WEBVTT - Molly Shannon has got some unbelievable stories to tell 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.480 Hi everyone, I'm Katie Curic, and this is next question. 0:00:04.840 --> 0:00:07.240 I don't know about you all, but just thinking about 0:00:07.280 --> 0:00:11.520 Molly Shannon makes me smile. For six seasons, she starred 0:00:11.520 --> 0:00:14.440 on Saturday Night Live and brought to life so many 0:00:14.640 --> 0:00:20.080 enduring characters like Catholic schoolgirl, married Katherine Gallagher. Sometimes when 0:00:20.079 --> 0:00:22.760 I get nervous, I sticked my fans under my arms 0:00:22.800 --> 0:00:27.400 and then I smell my fingers like that proud fifty 0:00:27.480 --> 0:00:30.440 year old Sally O'Malley. Not one of those gals who 0:00:30.480 --> 0:00:33.199 is afraid to tell her real aid. I had to 0:00:33.360 --> 0:00:45.320 kick scretch kick and Delicious Dish co host carry rialto 0:00:46.040 --> 0:00:52.839 please welcome the owner of Seasons Eatings, Pete Schwetty. But 0:00:53.200 --> 0:00:57.080 there's a lot about her story I didn't know, like 0:00:57.200 --> 0:01:00.000 how she dealt with loss at a very young age, 0:01:00.520 --> 0:01:04.600 her Zaney father and coming into her own as a comedian. 0:01:05.360 --> 0:01:07.560 She gets into all of it in her new book 0:01:07.640 --> 0:01:11.119 called Hello Molly, and we get into all of it 0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:19.840 in our conversation Hello Molly. Well, Hello Molly. That was 0:01:19.880 --> 0:01:22.480 such a mom thing to do. But hey, what are 0:01:22.480 --> 0:01:25.960 you gonna do? Molly Shannon? I'm so happy to talk 0:01:26.000 --> 0:01:31.360 to you. Congratulations on your book and everything in your life. 0:01:31.720 --> 0:01:35.559 And just before we talk about what's in your book, 0:01:36.040 --> 0:01:38.440 how has it been, Molly? Have you been enjoying this 0:01:38.520 --> 0:01:42.119 book tour? Uh? You know, how was the process of 0:01:42.160 --> 0:01:45.560 writing it? Are you feeling super vulnerable? Just tell me 0:01:46.040 --> 0:01:49.440 what you're thinking and feeling these days. I do feel 0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:53.080 I have really been enjoying the process. I'm really proud 0:01:53.120 --> 0:01:55.760 of myself that I wrote a book. And yes, you 0:01:56.040 --> 0:02:00.880 I do feel vulnerable, but I mostly I've just been 0:02:01.000 --> 0:02:04.520 enjoying it. I've been enjoying the process, and I think 0:02:04.560 --> 0:02:08.840 I just appreciate opportunities and show business. So I have 0:02:08.919 --> 0:02:12.680 a generally positive attitude. Yes, but it's very very like 0:02:13.000 --> 0:02:19.160 deeply profoundly personal obviously, and uh, it's full of, as 0:02:19.200 --> 0:02:25.000 one critic said, emotional truth and just burying your soul 0:02:25.400 --> 0:02:30.440 and kind of letting people into the deep dark places 0:02:30.680 --> 0:02:34.520 of your psyche. Um. Is it something that made you 0:02:34.560 --> 0:02:39.800 at all trepidacious or does it feel liberating? What? Um? Yes? 0:02:39.919 --> 0:02:42.920 I think I thought about everything deeply and thought about 0:02:42.919 --> 0:02:44.840 it a lot, and would comb over stuff like is 0:02:44.880 --> 0:02:47.400 that okay? And is that? What about that? And what 0:02:47.440 --> 0:02:50.960 about that? I think deeply about each element. It's not 0:02:51.040 --> 0:02:54.240 like random or anything. I'm really thinking about it. Um. 0:02:54.320 --> 0:02:57.000 But I also think women should share their stories. And 0:02:57.080 --> 0:03:00.960 I think vague sentimental writing is kind of ring. And uh, 0:03:01.080 --> 0:03:03.280 I just was like, if you're gonna do it like 0:03:04.000 --> 0:03:07.040 you know, you did it. It's like, if you're gonna 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:09.160 do it, do it, you know what I mean. I 0:03:09.200 --> 0:03:14.640 feel like women need other women, people need people, you know. 0:03:15.560 --> 0:03:18.520 I think, um, sharing stories is important. So I just 0:03:18.560 --> 0:03:22.120 wanted to be brave and do it and honest and 0:03:22.520 --> 0:03:26.840 yeah yeah and vulnerable. Yeah are you sick of telling 0:03:26.880 --> 0:03:29.600 these stories over and over again? Are you enjoying the 0:03:29.680 --> 0:03:33.680 publicity of it all? Um? I? I I guess I'm 0:03:33.720 --> 0:03:35.880 a comedian, so I don't mind telling the stories over 0:03:35.920 --> 0:03:38.440 and over again because I feel like I'm always like, oh, 0:03:38.480 --> 0:03:40.440 you can perfect how you tell it and set it 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:42.160 up that way. I'm always thinking like as a writer. 0:03:42.760 --> 0:03:44.880 And also I had to do live book events, so 0:03:45.440 --> 0:03:47.280 I was like, oh, I've got my little you know, 0:03:47.400 --> 0:03:49.880 act together on the roads. You you get better at 0:03:49.960 --> 0:03:53.160 kind of knowing Oh that fits, that works, like, you know. 0:03:53.360 --> 0:03:55.760 For those live book events, that made me nervous actually, 0:03:55.840 --> 0:03:58.280 because I felt like, are they expecting a comedy show 0:03:58.360 --> 0:04:03.040 or something? Is this. As a comedic actress, I felt like, oh, 0:04:03.120 --> 0:04:05.760 I better give them a thousand percent. And I said 0:04:06.000 --> 0:04:08.720 to my book publishers, I was like, do they know 0:04:08.800 --> 0:04:10.920 it's just like a Q and A because I get 0:04:10.960 --> 0:04:14.880 worried about, you know, being bor boring or something, you know, 0:04:15.240 --> 0:04:17.360 And did they tell you you don't have to do 0:04:17.480 --> 0:04:20.800 a whole like stand up routine. They did. They said, yep, 0:04:20.880 --> 0:04:22.640 you don't have to when people know what this is, 0:04:22.720 --> 0:04:25.560 and it's okay. But as I continue to do them, 0:04:25.560 --> 0:04:28.159 I would still, you know, okay, that story, that story 0:04:28.160 --> 0:04:30.240 gets a laugh, Tell that one. That's a good story 0:04:30.240 --> 0:04:33.040 that gets a laugh. So I, as a performer who 0:04:33.080 --> 0:04:37.000 does comedy, of course I am conscious of that. You know, well, 0:04:37.080 --> 0:04:39.240 you don't have to. You don't have to tell the 0:04:39.279 --> 0:04:42.000 stories that got to laugh. You can just have a 0:04:42.160 --> 0:04:46.360 s full on straight conversation with me about anything and 0:04:46.400 --> 0:04:49.880 everything you want to talk about. But wow, Molly, you know, 0:04:51.200 --> 0:04:53.960 I guess the tears of a clown. This is what 0:04:54.120 --> 0:04:57.400 I thought about when I read the part about your childhood, 0:04:57.480 --> 0:05:01.839 because I don't think that was particularly well known Molly, 0:05:02.160 --> 0:05:05.640 that you had a terrible loss when you were four 0:05:05.720 --> 0:05:10.640 years old. You lost your mom you lost your sister 0:05:10.880 --> 0:05:13.760 and you lost your cousin in a car accident, and 0:05:13.760 --> 0:05:18.800 your your father was badly injured as a result of it. 0:05:19.080 --> 0:05:24.200 And have people been as shocked to learn this about 0:05:24.240 --> 0:05:28.000 you as I was. Yes, I think people were like, oh, 0:05:28.040 --> 0:05:30.320 I didn't know that. And I kind of put it 0:05:30.320 --> 0:05:33.320 in context and I explained where certain characters came from, 0:05:33.360 --> 0:05:36.120 like Sally O'Malley, how she limps when she come on 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:39.960 comes on stage, and how that's really me imitating my 0:05:40.080 --> 0:05:44.719 dad's limp after the accident, and then her kicking is 0:05:44.760 --> 0:05:47.240 really my wish for my dad to kick the braces 0:05:47.279 --> 0:05:50.000 off a lot of them. A lot of my characters 0:05:50.000 --> 0:05:53.560 are impressions of my dad. But as women, um there's 0:05:53.600 --> 0:05:57.440 a lot of kicking, a lot of physical stuff, and um, 0:05:57.480 --> 0:05:59.560 sometimes when you're not even conscious of stuff, it just 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:01.680 comes out. You pour it out into the art and 0:06:01.720 --> 0:06:04.520 it helps you heal and survive. So I think it's 0:06:04.560 --> 0:06:07.440 interesting because people knew me as a comedian, but then 0:06:07.480 --> 0:06:10.160 to give the backstory of kind of where this comes 0:06:10.200 --> 0:06:14.000 from is hopefully can put it into a context. You know, 0:06:14.680 --> 0:06:17.000 We're gonna say one more thing, Katie. Yes, some people 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:19.920 were asking, you know these interviews might be emotional, and 0:06:20.040 --> 0:06:23.119 this is hard, but you know, honestly, I don't mind 0:06:23.160 --> 0:06:25.800 being deadly serious. I am a more serious person in 0:06:25.839 --> 0:06:27.839 real life, and sometimes I find it harder to have 0:06:27.920 --> 0:06:31.000 to have to just be funnier, you know, do be 0:06:31.279 --> 0:06:35.240 on late night shows. You know, I'm so appreciative that, 0:06:35.560 --> 0:06:38.520 but that's really hard, Like I almost my true nature 0:06:38.560 --> 0:06:41.920 is to be more serious. You know. Well, can you 0:06:41.960 --> 0:06:44.120 talk I mean, at the risk of making you talk 0:06:44.160 --> 0:06:47.520 about it again as you I'm sure you've you've done. 0:06:48.120 --> 0:06:52.280 I mean, it's a very harrowing story. Uh, tell us 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:56.960 set the scene and what was happening, and then Molly, 0:06:57.040 --> 0:06:59.320 I can only imagine, and in fact, you write about 0:07:00.000 --> 0:07:04.960 all the emotional baggage that you and your father were 0:07:05.040 --> 0:07:08.640 left with. Can you give us the circumstances and what 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:12.760 happened with the accident? Um? Yes, Well, there was a 0:07:12.840 --> 0:07:17.200 graduation party, um for my cousin, and it was like 0:07:17.240 --> 0:07:19.400 an all day party that went into the evening, and 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:23.480 there had been drinking. And I was four years old, 0:07:23.560 --> 0:07:26.760 my sister Mary was six, and my baby sister Katie 0:07:26.800 --> 0:07:32.880 was three, and um, yeah, so my dad's version of 0:07:32.880 --> 0:07:35.800 the story, and I believe my dad. He stuck to 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:39.920 his story till his death. Um and never wavered. Um. 0:07:40.000 --> 0:07:42.000 So And I lay this out in the book in 0:07:42.040 --> 0:07:46.600 the accident chapter. But basically, there was drinking earlier, he 0:07:46.640 --> 0:07:49.679 had taken a nap, and then they left much later 0:07:49.760 --> 0:07:52.200 at night, A group of people takes him out to 0:07:52.240 --> 0:07:54.000 the car, good bye, goodbye. You know. I guess my 0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:57.240 dad asked my mom to drive. She said, no, you're fine, 0:07:57.280 --> 0:07:59.800 you can drive. Yes, my cousin to drive, who was 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:02.360 only five, And I think they let him drive, and 0:08:02.400 --> 0:08:06.360 you know people, a group of people are saying goodbye. Um, 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:08.680 this is a different time now, I remember this is 0:08:08.880 --> 0:08:13.760 nineteen nine. We have so much more awareness on the subject. Now. 0:08:13.960 --> 0:08:16.440 We have mothers against drunk driving, we have friends don't 0:08:16.520 --> 0:08:19.960 let friends drive drunk. This is you know, people didn't 0:08:19.960 --> 0:08:23.160 wear seatbelts. It was you know. So anyhow, so we 0:08:23.320 --> 0:08:26.960 left and then the card jaid crash. It was ninety 0:08:27.000 --> 0:08:30.560 minutes into the drive home. And I will never know 0:08:30.840 --> 0:08:33.680 exactly what happened, Whether he fell asleep nodded off because 0:08:33.679 --> 0:08:36.439 he'd driven for ninety minutes, and did drinking. Was drinking 0:08:36.440 --> 0:08:40.720 involved in that? Yeah, I did drink. If he fell asleep, 0:08:40.760 --> 0:08:43.560 did drinking contribute to that, yes, probably, I'm not I'm 0:08:43.600 --> 0:08:45.520 not trying to bail him out of that, but there 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:49.559 was never a blood alcohol report. So you know, my 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:52.080 dad always stuck to that story till his death, like no, 0:08:52.240 --> 0:08:54.839 I had asked them to drive, and you know, so 0:08:55.000 --> 0:08:58.680 I chose to believe him. And I really admired my 0:08:58.800 --> 0:09:02.600 father and he was, like my mom, a gypsy rose. 0:09:02.679 --> 0:09:07.400 And after that horrible, devastating accident, he pulled himself up 0:09:07.440 --> 0:09:10.720 by his bootstraps and went on to raise two girls 0:09:10.720 --> 0:09:14.360 in the seventies and did his best job. And you know, 0:09:14.880 --> 0:09:18.040 he was a really good father, you know, but that 0:09:18.120 --> 0:09:22.480 must have been gosh, Molly's just a crushing blow. How 0:09:22.520 --> 0:09:26.320 old was your mom when my mom was thirty three? Yes, 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:30.680 it's a crushing blow, um to my dad, to me, 0:09:30.920 --> 0:09:36.440 to my sister Mary, who survived. It was I'm aged 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:39.800 four and life, as you know, it's just gone. Everything 0:09:39.880 --> 0:09:43.240 changed in a split second, and it was it was horrible, 0:09:43.520 --> 0:09:48.640 you know, And losing a parent at any age is 0:09:48.679 --> 0:09:53.520 extremely difficult, but losing a parent as a kid is 0:09:53.600 --> 0:09:56.040 just like a whole another thing. That's just you know, 0:09:56.760 --> 0:10:00.560 very sad. And you know it was I was in 0:10:00.600 --> 0:10:05.880 heavy grief. When I was little, really feeling like when 0:10:05.920 --> 0:10:08.640 I would do fun stuff, like my mom took my 0:10:08.640 --> 0:10:12.360 my aunt took me to the supermarket to buy, you know, toys, 0:10:12.400 --> 0:10:14.320 I would be like, Katie should be here. She would 0:10:14.400 --> 0:10:17.920 love these toys. Like everything made me mad. And when 0:10:17.920 --> 0:10:19.680 we went to live with my aunt after the accident, 0:10:19.679 --> 0:10:22.200 and my aunt um would cut sandwiches, but she would 0:10:22.280 --> 0:10:24.120 leave the cross on. I was like, no, my mom 0:10:24.160 --> 0:10:27.000 cuts the cross off. Do it like my mom? You know. 0:10:27.000 --> 0:10:31.120 It was just mad and heavy grief, too much for 0:10:31.440 --> 0:10:34.559 a child, you know, And you were four years old, 0:10:34.600 --> 0:10:39.440 and yet you remember so much. You talk about looking 0:10:39.520 --> 0:10:43.480 at Mary and having her sort of fall apart, your 0:10:43.520 --> 0:10:49.079 older sister h in the hospital, and it's it's amazing 0:10:49.160 --> 0:10:55.640 to me how how vivid those memories are for you still. Yes, 0:10:55.720 --> 0:10:58.640 they are so vivid and stuff you'll never forget. And 0:10:58.840 --> 0:11:02.640 it is interesting because it's such a you know, I 0:11:03.000 --> 0:11:06.440 remember that. I remember people coming into the hospital. Nobody 0:11:06.480 --> 0:11:08.960 would tell us what was going on. I was like, 0:11:09.000 --> 0:11:12.240 where is my mom? Where's Katie? And and then yeah, 0:11:12.280 --> 0:11:14.760 I thought, well Mary will be my guide posts. But 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:17.800 she was just so upset and looking out the window 0:11:17.960 --> 0:11:20.880 and you know, crying, and so it was just like 0:11:21.679 --> 0:11:24.079 I was like, where is my mom and where is Katie? 0:11:24.080 --> 0:11:26.360 And nobody's telling us what's going on. They're just bringing 0:11:26.440 --> 0:11:29.800 us all these presents, and we just had our beds 0:11:29.920 --> 0:11:33.840 filled with toys, and I was just like, uh, must 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:36.960 have been so confusing too, just for a little four 0:11:37.040 --> 0:11:41.680 year old girl to even attempt to process everything that 0:11:41.840 --> 0:11:45.920 was happening. It must have been so overwhelming. And this was, 0:11:46.000 --> 0:11:48.640 of course, you talk about a different time where people 0:11:49.160 --> 0:11:54.400 weren't that conscious about drinking and driving and all the 0:11:54.440 --> 0:11:57.959 things that were aware of today. They also weren't that 0:11:58.600 --> 0:12:03.800 knowledgeable about green and about processing grief and helping kids 0:12:03.840 --> 0:12:07.120 with grief. And I think in many ways we still aren't, 0:12:07.160 --> 0:12:09.040 of course. You know. I think about my girls who 0:12:09.120 --> 0:12:12.360 were six in and two when they lost their dad 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:16.440 after a nine month illness, so kind of a different 0:12:16.480 --> 0:12:21.520 set of circumstances and six and ten, you six and two, 0:12:22.080 --> 0:12:26.640 six and two so little. So yeah, of course I 0:12:26.760 --> 0:12:30.079 relate to them, you know. And did you I know 0:12:30.200 --> 0:12:33.199 that you've you've talked about going to therapy, but this 0:12:33.320 --> 0:12:36.680 was much later when you went and and and talked 0:12:36.679 --> 0:12:39.880 about these issues. Did you get any help, any kind 0:12:39.880 --> 0:12:42.720 of counseling as a little girl to help you deal 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:46.240 with this. No, I did not have any counseling. And 0:12:46.280 --> 0:12:48.120 I think people were like, don't talk about it, I'll 0:12:48.120 --> 0:12:52.040 make her sad, you know, And teachers didn't know what 0:12:52.120 --> 0:12:55.800 to do, and you know, nobody talked about you know, 0:12:55.840 --> 0:12:58.160 people didn't talk about it, and I think I didn't. 0:12:58.200 --> 0:13:00.080 I probably didn't want to talk about it because I 0:13:00.120 --> 0:13:02.480 think you don't want to stand out in school. You 0:13:02.520 --> 0:13:04.280 don't want to feel different. You want to just blend 0:13:04.320 --> 0:13:07.360 in and be normal. You know. It's so true. That's 0:13:07.360 --> 0:13:12.200 what kids do. They want to be normal. They don't 0:13:12.200 --> 0:13:14.160 want to have they don't want to be different than 0:13:14.200 --> 0:13:18.360 the other kids. And it's interesting when Ellie, Ellie's dad 0:13:18.440 --> 0:13:20.800 was sick, because Carrie was just so little. Ellie was 0:13:20.840 --> 0:13:25.600 in kindergarten and I I had this social worker come 0:13:25.640 --> 0:13:28.559 in and do this thing called the worry cup, and 0:13:28.640 --> 0:13:33.080 everybody put one of those plastic sort of fake gemstones 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:36.320 into this cup in the middle of the circle and 0:13:36.360 --> 0:13:39.640 they all talked about what they were worried about, and 0:13:39.720 --> 0:13:42.439 what it did is Ellie obviously said she was worried 0:13:42.440 --> 0:13:45.360 about her dad who was sick. But other people said, 0:13:45.400 --> 0:13:48.480 I'm worried about my grandmother, I'm worried that my dog 0:13:48.640 --> 0:13:50.800 is going to die, and I'm worried about this that 0:13:51.000 --> 0:13:55.920 or the other thing. But it basically it made it 0:13:56.080 --> 0:14:01.720 made Ellie's pain and anxiety. It normalized it because it 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:04.840 showed that she wasn't alone and that other kids were 0:14:04.880 --> 0:14:08.360 really worried about things too. And I remember her teacher 0:14:08.440 --> 0:14:12.120 telling me it was one of the most profound experiences 0:14:12.160 --> 0:14:15.160 she had ever had as a teacher. But you know, 0:14:15.280 --> 0:14:18.679 there obviously that wasn't around when you were a little girl, 0:14:18.840 --> 0:14:23.160 and you just were Obviously people didn't know what to say, 0:14:23.200 --> 0:14:27.880 and you just felt weirder and weirder. I'm sure, yeah, 0:14:28.240 --> 0:14:31.480 I although I did have a priest at St. Thomas 0:14:31.560 --> 0:14:33.800 who did when we moved back to our family home 0:14:33.840 --> 0:14:36.000 after my dad recuperated. We lived in my aunt for 0:14:35.960 --> 0:14:40.160 a year, and we did have a family priest when 0:14:40.160 --> 0:14:42.840 we went to church one day who knelt down and 0:14:42.880 --> 0:14:46.520 acknowledged the loss. He was like, no, Molly, you've lost 0:14:46.560 --> 0:14:50.680 your mother and your baby sister, and this is very sad. 0:14:51.240 --> 0:14:54.600 And he held my hands and looked deep into my eyes, 0:14:54.840 --> 0:14:59.600 and I really appreciated it. I was like, I felt 0:14:59.680 --> 0:15:02.760 seen mean and understood, and I was so happy he 0:15:02.920 --> 0:15:05.840 said something, and I just I loved him for it. 0:15:06.160 --> 0:15:09.480 He had big, thick eyebrows and and irish brogue. I 0:15:09.520 --> 0:15:13.440 was like, you know, I just I loved Father Murray 0:15:13.560 --> 0:15:16.920 for for that. You know, did your dad talk about 0:15:16.960 --> 0:15:19.480 it much or was he sort of of the school 0:15:19.960 --> 0:15:22.560 let's not bring it up because it'll make Molly and 0:15:22.600 --> 0:15:25.720 Mary sad. He had a picture of her by his 0:15:25.800 --> 0:15:29.760 bedside night table, with her in her wedding dress with 0:15:29.800 --> 0:15:32.280 a rosary draped over the photographs. So I grew up 0:15:32.320 --> 0:15:37.080 always seeing that in her mask card. And he would 0:15:37.080 --> 0:15:41.080 talk about her, yes. And when he would clean the house, 0:15:41.560 --> 0:15:43.520 you know, he was a single father after that, so 0:15:43.560 --> 0:15:46.080 he would he would get stressed out cleaning and and 0:15:46.120 --> 0:15:49.240 then you know, he would take sometimes he would take 0:15:49.240 --> 0:15:51.600 Dexi mill to clean the house, a combination and embeeming 0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:54.520 and tranquilizer. He would stay cleaning and clean all the 0:15:54.560 --> 0:15:56.880 next thing in the house was sparkling, clean and even 0:15:56.880 --> 0:15:59.160 play Judy Garland. And then we would sit on the 0:15:59.200 --> 0:16:00.880 floor in the kitchen on the carpet. It was like 0:16:01.000 --> 0:16:03.480 nineteen's kitchen and we would eat He's like, don't get 0:16:03.480 --> 0:16:05.800 crumbs on the ground. But we would be like angel 0:16:05.800 --> 0:16:09.280 of God, my guardian, dear to whom God's love commits 0:16:09.360 --> 0:16:12.960 us here. God bless Mommy, Katie and France. Every day 0:16:13.000 --> 0:16:16.600 we did that every every day. Yeah, so he kept 0:16:16.680 --> 0:16:21.960 their memory alive for you and your sister. He really did. 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:27.040 And he would talk about her, and yes he did, 0:16:27.120 --> 0:16:31.360 he did. Yes, yes, he would talk about We'll be 0:16:31.560 --> 0:16:35.800 right back with the ever Charmie often hilarious, Molly Shannon, 0:16:36.080 --> 0:16:48.720 right after this, your dad sounds like such a character, um, 0:16:48.800 --> 0:16:52.680 not only taking speed to do the housework, but also 0:16:53.280 --> 0:16:57.360 also just how much funny was. And you describe him 0:16:57.400 --> 0:17:02.600 as as your mama June, you know, and and um, 0:17:02.600 --> 0:17:05.360 tell me a little bit about him, because he sounds 0:17:05.400 --> 0:17:09.919 like he was so much fun to be around. He 0:17:10.040 --> 0:17:12.960 really was. He was just like very silly. He was 0:17:13.000 --> 0:17:15.320 a frustrated performer. He always said that he wished he 0:17:15.320 --> 0:17:17.679 would have gone to the Cleveland Playhouse and been an actor. 0:17:17.800 --> 0:17:21.000 So everything around the house like it was like games. 0:17:21.160 --> 0:17:24.560 Or if you went to the candy store like staffers 0:17:24.640 --> 0:17:26.960 on Stopain Boulevard and Cleveland. O, how he go, Molly, 0:17:27.119 --> 0:17:28.800 how about if we go into candy store and I'll 0:17:28.840 --> 0:17:30.960 putend like I'm blind, and I was like okay, Like 0:17:31.040 --> 0:17:33.359 everything was like a scene or a sketch. And he 0:17:33.400 --> 0:17:36.080 would knock boxes of chocolates over and then he would 0:17:36.160 --> 0:17:39.600 take samples and go, is this chocolate? Like very silly? 0:17:40.160 --> 0:17:45.960 And then um. He would also undress the mannequins or 0:17:46.000 --> 0:17:48.320 he would if a lot of times he didn't want 0:17:48.320 --> 0:17:50.159 to pay because he worried about money. So if we 0:17:50.200 --> 0:17:52.680 went to the amusement park Giaga Lake, he would say 0:17:52.680 --> 0:17:54.680 to Anne Rampton, you know, I'll tell you what. Why 0:17:54.720 --> 0:17:56.720 don't you speak around the back and hop over the 0:17:56.760 --> 0:17:58.119 fence and then come meet me in the front. So 0:17:58.160 --> 0:17:59.760 I don't want to pay for you. So we were like, 0:18:00.359 --> 0:18:03.080 you know, we're like eleven and ten or eleven, and 0:18:03.160 --> 0:18:06.199 we climb over and hop over barbed wire fence and 0:18:06.240 --> 0:18:10.119 get scratched, and then he wouldn't have to pay, you know. Um. 0:18:10.160 --> 0:18:12.520 But then he could equally turn and get mad too, 0:18:12.520 --> 0:18:14.199 Like he would have to take us to you know, 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:16.119 get us our clothes for school. And we went to 0:18:16.160 --> 0:18:19.560 this local place called the Lollipop Shop, and my dad 0:18:19.680 --> 0:18:22.120 was buying dresses. You know, he had very good taste. 0:18:22.160 --> 0:18:24.320 He was like, classics are the best. He bought all 0:18:24.320 --> 0:18:26.320 the dresses to the counter and then the woman said, 0:18:26.320 --> 0:18:28.600 oh no, I'm sorry. He had pulled him off the 0:18:28.640 --> 0:18:31.520 sales rap sales rack. She said, no this, these dresses 0:18:31.520 --> 0:18:33.600 aren't on sale, and he was like what. Then he 0:18:33.600 --> 0:18:36.240 would kind of blow up and like, well, that's false advertising, 0:18:36.280 --> 0:18:38.760 and he would go and knock all the clothes down 0:18:38.800 --> 0:18:41.639 off the rack, one rack, two racks, and push the 0:18:41.720 --> 0:18:44.720 racks over. Then come on, girls, and then he would 0:18:45.160 --> 0:18:48.159 like you weren't mortified. We were mortified, And then he 0:18:48.160 --> 0:18:51.399 would hurl an insult at the sales person like on 0:18:51.520 --> 0:18:55.000 the way out, like and fix your teeth. Come on girls, 0:18:55.160 --> 0:18:59.640 you know, like terrible. We'd be like, oh no, yeah, 0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:04.679 so um yes. So he was charismatic and funny, but 0:19:04.760 --> 0:19:08.160 then he could also you know, get stressed out and 0:19:08.480 --> 0:19:11.320 with all responsibilities of shopping and cleaning and cooking and 0:19:11.400 --> 0:19:15.080 you know, um. But but overall though, he was very 0:19:15.200 --> 0:19:17.000 loving and I felt like he always had my back 0:19:17.040 --> 0:19:20.600 and he believed in me and you know, accepted me. 0:19:20.880 --> 0:19:24.080 So you know, I wanted to tell a real, you know, 0:19:24.320 --> 0:19:27.640 truthful portrait. It was, yeah, sometimes complicated, but I had 0:19:27.680 --> 0:19:30.680 deep love for my father, and was he the one 0:19:30.760 --> 0:19:36.919 that encouraged your theatrical creative side, Molly? How did that blossom? 0:19:37.000 --> 0:19:42.040 And how did he? Um, gosh, I guess nurture that? Well? 0:19:42.080 --> 0:19:44.359 He was he He loved movies. We grew up watching 0:19:44.440 --> 0:19:47.159 Judy Garland and Easter Parade and Rously and Russell, and 0:19:47.160 --> 0:19:49.840 he loved those strong dames. So I grew up watching 0:19:49.840 --> 0:19:52.600 them thinking oh, maybe I should be like them. And 0:19:52.640 --> 0:19:55.840 then we were always doing skits in the house. We 0:19:55.880 --> 0:19:57.639 would do like a telephone game. I call it the 0:19:57.720 --> 0:20:00.480 Gym Shannon School of Acting, where we would take phone 0:20:00.520 --> 0:20:02.760 calls and my dad we had to be really real, 0:20:03.040 --> 0:20:05.440 so I would answer the phone, Hello, Shannon rests his Molly, 0:20:05.440 --> 0:20:07.359 and you go, no, no, that sounds fake, or you 0:20:07.359 --> 0:20:10.199 would start the call like you you want to uh 0:20:10.280 --> 0:20:13.960 huh yeah, And so you had to do it really real, 0:20:14.119 --> 0:20:16.240 so much to the point where when friends were over, 0:20:16.840 --> 0:20:19.720 we would fake ring the call. And if say you 0:20:19.760 --> 0:20:21.760 were at my house and I was, you know, Katie's 0:20:21.760 --> 0:20:24.119 over for a play date, I'd be like, hello, Shannon 0:20:24.160 --> 0:20:33.560 rests Molly. Yeah, yeah, Katie's right here. Uh huh yeah, right, okay, yes, 0:20:33.720 --> 0:20:35.119 I can put it on you know, I'm trying to 0:20:35.160 --> 0:20:37.640 pull you in so much that we could really trick 0:20:37.680 --> 0:20:40.320 our friends. And I really do use that acting technique now. 0:20:40.359 --> 0:20:43.040 I used it in White Lotus. I always try to 0:20:43.160 --> 0:20:45.920 use the Gym Shannon School of acting in my you know, 0:20:46.040 --> 0:20:49.480 professional Well, how does that how does that translate to 0:20:49.640 --> 0:20:53.680 like the roles you're playing the Gym Shannon School because 0:20:53.760 --> 0:20:55.960 you it gives a natural performance. It does give it 0:20:56.080 --> 0:20:59.159 not It's not like some caricature. It's real. So if 0:20:59.200 --> 0:21:02.360 you're playing you know, like Kitty and White Lotus, I'm 0:21:02.400 --> 0:21:04.800 not doing like and Darla and come over here. I'm 0:21:04.800 --> 0:21:07.919 doing Oh he's so cute. I'm doing it real. But 0:21:08.080 --> 0:21:11.720 she's making it real. But she's that type of person. 0:21:11.800 --> 0:21:14.520 But I still hope to do it grounded and real. 0:21:14.640 --> 0:21:17.160 I'm not doing I mean that is from my dad. 0:21:17.560 --> 0:21:20.520 It wasn't that interesting. And then and then in l A, 0:21:20.640 --> 0:21:23.320 I remember struggling and I was like, oh, it's so hard. 0:21:23.400 --> 0:21:26.440 I'm not blonde and beautiful. I'm never gonna make it. 0:21:26.520 --> 0:21:28.800 He was like, well that's not a good attitude, Molly. 0:21:28.840 --> 0:21:30.680 You're never gonna make it if you have that attitude. 0:21:30.680 --> 0:21:33.239 And he's like, what you need to do is you know, 0:21:33.440 --> 0:21:36.159 put on your high heels, doll yourself up, put on 0:21:36.200 --> 0:21:40.120 some lipstick, and you march in there to those Hollywood 0:21:40.160 --> 0:21:43.480 agents and casting directors and you say, hey, hold the phone, 0:21:43.680 --> 0:21:48.080 I got talent and use your singing voice. And I 0:21:48.200 --> 0:21:50.960 was like, okay, I don't know if that's gonna work. 0:21:51.400 --> 0:21:54.720 But when I had my first meeting with a talent manager, 0:21:54.800 --> 0:21:58.440 Barbara Jarrett in um New York City, who represented an 0:21:58.480 --> 0:22:01.720 up and coming freckle faced Jerry O'Connell, and stand by me, 0:22:02.240 --> 0:22:05.560 I did do that. I sang the song Chica Go, 0:22:05.960 --> 0:22:08.679 Chica Go. I sang at Judy Garland song like my 0:22:08.760 --> 0:22:11.320 dad liked. And I got up on the desk and 0:22:11.400 --> 0:22:14.560 Barbara Jarrett was like, you got a kid, and she 0:22:14.760 --> 0:22:17.520 signed me and I was up. You know. So it's 0:22:17.600 --> 0:22:21.560 like his advice work. Did you call your dad and say, 0:22:21.600 --> 0:22:24.480 hey it worked, dad, I did. He knew it. He 0:22:24.560 --> 0:22:26.760 was like I told you, you know, he was always like, 0:22:26.960 --> 0:22:31.919 all yourself up, jump on the desk, and usually you know, 0:22:32.040 --> 0:22:34.879 and use your voice. Is that what he said exactly? 0:22:34.920 --> 0:22:38.800 He did use your singing voice. Yes, that's so funny. 0:22:39.080 --> 0:22:42.600 I know, it's so crazy. Um, so I have to 0:22:42.640 --> 0:22:45.560 ask you about there was a time in Cleveland when 0:22:45.680 --> 0:22:49.720 when you hopped on a plane wearing with a friend 0:22:50.280 --> 0:22:54.520 wearing ballet to twos after your dad dared you, Yes, 0:22:54.680 --> 0:22:56.440 my dad dared us. He said, you know what would 0:22:56.440 --> 0:23:00.520