Speaker 1: Always fly in the same underwear I fly. I fly
Speaker 1: to somewhere, like to a place in Captain America, and
Speaker 1: I fly home in Spider Man. Oh my god, No, no, okay,
Speaker 1: I'm this is a real question. You're kidding, right, No,
Speaker 1: absolutely not. I love it. You fly somewhere, so that
Speaker 1: means you have multiple Captain America underwear. I have one
Speaker 1: Captain America and one Spider Man. So I my my
Speaker 1: my to the destination is Captain America and my home
Speaker 1: from the destination is Spider Man. Always. I always have
Speaker 1: a D twenty three D twenty on me. I have
Speaker 1: certain rituals that I always It's one of the Doe,
Speaker 1: so I always have one on me. I've always got
Speaker 1: my Marvel underwear. I've got to I've got a ritual.
Speaker 1: Well I do. Oh my god, I love you. So
Speaker 1: you can never like d C underwear would be anathema,
Speaker 1: right like I've got some deep No, I've got I've
Speaker 1: got a great oh Man. One of my favorite underwear.
Speaker 1: I literally have Batman underwear with a removable cape. So
Speaker 1: there's a there's a cape over the button, over the butt,
Speaker 1: a small Batman cape over the Where do you find these?
Speaker 1: They do not. I cannot believe they make grown Man
Speaker 1: they do underpants. It gets work because not only not
Speaker 1: only do I find them, but my wife will also
Speaker 1: buy them for me. Okay, I want to I want
Speaker 1: to break down the cape over the butt. Okay, flying
Speaker 1: it might be. It's got it's little. It's got a
Speaker 1: little utility belt around it, like a little Batman utility belt. Um,
Speaker 1: it's the way it should be. I've got a cape
Speaker 1: on my chair. Look at my chair. My chair is
Speaker 1: Batman drinking again again, just because the next time I
Speaker 1: fly with Will, I don't want to think about the
Speaker 1: fact that I know what underwear and now I do
Speaker 1: I will. There you go, you're gonna know. I have
Speaker 1: a pair of Deadpool underwear that I wear when I
Speaker 1: do our panels too. I'm sorry. The question for me becomes,
Speaker 1: you don't have lucky underwear that you wear for certain things? Wow?
Speaker 1: Not interesting? Great? Great Deadpool, I've got a really good Um,
Speaker 1: I like the fun kind of underwear or underwear as
Speaker 1: I like you said underwear. I did. I absolutely did
Speaker 1: like the Bob Ross ones are great until I kind
Speaker 1: of heard that his family kind of gets screwed out
Speaker 1: of the royalties so I don't really wear my Bob
Speaker 1: Ross ones anymore. Um so I was like, yeah, that's
Speaker 1: not cool. But oh yeah, no you I run the
Speaker 1: game and I've got some d C stuff. I had
Speaker 1: my eye and a great pair of Aquaman shorts, but
Speaker 1: the underwear, but they were gone, Like you turn your
Speaker 1: back and they're gone. So you gotta jump on that
Speaker 1: when you get the chance. Pretty much. Yeah, well all right,
Speaker 1: these were things I never never knew and probably never
Speaker 1: needed to know, but um, somehow I'm actually really happy
Speaker 1: I know them. Well. I've always heard that, like actors
Speaker 1: are suspicious people. You know, they're superstitious, superstitious. Sorry, yeah,
Speaker 1: wait a second, superstitious people. I mean you know you
Speaker 1: have there's so many rituals, right, like everyone has their
Speaker 1: lucky socks, everyone has their like you can't say the
Speaker 1: Scottish play in the theater. You know, there's all these traditions.
Speaker 1: And it's like, yeah, because you have to make something up,
Speaker 1: you have to court in something magical. You have to
Speaker 1: completely convince your brain that like, oh I'm actually this
Speaker 1: person on stage right now, or I'm experiencing this real emotion.
Speaker 1: I mean that is a superstitious process, Like that I had,
Speaker 1: and that's bad, but it also gets bad too because
Speaker 1: I had a hat that I wore for every single
Speaker 1: recording session I did for every animated series I did,
Speaker 1: or every voice over four years. And I was sitting
Speaker 1: there one time wearing it and one of the actors
Speaker 1: turned to me and said, if you lose that hat,
Speaker 1: are you never gonna work again? Like what's going to happen?
Speaker 1: And it got into my head where I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: I need to break this habit of wearing this thing
Speaker 1: every time because in my head, I'm gonna be like
Speaker 1: my hat fell apart, I'm never So I literally just
Speaker 1: started to not wear it because it got to be
Speaker 1: a thing, and it was like, yeah, it can't be
Speaker 1: a thing. The underwear is more just fun. It's not
Speaker 1: like anything bad's gonna happen to me if I'm not
Speaker 1: wearing it, but it will. Yeah, just saying I don't
Speaker 1: have any of those I don't have any of nothing.
Speaker 1: You don't have any rituals that you do at all whatsoever?
Speaker 1: Like nothing, And I'm not talking because there's something like
Speaker 1: Chris Farley was famous for apparently being kind of O
Speaker 1: C D where when he would go onto the stage,
Speaker 1: run out of the stage for SNL, he had to
Speaker 1: touch certain things a number of times, lick certain things
Speaker 1: the number of times, like it got to a mental illness.
Speaker 1: Whereas but you don't have anything where it's like, all right,
Speaker 1: there's always change in my left pocket, or there's always
Speaker 1: the I wear this or I do that. No showtime
Speaker 1: rituals at all. Well, like I definitely have designated pockets
Speaker 1: for stuff, but that's not like that's just a organizational tool.
Speaker 1: That's an organizational tool. Yeah. No, No, there's nothing. There's
Speaker 1: no ritual, there's no magical like you know, I don't
Speaker 1: even knock on wood. You know, I've noticed you knock
Speaker 1: on wood, and although I knock on wood all the time.
Speaker 1: I mean, I liked our traditions backstage. I liked our
Speaker 1: or you know you will you and I had our
Speaker 1: handshake are high five, yeah, and we pretended to bash
Speaker 1: our foreheads into each other. Yeah, the football high five,
Speaker 1: football high five, right, uh, and then we did the
Speaker 1: screen backstage. But yeah, I mean I think when we
Speaker 1: were on Boy Meets World, I did have more of them,
Speaker 1: because I think there was consistency to Boy Meets World
Speaker 1: where I could have something like you know, I think
Speaker 1: for a long time I wore that a Yin Yang
Speaker 1: thumb ring. I think I was like obsessed with making
Speaker 1: sure I had that thumb ring on for a while,
Speaker 1: and I was I had it. It was like, well,
Speaker 1: I'm never taking it off, and I think, maybe we're
Speaker 1: gonna see this on the show. This is quite possibly. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I had the same necklace for years. Yeah, you wear
Speaker 1: the same necklace. I think I did. I don't remember it.
Speaker 1: I don't remember exactly what it was. But I definitely
Speaker 1: had a thing about gum. I chewed gum all the time,
Speaker 1: and yet you know, obviously you shouldn't chew gum on camera.
Speaker 1: So I think I had a thing about like always
Speaker 1: having a piece of gum in my mouth until right
Speaker 1: before we went out. Then it probably went on the
Speaker 1: gum wall um and so I know, I know I
Speaker 1: I probably had more of them then. Where you know,
Speaker 1: every week you're doing the same thing, and it's easy
Speaker 1: to get into like I like to do this thing. Uh,
Speaker 1: but when you know, and I did for a long
Speaker 1: period of time, insist on stopping my gas in the car,
Speaker 1: like when I would get gas on an even dollar amount,
Speaker 1: and I inherited that from my mom who likes and
Speaker 1: but then I would have this anxiety if it went
Speaker 1: over by a penny, and then I'd have to go
Speaker 1: up to another dollar. And then there were multiple times
Speaker 1: my car gas tank overflowed, gas pouring out of the
Speaker 1: side of it because I was trying to get to
Speaker 1: an even dollar amount until one day, I literally just
Speaker 1: one day said this is dumb. I'm not doing it anymore,
Speaker 1: and I haven't done it since, so I don't. I
Speaker 1: still do it just for fun to see if I
Speaker 1: can stop. Like to me, it's more personal failure like
Speaker 1: ah fifty one like but other than that, yeah, it's
Speaker 1: I'm it's not like a thing. I just I like
Speaker 1: to see the zeros. Well, welcome to Pod Meets World.
Speaker 1: I'm Daniel Fishel, I'm right or Strong, and I'm Wilfredell.
Speaker 1: I am so excited about our guest today. I say
Speaker 1: that every week, but it's true. We've got so many
Speaker 1: amazing guests and I'm I'm always excited about them. Um.
Speaker 1: We have Christine Laken with us today who played al Lambert.
Speaker 1: Her full name was actually Alicia Lambert, which I don't
Speaker 1: think I knew that. I think I just always knew
Speaker 1: her as Al Lambert. She did a hundred and sixty
Speaker 1: episodes of Step by Step, which was by two episodes.
Speaker 1: They also did seven seasons and um. She has also
Speaker 1: heard on Family Guy as Joyce Kinney, and she is
Speaker 1: now directing for shows like The Goldberg's and High School Musical,
Speaker 1: The Musical, The Series, and most importantly today, She guest
Speaker 1: starred on an episode of Boy Meets World called Getting
Speaker 1: Hitched in season six. So please welcome Christine Lincoln. Oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, it's so nice to see you. It's so
Speaker 1: nice to see you all. You just had a big weekend.
Speaker 1: You were I'm really tired. Tell me tell us about
Speaker 1: your weekend. Um, my son turned four. Your baby is four.
Speaker 1: I can't believe it. It really makes me want to cry. Um,
Speaker 1: he turned four, and we were going to have a
Speaker 1: pool party at grandma and Grandpa's because you know it
Speaker 1: would spend only a hundred and five. But when you're
Speaker 1: thinking as a parent, you're just like, yeah, yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna make this happen. Well, what can we do pool time?
Speaker 1: So I had the whole thing set up and then
Speaker 1: Saturday was rain right, that's right, the one one day
Speaker 1: in four years. It rains. It's work. People out with
Speaker 1: me all the time with these parties. So I'm like driving,
Speaker 1: you know, on Friday, and I'm realizing it's rain and
Speaker 1: I'm like cold calling magicians. I'm like, I'm like calling people, like,
Speaker 1: do you know any entertainment? What can I do here?
Speaker 1: So I found someone, Sam Shazam showed up. He was great.
Speaker 1: I don't even need to know what he do. Amazing.
Speaker 1: So we had the party on Saturday and that was
Speaker 1: really nice. And then yesterday I hosted the Burbank International
Speaker 1: Film Festival. Incredible, Yes, and there were some really exciting
Speaker 1: movies in this festival, I have to tell you. So
Speaker 1: it was very fun. But it was a very long weekend. Yes,
Speaker 1: that's a long weekend for sure. So I'm excited. So
Speaker 1: I was talking about you last night with my husband
Speaker 1: because we you know, Jensen carp is one of the
Speaker 1: executive producers of this podcast, and we were talking about
Speaker 1: having you on, and he said, where did you and
Speaker 1: Christine meet? And I went, I don't know. I had
Speaker 1: the exact same thought. Honestly, this morning, I was like,
Speaker 1: when did I actually meet Christine? It was like no,
Speaker 1: he just kind of were in each other's lives like
Speaker 1: all the time. But I had no idea when it
Speaker 1: first happened. And that's so that's what I was going
Speaker 1: to ask. Is this just a thing for all of
Speaker 1: us nineties kids who grew up doing this stuff? Do
Speaker 1: we just not remember where we where we met or
Speaker 1: do you actually have a memory of it, Christine, I,
Speaker 1: I don't have a specific memory of the day that
Speaker 1: like we all met, but I do know for a
Speaker 1: fact that because of us being in the same block
Speaker 1: of t G I f I feel like we went
Speaker 1: to certain ABC parties together, Like there were you know,
Speaker 1: there were things like that. Um, I definitely remember, Um, Danielle,
Speaker 1: you and I would go to some charity events. I
Speaker 1: have so many great pictures of us at charity events,
Speaker 1: like around Halloween when we would hand out yeah, bowling
Speaker 1: Halloween where we handed out candy to people. Um, I
Speaker 1: do remember. I think that's I think, because yeah, That's
Speaker 1: the other thing is that I'll say to Jensen like, oh,
Speaker 1: probably one of those parties, and it's like, we really
Speaker 1: sound like we were partying in the nineties and we
Speaker 1: really weren't. But there were a lot of I guess
Speaker 1: functions where they were bringing us all out everyone from
Speaker 1: even not even just the t G I F block,
Speaker 1: but like kind of all the ABC stars and shows,
Speaker 1: and there were ABC events and and then that was
Speaker 1: just the network events. There was also like Tiger Beat
Speaker 1: would do an event. Yeah, and then like Ronald McDonald
Speaker 1: was always a really big one. My mom was very into,
Speaker 1: you know, me doing things for a charity and um
Speaker 1: and I always really enjoyed that too, so we did
Speaker 1: a lot of Make a Wish and things like that.
Speaker 1: You have to remember I lived in Atlanta, so I
Speaker 1: didn't have any friends in l A really, and so
Speaker 1: all of these events were kind of like my social outlet.
Speaker 1: I would meet people and see people. But it's very
Speaker 1: strange because now, I mean she would take pictures at
Speaker 1: all of them, and I was going through stuff last
Speaker 1: year because they were my parents were moving out of
Speaker 1: my childhood home. The pictures I found some of these
Speaker 1: events with like people of all kinds. I mean it
Speaker 1: was like people from the cast of Melbury's Place and
Speaker 1: like Tatiana Ali Jenavanoy, like any kid that was on
Speaker 1: a show, like the kids from Roman Improvement. Yes, lots
Speaker 1: of those were you. I have a question going back
Speaker 1: to when we met in the weird places we would
Speaker 1: hang out. Were you at the famous like Tiger Beat
Speaker 1: paintball day where they just handed us all that was
Speaker 1: so much fun shooting at each other. You can paintball there.
Speaker 1: I finally know I had tennis ball sized welts on
Speaker 1: my body. We went paintball, dude. One of the most
Speaker 1: vicious things I still have ever seen to this day
Speaker 1: is Jenna FNOI who I think I might have been
Speaker 1: dating at the time. I don't know if we had
Speaker 1: broken up yet, but we were definitely still friends. Was
Speaker 1: forgot you dated Jenna? I did. Yeah, we're on with
Speaker 1: both of your red Toyota Selica confirmed. Yes, No, she
Speaker 1: had white. She hers is white. I was ready. Hers
Speaker 1: was red. I thought you had watching. I'm almost positive
Speaker 1: hers was red because I knew all I knew from
Speaker 1: my whole life. All I wanted was a red Toyota
Speaker 1: Celica convertible. But I thought, and I thought it was
Speaker 1: because of Jenna, but maybe it was. You might have
Speaker 1: mine wasn't a convertible. Well you'll see it. I still
Speaker 1: have it. Anyway. Jenna and I lived like next door
Speaker 1: to each other. She's the best She's like the nicest
Speaker 1: person in the world, the weird world, which is why
Speaker 1: what I witnessed was so horrifying, which was we're on
Speaker 1: different teams, and she like falls down and goes like
Speaker 1: hang on, hang on, and so the ref comes over.
Speaker 1: It's like okay, and she stands up and walks away.
Speaker 1: She's about six feet away, and the ref goes all right,
Speaker 1: game on, and Shiloh pops up out of nowhere and
Speaker 1: pops her twice in the back from five feet away,
Speaker 1: and just her and down and Shilo running away there
Speaker 1: But you don't remember being there. You were, you were there.
Speaker 1: It was it was where I want to say, we
Speaker 1: drove up together. It was some like far away. I
Speaker 1: think he was like an angel and Vicky was like
Speaker 1: an angel and Vicky thing because then it started a
Speaker 1: bit of a session for me. Yes, it was like
Speaker 1: exactly like a Castaic or on the way to Vegas
Speaker 1: or something. And the guy and I I forget his name,
Speaker 1: which is so terrible, but the guy, the kid from Baywatch,
Speaker 1: had like his own guns and like brought his own stuff,
Speaker 1: and we were like, okay, let's stay away from this kid.
Speaker 1: Like he was like the kid from who the guy
Speaker 1: from Baywatch, Jeremy Jeremy Jackson. Jeremy Jackson. Jeremy Jackson was
Speaker 1: armed to the teeth. Um. So yeah, I don't think
Speaker 1: I went to that. I do remember getting invited because
Speaker 1: Vicky would like, come and do step aerobics with us
Speaker 1: Aerobics by Step Yes new T shirt. She would go
Speaker 1: see and her husband had that that company, and they
Speaker 1: would go and they would train realize for our listeners,
Speaker 1: for our listeners. You've heard us talk about this a
Speaker 1: couple of times. We had Angel and Vicky who owned
Speaker 1: like their own personal training company. It was personal and
Speaker 1: they were they were hired by I don't know who,
Speaker 1: the production company or Disney with the studio and and
Speaker 1: they would go around to all of the different sets
Speaker 1: and train the kids for their pe time and you know,
Speaker 1: basketball with you or if you wanted to do step aerobics,
Speaker 1: which I did. They of course you wanted to do
Speaker 1: step around. One day I got it. I was like Angel,
Speaker 1: I should actually work out and we like get push up.
Speaker 1: There's like one time and it was always just like
Speaker 1: hanging out. Thomas thrown elbows. Yeah. I think I was
Speaker 1: scared of the paintball because I think. I remember Jen
Speaker 1: telling me she got welts and I was like, that
Speaker 1: doesn't I don't think I can do it. I think
Speaker 1: I'll perish. It was vicious. I mean it was just
Speaker 1: like a double tap to the middle of the back.
Speaker 1: At five, it started for me a bit of a
Speaker 1: paintball obsession. I went multiple times, did you really, Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: I think there's a picture of me somewhere on like
Speaker 1: the cover of a paintball magazine. That's actually it's at
Speaker 1: the place where you play paintball. Come all right, you
Speaker 1: have to find that, man, I don't think I do
Speaker 1: have to find that, um right now. Yeah. Another thing
Speaker 1: we have noticed about us child actors is that a
Speaker 1: lot of us seemed to have started acting at the
Speaker 1: age of ten. How old were you when you started
Speaker 1: acting and how did you get into it so professionally,
Speaker 1: I think my first job I was eight. We moved
Speaker 1: to Atlanta. When I moved to Atlanta when I was six,
Speaker 1: and um, I you know, I was always very tiny,
Speaker 1: so doing like team sports was a little bit of
Speaker 1: a challenge. So my mom got me involved in dance
Speaker 1: because it's like, while we moved to New City, like
Speaker 1: get involved in something and So I was doing lots
Speaker 1: of dance and I saw that there were acting classes
Speaker 1: at this studio and I wanted to know what that was.
Speaker 1: And I had been doing I mean, I've been putting
Speaker 1: on plays on like under the mantel of the fireplace
Speaker 1: my whole life. So my mom basically said, it's, you know,
Speaker 1: class where you act out characters. I'm like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: like Carol Burnett signed me up. I basically started acting classes.
Speaker 1: After a couple months, the teacher said, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: also a manager, as as many of them. And she
Speaker 1: said I I have you thought about from your kid
Speaker 1: in commercials? And my parents were like, you know, I
Speaker 1: roll not really. Well she seems to like it. Well
Speaker 1: we'll go on a few. We'll just do it for fun.
Speaker 1: I book a bunch of national commercials. My mom finally says, well,
Speaker 1: maybe we should get an agent. So that I kind
Speaker 1: of fell into it in that way. And then I
Speaker 1: was doing lots of theater in Atlanta, and then I
Speaker 1: booked a couple like small movies that came through, and
Speaker 1: I was doing with my theater company, doing a show
Speaker 1: at a resort in South Georgia, and a manager from
Speaker 1: Los Angeles happened to be there with her family vacationing,
Speaker 1: and and then you know, she my mom just decided
Speaker 1: to they hit it off. They decided to just keep chatting.
Speaker 1: And a year later, my mom brought me out for
Speaker 1: spring break to do some like auditions and like make
Speaker 1: a demo tape because there was no zoom and I
Speaker 1: looked across the country. So I made this like beta max,
Speaker 1: you know, tape of me doing this monologue and like
Speaker 1: crying and whatever. And Bob Boyett happened to see it,
Speaker 1: and I mean talk about it's all kid, isn't um?
Speaker 1: He saw it, uh randomly from the control booth um
Speaker 1: And two months later they were casting. Step by step
Speaker 1: they had cast someone else in the role and she
Speaker 1: couldn't do it, and they pulled out and they was
Speaker 1: like the last person to be cast. I've seen everyone,
Speaker 1: and finally the Bob boy it was like getting me
Speaker 1: that girl who was crying in the monologue, Let's see her.
Speaker 1: So I get home one day and they're like, my
Speaker 1: dad's like, they want to see you in Los Angeles
Speaker 1: for a for a TV show. And I'm like, well,
Speaker 1: that's ridiculous. No one flies across the country to audition
Speaker 1: for a TV show, and my dad was like, you know,
Speaker 1: we got the frequent flyer miles, like, go for it minute,
Speaker 1: why not? It's unless you don't want to, that's fine too.
Speaker 1: So I was like no, I mean I kind of
Speaker 1: want to. So I came out, I auditioned, and literally
Speaker 1: the next day I had the job. Wow and Miller
Speaker 1: boy Yet at the time, Yeah, Miller Boyette was like,
Speaker 1: it's like being found by the biggest of the biggest
Speaker 1: in TV. Mean, Miller Boyette was doing everything, I mean
Speaker 1: legend like Happy Days of Vernon early, like all of
Speaker 1: the shows. So yeah, it was and wild and so
Speaker 1: then did you move to l a full time? Did
Speaker 1: your family come? How did that work? Then? So my
Speaker 1: mom came out with me. We obviously we shot the pilot.
Speaker 1: Um and then it's like Stacy Keenan, and it's like
Speaker 1: all these people like Stacy Keenan, I'm like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm like I'm like freaking out, Like I
Speaker 1: had watched her growing up, um, And you know, I
Speaker 1: kind of knew who Susan Summers was because I used
Speaker 1: to watch reruns of Three Company. I was like a
Speaker 1: real rerun kid, like I watched everything. I didn't watch
Speaker 1: Dallas obviously, but enough of my mom's friends told me
Speaker 1: who Patrick Duffie was, um and so and so, you know,
Speaker 1: Stacy Keenan's mom was like, oh, these pilots, they never
Speaker 1: got it, kid. Yeah, and my parents were not in
Speaker 1: the business like they wanted to just you know, keep
Speaker 1: me very normal. So we decided to. When it got
Speaker 1: picked up, we got an apartment. We lived in the Oakwood. Yeah, Oakwood,
Speaker 1: Oh goood. You know, you just rent everything like corporate housing.
Speaker 1: So we lived there for a little while. And then
Speaker 1: after you know, a few months we've been doing the show,
Speaker 1: we got robbed at the oak Wood. At the Oakwood
Speaker 1: tell the story. I don't know. I've never heard about
Speaker 1: a rod haven't either. I thought it was that was
Speaker 1: frowned upon the dark underbelly of the Oakwood. Well, we
Speaker 1: lived in the one in the Marina because we worked
Speaker 1: the first couple of years we were at Culver Studios.
Speaker 1: I don't know, Okay, I don't know. Like then I
Speaker 1: was going to Venice Beach all the time. I was
Speaker 1: like buying like the Crystal next lived. I lived at
Speaker 1: the Marina del Rey Oakwood for a season. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: did really Yeah, pre pre Boy Meets World, when I
Speaker 1: was filming a show called Julie with Julie Andrews, I
Speaker 1: lived at the Marina del Rey. Uh as well, yeah
Speaker 1: they must have been Yeah, yeah, were at the Yeah
Speaker 1: we are Cool City Studios. Yeah it was yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Did you also get robbed there? Then let's get back
Speaker 1: to Christine's robbing. Christine, Please, I'd like to hear about
Speaker 1: you getting robbed. Well, we come home from rehearsal and
Speaker 1: like my mom, I'm like doing homework or something. My
Speaker 1: mom keeps asking me if I've seen stuff, Christine. Have
Speaker 1: you seen the stamps? No? Have you seen my cameras?
Speaker 1: They stole your stamps, damps y'all. They were mailing so
Speaker 1: many things. They had so many things to mail um
Speaker 1: and your camera. Yes, because they're friends. Uh So, then
Speaker 1: my mom's like, check your jewelry and I'm like, huh
Speaker 1: so I go on my little with all my little
Speaker 1: necklaces and things, and everything's gone, as crystals from my
Speaker 1: game boy is gone, my mom video parents gone, like
Speaker 1: it was, you know, not all the things, but it
Speaker 1: was you know. So so they either very clean robbers
Speaker 1: or was your house just regularly looked like it had
Speaker 1: been ransacked. It didn't look landsacked. It was only like
Speaker 1: when you opened the drawers you saw the look clean thiefs.
Speaker 1: Did they did? I'm sorry, this is where my mind goes.
Speaker 1: Did you go to like the security. Did they check
Speaker 1: the tapes? Did they do like all the whole thing,
Speaker 1: or was like, hey, security, I like security. He's obsessed
Speaker 1: with security. He wants to know about security. I want
Speaker 1: to know what security situation is. Did they check the tapes?
Speaker 1: I don't think there were even tapes back though the
Speaker 1: dead bolt had been tampered with, But they thought, because
Speaker 1: you know, they were all those gates, like good security
Speaker 1: system there, good security system. The cops thought maybe it
Speaker 1: was an inside job. I was gonna say, it's probably
Speaker 1: knew it was your mom try and scare you out
Speaker 1: of Los Angeles. Someone had knocked on the door a
Speaker 1: couple of nights before and either trying saying they were
Speaker 1: selling something or looking for an apartment, and oh they
Speaker 1: had they were totally casing when we were gonna But
Speaker 1: here's what happened. So my mom is obviously like really distraught.
Speaker 1: It was scary. I was like, I've been in Los
Speaker 1: Angeles for a month and a half and like we
Speaker 1: got robbed. Like this does not bode well. And what
Speaker 1: I will say about like not only those producers like
Speaker 1: Miller Boy, yet that show they rallied around us. They
Speaker 1: got out of that least, they literally put us up
Speaker 1: in a hotel and then they took my mom and
Speaker 1: like with somebody, and they showed her like two or
Speaker 1: three apartments and like they had people from the production
Speaker 1: company guys. They came over and got all our stuff out.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh. And then I sound environment. It was
Speaker 1: just really lovely. And then like I remember walking, you know,
Speaker 1: into rehearsal like the next day, and Patrick Duffy had
Speaker 1: a m like a Best Buy bag. It was a
Speaker 1: different kind of store, but he had bought me a
Speaker 1: new game Boy. I was just like really yeah. So
Speaker 1: then we moved to Park Lebria, which is like the
Speaker 1: other it's like the yuppy like townhouses. Right, would they
Speaker 1: have better Do they have better security? I was going
Speaker 1: to ask, they had really good security. We lived in
Speaker 1: the big towers and they were like the old from
Speaker 1: like nineteen I don't know when those are built nineties
Speaker 1: or something. I had outside my windows like a view
Speaker 1: of the Angeline poster. Yeah the best. I love that. Yes,
Speaker 1: so crazy, And you know it was fine. It was
Speaker 1: just a lot of older people lived there, so we
Speaker 1: basically lived with like it was like and I felt
Speaker 1: like we lived in like a geriatric And so what
Speaker 1: year was Yeah? Were you guys? Wait? Wait? Were years?
Speaker 1: The first season? Ninety one? Okay, I thought I started.
Speaker 1: And so it sounds like just from the little bit
Speaker 1: you've told us, it sounds like the environment on set
Speaker 1: was really great. But tell us more about what it
Speaker 1: was like on that set. What was the environment like,
Speaker 1: do you have a favorite memory? Who were you closest
Speaker 1: to and who did you hate? Who was the worst?
Speaker 1: Give us some juicy juicy detail. Um, yeah, we were
Speaker 1: all we were close and it was it was really idyllic,
Speaker 1: I have to say, like we had a very close
Speaker 1: knit family. Um, a lot of those people had worked
Speaker 1: for Miller way up before. Um. We had Anger. She
Speaker 1: was like our like craft services lady. She was Swedish,
Speaker 1: so lovely and she would be like, you know, she
Speaker 1: was just like a mama, like she was making things
Speaker 1: for anyone and everyone, and you know, six kids on
Speaker 1: a show. It was like there was a lot going on. Um,
Speaker 1: and we had three different studio teachers. I shared a
Speaker 1: school room with Brandon call He never wanted to do
Speaker 1: any work. Um. I was in this like school in Atlanta,
Speaker 1: and they were still faxing all my information and FedExing everything.
Speaker 1: We would always go back to Atlanta, so once every
Speaker 1: three or four weeks we'd have a hiatus. My parents
Speaker 1: are like. My parents were like, here's the deal. We're
Speaker 1: not going to disrupt our life. The most important thing
Speaker 1: is her education. And she's in this private school in Atlanta,
Speaker 1: and we're not just move out here, like basically on
Speaker 1: your whim, so on your dime, you'll send us back
Speaker 1: and forth. And they were like okay. So I back
Speaker 1: home like every fourth week and had a normal life.
Speaker 1: And then I lived, you know in Atlanta from like
Speaker 1: like February through July. UM. So, but anyway, this set
Speaker 1: like set life was really fun. I mean I don't
Speaker 1: have brothers and sisters, so it was definitely it was
Speaker 1: like a brand new world to be around that many
Speaker 1: kids all the time. So like Stacy and Angela had
Speaker 1: a teacher, the two little boys had a teacher, Josh
Speaker 1: and Chris. And then I was with Brandon, and he
Speaker 1: was like always like reading like car magazines and like
Speaker 1: whatever he would like read them behind is like math book.
Speaker 1: I mean all right, So I have to ask, since
Speaker 1: you met Brandon, since you you've talked about Brandon, Um
Speaker 1: from one sitcom older brother to another sitcom older brother. Um,
Speaker 1: Jason Marsin, I think was you know who's still my
Speaker 1: Dusty was on the show and I think he was
Speaker 1: there when Brandon got shot. Yes, can you talk about that? Yeah,
Speaker 1: Brandon call got shot like a drive by shooting in
Speaker 1: a car. We had some weird moments that happened. So
Speaker 1: I believe this was like the second to last year. Um. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Jason Nick come on the show playing Rich Halkey, such
Speaker 1: a great energy. Um. Just loved Jason was great. Um
Speaker 1: and uh, and Brandon was one night, you know, Brandon
Speaker 1: always had fancy cars, that was his thing. And one
Speaker 1: night he was driving home he got in some kind
Speaker 1: of altercation with someone on the road, some kind of
Speaker 1: road rage altercation, and they ended up kind of like
Speaker 1: he and this other person were like kind of racing
Speaker 1: on the road and and Brandon thought he got away
Speaker 1: from this guy and turned into a neighborhood and ended
Speaker 1: up being a dead end and when he turned around
Speaker 1: in the col deside of the person was waiting for him,
Speaker 1: and so he just like drove really fast as he
Speaker 1: past as he could pass him, and he kind of
Speaker 1: put his head on like this, and the guy shot
Speaker 1: him like six times and heard there Yeah, I went
Speaker 1: like went through one arm and out the other side
Speaker 1: and hit the other arm and yeah, yeah, And he
Speaker 1: was really lucky that he survived that. He drove to
Speaker 1: a police station. How do you know where a police
Speaker 1: this is pre GPS, you guys, like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: six times yeah yeah, and basically just like got out
Speaker 1: of the car and like like passed out on the steps.
Speaker 1: It was wild. Ye. So you know, I will say,
Speaker 1: like I don't know for sure, but I really feel
Speaker 1: like that in some ways. I mean, that will change
Speaker 1: you as a person. Um, a traumatic event like that,
Speaker 1: and I feel like he, um, he just really had
Speaker 1: no interest in being in the spotlight anymore. Can't blame him,
Speaker 1: I mean yeah, I mean yikes. Yeah, um so yeah,
Speaker 1: that was kind of crazy. And when was that? That
Speaker 1: was probably nine the six Okay, so he's been you
Speaker 1: guys have been doing the show for five or six
Speaker 1: years at that end, Yeah, totally. And he was at school,
Speaker 1: you know, I was like I think I was probably
Speaker 1: almost like a senior in high school or something in
Speaker 1: the school room together anything. Um, which is like really
Speaker 1: when we were all like in school together, we were
Speaker 1: all like hanging out a lot and going and playing
Speaker 1: jokes and pranks. And then when the older girls, you know,
Speaker 1: we're out, Brandon was out, and it was just like
Speaker 1: me and the two littles, you know. And I was
Speaker 1: like deep in high school and so I would have
Speaker 1: like a million tutors and I was like underwater all
Speaker 1: the time, writing to some freaking paper or whatever. And
Speaker 1: were you still by like the time you were in
Speaker 1: fifth sixth season, were you still going home every fourth
Speaker 1: week to Atlanta? Wow? You kept that pace up through
Speaker 1: all seven seasons. Yes, And it started we like ended
Speaker 1: up just keeping an apartment in Los Angeles because it
Speaker 1: just became you know, so crazy. Um. And but yeah,
Speaker 1: I would go back and forth all the time, and
Speaker 1: you know, it was I think like, at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, when I think about it now, I
Speaker 1: think it was really smart on my parents part, because
Speaker 1: I don't feel like I really as much as I
Speaker 1: missed of like a normal life for normal high school. UM.
Speaker 1: I still have very vivid memories of that, and my
Speaker 1: time there, especially like in the spring, was so concentrated,
Speaker 1: UM that it really felt like I kind of had
Speaker 1: the best of both worlds. Try I would say to
Speaker 1: my mom, I can't go back to Atlanta. I don't
Speaker 1: have any friends, and then I'd go back, and then
Speaker 1: I would love it there, and I'd be like, I
Speaker 1: don't want to go back. I don't have any friends.
Speaker 1: But I know because I mean, I had a very
Speaker 1: similar experience. I wasn't going back to Atlanta. I was
Speaker 1: just going back to Calabasas High School. But I also
Speaker 1: every week went back to my regular high school, so
Speaker 1: I got to go to every football game, every school dance.
Speaker 1: I I have very vivid memories of being in high
Speaker 1: school UM. And also was still able to work, so
Speaker 1: I also feel like I got the best of both worlds.
Speaker 1: It's very hard and while you're in it, because there
Speaker 1: there is no any sort of like, well, I'm behind
Speaker 1: a week now, but that's okay, I'll make it up,
Speaker 1: but you know a month from now, like you really
Speaker 1: have to be on exactly with where you're school is.
Speaker 1: But it does make it does make you feel like
Speaker 1: you get to really like live a normal life totally.
Speaker 1: Did you feel like when you went back to school
Speaker 1: and maybe like real school, did you ever feel how
Speaker 1: what was the vibe like, do people care? Where they like?
Speaker 1: Who cares? No? I mean, it was a lot of
Speaker 1: the same kids I had gone to junior high school
Speaker 1: with in junior high junior high they cared a little
Speaker 1: bit more because I was also brand new to Calabasas.
Speaker 1: I had come from Orange County, so I didn't know anybody,
Speaker 1: even from elementary school. And it was kind of like
Speaker 1: I got there and was already on the show or
Speaker 1: had just started the show, and so they didn't quite
Speaker 1: understand it. They were like, what are you doing? Where
Speaker 1: do you Why do you get to leave for three
Speaker 1: weeks and then just appear. But by the time I
Speaker 1: got to high school, we were in three, season three
Speaker 1: or season four, and nobody cared anymore. So it was
Speaker 1: just like Danielle's back and and you know, it was
Speaker 1: no big deal. But yeah, it's it's interesting. I also
Speaker 1: feel like in l A it's kind of a different
Speaker 1: so yet you know, or they're like they care, but
Speaker 1: they really like they pretend like they don't care. Atlanta. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's a whole another story, a whole other follow us.
Speaker 1: I mean, imagine this. I started seventh grade at a
Speaker 1: brand new school, and I'm also on this TV show
Speaker 1: that like is the prime audience. Like everyone there's the
Speaker 1: target audience. And so I remember going to my locker
Speaker 1: the first day because I wasn't there for the first
Speaker 1: three weeks of school or whatever it was. So this
Speaker 1: the build up had been happening, this girl and she's
Speaker 1: not here, but she's new when she's on a TV show,
Speaker 1: and what this is crazy? And I remember like putting
Speaker 1: something in my locker and like turning around and there
Speaker 1: was like a sea of people just surrounding me getting
Speaker 1: ready to like ask me questions. Like it was crazy.
Speaker 1: It definitely wore off and by the end, you know,
Speaker 1: by the middle of the first year, nobody cared anymore.
Speaker 1: But but did it make you feel popular or did
Speaker 1: you feel like people thought you were like an outcast? No?
Speaker 1: I felt like it was a complete liability. It's not
Speaker 1: cool to be famous, let me tell you this, because, um,
Speaker 1: especially in high school or in middle school, because you
Speaker 1: you always think that other people think that you think
Speaker 1: you're cool, right, you know, and so you're constantly like
Speaker 1: downplaying all of it because you just want to blend in.
Speaker 1: I don't think I'm cool. I do not think I'm
Speaker 1: better than anybody, you know, and like I'll talk about
Speaker 1: it if you're interested. But then the more you talk
Speaker 1: more people like actually doesn't talk about herself and you
Speaker 1: know what to answer your questions. So, like I mean,
Speaker 1: Stacy Keenan and I talked about it all the time.
Speaker 1: She was like, oh my god, it was a total liability.
Speaker 1: I never wanted to talk about the show like with
Speaker 1: like anyone in high school. Like I just wanted, you know,
Speaker 1: I just wanted like everyone to like forget about that.
Speaker 1: I did that for a living. And yeah, well she
Speaker 1: also came off of my two dads too, so she
Speaker 1: was like one of those those real kid actors or
Speaker 1: that she was on TV most of her life by
Speaker 1: that point, I have very similar right. Yeah, yeah, she
Speaker 1: completely walked on and she's like she's a lawyer. She's
Speaker 1: like she's a criminal prosecutor. Prosecutor, Yeah, can you imagine that,
Speaker 1: Like I was just put in jail by the girl
Speaker 1: from Step by Step, Like that would be that's what
Speaker 1: would be weird to be like I'm almost like, can
Speaker 1: you sign my my of Um? So, so yeah, you
Speaker 1: and I have very similar stories with that because it's
Speaker 1: like we were both from Like I grew up in
Speaker 1: Connecticut and my parents weren't in the industry, and it
Speaker 1: was kind of then like you'd come back to the
Speaker 1: people you knew, and anytime you opened your mouth thinking
Speaker 1: you were just having a conversation, it was then like,
Speaker 1: oh you're now you're fully yourself, Like you asked me
Speaker 1: the question like what do you know? Yeah, but they
Speaker 1: didn't have to churn butter in Atlanta. You know again,
Speaker 1: I am no longer taking the wrath for that hearing
Speaker 1: that Ryder had to literally stoke the fires at his
Speaker 1: his high school. So yes, can I ask you a question,
Speaker 1: just very briefly going back, Um, because we've talked about
Speaker 1: Danielle Ryder and I've talked about this and so many
Speaker 1: young actors, I would say of them start in commercials.
Speaker 1: Do you remember the first national commercial that you did? Oh? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I did a commercial for six Flags white Water It
Speaker 1: was the water park version at six Flags in Atlanta,
Speaker 1: and we shot the commercial in like March. Oh my gosh, freezing,
Speaker 1: freezing to get it done in time for the season,
Speaker 1: so it wasn't open yet, right, So I'm in, like,
Speaker 1: you know, the lazy River. And then like one point
Speaker 1: they had us like going in the big waves and
Speaker 1: we're like the waves and they're like the part of
Speaker 1: the commercial they used as mean lazy river because you know,
Speaker 1: I'm just like, like, you're having fun, kiding, I know
Speaker 1: your shivering, just keep smiling. Almost so excited because they
Speaker 1: gave me makeup, you know, because my list people blew.
Speaker 1: I could not, so I mean I did six flags
Speaker 1: and then I mean I did all kinds of weird ones.
Speaker 1: Sweetie Pups that was another one. What is this sweet pop?
Speaker 1: What is sweetie pup? They were like these little dogs.
Speaker 1: They were like my little ponies, but they were puppies
Speaker 1: and you can like do their hair and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: I did manage commercials. I hated mayonnaise. That was a
Speaker 1: real nightmare. That one A lot of banks. You know,
Speaker 1: fun though, they were really fun. I enjoyed them because
Speaker 1: the food was amazing and the catering was always listen
Speaker 1: craft service on national commercials and on shows. It is
Speaker 1: really it comes up so often on this podcast, and
Speaker 1: I realized how much we sound completely food obsessed because
Speaker 1: I know the catering was delicious. But Danielle, we've talked
Speaker 1: about this, this is normal life. Because again, if my
Speaker 1: wife and I what we talked about is what we're
Speaker 1: gonna have for lunch, Ye, that's food is hugely But
Speaker 1: also when you're on a set, when you're not working,
Speaker 1: when you're not actively working, all you're doing is sitting around,
Speaker 1: Like people don't realize how much sitting around. And granted,
Speaker 1: when we were kids we were shuffled into school, but
Speaker 1: when if we didn't have those three hours of four
Speaker 1: hours of school, the only other place to gathers around
Speaker 1: the food, Like it's around craft service. That's where you
Speaker 1: just I mean your dressing room alone. That's where Tony
Speaker 1: Quinn came on the show. We started picking up hobby,
Speaker 1: so every day he and I would go to golf,
Speaker 1: We play cards, we go bowling. It was like because
Speaker 1: they would say, you know you'd by the time the
Speaker 1: show starts to run, and Christine, you know this too.
Speaker 1: I mean it's like your first second season. It's all
Speaker 1: about the work. I mean, it's always all about the work,
Speaker 1: but it's all about the schedule, and then by six
Speaker 1: or seven season we were down to like four days
Speaker 1: a week. We would have to come in at like noon,
Speaker 1: we would be done by four. I mean it was
Speaker 1: one of those things. So there's times where would be
Speaker 1: like we have three hours off, let's go play golf.
Speaker 1: I mean, it was just there's that's what you do
Speaker 1: because you're moving along. I heard a story recently. Correct
Speaker 1: me if this is wrong, but recently I was on
Speaker 1: a set and I learned of a very famous actress
Speaker 1: who wrote her lines in some kind of invisible not
Speaker 1: invisible to her, but like in some kind of removable
Speaker 1: pen in any like doorways, door frames, or if she
Speaker 1: was at a desk on a post it note. She
Speaker 1: had her lines written everywhere, so no matter where her
Speaker 1: blocking was, she would just look and she could read
Speaker 1: what her line was. I was like, that sounds crazy,
Speaker 1: who would do that? And then I read somewhere that
Speaker 1: you did the same thing. Is that true? No, So
Speaker 1: the story is that's the thing that Patrick Dusty would do.
Speaker 1: He would sometimes write things like around like you know
Speaker 1: you can tell like watching the show now, because like
Speaker 1: Stacy and I have been rewatching it. Um Stacy never
Speaker 1: watched the show. She's never right, Okay, So she's watching
Speaker 1: it for the first time and we're talking about it,
Speaker 1: and I'm finding it really fascinating. Are you guys doing
Speaker 1: a podcast? We are? Okay, Okay, we'll talk about that
Speaker 1: in a second. Yes, But but he would he would
Speaker 1: constantly do things like that. He also directed a lot
Speaker 1: of the episodes, so you could quietly see him like
Speaker 1: kind of nudging you to your mark or like taking
Speaker 1: you out of her constantly. And Suzanne she could never
Speaker 1: do that because she couldn't see the line like she had.
Speaker 1: She had reading glasses, so she would be a little leasy.
Speaker 1: But you can constantly see her checking her mark. She's
Speaker 1: always break a mark. So no, I I never did that,
Speaker 1: but we did joke about it on Hollywood Darlings that
Speaker 1: it was like something that I would do, and it
Speaker 1: was really just to take off of what Patrick Deffe
Speaker 1: used to always do. Danielle, can you check the time?
Speaker 1: Is it time for to talk about mash because oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, let's see, are we sixty or seventy minutes
Speaker 1: into Because every time Alan Alda apparently was operating and
Speaker 1: he was looking down at the at the body, it
Speaker 1: was actually just a piece of felt and his script
Speaker 1: so he could read the lines as he was operating.
Speaker 1: There's my match for the day. I get it absolutely,
Speaker 1: especially when you're like the lead of the show. Like
Speaker 1: Ben always had everybody's lines, but there was times where
Speaker 1: he it's like he had six pages of dialogue to
Speaker 1: himself and it was I can get writing that down somewhere,
Speaker 1: or hey, my script is you know. Rusty would always
Speaker 1: take do the notes, do everything in the script, and
Speaker 1: then sit on it. Don't remember that he'd stand up
Speaker 1: in there and under the couch, under the chair or whatever,
Speaker 1: just because it was right there if he needed it.
Speaker 1: So everybody's got their own little little We were constantly
Speaker 1: hiding things under that couch. I think I don't remember
Speaker 1: who it was. It might have been the Friends reunion.
Speaker 1: But then like when they pulled they pulled an old
Speaker 1: couch out to do like some kind of reunion and
Speaker 1: they were still script pages. That's amazing. Everyone does it,
Speaker 1: you know, And you ended up becoming very close with
Speaker 1: Jody Sweeten, and you guys are still very close. We are, um,
Speaker 1: who like what other friend circles, like celebrity friend circles?
Speaker 1: Did you run in in the nineties. Who were your
Speaker 1: closest friends. Oh my gosh, okay, so, um, I was
Speaker 1: really close with Angela Watson when we were on the show.
Speaker 1: The two of us were like thick as thieves. We
Speaker 1: were like sisterly. Um, you know, I think from like oh,
Speaker 1: I mean I was close with Jenna because we lived
Speaker 1: in the same building and her family would come any
Speaker 1: she had a younger sister. Um. I mean obviously I
Speaker 1: would see you guys quite a lot. Writer we were,
Speaker 1: we were we've been acting class. Yeah. Yeah, we did
Speaker 1: Young Actor Space and Danielle you were there too too
Speaker 1: for a little bit. Yeah that Bruce Bruce and then
Speaker 1: Diane No, that was a different thing. It was Diane. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Dane was the one who ran Young Actor Spoke. She
Speaker 1: was amazing and um yeah that was like the best
Speaker 1: acting class in Los Angeles for kids. It was so good, Yeah,
Speaker 1: so good. And that really became like my I mean
Speaker 1: that that was a social soul. Yeah. So Kelly Martin
Speaker 1: was in that class, Tom David, Tom Price, Um, Luke Edwards, um,
Speaker 1: who else? Um? And then just like a bunch of
Speaker 1: like young like especially as we became young adults, like
Speaker 1: a bunch of people who just graduated college and come
Speaker 1: out and chadge Chad Gabriel like, yeah, so that was
Speaker 1: kind of like my crew. Did you date any child actors? Well,
Speaker 1: I don't even call it dating. I mean, obviously when
Speaker 1: we're like fourteen, is it really dating? But you know
Speaker 1: the teenage dating. Yeah. I did go on a couple
Speaker 1: of dates with Andrew Keagan. Oh yes, I think everybody.
Speaker 1: I think everybody did. The only one ask him why
Speaker 1: he wasn't interested? I know. And then, um, I think
Speaker 1: he was really the only one. I had definitely had
Speaker 1: a crush on some of the home improvement boys and
Speaker 1: why would like see them when I would like always
Speaker 1: like flirt, but nothing really matriculated from that. Um. And
Speaker 1: then I had a couple of like boyfriends in UM Atlanta.
Speaker 1: But then and season I want to say five or
Speaker 1: five maybe of the show we UM, we had a
Speaker 1: new character come on. This is right before Jason. I think,
Speaker 1: um he was flashed and he came on and he
Speaker 1: was this like crazy guy who was like one of
Speaker 1: Frank's I guess like um distance And anyway, he was
Speaker 1: played by a guy named Jeff Juday and Jeff Jeff
Speaker 1: and Jason were really good friends. Yeah. Yeah, so Jeff
Speaker 1: came on the show. Um, I thought he was super cute.
Speaker 1: I mean I was like seventeen at the time and
Speaker 1: I don't know, early twenties. And then we went on
Speaker 1: a we did a Disney trip. I'm sure you guys
Speaker 1: did too. Didjeverfilm in Disney Disney World? Yes, so we're
Speaker 1: filming at Disney World. Stacy Keenan was actually in the
Speaker 1: episode where we went to Disney World. Not let's not
Speaker 1: even get into that, please please people. I was not invited,
Speaker 1: was not there, But I hadn't the biggest crush on
Speaker 1: Stacy keene in my entire life, growing up to the
Speaker 1: point where I said to to our producers, I would
Speaker 1: love to get Stacy Keene on the show. They do,
Speaker 1: and then they fly everybody to Disney World and they're
Speaker 1: and you're staying home like, hey, thanks, awful. It was
Speaker 1: awful because the worst Okay, so go on, don't don't
Speaker 1: let will bring us down. So so, um so we
Speaker 1: go to Disney World and it's just you know, you're
Speaker 1: having sorry, well you're having the time like a host
Speaker 1: and rides and like there's no school. You're like, do
Speaker 1: it later. I gotta ride, you know, Tower Terror sounds awesome,
Speaker 1: you know, and Jeff and I would like start going
Speaker 1: on rides, and then like one night me him, um
Speaker 1: Angela Watson, like her boyfriend at the time, we all
Speaker 1: go to the Downtown Disney for like dancing and we're
Speaker 1: like at mannequins were like the rotating dance and he
Speaker 1: and I like kiss, like oh my god, you know,
Speaker 1: and I had just like the biggest crush on him.
Speaker 1: So then we have to leave Disney World and that
Speaker 1: was our last episode and I have to go back
Speaker 1: to Atlanta and he's going to l A and I'm
Speaker 1: like crying. I'm crying in the transport van and I've
Speaker 1: had the time when my life is playing from Dirty
Speaker 1: Dancing and I'm like, I'm never going to and I
Speaker 1: am heartbroken. We end up dating for four years when
Speaker 1: first boyfriend like my first boyfriend, and he had been
Speaker 1: you know, for all sorts of reasons. They had to
Speaker 1: bring Bronzon Pin Show on and blah blah blah. He
Speaker 1: is his character didn't continue and I did and uh,
Speaker 1: and he was like really into theater. He took me
Speaker 1: to the Amondson and the Taper and I mean, he
Speaker 1: was just he you know, he was really nice, Like
Speaker 1: he was just a nice guy. And every thing I
Speaker 1: remember the most about him. And he was not a
Speaker 1: big drinker, so I don't want to in any way,
Speaker 1: shape or form, but any restaurant you go to up
Speaker 1: to and including Burger King a McDonald's, he'd tried to
Speaker 1: order a beer. What and so it would be like
Speaker 1: you'd be as liked he bed like a diner and
Speaker 1: he'd be like, yeah, can I Can I get a beer?
Speaker 1: And they'd be like, no, no, we don't have that here.
Speaker 1: It's like, okay, no, But it was just everywhere we
Speaker 1: went like can I get a whopper? And if you
Speaker 1: have a beer, like, Nope, that's not they don't they
Speaker 1: don't have that here. But I just remember him being
Speaker 1: like the nicest person in the world. He was just
Speaker 1: a sweet guy. He was a really sweet guy. He
Speaker 1: actually was just out here. He has two children and
Speaker 1: so we still keep in touch and that's cool. Out here.
Speaker 1: We all went to dinner. Yeah, we don't think he
Speaker 1: ordered a beery sluten free now, so oh that's good.
Speaker 1: That's good. That's good. We recently had Marla sockle Off
Speaker 1: on and we talked a little bit about it, how UM,
Speaker 1: a lot of us went through just some very serious
Speaker 1: actor burnout. And so considering you also did seven seasons
Speaker 1: of Step by Step the way we did seven seasons
Speaker 1: of boy Me's World, did you ever experience like just
Speaker 1: total burnout, like I don't want to do this anymore,
Speaker 1: get me away from here, get me back to Atlanta,
Speaker 1: or did you just did you never experience that? You know,
Speaker 1: I don't feel like on the show necessarily I ever
Speaker 1: experienced that. I I had such a specific relationship with
Speaker 1: um acting because it was the thing for me that
Speaker 1: was like my fun. It was my outlet, and my
Speaker 1: parents were always like, well that's great, but you you
Speaker 1: we always we also expect you to get really good grades,
Speaker 1: and like that comes first. So for me, it was
Speaker 1: more like I experienced burnout with I think the the schedule,
Speaker 1: the workload of school coupled with the stuff that I
Speaker 1: really wanted to do, and that was at times, especially
Speaker 1: like preparing for college and doing college applications. I just
Speaker 1: had a lot on my plate and I feel like
Speaker 1: there were times at which I felt, yeah, like I
Speaker 1: couldn't do it at all. Um, I didn't really experience
Speaker 1: actor burnout necessarily until I was a little older. And
Speaker 1: it's just like the constant auditioning. I mean, honestly, it's
Speaker 1: one of the reasons why I started directing, because I
Speaker 1: was just like, I don't think I can keep doing
Speaker 1: this the rest of my life. I don't. I've been
Speaker 1: doing this since I was a child, and I just
Speaker 1: I love to work, but the constant auditioning, I need
Speaker 1: a break. It doesn't I don't enjoy that part of
Speaker 1: it personally. How did you get into directing? Um? So gosh.
Speaker 1: About ten years ago, I, you know, I had started
Speaker 1: to experience that very thing that I was just discussing,
Speaker 1: and I thought, you know, I gotta start doing my
Speaker 1: own stuff. That's where I think I'm happiest. So I
Speaker 1: started writing. I took a couple of classes, I started,
Speaker 1: you know, I had some ideas. I made a I
Speaker 1: made a really silly mockumentary digital series called Love and
Speaker 1: Laken um and my friend at the time had a
Speaker 1: documentary film company, so we had all this equipment and
Speaker 1: he's like, let's just do something silly, and I was like, okay.
Speaker 1: So I wrote this stupid series and I was doing
Speaker 1: a film called um you again, so all these you
Speaker 1: know people were I was around all these people. So
Speaker 1: like Kristen Bell did an episode, and Kristin Chenow with
Speaker 1: in an episode. I Curtis to do an episode Bornheimer. Anyway,
Speaker 1: it's basically about this girl named Christine Laken who used
Speaker 1: to be a child actor and thinks everybody knows here.
Speaker 1: It's like a comeback office. And we had such a
Speaker 1: good time filming. It was just silly. I put in
Speaker 1: a bunch of film festivals. We want some stuff. It
Speaker 1: got bought by Hulu. Um. So that was really like
Speaker 1: the first time that I did something that was mine
Speaker 1: and I was like, I had more fun doing that
Speaker 1: and not making any money from it. It wasn't about
Speaker 1: that than anything else. And so that kind of got
Speaker 1: the wheels turning. Um. And then at the same time,
Speaker 1: I I have this other life as a choreographer. I know,
Speaker 1: I've so I know it's tell us a little bit
Speaker 1: about that because I didn't even know that was going on.
Speaker 1: And then I saw you posting about it on Instagram
Speaker 1: and I was like, holy how she has like a
Speaker 1: full blown other side hustle. I do so I I
Speaker 1: you know, like I said when I moved to Atlanta.
Speaker 1: I had been in dance, so I was like a
Speaker 1: competition dancer before step by step happened. And then all
Speaker 1: of that kind of went away, and I sort of
Speaker 1: started to go back to classes and I was trained,
Speaker 1: but I was never going to be like, so you
Speaker 1: think you can dance, like I wasn't that good. But
Speaker 1: I do have a background of dance. So when I
Speaker 1: went in my twenties, when the show ended and I
Speaker 1: was going back to theater and I was in acting
Speaker 1: class and I found a theater company and I found
Speaker 1: a home, and really, for me, it was about like
Speaker 1: remembering why I love to do this, and I had
Speaker 1: to keep that going so that I didn't spiral out
Speaker 1: of like trying to get the next job and like
Speaker 1: trying to be who I once was, and like all
Speaker 1: of that I think can lead you down to really,
Speaker 1: for me, anyway, a very strange rabbit hole. So I
Speaker 1: got into the theater company, and a lot of times
Speaker 1: in the or in l A, people are like, well,
Speaker 1: we need someone to choreograph this number is can anyone
Speaker 1: dance captain? That was kind of me, so I started
Speaker 1: doing it just for my theater company. Then my name
Speaker 1: got passed around. I did it for a few more
Speaker 1: you know productions, and I got nominated a couple of times.
Speaker 1: And then I went to do a movie called Reach
Speaker 1: for Madness and in UM, Canada, and I was there
Speaker 1: just like hanging out waiting for my scenes, and the
Speaker 1: choreographer said, would you come skeleton crew for me? And
Speaker 1: I said sure. So I helped her build some dances
Speaker 1: and then she hired me to be an assistant on
Speaker 1: a film. And from that, literally a d s just
Speaker 1: started to My name would get passed around and they
Speaker 1: would just start to call me. And the thing that
Speaker 1: I realized I was really good at was communicating um,
Speaker 1: the language of dance to people who are non dancers.
Speaker 1: So I was really good at Yeah, not only meeting
Speaker 1: with an actor who looked at me with fear in
Speaker 1: their eyes and said, I'm not a dancer. Well I
Speaker 1: don't you know, And I'm like, yeah, no, we're just
Speaker 1: kind of like play. It's like right, Yeah, I would
Speaker 1: disarm them completely, yeah, and then I would see very
Speaker 1: quickly what they were good at and what they like.
Speaker 1: Some people you think have rhythm don't um. So I
Speaker 1: would really break it down, yeah, and I would like
Speaker 1: make it very simple find out what they were good at,
Speaker 1: keep it clean, hire people around them to make them
Speaker 1: look this way and that way. You know, I would
Speaker 1: kind of like talk to the director of the producer,
Speaker 1: you know, we would film it, I would change it
Speaker 1: concerning what they would want whatever. So for ten years
Speaker 1: maybe more now, I've been doing that on all kinds
Speaker 1: of shows I've worked on, UM, West World, I worked
Speaker 1: on True Blood and then I uh, and then I
Speaker 1: got season one. UM. I started doing it for the Goldbergs,
Speaker 1: and around season five, I think I was sitting there
Speaker 1: and waiting and I'm watching all these directors that you're
Speaker 1: waiting forever, as you know, for your scene, you've already
Speaker 1: rehearsed with the cast, and so you're waiting and waiting.
Speaker 1: And I just thought to myself, I'm an idiot. That's
Speaker 1: the job I should be doing. I'm watching all these
Speaker 1: directors and I'm like, why have I not been doing that?
Speaker 1: So that really started me on this new trajectory of
Speaker 1: trying to figure out my way in. And it's as
Speaker 1: you know, as he was probably no writer, it's it's
Speaker 1: not linear. You know. I didn't go to film school, UM,
Speaker 1: but I had all this information. I knew the job,
Speaker 1: so I just had to give myself more practice so
Speaker 1: that people and more to show for myself that so
Speaker 1: that people would take a chance on me. So I
Speaker 1: started directing everything I could get my hands on, funnier die,
Speaker 1: shorts of friends, short of pilot, presentation, a music video,
Speaker 1: like anything I could do, I did, and I gotten
Speaker 1: a couple of women's advocacy groups, and I was still choreographing,
Speaker 1: And I really think it was the combination of me
Speaker 1: being a choreographer and then having and having been in
Speaker 1: the business a long time. It took many years, but
Speaker 1: of of advocating, and then I was I was trying
Speaker 1: to get on the Goldbergs because that was sort of
Speaker 1: like what I thought my easiest way. And I was shadowing.
Speaker 1: I was on your show shadowing. I was shadowing and
Speaker 1: show away and I I hope someone's gonna give me a job.
Speaker 1: And I was choreographing a number on the Goldbergs. I
Speaker 1: was pregnant at the time and newly pregnant with my
Speaker 1: son and um. I remember talking to Wendy McClendon. We
Speaker 1: were doing some kind of flashdance thing, and you know,
Speaker 1: we're talking about female directors and how they would just
Speaker 1: like to have more of them. Um, but there were
Speaker 1: so few and they were always working, and I was like,
Speaker 1: and we just had a really nice chat about it.
Speaker 1: And I think a lot of the actors at that
Speaker 1: point on that show trusted me with me and it
Speaker 1: took a long time, but they I think a lot
Speaker 1: of people put in a good word. And you know
Speaker 1: how these things happen, it's kids, mean and timing, and
Speaker 1: so I literally had I ended up sending Adam Goldberg
Speaker 1: a bunch of my stuff, but I was like, probably
Speaker 1: not gonna here, Like you know, I was really kind
Speaker 1: of at the end of my rope of like I
Speaker 1: don't know how I'm going to get into this, and um,
Speaker 1: I had literally just had my son. This is four
Speaker 1: years ago. I just had my son, and the day
Speaker 1: after I gave birth, my agent called it said, I
Speaker 1: know this isn't very timing, but they'd like to give
Speaker 1: you an episode of The Goldberg's and it shoots in
Speaker 1: seven weeks. And I was like, awesome, sign me up.
Speaker 1: And I looked at my husband. I was like, I
Speaker 1: don't know, what do you think. He's like, Well, how
Speaker 1: first of all, how you feel you can you can
Speaker 1: reserve your right to say no, you know, even a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks if you don't feel well. I was.
Speaker 1: I had a really easy berth by second and I
Speaker 1: was like, he's like, but I think if you should
Speaker 1: do it, He's like, I will make sure this child lives.
Speaker 1: You should do this, And so I was like pumping
Speaker 1: and going to work and yeah, so that was my
Speaker 1: first one. And then luckily, very thankfully, they liked what
Speaker 1: I did and they've had me back a bunch and
Speaker 1: done some other stuff too, and so good for you.
Speaker 1: She's hysterical that Wendy. Wendy is the best. Oh man.
Speaker 1: I was such a fan of her, especially on Renee
Speaker 1: and then Sean uh Is Sean Jane Brownie is to
Speaker 1: me is a living cartoon character. And I say that
Speaker 1: in the mo phenomenal possible way you can imagine. He's
Speaker 1: the sweetest little lamb. He's not changed at all. He's
Speaker 1: talked to him last week. He's he's incredible, such a
Speaker 1: such a fun guy. But it's like he's so happy
Speaker 1: to be there, you know, he's just still. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: have an amazing picture I will give to the Pond
Speaker 1: Meats World Show Instagram of Christine and I at one
Speaker 1: of those bowling events that we went to, and Andrew
Speaker 1: Keegan was there, and Ksey Keegan was there, and I
Speaker 1: am wearing a Batman Returns T shirt. Of course you are,
Speaker 1: of course sounds and it's a great picture of Christine
Speaker 1: and I and um. I have so so many of
Speaker 1: my little T G I F nineties memories involve you,
Speaker 1: Christine and and even though we can't remember exactly how
Speaker 1: we met, you are just an indelible part of my
Speaker 1: my teenage hood. And well say for all of you,
Speaker 1: I have like very specific when with whether it's like
Speaker 1: you sleeping over at our apartment, I think you can
Speaker 1: over for sleepover once or like will like I think
Speaker 1: I helped you move, or I helped you did help
Speaker 1: someone you helped me move. It was it was Marsden
Speaker 1: and somebody and we and you all just showed up
Speaker 1: to help me move from one apartment to another in
Speaker 1: the same building. It was like having to move one
Speaker 1: floor up. Yea, like filming you know, Buck Naked Arson,
Speaker 1: that was like one of the best experiences ever had
Speaker 1: asn't actor. It really sticks out there is like one
Speaker 1: of my was that at redwood Shire. Yeah, we shot
Speaker 1: a movie right after Boy Mee's World ended. The summer
Speaker 1: after we shot a movie at my parents property. It
Speaker 1: was one of the first high def digital films ever.
Speaker 1: Like we got that, we got the cameras that George
Speaker 1: Lucas said like not taken for Phantom Menace. We got
Speaker 1: the other cameras, but they were like it was like
Speaker 1: the new latest technology. We shot a feature in twelve days,
Speaker 1: which back then was just unheard of to make something
Speaker 1: that quick. Now it's kind of standard. But back then
Speaker 1: we shot all my parents property. But we just had
Speaker 1: so much fun. We're just like camping out and like
Speaker 1: staying up until sunrise because we're shooting nights. So much fun.
Speaker 1: And then you brought me on Hollywood Arlings, which is
Speaker 1: just fun, which is just a ton of fun. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was a really fun job, I have to say,
Speaker 1: you know, like getting to do something like that with
Speaker 1: people you love and bringing all you know friends in
Speaker 1: and like just the improv nature of that show. I
Speaker 1: don't know why more things aren't like that. Um, I
Speaker 1: was just because more people won't allow it, because because
Speaker 1: the networks and stuff don't allow it. That's that's the
Speaker 1: answer to that. Unfortunately, and I mean even as a
Speaker 1: rehearsal process, even as a director, I think about, you know,
Speaker 1: having people talk about their characters or talk in character
Speaker 1: about who they are. I mean, it's such a valuable
Speaker 1: tool to have and I wish that there was, you know,
Speaker 1: more rehearsal time to do stuff like that, or even
Speaker 1: just improv scenes between characters, because I think it's I mean,
Speaker 1: it was just really the best. Christine, tell everyone where
Speaker 1: we can find you and where we can see you,
Speaker 1: and tell us about your podcast with Stacy. Yes, um,
Speaker 1: you can find me on Instagram at yolacon Yo Lincoln
Speaker 1: Um and our podcast he's called We have an Instagram
Speaker 1: it's called Keenan and Laken Give you Deja Vu. I
Speaker 1: love it, And that will be coming out shortly. We
Speaker 1: have like a few more episodes to film in season one.
Speaker 1: You know, she's a lawyer, you guys, she could get
Speaker 1: exactly a criminal case and she's like, I'm sorry, I
Speaker 1: got to put these people away and I'm like real
Speaker 1: work to do. Yeah, so so very soon probably sometimes
Speaker 1: fall incredible. Well, thank you so much for being here
Speaker 1: with us. Always fun to catch up with you. And um,
Speaker 1: you're you're a mom inspiration. We didn't even get to
Speaker 1: talk about the fact that you have two beautiful children
Speaker 1: in a fantastic husband, but you're always like such an
Speaker 1: inspiration for me, both both work wise and personally. Um,
Speaker 1: I just said, I look at you in so many ways.
Speaker 1: Thank you for being with us. So good to see
Speaker 1: you guys. Bye bye. I don't like her the worst.
Speaker 1: She is just terrible, isn't she. Yeah, she's just you
Speaker 1: know what. One of the things I just love about
Speaker 1: her so much is never once do I have a
Speaker 1: single memory of her where she's ever been anything other
Speaker 1: than just totally her. She is one of the most authentic,
Speaker 1: genuine people. There's no airs about her. She's just who like.
Speaker 1: Who you see is who you get. She's always smiling,
Speaker 1: always smiling, and helpful. When I was pregnant with Adler
Speaker 1: and I knew absolutely nothing about what was about to
Speaker 1: happen to me, I knew, I knew, you know, your
Speaker 1: first time mom, you don't know anything. She was one
Speaker 1: of the only people to pull me aside and say, listen,
Speaker 1: here's gonna be some things you're gonna need to do,
Speaker 1: and here's gonna be how you're gonna feel, and here's
Speaker 1: what's what's going to happen? And and I don't want
Speaker 1: you to feel blindsided by it. And she just gave
Speaker 1: me and she put me in touch with people who
Speaker 1: were able to like I mean, she was phenomenal and
Speaker 1: um yeah, I mean I've talked to her about directing
Speaker 1: stuff like I I and I remember because she was
Speaker 1: saying she she was shadowing on Girl Meets World. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I knew when she was trying to get into directing,
Speaker 1: and I remember, you know, watching her do it and
Speaker 1: now to see the amazing career she's had, um and
Speaker 1: we'll continue to have, is is just wonderful. But I
Speaker 1: also has to be said, a wonderful actor. I never
Speaker 1: watched that, I said. I realized as we were going
Speaker 1: into this was like I don't think I've seen a
Speaker 1: single episode, which is you know, maybe not that crazy,
Speaker 1: but I don't know what that show. I mean, I
Speaker 1: have like an image of like it was a family show,
Speaker 1: you know what I knew, But it was really working
Speaker 1: with her an acting class and then working with her
Speaker 1: on Buck Naked Arson. I just she is such a
Speaker 1: good actor. And I always always thought like just like
Speaker 1: always brought professional attitude, like you said, super positive but genuine,
Speaker 1: but then also just talented, like she could make a
Speaker 1: scene come alive. Such a good actor. She's incredible. So
Speaker 1: I'm so glad that she joined us for that. And
Speaker 1: our next episode will be that we are are recapping
Speaker 1: season one, episode fourteen, the b Team of Life. It
Speaker 1: aired originally January, so we will see you all later
Speaker 1: in the week with that. Um, you can follow us
Speaker 1: on Instagram pod Meets World Show and you can also
Speaker 1: buy our March March pod Meets World Show dot com.
Speaker 1: And um, we get your emails this uh this last week.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna say what yet, but boy did we
Speaker 1: get a lot of emails. It out one particular subject
Speaker 1: and void did we here? Um, so I would like
Speaker 1: to say email us, but unless you're gonnote if if
Speaker 1: you write, write about anything other than the Lama pen.
Speaker 1: We know about the Lama pen. Okay, we got it.
Speaker 1: I don't know what that is. If somebody could send
Speaker 1: in some emails about that, I'd appreciate Pod Meets World
Speaker 1: Show at gmail dot com. If you insist on writing
Speaker 1: more about the Lama pen, we will have to close
Speaker 1: the email down. Thank you guys for being with us. Well,
Speaker 1: I think It's you. We Love you All. Pod dismissed.
Speaker 1: Pod Meets Worlds an I heart podcast produced and hosted
Speaker 1: by Danielle Fischel, Wilfred l and Wryter Strong Executive producers,
Speaker 1: Jensen Cart and Amy Sugarman, Executive in charge of production,
Speaker 1: Danielle Romo, producer and editor, Tara sud Batch, producer, Jackie Rodriguez,
Speaker 1: engineer and Boy Meets World super fan Easton Allen. Our
Speaker 1: theme song is by Kyle Morton of Typhoon. You can
Speaker 1: follow us on Instagram at Pod meets World Show or
Speaker 1: email us at pod Meets World Show at gmail dot
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