WEBVTT - Busy Philipps 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:01.360 And then she called me back and she was like, 0:00:01.720 --> 0:00:04.120 you know, Judd is really insistent that they want to 0:00:04.160 --> 0:00:06.920 make this character a series regular if the show gets 0:00:06.920 --> 0:00:08.719 picked up. I think you should just do it. I 0:00:08.760 --> 0:00:12.520 think it's brilliant. Had you read the script? Yeah, I 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:14.960 did not understand it at all. I'M NOT gonna lie. 0:00:15.280 --> 0:00:19.120 I'M NOT gonna lie. Totally, Brian, totally. I was like, 0:00:19.640 --> 0:00:21.600 don't get it, I don't get what the tone of 0:00:21.640 --> 0:00:31.200 this is. I was so confused by it. Hi, my 0:00:31.280 --> 0:00:35.199 name is busy Phillips and I'm a human person in 0:00:35.280 --> 0:00:48.080 this world. I don't know what I am. Yeah. Well, 0:00:48.240 --> 0:00:53.720 hello there everybody, and welcome friends to another episode of 0:00:53.720 --> 0:00:58.960 off the beat. It's me, as always, your host, Brian Baumgartner, and, 0:00:59.120 --> 0:01:03.480 as you just heard in that sneak peek, I have 0:01:03.920 --> 0:01:07.240 my conversation today with a woman who makes me laugh, 0:01:07.720 --> 0:01:13.480 busy Phillips, a woman who has been, well, busy get it, 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:17.800 winning hearts on screen since well, since she first appeared 0:01:17.800 --> 0:01:22.520 as Kim on cult favorite freaks and Geeks, a show 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:26.280 whose legacy it only lasted one season, but some could 0:01:26.280 --> 0:01:30.680 say it is the precursor, it is the the grand 0:01:30.800 --> 0:01:35.160 parent to the office. Since then, she's been on everything, 0:01:35.680 --> 0:01:40.880 Dawson's Creek, Cougar town, white chicks, and last year she 0:01:40.959 --> 0:01:45.960 became an esteemed member of the incredible girls five. Ever, 0:01:46.800 --> 0:01:51.680 she also had a late night television show, busy tonight, 0:01:51.880 --> 0:01:55.160 that we talked about, and her podcast I was just on. 0:01:55.360 --> 0:01:58.960 Busy Phillips is doing her best. She is one of 0:01:58.960 --> 0:02:01.640 my favorites. We're going to deep dive into the brain 0:02:01.680 --> 0:02:12.400 today of busy Phillips. Bubble and squeak. I love bubble 0:02:12.440 --> 0:02:19.400 and SQUIG, bubble and squeaker cookie every moon looked over 0:02:19.480 --> 0:02:32.800 from the nut people. What's up, busy? Hi Brian, how 0:02:32.800 --> 0:02:36.320 are you doing? I'm good. How are you? I'm good. 0:02:36.480 --> 0:02:39.680 It was my kid's first day of school today. Oh today, 0:02:40.520 --> 0:02:48.160 I know, New York is weird. Wow, okay, a random Wednesday. Well, 0:02:48.400 --> 0:02:51.000 yesterday it was like an open house kind of day 0:02:51.080 --> 0:02:54.840 for the kids, so maybe it was sort of technically yesterday, 0:02:55.080 --> 0:02:57.160 but not really, like they just went and saw their 0:02:57.240 --> 0:03:01.639 classrooms and then today was like the real start. Well, 0:03:01.760 --> 0:03:06.400 that's nice, I guess. Did you get emotional? No, I have. 0:03:06.639 --> 0:03:10.400 My kids are old. Okay, what are they doing? Tours 0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:13.840 of the room. Then my older one doesn't do like 0:03:14.000 --> 0:03:16.000 my older one is in middle school but my little 0:03:16.040 --> 0:03:17.799 one is in fourth grade and they still do it 0:03:17.840 --> 0:03:20.960 in fourth grade so that they can like see their classroom, 0:03:21.000 --> 0:03:23.400 know where they're going on the first day. Like New 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:26.000 York is just so different than Los Angeles. It's crazy 0:03:26.880 --> 0:03:32.119 and obviously, obviously, but like I didn't realize that both 0:03:32.200 --> 0:03:35.760 kids like get themselves, like they get themselves to school. Oh, 0:03:36.000 --> 0:03:39.080 they walk or they well, my older kids walks and 0:03:39.160 --> 0:03:42.600 then the little one takes a bus. Wow, I know, 0:03:43.840 --> 0:03:47.400 big kids, big kids, big kids. I know, I know, 0:03:47.800 --> 0:03:51.440 it's nuts. It's nuts. Um, well, we call this in 0:03:51.520 --> 0:03:56.240 the business tip for TAT. I came on your podcast, 0:03:56.960 --> 0:03:59.080 which was a delight. Thank you for doing that. No, 0:03:59.240 --> 0:04:02.080 I heard I is the best, the best. That's what 0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:06.480 people are saying. Yeah, the best guest ever on busy 0:04:06.560 --> 0:04:10.440 Phillips is doing her best. Uh, and now I am 0:04:10.600 --> 0:04:13.360 so excited to talk to you, but I want to 0:04:13.440 --> 0:04:17.120 start back earlier than that. When did you when did 0:04:17.200 --> 0:04:21.320 you start becoming involved in the arts or thinking you 0:04:21.600 --> 0:04:25.680 might want to perform or be an actor? Well, I mean, 0:04:25.920 --> 0:04:31.080 I think, like many of us, it was a thing 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:34.800 that I always had since I was a very, very 0:04:34.880 --> 0:04:38.240 small person. You know, I've been a parent now for 0:04:38.360 --> 0:04:41.520 a long time, but you know, it really is a 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:44.240 parent a parent, a parent as a parent. It's a 0:04:44.320 --> 0:04:47.479 parent to a parent, a parent as a parent. Um that. Yeah, 0:04:47.600 --> 0:04:51.080 some kids just gravitate towards being the center of attention, 0:04:51.279 --> 0:04:56.440 wanting to perform, wanting to dress up, wanting to do 0:04:57.240 --> 0:04:59.320 shows and things, and I was very much that kid. 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:06.000 I also had, uh, pretty intense lisp when I was little, 0:05:06.600 --> 0:05:11.640 like little, little kid, and by the time I was 0:05:11.720 --> 0:05:14.080 in second and third grade it was still hanging on 0:05:14.320 --> 0:05:19.640 and that's when like speech therapists get involved and I 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:23.000 think my mom felt like it was a really good 0:05:23.040 --> 0:05:29.000 opportunity to sort of combine a thing that she saw 0:05:29.120 --> 0:05:34.440 that I had an interest in with, you know, making 0:05:34.480 --> 0:05:36.280 sure that I could say my s is and my 0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:40.400 th h s and my rs correctly. So, you know. 0:05:40.600 --> 0:05:43.560 So so I got sort of you know, she put 0:05:43.640 --> 0:05:47.120 me in some you know, little kid theater programs and 0:05:47.760 --> 0:05:51.120 extracurricular stuff. I was never a kid that was very 0:05:51.240 --> 0:05:56.480 sporty about you well, as I've gotten older I've become 0:05:56.520 --> 0:06:02.039 way more athletic, but I was like not I didn't 0:06:02.040 --> 0:06:05.440 want to move. I was like very happy to be 0:06:05.560 --> 0:06:07.880 in a cold theater. I also grew up in Arizona. 0:06:08.360 --> 0:06:10.839 Brand you don't want to play softball in a hunter 0:06:10.920 --> 0:06:17.640 antent decree heat, and they do. I know, the golf 0:06:17.760 --> 0:06:19.920 they're like yeah, let's go out, we'll tee, we'll tee 0:06:19.920 --> 0:06:22.200 it off at six thirty and it's already a hundred 0:06:22.200 --> 0:06:24.840 and two. No, I mean I like I played softball 0:06:24.920 --> 0:06:28.040 for two years in elementary school and it was so 0:06:28.640 --> 0:06:31.720 hot and I like all the pictures of me are 0:06:31.839 --> 0:06:35.720 just like in the outfield laying down like trying to 0:06:35.880 --> 0:06:39.960 not pass out from heat exhaustion. So I was very 0:06:40.000 --> 0:06:43.000 happy to be in a cold, air conditioned black box 0:06:43.040 --> 0:06:47.960 theater and I was really lucky because we found, through 0:06:48.000 --> 0:06:52.359 my best friend emily bb, this very cool children's theater, 0:06:52.600 --> 0:06:57.039 small children's theater school or whatever in in Scottsdale called 0:06:57.080 --> 0:07:01.120 actors lab of Arizona, and they had their like kid 0:07:01.200 --> 0:07:04.640 and teen program and the woman that ran it was 0:07:04.760 --> 0:07:09.239 really cool, like she just didn't do the usual kid plays, 0:07:09.680 --> 0:07:11.800 you know, like she had us write monologues about our 0:07:11.880 --> 0:07:14.960 feelings and stuff. Like she really was like into it 0:07:15.880 --> 0:07:19.000 and I just knew that I wanted to do it. 0:07:19.120 --> 0:07:22.600 I like was very adamant from, I mean, I want 0:07:22.640 --> 0:07:25.160 to say, like fourth or fifth grade, that I was 0:07:25.200 --> 0:07:28.120 going to move to L A and be an actor 0:07:28.400 --> 0:07:31.120 and be in movies and beyond TV shows. Fourth or 0:07:31.160 --> 0:07:36.040 fifth grade, you were already there. Yes, yeah, yeah, that's cool. 0:07:36.280 --> 0:07:41.520 I mean it's interesting that your mom had that insight, 0:07:41.680 --> 0:07:44.400 that idea of like Oh, okay, so this is an 0:07:44.440 --> 0:07:47.680 issue you're having. Well, let's dive into the pool, like 0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:52.120 let's do this and and challenge you in that way, 0:07:52.960 --> 0:07:55.600 knowing that you may have feelings about performing or whatever, 0:07:55.720 --> 0:07:58.520 but that's very cool. Yeah, I mean my mom also 0:07:59.520 --> 0:08:01.800 was a former. My mom wanted to be an actress 0:08:01.960 --> 0:08:04.840 when she was young and was the star of all 0:08:04.920 --> 0:08:08.480 the school plays. My older sister is four years older 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:11.720 than me and she also did like school plays in 0:08:11.880 --> 0:08:14.040 theater and when she was in college was, you know, 0:08:15.240 --> 0:08:19.800 in a bunch of shows in college. Um, so it 0:08:19.960 --> 0:08:23.640 was like it's definitely like a thing in our in us, 0:08:23.840 --> 0:08:26.600 in our family, you know. And just to be clear, though, 0:08:27.040 --> 0:08:29.240 for your listeners who don't know me, maybe I'm not 0:08:29.400 --> 0:08:35.920 related to anyone famous, but like sometimes a lot of 0:08:35.960 --> 0:08:38.840 times people think that I'm part of like the famous 0:08:38.960 --> 0:08:42.400 Phillips is from the Mamas and the Papas, like those Philips, 0:08:42.679 --> 0:08:45.160 that Phillips Family. I'm not. My Mom's a realtor. She 0:08:45.320 --> 0:08:49.920 ended up not being an actor. My Dad's an engineer, 0:08:50.160 --> 0:08:52.599 but you know what I mean, like we were just 0:08:53.559 --> 0:08:56.679 people who like to perform. Yeah, so she was. She 0:08:56.840 --> 0:08:59.240 was always very encouraging and I think she felt like 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:03.360 her parents kind of put the Kai Bash on her 0:09:04.280 --> 0:09:06.800 dreams of becoming an actor, and so she did not 0:09:07.600 --> 0:09:10.679 want to do that to me or my sister and 0:09:10.800 --> 0:09:16.319 she was always super encouraging and supportive, and both my parents. 0:09:16.400 --> 0:09:19.360 But like really my mother was like, you know, my 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:21.800 friend Jenny jokes that my mom was like the ultimate 0:09:21.880 --> 0:09:24.840 stage mom, and I would say, like that is true 0:09:24.920 --> 0:09:29.120 in some respects, but honestly, like when my sister decided 0:09:29.160 --> 0:09:32.439 to stop doing it, it wasn't a thing, like it 0:09:32.559 --> 0:09:35.320 was just like okay, that you're doing something else now. 0:09:35.920 --> 0:09:38.959 She really just wanted to support us in whatever was 0:09:39.080 --> 0:09:43.439 making us happy. You know what I mean? Yeah, you know, 0:09:43.600 --> 0:09:47.240 I've never talked about it or even thought about this before, 0:09:47.320 --> 0:09:49.640 but there's going to be a call to my mom later. 0:09:49.880 --> 0:09:54.439 I think my mom might be the same as your mom. 0:09:54.559 --> 0:09:57.800 I mean she was a singer, and I think it 0:09:58.040 --> 0:10:03.200 may have been her parents that discouraged her as well, 0:10:03.440 --> 0:10:08.000 because I've never talked about this. My grandparents, who were 0:10:08.040 --> 0:10:10.200 still alive at the time that I moved to Los Angeles, 0:10:10.400 --> 0:10:12.400 told my mom that I shouldn't move to Los Angeles 0:10:12.440 --> 0:10:16.839 because everyone does drugs out there. Sure. Well. Well, to 0:10:16.920 --> 0:10:19.000 be fair, Brian, how how many parties have we been 0:10:19.040 --> 0:10:23.959 at where we're just doing the drugs, you and me, 0:10:24.440 --> 0:10:28.400 just in the corner? Um I. How did you get 0:10:28.400 --> 0:10:30.599 the name busy? You have different answers. I want the 0:10:30.679 --> 0:10:32.880 real answer here. The real answer is that it was 0:10:33.120 --> 0:10:36.280 it was just like a very natural nickname from Elizabeth 0:10:36.480 --> 0:10:40.959 because I was a very busy little baby and my 0:10:41.200 --> 0:10:44.199 sister is like four years older than me. I have 0:10:44.320 --> 0:10:47.559 a babysitter. I had a babysitter in Chicago, where I 0:10:47.880 --> 0:10:50.720 was born and lived the first five years of my life, 0:10:51.160 --> 0:10:55.040 who was always calling me busy bath. So then it 0:10:55.200 --> 0:10:58.800 just became and it was like immediate. It was by 0:10:58.840 --> 0:11:00.640 the time I was a year old old. In my 0:11:00.720 --> 0:11:03.800 baby books, everywhere it just calls me busy. At first 0:11:03.920 --> 0:11:07.040 it's like, well, busy Beth is learning how to crawl, 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:10.160 like busy Beth and then by the time or busy, busy, bath, 0:11:10.240 --> 0:11:13.720 not busy, Lizzy, busy, Liz, busy Beth, and then by 0:11:13.760 --> 0:11:15.640 the time I'm a year old, it's just busy, and 0:11:15.800 --> 0:11:19.360 then it was busy ever since. So yeah, there you go. 0:11:19.480 --> 0:11:22.400 You heard it here. That's the real story, that's the truth. 0:11:22.760 --> 0:11:25.760 So you were doing theater very, very early on. What 0:11:26.000 --> 0:11:28.839 what led you to L M U, Loyola Mary Mount, 0:11:29.280 --> 0:11:33.160 Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California? Well, a couple 0:11:33.200 --> 0:11:36.320 of things. Number One, you know, all teenagers think they 0:11:36.360 --> 0:11:39.439 know everything, which is the best and worst part of 0:11:40.240 --> 0:11:44.120 being and having a teenager. Let me tell you, Um, 0:11:46.080 --> 0:11:49.199 but I knew, but what I knew about being a 0:11:49.280 --> 0:11:52.280 professional actor was that if you wanted to do TV 0:11:52.440 --> 0:11:54.559 and film, you went to L A, and if you 0:11:54.640 --> 0:11:57.520 wanted to do theater or musical theater, you went to 0:11:57.600 --> 0:12:01.600 New York. L A was also very close to where 0:12:01.679 --> 0:12:05.599 I grew up and went to hi Scottsdale. Yeah, so 0:12:06.400 --> 0:12:11.400 I auditioned and got into CAL arts to their Conservatory 0:12:11.679 --> 0:12:16.720 Theater Program. But I had a few friends from high 0:12:16.760 --> 0:12:19.920 school who had graduated a couple of years earlier than 0:12:20.000 --> 0:12:23.640 me who were in the Undergrad Film Department at Loyal 0:12:23.720 --> 0:12:26.800 and Marymount University and at the time I graduated from 0:12:26.800 --> 0:12:29.360 my school in at the time, elm you was like 0:12:29.559 --> 0:12:34.720 quite small. It's not. Now it's like this huge school. 0:12:34.880 --> 0:12:39.040 It's so crazy to me and my mom because my 0:12:39.200 --> 0:12:44.480 family is like, historically speaking, Catholic. My mother like loves 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:48.040 the JESUITS FOR THE EDUCATION. So I was I was 0:12:48.040 --> 0:12:49.880 auditioning for Cal Arts, which is where I thought I 0:12:49.920 --> 0:12:53.360 was going to go. I had applied to a s 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:55.719 U as like a backup, and my mom was like 0:12:55.800 --> 0:12:57.760 you really should just look at l m you. You 0:12:57.880 --> 0:13:01.400 already have friends there. It's in L A. It's not 0:13:01.679 --> 0:13:04.000 Kell Erts is like in Valencia. You're not gonna this 0:13:04.120 --> 0:13:06.520 isn't what you want. My Mom's not wrong, by the way. 0:13:08.040 --> 0:13:10.560 So I went from my audition. I flew out by myself. 0:13:10.720 --> 0:13:13.319 My friend Eric, he picked me up, he drove me 0:13:13.400 --> 0:13:16.079 to my audition and then we went back to L 0:13:16.200 --> 0:13:19.040 M U and I turned in my application there and 0:13:19.840 --> 0:13:22.320 like looked around the campus and spent the day there 0:13:22.400 --> 0:13:26.440 and I met Gloria Calderon Kellett that day. I met 0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:28.920 just a bunch of people and I I don't know 0:13:28.960 --> 0:13:31.120 if I met Linda Cardellini that day. But I but 0:13:31.200 --> 0:13:34.319 I met her as soon as I got there because 0:13:34.360 --> 0:13:37.240 she was already a legend at that school. She was 0:13:37.280 --> 0:13:41.439 already a legend. Yeah, for sure. Well, she was like 0:13:41.760 --> 0:13:46.559 working like professionally, working before freaks, before even freaks and Geeks. 0:13:46.600 --> 0:13:49.839 And so Linda's four years older than me, Um, but 0:13:49.960 --> 0:13:52.880 she had taken a gap year to work, but she 0:13:53.080 --> 0:13:57.280 was still like living with her college roommates off, like 0:13:57.480 --> 0:14:00.319 right off campus, and everybody was in ALD in the 0:14:00.400 --> 0:14:03.439 theater department. And so before I even met Linda, I 0:14:03.559 --> 0:14:05.520 knew who Linda was because it was like, oh, well, 0:14:05.559 --> 0:14:08.839 Linda Cardalini's working. She was on boy meets world. So 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:12.280 she was she was like sort of a legend already 0:14:12.520 --> 0:14:15.559 by the time I got there. And then really she's 0:14:15.559 --> 0:14:18.160 why I you know, she's why I did freaks and Geeks, 0:14:18.200 --> 0:14:20.520 which is like a whole other crazy I'll tell you 0:14:20.640 --> 0:14:23.400 that in two seconds. So, but but I just spent 0:14:23.480 --> 0:14:25.040 the day there at l m U and then flew 0:14:25.120 --> 0:14:27.080 back and I was like I really liked it. I 0:14:27.320 --> 0:14:29.960 really liked it, and part of the deal with calerts 0:14:30.040 --> 0:14:33.360 was that you sign up to be in this conservatory 0:14:33.480 --> 0:14:36.240 acting program and you're not supposed to audition or work 0:14:36.840 --> 0:14:39.440 for the four years that you're in that program, and 0:14:39.600 --> 0:14:42.600 I just felt like I'd been waiting since fourth grade 0:14:42.920 --> 0:14:46.000 to be an actor. I was like I can't do that, 0:14:46.280 --> 0:14:48.280 like I need to be able to do it if 0:14:48.280 --> 0:14:51.480 I'm gonna do it. And I'm so grateful that I 0:14:51.640 --> 0:14:55.080 like thought that way and and I'm you know, and 0:14:55.160 --> 0:14:57.800 my mom, I think, was happy that I was getting 0:14:57.840 --> 0:15:02.080 that Jesuit Education. I don't for two years anyway. But yeah, 0:15:02.200 --> 0:15:03.800 so then I got you know, so then I was 0:15:04.000 --> 0:15:06.160 I was at l m U, and then I was 0:15:06.320 --> 0:15:11.120 very focused on getting representation, figuring out how to do that. 0:15:11.720 --> 0:15:13.520 So you were going to school, but you were also 0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:16.400 in the business to like, yeah, you were trying to 0:15:16.440 --> 0:15:18.600 find an agent and you were trying to work even 0:15:18.960 --> 0:15:21.840 as you started school. Yeah, there were a few of 0:15:21.960 --> 0:15:23.960 us in the theater department that were kind of like 0:15:24.600 --> 0:15:29.120 savvy in that way, you know. And I felt like 0:15:29.160 --> 0:15:31.520 it was already too late. I felt like I had 0:15:31.520 --> 0:15:33.960 already like at eighteen and I was like I've already 0:15:33.960 --> 0:15:35.680 missed the book, you know what I mean, like I'm 0:15:35.680 --> 0:15:39.040 already it's already too I've already missed it. But you 0:15:39.120 --> 0:15:41.600 know Colin Hanks? Yeah, I was gonna ask. Were you 0:15:41.720 --> 0:15:44.440 friends with him as well or you guys was my boyfriend, 0:15:44.960 --> 0:15:48.280 he was your boyfriend. Yeah, you didn't know that for years. Yeah, 0:15:48.320 --> 0:15:51.360 we met my first semester, freshman. I don't read US weekly, 0:15:51.720 --> 0:15:56.080 don't listen, but Brian, it also like so predates like 0:15:56.280 --> 0:15:59.200 celebrity gossip. Yeah, it does kind of, because also we 0:15:59.240 --> 0:16:02.920 weren't famous. We were just like two random lmu students 0:16:02.960 --> 0:16:06.520 who like got on teen shows at the same time. 0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:11.800 No one cared. There's nothing and we're really good friends 0:16:11.880 --> 0:16:16.360 now as adults, which is the greatest twist of life 0:16:16.440 --> 0:16:20.200 and faith. So that's fantastic. But yeah, we met freshman year, 0:16:20.360 --> 0:16:23.480 like my first semester, and started going out. We were 0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:27.600 really like we did noises off together. He was the director, 0:16:27.840 --> 0:16:33.960 I was Vicky and I had done some like like 0:16:34.120 --> 0:16:36.640 had tried to get an agent in Arizona, which was 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:40.280 you know, anytime you're like in one of those smaller 0:16:40.640 --> 0:16:43.080 towns and markets, it's not that there's not stuff to 0:16:43.160 --> 0:16:45.760 be done or work to be done, it's just it's 0:16:45.760 --> 0:16:50.000 a little it's not comparable to what you do. Well, right, 0:16:50.400 --> 0:16:52.920 any most of the most of the interesting stuff. They 0:16:53.000 --> 0:16:55.240 end up casting out of L A or New York anyway. 0:16:55.480 --> 0:16:57.480 So you have an agent that you can't get you 0:16:57.560 --> 0:17:01.840 access to anything. That's that's I mean typically, typically, not always. 0:17:04.040 --> 0:17:09.359 I had done this like industrial type job for Mattel 0:17:09.560 --> 0:17:13.240 toy company, playing a live Barbie doll. Oh my God, 0:17:13.280 --> 0:17:19.160 I want the footage. No, because it was like it's 0:17:19.200 --> 0:17:21.480 the toy fair and you weren't allowed to film anything, 0:17:21.560 --> 0:17:25.440 and also before cameras and phones and camera phones. But 0:17:26.160 --> 0:17:29.320 I actually wasn't Barbie. I was they made a doll 0:17:29.520 --> 0:17:33.600 from the TV show and movie clueless. They made a 0:17:33.680 --> 0:17:38.200 share horrowitz doll. Yes, and so then they dressed me 0:17:38.280 --> 0:17:40.320 up like that and then they would bring in the 0:17:40.520 --> 0:17:44.720 toy buyers and I would do a whole fifteen pages 0:17:45.680 --> 0:17:49.160 of like sales projections and stuff, but in character as 0:17:49.720 --> 0:17:53.680 share horro wins, and I killed I was like I 0:17:53.840 --> 0:17:57.080 was I really killed it. And I went to New 0:17:57.160 --> 0:18:00.919 York twice to do the toy fair for Mattel and Um, 0:18:01.000 --> 0:18:05.119 there were tons of Broadway actors because it was like 0:18:05.920 --> 0:18:09.560 nine to four. The job was like nine to four 0:18:10.080 --> 0:18:12.800 and you got paid. I mean I worked at California 0:18:12.800 --> 0:18:16.359 Pizza Kitchen and those two weeks of being a Barbie 0:18:16.520 --> 0:18:20.480 for Mattel, I think I made four thousand dollars. Like 0:18:21.400 --> 0:18:25.520 as an seventeen year old, I was like that's nothing 0:18:25.600 --> 0:18:30.119 to sneeze at. It was a lot of money. But 0:18:30.280 --> 0:18:34.440 because of that I had become sort of friends with 0:18:34.560 --> 0:18:38.960 this actress named Lisa Guerrero and then ended up being 0:18:39.520 --> 0:18:43.440 like a sports like a football commentator. Yeah, okay, I 0:18:43.480 --> 0:18:45.439 feel like you know who she is. I know who 0:18:45.520 --> 0:18:50.840 that is. Yes, I was inside edition now or something. Okay, 0:18:50.880 --> 0:18:53.600 I don't know. Again, I told you I don't read 0:18:53.840 --> 0:18:56.680 US weekly, alright, and I literally don't think any of 0:18:56.760 --> 0:18:59.320 these things would be in US weekly. I think that. 0:19:00.520 --> 0:19:02.640 I don't think there is a publication that would come 0:19:02.680 --> 0:19:07.399 to this. This is just for your podcast. Anyway, she 0:19:07.600 --> 0:19:09.480 was very sweet and she took me out to lunch 0:19:10.040 --> 0:19:12.760 and she was like, well, you'll need representation. She was 0:19:12.840 --> 0:19:16.240 the one that told me what the steps were and 0:19:16.359 --> 0:19:20.879 then she very sweetly introduced me to her manager at 0:19:20.920 --> 0:19:25.080 the time, and this woman was like sure, well, let's see, 0:19:25.280 --> 0:19:29.359 let's try, and from there, you know, I auditioned for 0:19:30.400 --> 0:19:35.480 an agency and thankfully I had that Calart's audition in 0:19:35.640 --> 0:19:39.720 my back pocket. Just went in and did my calarts 0:19:39.760 --> 0:19:42.840 audition anyway and they've ended up signing me. And it's 0:19:42.880 --> 0:19:45.159 like at every point when I was you know, I 0:19:45.320 --> 0:19:50.119 was eighteen and then nineteen when I got freaks and Geeks, 0:19:51.640 --> 0:19:53.600 but at every point it was very much like I 0:19:53.640 --> 0:19:55.640 could tell the people around me were like well, let's see, 0:19:55.760 --> 0:19:59.120 let's okay, sure, let's just see, and the whole time 0:19:59.200 --> 0:20:25.760 I was like you'll see, oh, you're gonna see. How 0:20:25.840 --> 0:20:27.680 did you meet the folks on Freaks and Geeks? Was 0:20:27.720 --> 0:20:30.560 that through your agency? Did they do their job? Oh 0:20:30.680 --> 0:20:34.480 my God. Well, what I'm failing to bring up to 0:20:34.640 --> 0:20:39.200 you is that the pilot season of was like the 0:20:39.400 --> 0:20:43.680 year after Dawson's Creek, was the hugest hit of all time, 0:20:44.480 --> 0:20:51.960 and literally every network had seven teen shows that they 0:20:52.000 --> 0:20:56.320 were trying to make. So the timing for someone my 0:20:56.560 --> 0:21:00.680 age who could play sixteen, who didn't have been better. 0:21:01.200 --> 0:21:05.560 I had ninety, something like nine five auditions and callbacks 0:21:06.000 --> 0:21:11.480 in the span of three months. Unbelie unbelievable. And also, Brian, 0:21:12.040 --> 0:21:16.360 this is before email and I had to drive from 0:21:16.560 --> 0:21:19.480 L M U on the four or five to sunset 0:21:19.560 --> 0:21:22.440 plaza to pick up my scripts and sides from my 0:21:22.600 --> 0:21:25.600 agent's office. They would leave them downstairs in a giant 0:21:25.680 --> 0:21:28.320 box for all of their actors and you would go 0:21:28.480 --> 0:21:30.840 and you would flip through and find your name and 0:21:30.960 --> 0:21:34.760 find your package. It was like I was nonstop living 0:21:34.880 --> 0:21:38.280 in my car. I lived in my car. And so 0:21:38.480 --> 0:21:42.280 I had auditioned for Alison Jones and had gotten pretty 0:21:42.320 --> 0:21:44.840 far but hadn't tested, but had gotten like done a 0:21:45.240 --> 0:21:47.800 good job for Roswell, which was the show that Colin 0:21:47.960 --> 0:21:51.280 ended up getting, and she brought me in for freaks 0:21:51.320 --> 0:21:54.240 and Geeks and I read right for the producers for that. 0:21:55.119 --> 0:21:57.320 And so I went in and it was like Jake, 0:21:57.560 --> 0:22:03.560 Paul Judd and Alison obviously, and I read the Lindsay 0:22:03.800 --> 0:22:08.639 Audition sides. Kim Kelly wasn't a character. Yeah, then, right 0:22:08.680 --> 0:22:12.600 before I was about to leave, Paul was like Hey, busy, uh, 0:22:12.920 --> 0:22:15.040 you know, we have this other part. Would you mind 0:22:15.119 --> 0:22:17.240 taking a look at this and just coming back in 0:22:17.440 --> 0:22:21.320 and reading it for us? Uh, it might be interesting. 0:22:21.680 --> 0:22:23.400 You know when they do that to you, and on audition, 0:22:23.440 --> 0:22:27.359 I'm sure, and you're like a little bummed because you 0:22:27.560 --> 0:22:29.800 read for the lead and they're like here's this other 0:22:29.920 --> 0:22:31.760 part that we don't even know what it is, but 0:22:32.359 --> 0:22:36.080 why don't you look at that? And they're like another 0:22:36.160 --> 0:22:39.399 thing I'm not getting. And all I could think of, 0:22:39.480 --> 0:22:43.600 because the audition was in the Palisades, was that I 0:22:43.680 --> 0:22:45.320 was going to have to drive back on the four, 0:22:45.359 --> 0:22:48.000 oh five to L M U, and I was and 0:22:48.040 --> 0:22:49.920 it was getting like later and later, and at a 0:22:49.960 --> 0:22:52.119 certain point I was like, Oh, fuck it, I'm ready. 0:22:52.160 --> 0:22:53.359 I just want to go, like I need to go, 0:22:53.520 --> 0:22:56.639 I gotta get out of here, and so it's like 0:22:56.840 --> 0:23:02.359 essentially it was essentially a very cold read and that 0:23:02.520 --> 0:23:07.520 was it. That was it. Amazing. Did wait. Well, you know, normally, 0:23:07.640 --> 0:23:12.439 like when it's a series regular, you test at the network, right, 0:23:12.520 --> 0:23:15.040 but they Kim Kelly was just a guest star for 0:23:15.119 --> 0:23:18.359 the pilot. They didn't, they hadn't made it a series 0:23:18.400 --> 0:23:21.600 regular part. And my agents were like, we don't want 0:23:21.640 --> 0:23:25.440 you to do this because you're getting so much attention, 0:23:26.080 --> 0:23:28.480 like and so much you're getting so close on things 0:23:28.600 --> 0:23:31.119 that we want you to wait for a series regular role. 0:23:31.200 --> 0:23:34.480 We think you could like land some really good series 0:23:34.520 --> 0:23:37.200 regular role and you don't want to take yourself out 0:23:37.320 --> 0:23:39.200 of the rest of pilot season because you're working on 0:23:39.280 --> 0:23:42.639 a show, right. But then I went to Pick Up, 0:23:42.920 --> 0:23:45.880 I think Colin at the airport and Linda was also there, 0:23:45.960 --> 0:23:50.280 picking up her roommate actually, and she had just gotten 0:23:50.320 --> 0:23:53.600 the part and she knew that they had they wanted 0:23:53.640 --> 0:23:56.360 me for Kim Kelly, and she was like, Dude, can 0:23:56.400 --> 0:23:59.199 you believe it? I'm I got freaks and GEEKS. I'm 0:23:59.200 --> 0:24:01.280 gonna do it. You gotta be Kim Kelly, and I 0:24:01.400 --> 0:24:03.560 was like, I know, I was just talking. I just 0:24:04.040 --> 0:24:07.560 it's so exciting, like I just my agents were feeling like, 0:24:08.119 --> 0:24:09.840 I don't know, and she's like no, no, no, do 0:24:10.000 --> 0:24:11.879 this show. You gotta do this with me. It'll be 0:24:12.040 --> 0:24:16.080 so much fun. We'll have so much fun. And I honestly, 0:24:16.119 --> 0:24:17.680 in that moment I was like yeah, of course I'm 0:24:17.680 --> 0:24:21.639 sucking doing it. Like why would I not do I 0:24:21.760 --> 0:24:25.400 already know this girl who's Rad and like I want 0:24:25.400 --> 0:24:27.879 to be best friends with anyway. Why would I not 0:24:28.080 --> 0:24:31.200 do this? And so I called my manager, Lorraine, and 0:24:31.280 --> 0:24:33.399 I was like I really want to do this, and 0:24:33.440 --> 0:24:35.680 she's like, I'm gonna Call Judge, I'm gonna find out 0:24:35.720 --> 0:24:37.440 what the deal is, and then she called me back 0:24:37.480 --> 0:24:40.040 and she was like, you know, Judd is really insistent 0:24:40.160 --> 0:24:42.760 that they want to make this character a series regular. 0:24:42.800 --> 0:24:44.879 If the show gets picked up, I think you should 0:24:44.920 --> 0:24:47.920 just do it. I think it's brilliant. And so, because 0:24:47.960 --> 0:24:51.760