Speaker 1: I Am all In more, I Am all In with
Speaker 1: Scott Patterson and I Heart Radio Podcast. All right, everybody,
Speaker 1: we're back with a mini sould with Janet Hubert, who
Speaker 1: plays Gizelle's mom. Back in the saddle again. I'm Scott Patterson.
Speaker 1: This as I Am All In Podcast I Heart Radio,
Speaker 1: one of leven productions. It's a pleasure having you on. Janet. Hello,
Speaker 1: how are you hi? Hi? We're doing great. Listen. I
Speaker 1: want to get into a little bit of your bio here. Uh.
Speaker 1: You were the O G and Viv from Fresh Prince
Speaker 1: season the original series season one to three, and yet
Speaker 1: recurring in two television series Love Life on HBO, Max
Speaker 1: in the Last O G on TBS. What a fun show. Uh.
Speaker 1: She's also working on an animated series that has been
Speaker 1: created specifically geared towards young black men, called uh j
Speaker 1: G and the BC Kids. And isn't that fun? So
Speaker 1: here we go. You're here, You're on the hot seat.
Speaker 1: Tell us from the beginning. How did you get into acting? Janet? Okay? So,
Speaker 1: my foray into acting was because there was nothing. I
Speaker 1: grew up in a small town called Moments, Illinois, population
Speaker 1: people including pigs and cows and horses, and so there
Speaker 1: was now much to do. UM. Girls didn't have many sports.
Speaker 1: I was the only girl on the boys track team,
Speaker 1: and so I got on the voice track team, and
Speaker 1: then I was a cheerleader. And then there was nothing
Speaker 1: left except the theater, and so I went to a theater.
Speaker 1: We didn't even have a curtain. We had about four
Speaker 1: lights in the auditorium. There were only fifty kids in
Speaker 1: my graduating class. And so, uh, I just got a
Speaker 1: bug by. My first play was called The Wingless Victory UM,
Speaker 1: and so I had this wonderful acting teacher. His name
Speaker 1: was Mr Thackeray. Mr Thackery was sort of my mentor
Speaker 1: back in high school school, and he saw that I
Speaker 1: had something and so he sort of put me under
Speaker 1: his wing and we went to state competitions and we
Speaker 1: started winning state competitions, and then we did eighty four
Speaker 1: where I played O'Brien um in and it ended up
Speaker 1: being that I won for best State, Best Actress in
Speaker 1: the state, but the play didn't. So then I went
Speaker 1: and did a summer theater and I think it was
Speaker 1: the same in the Muni Theater St. Louis Muni Theater
Speaker 1: or something like that. Uh. With a woman named Carol Brandt,
Speaker 1: and she told me about Juilliard. She goes, you're really good,
Speaker 1: and I said really, And I said, what's Juilliard? And
Speaker 1: you talk about dumb about how you know? How would
Speaker 1: you know, I mean from a small time. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't know from a small town. I had no
Speaker 1: idea what Juilliard was. And so she said you should
Speaker 1: go and apply. So I applied to Juilliard and I
Speaker 1: had an audition and I did the completely wrong audition.
Speaker 1: I they said, okay, you have to play four or
Speaker 1: more characters. A play with four or more characters. I
Speaker 1: thought I was supposed to play four or more characters,
Speaker 1: so that meant I had to be four different people.
Speaker 1: So I chose Mrs Trata m h. I had never
Speaker 1: done classical theater ever in my life. Mrs Trata Aristophanes
Speaker 1: and I played all the women in the Acropolis trying
Speaker 1: to get out of the acropolis because they refused to
Speaker 1: have sex with her husbands because they're waging war, and
Speaker 1: so the women on the of the Greek town decide,
Speaker 1: no more saxon until you stopped having more. Well, I
Speaker 1: played all four characters of the women, and they thought
Speaker 1: I was nuts and they love that UM. And so
Speaker 1: when I got in I got I said, wow, I
Speaker 1: got a scholarship because at that time, Julia, it was
Speaker 1: about the thousand dollars a year and they had no dormitories.
Speaker 1: So it was moved to New York City at the
Speaker 1: age of eighteen by myself with no family, no friends,
Speaker 1: no nobody. UM. My brother had a friend Jane, who
Speaker 1: was at Columbia University who just graduated. She was just
Speaker 1: getting settled. So I stayed at the Swiss House for Women.
Speaker 1: I had a harpist as a roommate. Let to get
Speaker 1: her name. The name was Helen Latner and she played
Speaker 1: ragtime on the harp. These ladies gave us a bowl
Speaker 1: of old meal and a damn bawl the a for
Speaker 1: breakfast every morning, and I was like, I'm hungry. I
Speaker 1: was hungry, hungry, hungry all the time. So you're a
Speaker 1: Juilliard um. And for those of you who don't know,
Speaker 1: Juilliard is one of the more prestigious um acting schools
Speaker 1: or acting colleges in the world. Very very very very
Speaker 1: difficult to get into UM. And some students right and
Speaker 1: and and you know, you'll a lot of big stars
Speaker 1: came out of Juilliard. I mean I think Robin Williams
Speaker 1: came out of there. Robin Williams was in the class
Speaker 1: above me. Yeah, he was a lot of very notable
Speaker 1: actors came out at Juilliard. Uh them right, well, Bill hurry, yep, yep, yeah,
Speaker 1: they all came out of that program. Very very intense, Uh,
Speaker 1: very good program, but so um, absolutely fascinating. I could talk.
Speaker 1: I could do a whole episode just you in Juilliard.
Speaker 1: But let's let's do some Gilmore stuff. Um, do you
Speaker 1: remember what do you? I mean, what do you remember
Speaker 1: from that episode? I had to tell you I don't
Speaker 1: remember very much about it because it was so long ago,
Speaker 1: and I was I was. I only did one episode
Speaker 1: where I played Giselle. Giselle um, a French mother overly
Speaker 1: well she was busy. UM. I remember talking so fast.
Speaker 1: I've never talked that. That's in my name. And I
Speaker 1: remember saying to the star of the show, what is her? Lauren? Lauren? Lauren?
Speaker 1: I said, how in the hell do you do this
Speaker 1: and talk as fast as you possibly can make your
Speaker 1: mouth move? You know, It's it's interesting what you can
Speaker 1: do when you're thrown into a situation where you have
Speaker 1: to survive. You know, yeah, you know what you know.
Speaker 1: I I always had a good work ethic, and I
Speaker 1: think obviously she came from that same discipline. So that's
Speaker 1: how you survive it. You just you rehearse the crap
Speaker 1: out of it. You know. Well, that's also the theater.
Speaker 1: The theater is a work ethic. Collingwood does not understand
Speaker 1: that kind of work ethic. Um, the theater, the theater
Speaker 1: instills a work ethic. And you like nothing else, nothing
Speaker 1: and dance and Dan. So you were Michelle's mom, Um,
Speaker 1: what do you remember about you unique? Um? I remember
Speaker 1: that he was very lovely, very lovely young man, very handsome. Um.
Speaker 1: I said, oh, I have such a hands on ned
Speaker 1: and so I had to do this frantic simp you know.
Speaker 1: So it was, it was, it was. It was something
Speaker 1: that we learned to do with the odd and so
Speaker 1: I was. I have a knack for accent. I remember
Speaker 1: the set being very well run, very professional. Um, But
Speaker 1: I don't remember much about it, to take the truth.
Speaker 1: I remember the discussions that we remember the wig, I
Speaker 1: remember the hair. I remember the look, um. I was
Speaker 1: trying to find it on Hulu, But I was going,
Speaker 1: where is it when you do one episode? And I
Speaker 1: saw where somebody wrote Janet Hubert was a queen of
Speaker 1: one episodes. I was hoping that they would bring her back.
Speaker 1: You know, I know that she didn't know enough about
Speaker 1: her son as much as she thought she did, or
Speaker 1: she wasn't as attentive as a mother as she should be,
Speaker 1: which my son accuses me of all the time. So
Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, whatever, Yeah, you know, we we spoke
Speaker 1: with David Gruber Allen, who was the second Troupertoor and
Speaker 1: he he did four episodes and you only did one,
Speaker 1: and they were so enjoyable and so memorable. I don't
Speaker 1: understand why they didn't bring him back more, bring you
Speaker 1: back more. But I guess that's just the way it is.
Speaker 1: That happens a lot where the writers just don't know
Speaker 1: where they want to go with the character. So you know,
Speaker 1: you just sort of you're sort of and Tyler Perry
Speaker 1: does it a lot. You'll do four or five episodes
Speaker 1: or seven with Tyler and he'll never bring you back.
Speaker 1: So I did seven episodes. He hasn't even given me
Speaker 1: one episode, So I don't know what that I'd love
Speaker 1: to work with him. Do you remember what you enjoyed
Speaker 1: most about your time with Gilmore Girls? Was it just
Speaker 1: working with unique? Was it just the general atmosphere? What
Speaker 1: was it was? It was? It was the kindness of
Speaker 1: the cast. Nobody had a diva attitude. It was early
Speaker 1: in my career, very early in my career. Um so
Speaker 1: that working on a set that was that was fun,
Speaker 1: that was professionally run. But also when you do film
Speaker 1: show versus a sitcom, there is a structure there. You
Speaker 1: do what, you hit it, you quit it, and you're out.
Speaker 1: I like, I love the format, but you don't get
Speaker 1: a chance to really know people. Because I did one episode,
Speaker 1: I didn't get a chance to really know anybody. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so I have to admit to you that you know
Speaker 1: Rory and Um I remember some of the characters, but
Speaker 1: I just remember very little about it because it was
Speaker 1: so fast and proved. Right. Well, Um, you're busy with
Speaker 1: other projects and so many What keeps you motivate? How
Speaker 1: can you do so many? Listen, I am out of
Speaker 1: my mind this this this afternoon, I am out of
Speaker 1: my mind. We're on a deadline to get j G
Speaker 1: and gets done. I've been doing the casting. I've been
Speaker 1: doing the writing. I've been doing the choreography for this,
Speaker 1: for this children's project, it's taking me twenty three years
Speaker 1: to get it done. I am exhausted. I just got
Speaker 1: back from doing a show in Atlanta and then I'm
Speaker 1: on New Amsterdam tonight. Um the Last o G Love Life.
Speaker 1: It's been ever since Jesus be gave Judas. We're all
Speaker 1: you know. People have been coming with offers, with wonderful offers,
Speaker 1: and I really am enjoying my time. But this is
Speaker 1: my baby, j G NUBII Kids. It's massive. We're at
Speaker 1: a million, seven thousand dollars of a budget. Animation ain't
Speaker 1: cheap and it's not easy, right. So I was in
Speaker 1: the studio on Zoom with Raven good One yesterday trying
Speaker 1: to finish up her pickups, trying to finish up all
Speaker 1: the pickups for the children with COVID, trying to cast
Speaker 1: it all with COVID during COVID last March, and we
Speaker 1: did not get a chance to have a radio play.
Speaker 1: They have the whole cast together. It is I'm losing hair, okay,
Speaker 1: and it's going great quick. Yeah, But it's my baby,
Speaker 1: it's my projects so I know, I know how that
Speaker 1: feels like. I had one of those projects, of one
Speaker 1: of those kind of passion projects, and then it blew
Speaker 1: up in four days before we're just start shooting where
Speaker 1: where we're done next? Yeah, we didn't. I didn't even
Speaker 1: get to the starting line, you know. Yeah, yeah, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's the risk you take. You know. That's it's it's
Speaker 1: hard getting these things, hard, getting financing, it's hard, getting
Speaker 1: actors committed. It's it's just difficult, right, the whole thing.
Speaker 1: It's such heavy lifting. And then I have to tell
Speaker 1: you though, Um, sometimes when you lose one thing in
Speaker 1: your life, you realize that you've gained another skill that
Speaker 1: you didn't even know you had. And mine is writing.
Speaker 1: And I went back, came back here and started doing
Speaker 1: voiceovers and getting back my voiceover career because I was
Speaker 1: doing voiceover this before I even left for Hollywood and
Speaker 1: quite quite quite successful at it, you know, and then
Speaker 1: doing Broadway and theater. You gotta do it all to
Speaker 1: survive and dancing on top of it. So I'm at
Speaker 1: the age where I don't want to do squad. I
Speaker 1: want to I want to wear no makeup. COVID has
Speaker 1: been wonderful mask is like a joy because nobody knows
Speaker 1: who you are. See. That brings us to our next question.
Speaker 1: When you walk down the street before pre covid, before
Speaker 1: the mask, who who do you? Who are you most
Speaker 1: recognized as? Which? Care? Vivian? Vivian? Then who else? Okay,
Speaker 1: forever and ever. When you do a sitcom and you
Speaker 1: do a role such as as mine, why, um, you
Speaker 1: are very identified as that character? Um. And that's okay
Speaker 1: because that's television is free. You know what I mean?
Speaker 1: You come into people's homes for free. It's been the
Speaker 1: gift that's kept on giving for thirty years. We're still
Speaker 1: on the air. So I hold absolutely no ill will
Speaker 1: towards the role, the wonderful role. Wonderful role. That's fantastic. Well,
Speaker 1: this brings us to a segment called rapid Fire. Are
Speaker 1: you ready? H you don't know rapid fire. I'm just
Speaker 1: gonna start how you Let's see how you do s?
Speaker 1: I can't remember yesterday? Wre we go? Here we go?
Speaker 1: How many cups of coffee did you have? Do you
Speaker 1: have a day? Oh? My god? I half a cop.
Speaker 1: Who's your favorite Gilmore Girl's character? Lauren? Yeah, I'll give
Speaker 1: you a chance. To answer that question again? Is it Laura?
Speaker 1: It was Lauren? You correct answer? What would you? What
Speaker 1: would you? You You gotta be careful with me. What would
Speaker 1: your order? It looks diner, looks dinner probably eggs on
Speaker 1: special for seventy five. You get tomatoes and Swiss cheese.
Speaker 1: You can't an egg now, you can't do it. Would
Speaker 1: you rather go on a road trip with Taylor or Michelle?
Speaker 1: Mm hmmm mm hmmm. I don't know, I'd say to Taylor,
Speaker 1: really you wouldn't want to go with your own son? Michelle? Okay, first,
Speaker 1: finish the lyric. Finish this lyric ready, and where you lead,
Speaker 1: I will follow where you go. I will what you need. Okay,
Speaker 1: finish the lyrics. I will all easy you need to
Speaker 1: be with That's pretty good? All right? Jackson's Vegetables or
Speaker 1: Suki's baked goods? No, come on, staff, make good? Thank you?
Speaker 1: Correct answer? Would you actually know Jackson's Vegetables is a
Speaker 1: correct answer. Would you would you? There's no right or wrong,
Speaker 1: It's just I'm just pulling your life. Would you rather
Speaker 1: listen to? Would you rather? Would you? Would you rather
Speaker 1: listen to Drella's Harp or The Trooper Doors cover songs, Children,
Speaker 1: Prepper Stars, Hollow High, Children Prep any anything but the
Speaker 1: word prep in it. No, that's Rory's. That's the private
Speaker 1: school Rory's going to. Okay, favorite Gilmore Girl's memory. Oh,
Speaker 1: craft Services excellent. It has been a pleasure to speaking
Speaker 1: with you. It was a lot of fun. I did
Speaker 1: not know you went to Juilliard. We're gonna have to
Speaker 1: have you back and talk about that a little bit
Speaker 1: for God. But yeah, thank you so much for coming on.
Speaker 1: We've really enjoyed it. Sweet and I'm so glad I
Speaker 1: went into the car to talk to you. I'm in
Speaker 1: the car and the driveway. You're in the car. You're
Speaker 1: in the car. All right, John, You take care of
Speaker 1: yourself and good luck with all of your many projects.
Speaker 1: Thank you. I hope you take care, take as and
Speaker 1: take names. Baby, you got it. Okay. But well, hey everybody,
Speaker 1: and don't forget Follow us on Instagram at I Am
Speaker 1: All In podcast and email us at Gilmore at I
Speaker 1: heart radio dot com. Oh you Gilmore fans. If you're
Speaker 1: looking for the best cup of coffee in the world,
Speaker 1: go to my website for my company scott ep dot com,
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