Speaker 1: My daughter would love that call sheet. Your daughter was huge. Yes,
Speaker 1: she's a huge fan, and I'm getting a lot of
Speaker 1: cool points by talking to you today. Until she finds
Speaker 1: out that I said the word cool points, I'll get
Speaker 1: some deductions for that, but yeah, she's very happy. Hi.
Speaker 1: I'm Alison Hannigan. You probably remember me from My Stepmother's
Speaker 1: An Alien. I played Jesse because fan favorite. I've done
Speaker 1: some other stuff too, but you know we're really here
Speaker 1: to talk about my stepmothers an Alien. Right, Hello everybody,
Speaker 1: and welcome to the very first episode of Off the Beat.
Speaker 1: I am your host, Ryan Baumgartner, and I am so
Speaker 1: excited to start this journey with all of you. Now,
Speaker 1: my guest today has fought demons, worked as a kindergarten teacher,
Speaker 1: and let's just say she has had a lot of
Speaker 1: crazy experiences at band camp. Get ready for an absolutely
Speaker 1: hilarious conversation with Alison Hannigan. Now, Alison, she was born
Speaker 1: to be in show biz and she has been working
Speaker 1: in the industry for her entire life, well with the
Speaker 1: exception of a couple of years when she was a baby,
Speaker 1: but we'll just let those years slide, okay. And while
Speaker 1: her early jobs may have been motivated by the promise
Speaker 1: of desserts. She has since been in everything from Buffy
Speaker 1: the Vampire Slayer to American Pie to How I Met
Speaker 1: Your Mother and now to my daughter's current obsession, Fancy Nancy.
Speaker 1: And somehow in all of that, she also managed to
Speaker 1: have her very own the office experience. Now that is
Speaker 1: what you call a tease. It was my absolute pleasure
Speaker 1: to sit down with Allison. And you're not gonna believe
Speaker 1: how funny she is. I mean, you probably will believe it,
Speaker 1: but you get my point. Please welcome with me the incredible,
Speaker 1: the unbelievably talented Alison Hannigan. Bubble and Squeak. I love
Speaker 1: Bubble and Squeak on Bubble and Squeaker cookie every month,
Speaker 1: left over from the night before. Oh, I can hears
Speaker 1: my breathing. It's very awkward. I'm going to breathe away
Speaker 1: from the microphone. Alison. Hello, Alison, how are you good?
Speaker 1: Are you in a beehive? I am in a beehive. Well,
Speaker 1: my initials are b beast. Yes, so I try to
Speaker 1: make everything around me like I'm a bee. I love it.
Speaker 1: You have a bed in your background. I'm in a
Speaker 1: guest bedroom, which is actually very close to our bee hives.
Speaker 1: So there you go. Do you have bee hives? My yes,
Speaker 1: it's my husband. He's yes, he's trying to get all
Speaker 1: the bees. I think it was gonna be let's just
Speaker 1: have one beehive. Now we have, like I don't know,
Speaker 1: we're a shelter for bees. His beekeeper that he works
Speaker 1: with is like, hey, we've got some bees from Beverly Hills.
Speaker 1: They need a place to stay and bring him over.
Speaker 1: That's not how my husband sounds, but I I imitate
Speaker 1: him like that. I didn't know people did this city. Yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean we have a lot of space, so that's helpful.
Speaker 1: But yeah, we are the honey people now. I just
Speaker 1: just saying to a friend that we just we're going
Speaker 1: to be known as the honey people because every time
Speaker 1: we go somewhere, we're like, here's some honey. But I
Speaker 1: love that. I want some of your honey. And I
Speaker 1: mean that in a yes, Okay, come get some honey,
Speaker 1: some oranges. We can take care of your shopping needs.
Speaker 1: I used to have avocado trees, lots of huge, huge
Speaker 1: avocado trees, and there's only one thing in the world
Speaker 1: I can't eat which is avocados. So there you go.
Speaker 1: That was like, no, we don't have the trees anymore.
Speaker 1: Now I moved. I didn't cut them down. I didn't.
Speaker 1: It wasn't like a fie on you trees. But yes, no,
Speaker 1: I don't have them anymore. We have an avocado tree,
Speaker 1: but it is a strange breed of avocado that I
Speaker 1: don't know. Our gardener says you're supposed to eat the skin.
Speaker 1: I don't believe him, and it's gross. They're not tasty,
Speaker 1: but he has wonderful AVOCADOSM brings us some. Well, there
Speaker 1: you go. You can trade for the honey exactly. Um,
Speaker 1: I'm such a big fan of yours. I'm so excited
Speaker 1: to be talking to you. But I want to go
Speaker 1: back into your brain. Boy. Okay, good luck. Well, because
Speaker 1: we have we have some like weird crossovers, though not
Speaker 1: not exactly. You were born in d C, but you
Speaker 1: started acting in Atlanta. That is where I am from. No, yes,
Speaker 1: the A T L And I was there when you
Speaker 1: were there. If my research is true, did you move
Speaker 1: to Atlanta or you just started acting in Atlanta? So
Speaker 1: we My mom and dad sort of split up in
Speaker 1: d C when I was a baby, and then she
Speaker 1: was born and raised in Atlanta, so she moved back
Speaker 1: there with me. And so even though it's born in See,
Speaker 1: I don't remember it at all. Like, my hometown is Atlanta.
Speaker 1: That's where I was in elementary school and everything. Yeah,
Speaker 1: where did you go to elementary school? Well? First it
Speaker 1: was this small little private school called the Children's School
Speaker 1: right near Kimont Park. And then I really I really
Speaker 1: wanted to take the school bus, so I begged my
Speaker 1: mom didn't take me out of private school and so
Speaker 1: I could go to public school. She's like, okay, And
Speaker 1: so then I went to UM. I had one year
Speaker 1: of Garden Hills Elementary School, and then moved to middle
Speaker 1: school and went to Sutton Middle School, and then we
Speaker 1: moved out to California. Okay, all right, I know Sutton.
Speaker 1: I was a Holy Innocence and Westminster kid in the
Speaker 1: A t L. So you started doing commercials. I understand
Speaker 1: when you were four in the A t L. Now
Speaker 1: was this something that you were interested in or your
Speaker 1: your mom was interested in, or how did this start? Well?
Speaker 1: I don't really actually remember a time where I didn't
Speaker 1: want to be an actress. So for me, I always
Speaker 1: wanted to do it. Back then, it was a hobby.
Speaker 1: It was like I played soccer and I also did
Speaker 1: commercials and print jobs. Both my parents were photographers when
Speaker 1: I was a baby, so if they ever needed a
Speaker 1: you know baby for modeling, they just stick me in
Speaker 1: front of the camera and I loved it. So that
Speaker 1: sort of led to you know modeling, and you know,
Speaker 1: I thought that was really fun, and then commercials as well.
Speaker 1: My first commercial was like a Duncan Hinz cookie commercial.
Speaker 1: I think I was basically an extra, but I got
Speaker 1: to just walk with this chocolate chip cookie to the
Speaker 1: car and it was really hot because its Atlanta, and
Speaker 1: the chocolate chips would just melt all over my fingers,
Speaker 1: so they wouldn't let me eat the cookie, but I
Speaker 1: could lick my fingers after every take. It was heaven.
Speaker 1: I was sold right then and there, like this is
Speaker 1: the job for me. But then you said you moved
Speaker 1: to Los Angeles. So now when you moved to Los Angeles,
Speaker 1: were you moving because you wanted to pursue this or yes, yes,
Speaker 1: My mom was really supportive. My dad had moved out
Speaker 1: to Santa Barbara and I came to visit him when
Speaker 1: like some break or something and uh, and she had
Speaker 1: set set up some agent meetings because we had always
Speaker 1: heard it was really hard to get agents in California.
Speaker 1: So we met with like four agents and they were
Speaker 1: all like, well, if you move out here, we'll take you.
Speaker 1: So she was like, all right, let's do it. So
Speaker 1: she was kind of bored, and that's how we got
Speaker 1: out here, I mean, thankfully. I think I had gotten
Speaker 1: really close to or so I was told to this
Speaker 1: movie with Sissy Spacek and Mel Gibson I think called
Speaker 1: The River or something. The River anyway, remember a long time,
Speaker 1: but so so they did you know, it was a
Speaker 1: southern movie or whatever, and and I wound up screen
Speaker 1: testing for that and so I think that kind of
Speaker 1: gave her a like, oh wait, maybe she can do
Speaker 1: more than just the local commercials. So we did and
Speaker 1: we moved out and I had an agent and worked
Speaker 1: a little and didn't work a lot, But it was
Speaker 1: just something I always knew that I wanted. I just
Speaker 1: got like a weird accent then always. I don't know
Speaker 1: where that came from. Always, but yeah, I mean I
Speaker 1: remember just I was an only child, still am and uh,
Speaker 1: and then I would be home alone a lot and
Speaker 1: I would just always pretend that I was on television.
Speaker 1: I was, like I thought, I guess I wanted to
Speaker 1: be a reality television star before it ever was a thing.
Speaker 1: But um, so I would just walk around the house
Speaker 1: like thinking, I'm on television right now, somebody. I just
Speaker 1: can't see the cameras, but I'm sure that I'm on TV.
Speaker 1: You know, I wanted to be Cindy Brady, so I
Speaker 1: just always knew. So. So the long answer to that
Speaker 1: question is yes, my mom definitely wanted it as well,
Speaker 1: but it wasn't She was not pushing me into it, right.
Speaker 1: Did you do Did you do theater at all? Or
Speaker 1: was it really for you about film? I did a
Speaker 1: little bit of theater, but not not really like I
Speaker 1: wasn't a proper actor or sorry, Um, I did do
Speaker 1: my first like stage show at the Alliance Theater. It's
Speaker 1: like the biggest. She just name drops, like the biggest.
Speaker 1: I just did this one show, probably a camp it was.
Speaker 1: I don't really remember. I was very young, but I
Speaker 1: do remember that we all did Shell Silverstein's A Light
Speaker 1: in the Attic, which is just really cute little short stories.
Speaker 1: But we would act out short stories and I just
Speaker 1: thought that was brilliant. I love that. The Giving Tree
Speaker 1: still one of my favorite too. Now, you played soccer
Speaker 1: as a kid, and you you got an injury. Was
Speaker 1: that something that was significant for you? Well, it was
Speaker 1: significant in making the shift from Southern to California, because
Speaker 1: as I, okay, girls in the South don't kick that hard.
Speaker 1: You know, they're not as aggressive, They're much more polite.
Speaker 1: But I mean, it was an accident, but basically I
Speaker 1: got kicked in the ribs really hard and sort of
Speaker 1: dislocated something I don't know, but that was the end
Speaker 1: of my soccer career. So I used to before that,
Speaker 1: I would say I want to be a soccer player
Speaker 1: or an actress, and then it was just okay, I
Speaker 1: only have one option. Now I don't like getting hurt, Well,
Speaker 1: I asked, because I had. I had a very similar story,
Speaker 1: and I won't bore people with the entirety of the story.
Speaker 1: But my dream was to be the first baseman for
Speaker 1: the Atlanta Braves. Like not just a professional baseball player,
Speaker 1: but like that was my dream. And I went through
Speaker 1: an injury and a surgery and something went terribly wrong
Speaker 1: for me, which ended my athletic career. And so I
Speaker 1: really got into acting and theater for me at the
Speaker 1: time because sports were no longer an option for me. Right,
Speaker 1: I don't know if sports were an option for me.
Speaker 1: I thought I was really good when I was in Atlanta, Like,
Speaker 1: I was usually one of the better players on the team,
Speaker 1: even though it's small. I was quick and I was good. Um.
Speaker 1: But then I got out here and everybody's really really good,
Speaker 1: and I was like, okay, I'm not that good. And
Speaker 1: then I got hurt immediately, and I was like, that's fine.
Speaker 1: I wasn't very good compared to these people. There was
Speaker 1: a lot of like, oh, you've got the ball, It's okay,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean, you know. I was on a
Speaker 1: team called the Mighty Mites. Although you know what you
Speaker 1: just reminded me of I did when I first started soccer.
Speaker 1: I was like three. I was on an all boys team.
Speaker 1: I was the only girl and we got to play
Speaker 1: at halftime for the was it the Chiefs? The Chiefs?
Speaker 1: The Chiefs say that anymore, the Chiefs. I don't think
Speaker 1: they are the Chiefs anymore, but they were back then
Speaker 1: in the seventies. Yeah, And so we got to go
Speaker 1: to the you know, Big formerly known as Chief stadium,
Speaker 1: and I think they brought on a goal to put
Speaker 1: it on the center line so that you wouldn't have
Speaker 1: to run because I had never seen a field that
Speaker 1: big and uh and I just remember running by somebody
Speaker 1: in the audience and they're like, that's a girl. Okay,
Speaker 1: we gave it away the braids. And the weird thing
Speaker 1: is that was me. That's the crazy thing about it.
Speaker 1: That was me saying that. I remember going to those
Speaker 1: games and watching people play and thinking they didn't pick me. Um,
Speaker 1: you knew early on you you wanted to be an actor.
Speaker 1: What television shows were of influence to your What what
Speaker 1: were you watching? I was watching a lot of reruns,
Speaker 1: you know, Brady Bunch. I love Lucy Gilligan's Island. I
Speaker 1: went on and off of that one. You know. I
Speaker 1: didn't like it when it went into color. I was like, no,
Speaker 1: this is this is just too much for me. Um.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I just I wasn't really allowed to watch
Speaker 1: television that much, except maybe on weekends. But my mom
Speaker 1: was a single mom and she worked a lot, so
Speaker 1: I would watch television when she wasn't home, and goodness,
Speaker 1: she never like touched the TV to see if it
Speaker 1: was warm. But yeah, so so whatever really was on
Speaker 1: after school. I remember when I was a little older,
Speaker 1: I became friends with Oh, when I went to public
Speaker 1: school and I went, I became friends with this girl
Speaker 1: who had cable. Oh that was amazing. So I would
Speaker 1: go to her house and like, can we watch cable?
Speaker 1: Can we watch you can't do that on television. She
Speaker 1: was like no, she was so over it. I was
Speaker 1: just like, this is gold. You have so many channels.
Speaker 1: It was amazing. So I would watch whatever I could it, honest,
Speaker 1: whatever you could. Yeah, would you act it out? Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1: I remember seeing a production of Annie and getting the
Speaker 1: record and just playing that over and over. I cannot
Speaker 1: sing to save my life, but I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: you know, so I would just sit there and reenact
Speaker 1: the songs by myself at nauseam. Yeah, well I still
Speaker 1: do that. That's the weird thing. And I don't really
Speaker 1: sing either. So you moved to Los Angeles and started
Speaker 1: to work. What was the role for you that you
Speaker 1: felt like, oh, I've made it or I've done it?
Speaker 1: Was that my stepmother is an alien or I mean
Speaker 1: I thought that was going to be the break, you know,
Speaker 1: Actually it wasn't even when I got that role, it
Speaker 1: was that was a very long process of auditioning, and
Speaker 1: they did an old fashioned screen test like lights camera action.
Speaker 1: So my mom and I were drying into this screen test,
Speaker 1: and at that point, I think it's like down to
Speaker 1: two or three girls. And then they had some some
Speaker 1: of the guy characters as well. And we pull into
Speaker 1: the Fox lot, the twentieth century Fox lot, and I
Speaker 1: see Seth Green walking across the parking lot and I
Speaker 1: just about lost it. I was like, Oh, that's the
Speaker 1: kid from Amazing Stories, and I just I mean, oh,
Speaker 1: my goodness, how I was even able to like say
Speaker 1: a line after seeing him, And it was just the
Speaker 1: greatest day. We spent the day of they were sort of,
Speaker 1: you know, doing chemistry tests of this kid with that kid,
Speaker 1: and it was just amazing. It's still after that took
Speaker 1: several months before we found out that I got the job,
Speaker 1: so it was really grueling, but I got the job
Speaker 1: and I got to be in this like big huge
Speaker 1: motion picture with you know, I had my name on
Speaker 1: a chair and it was just so exciting, and Dan
Speaker 1: Ackroyd was in it and combasing her and it was
Speaker 1: just incredible. I turned I was thirteen and I turned
Speaker 1: fourteen while filming, and dan Ackroid gave me a bicycle,
Speaker 1: and I just thought it was the greatest moment of
Speaker 1: my life. And it had this yellow ribbon that I
Speaker 1: didn't take off, so I'd right around the lot with
Speaker 1: the bow on it. And then the transport Transportation Department
Speaker 1: would put in my trailer at night, and then you know,
Speaker 1: I take it on the morning or whatever. And one day,
Speaker 1: I don't know why we were on the lot. I
Speaker 1: think it was like the weekend or something, but we
Speaker 1: were there for some reason and we walked past and
Speaker 1: I saw the bow on the ground. I was like,
Speaker 1: what what, Why is the bow on the ground? What happened?
Speaker 1: And Uh, turns out my bike got stolen. They ripped
Speaker 1: the bow off, they just threw it aside, and they
Speaker 1: stole a kid's bike. And so anyway, when yeah, they
Speaker 1: stole my bodd bike, did the bowl And by the way,
Speaker 1: I think they ran over the bowl on the way
Speaker 1: out that had like tire marks. I could be exaggerating
Speaker 1: that my imagination, but that's how my heart felt. That's
Speaker 1: how it felt, right. It's I just durned fourteen. I
Speaker 1: can't handle this kind of thing. You stole my bike
Speaker 1: off of the twentieth century Fox lot. By the way,
Speaker 1: It's not like I just left it outside of a
Speaker 1: seven eleven. It was on a lot anyway. So Dan
Speaker 1: found out, and of course, he being such a sweetheart,
Speaker 1: replaced the bike, and he told me he was going
Speaker 1: to replace the bike. But I do remember I was
Speaker 1: doing a scene where I had to be really emotional
Speaker 1: and I was riding the character's bike and Richard Benjamin
Speaker 1: was the director, and he he started shouting, just think
Speaker 1: about your bike. But at that point I had already
Speaker 1: known that, like Danton had already told me he was
Speaker 1: going to give me another one, and so it kind
Speaker 1: of like made it worse. Like I was already in
Speaker 1: the like I'm going to cry space, but then when
Speaker 1: he's like, think about your bike, I just kind of like,
Speaker 1: now I can't. I've got to stop laughing. Yeah, So
Speaker 1: I do remember, like that's not the best direction right now,
Speaker 1: because I know that makes me happy I'm getting a
Speaker 1: new bike. Was there a yellow bow on the new bike? Oh,
Speaker 1: good question. I probably just take like tire marked bow
Speaker 1: and put it back on there. Put it back on it.
Speaker 1: I kept the tire mark bow for a long time. Yeah,
Speaker 1: do you still have is it on your wall? Have
Speaker 1: to like through storage? Okay, I have a lot of
Speaker 1: those things, like yeah, from early things. It's like, oh,
Speaker 1: the call sheet from this there's like a box of
Speaker 1: old call sheets that I have never gone through again.
Speaker 1: I don't know, but somebody would love that call sheet. Now,
Speaker 1: my daughter would love that call sheet. Your daughter was huge. Yeah,
Speaker 1: she's a huge, and and I'm getting a lot of
Speaker 1: cool points by talking to you today. Until she finds
Speaker 1: out that I said the word cool points, I'll get
Speaker 1: some deductions for that. But yeah, she's very happy. I
Speaker 1: heard you haven't shown your kids Buffy? Have they seen Buffy? No? No?
Speaker 1: And then my husband, who was also on Buffy for
Speaker 1: season and a half or something, he just the other
Speaker 1: day I was like to our oldest daughter, I think
Speaker 1: you're probably old enough for Buffy. And I was like,
Speaker 1: excuse me. I feel like this was a discussion. You
Speaker 1: don't remember the part where I flay somebody a lot,
Speaker 1: like their skin comes off, Like do they need to
Speaker 1: see that? Do they need to see when Willow goes evil?
Speaker 1: I don't know. That's interesting. It's not that they don't
Speaker 1: want to you don't want them to, it's too horrible. Well,
Speaker 1: I just I'm scared of the later sits like went
Speaker 1: Dark Willow. I just they can watch it, or well,
Speaker 1: my older one could watch it up until Dark Willow
Speaker 1: and then we'll just take a break for a few
Speaker 1: years and find a good therapist. But Michael Scott is okay,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, totally brilliant, brilliant. I remember watching the second
Speaker 1: episode with her and it was just it's so good,
Speaker 1: it's so good. And by the way, can I talk
Speaker 1: about my embarrassing moment with probably Greg Daniels, but I
Speaker 1: don't actually know for sure. I was doing some pilot
Speaker 1: that didn't go around the time that they were casting
Speaker 1: for The Office. I was a massive fan and lamb
Speaker 1: of the British version. I think it's probably the best
Speaker 1: television show ever made. So I was in doing chemistry
Speaker 1: reads with somebody at the NBC whatever for the pilot
Speaker 1: I was going to do. I had flown in from
Speaker 1: like London because I was doing play there and so
Speaker 1: so anyway, we were doing chemistry reads in the you know,
Speaker 1: the Kevin Riley's office or whatever, and but then there
Speaker 1: were all these people like in the hall doing something else,
Speaker 1: and I was like finally said what's going on or whatever,
Speaker 1: and someone who is clearly one of the you know,
Speaker 1: producers or somebody of the Office, I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: we're making an American version of the Office, And without
Speaker 1: even like thinking twice, I was like, no, don't do that.
Speaker 1: That's horrible idea, Like you can't. I was like, don't
Speaker 1: You're going to ruin it. I was like, and I'm
Speaker 1: like saying this to somebody who's clearly like they're in
Speaker 1: the process of making this show, and shut up. But
Speaker 1: it was just like this reaction because I just you know,
Speaker 1: held the British Office up to like such a huge
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's the golden child of of television shows.
Speaker 1: I'm glad they didn't listen to me. Um, But still
Speaker 1: about whoever I said that too, I don't actually know
Speaker 1: who it was, but um, yes, that's amazing. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, that's such a bad move. Well,
Speaker 1: by the way, John Krasinski said it to Greg Daniels
Speaker 1: as he was auditioning for the show as well, so
Speaker 1: it was probably probably like, oh my god, I know,
Speaker 1: how you know, how can I go about doing this?
Speaker 1: So you well, so first off after my stepmother is
Speaker 1: an Alien, you you felt like you had done it.
Speaker 1: And wait and by the way, Seth Green, not only
Speaker 1: were you his love interest once you ended up being
Speaker 1: it again? Was he like your teen idol? Is that
Speaker 1: what you call it? Yeah, I mean I was certainly
Speaker 1: starstruck when I first met him and saw him. But
Speaker 1: then so we both wound up getting my stummage in Alien.
Speaker 1: So we worked on that. That was really fun. And
Speaker 1: then I did another like or I did a sitcom
Speaker 1: and he was on a few episodes of that, and
Speaker 1: then I feel like, I feel like there were quite
Speaker 1: a few other jobs, like little jobs where he was
Speaker 1: on it, and so then I just was like, well,
Speaker 1: I can only work if Sath Green is on it,
Speaker 1: Like that's the only job I'm going to get. So
Speaker 1: he was basically he's my lucky charm, is what I thought.
Speaker 1: And I was like, well, I don't know. I mean,
Speaker 1: I've got this audition. Should I see if that's available?
Speaker 1: That's the only way I'm going to get this job. Zeth,
Speaker 1: did you get called for this show? Okay, and just
Speaker 1: tell your agent that we just drive me to the
Speaker 1: audition because you're my good luck. Time read with me. Yes.
Speaker 1: So in nine you get Buffy. What was the process
Speaker 1: of you getting that? Were you had you seen the movie?
Speaker 1: Were you a fan of that story? Did you know
Speaker 1: anything about it? I mean, much like my my other story.
Speaker 1: I heard that they were making a show of Buffy
Speaker 1: the van Personay, I was like, oh, can't they just
Speaker 1: get a better idea? So who knew? I was so
Speaker 1: negative back then. But anyway, Um, so I had a
Speaker 1: friend who would get the breakdowns, which you know are
Speaker 1: for anybody who doesn't know it's when it's when they
Speaker 1: put out like all the auditions that are going on,
Speaker 1: all the shows and stuff that are looking for people,
Speaker 1: And so he would get them somehow, and he kept saying, like,
Speaker 1: there's a part for you on this pilot, Buffy the
Speaker 1: Vampire Slayer. So I would call my agent and say, hey,
Speaker 1: so my friend says I'm right for this. Yeah, no
Speaker 1: that we've called, they don't they don't want to see you, okay.
Speaker 1: And so I called a few times about it because
Speaker 1: he kept pestering me, and then they shot the pilot
Speaker 1: or it was a pilot presentation with somebody else. I
Speaker 1: never even got to audition for it. So then it
Speaker 1: gets picked up, they're recasting that role. My friend calls again, Hey,
Speaker 1: it's back in the breakdowns. You've got to go in
Speaker 1: on this, And so I called my agent again and
Speaker 1: they're like, they didn't want to see you, I don't think,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, well, my friend says I'm good for it,
Speaker 1: and anyway, so basically I did get the audition that time.
Speaker 1: I think it was just all right, we've seen everybody else,
Speaker 1: so I don't I don always say it. So I
Speaker 1: went in and I just auditioned, an auditioned, an auditioned
Speaker 1: an audition. I think I had eight auditions for the role.
Speaker 1: And I was I was always told by like my
Speaker 1: acting coaches as a kid, always wear the same thing
Speaker 1: to the callbacks, so it's fine when they're spaced out,
Speaker 1: but towards the end it was sort of like, Okay,
Speaker 1: come back tomorrow. And then I'm like, well, wait, I
Speaker 1: just wore this yesterday. But then I'm also so far
Speaker 1: in because in the breakdown it says that she looks
Speaker 1: like her mom still dresses her, and so I had
Speaker 1: an outfit that I wore that was very much what
Speaker 1: I thought Willow would look like. And so I do
Speaker 1: remember the I went to network, which is the sort
Speaker 1: of you think is the final phase. So it was
Speaker 1: three of us and you go to studio first, then network.
Speaker 1: So I wore my little outfit and then usually that's
Speaker 1: the end of the process. But then they called and said, no,
Speaker 1: they want to do chemistry reads tomorrow, come back. And
Speaker 1: I had this huge panic of like, well, do I
Speaker 1: still wear the same thing? And then at that point,
Speaker 1: you know, that was audition seven, so I'm not going
Speaker 1: to change it up now. But I was like oh,
Speaker 1: and then I and then I was so superstitious. I
Speaker 1: was like, I've got to wear everything. I got to
Speaker 1: wear the same socks. I've got to you know, I've
Speaker 1: got it. It's got to be everything. So um were
Speaker 1: the same out of it. And then at that point
Speaker 1: it was just down to two girls. I obviously had
Speaker 1: a not so great agent because I knew going in, Oh,
Speaker 1: the network wants this girl, Josh wants this girl. You're
Speaker 1: just you just got through great, thanks for the pep talk, okay,
Speaker 1: and so so I was just like the filler in
Speaker 1: the sandwich and uh. And then the second day when
Speaker 1: we were doing chemistry reads, it was just down to
Speaker 1: me and one other girl, and it was the girl
Speaker 1: that I knew Josh wrote the part for, so I
Speaker 1: was like, oh gosh. And we had been doing the
Speaker 1: same scenes over and over and over and they wanted
Speaker 1: to see a new scene. So Josh wrote specifically a
Speaker 1: scene for the three of us. Was um for Buffy
Speaker 1: and Xander and Willow, and it had all this computer
Speaker 1: jargon and just like a paragraph of just things. I
Speaker 1: had no idea what it was, but I went in
Speaker 1: and I was like, okay, I was prepared, and then
Speaker 1: I started. I got to that paragraph, I could not,
Speaker 1: for the life of me, like I couldn't even look
Speaker 1: at it. The words started jumping on the page and like,
Speaker 1: I just I think I said some of the words,
Speaker 1: but definitely not in the right order, and I just
Speaker 1: kept rambling, and finally I was like, okay, you gotta
Speaker 1: stop this now. And later um, even though it took
Speaker 1: a week after that time for them to tell me,
Speaker 1: I got it and it went back into the breakdowns.
Speaker 1: That was heartbreaking, But Josh said, He's like, well, you
Speaker 1: couldn't say the lines to save your life, but the
Speaker 1: chemistry was there, and that's when I knew, Like, then,
Speaker 1: why did it take you a week to tell me
Speaker 1: on the breakouts. It was so excruciating too, and it
Speaker 1: wasn't during pilot season, so so normally of course you
Speaker 1: find out like within twenty four to seventy two hours
Speaker 1: or something. But my agent was like, sure, take a
Speaker 1: week to tell her and I was like why why?
Speaker 1: So I still like technical way on hold for a
Speaker 1: week and then I ran into Nick Brendon at the
Speaker 1: foremosta cafe and he already knew and he said something
Speaker 1: to me that was like, you shouldn't worry about this,
Speaker 1: and I was like, well, wait, why because I didn't
Speaker 1: get it or because I didn't get it? What do
Speaker 1: you mean I shouldn't worry about this? Now I'm worrying
Speaker 1: about this and that so um So it was torture
Speaker 1: and it's a crazy people don't hear these stories. I
Speaker 1: love because that's what happens. The office was a very
Speaker 1: similar situation. I think it was two weeks after the
Speaker 1: last time I came in and I was calling my
Speaker 1: manager being like, did we get it? What did they say?
Speaker 1: What's happened? You know? And you can't think about anything else?
Speaker 1: And it went back down in the breakdowns. So my
Speaker 1: friend who gets the breakdowns, was like, oh, you must
Speaker 1: not have gotten it because it's in the breakdowns again.
Speaker 1: So they started auditioning other people again, and I was like, well,
Speaker 1: then why won't they release me? Tell me I didn't
Speaker 1: get it, like just one way the other. This waiting
Speaker 1: is killing me. And it was the days of beepers,
Speaker 1: so I would like look at my paper every time,
Speaker 1: and then finally I got a beep to, you know,
Speaker 1: call my agent. And I was dating some dude that
Speaker 1: didn't have a phone, and so we went to the
Speaker 1: seven eleven pay phone. And so I found out that
Speaker 1: I got it on a pay phone on Westwood Boulevard
Speaker 1: that is no longer there. It was there for a
Speaker 1: long time, and I would wave to it when I
Speaker 1: drove by. It's no longer there because we don't need
Speaker 1: few phones anymore, but you'll never forget that the seven
Speaker 1: eleven still there. What did you do when you when
Speaker 1: you hung up? Did you yell? Did you pound the
Speaker 1: glass of the payphone? I think, because I think I
Speaker 1: just drove myself to go return the call. And then
Speaker 1: I drove back to my boyfriend's house and I was like,
Speaker 1: I got it, and he wasn't very supportive. He was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: it was so good, but boyfriend, UM, but I don't know.
Speaker 1: I think I was just so like excited, and I
Speaker 1: don't actually remember. I mean I remember the phone call
Speaker 1: of like what are you sure? Me? Okay? Great? And yeah,
Speaker 1: it was just incredible, especially because I was like, I
Speaker 1: had had money from when I was a child actor
Speaker 1: that they like put into a trust fund that you
Speaker 1: can't get till you're eighteen, so that was sort of
Speaker 1: what I was living off of. And I was down
Speaker 1: to like six d dollars and I was like okay,
Speaker 1: and I went and I took bartending school classes because
Speaker 1: I was like, well, I've got to get a job
Speaker 1: that I can do at night, so I'll be a bartender.
Speaker 1: And I tried so hard to get a job as
Speaker 1: a bartender, and nobody would hire me because they were like, honey,
Speaker 1: you cannot card people. You look like you're twelve years old.
Speaker 1: There's no way that you can ask somebody for their
Speaker 1: I d like, but I need a job. It's easier
Speaker 1: for alson Hannigan to get on a show that runs
Speaker 1: seven years. Did you get a bartending job? That is?
Speaker 1: That's the major takeaway from me on that I had
Speaker 1: a certificate and everything I went to that school, I spent,
Speaker 1: you did it more money than I should have going
Speaker 1: to Bartender School. I could have survived another month without
Speaker 1: that that fee. Yeah, that's amazing. How much when you're
Speaker 1: creating a character does physicality enter into it for you?
Speaker 1: It does, especially with Buffy and Willow. Actually, Willow. I
Speaker 1: remember when I clicked into Willow. I was sitting in
Speaker 1: my little jeep Wrangler and I was going over the lines,
Speaker 1: and there was this line about she's talking to Buffy
Speaker 1: and she's try and Buffy's asking like how did they
Speaker 1: know each other? And Xander and Willow have known each
Speaker 1: other for years and and Willow says something about like, oh,
Speaker 1: we used to date, but we broke up and and
Speaker 1: Buffy asked why and then um, Willow says, because he
Speaker 1: stole my barbie so obviously they were kids. And then
Speaker 1: at the end of the scene, Buffy says, so did
Speaker 1: he ever give your barbie back? And the line was
Speaker 1: most of it, And I remember like wanting to make
Speaker 1: that a really good thing of just like it was
Speaker 1: like just making it really happy, like most of it,
Speaker 1: like sort of looking at the positive rather than you know,
Speaker 1: and that clicked it for me. I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: that's how I'm going to play her. So then I
Speaker 1: went back and sort of read all the lines with
Speaker 1: that kind of voice. And then I do know that
Speaker 1: because you know, I hadn't worked like like that. Really.
Speaker 1: I just was very aware of my arms, and especially
Speaker 1: in auditions, I was like, what do I do with
Speaker 1: my arms? And so I had a ring on my
Speaker 1: middle finger, so I would always like play with that ring.
Speaker 1: That sort of became how I felt Willow. Yeah, So,
Speaker 1: so it wasn't like some big bold, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: going to have a limp, but but it was the
Speaker 1: holding my ring thing, which I think I've done another
Speaker 1: characters too, So don't write in they were influenced. Those
Speaker 1: other characters were influenced by your work as well. That's
Speaker 1: how I would That's how I how I would explain
Speaker 1: it away. Yeah, yeah, I mean there's so much we
Speaker 1: could talk about with Buffy. I want to hit on
Speaker 1: at least one thing. So Willow discovers that she likes girls,
Speaker 1: and in the episode The Body in two thousand and one,
Speaker 1: you have a kiss on screen. And for those of
Speaker 1: you who don't know, this is just a couple of
Speaker 1: years after Ellen DeGeneres very early on one of the
Speaker 1: first kisses on network television between women. Was this something
Speaker 1: that was brought up at the time. Were you sort
Speaker 1: of aware of it at the time that this was
Speaker 1: a really significant moment or or how did that come about? Well?
Speaker 1: I mean, I certainly was not prepared for like how
Speaker 1: profound it was going to be. Joss had sort of said, oh,
Speaker 1: we're bringing on this new character. She's going to be
Speaker 1: a friend for Willow, and then I feel like he
Speaker 1: just sort of sort of said, like a special friend
Speaker 1: for Willow or something like. It wasn't that big of
Speaker 1: a deal, but it was. It was enough where I
Speaker 1: was sort of like, huh, okay. And I think because
Speaker 1: the show handled it so beautifully and it wasn't really
Speaker 1: about like, Okay, here we are. This is the first
Speaker 1: at the time, it was the first series regular from
Speaker 1: the beginning of the show to come out, and you know,
Speaker 1: because there had been other shows where they're like, Okay, here,
Speaker 1: we'll introduce this new character or whatever, but not a
Speaker 1: character that had been on since the beginning. And because
Speaker 1: it was just treated this same as you know, the
Speaker 1: Os Willow relationship, which is what I love so much.
Speaker 1: You know, it just felt right and beautiful. It wasn't
Speaker 1: until afterwards that I realized what an effect it had
Speaker 1: on so many people and just how important it was. Um.
Speaker 1: I mean, I just really liked it because, you know,
Speaker 1: such a beautiful love story and Amber was just so wonderful.
Speaker 1: And in fact, speaking of Ellen, I actually I do
Speaker 1: regret how I played the scene where I come out
Speaker 1: to Buffy because I was listening to an Ellen podcast
Speaker 1: years ago and she was talking about her coming out
Speaker 1: and she was saying that, you know, the reason why
Speaker 1: people often just cry and cry is because it's it's
Speaker 1: been this weight that they've carried around, and so it's
Speaker 1: just the release of that brings you to these these tears.
Speaker 1: And I was like, oh no, I screwed up because
Speaker 1: as I intentionally chose not to make it a crying
Speaker 1: moment because I didn't want anyone to feel like I
Speaker 1: was ashamed or like that. I felt like that was
Speaker 1: anything wrong. So I just wanted it to be I
Speaker 1: wanted to treat it the same as I would tell
Speaker 1: her about Oz. But then hearing Ellen's story, I was like,
Speaker 1: oh no, I should have made it much more emotional,
Speaker 1: but I just I don't know, So I do regret that.
Speaker 1: But nobody has ever come up to be told and
Speaker 1: told me that I did it wrong. Right, Well, I
Speaker 1: don't think there is I don't think there is wrong.
Speaker 1: And as you said, the whole story was handled like well,
Speaker 1: I think the word you used was beautifully. I think
Speaker 1: it was handled beautifully and not with a heavy hand.
Speaker 1: And I know that how important that moment in that relationship.
Speaker 1: You know, it was for people. Yeah, and by the way,
Speaker 1: we didn't think people were watching our show either, like
Speaker 1: we weren't really. We were the sort of little show,
Speaker 1: that different show that got really good reviews on the
Speaker 1: w B at the time, you know, it was. It
Speaker 1: wasn't until Comic Con that we were sort of like, oh, wait,
Speaker 1: we have fans. This is pretty cool. But I do
Speaker 1: remember once once um those episodes started airing, then we
Speaker 1: were getting you know, mentions of uh, this the first
Speaker 1: time a series regular from the start of the show
Speaker 1: has come out, and and so then it sort of
Speaker 1: took on this like okay, wait, we actually did do
Speaker 1: something really incredible. That's awesome. Yeah, and I will forever
Speaker 1: be grateful to be part of that storyline. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm just the amount of people that come up and
Speaker 1: say that it was it was so helpful for their development,
Speaker 1: or to see somebody going through the same things, or
Speaker 1: I just I've been reduced at here so many times
Speaker 1: because people's stories and how it helped them. And I
Speaker 1: love being part of that really ship. I'm so grateful.
Speaker 1: I do have to ask you because I don't know,
Speaker 1: it seems like I have to about American Pie such
Speaker 1: an iconic, memorable, quotable character. I mean, you've had songs
Speaker 1: written about your what is it a catchphrase? Is that
Speaker 1: what we call it? Is it a catchphrase? Yeah? Yeah?
Speaker 1: An iconic piece of the lexicon of movies? Is that right? Ye?
Speaker 1: Are you still approached by that? And is that annoying
Speaker 1: to you? Or do you celebrate it? I mean, look,
Speaker 1: it's not annoying because I am so grateful to be
Speaker 1: in something that people still remember and love. And it's
Speaker 1: uncomfortable now that I'm a mom and I don't want
Speaker 1: my kids watching that that movie or asking me about
Speaker 1: it for a while, but whatever, And it was more
Speaker 1: uncomfortable when they were a lot younger. Now it would
Speaker 1: be an easier conversation to have. But I mean, that
Speaker 1: was just a little independent movie even though it was universal.
Speaker 1: It was it had a five million dollar budget, which
Speaker 1: you know, it's not much. And I remember my manager
Speaker 1: calling me before I read the script and he's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: we're sending you the script. You're either going to love
Speaker 1: it or hate it. Nobody like that's just how it's going.
Speaker 1: People can't stand it or they love it. So I
Speaker 1: loved it. And he was saying, take a look at
Speaker 1: you know, whatever role because all the rules were open,
Speaker 1: and see which one you like. Oh. I think it
Speaker 1: was actually between my yeah, exactly, Heather and Michelle. And
Speaker 1: I was like, no, I love Michelle and just immediately
Speaker 1: like wanted to do that part. And so I went.
Speaker 1: I went to the audition. It was casting. It was
Speaker 1: just me and the casting director, and he told me, um, no,
Speaker 1: she can't be that quirky, like take out all the
Speaker 1: you know, all the quirk just take that away and
Speaker 1: because we want, you know, we want these two to
Speaker 1: be together or whatever. And I was like, oh, okay.
Speaker 1: I mean it's written in question form. Every line has
Speaker 1: a question mark at the end of the sentence, and
Speaker 1: so I was like, oh, all right, well that's weird
Speaker 1: because that's definitely not how I pictured it. So I
Speaker 1: did it again, just super boring, and he was like, Okay, great,
Speaker 1: I'm going to bring you back for the directors and
Speaker 1: that's that's great. And I got on the phone to
Speaker 1: my manager. I was like, they said that they're gonna
Speaker 1: bring me back for the directors, but honestly, I don't
Speaker 1: want to go because if he wants me to do
Speaker 1: it like that, I just that's that's not going to
Speaker 1: be funny. And so so they were like, yeah, yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: well let's just see if you get the call back
Speaker 1: and talk to us then. And so I did, and
Speaker 1: the call that they took me, my managers took me
Speaker 1: to lunch right before maybe to butter me up to
Speaker 1: go to the callback. I don't know why, but we
Speaker 1: were at lunch and I had like seven iced teas
Speaker 1: or something ridiculous, and then I sat in traffic all
Speaker 1: my way to the callback, and I had to pee,
Speaker 1: like I've never had to pee before, and I just
Speaker 1: remember kind of then you have to go through it's
Speaker 1: on the backload of Universal and drying to find the bungle,
Speaker 1: I was going to wet my pants and so I
Speaker 1: was like, well, I don't want to be late. I'll
Speaker 1: sign in and then run to the bathroom. So I
Speaker 1: did that, and I'm like, I went into the bathroom
Speaker 1: washing my hands, and the assistant comes in to the
Speaker 1: bathroom and says, okay, we're ready for you, Like, oh,
Speaker 1: all right, So I never come in the bathroom. Yeah,
Speaker 1: well yeah, I mean yes, well thank god I wasn't
Speaker 1: in the stall still, so I dry my hands, but
Speaker 1: I never had time to settle down. I still had
Speaker 1: that I'm gonna weet my pants energy, and so I
Speaker 1: just went in and I never even decided if I
Speaker 1: was going to do it boring or the way I
Speaker 1: wanted to do it. And because I had that like
Speaker 1: hyper p energy, I just did it the way I
Speaker 1: wanted to do it, and I got the job. There
Speaker 1: you go. I'm sure the casting director appreciates me telling
Speaker 1: that story, but I think that that shows a boldness
Speaker 1: from you, whether it was intentional or not. Right, so,
Speaker 1: like it was just about the P or whatever, But
Speaker 1: if you read the script this morning, that you would say,
Speaker 1: if it was just about the PA, it was just
Speaker 1: about the PA, just about Alison to Hannigan's peak. No,
Speaker 1: but I mean, like there are times you read something
Speaker 1: and you see it clearly and it sounds like you did.
Speaker 1: There were multiple was available for your choosing at least audition,
Speaker 1: and you saw a character and you saw the role
Speaker 1: and they said, well, no, they want it like this.
Speaker 1: Well that's not you know, well that's not what I
Speaker 1: wanted to do. I really like, I had so much
Speaker 1: fun just being weird and like talking in question form.
Speaker 1: It was so much fun. And then like no, no, no,
Speaker 1: be just lose the quirk and and just like, you know,
Speaker 1: we want them to root for them to be together.
Speaker 1: I'm like, what, But that didn't I didn't see it
Speaker 1: that way, and I'm so not normally like that either.
Speaker 1: I'm very much like, Okay, what do you want? I'm
Speaker 1: your puppet, you know. So I guess that was just no,
Speaker 1: this is how I would want to play it. It
Speaker 1: also helped that I was on Buffy and it wasn't
Speaker 1: like I have to get this part, you know. It
Speaker 1: was like, hey, that'd be great. It's a small part
Speaker 1: in this movie I thought was really funny. But it
Speaker 1: wasn't like, oh, this is going to change your life,
Speaker 1: you know. You didn't know that at the time. So
Speaker 1: the stakes weren't that high, and I had a job
Speaker 1: to go back to, so that gave me a confidence
Speaker 1: that I didn't normally have. And I know and you
Speaker 1: know that because people always say act like you don't
Speaker 1: care about the job, but it's you can't. Well, you
Speaker 1: have to truly not care. You have to truly not
Speaker 1: care exactly well. And I'm so grateful that I had
Speaker 1: a crappy agent for Buffy because they weren't able to
Speaker 1: give me the script, so I only had the sides,
Speaker 1: and had I read the script, I would have completely
Speaker 1: lost my mind and I wouldn't have There's no way
Speaker 1: I could have gotten it because I would would have
Speaker 1: wanted it so desperately. So I'm I'm really glad that
Speaker 1: when I got the script, I was like, I want
Speaker 1: the lottery. Yeah. I did not realize that American Pie
Speaker 1: was that small a budget, not that five millions. As
Speaker 1: you said, it's not nothing, but it's not a studio
Speaker 1: movie budget, and that's with like distribution, and and then
Speaker 1: they were going to dump it in the winter. I
Speaker 1: think it was going to be like released on Valentine's
Speaker 1: Day or something, you know, where movies don't really tend
Speaker 1: to do much now that's when my movies come out. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's where's case you're doing Valentine's Day love movies. But
Speaker 1: so they did the first sort of test screening where they,
Speaker 1: you know, grab a bunch of people and say, hey,
Speaker 1: watch this movie and tell us what do you think?
Speaker 1: And the ratings or whatever they were phenomenal. It was
Speaker 1: somewhere in the nineties, like nine percentile or whatever, and
Speaker 1: they freaked out, like Universal was like, what do we have?
Speaker 1: So then they made it a summer movie, which you
Speaker 1: know that's when like all the blockbusters come out. But
Speaker 1: I yeah, it was just that sort of It was
Speaker 1: really like I love the script. Then I remember doing
Speaker 1: the table read and meeting everybody and hearing everyone and
Speaker 1: I was sitting next to Sean William Scott and he
Speaker 1: was like, I think he had just you know, come
Speaker 1: from working at home depot or something, and he was
Speaker 1: just the sweetest, most like, can you believe we're gonna
Speaker 1: do a moving picture? I mean, he was just so
Speaker 1: endearing and I love him so much. But they also
Speaker 1: because it was such a low budget movie, it was tears.
Speaker 1: So there was like the A tier, which was like
Speaker 1: the Jason Biggs and Eddie and like the guys cast
Speaker 1: um and then there's a bat here and I think
Speaker 1: Sean and I were seat here, so we were like
Speaker 1: very much bottom, you know, but fine. In fact, I remember,
Speaker 1: because it was just you knew going in Scale plus fifteen,
Speaker 1: you know, it's just a you're gonna make as little
Speaker 1: as they can pay you. But there was in the
Speaker 1: contract there was a sequel. Uh, And I was like,
Speaker 1: and I said to my people, I'm like, I'm not
Speaker 1: signing on for a sequel for Scale plus fifteen. And
Speaker 1: by the way, my character leaves at the end of
Speaker 1: the movie, so she wouldn't even be in the sequel,
Speaker 1: so they can just take that out. And I don't
Speaker 1: know why I said that, because you know, it wasn't
Speaker 1: like I was that savvy in the business or whatever,
Speaker 1: but they did. They took out the sequel clause because
Speaker 1: and my character leaves at the end of the first movie.
Speaker 1: And boy was that really smart, really smart. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: wasn't seat here for the sequels, tell you that much.
Speaker 1: And by the way, I only worked seven days on
Speaker 1: the first film because and I know specifically, because we
Speaker 1: had to get my schedule to work around the Buffy schedule.
Speaker 1: So they had to like, you know, have days off
Speaker 1: from Buffy. And so they were like, Okay, we'll give
Speaker 1: you seven days. And so I worked seven days on
Speaker 1: the first one and eleven on the second one, and
Speaker 1: I think they were doing weekends for me, but anyway, Yeah,
Speaker 1: So so I really did feel like such a minor part,
Speaker 1: which I didn't care. I loved I loved Michelle and
Speaker 1: and then I do remember like the first day of work,
Speaker 1: We're at some high school and it was a scene
Speaker 1: where actually her first scene where she's talking to to
Speaker 1: Jason and and I just remember being at like craft
Speaker 1: service and some of the crew guys were like talking
Speaker 1: to me like my character, you know, in question for
Speaker 1: him and sing songy and like talking about banking camp.
Speaker 1: And I was like, oh that's funny. Um. Little did
Speaker 1: I know later, but I was like, okay, I guess
Speaker 1: that's good. Imitation is a form of flattery, right, Yeah.
Speaker 1: But it was just this little movie. And then I
Speaker 1: remember seeing a screening of it, like just you know,
Speaker 1: casting and producers, and I was like, oh, this is
Speaker 1: so good. I'm so excited. And then somehow I got
Speaker 1: a VHS tape and I remember playing it for Seth
Speaker 1: and Sarah in the trailer at lunch one day or whatever.
Speaker 1: Seth loved it. Sarah was like, it's not my type
Speaker 1: of film, and I was like, wait, are you doing
Speaker 1: cruel intentions right now? Um? But yeah, so but I
Speaker 1: was like, Okay, Seth loved it, that's all that matters.
Speaker 1: But I was just so excited for my friends to
Speaker 1: see it because because at that time, that was so
Speaker 1: my sense of humor, and I just loved it. And
Speaker 1: so it just was one of those things that every
Speaker 1: step of the way it just got better. Like that
Speaker 1: cast read, I was like, this is good, and then
Speaker 1: the directors were amazing, and then you know, seeing the
Speaker 1: final product, I was like, this is unbelievable. It's so cool.
Speaker 1: And then for it to come out and just be
Speaker 1: so well received and just such a huge hit, we
Speaker 1: were like, what is happening? It was a fun ride.
Speaker 1: That's amazing. But I can't imagine how many times people
Speaker 1: have approached you with yes, definitely no. I remember saying
Speaker 1: once in an interview it's like if I had a
Speaker 1: nickel for every time. And then I was like, oh wait,
Speaker 1: I do. Thank you American Pie. That's amazing. See American
Speaker 1: Pie to American Pie. I know. Wow. I mean, just
Speaker 1: the people at Universal must just think you're a negotiating
Speaker 1: shark because you're like that one clause out as probably
Speaker 1: like I've probably ruined it for a bunch of actors
Speaker 1: behind me. They're like, we're not falling for that. You've
Speaker 1: got to sign your sequels now. I don't care if
Speaker 1: you're an extra. They learn their lesson. Oh that's amazing.
Speaker 1: Let me ask Let me ask you this. If you
Speaker 1: look at you know, three huge cultural works of art
Speaker 1: that you have been involved with at least that at
Speaker 1: least have have caught flame, Buffy, American Pie, How I
Speaker 1: Met Your Mother? What is the what is the role
Speaker 1: that people come up to you the most about or
Speaker 1: approach you the most about. It depends on my location.
Speaker 1: If I'm around some sort of sporting event, it's going
Speaker 1: to be American Pie. If I'm at a bookstore, it's
Speaker 1: probably going to be Buffy or a comic bookshop, and
Speaker 1: definitely Buffy. Um. And then I would say, overall, How
Speaker 1: I Met Your Mother probably is the most popular because
Speaker 1: it was popular when it was on. Then we started streaming. Well,
Speaker 1: first we were played on airplanes, and that's when we
Speaker 1: were like, wait a second, We've got a captive audience,
Speaker 1: and so we sort of saw that we were getting
Speaker 1: a little more popular with that, and then Netflix started
Speaker 1: airing us and that changed everything, and I feel like
Speaker 1: it just keeps growing. I feel like both of the
Speaker 1: shows that I was on, we're more popular after they
Speaker 1: were over than when they were actually on, even though
Speaker 1: How I Met Your Mother kept growing. But the fans
Speaker 1: are incredible. In fact, back to Comic Con, when our
Speaker 1: our last season and you know, you do the whole
Speaker 1: press thing of the show's over, and they asked us
Speaker 1: to go to Comic Con, which was sort of baffling
Speaker 1: because we're not a science fic. It wasn't like we're
Speaker 1: the Big Bang Theory. It's like it's a sitcom that
Speaker 1: has not thing to do. But okay, so we did,
Speaker 1: and um people stood in line like all night to
Speaker 1: be in our panel. And then Entertainment Weekly did some
Speaker 1: sort of survey where they they gauge all the social
Speaker 1: media whatever it is to see who won Comic Con.
Speaker 1: And we won Comic Con. We meet like we beat
Speaker 1: Superman versus Batman or whatever movie it was, and we
Speaker 1: were like what we what? Because because people were talking
Speaker 1: about us the most on social media. I guess that
Speaker 1: was pretty incredible to to hear. Yeah, that is surprising
Speaker 1: because comic Con is a very specific type of event.
Speaker 1: Definitely that feels way buffier. You must have done that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, we did. I don't remember when we started,
Speaker 1: but it was when Seth was on, because Seth and
Speaker 1: I were there and uh, and we were like, wait,
Speaker 1: don't don't we get to go like walk around and
Speaker 1: see all the stuff. And they're like, no, you can't
Speaker 1: do that. We're like, we have to. We're a common
Speaker 1: come we want to go see the stuff. And so
Speaker 1: then they were like, well we have to send security
Speaker 1: with you, and we're like, oh my god, which of
Speaker 1: course draws way more attention than if you just put
Speaker 1: a baseball cap in and go walk around. And so
Speaker 1: he and I quickly realized, okay, we can't do this
Speaker 1: with security. We gotta break free, and so we did
Speaker 1: and it was fine. Well, as soon as you have
Speaker 1: like coming through, coming through, coming through, it attracts a
Speaker 1: crowd of like what's happening, and then you can't do
Speaker 1: anything because you've got like fifty people around you sort
Speaker 1: of trying to figure out why some some dudes trying
Speaker 1: to protect you know, having security is way worse. I
Speaker 1: think partly it's because the security who are with you,
Speaker 1: they somehow there is an attention that they enjoy about that,
Speaker 1: like there's a puffier chest, there's a higher walk, and
Speaker 1: of course, like if you're just standing there, you look
Speaker 1: at this person who's walking by with this great purpose
Speaker 1: looking around, and then of course and they're always like
Speaker 1: seven feet tall. I feel like maybe I'm just short.
Speaker 1: But between Seth and I were just like looking up
Speaker 1: to this these two guys that are trying like causing
Speaker 1: such a scene where like we know how to do this,
Speaker 1: we can get it's okay. That was really silly. But anyway,
Speaker 1: that was just a long winded way of saying It
Speaker 1: was sometime within the first couple of seasons. But we
Speaker 1: went down there and we were just shocked at the
Speaker 1: fact that we could fill an auditorium. They actually bumped
Speaker 1: us up to a bigger auditorium because of all the
Speaker 1: interest in hearing us talk, and it was amazing, And
Speaker 1: I remember that was the first time I had seen
Speaker 1: somebody like burst into tears because they got to hug
Speaker 1: David Boreana so it was just like, oh, people like
Speaker 1: this show. That's awesome. What was your process for getting
Speaker 1: cass there on? How I Met your Mother? Oh? How
Speaker 1: I Met your mother? Okay, So the creators Craig and Carter,
Speaker 1: Craig's wife, well, Craig and his wife, Rebecca were very,
Speaker 1: very big Buffy fans, and so when How I Met
Speaker 1: your Mother's loosely based on Carter and Craig's friendship. And
Speaker 1: so when Craig went to Rebecca and said, hey, so
Speaker 1: Carter and I think about, you know, writing this story
Speaker 1: kind of based on ourselves, what do you think how
Speaker 1: what do you think about that? She was like, well,
Speaker 1: as long as Alice and Hannigan plays me, I'm fine.
Speaker 1: And so she basically got me the job. So I
Speaker 1: always am super grateful to Rebecca for that. And so
Speaker 1: I got this call, Hey, you know these guys have
Speaker 1: you know, they've got the script or whatever. And at
Speaker 1: the time, I was reading a lot of scripts and
Speaker 1: it really stood out as special. I liked it immediately,
Speaker 1: and then it was just a sort of will you
Speaker 1: meet the showrunners? And I was like, okay, is it
Speaker 1: an audition? No, just go meet them? Okay, great, which
Speaker 1: is weird but great um and they were lovely and
Speaker 1: so sweet, and then the network wanted me to do
Speaker 1: the audition the test exactly. So I remember I was like, okay,
Speaker 1: one audition or if ie going straight to network the
Speaker 1: big leagues now. So they for for the network tests,
Speaker 1: they have to iron out the whole deal of you know,
Speaker 1: how much we're gonna blah blah blah blah blah all
Speaker 1: this stuff, and I just remember there was like one
Speaker 1: little hiccup that my p bowl and business affairs couldn't
Speaker 1: get past. So the network day was going to be like,
Speaker 1: you know, Wednesday or something, and they didn't have a deal.
Speaker 1: So I was ready to go test on Wednesday, and
Speaker 1: no deal, So no, I don't get to test. So
Speaker 1: so I thought, well that was it. Okay, And then
Speaker 1: I think in the room it was Gary Newman I heard,
Speaker 1: who was the president of twentieth Century Fox who produced
Speaker 1: the show. But he was like wait, I thought Alison
Speaker 1: was coming in for this, and then they were like yeah,
Speaker 1: we can't get or whatever, and he was like, come on,
Speaker 1: and so they called back and said okay, come test
Speaker 1: on Friday. It was like two days later or something,
Speaker 1: and so I did and there were no other girls there,
Speaker 1: and I was like, this is awesome. They were testing
Speaker 1: the role of Barney, so it was just me and
Speaker 1: a bunch of Barneys. And I'm like, Okay, if I
Speaker 1: can't get this, then I'm really because I hate auditioning.
Speaker 1: By the way, I'm so I'm not a great auditioner.
Speaker 1: It's such a different skill said, and I just don't
Speaker 1: possess that that that skill set. I get two in
Speaker 1: my head and I sort of like I leave my
Speaker 1: body and I start judging myself. I'm like, oh no,
Speaker 1: that wasn't good. Watch from the outside, so bad. So anyway,
Speaker 1: so I was really happy that I didn't have to
Speaker 1: like sit there and see my competition and uh. And
Speaker 1: then while I was waiting, Neil Patrick Harris walks in
Speaker 1: and we had been friends since like we're sixteen or something,
Speaker 1: so we're both really excited to see each other and
Speaker 1: just have a familiar face. And he went in first.
Speaker 1: Oh he was contemplating doing some sort of prap fall
Speaker 1: or something um and I was like, yeah, I hit
Speaker 1: the wall, so I can hear you did it, that
Speaker 1: you've done it, and he did, get here, you bounced
Speaker 1: off the door or something um, and I was like, oh, Neil,
Speaker 1: you're the best. And so I went in. It was
Speaker 1: just me and that was great. It was fun. And
Speaker 1: then I left and it wasn't. They didn't make me
Speaker 1: wait for very long, and I did. I think on
Speaker 1: the way home maybe I got the call. So that
Speaker 1: was really exciting. And then a few days later they
Speaker 1: were wanted to test for Marshalls. They asked me to
Speaker 1: come in into a chemistry read. So I did it
Speaker 1: chemistry read and Jason Siegel and I had been in
Speaker 1: a movie together years before called dead Man on Campus.
Speaker 1: Don't rush out to rent that right now. I've missed
Speaker 1: that one, but I'm going to watch it tonight. You
Speaker 1: know a lot of people did. It was fine to miss.
Speaker 1: And when I saw him it was him and some
Speaker 1: other guy, and I saw him, I was like, oh
Speaker 1: that god looks familiar r now. And then we did
Speaker 1: that like hey, how are you like? We know we
Speaker 1: know each other. I just have no idea why I
Speaker 1: know you. And then later on it was I realized
Speaker 1: we've worked together, um, but he sort of just stood
Speaker 1: outside and did his thing, and then the other guy
Speaker 1: was like very much like, Okay, she is the job
Speaker 1: I'm going to kiss up to her, and so he
Speaker 1: was like on me the entire time, which fine, like
Speaker 1: do whatever you gotta do. And then we go in
Speaker 1: and I read with that guy, and then I read
Speaker 1: with Jason, and I mess up. I totally jumped on
Speaker 1: one of his jokes and I was like, oh, I'm
Speaker 1: such a jerk. I just ruined this guy's chances. But again,
Speaker 1: we both played it off and the chemistry was clearly there.
Speaker 1: But I was so concerned that I blew it for
Speaker 1: him because I screwed up his one, like one of
Speaker 1: his punch lines. I was like, oh, I'm so sorry,
Speaker 1: but thank god he got it because I would have
Speaker 1: that would have haunted me for years. Well, and I
Speaker 1: mean the fact that is that you already had the job,
Speaker 1: So being back in the corner drinking a glass of
Speaker 1: wine and smoking a cigarette like you were, it's probably
Speaker 1: probably why you messed up. It's like, I've got this now,
Speaker 1: I don't have to be I think I just messed
Speaker 1: up because I'm terrible at auditions. I mean, clearly, or
Speaker 1: that's the key to it, is that I mess up,
Speaker 1: and it helps because you share the chemistry. Because I
Speaker 1: messed up in Buffy and I messed up on his
Speaker 1: How I Met Your Mother. So that's a good lesson actually,
Speaker 1: not that we're into teaching lessons here, but that there
Speaker 1: is something about the energy and the intention, and I
Speaker 1: do think that's so often as actors. Why maybe you struggle,
Speaker 1: why I struggle at times with auditions is that, yeah,
Speaker 1: you get so worked up about it being perfect and
Speaker 1: forget that it's really just about showing yourself as best
Speaker 1: you can and that limited amount of time. Exactly. I
Speaker 1: do really think that chemistry is so there when you
Speaker 1: mess up. Like, honestly, I've thought about it since, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, if I were in a casting session, I
Speaker 1: might try to mess up just to see how how
Speaker 1: it plays, you know, because then you kind of, without
Speaker 1: going completely off script, you do get into a little
Speaker 1: bit of improv. I don't know, it's just it's just
Speaker 1: been telling in my situations where where it's like it
Speaker 1: was so right even though I totally screwed up his line, Yeah,
Speaker 1: and he handled it beautifully. He didn't, like I mean,
Speaker 1: he was totally professional. Um, How I Met Your Mother
Speaker 1: started roughly the same time that the office started. Yes,
Speaker 1: I think you guys must have started first. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: I don't feel like there was a ton of It
Speaker 1: wasn't like we were had some weird competition. We were
Speaker 1: clearly like on different nights. I felt like we totally
Speaker 1: talked about your show and appreciated it. And yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't feel like there was ever any I mean, honestly,
Speaker 1: I remember from the start of How I Met Your
Speaker 1: Mother we were produced by twenty Century Fox that and
Speaker 1: they also produced My Name Is Earl. And My Name
Speaker 1: Is Earle was their baby. They they loved that baby,
Speaker 1: and so I do remember us always being like, well're
Speaker 1: not my name is Earl, and it we really felt that,
Speaker 1: you know, like from the studio perspective of like they
Speaker 1: don't care about that. Like anytime like the studio run
Speaker 1: through would run late, They're like, oh, they're lunching with
Speaker 1: my Name is Earl. Like, we were definitely bitter about
Speaker 1: how much attention they got and they got all the
Speaker 1: you know, the campaigns and and but they also came
Speaker 1: out with a huge bang and we did not, So
Speaker 1: you know, rightfully, they probably earned it more than we did.
Speaker 1: But uh, that's the only like show. I Oh, and
Speaker 1: then we got really mad at Dancing with the Stars
Speaker 1: because they kept kicking our butts with the numbers because
Speaker 1: they were up against so so for us, I think
Speaker 1: the only like shows we ever talked about, we're the
Speaker 1: ones that we're like getting our attention or from the
Speaker 1: studio or kicking our ass in the numbers. It's fascinating
Speaker 1: because you know, my name is Earl. We were we
Speaker 1: struggled mightily out of the gate, and we're almost canceled
Speaker 1: a couple of times. My name is Earl is one
Speaker 1: of the reasons we were even stayed on the air
Speaker 1: because they put us behind my name is Earl. And yes,
Speaker 1: exactly as you said, it came out of the gate
Speaker 1: crazy big, and then nine months in or whatever, we
Speaker 1: finally kind of overtook them and everything sort of swung
Speaker 1: that show. It's so crazy that our shows lasted for
Speaker 1: so long and that show was so huge out of
Speaker 1: the gate, and then and then bye bye. We were
Speaker 1: perpetually a bubble show. We barely got like we barely
Speaker 1: got the back order, and then you know, it was
Speaker 1: definitely sort of are we going to get this season two?
Speaker 1: I don't know, and no, yes we did. And then
Speaker 1: I don't remember exactly which seasons it was, but It
Speaker 1: was probably after we started our numbers and popularity started
Speaker 1: increasing because of you know, really being popular in airplanes
Speaker 1: and jails, that we did get like a two season
Speaker 1: pick up. At once we thought we were rock stars.
Speaker 1: I think it might have been season three and four,
Speaker 1: but it was like, not only did we get picked up,
Speaker 1: but we got our two seasons. That was amazing. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: we were there too. We were on the bubble for
Speaker 1: so long. It was so nice not to be called
Speaker 1: the Bubble Show. I know, I know, yeah, please, um,
Speaker 1: I know since how I met your mother has been
Speaker 1: off the air. Now you've been expanding your horizons even further.
Speaker 1: You're hosting. Do you like hosting Pen and Teller? Do I?
Speaker 1: You know? Yes? I love that I get to be
Speaker 1: thrown into a world that is so foreign to myself,
Speaker 1: Like the the magician world is just so different. And
Speaker 1: to get to sort of watch these people come on
Speaker 1: and perform in front of their icons, because Penn and
Speaker 1: Teller are living legends. All these magicians have grown up
Speaker 1: being inspired by them and like and so to watch
Speaker 1: sort of people's dreams coming true is really cool. To
Speaker 1: be a little like you know, Fly on the Wall
Speaker 1: and the Magic is amazing. I went in knowing very
Speaker 1: very little, and obviously we've been doing it for a
Speaker 1: long time now, so I know more than I wish
Speaker 1: I knew. But there's still so many people that are
Speaker 1: so incredible that just make me feel like I'm a
Speaker 1: six year old watching magic happen. So it's it's fun.
Speaker 1: I have a six year old who watches me do magic,
Speaker 1: and that's about the only person who would be impressed
Speaker 1: by mine. I don't know, you should come on. I
Speaker 1: don't know, no, chick, come on. You could come on
Speaker 1: at least to like just be the person that they trick.
Speaker 1: That would not be difficult for me. That would be
Speaker 1: really incredible. Alison. I can't let you leave before I
Speaker 1: tell you I have loved essentially everything that you have
Speaker 1: ever done except except oh and you haven't seen dead
Speaker 1: Man on campus. So, and I mean no disrespect to
Speaker 1: you or anyone else associated with the project, but Fancy Nancy,
Speaker 1: specifically the theme song for Fancy Nancy gets stuck in
Speaker 1: my head. Oh good, I think if you don't like
Speaker 1: Fancy Nancy, this interview, Fancy Nancy, Fancy Nancy. Thank God
Speaker 1: we're not singing it well, I mean that's what I do.
Speaker 1: You used to sing Annie running around the house. I
Speaker 1: now have to sing Fancy Nancy and then go out
Speaker 1: of my head. It's such a good show, though. I
Speaker 1: love the animation, so I'm doing an animated show for
Speaker 1: Netflix right now too, and the kids are watching that,
Speaker 1: and I truly do love it. It's so creative. It's
Speaker 1: such a different world of acting that I enjoy so much.
Speaker 1: But no, the theme song for Fancy Nancy, we Gotta
Speaker 1: we Gotta Work, well, I didn't write it, and I
Speaker 1: think the kids love it. I love that show that was.
Speaker 1: I mean, honestly, I've always always wanted to do a
Speaker 1: cartoon and I don't think I was good at it
Speaker 1: until I had children, because I do a lot of
Speaker 1: emoting with my face, apparently, and that doesn't work in cartoons,
Speaker 1: so you have to do it with your voice. And
Speaker 1: I didn't realize that until I had kids and I
Speaker 1: started reading bedtime stories out loud and like, oh and
Speaker 1: and Fancy Nancy was just such a dream and I
Speaker 1: just had so much fun doing that every single time,
Speaker 1: and honestly, I would have done it for a hundred years.
Speaker 1: I loved that show and it was just like I
Speaker 1: also love being part of a show you could just
Speaker 1: PLoP your kid down and you know it's going to
Speaker 1: be okay and safe and not like inappropriate for their
Speaker 1: their age. So that was I love that show. Fancy Nancy,
Speaker 1: Fancy Nancy. Well, if there's a reboot, maybe I can
Speaker 1: come up with a different theme song. Um, Alison, thank
Speaker 1: you so much for coming and talk to me. No,
Speaker 1: you're one. You're delightful. Uh too, you offered I think
Speaker 1: some just some great insight into not just your career,
Speaker 1: but how a lot of actors should maybe think about
Speaker 1: the audition process and fame and whatnot. I'm so happy
Speaker 1: for you and respect you so much. Thank you so
Speaker 1: much for talking to you. Thanks for having me. Fancy Nancy,
Speaker 1: Fancy Nancy. I don't think I'm even doing it right
Speaker 1: because now it's catchy. Now it's stuck in my head. Alison,
Speaker 1: thank you for coming on the podcast today. I am
Speaker 1: so glad we finally got a chance to sit down
Speaker 1: and really talk. So thank you. Thank you as always
Speaker 1: to your listeners for tuning in if you liked what
Speaker 1: you heard today, and I don't know how you couldn't.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know it's Alison freaking hand again. She
Speaker 1: is incredible, But if you did, please go ahead leave
Speaker 1: a review on Apple Podcasts or send us a note
Speaker 1: at Instagram at Off the Beat, we would love to
Speaker 1: hear from you. I will be back next week with
Speaker 1: another incredible guest from one of your very favorite shows.
Speaker 1: But until then, everybody, have a great week. We will
Speaker 1: see you next Tuesday. Off the Beat is hosted an
Speaker 1: executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner, alongside our executive producer Langley.
Speaker 1: Our producers are Diego Tapia, Liz Hayes, Emily Carr, and
Speaker 1: Hannah Harris. Our talent producer is Ryan Papa Zachary. Our
Speaker 1: theme song Bubble and Squeak performed by my great friend
Speaker 1: Creed Bratton, and the episode was mixed by seth Olandski
Speaker 1: M hmm