,719
Speaker 2: It's good that you're feeling that.

1002
00:51:16,120 --> 00:51:18,640
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's phenomenal that you need to take up pepto.

1003
00:51:19,120 --> 00:51:19,560
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.

1004
00:51:21,000 --> 00:51:25,280
Speaker 1: Well with all of this, you know, this, this big,

1005
00:51:25,360 --> 00:51:28,920
Speaker 1: beautiful sphere of the things that you've built in work

1006
00:51:29,000 --> 00:51:32,760
Speaker 1: and in home and with your family. When you look

1007
00:51:33,560 --> 00:51:37,319
Speaker 1: towards this year, what what feels like you're work in

1008
00:51:37,400 --> 00:51:38,600
Speaker 1: progress right now?

1009
00:51:41,239 --> 00:51:43,399
Speaker 2: I mean I kind of feel like I myself am

1010
00:51:43,680 --> 00:51:49,040
Speaker 2: the work in progress for me. I mean, I you know,

1011
00:51:49,160 --> 00:51:51,760
Speaker 2: for eleven years I had this like really steady thing happening,

1012
00:51:51,840 --> 00:51:54,040
Speaker 2: and then there was a pandemic, and then I had kids,

1013
00:51:54,080 --> 00:51:55,440
Speaker 2: and I feel like there was not a lot of

1014
00:51:55,480 --> 00:51:59,000
Speaker 2: like transitional time for me, but in that that that

1015
00:51:59,400 --> 00:52:01,839
Speaker 2: from one thing to the other, and so I feel

1016
00:52:01,880 --> 00:52:04,160
Speaker 2: like I've lost a little bit of like what I

1017
00:52:04,239 --> 00:52:08,000
Speaker 2: need right now. And Justin and I are both really

1018
00:52:08,000 --> 00:52:10,920
Speaker 2: good about going to therapy for ourselves. We do talk therapy.

1019
00:52:11,160 --> 00:52:13,680
Speaker 2: We don't need together, but you know, are very open

1020
00:52:13,719 --> 00:52:19,120
Speaker 2: to that. And I'm just really trying to like I

1021
00:52:19,640 --> 00:52:22,080
Speaker 2: cut back on drinking a lot I did. I'm trying

1022
00:52:22,080 --> 00:52:23,960
Speaker 2: to eat healthier, I've lost a little bit of weight,

1023
00:52:25,560 --> 00:52:27,520
Speaker 2: trying not to stress out so much about work. I

1024
00:52:27,520 --> 00:52:29,200
Speaker 2: mean all these you know, we also have had a

1025
00:52:29,200 --> 00:52:32,080
Speaker 2: really bumpy a few years between the pandemic and then

1026
00:52:32,120 --> 00:52:36,000
Speaker 2: writer strikes and then actors strikes, and I just realized,

1027
00:52:36,000 --> 00:52:38,239
Speaker 2: like I have so little control over some of these things.

1028
00:52:38,280 --> 00:52:40,880
Speaker 2: I could certainly fight for better contracts, but like, at

1029
00:52:40,920 --> 00:52:43,200
Speaker 2: the end of the day, like I have to let

1030
00:52:43,360 --> 00:52:45,279
Speaker 2: people do the jobs that are going to do the jobs.

1031
00:52:45,480 --> 00:52:49,000
Speaker 2: I can't worry about it. So I have really tried

1032
00:52:49,280 --> 00:52:52,960
Speaker 2: hard to sort of rewire my thinking and you know,

1033
00:52:53,160 --> 00:52:55,520
Speaker 2: find ways to reduce my anxiety. And that's been my

1034
00:52:55,640 --> 00:52:57,719
Speaker 2: big and I'm really proud of the work that I've

1035
00:52:57,719 --> 00:53:00,439
Speaker 2: done on myself, and that's been one of the main

1036
00:53:00,480 --> 00:53:05,120
Speaker 2: things for me, is just trying to flow through life

1037
00:53:05,120 --> 00:53:09,919
Speaker 2: with a little less anxiety and nerve. I love that.

1038
00:53:10,280 --> 00:53:16,880
Speaker 1: I think that's so important, and it's a thing you're

1039
00:53:16,920 --> 00:53:19,560
Speaker 1: really just like making all the bells ding for me,

1040
00:53:19,719 --> 00:53:23,759
Speaker 1: because it has been such a destabilizing time, you know,

1041
00:53:23,840 --> 00:53:26,360
Speaker 1: for so many people. And I think one of the

1042
00:53:26,360 --> 00:53:30,239
Speaker 1: things that I'm really working on remembering, particularly over the

1043
00:53:30,280 --> 00:53:35,160
Speaker 1: course of the last year, is I believe at my

1044
00:53:35,320 --> 00:53:37,600
Speaker 1: core and I try to remind myself every day that

1045
00:53:37,640 --> 00:53:40,239
Speaker 1: things are not happening to me, they're happening for me.

1046
00:53:41,920 --> 00:53:44,160
Speaker 1: And when I look at my life in that way,

1047
00:53:45,280 --> 00:53:50,600
Speaker 1: I see what I get from every experience, and you know,

1048
00:53:51,000 --> 00:53:53,600
Speaker 1: to your point, like maybe there's a job that doesn't

1049
00:53:53,640 --> 00:53:56,399
Speaker 1: go because it felt a little easy and I want

1050
00:53:56,400 --> 00:53:59,239
Speaker 1: to be more challenged, or you know, maybe there's a

1051
00:53:59,239 --> 00:54:03,160
Speaker 1: big aha mo in life that I really didn't see coming,

1052
00:54:03,719 --> 00:54:08,720
Speaker 1: but it it changes everything for the better. And yeah,

1053
00:54:08,760 --> 00:54:11,080
Speaker 1: it feels like a little bit of a rewiring, but

1054
00:54:11,080 --> 00:54:14,880
Speaker 1: it's definitely helping with you know, my anxiety and certainly

1055
00:54:14,960 --> 00:54:17,640
Speaker 1: with the pressure I put.

1056
00:54:17,480 --> 00:54:21,319
Speaker 2: On myself right right. And it's hard to like say,

1057
00:54:21,400 --> 00:54:24,759
Speaker 2: you know, don't. I mean, I've been told so many

1058
00:54:24,760 --> 00:54:27,279
Speaker 2: times to just like relax and not stress out and like.

1059
00:54:27,239 --> 00:54:28,919
Speaker 1: You know, which only makes you struggle out.

1060
00:54:28,840 --> 00:54:33,040
Speaker 2: More exactly exactly. But there are times when I tell

1061
00:54:33,040 --> 00:54:35,200
Speaker 2: myself that too. I'm like, just relax, it's okay, you

1062
00:54:35,200 --> 00:54:39,200
Speaker 2: gotta breathe. And I just am learning to listen to

1063
00:54:39,239 --> 00:54:40,480
Speaker 2: myself a little bit more.

1064
00:54:41,600 --> 00:54:43,440
Speaker 1: It feels like a good work in progress.

1065
00:54:43,480 --> 00:54:45,279
Speaker 2: My friend, yeah, pilates too.

1066
00:54:45,800 --> 00:54:49,480
Speaker 1: Ooh, a little fitness moment for twenty twenty more.

1067
00:54:49,760 --> 00:54:51,120
Speaker 2: Sure, Yeah, we love it.

1068
00:54:51,600 --> 00:54:54,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh, well, thank you so much. I just love

1069
00:54:54,280 --> 00:54:57,120
Speaker 1: talking to you. It's like in the way that you

1070
00:54:57,160 --> 00:54:59,360
Speaker 1: were talking about you and tybing, like I can't believe

1071
00:54:59,360 --> 00:55:01,440
Speaker 1: this is our job. I feel that every week. I'm like,

1072
00:55:01,480 --> 00:55:04,400
Speaker 1: I literally can't believe I turned asking people I adore

1073
00:55:04,480 --> 00:55:06,080
Speaker 1: questions into a job. I love this.

1074
00:55:06,200 --> 00:55:10,239
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know, I know, we're very lucky. I'm so

1075
00:55:10,320 --> 00:55:11,359
Speaker 2: glad you asked me to do this.

1076
00:55:11,719 --> 00:55:13,160
Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you so much for coming.

1077
00:55:13,880 --> 00:55:14,280
Speaker 2: Yes.

1078
00:55:15,000 --> 00:55:28,560
Speaker 1: Oh