Speaker 1: And welcome back to How Rude, Tana Ritos. Today's guest
Speaker 1: is a very familiar face. Not only did we all
Speaker 1: grow up as child actors on ABC's iconic TGIF lineup,
Speaker 1: but we just went glamping together a few weeks ago
Speaker 1: as part of a special episode of How Rude. She
Speaker 1: is an actress, a director, and a highly accomplished choreographer,
Speaker 1: but you may best know her as Al Lambert on
Speaker 1: the beloved sitcom Step by Step. Please welcome to the pod, Christine.
Speaker 2: Laken Woo woo he she is hiday By, Hi Brad
Speaker 2: Hi naked Lakey. Welcome back. Sorry, but that's it.
Speaker 3: I've ruined your good name with my nickname for you.
Speaker 4: Did I ever have a good name?
Speaker 3: No, you didn't, So I don't.
Speaker 2: Feel too bad, okay, And just so you know.
Speaker 3: We jump right into the interview, so uh so welcome.
Speaker 3: There's no yeah, you know, there's no preparation or like
Speaker 3: lead up or like hey, let's let's get in them now,
Speaker 3: it's just we go.
Speaker 4: Why why why start now? Why start now?
Speaker 3: Christine needs so good to see you. Last we saw
Speaker 3: you was uh was on our little blamping trip.
Speaker 4: It was yes, out in the wilderness, the hard just
Speaker 4: the wilderness, desertness right.
Speaker 3: With with flowers, right, yeah it was and and uh
Speaker 3: and and branded cornhole.
Speaker 2: Cornhole, branded corn hole. That was fun. You were really
Speaker 2: good at that, Christine. You were rocking your corn hole.
Speaker 4: Yeah, every you know.
Speaker 3: That sounds inappropriate. Yeah, yeah, just.
Speaker 4: Rocking, rocking the holes. Yeah yeah, yeah, I'm not good
Speaker 4: at things like that, but every now and then I
Speaker 4: have like one good shot and then I just have
Speaker 4: to stop. And then that's the way.
Speaker 3: And I know, I think it's really you sunk one in.
Speaker 4: Quite well, you sink one and then and.
Speaker 3: Then you're like that's it. That's I'm done now bye.
Speaker 4: Right all I needed to do, really, I don't like.
Speaker 3: People wanting more.
Speaker 4: That's right, That's what I tried to do. That was fun.
Speaker 4: I really had a great time with you guys. And
Speaker 4: we laughed a lot. Oh my god, we always laugh
Speaker 4: a lot.
Speaker 3: We have a ridiculous amounty fun together.
Speaker 4: Yes, it's always good.
Speaker 3: Well, we are so happy to have you on the
Speaker 3: podcast again. And uh, it's you know, we've talked about
Speaker 3: how much fun it is to renit, renite renight. I'm
Speaker 3: going tonight now, so you reunite.
Speaker 4: There.
Speaker 3: We go there we go. Are are you okay?
Speaker 4: I well know, I'm trying to deal with my my
Speaker 4: lighting schematics.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the glare and helped.
Speaker 4: Back light and there's front light. And I'm not a DP,
Speaker 4: but I'm trying to be my own.
Speaker 3: From this is usually just for social media. It's we
Speaker 3: don't post the video anywhere, much to people's dismay, but
Speaker 3: it's because our guests can't figure out how to operate lines.
Speaker 3: So I mean that way, I.
Speaker 4: Can barely figure it out. So all right, now we're now.
Speaker 3: We're just talking about what a great director you are,
Speaker 3: and I feel like I have to take it all back.
Speaker 5: You should now you know what your great director is
Speaker 5: terrible DP. That's that's a different then CO two to
Speaker 5: completely different jobs. Yes to you know, that's why you
Speaker 5: hire good people. That's why you hire people that know
Speaker 5: how to work a light.
Speaker 2: It's true.
Speaker 4: But you know what's funny on set like and you
Speaker 4: might remember this, but it was, and I don't know
Speaker 4: if you've been on other sets since, Like obviously when
Speaker 4: you're working on a TV show and like everybody has
Speaker 4: their jobs, but it feels quite collaborative and it's like
Speaker 4: resetting your prop every now and then, or you're responsible
Speaker 4: for certain things or whatever. But there are some sets
Speaker 4: you get on, and especially when you're the new person.
Speaker 4: For instance, as a director, I've been like, because I'm
Speaker 4: just so used to working with props as an actor,
Speaker 4: sometimes I'd be like, oh, let me just I'm just
Speaker 4: gonna fux with this, and someone will come up and
Speaker 4: be like, excuse me, may I help you with that?
Speaker 4: Because everything is radiated. Yeah, yeah, yeah, thing is a
Speaker 4: union and you're not supposed to touch that ladder. Well,
Speaker 4: you know, we're not supposed to move that couch, but
Speaker 4: I keep doing it.
Speaker 3: I am the worst at that, again, because we're actors
Speaker 3: and we're like and and it's because we're actors and
Speaker 3: we do it, and nobody goes, that's my job. They're
Speaker 3: just like the actors are touching things again, you know
Speaker 3: what I mean? Right, And then you always see him
Speaker 3: go over and like fix it or do it, you know,
Speaker 3: like just because they're like, that's my job and I do.
Speaker 3: And obviously, like you said, you work with people for
Speaker 3: a while and you just kind of get a rapport.
Speaker 3: But yeah, it is hard. Sometimes you come in and
Speaker 3: you're like, oh, I'm just I'm just so used to
Speaker 3: doing this thing and I'm gonna and they're like, don't
Speaker 3: touch that, don't touch that, right.
Speaker 4: And you're like, I'm sorry, you're doing it wrong.
Speaker 3: Yeah, right right, And I'm like, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: Well as as women too, We're like, oh, let's fix up,
Speaker 1: let's clean up, let's do this job, let's make it
Speaker 1: all work, multitask, and they're like, no, right, we have
Speaker 1: a department for that.
Speaker 2: Don't cross union lines.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, yes, yeah, as much my house ran like that, right,
Speaker 3: So I can't cross department lines and that's your job
Speaker 3: to unload the dishwasher.
Speaker 4: I think you should start implementing that. I should.
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, I'm gonna have a union rep
Speaker 3: in my house and we're going to we're gonna break
Speaker 3: into some some guilds. We're gonna have an iazzi and
Speaker 3: membership here, and we're gonna you know what, things are
Speaker 3: gonna happen change.
Speaker 4: I mean, listen, I don't want our industry to go
Speaker 4: on strike again, but I'm not opposed to implementing one
Speaker 4: inside my house. Oh God, on the ground, why are
Speaker 4: there somebody socks on the ground? Can I ask you
Speaker 4: a question? Do people just come in and their tiny
Speaker 4: little feet are just so sweaty that they just have
Speaker 4: to shed.
Speaker 3: Socks under the table house and then you'll never find
Speaker 3: the mate again.
Speaker 4: No, this is like the bane of my existence in life,
Speaker 4: is not finding the mate to tiny socks.
Speaker 3: Well, speaking of other dramas, no, So, Christine, I know
Speaker 3: we've talked a lot. I mean, you and I have
Speaker 3: talked a lot about all sorts of things. But I
Speaker 3: would love for people to kind of hear how you
Speaker 3: got into the business as a child actor. They haven't
Speaker 3: heard your story before, and you know, kind of how
Speaker 3: you became Al Lambert and now the amazing industry. You know,
Speaker 3: wonder kid that you are. I don't know, I'm having
Speaker 3: a bad day. I had night sweats all last night.
Speaker 3: I'm not Yeah, it's bullshit, I'm sorry. Yeah, it's we
Speaker 3: called this podcast HRT for a reason, and yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm with you. I'm right there with you. Yes.
Speaker 4: So I moved to Atlanta when I was six, and
Speaker 4: I was never very good at sports because I'm I
Speaker 4: was always a tiny little person, so so.
Speaker 3: You are pocket sized.
Speaker 4: I'm a pocket sized person. So team sports were always
Speaker 4: just like a little bit hard for me. But dance
Speaker 4: be kind of became my thing, and my mom really
Speaker 4: wanted to involve me in a new you know, new community,
Speaker 4: new school like community, such as a dance class. So
Speaker 4: I went to a dance studio, was starting to take
Speaker 4: some dance classes. They had acting on Fridays. I really
Speaker 4: was into what is drama? I want to be in it.
Speaker 4: I was the kid who from a very early age
Speaker 4: was putting on place for my parents. I was an
Speaker 4: only child. I was very creative, always having to entertain
Speaker 4: myself and literally anyone else who would watch me, so
Speaker 4: that watching Carol Burnett was a I just loved the
Speaker 4: movie Annie, I loved her. I love the Carol Burnett Show.
Speaker 4: So I really wanted to do things like that, and
Speaker 4: drama class seemed like a natural sort of fit, so
Speaker 4: we went. The teacher was also a manager, as many
Speaker 4: times you would find in the business that happens, and
Speaker 4: she managed a few kids and said, hey, have you
Speaker 4: ever thought about putting your kid commercials? And my mom
Speaker 4: was not. This was Atlanta. This was like a regional,
Speaker 4: you know, kind of small town at the time, because
Speaker 4: we're talking like eighties, not the where.
Speaker 3: Did you move from? You said, you moved to Atlanta.
Speaker 3: Where would where were you?
Speaker 4: Originally? I was born in Dallas, only live there until
Speaker 4: I was six months old. We moved to Maryland, lived
Speaker 4: there for a few years, moved to Florida, lived there
Speaker 4: for a few years, moved to Atlanta. So yeah, my
Speaker 4: dad was My parents would say that they were corporate gypsies.
Speaker 4: So my dad basically would start up some companies and
Speaker 4: then get poached by another company to work for them
Speaker 4: for a while. On the poached by another company. He
Speaker 4: was sort of in the beginnings of what we now
Speaker 4: know and what we are using now, which is Zoom.
Speaker 4: But he did not create Zoom, but he created teleconference software,
Speaker 4: got it for like back in the eighties for large
Speaker 4: corporations to do it exactly what we're doing right now. Anyway,
Speaker 4: So thanks Christine's dad, we wouldn't be here. Yeah, you
Speaker 4: probably wouldn't have several modems but made and then bought
Speaker 4: by Motorola without my father. Yeah, So anyway, we went
Speaker 4: on a My mom said, Okay, yeah, sure, I mean
Speaker 4: she seems to like it. I guess we could give
Speaker 4: it a shot. But there was no like, no one
Speaker 4: really thought this was going to be a thing. Went
Speaker 4: on a few auditions, booked a few regionals, booked a
Speaker 4: few national commercials. My mom was like, maybe we need
Speaker 4: an agent. I don't know, this seems to be going well.
Speaker 4: She seems to like it. So I started slowly doing
Speaker 4: some just like very kind of small town things, print
Speaker 4: jobs and few nationals and TV movies, blah blah blah.
Speaker 4: Was doing theater with my theater company in South Georgia,
Speaker 4: and strangely enough, Kirk and Candice Cameron's mom was there
Speaker 4: and we did a show for the Make a Wish
Speaker 4: Foundation and it's like a special show just for them
Speaker 4: and his mom at the time was becoming a manager.
Speaker 4: Wasn't sure agent manager, She wasn't sure which way she
Speaker 4: was going. Anyway, her assistant approached my mom after the
Speaker 4: show and said, we would love to talk more about
Speaker 4: maybe representing Christina, California. That seemed like such a long shot.
Speaker 4: How is that ever going to work? This is again,
Speaker 4: before the time of zoom, So what are you doing
Speaker 4: sending a beta tape? It's big to somebody to.
Speaker 3: Be like, look at my demo, real you need a
Speaker 3: movie theater size screen, but hold on.
Speaker 4: Yes, So it was sort of like a long you know,
Speaker 4: it's like a slow burn nine months or something of
Speaker 4: them just sort of randomly talking. Eventually she decided to
Speaker 4: get her license and become a manager, I believe, And
Speaker 4: for my spring break that following spring, my mom took
Speaker 4: me out to California, mostly for fun, but also it
Speaker 4: was like, like waited, you know, right off the trip,
Speaker 4: like maybe as a manager, and like do a demo
Speaker 4: tape and just like have that beta tape ready to go? Yes.
Speaker 4: So we came to the set of Full House, which
Speaker 4: is the first time I ever met Jodi Sweeten, and
Speaker 4: I was beside myself and I still have the picture.
Speaker 4: I am wearing a stonewashed jean jumper and a great
Speaker 4: It was my favorite outfit and I was a fan.
Speaker 4: I mean, I watched the show, I knew everyone. I
Speaker 4: believe we actually also met Andrea. I may have a
Speaker 4: picture with you, but I don't believe. So nice. I
Speaker 4: just remember being so so nice, and I remember going
Speaker 4: back and telling all my friends about it, and I
Speaker 4: was just like I'm at the cast a full House,
Speaker 4: and like Uncle Jesse put his face right next to
Speaker 4: mine and he smelled so good, and we have a
Speaker 4: picture together, and I was like Kimmy was so nice
Speaker 4: and she wasn't a nerd at all. She was so sweet.
Speaker 4: But anyway, so that was just a really fun moment
Speaker 4: for me. And I sat down on that glad chair
Speaker 4: and I did a scene from the movie You all
Speaker 4: I think were on maybe a break or dinner or something,
Speaker 4: but they worked it out to shoot my demo tape
Speaker 4: audition my monologue right on the set. So I sat
Speaker 4: down in that on the set, which was like so
Speaker 4: surreal for me because of course I'm just freaking right.
Speaker 4: And I did a scene from the movie A Reconcilable
Speaker 4: Differences in which the character played by Drew Barrymore divorces
Speaker 4: her parents on the stand. Oh yeah, And my special
Speaker 4: skill as a kid is that I could cry on
Speaker 4: a cue, So I had that That's what they wanted
Speaker 4: to showcase. I had this ability to just you know,
Speaker 4: turn on the water works and do this whole thing
Speaker 4: and blah blah blah. So anyway, I'm doing the doing
Speaker 4: the thing, and who walks by in the control booths
Speaker 4: because at that time, they were still control booths in
Speaker 4: sitcom where people would see all the monitors what's happening.
Speaker 4: But Bob Boyette and he said, like, what is this,
Speaker 4: what's happening this child? You know, she's she's why is
Speaker 4: she crying all the stuff. And we're doing a demo
Speaker 4: tape and it's a favor and anyway, long story, long
Speaker 4: story long. We go back to Atlanta a couple of
Speaker 4: months later. You know, don't think again, don't think anything
Speaker 4: of it. Right, they've been casting.
Speaker 3: Its usually when it happens when you're like, I forgot
Speaker 3: about that, right.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And they were casting step by step. They had
Speaker 4: every role locked but the role of Lambert. They had
Speaker 4: had an actress and she had fallen through for various reasons,
Speaker 4: and it was they were up against it. And Bob
Speaker 4: Boyett said, where's that girl? Where's that tape? Someone find her? Wow?
Speaker 4: And they did, and we got a call saying can
Speaker 4: you be in California tomorrow? And I remember being like,
Speaker 4: this is crazy, this is really crazy, Like no bities
Speaker 4: across the country for an audition. I mean it was.
Speaker 4: It was also nineteen ninety one, nineteen ninety at this time, right, so,
Speaker 4: but again only child. My father traveled all the time.
Speaker 4: We had tons of frequent flyer miles. My dad said,
Speaker 4: if you want to do it, I've got the miles.
Speaker 4: If you don't want to do it, no pressure. But
Speaker 4: it's it's don't worry about it, Like, if you want
Speaker 4: to do it, we can make it happen and it
Speaker 4: might be just a great story. Like no pressure, it's
Speaker 4: just like, yeah, so we did. So I flew out
Speaker 4: with my mom, got in that night. The next morning
Speaker 4: I had my audition. I went in for Tom Miller
Speaker 4: and Bob Boyette and and the casting director and did
Speaker 4: the did the scenes and they laughed and I walked
Speaker 4: out and they said, well, she's on a plane tomorrow.
Speaker 4: Do you want to see her again? And they were like, yeah,
Speaker 4: bring her back. Cans. I can't knot? Can I like
Speaker 4: date it again? I think, just make sure it wasn't
Speaker 4: like a fluke right right, And got to call. The
Speaker 4: next day I booked the pilot.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I had no idea that it all started
Speaker 1: on the Full House set.
Speaker 3: That's crazy, that wild, it's so yeah, so interesting, and
Speaker 3: but I mean, you know, Bob Boyett loves finding new
Speaker 3: talent new you know. Yeah, yeah, it's funny, that's kind
Speaker 3: of I mean, I did Valerie and that was how
Speaker 3: I got cast on on Full House. Was again Tom,
Speaker 3: Bob and the producers being like and Jeff being you know, like,
Speaker 3: oh wait, that's who we you know, it's just funny.
Speaker 3: You never again, you never know. That's the thing about
Speaker 3: this business is like you never know what weird little
Speaker 3: random thing, which is why I'm always like you going
Speaker 3: to a pitch, meaning or you go do something and
Speaker 3: like it doesn't go the way you want, You're like, yeah,
Speaker 3: but it might go away. I don't even have any
Speaker 3: idea how it's going to happen. I mean absolutely so.
Speaker 3: But what an awesome experience.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and of course, you know, doing a pilot, I
Speaker 4: mean it was it was wild. Like we moved basically
Speaker 4: from the Hilton and Woodland Hills and then all of
Speaker 4: a sudden it was like, ooh, we all knows, like
Speaker 4: they had us in like the Century Plaza Hotel. I
Speaker 4: was like, oh my god, where did you guys shoot?
Speaker 3: Step by step?
Speaker 4: We shot the first two years at Culver Studios in
Speaker 4: Culver City, That's right. But the craziest part, and like
Speaker 4: we've talked about this on our podcast that I have
Speaker 4: with Stacy Keenan, but the craziest part of that was
Speaker 4: because I think Tom and Bob and you know, Michael
Speaker 4: Warren and Bill Bickley. They had done so many shows, right,
Speaker 4: they had they they knew the formulas. They was happy
Speaker 4: these Lavernon Shirley, you know, Full House, like Perfect Strangers,
Speaker 4: all these shows. They just had the formula down, and
Speaker 4: I feel like they knew when they were gonna push
Speaker 4: something to make it a hit. They had Susanne Summers
Speaker 4: and Patrick Duffy like the most of us honestly were
Speaker 4: interchangeable at any given moment, I'm sure, especially in the beginning.
Speaker 4: But they wanted to put a lot behind it. So
Speaker 4: the first two days of shooting that pilot, we shot
Speaker 4: a title sequence at Magic Mountain where they shut the
Speaker 4: entire place down, Like can we talk about that for
Speaker 4: a minute, the amount of money.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's insane, that's ambitious.
Speaker 4: Yeah, did you guys shoot the title sequence when you
Speaker 4: shot the pilot?
Speaker 3: We we shot that. We did shoot the title sequence,
Speaker 3: but because ours was in San Francisco, they did like
Speaker 3: they took up doubles to do like the the fishing
Speaker 3: bridge and the fishing stuff and all that that's actually
Speaker 3: in San Francisco, Like those are doubles and our stuff,
Speaker 3: Like as they pulled out like that's all us in
Speaker 3: like Griffith Park or something, and then they and then
Speaker 3: it cuts to once they're far enough away to just
Speaker 3: the car and the bridge. Yeah, but yeah, that's crazy crazy.
Speaker 4: They also had doubles for us. They did not let
Speaker 4: us ride Colossus, damn insurance, god stupid. But we did
Speaker 4: ride the boat rides, and that's the one that everybody
Speaker 4: like remembers going down the boat and splashing.
Speaker 3: Right right right. It's sort of like Jurassic Park at Universal, Yes,
Speaker 3: which I take angry on in every October.
Speaker 4: She hates.
Speaker 2: I hate it.
Speaker 4: I hate it.
Speaker 2: I don't like scary rides. I don't like scary things.
Speaker 4: Do you think that's scary now?
Speaker 2: Yeah, well just roller coasters. Yes, I can handle the
Speaker 2: Jurassic Park ride. Okay, she can handle it.
Speaker 3: She can handle it. It's the it's the fact that
Speaker 3: it's at horror nights that really.
Speaker 4: Is the thing.
Speaker 2: That it's the horror nights that I hate.
Speaker 4: The monsters.
Speaker 3: We're prepping it now, we're starting that, we're just so
Speaker 3: you know, this is the thing we do every year
Speaker 3: that she says she's not going to do it, and
Speaker 3: then we do it, and then she has a great time. Yes,
Speaker 3: you're right, Wine from Smokehouse, Yeah.
Speaker 2: It sounds and never oh no, enough of a whole
Speaker 2: Hollywood horror nights.
Speaker 3: No, I mean we could keep going. My favorite does
Speaker 3: let's not please sh.
Speaker 2: Sh no.
Speaker 3: I was gonna say. I was telling ab before we
Speaker 3: started that you and I were in acting class together
Speaker 3: and you were talking about, you know, doing class and
Speaker 3: the fact that you could like cry on cue and stuff,
Speaker 3: and you I was always so intimidated by you in
Speaker 3: class that lay in a bad way where I was like,
Speaker 3: I can't compare it, but like you were just always
Speaker 3: you could pick up a script and like a cold read,
Speaker 3: you'd have it almost memorized, and like you would be
Speaker 3: so in it. And I told her, I was like, man,
Speaker 3: I just never did that. And I was like, probably
Speaker 3: because I was fucking around in class. But anyway, but
Speaker 3: and Christine was serious and like I'm here, but no,
Speaker 3: you just you're like and you're just so talented. I
Speaker 3: love I. You know, you're one of my favorite peeps.
Speaker 3: And I just think you're super super talented and you
Speaker 3: have been since you were a kid. And you know,
Speaker 3: people saw you do again, you know, they see us
Speaker 3: do sitcoms or whatever, and they're like, Oh, you must
Speaker 3: just be fluff, but you're actually really, really freaking talented.
Speaker 4: Oh thank you for saying that.
Speaker 3: And you're a bad ass director. You've been directing the Goldbergs. Yeah,
Speaker 3: you have been directing AFRICQE a while, so I'd love
Speaker 3: to hear.
Speaker 4: Yeah. I took a circuitous path along many routes and
Speaker 4: various careers in the entertainment industry. But so I after
Speaker 4: the show ended in nineteen ninety eight, I guess I
Speaker 4: was in college. I went to UCLA and kind of
Speaker 4: doing college and then also doing like the Guest Stars
Speaker 4: and you know, the TV, the teen movies and this
Speaker 4: is like the two early two thousands, just kind of
Speaker 4: doing all that kind of stuff. I went back to
Speaker 4: theater because it was always and a love of mine,
Speaker 4: and it just just gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling.
Speaker 4: I loved acting class. I loved acting class, being around actors,
Speaker 4: I loved being around, you know, a theater company. And anyway,
Speaker 4: in doing so, they needed a choreographer and I'd had
Speaker 4: all this dance background, and I was sort of like,
Speaker 4: I guess I could do it. I think I could
Speaker 4: do it. I could do it. So I just start
Speaker 4: choreographing for the theater company, and one thing leads to another,
Speaker 4: and I start choreographing for other people, and then I
Speaker 4: got nominated a bunch of times in la and theater stuff,
Speaker 4: and just like again, just like kind of a snowball
Speaker 4: of this is cool. I went to go do a
Speaker 4: movie called Reefer Madness in Vancouver.
Speaker 3: I wanted to do that movie so bad. I remember
Speaker 3: when it was coming out and everyone was up for it,
Speaker 3: and I remember when you got it and I was like, oh,
Speaker 3: thank god it's Cristique because I was like, but I
Speaker 3: was too young, I think at the time. Yeah, I
Speaker 3: was definitely like still a teenager and people were like,
Speaker 3: I don't know. I was like, but their teens in
Speaker 3: the movie, I know, But.
Speaker 4: So great, great. I mean, I was such a big
Speaker 4: fan of the stage musical.
Speaker 3: And yeah, I remember going to see it.
Speaker 4: It's brilliant, brilliant, and so yeah, the little tiny part
Speaker 4: of played Joan of Arc and then I did some
Speaker 4: like dancing and stuff. But I was in Vancouver, as
Speaker 4: you know, for a really long time because my scenes
Speaker 4: were all there was rehearsal, and the scenes are kind
Speaker 4: of all over the place, so the choreographer Marian Pelogg,
Speaker 4: who's wonderful, said hey, could you come help me out
Speaker 4: and be part of my skeleton crew, which is basically
Speaker 4: just helping her be bodies to try different things, try
Speaker 4: different shapes, and figure out what she wanted to do
Speaker 4: with some of these other numbers. And in doing so,
Speaker 4: I basically was able to shadow her throughout that entire process.
Speaker 4: It was really amazing. Worked again with her as one
Speaker 4: of her assistants on a movie called You Again for Disney. Anyway,
Speaker 4: I say all of these things because again, you don't
Speaker 4: you never really know where a path is going to
Speaker 4: lead you. Yep, Sunday Stevens was the first ad on
Speaker 4: You Again. And then after the movie, when on to
Speaker 4: work on True Blood, I got a call after You Again.
Speaker 4: After I'd worked with her now a couple of times,
Speaker 4: I got a call and they said, hey, they need
Speaker 4: a choreographer to come in. They're just they need somebody
Speaker 4: to do just some like. It was basically social media
Speaker 4: promos for their new season coming out, and it doesn't
Speaker 4: pay a lot, but you know we need like so
Speaker 4: we were going to call Mary ann Ella, who as
Speaker 4: an emmy, but she's like I know someone that might
Speaker 4: want to do that, and so I said, yeah, sure.
Speaker 4: So I found all these hilarious actors and it was
Speaker 4: Alexander Scarsguard and he's sitting there in the club, you know,
Speaker 4: watching these people who came into audition to be these
Speaker 4: you know, the people that were going to perform, and
Speaker 4: it's funny and it's it's anyway. So that was kind
Speaker 4: of my first thing. And I ended up doing a
Speaker 4: bunch of episodes of True Blood and worked with Anna
Speaker 4: Paquin and worked with a couple other people, and then
Speaker 4: my name just started to get passed around. So I
Speaker 4: suddenly had this like funny career as a side job
Speaker 4: as a choreographer in film and television because I knew
Speaker 4: how to talk to actors, but I also understood movement.
Speaker 4: And I also said that a lot of actors aren't dancers,
Speaker 4: so you have there's a certain language in which you
Speaker 4: can't just be like it's a one, two three and
Speaker 4: pivot up down and they're like, I'm sorry, what right? Right?
Speaker 3: I say words, I don't dance. I'm yeah, yeah, you
Speaker 3: want to the other big one right.
Speaker 4: And a lot of actors are not super comfortable or
Speaker 4: they don't have the confidence to think, like, I get
Speaker 4: a lot of you know, I'm not a dancer. I'm
Speaker 4: not a dancer. I'm like, I'm not asking you to be.
Speaker 4: Let's just figure out what this is.
Speaker 3: I mean, how many times did that happen to us
Speaker 3: on Fuller?
Speaker 4: Oh, I'm sure we had.
Speaker 3: We had so many ridiculous dance numbers on that show.
Speaker 4: We did.
Speaker 3: We did a Bollywood number, we did like a giant,
Speaker 3: we did a like the whole ballroom dancing thing.
Speaker 2: The Irish dancing, Irish.
Speaker 3: Dancing, we did the the engagement, uh you know street
Speaker 3: dancing thing.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I mean yeah, Chris Chris Judd had his hands,
Speaker 2: that's Truey. He was always like, oh.
Speaker 4: Boy, he's like a real choreographer. Yeah. So anyway, so
Speaker 4: that eventually somehow led me after a bunch of you know,
Speaker 4: random jobs all over the place. Again, it's just sort
Speaker 4: of like who you know, my name got passed to
Speaker 4: someone over at the Goldbergs. And I think it's because
Speaker 4: I'd done an episode of Breaking In and the same
Speaker 4: line producer working on that, and I started on that
Speaker 4: show in season one and I became the choreographer for
Speaker 4: all ten seasons and then somewhere around season five, I
Speaker 4: started to pivot my career in another direction and wanting
Speaker 4: to be more behind the scenes, wanting to, you know,
Speaker 4: produce and pitch content, wanting to And that's when Jody
Speaker 4: and I were working on Hollywood Darlings, and myself and
Speaker 4: Jody and Beverly were around. We were trying to pitch
Speaker 4: it and get that off the ground, and and it
Speaker 4: was kind of like I had this kind of of
Speaker 4: aha moment one day when I was sitting on set
Speaker 4: for god knows how many hours and watching waiting for
Speaker 4: my choreography moment to come up well, watching the monitor
Speaker 4: and watching the director, and I just thought to myself,
Speaker 4: Oh my god, I think that's the job I'm supposed
Speaker 4: to be doing. Why am I not doing that? Because
Speaker 4: I know how to now, I know how to do
Speaker 4: that job, and I see all the things and I've
Speaker 4: been like, and I know how to work with an actor.
Speaker 4: That's the job I'm supposed to do. So I have
Speaker 4: to get my hands on a camera and I have
Speaker 4: to just start shooting so that I have something to
Speaker 4: show somebody if the time ever comes. And so for
Speaker 4: the next like four or five years, I put my
Speaker 4: intention on that and it was really hard. It was
Speaker 4: hard to break in. It was really hard to find
Speaker 4: whatever that that avenue was going to be. And after
Speaker 4: many years of trying to put that foot in the door,
Speaker 4: that hat in the ring, whatever it was, they gave
Speaker 4: me my first shot on the Goldbergs and then I'd
Speaker 4: been with them for five or six years at that point,
Speaker 4: and then and then I direct did for the rest
Speaker 4: of yeah, for the rest of their run, so next
Speaker 4: four years, and it was so some other stuff.
Speaker 3: So awesome to see you get to do that. It
Speaker 3: was really fun.
Speaker 4: Thank you. It was. Yeah. I love that job. I
Speaker 4: love that job so much. I love putting the pieces together,
Speaker 4: and I really love I love working with actors. I
Speaker 4: don't I don't. People ask if I miss acting. I
Speaker 4: still act and at times like yes, it's fun, but
Speaker 4: there's something there's something really satisfying to me about helping,
Speaker 4: like helping the actor find whatever the comedic moment is,
Speaker 4: or helping it like putting it together. It's just I
Speaker 4: get a different kind of satisfaction out of it.
Speaker 3: Well, and when you have like such a great director
Speaker 3: who has so much experience and like you know, on
Speaker 3: the other side of the camera too. It really does.
Speaker 3: Having a director who has been an actor, I think
Speaker 3: is always so helpful because it does it gives you
Speaker 3: a different language to like communicate. It helps you understand,
Speaker 3: you know, the stress or the you know, neurosis of
Speaker 3: being in front of the camera. You know, all of that.
Speaker 3: Hollywood Darlings. I know it was the highlight of our careers,
Speaker 3: but it really was. We had so much fun doing
Speaker 3: Hollywood Darlings. We were doing that during Fuller House. We
Speaker 3: did a couple of seasons of that, and that's a
Speaker 3: cute show, so much fun. Again, it was all improv,
Speaker 3: which is something Christine is absolutely brilliant at. Like doing
Speaker 3: improv with Christine in those scenes was just and and
Speaker 3: she'd come in in an a costume with an outfit.
Speaker 3: This girl has a costume closet like you wouldn't believe. Like,
Speaker 3: if you ever need a thing, you're like, I have
Speaker 3: to dress like Pinocchio for an audition, call Christine and
Speaker 3: she'll be like, I got you, I got you.
Speaker 4: So it's the theater. You can't get me out of
Speaker 4: the Yeah, I've got you know, I've got the box
Speaker 4: of tricks somewhere.
Speaker 3: Oh it's so great. But I like doing that with
Speaker 3: you was so much fun because it was such a
Speaker 3: great exercise also in again improv and like just sort
Speaker 3: of writing on the fly and editing and do you
Speaker 3: know like doing a show like that where it's all improv.
Speaker 3: You know, we a lot of times going to be
Speaker 3: like what are we doing?
Speaker 4: What? What are we doing? What are we this is?
Speaker 4: This is Jody right before we felt what are we saying?
Speaker 4: We're saying and I'm like, I think I'm saying something
Speaker 4: about this and you're saying something. I We'll figure it out, right.
Speaker 1: Like anyway, with the concept of Hollywood Darlings, did was
Speaker 1: it the three of you or one person sort of
Speaker 1: took the reins or how did it come to be?
Speaker 3: Well, it started with Jimmy Fox and he had been
Speaker 3: trying to put together like a show of different He
Speaker 3: was a huge fan of like TGIF and sort of
Speaker 3: all of those you know, t it cooms up. Beverly
Speaker 3: Mitchell was also on Hollywood Darlings with us who was
Speaker 3: on seven the other number they yeah, And anyway, so
Speaker 3: we had been talking to Jimmy originally and he wanted
Speaker 3: to do like the idea had started as like, oh,
Speaker 3: they want to do a reality show, and we were
Speaker 3: all like, we don't want to do a reality show.
Speaker 3: We were like, we'll do a heightened reality show. We
Speaker 3: will play sort of Curb your Enthusiasm as where we
Speaker 3: will play versions of ourself that are leaning into our
Speaker 3: most you know, sort of extreme extreme and like what
Speaker 3: makes the dynamic of the you know, the three of
Speaker 3: us the funniest because we had been friends for years,
Speaker 3: so that was really how it came about. Was like
Speaker 3: it had gotten pitched, you know. They were like, oh,
Speaker 3: we want to do reality and we were like, we
Speaker 3: won't do that, but we will play ourselves as characters.
Speaker 3: And that was so much fun because it was a
Speaker 3: rereadom of like getting to be yourself but also lean
Speaker 3: into the extreme you know nature of your whatever.
Speaker 4: Yeah, the ridiculous nature. Like you know, it's like the
Speaker 4: there're the side of me that would be hippy, dippy
Speaker 4: and spiritual and come with me to the sound back,
Speaker 4: you know. And then there's like Jody who's like, what
Speaker 4: do you mean sound back? You know, and then Beverly
Speaker 4: was like, guys, right, guys, did see my labels? You know?
Speaker 3: By the way, Andrew Keegan was the one that was
Speaker 3: running the sound bath. So that was that. That was
Speaker 3: a whole something didn't It wasn't that the episode?
Speaker 4: Where was it?
Speaker 3: You got complete? Something happened. We dumped something all over
Speaker 3: You didn't.
Speaker 4: Over, Andrea?
Speaker 3: No, no, no, you the milk, the milk. Right.
Speaker 4: That was when I wanted to be the spokesperson.
Speaker 3: For boob right right right? Yes.
Speaker 1: It was like.
Speaker 4: What what was it? It was an acronym for something.
Speaker 4: It was like breastfeeding mothers or something something. Yeah, it
Speaker 4: was free the boobs or whatever, right, And you were
Speaker 4: like I.
Speaker 3: Want to be yeah, and you were like trying to
Speaker 3: become the spokesperson for it, and we're like what are
Speaker 3: you doing? And then you got like, yeah, just covered
Speaker 3: in milk. I will never forget. I think we were
Speaker 3: shooting in like the the church basement or something of that. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 3: and and and it was like all right, we're doing
Speaker 3: the milk. I was like, oh my god. And it
Speaker 3: was what commitments it was. I mean, you know how
Speaker 3: it is, you know how these ab you and I
Speaker 3: have done it where you're like all right, we're just
Speaker 3: here we go. We're gonna get slimmed.
Speaker 2: You gotta go big or just don't do it at all.
Speaker 4: Right, yep, right, I feel like on Step by Step
Speaker 4: there were so many now that I'm like rewatching it.
Speaker 4: I haven't seen these episodes in a very long time,
Speaker 4: but I'm amazed how many food fight, food on faces,
Speaker 4: food moments. Yeah, there were a lot in Full House too.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we had a fit, we had we had food moments,
Speaker 3: but ours were also like you know, cars through kitchens,
Speaker 3: concrete mixers through kitchens.
Speaker 1: We had a lot of musical moments too, the musical montages.
Speaker 3: Musical montages like you wouldn't believe, particularly the first I'm
Speaker 3: convinced now that the first season of Full House is
Speaker 3: actually musical. I didn't know it, but we are basically
Speaker 3: just a motown musical is what we are.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but it's so yeah to see You're like, oh,
Speaker 1: that's what it was like. Because after not have you
Speaker 1: ever seen Step by Step while you were filming it
Speaker 1: or did you were just like I'm done, I don't
Speaker 1: want to see it again.
Speaker 4: No, no, no, I mean, as I said earlier, I
Speaker 4: was such a huge tgi A fan. Okay, so I
Speaker 4: was watching all the shows on Friday, and then when
Speaker 4: I got on a show, it was very meta, like
Speaker 4: it was I was excited to see it. I was
Speaker 4: a fan of all of it. I just you know,
Speaker 4: as it went on and I got into high school
Speaker 4: and stuff, I sort of tried to pretend like I
Speaker 4: didn't care as much, but I always thought it was
Speaker 4: really fun. I mean, I was always really into it.
Speaker 4: Stacy Keenan never watched an episode.
Speaker 3: Now, yeah, we never watched. Okay, what's now you're doing
Speaker 3: rewatch podcast? Just so yes, people know with you and
Speaker 3: Stacy Keenan, what is the name of your rewatch podcast
Speaker 3: so that we can get people to go check that
Speaker 3: one out too.
Speaker 4: Yes, it's called Keenan and Laken give you Deja Voo.
Speaker 4: So we are recapping season one. We're almost at the
Speaker 4: end of season one and then we'll start season two
Speaker 4: early September. But yeah, we kind of recap the episode,
Speaker 4: talk about it, and then we're and then we go
Speaker 4: on the tangent of talking about like stuff we remember
Speaker 4: certain things in our lives. What's really interesting about her
Speaker 4: and I is that because I was the big fan
Speaker 4: and I was the target audience, I mean, I was
Speaker 4: the demographic, and she was my two dads, and she
Speaker 4: had done all these other things, and she wasn't watching
Speaker 4: the show, and like we had completely different memories of
Speaker 4: the show because mine are very visceral, and she a
Speaker 4: lot of times doesn't remember anything about action filming the show,
Speaker 4: but remembers a lot of other things for being like sixteen,
Speaker 4: Like the stories that she tells about her life and
Speaker 4: the people that she knew in the nineties.
Speaker 3: At sixteen, Yeah, yeah, are very.
Speaker 4: Different than the people I was hanging out with at twelve.
Speaker 4: I mean, you know, I was trying just to like
Speaker 4: get close to JTT at the like you know, Ron McDonald, like.
Speaker 2: Bake off for yes, get in line and start.
Speaker 4: Going yeah hello. So that's actually really interesting there. There's
Speaker 4: been a couple of stories she's already told me that
Speaker 4: I had no idea happened, things that you know, between
Speaker 4: her and Brandon Call and she got him in trouble
Speaker 4: on accident once and I had no idea about any
Speaker 4: of that.
Speaker 3: Hey, thanks so much for listening to part one of
Speaker 3: our interview with Christine Laken, And we have so much
Speaker 3: more for you, so much more fun and laughs and
Speaker 3: great questions in chatting with our good friend Christine, So
Speaker 3: make sure and tune in for part two of our
Speaker 3: interview with Christine Laken. In the meantime, make sure that
Speaker 3: you're following us on Instagram so you can get those
Speaker 3: fun behind the scenes pics and videos and all kinds
Speaker 3: of new stuff, and that is at how Rude Podcast.
Speaker 3: You can follow us on Instagram or you can send
Speaker 3: us an email at howarudpodcast at gmail dot com. Don't
Speaker 3: forget to like and subscribe to the podcast wherever you're
Speaker 3: listening so that you can get the newest episodes as
Speaker 3: soon as they come out. And just remember the door
Speaker 3: is always open and it's always t G I F perfect. See,
Speaker 3: I don't know. There we go.
Speaker 4: See that was it?
Speaker 2: You just needed a little rehearsal first, and now.
Speaker 3: Correct that one's not my best. We're gonna get a
Speaker 3: better part two is gonna have a better, better ten line.
Speaker 2: Sorry, okay, okay, I believe you. I believe