Speaker 1: Unpacking the Toolbox is a production of Shondaland Audio in
Speaker 1: partnership with Iheartradios.
Speaker 2: Katie, Do you like how unattractive I am? Like, I'm
Speaker 2: a real chameleon?
Speaker 1: Are you kidding me? Shut the fuck up? No?
Speaker 2: No, Like me without makeup is impressive, and me with
Speaker 2: makeup is I'm a fucking dream.
Speaker 1: Look what do you want? Yo? How was the audition?
Speaker 2: It was my first time ever using a teleprompter?
Speaker 3: Have you?
Speaker 1: Oh really? Oh yeah, I've used teleprompters, but not for
Speaker 1: scripted stuff, only for like hosts, the type things.
Speaker 2: Well, when i get like eight pages of monologues, now,
Speaker 2: I'm like, oh, guys, especially if it's like dea crap.
Speaker 2: Speaking of dea and lawyerly speak, we have the fucking
Speaker 2: most mischievous guest today coming on, and he's the best
Speaker 2: lawyer speak motherfucker actor I've ever seen in my life.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, can you believe.
Speaker 2: This motherfucker at how easy? I hate him? I know,
Speaker 2: I know, And I'm drilling like legal talk and making
Speaker 2: it feel like it just like comes off the time.
Speaker 2: And also it takes me days to prep that, and
Speaker 2: this shit came in like yesterday.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it takes me days because I need to be confident,
Speaker 1: Like I want to feel confident. But this motherfucker, I
Speaker 1: mean you've said this before. God, he'll look at that
Speaker 1: shit in the makeup trader and be like and then get.
Speaker 2: An inn and it's easy. And he's not even shaken.
Speaker 2: He can't be shook.
Speaker 1: Well, because he could give a shit too. He's like,
Speaker 1: I don't care, I don't care. I just want the cake.
Speaker 2: Great, I mean, this is his middle name should be.
Speaker 1: I just want the paycheck.
Speaker 2: Had you ever had auditions where you have to like
Speaker 2: pick up sides or a script, oh my capos or
Speaker 2: some o the time?
Speaker 1: Are you kidding? All the time?
Speaker 2: Really?
Speaker 1: When I first moved to La I would have to
Speaker 1: drive to my agency and there would be a basket
Speaker 1: in the lobby if it was after hours, and they
Speaker 1: would leave your script in a Manila envelope with your
Speaker 1: name on it.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I remember that. At the time of this recording,
Speaker 2: I would just also like to say, this is the
Speaker 2: seventeenth year to the day anniversary when I moved to Las.
Speaker 3: What.
Speaker 1: Oh, that's a long time.
Speaker 2: It's a long time, Like I can't even believe it.
Speaker 2: But I always remember getting off at lax, being like,
Speaker 2: what did I just do to blow out my life
Speaker 2: like this? Renting a beatter piece of shit sucked up car,
Speaker 2: and I got on the four h five and the
Speaker 2: ten scariest drive of my entire life. And I had
Speaker 2: a Thomas guy to get around.
Speaker 1: Some big ass nerd created the Thomas Guide. I was like,
Speaker 1: don't even come at me with this thick book of
Speaker 1: fucking coordinates, Like what are you talking about?
Speaker 2: So I used to try to get around auditions.
Speaker 1: Oh hell no.
Speaker 2: I'm a geographic dumb dumb. I'm a bad driver, like
Speaker 2: very bad, which reminds me. Also, you and I, You
Speaker 2: and I are cut, we have the same We shot
Speaker 2: the pilot and it's raining and you're in a you're
Speaker 2: so hot, you're in a leather jacket and you're in
Speaker 2: a jeep wrangler that has no top.
Speaker 1: Oh my god. Remember, And you're.
Speaker 2: Like, can I follow you to get on the one
Speaker 2: oh one? And I kept saying like yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: I got it, I got it, I got it. And
Speaker 2: I see you in my rearview mirror like following me,
Speaker 2: and I don't know where I'm going, and I just
Speaker 2: remember I keep pulling Uie's and you're pulling Uie's and
Speaker 2: it's straining as shit.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was like, it would be worse if it
Speaker 1: was just me, a girl. I was impressed at all.
Speaker 1: I was like, do you think take your time now?
Speaker 2: There are a few controversial players that we have had
Speaker 2: on the podcast that we're going to have on the podcast.
Speaker 2: Controversial players. This one is a controversial player because he
Speaker 2: is a polarizing motherfucker.
Speaker 1: This is the number one fucking polarizing.
Speaker 2: Like you either are on board with his antics or
Speaker 2: you are afraid, which makes you mad at him.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I fucking Teeter Tod. I'm back and forth like
Speaker 1: I love him and I laugh and I enjoy it,
Speaker 1: and then I'm like, I cannot believe you freaking did that.
Speaker 1: I'm so pissed at him, Like I go back and forth.
Speaker 2: He's kind of scared of you.
Speaker 1: I could feel that too, because I'll go off on
Speaker 1: a motherfucker.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: See, he never fucked with you, no yah, And I
Speaker 2: feel like it's because he was always a little bit like, oh,
Speaker 2: you don't do that to Garmo, Like you don't there,
Speaker 2: he didn't do to you what he's done did to me,
Speaker 2: or because I'm such a fucking easy target. But here's
Speaker 2: the thing, he's the most talented dude without trying, which
Speaker 2: is so frustrating. Yeah, like Josh Molina is the smartest person.
Speaker 3: In the room.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, but also a quick win and a quick
Speaker 1: intelligence like I people ask me a question and I
Speaker 1: have to be like, give me twenty minutes to go
Speaker 1: try to understand the question and think of what I'm
Speaker 1: gonna say.
Speaker 2: Sometimes, guys, we would do cold reads of our scripts,
Speaker 2: and I would be fucking mortified that they would find
Speaker 2: out in a cold read, like how exactly dumb I am?
Speaker 2: And like I wouldn't know how to pronounce a word,
Speaker 2: or there might be like a turn of phrase or
Speaker 2: something that was like a colloquialism. Same, like quickly look
Speaker 2: at Quinn's lines to make sure there wasn't something that
Speaker 2: would out how like unintelligent I was. Because there were
Speaker 2: so many fucking smart people in our cast, Like do
Speaker 2: you know that Bellamy Young and Josh Williana went to Yale.
Speaker 1: Fucking Yale dude like Yuryo.
Speaker 2: Kidding and Shanda went to Dartmouth. Half the writers or
Speaker 2: more were like journalists perfect like unorbelievable talenty Harry went
Speaker 2: to gw g's right. Obviously, she's a political animal and
Speaker 2: just ridiculously smart.
Speaker 1: Where'd you go, Katie.
Speaker 2: Well, I went to schoolcident. Oh, you gotta be smart
Speaker 2: to get in there.
Speaker 1: Well, listen, it's not easy to get into.
Speaker 2: No, you have to have done well. But it has
Speaker 2: nothing to do with smarts. For me, I just was
Speaker 2: good at school, and if I wasn't going to get
Speaker 2: a great grade, I knew how to do extra time
Speaker 2: in the teacher's room to make them like me and
Speaker 2: give me an a like. I was working that shit
Speaker 2: ya from Jump. But guys, we have teased one of
Speaker 2: the most controversial and polarizing guests to have ever been
Speaker 2: on the skin of Rewatch podcast and on Scandal. I
Speaker 2: love him. I think he's so amazing. And we are
Speaker 2: talking about episode two oh one called White Hats Off,
Speaker 2: which aired on September twenty seventh of twenty twelve, and it.
Speaker 1: Was written by Jenna Bands and directed by our very
Speaker 1: own we love him so much, Tom Verica.
Speaker 2: Whoa, whoa, We love you, Tom Verica. It was guest
Speaker 2: starring Wendy Davis Is, Kimberly, Mitchell Reese Rios as Reporter
Speaker 2: Number one did Nora Wilcott is reporter number two, Erica
Speaker 2: Schaeffer's TV newscaster, j Jackson as local newscaster.
Speaker 1: And then we have Jimmy Kimmel as himself, Jackson Hurst
Speaker 1: as Congressman Jacob Shaw, Gillian Armanante as Moira, O'Donnell Maro
Speaker 1: Sodan as doctor Brown. And I wanted to add Shelley
Speaker 1: Morrison as the judge who played Rosario in Will and Grace.
Speaker 1: I mean, come on, she was the job.
Speaker 3: Come on.
Speaker 2: This is the synopsis. This was our first episode back.
Speaker 2: I mean, after we shot the first seven episodes of
Speaker 2: the first season, we didn't know for sure if we
Speaker 2: were going to get a second season, right, we didn't know.
Speaker 2: Six months after Quin's arrest, Olivia and the OPA team
Speaker 2: are confident they'll win her case, as David Rosen's evidence
Speaker 2: is mostly just Quinn's motive, her cheating ex boyfriend, and
Speaker 2: the fact that she fled.
Speaker 1: The OPA team helps a congressman navigate a sex tape scandal.
Speaker 1: Is Quinn's case begins to crumble around her, but Olivia
Speaker 1: refuses to let Quinn be.
Speaker 2: Found guilty, probably because she and Huck were the ones
Speaker 2: actually behind Quinn's new identity. I remember literally spending all
Speaker 2: summer with people asking me if I knew who Quinn
Speaker 2: Perkins was, and I was.
Speaker 1: Like, uh no, because because at the cliffhanger at the
Speaker 1: end of season one is Olivia telling Quinn, do you
Speaker 1: want to tell them who you are? Or you want
Speaker 1: me to tell them? Right?
Speaker 2: Do you want to tell them who you really are?
Speaker 2: Should I?
Speaker 1: Or should I? Yeah? So people held on too that
Speaker 1: for how long before we came back?
Speaker 2: Well, this aired September twenty seventh, in twenty twelve, and
Speaker 2: I think our last Scandal episode was like May. So
Speaker 2: it was like this summer that I got married.
Speaker 1: Oh oh, okay.
Speaker 2: I have this memory of two hundred and fifteen people
Speaker 2: going like, so, who.
Speaker 1: Are who is it? Who are you?
Speaker 2: Who is Quinn? Who is Quinn? And I'm like, I
Speaker 2: don't know, I don't know. Yeah, I hope I have
Speaker 2: a job. I hope ahead a job.
Speaker 1: And probably the writers didn't fully know exactly which direction
Speaker 1: they we're going to go either, I would think, right,
Speaker 1: I mean think they.
Speaker 2: Knew it, Yeah, I don't think they knew it all.
Speaker 2: Every episode with Hollis Doyle until this point, he is
Speaker 2: seen eating or mentioning gettysburger.
Speaker 1: Mmm, gettysburger. How good does a burger sound right now? Fuck?
Speaker 2: I would rush a burger right now.
Speaker 1: Like ugh, I was watching Anthony Bourdain, uh last night,
Speaker 1: and he's eating a cheeseburger at just like a you know,
Speaker 1: one of those like stands outside he was in, like
Speaker 1: I don't know, he was like in Jamaica or somewhere,
Speaker 1: but it was just a greasy cheeseburger and it looks
Speaker 1: so fucking good.
Speaker 2: I mean, come on, oh god, I love it. There
Speaker 2: are three fucking continuity errors in this episode. Photos of
Speaker 2: a Lane show that she's blonde, but in truth or Consequences,
Speaker 2: the actors playing a Lane is a brunette.
Speaker 1: A brunette.
Speaker 2: Oh this is the best. Yeah, Jesse Tyler is not
Speaker 2: Adam Shapiro at this time. It's some other dude that
Speaker 2: they took photos of and they whoopsie doodle.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they didn't know Adam was gonna play play the role.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 2: After Olivia and David leave the court, the next scene
Speaker 2: shows the Monument of Iwojima with the State House in
Speaker 2: Washington monument in the background, But the EU Gema monument
Speaker 2: is not in DC. It's in Arlington.
Speaker 1: That's messed up advertising.
Speaker 2: That's that's that's that continuity that didn't happen. Were there
Speaker 2: any winning scenes from this episode?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 1: And you're in it. The scene where you end up
Speaker 1: firing Olivia and she comes to see you in jail, right,
Speaker 1: and your other attorney that you hire is there, and
Speaker 1: Olivia's like, give me a moment, please, and You're like, fine,
Speaker 1: give us a moment and you're their face off, you know,
Speaker 1: you and Olivia going add it and you stand up
Speaker 1: and we see Quinn's fury, like, come out. You were
Speaker 1: so good. You were a fucking powerhouse.
Speaker 2: And that's oh god, I thought I was horrible.
Speaker 1: No, I was gonna ask you, have you ever flipped
Speaker 1: out like that? You've done that? Right? Yeah? Well that
Speaker 1: scene where you flip out on Olivia. Man, I fucking
Speaker 1: loved it.
Speaker 2: I was like, hell yeah, I really think. I really
Speaker 2: think all of Josh's room scenes are fucking unbelievable.
Speaker 1: Oh so good. That courtroom stuff is really really fun,
Speaker 1: fun to watch. And and again we mentioned to do
Speaker 1: and hard to do, and can we say how much
Speaker 1: I love how much we love a Gillian Armanante who
Speaker 1: played your defense attorney. Oh she's so great in this episode.
Speaker 1: And I looked her up too, and she she had
Speaker 1: been in two epic movies. One was a Dog Fight
Speaker 1: with Lily Taylor. If you've ever seen that film, it
Speaker 1: no great movie.
Speaker 2: I see nothing. I watched nothing, I do nothing.
Speaker 1: And then she was in Girl Interrupted with Winona Ryder.
Speaker 1: Oh I thought was interesting. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: Abby is into watching the sex tape herself. I wrote,
Speaker 2: there's the your ornamental not instrumental, yes, which is a
Speaker 2: big winning line from since that's amazing. You are ornamental,
Speaker 2: not your ornamental not instrumental.
Speaker 1: Oh so good.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, it's Olivia. It's so slow and they
Speaker 2: say hello and hi.
Speaker 1: I love that this whole time. Huck and Olivia have
Speaker 1: the best poker face. Oh, Like they're the ones that
Speaker 1: speaking Quinn and moved her to a whole different state,
Speaker 1: right yes, and changed her identity and they know this
Speaker 1: throughout the whole episode. And those two have the best
Speaker 1: like poker face, like they're not letting anything show.
Speaker 2: And not until the end of the episode do we
Speaker 2: know that all of Quinn Perkins is hucked on Olivia.
Speaker 1: And Huck is like, she took everything we gave her
Speaker 1: we're good to go or something like that. Yo. It
Speaker 1: made me also think like what would I have done
Speaker 1: in that situation? Would I have been like fuck, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do this, or would I would have you know,
Speaker 1: like flipped out and ran outside of the hotel crying, Like.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't think I would have done it.
Speaker 1: I don't think so either.
Speaker 2: Like I feel like that's such a tell about Quinn
Speaker 2: and who she is that she just was like, Okay,
Speaker 2: I'll just be a new person.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: One of them many reasons we're bringing Josh Malina into
Speaker 2: this episode is because he's about to embark on the
Speaker 2: craziest season two, like so insane. But also this is
Speaker 2: the first episode where Josh Molina and Bellamy young our
Speaker 2: series regular.
Speaker 1: That's right. I can't believe that they weren't always regulars either,
Speaker 1: because they're both.
Speaker 2: So good, so present, their storylines are so important to
Speaker 2: season one.
Speaker 1: They were just guest stars.
Speaker 2: Germo in a sliding doors. Josh or Bellamy could have
Speaker 2: booked something or been offered something.
Speaker 1: Oh for sure, and we would have had some a
Speaker 1: different first lady in a different rosen.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and they would have been unavailable, like when you're
Speaker 2: a recurring guest star. There's nothing in the thing that
Speaker 2: says that you're loyal to that one show.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, we'll be right back.
Speaker 3: Guys.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, Wait the most the one whoa facial.
Speaker 1: There, I know why I did too.
Speaker 2: Ah, you handsome. We were saying that you might be
Speaker 2: the most controversial Scandal guests.
Speaker 3: As far as controversial, I think I am the closest
Speaker 3: to having gotten fired without actually getting fired.
Speaker 1: That's true.
Speaker 3: I got called to uncomfortable meetings a couple of times
Speaker 3: because of pranks.
Speaker 1: I believe it. I'm not surprised.
Speaker 2: I also told Giermo before you came on, I was like,
Speaker 2: I think there's very few people that that Josh was
Speaker 2: actually afraid of on Scandal, like fucking with them too much.
Speaker 2: And it was like Shanda, Betsy and Geirmo. I was like,
Speaker 2: they're the only thing people Josh fucked with but for
Speaker 2: some reason actually respected some sort of line.
Speaker 3: I'm going based in fear. I think that's true. Well,
Speaker 3: I'm only scared of Germo because I watched the show. Personally,
Speaker 3: he's a pussy cat. But I made a mistake of
Speaker 3: watching a few episodes of Scandal, and I was like,
Speaker 3: I gotta watch it.
Speaker 1: For that guy, and you were like, this motherfucker's crazy.
Speaker 2: You know, he's fucking scary. He's fucking scary. Wait, Josh,
Speaker 2: so the West Wing podcast, when did you start it
Speaker 2: and when did you end it?
Speaker 3: March twenty sixteen, and then I believe the final wrap
Speaker 3: up episode was on my birthday January seventeenth, twenty twenty,
Speaker 3: so it was about four years. Just shy of four years.
Speaker 1: Holy oh wow.
Speaker 3: We did a live show at the Ace Theater.
Speaker 2: Oh the Ace. That's huge. Oh nice, The Ace Theater
Speaker 2: is fucking massive.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Fun fact about season one of Scandal, uh huh.
Speaker 3: I was a guest star in all seven episodes of
Speaker 3: season one, and I remember Kerry One saying to me, so,
Speaker 3: I'm in every episode of season one and you're in
Speaker 3: every episode of season one. But I'm a series regular
Speaker 3: and you, Josh, are guest star. What does that mean?
Speaker 3: I said? You know how, at the end of the week,
Speaker 3: you get a lot of money. At the end of
Speaker 3: the week, I get very little money. And that's what
Speaker 3: the difference is.
Speaker 1: Isn't that always a bitch? I've been in the positions
Speaker 1: and then you always feel bad and your agents are
Speaker 1: always like you either got to walk away or you know,
Speaker 1: just accept it and keep doing the job.
Speaker 2: Oh, by the way, that happens now more than ever.
Speaker 1: Usually I would just stay and keep doing the job
Speaker 1: for no money, because you don't want to lose a job.
Speaker 3: Yeah. No, I wanted to work for Shanda Rhimes. I
Speaker 3: had done episodes of before her, I'm Practice and Grey's Anatomy.
Speaker 1: You did you did a graze?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Oh yeah?
Speaker 2: Were you adorable? Wait? What did you play on Grays?
Speaker 3: I was young. On Gray's. I was Leslie Grossman's husband
Speaker 3: and she needed a equal transplant and I had great
Speaker 3: lines like no poop, no poop for you.
Speaker 1: You came onto the right podcast, Josh, because we talk
Speaker 1: about poop a lot.
Speaker 2: We talked about shitting like nobody business. But wait, Josh,
Speaker 2: two things.
Speaker 3: One.
Speaker 2: We wanted to have you on this episode two oh
Speaker 2: one because congratulations, this is when you became a series regular.
Speaker 2: So now you can continue your story.
Speaker 1: Of why yes, the first.
Speaker 2: Seven were you a little bit? And then the first
Speaker 2: episode of season two, why did it change? And my
Speaker 2: other story I want to say really quickly is that
Speaker 2: when we shot the pilot, you walked onto the set
Speaker 2: and it is the only time I think I've told
Speaker 2: you this and your head's about to get big. It's
Speaker 2: the only time in seven seasons that I saw Shonda
Speaker 2: Rhymes get starstruck.
Speaker 1: She loves you so much.
Speaker 2: Josh Melena walked on and she was like, Oh my god,
Speaker 2: I'm freaking out. I'm freaking out. I was like, I'm
Speaker 2: kind of freaking out too, but she was like, I'm
Speaker 2: totally freaking out, Like I love Josh Milena.
Speaker 1: She was a big West Wing fan, right age West
Speaker 1: Wing fan. Yeah, and really quickly you played Seth Hammer
Speaker 1: on Grey's Anatomy.
Speaker 3: There it is. That's right, Seth Hammer. It was Hammertown
Speaker 3: for a week.
Speaker 2: Why did you become a regular? How did this happen?
Speaker 3: Well, here's what happened. I had been offered episodes of
Speaker 3: Private Practice and Grey's Anatomy because in fact, I think
Speaker 3: Shanda's a big West Wing fan and she couldn't have
Speaker 3: been nice to me when I worked on that. My
Speaker 3: agents called said, Shonda Rhymes has a pilot. I'm like, well,
Speaker 3: doesn't she just want to give it to me? She
Speaker 3: keeps offering me episode And the answer was no, she
Speaker 3: doesn't just want to give it to you, she wants
Speaker 3: you to audition. And then I went in and I remember,
Speaker 3: very awkward, this is really weird. You know, there's like
Speaker 3: usually a chair for the actor, but there was just
Speaker 3: an open space. And then there was a chair like
Speaker 3: next against the wall, and I went and I just
Speaker 3: kind of sat in it next to the wall. And
Speaker 3: then I was like, well, this can't be right, and
Speaker 3: they were like, no, no, that's a weird instinct funny
Speaker 3: stand up and do the scenes. And I did them
Speaker 3: and I felt like it went well, and Shonta Rhymes said, well,
Speaker 3: that's all I need to see. Oh wow, which you
Speaker 3: could take one of two ways. And I remember calling
Speaker 3: my agents and going like either I've ruined my relationship
Speaker 3: with Tonta Rhymes or I think maybe they're gonna give
Speaker 3: it to me, like because she said that's all I
Speaker 3: need to see.
Speaker 2: Do you remember what the scenes were?
Speaker 3: I remember one where like I talked about her spidy
Speaker 3: senses something.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, So it scenes with o Libya. Maybe
Speaker 2: when she knocks on your door and you have the
Speaker 2: dartmouth sweater on and you're so cute and you're wearing
Speaker 2: like a darkness sweatshirt.
Speaker 3: Cute, You're very sweet. I think that's exactly what it was.
Speaker 3: And then what they said was this, you got the pilot,
Speaker 3: and I was like, I'm thrilled. And there's this amount
Speaker 3: of money and I was like, wow, that's pretty good.
Speaker 3: They said, wait, wait, wait, but you can choose how
Speaker 3: many episodes you want to be in for the same
Speaker 3: amount of money what In other words, what it came
Speaker 3: out to was seven times minimum. So they're like, if
Speaker 3: you want to be in the entire season, you just
Speaker 3: have to work for minimum in every episode, or you
Speaker 3: can take a real nice big check for one or
Speaker 3: a pretty good check for two. And I was like, oh,
Speaker 3: I want to I don't care. I want to be
Speaker 3: in all of them.
Speaker 2: Did you feel like you wanted to be in all
Speaker 2: of them? Because then you were like, that's going to
Speaker 2: make my character like you need needed.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, it made it. It seem like the greatest
Speaker 3: chance of becoming a regular. And in the end, we
Speaker 3: actually made a contract where I signed up to do
Speaker 3: all seven as a guest star, and there was already
Speaker 3: in the contract that if they were to go to
Speaker 3: a second season and if they wanted me, I would
Speaker 3: be a regular.
Speaker 1: So that was cute.
Speaker 3: So I was just desperately like waiting.
Speaker 1: Wait. Was Dan Bulkotinski auditioning for David Rosen as well?
Speaker 3: Yes, he was, no way. Unfortunately he didn't get it,
Speaker 3: but he did get an end.
Speaker 2: He did, Yeah, he did. He also auditioned Hawk too.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Well that shows one of the nice things about Shonda,
Speaker 3: which is that she's like Aaron Sorkin. She has people
Speaker 3: she loves to work with, and she'll give you your
Speaker 3: shot and figure out where she might be able to
Speaker 3: slot you in, Like she loves Dan's work and like,
Speaker 3: all right, this role, maybe that's not Claire, this isn't Oh,
Speaker 3: I think we found the one, and so we're lucky
Speaker 3: to be in her in her sphere of player.
Speaker 2: When you came on board and started to like, see
Speaker 2: why I say you're controversial is because our cast is
Speaker 2: incredibly gushy and huggy and kissy and lovey and texty,
Speaker 2: and Josh is like not was the West Wing cast
Speaker 2: like really cool and like whatever? And then you got
Speaker 2: into our cast and you were like, this is insane.
Speaker 2: These people love each other way too much. They have
Speaker 2: to stop hugging at every table read nobody fucking cares stop.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think the west Wing was somewhere on the
Speaker 3: spectrum between my like let's never talk to each other
Speaker 3: or touch each other and the scandal ethos of like,
Speaker 3: let's just have a big friendship organ Somewhere between those
Speaker 3: two is west wing. It was probably right in the middle,
Speaker 3: got it.
Speaker 1: Speaking of texting, though, I remember Josh did love texting
Speaker 1: on other people's phones.
Speaker 3: That's true.
Speaker 1: And what he would text was I'm horny.
Speaker 3: I put it on Twitter.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1: He never did it to me, but you've done it
Speaker 1: to Katie me three times.
Speaker 2: Now. Let's set the scene ten years ago. I don't
Speaker 2: think I even had a lock on my phone, to
Speaker 2: be honest. I mean, I was just that naive and trustworthy.
Speaker 2: I just remember chasing you and being like, give me
Speaker 2: back my phone, and he'd get on my Twitter account
Speaker 2: and he would just tweet from my Twitter account I'm morny.
Speaker 2: And then I would just get like days of like
Speaker 2: why isn't Adam taking care of that, and just mortified.
Speaker 2: But that's just the beginning. Have you been a pranks
Speaker 2: through your whole life?
Speaker 3: I have, Indeed I have. When I guests star on
Speaker 3: other people's shows, I'm usually well behaved but then once
Speaker 3: I start feeling comfortable as a series regular on something
Speaker 3: like now I'm bored, let's have some fun. Yeah, and
Speaker 3: I usually feel like I won't get fired and unscandaled
Speaker 3: a couple of times it was like Shonda and Betsy
Speaker 3: need to talk.
Speaker 2: To you about and were you, like really scared?
Speaker 3: The first time I finished filming a scene and Ad
Speaker 3: came to me and said, hey, don't change out of
Speaker 3: your wardrobe. You need to go straight to Shandan Betsy's office,
Speaker 3: I was like really, And I said what about? And
Speaker 3: She's like, I don't know. They didn't say, and I was,
Speaker 3: as I was walking there, was thinking, can't be getting.
Speaker 1: A raise, can't be good.
Speaker 3: It seems unlikely that this is good news. And when
Speaker 3: I got up there, it wasn't good news. Jimmy Kimmel,
Speaker 3: who was a prankster himself, had sent me all these
Speaker 3: codes that allow you to send a text or an
Speaker 3: email as if it's from a specific person's phone. And
Speaker 3: I remember writing back to Jimmy like, this is great.
Speaker 3: Do you think it would be a bad idea to
Speaker 3: write emails from Shonda Rhymes to people? And he said no,
Speaker 3: I think that would be a great idea, but I
Speaker 3: would wait until Scared handles off.
Speaker 4: The air.
Speaker 1: Right now. No.
Speaker 3: I was like, it's April Fool's Day, Like, how can
Speaker 3: I not do this? And I just wrote an email
Speaker 3: to Tom Verica, our executive directing producer, and I wrote
Speaker 3: him an email from Shanda that just said not cool.
Speaker 2: Tom lost his ship.
Speaker 3: Well, as it turns out, he was in the middle
Speaker 3: of renegotiating his contract. This is just bad timing renegotiating.
Speaker 2: Josh, are you fucking kidding me?
Speaker 3: Yeah? I figured he'd see it. He knows it's a prifool,
Speaker 3: so probably call me and be like, dude, did you
Speaker 3: do this? Or he'll call Shana the laugh. But weeks
Speaker 3: past and I was like, maybe it didn't even go through,
Speaker 3: like they should worry about. Then I got this thing
Speaker 3: like go see them in their office and I sat
Speaker 3: down and they started saying like Tom Verica got in
Speaker 3: an email. I was like, oh, not cool, Tom, Yeah
Speaker 3: I did that, and they were like, don't impersonate me.
Speaker 1: I how did they even find out that it was you?
Speaker 3: They didn't. I think they just went through there.
Speaker 1: They were like it's gotta be Josh.
Speaker 3: Apparently there was a whole like Disney ABC investigations. I
Speaker 3: think they like I don't think they forensically traced it
Speaker 3: to me. I think just someone said, like, who's the asshole,
Speaker 3: who's most likely to have done this?
Speaker 2: I remember vague things after this came out that they
Speaker 2: were like, holy shit, Shanda thought she had been hacked.
Speaker 2: They had hired like people to look through the server
Speaker 2: and make sure that no one else was emailing.
Speaker 3: On The hack was definitely escalated into something I didn't anticipate,
Speaker 3: as pranks sometimes do, and that was a bummer. And
Speaker 3: then the second time, which was really bad, was when Portiuderossity,
Speaker 3: whom I love and played my love interest on and off.
Speaker 3: She was leaving, she was filming her final day, and
Speaker 3: so I took I can't even remember whether it was
Speaker 3: a sunscreen or vasoline, and I put it under the
Speaker 3: door handle on the driver's side of her crazy expensive
Speaker 3: car in the parking spot next to mine. Every day
Speaker 3: I'd be like, oh a Lamborghini.
Speaker 2: Oh wow, unbelievable, Look this is my love language.
Speaker 3: I wouldn't do it to somebody I didn't like, but
Speaker 3: I expected to hear from Portia like that night or
Speaker 3: the next morning, like you got me and blah blah blah,
Speaker 3: never heard anything again. Weeks past. Again, I finished filming
Speaker 3: a scene and somebody was like, you have to go
Speaker 3: straight to there. I'm like, no, not this again. And
Speaker 3: I remember I went up there and uh, I was
Speaker 3: nervously eating candy from the little candy jar waiting in
Speaker 3: the ante room to I guess Shanda's thing. And she
Speaker 3: walked past me and the first time ever, she gave
Speaker 3: me a death stare. And I was like, oh my god,
Speaker 3: this is really bad, like because usually I can see
Speaker 3: she like kind of even though I'm a rasped me,
Speaker 3: but this was dead. This was a thousand yards stare.
Speaker 3: Like I just I ran cold. I mean, I'm sweating
Speaker 3: at she's just telling the story. And I went in
Speaker 3: and I think I said, what is it this time?
Speaker 3: Like trying to break the ice and they were not
Speaker 3: having it. They were not laughing, and I think I
Speaker 3: then said, please tell me this isn't about portion car
Speaker 3: door handle, and they were like, yeah, as a matter
Speaker 3: of fact, that is what it's about. And again bad
Speaker 3: timing didn't occur to me the final scene she was
Speaker 3: filming spoiler alert Can I give a spoiler? Maybe not? Okay,
Speaker 3: I believe she died by being beaten to death with
Speaker 3: a golf club. Oh yeah, so she was leaving the show.
Speaker 3: I'm sure that had some emotion in it. She had
Speaker 3: filmed getting killed by golf club for seven hours, and
Speaker 3: at three in the morning, she went to her car
Speaker 3: and she got a handful of acoline and she thought like, wow,
Speaker 3: somebody hates me. And I was like, whoa, no, And
Speaker 3: I remember saying to that You're absolutely right to be
Speaker 3: upset about this. The last thing I wanted to do
Speaker 3: was upset her. I've talked about doing this thing. I
Speaker 3: thought she would know immediately. Here's what I can tell you.
Speaker 3: I can tell you that I'm going to walk out
Speaker 3: of this office. I'm going to text Portia and I
Speaker 3: give you my word, it's not going to be long
Speaker 3: before I come back with a text that's like, oh
Speaker 3: my god, you got me. And they were like okay,
Speaker 3: And I walked out and runs, I'm so sorry. I'm
Speaker 3: the one who did the vaclay and you know I
Speaker 3: love you, and literally she wrote back like, oh my god,
Speaker 3: I love it. And I walked back and I was like,
Speaker 3: does this get me off the hook? I showed them
Speaker 3: my phone.
Speaker 1: God, damn, damn you, Josh.
Speaker 2: My god.
Speaker 3: I remember Betsy saying essentially, we are accomplished women who
Speaker 3: have more important things to do than field phone calls
Speaker 3: from Ellen DeGeneres who's mad that her. Oh my god.
Speaker 3: I was like, you know what, You're absolutely right. This
Speaker 3: is a reflection on the fact that I am not accomplished.
Speaker 3: I have nothing but free time to do these kinds
Speaker 3: of things, and it really shouldn't spill over into your
Speaker 3: busy days. I'm terribly sorry. I would like to continue
Speaker 3: working here.
Speaker 2: Please accept my Oh God, and Josh, because you are you,
Speaker 2: you will always get off like I just think. I mean,
Speaker 2: I just even if it's by this the skin of
Speaker 2: your teeth, you will get off. And I don't know
Speaker 2: why or how you've made it this far.
Speaker 3: I mean that would scare me enough where I don't
Speaker 3: think I'll skate that close to the edge ever again.
Speaker 3: Because I was thinking if I have to call my
Speaker 3: wife and go like I lost my job as scandal
Speaker 3: and when she says why, I say, well, think to
Speaker 3: kick out of this.
Speaker 1: Would like the golf club.
Speaker 3: And she would have been riot, like, what's wrong with you?
Speaker 3: Grow up? You're in your fifties.
Speaker 2: Okay, next question, how the fuck did you? Okay, first
Speaker 2: of all, I know you should all over. Well, you're
Speaker 2: really interested all over like like being you know, being
Speaker 2: an actor and like you know you're not actorly in that.
Speaker 2: But it's really bullshit because I do think somewhere in your.
Speaker 3: Heart you Oh, I do love it. I'm not. I
Speaker 3: watched this episode and I was like, I'm always thinking,
Speaker 3: I'm gonna think for the first time like that was
Speaker 3: pretty good. Not watching, I was like, my voice is.
Speaker 1: Terrible because no one else is thinking that. I guess, Josh,
Speaker 1: you're so good.
Speaker 3: I'm not trying to make you say.
Speaker 1: We've been saying it, Yo, We've taped how many episodes
Speaker 1: already and we are constantly saying how great you are.
Speaker 1: And this episode doesn't even it doesn't even show the
Speaker 1: caliber of your work. That episode when you wake up
Speaker 1: and there's a dead woman in your bed like you were,
Speaker 1: that was brilliant in that episode, such great.
Speaker 2: Work wrote you like amazing. I mean, whether or not
Speaker 2: it's to your taste. They wrote for you sex scenes
Speaker 2: and murder and fucking jury shit and like you're a
Speaker 2: school teacher and you're afraid and you're like you got
Speaker 2: to do a lot of Oh.
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely. For the first few episodes, I thought I
Speaker 3: was on a procedural. I was like, this is where
Speaker 3: you basically give same performance in the same character for
Speaker 3: seven years hopefully or eight years and nine years and
Speaker 3: nothing changes. Then like whatever. A few episodes in, I
Speaker 3: was like what I read the script, like, which's who.
Speaker 1: Having sex in the shop?
Speaker 3: Yeah? I was just like, oh, this is insane. And
Speaker 3: then a few more episodes later I'm like, oh my god,
Speaker 3: I'm part of the insanity. There's still, by the way,
Speaker 3: people who can't believe, like there's a woman who's been
Speaker 3: tweeting the last couple of weeks like not another sex
Speaker 3: scene with Josh Malina, like, Shanda, what are you doing
Speaker 3: to me? I was like, if you think you were
Speaker 3: surprised to be seeing me have sex in or if
Speaker 3: you think how surprised I was to open a script
Speaker 3: and be.
Speaker 2: Like, I have it you and you and Abby. Abby
Speaker 2: and David Rosen were like the first couple I feel
Speaker 2: like on the show where we were like, oh my god,
Speaker 2: these are two lead characters that were going to put
Speaker 2: together like in a sexual scenario.
Speaker 1: And you guys had such.
Speaker 3: I was surprised.
Speaker 1: You guys.
Speaker 2: Oh, you guys were really good, but you.
Speaker 1: Were also like that that mean big brother who would
Speaker 1: do shit to Darby, Like on set, I remember, we'd
Speaker 1: be rehearsing You're Opa or wherever we had a scene
Speaker 1: and she would be holding her sides. If she was
Speaker 1: sitting on a chair that had wheels, you would grab
Speaker 1: her and wheel her like fifty feet away.
Speaker 2: You did that to me all the time too, or.
Speaker 1: You would smack her sides, like, oh josh.
Speaker 3: There are definitely people listening now. We're laughing as if
Speaker 3: it's great, and there are people listening now, are going
Speaker 3: he isn't, but you're Shanda's always talking about her no
Speaker 3: asshole policy. It's like, how did this guy?
Speaker 2: I'm telling you, we've talked about this on this podcast.
Speaker 2: You won't listen to it, so it doesn't matter. But
Speaker 2: let me tell your face, no, we talk about how
Speaker 2: fucking good you are. And my question is, I don't
Speaker 2: understand how you're that good when you don't try and
Speaker 2: I try so hard, And how do you memorize lines
Speaker 2: in the makeup chair? Why does your brain work like that?
Speaker 2: Like we just watched the episode where we're like you
Speaker 2: sit and you have this amazing monologue where you're like, stab,
Speaker 2: stab stab, Oh how I love to stab and it's
Speaker 2: a whole monologue that's iron I remember that.
Speaker 1: And Harrison like stop talking stuff talking, and you just
Speaker 1: go on and on and on.
Speaker 2: But like, do you never prepare or the night before
Speaker 2: look over stuff? What's your process?
Speaker 3: That's a good question, just becase Shanda listens to this,
Speaker 3: I want to defend myself. I take it seriously to
Speaker 3: on a certain level. I do try. I read a
Speaker 3: script once to be like, let's see what the story is,
Speaker 3: although if I'm probably honest, I read my scenes first.
Speaker 1: I do that too, though I do that too.
Speaker 3: Now that it's all delivered electronto being you can just
Speaker 3: search Rosen, I'm like, okay, that's all my stuff. Now
Speaker 3: let's figure out what's going on. And then when it
Speaker 3: was scandal, I would always send the script to my
Speaker 3: dad and then I'd be like, so explain to me
Speaker 3: what's going on.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, I should have done that. Me and
Speaker 1: Katie should have done that. Send it to your dad,
Speaker 1: because sometimes we'd be like, what's happening.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was like my dad and my mom are
Speaker 3: like my biggest supporters, and they always watched it and
Speaker 3: they kept track of it. I'm actually at their house
Speaker 3: right now, and I would often say to my dad,
Speaker 3: so like talk me through like plot wise, I don't
Speaker 3: know why am I in court? And I'm defend what
Speaker 3: you remember in season three and you killed that?
Speaker 2: And then so they watch everything you ever do, like
Speaker 2: backwards and force, just because they love you and they're
Speaker 2: so proud of you.
Speaker 3: Pretty much. Yes, that's true. They're very, very supportive Jewish parents.
Speaker 3: So I do have a very good memory for dialogue.
Speaker 3: I don't know what I have for lunch yesterday, but
Speaker 3: I can remember dialogue very quickly.
Speaker 2: Has that changed since COVID or in Age?
Speaker 3: No? I don't think so. Now and now I'm doing plays,
Speaker 3: I realized how much I had trained myself to learn
Speaker 3: dialogue quickly and forget it quickly. Like if I did
Speaker 3: shot this dialogue on Monday, I knew it cold, but
Speaker 3: on Tuesday.
Speaker 2: Do you have like the Guara had that too, like
Speaker 2: an amazing short term memory. You can plug it in
Speaker 2: and then the next day it's talking gone.
Speaker 1: The minute we walk off set, when that scene is done,
Speaker 1: it's out of my brain, like it's gone, and Katie
Speaker 1: would be like, let's try to do that scene we
Speaker 1: did like last month, and I was like, Katie, what
Speaker 1: are you talking about? I can't even remember when we're kidding.
Speaker 2: I would do it for fun. I memorize long haul, though,
Speaker 2: like I'm such a theater bitch. But okay, if you
Speaker 2: had a big monologue on scandal, would you learn it
Speaker 2: the night before or always in the makeup chair, like
Speaker 2: what were you doing?
Speaker 3: I would definitely familiarize myself with it the night before,
Speaker 3: feeling that and not just out of laziness, but like
Speaker 3: some some smart person once said to me, like, you
Speaker 3: want to learn your stuff for TV, but just shy
Speaker 3: of knowing it cold, so that it'll appear like you're
Speaker 3: finding it a little bit, like you'll seem like a
Speaker 3: human being. Yeah, it doesn't sound like they'd memorize something,
Speaker 3: so I got I'm very good at finding the line
Speaker 3: where like I got it pretty much. I'm gonna sleep
Speaker 3: on it and to wake up and in the makeup chair,
Speaker 3: I'm gonna nail it down and I'll probably run it
Speaker 3: with the other person who also in the makeup chair.
Speaker 3: But I do remember one awkward day where we were
Speaker 3: all looking at our sides and I said something like,
Speaker 3: you know, guys, reminder, who's Christine? And everybody just slowly
Speaker 3: looked them in. They're like, are you kidding? Like the
Speaker 3: whole season is about this character. I don't know. I
Speaker 3: just remember being really embarrassed.
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, you were being so you were
Speaker 1: like really no, I really don't know.
Speaker 3: I was like, I don't understand the scene why we
Speaker 3: also obsessed with the cuisine or whatever it was. And
Speaker 3: they were just like, what is wrong with you? I
Speaker 3: was embarrassing.
Speaker 2: Wait do you ever think about like what do I
Speaker 2: want in the scene or what's my moment before or anything?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 2: Right, Like you just I just think you have that
Speaker 2: same actor chip in your brain. Like it's like you're
Speaker 2: really good at text obviously between Sorkin and this show,
Speaker 2: like text is not an issue for you, and you're
Speaker 2: I'm telling you, Josh, your work in these two seasons.
Speaker 2: I'm so jealous because I know you're not right like
Speaker 2: my action or my objective or my like you know,
Speaker 2: thinking about beats or shifts. You know, you're just there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I feel like I have a good instinct for it.
Speaker 3: But the truth is what usually when I watch my work.
Speaker 3: I'm like, you were fine. I'm not. I'm not usually
Speaker 3: like us, like I'm horribly insecure. But maybe if I
Speaker 3: did some of those things you're saying, I'd be better
Speaker 3: than that.
Speaker 1: Maybe I know that's what makes you so good. That's
Speaker 1: not part of your process.
Speaker 2: Do you think that is? Like, I think there's some
Speaker 2: effortlessness to something that's so difficult, you making it look
Speaker 2: like it's so fucking easy. This is for ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 2: Josh Milina is about to be starring back on Broadway.
Speaker 2: He's been on Broadway before. If you can catch him,
Speaker 2: you should. In Leopoltstad, written by the one and only
Speaker 2: fucking Tom Stoppard, I already have my tickets. I'm going
Speaker 2: June tenth with eight family members.
Speaker 1: Katie, I want to go, come.
Speaker 2: With me June eighth. I'm going to see any gladiators listening.
Speaker 2: Do come June eighth. I will be at Leopoltstad's screaming
Speaker 2: and probably crying. It's that script is remarkable.
Speaker 3: It's amazing he's write and I was seventeen, almost eighteen,
Speaker 3: and my dad's best friend was and still is Manny Aisenberg.
Speaker 3: This famous amazing producer who produced Tom Stoppbards is the
Speaker 3: real thing on Broadway. So I got invited to Opening Night,
Speaker 3: and as a seventeen year old, I was assuming that
Speaker 3: I was just like the writing, like my mind, his
Speaker 3: writing is unreal. And now literally forty years later, yes,
Speaker 3: I can't believe him.
Speaker 2: See, this is why people keep you around.
Speaker 1: Really quickly. Since we're talking about some pass work, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna rattle off some of Josh's credits. Give it because
Speaker 1: I live it this up and I was like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, Like, there's so much and so much epic
Speaker 1: projects that he's done. A few good men, the American President,
Speaker 1: Tracy takes on clock Watchers with my buddy Parker Posey,
Speaker 1: the Larry Sanders Show, Sports Night, The West Wing, Stargate,
Speaker 1: Grey's Anatomy, I Carly and my favorite Big Bank theory
Speaker 1: of course. But I'm also like a huge horror film fan.
Speaker 1: And you haven't been in a harror film, but you
Speaker 1: were in a thriller called Malice that Aaron Sorkin I
Speaker 1: also wrote.
Speaker 3: Correct, Yes, but I was in one horror movie comedy
Speaker 3: called The Knights of Badass. Oh, and I think Steve
Speaker 3: Zahn was in it. Peter Dinklice. It was comedy horror
Speaker 3: about a bunch of Larper's live action role players.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna watch it.
Speaker 2: Tonight and I'm coming over and I'm getting stoned and
Speaker 2: I'm watching it with you.
Speaker 3: Yes, it was low budget to begin with, and then
Speaker 3: they didn't get the full effects. But there's I know
Speaker 3: the director is not happy with how it turned out,
Speaker 3: and I spoiler alert, have my jaw ripped off as
Speaker 3: I'm being pilated by a wood d well.
Speaker 1: Listen. I went out Amazon Prime and I bought Malice
Speaker 1: because I wanted to watch it. When I looked up
Speaker 1: your credit, Josh plays this really cute like resident doctor
Speaker 1: or nurse who comes out and speaks to Bill Pullman.
Speaker 1: But it's a really fun like old school like eighties
Speaker 1: thriller movie.
Speaker 3: Well the funny. Patrick Marber, the director, when he was
Speaker 3: talking to me about potentially doing the role, said, and
Speaker 3: you know, it takes place in Vienna, but we've toyed
Speaker 3: with doing Viennie as or German and we didn't do that.
Speaker 3: And it opened in London, so you know, he said,
Speaker 3: you don't have to sound British, but you can't sound America?
Speaker 3: Can I do in Mexican like everyone is sounding.
Speaker 2: So you're not even doing like heightened American, like like
Speaker 2: the Gilded Age or something.
Speaker 3: No, it's pretty fifty years ago. You couldn't get a
Speaker 3: foot in, you couldn't travel with a.
Speaker 1: That's really good, Josh, it's really good.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 2: We will be back with more after the break now
Speaker 2: that I'm trying to jog my memory about like David
Speaker 2: Rosen's journey. Okay, so you auditioned for the role. Yes,
Speaker 2: Shanda was into you. You went, got called to the
Speaker 2: principal's office a few times. You had love interests with
Speaker 2: Abby Portia and were you also with Artemis.
Speaker 3: Yes, Artemists is lovely a Susan.
Speaker 2: Oh and Zoey Perry.
Speaker 3: And Zoe Perry and off camera didn't came. But dirty,
Speaker 3: dirty Susie whatever her name is, Susie with.
Speaker 2: The we didn't. When we have Shaanda back on, got
Speaker 2: to ask her like, I don't think there's a single
Speaker 2: character on our show that went through that many lives,
Speaker 2: Like what's that about?
Speaker 3: For sure? That is just Seana going. I can do
Speaker 3: anything on television. I can take the least attractive oldest
Speaker 3: member of my past and have him have more sense
Speaker 3: than I'm telling you. That's exactly what it is.
Speaker 1: You were successfully pranked by us and the Jimmy Kimmel Show.
Speaker 1: Remember in this episode.
Speaker 2: Yes, Kimmel is in an episode two one, that's right,
Speaker 2: and he's interviewing the Congressman Jacob Shaw, who's the case
Speaker 2: of the Wei And we love Kimmel, but he approached us,
Speaker 2: like by the end of Scandal, they were like, we
Speaker 2: want to get Josh, and they spent so much money
Speaker 2: on this prank.
Speaker 3: Like, well, first of all, I had had an idea
Speaker 3: and I remember pitching our pr people like Bachelor has
Speaker 3: all these watch parties, and the Bachelor people show up,
Speaker 3: you're surprised and they love it, like everybody's having their
Speaker 3: wine and popcorn Scandal watching part parties. Why don't we
Speaker 3: like surprise a few people and like maybe it's a
Speaker 3: nice way to go out with the final season. And
Speaker 3: they did it through Good Morning America and Tony was
Speaker 3: the first and this was all part of the parts. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Then they were like, Josh, you have to do one
Speaker 3: of these. And I actually really didn't watch, like I
Speaker 3: don't want to do it.
Speaker 2: But it really speaks to your heart, which is as
Speaker 2: much as Josh, Willie is a prankster, smartest person in
Speaker 2: the room, keeps his life interesting by like really pushing
Speaker 2: boundaries with people. But Josh, you with fans is ridiculous,
Speaker 2: Like you give them all the time in the world.
Speaker 3: You're nice to say. I mean, I you're very nice
Speaker 3: to say that, and I know it comes from like
Speaker 3: I can't believe anybody's having to see me, so I'm
Speaker 3: like got to keep your fans happy, like so you're
Speaker 3: keep in business, and like also just appreciation for people
Speaker 3: who are appreciating you, Like Scandal fans are the best I
Speaker 3: did enjoy.
Speaker 2: So the prank was about them asking you to show
Speaker 2: at the end of this run. You know, they asked
Speaker 2: me and Josh to come to a Scandal Rocks watch
Speaker 2: party and they we knew they would be watching Scandal
Speaker 2: and we would walk in and it was up to
Speaker 2: me to convince Josh that he should use a confetti
Speaker 2: blower thing. And when we come in, oh god, one
Speaker 2: of those guns a Convetti cannon.
Speaker 3: I remember, we go in there watching Scandal, can see
Speaker 3: and we pop in with our with our cameras. Boom,
Speaker 3: I pulled the competitia and like everyone's laughing and having fun.
Speaker 3: And then I see the mom in her chair like
Speaker 3: it seemed really startled by the confetti cannon.
Speaker 1: Clutching her chest hard.
Speaker 3: For this and she's actually clutching her chest, and I'm
Speaker 3: starting to think, like, oh that was this is bad.
Speaker 3: We really we really scared this woman. Then I'm like, oh, no,
Speaker 3: she's an Actually she's in medical discomfort. And I will
Speaker 3: admit I was nice enough to like I definitely went
Speaker 3: over and I think I held her hand and I
Speaker 3: was trying to calm it down. The one thing I
Speaker 3: did is also cover my ass because I'm thinking that
Speaker 3: if she died, did I kill her? Is this like
Speaker 3: second agreement in voluntary man slater? And you can see
Speaker 3: me in the actual video of the press only.
Speaker 2: Being quiet because I.
Speaker 3: Can't no I'm saying, and I say to her something
Speaker 3: like they handed me the thing or it wasn't my
Speaker 3: I'm not going down, like I'm trying to lay down
Speaker 3: my legal case for when And then next thing I know,
Speaker 3: I hear I hear a siren like an ambulance has
Speaker 3: been called, and I'm like, oh my god, this is
Speaker 3: actually happening, and the paramedics burst through with the cot
Speaker 3: but one of the paramedics is Jimmy Kimmel, and my
Speaker 3: mind is like what's going on? And I'm like, wow,
Speaker 3: you got me so bad. They throw me into this stretcher.
Speaker 3: I'm deeply embarrassed, but also husually really that I didn't
Speaker 3: kill this woman. And they wheel me outside, and unbeknownst
Speaker 3: to me, they were concerned that I would not fall
Speaker 3: for it, and they wanted to backup freaking prank. So
Speaker 3: there's a fire engine in the driveway and I get
Speaker 3: sit up and they blast me with those from.
Speaker 2: Like what oh, yeah, they blasted him with a fire
Speaker 2: hole the old lady actress. I had been there all
Speaker 2: day rehearsing for like three hours, like different ways the
Speaker 2: scene could go. I have never done a prank in
Speaker 2: my entire life. I am so wildly uncomfortable with making
Speaker 2: people upset or feel bad or like pranking to me
Speaker 2: is like I'm.
Speaker 1: One of those people that gives it up right away.
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm just kidding, this is we're just joking.
Speaker 2: So then I remember the garage door slowly opening and
Speaker 2: there's like video village is in there, and we all
Speaker 2: have earbuds in like all the actors in a scene
Speaker 2: the older woman who pretend to have a heart attack me,
Speaker 2: we had earbuds in case. The director was like, oh, I.
Speaker 3: Never even thought about that.
Speaker 2: Oh, it was insane. They spent like a billion dollars.
Speaker 2: It was insane. And also I remember before we did
Speaker 2: it are publicist. I think it was Chris Anderson at
Speaker 2: the time calling me and saying, do you know if
Speaker 2: Josh has ever had a heart attack or if someone
Speaker 2: recently that he loves has had a heart attack, Because
Speaker 2: we want to do this, but we also like, I
Speaker 2: don't want it to go horribly awry in case it
Speaker 2: like God, we don't know, like maybe his aunt or
Speaker 2: someone just had a heart attack and he's just gonna
Speaker 2: be that's actually very still unwell.
Speaker 3: And I remember thinking afterwards I wish I had been
Speaker 3: on to what they were doing. If I had figured
Speaker 3: it out, I could have then pretended myself to have
Speaker 3: a heart attack and see if I could flip.
Speaker 2: Survived it. I would not have.
Speaker 1: The best Oh.
Speaker 3: Ever, but unfortunately it turns out that the fact that
Speaker 3: you do practical jokes and pranks for thirty years doesn't
Speaker 3: mean that you're any less galible than anybody else. Because
Speaker 3: I felt for it completely. I remember actually texting Kimmel
Speaker 3: when I was going to bed that night and I
Speaker 3: was like, well done, and he rubbed back me like
Speaker 3: was that real? Did you really fall for that? Like
Speaker 3: he actually almost couldn't leave it. I was like, dude,
Speaker 3: that was one hundred percent, But how.
Speaker 2: Could you not? That wasn't just like a run of
Speaker 2: the mill fucking thing. I mean that was like actors
Speaker 2: who would.
Speaker 3: Rehearse if we were doing the drop in for Kimmel's
Speaker 3: you would have known America. My mind was prank, but
Speaker 3: I don't think good morning America. Nothing occurred.
Speaker 1: I lovely you have Kimmel's phone number. Fucking Katie has
Speaker 1: Seanda Rhyme's phone.
Speaker 2: Number, Kim's phone number, his number? Wait really quickly about
Speaker 2: this episode? What was the parts you watched last night
Speaker 2: that you thought you were uh yeah.
Speaker 3: In the courtroom. I have memories of shooting this episode
Speaker 3: because it was a lot of me, and it was
Speaker 3: a lot of a lot of people sitting well, I
Speaker 3: strut around doing things, and part of it was literally vocally,
Speaker 3: I was like, I don't sound like you want to
Speaker 3: you know when you're like and isn't it true you
Speaker 3: want to be one of those you say, what the hell?
Speaker 2: You keep saying what the hell when they let Quinn
Speaker 2: in this episode to jog all of your listener's memory.
Speaker 2: This is the episode where who was Quinn Perkins? Who
Speaker 2: was Quinn Perkins? But wait, okay, so you thought your
Speaker 2: acting was bad? You say what the hell a lot?
Speaker 2: What did you feel like when you read this script?
Speaker 2: Not about this episode where Darby to put her hand
Speaker 2: in your mouth or you're something like that.
Speaker 3: I felt very similarly to the way I felt when
Speaker 3: I finally watched it. I was like, I don't know
Speaker 3: what's going on? Is this supposed to be sexy? Is
Speaker 3: this some sort of BDSM? Is this horrible hot? I
Speaker 3: read it, we shot it, I watched it, and I
Speaker 3: still never figured out what it was.
Speaker 2: Josh, I can't okay, wait wait wait wait, there's more.
Speaker 2: There's more, this more, okay. This is the first episode
Speaker 2: that marked both bellmy Young and Josh Molina a series regulars.
Speaker 2: You guys went to Yale, but not at the same time.
Speaker 3: She is younger than I, so she she knew who
Speaker 3: I was.
Speaker 2: She did not?
Speaker 3: She did no, I think, because I think we were
Speaker 3: actually maybe in guys and dollars together. The idea that
Speaker 3: she may have had a smaller role or been in
Speaker 3: the ensemble and I had to lead. It's funny because
Speaker 3: I can't sing and she has a beautiful voice.
Speaker 1: Did you do a ton of plays in college? Josh,
Speaker 1: I did.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm an undergraduate theater Saudi's major. Every now and
Speaker 3: then people think like, oh, you went to Yale drama school.
Speaker 3: I'm like, no, I went to the other one and
Speaker 3: was a drama mate. I went to the not because
Speaker 3: they just drama school, but I knew I wanted to
Speaker 3: be an acro already, and my parents were like, for
Speaker 3: the love of God, get a college degree.
Speaker 2: Also, what it was your degree in intert It's.
Speaker 3: Not like it didn't help me at all with acting
Speaker 3: and wouldn't have helped me in anything else.
Speaker 1: Do you remember what the first play was that you did?
Speaker 3: There, I do? I did. Christopher Durang's sister, Mary Ignatius
Speaker 3: explains it all.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: Do you have any memories from the first two seasons
Speaker 2: that stick out? Do you have any memories from the pilot?
Speaker 3: I remember shooting those scenes at the door with Kerry
Speaker 3: and seen in a bar with Kerry. Most of my
Speaker 3: stuff was with Kerry, and I just remember liking her
Speaker 3: a lot, like like I just remember vibing like she's
Speaker 3: cool first of all, Like whenever the number one person
Speaker 3: on the call tot is cool, it's like, yeah, this
Speaker 3: is a very good sign.
Speaker 2: Did you feel like at the end of season one,
Speaker 2: like we're definitely going to get a season too. Did
Speaker 2: you feel like it would have was going to be
Speaker 2: one hundred and twenty four episode's show.
Speaker 3: I just remember early on thinking it was a procedural approach,
Speaker 3: and procedurals, if they hit.
Speaker 1: They last a long time.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they last a long time, and they're they they're
Speaker 3: worth a lot in syndication because you can play them
Speaker 3: in any order and it doesn't matter, and people can
Speaker 3: pop in and watch a rerun or whatever. And then
Speaker 3: once it started turning into this insane show that was
Speaker 3: burning through plot, I was like, oh my god, this
Speaker 3: episode has as much plot as a full season of
Speaker 3: another show Like this cannot sustain. So I started getting nervous.
Speaker 3: Even as the show is getting better and more interesting
Speaker 3: and crazy and it was fun, I was like, this
Speaker 3: is gonna this might be a death sentence.
Speaker 2: We'd already shot the president by like the thirteenth episode
Speaker 2: in and it's like, what the fuck are we gonna do?
Speaker 3: No, exactly, I underestimated the fiendish creative mind of Shanda
Speaker 3: Rhimes and her writers because like they never had any
Speaker 3: problem coming up with seven plots per episode that were
Speaker 3: completely insane and like, oh, they can keep this running
Speaker 3: as long as they want, like this is why I'm
Speaker 3: not a writer and they But then I also remember
Speaker 3: when it was like taking off on Twitter and I
Speaker 3: was like again literally like butterflies in my stomach, like
Speaker 3: I think this may be turning into a thing, like
Speaker 3: everybody's talking about it and people are stopping me in
Speaker 3: the street, Like it really was a fun ride with
Speaker 3: an incredible group of people, like to get one of
Speaker 3: those in the careers, like more than you can hope for.
Speaker 1: I remember thinking, is this gonna be like a Grays
Speaker 1: and Atomy situation? Like are we gonna go for like twelve
Speaker 1: thirteen seasons? And then you know, obviously Shanda knew there
Speaker 1: was a beginning of the middle and an end to
Speaker 1: the to the show, and she let us know that
Speaker 1: it was ending. But I think we were all so bummed,
Speaker 1: right because the network wanted us to keep going. I
Speaker 1: was like, wait, what I know.
Speaker 3: I was definitely. I even remember as Shonda was telling
Speaker 3: us in the conference call, like that she's ending it.
Speaker 3: I was text neighbor and we're like, god.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you were texting me like oh yeah, like how
Speaker 2: could you we have the white whale, we have the
Speaker 2: fucking white hat. Yeah, You're the best. I'm so excited
Speaker 2: to see you and leopoldstadd Yeah, this was.
Speaker 3: So much fun. I realized how much I miss you.
Speaker 3: When I don't see you, I don't miss you at all.
Speaker 3: But now that I'm seeing you, I really I was like, oh,
Speaker 3: I do like them more than I realized. To our gladiators,
Speaker 3: I haven't earned a dime since the show went off there,
Speaker 3: but thank you for that brief window in my life
Speaker 3: when I didn't have to worry about money for like
Speaker 3: five years. It's awesome. It's all because of you, guys.
Speaker 1: Josh, you are the best.
Speaker 2: We love you.
Speaker 3: Love you, guys.
Speaker 2: Tell George we love him and we'll be bugging him asap.
Speaker 3: I'll tell him he's not on the show.
Speaker 2: Tweeted, tweety tweeted, lidd tweet tweet, tweet, tweet tweet tweet.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, people were fucking pumped from these tweets
Speaker 2: because this was the fucking season two premiere at ABC.
Speaker 2: Scandal fans tweeted so ready for at Scandal babyc premiere
Speaker 2: hashtag one minute, don't hate hashtag ask Scandal.
Speaker 1: And Lisa Belenoir tweeted homemade coconut shrimp hashtag I'm fancy
Speaker 1: retweet call me Dalla what y'all bring into the Scandal
Speaker 1: watch party? So she made some coconut shrimp and brought
Speaker 1: it to a Scandal watch party.
Speaker 2: A Yem at Everybody Loves DJ wrote, I'm ready to
Speaker 2: find out who the hell Quinn is tonight hashtag scandal.
Speaker 1: Ug real y'all two underscore Tall says what the fuck
Speaker 1: is Quinn Perkins? Hashtag scandal, hashtag gladiators and suits.
Speaker 2: Everyone's talking about Quinn at Chrissy B. Davis wrote, I
Speaker 2: had so many thoughts as to who Quinn could be.
Speaker 2: We'll be happy to finally find out tonight hashtag scandal.
Speaker 1: I like that, And then Aaron at Aaron J. Cruz tweeted,
Speaker 1: who of the Scandal cast is the most like the
Speaker 1: character they play? Hashtag asked scandal. That's when we were
Speaker 1: doing that hashtag ask scandal and then we would, you know,
Speaker 1: answer as many questions as we could.
Speaker 2: Yes, we did hashtag as Scandal forever.
Speaker 1: Who do you think is most like the character that
Speaker 1: they play? Fucking I think Carrie Washington as Olivia.
Speaker 2: I think so too in some ways. In some ways
Speaker 2: she's Olivia is not goofy, right, and Carrie's got a
Speaker 2: lot of Olivia popiner. I think I and Quinn have
Speaker 2: a lot of starting. I think Josh Molina and David
Speaker 2: Rosen have some stuff.
Speaker 1: Everybody has a little bit of you don't characters? I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, in the in the being quiet and sometimes
Speaker 1: wanting to be alone. I could see that being you know,
Speaker 1: similar to myself and talk.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but how can you literally make your voice and
Speaker 2: the mask of your face different?
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, Like you do.
Speaker 2: Things as your face is gear mode that you don't
Speaker 2: do on your face as huck.
Speaker 1: That's so true. That's so true.
Speaker 2: Like you have a mask that actually like changes, which
Speaker 2: is fucking amazing to behold. The next episode is called
Speaker 2: Grant for the People.
Speaker 1: The People.
Speaker 2: I don't remember what the fuck happens. I have no idea,
Speaker 2: but y'all are going to want to listen and stay
Speaker 2: tuned because you know it's going to be a good time.
Speaker 1: We gotta go watch it now so we're ready for
Speaker 1: the next episode of this podcast.
Speaker 2: Any Gladiators that don't think Josh Willene is hot enough
Speaker 2: to have a sex scene leave him alone.
Speaker 1: He's so hot, I think. I think Josh super se
Speaker 1: I do too.
Speaker 2: Also, I'm so jealous that he's going to have lunch
Speaker 2: right now with George Newburn of The Century City.
Speaker 1: Mall, we should go crash that ship right now.
Speaker 2: He invited us. Did you get that text?
Speaker 1: No, I haven't even looked at my phone because we're
Speaker 1: doing a podcast.
Speaker 2: He texted us yesterday saying, Yo, I'm not sure what
Speaker 2: time you guys stop recording, but I'm going to have
Speaker 2: lunch with George Newburn if you both like to come.
Speaker 1: Oh I didn't get that.
Speaker 2: But whatever, we didn't want to go anyway.
Speaker 4: That shit is yeah, yeah, but yo, Josh is so
Speaker 4: freaking smart and talented and fun to talk to, Like
Speaker 4: we could have done this for like three more hours.
Speaker 1: I know, he's so much fun. I love all.
Speaker 2: He's the best, and he really was an important energy
Speaker 2: on Skin.
Speaker 1: He really was important. He has so many great episodes
Speaker 1: where his work is superstellar, so we're definitely going to
Speaker 1: have him back.
Speaker 2: Yes. Absolutely. I love you all so much. Thank you
Speaker 2: for listening.
Speaker 1: Thank you everyone, Thank you guys for joining us on
Speaker 1: Unpacking the Toolbox. If you enjoyed the show, please subscribe,
Speaker 1: share with your friends, rate, or leave us a review.
Speaker 2: Scandal is executive produced by Sandy Bailey, alex Alce, Lauren Homan,
Speaker 2: Tyler Klang, and Gabrielle Collins. Our producer and editor is
Speaker 2: Vince de Johnny, with music by Chad Fisher.
Speaker 1: Scandal is a production of ABC Signature, and you can
Speaker 1: follow along by rewatching Scandal on Hulu.
Speaker 2: Unpacking the Toolbox is a production of Shondaland Audio in
Speaker 2: partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from Shondaland Audio, visit
Speaker 2: the iHeartRadio app or anywhere you subscribe to your favorite shows.