Speaker 1: Still the Place with Laura Layton, Courtney Thorn Smith.
Speaker 2: And Daphne's Aniga an iHeartRadio podcast.
Speaker 3: Hey you guys, Oh my gosh, Daphne, you were so
Speaker 3: cute at King for coming.
Speaker 4: Yes, So, first of all, welcome to our Melrose Minute.
Speaker 4: We had the super crazy fun thing of getting to
Speaker 4: go see Daphne at Upright Citizens per Grade, which is
Speaker 4: an improv show, and it was really the best one
Speaker 4: I've ever seen. I never stopped laughing. Normally there are
Speaker 4: awkward pauses. I never did.
Speaker 1: So Daphne, please tell us what it was like for you.
Speaker 2: Well, UCB is, you know, started in New York. This
Speaker 2: is the La Theater and within that somebody, I think
Speaker 2: it was Amy Poehler was one of the founders, and
Speaker 2: then another actor started ascat a double four s's and
Speaker 2: the format is.
Speaker 1: And I said, you say, ass cat. I've never said
Speaker 1: it that way, but that would be the appropriate I'm
Speaker 1: just trying it out.
Speaker 2: And I don't know where that came from, but I
Speaker 2: think you see be the theater itself has at least
Speaker 2: that night, there were three shows, so people come, they.
Speaker 3: Line up, but like they're you know, five, Almost every
Speaker 3: night there's two or three shows almost every night, and
Speaker 3: they're just like a different themed, recurring show.
Speaker 1: And if they and.
Speaker 2: This particular one with Ascat, which is not in all
Speaker 2: the shows, they invite a guest to come in and
Speaker 2: they say, we're going to ask you to tell three stories.
Speaker 2: They have to be true, and then our improv troupe
Speaker 2: will act them out. And obviously, you guys saw they
Speaker 2: take you to start with your stories and they go
Speaker 2: off from there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they weren't really acting out your stories so much
Speaker 3: as they used it as a trigger to spark ideas
Speaker 3: for themselves. So they would take a piece of your
Speaker 3: story and just go off on that became a tangent
Speaker 3: and it.
Speaker 1: Was hysterical, shysterical.
Speaker 3: And by the way, Daphne I thought about this later,
Speaker 3: like your stories were great because you provided just enough
Speaker 3: detail for them to like grab onto things that they
Speaker 3: wanted to like store away and go, oh, I want
Speaker 3: to I want to do something on that beat.
Speaker 1: And they weren't always like truthful to your story.
Speaker 3: It was just like that beat of the story that
Speaker 3: they took and told another tangential story off of. And
Speaker 3: just the way they work together and they you know,
Speaker 3: they as improv artists. They're like ready to jump in
Speaker 3: and go I see where this can go and how
Speaker 3: I can contribute. And they tap the shoulder of one
Speaker 3: of the other actors out and they tap out and
Speaker 3: they step in and all of a sudden, they pivot
Speaker 3: the story and everybody's just like they don't miss a beat.
Speaker 1: It was so fun to watch. Yeah, it made me
Speaker 1: wish that I had had the courage to do that
Speaker 1: as a actor, and I thought I wish I had.
Speaker 1: I wish I had done it because it looked so
Speaker 1: much fun and they were enjoying themselves. And Daphney, what
Speaker 1: I think you did so beautifully.
Speaker 4: First of all terrifying, like when they say, like when
Speaker 4: you're doing a pre interview for a talk show and
Speaker 4: they tell me a funny story like the only can't
Speaker 4: remember anything. Yeah, it was that moment on a stage
Speaker 4: in front of people. But the stories you told were
Speaker 4: really charming and funny in and of themselves, and you
Speaker 4: were so relaxed and you seem so happy to be there,
Speaker 4: and I think it gave them permission to really be
Speaker 4: funny and do whatever they wanted. And we could see you,
Speaker 4: so we were on the opposite side of the stage.
Speaker 4: We could see you. I don't think you could see
Speaker 4: us because we were in the dark.
Speaker 1: No, you were just smiling, you delighted. We were across
Speaker 1: the stage from you, on the other side of the stage.
Speaker 3: And once you sit down after you've told your stories,
Speaker 3: you sit down as an audience member, and you watched
Speaker 3: the troop just do their thing, and you're laughing.
Speaker 1: As the thing. You honestly were like beaming. It was
Speaker 1: so fun to watch.
Speaker 2: It was cringing because they get a little like pro genitalia.
Speaker 1: Yeah, was there.
Speaker 2: I told the story of our blind date, and I
Speaker 2: was like, I did not mention anything about what I could.
Speaker 1: Kill someone body part. Yeah, and it was very dirty
Speaker 1: and they get.
Speaker 2: Dirty, but they let's see my stories. The first one was, oh,
Speaker 2: someone said desert, so I still.
Speaker 1: I told a Spaceball story.
Speaker 2: So we had guys acting out mel Brooks and the
Speaker 2: other characters and.
Speaker 1: All different versions of mel Brooks.
Speaker 2: All different versions of him. And then I told a
Speaker 2: story about our blind date, and so I kind of
Speaker 2: was regretting. I don't know, because it's I've never done
Speaker 2: that before. So these stories came up, you know, as
Speaker 2: you saw, they asked the audience for words and they
Speaker 2: were giving me words like ginger vitis.
Speaker 1: Like no kept coming.
Speaker 3: Yeah, because the audience first is supposed to throw out
Speaker 3: words for you, the guest to think of a story
Speaker 3: on that theme, and then you have to think of
Speaker 3: a story sort of on a theme based on the
Speaker 3: audience suggestion, and then the improv actors tell off from
Speaker 3: tell their thing, do their thing based on yourself.
Speaker 1: It's all like a very sort of collaborative yea, yeah.
Speaker 4: And I know why it would feel weird for you
Speaker 4: because one of this phrase you told it was so
Speaker 4: adorable was that you were talking to your now husband
Speaker 4: and you hadn't met yet, and he happened to be
Speaker 4: in your mom's town and he said, can I take
Speaker 4: your mom to coffee? Which is so such extremely charming,
Speaker 4: I can't even so, and the whole audience went, oh
Speaker 4: so after to take your mom to coffee, So they
Speaker 4: ran with that. But as just so you know, as
Speaker 4: an audience member, I'm not thinking that the mother character
Speaker 4: saying ridiculous things to the boyfriend character.
Speaker 1: Is it all you and David? Like that wasn't the truth?
Speaker 4: The sweet part was, I can imagine why it felt
Speaker 4: sort of personal deal, like are people going to think,
Speaker 4: but it's not.
Speaker 1: It was so ridiculous.
Speaker 4: And as you said, they said penis more times than
Speaker 4: I can count, and then Wiener and I was saying
Speaker 4: to I went with my friend Dan, and I was like,
Speaker 4: the embarrassing thing is it.
Speaker 1: Makes me laugh every time he goes.
Speaker 4: I was getting kind of calm by the penis because
Speaker 4: then they said Wiener and I lost it, like why
Speaker 4: is it so funny?
Speaker 1: How young?
Speaker 3: I mean, it's also silly and stupid, and yeah, it
Speaker 3: was so silly and great, but yeah, that's absolutely true.
Speaker 3: Daff Your story was so sweet and genuine, and everybody
Speaker 3: just kind of went, oh, my gosh, that's so cute.
Speaker 1: But like they completely turned.
Speaker 2: And then it became animal crack and lizard planning, and
Speaker 2: then that lizard someone mentioned Meryl Streep and then I
Speaker 2: was like, oh, that's they had told me before. Don't
Speaker 2: prepare anything, but if something while they're doing an improv,
Speaker 2: if something there trigger something, So I like, okay, well
Speaker 2: there was a sort of a story about Meryl Streep,
Speaker 2: not that I've worked with her, but that so I
Speaker 2: told that story of my audition for the first theater
Speaker 2: troupe that I ever auditioned for first and last musical comedation.
Speaker 1: I love that story and I don't say money.
Speaker 2: But because Meryl Streep went to the same Summerstock theater
Speaker 2: years before, I use that because they said do that, And.
Speaker 1: Then I'm great.
Speaker 2: I kind of learned, like, Okay, I get it. Now,
Speaker 2: these are acts, their improv Let's give them some visuals,
Speaker 2: you know, and they can just go off from there,
Speaker 2: because clearly I know they will. And yet they turned
Speaker 2: it into more genitalia and.
Speaker 3: Right, well, I'm like, did you know did they ask
Speaker 3: did they say, hey, this is an over eighteen crowd,
Speaker 3: like this is adults only, because or somehow in your
Speaker 3: gut you knew to ask for it. Right at the beginning,
Speaker 3: You're like, wait a minute, is everybody out here over eighteen?
Speaker 3: And they haven't turned that into a joke, which was
Speaker 3: really funny for them, but like, I wonder you even knew, Like, hey,
Speaker 3: I just just.
Speaker 1: Want to check who's my crowd here. I want to
Speaker 1: read the room.
Speaker 2: Well I was saying that more for my stories, right yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: So but then I thought I'm not going to divulge
Speaker 2: any like stories that I don't want out in the
Speaker 2: public anyway. So they're going to stick to like really fun,
Speaker 2: you know, save stories. But boy, when you have like
Speaker 2: really talented if some of those people are second city,
Speaker 2: there us be. They used to came up in New
Speaker 2: York when it started with the Amy Polar group and
Speaker 2: all of that, so they're very talented. They do this
Speaker 2: all the time and they go off. I mean, they're imaginations.
Speaker 2: You know. I was relieved when I was asked to
Speaker 2: do this. I was relieved that he said, don't prepare anything.
Speaker 1: They because I do improv.
Speaker 2: I've studied with Gary Austen, I've studied with you know,
Speaker 2: my friends, Helen Hunt and Helen Slater. I've Jason Alexander
Speaker 2: had been in there. Lisa Kudre is there in the
Speaker 2: very beginning when she came up with her character for Friends.
Speaker 2: I mean, these are brilliant people who just have but
Speaker 2: you have to be open to your own inspiration because
Speaker 2: it kills you if you think too much. And so
Speaker 2: I'm always terrified over the years to do it, and
Speaker 2: then i keep doing it because it's fun.
Speaker 1: But you really, I.
Speaker 2: Really saw because I got to just tell this story
Speaker 2: and then sit down like there, imaginations just keep going. Yeah,
Speaker 2: never stop and that's a real ability. That's a real,
Speaker 2: real ability. I hope you guys do it. I hope
Speaker 2: you guys do it. You said Doug might want to
Speaker 2: do it.
Speaker 3: I mean it's just like if between Doug or me,
Speaker 3: like who's sort of more brave about that, that would
Speaker 3: be Doug I have. I'm like, like panic, I'm not
Speaker 3: going to be able to think of something in the moment,
Speaker 3: you know that that fear like you said, like going
Speaker 3: on a talk show and like, ah, I can't.
Speaker 1: I felt scared, But it looked so fun. Yeah, do
Speaker 1: it fun?
Speaker 4: And what I saw because I always think I wish
Speaker 4: I could be as relaxed in my work as an
Speaker 4: actor as I am with my friends. Right, Like, I'm
Speaker 4: much funnier with my friends, and you guys are now
Speaker 4: my friends, so we're nice and relaxed.
Speaker 1: But it's like you're hilarious.
Speaker 4: But I always thought, like I look at and that's
Speaker 4: what they felt, like friends making each other a laugh
Speaker 4: and they were like the guys weren't actually on stage,
Speaker 4: were waiting, were laughing hysterically at their buddies.
Speaker 1: And I thought that's why the show was so.
Speaker 4: Magical, because it wasn't all these people trying to perform
Speaker 4: and be funny for each other. They were making each
Speaker 4: other laugh, and I think that's why it felt so
Speaker 4: relaxed and easy. So then as an audience member, I
Speaker 4: could relax because they were having fun. Like I said,
Speaker 4: we could see you you were having fun, so that
Speaker 4: made it.
Speaker 1: It was such a great show. I was so impressed.
Speaker 3: Well, I actually have I have a really good friend
Speaker 3: who is not an actor, and she has always just
Speaker 3: sort of had this. She has a kid, a grown
Speaker 3: child who's pursuing acting as a career and stuff.
Speaker 1: And she just said.
Speaker 3: You know, I wanted to put myself in an improv
Speaker 3: class because it's one of the scariest things I can
Speaker 3: think of doing, but I think it would be so
Speaker 3: good for me.
Speaker 1: Whatever, And she just.
Speaker 3: Went and did this super brave thing and put herself,
Speaker 3: as a middle aged mom person in an improv class
Speaker 3: with a bunch of people who were like pursuing it
Speaker 3: for all of their reasons. And she said, she was,
Speaker 3: you know, by far the oldest person in the room,
Speaker 3: but like the super scary and vulnerable thing to do.
Speaker 3: And I'm just so impressed by her. Say it was
Speaker 3: she was terrified, she was She said it was horrible
Speaker 3: and wonderful, you know, but like horrible just because it
Speaker 3: was just so vulnerable, like horrible in a way, like,
Speaker 3: oh my god, I had to learn so much about
Speaker 3: myself through the process, Like just so much is revealed,
Speaker 3: and it is everything she probably went there for and more.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: The main thing that we get afraid of is judgment, right,
Speaker 2: we judge ourselves and we're afraid of being judged by
Speaker 2: the audience. And I remember again twenty something thirty. I
Speaker 2: don't know if this was in the nineties, but I
Speaker 2: was in one of my early classes with Gary Austin,
Speaker 2: who was a co founder of the Groundlings, and his
Speaker 2: opening exercise was to get up on stage alone and
Speaker 2: make a fool of yourself for two minutes, so you
Speaker 2: get it out of the way to the Cudro Lisa
Speaker 2: Kudro blew my mind. And once you get that out
Speaker 2: of your like just doing crazy stuff, Wow, you all
Speaker 2: sort of connect and unite in Okay, it's safe to
Speaker 2: just be goofball, just being nice, not pretty, and we survived.
Speaker 2: And then once you can break through that, you access
Speaker 2: other parts of yourself and you just play.
Speaker 4: You know, that is so brilliant because it's one thing
Speaker 4: to say, you know, I'm really funny and easy with
Speaker 4: my friends.
Speaker 1: It's very different to do it on stage. That's a
Speaker 1: brilliant an exercise. Yeah, a few minutes and that's going
Speaker 1: to feel like forever. And I will say, like I
Speaker 1: have had talk show appearances go very badly and it's
Speaker 1: actually healthy because you go, that was as awful as
Speaker 1: I feared it was going to be, and here I am.
Speaker 1: I'm still here, right.
Speaker 4: It's that sense of I did the humiliating, horrible thing
Speaker 4: and I'm still here.
Speaker 1: It's really healthy. Maybe I should take an adult.
Speaker 4: It is sort of a good lesson, and I'm going
Speaker 4: to take a little kid in prov class then I will.
Speaker 2: But I tell you one thing that I remember with
Speaker 2: Gary's class much years later. I did he I didn't.
Speaker 2: It's called the theatrical. I forget what the name of
Speaker 2: the exercises. But I was on stage for thirty minutes
Speaker 2: by myself, just following movement and making a story out
Speaker 2: of it, and things came to me. This is many
Speaker 2: years ago, so my memory is more intact. But I
Speaker 2: remembered thing my childhood and cinequel just that's working. But
Speaker 2: I know, but still I think I need to up
Speaker 2: my dose because that's a great brain.
Speaker 1: We just went off on that tangent.
Speaker 2: But you know, anyway, we got to have a whole
Speaker 2: other Melrose moment, middle aged Melose moment.
Speaker 1: Do you remember what you were saying?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I do remember that. I remember the experience. I thought,
Speaker 2: I was terrified. What am I going to do?
Speaker 1: We all had to do it, and and it just.
Speaker 2: Turned out there are instincts in us. If you've been
Speaker 2: acting for a long time and you have to access
Speaker 2: and give yourself freedom, but the instincts are there, and
Speaker 2: if you just let yourself go into the the rules
Speaker 2: that he lets you, that he lets you in on,
Speaker 2: then you're going to be fine.
Speaker 1: I was.
Speaker 2: It was an amazing experience that class. And he said
Speaker 2: that was so theatrical, It was so you have it
Speaker 2: in you. You just don't know because regular life doesn't
Speaker 2: ask this of us.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: And by the way, can I just mention that Melrose's
Speaker 3: place never allowed it either.
Speaker 1: Like we were not open, we were not welcome to improv.
Speaker 3: As a rule there was like state exactly is written
Speaker 3: and yeah, no the Mary Donner out.
Speaker 4: No, no, no, I should have married Donna Onda we
Speaker 4: should be so fun.
Speaker 1: Yes idea, yes, not to self married.
Speaker 3: Honnor love her, But like we weren't really welcome to
Speaker 3: improve in any way. And it wasn't like this collaborative,
Speaker 3: you know, creative process. It was really like figure out
Speaker 3: how to tell this exact story in the way that
Speaker 3: is expected.
Speaker 1: Although I will say like in.
Speaker 3: Later seasons, I did feel like I got a little,
Speaker 3: a little opportunity to do some improving and stuff just
Speaker 3: with that.
Speaker 1: Within the realm they.
Speaker 4: Did loosen and well, in the beginning, we were young
Speaker 4: and people were changing the script in ways that changed
Speaker 4: the meaning, and that's why it got so strict.
Speaker 1: And then later on I think they loosened.
Speaker 2: Plus everyone's tired.
Speaker 1: Season seven, you're just like, say, launch whatever whatever I
Speaker 1: want to go, Yeah, do it with chop stick.
Speaker 2: But I just want to say, we're going to wrap
Speaker 2: this up, but I want to say it, so just
Speaker 2: a shout out to the theater to uc b LA.
Speaker 2: It's that's their instagram and it's right there on Franklin Street,
Speaker 2: right there in Beechwood Canyon and they have shows all
Speaker 2: the time and I really recommend people.
Speaker 1: Going all the time. It was super much fun. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I brought my kid and shows called ass Cat the
Speaker 1: Sunday night shows.
Speaker 3: All right, it was super fun watching you daff and
Speaker 3: super fun to talk about it and always start to
Speaker 3: see you.
Speaker 1: On a Melrose minute. Ladies, Yay, see you guy soon,
Speaker 1: you se. Bye bye