Speaker 1: Hi everyone, I'm Katie Curic and welcome to next question.
Speaker 1: Catherine Han is an absolute scream, as you may have
Speaker 1: guessed from watching her on the hit Marvel show One Division.
Speaker 1: Hey boys, why do we give your mom's a meatime hackness?
Speaker 1: Are you sure, oh abs a positively? Or noticed in
Speaker 1: blockbuster odd comedies like Stepbrothers. Hi, I'm Alice, I'm Derek's wife.
Speaker 1: Is it true that you struck Derek and face me
Speaker 1: and he fell from the tree. That's the most amazing
Speaker 1: thing I've ever heard? Or maybe you knew all the
Speaker 1: law given her propensity for all two relatable characters, are
Speaker 1: you blaming me? No, I'm not blaming you. I'm just
Speaker 1: saying that we need to take some responsibility for the situation.
Speaker 1: A lot of women have babies at forty one. I
Speaker 1: thought I could too. I had a chance to sit
Speaker 1: down with Catherine recently to talk about all of her
Speaker 1: new projects. Why at forty seven she is elf Waco
Speaker 1: on fire? But also I got to know her a
Speaker 1: little bit, find out what makes her comedy secret weapon,
Speaker 1: and understand why we are all so lucky to be
Speaker 1: living in the Hannaissance. Katherine Han, Congratulations all these great
Speaker 1: things are happening. We could not be more thrilled for you.
Speaker 1: It must feel pretty damn good to be like on
Speaker 1: fire elf wuego. As my husband would say, I mean,
Speaker 1: it definitely feels very surreal because I mean, as all
Speaker 1: of us are, I'm still kind of stuck at home,
Speaker 1: I don't have social media, so I'm I'm hearing like
Speaker 1: bits and pieces of what's happening. And I know the
Speaker 1: show is landed, which I'm thrilled about and um but
Speaker 1: and I'm just tickled by it. But yeah, it's I mean,
Speaker 1: yeah bananas and so flattered and also feels so like
Speaker 1: another person's life. It feels very very surreal. Well, I
Speaker 1: want to talk about wand Division because it's such a
Speaker 1: it's so original, which I think is the best compliment
Speaker 1: you can give a show these days, because there's so
Speaker 1: much content out there, Katherine, and to have something, to
Speaker 1: have such a different twist, and of course, like so
Speaker 1: many of your roles, it's it's it really puts women
Speaker 1: front and center, which of course I'm a hundred percent for.
Speaker 1: But before we talk about one division, before we talk
Speaker 1: about sort of career stuff, I thought we'd get to
Speaker 1: know Katherine Han the woman, the myth, the legend, and
Speaker 1: I wanted you to tell everyone about growing up in
Speaker 1: Cleveland being a theater kid. And I'm particularly interested in
Speaker 1: what sparked your interest in acting, because I love to
Speaker 1: hear about these ah ha moments where people say, this
Speaker 1: is what I want I do. Like I asked Barbara
Speaker 1: Streissan that once and she said she was in the
Speaker 1: lobby of her apartment building I believe it was in Brooklyn,
Speaker 1: and she started singing. She was like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: you know this sounds incredible. And what was there a
Speaker 1: moment where something happened you and you said, this is
Speaker 1: tapping into my passion or was it an evolution? I
Speaker 1: feel like I'm inside the actor's studio, so I know
Speaker 1: I love it. Look I mean, I I certainly thank
Speaker 1: god Barbara Streis had had that realization. I I think
Speaker 1: certainly for me it was it felt almost like predetermined. Katie.
Speaker 1: I was very young. I was at a in a
Speaker 1: Catholic school in Cleveland, and it was kindergarten, I think,
Speaker 1: and there was some sort of after school program and
Speaker 1: I just felt at completely at home. And I'd always
Speaker 1: been a kid that would just disappear after school and
Speaker 1: go deep, pretend deep deep into pretend land, and there
Speaker 1: was just something about something that felt very safe and
Speaker 1: something that felt very freeing about those classes, even as
Speaker 1: a young child. And then I started taking classes at
Speaker 1: the Cleveland Playhouse, which was just my holiest, holiest place
Speaker 1: um as a as a kid, and I just would
Speaker 1: want to loiter there like all afternoon. I just loved
Speaker 1: being in those theaters. Just seeing an empty theater with
Speaker 1: a ghost lamp was just like, to me, the most
Speaker 1: beautiful thing. And yeah, so to me, it just felt
Speaker 1: like this inevitability, like I just really didn't even entertain
Speaker 1: anything else. It was just who I was UM. From
Speaker 1: as early as I can remember, when you were growing up, Catherine,
Speaker 1: were there actors that you looked to and thought, I
Speaker 1: want to be just like so and so. I mean,
Speaker 1: growing up, there was definitely some REP that was back
Speaker 1: like rep companies happened, like each city would have their
Speaker 1: own kind of company of actors that so the Cleveland
Speaker 1: play House had this group of actors that I got
Speaker 1: to see play a bazillion different parts, and so it
Speaker 1: really admired their careers because they were able to play
Speaker 1: you know, lear one season's you know, check off the
Speaker 1: next and I was able to I saw the breath
Speaker 1: of their creativity, and that is something that was a
Speaker 1: real creative turn onto me. And then for me also,
Speaker 1: I think growing up and going to the art houses
Speaker 1: there with my mom would always take me to go
Speaker 1: see art um movies. So for for me, it was like,
Speaker 1: I mean, I was obsessed with, of course, the the
Speaker 1: heroines of looking back, the heroines of like the seventies,
Speaker 1: like the kind of messy I love Terry gar I loved,
Speaker 1: of course, Diane Keaton. Gina Rowlands was like the end
Speaker 1: all be all for me, just kind of the messy,
Speaker 1: imperfect like not perfect teeth, like messy hair, just the complicated,
Speaker 1: messy women that rode the line of funny and and
Speaker 1: sad at the same time. That was all of it.
Speaker 1: That wasn't just one or the other, and wasn't there
Speaker 1: just um to fill a role in someone else's story,
Speaker 1: but brought their whole complexity to a script like that.
Speaker 1: That was always something that was very interesting to me
Speaker 1: growing up. Yeah, you know, I think we're seeing more
Speaker 1: and more almost a renaissance to overuse the word of
Speaker 1: those kind of characters kind of complete, flawed, difficult, to
Speaker 1: categorize is good or bad, just just all those different things.
Speaker 1: And then you went on to you went onto to
Speaker 1: Yale drama schools, so you weren't like a classically trained
Speaker 1: Catherine Han And so how did how did all that
Speaker 1: theater experience um kind of inform your choice of roles?
Speaker 1: And and you know, not everyone has that kind of
Speaker 1: training in that kind of background. Well, I think you know,
Speaker 1: I didn't go right after undergrad. There was a couple
Speaker 1: of years in New York City where I was a
Speaker 1: receptionist in a hair salon and I was like digging
Speaker 1: through the backstage trying to find auditions. My husband and
Speaker 1: I would always laugh about looking at the But I
Speaker 1: don't know if you remember this. There was a there
Speaker 1: was a newspaper called the Backstage for Actors that would
Speaker 1: always have like auditions in the back and there would
Speaker 1: always be a section inevitably called no pay nudity, which
Speaker 1: always made us laugh like, oh, sign us up, like please,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna wait in line for that audition. But we um,
Speaker 1: you know, I got there was like a lot of
Speaker 1: struggling years before and and also Williamstown Theater Festival was
Speaker 1: a huge part of my life. But then landing at
Speaker 1: Yale was more of a It was more of like
Speaker 1: a kind of I needed a sabbatical myself, albeit in
Speaker 1: a expensive one, but I needed a place to land
Speaker 1: just just to be able to do theater for a
Speaker 1: few years, not thinking that it was going to necessarily
Speaker 1: be a stepping stone to something else. But I just
Speaker 1: wanted to. I just didn't want to, like hustle anymore.
Speaker 1: Like I just wanted a landing place to be able
Speaker 1: to like rehearse a play at two in the morning
Speaker 1: and just be around like minded people, and be around
Speaker 1: that campus, and and and hold onto the like to
Speaker 1: the craft, to the art of it that I was
Speaker 1: so moved by. And I feel like it is so
Speaker 1: um uh slipping away in a certain respect in a
Speaker 1: lot of ways, like people can get famous so fast
Speaker 1: for so many different different reasons, and um hats off
Speaker 1: for for all of it, and for me being an actor.
Speaker 1: A huge part of it has been rejection, and that
Speaker 1: has I think the reason I'm still here at seven
Speaker 1: is because I've been able to weather so much of
Speaker 1: it because the the I know how important the underneath is,
Speaker 1: which is I am an actor, and I know it
Speaker 1: comes along with it, and I love my job. I'm
Speaker 1: sure you wanted to do the work and not just
Speaker 1: look for the work, which is some time consuming. So
Speaker 1: that must have been such a luxury for you. And
Speaker 1: you know, I was talking to um Kate Winslett and
Speaker 1: that's a major name drop, but I I've just always
Speaker 1: really she's a goddess, isn't she. She's just I don't know,
Speaker 1: you call would love each other. I think, do you
Speaker 1: know her? We did, we worked together, we did Revolutionary
Speaker 1: Road and I fell yes, and fell madly in love. Yeah,
Speaker 1: she's fabulous. But we were talking about how you have
Speaker 1: to develop this inner core of confidence being an act er,
Speaker 1: and if you don't have a strong sense of self
Speaker 1: and you don't have a strong support system, I think
Speaker 1: that's why you see so many child actors get totally
Speaker 1: screwed up. How how difficult that is kind of uh,
Speaker 1: not only the acceptance, but then worried about like, well
Speaker 1: how long, how many roles are going to come after this?
Speaker 1: And how am I going to top this? Or how
Speaker 1: am I going to equal it? Or how am I
Speaker 1: going to keep working? How am I going to pay
Speaker 1: the bills and all those things? And and you're at
Speaker 1: the mercy of other peoples and their taste is so
Speaker 1: subjective and um, you know it just it just must
Speaker 1: be hard. And so it sounds like your love and
Speaker 1: your pure you know, devotion to your craft and what
Speaker 1: you do, Uh, that has helped you stay grounded through
Speaker 1: kind of the ups and downs that come with this profession.
Speaker 1: Right well, I mean, and it certainly has taken a
Speaker 1: lot of time. And you know, it's not lost on
Speaker 1: me that like the juiciest chapter has happened post kids,
Speaker 1: which I never would have anticipated. And I think that's
Speaker 1: really interesting and something I want to like definitely hammer
Speaker 1: home for for young women that are interested in young
Speaker 1: people that are interested in having children. Is that a
Speaker 1: pleasant surprise to me was that, in fact the opposite happened.
Speaker 1: Like you know, you think there's gonna be this invisibility
Speaker 1: shield and all of a sudden expiration date or that
Speaker 1: something forty Even Catherine, you always hear like after forty
Speaker 1: the roles dry up, Yes, they they shrivel up and vanish,
Speaker 1: and or in fact, did you start to shrink into
Speaker 1: the background. And I I have found the exact opposite.
Speaker 1: So I just want to continue to tell young creators
Speaker 1: and and um actors and actresses that that is. I
Speaker 1: have actresses in particular that I've found that to be
Speaker 1: the exact opposite. And I think it has a lot
Speaker 1: to do with like a re centering of like your
Speaker 1: for for me at least it has been, and which
Speaker 1: I wish somebody had given me this advice, is like
Speaker 1: a re centering of like your authentic self and like
Speaker 1: what you are bringing to the table is what makes you,
Speaker 1: ironically the most is what's going to get you hired
Speaker 1: and what's gonna get you what's what's gonna what makes
Speaker 1: you special of course, like not trying to fit into
Speaker 1: this Hollywood box that you think you need to be
Speaker 1: to get to the part of that. You know, I
Speaker 1: had been so sweaty, sweatily walking into auditions and like
Speaker 1: scenarios that were just like not mine, just not mine too,
Speaker 1: that was never gonna be me. And I just didn't know.
Speaker 1: I didn't trust what I what I personally could bring
Speaker 1: because I don't think I knew who I was yet
Speaker 1: at the time, and I just certainly didn't have the confidence.
Speaker 1: So it's like a yeah to you. To Kate's point,
Speaker 1: I guess it's like this we have to have this
Speaker 1: like weird mix which I've just only real very recently,
Speaker 1: of this very weird mix of of cockiness and vulnerability
Speaker 1: that have to like like be hand in hand, which
Speaker 1: is a real tricky thing to find. Um and I'm
Speaker 1: still trying to figure it out, I suppose, But don't
Speaker 1: you think it also has to do Catherine with sort
Speaker 1: of the expansion of how women, how we see women,
Speaker 1: and this idea that you know, the female gaze, and
Speaker 1: the idea that we do not solely exist for you know,
Speaker 1: the objectification of of our physicality and uh you know,
Speaker 1: as a supporting role, but that we're worthy in and
Speaker 1: of ourselves. I'm getting very very Germaine greery here, but
Speaker 1: worthy in and of ourselves to to to to play
Speaker 1: the central role in these stories. And and and it
Speaker 1: doesn't mean, uh, you know, as the cute girl friend
Speaker 1: end or the female supporting role or whatever, that our
Speaker 1: stories are are worth telling because they just are, Yes,
Speaker 1: I mean, And I also think I don't know if
Speaker 1: if you I mean, I think, yes, a that there
Speaker 1: are many more of creators and voices and authentic stories
Speaker 1: that are able to be told because there's clearly an
Speaker 1: audience of women that are hungry for it, and and
Speaker 1: B I don't know. I I have found getting older
Speaker 1: that it feels almost like the space shuttle like as
Speaker 1: it's as I'm like zooming off and after I just
Speaker 1: feel like a shedding of the unnecessary. So it just
Speaker 1: becomes like clearer and clearer what is what is really
Speaker 1: the most important? And so I'm finding myself gaining and
Speaker 1: confidence also something for younger women to look forward to.
Speaker 1: It's like the stuff that you think really had really
Speaker 1: had mattered in terms of like the outside looking in
Speaker 1: starts to matter less and less and that is so liberating, um,
Speaker 1: just in all aspects of life, but for this bird,
Speaker 1: it's in terms of creativity and in terms of like, um,
Speaker 1: looking for projects and creators. If not, if you know,
Speaker 1: there had been so much time wasted trying to like
Speaker 1: gain get the eye of someone that I had really
Speaker 1: wanted to work with. And at a certain point it's like, okay,
Speaker 1: why not just follow the light then, like why not
Speaker 1: just look towards you want's to work with me like
Speaker 1: rather than like trying to And then I've been able
Speaker 1: to find these like juicy juicy collaborations and experiences and
Speaker 1: and it's been really like a fulfilling, fulfilling chapter. When
Speaker 1: we come back the role that cracked open Katherine's career,
Speaker 1: that's right after this early in your career. I knew
Speaker 1: you were discovered early on by Tim cran Uh in
Speaker 1: the series Crossing Toward And I like Hennessy by the
Speaker 1: way too. I think she's like the wholest, nicest person,
Speaker 1: isn't she? And um and and but but for a
Speaker 1: while there, you were cast as the friend, the coworker,
Speaker 1: you know, the wife, the sassy girlfriend, you know, the
Speaker 1: kind of woman had a big prosthetic pregnancy chapter as well,
Speaker 1: and and and was that frustrating for you? How did you?
Speaker 1: How did you get through that? And how did you
Speaker 1: keep from saying, hey, mofos, I I want to be
Speaker 1: the star. I don't want to be the girl next
Speaker 1: you know, the woman next door. You know. It was
Speaker 1: like I, Katie, honestly, at that point, I going to
Speaker 1: what I had said before, I really didn't think I
Speaker 1: had the agency or that I had the belief in
Speaker 1: myself to believe that I could do that. Like I
Speaker 1: was just trying to put one foot in front of
Speaker 1: the other and like carve a career and just go
Speaker 1: to where the yes was. I mean, I come from
Speaker 1: the theater. The theater is where I found the most
Speaker 1: autonomy over my performance because it was like my whole
Speaker 1: personhood as soon as the curtain came up, that show
Speaker 1: was mine. And in terms of the camera, I just
Speaker 1: didn't feel like an ownership over like my I guess
Speaker 1: my performance and I felt always kind of felt I
Speaker 1: guess when I first came to Los Angeles like a
Speaker 1: less then, like I would look at these like I
Speaker 1: just maybe I came with such a romantic idea of
Speaker 1: what it was, but I would just be like, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm not that. Oh my god, I'm not that. I'm
Speaker 1: not I thought. I'm like, I just was so um,
Speaker 1: I felt like I was playing. I was like pretending
Speaker 1: to be an actor in a TV show rather than
Speaker 1: just like settling down into being like I just couldn't
Speaker 1: believe still that I was. I was a theater actor.
Speaker 1: So I just didn't never felt like true um and
Speaker 1: so I didn't. I never felt like it should be
Speaker 1: me um. But I was always like grateful. But I
Speaker 1: will say I never felt like satisfied unless there a
Speaker 1: role Katherine that was really just kind of crack your
Speaker 1: career open that you thought, Wow, everything kind of started
Speaker 1: changing when I played this. There was a couple of
Speaker 1: times that happened, like I think that there was a
Speaker 1: summer in which I got to do Stepbrothers and Revolutionary
Speaker 1: Road with Kate, and that was like a personal kind
Speaker 1: of shift for me that I was able to be
Speaker 1: seen in those two wildly different parts in one summer.
Speaker 1: And then but I do think Afternoon Delight, directed by
Speaker 1: Joey Soloway, was a turning point because that was my
Speaker 1: first lead. It was an independent movie. It was a
Speaker 1: role that was like very close to the surface for me,
Speaker 1: and uh, the experience of making it was the kind
Speaker 1: of movie making that I had I had always dreamt
Speaker 1: about in terms of that kind of like with a
Speaker 1: better word right at the tip of my tongue, like
Speaker 1: a seventies kind of like Cassavetties kind of movie making
Speaker 1: that just felt like very small, tight, very low budget,
Speaker 1: but very performance driven. And that was that was a
Speaker 1: shift for me, certainly creatively and how I how I
Speaker 1: felt about myself confidence wise, I think to as well.
Speaker 1: And you you had you collaborated a lot with with
Speaker 1: Joey formerly Jill Soloway, Um and I'm curious, what was
Speaker 1: it about that collaboration that just I mean, it seemed
Speaker 1: to work because you went on, you played a rabbi
Speaker 1: and transparent. Of course you started I loved Dick, and um,
Speaker 1: did you just feel like, Oh, I've come home. I
Speaker 1: have a meeting of the minds that I haven't had
Speaker 1: in a long time. Yes, I mean, I think the
Speaker 1: closest analogy would be it felt I felt the same
Speaker 1: way that I felt when I was back in school.
Speaker 1: It was the same kind of joy of performing, and
Speaker 1: I felt that kind of autonomy that I felt on stage,
Speaker 1: but instead it was in front of a camera. So
Speaker 1: it was like, oh, this is what it could be,
Speaker 1: Like I don't have to just stand there and try
Speaker 1: to like do a good job, like it's mine, Like
Speaker 1: this part is mine. I'm here because I'm valued, Like
Speaker 1: it's my job is to be here and listen to
Speaker 1: this incredible actor in front of me and to just
Speaker 1: receive that what they're giving me and look into their
Speaker 1: beautiful eyeballs and like so it just it felt like, um,
Speaker 1: the kind of play that I hadn't been able to
Speaker 1: really feel on camera before, and I felt more collaborative.
Speaker 1: It felt so collaborative, Like it felt incredibly collaborative. And
Speaker 1: I also think that they're writing and the writer's room
Speaker 1: writing was just just kind of um tapped into something
Speaker 1: that felt very familiar and very unspoken um and very
Speaker 1: just very true to to the experience of a woman
Speaker 1: person this age UM that I hadn't read before. And
Speaker 1: also it was funny and it wasn't a complete down
Speaker 1: er and like there was all the shades in it
Speaker 1: that I was um that I was attracted to. That
Speaker 1: must be magical, you know. And it was the same
Speaker 1: group of people, the same um, the same crew, the
Speaker 1: same so every it just felt like this, It felt
Speaker 1: like we were a part of circus. Like it just
Speaker 1: felt I loved those people so dearly, that crew I
Speaker 1: love so madly, and um, yeah, just became like law
Speaker 1: familia for sure. That must make such a difference, like
Speaker 1: the ambiance of the set in terms of getting the
Speaker 1: best out of an actor and having feeling you are
Speaker 1: in a safe space and feeling that you're supported, And
Speaker 1: I can only imagine how different that must feel being
Speaker 1: with a group of people that that aren't warm and
Speaker 1: welcoming and and happy and you know, kind of sending
Speaker 1: out positive vibes your way when you're doing what you
Speaker 1: do right well, because especially like I mean I've said
Speaker 1: this before, but like I had been on jobs where
Speaker 1: I've had to simply like you know, smooched my costar
Speaker 1: who I have love and a door, but like I
Speaker 1: I felt more uncomfortable because I was like covered in
Speaker 1: spray tan, had hair extensions, had chicken cutlets, and the
Speaker 1: thing in my bra like had like the spanks on
Speaker 1: had Like I just felt like I was like not enough,
Speaker 1: like I was trying to fit into this box of
Speaker 1: something and I felt it was just and there's a
Speaker 1: lot of handwringing behind the monitor and a lot of
Speaker 1: like furrowed brows and like something wasn't more king and
Speaker 1: it just the whole energy was like I just felt
Speaker 1: so sweaty and and I felt much fun. It is
Speaker 1: really fun when you just get to work and everyone's
Speaker 1: with a shield on, with a hot with basically a
Speaker 1: spray gun at you, Like okay, but I um, yeah,
Speaker 1: real fun. A lot of contourd makeup, but I um.
Speaker 1: And then to then walk from that kind of experience
Speaker 1: is something that's that much more like emotionally physically vulnerable.
Speaker 1: Let's say, but has so much more of a of
Speaker 1: a feeling of like of safety and collaboration, and where
Speaker 1: I felt much more in con of ownership of who
Speaker 1: I was playing. Um, just it was a night and
Speaker 1: day sit tight because we are diving into the very
Speaker 1: trippy wand division right after this. But let's talk about
Speaker 1: one division because that is U been the latest chapter
Speaker 1: in the Hannaissance and um unexpected chapter. So I mean
Speaker 1: just like who would have thunk it that after Like
Speaker 1: we were just talking about like the work with Joey,
Speaker 1: Like I never would have thought this was in my future.
Speaker 1: And I'm just so thrilled and tickled. It's just bananas
Speaker 1: a Marvel TV series. I can see why it is
Speaker 1: was unexpected for you and and it's such and and
Speaker 1: I said earlier Catherine, it's so original. And for the uninitiated,
Speaker 1: can you kind of describe this series? A lot of
Speaker 1: people have seen it. It's getting brave reviews, and it's
Speaker 1: become has a cult following and all that jazz. But
Speaker 1: for people who haven't, it's, you know, it's hard to describe.
Speaker 1: So give it a shot. Okay, I'm gonna give it
Speaker 1: a shot. I think it is if you have watched
Speaker 1: any of the Marvel films, the thing that would always
Speaker 1: stick out to me was this little ember of flame
Speaker 1: between Vision and Wanda. Vision is an android um robot,
Speaker 1: and Wanda is the Scarlet Witch, although she's not defined
Speaker 1: as such until this this show. But they have such
Speaker 1: a dear love connection in the films, and this just
Speaker 1: basically takes that relationship and kind of expands it, as
Speaker 1: it were. Wanda Maximum, the character in the comics, has
Speaker 1: a very deep and traumatic backstory. Um. This is a
Speaker 1: show about her handling her grief, told through American sitcoms,
Speaker 1: which she had used as a coping mechanism growing up.
Speaker 1: Is there something special about today? Well, I know the
Speaker 1: apron is a bit much, dear, but I am doing
Speaker 1: my best to blend in. No no, no on the calendar.
Speaker 1: Someone's drawn a little hard quite above today's day. Oh yes,
Speaker 1: the heart. Well, don't tell me you have forgotten this
Speaker 1: forgotten a longer. I'm incapable of forget from us. I
Speaker 1: remember everything that's not an exaggeration. In fact, I'm incapable
Speaker 1: of exaggeration. Well, then tell me what's so important about
Speaker 1: today's date? What was of courtion you forgotten? And you
Speaker 1: just have to kind of go along for the ride
Speaker 1: because it is it's kind of it's a little trippy,
Speaker 1: as they might say, right, and you're like, wait a second.
Speaker 1: For me, of course, it harkened back to my childhood
Speaker 1: watching those sitcoms and uh, you know, like it's it's
Speaker 1: a it's it's a real lift of Bewitched and you're
Speaker 1: kind of the Gladys Gravitz character, right, Yes, exactly, Wonda.
Speaker 1: Can I give you a bit of friendly advice? Is
Speaker 1: it about the way I'm dressed? Yes, but it's too
Speaker 1: late for that. Dottie is the key to everything in
Speaker 1: this town. Country club memberships, parties, school admissions. Well, let's
Speaker 1: not get ahead of ourselves. You get in with Dottie
Speaker 1: and it'll be smooth sailing from here on out. Just
Speaker 1: mind your peace and queues and you're gonna do just fine.
Speaker 1: Or maybe I could just be myself more or less, Wanda,
Speaker 1: that's good. I think part of the fun is to
Speaker 1: see how everything unfolds, because it's very confusing. It's a
Speaker 1: puzzle box and it's a it's a slow burn at first. Um,
Speaker 1: but I think that the that your patients will pay off.
Speaker 1: And I also think just to your point, Katie, to
Speaker 1: just enjoy the nostalgia of looking at some of these
Speaker 1: old sitcoms, and if you're a younger person and hasn't
Speaker 1: seen these old sitcoms, it's kind of amazing to watch
Speaker 1: how comedy has evolved, a how culture has evolved. Be
Speaker 1: um uh just you know, I loved it from an
Speaker 1: actress point of view, just to see like where women's
Speaker 1: voices registered from the fifties on, Like, it was so
Speaker 1: interesting to do a deep dive into that, right, it
Speaker 1: was so weird, like how high it was and like
Speaker 1: no one landed sentences, like the women always kept it
Speaker 1: like it was kind of always a question at the end,
Speaker 1: like not threatening, and it was like oh god, um.
Speaker 1: And so it's kind of like a deep dive in
Speaker 1: those ways. But then there's also this kind of twilight
Speaker 1: zone element to the whole thing that keeps you, that
Speaker 1: keeps this tension happening. Um. And then it's full and
Speaker 1: m cu um extravaganza at the end, so you know
Speaker 1: that that's coming um, but the way it unfolds is
Speaker 1: very very unexpected. It was a really ambitious um and
Speaker 1: beautiful ambitious pitch by Jack Schaefer. The writer, and I
Speaker 1: Matt Chackman, the director, and Kevin Fagi, who came up
Speaker 1: with the idea, and I was just so thrilled to
Speaker 1: hear about it. And like I had said before, I
Speaker 1: couldn't have dreamt of a of a more incredible part
Speaker 1: to enter this world in. And you know, and I
Speaker 1: don't think you necessarily think of Marvel TV and female
Speaker 1: centric in the same in the same sentence, So it
Speaker 1: is really departure from what we've come to expect. Yes,
Speaker 1: And Jack Schaefer, who wrote it, is a woman, and
Speaker 1: Jack wrote the whole series, and like most of the
Speaker 1: writer's room were women, and the fact that it is
Speaker 1: a that was also a huge turn on for me, Katie,
Speaker 1: is that the right is that it's basically a superhero
Speaker 1: origin story rooted in feelings and grief and not just
Speaker 1: like you know, getting hit by a magnet or whatever
Speaker 1: and that's how you get yourself. It's like it is
Speaker 1: actually rooted in processing feeling and that there was being
Speaker 1: very new and um interesting about that to me. And
Speaker 1: the fact that it is so women woman centric was
Speaker 1: also of course very interesting to me. Um And to
Speaker 1: take the idea of like the domesticity and kind of
Speaker 1: start to flip it and just to see like where
Speaker 1: we've come and like all of it historically, like where
Speaker 1: we find where is our power source? Like where is
Speaker 1: our Like it's all of it is baked into the
Speaker 1: stew of this show for sure. And I was, um, yeah,
Speaker 1: just tickled, tickled to be a part of it and
Speaker 1: so happy it landed the way it did. So exciting,
Speaker 1: it really has. So what is the reaction been getting
Speaker 1: back to you? Catherine? And uh, I want to want division.
Speaker 1: I mean, do you think now people are seeing you
Speaker 1: in a whole new light? Tell me, because that this
Speaker 1: Marvel universe is just chocolate block full of crazy fans.
Speaker 1: So what has happened to you? Yeah? I mean my
Speaker 1: kids are nicer to me. Um, I when I think,
Speaker 1: I mean it is like the fan base is really
Speaker 1: truly amazing. And Lizzie I remember Lizzie and Paul saying,
Speaker 1: you know, it's a bummer that you don't get to
Speaker 1: experience the in person thrill of some of these premieres
Speaker 1: or junkets, because you know, it's very it is a
Speaker 1: real thrill. Um because you know, I'm again, I'm just
Speaker 1: like at home, So I have no real sense of
Speaker 1: of any of it, but um that surely you're kind
Speaker 1: of getting I mean fan mail, and you know, obviously
Speaker 1: people are talking about it, and my frands on TikTok
Speaker 1: keeps telling me that there's like a gazillion TikTok's which
Speaker 1: are so sweet to think about, and like, the meme
Speaker 1: makes me laugh a lot, the hear heartness. Your character
Speaker 1: even has her own theme song that is like us
Speaker 1: top the iTunes chart, What is happening? What is happening,
Speaker 1: Catherine On? I mean that was written by the loafez
Speaker 1: is like it that is that was a really crazy week.
Speaker 1: When I heard that, I was like, you guys are kidding.
Speaker 1: I was like, what are you talking about? Yeah? Billboards,
Speaker 1: billboard charts, billboards. I can't even talk, Yeah, the billboards.
Speaker 1: Were you a Marvel person before this all happened? I
Speaker 1: mean I was. I watched the Marvel all the the
Speaker 1: vendor stuff with my kids. But then when I mean,
Speaker 1: I was really so moved and thrilled and profoundly affected
Speaker 1: by Black Panther. I loved it so much. And then
Speaker 1: then I was so excited by um Captain Marvel, and
Speaker 1: so excited that um it was led by a woman
Speaker 1: by Bree And then I was so excited to hear
Speaker 1: about the slate coming up and how many women and
Speaker 1: how many incredible filmmakers are involved. Um, so yeah, there's
Speaker 1: like I'm so excited about this next chapter and there
Speaker 1: have and of course because of my children. UM, I
Speaker 1: knew enough to get into all the Avenger movies, but
Speaker 1: I definitely needed a rush up before starting this for sure.
Speaker 1: So are you going to be a part of the
Speaker 1: this world in the future. What's going on or do
Speaker 1: you have a special Can we break some news here, Katherine?
Speaker 1: What if I wish? I have zero idea. No one
Speaker 1: has said, no one has breathed a word, so I
Speaker 1: have no idea. I did find one of my long
Speaker 1: black nails in a bag, and it made me very
Speaker 1: nostalgic that I had lost one of my black Agathont nails.
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, which were hell about my duct tape?
Speaker 1: But I could Agatha resurface though you think, I mean,
Speaker 1: they certainly leave it that way. All right, So let's
Speaker 1: talk about what you're doing now, Catherine. You are doing, Um,
Speaker 1: I'm fascinated by this project you're doing, The Shrink next Door,
Speaker 1: which is based on a podcast which takes place in
Speaker 1: Southampton with Paul Rudd and Will Ferrell And can what
Speaker 1: can you tell us about that? Because I think I
Speaker 1: have a friend who said she lived near the real
Speaker 1: person when this happened, So can you can you kind
Speaker 1: of explain what this is all about? And when does
Speaker 1: it come out? I'm not sure when it comes out.
Speaker 1: I know it's Apple and it's um uh written. The
Speaker 1: show runner is the amazing Georgia Prochette, who did um
Speaker 1: Uh worked on Veep in succession and she's an incredible,
Speaker 1: incredible writer. And it's an adaptation like just a based
Speaker 1: loosely loosely loosely on the podcast called The Shrink next
Speaker 1: Door and which kind of follows a person's relationship longtime
Speaker 1: relationship with their therapist uh turned business partner and kind
Speaker 1: of how they were maybe taken advantage of financially and
Speaker 1: emotionally over a very long period of time. And you
Speaker 1: played the sister of the of the patient, right, play
Speaker 1: the sister of the patient, who is who they stopped
Speaker 1: communicating for about thirty years during this relationship that he
Speaker 1: formed with his uh ex therapist turned business partner. But
Speaker 1: it sounds like a creepy study and codependency. Is it funny,
Speaker 1: is it serious? What is it exactly? It rides? Will
Speaker 1: hopefully ride the line, um ride right on that line
Speaker 1: between between the both. Of course it's going to be
Speaker 1: funny because it's those incredible gentlemen and who are just
Speaker 1: I humbly think going to be magnificent in it, and um,
Speaker 1: hopefully it'll be right between because it is really like
Speaker 1: I mean, just the work I've been able I mostly
Speaker 1: work with Will in it, and the work I've seen
Speaker 1: him do already is just heartbreak hotel. So I'm very
Speaker 1: excited so for the world to see it. I love
Speaker 1: him very much, both of them. I'm very excited to
Speaker 1: see it too, and I think everybody is thrilled for
Speaker 1: all your success. Wait to see what you do next.
Speaker 1: And um, just great to talk to you. You know everything.
Speaker 1: The last time I saw you was was when people
Speaker 1: used to have parties and you were so generous and
Speaker 1: sweet to me. I just will never forget it. I
Speaker 1: was like, oh my god, oh my gosh. Anyway it
Speaker 1: was you remember those things I do I do. I
Speaker 1: don't think I want to go back to wearing heels,
Speaker 1: but I would like to go back to seeing people.
Speaker 1: You know, it's almost gonna be weird because are you
Speaker 1: going to be thinking, oh, this person is kind of
Speaker 1: breathing on me. Am I going to be okay? Like
Speaker 1: when you even just talking in normal conversation. I think
Speaker 1: it's going to be this big adjustment period. And it's
Speaker 1: like when you watch TV shows and you're like they're
Speaker 1: sitting too close or there's too many people at that party.
Speaker 1: Are you know they're not being careful? What are they doing?
Speaker 1: It's so weird that all the time. And then I
Speaker 1: read I just read this article about like why it's
Speaker 1: okay to feel super anxiont, super exhausted and a bit
Speaker 1: anxious after you've had an in person social interaction, and
Speaker 1: it was basically like a you are taking in as
Speaker 1: much oxygen, so you're just exhausted because you've got the
Speaker 1: mask mask on, so you have to shout so it's
Speaker 1: like more energy. And then see, like, you know, I
Speaker 1: feel like I'm deaf by the way, because I can
Speaker 1: never understand anybody, can under stand anybody. I think I
Speaker 1: am getting a little deaf. On top of that, I
Speaker 1: am too and the wrong words are coming out. And
Speaker 1: also I'm just not used to interactions in person, and
Speaker 1: so I just feel like I'm like, like everyone's trying
Speaker 1: to relearn how to be an actual human being. I think,
Speaker 1: so it's gonna be very whatever parties they are, there
Speaker 1: should be disclaimers about like how awkward the interactions are
Speaker 1: gonna be. I know, you know, it's funny. I did
Speaker 1: um Allen Show to just talk about a bunch of
Speaker 1: stuff and you know, Jeopardy and that my cancer work,
Speaker 1: and like, I couldn't think of words because I was
Speaker 1: I felt so much pressure being like in person, and
Speaker 1: I mean I sometimes have like brain farts anyway, but
Speaker 1: I just was like it was just weird. I I
Speaker 1: felt sort of on edge being face to face with
Speaker 1: somebody I didn't see regularly in talking. Yes, the fact
Speaker 1: that you have had that experience, I feel so seen,
Speaker 1: and I feel like so many people are gonna are
Speaker 1: gonna feel seen hearing that, because I find that all
Speaker 1: the time. And I'm feeling very reassured because you are
Speaker 1: so brilliant and the fact that you're having a hard
Speaker 1: time finding finding words is making you feel a teeny
Speaker 1: bit better because I couldn't find the word ricotta yesterday.
Speaker 1: The ricotta cheese, like it was broad just absolutely gone,
Speaker 1: Like I think my daughter had to be like Ricotta,
Speaker 1: Like I literally like was absolutely out of my mind forever. Well,
Speaker 1: they should reassure everyone listening who is having multiple daily
Speaker 1: brain farts that, um, it's all. And I should have
Speaker 1: Sanche goop to talk about what this has done to
Speaker 1: our brains and our memories. And I think maybe that
Speaker 1: will help people to Catherine, really great to see you.
Speaker 1: I I can't wait till one day I can see
Speaker 1: you in person. But in the meantime, you know, huge
Speaker 1: congratulations on everything, and uh, what can I say? We
Speaker 1: we love you and I you know, we're just so
Speaker 1: happy and proud happy for you. I'm proud of you.
Speaker 1: There you go, I got those words right, but the best.
Speaker 1: I am so flattered to be on this and thank
Speaker 1: you so much. Catherine Hahn hashtag new favorite person. If
Speaker 1: you haven't already, you can catch her on Wan Division
Speaker 1: on Disney Plus. Next Question with Katie Kurik is a
Speaker 1: production of I Heart Media and Katie Kurk Media. The
Speaker 1: executive producers are me, Katie Curic, and Courtney Litz. The
Speaker 1: supervising producer is Lauren Hansen. Associate producers Derek Clements, Adriana Fasio,
Speaker 1: and Emily Pinto. The show is edited and mixed by
Speaker 1: Derrick Clements. For more information about today's episode, or to
Speaker 1: sign up for my morning newsletter, wake Up Call, go
Speaker 1: to Katie currek dot com. You can also find me
Speaker 1: at Katie curic on Instagram and all my social media channels.
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from My Heart Radio, visit the I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows. H