Speaker 1: You and I have worked together Boom nailed It, What
Speaker 1: You're Gonna Laugh?
Speaker 2: And Celebrity Jeopardy.
Speaker 3: Rumble I was in Rumble Stop It?
Speaker 2: Who did you play in Rumble?
Speaker 3: Clonk? I was a wrestler. Wow, Yep, yep, we worked together.
Speaker 2: This is why I don't like when, you know, with
Speaker 2: the voice acting, they put you in a room by yourself.
Speaker 3: You don't put you in a room by yourself.
Speaker 1: I think, especially when it's the middle of a global
Speaker 1: pandemic and they put you in a room by yourself.
Speaker 1: You literally don't know, don't know anyone. I really don't
Speaker 1: have anything else to say about that except that we
Speaker 1: did work together. So I'm just I'm just closing the
Speaker 1: loop on that. I'm just closing I'm just closing the
Speaker 1: loop on that.
Speaker 2: It's so good to know.
Speaker 1: Hi.
Speaker 2: Hey, I'm Susan Kiletchi Watson and I am happy.
Speaker 1: Welcome dear listeners. You know last week I asked you
Speaker 1: to come back, and so I'm very glad that you did.
Speaker 1: Thank you. This is Off the Beat and I am
Speaker 1: your host, Brian Baumgartner. Today this is us, and by us,
Speaker 1: of course, I mean me and Susan Colecchi Watson. That's right,
Speaker 1: I have the Beth Pearson from one of the most
Speaker 1: watch shows in recent memory on television or streaming. This
Speaker 1: is Us. But she is so much more than just
Speaker 1: an excellent actor on a highly acclaimed and beloved show.
Speaker 1: She is also an Oxford trained thespian, a producer who
Speaker 1: can call names like Angela Davis and Oprah, and an
Speaker 1: absolutely radiant person that I was so happy to get
Speaker 1: to know today. So let's talk about her childhood in Brooklyn,
Speaker 1: her impeccable resume, and her new life in the White House.
Speaker 1: That's right on the upcoming Shonda Rhime's murder mystery series
Speaker 1: The Residents. Listen up, everybody. I think you're gonna have
Speaker 1: a lot to learn from my well, my new best friend,
Speaker 1: the brilliant Susan Colecchi Watson.
Speaker 4: Burblon Squeak, I love it, Burblon Squeak, Burble and Squeaker
Speaker 4: Cook get every more lift over.
Speaker 5: From the night before. Hi, Susan, Hi, how's it going?
Speaker 2: Pretty good? How's it going?
Speaker 1: Uh know what, I have no complaints and if I
Speaker 1: did not, many people would care anyway, So I'm just good.
Speaker 1: Keep it to myself. Where where am I talking to
Speaker 1: you from today?
Speaker 2: I am coming to live from the borough of Brooklyn.
Speaker 1: Coming to you live. Well, that was a question for
Speaker 1: me if you ever made the move over to Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: So are you so you're still in uh mainly in
Speaker 1: New York.
Speaker 2: I'm mainly well, you know, I cannot say mainly. I
Speaker 2: could say that I have a home base in New York, Okay,
Speaker 2: but I would say I am not here all the time.
Speaker 2: I just need I need to have someplace I call home.
Speaker 1: So this this is it, you know, you know, you
Speaker 1: know what we call that, Susan, we call that.
Speaker 2: I know, I keep your b words to yourself. I'm
Speaker 2: trying to like not do you know what I'm saying, Like,
Speaker 2: I don't know, I don't know, but I think recently,
Speaker 2: like I just got back from LA two days ago,
Speaker 2: Brian no litter, and like I think for the first time,
Speaker 2: like I shot a whole series for like six years,
Speaker 2: and this is the first time I said to myself,
Speaker 2: I might be by coastal.
Speaker 1: Is uh we're going to talk about uh, your your
Speaker 1: news series. I'm very excited about that. But are you
Speaker 1: uh so you're done with that now?
Speaker 2: I literally Yeah. Yeah, yeah, we just wrapped it after
Speaker 2: probably a year, a year and two months. Oh god,
Speaker 2: it was. Yeah, it's about that long for eight episodes,
Speaker 2: I mean mostly due to two strikes mostly why it
Speaker 2: took that long.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I read something about I heard.
Speaker 2: That that that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I heard.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's kind of major.
Speaker 1: It was.
Speaker 3: It was in the news. Uh, for sure. I'm so
Speaker 3: excited to talk to you.
Speaker 1: I'm even more excited after after doing a little research
Speaker 1: on you. I've been a fan of yours for quite
Speaker 1: a while really not yes now, and just after reading
Speaker 1: about you, I think I'm an even bigger fan. You
Speaker 1: grew up You grew up there in the borough of Brooklyn.
Speaker 2: I did. I grew up here and Long Island. So
Speaker 2: it was like first eight years I was born in Brooklyn,
Speaker 2: of course, and then raised half of my childhood in
Speaker 2: Long Island. Then the second half, sorry half of my
Speaker 2: childhood in Brooklyn. Then second half was in Long Island,
Speaker 2: and then after college I moved back to Brooklyn. So
Speaker 2: I've been in Brooklyn for the majority of my life.
Speaker 3: That's home.
Speaker 2: That's it. Yeah, it's been home. I'm you know, people
Speaker 2: somewhat of a New Yorker, but as I travel more,
Speaker 2: I think that that's shifting a bit. I think, I
Speaker 2: just I'm always going to be that in my heart,
Speaker 2: and I'm always a Brooklyn girl in my heart no
Speaker 2: matter where I roam. I just I think that I'll
Speaker 2: tell you a funny story. I remember we were leaving.
Speaker 2: I grew up in Section in East New York and
Speaker 2: in Start City, right and I remember when we were leaving,
Speaker 2: and I like eight years old. I was the last
Speaker 2: person to walk out of the apartment door and I
Speaker 2: was helping my mother sweep okay, yeah, And she walked
Speaker 2: out and I walked out behind her, and as dramatic
Speaker 2: as I was at eight, I turned around and I said,
Speaker 2: I'll be back, and I want so. I just think,
Speaker 2: in my heart, it's just who I be.
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, I you know you you gave me
Speaker 1: some news about the strike. I hadn't heard about that.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you've heard this or not. Brooklyn's
Speaker 1: changed quite a bit. I don't know, I don't know
Speaker 1: if you've noticed. But Brooklyn, I mean when I started going,
Speaker 1: and I am not a New Yorker, but I was
Speaker 1: there quite a lot that was never a place, that
Speaker 1: was never a visitor's destination.
Speaker 3: Now it's like you have to go there.
Speaker 1: That's where, That's where's where everything everything is now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so true. It's like I knew when I saw
Speaker 2: like I was living kind of deep and ben Stye
Speaker 2: and Stuyvesant Heights and Bedstye a beautiful area. And I
Speaker 2: knew when I started seeing like whole families from like
Speaker 2: Europe like wheeling bags behind them and like looking on
Speaker 2: their phone for like an address, I was like, wait, wait,
Speaker 2: what's that mean? I was like, this is too far
Speaker 2: to just have missed the stop, you know, off the
Speaker 2: A train, you know what I'm saying. So it really
Speaker 2: did start to to it had shifted. I mean, there
Speaker 2: are some times that I even don't recognize certain areas,
Speaker 2: which is you know, for me, if I'm being honest,
Speaker 2: it's there's a lot of heartbreak that comes along with that,
Speaker 2: and also a lot of things that make me think, well, gosh,
Speaker 2: why couldn't it have been like this, you know, why
Speaker 2: couldn't there have been attention paid to you know, the
Speaker 2: streets and keeping up buildings and you know, making sure,
Speaker 2: you know, keeping crime low and just all these things
Speaker 2: that I feel like could have had that same attention
Speaker 2: had the money been invested before that, and so those
Speaker 2: type of things, those are the things that I think about,
Speaker 2: especially as a black woman growing up here and have
Speaker 2: been here all my life and child of immigrants, you know,
Speaker 2: and so much of that population comes to Brooklyn to
Speaker 2: build lives for themselves, and so many of them are entrepreneurial.
Speaker 2: Like if you come into Flatbush and you know, there
Speaker 2: are areas in East New York, you just see such
Speaker 2: a thriving Caribbean community. These are people who come and
Speaker 2: they build and make away from themselves, like my parents did.
Speaker 2: My parents came and they had four kids together, and
Speaker 2: they worked a job and went to school, and they
Speaker 2: made sure they got like their masters so that they
Speaker 2: could go and you know, do the things that they
Speaker 2: wanted to do. And my dad became an engineer, and
Speaker 2: my mom is like a psychiatric nurse, you know. So
Speaker 2: they do all these things to like better than leaves
Speaker 2: and better their kids, and they want their kids to
Speaker 2: go to college and all this kind of stuff. So
Speaker 2: there's so many hard working, really great, great people in
Speaker 2: this borough that I feel like tried and deserved better
Speaker 2: than what it came. The eighties and nineties but like
Speaker 2: you know what I'm saying, You know, that's that's like
Speaker 2: gentrification for me. I see both sides of it. But
Speaker 2: I also, you know, love New York. I love my city,
Speaker 2: and I know that there are a lot of things
Speaker 2: that we can enjoy now that benefit everybody, right, you know,
Speaker 2: And that's impossible not to see as well.
Speaker 1: So given that your parents were immigrants, moved there were
Speaker 1: there are things that you feel like you were exposed to,
Speaker 1: either culturally or in terms of your extended family. I
Speaker 1: always say extended family slash friend group that gave you
Speaker 1: something there in Brooklyn that you feel like was unique.
Speaker 2: Oh wow, there isn't. I don't know if it's just
Speaker 2: a sort of an organic energy that is here, but
Speaker 2: there is this unique sense of cool in Brooklyn, do
Speaker 2: you know what I mean? That's specifically a Brooklyn thing,
Speaker 2: you know, And maybe that's the thing that I've always
Speaker 2: It's something that when you experienced it, it's like you
Speaker 2: kind of always want it or long for it or
Speaker 2: whatever it is. But it's the sense of being comfortable,
Speaker 2: comfortable in your authenticity that is kind of lovely about Brooklyn.
Speaker 2: Like I just find that these people are my people
Speaker 2: are so in their skin, you know, in a really
Speaker 2: cool way and sort of unafraid of the uniqueness of
Speaker 2: whatever that is, but also kind of very much identified
Speaker 2: with the ones around them that have you know, been
Speaker 2: a part of this culture well.
Speaker 3: But grounded and secure.
Speaker 2: It feels very grounded. Yeah, it feels very ground Everybody
Speaker 2: has their stuff, you know, if we dug in, we
Speaker 2: find some things, you know what I'm saying. But like,
Speaker 2: but just overall I think that that's it's very I
Speaker 2: think unique to this borough. I each borough has its
Speaker 2: own thing. Long Island has its own thing that is
Speaker 2: very unique and special about the vibe there as well.
Speaker 2: But I found that it's quite identifiable even outside of
Speaker 2: the borough, Like people can kind of sense if you're
Speaker 2: from there, you know.
Speaker 1: That's yeah, no, absolutely. What were you interested in as
Speaker 1: a kid? Were you interested in the arts or performing?
Speaker 2: I was from the time I think I was three,
Speaker 2: I was interested in performing. I remember my mom took
Speaker 2: me to a modeling agency. You know, Moms was trying
Speaker 2: to help me. She was trying you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: She's you know, just Jamaican woman coming hair and making
Speaker 2: her way. My mom is a very strong, you know,
Speaker 2: independent woman, who was fierce in terms of like forging
Speaker 2: a life for herself and very successful at it. And
Speaker 2: so what she saw, you know, her little girl wanted
Speaker 2: to be a part of something. And she took me
Speaker 2: to a modeling agency and I took I remember actually
Speaker 2: taking these pictures. Yeah, these little sad, lonely girl picture.
Speaker 2: I don't know why they maybe looks so sad in
Speaker 2: the day, gonna picture brow but I'm like, my head
Speaker 2: is like leaning on the back of a chair with
Speaker 2: my two hands under knee that just longingly looking up
Speaker 2: into a light. And I remember we came out and
Speaker 2: the guy said to my mom her stomach sticks out
Speaker 2: in her butts to be and I remember it, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: curiously seriously, and my mother the okay, was like, and
Speaker 2: we're done here. Nobody's gonna talk to my kid like that.
Speaker 2: And but it's sort of like never it never died
Speaker 2: in me. But I appreciated the fact maybe that didn't
Speaker 2: start so young, because the way I am in the
Speaker 2: business at this stage in my life is different because
Speaker 2: I entered into it, you know, as an adult young adult.
Speaker 2: But I entered into it as an adult.
Speaker 1: Right were you did you were you seeing? I mean
Speaker 1: obviously New York again spoiler alert. New York has a
Speaker 1: lot of theater and it's a thriving ARTSYE were you
Speaker 1: going and seeing shows at a fairly young age. Was
Speaker 1: that something you were interested in doing?
Speaker 2: No, But I remember my parents like if somebody came
Speaker 2: up to visit, if somebody came up from Jamaica to visit,
Speaker 2: or something like that. I remember them getting all just
Speaker 2: stuff and going to Broadway, right, you know, and it
Speaker 2: was a big deal. They had gotten these tickets and
Speaker 2: I mean, honey, the first came out. I mean, it
Speaker 2: was like a thing to go to Broadway. So I
Speaker 2: had this imagination of Manhattan and what it would be
Speaker 2: like to go to school in Manhattan and you know,
Speaker 2: go be on stage. I mean I just had this
Speaker 2: imagine the nation about it. But I did not go
Speaker 2: until and it was my mom who took me and
Speaker 2: my younger brother to see Five Guys named Mo. I
Speaker 2: think it was that it was on Broadway, and I
Speaker 2: remember there it was like a review type of show,
Speaker 2: and I remember watching it and there was a moment
Speaker 2: where they say they invited the audience of one stay.
Speaker 2: Anybody who wanted to be up on stage could come
Speaker 2: up for this for this for the song, and I
Speaker 2: think it was called pus Okay, all right, it's fine,
Speaker 2: it's foe. And I remember I was like ooh me
Speaker 2: and I jumped up and I was one of the
Speaker 2: people who got to like dance across the stage. And
Speaker 2: that was sort of me. Like any opportunity I got,
Speaker 2: I took it. If the opportunity was there, or I
Speaker 2: was at home kind of creating dances and singing and
Speaker 2: waiting for an opportunity to like do it at a
Speaker 2: talent show, and you know, I went a little money
Speaker 2: here and there, you know what I mean, and that
Speaker 2: type of thing. And I grew up dancing, so there
Speaker 2: was performance with dancing and competitions with dancing, so there
Speaker 2: was there was that I kept it as a part
Speaker 2: of my of my life, and I think there was
Speaker 2: like the tiny little secret within myself that that's what
Speaker 2: I wanted to do. But I think to sound realistic
Speaker 2: in any way, I came up with like, oh, I
Speaker 2: want to be you know, when I was young, I
Speaker 2: wanted to be a waitress, and when I was older,
Speaker 2: I wanted to be a lawyer or maybe a writer.
Speaker 2: You know, it's these things, but deep down underneath, I
Speaker 2: was like, I really want to do this. I just don't.
Speaker 2: I don't know if that's the thing to say, or
Speaker 2: or maybe I didn't fully know how to do that,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I think in a way and I
Speaker 1: don't want to put words in your mouth.
Speaker 3: I mean that I was the same like I will.
Speaker 1: I've defined it now for myself, like that was an
Speaker 1: activity that I did, you know, like theater and in
Speaker 1: school and stuff like that. But I never, like my
Speaker 1: brain never went to, oh, that's what I want to
Speaker 1: do when I grow up. I think, right, yeah, and
Speaker 1: a lawyer.
Speaker 3: That's a funny thing.
Speaker 1: And I think, you know, my parents will say now like,
Speaker 1: well that was because that was another way to perform.
Speaker 1: And I don't know if they're thinking about lawyer like
Speaker 1: like on TV.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: My sister's a lawyer. I don't know how much performing
Speaker 1: she actually does. It seems like she pushes a lot
Speaker 1: of paper. But for me, it was more of an activity. Now,
Speaker 1: you you went to Howard, I read and got a BFA.
Speaker 3: At that point were you were you studying theater?
Speaker 2: Yeah? So that I got a Bachelor of Fine Arts
Speaker 2: and I started off writing so I started off as
Speaker 2: like an English major, okay, and I'd never been more
Speaker 2: depressed in my life. Everything I couldn't, you know. I
Speaker 2: saw so many ces. It was terrible, and so I
Speaker 2: just like go back to my dorm and just curl
Speaker 2: them in my bed. I just wasn't enjoying it. And
Speaker 2: then one day I just walked across the yard, which
Speaker 2: is like the middle of Howard. It's sort of this
Speaker 2: iconic space at Howard where all students gather, and at
Speaker 2: the top of the yard at one end is like
Speaker 2: our huge library, I believe it's moreland spring guard at
Speaker 2: the top of the yard, and then at the other
Speaker 2: end it's the College of Fine Arts, which is now
Speaker 2: the CHAT was in the College of Fine Arts, and
Speaker 2: I remember I was in. I was I was sort
Speaker 2: of on the right side of the yard, and I
Speaker 2: was in this building. I don't even know what it's called,
Speaker 2: because that's how much I committed that to memory. And
Speaker 2: I walked out of the class one day and I
Speaker 2: just literally walked diagonally across the yard to the College
Speaker 2: of Fine Arts. And I just walked in and I
Speaker 2: was like, can I just do this? And they were like, yeah,
Speaker 2: you want to change you major. Yeah, you know what
Speaker 2: I'm saying. And I remember Miss Janet, Miss Janet, who
Speaker 2: might still be there. I love you, Miss Janet. She
Speaker 2: was just like, yeah, yeah, you can do that. And
Speaker 2: I think I may have said in my classes whatever,
Speaker 2: but I changed my major and I did not tell
Speaker 2: my parents. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. The padres were not
Speaker 2: necessarily feeling me being an acting major, so I didn't
Speaker 2: tell them. I just did it. And then I don't know,
Speaker 2: it was a while before I told them, but I
Speaker 2: invited them to come see a show that I was
Speaker 2: in and they came down and they saw it and
Speaker 2: they were like, okay, you know, and I told them
Speaker 2: that I had switched my major and they're like, okay,
Speaker 2: as long as you have English as your minor, so
Speaker 2: you have a backup. And I said, yes, great, I'll
Speaker 2: be fine. And then I started taking so many dance
Speaker 2: classes that I had an acting major and a dance miner.
Speaker 2: So good luck parents. The Immigrant dream.
Speaker 3: It's so funny. I can't even believe this is coming up.
Speaker 1: This was not This is gonna sound like a weird
Speaker 1: humble brag, but I will tell you this, Okay that
Speaker 1: because you're talking about writing. And I right now, at
Speaker 1: this moment, it'll be by the time this airs, it'll
Speaker 1: be over, so I won't get in trouble with anybody.
Speaker 1: I am delivering the commencement address at my college.
Speaker 3: Wow, in just a couple of days.
Speaker 2: I'm very proud of you, and let.
Speaker 3: Me well, no, but let me say this.
Speaker 1: It's it doesn't that doesn't involve performing that that involves writing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and so it's me now like I feel like I'm
Speaker 1: back in college. I'm back in college with a deadline
Speaker 1: to finish this paper that I then am going to
Speaker 1: read in front of my class.
Speaker 5: Oh my gosh, I.
Speaker 3: Don't remember being more.
Speaker 1: And I've written books by in the way Susan, I've
Speaker 1: written books. But there's something about this that has transported
Speaker 1: me back to those days.
Speaker 3: And I took some.
Speaker 1: English courses as well. But yeah, trans has transported me back.
Speaker 1: And I'm not I'm not feeling overly comforted. I'm wishing
Speaker 1: that I could change my major or what you like
Speaker 1: an interpretive dance of somebody else's words right now?
Speaker 2: What what college are you doing this at?
Speaker 3: S m U Southern Methodist University there in Dallas, Texas.
Speaker 2: Okay, fantastic. Listen, here you go. All you need I
Speaker 2: think is like once you find I don't know if
Speaker 2: you've written this yet.
Speaker 3: Yeah right, I'm in it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, I feel like once you find your theme
Speaker 2: or like your little thesis.
Speaker 3: Whatever, there you go.
Speaker 1: That's college. That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: That's what I'm talking about. That's yeah.
Speaker 2: Okay. Something they didn't have we're in college was chat dpts.
Speaker 3: Oh, I can't use that.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't want you to, but yeah, it is. That
Speaker 2: isn't it. It's crazy and they're all you know, all
Speaker 2: the teachers, they're going to be just in you.
Speaker 3: Oh of course are you kidding me? Especially me? Like
Speaker 3: there is there is? Why is this guy here? And
Speaker 3: what is you talking about?
Speaker 1: So you obviously dove in once you changed your majors.
Speaker 1: So at what point there did you say like this
Speaker 1: is what I'm going to do, this is this.
Speaker 3: Is my path.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I got you, and I.
Speaker 1: Know eventually you went back, you went got your master's
Speaker 1: at Tish, So by then I know he had decided.
Speaker 2: Decided for well, I never I never even wanted to
Speaker 2: do that. I thought I was done with school until
Speaker 2: I found out that I just it was Ron van
Speaker 2: Lou who kind of showed me I could be a
Speaker 2: way better actor than I actually thought I was. But
Speaker 2: I I decided that. I think that was when I
Speaker 2: just everything in me at that point turned on and
Speaker 2: you just know, we know that feeling of when you
Speaker 2: just know there's no other way around that. You know,
Speaker 2: you just know, like everything that was dead a minute
Speaker 2: ago came to life and you're like, and this is it.
Speaker 2: And so that's what happened to me. And it was
Speaker 2: probably in that way. I mean, I it's like the
Speaker 2: way of the world lifted off me and I felt like, oh,
Speaker 2: this is my tribe. I'm home. I found my people
Speaker 2: who are like me, and it just made me come
Speaker 2: alive in a way. I started, really I actually started
Speaker 2: enjoying my time at school.
Speaker 3: Then that's awesome.
Speaker 1: Uh you go to Tish, Are you thinking about film
Speaker 1: and television at Such.
Speaker 2: A good question, Such a good question. I think we
Speaker 2: focused so much on theater. Yeah, me too, that it
Speaker 2: was like, okay, I I think my focus honestly was
Speaker 2: becoming the best actor I could be. Like it was
Speaker 2: such a time to like focus fully on art, on
Speaker 2: the art right, and so I just thought, oh, man,
Speaker 2: I want to be like the dopest, like leading character
Speaker 2: actress I can be, you know. And I wanted to
Speaker 2: be the type of actor who was quite transformative. So
Speaker 2: if I I could do one thing and then do
Speaker 2: something completely different and be seen completely differently, and that
Speaker 2: was success to me. So if that came on stage,
Speaker 2: and I thought it was going to be like, oh,
Speaker 2: you know, I'll come out and I'll do stage and film,
Speaker 2: you know. And then I came out and then I
Speaker 2: was successful in television, I said, okay, television is And
Speaker 2: then it's like I didn't do as much theater as
Speaker 2: I thought I was going to do, or I didn't
Speaker 2: do as much film, and it just the business just
Speaker 2: started to who I wasn't. It took on its own life,
Speaker 2: and so I loved that. And then TV started to
Speaker 2: change and it felt it felt more like really great
Speaker 2: short films and it felt more you know. So yeah,
Speaker 2: just this dynamic started to shift and happen. It's so
Speaker 2: funny how you just don't know, right, you just and
Speaker 2: it's hard to go, well, this is what I want
Speaker 2: to do as soon as I come out, because nobody knows,
Speaker 2: you they don't know what you can do. They you know,
Speaker 2: it's hard to prove yourself, especially at a time where
Speaker 2: I feel like they weren't seeing all the ethnicities, and
Speaker 2: they weren't seeing like, you know, women for like these
Speaker 2: major roles, or black women in certain ways. And so
Speaker 2: it was it really was staying consistent and sort of
Speaker 2: not buying into how they felt about me. They jart
Speaker 2: of the you know out there, whoever they are. It was, yeah,
Speaker 2: the them, It was like, well, I know, I'm supposed
Speaker 2: to be doing this, and I'm just going to go
Speaker 2: through the doors that open for me, knock down some
Speaker 2: that won't, and you know, just kind of keep it moving,
Speaker 2: but not let that thing take over my drive or anything. Like.
Speaker 2: I never let it. I guess in a way I
Speaker 2: could say I did not let it get under my skin.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I just kind of continue to love what I do
Speaker 2: and just keep doing it.
Speaker 1: You spoke about having early success in television. I see
Speaker 1: a number of shows. Of course, the requirement for anyone
Speaker 1: in New York is lawn.
Speaker 3: The law in order. How early on was that for you?
Speaker 2: Oh? Super? So I was just out of school. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: most of them that I did, I think I was
Speaker 2: like I think I was like a year out or
Speaker 2: something like that, but it was but you know, it
Speaker 2: was like it was really cool. It was it was
Speaker 2: so iconic. It's so New York and like for New York,
Speaker 2: it's like we don't have we didn't have anything else
Speaker 2: shooting right here. So it was really fantastic to do. Well,
Speaker 2: it's like you graduated, you know what I'm saying, and
Speaker 2: you got to do the commencement speech at your college.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I I was not a New York actor. I had
Speaker 1: the opportunity to do one the s you know, I
Speaker 1: don't know always it's always SUV, but yeah, because of
Speaker 1: your brain. But SVU, I remember this, and I've heard
Speaker 1: this is true on all of them, the most well
Speaker 1: oiled machines maybe in the industry period.
Speaker 3: Was that your experience as well?
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, they got you in and got you out
Speaker 2: and they and they knew what they wanted.
Speaker 1: They knew what they wanted, their organized together on time,
Speaker 1: no farting around. And so I wonder, because for me
Speaker 1: that experience was way later. I was brought into it,
Speaker 1: But I wonder for you one was that helpful for
Speaker 1: you in terms of your career? Your development you're sort
Speaker 1: of getting I mean, it feels like, on the one hand,
Speaker 1: like having your feet under you when everybody else very
Speaker 1: clearly knows what they're doing is helpful.
Speaker 3: Or what? Did it end up being.
Speaker 1: More problematic as you continue to move on and maybe
Speaker 1: did not have those same experiences on other shows immediately following.
Speaker 2: It takes your training wheels off. I think, you know,
Speaker 2: it's like, okay, now, you know, I'm a little wobbly,
Speaker 2: but I got it. You know, I'm on the two
Speaker 2: wheels now. And then you move on to the next
Speaker 2: thing and you have that under your belt, and as
Speaker 2: we know in this business, anything that you could get
Speaker 2: under your belt, it just gives you a little bit
Speaker 2: more wind under your wings, you know. And so it
Speaker 2: was like that, and I don't think I speak alone,
Speaker 2: and you know, so many of my friends who have
Speaker 2: gone through that you feel like, oh, I have that
Speaker 2: TV experience. Now I've been on it. You know, I've
Speaker 2: done the thing where you gather with your friends and
Speaker 2: you watch your one scene. You know what I'm saying,
Speaker 2: and like, yeah, you're like, you know, it's.
Speaker 1: Seven emails out exactly.
Speaker 2: I found some of those emails a while back I
Speaker 2: was like, oh my god, I'm so obnoxious.
Speaker 3: It's all the same.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So I'm wondering if if there's you know, you begin
Speaker 1: to go into some recurring stuff, so you know, if
Speaker 1: there's something before that. I mean, I saw a list
Speaker 1: of shows. I know this from a lot of different times,
Speaker 1: but and you know, big shows, The Good Wife, n Cis,
Speaker 1: Royal Pains, the following VEEP Blacklist. Was there a show
Speaker 1: or an experience that you had early on, either because
Speaker 1: of the people that you were working with or the
Speaker 1: show or the role that you had that you feel
Speaker 1: like really propelled you forward and either gave you confidence
Speaker 1: or changed something for you early on.
Speaker 2: Hmmm, that's so good. Let's see something that gave me confidence. Well,
Speaker 2: I feel like when I started to get recurrings, Well,
Speaker 2: here's what gave me confidence. No, I'll be honest with you.
Speaker 2: And I remember you were saying like, you don't mean
Speaker 2: to sound like you're humble bragging, right, And I don't either,
Speaker 2: But this gave me confidence. I would go in for
Speaker 2: roles that I was absolutely not right for, you know,
Speaker 2: but I went in and I was like, all right,
Speaker 2: you know, and or maybe I could have played it,
Speaker 2: but they would say, you know what, go out and
Speaker 2: read this, and I would come back in and booked
Speaker 2: the role. They told me to go out and read
Speaker 2: four and come back and it was like, Oh, it's
Speaker 2: just going to be on for maybe like once or twice,
Speaker 2: and they would become recurrence nice and those were the
Speaker 2: ones that I was really proud of, and those gave
Speaker 2: me confidence. Like even when I did Louis back in
Speaker 2: the day and that started, like, you know, he was like,
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna have my wife on this show, you
Speaker 2: know what I mean? First of all, it started where
Speaker 2: I was like, how did I get his wife? You
Speaker 2: know what I'm saying? Like, I just was like, the
Speaker 2: two children have been established. This is like a big
Speaker 2: Like I was really surprised that I would even get that.
Speaker 2: And it started again. It was like one or two
Speaker 2: episodes and it became I was on it for two
Speaker 2: seasons or there was things that I was able to
Speaker 2: create certain characters just because they felt like they saw
Speaker 2: something and they were like, you know, what can you do?
Speaker 2: Oh can you give her Jamaican accent? Great, We'll put
Speaker 2: her on. And then it was like, great, should be
Speaker 2: on for the rest of this season and So those
Speaker 2: were the moments that I got that there was confidence.
Speaker 2: Not only it's you know, it's not just because of
Speaker 2: what you think the obvious reason would be. It was
Speaker 2: mostly because it was like, oh, you can get an
Speaker 2: opportunity in so many different ways. Like it's not just like, oh,
Speaker 2: it's this particular part, this audition, this thing, it's it
Speaker 2: could be that's just your entry point, and then it
Speaker 2: becomes something completely different that actually had a lot more
Speaker 2: life than the original thing you went in for. So
Speaker 2: that's I love that. I love when this business is
Speaker 2: not so black and white and there's so many ways
Speaker 2: that you can cultivate like a really cool career.
Speaker 3: I'm glad you brought up Louis. The show was super celebrated,
Speaker 3: well received, and really I think was groundbreaking in terms
Speaker 3: of its format in the comedy space.
Speaker 1: How was that for you working on something that you
Speaker 1: have to be aware is so different than anything else
Speaker 1: was on television. Did you enjoy that aspect of it
Speaker 1: and working with him?
Speaker 2: I enjoyed that. I loved that they gave Louis basically
Speaker 2: two hundred and fifty thousand an episode to do what
Speaker 2: he wanted to do, and the creativity that was allowed
Speaker 2: to come from that, and he taught me, you know,
Speaker 2: the camera and things like that, Like any questions I had,
Speaker 2: like were answered and I was allowed to learn by
Speaker 2: watching directing and the playfulness and the I love comedy,
Speaker 2: so comedy is like one of my favorite loves in
Speaker 2: the world. And to do a comedy, to do something
Speaker 2: that felt very like off the beat and path, and
Speaker 2: to be so unexpected in it, like nobody is looking
Speaker 2: for me to play his wife and have these very
Speaker 2: white children. None of that made sense. But he hired
Speaker 2: me because he went off of his instinct and what
Speaker 2: he saw when he watched audition tapes, and so that
Speaker 2: worked in my favor at that particular time. And I
Speaker 2: felt like I dig that. I dig when people are
Speaker 2: just like, yeah, I get it. Yeah, no, she's not
Speaker 2: any of the checklist things, but like what she go
Speaker 2: out to it, Yeah, let's go there. Like I again,
Speaker 2: it's that area of like it's not black and white,
Speaker 2: and I really I dig that. And it showed to
Speaker 2: me a lot of creativity in the way that the
Speaker 2: show was being thought about and developed in a very creative.
Speaker 1: Way based on what happened in the news.
Speaker 3: I don't know that's a weird way to say it.
Speaker 1: You know, I feel like the show is not respected
Speaker 1: or has talked about now as maybe it should be
Speaker 1: in terms of how groundbreaking it truly was. Does what's
Speaker 1: happened after color for you the experience in any way
Speaker 1: or make you not able to enjoy it or tainted
Speaker 1: it in some way?
Speaker 2: No, But I also understand the importance of what needed
Speaker 2: to be expressed, do you know, And so there was
Speaker 2: this balance. You have to have this balance of knowing
Speaker 2: when to stand down and which voices need to arise
Speaker 2: at what time. You know what I'm saying, And so
Speaker 2: it's just negotiating and still having gratitude for what I
Speaker 2: got to experience at the same time having respect for
Speaker 2: what other people had to experience. So it's a balance.
Speaker 2: I know that I can say things that would would
Speaker 2: be on the opposite end. That was my experience. So
Speaker 2: at the time, when you know all was being said,
Speaker 2: I just I understood my place at that time, and
Speaker 2: I understood that there was a space, there needed to
Speaker 2: be a space for those voices to be heard. And
Speaker 2: that's I can give all.
Speaker 3: Respect to that good well said.
Speaker 1: Knowing I was going to talk to you and look,
Speaker 1: not only was I watching, I feel like everybody was watching.
Speaker 1: You began a little show called This Is Us on NBC,
Speaker 1: And as I was thinking about it today, this is
Speaker 1: what I was going to say. I feel like it was,
Speaker 1: in a lot of ways, or at least my memory,
Speaker 1: sort of the first big blockbuster hit show on NBC
Speaker 1: after US, after not after the Office, Like there was
Speaker 1: a period of time, and there was a couple of
Speaker 1: years in there, and again if I'm forgetting some show.
Speaker 2: It was like seven to ten. Yeah, it was a
Speaker 2: whole Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well you well you were you started in U in sixteen, right, sixteen? Yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: so yeah, so like there were two or three years
Speaker 1: there in between US.
Speaker 3: But that's my memory, right, And I chose not.
Speaker 2: To look at that drama maybe go ahead, sorry.
Speaker 1: Yeah no, no, no, Like like in terms of just
Speaker 1: like tent pole shows on NBC that they were building
Speaker 1: their slate around, This is Us came out of the
Speaker 1: gate like Gangbusters and was a hit sort of immediately.
Speaker 3: First off, how did you how did you get the
Speaker 3: role of Beth.
Speaker 2: I auditioned like it was a normal, normal, super duper
Speaker 2: normal audition, but I got two sides, you know, and
Speaker 2: I went in during like a weird you know, sort
Speaker 2: of like there was no more pilot season really, you know,
Speaker 2: just like all over the place, and I auditioned with
Speaker 2: a probably a casting associate, you know, and in one
Speaker 2: of the little back rooms that tells and one of
Speaker 2: the smaller rooms. Let me stop making this story extra,
Speaker 2: but it was.
Speaker 3: It was it was. It was pedestrian.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was just very so soups Cash. Yeah, nothing
Speaker 2: nothing stood out to me, you know, yeah, it was
Speaker 2: very much that.
Speaker 1: You know, sometime and sometimes it's it's who's doing a show?
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, I don't have to tell you this.
Speaker 1: It's like who's producing a show or you know what
Speaker 1: their legacy is, you know, Shondaland, or it's you know,
Speaker 1: Chuck Lori, or it's Greg Daniels or it's whatever. Did
Speaker 1: you you You're like when the show is coming here, like, oh,
Speaker 1: this is important to the network, not necessary even necessary,
Speaker 1: they're going to pick it up to series or whatever.
Speaker 1: Did you feel that early on, like that this was
Speaker 1: going to be a big show or no, this was
Speaker 1: another pilot you were doing.
Speaker 2: No, I just it was another pilot. Well here's the thing, also, Brian,
Speaker 2: I didn't read it the full pilot until they were
Speaker 2: ready to test me. Okay, so I didn't know the
Speaker 2: specialness of it till like the day before I tested,
Speaker 2: And when I read it, they were asking me if
Speaker 2: I wanted to fly out to la or stay in
Speaker 2: New York and just have them keep my producers session
Speaker 2: tape because by that point I had now auditioned for
Speaker 2: it again with like some of the executive producers who
Speaker 2: were directing the first episode, John and Glenn, and I had,
Speaker 2: you know, So they were like, do you want to
Speaker 2: just keep the tape that you did with John and
Speaker 2: Glenn or do you want to come out and do
Speaker 2: it sort of in person? And they're like, well, how
Speaker 2: do you feel about the script? And I was like,
Speaker 2: did y'all send me the script? And they were like,
Speaker 2: oh my god, I read this. So I went and
Speaker 2: read the script and then I was like, oh, this
Speaker 2: is I'm going to be on a plane. I am
Speaker 2: definitely going into the room for this, you know. So
Speaker 2: that's when I knew that it was special, But beyond that,
Speaker 2: it wasn't necessarily about the team. And I knew that
Speaker 2: Dan had done crazy stupid love, so I knew that,
Speaker 2: you know, there was a quality there that's gonna be
Speaker 2: there and and so I didn't know much else but
Speaker 2: I but I read that script and that script was insane.
Speaker 2: I was like that first episode got me like there
Speaker 2: was no doubt in my mind, like you have to
Speaker 2: be on a plane, right, So, yeah.
Speaker 1: We could have been co workers. They talked to me
Speaker 1: about that show, tell me yeah they I mean, they
Speaker 1: obviously made a way better choice with Chris Sullivan who.
Speaker 3: Played to.
Speaker 1: There were conversations that happened, and I don't remember how
Speaker 1: serious they got. I don't remember. I don't remember any
Speaker 1: of it at this point. I don't think it was
Speaker 1: a serious regular thing at that point.
Speaker 2: It wasn't. It wasn't. It actually wasn't. And I think
Speaker 2: they were kind of deciding as the show went because
Speaker 2: I feel like I remember hearing some kind of rumors,
Speaker 2: like at some point in the first season when when
Speaker 2: Chris's character has the heart attack, Untoby has a heart attack,
Speaker 2: like they weren't sure if he was going to come
Speaker 2: back from that, right, and I think there was going
Speaker 2: to be like too much with like William and then
Speaker 2: I don't know, you know what I'm saying then, or
Speaker 2: maybe it's one of those things where Chris just turned
Speaker 2: it into, you know, what it wanted to be for him,
Speaker 2: and so I but I do remember that. I do
Speaker 2: remember him saying like he wasn't a regular and I
Speaker 2: was so I had never been a regular on anything.
Speaker 2: So I was very wet behind my ears when it
Speaker 2: came to that, to that, and I was in this
Speaker 2: space of like, oh, damn, I'm gonna be on TV
Speaker 2: every week, you know what I mean? You know, So
Speaker 2: some of the stuff was, you know, it's all very new.
Speaker 2: Every every stage you get to it's all new, and
Speaker 2: you know, And so hearing that about Chris was it
Speaker 2: felt like, Oh, I thought you were already a regular,
Speaker 2: So when the transition happened, it felt kind of seamless.
Speaker 2: But I do remember us having discussions in that first
Speaker 2: year or so that he wasn't a regular yet.
Speaker 1: You guys came out of the bat and suddenly it
Speaker 1: becomes a huge, huge hit. As you just said, it's
Speaker 1: your first show that you're a serious regular on. It's
Speaker 1: become like the most important show for NBC and everybody
Speaker 1: is watching it. How does that? How does that feel
Speaker 1: for you? And did you feel the change happen very
Speaker 1: quickly or again, was it more gradual for you?
Speaker 2: I think I felt it. It did happen fast. It
Speaker 2: happened after the first episode, yeah, aired, and then it
Speaker 2: didn't slow down the show. Yeah. Just very grateful anytime
Speaker 2: I say this, but it's stayed number one for the
Speaker 2: entire time it was on, you know, and it just
Speaker 2: did not slow down. And so the great thing about
Speaker 2: it was how grounded we all were about it. I
Speaker 2: dig that. I just love when really wild stuff could
Speaker 2: be happening and everybody is just everybody's calm, you know
Speaker 2: what I mean. Everybody's like, we're all here, it's all fine.
Speaker 2: You were still, you know, having our lives with our
Speaker 2: families and our things and enjoying it, enjoying the mess
Speaker 2: out of it. But like there's a perspective on it.
Speaker 2: And I think we had that and maintained that throughout
Speaker 2: the six years we were on.
Speaker 1: You've said, the show opened a lot of doors for you,
Speaker 1: gave you a lot of opportunities. You got to direct,
Speaker 1: you were allowed to be in the writer's room.
Speaker 2: I didn't it's a direct, but I didn't want to direct,
Speaker 2: but I had the opportunity to.
Speaker 3: I will get that, Okay.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I didn't, but I want. I
Speaker 2: had the opportunity to. They gave it to me many times.
Speaker 2: If I wanted to direct but I wanted to write,
Speaker 2: I went back to the writing thing. Who knewressede.
Speaker 3: Here's the thing.
Speaker 1: I chose the directing and not the writing. What was
Speaker 1: the best thing out of that show that you were
Speaker 1: able to do or accomplish. And it could be in
Speaker 1: terms of specific performance or storyline, or or an outside
Speaker 1: something that you were given to do there that you
Speaker 1: feel grateful for and that you feel like has changed
Speaker 1: you as an artist moving forward.
Speaker 2: I love that I was able to write on an
Speaker 2: episode because also when you write it, you end up
Speaker 2: like it. Yes, And I love producing, and I've produced
Speaker 2: other projects, so like for me, that comes like second
Speaker 2: nature behind the camera, the way acting feels like sort
Speaker 2: of first nature in front of the camera, you know.
Speaker 2: And so I really really credit Dan with that. He
Speaker 2: was so generous about making sure that we all got
Speaker 2: what we needed out of the show other than the
Speaker 2: acting part of it. Always had an open door policy.
Speaker 2: We could always be in the writer's room, We could
Speaker 2: always sort of be chiming in. They were specific about
Speaker 2: this stories It's not like I'm going in the writer's
Speaker 2: room and changing minds and hearts. But there was a
Speaker 2: thing where it was an open door. We could hear
Speaker 2: what was going on and give them any information that
Speaker 2: we felt like about ourselves might feel relevant to the
Speaker 2: character and things like that, and we could always talk
Speaker 2: to him about stuff, and he was just really very
Speaker 2: very good about that. It took so much out of
Speaker 2: me just producing that one episode and writing it and
Speaker 2: acting in it. I had such an appreciation for like
Speaker 2: what we do. I loved it. I really loved it
Speaker 2: on every level, being able to have a hand in it,
Speaker 2: all of it. And then I realized how much goes
Speaker 2: on per episode. You know, there's so much that goes on,
Speaker 2: you know, from anything from casting every little part to
Speaker 2: what the location is going to be, what the wardrobe
Speaker 2: is going to be, what the hair is going to be,
Speaker 2: what the props are going to be, what the you know,
Speaker 2: and then it's the redoing of all those things, and
Speaker 2: it's daily. There's meetings that we had in getting with
Speaker 2: the director and doing the director's past and going through
Speaker 2: the script with the director to get the tone quality,
Speaker 2: and I mean, there was just so much stuff that
Speaker 2: I was like, damn, this is happening every episode, you know,
Speaker 2: it was so full. It was so full, but so fulfilling.
Speaker 2: So yeah, that was great.
Speaker 1: I noted earlier when you when you talked about comedy
Speaker 1: being your love, and look, you had some serious storylines.
Speaker 3: By the way, again.
Speaker 1: Spoiler alert, a lot of the characters went through a
Speaker 1: lot of things in your show.
Speaker 3: A lot of stuff.
Speaker 1: However, and this isn't really a question, it's more just
Speaker 1: a comment. I always felt like you were a breath
Speaker 1: of fresh air and to call you like comedic relief
Speaker 1: not fair, not fair or right, But there was an
Speaker 1: ease that you had that you showed that was part
Speaker 1: of the personality of the character for sure. But also
Speaker 1: I know now you that you brought a lightness to
Speaker 1: it where I feel like the shows like that have
Speaker 1: a tendency to they can they can sit down in
Speaker 1: that morass of like the horrible things that are going on,
Speaker 1: and you were, uh, you were a fresh light throughout
Speaker 1: the run of that show. Obviously things going on as well.
Speaker 1: But it made sense to me earlier when you were
Speaker 1: when you said, like, comedy is my first love, like
Speaker 1: sometimes playing against those significant moments that are going on
Speaker 1: and using some some lightness can give it equal or
Speaker 1: more impact. So anyway, that's just my way of saying
Speaker 1: kudos to you. I'm sure it was difficult after six years,
Speaker 1: one hundred and six episodes to to say goodbye. The
Speaker 1: fans obviously had a difficult time when it was over.
Speaker 1: For you, did tough when it when it was over?
Speaker 3: Or for you? Was it was it time?
Speaker 2: It was? I wouldn't say tough, It was said sad,
Speaker 2: but it was time because we had never imagined it
Speaker 2: going longer. It's Dan had from the beginning at least,
Speaker 2: you know, I'd always known that he wanted to five season,
Speaker 2: and they, the network, as for us to do six,
Speaker 2: and so we did six. And I saw the end
Speaker 2: always coming, and there was this story that was happening
Speaker 2: within that, but it had it had an ending. It
Speaker 2: always had an ending, and you know, with Rebecca's passing,
Speaker 2: it was like, that's we've now told this chapter, you
Speaker 2: know what I mean, And we've told so many chapters
Speaker 2: within that. The sadness started coming to me. It started
Speaker 2: February of twenty twenty two and we wrapped in May.
Speaker 2: So I remember things like, oh, this is the last oh,
Speaker 2: shuttle ride, We're gonna take to more pray aluh, you
Speaker 2: know what I mean, like all that stuff. And I
Speaker 2: remember walking behind Miguel Miguel John Quertas and Mandy Moore
Speaker 2: one day and I just knew, like us was getting
Speaker 2: ready to kind of wrap up his storyline, and I
Speaker 2: was like, Yo, this is actually the last time I'm
Speaker 2: gonna see them do that. And so there was a
Speaker 2: great consciousness about all of the last and all of
Speaker 2: the moments that I knew were in their final you
Speaker 2: know run, And I was getting very nostalgic and very sad,
Speaker 2: but I was happy I did it because I started
Speaker 2: to metabolize it early so that by the time May hit,
Speaker 2: I was all right, you know what I mean, Like
Speaker 2: I got the show. I had about fall months, you know,
Speaker 2: to get my little self together. So I was it
Speaker 2: helped me. It really worked for me.
Speaker 3: Good for you.
Speaker 1: It does take time, and you do start thinking about
Speaker 1: those very small moments that you would never think about before,
Speaker 1: right that this is the last Yeah, I played, this
Speaker 1: played the same game.
Speaker 3: You and I have worked together. Boom nailed it. What
Speaker 3: you're gonna laugh?
Speaker 2: And we had never met celebrity Jeopardy.
Speaker 3: Rumble, I was in Rumble stop it?
Speaker 2: Who did you play in Rumble?
Speaker 3: Clonk I was a wrestler, nip wow, yep, yep. We
Speaker 3: work together.
Speaker 2: This is why I don't like when, you know, with
Speaker 2: the voice acting, they put you in a room by yourself.
Speaker 3: You don't know a room by yourself.
Speaker 1: I think, especially when it's the middle of a global
Speaker 1: pandemic and they put you in a room by yourself.
Speaker 1: You literally don't know, don't know anyone. I really don't
Speaker 1: have anything else to say about that except that we
Speaker 1: did work together. So I'm just I'm just closing the
Speaker 1: loop on that. I'm just closing I'm just closing the
Speaker 1: loop on that.
Speaker 2: It's so good to know.
Speaker 1: Yes, so you mentioned before you enjoy producing. Yes, you
Speaker 1: have produced at least a couple of projects, and that,
Speaker 1: as you said, gives you something that just just acting doesn't.
Speaker 1: Are you you want to continue to do that in
Speaker 1: the future.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I am doing it. Yeah, I just I've
Speaker 2: really I enjoy putting stuff together. I enjoy connecting people.
Speaker 2: I like putting all the right people in the room.
Speaker 2: I like yeah right, I like seeing something lift off
Speaker 2: the ground. I love a great idea. I love. I
Speaker 2: love when I have an idea and I can get
Speaker 2: the right people to help me to make it happen.
Speaker 2: And I love helping other people execute an idea, you know.
Speaker 2: So it's it's just part of how I like to
Speaker 2: exist in this whole business that we're in. Outside of
Speaker 2: you know, the acting in front of the camera. I
Speaker 2: just kind of adore it, Like I really love being
Speaker 2: boots on the ground as a producer. It is fun,
Speaker 2: really fun, and it's so freeing.
Speaker 5: You know, really hard, but fun hard.
Speaker 2: And people, you know, they're like, oh, you don't want
Speaker 2: to direct, but producing is like direct, and I was like,
Speaker 2: it kind of is, but it's not. And there's something
Speaker 2: about direct producing that is different for me. And even
Speaker 2: when it's hard, I enjoy it, which is how I
Speaker 2: know it's something that I should be doing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, something that you have done, which I have not yet.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: I did theater for years and years and years, and
Speaker 1: then I feel like I and I call it like
Speaker 1: I changed my career, like for me because it was
Speaker 1: an abrupt it was all I did was theater, and
Speaker 1: then for me it was boom and sort of changed
Speaker 1: careers into film and television, you a couple of years ago,
Speaker 1: Shakespeare in the Park, Mary Wives. It's a groulic show.
Speaker 1: You're outdoors, you're in the park, you're in well, at
Speaker 1: least your hometown adjacent in New York performing. Did you
Speaker 1: enjoy it?
Speaker 2: I enjoyed the mess out of it, like we had.
Speaker 1: I didn't know what you were going to do it
Speaker 1: most fun, It was so, it was so.
Speaker 2: I love those people, you understand, eighteen people that I
Speaker 2: just adore and love, and our director Sahima Lee and
Speaker 2: are our writer Jocelyn Bio who's now nominated for a
Speaker 2: Tony fora ja Ja's hand Brating that was on Broadway,
Speaker 2: but she translated Mary Wives of Windsor into Mary Wives
Speaker 2: and placed it in Harlem among the Nigerian Ghanaian community
Speaker 2: and various communities you know that come from the African diaspora.
Speaker 2: And when I tell you like, I'm telling you like
Speaker 2: it is criminal to have as much fun as we
Speaker 2: had in the middle of coming back from COVID. We
Speaker 2: were the first show, first theater play to come back
Speaker 2: from COVID, the first.
Speaker 3: And were outside.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it was nuts and we had we fought
Speaker 2: monsoons and just whole tropical storms and sets coming down
Speaker 2: and everything thundering, enlightening, and we I mean it was
Speaker 2: out of They made documentary about it. It's on HBO.
Speaker 2: Y'all could watch it. I ain't lying, and I tell you,
Speaker 2: like I sad you. The things we went through was,
Speaker 2: you know, preposterous, but like one of my favorite experiences
Speaker 2: of all time at one thousand percent. I would do
Speaker 2: it over exactly the same way in a heartbeat.
Speaker 1: Stop it, student, you're gonna make me do it, and
Speaker 1: then I'm gonna don't.
Speaker 2: I think they're adding the re renovating the delacors right now.
Speaker 2: I believe they're adding a retractable roof. So what happened
Speaker 2: to you? What happens? That's what happens. I think it
Speaker 2: might have been because of us. We missed so many shows,
Speaker 2: including our opening night, not our opening night, but our
Speaker 2: first show, our first preview, second preview, no no, no,
Speaker 2: rain Thune, the light Raccoons, oh god, you name it.
Speaker 2: We did. It's fantastic, fantastic.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 1: Well, you have a very very big show just wrapped
Speaker 1: up production. You've heard it here first exclusively reporting.
Speaker 3: You.
Speaker 1: You just wrapped several years ago. Infact, in two thousand
Speaker 1: and seven, you were a guest star on an episode
Speaker 1: of Private Practice, a show sure in the Shondaland universe.
Speaker 1: Now you are back a much bigger role in a
Speaker 1: very very eight I one might call it not the
Speaker 1: same as this is Us that a highly anticipated new
Speaker 1: show in the Shondaland universe the Residents. Any connection between
Speaker 1: your guest spot in two thousand and seven and this
Speaker 1: is there? Is there a line there or no.
Speaker 2: Just that I'm I'm just me as a person, as
Speaker 2: an individual.
Speaker 3: But in terms of like your work with them, No.
Speaker 2: No, I don't think I mean no, it was no
Speaker 2: one said anything.
Speaker 4: No.
Speaker 2: But guess what when I was like when I heard
Speaker 2: about the role, I was like, O, can you tell
Speaker 2: Shata I was Private cra Remember she has said that
Speaker 2: she liked all of my cuts. I mean, let I listen,
Speaker 2: you go there right? But I know it was this
Speaker 2: was like a whole new, whole new game.
Speaker 1: Uza Aduba, Andre Brower, Gian Carlo Esposito, you, of course,
Speaker 1: Jason Lee, Ken Marino, and many many more fantastic actors
Speaker 1: working on the new show. A. If you haven't read
Speaker 1: the book or know the story, the log line is
Speaker 1: simply a murder mystery set in the White House. Uh,
Speaker 1: now you read it. You wanted to do it. You
Speaker 1: asked if if if if she remembered your takes from
Speaker 1: two thou seven. Now, Uh, first season is shot. Yes,
Speaker 1: we are you still excited about us?
Speaker 2: I am so so excited about it. I I you.
Speaker 1: Know, you can't say anything else, I know, but anyway, God, no,
Speaker 1: I know.
Speaker 2: I'm so excited. It's it's you know, I just talked
Speaker 2: about how much I love working on Marywise. I gotta
Speaker 2: tell you this right here. Same feelings, same feelings. I mean,
Speaker 2: the most fun, the most amazing people to work with,
Speaker 2: like just comedy. It was just comedy and plus the
Speaker 2: most I hung out with this cast like you would believe.
Speaker 2: Like we've we've karaoke, We've gone to Rod Show, We've
Speaker 2: done all things. You know, We've gone, we've traveled together.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's incredible. And you know, we lost our
Speaker 2: dear Andre Brower, you know, as we all did the world,
Speaker 2: did you know, sort of in the center of it,
Speaker 2: and John Carlos Posito came in and you know, just
Speaker 2: with open arms, and it's been really, really incredible. It's yeah,
Speaker 2: I can't say too much about you know, the story itself.
Speaker 2: But I will say it's not anything like the book.
Speaker 2: I mean no, he completely made this. He read the
Speaker 2: book and was like, can I do this with it?
Speaker 2: You know, this book is just about the White It's
Speaker 2: not just about This book is about the White House,
Speaker 2: and there's the White House staff. So that's what people
Speaker 2: need to know. This is not something that takes place
Speaker 2: in the West Wing. This is very upstairs, downstairs. This
Speaker 2: is very like the ushers, the butlers, the engineers, the painters,
Speaker 2: the housekeeping. This is that, and it happens this murder
Speaker 2: happens amongst them during a state dinner, and so what
Speaker 2: unfolds after that is absolutely But the way I felt
Speaker 2: about that script is very similar, Like when I first
Speaker 2: read this is Us. I read the first fifteen pages
Speaker 2: of this script and I call my people and was like, yes,
Speaker 2: I would like to do this. Can we make that happen?
Speaker 2: So it was that for me, and I just could
Speaker 2: not be happier and prouder of coming through it after
Speaker 2: you know the many you know, just big girls. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: like there was some there's some rough stuff we had
Speaker 2: to deal with unfortunately, but here we are and we
Speaker 2: could not be happier, prouder.
Speaker 3: Yeah, did you like this is us?
Speaker 1: Did you audition in a tiny.
Speaker 2: Well, listen, this is this might be that this is
Speaker 2: as effect right, every every different you know, every job
Speaker 2: has a different story. So this one, you know, was
Speaker 2: not an audition, so I was able to enjoy just say, yeah,
Speaker 2: would you like to be this? And I said I
Speaker 2: would love to be this, and so yeah, so you
Speaker 2: know it's it's not graduation, you know.
Speaker 1: Congratulations to you. I breaking news from the internet. There's
Speaker 1: no date yet, expected first quarter of twenty twenty five,
Speaker 1: so still you're gonna have to wait. But the Resident's
Speaker 1: coming out. Susan, thank you so much for joining me today.
Speaker 1: I can't tell you what a pleasure it was for
Speaker 1: me to get to know you a little bit and
Speaker 1: to hear your story. And I promise I will be
Speaker 1: looking ahead to not just the Residents, but whatever comes,
Speaker 1: whatever comes next for you.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Brian, and I would like to
Speaker 2: see a link to your speech.
Speaker 5: Well, Well you know what, here's the thing.
Speaker 2: No pressure, but go ahead major in English too much.
Speaker 5: If it goes really well or really bad.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I'm sure you'll.
Speaker 2: See it about it.
Speaker 5: One way or the other Susan. Thanks so much, Susan.
Speaker 1: Amazing to get to know you and your work today.
Speaker 1: I can't wait to watch the Residents. I'll be keeping
Speaker 1: an eye out for that and truly anything you do
Speaker 1: in the future. Listeners, you know what I'm gonna do next.
Speaker 1: I'm going to bring you another great guest for this podcast.
Speaker 3: I might even do it next Tuesday. You never know,
Speaker 3: so check back.
Speaker 1: In and until then, have a great week. Off the
Speaker 1: Beat is hosted and executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner,
Speaker 1: alongside our executive producer, Lang Lee. Our senior producer is
Speaker 1: Diego Tapia. Our producers are Liz Hayes, Hannah Harris, and
Speaker 1: Emily Carr. Our talent producer is Ryan Papa Zachary, and
Speaker 1: our intern is Ali Amir Sahim. Our theme song Bubble
Speaker 1: and Squeak, performed by the one and only Creed Bratton,